I am terribly sorry for the late update again! Guh, these assignmelts are killing me, but I am, soooo close to finishing them too! Just give me a week and a half and I'll be free!

Please read and review! It means so much to hear what people think of the story! xx

If anything, The Underground lived up to its name. New age and dance music blasted through the club from invisible sources, while the stench of sweat and dirt clung to the air with strong fingers. The place was damp and earthy, while skimpily-dressed neko women trailed through, offering their 'services' to an array of customers who scanned them up and down with predatory grins. If the location wasn't enough to deter wanderers, then the contents inside would. Both Kotetsu and Iruka looked terribly out of place, staring dumbfounded at the scene before them.

'Remind me again why we came here?!' Kotetsu nudged Iruka and strained to be heard over the thumping bass.

'Naruto wanted to go out, and he invited us. I didn't think he'd be into this stuff!' Iruka yelled back, keeping his eyes on the young blonde.

'He's sixteen! He shouldn't even be here!'

'He's the Hokage! I'm pretty certain that he can't get away with this if he wants!'

'That's one way to take liabilities!'

What?!'

'I said-'

'I can't hear you!'

'Never mind!'

Even though his head was already beginning to throb with pain, he entered the scummy club and eased himself into a dark corner of the room. Even though the music was deafening, it was a tiny iota quieter here, where he and Iruka breathed a sigh of relief and shook their heads at one another.

'Look!' Iruka pointed to the opposite corner.

'Kakashi's here!'

'Where?!'

'Past the...!' Iruka swallowed, a terrible blush reddening his already warm cheeks.

'Past the couple that are...umm..."acquainting themselves" with each other!'

Kotetsu followed the direction of Iruka's finger. Lo and behold, the starry-haired joūnin was sitting in the corner of the bar, his eye lazily scanning over the crowd and back down to his bottle of sake.

'Should we join him?!' Kotetsu asked, huddling closer to the smaller chūnin in a light form of protection. Iruka was being jostled in almost every direction by sweating bodies and horny men, and he looked like he was about to pass out. The brunette nodded quickly and the two pushed passed the gyrating and dancing bodies around them until they broke through to the other side. Oddly, the music was just a muffled background noise now.

Kakashi's eye turned up in a crescent as he smiled at them through his mask.

'Hello Iruka. I didn't expect you to be here.' Kakashi said pleasantly, offering them a seat at the bar with him.

'Nor you Kotetsu. How are you faring?'

'Uh...fine Kakashi.' Kotetsu stammered, butterflies in his stomach. Why was it that he made him feel so childlike? Kakashi was a pleasant person to talk to, but something about him made Kotetsu feel like he was back in the academy, despite the fluffy-haired one only being a few years older.

'Why is it so quiet over here, Kakashi?' Iruka said, equally as puzzled by the dim noise. 'You've casted something?'

'Perceptive as ever, Iruka-San, aren't you?' Kakashi chuckled and held up three fingers to the barkeep.

'Though I'm surprised to see you two in a place like this. What are you doing?'

'Naruto wanted to have a break, and he came here.' Iruka said sheepishly. He was terribly embarrassed to even utter the words, as if they would curse him.

'Are you being parental over our Hokage?' Kakashi chuckled, tipping his head in acknowledgement to the barkeep after three bottles of sake had been skidded across the counter with expert precision.

'Maybe. I just don't want him to get hurt.' Iruka mumbled, taking the sake and taking a mouthful, just for something to do.

'I think he'll be alright.' Kotetsu said, glancing over for the young Kage. He shook his head a little watching the blonde dance to the music. It was clear he was enjoying himself, and the neko women were fuelling his perverted side. No wonder he chose a place like this.

'Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here?' He asked, his fingertips drumming on the side of the ceramic idly.

'Oh, I'm here with a friend.' Kakashi said nonchalantly, looking out into the crowd aimlessly.

"Cryptic as always." Kotetsu thought and took a sip of the sake. It burned down the back of his throat and he coughed from the intensity of it.

'Junmai!' Kotetsu wheezed, while Iruka and Kakashi chuckled at him lightly.

'You've a hard stomach, Kakashi-sensei!'

'Sorry, I should've said something.' Kakashi mused, offering an apologetic look to him.

'S'alright.' Kotetsu coughed, composing himself after a minute.

'Iruka, I need to talk to you for a second. Would you mind?' Kakashi said suddenly, and nodded his head towards the male restroom. Iruka glanced a look at Kotetsu with a look quite reminiscent of a deer caught in the headlights.

'It'll just take a moment.' Kakashi finished.

'Would you mind terribly Kotetsu if I stole him for just a moment?'

'I'll be alright.' Kotetsu assured Iruka and held up his bottle.

'I'll acquaint myself with my drink better.'

Iruka nodded and followed the taller nin away. When Kakashi had retreated to a certain distance, the music once again blared at Kotetsu at a frightful volume. His dark eyes searched across for Naruto, just to make sure that everything was alright. Yes, the blonde was in the middle of the dance floor, grinning and dancing with a group of neko girls with a giant grin.

A cough broke his train of thought before a low voice mumbled something behind his ear.

'Can I talk to you...Kotetsu?'

A ripple of shivers coursed through Kotetsu's spine and he glanced over his shoulder slyly. He knew who that voice belonged to. Someone who hadn't even contacted him in a long time. He downed a mouthful of burning alcohol before bothering to respond. If he wanted to talk, he was going to take his sweet time in doing so.

'What do you want, Genma?' Kotetsu said callously, barely audible over the music still. His eyes were hazed over, and any sense of empathy in them dissipated.

'I'd like to talk.' Genma said impassively, as always chewing on an elongated toothpick.

'Can we?'

'I don't know, should we?' Kotetsu said aggressively, avoiding Genma's gaze. Both were becoming irritable, and Genma grit his teeth defensively.

'Look, I'm not asking for a fucking favour. I just want to talk.'

Kotetsu slid off the stool roughly and pushed his way gruffly to the entrance. He needed to cool down, just a little bit. A part of him wanted to listen to what the other had to say. The rest of him wished he would just forget about ever talking to him again.

He leant his head against the rough stone wall of the club and took in a few deep breaths. The air was stale and residual cigarette smoke tainted the oxygen he breathed into his lungs. Genma poked his head out and stepped in front of the raven with a lazy gaze, chewing yet again on another pick.

'I wanna...' Genma started, dropping his eyes and looking at the filthy ground.

'What?' Kotetsu bit snidely, rougher than he actually intended.

Genma glared at him slightly and he grit his teeth on his pick momentarily.

'I wanna...apologise okay.' Genma said gruffly, looking away again. Geez, he was making this awkward. Kotetsu raised his eyebrow and looked at him scornfully.

'Look, don't make this hard for me. I know I'm callous a lot-'

'Callous is an understatement.'

'Look whatever... I'm sorry about Iz, and-'

'Izumo.'

'That's what I said.'

'No. You called him "Iz". That was my name for him. Show him some respect and call him by his whole name.'

Genma was getting worked up by the second talking to Kotetsu. He never realised how badly this had changed him. Before, he would take so much on the chin, even laugh off the accusations and nasty jokes. He used to be so open and kind. Not anymore. He was so on edge all of the time, but...could he really blame him?

'Okay... My condolences for Izumo... It's hard.'

'Yeah, that's one word for it.'

'I get why you're mad-'

'Bullshit.'

'-And I want to say that I'm sorry for being such a jerk earlier.'

Kotetsu scoffed and folded his arms over his chest; silently his fingers unlatched one of the clips on his flak jacket and thumbed over the bottom of a tiny scroll hidden inside in preparation.

'Genma, you don't understand jack shit.' Kotetsu bit, shaking his head in disbelief at the other nin.

'No one does, unless they're in the same position I'm in, and that's not even possible... Y'know, everyone used to be so kind to me before they found out, and now suddenly I'm this horrible monstrosity of a person that people don't even want to associate with me. Three times I've been refused service in some places, and I'm sick of everyone looking down their nose at me. It's pathetic.'

Genma chewed in his pick in thought, trying to string together a line of words to counter this spiel. Kotetsu just sighed and propped his leg up on the wall.

'It's not like I'm parading through the streets about who I am.' He said quietly, staring at a wayward cockroach scampering about on the concrete.

'You're not exactly trying to deny it either.' Genma said.

'Why should I?!' Kotetsu snapped, rage beginning to build up inside.

'What would that achieve Genma?! Really? Besides, it's insulting to deny what I had! What we had!'

'All I'm saying is that maybe you should try and do something about it, instead to choosing to just sit around.'

In a flourish, the tiny scroll was unfurled and a menacing kunai blade was gripped fiercely in Kotetsu's hands. A walloping kick sent Genma to the ground and Kotetsu pressed his foot onto the other chest and pressed down heavily.

'You think I'm not trying?' Kotetsu said menacingly, dropping the blade over Genma's stomach and a malicious look in his eyes.

'You think this is what I wanted? What I chose? Fuck sake Genma, you're so caught up in your own fucking bubble of bliss that you don't even care. I didn't ask to be treated like I have some kind of plague, because I don't!'

His voice was becoming more and more steely as his anger flared up and coursed through his system. He enjoyed seeing the other man pressed under his foot with the slightest trace of fear behind his dark pupils.

'I can't help being who I am, and nor should I be penalised for it either! I lost everything over something so trivial and no one cares that I saved two children from dying either! If I died, no one would even think twice about it now, and they'd probably celebrate losing something as fucking dirty as I am.'

Kotetsu's breath was heavy, and the blade was so close to being able to slice Genma's flesh open. He was angry; furious but not a murderer.

"Settle." Said a voice in his head. A voice very much like Izumo's.

"He's not worth it."

Silence and tension grew between the two and they continued to stare each other down until Kotetsu raised his oversized blade and stabbed the cockroach which was trying to crawl up Genma's leg. It was a narrow miss, but the joūnin was unscathed. The raven-haired sheathed his blade on his back and stepped away, leaving the other man behind.

'You can wipe your slate clean, Kotetsu.' He called out, still on the ground.

'There are ways.'

But his words fell on deaf ears.