Yoko sat alone in her room, thinking. Hoping desperately that her Master wouldn't intrude on her thoughts until she'd worked out a decent plan. She hadn't been this frightened since the day she'd grabbed her four year old twin's hand, and dragged her from the inferno that had once been their family's compound in Hidden Mist. What she needed now was the same focus she'd had then. The same determination to survive and to protect the one she loved most. Her ambition, his ambition, could wait.

One thing she had learned was that action was always a better option than reaction. She had to face them, before they came to her.

The two men were in the great room waiting for her. Breakfast was set out on the low table before them, but for once not even the old man was eating.

"So you have it?"

She bowed her head and moved it slowly from side to side. "It didn't work, I warned you that he's different."

The old man started to rise. "Pity, but we've waited long enough."

"No wait, please Master, no blood. Let me try to turn him." She swallowed hard. "We can use this to our advantage."

He sat back down. "Go on."

She could feel him in her mind, and a cold shiver of sweat on her spine. "The children… they've always been the weakness in our plan. That's why you targeted a teacher in the first place right? Well if we had a teacher working for us, one of their teachers, we could avoid a lot of problems."

The robed man flicked the hair back from his eyes and stared at her intently. "You can do this?"

"I think so, he sees me as the woman he loves. I think I can convince him." Her eyes flashed to meet his briefly. "And you know that I have other… resources."

The men exchanged a glance. "Yes you do. Significant resources, but remember, so do we." He dismissed her with a wave. "Ok, we'll try it for a week, we can delay that long, but once the hardware's ready to go into position we can't afford to stop."

Yoko bowed out of the room as the old man stabbed at a plate full of dumplings. She'd revealed more than she intended, but she had a week. Now to make good use of it.

oooooooooooooooooo

A fishing crew found Kakashi lying unconscious in the bottom of the small boat, floating in the bay. He woke up lying on a futon, staring into a rough-hewn wooden ceiling, with someone seated beside him. Dark eyes and black hair hanging loose around a sweet caring face. It brightened into a smile as his eyes opened. His heart skipped a beat, but no… it was a woman. He recognised her at once. The bridge builderTazuna's daughter, Tsumami. It seemed that recently his life was filled with kind generous women. He couldn't bring himself to think about the cruel duplicity of the men, or rather man.

She blotted his eyes with a cool cloth then replaced the bandage that was tied loosely over his sharingan. "Do you exhaust yourself like this on every mission Hatake-san? It seems very reckless."

He just managed a thin smile in return as he pulled away the sheet that was covering the lower part of his face. It was sweet of her to arrange it that way, but not really necessary, he wasn't that neurotic.

"No. It seems that Wave country is a particularly hazardous place. How long have I been here?"

"This is the third day, but you were badly dehydrated. You must have been out on the water for a few days before that."

Dehydrated. Yes he was very thirsty. He reached for the glass of water on the floor beside him. Tsunami got to it first and helped him to sit as he sipped at it.

"Would you like some food? You haven't eaten at all."

Food? He was hungry too, but with the dull edge of nausea that told him that his stomach had been empty for days. He guessed about five. Five days since his mad flight from Wolf Island. Five days lost in a deep pit of impenetrable grief.

"Some rice would be good, something easy to digest."

Tsunami smiled, pressed the glass into his hand and left the room. She came back a few minutes later with a bowl halfway filled with rice porridge.

"Careful, it may be a little hot. And eat slowly. Those rocks claim a few ships every year in bad weather, folks around here know how to take care of shipwrecked sailors who haven't eaten in days."

Kakashi took the bowl and tasted it tentatively. To his starved tastebuds even this most bland of foods seemed bursting with flavour, filling his mouth with saliva so that he almost drooled. With each mouthful his hunger increased but he took her advice and ate slowly. Eventually, as his belly filled, he felt warmth and strength returning to his body.

She took away the empty bowl. "Good. I'll bring some more in about an hour. Take it easy until then or you might throw up. Call if you need anything." She looked back as she was leaving the room. "By the way, was your mission a success at least?"

This time Kakashi pulled up the sheet himself as he lay down. He could hide the pain in his voice but not his face. "No. Not yet."

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

Iruka shivered, feeling the warmth his lover had left on the skin of his back and shoulders gradually dissipate. "You still haven't explained. Not properly."

Yoko rolled him over and brushed her lips against his. "I will, I promise. Just trust me."

"But you've been saying that for days and you still haven't told me anything except 'we need to stay here a little longer'." He grabbed her hands and held them against his neck, his eyes wide and pleading. "See I do trust you. I know you could kill me right now with a twitch of your fingers."

"It's not just me you need to trust. Answer their questions this time. They're our allies, show that you trust them too."

Iruka turned over onto his side and curled into a ball. "I can't. It makes me feel like a traitor. Even when I tried it just wouldn't come out. If you want them to know then why don't you tell them yourself."

"Because they need to hear it from you."

"Then explain what's going on. I can't understand things the way you can. I need help. You can't expect me to just go against a lifetime of training."

Yoko sighed. She was so close. She'd successfully muddled his thinking past all his original objections, made him accept her presence here as a Konoha jounin without question, but he still kept his secrets. Maybe she should explain everything. If he knew that he was the only hope for Konoha's children then he would have to cooperate. But then he'd hate her as much as the others.

"I have to go now."

Iruka watched Kakashi gather his clothes and take them into the bathroom. He was half tempted to follow, but only half. Since he'd first arrived on this island everything had gone wrong. Even the sex didn't feel right anymore.

Yoko had her own problems. Once she was dressed she made her way to the great wooden door on the floor below to give her daily progress report. But she had no progress to report. And she was running out of time, and excuses.

She was tempted to take Iruka and run, maybe her sister could offer them refuge in Hidden Waterfall? But she knew that was just a dream. Her master's blood flowed in her veins. He owned her. There was no place on earth where she could escape him. This was the bargain she'd allowed to be forced on her, reluctantly at first, the Blood-warrior Ketsuekimusha's blood and the power of the blood mist. She had become his heir, accepted his ambition as hers, in return for simple survival and the safety of her twin.

Yoko took a deep breath and pushed open the door. There was nowhere to go but forward.

"You're methods are taking too long Yoko."

She felt like a trapped animal facing into the hunter's guns. "But… but you said a week."

"And by tomorrow it will have been a week. What do you have for us so far?"

"I'm making progress, it won't take much longer. Blood takes time too, and it's more risky."

"But it never fails."

"I won't fail, I just need more time."

The old man set something on the table in front of her. "Maybe you should try softening him up a bit. It was useful for a student of mine who resisted… at first." It was a black leather whip.

Yoko sucked in a harsh breath and pulled back.

The old man looked at her,with a sly gleam in his eyes. "If you're too squeamish perhaps I should do it for you."

She felt panic rising inside her, panic and helplessness. The old man enjoyed blood and pain too much, but there was nothing she could do to stop him. When Iruka was hers, and Konoha was hers, then she'd make it up to him. Without a word she turned and left the room. Left the castle. She'd walk along the rocks, at the edge of the ocean. The sound of the sea and the surge of waves had been her refuge from life's harsh realities for as long as she could remember.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

When Kakshi woke the next day he felt almost normal. Even his muscles were stronger and less cramped than he'd have expected, had someone been massaging them? Someone must have undressed him too, and put on the loose Yukata he'd woken in the day before. Tsunami? His inner pervert couldn't resist a smirk. He may be heartbroken but he could still appreciate the idea of a woman's touch.

Soap and shampoo were set out next to his futon, along with a towel and his uniform. Neatly folded. A large bucket, which still had the lingering odour of bait, held his weapons. Well he could take a hint. After his bath, dressed and rearmed, he felt completely normal. Or at least as completely normal as he could hope to feel for some time.

He wandered into the kitchen where Tsunami was preparing breakfast, and arranged his body in a perfect slouch astride a large round stool at the wooden table.

"Looks good. Will you let me eat real food today?"

She poured tea into a tall clay cup and handed it to him. "Yes, I think so. As long as you don't overdo it."

He smiled, his eye arching, as he blew gently at the steam rising from his tea. "Am I that well known as a glutton?"

She raised an eyebrow. "You've been my guest before, but now that we've seen you without your mask at least you won't have to eat quite so fast."

She was rewarded with the ghost of a pink blush on his pale cheeks and turned back to the stove to hide her own heightened colour.

"So Hatake-san, now that you're feeling better, is there anything in particular you'd like for dinner?"

He noticed the tightness in her voice and the flutter in her pulse rate. It made him uneasy. "Please don't go to any trouble, I'm sure I've inconvenienced you enough already. And don't be so formal, call me Kakashi."

Now her heart was pounding. She turned around and bowed deeply. "Hatake-san… Kakashi, as you know my whole family owes you our lives, and my son much more than that. I am truly honoured to have the opportunity to help you in even this small way."

There was a long awkward silence. Kakashi sipped at his tea and tried not to react as it scolded his tongue.

"Then please make anything that you think you do well. I know that I'll be able to taste the care you put into it." He'd milk sympathy for all it was worth but gratitude made him squirm.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Iruka lay on his bed staring at the ceiling. His breakfast sat untouched on the table in the far part of the room and the tea he'd been drinking had turned cold at his bedside. He had made his decision, he would take a boat and he would leave. Today. With Kakashi or without him. If the other man really felt that his future was here then there was nothing more he could do to persuade him, and nothing at all he could do to stop him. But his duty was with Konoha and its children. He'd been away from them far too long now. He would go back.

There was a stirring in the air as the door opened. Iruka didn't need to look up to see who it was, only Kakashi could walk like that. With footsteps so close to silent, but making just enough of a whisper to announce his presence to those who knew what to listen for.

"Kakashi."

"Yes my love." The old man almost snickered, shaking his white head with amusement. So he really did call his beloved 'scarecrow'.

"Please listen carefully. I've put a lot of thought into what I'm about to say." He sighed and sat up, looking at the other man. Hope not quite completely gone from his eyes. "Look, you're a jounin and I'm a chuunin. And as we both know, your rank automatically makes you my superior officer anytime we're outside Konoha."

The old man listened. So just where could this be leading?

"Now normally that means I'll obey your orders without question… but…"

"But?"

Iruka took a deep breath. "But it doesn't apply to treason. You have no right to order me to do something that I believe could harm our village.

The old man smiled, he liked where this was going. "That's where you're wrong. You have to do as I say, obey me, and if you don't I'll have to teach you Sensei."

He crossed to the bed and lazily started to take off Iruka's shirt, slipping one button after another through its buttonhole at an agonisingly languid pace. Iruka caught his breath, trying not to respond to Kakashi's pale callused fingertips grazing against his skin. But as the last button came undone he couldn't resist shrugging his shirt off and letting it slide to the floor. Suddenly his wrists were grabbed by strong hands and steel cuffs were clamped onto them. Then he was jerked forward so that he fell face down on the bed and he heard the clank of chains being secured, stretching him spread-eagled across the cover. He pulled his head up from the pillow struggling to see Kakashi behind him, then cried out as much in surprise as pain as he felt a whip bite into his skin.

"Aghh Kakashi what…?

There was hot breath on his shoulder as his lover whispered into the nape of his neck. "Are you ready to obey me yet?"

Another crack and another cut across his back. His whole body flinched. Biting into the pillow he braced himself for more pain as he realised the truth.

This was not Kakashi. It was an illusion. It had to be. Kakashi would not do this.

He held onto the thought through each new blow, an illusion, as the pain compounded, not Kakashi, pushing him to the edge of oblivion. Kakashi wouldn't do this, not to him. He didn't even feel the chains being removed, but he forced himself to be alert enough to know when his tormentor left.

Eventually, when Yoko was sure the coast was clear, she unlocked the door and crept in. She found him lying half-conscious, bleeding into the sheets. Iruka was faintly aware of Kakashi coming back, of gentle words and gentle hands soothing healing ointment onto his back. All his attention was focussed on trying to break through the illusion. But it was still Kakashi's damp tearstained face that pressed against his shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"Please don't resist, you'll give in eventually, everyone does. Don't make them hurt you again."

He gritted his teeth. "Why the hell do you care?"

"Because I love you."

Damn they were good. He could feel the heartfelt sincerity and the stifled sob under the words. Despite everything he almost believed it was true.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Kakashi went out to the dock and sat looking at the stars. The same stars he'd spent so many cool summer nights and cold winter evenings looking at with Iruka. His life really sucked.

He made space for the person he'd sensed behind him. "Good evening Tsunami."

She sat alongside him. "Good evening Kakashi. You've made a remarkable recovery."

"I've received good care."

He sensed more than saw her blush. It reminded him painfully of someone else who blushed easily.

"Thank you. I wish the circumstances were happier, but I'm glad I've got to know you a little better. When you were here before, three years ago I suppose, everything was so… awful, and crazy, and frightening. I'm glad I've had the chance to see that you're actually much nicer than I'd thought."

Kakashi snorted. "You've caught me with my guard down."

She laughed. "You mean your mask?"

"That too."

She reached towards his face, hesitated, then sensing permission in his stillness pulled his mask down to his throat. "You look much more attractive without it, like this."

Kakashi was tempted. She was older than he was but still very pretty. And she was offering more than sex. Comfort, solace, things he needed right now, needed a lot.

He shook his head and replaced his mask. "I was in a long-term relationship that ended very recently. Ended… very badly."

She sucked in a deep breath and folded her hands on her lap, staring out to sea. "I'm sorry. I wouldn't have thought you would be such a romantic."

"Neither would I."

Her heart went out to him as if he was a hurt little boy. No doubt she'd be going through this with her own boy in a few more years.

"I should probably keep quiet, and it's a long time since I was in this kind of situation, but when you have enough distance I'm sure you'll realise that it's all for the best. That it was really all over a long time ago."

He remained silent so she continued. "You must admit that your reputation is pretty scary, I can't imagine that you're someone that it's easy to just say goodbye to."

Kakashi held in his reaction. Tsunami had hit a nerve. He'd been a killer since he was a child and Iruka must know him well enough by now to know that there was a limit to even his iron control. "Maybe."

He pulled his mask back down for a moment to kiss her cheek, then stood and walked back to the house. "Say goodbye to Inari for me. I'll be leaving early. It's time for me to retrieve my target."