Pakkun plonked himself down and scratched behind an ear with a hind paw, while he watched the broaddark back hunch over, and a pool of blue chakra take shape on the workbench in front of it.

"Ahem."

The back tensed but didn't move as the blue intensified before dimming and receding, it's edges shimmering violet as it faded away.

"Ahem, if this is a bad time I can come back after the war is over. If there is anything to come back to."

Jiraiya turned to face him, his mouth curved into a tight hard smile. "Pakkun-kun."

He took in the dark cloth tied around the dog's muzzle and rubbed at the fresh scar on his arm. "Do you have a message from Kakashi?"

"Can't think of any other reason to be in this dank hole. Why do you sennins always do your experiments in caves anyway? I remember Oro…"

"Yes. I heard about it."

There was a short, but ugly, moment of silence.

"We work alone because we're hermits. That's what sennin means, hermit. Now… if we want to win that war, I still have a lot to do."

For the first time in as long as he could remember Pakkun actually felt ashamed. His neck sagged in a fashion that could only be described as hangdog and for once his puppy dog eyes were completely uncalculated. "I'm sorry Jiraiya-sama. I haven't been… I just don't feel… and wearing this mask… I can't use my nose properly everything smells of blood."

Jiraira picked him up off the floor, put him on his lap and started to scratch behind an ear. Pakkun leaned into the friction, pulling his lips back from his teeth in appreciation.

"So what did Kakashi tell you to say?"

"He asked if you'd come to see him, said there's something he wants you to do, in about an hour."

"Mmm. Did he say where?"

"He went home, and it must be important, I don't think I've ever seen him so twitchy. And he didn't ask, but could you check on the kids at the academy too. I don't want him to go out again tonight, he's been acting weird… even for him."

"Iruka-sensei's not with them?"

"No Master left the teenage chuunins in charge. He said Iruka-sensei needed to get a decent night's sleep."

"Well at least he's using his brain. And you're right, they'll both need a good night's sleep if they're going to be ready to fight tomorrow."

Pakkun slumped down, his jowls flapping from under his mask onto his front paws, and his small body trembling. "Tomorrow? So soon?"

It was Jiraiya's turn to feel guilty. So the pug's bluster was to cover his fear. Had he made a subconscious connection between the smell of the blood mist and the loss of his previous master?

"Yes. Times running out and Kakashi knows that he has to strike first, if I can get these tags right by then."

The little dog jumped to the floor and nodded in an approximation of a bow. "Please forgive me for disturbing your important work Jiraiya-sama."

Jiraiya picked up a piece of parchment and held it so that it glowed blue at his touch. "I'll be there, I won't let Kakashi down Pakkun-kun, you can count on it."

A nervous Kakashi and an apologetic Pakkun, how much weirder could things get?

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For a big man and one who frankly wasn't quite as young as he once was, Jiraiya moved surprisingly fast. Anyone watching, although no one was, would have been aware of little more than slight disturbance in the air and an impression of black and white as he passed. Along with an occasional faint click of a wooden sandal meeting a hard surface.

Only Shizune noticed him enter the hospital and make his way to Naruto's room. She found him there, standing next to the kyuubi vessel, and running his index finger along the spirals of his seal.

"Well it's holding," he said, without looking up at her."

"He's recovered remarkably well. All the damage to his body is already healed, I expect him to be awake sometime before morning."

A gust of cold air seemed to stir the notes she'd left clipped to a board at his bedside. She walked over and checked the window, but it was already closed.

"Just what kind of maelstrom would it take to blast this mist away from the village Jiraiya?"

They both stared at Naruto. The somber silence in the warm bright room made it seem colder and darker than the wintry night outside.

"Not that kind Shizune. Not this time, or at least not unless we get a lot more desperate than we are now. In fact that's the reason I'm here. We already have more wild cards in play than I can follow, we need to keep this one in the deck."

He took a small scroll from inside his clothing and unrolled it over Naruto's seal, securing it with surgical tape.

"Make sure that stays on him, unless you have a very good reason for taking it off."

Jiraiya slipped a hand inside his inner garment and stroked the scars on his chest. "Remember, I've seen what he might do without it, you haven't."

Shizune turned away, as if she was about to leave. Jiraiya raked his fingers through his hair, scratched his nose, then called after her.

"So, how's Ba… Hokage-sama?"

A tiny change in Shizune's posture warned him that this was even more dangerous territory. "She's strong… and tough."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes. "Tell me something I don't already know."

"Yes, but she doesn't have a demon to heal her."

So Shizune could be pretty scary in her own right, at least where Tsunade was concerned. He'd better tread softly. "I know. Can I see her?"

"If you have to. But she's on a lot of painkillers, and barely conscious."

"That's okay, I don't have the time for a long conversation."

"And I'm coming with you. …She's barely conscious."

Jiraiya took a step back and his eyes went wide with shock. "Surely you don't think I'd…"

The dark glower in Shizune's made it quite clear that she did.

Jiraiya felt the rumble of a laugh in his belly. He actually felt insulted!

But then again, the idea had some merit. The beautiful, and beautifully endowed, heroine collapses at our hero's feet. What can he do but loosen her tight clothing? And maybe press his ear to her ample bosoms to listen for her precious heartbeat? He'd have to write that down when he had a chance.

Five minutes later he left the hospital as silently as he had arrived. Now to check up on the kids, spend half an hour bucking up their spirits, and he's still be in good time to keep his promise to Pakkun. But why on earth could Kakashi need him to come over? What was he planning, this night of all nights?

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Iruka was glad to be back within his own four walls, but that was about the only thing about his much-delayed homecoming that he felt good about right now.

As he wedged a shoulder against the living room door, he adjusted the balance of the tray in his hands to keep the steaming liquid in the teacups perfectly level. He was feeling slightly irritated, okay significantly irritated, that he had been the one expected to make tea. Wasn't Sampo Kakashi's guest? And he may be the man's number one fuckbuddy… no, that was unfair, he knew he was much more than that. But he wasn't his dutiful wife either, and he had no obligation to attend and wait on the other man's friends.

Of course the monk had risked his life coming into Konoha. And he had taken it on himself to help prepare the academy kids for the fight of their lives. His sudden appearance had been, in all honesty, a godsend. Iruka had no illusions at all, that he could have honed the gaggle of half-trained children into the proto-soldiers they now were half as effectively without him.

The situation had improved considerably when a handful of his more talented past graduates had shown up out of the blue. But even their skills would have been mostly wasted, if Sampo's solid authority and powerful… spiritual presence hadn't already brought a measure of calm and focus to these kids, who had just witnessed almost every adult they knew going more or less insane.

Okay, so he was jealous. It had to be obvious to anyone who wasn't blind and stupid that Sampo was a better man than he would, or could, ever be. Maybe this was all he was good for, making tea.

Iruka nudged the door and the other men's voices became clearer. There was a serious undertone in Kakashi's that made him freeze in the doorway, pulling in his chakra automatically. He blushed with guilt, but was powerless in the face of an unknown dread. He couldn't not spy.

"Are you sure about this Kaka-kun? It's a big step."

"Yes Sam. I should have asked you a long time ago, guess I was just too complacent, and too lazy. But just in case we… well in case time runs out on us, I want to do it now, tonight. So… will you? Will you marry me?"

Iruka went numb. His hands started to shake, spilling the tea from its dull clay vessels to pool in the bright lacquered tray. The door yielded just enough for him to peek through the crack, to see the two men on the couch, facing each other, hands clasped and intertwined.

"If you're sure that's what you want." The big monk grinned, showing his perfect white teeth, then hugged Kakashi close and kissed his unmasked cheek. "I suppose I've just never had you pegged as the marrying kind."

Iruka sucked in a ragged breath and leaned against the doorframe for support.

There was a long pause, as the whole world seemed to wait in silence. Sampo patted Kakashi's hand in a way that went way beyond familiar. "But what about Umino-san? Have you said anything to him?"

Kakashi's voice became quiet and thoughtful. "No. You know things are pretty good between the two of us. Hell they're very good. If I'd mentioned it to him, and then you'd turned me down, well I wouldn't want to risk messing up something so sweet."

There was a crash as the tray fell to the floor, splattering tea and scattering fragments of pottery.

The door swung open.

Iruka stood framed in the opening, all the blood that was currently rushing to his brain made Kakashi's voice sound as if he was a very long way away.

"Ruka. You ok? I just asked Sam if he…"

Iruka spat out the words. "I know. I heard."

Kakashi had been looking unusually flushed and excited. But the ice in Iruka's voice caused his visible eye to widen and the colour of his skin to drain to pallor way beyond his normal pale.

His voice had a tremor that almost sounded like fear. "Iruka, what's the matter? You look so... Don't you want to marry me? I know it's… unusual, but Sam's the abbot at that shrine of his, so he has the authority…"

Dots tentatively connected in the teacher's normally coherent brain. "You mean you want Sampo-san to… conduct the ceremony?"

"Of course. That is… if you'll have me? I don't know how much legal standing it will have but…"

Iruka sank to his knees watching in abstract fascination as the rough weave of the matting came up to meet him, collapsed, and curled into a fetal position.

The other two men stared, then walked over to him. Kakashi crouched down and kissed his lover's forehead, scooped him up and sat back on the couch with him coiled in his arms, rocking him gently.

"I er, think he's happy. Do you think he's happy?"

Sampo stroked a hand over the five 'clock shadow on his head. "I don't know Kaka-kun, and I was rather hoping he'd be able to keep you from going barking mad.

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Lee was on his fifty third circuit of flip flops around the academy when he heard something. A muffled noise from the roof. He leapt up onto it, his scrawny body posed into position, ready to attack. The source of the noise shifted, dislodging a fragment of broken tile. well whatever it was, it was obviously being far too careless to be any kind of threat. He relaxed with a sigh and opened his eyes wider, trying to see more clearly.

"Ino-chan?"

The girl was huddled on the peak of the roof, right before it disappeared into a gaping hole. And she was sobbing into her long hair, which she'd wadded up in front of her mask to absorb the sound.

Lee sat next to her and put an arm over her shoulder. "Shouldn't you be inside Ino-chan?"

She looked up, weepy eyed, as she suddenly realised that she was no longer alone.

"Oh Lee!" She flung her arms around him, wailing loudly, suddenly not caring if anyone heard.

"I slipped away, just after Iruka-sensei left. I went to the flower shop to see my Mum and Dad. And… and… they tried to sell me some flowers!"

Lee stared over her shoulder into the darkness. "Well it is a flower shop Ino-chan."

"Waaah, don't you see? They didn't recognise me. They didn't know me at all. They don't care what happens to me or anything. I could die and my own parents wouldn't even care."

"Kakashi-sensei and Shizune-sama explained about the mist. How it messes with peoples minds."

"But it's not just them. Asuma-sensei's in the hospital and Hakage-sama, and it's all so horrible. We have to beat this thing tomorrow, we just have to Lee!"

Lee felt his own eyes brimming again. He'd wept over Gai-sensei at the hospital, and over his sweet Sakura, and his family too. Although he'd obeyed Iruka-sensei's instructions and resisted going home to see them. But he couldn't give in to his emotions now. Ino needed him to be strong enough for both of them.

He wrapped his arms around her, clinging tightly, as tears flowed freely down his cheeks. "Waah Ino-chan, Gai-sensei looked so helpless…"

"I can't bear to think of Asuma-sensei just lying there, too dazed to ask for a cigarette…"

"My Sakura, a bruised and broken blossom…"

"My Mum used my own sales pitch on me, that yellow roses are always an appropriate gift…"

Neiji watched them from a safe distance. He'd let them wallow in it for another ten… no, five minutes, then haul their arses back down to the gymnasium to help him get the little kids settled down for the night.

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Kakashi closed the bedroom door behind them, then after a moment's thought, locked it. Sampo's breathing, from the direction of the living room couch, had already evened out. But who knew where Jiraiya had gone, or what he was up to. And Iruka really did seem to be tired, he'd already started to undress.

"Look Ruka, I know it may not have been the kind of wedding you'd always dreamed of but…"

Iruka shucked off his shirt and sat on the edge of the bed to pull his legs out of his pants.

"Kakashi, I've known that I have no romantic interest in girls as long as I've known…anything. I never expected to marry, never particularly wanted to marry, and although I've had my share of wild fantasies, my wedding day has never ever been one of them."

He picked up his outer clothes, folded them neatly and hung them in the closet.

"But if… and this is a very big if… I had ever thought about it. I would NOT have wanted Konoha ration bars to be served for the wedding feast."

Kakashi looked down, as if undoing the zipper on his pants suddenly required all his attention. "I know, I'm sorry."

Iruka stepped out of his underwear, tossed them in the wicker laundry basket in the corner of the room and climbed into bed. "I would have at least liked a cake, maybe a chocolate cake, with ice cream."

"I know."

"Some champagne would have been nice too, or sake. Sake is good for celebrations."

"I know."

"And I would have wanted Naruto to be here, and the others, and my friends, and your friends."

"I know.' Kakshi risked a glance up. "My dogs came."

"Yeah, even they wouldn't eat the ration bars. And we should have had flowers, and some music".

"Well Sam did do a nice incantation and Jiraiya offered to sing."

Iruka rubbed his eyes wearily. "Right. I wouldn't have minded him singing, it was what he wanted to sing that was the problem."

Kakashi dumped his clothes on a chair in a heap, and eased himself into bed too. "Sorry, I think those are the only kinds of songs he knows. At least we were able to get Tsunade's permission."

"Yeah because she's still so stoned on morphine that she'd agree to anything right now. Don't think that's not gonna come back and bite us in the ass just as soon as she's in her right mind again."

Kakashi snagged Iruka's hair tie between two fingers and pulled it out. "S'okay, I've been tempted to tell her to bite my ass plenty of times over the past few years."

Iruka's face melted into a smile. "I love you Kakashi."

Kakashi propped himself on one elbow and looked at his new spouse. It was all so familiar, yet somehow so completely new. His greatest treasure lay beside him, eyes shining, dark hair spread out over the pillow like a blot of India ink. He used a fingertip to stroke a few stray wisps away from Iruka's lips before brushing his against them.

"So you're glad we did this?"

Iruka reached up to deepen the kiss before realising that Kakashi had already pulled too far away. He grabbed the back of his head to yank him back within range.

The kiss was long and lingering, maybe not the most passionate that they had ever shared, but definitely one of the sweetest.

"This is the happiest day of my life Kakashi."

"Mine too. Tired?"

"Yeah."

"Too tired?"

Kakashi felt a warm hand slide the length of his body, from shoulder to thigh, then around to the part that was now officially Iruka's to touch. "Hell no. You owe me a wedding night."

"You took the words right out of my mouth Iruka-sensei."

"Then if it's empty… I can think of a much better use for it."