Warning: OOC, weirdness, sexual references and foul language. Any misspellings or wrong grammar is unintentional. I am my own beta. I could have missed some stuff.

I do not own Naruto.

ROOM-MATE

Iruka had fallen asleep after Izumo and Kotetsu left (he also asked them to take the basket of chocolates Raidou gave him back to his room), feeling exhausted from the 'argument' and the new information. Iruka knew in his mind that Kotetsu was a capable cracker and hacker when he chose to be; all three of them were. Back during their undergrad years, the three of them along with Mizuki (a month or two later after they hooked up) would wire up used computers, rebuild its inner functioning and just sniff around for fun. They were bored and needed the challenge back then.

Iruka took it as a way to prank people - from delivering groceries (Iwashi had been pissed when he shipped a box of laxatives and body hair cream remover to his door step) to randomly playing around in his peers' computers. He rarely did break in to anything unless he had nothing to do or was dared to try. He knew how tight securities can get and he also knew how to break them if he chose to.

For all he knew, Kotetsu could've been making it up to scare him. Kotetsu, much like himself, was a curious guy. Iruka allowed himself to think that if Kotetsu was right, maybe he was just another victim. Maybe ANBU did exist.

Roused from his sleep at ten in the evening, Iruka found himself blinking awake as a handsome doctor walked in to his room, followed by Kabuto who was answering his questions like a good intern would. Iruka stared at the new doctor, listening as he gave Kabuto mock diagnosis of several symptoms, asking for the answer and how it should be treated.

Iruka found himself smiling sleepily as Kabuto answered, the tall doctor nodding and smiling, pleased with what he was hearing as he picked up Iruka's chart a look over.

"Ah! Iruka-san. How are you feeling?" Kabuto asked, smiling and giving his hand a light squeeze.

Iruka nodded, covering his yawn. "Quite all right, thanks."

The tall doctor stepped closer, touching his pale hand to Iruka's forehead. "You seem fine. Take his temperature, Kabuto."

"Yes, doctor." Kabuto promptly nodded and took out a thermometer from his pocket, giving it a shake and placing it under Iruka's tongue.

Iruka turned to study the new face, eyeing the short platinum hair and bright gray eye that was visible under a pair of rimless glasses. A red ear stud glinted off under the light as the obviously senior doctor (and instructor) took a syringe from his pocket and set it on the table.

"It's time for your medication, Iruka." He smiled, turning to look at Kabuto. He instructed Kabuto to ask for a bunch of medicines (that Iruka couldn't really tell if they were solution based to tablets) as he pulled out his stethoscope and started to check Iruka's breathing.

Iruka couldn't help but stare the taller man, feeling embarrassed and slightly shy to be handled by such an attractive doctor, whose cool fingers were lightly touching his chest, sending tingles down his spine. When the doctor would look at him, Iruka could feel the awkward and bashful blush tickle his cheeks. He smiled back, feeling like a virgin for some reason and the doctor reached out to give his hand a light pat, smile softening further. Iruka spotted the name-tag on the doctor's chest; Iruka found himself thinking that Muraki was a nice surname.

Kabuto didn't take long; he came a minute later after Muraki was done checking Iruka's breathing and heart beat, holding a bottle of white syringe solution and two bottles of pills.

"Apply the proper dose." Muraki instructed, asking a bunch of questions that merely went over Iruka's head as Kabuto answered and shook out two pills from each bottle. "Pleasant." He answered, smiling at both his patient (which made Iruka feel a slight jump in his stomach) and his student as he loaded the syringe and gently took Iruka's arm. "You will receive two more of these later. One tomorrow morning and another before you're discharged."

Iruka nodded dumbly, mumbling an affirmative as the needle was pushed through his arm and medicine was pumped in. Muraki gave his arm a mild stroke before placing a small round plaster over where the needle pricked.

"Ne, Iruka-san. Do you need anything?" Kabuto asked, more out of friendship and concern rather than being an intern.

"No, thank you. I'm fine." Iruka yawned, quickly moving to cover it up.

Muraki was smiling again, his eye flickering with amusement. "Should you need anything, Iruka, just page the nurse. We are making rounds and will be by your side immediately."

"Thank you, doctor." Iruka answered, offering up his best smile. Muraki was just a charming man in that way.

Without another word, the duo left to continue their rounds (with Kabuto offering a sweet wave and smile) and Iruka promptly sank back in to his pillow. Sleep evaded him after being checked on. He found himself thinking of what Kotetsu said once more, the memories of Mizuki surfacing to his head one by one.

"Damn it." He mumbled, turning to lie on his side, being extra careful with his right arm so as not to pull at the IV tube.

Forcing Mizuki to the back of his head (just remembering him made his heart clench in pain), he focused on the idea of what ANBU may be. Lots of things crossed his mind from being an underground mafia group to being a bunch of assassins to being an organization's spy. The more he thought about, the more ludicrous his reasons became.

As he fell asleep once more at two in the morning, the word ANBU found itself a permanent sticky spot in Iruka's mind; he couldn't forget the word and was all he thought about until he was discharged.

XXX

Kotetsu fidgeted beside Iruka (earning a glare from Izumo), tugging at the scarf around his neck as they made their way down the pavement of the main street towards their temporary dormitory building. Iruka couldn't help but glance at Kotetsu who continued fidgeting like he had a handful of itching powder shoved down his backside. While Izumo looked like he was ready to pull his boot off and hammer it down Kotetsu's head repeatedly, Iruka couldn't help but feel amused at the sight his friend was making.

"What is the matter with you?" Iruka finally asked after they crossed the parking lot to their dorm building, trying to calm down the giggle fit that was trying to erupt out of his throat.

"Oh, my butt hurts." Kotetsu said, walking a bit too stiffly now, Iruka noticed.

"Your butt is always aching!" Izumo grumbled, looking straight ahead. The gesture made Iruka chuckle (he was starting to get a few ideas).

"I got fucked last night." Kotetsu said, grinning at Iruka. "He did me. I don't usually bottom, you know that. But 'Zumo won this huge assed vibrator from some magazine -"

Iruka boggled, stared then threw his head back as he howled in laughter.

"Kotetsu." Izumo glared, clearly embarrassed while trying to suppress the grin that was slowly spreading on his lips.

Iruka wheezed as he leaned against the staircase railing, holding his side as he continued laughing. Kotetsu stuck his chest out proudly and happily. "You - You - " Iruka gasped.

"Yes, I bottomed. You know I never really got the idea of how it'd be so good to have something that big up your ass? I mean, 'Zumo makes the nicest noises and looks when I'm doing him, but gods, Iruka he did me five times last night!" Kotetsu held up five fingers. "Genma wasn't in the room the whole day. So we -"

Iruka held up a hand to shut Kotetsu up because he was starting to see black spots in the corner of his eyes from laughing too hard. He tried to calm his breathing, took one glance at Izumo's embarrassed face and started laughing again. The occasional people who was ascending or descending the staircase threw them odd looks as they trio slowly made their way up, stopping every few seconds because Iruka just couldn't stand straight enough to walk.

"He was pissed at me really. Coz' I saw the package and started makin' fun of him and stuff." Kotetsu said, laughing as well. "God, Iruka, it was huge."

Iruka collapsed in the middle of his hallway, back against the floor and arms around his middle as he laughed some more till tears came out. Izumo was already grasping his side and trying to keep his laughter to a minimum. Iruka found everything funny as hell because Kotetsu was just not the type to accept a plastic-phallic object up anywhere. Nor was Izumo the type to win such things from magazines (of all things. Iruka laughed more at the thought of just what magazines they were).

"W-What color?" Iruka managed to squeak out, clamping a hand to his mouth.

"Opaque black." Izumo coughed, trying to stop his laughter and glare at Kotetsu who was grinning too widely.

"Had little glitter things and smiley faces in the plastic thingy." Kotetsu said, leering. "I had a bunch of smiley faces shoved up -"

Iruka threw his head back from the force of the laughter that wracked his body once more after hearing about the smiley-faces.

Kotetsu himself erupted in to peels of laughter as Izumo tried to get back on his feet (and failed because he too was laughing just as hard). They were making quite the ruckus in the middle of the hallway, but none really paid much attention to them. It was quite common to find young men laughing like drunks within the corridors of boy's dormitories. Anyone would think that whoever was making too much noise would just be another person who had too much to drink (or smoke).

Iruka didn't know when was the last time he laughed so much; as Kotetsu and Izumo tried to get a hold of themselves, Iruka found himself glad that he and other two men decided to take their masters together.

"It's good to see you laugh, 'Ruka." Izumo said, wiping at his eyes and finally managing to sit back and cross his legs in the middle of the corridor.

"We decided to tell you about our new and adventurous sex experience because we knew you'd laugh. He wouldn't at first though." Kotetsu jerked a thumb at Izumo. "Said it should be private but seeing you like this and laughing, it's worth it."

Iruka felt something swell in him at the affection his friends were directing at him. "You guys." He looked at the floor, no longer capable of wiping the smile on his face as they lapsed in to a short silence.

"You know what I was thinking, 'Ruka?" Kotetsu asked suddenly.

"Oh no." Izumo mumbled, looking towards the ceiling as if praying to the higher ups to stop Kotetsu from saying anything stupid.

"I wanna tattoo my love's name on my backside, just above my crack. What do you think? Sorta' like to say that this way is exclusively for Izumo's use or something." Kotetsu grinned.

Iruka laughed again and moved to lean against the wall. "I think you're crazy." He coughed and cleared his throat (Izumo had the grace to blush). "And I love it! Let's go get it done! Then we can eat! I'm starving!"

XXX

By the time Iruka got back to the dorms, his belly and left side of his chest was feeling hot and quite irritated. Although he should've been resting rather than gallivanting with two crazily in love lovers, he was glad that he went out and had a bite off Route-66 and a few cans of beer (he took a shower before leaving too). Although he wasn't supposed to be taking such heavy and intoxicating food and beverages, he couldn't bring himself to care. He was a rebel by nature and days without having any sort of decent food was enough to drive him insane. He also didn't care about the possibility of vomiting later.

Now, Iruka was just pleased with a big grin plastered on his face.

They didn't get Kotetsu's tattoo first. They decided to eat before that and fully enjoy Kotetsu's wincing as Izumo's name was tattooed in sharp stroked kanji style. The man at the parlor had laughed at the idea, completely loving the fact that it was just above the buttock line. Never in Iruka's life did he see Izumo's face as red as it was while Kotetsu was lying face down and grinning up at him.

"Why don't you pierce your dick, 'Zumo?" Kotetsu asked.

"It doesn't hurt." The tattoo artist supplied; it was clearly a lie and a poor persuasion, but the large man was too amused to care as he finished the job on Kotetsu's backside.

"I am not piercing my penis!" Izumo fumed, clearly not enjoying the suggestion.

Iruka knew how much Kotetsu always wanted Izumo to have a piercing somewhere. "How about you get your belly done?"

"No!" Izumo shook his head, glaring. "No, no and shut up Kotetsu!"

"Why the hell not? You can get yourself a nice diamond stud! It'd be a nice change." Kotetsu leered.

Izumo was putting up a defense on having to protect his body (which Iruka found completely moot since Kotetsu probably did things to his body worse than a piercing itself can do). "How about you get a belly stud and I'll get a hoop? How's that?"

"You wanted to get a belly piercing anyway!" Izumo growled. "But you never did! Remember back during undergrad and you -"

"I'll get my nipple done too. Deal?" Iruka grinned (the tattoo artist was already snickering while he finished the job on Kotetsu).

"Oh yah, baby. Nipples rock! Do that, 'Ru!" Kotetsu would have bounced if he could.

Izumo finally nodded after a few minutes. "Fine. But you're getting hoops on your nipple."

"Cool with me." Iruka shrugged.

Iruka stared at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, eyeing the silver surgical steel jewelry that decorated his slightly swollen navel button and nipple. It would probably be something he'd take off sometime later, but since it helped convince Izumo to get a piercing, he was glad. Without really thinking, Iruka shook his backside a bit in a little dance while holding his shirt up, chuckling to himself.

"Oh well." He sighed, and dropped his shirt back on. He will have to be careful and that means wearing his jeans on low waist and extra loose shirts so that his nipple wouldn't get irritated. He wanted the piercing to heal as fast as possible.

He reached out for his toothbrush and toothpaste, intent on spending more than five minutes scrubbing at his teeth (three days of no brushing was enough to make his skin crawl). He was in the middle of flossing his teeth when he heard Kakashi step in, followed by Genma

Out of habit, Iruka tuned out whatever noise they were making and continued flossing his teeth before reaching for his mouth wash to gargle a few times. He liked his teeth and made sure he took care of them. He never wanted to go through the procedure of getting any of his teeth filled again. He was in the middle of rinsing his hands when Genma poked his head in.

"Oh! You're home! And how are you feeling?" Genma asked, a smile on his lips.

Iruka took immediate notice that Genma was wearing a sleeveless shirt, toned arms bared to the world to see. Almost automatically, he scanned both his arms to find the ANBU mark that never quite left his curiosity. He found none on either arm. "I'm fine, thank you. And yourself?" He quickly started rinsing his hands.

"Oh I'm fine. But forget me; I wanna know how you're doing." Genma approached him, moving to wrap his arms around Iruka's waist.

Iruka didn't want anyone to know of his piercing and quickly side stepped away from Genma. He hurriedly turned the tap off and dried his hands on his jeans. "I'm okay. Really." Iruka backed away till he was inside the room and in a much more open space. "It's very nice of you to -" Iruka let out a short cry of surprise when he felt his back hit against another body. A pair of hands gently grasped him by the shoulders, holding him in place as Iruka turned to look behind him. "Kakashi! I'm sorry! I didn't see -"

Kakashi looked up at Genma then again at Iruka. "Just watch your step."

Iruka nodded dumbly and moved to step away from Kakashi and sit on the corner of his bed, as stiff as board and ready to bolt away if either decided to do anything funny.

Genma put on a serious expression and sat beside Iruka. "Really, how are you feeling?"

Iruka swallowed thickly and gave a small shrug, pressing his side further against the headboard. "Fine. I'm okay." He repeated, feeling more like a broken record. "Thank you for asking."

Genma merely hummed in reply, making Iruka even more comfortable with his stare. Iruka didn't know what else he could do. Kakashi had already been staring the moment he walked out of the bathroom. He felt like a rabbit being eyed by a pack of hungry wolves. Kakashi wasn't even reading his Icha-Icha-Violence anymore and was instead completely absorbed in his fidgeting self. There was something in the way both the both of them looked at him that sped up his heartbeat. Iruka couldn't remember feeling as afraid as he currently was. He forced himself to calm down and only resulted in elevating the feeling further. His hands were starting to perspire, eye movements darting back and forth Genma and Kakashi, throat going completely dry.

"So, how come I never see you around the hot spots?" Genma asked, leaning against the foot board of Iruka's bed.

A small part of Iruka's functioning mind wondered why Genma would care. "Which hot spots?"

"The clubs, during the sports matches, that fancy bar and restaurant? Peppers?" Genma listed, a leering smirk on his face.

Iruka had to wonder if Genma knew any other expression other than leering and its subcategories; a flickering memory of a familiar face that used to do the same expressions flashed in his head, making him stutter in his reply. "O-Once in a while, I'd a-attend the matches. It's been a b-bit hectic l-lately, that's all. P-Peppers is too n-noisy and I'm no club m-member of a-anything."

Genma blinked at his stuttering. "Neither am I. Or Kakashi. That doesn't stop us from going."

Iruka's brows knitted together as he tried to smile, not knowing how to reply to that. "I just d-don't really b-bother."

"Well that's a shame. I think we should all go there one day. Us three? And maybe Kotetsu and that other cute little guy he's always with. It might turn out interesting." Genma leaned over Iruka, hand on his inner thigh. Iruka stiffened and dared not move, eye following the hand on his thigh and panic slowly winning over his coherent thought.

"H-Hey, hey, d-do you m-m-mind?" Iruka tried to glare at Genma persistence and only ended up giving him a wide eyed and terrified look.

"I do. Because I like you and you can't get that." Genma growled, moving to wrap his arms around Iruka's neck, tugging him close. Iruka found himself pressed against a broad and warm chest, eyes wide and staring at Kakashi (who didn't look very happy), a small wince on his face at the sudden change of position. The piercing was slowly starting to sting and his head was starting to ache, little black spots appearing at the corners of his vision. "You're cute, you're hard working and you're nice. Can't you see I'm trying to ask you out here?"

Iruka could feel the heat warm his cheeks mechanically. Lifting his arm up, he tried to put some distance between himself and Genma, his subconscious mechanism for dealing with this type of people taking over his conscious mind. "Now see here, Genma-san. I'd really appreciate it if you -"

"Come on." Genma looked at him, brows knitted slightly together, hand traveling under the hem of his shirt and touching his back; warm fingers started to trace the jagged edges of the scar on his back, making Iruka buck in fear. The touch was horrifyingly familiar. "You'd say yes if I were Raidou?"

"N-No!" Iruka begged, not wanting Genma to touch the scar anymore than he already did.

"Oh?" Genma grabbed Iruka's wrist with his free hand and pulled him closer, the hand on his back rubbing gentle and teasing strokes on the scar.

He pressed his lips against Iruka, nibbling at his bottom lip. Iruka found himself being pulled even closer, warm and muscular arms trapping him and rendering him immobile as Genma deepened the kiss. He found his mouth full with a hot and skilled tongue lavishing every crevice of his mouth. Iruka moaned in protest, eyes starting to water and stomach churning dangerously fast. Iruka felt sick to his throat as he forced his eyes to open.

He couldn't see Genma's soft honey colored hair, nor can he see the golden tan that the man sported. He saw silver flowing hair and pale skin. When Genma opened his eyes to stare at him lecherously through the kiss, he saw dark eyes instead of brown ones. Without thinking, he started to struggle, wiggling hard enough to get away from the pain he knew that would follow as soon as Genma was tired of forcing himself on to him. A scream tore its way out of his throat as managed to free an arm and dug his fingers on to Genma's side painfully defense.

"What the hell -" Genma blinked, staring down at Iruka who was trying to free himself from his tight hold. "Oi! That hurt!"

The voice penetrated Iruka's mind like a hot knife, his conscious mind completely dominated by an old memory that he wanted to forget. "Stop! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Please don't hurt me!" Iruka sobbed, struggling even further till Genma finally let go of him and he fell on the ground. Kakashi threw his book aside, getting on his feet as Iruka crawled backwards. "I didn't mean to! You were wrong! I'm sorry! I'm so, so sorry!"

"What the hell is going on?" Genma got to his feet, all intentions clean to haul Iruka off the ground but only managed to make Iruka scream even louder and back up against the wall.

"Stay where you are." Kakashi said, pointing at Genma and moved to kneel in front of Iruka, gently taking hold of his shaking body by the shoulders. "Iruka? Calm down. No one is going to hurt you."

"Don't hurt me! I don't know why I did it, I swear! Don't hurt me!" Iruka begged, eyes wet with tears as he hid his face behind his fists. His stomach was clenching tight from the emotional whirl, it contents slowly bubbling its way up to Iruka's throat. Warm hands gripped his fists and forced them down; Iruka turned his head away, bumping it against the wall at the sudden jerk. "I didn't - I didn't - I wanted to help but you - you said you wouldn't - you lied! You lied! You said you wouldn't do - you - I - you -"

Kakashi's fingers gripped Iruka's shoulders tight and gave him a good hard shake. "Stop! Stop it!" Iruka trembled and started to struggle; Kakashi cupped the sides of Iruka's face, forcefully, making Iruka stare unwillingly at his bare face and mismatched eyes. "Stop. Okay? No one is going to hurt you. All right, Iruka?"

Iruka's breathing came out in quick short gasps as he stared unwillingly in to Kakashi's eyes. His conscious mind started ticking properly again, the memory that overtook his mind slowly melting away to a foggy nothingness. He recognized the room once more along with the two pair of eyes staring at him but couldn't remember why they were staring in the first place.

"T-Toil-let -"

Kakashi let go of his face and lifted him up effortlessly, practically carrying him to the connected bathroom. Iruka was only aware of kneeling on the white tiled floor, the sound of the toilet seat being opened and his loose hair being pulled back as he retched his dinner out. Iruka's fingers started to hurt from the hold he had on the edge of the toilet seat, knuckles turning white in contrast with his natural tan. A hand rubbed his back as he emptied everything in his stomach until he was only gagging on stomach acid. Iruka had no clue how long he's been heaving his guts out, but by the time he emptied everything and a cool towel was pressed against his lips, his mind was starting to shut down. He was aware of Kakashi moving beside him, along with the sounds of tap water rushing and the toilet being flushed.

"Would you like to be left alone for a while?" Kakashi asked, Genma looking over his shoulder behind him and turning the tap off.

Iruka managed a weak nod, knowing that that he didn't want to be seen in his current state. Kakashi respected his wishes and closed the bathroom door behind him, leaving it slightly ajar. Iruka briefly remembered hearing arguing voices but couldn't be bothered to comprehend to them. The black spots over his vision grew bigger and bigger till he found that he wasn't seeing anything anymore.

Without knowing, he crumpled on his side, head thumping and lolling against his shoulder as he fell against the bathroom floor, unconscious.

TBC

Notes and credits:

Hear on in, updates will be way slower than usual. Because it'd be slower, I'm going to double the content (that means longer chapters) to make up for the slow updates.

Muraki - his appearance was triggered after watching Honoo No Mirage. Muraki's seiyuu and Iruka's seiyuu plays the two gorgeous characters of that series and I couldn't stop thinking of Muraki giving Iruka a checkup. His appearance is more an eye candy and fangirlism-love as opposed to anything else. I do now own him.

Peppers - My version of Chillies, that wonderful restaurant that serves good food.

Expect more flashbacks and fluff next chapter. We'll learn the details of Iruka's past soon. I am not giving Iruka a break. The three months in his temporary room is like a jinx to the man. Just to get the time line straight, they're somewhere in the middle of September now. I'm going with the pacific school timing where schools start in June and ends sometime in march.