Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot, which isn't saying much.

"Genma! Raidou! You can't fall back, you have to keep up with me, understand?" Iruka was shouting, no longer concerned with giving away his position. He had to give Genma and Raidou something to follow, and since the dust and leaves and debris from all the falling trees limited his sight distance to about three feet, his voice was the only thing he could give them. The trees were crashing like dominoes, one taking out another as they collapsed. Iruka was leaping for his life, jumping from one fallen tree to the next and occasionally riding a few to the ground in order to avoid being crushed. Every now and then he would shout to Genma and Raidou to make sure they were all right, and he breathed a sigh of relief each time they answered. This time, however, there was no reply, and Iruka felt cold fingers of panic creep up his spine. Backflipping off a fallen tree to avoid being sandwiched by the one coming at him, he landed on the ground and dodged a few limbs before he could pause long enough to call out again. Since all three shinobi had masked their chakra, he had no idea whether his companions were alive or dead.

"Genma!" he screamed, in an effort to be heard over the thunder of falling trees. "Raidou! Answer me!"

There was a long pause in which Iruka heard nothing but crashing; then even that stopped. All was silent; the dust settled, the leaves fell, the debris in the air sank to the ground and Iruka was left in silent mayhem.

So many of the beautiful trees surrounding Konohagakure had been uprooted, cast to the ground like twigs. The holes left were gaping red wounds, oozing dirt blood. The grassy forest floor had been destroyed for at least a quarter mile radius, and Iruka had to squint to see any trees left standing. Slowly, he began to pick his way through the rubble, leaping tree trunks as gracefully as any cat. He had exhausted his weapons long ago, so he put his senses on high alert, attuning his ears to any crack of twig or crunch of leaf. It was risky to call for his friends in such quiet, so he held his tongue, though with every step he took the chill panic was threatening to take over his common sense. Iruka did not want to panic, because anger always invariably followed and it seemed as if there would be no one around to vent his anger on.

Pity, he thought, It's been so long since I've let myself go...

It was at that moment that a ninja sprang suddenly out of the destruction, intending no doubt to pounce upon Iruka and kill him with the senbon in his—

Wait...senbon?

"Genma, no!" Iruka cried, as he deftly maneuvered over the network of branches and out of harm's way.

"Iruka-sensei!" Genma's eyes widened in surprise and he returned the senbon to his lips, beginning to shake. "G-gomen, Iruka-sensei, I didn't know it was you."

"Don't apologize," Iruka waved his hand. "You did the right thing. Where's Raidou?"

The instant the words were out of his mouth Iruka regretted speaking. Genma looked off to the side and said nothing. At length, he raised his left hand; a dog tag was looped twice around his wrist, and Iruka had a feeling that it wasn't Genma's.

"How?"

Genma continued to stare off to the side, as if he hadn't heard Iruka's question at all. He was still shaking and after a few minutes the shaking grew worse. Iruka watched, at a loss, as Genma's teeth sank into his lower lip, sank until they drew blood, and then the trembling shinobi sat down on a tree trunk and began to cry.

Iruka had spent the majority of his life comforting—the children at the Academy, Naruto from childhood up until he left Konoha, worried parents, anxious Tsunade and on occasion female friends whose hearts had been broken by some callous ninja. He had wiped away the tears of countless people, but never a jounin-level shinobi, and for once in his life Iruka did not know how to help.

"A tree," Genma finally managed to splutter. "A g-god d-damned tree. He couldn't move, 'Ruka-sensei, h-he couldn't move. It p-pinned his legs and when I tr-tried to help he gave me these fucking d-dog tags then told m-me...h-he told m-me he loved me. Then he s-said, 'Move your ass!' and I r-ran and another g-goddamn tree...I don't even kn-know which tree now..."

He began to cry again, huge wracking sobs that threatened to tear Iruka's heart from his chest. Genma and Raidou had never publicly declared what they were to one another but anyone with a blind eye and half sense could see it; the fact that they were both men made no difference. A ninja's life was too short to discriminate about such.

"Genma..." Iruka said gently, "I'm so sorry..."

"Let's go back, Iruka-sensei," Genma mumbled, staring into the distance. "We'll never make it to Sound now..."

"No," Iruka agreed, as he put a reassuring hand on Genma's back, "I don't suppose we will."

xXx

When Kakashi opened his eyes again, he found that he did not have to struggle to pull his eyelids into the upright position. The lights of his hospital room no longer sent searing shots of pain into his skull, and he could now push himself into a sitting position. Heartened by his improvement, Kakashi attempted to stand—his knees promptly buckled and he sat down hard on the side of his bed.

Dammit, he thought, eye narrowing, They'll never let me out of this hellhole if I can't walk.

Grudgingly, he pulled his legs back into bed; very pale, very muscular legs that scarcely saw the light of day except when Kakashi was forced to wear the ridiculous hospital gowns. Upon actually seeing his bare legs, Kakashi's hand flew to his face. He was pleased to feel the light, silky cloth of his mask beneath his fingers. His doctors had allowed him that shred of dignity, at least.

"You're awake."

Kakashi looked up; Tsunade was framed in the doorway, arms crossed over her ample bosom as if she'd been waiting there the entire time Kakashi had been sleeping. All the urgency that had flooded him before he lost consciousness came pouring back, and he opened his mouth to ask her his one burning question:

"What about Gai and Asuma?"

Tsunade, prepared for just such a question, answered quickly. "Gai has already made a full recovery. His worst injury was minor head trauma, but you know Gai—that skull of his is pretty thick. Asuma, on the other hand..." she trailed off, averting her eyes from Kakashi's singular gaze.

"Is he dead?" Kakashi asked, somehow managing to keep the emotion from his voice.

Tsunade shook her head. "He's in critical condition."

Kakashi let out a barely audible sigh of relief.

"Hatake, explain," she finally looked at him, "Explain how three jounin-level ninja were so easily and so badly beaten."

The visible portion of Kakashi's face darkened, and his eye narrowed. "Easily? I'm insulted," he snapped. "Gai and I were holding our own against four Sand-nin and defending Asuma after he wounded himself when he was trapped in a genjutsu. That was their first attack; their chakra was so well masked that none of us saw it coming until Asuma stabbed himself with one of his chakra-enhanced knives."

"So what happened? What turned the tide against you?"

It could not have been more obvious that Hatake Kakashi did not want to have this conversation, but his chakra was still too weak to teleport him away and Tsunade was the Hokage, after all. Haltingly, Kakashi began the tale.

"Like I said...we were taken by surprise. Asuma was out of commission almost immediately after I dispelled the genjutsu. Gai and I stood over him and defended him and turned back four Sand-nin: two shinobi and two kunoichi. The two kunoichi were dressed alike, I remember, in red leggings and black skirts with a short red hakama top. The two of them were easily jounin-level and neither of us managed to deliver a crippling blow. The shinobi were less adept and we managed to get our kunai into them a few times, but before either Gai or I could find an opening to perform a jutsu, all four suddenly stopped fighting and began to retreat."

"Why?" Tsunade interrupted.

Kakashi waved his hand impatiently, "I'm getting there. Asuma was looking worse by the minute, so Gai bandaged him up as well as he could and I took him on my back. We started back for Konoha then, but Gai sensed the four ninja on our trail and went to check how closely and how quickly we were being followed. He told me that if he didn't return in five minutes to leave and get Asuma back here. Right before I went to look for him—"

"Hatake," Tsunade sighed in quiet frustration, but the look in Kakashi's eye silenced her.

"He showed up and said they were gaining fast and that he should take Asuma. After I took off his leg weights, he started running. I brought up the rear to protect them. A shuriken caught me in the shoulder, but I sensed the chakra-wave and threw it back. I killed the ninja, whoever it was. Of course the other chakra waves disappeared then. Then the started calling to me--trying to taunt me out of hiding, I guess. I pinpointed their voices and killed one, wounded another. And then...then the tree fell."

"...the tree fell?" Tsunade repeated stupidly.

He nodded. "The tree fell. I was using it for cover and it just started falling, so I jumped to another—and it fell too. Every tree I went to began to fall until all I heard was crashing and all I saw was debris. I managed to find the nin who performed the jutsu, thanks to the Sharingan, but I had missed the hand seals he made and couldn't copy it. He was huge, Tsunade, I've never seen a ninja that massive!"

The amazement in Kakashi's voice was enough to unnerve Tsunade, who knew that the Copy Nin was not easily impressed.

"He moved like a cat and the trees kept crashing—it seemed as if all he had to do was look at them..." he murmured, trailing off in disbelief.

"Get on with it, Kakashi."

"He was cutting a path straight for the direction that Asuma and Gai had taken, so I tried to distract him with taijutsu. He'd use the fallen trees as a block and keep cutting his path. I used the Sharingan to find where the trees would fall, so I kept out of the way, but my chakra was going fast. I wanted to use the Chidori, but I didn't know where Gai and Asuma were and I didn't want them to be caught in it. I found them both by following the line of crashing trees he was creating. Asuma was unconscious on the ground and a limb had caught Gai on the side of his head, so he wasn't much use. Once I found the two of them, I blew the whole line of fallen trees to nothing with the Chidori. I thought I'd killed him...but just beyond the radius of the Chidori hole, a single tree fell. He escaped. I didn't have the chakra to go after him, so I brought Gai and Asuma back. I don't remember anything after I laid Asuma on the ground," he finished flatly, turning his head--a movement designed to end the discussion.

"They were all Sand-nin? You're sure?" Tsunade asked. Kakashi only nodded.

Slowly, Tsunade nodded as well, massaging her temples with her thumb and forefinger. "I don't understand how Gaara could betray us like this," she whispered.

Kakashi's head snapped around as he remembered what he had to tell Tsunade. "He isn't betraying us on purpose, Tsunade-sama," he said darkly. "Orochimaru has his brother."

I feel like I should say DUNDUNDUNNNNN!

But I won't.

Is it just me or am I insanely unconnected with Iruka and Kakashi? I know Iruka's sort of OOC, but that's intentional. Blah.This was a BLAH chapter and it's all BLAH...blah.

KakaIruness coming asap. (Or IruKaka...or both?) I promise, darlings. I owe you that much, I suppose.

heart::gossamerstars