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.
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Chapter 5: Hostages
Genma lay unmoving in the bed, his mending leg cased in a metal framework and suspended by weights and pulleys. When he let the medical personnel around him see he was awake, he was guarded with them, only really relaxing when Ibiki was around. The first day, Sunday, he'd been completely unconscious, and the second only awake for short periods. It was the third day that saw him really back in control of his awareness, and that was when he'd become devious. Pretending to be asleep, listening astutely to what was said around him. He tolerated the ministrations of the medical-nins mostly because the waning paralysis from the enemy senbon and the injuries he'd suffered left him too weak to stop them.
It was during one of his silent reconnaissance periods, on the fourth evening of his hospitalization, that Genma discovered the critical piece of information. He listened with eyes closed, pretending to be asleep, to the two students who were assigned to cleaning his room as they nattered inanely about this and that. It was hard not to let their buzzing voices really lull him to sleep, but then he heard the name.
"... Hatake-san?"
The patient in the bed gave no sign, but he was suddenly hyper-alert.
"Yeah, that silver-haired jounin down in the SCU?"
"Yeah, I know who you mean."
"Did you see the guy who was with him? He's really cute! And that scar on his nose.."
"Oh my god, you mean Iruka-sensei? No way! He's an Academy teacher..." The girls broke into fits of giggles.
"No seriously, I mean, if he weren't already taken..." More giggles.
Genma listened tensely, waiting for one of the girls to come close.
"Or maybe if his boyfriend doesn't make it. I heard he was in a coma. Then I'd have a chance, Giri-chan."
"As if! Besides, that guy's strong. He'll make it. He's like only the most famous jounin in Konoha. You know Sharingan Kakashi? Copy-nin Kakashi? Surely your parents..."
"So what's the deal with this guy?" the second girl interrupted, not paying attention to her friend.
'Come on, just a little closer,' Genma thought, keeping his eyes closed, his breathing steady.
"Don't know. He was probably hurt on a mission."
"Mission mission mission - you think everyone's a ninja just cuz we live in Konoha. This guy's probably harmless, a roofer or something. Watch."
"Oh gods, don't Yukio. He's jounin!"
'Shit! Don't warn her away!' Genma, who had been about to spring, relaxed invisibly back into waiting as the girl jumped away from his bedside.
"So he really is a ninja? Well, my uncle's a jounin, and he's harmless."
"Guys like that are not harmless!"
"He's totally out of it."
"You don't know that. Look, Yu-chan, I'm just gonna do under his bed and then..."
The girl named Giri stiffened but no sound came out. The handle of her mop clattered to the floor. Genma's strong hand was clapped around the girl's slender neck, holding her immobile, pinned against the railing of the bed.
With his free leg Genma pushed himself upright as much as he could, glaring at the frightened girls. "Don't move," he rasped.
"Ah..." the girl named Yukio started to scream. Before the sound could leave her mouth, a hypodermic needle embedded itself in the wall next to her face. A second syringe was already aimed by Genma's practiced hand.
"I said, 'Don't. Move.' That includes not screaming."
The girl's green eyes widened, and she nodded her head the barest millimeter to acknowledge the command.
Even with one leg suspended and wearing a hospital gown, Shiranui Genma could project a terrifying presence when he wanted to. He was a tall and muscular man, more than twice the size of the adolescent girls. Taking hostages wasn't really Genma's style, especially not annoying little 12-year-old civillian girls. But extreme circumstances demand extreme actions, and he needed their absolute cooperation, as quickly as possible.
He let raw bloodlust roll off him in intimidating waves. His still swollen and bruised face and bloodied left eye added to the demonic aura he seemed to possess.
Genma's voice was calm, almost friendly, just barely tinged with something ferral, the awesome power of an elite ninja intent on a kill."Giri here is gonna help me, aren't you Giri-chan?" The special jounin pressed his fingers into the girl's collarbone. She jumped, and nodded meekly.
"Jo-jounin-sama?" Giri whispered.
"Be quiet!" Genma snarled at the girl.
She blinked, nodding, tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.
Seeing her tears, he softened slightly, "Look, I know you're probably not part of it, alright? Just do as I say and you'll be alright, got it?
"You," he directed at Yukio, still frozen against the wall with the needle in it, "get over here and help. First, you're gonna help me unstring my leg..."
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When Genma had gotten himself disentangled from the traction apparatus and unhooked the IV tubing and monitors connected to his body, he swung himself upright. A complex halo of metal surrounded his injured leg; screws extending from the frame pierced his skin and anchored the device to bone. Despite its seeming rigidity, Genma quickly discovered that it would not support his weight - in fact every attempt at walking was agony. Slowly, he limped around the perimeter of the room, dragging the useless limb and leaning on walls and furniture for support. He picked up Giri's dropped mop and tested it - it would make an adequate crutch and a useful potential weapon.
But just being upright was taxing. Exhausted from his exertion, he leaned heavily against the windowsill and closed his eyes, mustering chakra to combat pain and lingering senbon-induced weakness. The petrified captives were backed up against the bed, their hands bound with surgical tape.
Seeing Genma's seeming inattention, Yukio nudged Giri and shifted her weight.
"I know exactly what you're doing, so don't," Genma hissed. He turned a murderous eye on Yukio, who quickly shrank back against Giri and the bed.
"One of you said Hatake Kakashi is here. Is that true?"
Giri nodded.
He limped across the room towards the girls, towering over them. "If you're lying, I will come back here and cut your tongues out."
Giri blanched, and Yukio started crying.
"No crying! Now, where is he?"
"Eh-eh-SCU, d-d-downstairs." Giri whispered.
"Good girl." Genma smiled. " Your friend is right, Yu-chan, no ninja is harmless." He traced a finger along Yukio's trembling cheek, then dropped his hand to her neck and swiftly jabbed a chakra pulse into the pressure point there. She sagged against Giri, but Genma was already lifting her unconscious body into the bed he had vacated.
He gave Giri's neck a similar touch, then bundled her into the bed next to her friend. He covered them with blankets, so that only the long brown wisps of Giri's hair could be seen on the pillow, a fair imitation of his own, from a distance. They would be out for a while, and with luck his escape would go unnoticed.
He found a yukata and slipped it over his shoulders, wishing he had found his uniform instead. Once covered, he made his way to the door of the room and slid it open, then leaned against the frame, a little dizzy and panting. Supporting himself with the mop and by leaning against the wall, he used more of his precious and limited chakra to cast a weak genjutsu around himself. I wouldn't be enough to fool any ninja, but it would keep the civillian hospital hospital employees from noticing him, and that turned out to be enough.
Genma hobbled along the hall, keeping to the shadows just in case. He found a hospital directory near a flight of stairs, and swore bitterly under his breath as he consulted it.
'Shit. Shit Shit! How far do I have to go?' he wondered, 'Those girls said SCU, right? Where's that?'
He was on the sixth floor, apparently Kakashi was on the second. Gritting his teeth, he considered his options. Use almost all that was left of his weakened chakra to teleport to his destination, or tough out the pain of descending the stairs. The stairs would use energy, but probably not as much as a jutsu, he decided.
Once in the stairwell, he found his going less demanding than he had feared. He could lean most of his weight on the railing and kind of half-hop-half-slide down, using gravity's assistance. Two or three people passed him on the way, but they did not give him a second glance - his genjutsu held.
In the darkened corridors of the second floor, Genma made his way stealthily towards Kakashi's room.
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On that same Wednesday evening, while Genma was abducting his hostages, on the second floor Iruka stretched and decided to take advantage of the fact that Kakashi had fallen asleep to step out of the room for a moment. He owed Naruto an update, and more importantly, he needed to find Tsunade. Kakashi hadn't given them much to go on, as far as discovering what had happened to him and Genma. In the first two days he had made almost no coherent sounds, but what he did utter was unsettling. In a feverish haze, he had called Genma's name, and sometimes Iruka's, sounding alarmed in a way most unlike his usual, calm self.
While he had gained a measure of lucidity on Tuesday, his thinking was clearly impaired: he kept asking Iruka the same questions over and over, struggling to reason out how he had come to be so hurt. And he continued to demand that Iruka keep the medical staff away from him. At first he had slipped back into sleep often and deeply enough that Tsunade or her proxies could attend to Kakashi when he was unconscious, but as he recovered, he became more and more difficult to treat. It was alarming to see him like this, far, far from normal, and though Tsunade said these effects could all be explained by the concussion and skull fracture, Iruka could tell that something else lurked beneath the surface.
Earlier that afternoon, Sakura had poked her head into the room to see how her sensei was getting along. It was what had taken place then that Iruka wanted to talk over with the hokage.
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Kakashi had been listening to Iruka read aloud when the door slid open, and Sakura, clad in hospital whites, entered. As soon as she set foot in the room, Kakashi had moved, pushing Iruka down with one hand and groping on the bedside table for a weapon with the other. Only the fact that Iruka had seen the same reaction to a previous medical-nin in uniform prevented Sakura from being attacked. He'd shouted to Sakura to get out, to take off her coat, and at the same time leapt between the bed and the door.
"It's Sakura-chan! Sakura!" Iruka yelled at Kakashi, grabbing for his hand.
"Iruka, no! Get away!" Kakashi shouted, "It's dangerous!"
"It's not dangerous! It's Sakura-chan, your student! You know her!" Iruka shouted back.
Kakashi stopped, halfway into a crouch on the bed, and stared at the chuunin, confusion shining plainly in his one uncovered eye. "Sakura-chan? What's she doing here?"
"She works here. She probably wants to visit you. OK?"
"O... OK..." Kakashi grunted and doubled up, the pain and dizziness of his sudden movement catching up with him as the adrenaline surge wore off.
"Come on, lie back," Iruka said, wrapping an arm around the jounin's tense shoulders. He could feel Kakashi shaking, but from pain or alarm he couldn't tell. "It's OK, you're safe," he soothed.
"Yeah, safe," Kakashi echoed. "Ruka? What's going on?"
"Oh gods, Kashi-kun, I wish I knew," Iruka sighed, continuing to hold his lover in a protective embrace.
"I'm hurt. Was I on a mission? I was on a mission I think..." Kakashi trailed off, struggling to remember. "My head hurts. And my chest."
"I know, Ka-chan. Don't move around so much. Here, drink this." Iruka handed Kakashi a small cup of juice with a pain-dulling medication already mixed in. After the first day of Kakashi's return to consciousness, Iruka and the medical staff had found that Kakashi would willingly take medicine Iruka offered him, even while he fiercely resisted treatment by the medics themselves.
The door slid open again, and Sakura, now in street clothes, poked her head in. "Iruka-sensei? Can I... can I come in?"
Iruka turned to Kakashi, "Sakura-chan wants to say hello. Are you OK now? Can she come in?"
The pale jounin lay against the raised head of the bed, looking worn out. He raised a hand to his face, feeling for the mask that wasn't there.
"Don't worry about your mask. She's already seen your face, Kashi-kun."
"What? When?" Kakashi looked slightly alarmed.
"It's Wednesday, you got here on Sunday. Remember? You've been unconscious." Iruka explained, his tone patient.
"You... you've told me that before. And I keep forgetting, don't I?"
"Yes."
"Kakashi-sensei," Sakura called from the door, "It's OK. It's very common to have short-term memory loss with a skull fracture."
"A skull fracture?" Kakashi turned his gaze towards the pink-haired young woman standing on the threshold to the room. Despite Iruka's assurance that his face had been seen, he pulled the blanket up so that it covered his nose and mouth. He raised one hand in greeting. "Yo, Sakura-chan."
Sakura took this as permission and stepped into the room, crossing to stand at the foot of the bed. "You... you look a little better, Kakashi-sensei."
"Mah, I'm OK. Just a little tired..." The medicine Iruka had given him was starting to take effect, making it hard to keep his eyes open and focused.
"You ah, you should probably try to rest more. Um..." Sakura tried not to stare, but seeing Kakashi in such a state, head, chest and torso wrapped in bandages, arms and face naked, was startling. She was caught somewhere in between being a professional medic and being a former student and subordinate, and it was awkward.
"How's Genma doing?" Iruka asked.
At the mention of his mission partner's name,Kakashi's drowsy eye snapped open.
"Genma! Genma's hurt! He was with me! He's..."
"It's OK, Genma's here at the hospital. Ibiki brought him in. He's OK, Kakashi." Iruka said, squeezing a pale shoulder in his tan fingers.
Kakashi nodded slightly and let out a breath. The tension in his body relaxed as suddenly as it had blossomed.
"Genma-san's recovering. His leg's a lot better. He's... sleeping a lot," Sakura said. She looked at Iruka. "But, but Tsunade-san says he'll be OK... uh... I mean, back to his usual self, in a few days or so..."
"Has Raidou gotten here yet?" Iruka asked.
"Ano...Raidou-san... I don't think so... you mean to see Genma-san? What does he look like?"
"Genma's partner. You know him. Jounin with a burn scar on his neck and left cheek and across his nose." Iruka replied.
"Oh, um, no. I don't think he's been here."Sakura said.
"Where's... Raidou?" Kakashi was starting to sound sleepy.
"He's on a mission. He should be back tomorrow or the next day, if he got Ibiki's message." Iruka answered.
"Ibiki... sent for him? Must be... serious." Kakashi was struggling now, resisting the narcotic's potent drive to sleep.
"He's OK. You rest." Iruka said. He flicked his eyes at Sakura and then to the door. The medical apprentice got his meaning, treading softly out of the room.
"Should I wait for you, Iruka-sensei?"
"No, I'll talk with you later, Sakura-chan."
Iruka leaned over Kakashi, straightening the rumpled blankets. "You OK, Ka-chan?" he whispered.
"Umn," Kakashi mumbled in reply.
"Sleep. I'll be here when you wake up." Iruka kissed Kakashi lightly.
"Nnn... don't go... Ruru..." Kakashi reached one hand towards his lover's face.
"Shh. Go to sleep, it'll help you heal." Iruka tucked the jounin's arm back under the blankets and patted them down.
The potent medicine combined with his weakened state overcame Kakashi's resistance, and he slipped beneath the waves of a drugged but restful sleep.
END Chapter 5
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Author's Notes
Well, I'm off schedule now, but here's a new chapter nonetheless. Thanks to all for the absolutely wonderful reviews! It's been a real high reading them. As always, reviews deeply appreciated.