A/N: The all mighty chapter four! No idea if people actually read these little author's notes, but I'll put the warning in here anyways since I forgot to for the first chapter. There will be some blood and violence in this chapter. Also, I have no idea if there even is a national investigative police force in Japan. I just came up with that since I know Japan has some other name for FBI and I'm too lazy to look it up.
And thank you to those who helped me realize my goal to reach 5 reviews! And you even went the extra mile and got me to 10! Keep it up guys! Reviews give me motivation to write!
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters depicted here… But if I did…
. . . . . .
Iruka balked at seeing the wealthy, one-eyed businessman on his doorstep. Something about his posture tickled a memory, but it was shaken away hastily in his panic. Kakashi was nearly two hours early and Iruka was nowhere near prepared for the evening. He still had to… what did he have left to do? His teeth were brushed, hair in its usual high ponytail, he showered, and he was dressed… Damn it! But he's still early! Mentally shaking himself to get a grip, he put on a smooth mask to hide his obvious surprise and said, "Kakashi… You're early." Iruka had also hoped for some time to supervise the two boys in case a fight was to break out and he would be cleaning more than project supplies off the floor.
"I know. Hope you don't mind," he replied, displaying an amused, curvy eyed grin. "But the brat needed a ride so he could work on a project with his partner." Kakashi gestured to the raven haired teen standing behind Iruka, who was watching the conversation with an air of mild indifference. "'Killing two birds with one stone,' as they say."
Iruka's mind was spinning. "Wait, how do you know Sasuke?" the brunette asked, turning back to his soon-to-be date. They looked nothing alike, so they could not be father and son… could they?
"It's hard to not know someone who lives with you," Kakashi stated smoothly. The vague answer made Iruka's eye twitch for some reason. Noticing this, the silver haired businessman grinned wider.
Just as Iruka was about to inquire further, Naruto's voice came from the hall behind him, "Ru, what time did you say that bastard would be here?" Leave it to his little brother to forget, but did he not see him standing there…? Iruka's thought died as he looked at his blond idiot in horror.
Naruto stood at the entrance to the hallway, violently toweling off his freshly showered hair, effectively cutting off his vision, and he standing there with nothing but another towel wrapped around his waist. Iruka's little brother was unknowingly displaying a very indecent amount of skin in full view of two guests. It never mattered when they were home alone, but… Goddamnit, Naruto! Stop drying your hair and look around!
That was when the knot keeping the towel around his waist decided to start coming undone. Iruka snapped right out of his horror and thoughtlessly used his near inhuman reflexes as an ex-assassin to get across the room and hold the towel up by the loosened knot near his hip. He turned to face their company, covering his younger brother's body with his own, an embarrassed blush spread across his cheeks. "I am so sorry. Please excuse me while I have a quick word with my brother. Make yourselves at home," Iruka said hastily.
"Ruka, what are you talking about? Who—" Naruto's inquiries were effectively cut off by a violent shove down the hall that did not stop until his bedroom door closed behind him. Stumbling slightly, he whirled around on his big brother, both towels falling forgotten on the floor, confusion obvious in his expression. "What the hell was that for?"
"Do you even think before you act?!" Iruka snapped, ignoring the stark naked body of his sibling. "Do you even realize that you walked out in front of guests practically naked?!"
"Guests? Is someone here? I thought I heard voices…" Naruto mumbled the last part to himself. True, he had not put much thought to exiting the bathroom without dressing to investigate what he had thought he heard. "Sorry," he said, sheepishly rubbing at the back of his head. "I didn't really think that far ahead."
Iruka exhaled sharply in exasperation, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers. It really was exhausting to live with his brother sometimes. Even when he was little, he had a tendency to act before thinking. Just a part of his impulsive nature, he guessed. Iruka took a deep breath to steady himself again and sighed. "Just," he said, looking at his brother tiredly, "get dressed. Sasuke is here and so is Kakashi. I'm going to go try to get a grip on what's going on."
"Isn't he a little early?" Naruto inquired, pulling on a pair of boxers. "I thought your date wasn't for another couple of hours."
"He is really early," Iruka agreed. "Apparently he lives with Sasuke and gave him a ride here. Like I said, I need to talk to them about it." He finally turned to go so his brother could finish dressing in peace. The brunette ordered his thoughts as he made his way back down the hallway. He found his guests murmuring to each other in low voices, heads bent together on the couch.
Sasuke had on one of his special glares as he hissed a reply to something Kakashi had said. The look on the silver haired businessman's face was boredom incarnate, as if the conversation was not worth his time. Iruka cleared his throat politely to announce his presence in the room, causing the other males to lean away from one another. They shared a certain look that clearly said, This is not over.
"Naruto will be right out, Sasuke-kun. I'm really sorry you guys had to see that," Iruka apologized, yet again. "Kakashi-san, would you—"
A hand signal from the light haired man stopped him midsentence. "Just Kakashi, please." There was an odd glint of laughter in his eye as he said that, and it was gone with the next blink. Iruka could probably spend an hour or two and still not know what half of the man's expressions meant, granted they stayed on his face long enough to be read.
The brunette nodded in acknowledgement of the request and repeated what he had been saying. "Kakashi, would you mind waiting a few more moments so I can explain the project to the boys?"
"Take as much time as you need," he replied with a shrug. Kakashi made a show of stretching his arms across Iruka's humble couch, looking every bit as out of place as a noble in a commoner's home with his black silk shirt and wrap with dark jeans that looked tailor made specifically to emphasize the length of his legs. "I made the reservation for 7:30, so there's no rush at all."
Decidedly making the effort to not ask questions about his relationship to Sasuke right then and there, he gestured for his student to follow him. The stoic teen followed Iruka silently through the short hallway that held the doorway to the kitchen and took another brief glance around the new surroundings. The young teacher could not be sure, but he thought he saw a glimmer of interest in the young man's eyes as he looked at the little knick-knacks and photos scattered around the room.
The kitchen was where the brothers spent most of their time when they were home, and it showed in the worn down parts of the table and chairs, not to mention the handle to the refrigerator. Pictures from their orphanage days were everywhere; stuck under magnets on the fridge, framed on the walls, and some were even stuck into the frames of other pictures. Sasuke seemed to be fixated on the largest picture frame. It held the picture that showed Iruka's last day at the orphanage when Sarutobi-sensei had all of the boys get together for a group photo.
Sarutobi-sensei was in the back smiling serenely as he always did while he looked after the boys; Kotetsu and Izumo had their arms slung over their shoulders to pose peace signs at the camera; Konohamaru and Naruto were slumped together on the ground from where they had tried to wrestle to be at the front of the photo with matching styles of weird face-paint plastered on their faces; and Iruka was standing off to the side from the smiling faces of the other 20 or so orphans he had grown up with and helped raise, smiling wide with laughter from watching his brother wrestle with his 'rival'. The picture was taken right outside the front of the establishment with the hand-painted banner proclaiming that it was 'Konoha Boys' Orphanage' in large, sloppy letters with the handprints of everyone who helped make the sign scattered everywhere.
The scarred teacher glanced back at his black-haired student and saw some sort of emotion clouding his eyes as he was deep in thought. "You're orphans too," Sasuke whispered under his breath. It was clear that he never meant to speak out loud, judging by the startled look that crossed his features when Iruka spoke.
"Yeah, but we never really minded it," Iruka shrugged, turning to the closet door to gather the supplies the boys would need for the project. He decidedly ignored the 'too' on the end of Sasuke's sentence, knowing the boy would likely clam up and simply glare at him frostily. The older male put the box of everything they would need onto the table and turned back to the rigid teen with a kind smile. "We had each other and our friends, so we had all the family we could've ever needed."
Sasuke's face seemed to soften slightly at the words, which Iruka equated to at least a small grin for the young Uchiha. The expression was quickly turned back into a deadpan stare as a familiar blond teen bounded into the room and immediately headed for the fridge. Naruto snatched up two cans of soda and tossed one right to Sasuke, who automatically caught it in midair. The black-haired male looked at him with a single eyebrow raised. The blond simply answered with a half shrug as he took a swig of his own drink and turned to his brother.
"Ya know, between the two of us, I think we can figure out what to do on our own, Ru," Naruto said, gesturing to the box on the table. "It should be pretty simple to make a paper volcano."
Suspicion started flashing its little warning bells in the back of Iruka's mind. That sounded like Naruto's thinly veiled attempt to get rid of his older brother. He knew from the walk home that day with the way the whiskered teen had whined loudly about the project. Most of the rant had been about his little brother worrying about Sasuke trying to boss him around, but there was a note of truth when he mentioned not knowing how to do it, which was why he had them schedule for a time before Iruka had to leave for his date.
The brunette narrowed his eyes inquiringly at his little brother as he took another long drink. Their eyes met over the can and Naruto looked pointedly at Sasuke -who was busy browsing through their supplies and ignoring a certain blond loser- and then looked at the picture of the orphanage hanging on the wall. When he looked back at Iruka, it clicked. He heard.
The brothers exchanged a small nod and Iruka made his move to leave, calling over his shoulder, "Holler if you need anything, boys. And no fighting or you'll fail." The reminder of his punishment for them was unnecessary for them to hear, but he needed Naruto to know what he was getting into. Seeing his brother grin and nod at him again proved that his message had gotten across. Don't make him talk if he doesn't want to.
Kakashi was in the exact same position as when Iruka left the room, sprawled out like a king on a throne. A sexy king, at that. Shaking the thoughts away, Iruka scratched at the scar crossing his nose awkwardly as he sat in a chair across from the businessman, elbows on his knees. "So," he began as lightly as he could, "Sasuke-kun lives with you?"
The silver-haired man let out a small sigh and looked away from Iruka, thinking on how to respond to the question. "To be honest with you, he would rather I not answer that question," he said bluntly, glancing at the teacher from the corner of his eye. "But, judging from what I heard, his worries are null and void."
"Worries? What would he be worried about?" Iruka asked, genuinely confused.
"Sasuke isn't one to handle pity very well. After his parents died a few years ago, he'd had his fill of pity from everyone around him to last him a lifetime." Kakashi spoke quietly, trying not to be overheard by the teens that were clanking around the kitchen. "When you walked out here, he was warning me not to explain his situation to you because he 'didn't need your pity.'"
Iruka nodded knowingly and looked down at his hands clasped in between his knees. Sasuke's remarks during their last couple of encounters made that much more sense now, as did his overall demeanor. Losing your parents at that age was rough. If Iruka had not had Sarutobi-sensei, the guys, and Naruto, he had no idea what he would have ended up like. "Pity is not something I'm overly fond of myself," Iruka confessed, sitting back into the chair. "Sympathy, maybe. Other than that, all I have towards him is understanding."
Kakashi nodded slowly and the two men sat in silence, listening to the murmurs coming from the kitchen. Iruka was almost impressed that the teens had not at least raised their voices yet. Then again, it had barely been twenty minutes since he had left them to their work. As if right on cue, there was an uncharacteristically panicked shout that sounded from the kitchen, "Naruto, no! You idiot!" That was followed by a strange sounding splat! that sent tendrils of dread through Iruka's stomach.
The two older males took one look at each other and sprang from their seats, already headed towards the sounds of arguing. Both of them had seen the kind of damage the teens could inflict on the other and wanted to catch them before that happened for two very different reasons. The sight that met them stopped Iruka and Kakashi in their tracks.
Naruto and Sasuke were standing in the middle of Iruka's once clean kitchen bickering about whose fault it was. Quite similar to, yet different from, the visions that he had cooked up in his head, the young teacher looked at the red liquid that covered the boys literally from head to toe. That same liquid also stained the rest of the room, seeming to have originated from the half-finished paper volcano on the dining table, if the still foaming substance that oozed from it was any indication. The situation was as absurd as it was hilarious in Iruka's mind. Instead of striding his way over to the hissing teenagers, Iruka did the only thing that felt natural in this situation.
He laughed. Not just a hearty chuckle either. Iruka laughed as hard as he did in the group photo on the fake-gore covered wall, clutching his gut with one hand while the other gripped the door frame to keep from falling to the floor with mirth. All eyes stopped and stared at the maker of the sound. Kakashi looked on with curious amusement while Sasuke and Naruto bore near identical looks of confusion, finally distracted from each other for a moment.
When the chocolate haired teacher finally caught his breath and his laughter had died down to a few suppressed snickers, he wiped the moisture that had gathered in his eyes saying, "Wow, I haven't laughed that hard in ages." His chuckles renewed when his brother continued to stare at him, dumbfounded. Sasuke had long since fixed his expression back to his usual stoic annoyance as he looked down at his ruined clothing. "Thanks for that, boys."
"Wait. Wait, wait, wait," Naruto repeated, still not understanding something. "You're thanking us for screwing up the kitchen?"
"I'm thanking you for doing something so completely normal. I came running in here thinking you two had murdered each other and instead I get to see two teenagers covered head to toe in fake lava!" Iruka could not help it as another fit of laughter overtook him. In some corner of his mind, he knew that this was not the right reaction to seeing his kitchen in a complete mess, but he was just ecstatic that the two boys had made it that far with working together regardless of the current state of his kitchen.
The two boys looked at each other, simultaneously thinking that their teacher had a screw loose before Naruto finally cracked a wide grin and even Sasuke smirked slightly. From an outsider's point of view, they had to admit the whole situation was pretty funny. The tension between the teenagers dissipated as Iruka's chuckles rang through the room. Naruto crossed his arms behind his head and shifted his weight, the lava was beginning to seriously seep into his clothing and stick to his skin uncomfortably.
Noticing this, Iruka composed himself once more and straightened. "Why don't you two go hose off in the backyard real quick and I'll go grab some clean clothes for you, all right? I'm sure neither of you would want to stay in those clothes once that stuff dries," he said, eyeing the substance warily. They would have to be washed immediately if he wanted any chance to get the stains out. "Do you mind borrowing some of Naruto's clothes, Sasuke? It would just be until your clothes are done being washed, of course."
The black haired teenager seemed taken aback, noticeable only by the minute widening of his eyes. After a moment of hesitation he glanced at Naruto who nodded in assent, grin still plastered on his face. Sasuke turned to Iruka and gave a tiny nod and with a glance over Iruka's shoulder added a small, "Thank you."
Iruka smiled warmly in return and watched the two teenagers make their way to the back porch, Naruto loudly complaining about the lava sticking to places it did not belong. Sighing quietly to himself, he finally took inventory of the damage around the room. It seemed as though the only place the lava did not reach was the wall next to the fridge where said object had blocked the blast and directly under the table and chairs. This was going to be a hell of a cleanup project. He was in the middle of scratching the back of his head, wondering where to begin, when a silky voice came from Iruka's right side and made him jump guiltily. How could he have forgotten about his date?
"Want any help?" Kakashi offered with his arms crossed over his chest as he lazily slouched against the other side of the doorframe. He looked at Iruka evenly, sincerity gleaming in his eye and surprising the young teacher. Something about the other man's posture gave Iruka the strangest sense of déjà vu and had the hair on the back of his neck standing on end.
"That's all right," Iruka declined politely. "I'm probably just going to have Naruto clean it up. Judging by Sasuke's outburst beforehand, I'm guessing this was all Naruto's doing anyways."
He suddenly heard raised voices coming from outside and grabbed a dishtowel from the nearby closet to clear a path through the lava to peek through the small window in the backdoor. Iruka's jaw almost hit the floor as he watched a topless Naruto spraying an equally topless Sasuke with the hose, laughing his head off. Quick as lightning, Sasuke bent down to grab the slack on the ground and yanked the nozzle out of his little brother's grip. With the most deviously playful grin Iruka had ever seen on the normally cold teenager, he turned the spray on Naruto, mercilessly washing away all traces of the fake lava from his face and hair. Naruto just laughed harder and tried to block the assault with his hands ineffectively.
Iruka's heart warmed at the nearly friendly scene playing out in his backyard. Remembering that he was supposed to get something clean for his raven haired guest to change into, he rushed past Kakashi to Naruto's room and grabbed some clothes for Sasuke. He thanked whoever was listening that the teens seemed roughly the same size. As an afterthought, Iruka stopped by the bathroom to grab a couple of towels for them to dry off with. When he came back, Naruto was chuckling as he stepped into the threshold with both of their shirts in one hand, followed by Sasuke who wore a small smirk on his lips. Iruka would have taken a moment to appreciate the change of expression on his student, but he noticed that his other guest was suddenly very tense against the doorway next to him. Kakashi's single slate grey eye was locked right on Naruto, narrowed in concentration.
Iruka nudged him with an elbow, asking, "You all right?"
Snapped from his thoughts, Kakashi's appearance returned to one of amused boredom. He offered a nod in response and glanced back at the soaked, but clean, teenagers. Settling on asking about it later, Iruka tossed the towels over to the boys and said, "Here you go. Sasuke, the bathroom is the first door on the left. You can leave your clothes in the sink for me to wash when you come out."
Sasuke nodded politely and made his way through the path Iruka had made in the red mess on the floor. Nodding his thanks, he took the clothes Iruka offered him and padded into the bathroom to change. Naruto followed suit and bounded into his own room. Stealing a glance at his date, Iruka gestured back towards the fridge. "Can I get you a drink while I do the boys' laundry?" he offered. "We have water, juice, soda, and probably some sort of tea…"
"Water would be fine, thank you," Kakashi replied. Iruka went to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, stopping to wipe the lava from his fingers on the dishtowel from before. As he exited the kitchen and handed the businessman his drink, Sasuke passed right by them, silent as ever. Shrugging mentally, Iruka said, "Go ahead and make yourself comfortable in the living room, Kakashi. I'll only be a minute to put the clothes in the washer."
Receiving a nod in return, Iruka went to the bathroom and gathered the soaked pieces of clothing from the sink and tossed them into the washer with some detergent and stain removers. Just as he was about to yell for Naruto to hurry with his own soiled clothing, the blond popped up behind him with the bundle of red dyed garments. "Somebody doesn't seem as broody anymore," Iruka remarked, throwing in Naruto's clothes with Sasuke's.
Naruto chuckled sheepishly in response and rubbed at the back of his head. "I guess he doesn't seem as bad, now that I know a bit more about why he is the way he is," Naruto said solemnly. "We could have easily ended up just like him." The truth of the statement weighed on their shoulders for a moment before being swatted away with a one armed hug between the brothers.
They walked with their arms still around each other's shoulders until they reached the kitchen doorway. Taking an instinctual glance into the room as he passed, Iruka stopped in his tracks when he saw Sasuke on his hands and knees, cleaning up the fake lava from the cupboards. By the looks of things, he had already wiped up a great deal of the stuff from the floor by making a path to the sink where he rinsed the cloth Iruka had used to make the first path through the kitchen.
"Wh-what…" Iruka stuttered, stunned beyond belief to see his student cleaning his kitchen. He was stunned even further when the warmth of his brother's body left his side before brushing past him with a towel of his own to join the cleaning. Now this was truly bizarre to the little teacher. He stared on in bewilderment, finally breaking from his trance with a shake of his head. "What are you guys doing?"
"What's it look like?" Naruto retorted, giving the refrigerator a thorough wipe down.
"We made the mess," Sasuke added. "It only makes sense that we would be the ones to clean it up."
Iruka watched wordlessly for a few more moments as the teenagers worked together, occasionally pointing out a spot the other missed. They seemed to actually work just fine with one another. Shaking his head in mild disbelief, Iruka left the boys to it and went to join his companion in the living room. He took a seat on the couch this time, sitting on the opposite end from the silver haired man.
"Why do you look so shocked?" Kakashi asked curiously.
"The boys are in the kitchen cleaning," Iruka told him.
"Isn't that what you were going to have them do anyways?" Kakashi asked, cocking his head to the side.
"Actually, I was going to just have Naruto do it while I entertained you and Sasuke," he admitted. "Now I have to figure out a way to reward them for doing this…" Iruka trailed off, lost in thought. He guessed he could give Naruto some money to go out to Ichiraku's, but what if Sasuke did not like ramen?
"I have an idea," Kakashi said suddenly. "If it's all right with you, of course."
Iruka eyed the man suspiciously, trying to guess at what he could have in mind. Finally deciding to hear him out, the tanned teacher listened and his grin grew and nodded in agreement.
. . . . . .
When the time for the reservation came, instead of two people being shown to their table, arrangements were quickly made for four people. Kakashi had proposed to take the boys with them to dinner as a reward for taking responsibility for the mess they had made without being asked. Iruka saw it as an opportunity to see how the teens would act in such a setting and also as a source of comfort knowing that his brother was next to him instead of potentially fighting with a certain Uchiha that was currently sitting across from them in the booth he now shared with Kakashi.
The restaurant was very richly decorated. White and gold made up the walls with deep red tablecloths and booths. The ceiling was painted to look like a cloudy sky with a crystal chandelier hanging from the center of it. Vases of flowers could be found at regular intervals around the room, as could ivy that climbed up the marble pillars in the corners. All in all, it was the most ostentatious place Iruka had ever been to without being there to kill someone. Living as an assassin for years did have its perks moneywise, they could probably afford to eat like this on a semi-regular basis, but Iruka was smart enough to put it all away except for what they needed to survive. He did not want Naruto to ask where it all came from compared to his measly teacher's salary.
While Iruka was feeling awkward from being in such opulent surrounds and reminiscing about the only other times he had been around them, Naruto was gaping in awe and nearly bouncing in his seat in excitement. Kakashi and Sasuke looked like they could be in the middle of a McDonald's for all they cared. They all went through their menus and munched on the bread while they waited for the waitress to come back to take their orders. Once they were taken, Kakashi was the one to break the silence they had fallen into since they had piled into his –rather luxurious- car.
"So, this is the famous Naruto, huh?" he said amicably. Iruka belatedly realized that he had yet to give the two a proper introduction!
"Oh, yeah. Sorry about that," the teacher said embarrassedly. "Kakashi, this is my brother, Uzumaki Naruto." Iruka ignored the small glint in the businessman's eye and finished the introduction, "Naruto, this is Hatake Kakashi." They awkwardly shook hands over the table and the waitress finally brought their drinks and a 'complimentary appetizer.' All four of them tucked into the food; Sasuke taking miniscule bites compared to Naruto who all but shoveled the food into the bottomless pit that was his stomach, while Kakashi and Iruka nibbled here and there, opting for small talk with each other instead.
Suddenly, Naruto piped into their conversation. "Say, Kakashi, Ruka mentioned that you're a businessman. What's your business do?"
Iruka was just about to admonish his brother for obliviously interrupting, when Kakashi answered him in stride, completely unaffected by his rudeness, "My business actually is more of a support for other businesses. Owners would come to my company for loans to get started and have us backing them if things turn south." He explained more of what he did in two sentences than he ever told Iruka. All he knew was he was in business, not what he actually did. Even Sasuke looked at his guardian from the corner of his eye in surprise as he shared the information. A little tinkle of something sounded in the back of Iruka's mind. What it was, he was not sure, but it was easily identified as a warning when it grew louder in response to Kakashi's question. "And what would you like to do as a career, Naruto?"
"I'm going to be the director of Japan's National Investigative Police Force," he answered immediately. He had said it often enough and his resolve to see it through was stronger than any Iruka knew of.
"Oh? Why'd you choose that?" Iruka really did not like the calculating look in Kakashi's gaze.
Already knowing what his brother was going to answer, he kicked him under the table and was about to interject, but Naruto plundered on despite the obvious message to stop talking, "To find who killed my parents."
There was an awkwardly stunned silence around the table that only grew as their waitress arrived with their food. Thankful for the reprieve in conversation, Iruka dove into his meal with an almost panicked relish. He could not believe his brother had put that information out there. Perhaps there was some way he could salvage the situation. Tension around the group rose with every passing minute, making it seem more and more impossible to get back to the easy banter they had been in earlier.
"How do you know your parents were killed?" The question made the two brothers jump, mostly because of the person who had asked the question. They both looked at Sasuke oddly and he explained further, "The pictures in your kitchen showed that you were at that orphanage since you were an infant."
Naruto scratched at his whiskered cheek absentmindedly. To anyone else, it would have looked like a contemplative gesture, but Iruka knew it for what it truly was as his memories were cast back into their dark past. Saving his little brother from having to answer, Iruka said gently, "That's err, not a topic that should be talked about in public, Sasuke-kun."
The stoic teenager merely nodded and returned to his meal without another word. They all finished their meals and when the time came to pay for the bill, Iruka was reaching halfway into his pocket for his wallet to pay for his and Naruto's part only to be stopped by a hand on his elbow. He looked at his date inquiringly and watched as the waitress took their receipt with the card Kakashi had been holding between his fingers. "Dinner's on me," he said.
Since Iruka's pride refused to let him leave without doing something, he stubbornly pulled out his wallet and left a decent sized tip for their server. Brown eyes locked with a single grey in defiance, causing the older male to smirk good naturedly. They all got up and filed out of the booths, Kakashi leading the way to the doors of the establishment. It was dark out already as the four males stepped into the parking lot. With as prestigious the place was, Iruka was actually surprised that it did not have a valet system. He almost wished they did, considering how far back in the parking lot they had had to park.
Kakashi and Iruka walked together with Sasuke trailing behind them while Naruto weaved in between the cars at random. Walking in the dark always put the petite teacher on edge. His basic instincts as an assassin refused to fade no matter how hard he tried to ignore them. Iruka's nervousness had him on the brink of calling for Naruto when the glint of metal caught his eye from the darkness.
Years of training and reflexes saved the ex-assassin from the deadly stroke of a blade as he whirled to dodge it. Iruka heard his brother call out his name and that moment of distraction was all it took for the assailant to grab hold of him and suddenly he felt the warmth of a body pressed into his back and the cold of the blade against his throat. Survival instincts had him struggling against the hold, but the voice at his ear had the blood freezing in his veins. "Hello, Iruka. Did you miss me?"
Iruka knew that voice anywhere. His gaze locked with Naruto's, panic registering on the teen's whiskered face. Sasuke and Kakashi had identical expressions of calculation, the younger of the two falling into a defensive position.
"Mizuki," he hissed. The cool kiss of the knife at his throat shifted as Naruto tried to step closer to his sibling.
"Ah-ah-ah," sang the cold voice behind him. "You don't want your beloved brother getting hurt, now do you?" Mizuki spat out the word 'brother' as if it disgusted him. Considering his opinion of Iruka's connection to the blond, it probably did. "And I don't recommend calling for help, either. That would mean a bad ending for our dear little Iruka." He pricked the end of the blade against the side of his neck to emphasize the threat, drawing a bead of blood that rolled down to the collar of Iruka's shirt.
"Kakashi, take the kids and get out of here," Iruka ground out through gritted teeth. It was taking all of his self control to stay calm and not reveal his true skills. He needed for all of them to leave so he could take care of Mizuki without having to worry about anyone else getting caught up in the fight. Iruka's attacker had a tendency to do just that.
"No!" Naruto burst out bravely. "We're not leaving without you!"
"Naruto, just go! I'll be fine!" He heard Mizuki chuckle behind him with demented amusement.
"Stubborn little fucker, isn't he? Orochimaru will definitely want to know how well he's grown up," Mizuki whispered in his ear. The teacher growled in response and kept his eyes on Naruto's whiskered face.
Iruka could see his brother fighting with something in his head and when he saw the decision Naruto made, Iruka finally began to feel the panic trickle into his mind. He shouted for his brother to stop, but Naruto had already lunged towards them in an effort to tackle Mizuki to the ground. The dark haired teacher had just enough time to shift his weight backwards against the body behind him, creating just enough distance between the blade and his throat for his hand to squeeze in and grip the metal to keep it from killing him.
Hot liquid spilled from the fresh wound in his palm as he wrenched himself from Mizuki's grip. Naruto was still in mid-lunge when Iruka intercepted him and redirected him back to where he calculated the other two males were before he turned back to the current threat. Iruka took in the sight of his ex-lover and went through every tactic he knew the white haired man could and would use. "Kakashi, get them out of here!" Iruka yelled over his shoulder, never once taking his eyes off of Mizuki.
"Yes, that's right. Listen to the little whore and run along so the adults can talk," Mizuki taunted, adjusting his grip on the blade excitedly. The same manic glint was still in his eyes, even after all these years.
Iruka sensed movement behind him and heard his brother's grunts of protest as he was dragged away from the fight. Mizuki's gaze flickered over to Iruka's left as Kakashi's voice came closer and closer. "There, now it's just us adults," he said. There was no emotion in his voice, just a cold emptiness that guaranteed pain and violence. It sent a shiver down Iruka's spine even though it was not directed at him.
Mizuki scoffed at him, unimpressed. "If you really think you can take me on, you're overestimating yourself," he insulted. His calculating stare honed in on Iruka once more as both sides sized up the other.
"I won't need to," Kakashi answered cryptically.
Nobody even got the chance to make a move as an engine roared and tires squealed against asphalt somewhere in the parking lot. A pair of headlights illuminated the three men as a car rounded the corner to face them. The driver of the car hit the gas and began speeding right for Mizuki, causing him to jump out of the way and land in between two cars. To Iruka's total bewilderment, it stopped right in front of Kakashi and him. The door to the backseat was thrown open and Naruto's face popped out yelling, "Get in!"
Without even processing what was going on around him, Iruka was being pushed from behind and herded into the vehicle. The car door had not even closed before it was speeding off again. There was utter chaos as limbs tangled in the backseat of the car clumsily. Naruto finally clambered into the front seat, leaving Kakashi and Iruka with a comfortable amount of room as they straightened up and gave Iruka a chance to finally catch his breath as he came down from the adrenaline high.
As his heart rate finally calmed down, Iruka's senses slowly returned to him. The car was eerily silent as Sasuke drove, his hands gripping the wheel with white knuckles as he broke the speed limit by an alarming margin. Iruka could see the lines of anger and adrenaline in the boy's shoulders. He really needed to calm down. Reaching out with his uninjured hand, the ex-assassin grasped Sasuke's shoulder firmly and spoke gently, "You can calm down now, Sasuke. We're safe now." Iruka did not exactly know how true that statement was, but the signs of tunnel vision the boy was showing were beginning to worry him.
"Sasuke," Naruto whispered. He touched one of Sasuke's taut hands softly and pried it off of the wheel slowly. While the motion would have normally scared the shit out of Iruka, it seemed to wake the raven haired teen from his daze. "Relax. It's over."
Taking a deep breath, Sasuke finally exhaled the tension from his body and eased his foot from the gas pedal. Deeming him calm enough, Iruka sat back in his seat and tried to drain his own pent up tension. He knew that would not be the last time he would run into Mizuki, but that was a matter that would have to be dealt with later once he could think of something to tell Naruto so he would not ask questions. There seemed to be a collective intake of breath as they all ran through different thoughts about what had happened.
The silence was broken by none other than Iruka's own blond idiot. "What… the fuck… was that about?"
. . . . . .
A/N: And there ya go! Anyone still interested in what happens next? Me too! So, leave a review and let me know what you liked and what you didn't like so I can be better next time! Feel free to let me know what you'd like to see in the future as well and I'll see what I can do. Til next time!