Chapter 8
All mistakes are my own
I don't own Naruto
Calm your breathing. Search your surroundings.
Iruka's head fell like it was about to fall off. The searing pain came back ten-fold every time. He couldn't lay still for more than a few seconds, squirming every few moments when the pounding in his head came back. Iruka's thoughts soon became incoherent as the pain grew and grew. He was hyperventilating at this point. Even with all of the mandatory torture training with Ibiki could not prepare him for this. How pathetic he must look; squirming back and forth on the concrete floor, breathing raggedly, trying desperately to claw at his head.
There was a small gasp in front of Iruka, but he did not take any notice. "Idiot, why didn't you release the bindings earlier? It could be having brain failure at this point! Don't just stand there. Do as I say!"
The insistent pounding subsided almost immediately. But that did not mean Iruka felt better, to be honest, he felt worse. The aftershock was quickly stealing any energy he had left. He turned to the side and started coughing. Blood and mucus stained the floor. Iruka was desperately wishing that he would not vomit. It would only make matters worse. Bile rose in his throat making him gag. His throat burned as he choked down the fluid. Iruka made one last desperate move to sit up but it was unsuccessful. It hurt, oh how everything hurt.
"Shhh poor child, rest now. It will be better soon. Just listen to me darling." The woman moved towards the sickly man. Her voice was smooth and relaxing; one word made everything seem better. She sat down by Iruka and placed his head in her lap. The lady tsked and attempted to gently pull out the ponytail. It snagged on the knotted hair about halfway down and it took a few tugs to get it free. But the small twinge of discomfort from hair being ripped out did not register to Iruka. It felt like nothing. The woman took her fingers and gently raked it down his hair, freeing all the knotted strands. It would have felt nice if Iruka was not so on edge.
He was in an unfamiliar place, some woman was trying to sooth him, and pain radiated while energy quickly fled. Iruka had not felt this on edge in a very long time. His thoughts were few and stuck on one subject.
Get away, make her stop. Make it all stop. Just STOP.
The lady's fingers stopped on the side of Iruka's cheek. She was trying to get a knot out when Iruka struck. He swiftly turned his head and bit the fingers that he could reach. His jaw clamped down and he bit as hard as he could. But it was not strong enough. The woman took her other hand and gripped the top of Iruka's hair and pulled upwards. His head lifted with the movement and he left go of her hand. Bit marks were left and the fingers were quickly becoming black and blue with bruises. She yanked his head so it was a mere inch from her own. His eyes closed with the immense pain that bloomed at the top of his skull. Iruka could literally feel the hair being pulled out of his head. The woman was furious, to say the least. No one ever, ever, disrespect her and got away with it. Never.
"You little bitch! Didn't you ever hear the phrase, 'Don't bite the hand that feeds you'? Because your mommy should have taught you better," She gripped his hair even tighter and leaned next to his ear and whispered in it. "I will destroy you, demon. I will break your will to live, your will to even breathe. And then afterwards, I will kill everyone you hold dear, starting with that blond kit of yours. Then, and only then, will I grant you the permission the die."
She fisted her hand in Iruka's hair one last time and slammed him face first into the concrete. The pain radiated throughout his body, causing dear Iruka to pass out once more. His nose bled like a faucet turned on its highest setting. It was obviously broken, the crooked features were dead giveaway. Oh, how foolish that move was, how stupid.
The woman stood up, stepping over Iruka's head while walking. Her pure white kimono was now stained with small red blood splatters. She rolled her eyes in disgust. How messy this turned out to be.
"Sit it against the wall with its' head tilted down. The demon cannot choke on his own blood and die. My hard work would go to waste… plus that was a promise that I don't plan on forsaking. Get me a new kimono afterwards. This one is stained. Put it in the box with the others."
The woman swiftly moved through the doorway and around the corner. The man lifted his head only when she was no longer in sight. He never looked her in the eye, she would most likely kill him if he did. She was a goddess on a mortal plane. The man moved towards Iruka and propped him against the cold, grey wall. The bleeding had slowed a little, but it was still flowing. The front of Iruka's shirt was stained and dried blood was along his mouth and chin.
"You brought this upon yourself. Biting her like that; you're lucky she didn't do anything more than break your nose at the moment. But only god knows how many you and your kind have killed. You deserve it." The man's tone started out a tad bit sympathetic but by the end of his talking, it was cold and harsh. It seemed that he couldn't tell if he was supposed to be sympathetic or cold towards Iruka yet. The first option would be better, of course. But then again, it the easiest emotion to exploit. Right next to love, of course.
And yet again, the man's words fell upon deaf ears, for Iruka was not listening. The dark had taken him prisoner and had not let him go yet. But the burly man did not seem to care. He had done as instructed by his boss. Now, it was time to let the demon lay and wait for it to wake up.
"Well, you're home early. May I ask why?" Kakashi inquired as Bisuke laid down on the couch at Kakashi's feet. He raised an eyebrow while waiting for the dog to respond. The ninken left only about a half an hour ago, he should be back for at least another 25 minutes. It took about 20 minutes there and back, so that left only ten minutes actually with the chunin sensei.
"Your precious little chunin basically pushed me out the door. He was acting extremely weird about letting me check out the smell. He told me he had fox summons…" Bisuke's voice gave off the impression that he was in a small state of disbelief. Kakashi was somewhat confused by the dog's tone. He didn't know that Iruka had fox summons, but anything was possible he guessed.
Ignoring the comment about his precious little chunin, Kakashi voiced his thoughts. "So? I guess anyone would be a little weirded out by some random animal showing up at their door. And I had no clue he had summons. I guess anything is possible." He shrugged at then end and went back to reading his book.
"Boss, I don't think you understand. There is no way he could have fox summons. The foxes haven't signed a contract with anyone in decades. They're a picky bunch who rather play tricks on each other than actually be useful."
That stopped Kakashi in his tracks. Why would Iruka feel the need to lie about have summons? Was it to make himself sound cooler? Nah, that didn't seem to fit Iruka's personality. But that didn't explain the weird behavior that he was displaying. What the hell is going on?
"Why do you think he woul-" Kakashi started but another presence stopped him mid-sentence. It was a purposeful flare of chakra that drew his attention. An ANBU was sitting outside of his window on a tree branch. It must be urgent if they let Kakashi know that they were there. Usually, they would wait until Kakashi got bored and finally acknowledged their presence. It was a game that Kakashi, not so secretly, enjoyed.
Kakashi stood up and moved to open the window. The ANBU had a bird-like mask that hid its features. He really didn't want to deal with ANBU today but it seemed inevitable.
"Hatake, Lady Hokage requests your presence in her office in ten minutes. She requests that you not be late." The voice was slightly muffled but Kakashi still heard it loud and clear. It must really be important if she requests, (demands), that I am not late. The Bird ANBU was gone after the message was delivered. Which was to be expected.
It was a half an hour before Kakashi actually showed up at the Hokage's office. If he was being honest, that was quite early for him. And of course, Lady Tsunade did not expect him to show up on time. It was one of his many quirks, or bad habits, whichever you prefer to call it. Kakashi knocked on the door before entering. Shizune was standing by the Hokage's desk with her pet pig in her arms. It was quite a familiar sight for that was how Kakashi usually saw them. What surprised him the most was Asuma standing near the window to the very left. Maybe it's another mission? This time a two man squad?
"Sorry for being late Lady Hokage, I was stopped by a child who had lost her mommy and-" Kakashi went to continue his elaborate story but was stopped by Tsunade putting up her hand to stop him from speaking. I small smile hit her lips but it quickly fled for a frown.
"As much as I would love to hear another one of your stories, I have to move on to a more serious matter." Kakashi frowned. Something had to be extremely wrong. Tsunade rarely interrupted his stories, no matter how untruthful or unrealistic they were. He had a sneaking suspicion that she actually liked to hear his stories.
Tsunade pulled out a rather thin file from her desk. And threw it onto the desk. It was closer to the two jounin than to the Hokage. It had in very large, bold letters the word 'RESTRICTED' etched across the front. It made Kakashi curious why he was in here. He now presumed that he was being sent on another mission with Asuma but what kind of mission was the real question.
"You're wondering why you're here, correct? This file needs Hokage level clearance, which I am temporarily granting you. So that means that you have my permission to read this file. Please do not talk until you have seen everything," Tsunade's voice was solemn as she opened the file and pushed it even closer towards the two men. She was concerned about what their reactions would be. This entire day was going to be shitty.
Both of the men stepped closer to get a better look and neither moved afterwards. Asuma's eyes visibly darkened and his eyebrows drew furrowed together. The cigarette in his mouth wobbled ever so slightly. Kakashi, on the other hand, was blank. The mask he had on hid his feature from the rest of the world. But his mind was whirling with confusion.
Demons were just a thing of fairy tales that mothers told their kids to get them to eat their vegetables and go to sleep on time. There was no such thing as demons. You better start saying that faeries exist and unicorns wandered Kirigakure. He reread the file thirty times before looking back up at the Hokage. Was this some sort of sick joke that he didn't understand? Calling Konoha's best teacher a demon-hybrid-thing was quite a stretch. But the more Kakashi thought about it, the more the pieces fit into place. If he really was a 'fox demon', would that explain the faint animals smell? And why he lied about having summons? It would surely explain how he awakened back in Konoha and not dead in some forest. What are you trying to say Hokage? That Iruka Umino is the thing that little children have nightmares about?
"I did not want you to find out like this, but I have no better way of explaining it. On your previous mission, you were attacked by a band of missing nins and were severely injured after fighting. You both were passed out and extremely sickly. Iruka Umino is the only reason you two are alive today. I am going to ask that you save all questions for a tomorrow; I am releasing you to go back to your homes in order to process this information."
Wait what? You honestly cannot tell us to leave after giving us all this bullshit information!
"You will not speak a word of this to anyone. If you do, I will have you charged with treason and killed." Tsunade's eyes were hard by the end and the words she said were the truth. Neither of the two jounin is irreplaceable. This secret can not get out to the public or there would be a mass panic.
"That is it. You will meet me here tomorrow at noon. Not a second later. Now leave." She slammed the file shut and took it back.
Asuma and Kakashi wasted no time teleporting out of the office. They both took Tsunade's threat seriously and both of them were confused. How the hell were they supposed to believe this? Kakashi sat down on his couch and Bisuke looked at him. The boss looked extremely confused; it was rare that he was this troubled. Kakashi groaned and put his hands over his face.
What the fuck is going on?
Yo, how are you guys doing? I'm doing okay. Thank you to everyone who review, liked, followed AFDW. It means a lot. Uh, actually I wanted to talk about something a little more serious. I have been doubting this story a bit. I mean, I know I'm not the best write and this is nowhere near the perfect story. But I feel like this story is just not that good. Don't get me wrong, I will in no way stop this story. I want to continue it. But I just feel like I am doing, to say it plainly, a shitty job. I don't know. And I also wanted to say that updates may start to be less frequent than they are now. School is starting up this week for me, actually, and the first week is always the hardest. And I need to also keep my grades up, which isn't very hard for me, but still.
On a happier note, we are getting close to the climax of the story! It will be getting a tad more intense in future chapters too!
Thank you to everyone once again, and if you have any review/criticism please let me know! Reviews are hella nice. I'll see ya guys in the next update! Bye, bye!
