NARUTO

DISCLAIMER: Don't own~!


ARCHIMEDES SCREW

Noun

Archimedes Screw (plural Archimedes screws)

A screw like device invented by Greek mathematician Archimedes, ca. 200 BCE, which when twisted inside a cylinder, raises water from a lower level to a higher level

CHAPTER SEVEN: LIES

Naruto Uzumaki couldn't help but hiss as he stumbled down the stairs of the library, the previous chambers but flashes in his memory now. Muscles ached and sweat rippled down his skin as he ran the sloping, sliding hills of the Athenian coast. The blond cursed himself, his mind --unable to follow his footsteps-- was focusing instead on one irrelevant thing.

That Sakura may very well have been right… Iruka had been touched by the Spartan.

"Iruka!!" he called with an outstretched neck, jogging past the clean-up efforts of those Athenians who were not still hiding in their homes after the brief --though damaging-- reprisal. No-one seemed concerned by the howling teen as he whipped through the streets like a yellow flash, their efforts firmly focused on reassembling their stalls and shops along the promenade.

Pushing his way through the throngs of cleaning shop-owners and soldiers, Naruto ducked under the arm of a man with large bags under his eyes. Hayate blinked, mouth hanging open as he watched Iruka's tiny student run down the shadow glazed doorway of the smallest Athenian dungeon. The one that Asuma had favoured for its small cells and barbaric conditions since he had first set foot on Athenian soil.

"Kids these days…" coughed Hayate, leaning on his broom.

Though Naruto couldn't run far and though he wasn't strong or fast, the blonde used everything he had to the best he could. So as he galloped down the dungeon stairs into the eerie candle-lit, the lagoon-eyed boy kept his famously dazzling peepers open and alert. Ears open and searching for the slightest noise.

Landing heavily against the dungeon floor, Naruto shot a frantic look up the long corridor, scared when he witnessed only dying invaders calling from their cages. Slowly, with a racing heart, Naruto edged forward. Back pressed against the mud-rendered walls of the passage as he sucked in his stomach, his face tilted away from the grabbing hands and spitting faces that although separated by bars, were far too close for comfort.

The invaders, mostly from the recent attacks, watched the young Athenian with a great hunger set in their faces. Naruto couldn't help but gaze back at them.

Some were Carthagian – warriors direct from Carthage. A city at the north of the dusty, hot African Empire that had argued with Athens and many other lands often enough. The rest of the dirty old soldiers were, as Naruto would have guessed, Spartan.

They weren't like the one that had attacked him; the Spartan who had attacked him was young and fit. These warriors were old, scars covering their bodies and dribble dripping from their chins as they pressed their faces against the cold iron bars.

Sparta had sent them to their honorable deaths in the last battle such dilapidated warriors would ever fight. After all, it was the least Sparta could do for its people. There was nothing greater than dying as a hero for one's state. Though as Naruto watched them, he couldn't help but wonder what was so glorious about dying in battle or –as Iruka had always told him- dying for one's soil.

These dying warriors looked vile.

The Spartan who had attacked Naruto, Sasuke, had looked wicked but not vile. He hadn't even looked vile while pressing the blond against the icy catacomb floor. The blonde's eyes darkened. If a Spartan so young as his assailant could be so brutal, than he certainly did not want to know what these war-ravaged mad dogs could do.

Turning the corner, Naruto froze, sinking down as he saw a figure up ahead. The nervous form of Iruka making him smile slightly, the teacher's bodice safely seated on a stool before a cell. Naruto's presence completely unnoticed, as was normal for the boy.

"Why did you come?" coughed a voice. The figure in the cell not in Naruto's keen line of sight.

"I-I wanted to know… if you were alright" whispered Iruka, his breathing shallow and his face bandaged. Red stains visible on plain hessian cloth. He lowered himself onto his knees, edging forward slightly.

"Well you can see for yourself!" retorted the mangled voice of the prisoner; it's disgruntled cry leading scar-nosed man to bow his head.

"You were going to kill me, it's what you deserve" Iruka whimpered, grinding his teeth as he looked up through the loose strands of his hair. He knew well enough that he must have looked pathetic, but he couldn't help himself.

There was a loud bang as metal collided with metal, the steel guard of the Spartan's torso striking against the shaking bars of the ancient cell. His hand shooting out to grab the teacher by the chin, drawing him slightly closer.

With the crash, Iruka closed his eyes. Certain that his fate was sealed and he would only open his dark chocolate orbs to view the horrors of Hades. He tingled inside as he felt hot flesh touch his face, not rough but gentle. The hand stroking down the young man's chin with a kindness that Kakashi seemed to have hidden from his manifestation.

He opened his eyes with a sigh, locking gazes with the dark orb that drifted between the rusty bars. "I wasn't going to kill you" groaned the Spartan, dried blood caked to his face and bare arms. Tattered rags dangling from beneath his armour. His face, hidden from Iruka's, wore a sullen frown as he drew the dark haired man forward. The teacher's ear just inches from Kakashi's bar-cradled face. "How could I ever harm someone quiet so beautiful" he purred, sliding a finger along his jaw. Making Iruka groan. Pressing himself against the iron-bars, Iruka arched his back.

"You're lying" groaned the teacher, fingers encircling a tufts of silver hair.

"It would be most heinous to lie to such beauty in the face of the gods. For, like Ares cannot resist the temptations of the darling Aphrodite, I cannot resist one as fair as you" chuckled Kakashi.

Pushing back the brown haired man, Kakashi placed two crimson tarnished fingers across Iruka's lips. Savouring the small rise in his scarred nose as the local Athens resident smiled shyly.

"You, Mr…ah…"

"Kakashi"

"You, Mr Kakashi, are -for lack of better words- a player" whispered Iruka. His pink lips tickling the small spots of the Spartan's fingers where Kakashi still had some feeling.

"You've got me all wrong, Aphrodite's vassal, I'm but a poet" Kakashi responded, his one visible eye forming a happy upside down "U". "Though one with a sword, 'tis true…" the Spartan giggled, winning a small laugh from his visitor. Kakashi was lying through his teeth and somewhere deep inside him Iruka knew that too.

In silence, Iruka leant forward, his hands coming to draw the Spartan's mask down. Lips plump, he drew back the fabric just a fraction. Pausing as a wild yelp pierced the air.

"NO!"