Summary: Gaara waits anxiously at the hospital as Neji is stitched up. Kakashi visits Himura in his jail cell. Naruto checks on Iruka and Shinobu.
Chapter 24
His nails dug into the skin of his palms, creating a dull pain that Gaara largely ignored. The fists that were his hands hung at his sides, rigid, as he waited for someone –anyone- to tell him how Neji was. When he'd seen Himura standing over his lover from across the battlefield, absolute terror had flooded his entire being. He silently thanked whatever God was out there that Kakashi had been there. If not, the Kazekage knew that Neji would either have been kidnapped or killed right in front of him.
He glanced down at his shirt, which was soaked with blood. Slowly, he reached up and lay his hand over his heart, where the stain was deepest. He took a shaky breath, remembering the hot, sticky, metallic blood that had flowed so freely from his Neji's side. In that moment, he'd panicked again and realized that his lover was too injured to survive any sort of teleportation or anything of the like. Even a sharp movement could have ended Neji's life, let alone a sudden flurry of chakra transporting his entire body somewhere else. No, Gaara didn't want that. He wanted Neji to survive.
Suddenly, a door opened and Gaara looked up. Sakura motioned to him before ducking back into the room she'd come from. Gaara hurried after her, slipping in through the door just before it closed.
"How is he?" Gaara asked as the pink-haired kunoichi led him down a dark hallway.
"Stable," Sakura replied. "He lost quite a bit of blood, but thankfully, Hinata was willing to give up some. We stitched up the wound and gave him some morphine, so he probably won't be waking up until tomorrow morning at the earliest."
Gaara breathed a sigh of relief and Sakura gave him a reassuring smile.
"Neji's been through far worse before. He'll easily pull through. I know it," she said as she opened another door and led Gaara inside.
A male medic looked up as they came in. He held a clipboard in one hand and he'd been writing down the information on the small screen in front of him. Neji lay in the bed, unconscious. Gaara shuddered slightly when he saw the multitude of tubes and wires that were attached to his lover's body, checking his vitals to make sure that they were still working.
Walking over to the bed, Gaara ran his fingers through Neji's bangs, straightening them out in the way the Hyuuga liked. He heard Sakura snicker somewhat behind him, but he ignored her.
"How about the others?" the Kazekage asked tentatively.
He heard Sakura sigh softly.
"We lost four Chuunin and one Jounin. Another three Chuunin are in critical condition and several more are injured. One of your Jounin was also badly injured," the kunoichi said.
Gaara nodded, calculating the numbers in his head.
"We got off easy," he murmured.
"I'd say so," Sakura agreed.
"Does Tsunade-san need me for anything?" Gaara asked.
"No, though Tsunade-sensei did say that she was going to send a message to the Kages of the other villages about Himura's capture," Sakura said.
"Good idea. I'm guessing that the other villages lost ninja or people as well that were Ookami," Gaara murmured.
"I'll leave you then. Someone will be in to check on Neji in a little while," the kunoichi said as she motioned to the other medic.
They quickly left, discussing the information the medic had had written down on his clipboard. Gaara turned his attention back to Neji, leaning up against the wall next to the bed. When the medic came back half an hour later, the Kazekage hadn't moved from his guard post.
The prison cells of Konoha's jail had been mostly empty since the end of the war seven years before, but now, one of them was occupied by one of the most hated men in all of Konoha. Kakashi growled something under his breath as he made his way towards the cell. Tsunade had promised him the first interrogation of Himura Utake and he was sure as hell going to act on that promise.
He stopped outside of Cell Number 9, his eyes narrowing for a second. Himura Utake was resting against the back wall, that wicked smirk still plastered to his face. His armor had been sent to some researchers for examination, leaving him in a pair of ripped black pants and a brown shirt. Neji's Sixty-Four Palms had taken effect while Kakashi had been escorting the lord to his cell, rendering the man unable to use his arms or his legs. Opening the door, Kakashi stepped inside, trying to keep his own face free of emotion.
"So, you're the little Ookami bitch's man?" Himura asked.
"If you're talking about Iruka, then yes," Kakashi said.
He rested his back on the wall and crossed his ankles. Folding his arms over his chest, Kakashi tried to appear as calm and cold as possible.
"Have you enjoyed having him back yet?" the lord asked.
"His company? Yes," Kakashi answered.
"So you haven't pounded into him yet. That's a shame," Himura sighed, shrugging.
"And why is that?" the Jounin asked.
"I was hoping to have more Ookami pelts in the future. I haven't killed one in over eight years and it's draining my coffers."
He could tell that the lord was mocking him, but the well-trained Jounin, a former member of ANBU, knew how to handle a situation like this. Kakashi fought down his rage, taking a deep breath to steady himself. However, he also knew that his cool attitude wasn't going to last for long. It never had whenever Iruka was the topic at hand.
"Sorry to tell you, Himura, but my kids won't be used for your target practice," he said rather seriously. "I rather like them with fur."
Kakashi smiled inwardly at the thought of a group of wolf pups running around in the backyard of their home.
"Really? Cause I hate them with it. I prefer it hanging up on my wall," Himura said, his voice cold.
"Well, since you're not going to be hunting at all any more, I suggest that you find a new hobby," Kakashi growled, his patience finally breaking. "Now-"
He smiled under his mask, eyes crinkling.
"-How about we get on with the main reason you're here? Tsunade gave me about a half hour or so before the real torturers get here."
"You're going to torture me?" Himura asked.
"Yep, I am. All of the shit you've done to my family is finally going to be paid back in full," the Jounin said as he pulled a kunai out of his weapon's pouch.
Naruto panicked when he saw the utter chaos that was concentrated around the Hatake compound. Neighbors stood out in the center of the street, whispering to themselves and throwing strange glances in the direction of Kakashi and Iruka's house. Speeding up to a run, Naruto wound through the pack of people, rushing over to where Sai stood.
"What's going on?" Naruto asked.
His dark-haired friend gave him a slightly saddened look, a surprise to Naruto and anyone else who had ever known the former ROOT member.
"One of Himura's men showed up and tried to take out Iruka. The kid managed to escape while the sensei fought their attacker off, but there was another one waiting outside," he said.
His voice dropped to a whisper as he added, "The kid killed the second guy."
"Wait, Shinobu-"
Without saying anything else, Naruto dashed off towards the house. He leapt up onto the front porch without ever touching the stairs, throwing the inspectors who stood at the door aside. As he passed the kitchen, Naruto glanced over his shoulder. He stopped in his tracks and turned back to look closer. Sheets of ice covered everything: the walls, the counters, the cabinets, even the table. Splatters of blood dotted the room. Water from the melting ice dripped from the frozen objects, forming several puddles on the wood floor.
"Holy shit," the blond murmured to himself.
Quickly, he turned away and headed for the bedrooms. Hearing whispers coming from Shinobu's room, the jinchuuriki quietly slid the door open, peaking inside. Iruka sat on the floor, his back resting against the side of Shinobu's bed. He was in his half-human form and his clawed hands were wrapped tightly around his son. Naruto was relieved to see that there were no visible wounds on his favorite teacher. Shinobu, also in his half-human form, sat on Iruka's lap, his cheek resting against his father's chest. Their tails were intertwined like the symbol of yin and yang, black and white spiraled around each other.
"Come on in, Naruto," Iruka said quietly as he stroked Shinobu's white hair.
Shinobu looked up as the blond slid the door closed behind him and came over to sit down beside Iruka. The small boy's cheeks were bright read and his eyes were puffy from crying. He clutched the front of Iruka's dark shirt tightly.
"How are you, brat?" Naruto asked, trying to cheer the boy up.
Sniffling, Shinobu let go of his father's shirt, wiping at his nose with the back of his hand. He silently got up from Iruka's lap and crawled into Naruto's, his white tail still interwoven with his father's.
"I meant to hurt him, but not kill him," the small boy murmured. "He was just so scary."
Naruto hugged the boy close, smiling down at him.
"It's alright. You probably just lost control. I've done it before too and let me tell you, when I lose control, it does a whole lot more damage than what you did," the jinchuuriki said.
"But I killed someone. That's bad, isn't it?" Shinobu asked.
"Yes, it is, but that man shouldn't have come after you in the first place. A good boy such as yourself shouldn't need to be afraid of anyone," Naruto said.
He thought back to his own wretched childhood where he'd been chased and attacked more times than he could count.
"No one's going to be mad at me?" Shinobu asked.
Both Naruto and Iruka shook their heads.
"We'll just have to focus on your training a little more," the former teacher said somewhat sadly.
Shinobu looked down at his feet, still unsure. He crinkled his bare toes, curling them as tightly against his feet as he could.
"Chichi won't be mad at me?" he finally asked quietly.
Iruka felt his heart constrict in his chest. He was well aware of Kakashi's past as a highly trained ANBU assassin, having had to awaken him from many a nightmare in the past. Although the Jounin hadn't given them many solid details about his time there, Iruka knew that it was painful for his lover to think back to those days. He also knew that Kakashi didn't want his son's childhood to be anything like this own. For him to hear that Shinobu had killed his first man at the age of five would come as a harsh blow to the Jounin's dream.
"No, he won't be. In fact, he'll probably be able to help you with your training more than I will. You take after him in that regard," Iruka sighed.
The small child in Naruto's lap nodded and reached out for his father. Iruka took his son in his arms so the boy could wrap his around Iruka's neck, squeezing tightly. Slowly and softly, the former teacher trailed his fingers up and down his son's back. Shinobu giggled slightly as Iruka tickled his back.
"Just try not to think about it for now," Iruka said, kissing his son on his cheek. "It'll all be sorted out soon."
Preview: Undecided as to this point. Neji will probably wake up. Tsunade will probably hear about what happened with Shinobu and Iruka. There may or may not be a little bit of KankuroxKiba. Yeah, still up in the air on the next chapter. It should be coming either later today or tomorrow.