For a relatively small woman Tsunade loomed very effectively.

"Let… me… take… her… Iruka… Kagura-san should look after her for now."

Iruka didn't answer, he was numb. He had been since he'd dashed to the hospital and seen Gai place a limp and unconscious Kakashi onto an examining table. He wasn't even aware that he was holding Keshi until it was pointed out to him. Kagura must have brought her there.

Deep inside he knew that it was ok, that it wasn't like that other time. That Kakashi was just exhausted and unconscious from sharingan overuse, not locked inside the hell of his worst imaginings. But he also knew that there was a good chance that one day, one unimaginably horrible day, it wouldn't be ok. That the table his lover was being laid out on wouldn't be in the hospital, it would be in the morgue. If he was lucky enough to see him at all.

Tsunade used her powerful fingers in an attempt to pry the child's grip loose from the back of Iruka's neck. She was clinging to him like a young monkey, a monkey wearing her favourite orange sweats.

Keshi's only response was to press tighter and whimper as only a frightened toddler can. "No no noooo! Want to stay with daddy two!"

"It's ok sweetheart, I've got you. We'll stay right here with Daddy One."

"It's ok, really." Iruka's eyes flickered up to the Hokage's, idly noticing the deep crease that had formed between then, before gravitating back to the comatose form. "She isn't very heavy."

He lowered himself into a chair at the side of the dismal hospital room and gently settled Keshi onto his lap. "Please, we'll just stay here for a while. " He shot the intruder, Kagura, a look, before turning plaintive brown eyes onto his leader once more. "Just the two of us."

Tsunade felt her resolve melting into a mushy puddle. From the brief report Gai had given her as she'd hustled him into the hospital, she knew that Kakashi had just damn near done the impossible. She owed him this much, and his family too. And even she wasn't completely immune to those sad brown eyes.

"Very well. But I'll still expect you to be in school tomorrow. And I'm relying on you to keep his… your… kid under control too."

She shooed a very pissed looking Kagura out of the room and started her exam, muttering about irresponsible fathers who raised reckless overachieving brats. Before going into a long diatribe against psychotic twisted power hungry excuses for missing nins that forced her into these kinds of impossible decisions.

Iruka watched in silence from the corner of the room, rocking Keshi gently, and more grateful than he could say for her warmth against his belly.

Tsunade shot him a look and he pulled in his chakra automatically, fearing that he'd let it intrude. But it hadn't really been that kind of look. And as she touched Kakasi's death-pale cheek with the back of her hand and folded back his eyelids to examine blank staring eyes, Iruka caught the shadow of another expression on her face. It was perhaps the one he'd least expected to ever see there, affection.

He snuggled Keshi closer and made gentle shushing noises in her ear, as he examined the anxious furrows that were wrinkling the Hokage's brow more closely. And he wondered. Who else would have had the power and chakra control to hold a scared and dangerous two year old Kakashi? Had Tsunade once cuddled the Hatake child of the previous generation close against her chest, twenty five years ago, when White Fang had been brought into the hospital to be patched up after one of his legendary battles?

"He'll live. Not that he deserves to after pulling that kind of stunt. Using mangekyou sharingan like that… not even the Uchiha's…"

Tsunade pulled herself to her full height, using a fist to rub at a knot of tension in the small of her back. Iruka had automatically risen to his feet at the same time, she turned to face him and he realized that this was the first time he'd ever seen her really smile. It made her look more human and more beautiful than he'd have imagined possible, and shocked him to the core of his being.

"I'll have him put in a double room for tonight. Yes… you two can stay, and I'll have someone cover your morning class."

As she swept out of the room he heard her mumble, almost under her breath, as if she was reluctant to let the words out. "But I can't leave a novice in charge of weapons training. I can't afford to let good shinobi get injured without a damn good reason, not now."

Oooooooooooooooooooooooo

As the orange ball of a late summer sun was struggling to force morning past a curtain of scarlet clouds, a second ball of orange energy burst through the doorway. Keshi the smallest ball of orange yet, scrambled over the bars that Iruka had raised on her side of the bed, dropped to the floor, and met it half way across the room.

"Ruto! Skura!"

Naruto scooped her up and swung her round. "Hey there Mini-minx!"

"Naruto! You can't just barge in. Oh well, I suppose it's too late now."

Sakura, looking considerably paler and more subdued, kept her eyes fixed on Kakashi as she followed. She released the catch on the bars, folded them out of the way, and sat on the edge of Iruka's bed.

"So how is he Iruka-sensei? Really?"

Iruka threw back the covers and swung down his legs to sit next to her. Thankfully he was still fully dressed, except for his shoes that he'd left just inside the door. "Fine… well except for… But Tsunade checked him over thoroughly, gave him a clean bill."

Naruto was swooping Keshi over his head like a model airplane, while she giggled maniacally. "You shoulda seen him Iruka –sensei, he was brilliant! Brilliant! He just zapped that freak and his stinking bombs right outa there. Shloop! Pow! Gone! The Akatsuki'll know better than to go messing with Team Kakashi next time, right?"

Sakura gave him a cursory glare for old time's sake, although in truth his wild enthusiasm no longer annoyed her quite the way it once had. "But Kakashi-sensei's getting to old to abuse his body like this. It takes him longer to recover every time. You should tell him Iruka-sensei."

Iruka looked at her softly, of course she was right. "I doubt that he'd appreciate you calling him old Sakura."

Naruto perched Keshi on his shoulder where she balanced by holding fistfuls of blond hair. "Well he'd better hurry up and wake up this time. Did they tell you? We've got a lead on finding Sasuske! A real cast-iron solid lead! We'll be sure to bring the bastard back this time!"

"I'll wake my daddy up, like Sleepy Beauty." Keshi dropped her weight to the floor, still holding fast to Naruto's hair.

"Aargh! Careful there Princess! I'll look older than he does if you pull all my hair out."

Keshi ignored him and brushed his golden strands from her palms as she clambered onto the bed where Kakashi lay, as pale and still as a wax effigy. She crawled towards him, shoved the covers aside, and planted an open mouthed sloppy kiss on his cheek.

"S'not working. You do it Daddy. You wake him up."

Sakura took a step closer. "He's not ready to wake up yet that's all. Remember Sleeping Beauty had to wait for a hundred years."

He little face scrunched as if she was about to cry. "I don't want to wait for a hundred years. I want Daddy One awake now."

Sakura stretched towards her for a comforting hug but Keshi suddenly turned away and pulled the sheet all the way over her sleeping father's head. "No! No peeking. Daddy One's not dressed up yet. Just Daddy Two and me can see him not dressed up yet." Her sad face had morphed into an indignant pout.

Sakura blushed to her hairline, while Naruto and Iruka both grinned like foxes.

"She caught you there Kiddo." Iruka picked up his daughter and chucked her under the chin. "Clever girl. Perhaps Naruto and Sakura will take you out for breakfast? Would you? She obviously has too much energy to sit around here all morning."

"Naruto let her slide over into his arms. "Sure thing. There should be a few places open by now, ready for the morning mission crowd. What would you like Keshi-hime?"

"Ramens. I want ramens for breakfass."

Naruto pulled a pained face and held her at arm's length. "You had to say it didn't you. I haven't had ramen since… But he'll only just be starting on his broths this early."

Keshi tilted her head to one side. "Then I make Kgura-san get ramens for lunches. I'll make her get lots of lunches for Ruto and Skura-chan too."

"Kagura-san?"

Iruka's face darkened. "New babysitter. Nanny. I expect you'll meet her when you take Keshi home."

Sakura realized that there was a story here, but that now wasn't the time to ask. She stashed the thought away and flashed a brilliant smile. "Why don't you come with us Iruka-sensei? You look like you could use a break."

He ran his fingers through his tangled hair as far as the tie would allow. He undoubtedly looked like shit. "No, I'll stay as long as I can. I've still got classes to teach later today."

"Then would you like us to pick up some clean clothes?" She blushed again. "I mean you obviously slept in those and Naruto can get some if you tell him where to look."

Iruka blushed too, just the thought of these kids digging through his underwear… "No don't bother. It will be good training to expose the kids to a bit of manly man-stink." He winked. "You never know, they might get sent out on a mission in the desert with Gai-san for a few weeks."

Sakura wrinkled her nose. "Gah don't remind me, you are cruel Iruka-sensei."

A few moments later they were gone and silence descended on the room like a ghostly presence.

Iruka lifted he sheet off Kakashi's head and folded it neatly around his throat. He wiped Keshi's spit off his cheek and, after a moment's hesitation, kissed him full on the lips. Kakashi's breath hitched very faintly in his sleep and he stretched out an arm as if reaching for a body that wasn't there. Well that was easy to fix. Iruka eased onto the bed and lay down with his head pillowed on Kakashi's shoulder. It was hard and bony and the space was too narrow and cramped to let him even think about relaxing.

"Kakashi, I'd just love to complain about all the awful stuff that's happened while you were gone, but I know that compared with what you've just been through it's.. it's like nothing. So I guess I'd feel like an idiot saying anything at all." He placed his palm on his lover's chest, delighting in the rhythm of its gentle rise and fall. "But still, it's unbelievably good to have you back."