Hospitals were always dismal places, but prison hospitals were desolate. Hatake Kakashi stood outside the hospital wing of Konoha prison, considering whether he really wanted to go in there or not. He had been in Suna when the news reached him that Iruka-sensei had been attacked by one of the other academy teachers. So he'd handed over his message and run home. Running through the desert, through the heat of the day, goaded by fear and guilt. No one had mentioned which teacher was the attacker, no one had had to. He remembered the look in Mizuki-sensei's eyes only too well. And it hadn't surprised him in the least that Mizuki had also tried to steal forbidden power.

Kakashi was probably the only one who to understand why he would want it. He must have thought the forbidden jutsu's would give a chuunin the strength to overpower even a genius jounin. The damn stupid fool. Yes, Kakashi understood well enough, and might almost have been willing to forgive. Almost. If Mizuki hadn't tried to kill Iruka when he realised that he would never get him back. That was unforgivable. Kakashi stepped up to the electric gate and nodded to the guard on duty. The thought of how close he had come to losing the man, the precious person that he'd dared to start thinking of as 'his', made his fingers curl into tight fists until his fingernails were cutting into the palms of his hands. The gate opened with a dull metallic 'clunk' and he walked through, wrinkling his nose at the sour odours of disinfectant and confined humanity.

He said the criminal's name to a guard inside and was led into a too bright corridor. Sounds echoed off the hard surfaces all around. Quiet sounds mostly, whispers, grunts, sighs, inadequate attempts to conceal raw pain and rawer emotions. Kakashi hated this place, he'd sooner die than be stripped of all privacy and dignity like this. It was the first time he'd ever been here outside his official duties, with any luck it would be the last. He really wasn't sure why he was here now, except, maybe he needed to witness for himself what love could reduce a man to, when the beast was denied. For some reason he needed to see Mizuki before he could go to Iruka.

It wasn't to be, Iruka's presence marked the prison hallway long before he followed the guard around the corner and saw him. Kakashi looked him over from an emotionally safe distance. The sheer quantity of bandages wrapped around the man's body was horrifying, horror that was eased only slightly by seeing how fluidly he was still able to walk. But why was Iruka here? Not to gloat surely? That wasn't in his nature. Kakashi watched as the teacher peered through the small window in the door leading to the medical ward. Did he still have feelings for the creep who'd tried to kill him, underneath the underneath? Kakashi was torn between conflicting urges to jutsu out of sight or to rush over, scoop the lovely man into his arms, and cover him with kisses.

He compromised, walking over to him casually, as if he was an old friend he'd spotted in the park on a Sunday afternoon. "Iruka-sensei, why aren't you in the hospital?"

Iruka startled visibly. "Hatake-san?"

Aargh, he'd never corrected him on that. "I think we're way past the formal stage, Kakashi's better."

"Right, Kakashi. Well er, I was, but they patched me up and let me go yesterday. But when did you get back?"

"About twenty minutes ago, but don't worry I've already reported in." He smiled making his eye curve into its happy crescent. Of course he wouldn't have, yet, if he hadn't needed the Hokage's permission to see Mizuki.

Iruka blushed. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I had no idea when I had you report in before, that you'd get sent straight back out again."

The teacher glanced over at the guard, who was conversing in monosyllables with the Anbu posted outside the ward. His blush deepened. "Maybe we'll get a chance to pick up where we left off… later."

Well that was a good sign. That Iruka wanted sex with him. Especially when his rival was so close. Even if his desire was fed more by a need to feel wanted than by genuine lust. Kakashi resisted the urge to uncover his eye, not wise in this place, with the Anbu watching. He stepped around to Iruka's other side so that his body blocked the guard's view and ran his hand down the length of his back, feeling the bandages beneath the uniform and the heat of damaged flesh beneath the bandages. "How many stitches?"

"About twenty something I think. But not all there, there are some in my legs too."

Closer to thirty, and some broken ribs from the way he was breathing. He shook his head almost imperceptibly. "Too many, better give it a week to heal."

He watched disappointment etch down-turned lines over the teacher's face, now was the moment to ask the big question, now while he was emotionally wide open. "So what are you doing here?"

Iruka's eyes met his, startlingly clear, brutally honest. "I… I just had to see him again."

Kakashi felt his heart sink.

"You see I loved him once, and he… well he dumped me. I wanted to make sure that whatever feelings I once had for him hadn't turned to hate. He tried to kill one of my students, but I don't want to that to make me hate him. I don't want to be that kind of person."

This man was to perfect to be true. Kakashi had no idea what is was he'd done to deserve him, but whatever it was, thank God. He waved to the guard to open the door. "So shall we go in?"

There was only one occupied bed. Kakashi stared at the pathetic wretch who'd dared defy true love. This was proof of what the monster could do. Iruka had some scars where it had got its claws in him but the beast had vented its full rage on Mizuki. It had chewed him up, swallowed him and crapped him out. Everything about him that had once been the mark of a proud shinobi had become a parody of itself. Love had turned to hate, trust to betrayal, loyalty to treason. The only driving force left in his life was spite.

A pair of blue eyes in a bandaged face tracked towards them. "That demon kid of yours did quite a number on me. I heard you decided to graduate him after all."

Kakashi felt Iruka's hand reaching for his. "I think he showed that he deserved it."

"Yeah well." Mizuki's quick eyes darted from Iruka to Kakashi and back. "You'll have to be careful which jounin-sensei you give him to, it will take someone sane and responsible to handle that kind of power."

Iruka smiled then looked at Kakashi, eyes glowing. "He's a good kid, I don't think it will be a problem."

Kakashi put his arm around Iruka's waist, protectively, possessively. So that's why he was here, he had come to gloat.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Iruka could hear the guards whispering as they let him into the prison hospital and searched him for weapons. He knew what they all thought, but he didn't care. He had his own reasons for being here and he wasn't about to share them. He'd spent most of the previous evening feeding Ramen to Naruto, trying not to bleed through his bandages, and trying to impress on the boy what being a ninja was all about, when he'd just been shown such a spectacular example of what it shouldn't be about. But Naruto was still obsessed with power, with the idea of becoming the Hokage.

And the damnedest thing was he could, the boy actually had it in him to be Hokage. He's seen that when the kid had protected him from Mizuki. But not if he was driven by hate. Naruto had remarkably little hate in him, all things considered. The brat had aggravated him almost to the breaking point many times, but out of mischief, not malice. It wasn't really until Sondaime had driven it home to him that he'd realised how tough the poor kid had had it all these years. After all we all have our demons within us, but Naruto was the only one who had absolutely no personal responsibility for his.

Which was why Iruka was now in the corridor outside the medical ward of Konoha prison, peering through the steel reinforced glass, trying to catch a glimpse of Mizuki. If Naruto was going to choose him as a role model, and it seemed he had, the one emotion he could not show was hate. Iruka knew that he'd never been able to control his emotions the way a good shinobi should. In some ways it didn't matter, teaching children required honesty above all. They could sense the slightest hint of phoniness a mile away. Although he did wish he didn't loose his temper quite so dramatically. But hate was something different, an insidious evil, one he couldn't allow himself, and if he hated anyone it was the man behind that door. The man who'd used his position as a teacher to trick, frame and then try to murder a vulnerable child.

"Iruka-sensei, why aren't you in the hospital?"

He spun around, suddenly afraid that Mizuki had found a way to creep up behind him. His back tingled painfully as white hair registered on his consciousness, then the rest of the man came into focus. "Hatake-san?"

"I think we're way past the formal stage, Kakashi's better."

It came out sounding like a tease, especially with the little pout that he could make out through the jounin's mask. But he did have a point. "Right, Kakashi. Well er, I was, but they patched me up and let me go yesterday. But when did you get back?"

"About twenty minutes ago, but don't worry I've already reported in."

Iruka felt his cheeks reddening. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I had no idea when I had you report in before, that you'd get sent straight back out again."

He hadn't either. In fact he'd been devastated when Kakashi hadn't come back to his classroom that day, assuming that he must have taken his insistence that he report in before… anything else, as a rejection. He hadn't been reassured when he went over to the mission room either and had found that Kakashi had taken another mission to go off to Suna, immediately. Then he'd found out that the only other jounin available to take the message was Hayate, and it had all made sense. The dust storms in the desert were particularly bad at this time of year and Hayate's lungs had been bad recently too.

But now Kakashi was back. Iruka looked over at the guards to make sure they couldn't hear. His face must be crimson by now. "Maybe we'll get a chance to pick up where we left off… later."

Suddenly Kakashi was on the other side of him, with the amount of time he spent around jounins you'd think it wouldn't startle him so much by now. There was a firm but gentle hand running along the length of his spine, it felt good, very good. Now if only he'd stroke a little lower.

"How many stitches?"

Damn. Well there was no point lying, he'd be able to tell. "About twenty something I think. But not all there, there are some in my legs too."

He looked at the other man hopefully. He was one of the most active field shinobi, a former Anbu, he must have had worse injuries than this. But no, the white hair twitched in a quick head-shake.

"Too many, better give it a week to heal."

A week! No! He couldn't wait a week, not when he'd been so close just a few days ago.

Kakashi's voice broke through his dismay. "So what are you doing here?"

Where, oh yes. Mizuki. He'd come to see Mizuki. Somehow Kakashi drove all other thoughts from his brain. "I… I just had to see him again."

There was a long still pause.

He owed Kakashi more explanation than that. "You see I loved him once, and he… well he dumped me. I wanted to make sure that whatever feelings I once had for him hadn't turned to hate. He tried to kill one of my students, but I don't want that to make me hate him. I don't want to be that kind of person."

He wasn't sure what else he could say.

It seemed to be enough. Kakashi's next question was much easier to answer. "So shall we go in?"

Iruka walked over to the bed where Mizuki was lying, and looked at the badly damaged man, trying to feel past all the hurt and confusion to the core of his emotional reaction. The one time in his life when he wanted his emotions 'out there' and they were trapped inside.

Then Mizuki spoke, a hoarse croak compared with the rich full voice that Iruka had known so well. "That demon kid of yours did quite a number on me. I heard you decided to graduate him after all."

Demon kid.

That broke the logjam. Iruka shivered, he felt afraid, for Naruto and for himself. Mizuki would still kill them both if he could. How many others felt the same? But he didn't hate him for it, the overwhelming emotion he felt was pity. Mizuki was a piteous creature who'd denied himself any chance of love and normal human relationships. Iruka found Kakashi's hand and squeezed it gently, Kakashi's presence next to him was like a pillar of strength, a sustaining force. Mizuki's rejection, although brutal at the time, had been a lucky break for him. He'd moved on, to something much better.

"I think he showed that he deserved it."

"Yeah well." He saw Mizuki glance over to Kakashi. "You'll have to be careful which jounin-sensei you give him to, it will take someone sane and responsible to handle that kind of power."

Iruka smiled, he was pretty sure he knew of a damn good jounin-sensei. A genius with the insight to see Naruto's strengths, but the force of personality needed to instill some discipline. If would be fun watching the two people he loved best get to know each other.

"He's a good kid, I don't think it will be a problem."

He felt Kakashi's arm around his waist. Love was a greater force than hate. It wasn't going to be a problem.