The sun rose as quickly as it had set. A limpid ball of orange light set in a band of gold, brightening and blending with, the dark blue sky.
"Pretty isn't it?" Kakashi said, leaning over to brush a tangled dark strand away from Iruka's face.
"Mmmm." He agreed opening his eyes and wondering, as he often did, just how Kakashi could tell the exact moment he woke up. "Yes, it's called a green dawn. I've heard of them but never seen one before, they're quite rare. It's supposed to be the most beautiful sky you'll ever see."
"Think it is?"
Iruka sighed. "Maybe." From where he was lying the beauty of nature took second place. It didn't fill his heart with warmth and make his skin glow the way the lean muscular torso and fine-featured face above him did. "But I wouldn't really know."
He sat up and brushed a hand over the other man's silver hair, tinted pink with red dust. Too dusty and thick to run his fingers through the way he wanted too. "We still have a lot of skys to see together and I won't know which is the best until we've seen the all." He smiled shyly and closed his eyes, leaning in to claim a kiss. Then he realised something.
"Kakashi, you're sitting up!"
The copy nin grinned widely, showing his even white teeth. "My, you're quick today aren't you Iruka-sensei?
"Can you stand?"
The grin became a more subdued smile and the shaggy head shook slowly. "Not without a lot of support. Maybe by tommorrow. You were good for me last night, released some energy and made me sleep the way I needed too."
Iruka climbed onto Kakashi's lap, hooking his legs behind him and wrapping his arms around his back so that their firm bellies were pressed together. There was laughter dancing in his eyes. "It's my duty to help another Konoha shinobi."
This time he did kiss him. Nipping his lips softly then pressing forward with his tongue into the other's eager mouth, running it along the edge of his teeth then sucking and licking. Tussling with the tongue already there as if he was trying to wrestle it into submission, and making saliva flow like precious water into their dry mouths. Kakashi let out a long breath then responded fiercely. Gripping Iruka's shoulders from behind, forcing them together with unexpected strength. Desperate to taste this man again, know his sweetness and feed on it greedily. It was one helluva good kiss.
They were both still naked and Iruka could feel Kakashi hardening into the space between his thighs, while becoming aware of the fire ignited in his own groin. His lips curved into a smile and he pulled away and started to get up, flushed, heart pounding.
"Looks like you're hungry. I'll get us some food."
Kakashi pulled him back down. "Not yet." The copy nin's voice was low and gruff. He tightened the clinch, drooping his head forward. "Just let me hold you for a while."
By the time they parted the green had faded from the sky, leaving the more conventional pink and grey of a desert dawn. Iruka got some rations and a carafe of water from where he'd left them.
He was surprised at how unselfconscious he felt, walking around naked. Usually the only time he wanted to be completely nude was in bed, with Kakashi, with Kakashi's hands and body on him. Otherwise it made him feel slightly indecent, even in his own home behind closed curtains. But it was different here, in this wild desolate place, far from any human habitation. For just this brief time they were at one with nature, in their natural state. And despite the dire circumstances that had brought them here, he cherished it.
"How are we doing?" Kakashi asked as he sat back down.
"Enough food to get by. It's water that's the problem. Obviously it drains from the mountains into an aquifer under the desert but it's all tainted with these minerals. Not much chance of finding anything fresh." He caught a look in Kakashi's eye. Suddenly the kiss made sense.
"Hell no!" We've already been through this. I'm not fucking leaving you."
The man in question kissed Iruka's shoulder then started to trace lazy circles on his back with the palm of his hand. Trying to release the tension. "It's not just about us anymore, I told you yesterday. You have to get this information back home, hundreds of lives could be at stake."
Iruka turned to face him, eyes wide, deadly serious. "That's why we have to go together. You're wrong this time Kakashi. I can run and fight the way you can't right now, but I damn well couldn't have got this far without you. I'm not a genius. I wouldn't have seen the significance of them using a vulture to track me, I wouldn't have noticed that their weapons were wrong and there's just no way in the world I could have found that scroll."
He swept his hand in the direction of the desert horizon. "As you said, this is jounin's work. If you force me to run off there on my own I don't have a hope in hell of getting that scroll to Konoha. They'll just track me down the way they did twice already."
Kakashi looked at him stony-faced then cracked a thin smile. "And you claim you're not a genius. Help me to get dressed."
Neither of them knew the area well, no sane person would want to. But Kakashi had been reconnoitering in the marshes for nearly two weeks and he'd mentally copied every map in Konoha long ago. Iruka, of course, taught this stuff. So in theory they should both have a pretty good idea of where they were and where to go. But a map in a classroom and a vast stretch of open desert in Wind Country were very different, when you were out there, with the wind swept sand scouring your skin.
Iruka drew a rough map in the sand with the tip of a kunai and they planned their route. They would track north along the border with Stone Country then south to Fire Country through Hidden Grass. Iruka looked at the distances involved with dismay.
"It's not so bad." Kakashi assured him. We should find some water once we get close to Hidden Rain. There is a reason it's called Rain."
Unconciously Iruka stabbed the tip of his weapon repeatedly into the middle of the outline for Stone Country. "Couldn't we just cut through Rain Country back home? It would take a day off our journey."
Kakashi shook his head. "Too mountainous. There's no way you can carry me over that kind of terrain."
Iruka knew that it was true. But he also knew how easily the other man, when he was at full strength, could have carried him.
By directing chakra into the sand, Iruka soon detected the flow of water beneath it. Water was something he understood. He helped Kakashi to climb onto his back, he could hold on by himself now and didn't need to be secured with the blanket. That had been packed with their supplies in Irukas small pack, which Kakashi wore. It was easier that way and he was strong enough now that its weight wasn't a problem.
They followed the path of the underground river. Starting early so that they would reach the cover of trees, where it seeped through to the surface, before the sun became too hot. It should have been a lot easier than the previous days trek a cross the hot sand. And in many ways it was, but Iruka's clothes were stiff where they had dried in the dry desert air, and crusted with salts from the water, and with sand from, well everywhere. After less than an hour they were chafing badly. After two hours he was in real pain. He felt foolish. He was a Konoha shinobi, and he was being worn down by uncomfortable clothes! Fortunately he saw the outline of trees on the horizon that marked the true beginning of the marshy area. Another hour and he would be able to rest.
This was a true marsh. Unlike the little oasis of the previous night with its deep pool and sandy banks, the water here was inches deep and the ground soft and spongy. Covered in coarse grass and releasing foul rotten odours as he stepped on it. The extra weight he was carrying made Iruka sink up to his calves. When he took a step the sticky mud sucked off a sandal, making him stagger to regain his footing.
"This is going to be a problem, I can hardly walk much less run."
Kakashi slid from his back and stood shakily, leaning his weight against him. "We'll take a break, then cut across to the other side. The ground might be firmer closer to the mountains."
It was not a refreshing respite. Iruka sat Kakshi against one of the larger trees, which was still pitifully scrawny, by the standards of anyone who had grown up surrounded by forest. Then sat beside him in the rank water. The whole area was buzzing with insects that formed clouds around their heads. Forcing them to flap and swat constantly or be bitten to pieces.
"Argh let's get out of here I can't stand it!" Iruka gasped as he swallowed his last mouthful of food. Then he froze. A glance at Kakashi told him that he had heard too. Men, five or six of them, headed towards them through the marsh.
"They've found us?" Iruka whispered.
Kakashi shook his head. "Not ninja's. Even Naruto has better stealth."
Almost immediately he was contradicted by a shuriken slamming into the tree next to him. Whoever they were they moved fast. Returning a shuriken of his own, Iruka hastily formed the necessary seals then jutsued through the water, at least he was in his element here, and appeared behind them. Leaving four water clones on the ground, he hopped up into a tree. A kunai to the throat killed the closest man, while one of his clones took out another.
He was feeling in control, just take it slowly. But then he saw that one of them had turned towards Kakashi. Cold sweat sprinkled his temples and the back of his neck. If only he'd had a concealment jutsu to hide the man with, but he hadn't expected to need one on a simple message run to an ally. Leaping from the tree he landed between the copy nin and the threat, while one of his clones moved in from the other side. The man was a giant. Nearly eight feet tall even without the ox horns on his mask. And he had an ox skin, complete with tail, draped over his back. It was a fitting image, a great black ox.
Iruka stole a look back to Kakashi, who had his hands half formed into the beginning of a seal. He wanted to scream at him to not do anything stupid. He could handle this. Or could he? The ox man had just pulled out a four-foot long sword with a curved double pointed blade. Now that was not a typical ninja weapon. Iruka saw the giant glance from him to his clone, as if deciding which one to strike. He knew that he could slip back into the water in an instant, but that would leave Kakashi unprotected, it wasn't an option.
The huge man raised his sword. Iruka gathered chakra to block or dodge. With a bellow that made every bird for miles take flight the masked man sliced clean through the clone. The two halves fell away from each other, turned back into water and rained down onto the ground. By now Iruka had three shuriken in his hand and was ready to leap. This giant ox wasn't so scary, he was strong but he was slow. But big men like this could take a lot of damage, and he wasn't the only one he had to worry about.
As if on cue a kunai zipped towards him, he dodged it easily, and the second, but the third anticipated his move and sliced the muscle of his upper left arm. They were good fighters, but they didn't know any jutsus. He directed more of his energy back to his clones to keep them busy, it was a strain but he wouldn't need to keep it up for long. The black ox raised his sword above him and looked ready to charge. Iruka flashed through the seals for his water snake jutsu and a transparent reptile coiled up from the swamp and around the masked man, stopping him in his tracks. That would slow him down even more. Now to finish off the others.
Then the giant jutsued. Iruka felt the distinctive sparkle of chakra and all of his clones and the water snake melted into the ground. A cancellation jutsu! But how did he do it? The huge man still had his huge sword in his right hand. There was no way he could have fashioned seals.
Iruka didn't have time to worry right now, that same huge sword was swinging towards his head. He leaped over the black ox, pulled his own sword from its place on his back and drove it hard into the giant's spine. The massive body folded forward onto its self then fell into the shallow water with a resounding plunk. Yep, strong but slow.
Now for the other three. They triangulated around him, bristling with kunais and shurikens. He shot high into the air, boosted by a column of water. Then, as the water crashed back forcing his enemies off balance, he picked then off one at a time using the shurikens still in his hand. Hitting each one neatly between the eyes, before landing in a crouch in the middle again. Now if they had been real ninjas with real ninja headbands that wouldn't have happened.
Without the power of his jutsus to hold him he started sinking into the mud. Squelching and slooshing, he made his way back to Kakashi and grabbed his hands.
"What the hell do you think you're doing making seals. If you start using ninjitsu you'll never get your chakra back where it needs to be and I'll be carrying you for weeks. I'll get bad knees and varicose veins…"
Kakashi laughed and pulled the hands down, making Iruka fall forward onto him. "I was just getting ready to make a little mist, in case you needed it. You always were good in mist."
"But I didn't need it."
"No, and I didn't do it. I'm not a fool, I know what I'm doing."
Iruka reddened and looked down at the mud he was kneeling in. "I'm sorry, I didn't… I shouldn't…" He looked up again sadly. "I just hate seeing you so weak."
Kakashi pushed Iruka's ragged, untied hair back from his face and looked into his soft brown eyes. "And I hate being weak, but I love seeing you strong." He shifted his attention to the carnage in front of them. "So these must be some of Itachi's men, if it is Itachi."
"Suppose so. As you said, riffraff, easy enough to take down. But it looks as if he's given them some ninja training."
"Yes and that jutsu was interesting, no seals."
"So you saw, well of course you saw. How do you think he did it?"
"He put his left hand under his cloak then poof! That's all I could see, without the eye…"
Iruka went over to the man's body and folded back the ox skin. There were a number of pouches sewn inside it. He patted them down and took out a shiny iridescent ball, a little smaller than his fist.
He held it up for the other man to see. "Remember you said they threw jutsus at you, what exactly did you mean?"
Kakashi rubbed at his sharigan, under the headband. "That's the impression that I got, that they literally threw them, like… like balls."
Their eyes met in silent understanding. Iruka threw the ball at a tree twenty feet away. It instantly burst into flames and burned to ash in a matter of seconds.
"Iruka-sensei, and you said you were no good at fire jutsus."
"So these are jutsus for people who can't do jutsus."
"Yes, a bit like our scrolls except these seem to have the chakra already sealed inside them. They don't need to be activated. Even an ordinary bandit can use them and that makes these 'riffraff' very dangerous."
It was one more problem that Iruka just did not need. "They're faster than I am too, except if I use chakra."
Kakashi stared at him with genuine surprise. "You didn't notice? Look at their feet."
He looked down at the giant's shoes. They had large flat oval paddles buckled onto them. Iruka grinned then took them off and strapped them to his own feet. They spread his weight like snowshoes, stopping him from sinking into the mud.
"Yes! Now I can walk. And both of us together probably weigh less than he did. Let's get moving and away from these damn flies."
"We can try. The problem with flies is that no matter how many you kill there are always just as many out there waiting to bite you."
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Oro-sama, for unedited love scenes try linking to:- http:slash slash www dot livejournal dot com slash users slash tampoposensei slash (no spaces) This page doesn't support links. I've started posting them there. But don't get your hopes too high, it's not that different.