Homecoming
by Nezuko, Prince of Rats
This is a work of derivative fiction based on "Naruto" by Kishimoto Masashi. The characters and the world in which they live are the property of Kishimoto-sensei.
Chapter 2: "No Medics"
Naruto ran towards the center of Konoha as fast as he had ever moved in his life. 'Where would Tsunade be at this time of morning? In bed? No, she gets up early. Her office? No, she hates her office. The hospital, yeah that's it!' He turned a corner and banked off the awning of a closed dress shop, bounding towards the rooftops to take a more direct route to the medical center.
When he reached his destination he dashed through the emergency entrance without even pausing to glance at the guard posted there.
"Wait, Uzumaki-san! Where are you..." The stocky kunoichi jumped in front of the frantic blond, blocking his path.
"No time! Gotta get the old lady! Kakashi-sensei! Iruka-sensei said get her! Bleeding bad!" Naruto spewed at the uncomprehending chuunin.
When she didn't immediately offer Naruto Tsunade's whereabouts, he glared at her. His recent growth made him a formidable-looking opponent, tall, muscular and bristling with anxious chakra.
"Where is she? Hokage-baba? Sensei needs her now!"
"Uh, hang on, Uzumaki-san. She's treating an emergency." The guard held up a nervous hand.
Naruto would have knocked her to the ground if he hadn't spotted a pink-haired young medic-nin to accost instead.
"Oi, Sakura-chan! Get Tsunade-baba!"
"Naruto?" Sakura was astonished to see her teammate at the hospital so early. "What's wrong?"
"Dammit! Hurry Sakura! Kakashi's dying and Genma did something and Iruka's got blood everywhere and it's not a hangover and where the hell is Tsunade?" Naruto was nearly apoplectic at this point.
"D-did you say Genma-san?" Sakura looked stunned.
Naruto was about to grab the front of Sakura's dress and force her to produce her mentor when a pair of large hands clapped down on Naruto's shoulders and spun him around to face the hugest, scariest jounin in Konoha, the interrogation specialist, Morino Ibiki.
"What were you just saying about Kakashi-san and Genma-san, Uzumaki?" Ibiki's scarred face filled Naruto's vision, his dark eyes locked with Naruto's blue ones. The chakra the man just barely kept in check was enough to intimidate all but the most stalwart under the best of circumstances.
"I... I was..." Naruto faltered.
"I'm not trying to scare you, Uzumaki-kun. Just slow down and tell me what's got you so upset." Ibiki's voice rumbled over Naruto.
Naruto swallowed and tried again to explain his urgent need for Tsunade's assistance at Iruka's house. He managed to choke out a semi-coherent version of the morning's events as he had so far experienced them, still baffled as to Genma's part in the story, but Ibiki and Sakura seemed to have an idea about that. He was about to break down in tears and beg the two of them to please get Tsunade and go help Kakashi-sensei, when the Hokage herself appeared.
"Hokage-sama, we've located Kakashi, and he..." Ibiki reported.
"Yes, I heard the last part of his story." Tsunade cut him off with a raised hand, then flicked worried eyes at the door she had just emerged from. "Sakura, you stay with Genma, Shizune will help you."
"But I, Tsunade-san I..." Sakura started, her green eyes filled with tension.
"I have every confidence in you, Sakura-kun."
"No, it's not that! Kakashi's my sensei and I..."
"Stop it! You are needed here." The fifth Hokage's voice was sharp and commanding.
"Could you please just quit fighting and come on!" Naruto grabbed for Tsunade's arm, but was quickly restrained by Ibiki.
"For once I agree with you, Naruto." Tsunade gave Sakura a final silent order with her eyes, then turned for the door. "Ibiki, you come too, I'm concerned about what we're going to find."
ooo ooo ooo
Kakashi awoke in a semi-dark room in a hospital bed, not yet quite in his body so not really in pain, and suffering from a concussion so unaware of recent events. He would have been more alarmed at his unfamiliar surroundings but for the reassuring sight of Iruka's sleeping face only inches from his own. The dark-haired chuunin was curled up on his side in a lounge chair, wearing a dark sweatshirt marked, "ANBU", and covered by a green and white hospital blanket. His face looked pale, with dark circles under the eyes, and his hair was greasy and unkempt, spilling untidily out of his usual ponytail. His chin was shadowed by two days growth of stubble.
Kakashi reached out a thumb to brush a strand of saliva away from the corner of Iruka's slack mouth, but the movement sent a surprising pain through his chest and stomach, and he found his arm's motion was restricted by IV tubing. Hand stopped in midair, Kakashi stared at the tubes for a minute, trying to figure out just what had happened to him, but the effort made his head hurt like crazy.
"You don't look so good, Iruka-kun," he murmured in a hushed voice, his mouth sticky and dry. "What the hell is going on here?"
Iruka startled instantly awake at the sound of the jounin's voice, his cocoa eyes flying open as he drew in a sharp breath. Kakashi reached out again, this time to try to soothe Iruka and apologize for waking him. Maneuvering around the dangling medical tubes and ignoring the pain in his torso, he patted the startled chuunin's shoulder. "Sorry, Ru-chan, didn't mean to wake you."
Iruka was shocked by Kakashi's seeming normalcy. "What did you say?" was all he could manage, still too sleep-dazed and stunned to come up with a more intelligent reply, but he reached up and gripped the jounin's hand.
"I said, you don't look so good. What happened to you?"
A mad rush of emotions assaulted Iruka. All of his worry, his impotent anxiety over the situation, his anger at himself for not having noticed Kakashi's condition when he'd first gotten home, his sleep deprivation, his sudden relief that his lover was awake and aware at last, his overwhelming fear of losing him: it all tangled together and emerged as anger.
"I look bad? I look bad? You reckless, egotistical, overconfident moron! I look bad? Look at yourself!" He slammed out of the lounger and crossed the small hospital room to the sink, where he yanked a mirror off the wall. Trailing bits of paint and plaster, he shoved it in Kakashi's startled face.
Kakashi was taken aback by his own reflection. He, too, had a stubbly chin and greasy, disheveled hair, but in addition to dirty, it was bloodstained, the dark red contrasting sharply with his silver tresses, and poking out of and over a bandage wrapped around his skull. His Sharingan Eye was hidden under a simple eye patch, and his unmasked face was nastily pale with overly-red cheeks, the effect of blood-loss, fever, and a recent transfusion. As he shifted in the bed in reaction to Iruka, the movement forced his attention to his bandaged and sharply painful chest and belly, and to the presence of a catheter tube draped around one leg and trailing off the side of the bed.
"Shit. This is worse than I thought." Kakashi was still confused, and the pain at the back of his head shot lightning bolts behind his eyes; he really couldn't remember how he'd gotten in this condition, and he worried that Iruka might be hurt as well. Looking at Iruka's enraged expression, there was only one thing he could think to do at the moment: placate his lover. "Ano, Iruka-kun, I'm sorry, I'm really sorry. Are you OK?" He tried to push himself up in the bed but it hurt too much and made his vision swim dizzily. He gave up with a groan, "What the hell happened?"
Iruka was still in a state - Kakashi lucid and talking to him just gave him a focus for the chaotic flood of emotions. "What were you thinking, Kakashi? Why in God's name would you try to hide such serious injuries from me? Do you have any idea how worried I've been?"
"Ano..."
"Four hours! You could have bled to death while I slept by your side like a baby! Dammit, we swore by everything that's holy to care for each other, each other! How can I take care of you if even in your greatest need you won't let me? Do you really trust me that little?"
"Ano..." Kakashi tried to get a word in edgewise, but couldn't. He was horrified that he had made Iruka this angry without having any idea how he'd done it.
"And even if you don't trust me, don't you care about your own life? You should have just gone straight to the hospital! Dammit, you idiot!" Iruka was so upset he was near tears, which just added to his turmoil as he struggled against them.
Kakashi, who had begun to piece together a picture of what might have happened, even if it did make his head hurt to try, was struck by the absurdity of Iruka's accusations. It ought to be obvious, Kakashi thought, that he trusted Iruka above all others, if home was where he'd dragged himself in this pitiful state. He couldn't help the little snort that escaped as he tried to put the brakes on Iruka's rant.
"Iruka-kun, listen to yourself."
"What? Hatake Kakashi, this is serious!"
"I, know, I know, Iruka-kun, and I'm trying (mff!) very hard (mff ha!) to take it seriously..." He bit his tongue to keep from laughing outright.
Now Iruka was baffled. Why would Kakashi be laughing? Maybe the head injury was still scrambling his brains. "What in the hell are you laughing about? Are you still concussed?"
"Unnh, my head hurts, yes, but no, he, he... That's not why I'm laughing. Ha ha ha!" The laughter was self-limiting, though, as his abused abdomen protested, "Uuungh. Damn, that hurts!" Kakashi doubled over, gritting his teeth.
Kakashi's obvious distress snapped Iruka out of himself and back into caretaker mode. "Wait, I'll go get a medic. You probably need more medicine or a pain jutsu or..."
"No, don't!" Kakashi's voice was suddenly edgy, stopping Iruka before he could leave the room. "Come back over here and sit down."
It was a voice that one did not disobey lightly; Iruka returned to the bedside chair.
Sounding more calm now that Iruka was seated again, Kakashi started, "Now, listen, Iruka-kun..." but his voice cracked and the words stuck in his dry throat.
"Have a sip of water before you try to talk too much. It's been at least two days since you've had any fluids except for the IV." Iruka handed Kakashi a cup.
"Two days?" Kakashi's eyebrow rose as he recalculated everything in his head. "OK, well that explains some of why you're so wound up."
Iruka started to protest, but Kakashi put his hands up, "Just wait, Ruka, hear me out.
"OK, two days ago, it would seem, I somehow got myself hurt: bladed weapon in the gut and chest, and a knock on the back of the head by the feel of things."
Iruka nodded. "You don't remember?"
"No. So, in this condition, I apparently came home to you, but you didn't notice and I didn't tell you," Kakashi continued, then stopped, "I can kind of see myself hiding it if I'd done something really stupid or the injury were minor, but this obviously isn't. I do trust you, Iruka, with my very life and more, or I wouldn't have come home to you first. But why would I have been hiding it from you? Unh. It makes my head hurt."
"Kakashi, don't. Let me get someone to..."
"No!" Kakashi's voice sounded almost manic. "We need to work this out, this is important." He reached for Iruka's hand, then continued to think aloud. "OK, I was hiding it, let's just come back to that. But how could you not notice something this severe? Hurt this badly I wouldn't have had enough chakra for a decent genjutsu, even if I did want to hide it from you. And why wouldn't I have gone to the hospital?"
He stopped and looked at his companion, "Iruka, what time did I come home? Was it night? Were you asleep?"
"Yeah, 2:20 in the morning, Sunday morning." Iruka was impressed that Kakashi had already reasoned it out this much, especially with what had to be a throbbing headache. His insistence on avoiding the medics was a little worrying though.
"OK, so if you were asleep, and I was trying not to wake you, I wouldn't have turned on the lights, so you wouldn't have seen my condition immediately. But why wouldn't you have turned on the light yourself? I know you don't sleep well when I'm away, so I'm sure I must have woken you coming in. And you always obsess over making sure I'm healthy when I get back from a mission."
"What? No I don't," Iruka protested.
"Yes you do, and I count on you to do it. I need you to do it because I'm too much of an idiot." He squeezed Iruka's hand. "Aa, wait, we skipped a step. Was I on a mission? I was just assuming."
"Yeah, you were on a mission with Genma. And he got brought in about an hour before we got you here, by an ANBU squad who just happened to find him. He was in bad shape too. He's upstairs - Tsunade says he'll recover fine. Ah, Tsunade -!" Iruka interrupted himself. "She said to get her the instant you woke up!" He was half-way out of the chair again.
"No! Sit down!" Kakashi sounded almost menacing, then started coughing.
Iruka grabbed a pillow and pressed it against Kakashi's abdomen to cushion the strain the cough was placing on the healing injuries. Kakashi's eyes were screwed tightly shut, and his pallid face glistened with cold sweat. When the coughing fit abated, he fell forward limply against Iruka's arms and groaned.
"Dammit!" he panted. Iruka could feel Kakashi's heart beating wildly, his chakra flaring in response to pain.
"Please, Kashi, please let me go get a healer-nin for you." He wiped Kakashi's sweating face with his cool palm, then eased him back into the pillows.
"No. No medics. We have to figure this out." Kakashi's voice was weak but firm.
"Why?" Iruka was nearly desperate. "What could you possibly have against getting medical care? It doesn't have to be Tsunade yet, I'll just get someone to bring something for pain..."
"No," Kakashi was pleading now, not commanding, "I don't know why yet, but it's important. Please, Iruka-kun. Just help me finish figuring this out. Don't let any of them near me until we do."
ooo ooo ooo
Author's Notes
Extra special thanks to HikaruxYuki for help with research and background.
Thanks also to reviewers for your helpful and detailed feedback. You know who you are.
As usual, feedback and reviews are greatly appreciated. I mean it. Be specific about what you like and don't like, it helps me develop as a writer.
Nezuko