New Promises

Chapter 22

A half hour later, Naruto returned, tears simmering in his huge, blue eyes.

"He doesn't look good. Shizune says he's gonna be okay, but," Naruto's voice cracked and Tsubaki quickly embraced him, holding the boy tightly against her as he took deep, shuddering breaths. Sasuke covered his face with his hands, and Tenzo noticed with pained eyes that the teenager's shoulders were trembling. He draped his arm over Sasuke's back and gave his shoulder a light squeeze.

"He's got all these machines on him, and he's covered in bandages, and what skin you can see is really bruised," Naruto finally said. "I held his hand and I begged him to let me know he was okay somehow, but he didn't move at all. He just laid there." Naruto's voice was heartbreaking, and Kakashi felt Obito's eye moisten with tears that were soaked up by his forehead protector.

Naruto didn't return to Iruka's room until they could all go as a group. He held Sasuke's hand tightly, and Sasuke noticed he looked at the floor instead of Iruka's mangled body. Kakashi gave no reaction to the sight of Iruka except a sudden and clearly pained exhale of air.

Sasuke took one glimpse and was painfully reminded of coming to see Kakashi in a similar state when Naruto and Iruka had been gone, back before he'd quit his post as A.N.B.U. Captain. He'd had faith that Kakashi was too tough to kill, and even completely bruised and beaten, Kakashi had still looked strong.

Iruka looked small, though, and weak. His forceful vitality and his bright energy was what made him seem so warm and safe, and when it was gone, he was like an empty husk, nearly unrecognizable. It did not look like he was merely sleeping. It looked like he was dead.

Kakashi was the first to move to his bedside, doing as Naruto had done earlier by gently taking hold of his hand.

"Iruka?" he asked softly. There was no response. Kakashi swallowed thickly and leaned over his lover's face. Through his mask, he placed a gentle kiss on Iruka's cheek. He whispered, "I love you. I'm so sorry, Iruka." His boyfriend didn't so much as twitch.

The group stayed hovering around his bed until a nurse came in a herded all of them out except for Kakashi. She needed to change his bandages and clean him up, and Kakashi offered to help.

"I need to go check on Hotaru. There's nothing I can do for Iruka right now," Tsubaki said.

"I'll come with you. If you don't mind, I'm going to eat some breakfast and then head to Tsunade's office. I'm sure she's got work for me to do," Tenzo said. He turned to the boys. "I doubt Kakashi will be willing to leave. Why don't you boys go buy him something for breakfast and bring it back, okay?" They nodded, and Tenzo fished some money out of his wallet for them. The group left after they told Kakashi where they were going.

As Tsubaki and Tenzo walked to the little farm house, Tenzo put a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"He's going to be okay, Tsubaki. Iruka will pull through just fine."

"I'm so angry! I want to hurt the men who did this to him. Why can't he have just a little bit of peace? He's never hurt anyone!"

"I know it's not fair. The men will get what they deserve, and hopefully it will be life in prison," Tenzo consoled. Tsubaki nodded against him and glanced up the road to see the door to her home was open, banging in the wind against the house.

"That's odd. Why is the door open?" Tsubaki asked, her voice instantly panicked. Tenzo's hold around her shoulders tightened, and he swallowed thickly.

"Wait here," he ordered, before sprinting forward and peeking into the house carefully. He didn't see anything unusual, or anyone. Thinking perhaps Chiyoko just hadn't shut the door properly, he cautiously walked inside.

"Chiyoko-sama?" he called out. There was no answer. The house was completely empty, and deathly silent. "Hotaru?!" Tenzo shouted, beginning to race through the house checking the rooms. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. He sprinted out into the back garden, thinking maybe they'd gone outside. There was nothing but leafy foliage, swaying in the autumn wind.

He heard Tsubaki enter the house and call for Chiyoko, but her call went unanswered. He doubled back inside.

"They're gone. Maybe they came to the hospital, and we missed them," Tenzo said, hoping with all his heart that they were panicking for no reason. Still, as a ninja that often saw the ugly side in life, he wondered if Iruka's attackers hadn't all been caught.

"Then let's go back!" Tsubaki concluded, rushing out the front door and hurrying back down the road towards town. Tenzo caught up to her and told her he was going to scout ahead. He went quickly, heading into town where he found Naruto and Sasuke at a small bakery.

"Chiyoko and Hotaru are missing. Spread out and look for them. Get your friends to help," Tenzo ordered. Their eyes going wide, fearing the worst, the boys darted off, recruiting volunteers as they went. Soon, the whole village was on alert.

Tenzo reached the hospital before Tsubaki did, despite his detour, and asked after Chiyoko and the baby at the front desk. The bewildered receptionist merely frowned.

"No, sir, nobody has come yet. Visitors usually don't get here for at least another half-hour or so. The lobby's been completely empty." Tenzo cursed and sprinted down the hall towards the emergency wing, praying that maybe the old woman had been confused and entered there. He found Tsubaki there, already being told that there had been no old woman with a baby to enter. She turned to him, desperate for good news.

He had none to give.

"The boys are searching the village. I'll go look, too. Go to Tsunade and tell her they're missing," Tenzo instructed. Nodding, tears streaming down her cheeks, Tsubaki raced out of the hospital and towards the Hokage Tower.

~*~

Tenzo decided to go back to the farmhouse and start his search there. He was careful this time to look for any evidence that might point to where they'd gone. The first thing he realized was that there was a slight mess in Tsubaki's room, where she'd kept the baby's things. He couldn't say for sure, but it looked like certain essentials were missing. There were no signs of struggle, as there would have been if they'd been attacked. The front door had not been broken down; it was merely left open, as if someone had left in such a hurry they didn't have time to shut it.

He checked the pantries and the cabinets, and again, though he couldn't tell for sure, food appeared to be missing - food that he knew Tsubaki wouldn't have been running low on. He didn't find any jars of baby food at all. His mind raced with the possibilities, and he suddenly had a horribly uneasy feeling in his gut.

The old woman had always seemed obsessed with Hotaru, and they knew nothing about her except for the fact she'd lost her own baby. Tenzo raced back to the front door and teleported back to the hospital. He needed Kakashi's tracking dogs.

When he entered Iruka's room, the man was still completely unconscious. Kakashi sat in an uncomfortable chair merely holding his boyfriend's hand.

"Chiyoko has kidnapped Hotaru. I need your tracking dogs," Tenzo blurted. His revealed eye widening in alarm, Kakashi summoned three of his dogs, the ones with the best noses, and briskly left the room.

"Come on," he said. Outside the hospital, they teleported back to the house and the dogs began to sniff around.

"I'm getting a dirty woman's smell. She's in a hurry. She's carrying the baby. They came this way,"

Pakkun said, trailing his nose along the ground until he verged off the path abruptly and started waddling in the direction of the woods. "She started moving fast - very fast - faster than an old woman should be able to move. She's a ninja, or at least she knows how to run like one." Tenzo and Kakashi's eyes met in alarm. Instantly, they ran towards the woods. Pakkun jumped on the back of one of the bigger dogs and the hounds took off after their master, following the men into the forest.

Once there, the hounds grew confused. "She made clones. There's two different trails." Falling back into A.N.B.U. Captain mode, Kakashi sent Tenzo and one dog to the right with a swift hand gesture, and he and the other two hounds proceeded to the left.

Tenzo gradually picked up on the trail himself and left the dog behind, going too fast for the animal to follow. He was a blur as he streaked through the woods, somehow knowing he was on the right path. Perhaps he was just desperate to personally guarantee the safety of Hotaru. He came to the gate around Konoha and jumped it easily, continuing along the trail. There was a strange chakra lingering in the air, and if he'd had Pakkun with him, the little dog would have told him the chakra had changed - it had become younger.

Of course, Tenzo was unaware of this subtle shift and kept running, until he was nearly a good two hours away from the village. He finally caught up to her there, but she did not look the same as the homeless crone he remembered. She was younger, though not by too much. She moved faster, though, and no longer appeared crippled. Her attack was as dangerous as it was unexpected. A rain of kunai showered down on him from the trees, instantly turning his clone into a pin cushion. He searched the area visually for Hotaru, but couldn't find her.

Chiyoko laughed, and her strange, milky eyes found him with eerie precision.

"She's my baby now. You'll never take her from me again!" she screeched, punctuating her threat with a kunai sent hurtling in his direction. He dodged instinctively and pulled his own weapons, intending to dart forward and launch his own attack, but as soon as the kunai left his fingertips, she was behind him, driving him into the ground with an unyielding elbow. He smacked into the earth with a crack, and knew he'd broken a bone in his hand. Ignoring the pain, he turned to kick her and hit nothing but air. How could she possibly be so fast?! Her counter-blow came from the last place he expected it to be, and knocked him clean across the jaw.

"Who are you?!" he half-shouted. Her sinister chuckling filled the small clearing.

"I am the last of my clan, forced from my village when they feared my power, nearly crippled by grief when they killed my child. Now I have found her again, and I will pass my powers to her, as it was destined to be!"

"Hotaru isn't your child! She belongs to Tsubaki!" Tenzo yelled, hoping to provoke her into an angry attack. None came. Desperate, he attacked with the trees, feeling where she was and using his wood manipulation abilities to trap her. She was suddenly gone from the trees, though, moving too fast for him to trace her movements, and her withered hand thrust up between his feet and grabbed his ankle. He let the captured clone disappear and emerged from the hollow of a tree, attempting to surprise her, but she was ready for him and he was caught in the side with a throwing star. Bleeding heavily, his techniques restricted because of his broken hand, he realized he was in a dangerous position. He'd rushed in blindly, and Chiyoko proved to be a dangerous opponent to underestimate.

"You haven't figured it out yet, so let me enlighten you. My technique is the most powerful of all. There is no battle I cannot win, because I can control time itself! You have almost killed me numerous times already, but with a fraction of my power, I can go back and anticipate your attack," her voice drifted down from a treetop. Tenzo gritted his teeth in frustration and tried to grab her with the branches of the tree, but she was already gone. "My power comes at a great price, and I cannot go back very far, but it is more than enough to kill you."

Tenzo thought he had her location, was sure he had outsmarted her while she talked, but his trap sprang on nothing and quite suddenly, without any warning at all, he was staring at the hilt of a kunai lodged deep in his chest. He felt his heart spasm, he felt stabbing pain in his chest, and then the forest was gone. He knew no more.

Chiyoko retrieved Hotaru from her hiding place and took a few deep shuddering breaths.

"We must hurry, daughter. Our enemies still pursue us. This time, I will not let them hurt you," she promised. Carefully wrapping Hotaru to her chest, offering the baby a pacifier to silence her nervous wailing, Chiyoko began to move quickly through the forest, her destination a mystery.

~*~

When Iruka opened his eyes, it was dark outside. He was alone in what he assumed was a hospital room. He wondered where Kakashi was, and then the urge to sleep overcame him again. He awoke a second time, later in the night, and a nurse quickly spoke to him.

"Can you hear me, Iruka-san?" she asked. He tried to nod, but he couldn't move his head. He forced some sound out of his mouth, but his jaw felt equally useless. The door opened, and Iruka's vision filled with orange. Naruto.

"Dad! You're awake!" his son announced happily. Iruka felt the urge to fall asleep once more, but he didn't want to let go of the beautiful sight in front of him. He twitched his hand towards his son and tried to smile when he felt his hand warmly encased in his son's. His eyes closed of their own will, and he was out again.

Struggling out of what felt like the longest, deepest sleep of his life, this time he saw sunshine playing across the surface of his bed. His jaw no longer hurt, and he pushed it open experimentally. The sunlight was bright, even muted through the shade. Kakashi stood at the window, gazing out of it with a sad look in his eye.

"What's wrong?" he asked, or at least tried to. It came out muffled. Kakashi still understood him, though, because he raced to his side and lovingly kissed his cheek.

"Nurse!" he shouted, squeezing his hand. This time, Iruka felt more awake. The tug of sleep had left him. His mouth felt like it was full of cotton, though, and his entire body was sore. A nurse came in and smiled at him.

"You've finally woken up, have you? We expected you would any day now. Welcome back," she said warmly. Iruka nodded, but didn't try to speak due to the dryness in his mouth and throat. She pressed a button on the bed, and another nurse came in. She smiled at him, too, and offered him water from a cup. The other nurse was busy writing down readings off the various machines at his bedside.

"You've been in a coma for nearly two weeks. You should be feeling some soreness in your muscles, but there shouldn't be any pain. Are you in any pain?" she asked.

"No," he replied. The water felt like heaven. He squeezed Kakashi's hand weakly, giving his boyfriend what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Kakashi sighed in relief, but he didn't smile. There was a sadness in his eye that let Iruka know something was seriously wrong. His first worry was for Naruto, but he vaguely remembered his son in his room. How long ago had that been?

"Naruto?" he asked, needing to know his child was safe. Due to the movement of the two nurses, Kakashi was forced to let go of his hand and step back to give them their space.

"He's fine. Sasuke's okay, too," Kakashi replied. Iruka nodded gratefully and let the nurses begin pulling off various stickers and wires. They took the oxygen out of his nose.

"Can you breathe alright?" one asked him. He nodded, but took a deep inhale just to make sure.

"Yes, I feel okay," he replied.

"Good. You were out long enough that we had time to heal the worst of your injuries, and the coma allowed your body to focus entirely on healing. There was a chance you wouldn't come out of it, but when you began waking up about a week or so ago, we knew you were going to come out of it just fine. Can you tell me who you are?" she asked.

"Iruka Umino," he replied. She proceeded to have him tell her his address, his age, the age of his son, the names of some of his friends, and then she asked him what was the last thing he remembered. Kakashi found his hand again and watched him worriedly. He swallowed, turning his face away, not wanting to see the look on Kakashi's face as he told the story.

"I remember being outside Kakashi's apartment, and then...someone attacked me. They wrapped my head up in a shirt or something, and I couldn't breathe very well. They carried me to the woods and kicked me. My jaw felt like it was broken. One of them tried to...tried to..." He felt tears on his cheeks and he squeezed Kakashi's hand tightly, needing the contact to know he was safe and alive. The two nurses shared a meaningful look and then one spoke.

"We didn't find any evidence that you were raped, Iruka-san. Do you remember being raped?" she asked gently. He let out a shaky breath. He didn't. He remembered hearing someone's voice - and then blacking out.

"No. He was aroused, and he had my pants off, but someone came...and then I blacked out. Who helped me?" Iruka asked. There was a long, tension-filled pause but finally Kakashi answered him.

"It was Tenzo. Tenzo saved you." There was something so horribly sad about the way he said it that Iruka knew something had to be very, very wrong.

"What happened to him? Did the men..."

"No. It happened later. Getting upset about it right now won't do anyone any good, least of all you, so don't worry about it for now," Kakashi said tightly. Iruka frowned.

"Is he alright, Kakashi?" he asked. The nurses averted their eyes from the scene playing out, but one of them nodded at Kakashi, to let him know Iruka's condition was perfectly stable. Kakashi swallowed thickly. This wasn't the first thing he'd wanted to tell Iruka upon waking.

"No, Iruka, he's not alright. He's dead. The funeral was a little over a week ago."

"Oh, oh god," Iruka said softly, feeling something in his chest tighten as if wound up by a crank.

"Tsubaki..." he trailed off. He felt unable to comprehend a world where Tenzo, goofy, playful, endearing Tenzo...was simply gone. He closed his eyes, feeling the burn of tears, and wished he was in a nightmare. When he opened them to see the shaking shoulders of Kakashi, sitting beside him on the bed, silently weeping from his good eye, he knew it was horribly, horribly real. He took a shuddering breath and pulled Kakashi down against him, holding his lover as his grief spilled out. No doubt he'd been holding it inside him all this time. The nurses discreetly slipped out of the room, giving the reunited lovers a moment alone to grieve for their lost friend.

"I don't know what I would have done if I'd lost you, too. You can't leave me like that again, Iruka, promise me," Kakashi said brokenly. Iruka hugged him with all the strength he could muster. It was not a promise he knew he could keep, and he certainly hadn't left Kakashi by choice, but he knew it was simply reassurance that his boyfriend needed.

"I'm right here. We'll get through this together, okay?" he said softly. "I promise I won't leave you to face it alone. We're going to be alright. I'm not leaving again any time soon."

He held Kakashi until his boyfriend had spent his tears and sat up again, wiping at his eye with a fingerless glove.

"I didn't mean to tell you so soon," he sniffed, trying to regain his famous composure.

"I wanted to know. How's Tsubaki taking it?" Iruka asked. Kakashi didn't have the heart to tell him the rest of the bad news, that Hotaru was still missing.

"She's here in the hospital now, getting a check up with Tsunade," he replied.

~*~

Tsubaki stared blankly at the wall across from her. She was pale and thin, her eyes smudged and rimmed with darkness from sleepless nights. Tsunade stood nearby, a clipboard in hand. Her hazel eyes were sympathetic, but her manner was professional and brisk.

"The medication has cured your illness, but I'm afraid it's not without side effects. I'm sorry to tell you this, Tsubaki-san, you don't know how sorry I am, but the medication has left you barren. If you ever stop taking it, the sickness could return." Tsunade paused, wondering why life had to be so cruel. The woman's child was missing. Her best friend was in a coma upstairs, and her other close friend was six feet under cold, hard earth. The joyous news that she was going to live, which should have been cause for celebration, was now saddled with the horrible side-effect that couldn't have possibly come at a worst time, or been more horribly ironic. Tsunade sighed. "I've got the very best ninja I can spare on Hotaru's trail. You have to stay strong for me, so that Hotaru has a mother to come home to. Do you understand, Tsubaki-san?" Tsunade asked.

The grief-stricken woman slowly cut her eyes over to Tsunade and weakly slid from the examining table.

"I'm going home. Tell me if they find anything...anything at all," she muttered quietly. Tsunade nodded, watching the woman go with incredible guilt pressing against her soul. She had been the one to let Chiyoko into the village, and she'd been too soft-hearted to chase her off after she'd been treated in the hospital. The men that attacked Iruka had been ignorant, and completely misguided, but at least part of their accusation rang true.

She had been slack on maintaining border security, and now a child of Konoha was gone, and one of her best shinobi had died far too young trying to bring her back. Tsunade thought putting Tenzo's name on the memorial stone was the least she could do, and it was not nearly enough.

A/N: I thought long and hard before I did this. I had planned Chiyoko to be evil from the very beginning, and I also knew exactly what her powers were and what her plans were for Hotaru. I tried to leave hints about it without beating you guys over the head with it. A couple of you picked up on her slightly evil-obsession. And yes, I planned for Tenzo to die trying to save Hotaru at about the same time I decided Tsubaki would survive the illness. It was sad, I know, but they're happy ending just wasn't meant to be. Kakashi and Iruka, however, are still happily together and stronger as a couple than ever - so I did deliver on my promise! Seriously, though, I do apologize to any die-hard Tenzo fans out there, should any of you exist.