Warnings in addition to chapter 1 warnings: Violence, death, Sexual situations and a major improvement to certain chuunin's wardrobes.

This chapter contains slash implications, that means male/male, if that offends you this isn't the story for you. Future chapters might/will also have female/male or other types of sexual situations so consider this a fair warning (actually more than fair)

Water Runs Red – Chapter 3

Kakashi had been sitting in an empty apartment across the street from Iruka's apartment. The empty unit was a floor higher, but with the slope of the road, most of the Chuunin's apartment was visible. It was getting later in the evening and Iruka was defiantly active in the apartment. He was walking around the main room in a pair of standard pants but didn't have the shuriken holder or the normal thigh bandages on. He had the bandage off of his shoulder and it was covered with some sort of cream, if Kakashi wasn't mistaken, and with the Sharingan in use he rarely was, it was a fast healing cream. It was standard ANBU issue, but how an academy teacher would have gotten some, he didn't know.

A bit before six, Iruka grabbed a backpack, threw on a black T-shirt and left his apartment. Kakashi carefully watched from his observation post and saw him casually making his way towards the main gates. He took a gamble and followed, staying far back as if he were following another Jônin, or even an ANBU member, he was not going to make the mistake of underestimating the chuunin,

Kakashi stayed back as Iruka met up with two other figures at their apartment and made their way to the gate and out of the village without another word. The other two chuunin had also left their forehead protectors evidently. Izumo was dressed in standard issue pants and a bulky sweatshirt. Kakashi couldn't make out what was under the shirt, but something seemed off. Kotetsu was dressed in a pair of beat up looking jeans and black boots. He had a light coat thrown over the top of his frame. Both of the other chuunin were also carrying backpacks.

He followed the three men as they made their way out the front gates, acting as if nothing was up. Maybe nothing was up; maybe Kakashi was just too paranoid for his own good. He followed them about a mile down the road from the main gates of Konoha. Kakashi was about to head back and go through Iruka's apartment when he saw the three men step off the road and huddle together for a moment.

Operating on pure instinct, Kakashi made sure there were no flaws in his camouflage, plus the fact he was several hundred yards back caused him to be pretty sure the three men could not detect him. He watched as the men's attitudes changed from leisurely to business. Suddenly the three took off through the trees in full ninja mode. Kakashi wasn't sure he hadn't been spotted so he summoned Pakkun again so he could keep more distance between the trio and himself. Perhaps if they did sense him, the added distance would cause them to think they had lost their pursuer.

Kakashi took off after his pug, racing through the branches, staying a few miles behind the chuunin group. Kakashi hadn't run this fast for a while, evidently the three chuunin were very fast.

Three hours of the breakneck pace later and Pakkun paused, "They've stopped. A mile ahead."

Kakashi nodded to his summons and carefully made his way towards where the chuunin were. He could barely see them, but what he saw surprised him. The backpacks and a lot of the extra clothing were being shoved in a hollow by a tree. Kotetsu was still wearing the same beat up jeans and black boots, but his jacket was gone revealing a long sleeved shirt made up of leather and buckles, a lot of buckles. The marks on his face weren't the normal marks either. They had been altered and were black against the chuunin's face. Kakashi wasn't sure if it was a permanent modification or if it was temporary. His hair was just as wild as always though, but it flopped down more without a headband to keep it up.

Izumo on the other hand had pulled off his standard pants and was wearing leather that looked like it had been painted on. Low slung black leather pants gripped his legs and Kakashi didn't even want to think of how long it took to pull anything that tight on. When he took off the sweatshirt, all he had under it was a mesh tank and a dog collar around his neck.

The two were crouched down in the dirt watching whatever Iruka was tracing into the dirt. If it weren't for Iruka's actions, Kakashi would almost think he had stumbled upon three chuunin going off to let off some steam, but it was too organized.

Iruka was dressed in a way he would have never expected the academy teacher to appear, not in dreams and especially not in reality. The man had his hair down and it was moving softly in the breeze, when not in the ponytail it was just past his shoulders. All Kakashi could see was the man's back, but it was impressive. He had on dark brown leather pants. The leather was the same dark brown as the chuunin's hair. The pants were tight, but not as tight as Izumo's and Iruka's had various buckles and even an occasional pocket. The man was also wearing a loose dark red shirt. When the three got up to head towards the town in the distance, he saw Iruka also had a dog collar around his neck, complete with a D ring hanging off it. There was an extremely tight black shirt under the loose red shirt. The overall appearance of the men looked nothing like the ninja he knew they were.

Kakashi knew he could catch up with them now that they were walking like normal people and not the ninja they were, so he waited for them to reach the town before making his way over to their bags to search for any clues. The bags had nothing in them that answered any questions. The discarded clothes were in there. Shuriken and Kunai were in there. The only interesting thing was when he got to the med kits. Each man had brought a fully stocked med kit. The kits were geared towards poisons. Every anti poison and toxin Kakashi was used to ever seeing in a kit was in there, several of them in double doses. One antidote in Iruka's bag was already empty and from the moistness of the vial, it was within the past few minutes.

He frowned slightly, still not knowing what was going on. He set off towards town, using all of his skills to keep from being seen. Soon Pakkun had him across the street from an old warehouse. It appeared to be a bar or club of some sort and Kakashi could feel the bass of the music playing much too loud. "What do you smell?"

The pug wrinkled his nose. "Those three are in there, but that place stinks. Only you humans would like a place like that."

"What do you mean?" There were few places the pug complained about, and besides the place looking dirty he didn't see anything else about it right off hand, he was going to wait for his summon's answer before using the Sharingan though.

"It stinks. Drugs, alcohol, sex and blood. It just stinks of it." The pug lay down at his master's feet.

Kakashi nodded and pulled back his forehead protector revealing the Sharingan eye. The building was covered in spells to dispel illusions and detect weaponry. It would be exceptionally difficult for anyone, even himself, to sneak into that building with an illusion in place. As he was, he was much too conspicuous to walk in without one.

The people he could see coming and going were of both sexes, dressed similar to how the three chuunin had been. With the Sharingan, he could see how fried their chakras were. Few of these people were ninja, or at least were still ninja. A few definitely fit the picture of burnt out ninja too lost in drugs or alcohol or some other vice to realize they were slowly killing themselves. Others were without even the excuse of having been ninja to justify their slow suicides. Kakashi saw what his pug meant about this place stinking.

This was a place where human life meant nothing because no one there valued his or her own life. He watched the people enter and leave the club for a while trying to decide if he should make his way in. Just as he was about to risk it, he saw Kotetsu leave the building followed quickly by Izumo. Several other people left at the same time.

In the crowd, he saw Iruka being led out by a larger man. The academy teacher was headed in the opposite direction as the other two chuunin and Kakashi was faced with a choice of who to follow. He followed the teacher, not trusting the man who was with him. Iruka was shoved into an alley a few blocks from the club and was being roughly pushed up against the wall by the larger man. The large man had his fingers looped in the collar around the teacher's neck and was pinning him to the rough stonework with a very forceful kiss.

Kakashi was about to rush to the teacher's rescue when he saw the unexpected. The teacher's leather clad legs were wrapping around the other man's waist and he was submissively allowing the larger man to manhandle him to the dirty alleyway pavement. The teacher's only aggressive maneuvering was in evidently trying to get his tongue as far down the other man's throat as possible.

Kakashi was frozen in place. This was crazy. Iruka-sensei was a respected teacher at the academy. He was the former teacher of his three young genins. The children always spoke of this man as if her were a saint of perfect morals. This so-called saint was being pressed down to hand pavement by some brute about to ravish tender teacher flesh, and Iruka wasn't fighting, no he was encouraging. Iruka's entire body was enveloped in an aura of sexuality. The movements of his arms and legs and how he arched his back was screaming sex, and the noises coming from the teacher's throat were primal enough that even Pakkun shifted uncomfortably.

Then suddenly the man stopped moving. Iruka's hand flitted to the larger man's throat and then his leg came up under the man's side to heft him off to the side. A very rumpled looking Iruka arched his back and stretched. Before looking at the dead man next to him, the teacher then took his shirt and started to systematically clean his own mouth, scrubbing teeth and tongue with the soft fabric. Wrapping the shirt around his waist, he checked the man's pockets and quickly pulled out some papers and a wallet. The teacher pocketed the items and then quickly adjusted the other man's clothes. When Iruka stood up, even Kakashi who had seen everything that transpired would have to agree that it really looked like the man passed out and died after having sex in the alley.

Iruka moved his head from side to side, cracking his neck and then started to walk away from the scene. Suddenly he stopped and turned to look up. Kakashi thought he had hidden himself well enough. He stayed motionless, hidden behind an archway, the pug close to him, covering his presence too. He didn't dare move; even breathing was an almost unacceptable risk. He stayed perfectly still until the pug in his arms said, "He's gone."

Kakashi nodded and checked out the dead man, he could barely detect it, but the man's mouth smelled like poison. Oddly enough, it was a poison that the antidote that was empty in Iruka's med kit would counter act. It was also a poison that would be completely broken down within an hour and undetectable.

He took off towards where the three chuunin had left their packs, fully expecting it to be empty by now. This was definitely odd. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew something was definitely not normal about those three.

When he got there all he saw was a small burn patch of ground. Everything the chuunin had left was long gone. It was late, and he had to report to the Hokage in the morning and train his team when he decided to show up. He took off through the woods at the pace most comfortable for him, trusting in Pakkun to alert him if he was catching up with the chuunin, but someone feeling he'd really have to rush to manage that feat.

When he got back to town, it was late, some horrible hour of the morning. He went back to his apartment and crashed onto his bed, thinking through in his mind what happened and what was going on. Mostly he couldn't get the thought of Iruka out of his mind. He had never really thought of the man before this. He was just some boring teacher at the academy and only useful for information on his team. However, this changed everything. He'd work his resources in the morning and see what he could find out. The Chuunin seemed to know everyone; it couldn't be that hard to find out some dirt on him. Finally, Kakashi fell asleep for a few short hours.

---------------- NOTES ---------------------------------

Sorry I had to go an edit this chapter to have the man die, since it's crucial it was an assassination mission for further story events

I know Iruka is seeming a little kick butt right here, but his weaknesses will become more apparent.