Three leaf shinobi were patrolling the forest five miles out from the main gate. It was standard duty and normally the kind that was considered a blessed relief from the dull routine of training gennins and the intense danger of A class missions. But since the incidents at the chuunin exam, no one took even patrol duty lightly.

Adding to their unease was the fact that Mitarashi Anko had been substituted into the group with Shiranui Genma and Nara Shikaku, instead of Hatake Kakashi, at the last minute. The three men had worked this kind of patrol dozens of times together and knew each other's moves without thinking. The woman, on the other hand, was a powerful konoichi but she generally seemed reluctant to leave the village. Preferring to fulfill her jounin obligations in other ways like gate duty.

None of them knew why Kakashi had been pulled from the patrol. No one believed the story that he'd been given leave because of the attack on his friend, the academy teacher. Not even Genma, who knew that the teacher was much more than a friend. A shinobi was expected to keep up with his obligations to the village no matter what, and nothing short of the death of a close relative would excuse simple patrol duty. There was also the uncomfortable rumour that he had been seen with the torture expert Morino Ibiki several times the previous day. That was never considered a healthy sign.

But so far the patrol had been uneventful. The forest was almost ridiculously peaceful, with its great trees toweringly indifferently over all other lesser life forms, human and beast alike. Breezes stirred the branches overhead making patterns of light and shade that skittered on the forest floor and the Leaf ninjas automatically shifted the rhythm of their movements to match them, remaining invisible to all but the best-trained eyes.

Perhaps following some deep instinct, or more likely because Hatake Kakashe was in their thoughts, they tracked several miles further south than they normally would. Eventually finding themselves in the part of the forest where that same Hatake Kakashi had been ambushed by five unknown ninjas almost exactly six months before. The trees thinned out here around a rocky outcrop with an old salt mine. It was a treacherous area with deep hidden caverns and sinkholes where underground streams had eaten away the salt deposits in past millennia.

Suddenly Anko stopped. She touched the position of the curse mark on her neck as if it itched and signaled for the others to disappear. From his perch high in a tree Genma saw two ninjas, each carrying a large cloth bag. Their faces were almost completely covered and they had no identifying village marks. They seemed to be running straight towards the old mine entrance.

Anko was in front of them in a flash. She knocked one out cold with a kick to the head and slashed at the other with her sword, leaving a deep gash on his arm and spraying an arc of crimson into the air. Leaping backwards she landed on a rugged boulder, keeping her adversary fixed in her gaze as she licked at the blood on her blade and grinned. God but she could be a bloodthirsty bitch.

The unidentified ninja dodged to narrowly avoid a second attack but the tip of her sword caught his bag, ripping it open and spilling dozens of snakes onto the ground. The konoichi froze momentarily as the forest floor writhed around her feet and in that second a silvery thread streaked out of the trees and tightened around her throat. Spinning around she slashed at it but instantly a second chord wrapped around her sword hand. Genma leapt to her defense, scanning the thread for a weak point where he could cut. But before he could make his move a tendril was around his own wrist. He pulled at it, ready to switch his sword to the other hand when all the threads suddenly relaxed.

"I have him." He heard the Nara-san call from the shadows.

Genma sprang to Anko's side and checked for the pulse in her neck as he loosened the metallic chord. Just in time, her eyes were bulging hideously and he could see that her tongue was purple and swollen. He supported her as she gasped, gulping in air, while he unwound the rest of the threads. Suddenly he was knocked back by an earsplitting blast and the force of the woman's body crashing into him. Fortunately even her slight form had been enough to screen him from the worst of the sonic attack, so he lifted her onto his back and dived for cover. Just as the threads twitched back into life. Two secured themselves around the throats of the men on the ground, while the other reached for the second bag. Then they withdrew, leaving the men still and lifeless and taking the bag with them.

Nara Shikaku staggered into the sunlight.

"Gone. Another minute and I'd have had both of them," he said as he plopped down and put his head between his knees.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

As arranged Kakashi met Ibiki outside Iruka's apartment. There was absolutely nowhere in the world he wanted to be less. He directed some of his displeasure at the unseen ANBU who had followed him, scowling in their direction before greeting the interrogation expert with a cold, masked, smile.

"I can't believe you're still involved in this, an attack on a teacher's small potatoes isn't it?"

The response was equally cool. "He is but you're not. If you've gone psycho we need to know, or if there's someone out to get to you."

Kakashi scowled again. "So you think I did get hit on the head too hard that time. Is that why they're still with me?" He nodded towards his shadows.

"Partly, and Tusenade still thinks you might bolt. She claims the way you've been acting is classic remorse, but she can't read people like I can. That's why she's such a lousy card player."

The scarred man moved close into Kakashi's personal space, seeming to loom over him suddenly. "But I also know that you're a devious bastard. And if it turns out that she's right and I'm wrong and you did half-kill Iruka, I'll bring you down. You may be a genius but in my own way I'm even more dangerous than you."

The silver haired nin grimaced under his mask, from the way his stomach tightened he knew that it was true. He scratched his head nervously. "Well thanks for the vote of support. I think."

Ibiki's expression was unreadable. "Humph, just don't try going past the gate without an escort. You'd never make it."

They'd been climbing the steps inside the building while they spoke, letting their undisguised footsteps echo through the empty stairwell. Kakashi avoided the protective traps automatically and used his key to open the door.

"Not damaged," he said as an afterthought, running his hand over the lock. But he knew that didn't mean anything, any decent shinobi could pick a lock.

Once inside Kakashi could hardly stand to look. Everything in the apartment fairly screamed at him how desperately he wanted the man that he knew he should give up. The neat living room was just as he'd left it. Two of his bright orange books lying on the table, next to a stack of graded papers and a red pen. The couch they'd spent so many evenings on together, not needing to talk, just basking in each other's company, with a few well scrubbed tell-tale stains where they had done more than just bask.

The bedroom door was open and Kakashi was drawn to the bed, irresistibly. It had been neatly made since he had dragged himself out of it two days before, and had one of his uniforms, washed and ironed, piled on his pillow. There was a feather on top of the uniform. A stiff brown goose feather. The copy nin couldn't resist an inward smile as he remembered that feather. How Iruka had squealed and groaned, pinned underneath him, as he used its fine tip to tickle those oh so sensitive nipples until they almost glowed red.

"Aah stop it Kakashi, if you keep on like this I'm gonna come."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"I wanna save it."

"Really, and who are you saving it for?"

"For you, you dope. You know what I want."

"Well we can do that too, later."

"Kakashi!" It was Ibiki's voice. "Yes it's a nice bed. Now can we do what we came here to do?"

Kakashi turned around sharply to face him, slipping the feather into his pocket. He'd come back later and steal a sheet. Then he could sleep in his cold bed tonight surrounded by the smell of Iruka's warm brown body. Maybe he'd take a pillow too. Hell he'd take everything. Just let them try to stop him.

"The bathroom Kakashi, are you ready?"

No, he'd never be ready. "Right, the bathroom. Sure."

He walked across to the bathroom, trying hard not to stare at the dark stains on the floor, took a paper scroll out of it's holder, sliced the tip of a finger on a kunai and spread a streak of blood down the edge of the paper.

"I was wondering when you'd drag me into this sorry mess." Pakkun said in his deep growl.

"Do you know what happened? Can you tell us?"

The dog sat down and scratched behind an ear lazily. "If you don't know how the hell would I"

Even his own dog seemed against him. "Well just tell us what you can smell here."

"Blood… and sex, but mostly blood."

Kakashi glared at the pug. "I can smell that much myself! Who's been in here?"

Pakkun whimpered, looking back with rounded puppy eyes. He hadn't expected to make his master so upset. "People, too many people. Must have had half the village through here, can't sort them out."

"Any Uchihas?"

Pakkun closed his eyes and took several deliberate sniffs. "I think so, I can pick up a trace of Uchiha. Dark and waxy with something sour, like vinegar. Not enough to say who."

"Anything else, anything particularly unusual?" Kakashi pressed.

"Graves… and snakes, not Konoha smells." The dog pricked up his ears hopefully. "Is that unusual enough for you?"

Kakashi reached down and scratched him behind an ear. "Thank you Pakkun, you can go."

The dog grunted and poofed out of sight.

Ibiki frowned. He picked up a bar of soap from the sink and sniffed at its flowery fragrance before putting it back and rubbing his soapy fingers together.

"So it could be Itachi, but not exactly the kind of evidence I'd hoped for."

"At least you have something to work with now."

"Yeah, graves and snakes. Hey what do you mean me? Where do you think you're going?"

Kakashi lowered his eyelid and peeked up at the other man self-consciously.

"To the hospital. I said I'd be back to see him soon."