Spoilers – This contains spoilers for the anime and manga. I am not sure of the exact chapters and episode numbers, but it is beyond what Cartoon network is showing. It is also beyond what is released in English manga by VIZ since I believe the events referenced are in volume 10 of the manga.

If you want the FULL version of the first part of this chapter, it's a bazillion chapters of the manga and about half a bazillion anime episodes, so I skimmed it since covering it would make this story way too long and make me gouge my eyes out.

Warnings – mucho language warnings on this chapter.

This has been a broadcast of the scribbles alert system, we now return you to your regularly scheduled reading

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Water Runs Red – Chapter 14

The days leading up to the first part of the chuunin exam passed quickly for Kakashi. He sulked around town and kept an eye on all the other teams. It seemed each day a new team came into town. This really was going to be one of the bigger Chuunin exams. He kept working his team harder so that they would be ready.

Ibiki himself lead the first exam, the last couple of times that Konoha had held the exams; he had had a subordinate run it. This time he ran it himself. Even with that added difficulty, Kakashi's team passed to the second exam, but so did Asuma and Kurenai's teams.

A few days into the second exam, he was suddenly summoned to the Hokage's office. He knew something was wrong as soon as he saw Anko there. The normally brash woman looked absolutely pale and was sitting behind the Hokage -- perfectly quiet.

The Hokage spoke up, "Kakashi-sensei. We have information about your student Uchiha Sasuke."

Kakashi quickly covered the distance between the door and the Hokage's desk. The only reason he could think of would be that the boy was dead.

"Orochimaru was here. He placed a dark seal on the boy."

Anko looked over at Kakashi, "We believe it is similar to the one that was placed on me."

Kakashi looked from one to the other, finally getting the entire story that they were under threat not to stop the exam. ANBU were in the forest of death, but to actually stop the test could have horrible results. Kakashi tried to argue that they had to let someone examine the seal now, but the Hokage insisted the test continue and interfering with Sasuke at this point could not be allowed. The earliest anyone was allowed to see the seal would be after the end of the second test once the Genin were given the information about when the third portion of the test was, or at such point as team 7 was eliminated from the second exam.

The only concession the Hokage would make was to give Kakashi a folder on what was known about the dark seal. When Kakashi went back to his apartment, he was truly regretting having entered his Genin in this test. Orochimaru was around, and had infiltrated the forest. His one student was marked with a dark seal and had a small chance of survival. If the boy made it, then the seal would need to be sealed and he would be in the hospital for who knows how long.

As much as it pained Kakashi to say it, Iruka was right. The kids had no business being in there. This was going bad. He was going to be damn lucky to have all three of his students emerge from that forest alive.

Three days later when he was standing in front of the successful candidates from the second exam, he was relieved. All three of his students had not only survived, but managed to complete the exam. Unfortunately, they had to go through preliminary matches and he couldn't do any more to help Sasuke than to make sure he didn't use his Sharingan. To use the blood-limit would cause the seal to take over his body. Kakashi had learned a lot about the seal in the past few days, luckily Anko's had been well studied by leaf experts. The part that surprised Kakashi was that those experts included Izumo and Iruka.

Thankfully, Sasuke went first and actually managed to defeat his opponent without doing anything to cause the cursed seal to spread over his body. Kakashi followed the best method the Hokage could come up with for reigning in the seal. The confrontation with Orochimaru was completely unexpected though.

Leaving Sasuke under ANBU guard at the hospital he spoke at length with the Hokage before getting authorization to get at the rest of the files pertaining to the dark seal.

The more he read on the thing, the more he knew he would have to track down Iruka and Izumo, and preferably Anko. He had done a lot with seals, but this one was different. It wasn't meant to keep anything in. It was meant to let something out. According to what was in the folders, it was a huge source of power, but it came with a steep price.

After getting Naruto sent off with Ebisu for training, he went in search of the chuunins and Anko. He had heard from Genma that the four (the three he was looking for plus Kotetsu) were off in one of the unused practice fields doing some training.

They weren't being quiet and it only took Kakashi a little bit to figure out exactly which of the fields and quietly walk up towards the, he wanted to see what was going on before he interrupted them.

Iruka slowly circled in the open field, his eyes remaining on his opponent.

Anko was circling as well, she had her devil may care smile on and her trench coat was blowing in the breeze. Kotetsu and Izumo were sitting off to one side.

Kotetsu yelled, "Put him in his place, Anko! Beat that sorry ass of his!"

Izumo shoved Kotetsu and screamed, "Come on Ruka! Show her she might be a jônin but she's still little Anko-chan!"

Iruka laughed as he made a come and get it gesture to Anko, "Ahh, come on little girl, I won't hurt you – much, unless you want me to." His voice was teasing.

"You are so going to pay for that Ruru-chan" Anko launched into a quick kicking combination, which Iruka blocked and jumped back from. "I'm going to whip you so hard you'll be in bed for a month."

Iruka flipped forward, dealing a series of punches and a kick before flipping over and away. He didn't hit anything more than her shoulder, and that was just barely. "Oh, sweetie, I thought we were fighting and here you are whispering sweet nothings."

"You know you like that!" She managed to get her hands on his and flip him, but he got out of her grip and landed gracefully on the ground, striking out with his own kick before she completely recovered.

"Oh, baby, you know it." He punched and kicked and backed up, "Course I know you like the audience."

Kotetsu and Izumo started laughing at the mention of audience. Kotetsu even catcalled.

She charged forward with a dizzying array of punches, Iruka dodged most, but a few connected. However, he was able to counter with two kicks of his own. "Maybe some of those new video surveillance devices, I got some strings I could pull with ANBU. Oh or maybe just some ropes."

She kicked at him, frowning as he managed to dodge, "Are you dancing or are you fighting?"

Iruka smirked, "Ohhh, I think I hit a nerve, boys."

"You cocksucker!"

"Damn right I am."

She charged him, "I will so get you, that hot ass of yours is going to be black and blue!"

He jumped out of the way, landing a kick on her back, "Oh promises, promises. Will you kiss it better?"

"Fuck! When did you get that flexible, I woulda never dumped you." She grinned wildly at him as she charged again.

"Dump me? You dumped me?" He kicked at her and she grabbed his leg causing him to go flying, he just barely managed to land without falling and she was on him the second his feet touched the ground. He dropped to his back, launching her into the air with his own feet and knocking the air out of her. "I so dumped you."

"In your dreams!" She launched towards him again, her feet and legs moving in a fast pattern of kicks and punches. She wasn't holding anything back, but she wasn't using chakra to increase the damage, this was obviously still for practice.

"Actually" He blocked and kicked, managing words between the punches, "It was in my bed."

"You're getting senile old man." She took a hard hit to her shoulder but managed to counter with a kick to his hip, "It was my bed."

She twisted as he kicked and tried to roundhouse his legs out from under him, but he jumped and managed to squeeze her butt as he fell to the ground. He hit the dirt with a loud thump and started laughing, "Well that must be why I was nice and invited you to join." He winked at her, "I win."

She rubbed her butt, "You didn't have to do that that hard. Anyways I turned down the invite -- he wasn't might type." She laughed as she reached down to help Iruka up.

It was then that Anko and Iruka saw their audience. Iruka turned an even more red shade than a normal blush and Anko even blushed as Kotetsu and Izumo almost fell over laughing. Kakashi didn't think he had even ever heard rumors of Anko blushing.

"Am I interrupting?" Kakashi asked as he stepped into the clearing.

Somehow, Iruka turned an even brighter shade of red, "Uh, no Kakashi-san, err sensei, err ... we were… sparring." Iruka had a look of someone who had just been caught in the act, made up an excuse but was going to stick with that excuse no matter what.

"I see, sparring."

"Is there something I can help you with?" Iruka shot a glare over at Kotetsu. Kakashi just barely caught sight of Kotetsu and Izumo making some odd gestures with their pinky fingers.

"I just came to tell you I sent Naruto off with Ebisu to do some training in preparation for the third exam."

Anko became more serious and walked over with Iruka to stand in front of Kakashi. She spoke softly, which was very unlike her normal demeanor, "You are going to supervise training the Uchiha yourself?"

Kakashi nodded, "I wanted to find the four of you since every request for information I've been making at the hospital seems to lead to one of you."

Kotetsu muttered, "Not me, I don't touch that seal stuff."

Izumo swatted him, "We'll help in anyway we can."

Kakashi paused to notice the change in attitude of the other four ninja; they went from completely screwing around to serious in the span of a few seconds. "I need to find out as much as I can about the seal."

Iruka nodded, "Of course. We should go to my place. I have additional records there, and we can teach you a few tricks."

Iruka lead everyone to his apartment. Kakashi noticing the changes in everyone's demeanor. Iruka definitely had taken on the attitude of the leader of the group. Izumo was steering Anko with a protective hand on her shoulder. Kotetsu was occasionally shooting a glance at Kakashi, as if to make sure he realized he really was an outsider to this group. Anko was the biggest surprise. She didn't say anything on the entire trip to Iruka's. The normally brash and loudmouthed woman was silent.

When they got to Iruka's, Izumo and Iruka walked towards the door to Iruka's bedroom, with everyone else following them. Izumo and Iruka picked up the dresser and moved it to the right. Kakashi hadn't gotten to the point of looking behind furniture when he was searching the apartment all those weeks ago, so he hadn't noticed the false panel the dresser was hiding.

There was another room behind there. Anko did a small jutsu and lit the oil lamps in the room while Iruka and Izumo started pulling down some scrolls from one of the shelves. The room was cramped with all five of them in there. The far wall held scrolls. Another wall was covered in scrolls that were hung up to dry. The third wall had more shelves with various containers on it. The interesting thing was that the floor was covered in a seal.

Izumo started to go over the contents of the scrolls, explaining how the dark seal bound itself to the recipient's chakra pathways and how most people couldn't adapt to it and ended up dying. He also went through what was known of how Orochimaru had changed the seals since Anko had gotten hers. Of course very little was known about that. He explained the theory behind the seals and why it seemed to work. He also went though why various ways of sealing it up don't work, namely that it was tied to the users own chakra system.

Kakashi read through everything as quickly as he could. "So my sealing it up won't work as well as I had hoped?"

Iruka took a deep breath, "It is the best that can be done. That is why the Hokage recommended it as a first course of action." He looked over at Anko and only continued once she nodded at him.

"The thing about the seal is that it can activate by itself. Not only when the bearer is out of chakra, but also when other triggers happen." Iruka's voice was calm as he explained.

"Triggers?" Kakashi was looking from Iruka to Anko, there was something here that he hadn't been told.

"Its hard to tell what will trigger it. Dreams are the most common it seems. Also, if Orochimaru is nearby, that can trigger it. Anything that reminds the person of when he received the seal can trigger it. It is tied very closely to the bearer's chakra so it can be triggered by disturbances to their chakra, but it can also be calmed by the bearer's chakra being calmed."

Kakashi nodded, "I assume you know how to calm it."

Iruka nodded, "Yeah." His voice was very serious and more than a little sad, "When Anko first came back…"

Anko cleared her throat, "Can he be trusted?"

Iruka looked over at Anko, "It's your decision."

She nodded, "I was only released from the hospital when Iruka begged the third, promising he would keep watch on me. I think Sasuke's seal is more stable than mine was. Mine tried to get out at least every night."

Iruka looked over at Kakashi, "We figured out a method of calming the seal and some meditation techniques that started to reduce the frequency. After a few months of that, the seal was at the point where Anko was able to take care of the seal herself after we … she moved out."

Anko nodded, "We can teach you and we can help Sasuke when he regains consciousness."

Iruka then showed him the move to calm the seal, instructing him to watch with his Sharingan. He could see the focusing of the chuunin's chakra in three of the fingers of his hand and a circular rotation of chakra moving in his palm. The chakra in the fingers then started to ripple, the same motion as the rain affect from when he was watching Iruka at the pond. Slowly Iruka brought his hand down on Anko's seal; the affect was almost instantaneous on her. Her chakra stabilized and her muscles relaxed. Iruka pulled his hand away before asking Kakashi, "Do you think you can do it?"

Kakashi nodded, "I'm not sure my control is as good as yours. I can do it though, I think."

Iruka looked at Anko, "You willing to let him try?"

She nodded and moved over to Kakashi. He concentrated on the chakra flow in his palm and gently placed it over her seal like had seen Iruka do. The affect on Anko was very different. The black under his palm started to move and her muscles tensed. Suddenly, Iruka had his hand there and was calming the mark.

"OK, that wasn't that bad." He patted Anko on the shoulder. "Ko? Why don't you take Anko and get her something to drink?"

Kotetsu grabbed Anko's shoulder and lead her out of the small room.

Kakashi frowned, "I'm sorry. I thought I had the move right."

Izumo nodded, "I think it was too strong."

Iruka nodded as well, "I agree. Try it on me; I don't have a mark to set off so I should be able to judge it better."

Four hours and a meal later, Kakashi had practiced on both Iruka and Izumo. Finally, it was time to try it on Anko. She was lying on the couch with Kotetsu curled up on the floor watching TV when Kakashi, Iruka, and Izumo walked out to the living room in search of her.

With Iruka there incase things went badly, Kakashi again practiced on Anko. This time it worked. After a few more times to make sure that Kakashi had it, Anko yawned, "I need to go home, get some rest before I end up sleeping here."

Iruka nodded, thanking her for her help and giving her a hug. She turned to Kotetsu and Izumo, "Can you guys walk me home?"

Kotetsu dragged his tired self off the floor and started to head for the door. Izumo paused to glance back at Iruka as he left, following the other two.

Kakashi sighed, "Thank you."

Iruka shrugged, "You're Sasuke's best hope right now."

"I'm sorry for putting them in danger."

"If Orochimaru wanted Sasuke, there is nothing anyone could have done to stop him. Not even you can be with the boy all the time. You were right to put them in the test, no matter how it turned out."

Kakashi walked towards Iruka, "You're amazing."

Iruka smiled, "If you say so." He took a step towards Kakashi. His voice was very soft as he said, "Can I get you some tea?"

Kakashi smiled, "Sure."

The chuunin walked past him, perhaps passing a bit closer than he had to in order to get to the kitchen. Iruka set a kettle on the stove and turned back to Kakashi, "Excuse me for a moment, I need to get changed."

Kakashi nodded, wondering idly why Iruka needed to get changed. As the kettle started to make noise, Iruka walked back out of his room wearing what Kakashi had begun to think of as 'mission clothes' which of course was extremely different than Kakashi's missions clothes.

Iruka threw his forehead protector onto an end table, grabbed some cash from the kitchen counter, and shoved it into the back pocket of his jeans. His hair was down and the dark green shirt he was wearing nicely showed off his muscles. As Iruka poured two cups of tea he smiled at Kakashi, "I have to go do a simple scouting mission tonight."

Kakashi frowned; he had been working on detailed chakra control with the chuunin for several hours after the man had done a match with Anko and after he had taught at the academy all day. "But aren't you exhausted?"

Iruka smiled, "Not the first time, not the last time." He handed Kakashi a cup of tea.

"Anko made a hasty retreat, is she OK?"

Iruka smiled, a slight blush passing over his cheeks. "She was trying to give us some alone time."

Kakashi looked over at Iruka, "She and you?"

"She used to be my girlfriend."

Kakashi nodded, it wasn't his place to ask.

Iruka smiled and looked down at his tea, "After overhearing the sparring I'm sure you know a little more about how the breakup went than you wanted to know."

Kakashi smiled, "Yeah. It was an impressive sparring match, especially the verbal portions." He paused for a second, "Winner is the first person to grab the other's butt?"

Iruka giggled and nodded, "Yeah, we came up with the rules back when we were all Genin. Pissed our jônin-sensei off like crazy. Well not Anko's, we were careful not to do it around him." Orochimaru's name didn't have to be spoken.

Kakashi nodded, "I can't image what I would do if I walked in on Sasuke and Naruto grabbing each other's butts. Course if it were Sasuke and Sakura … I don't think she'd put up a fight." When Kakashi looked over at Iruka, the other man was biting his lip. "What's wrong?"

"I'm an idiot."

"You are not."

"I'm scared."

Kakashi reached out to grab Iruka's hand, "Of what?"

"Orochimaru has shown up, something is going on with the exams, and I can't get this sense of dread to go away. Something really bad is going to happen, and all I can think of is how stupid I've been."

"Iruka…"

"No, let me finish. I said I shouldn't have asked you out because something bad was going to happen, but that is why I should ask you out. If one of us were to die, I would never know what it was like to kiss you."

"Iruka?" Kakashi looked down into the dark brown eyes looking up at him. Without wasting any more thoughts, he had his mask down and was kissing the younger man. His lips feeling Iruka's slightly chapped lips respond to him. Their teeth clicking together for a second before they found a comfortable position. He drunk in the taste of the tan man, savoring the warmth of his body pressed against his as they kissed.

The soft noises Iruka made were even more enticing when they were being made in Kakashi's arms. The little moans and pants Kakashi had previously only head over a speaker or at a distance seemed more captivating when he was holding Iruka tight to him. The younger man was practically trembling with the desire to kiss Kakashi harder.

Iruka had his arms wrapped around him, holding him tightly as he kissed Kakashi. Finally, after what seemed a blessed eternity, Iruka pulled back, his eyes still shut. "I need to leave."

Kakashi covered up his face again with the mask, "You can open your eyes. I'll see you after classes tomorrow?" He was surprised that the chuunin didn't try to sneak a look at his face.

Iruka smiled, "I'll look forward to it." With that the chuunin darted off, leaving Kakashi in the unfamiliar house to think about what just happened

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

Ha-ha, I got them back together

Sorry for any awkwardness in the whole 'seal' thing. It would have been clearer from Iruka's POV, but… I don't know, I didn't want to switch POVs

I' m not sure how well this chapter worked, but I'm posting it before my eyes fall out from allergies.

Thanks for the reviews, I love themPlease review, please email, show me you love me giggle