Please see disclaimer and warnings on chapter 1

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Water Runs Red – Chapter 8

Kakashi watched Iruka move through the motions of the Kata, the Chuunin's eyes were closed and it was obvious he was concentrating completely on what he was doing. The teacher's form was near perfect, the type of perfection that could only be acquired from years of practice. Then Kakashi noticed something else, Iruka's movements were exactly in time to the music vibrating up through the floor below them.

Kakashi stood there as the Kata ended and Iruka bowed to his imaginary enemy.

Iruka turned to Kakashi, taking deep breaths as he looked over at the other man. "So you are going to be my babysitter." He proceeded to stretch out his muscles slowly. His breathing was still fast and even the cool breeze on the roof hadn't dried off all the sweat.

"Looks like it." Kakashi sighed and scratched at the back of his neck, "What kind of mission and how long?" When Iruka didn't stop doing his stretching to respond, Kakashi decided this could take a while and he reached into his pocket to pull out … nothing. Kurenai had insisted he leave the book with his work uniform. How his precious Icha Icha qualified as 'work' was a mystery, but Kurenai had been insistent and Asuma didn't want her mad so Kakashi had no choice but to leave the precious orange volume at his apartment.

Iruka frowned as he stood up, "We shouldn't discuss this here." He shook his head, "still another hour until the party is over." He took a deep breath and looked up at the moon, "Kami-sama, what did I ever do to you?" With an odd smile on his face, he turned to Kakashi, "Your place or mine?"

Kakashi actually was stunned for a moment, before breaking into a small bit of laughter, "Yours, mine is covered in dog hair."

Iruka smirked, "Sounds good, I'll go kick Izumo out of bed so I can leave him in charge. Want to meet me there in 30?"

Kakashi nodded and made his way back down the stairs to go and find Asuma and Kurenai. After making sure they would check up on his team occasionally while he was gone, Kakashi left to wander the town and think until he needed to be at Iruka's.

Tonight had been odd, extremely odd. He had found out a lot more about Iruka than he had known before tonight, but there was if possible more that needed to be answered. He was walking along the empty streets thinking when he noticed he smelled like the chuunin, or at least smelt like Iruka's sweat. He wasn't far from his own apartment so he ducked in to change real quick. Less than five minutes later he was off across the rooftops towards Iruka's apartment, this time less stealthy than the last time he had been headed there.

He was actually a minute or two early. He saw that the window of the apartment was open, and taking an open window as an invitation, he landed gracefully on the wooden floor of Iruka's living room.

The sound of the shower running could be heard, but the rest of the room seemed exactly as last time he had been there. Kakashi sat down and flipped through one of the weaponry magazines while waiting for the Chuunin.

Just as Kakashi opened the magazine, the water stopped and he heard Iruka call out from the bathroom, "You're early, Kakashi-san. I'll be there in a minute."

True to his word, about three pages later, the bathroom door opened and Iruka walked into the living room. For a moment, Kakashi wondered when the last time he had seen the chuunin dry was.

Iruka was wearing a pair of black sweatpants and a forest green T-shirt. He was still drying his hair with a towel as he approached the jonin, "I wasn't expecting you to be early." Iruka threw the towel into a hamper and walked towards the kitchen, "Can I get you anything?"

Kakashi blinked as he looked at Iruka's hair. "You're blond?" He stood up and walked towards the other man.

"Our mark prefers lighter hair. Can I get you anything? Tea?"

Kakashi nodded, "Tea sounds good." He kept watching Iruka as the man walked into the open kitchenette and put some water into a kettle. "So we're doing a hit?"

Iruka shook his head, "No. We have to intercept a messenger." He opened up the microwave and pressed something, which caused the bottom of the appliance to pop open. Iruka pulled a file from the secrete area of the microwave before turning to Kakashi and throwing it onto the table.

As Kakashi sat down and flipped through the file, Iruka grabbed two cups out of the cupboard and placed them on the table. Kakashi opened the folder and was immediately flooded in pictures. The mark was named Gatu and was in his thirties. He was also a jonin missing-nin. Kakashi looked over at Iruka; the man had been insisting he could handle this alone? Kakashi flipped through the rest of the papers, mostly information on a bar it was assumed that Gatu would visit. The last of the paperwork detailed several apparent murders the missing-nin had done.

By the time Kakashi had scanned the folder, Iruka was pouring the tea. Kakashi looked up at the younger man, "You thought Ibiki would let you go on this alone?"

Iruka glanced towards the ceiling, "Believe it or not, I am capable of this. Your position in this mission is strictly backup. If nothing goes wrong, you'll be sitting in a hotel the whole time seeing what's on TV."

Kakashi nodded, "You've done a lot of missions for Ibiki?"

"You could say that." Iruka sat down and picked up his cup of tea. "This is a simple mission. We'll travel to the town; if we go fast, we can be there by dawn. We'll get a hotel room close to the club, and make sure the equipment works. I'll find the mark, and you'll listen in and make sure I don't need backup. Once I have the information, we'll leave town and be back here as soon as possible."

Kakashi looked at the other man. "How do you plan on getting a scroll from a jonin missing-nin?" He tried not to sound like he was questioning the chuunin's abilities, but in fact he was.

"It's not a scroll." Iruka sighed, "It's most likely written directly on his body and will need to have chakra pumped through the skin to make it visible."

Kakashi's visible eyebrow shot up, "And you think he'll just let you read it?"

Iruka took a deep sip of his tea, "No, I plan on getting him drunk and seducing him before slipping him something to knock him unconscious. I don't plan on him letting me do anything. The point is for him not to know anyone has read the message."

The chuunin spoke of the seduction plot with the same lack of emotion as Kakashi would discuss an assassination mission. When Iruka pulled out a map of the town and started to go over the details of where they would stay, where he planned to drug the other man, and best escape routes, Kakashi began to have fewer doubts about the mission. The chuunin was approaching this with calm professionalism.

Finally, Iruka sighed, "Of course no hints of this mission can ever be mentioned to any of my students, past or present."

Kakashi nodded, it didn't really need to be said. "I have some questions though."

Iruka looked over at him, suspiciously.

"I deserve to know the abilities of any shinobi I am assigned to work with." He phrased it as worked with in order to avoid the question of who was in charge. No sense bringing up the difference in their ranks before the meeting with Ibiki.

Iruka nodded, "Beyond that I have the skill set to complete this mission without your assistance, what do you wish to know."

Kakashi frowned for a moment behind his mask, deciding to phrase his questions carefully. "How did an academy teacher end up working covertly for Ibiki?"

Iruka smiled, but not his normal happy smile. "Your assumption is wrong. The proper question is how did someone working covertly for Ibiki end up being an academy teacher."

Kakashi tilted his head; the chuunin was not going to make this easy on him. "You've been working for Ibiki longer than the academy?"

Iruka nodded, "Since I was fifteen."

Kakashi thought that over for a few moments, that meant that basically the entire time the man had been a chuunin he had been working for Ibiki, "Then why the job at the academy?"

Iruka glanced over towards one wall, avoiding looking Kakashi in the eye. "Because of the fox."

"Naruto?"

Iruka shook his head, "No. Because of the fox attack. The year before me to graduate was the first year where there were orphans from the fox attack. My year … well, we didn't handle things as well as the year before us. The year after mine was exceptionally difficult."

He took a deep breath before continuing. "Do you remember old man Yorihito?"

Kakashi nodded, "He ran the Torture and Interrogation Unit before Ibiki took over."

Iruka nodded, "Well he couldn't figure out why the fox attack was affecting the academy classes more than the war before. Ibiki's first big assignment for T&I was to figure it out. Ibiki's first move was to find some of us that were most affected by the fox." He twirled the tea in his cup as he watched it move around the cup, "I was stunned no one knew. I mean, it was an attack by a demon, a force of nature. There was nothing that could be done to prepare. Shinobi were plowed down in the same way buildings were. In a war there were enemies, and an understanding of what was going on. But the fox attack. In such a short time so much was changed, without warning."

Iruka sipped the last of his tea. "I ended up working for Ibiki after that. Trained in psychology and methods normally associated with kunoichi. Turns out I inherited the skills from my maternal line"

Iruka shook his head, "I'm babbling, it's late. I shouldn't drag on. I was assigned to teach at the academy to keep an eye on the students most affected by the fox attack. I was trained to help them deal with it, and since I had been affected, they trusted me. I never wanted to be a teacher."

Kakashi nodded, things were starting to make sense. "Kurenai said your chakra levels were low."

Iruka nodded. "They are. In a battle I have very few Jutsu I can use, even controlling the chakra exactly to use the bare minimum, I can not last for a protracted fight."

"Physical combat?"

"I think after the roof, you already know the answer to that."

"Medical skills?"

"Poisons and drugs mostly. Aside from the classroom cuts and scraps, I have little experience with battle wounds and I don't have the chakra levels for more than healing minor injuries.

Kakashi nodded, "Thank you for being frank about this."

Iruka nodded, "It's not your fault that you were the one dragged into this." He shook his head, "I am sorry for baiting you. I should have realized you were just following me because I was acting unusual. Of course you notice things that are strange, it's how you survive."

Kakashi nodded, "I was right, though. It did turn out that you were very interesting."

Iruka smiled, "Yeah. I had better get some rest before the drinking catches up with me. Ibiki's office at noon."

Kakashi nodded and stood up, leaving via the window.

Iruka's POV

Iruka closed the window after the jonin left. He destroyed the file using a simple chakra tag, and then packed for the mission. Finally, he was on his futon trying to fall asleep. Doubts crept into his mind. Could he do this with Kakashi there? Kakashi had only seen a mission where things went better than hoped. He knew he was making this mission seem easier than it really was. The man they were going after enjoyed inflicting pain on his 'lovers'. Iruka was not going to get out of this uninjured, not and be able to make it believable.

What would Kakashi think after this? How could he look at the other man across the mission desk? Maybe it was time for him to retire. The last class affected by the fox attack was graduating. This class wasn't as bad as Naruto's year even. Only two of his students this year had lost a parent in the attack, both losing fathers before they were born. His mission at the academy was almost done.

Iruka rolled over onto his side. Thinking of retiring was too stressful. If he retired, someone else would have to take his place, and he couldn't think of any of his students doing this. He didn't want to think that he wasn't much older than Naruto when he had started this. Finally, fitful sleep took him, ending his self-imposed guilt trip over the way he was best able to serve his village

------------------- Notes ------------

Sorry for the downer chapter, but this means next chapter is the start of the MISSION! That means Iruka in seduction mode and Kakashi being forced to watch. Oh! How cruel am I!

Yes, this is the fourth chapter in a row where Iruka's wetness has been mentioned. For someone playing down the whole Umi (sea) thing, that boy is sure wet. He hasn't worn a single stitch of blue that isn't part of his uniform though.

I am also debating doing a NON edited to FF standards version of this and plopping it onto maybe livejornel or something, so tell me if this would be desired? Some of this might need to be glossed over to meet Fan fiction rules

Original Characters –

Yorihito – will probably only be mentioned this one time and is simply a name for whoever ran T & I before Ibiki. I don't think cannon sources ever mention who Ibiki took over from. If anyone knows of a real name for whoever used to run T & I, I would love to know.