This chapter is dedicated to Mirai-Kung, thank you for being a saviour and recovering chapter 7 so the story could continue. (:
Thank you...
Komikitty, yes I finally updated, many thx to ur reviews that got me started writing.
Erisabesu,I never knew pancakes can be poetic!
Yit-ha, warmest person? Didn't I write warmest welcome? correct me if I'm wrong.
Loveless Angel, yep, and I think it's going to get more angsty
Ailise, is my grammar really bad? oops! I guess Iinvented a few phrases and rules that don't exist in the English world. Do tell me if my English becomes really terrible. Thanks!
ruka-kun, thank you for reviewing all the way!
Hm... somehow I think this chapter is quite irrelevant, it feels more like a filler then anything else. Read on and be the judge.
Chapter 10
"Hokage-sama."
"Iruka, you wanted to see me?"
"Hai."
"About a matter of utmost urgency?"
"Hai."
"Hn. I presume it is about Kakashi."
A faint blush appeared on the chuunin's cheeks.
"Hai... I hope... no, I want you to put me into the Kakashi misson." Iruka said with conviction
Tsunade raised an eyebrow and waited for Iruka to continue.
Iruka shrugged. "I... I guessed that you won't be letting Kakashi face Orochimaru alone. You'll be wanting to send a team of reinforcements after him and I want to be included."
Tsunade stared hard at the ardent young man before her. The young are always so impulsive, so foolhardy...
"No."
"I have my reasons!" Iruka cried, "Very good reasons!"
"No!" Tsunade banged her palms down on the desk, stood up and paced the room.
"You're too deeply involved with Kakashi, I can't risk having you take your emotions to battle. Besides, need I remind you that this is an S class misson and that you're only a chuunin?"
"I know." Iruka murmured softly. "That is precisely why you have to let me go!" This time, there was steel in Iruka's voice. "I know I'm only a chuunin, but you know why I chose to remain a chuunin don't you? You remember my parents, right?"
Tsunade turned away from this chuunin, letting worry crease her forehead. It seemed not so long ago when she was looking into the faces of two very loving and skilled shinobi... Iruka looks so like his father, but he has his mother's complexion...
Iruka's parents had always kept a very low profile in Konoha. They appeared to their neighbours as friendly, loving but always very isolated from the large boisterous community that they lived in. They wanted nothing more then to lead a normal life and raise Iruka as a normal kid.
And yet, when the Kyuubi attacks came, they were one of the first few to step out to fight. When Konoha was threathened, they willingly and quickly shed their everyday garb and donned the role of Konoha's elite.
They were shinobi. Some of the most skilled shinobi in Konoha. All they ever wanted was to raise their young son in peace, but the Kyuubi's arrival had changed all of that. Being powerful ninjas, they had responsibilities and that responsibility weighed on them.
And so they went willingly. They went to battle with a heavy heart, leaving behind the pleas and tears of the son that they loved so much and would do anything to protect. They knew the odds, they knew that battles were like gambles. Only the stakes are much higher in battles and you pit not money, but life against death.
It was because they were shinobi. And as a shinobi you had responsibilities that you can never run away from. So they gambled, and finally, their luck ran out and they lost to death.
"They didn't want you to be a ninja... "Tsunade said sadly.
"They didn't want you risking your life, they didn't want you burdened by that responsibility."
"But this isn't how it works. Being a shinobi is a calling, a destiny, you can't ignore it." Iruka said passionately.
Yes, Iruka had wanted to become a shinobi despite his parents' protests. As a young child, his parents had never allowed him much contact with other shinobi and they were always trying to convince him that a ninja had no future, no glam and not worth pursuing.
But when Iruka saw the dead remains of his parents, he vowed from then on to continue what his parents had sought to do - protect Konoha. Iruka loved Konoha, but more importantly, the blood that ran through his veins screamed out for him to rise to become a ninja.
But Iruka had come to a compromise between the wishes of his parents and his path in life. He would be a shinobi, but he'll go no further then a chuunin. That way, he'll be more dispensable, less important, more kept away from the responsibilities that had so haunted his parents. That was why he had never bothered taking the jounin exams. Iruka was happy to remain a chuunin, a teacher and he saw no reason in wanting the added burden of a jounin title. Were he to become jounin, he would not be able to teach the children that he'd grown to love.
But all these will have to change. He'll have to defy his parents wishes completely now and embrace the skills and talents that his parents had left him with. He had to save the one person who meant the most to him now.
"It's time I stop hiding behind the chuunin label and do my part for Konoha." Iruka said determinedly.
Tsunade snorted. "For Kakashi or for Konoha?" Shaking her head wryly at Iruka's quick blush, she continued, "But your skills..."
"I've been training."
"Oh? Really? Show me then?" Tsunade's curiosity was pricked.
-
Minutes later, Tsunade stared at Iruka with a mixture of awe and exasperation. "That was a fantastic display of the jutsu, but look at the room right now! It's a total mess! It's a wonder you didn't blow the roof away with it!"
Iruka grinned a little sheepishly, "Sorry, hokage-sama, I guess I got a little carried away. So... will that do?"
"I most certainly have no doubts about your skills now, however, there remains the question about your relationship with Kakashi. I'm afriad that..."
"You think it'll cloud my judgement?"
"Exactly."
Iruka seemed to mull over something. "I didn't want to tell you this, but I guess I have to now."
"Tell me what?"
"It's just a feeling, but after... after we erm... got close..."
"You mean after you all had great sex together?" Tsunade supplied for him. "Hell, Iruka! I'm not a sixteen year old innocent, there's no need to go all embarrassed around me."
"Right, yes, you're right," Iruka had now blushed a deep red. "Anyway, it seems that if I concentrate hard enough, I can sense where Kakashi is, and sometimes even how he's feeling or what he's thinking about at the moment."
He had her full attention now. Tsunade nodded, waiting for him to go on.
"I don't know if I'm the only one feeling it or he feels it too... and I can't tell exactly where he is, only vague directions such as North, South, East or West... and I most certainly can't read his thoughts. It's only when he sends out very strong messages or emotions that I feel it."
"You can sense Kakashi all the time?"
"Yes... no... not exactly. It just seems that he's always there in my subconscious, but when he feels very extreme about something, I feel it, however, I need a certain amount of concentration to hazard a guess on his approximate location."
Tsunade pondered over this new discovery. This puts a twist to things. She'd heard of such bonds that had existed between twins before... but between lovers? This was the first she'd ever heard of... was it possible that lovers could have such a strong and unique bond too? Unless Iruka was lying? But Iruka doesn't lie...
"So based on what you can sense, where do you think Kakashi is now?"
Iruka was quiet for a while, seemingly concentrating on 'finding' Kakashi. A minute or so later, he looked up and shrugged helplessly. "I don't know exactly where he is, but I would say he's somewhere towards Northeast."
Bingo. So Iruka was telling the truth. Kakashi's mission had been highly confidential and Iruka would have no idea beforehand where Kakashi was sent to.
Tsunade heaved a big sigh. She didn't like this job. Why did she always have to act the bad guy and send people off on dangerous missons. Because you're Godaime stupid. Damn... The children will be disappointed to have their favourite teacher taken away from them. Not that they will show it, oh, they'll have a big party and celebrate Iruka's absence, but they would be silently looking forward to his return.
"Alright alright. Since you're so adamant on joining the team, I'll let you do what you want. Return here tomorrow morning and I'll brief you on the details."
"Thank you Hokage-sama!" Iruka bowed deeply. Relief spreading over his face. He hated sitting at home waiting for news about Kakashi. At least now that he was involved he didn't feel so helpless. Maybe now the nightmares of Kakashi being locked, chained and beatened will cease their torment on him.
Iruka turned to leave.
"Oh, and another thing."
"Yes, Hokage-sama?"
"Don't think that just because you have the capabilities of a jounin now that you'll be excused from teaching. Once all this blows over I want you back in the academy."
Iruka broke out into a wide smile.
"Certainly ma'am!"
Tsunade gave a small grin. It was the least she could do for him.
Dawn chased the moon across the sky.
Kakashi woke abruptly from his light sleep, hand tensing around his kunai. Someone was nearby.
Then, a shower of kunais came raining at Kakashi, but Kakashi quickly escaped, leaving behind a log with the kunais thudded into it.
Kakashi had no sooner hidden himself away among sakura flowers when he saw the exploding notes around him begin to erupt. It had been a ploy of the enemy's, the kunais had but been a mere distraction to lure him into the vicinity of the exploding notes.
The five meter radius around Kakashi erupted into bright orange flames, the sakura flowers catching fire easily, turning the place into a cemetery of charred flowers.
But Kakashi had long anticipated something underfoot and had made a clone earlier on. The clone had pretended to lie sleeping while he had kept vigil almost all night, barely catching a wink of sleep.
The Kakashi in the fire had been but a mere clone... If Orochimaru thought so little of him...
The sound of someone coughing hard emerged from the right. Kakashi tensed, watching the smoke clear to reveal the person who had set the trap. He must be really dumb to stay so close to the trap and risk getting...
"Iruka?"
Yes, the person standing amid the fire and smoke was definitely Iruka. That same mesmerizing scar, that lithe body, it was unmistakenably Iruka.
I have to be dreaming. What on earth would Iruka be doing here?
Iruka... no, the person impersonating Iruka coughed hard into his hands. He looked up and his eyes widened with shock at the sight of Kakashi. "Kakashi!" Then Iruka broke into a wary, watery smile before collapsing into another fit of coughs.
Kakashi resisted the urge to go up and pat him on the back. This guy looked too much like Iruka for comfort. It brought back too many bittersweet memories...
But wait! This is not Iruka. What would Iruka be doing here? Iruka was safe back at Konoha, this is surely another of Orochimaru's trap...
"Stay where you are!"
Iruka stopped in his tracks, giving Kakashi a bewildered and hurt look that tore into his heart.
Stop! This isn't Iruka. If he'd followed me I'd have known. He may look and sound exactly like Iruka but he's NOT Iruka!
"But... why Kakashi? I thought you only said you didn't love me, you didn't say you hated me like a leper?"
Kakashi ignored the desperate plea in Iruka's voice. "Who sent you? Orochimaru? Where is he? Doesn't he have enough guts to come out and face me alone?"
"I... I don't understand. Nobody sent me, I sent myself to look for you... I thought... I thought we could find Orochimaru together... I just wanted to..."
Iruka broke off and froze when he saw the kunai glinting in Kakashi's hand. "Iruka will willingly die for me." Kakashi bluffed. "If you really are Iruka then put your hands up and don't dodge this kunai." Surely this would bring the pretense to an end...
"You don't believe me, you don't believe I'm Iruka..." Iruka said softly, his sad eyes piercing into Kakashi's heart. Slowly, he raised his hands in the air and closed his eyes.
A slow anger boiled in Kakashi. Orochimaru have no right to mistreat his memory of Iruka like this! Taking aim, he threw the kunai with dead accuracy.
The kunai thudded into Iruka's chest; blood spurted and then soaked into the vest, the darkening stain growing by the second. Iruka wordlessly fell to his knees, his eyes staring accusingly at Kakashi who stood, shocked that the 'enemy' had not avoided that blow.
Doubt crept into Kakashi's heart as the 'enemy' showed no signs of dropping the pretense. Furthermore, the sight of Iruka dying under his kunai was as if he'd stabbed himself with a kunai too. He could almost feel his heart bleeding inside.
"Ka...kashi..." Blood spurted out of Iruka's mouth as he called softly for Kakashi.
Doubt gnawed at Kakashi. Iruka's many profiles flashed through his mind. Iruka smiling, Iruka laughing, Iruka naked on bed, calling for him, Iruka angry, Iruka with tears in his eyes, blood in his mouth...
"Ka... ka...shi... why? Wh...why!" Iruka cried out, tears ran down his face, mixing with the blood from his mouth.
That undid him.
In a heartbeat, Kakashi was beside Iruka, cradling the chuunin in his arms and frantically wiping away the tears and the blood. "I'm sorry.. I'm so sorry... I thought... I thought Orochimaru sent someone to impersonate you. I thought... why... why didn't you dodge?"
"Because... because that is the only way in which you will believe me... " Iruka grinned a little wryly at Kakashi.
"And I'll never have been able to get a chance to do this either!" Lunging suddenly, Iruka plunged a dagger into Kakashi's shoulder, changing as he did to reveal Kabuto.
"Ohiyo, senpai..."
Those were the last words Kakashi heard before down onto the carpet of sakura flowers, cursing himself for having fallen to easily into Kabuto's trap. Iruka... how had they known about Iruka and me? Iruka... are you safe?
Yay! You've come to the end of another chapter! The next few chapters would probably be alot more angsty, since poor Kakashi has landed into Kabuto's hands. Hm.. who knows I may change the ratings yet...
Please do give your comments on this chapter, cause I can't get over the feeling that it's really crap. Hopefully you can find out what needs improving and I see if I can salvage the chapter. (: