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.
ooo ooo ooo
Chapter 4: Ambush
An hour later Ibiki was wandering the corridors of Konoha's hospital, waiting for news on Genma's condition. A strong cup of coffee and a bowl of hot rice with raw egg in the medical center cafeteria had bolstered his energy enough to keep him upright a few more hours at least.
'Damn, what I really need is some sleep,' he thought. But morning was upon the Fire Country, and it just didn't make sense to the jounin to turn his schedule upside down for one day's comfort. Ibiki leaned against the rail of the walkway that spanned the large atrium over the hospital's lobby. He yawned and stretched, gazing absently out the two-story window at the sun struggling to penetrate the persistent drizzling clouds.
'I should go write up the mission report. Tsunade will tell me when there's anything to tell. It's not like waiting here will do any good,' Ibiki admonished himself. But he did not leave. Having brought Genma in, he felt responsible for his comrade, even though his care was now out of Ibiki's hands. He was reluctant to leave the building not out of any logical thought process, but from a much deeper, more primitive instinct. A drive that has served the human animal well over thousands of years of evolution: loyalty, camaraderie, compassion, friendship.
A flash of orange and black on the road approaching the hospital emergency entrance caught Ibiki's eye, and he just had time to wonder what the kyuubi boy was up to when he heard a disturbance from the floor below that told him: Naruto was in the building and already the center of some upset. But it wasn't the disturbance created by young man that alerted Ibiki, sent him leaping over the railing to confront him; it was one word he'd picked out of Naruto's rant: "Kakashi."
By the time Ibiki reached Naruto, the sixteen year-old was reaching for the front of a startled young medical-nin's coat - the pink-haired girl that had been assisting Tsunade with Genma. She was staring alarmed and wide-eyed at the boy whom Ibiki knew to have been her gennin teammate.
"D-did you say Genma-san?" Sakura stuttered, as Ibiki silently approached.
"What were you just saying about Kakashi-san and Genma-san, Uzumaki?" Ibiki clapped his hands on Naruto's shoulders, spinning him around to face him.
"I... I was..." Naruto faltered.
Ibiki stopped, he wasn't trying to frighten the kid to death, he just needed information. His years of expertise as an interrogator allowed him to adopt a soothing voice with no effort, to look at the boy with nothing but kind reassurance. "I'm not trying to scare you, Uzumaki-kun. Just slow down and tell me what's got you so upset."
Getting a coherent story out of the agitated boy was difficult, but it was pretty clear that Hatake Kakashi, or at least someone Naruto believed to be his sensei, was lying gravely injured at the home he might or might not share with the Academy teacher Umino Iruka. Naruto babbled something about Genma going drinking with Iruka and Kakashi, maybe doing something to Kakashi, and that Iruka wasn't hung over. He was red in the face and near tears, pleading with Ibiki and Sakura to "get the old lady and help Kakashi-sensei before he bleeds to death!" when Tsunade herself burst through the double doors that led to the operating rooms.
"Hokage-sama, we've located Kakashi, and he..." Ibiki started.
"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. A spray of bright blood decorated her coat.
'Genma's blood,' thought Ibiki, 'Is he OK?'
"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.
'She must be good, or Tsunade wouldn't give her this assignment, right?' Ibiki stared at Sakura. 'But if she's unwilling...' His thought was interrupted by the flash of orange movement as Naruto reached for Tsunade's body.
"Could you please just quit fighting and come on!" Naruto's voice sounded whiney and desperate.
Ibiki moved before he even had time to realize he was doing so, grabbing Naruto by both shoulders and restraining him before he could touch the hokage. Tsunade seemed unconcerned, however.
"For once I agree with you, Naruto,"she said. Ibiki saw her glare a silent order at her apprentice before turning to the tall jounin. "Ibiki, you come too, I'm concerned about what we're going to find."
Once they were outside the hospital doors, Naruto could not be held back.
"Come on!" he begged, dancing impatiently ahead of the two senior shinobi.
"Iruka-sensei's house, right?" Ibiki asked the boy.
"Yeah, and I think it might be Kakashi-sensei's house, too, but I don't know. But come on!"
"Don't be a brat, kid, this is bad enough without that," Tsunade said.
"Look, you go on ahead. Tell Iruka-sensei we're coming. We're right behind you, Uzumaki-kun," Ibiki said, trying to give himself and Tsunade time to discuss the situation. To his relief, Naruto took his suggestion and raced off.
The early morning streets were still relatively empty, but to increase their privacy, Ibiki raised a simple notice-me-not genjutsu around himself and the hokage. He was aware of the ANBU guard that accompanied the leader of the Konoha ninja clans following silently, at a respectful distance. They would not be fooled by his genjutsu, but he did not need them to be.
"What are you not telling me?" he asked, turning to Tsunade as they hurried through the village.
"I... I'm not sure yet," she replied, "Something about Genma's injuries - the residual chakra on those senbon marks... I have a bad feeling, Ibiki."
"How is he?"
"He'll make it, I think. If there's nothing I'm missing."
"It's bad?"
"It's bad. He's fortunate you found him when you did. Those wounds are at least a day old, and infected. But I think we got it in time. If his luck holds, he'll be begging to be released back to active duty in a few weeks." Tsunade laughed, but there was no mirth in her tone.
"The cares of a hokage, eh Ibiki?"
"Genma-san is a ninja by choice, Tsunade-sama. And a good one." Ibiki said.
"Yeah. You all are. That's the problem." The blonde woman's body and face looked far younger than her age, but her eyes reflected the truth of her 55 years.
As they neared Iruka's house, Ibiki put his hand up, halting Tsunade. A signal from one of the ANBU guards had caught his attention. He moved to speak to the woman behind the animal mask.
"Report."
"Morino-san, there are three males inside: Uzumaki, Umino-sensei and Hatake-san."
"You've confirmed their identities? There are no jutsu active?"
"Hai. And it is as Uzumaki said, Hatake-san is badly hurt."
"Is the medical transport team on standby?" Ibiki asked, scanning the area.
"They're already here, waiting for instructions from Tsunade-sama." the ANBU woman replied.
"Good, send them in, we'll follow." Ibiki rejoined Tsunade and filled her in on what he had learned. A sharp whistle from one of the ANBU escorts brought a white-clothed medical team out of the shadows and racing over the threshold into Iruka's small house.
ooo
Inside the house the scene was much as Naruto had left it. Iruka, wearing only maroon sweatpants, sat on the bloodied futon, cradling Kakashi's head and shoulders in his lap. The injured jounin was curled on his side, facing the door, still wearing the blood-soaked uniform he had come home in. His pale face was unmasked and his scarred Sharingan eye uncovered, though both eyes were tightly shut. One arm clutched a light yellow towel to his abdomen; where it was in contact with his body, the rough terrycloth was tinged bright red. Only the tension in his face and arm gave evidence that Kakashi was still conscious. Iruka stroked his hand and muttered the sort of soothing nonsense one does to a crying baby, as much to comfort himself as his lover.
"It'll be alright, Ka-chan, Naruto's gone to get help. Just hang on, ne? You'll be OK." He looked up when Naruto burst into the house.
"Iruka-sensei! They're coming! Tsunade and Ibiki! Is he..." he stopped, dropping his voice as he entered the room, "Is he OK?"
Kakashi opened bleary eyes at the sound of Naruto's voice. "Still... here..." he gave Naruto a weak smile for a second before scrunching his face into a tight grimace, choking back a groan.
"No! Don't talk Kakashi-sensei. And don't answer that! Ah, I'm sorry!" Naruto panicked at the obvious distress his sensei was suffering.
"Ru..." whispered Kakashi, squeezing Iruka's hand.
"Hush!" Iruka scolded. "Naruto, get me a top from that chest." He pointed at a set of wooden drawers built into the wall.
"Uh, OK, sure!" Having something to do gave momentary focus to the raw anxiety flooding the teenager. "He yanked open a drawer and pulled out a navy sweatshirt. "Is this one OK?"
Iruka reached for the shirt, biting his lip when he saw what Naruto had selected for him.
"It's one of yours, Kashi. An ANBU warmup." Iruka's stomach knotted as he pulled the fabric over his head, enveloped in the scent of his lover, who lay gravely injured in his lap.
He heard someone else enter the house, and the masked face of an ANBU soldier peered in through the window, then vanished. Suddenly the little bedroom was alive with activity. A pair of white-uniformed medical-ninja pressed past Naruto into the room. Before they could even say a word, Kakashi had reacted, shying violently against Iruka, knocking him over backwards. The injured man pushed himself up on the bed, one arm out in a protective stance, as if shielding Iruka from an enemy.
"Ruka, get down! Get away!" he hissed, before crumpling forward with a pained cry. The rescuers rushed in to tend to the injured man, who unleashed the last of his available chakra in a fiery blast that singed the fronts of both medics' uniforms and infused the air with the acrid smell of burning protein from their frizzled hair.
"Kakashi! Stop!" Iruka yelled, lunging after the falling man.
The room was filled with alarmed cries from the assaulted medics and panicked onlookers. Kakashi lay face down in a twisted heap on the edge of the scorched bed.
It was into this chaos that Tsunade and Ibiki strode.
Ignoring the shouting ninja, Tsunade knelt by Kakashi and rolled the unconscious man partway over.
"Shit!" She berated her medical colleagues, "He's got an obvious head injury and he's how strong of a jounin? What did you expect, rushing him like that?"
In the shock and disorder of the moment, Iruka didn't think to correct Tsunade's timeline. To tell her that Kakashi had ambushed the medics, not the other way around.
ooo
At the hospital later that morning, while Kakashi was prepared for surgery, Ibiki briefed Iruka and Naruto on Genma's condition. What the ANBU commander relayed was unsatisfyingly vague, only that the jounin was badly injured but expected to recover, and could not yet have visitors. Most of Iruka's questions remained unanswered, but he knew better than to pry. If the cause of Genma and Kakashi's condition had something to do with their mission, as it almost certainly did, and Ibiki knew anything about it, he wasn't at liberty to reveal it to Iruka.
Sakura proved a more detailed informant. Iruka felt briefly guilty about probing her for information, but his need to know what had happened overrode his scruples about respecting Genma's privacy or digging into details about a classified mission. There wasn't much, he reasoned, that Sakura could reveal about the secretive mission, since she obviously didn't know herself. And Genma was a friend. Since Raidou, his partner, was away on a mission, it was up to Iruka to look out for him.
Sitting in the uncomfortable chairs of the cafeteria and mindlessly stirring a bowl of miso soup with one chopstick, Iruka teased the story out of Sakura.
"How's Genma doing, Sakura-chan? Were his injuries difficult to treat?" Iruka deliberately used her student name, reminding her he was her trusted sensei, an authority figure she could confide in.
"Well, his right leg is shattered. It was one of the most horrible looking open fractures I've ever seen." The pink-haired young woman made a face. "And he has some really bad internal injuries." Sakura paused and swallowed before continuing, "Shizune-san said it looked like the effects of torture - like Genma-san was restrained and defenseless and just beaten." Sakura shuddered, and Iruka put a hand on his former student's arm.
"Ano, Iruka-sensei, do you really think that could happen to Genma? I mean, he's strong." Naruto interrupted.
"Even the strongest shinobi can be brought down, Naruto. Maybe he was badly outnumbered." Iruka offered. He forced a placid, teacher's expression onto his face, trying to hide his disquiet at the disturbing image Sakura's words brought to mind: Genma, his good friend Genma, laughing, disdainful, and as Naruto had said, undeniably strong Genma, tied up and assaulted by a mob of faceless enemy ninja. It was impossible not to substitute Kakashi's face for Genma's in the mental picture, to see the glittering blade of a wakizashi thrust into his belly, the iron knob of a club smashed into the back of his head.
"Iruka-sensei? Are you alright?" Sakura looked worriedly at her former teacher, who had suddenly glazed over, staring into space.
Iruka shook himself, forcing his mind into the present. He wasn't helping Genma or Kakashi with these morbid visions. "I'm sorry, Sakura-chan, I'm just tired. I'm worried about Genma and Kakashi."
"Tsunade-san and Shizune-san are with Kakashi-sensei right now - in fact I should probably get back to them in a few minutes." Sakura did her best to mimic the reassuring look she had seen her mentors give the fearful loved ones of so many patients. "I'm sure they'll heal him, Iruka-sensei."
"What about Genma-san, Sakura? Is he gonna come out OK?" Naruto asked, impatient and insensitive to the gut wrenching anxiety his teacher was in.
"Genma-san, ah... he ah... Tsunade-san did an amazing jutsu on his leg to re-grow the bones. He has to be in traction for a while, but it should heal fine..." Sakura broke off, glancing to the side.
"What, Sakura-chan? What are you afraid to say?" Iruka prompted, "It's OK. You can tell me."
"Well it's just, he has a... a head injury," Sakura flinched, knowing that Iruka couldn't help but make the analogy to Kakashi's skull fracture.
"It's OK, go on."
"He's... Genma-san's still really out of it. He's acting all afraid of everyone except Ibiki-san. You know Ibiki-san brought him in, right? But it might just be from the pain and dehydration and infection..." she rushed her words, wanting to explain away Genma's strange behavior before Iruka could start to worry about Kakashi's mental state. "I'm sure he'll be back to normal in the next day or so."
"Arigatou, Sakura-chan. I know you'll be doing your best to help." Iruka smiled wanly. 'She really has grown up a lot,' he thought, 'Tsunade-sama was right to take her as an apprentice.'
"Ano, Iruka-sensei, are you eating that onigiri?" Naruto asked, gesturing to the rice ball on the chuunin's plate.
"You can have it. But don't point with your chopsticks, it's rude, Naruto-kun." Iruka replied.
ooo
Late that evening Iruka sat slumped on the bench where he and Naruto had anxiously spent the day waiting for news on Kakashi. He had sent Naruto home to get some sleep, promising to call for him if there was any news. It was nearing midnight when, after grueling hours of surgery and complex healing jutsus, Tsunade accompanied the unconscious body of her patient as he was brought to a room on the Surgical Care Unit. She looked weary and worried, her usually lively features drawn and pale.
"Umino," Tsunade put a hand on the drowsing chuunin's shoulder, startling him awake.
"Hokage-sama, I'm sorry, I should have been aware of you..."
"It's alright, you've had a difficult day."
Iruka strained to see the still form on the gurney next to the healer.
"He's sleeping. Come with me." Tsunade said curtly.
Iruka followed, watching anxiously as two medics transfered Kakashi's body to a bed, hooking up lines and tubes, and attaching a beeping monitor to the unconscious jounin.
"Shut the volume on that horrible thing off before I blast it to atoms!" Tsunade ordered. "You can monitor it from the nursing station."
"Ha-hai, Tsunade-sama," the shorter of the attendants replied, pressing buttons on the machine that silenced it. The pulsing lines of light and fluctuating numbers continued their dance silently on its screen.
When the nursing assistants departed, Iruka went to Kakashi's side, staring helplessly at his suddenly frail lover. His head and abdomen were bandaged, the blood mostly cleaned away. Kakashi's unmasked face had an almost greenish pallor, and his eyes were deeply shadowed. The scar bisecting his left eyelid looked shockingly vivid, as if the injury that had produced it were recent, not almost twenty tears old. His perfectly sculpted face and body seemed dwarfed by the bed and medical apparatus.
"He only looks bad because he just came out of surgery." Tsunade's words were surprisingly warm. "We'll give him a transfusion in a little while, should bring up his color a lot."
"Oh..." Iruka could think of nothing to say. His mind raced with questions but none made it to his tongue. He continued to scrutinize Kakashi, as if simply looking would give him the answers he needed.
"It's OK, you can touch him," Tsunade said.
"Oh..." Iruka blushed, but leaned over and ghosted a kiss on his unconscious lover's lips just the same. "Ka-chan..." he whispered, feeling the gentle, warm whoosh of breath from Kakashi's nose against his skin.
He straightened when he felt a second presence in the room, and was surprised to find that Ibiki had entered.
"Ibiki-san, you're still here?"
"Unh," Ibiki grunted in affirmative, "How's Kakashi-san doing?"
"He has a fracture at the base of the skull, as you already know," Tsunade said, "but there is no sign of permanent brain or spinal injury."
Iruka felt an immense weight lifted from him at those words.
"The internal injuries were... unusual... more extensive than the single blade entry wound would suggest," Tsunade continued, "We were able to repair most of the damage but healing will be slow. He's lost a lot of blood. And there are signs of infection, which isn't surprising given that he had an open belly wound for at least several hours."
Guilt ate through Iruka. If only he'd really woken up when Kakashi had first come home!
"I... I'm sorry, Tsunade-sama, I should have noticed his condition sooner..."
"It's not your fault, Iruka-sensei," Ibiki said, "this is mission-related."
"Yes, mission-related," Tsunade stopped and pinched the bridge of her nose, then looked from Kakashi's sleeping face to Iruka's anxious one. "I suppose I can assume that whatever he know, you know, can't I?"
"Eh, no, Hokage-sama, I..." Iruka hastened to reply.
"Cut the crap, Umino. I know how it works. Lover's confidentiality and all that. I know Kakashi would never do anything to compromise a mission or this village. And you're a good ninja - top of your rank, maybe better." She paused, looking piercingly at Iruka. The Godaime and Ibiki exchanged significant looks before, coming to some sort of decision, Tsunade continued.
"So, do you know what his mission was about?"
The hokage and her interrogation specialist watched the chuunin expectantly.
Iruka's face colored; he looked away from the prying gazes. "Ano... edo... I... know he and Genma-san were on an A-ranked reconnaissance mission that had something to do with..." Iruka paused and glanced at Tsunade and Ibiki, swallowed and continued, "... with the recent sabotage in the Land of Cascades..." It was more detail than he should know, a fact he was sure Tsunade and Ibiki were both well aware of.
"Well done, Umino. You didn't lie," Tsunade said. Her voice was even, and there was no trace of sarcasm.
"Hokage-sama, I would never..."
"Tsunade-sama, I have believed for some time that Iruka-sensei would be capable of deep security work. Sandaime-sama considered him a confidante, and surely Kakashi-san would not take as a lover any shinobi who was not of the highest caliber."
Iruka blushed a deeper red at Ibiki's words.
"Thank you, Ibiki, I appreciate your opinion." Tsunade said.
"Umino-sensei," she continued, "Iruka. Genma, as I know you have already learned, was severely beaten and has been... unresponsive. Obviously Kakashi is in no shape to tell us what happened. But you might be able to help. Something happened to them that I..." she paused, looking at Kakashi's unmoving body, the blinking monitor lights, the slowly dripping intravenous lines.
"Stay with Kakashi until he wakes. I expect he may be in and out for a few days, probably somewhat confused. Pay attention to anything he says or does that could reveal what happened. Obviously I will continue to manage his treatment, but I can't be here 24 hours a day; you can. Get me the minute he fully awakens, or if there is any change in his condition for the worse."
"Hai, Hokage-sama. I would prefer to stay with him in any event. But... my classes?"
"Someone will cover your classes. Don't worry about that right now. This is a mission of the highest priority."
"Is there... is there anything in particular you're expecting he might say?" Iruka asked, feeling grateful for the opportunity to simply stay by his lover's side, but unsure how exactly that could help solve the mystery of what had happened to him and Genma. The fact that Tsunade had called this a mission did not escape him.
"If he..." Tsunade stopped herself. "Just tell me anything he says about the mission, even if he seems delirious or it doesn't make sense. I... I'll know how to interpret it."
"Do... do you want me to... is someone going to be with Genma? He's a friend and..." Iruka trailed off. He didn't really know how to ask his question. Something was going on behind the hokage's facade, but he could not quite put his finger on it. It seemed she knew more about what had happened than she was letting on.
Tsunade considered Iruka's question." What about Raidou? Ibiki, can we assign him to Genma? They have a similar situation, do they not? He'll probably want to be here anyway."
"Yes, but he's currently in the field on an unrelated mission," Ibiki replied.
"Well, see to it that he's recalled if possible, and informed of the situation. Iruka, since you'll be here at the hospital, I'll instruct the medical personnel to send Raidou to you for information. He might come here looking for Genma before Ibiki or I have a chance to discuss this with him."
"Of course," Iruka replied. He was tired, and overwhelmed. He wanted to just sit with Kakashi, hold his hand, and try to assimilate all that had happened.
Tsunade crossed to Kakashi's side and leaned over him, pressing her fingertips lightly over the bandages on his chest. She straightened and fiddled with one of the IV lines, before looking up at Iruka and saying, "I'm sorry this happened. This wasn't supposed to happen." For a moment she seemed almost vulnerable. Then she turned and left the room, her face steely and unreadable.
"Iruka-sensei?" Ibiki's voice was low and surprisingly gentle, "Are you OK?"
"I... yes, thank you Ibiki-san." Iruka didn't know the jounin well, only by reputation, and it wasn't a reputation that put one at ease. It had come as a surprise that Ibiki seemed to think highly of him.
"I'll let you know if there's any change with Genma. You should get some rest. These chairs fold out." Ibiki turned and headed for the door. "I'll tell the nursing staff to let you sleep. Oyasumi, Iruka-sensei." He slid the wall switch, turning off the overhead light. The room seemed almost peaceful, bathed only in the glow of light from the hallway spilling in through the open door.
"Oyasumi, Ibiki-san." Iruka waved a hand in a farewell salute as the jounin left.
In the now quiet room, Iruka pulled the recliner closer to Kakashi's bed. Still standing, he leaned over and kissed the spot between the silver brows. "Oyasumi nasai, Kashi-chan. Don't sleep too long," he whispered. He sat in the chair, finding the lever that allowed it to recline, then tucked his long legs up and curled onto his side, facing Kakashi. One bronze hand reached out across the gap between the recliner and the bed to grasp the pale, scarred one resting limply on top of the hospital blanket. "Please, don't sleep too long."
END Chapter 4
ooo ooo ooo
Japanese Phrases
arigatou - thank you
hai - yes, affirmative
oyasumi / oyasumi nasai - good night
ooo ooo ooo
Author's Notes
I don't quite know how this chapter got away from me like this, but it's a long one. And early. I wish I could promise to be this prolific all the time, but you have to take advantage of inspiration when it comes.
Special thanks to hikaruxyuki and L-lamb for research and support.
As always, reviews highly appreciated. Thanks to all for the wonderful feedback and encouragement. Your reviews keep me working enthusiastically through the night.