Disclaimer – If they were mine, that entire 'star' piece of filler would be on a cutting room floor, so not mine.

No real warnings on this chapter.

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Water Runs Red – Chapter 11

Iruka slept fitfully and lightly as the salve slowly healed him. Kakashi tried to sleep; he knew they'd be moving all night. It wouldn't be the first time he went without sleep, but it would be better if he were rested. If anything came up on the way back, he doubted Iruka would be much help. He'd had to carry teammates back home from less traumatic missions than what he heard over that radio, so that the chuunin was holding himself together as well as he was, was a testament to his strength.

Kakashi kept thinking over the sounds he had heard over the radio and comparing them against the battered body in front of him. He knew better than many people did what it took to injure the human frame and how injuries were made. He was very familiar with all kinds of weapons and the affects of hand-to-hand combat. He knew how badly Iruka had been hurt. Actually, he knew the physical parts; he didn't know the mental parts.

Kakashi had been on few covert actions. When he was of a lower rank, he was much too young, and when he finally got to the age where he could go on such missions, his skills as an assassin had him in ANBU doing that type of dirty work. He knew some ANBU members did this type of mission, he just had never known anyone who wasn't female who did it. He also knew the female ANBU who did these missions never lasted long. Not that any ANBU lasted long in the job, but their tenure in the organization was noticeably shorter. If Iruka had been doing this for almost ten years, that would be longer than anyone Kakashi knew.

Slowly Iruka started to stir; as soon as he realized where he was, he flinched away from Kakashi and painfully sat up. The younger man ran his fingers through his hair and took a deep breath, "What time is it?"

Kakashi sat up, "About one more hour until sunset."

Iruka slowly pulled himself out of bed and started to methodically search himself over for damage. Kakashi watched as he moved each muscle of his body, slowly cataloging the damage. The cream had help reduce the bruising, but the chuunin still looked like he had been beaten to hell and back. He reached a hand up to his mouth and took out both of the piercings from his lips, his tongue absently licking at the blood removing them caused.

"Can you chakra burn these?" Iruka held the two piercings out in his palm towards Kakashi, "Careful though, one of them had a powerful sedative in it."

Kakashi carefully took the pieces of metal and wrapped them in a tag before starting it to burn with a smokeless chakra fire. "That explains how you knocked him out."

Iruka smiled, "Yeah, I hate those things, they always hit my teeth, but they work so damn well." He stretched and started to go through a slow stretching exercise.

"I've never seen anyone use a lip piercing to hide a drug like that."

Iruka shrugged, "Yeah, I used to carry them in a pocket in my tongue but people are getting smarter and checking there. Used to work with someone that carried things in an eyebrow piercing, but if his hands were trapped he was screwed, so I started the lip thing."

Kakashi watched as Iruka went through a series of stretches. "You have seriously been doing secret missions for almost ten years, haven't you?"

Iruka shrugged, and then turned it into a shoulder rolling motion, "Yeah." He gingerly test kicked the air, "Nothing compared to how long you've been doing high rank missions."

Kakashi watched as Iruka did a few punch/kick combos in the air, "Ten years is longer than most people are able to do this type of work."

"It's hell on relationships, but it isn't that bad, I guess. Work is work, 'not work' is 'not work'. You know what it's like. It's no different than going out and slashing someone to pieces. You have to leave that on the mission and not be that when you are in the village."

Kakashi nodded, "That's the theory, but it isn't always easy in reality. It's why ANBU members never last that long. The covert ones last even less time."

Iruka didn't pause from a simple series of punches and kicks he kept repeating, "Well, they don't have a classroom of children to force them to realize there is more to life than missions."

Kakashi lay back down on the bed, determined to at least rest for the rest of the time they were in the room, "I thought you didn't like teaching?"

Iruka paused and looked at him, "What made you think that?"

"You said teaching was your mission and it was almost over."

Iruka smiled, "Ahh, but it's the only mission I have that I love. I think the third will let me stay at the academy after this class graduates."

"Most people find teaching depressing. Just teaching kids how to kill each other?"

"Do you find teaching your three depressing?"

Kakashi looked up at the ceiling, glad his expression was hidden under his mask, "No. I'm pushing them so they get stronger. Weak ninja die."

Iruka started to pack up his bag, "I've learned a lot about being a shinobi by doing this – maybe too much. If you don't believe me that I love my job, check the graduation rates and the survival rates."

"I believe you. I was watching you when you were holding that shuriken practice."

Iruka tensed up, "I didn't even realize you were watching. I guess I need to keep my guard up more in the village."

"You were surrounded by the barely contained chakra of a twenty-four pre-genins. In addition, you had enough sense to notice that kunai coming at you AND realize its trajectory AND figure out if you dodged, the little girl would be hit. Not only that, you took the hit perfectly. I've seen ANBU with less awareness, so don't go acting like you failed." Kakashi was starting to get frustrated with the man constantly underestimating himself.

Iruka just nodded, "Sorry." He took a deep breath, "How did you know it was time to quit ANBU?"

Kakashi paused; he didn't normally like talking about it. He may have the starts of a friendship with the chuunin, but they weren't friends. He may have an attraction for him, but they weren't lovers. "I realized I was too good at the job. It stopped really affecting me. The day I realized that when I put on that mask, I stopped being me."

Iruka nodded, "Did you worry about the people who were still in ANBU when you left?"

Kakashi frowned, "I worried about them when I was in ANBU too."

Iruka nodded, "I don't know if I can live with myself if I leave the missions for others. The missions won't stop just because I stop. What if something happens to one of them?"

Kakashi sighed, "It's no different than if you died. You have to trust them to be able to do their jobs. I've seen what happens when people don't get out when they need to. They become hollow shells that might as well not be alive and then one day they don't come back from a mission. They get their name written on the stone and no one really notices because they stopped being a person long before their name was written on that stone."

Iruka nodded, "I can't imagine any of my students doing this."

Kakashi was momentarily surprised at the emptiness of that statement. "They are shinobi, they can't be protected forever."

Iruka nodded, "I know. I know. But I want to protect them. Every year I have to give my recommendations of who would be best suited to work in Ibiki's unit. I have to give recommendations of who could be trained to do this. The last name I gave him was Kiba's. He's twelve. Twelve is so young and already on Ibiki's radar as someone that might be useful. I was only fifteen when I went on my first mission like this though."

Kakashi was thinking, what about Kiba made him good for missions like this. The boy was all over the place, carefree, wild, and never quiet. You always knew when he was around, if it hadn't been for Naruto, Kiba would have been voted hands down the #1 loudest Ninja.

"Iruka, they are strong kids."

"Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura almost died on your mission to wave."

Kakashi nodded, "True, but they didn't. They surprised me. They are stronger than they were."

"I remember one day when Sakura was seven or eight, she dodged a kick poorly and scrapped her knee. She had blood allover her hands and was in tears. I remember washing her knee and patching her up with a kiss to the forehead and telling her that she was a ninja of Konoha before sending her back out to practice. Is that what we do? Patch up the kids and shove them back out?"

"Iruka, yes. For the same reasons you sent her back out. If she gave up she would have never grown into the kunoichi she is now, and she'll just keep getting stronger." Kakashi knew the man was protective about his students, but he hadn't realized how deep that ran.

Iruka nodded, "You're right. Maybe that will help me sleep at night if I ever decide to quit." He started picked up the notepad with the writing on it and placed it in his pack, "Thank you Kakashi. The sun is setting. We can leave soon."

Kakashi made sure everything was gathered up as he prepared to leave.

"Oh, Kakashi-san?" Iruka's voice had a playful note back to it.

"Hmm?"

"Hot?"

Kakashi was once again very happy for the mask covering his face. "It seemed appropriate at the time."

"Appropriate. I see. And the hitch your voice did when you said it?"

"They were very tight pants." Thankfully, years of reading Icha Icha in public had steeled him to being able to say such lines without undo emotion showing.

"Good thing I didn't wear the other ones then."

"Other ones?"

Iruka laughed, "I've been doing this for a long time, I have a substantial wardrobe. When you were wandering in my apartment, you didn't see the half of it."

Kakashi chuckled as he grabbed his pack, "That almost sounds like an invitation."

"Not to rummage through my drawers, but maybe a drink some night?"

As they left the room, Kakashi nodded, "Sure, just tell me when and where." As they snuck out of the town it occurred to Kakashi -- Iruka had just asked him out. Through the long run back to Konoha as they jumped from tree limb to tree limb a part of Kakashi's mind was stuck on the fact that Iruka had just asked him out. What would Asuma and Kurenai think?

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

Sorry this one is short, but the next thing will be kind of big so this was a good place for a chapter break. Thanks for the kind words on the evilness I did to Iruka, he's tougher than he looks though and can handle a lot.

As always I love getting the little messages in my inbox when you review my writing.