'Take this to the prince. Don't stop until to reach the palace.' Kakashi pushed a scroll into a masked anbu's hand who nodded with a quick 'yes, taichou,' and vanished into the night.

He then proceeded to scan the area from where he was crouched on the branch of thick tree with his sharingan. Another anbu emerged from the trunk and squatted next to him.

'Five teams of three, senpai.' The anbu informed him.

Kakashi nodded. 'They're beyond the borders for now.' He deactivated his sharingan.

'What are your orders, senpai?' The anbu asked, ready on his toes.

'We wait.' Kakashi put his anbu mask on. 'they won't move tonight.'

'Yes, senpai.' The anbu obeyed and relaxed his position on the branch. After years of working under the man, he had learnt to have blind trust in his senpai's decisions in the field.

'I've called for back up. We'll ready for them when they make a move tomorrow night.'

The anbu nodded. Which meant that they wouldn't sleep tonight. They had to keep watch.

Kakashi jumped onto another branch of the same tree and leaned his back against the trunk. The anbu did the same. They needed their energy for tomorrow.

'By the way, senpai.' The anbu perked up having remembered something.

'hmm.'

'I noticed you weren't in a good mood today.' Kakashi could hear the grin in his Kouhai's voice.

'I would be in a better mood if you hadn't interrupted.' Kakashi said in bored voice.

'Common Senpai.' The anbu scratched the back of his head. 'I had orders.'

'hm'

'But I was surprised to find Iruka sensei there.' He shook his head. 'Took you guys long enough, huh. Genma-senpai owes me 20 bucks now.'

'Tenzou.'

'Yes, senpai?'

'I think you might need to check the borders again.'

'But I only just-'

'Are you refusing?'

At that, the anbu quickly straightened up with a 'I'll be right back Senpai.' And melted himself into the trunk of the tree.

—

Iruka woke up in the dead of the night to find a bloodied Kakashi crouching on his window sill. He sat frozen on his bed, half wondering if he had been dreaming. He willed himself to keep calm and forced himself out of his stupor to rush over to the jounin.

'Kakashi…' He called softly as he reached for him, failing to hide the tremble in his voice. Kakashi merely stepped into the room and slouched heavily against the smaller man. Iruka instantly wrapped his arms around his waist to stop him from falling. Not being able to bear the weight, he pushed him against the wall and held him there.

He looked up. Kakashi hung his head and stared vacantly at the floor. His clothes were drenched in blood and had suffered numerous rips and tears. The white bandage that was wrapped around his left arm to cover a wound was soaked in blood, rendering it useless. His hair was covered in dry blood and soot, as was his anbu mask that was pushed to the side of his head.

Iruka was didn't know what to do, but he knew he had to get him cleaned first.

'Kakashi.' He said softly 'Can you walk till the bath?'

Kakashi gave a weak nod.

'Okay, common, lean on me.'

With great difficulty, he managed to help the jounin into his private bath. Uchiha baths were natural onsens, so thankfully there was constant hot water available all the time. He looked around for a stool, and when he couldn't find one he sat Kakashi on the floor, his back leaning against the hot stone wall.

He removed both his masks, dropping them into a bucket, and carefully removed his clothes, sandals and bandages. He winced as peeled his clothes off in some areas where the fabric stuck to the cuts and wounds. Once completely bare, Iruka grabbed a bucket, filled it with water from the onsen bath and gently started to rinse his hair and body with the water. All the while, the jounin did not make a sound or any movement to show any sign of discomfort.

He felt his cheeks flushed at the sight of the exposed jounin before him and kept his eyes above Kakashi's waist. Which still did very little to stop his cheeks from burning as the jounin's solid chest was quite a sight too.

Iruka shook his head and mentally scolded himself. He should be ashamed of himself. Kakashi was wounded and in pain. He needed his help. He felt the jounin twitch when his hand hovered over the deep gash on his arm that had previously been covered by the blood soaked bandage, now thrown in the bucket.

'Am I hurting you?' Iruka asked worriedly. The jounin's head gave a slight shake.

After He was rinsed of all the dried blood, Iruka pushed the empty bucket away and braced himself to lift the jounin. When he could barely make the jounin budge he softly whispered, 'Kakashi, I need you to stand up, okay?'

Kakashi heaved himself up and was guided by Iruka to the bath. Iruka lowered Kakashi into the hot water and sat him down. He sat on the marble behind Kakashi's head, dipping his legs on either side of Kakashi's shoulder.

Kakashi sighed deeply, and finally closing his eyes, dropped his back on Iruka's lap. Iruka swept the wet hair from his face and started running his fingers through his hair in a soothing manner.

'Okaeri.'

—

In the morning, the jounin was gone. Iruka had woken up to an empty bed with no sign of his visitor. When a maid had knocked on his door to bring him his morning tea, he had rushed into his bath to hide Kakashi's belongings. The bath was empty, the two buckets empty and clean.

'Come in.' Iruka called as he walked back into his room, thoroughly confused.

Had he dreamt it all?

He sat on his bed and accepted the tea that was handed to him by the maid with a 'thank you'.

He sipped his tea as he looked around his room. The floor was clean, his window sill had no blood or mud. He frowned.

Was it really just a dream?

'Iruka-sama, should I take this for washing?'

'Hmm?' Iruka glanced at the maid who was picking up a white cotton robe from the foot of his bed. It was his robe. His robe that he had wrapped Kakashi in before tucking him in his bed. He felt a sense of relief wash over him.

It wasn't was dream.

Kakashi was home.

'No.' Iruka said, trying to hide his small behind his teacup. 'You can leave it there, thank you.'

—

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