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 7: Siege
Iruka swallowed the last of his tea and rubbed a hand over his stubbly chin. He had had what - one shower since Kakashi woke up? And he hadn't bothered to shave. He didn't want to spend the time away from the jounin, and he frankly hadn't thought to do it at Kakashi's bedside while he kept watch over the delirious ninja.
The shinobi teacher considered what he was going to tell Tsunade. Kakashi's memory and alertness were improving, and his pain seemed reasonably controlled, but his strange paranoia about the medics was, if anything, getting worse. His near attack on Sakura that afternoon had been most distrubing.
Iruka sighed, stretching, 'No time like the present,' he admonished himself. Kakashi would probably only sleep a little longer, and he wanted to be back by the jounin's bed before he awoke. He had just pushed his chair back from the wobbly cafeteria table when a breathless young woman ran up to him. He immediately recognized her as one of the ward clerks from the SCU.
"Ih... Iruka-sensei? You need to come... Hatake-sama's... he..." She stammered, gasping.
Iruka blanched. His heart raced and his mouth went dry. A chill tremor passed below his diaphragm.
"What? What happened to him? Is he alright? Who's with him?" Iruka grabbed the girl's wrist and pulled her along with him as he rushed back towards the ward.
"He's... Hatake-sama and Shiranui-sama... they're totally crazy!"
"Genma?" Iruka broke stride briefly, then resumed his sprint. "What happened?"
"I ... I don't know. Shiranui-sama was in Hatake-sama's room, and they attacked Migaki-san and Matsui-san and Itoh-san and, and..."
"Genma is with him? Are they hurt?"
"Yes, all of them are!" The girl answered, flapping agitatedly at the speeding chuunin's side. "Itoh-san's having seizures and Migaki-san is all burned on one side! Matsui-san is still unconscious - I think someone was stitching his head - and, and..."
"Not them!" Iruka snapped, his usual tact lost in the panic of the moment.
"Oh! I... I don't know! I don't know! No one can get close to them, and you're the only one Hatake-sama calms down for, and..."
They pushed through the double doors leading to the SCU, which Iruka found in pandemonium. Clusters of medics were tending their injured colleagues, while others shouted and raced about gathering supplies, including medicated darts, offering strategies and theories about the combative jounin, glancing fearfully towards room 2203, and generally getting in each other's way.
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Tsunade and Ibiki were deep in conversation, ensconced in the Hokage's smallish office in the medical center. The village leader sat spread-legged on the edge of her desk, swinging one foot restlessly back and forth, her slipper dangling from her toe.
Ibiki, by contrast, stood against the wall, stock still, arms folded across his chest.
"I don't like it, Ibiki. I just don't like it." Tsunade sounded frustrated, petulant.
"You've said that, Tsunade-sama. And while I agree with you that there is something foul at work here, I don't know how much more we can resolve without some new data."
"Let's go over it again. They left a week ago on Monday, and both were found on Sunday morning, right?"
"Yes. I found Genma around 0400, about 10 kilometers from the gate. Kakashi got back on his own, some time around 0200."
"Presumably already hurt. But Umino didn't notice it immediately."
"Right. Actually, that's surprising, given how attentive he is." Ibiki unfolded his arms, then refolded them.
"And both of them were clearly..." Tsunade stopped, not really wanting to say the word aloud.
"Tortured," Ibiki supplied, flatly.
"Yes." Tsunade looked up, her foot stilled for a moment.
"And we don't know how either of them got away, but we know Genma thought Kakashi was dead." Ibiki continued.
"Neither one of them has been coherent since they got here; they both suffered head trauma..." Tsunade picked up a folder on her desk, shuffling through it, pulling out a skull x-ray and holding it up at arm's length, studying it.
"So they've been no help," the medic sannin went on, "Kakashi regained some measure of consciousness on Tuesday - yesterday - but he's still not thinking clearly. He seems... both of them seem afraid, somehow..."
"Don't forget the incident at Iruka's house, Tsunade-sama. Kakashi attacked the medics."
"Yes, but that's not unusual, for an injured ninja- especially one with head trauma - to react badly to the sudden appearance of strangers. I saw them practically ambush him. It was a stupid move on the medic crew's part." Tsunade tapped her fingers restlessly on the edge of the desk, dropping the x-ray back into it's folder.
"Alright." Ibiki sighed. "Genma hasn't really spoken, has he? He's woken up a little, but he seems pretty out-of-it."
"No. But I'm not certain he can, yet. I'm pretty sure he was paralyzed with senbon in the neck at some point before you brought him in. He had the wounds and they were... a type I've seen before."
Ibiki raised an eyebrow, waiting for Tsunade to elaborate, but she did not.
"And Kakashi." The blonde woman went on, starting her leg swing again. "His injuries are the most problematic for me. Genma's could all be explained by blunt force trauma, but Kakashi was cut up. He had a massive amount of damage internally for the size of the external wound. And the shape. Like a three-sided blade had been used..."
"Does that mean something to you, Tsunade-sama?"
"Maybe. I'm not sure yet. I'm surprised he managed to survive, actually. It's almost like..."
Tsunade stopped mid-sentence. She and Ibiki both stared at the door, which burst open, flung hard by an out-of-breath young man in a medic's uniform.
"Hokage-sama! Downstairs! Hatake-sama and Shiranui-sama! They're attacking the staff..."
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"Iruka-sensei, wait! It's too dangerous!" A medic stepped into the chuunin's path, barring him from entering the door to Kakashi's room. A faint pall of smoke and ozone still hung in the air, and chaos was the rule in the wide hallway.
"Get out of my way." It was low, dangerous. The voice Iruka used to control acting-out twelve year olds. The voice he used on missions. He continued striding forward.
The medic hesitated, then stepped to the side, swallowing and muttering something about crazy jounin and their crazy boyfriends.
As soon as he stepped through the door, Iruka shut it behind him. A small crowd of medics immediately swarmed forwards, trying to peer in. Iruka savagely pulled the curtain closed over the door's small window, then turned to face the room, shocked at what he saw.
Two figures were huddled against the wall, half-hidden behind an overturned bed table. An IV pole lay on it's side, a translucent container of liquid still hooked to it, it's snake-like tubing disconnected from it's patient and lying forlornly in a puddle of spilled medicine on the floor.
"Kakashi?" Iruka moved out of the shadows, holding himself tensely alert.
"Get out of here! Get the fuck out!" Genma's snarling voice rasped, then collapsed into a winded-sounding fit of gagging coughs.
"Genma? Are you OK? Kakashi?" Iruka tried again, taking another step forward.
"Back off!" This time it was Kakashi's voice, sounding strained and weak. Iruka saw a second IV pole lifted with a wobble, aimed menacingly like a spear.
"Kakashi, snap out of it! It's me!" Iruka took another step in, close enough now that if Kakashi or Genma attacked, he'd have a hard time dodging quickly.
"Iruka?" Genma was the first to recognize him.
"Kashi? Is this a trap? Look with your Eye!" Genma half-ordered, half begged. He so wanted this to be real. This to be Iruka. Not a threat, but an ally at last come to their rescue.
"Ru?" Kakashi's voice wavered, and he squinted at Iruka, both eyes uncovered.
"Kakashi? Please, it's me, I promise." Iruka held out his hands palms up in a placating gesture. He took another step closer, kneeling so as to be eye-level with the jounin on the floor.
"Iruka!" The IV pole weapon clattered to the floor. Kakashi tried to stand, but his legs buckled under him and he fell heavily forward, not quite catching himself in time, so that he hit the ground with a dull thunk, grunting, then rolled, groaning heavily, to his side.
Genma and Iruka both sprang forward, but Iruka was the only one capable of completing the motion. Genma froze, mid-movement, bracing himself on outstretched hands and one knee, his splinted leg extended awkwardly to the side.
"Shit! Shit-aaaugh!" Genma's cursed, anguished cry was piercing.
"Hang on, Genma! Can you hang on a second?" Iruka glanced at the contorted face of his friend, then hurriedly pulled Kakashi's head and shoulders into his lap, noting with alarm the fresh blood staining the bandages around his torso.
"Ru.."Kakashi coughed feebly, grimacing. "They're here... They tried to..."
"Shhh," Iruka hushed, "It's OK. You're OK. You're in Konoha. I'm here."
It was beyond heartbreaking seeing Kakashi and Genma both so deliriously confused, so badly hurt. Iruka didn't know what was wrong, or why, but it wasn't as if he'd never beheld a fellow shinobi in the throes of some battlefield delusion. He operated on a combination of training and instinct, trying to soothe the agitated men.
"Iruka..." Kakashi stared hard the chuunin's face.
Iruka could see the little black commas slowly twirling in the blood-red Sharingan; knew Kakashi was trying to see through him, to penetrate whatever illusion he might be under. 'Wait,' Iruka thought, 'Are they under a genjutsu?' He could detect no signs of one, and surely Tsunade would have noticed if they were, but...
Another series of gagging coughs from Genma broke his train of thought, and Iruka whipped his head around to see the his friend braced on one arm and the opposite knee, clutching his stomach, and retching.
"Genma! I... Kashi, can I leave you here?"
"Yeah. Help Genma." Kakashi tried to push himself into a sitting position, but his arms shook and he gave up, curling miserably onto his side.
Iruka leapt to Genma, kneeling beside him and wrapping his arms around his upper chest, helping him balance. He waited anxiously for the heaves to subside. Eventually the long-haired jounin fell still, panting in little, grunted gasps.
"Genma? You OK now?" Iruka spoke low and soothingly, not yet confident Genma really knew who he was.
Genma looked up at him through a curtain of greasy hair. "Iruka? You're here? Thank god." He closed his eyes and sagged against his friend for a second, then twisted groaning, trying to straighten up.
"Come on, Genma, lean back a little. Let me help." He gently maneuvered the larger man so that he was near Kakashi, leaning against the wall.
"Listen Iruka," Genma whispered urgently through gritted teeth, "We're surrounded. Kashi's hurt and so am I. Do you think you can get out?"
"What? Where do you think we are, Genma?" Iruka tried to keep his voice neutral. He swiped a hand across Genma's sweaty brow, finding it disconcertingly hot.
Kakashi groaned, and Iruka jumped, swiveling on his knees.
"Kakashi? You OK?" He looked at Genma for permission to move, receiving a nod in reply, and crawled quickly to the silver-haired man, still lying huddled on his side.
"Come on Kakashi. Can you sit up a little if I hold you? I think you'll be able to breathe better if there's less pressure on your chest."
Iruka pulled Kakashi back against him, wrapping his arms beneath his lover's, lifting as gently as he could. Kakashi's head lolled against Iruka's throat. Genma watched with a look of sick horror in his eyes.
"Kakashi, you bastard, don't you fucking die on me," Genma hissed.
Iruka looked up, surprised at the vehemence in the jounin's voice.
Kakashi opened his eyes a slit, glancing out of the corners at Genma, then raised a hand and flipped his friend off.
Genma pulled himself a little closer, leaning in, letting his head rest close to Iruka's against the wall.
"I already watched him die once," Genma said, as if that explained it all to Iruka, then grunted and shut his eyes.
END Chapter 7
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Author's Notes
About Kakashi's state of consciousness: When he wakes up in chapter 2, alert enough to have a coherent conversation with Iruka, two days have passed - it is early a.m. Tuesday - and he has been in and out of it up until then. But he is still concussed. His conversation with Iruka in chapter 5 takes place Wednesday, after the conversation in chapter 2, but he's forgotten the earlier conversation.
Head injuries are strange that way, the patient can seem completely coherent and aware one minute, and utterly out of it the next. That ability to hold a rational conversation, forget you had it, and hold it again, over and over and over is a very common effect of a severe concussion. Another hallmark of this type of serious but non-permenant brain injury is the inability to recall recent events leading up to the injury. So the patient will often do what Kakashi is doing here, sound relatively normal, but ask the same set of questions over and over - "Where am I? What happened to me? Was I in an accident? Was anyone else hurt? I guess I understand but I don't really remember." and a few minutes later he starts over as if the previous conversation had never taken place: "Where am I? What happened to me?..." etc. In Kakashi's case, as in real life, after a while the brain starts to recover; the first sign of that is remembering that you have asked the question before, even though you don't remember the answer. Hence Kakashi's comment to Iruka, "You've told me this before... and I keep forgetting, don't I?"
The Timeline: As is my wont, I've been playing around with time a bit. Here's a little timeline, which might help those who are feeling lost in the weeds of my storytelling.
Saturday night/Sunday morning (Chapter 1, Chapter 3) Sunday (first half Chapter 2, Chapter 4) Monday (no chapter) Tuesday (second half Chapter 2) Wednesday (Chapter 5) Wednesday Evening (Chapters 6 & 7)
4/12 - Monday morning - Genma and Kakashi leave on their mission.
(intervening time to be described in later chapters)
4/17 - Saturday evening - Ibiki finishes his interrogation and sets out to return to Konoha.
4/18 - Sunday 2:00 am - Ibiki decides to rest for a little while, still 10 km or so outside of Konoha.
2:21 am - Kakashi wakes Iruka up returning home
4:00 - Ibiki finds Genma
5:30 - Ibiki and Genma arrive in Konoha
5:45 - Iruka's alarm goes off; Ibiki tries to calm Genma at the hospital
5:50 - Tsunade arrives at hospital, begins to treat Genma
6:15 - Iruka notices blood on the floor
6:25 - Naruto arrives at Iruka's
6:50 - Naruto arrives at hospital and interracts with Sakura, Ibiki and Tsunade
7:20 - Medics enter Iruka's house, attacked by Kakashi
7:22 - Tsunade and Ibiki enter Iruka's house
7:45 - Kakashi arrives at hospital
9:45 - Ibiki tells Iruka and Naruto about Genma; Genma and Kakashi both in surgery
12:45 pm - Iruka has lunch with Sakura and Naruto; Genma out of surgery but unconscious; Kakashi still in surgery
9:00 pm - Naruto goes home; Kakashi still undergoing intensive treatment
11:45 pm - Tsunade brings Kakashi to his room, talks to Iruka and Ibiki
4/19 - Monday 12:30 am - Iruka says goodnight to Ibiki, goes to sleep in lounger.
Monday throughout the day - Kakashi occasionally makes intelligible cries; Genma slightly less out-of-it but not speaking
4/20 - Tuesday 4:30 am - Kakashi finally wakes up, has first conversation with Iruka (but promptly forgets it.)
Tuesday throughout the day - Genma wakes up enough to start plotting, paranoid of medics but too weak to fight them off; Kakashi sleeps a lot, but when awake repeats the "what happened" conversation with Iruka, then forgets it, has paranoid reactions to medics, will only take medicine from Iruka.
4/21 - Wednesday - Genma able to stay awake more but feigns sleep; Kakashi able to stay awake more, but still having abnormal thinking, short-term memory loss, paranoid reactions to medics, etc.
4:40 pm - Kakashi has major reaction to Sakura in medic uniform, sedated by Iruka
7:00 pm - Iruka leaves Kakashi sleeping, steps out to look for Tsunade; Genma overhears girls, takes hostages, maneuvers his way towards Kakashi
7:30 - Genma and Kakashi's reunion
7:45 - Genma and Kakashi attack medics; Ibiki and Tsunade in conference
8:00 - Ward clerk gets Iruka; Medic gets Tsunade and Ibiki
8:10 - Iruka tries to deal with Genma and Kakashi
Extra Special Thanks to Hey-Diddle-Diddle, MessyPeaches, Carcinya, HikaruxYuki and L-Lamb for early reads and advice.
Special Thanks to all my reviewers: shinycry, Polka Dot, Chibi-akuma-no-kage, L-Lamb, Jay-Chan3, anbu-kakashi, Jemuil, Roxie Zephyr Jocelyn, Spectre, Yumi, Alana Quinn, faith b, Orenji Renji, Isolde1 (aka Carcinya), Ika-chan, sidhe-ranma, Beloved Fool, Azamiko, shi-chan, Exodus, AnImErIcAnDeViL06, Lae Lae, lazybumperv, Fuhrer, R.A. Ducko, Majorkami, driftingwandered, meleth78, WinterOfOurDiscontent, Celestral Moon, Blue Tajiri, Bunch-o-Nuts, wyldcat, Hey-Diddle-Diddle, paxnirvana, Pesha-Vashti, Zezura, Aryll, Lady Guena, Bite the hand that feeds, Kohinyun, Roi du Ballet, and AbsurdAnne
To all of you who have supported and encouraged my writing, I am deeply indebted and profoundly grateful. Please continue to grace me with your feedback.
Yours,
Nezuko, Prince of Rats