Soon the rough stony ground gave way to desert. A seemingly endless expanse of coarse red sand. By midmorning it would be burning hot and scoured by little dust eddies, stirred by the rising thermals, that threw grit into the eyes and mouth of anyone damn fool enough to try crossing it.
Iruka had planned to travel at night. He'd memorised his course plotted by stars, taken enough water for three days and expected to be back in the Leaf Country by two. But that was before the ambush by Stone and before Kakashi. Now he'd be running through the heat of the day, had only the blazing sun to steer by, water for two days if they were careful and he'd be lucky to get there in three.
But it wasn't hopeless. There was an oasis of sorts, a spring fed pool of the salty mineral water that littered parts of the desert with marshland. It was due east by his reckoning, if he could reach it by early afternoon and sleep in the shade until sundown, then he'd be able to get back on track and cover the rest of Sand Country in the coolness of night.
It didn't take long for Iruka to realise that he was being optimistic. Kakashi was heavier than he looked, and worse, carrying him shifted his balance making it hard to run on the loose sand. By noon he could go no further and there was no sign of the clump of trees he'd been scanning the bright horizon for.
He lowered himself to his hands and knees and gently rolled the sleeping burden off his back. By anchoring the blanket with stones and propping it at the front with his sword, he made a rough sun canopy over Kakashi then crept in beside him. Moments later he too was asleep.
He was woken by a hand being clamped over his mouth. With a flick of his head Kakashi indicated for him to look out into the sunlight. Far far away he could just make out some wavering dark blips against the sky. Now Iruka was glad that they'd traveled through the day. The constantly shifting sand will have hidden his tracks in a way that wouldn't have happened in the still of night.
"Who?" Iruka whispered.
"Not Sand. They don't move like that in the desert."
Iruka was amazed, Kakashi could tell at this distance? "Do you think they're the one's that, you know, attacked you?"
The silver head shook slowly. "No idea, but they haven't found us yet, they're headed to far to the north."
"Towards Hidden Stone?"
As they watched a black ball fell from the sky and landed on one of the figures, making it look as if it had two heads.
"Damn they're using birds."
"Hawks?'
"No, too big. More like eagles. Maybe vultures. That would make sense, they can live in Stone Country and the desert and they are one of the few birds with a good sense of smell."
"For tracking?"
"Yeah, but they can't match dogs. Doubt if they can pick out individuals and they'd be useless on the ground, under trees."
The bird took flight again and to their horror, headed straight towards where they were lying. Two of the figures split off from the group to follow.
Iruka knew what he had to do.
"Ok I'll draw them off. If you're right and they're going by smell they should head right to me. I've been running in the hot sun all day. Just lie here and don't move. If I'm not back by… well if I'm not back, then try to get to the spring as soon as you can. And stay under the trees. They'll send someone out looking for me in a couple of days."
He pulled his knees under him and was about to crawl out of their rough shelter when Kakashi pulled him back.
Iruka was surprised at how weak the hug was considering the passion he felt behind it. He closed the distance between them and returned it with a desperate kiss, pouring all his love into this strongest of men who was, right now, so terribly frail. As he pulled away he saw Kakashi's uncovered eye, dark and shining with an unshed tear. His voice was choked with emotion.
"Be careful."
Blinking the tears from his own eyes, there'd be time to cry over this later, he hoped, Iruka grabbed his sword. The blanket collapsed leaving a rough mound similar to the others on the desert floor. He quickly kicked a dusting of sand over it to complete the camouflage then dropped to the ground and crawled towards the approaching figures.
Soon he was able to see them quite clearly. Well before they were even aware of him, huddled into the hollows of the wind-drifted sand. And they were definitely Hidden Stone Ninjas. A man and a woman striding purposefully through the shimmering heat. Kakashi had been right, they didn't move like Sand. Nor like ninjas of hidden leaf, like him. He was raised in the forest and had learned almost from birth to hide in the shadows of trees, shifting with them, dancing and swaying in dappled sunlight. He was trained to fight in the three dimensions of the forest and its canopy, but here he was in open ground, like Stone Country. No shadows to hide in, no treetops to leap from. No wonder Stone shinobis were always so direct and fearless, they weren't used to having a choice.
The vulture's lazy circles in the sky were drifting unmistakably in his direction, he didn't have time to waste. Taking an attack stance he henged into the appearance of a rough red boulder. It didn't belong in this area of pebbles and sand and wouldn't have fooled Sand, who knew the desert, but it might just fool Stone, who knew only stones.
The bird closed in hanging above him, a looming presence, looking far too big to just float there unsupported. With a single flap of its wings it halved the distance between them to less than ten feet. Now it looked less like a bird than a winged creature from another age, or from a nightmare. It landed on his shoulder and arm, digging its huge talons through his skin and drawing out eight points of blood. The vulture noticed, reacting to the smell, but was fooled by the jutsu and soon relaxed and started picking at its feathers. With a three inch curved beak designed to rip flesh from bone.
The Stone shinobi was bristling with expectation. He'd seen the boulder, Leaf nins attacked from shadows and there was only one shadow for miles around. Iruka grinned in anticipation. Ok if that's where he wanted him to be then that's where he'd find him. The vulture shifted its position and saw his clone, shuriken in hand. It called a warning to its handlers, a high pitched mew, better suited to a fluffy kitten than this ugly scavenger. Iruka caught the man's acknowledgement, a bare twitch in the chakra bearing down on him.
In two leaps the Stone nin was three feet in front of him and plunging a dagger into the back of his clone's neck. Iruka broke the henge. The startled vulture soared into the sky as he sliced off the man's head and beheaded his own clone in a single swipe. The Stone shinobi collasped into a lifeless heap and his clone poofed out of existence, while he leapt to what he hoped was, a defensible distance behind the konoichi. At least he'd evened the odds.
Or maybe not.
As soon as she turned towards him he knew just how outclassed he was. Definitely a jounin. Not a genius elite like Kakashi, she wouldn't last a minute against the copy nin's formidable strength. But the kind of hardworking highly trained jounin that he might have had a chance of becoming, if his life had taken that path. And there was the bird too, he remembered as he dodged its stoop. It was still two against one.
He had no more tricks. Water jutsus were his strength but there was no water here. Within seconds she had him on the run, dodging attacks, slashing at clones, barely able to keep one step ahead. He'd only last minutes at this rate. He sent two of his own clones circling towards her from opposite directions. She wouldn't be fooled for a moment but she couldn't ignore the danger either and it would at least give him time to catch his breath.
One of his clones disappeared, which was strange because he hadn't felt a drop in chakra as it 'died'. Then it reappeared from thin air seconds later. She dispatched it at once with a blow from her spear-like weapon. He leapt away again and threw two shuriken, mildly surprised when she returned none of her own. Clearly she was in no hurry, she was enjoying the chase. The vulture fell out of the sky towards him again. He ducked and slashed at it with his sword, forcing it back up without shredding anything more serious than his hair tie.
Then as Iruka flicked his hair from his eyes he saw what had been in plain sight the whole time. Water, shimmering pools, but they weren't water they were heat mirages. Suddenly he realised what had happened to his clone, the whole area was a natural hall of mirrors. It had vanished behind a bend in the light, the same kind that was causing these silvery illusions. As the intense afternoon desert heat caused ripples and fluctuations in the air, it created distortions in the light passing through it. Distortions he could hide in, like the shadows and shimmers on the forest floor. He just had to read them.
He sent a volley of shuriken's against the bird that was bearing down on him again, and spinning off three clones to continue his attack, he slipped into a silvery plume of hot air. The whole world vanished into shining mist. It's just like being underwater. Iruka told himself. Water I can breath. Now all he had to do was get close enough for a kill before she'd destroyed all the clones and came looking for the original.
Tracking the konoichi by her chakra, as long as he couldn't see her then she couldn't see him, he sunk to his belly and crawled forward into a pool of light. From there he leapt into another column, one that swirled this time. He was close but running out of time, two of the clones were already gone. A final lunge into a dome of rising air. Then he hurled himself forward and the world blinked back into view. She was two feet in front of him, weapon raised. He stabbed his sword through her heart and down into a lung, at the very same instant that she launched her spear over his shoulder at the last of his clones.
The ground came up to meet him as he finally allowed his legs to fold and sat down, head between his knees, shivering and sweating with heat exhaustion. There was room for only one thought in his sun addled brain. Kakashi, I must get back while I can still find him. He dragged himself to his feet and staggered back towards where he had left the other man. Overhead the vulture flew one more lazy circle then headed north.
It had been less than an hour since he'd left Kakashi, hidden by the blanket, but the surface of the sand was as fluid as the surface of the ocean. The little furrows and ridges changed even as he watched them. He wasn't even sure that he was in the right place. In desperation he fell to his knees and started clawing at the larger mounds. Then he noticed a bump that didn't quite fit in with the others. It was a little larger and at a slightly different angle. He ran over to it and scraped at the surface. Red sand was covering grey wool. With a silent prayer of thanks he found an edge and peeled it back, to reveal a silver haired man, sleeping peacefully. Well Hatake Kakashi, you are one cool customer. Whenever you're in a battle I'm shitting bricks the whole time and here you are fast asleep.
The copy nin opened his eyes and saw Umino Iruka sitting beside him. Tangled sweaty hair blowing in the hot breeze, splattered with gore, crusted with sand and grinning like an idiot. It was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
He pulled himself onto one elbow and grinned back. "So you got them, knew you would."
Iruka nodded. "Except the bird, that got away."
"So did they have anything on them?"
Iruka looked confused. "What… what do you mean on them Kakashi?"
"Please don't tell me that you forgot to search their bodies."
The disbelief on the copy nin's unmasked face made him feel five years old.
Iruka stuttered. "I… I didn't forget, I didn't know I was supposed to. I just wanted to get back here in case you were suffocating under the sand, or dying from heat, or I couldn't find you again." His face was glowing red.
Kakashi smiled benevolently. "Iruka come closer."
"But… but I'm all disgusting. Sweaty and bloody and dirty…"
"You're never disgusting to me Iruka. As if I haven't ever come home covered in someone else's blood and guts. Now come here so that I can kiss you."
Still blushing the teacher snuggled next to him, closing his eyes against the constant assault of wind-blown sand. Parched lips found parched lips. Dry gritty tongues caressed each other painfully. It was the sweetest kiss Iruka could remember.
Kakashi brushed the matted hair out of his eyes and whispered in his ear. "Now take me back there and we'll see what we can find. We have to find out what Stone ninjas are doing here and why. And we won't find any clues unless we look for them."