Author's Notes - This is dedicated to Hatochan, muse, beta, confidante, and late night conversationalist... dripping wet shinobi... mmm... makes you want to drizzle them with all sorts of yummy edibles :)
Story Notes
This story occurs several weeks after the conclusion of "Odd Admiration" within the Tolerant Intolerance universe, with permission from Hatochan
Story title comes from Big Country's "Fields of Fire"
Will be updated as real life permits :) My husband comes home from Iraq in less than three weeks, so if I disappear with no word for a while, you know I'm uhhh busy… researching, so I can actually remember how that smut thing works… yeah that's it… :)
Warnings: yaoi, coarse language, violence, dripping wet shinobi, hentai thoughts from the ladies… will eventually have NC-17 lemon. Specific warnings posted for each chapter.
Disclaimer: You know Naruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto, because if I owned them, yaoi pairings would be canon… "The Storm" lyrics belong to Big Country
// I came from the hills with a tear in my eye
The winter closed in and the crows filled the sky
The houses were burning the flames gold and red
The people were running with eyes full of dread //
Between the Journey and the Rest, Chapter 2:
The Storm
Iruka burst through the doors and into the chill downpour, looking for the fleeing shinobi. Shit, shit, shit! He cursed himself for nine kinds of a fool for letting things get out of his control. One of the worst things was not knowing, and in this instance, there were far too many things he didn't know. In fact, almost the only thing he did know was that there was a potentially dangerous Kakashi running loose in an unbalanced state. And if that wasn't a disaster waiting to happen, he didn't know what qualified as one.
Wait… there, off to the south… was that… A wraithlike form rapidly ghosted from shadow to shadow until it reached the welcoming shelter of the trees. Everything was hazily indistinct in the veil of silver rain. A ragged flare of chakra off to his left alerted him to the change in direction. He had to catch up quickly, before the older man hurt himself or someone else. No time to consider causes, only running, chasing, tracking; a successful pursuit was the one thing he must concentrate on. Run and jump, steadily increase chakra and speed; push off from the trees, land lightly before pushing off again; scan constantly for movement in the storm. He had been doing such things for the greater part of his life, but it had never had such a direct importance and bearing for him.
A scattering of broken leaves and branches marked another change in path. He's just crashing through with raw force and speed, no attempt at hiding his path, no stealth at all, like he's running in a panic. What happened, what did I do? He's already been so taut and stretched with all the training he's been doing lately. Shit, I'm not even close to keeping up with him. In any other situation, I'd be delighted with the results of his recent training, but now it's just one more hurdle I have to overcome. I can't even try to predict where he might be going, he's running blind…
// We chased them for miles I had tears in my eyes
Through forest and moors as the clouds filled the skies
The storm broke upon us with fury and flame
Both hunters and hunted washed out in the rain //
The next twenty minutes were pure torture for Iruka, as he fell further and further behind. At last he realized he had no clue as to his lover's whereabouts, and he searched frantically for any sign. Nothing. He scanned even more intently, almost frantic in his haste, and caught a mere hint of a presence moving in his direction. The small hope was crushed as he recognized the chakra signatures rushing towards him, and he settled lightly to the ground, catching his breath as his friends approached.
"Iruka, what the hell's going on?" demanded a rather pissy looking Genma.
Iruka looked at Genma and Raidou, his mouth working, but no sound came out.
"Did I miss something, are we playing charades? I got it, you're a goldfish…"
Raidou tossed a mildly annoyed glare at his partner. The snarky comment got through to Iruka and he took a deep breath.
"I don't know what you're referring to Gen, but I've got a little situation here, myself…"
"I'd say he's more than a 'little situation,' but have it your way. Is there a special reason Kakashi threw lightning balls at Rai and me, or is that just how he says 'Hello' lately? And why the hell are you out here in the rain in civvies? Not that you don't look damn fetching, if you're into the drowned kitten look… they are nice and clingy though…" Genma leered at the admittedly rather bedraggled looking chuunin.
Iruka started at the mention of lightning. Just a lightning ball, not chidori, calm down.
Raidou's deep voice cut through his husband's innuendo, "What's wrong, 'Ruka?"
"You saw Kakashi?" he demanded. "Where was he, how long ago, which way was he going?" the questions tumbled from worry-bitten lips.
"Just a few minutes ago, near the walls," the rumble slowed and softened. "Iruka… uhhh… did something happen?"
"Take me there, and we'll talk as we go." They started in the other direction.
"If we're in luck lightning won't strike the same place twice…" The senbon in Genma's mouth dipped once, punctuating his comment.
"What the fuck, Genma. Who pissed in your rice bowl today? Do you think just maybe we should be helping Iruka chase him down?" asked the older man.
"When he threw that lightning jutsu, part of it hit my senbon…" Genma pouted up at his lover. "It shocked my tongue… It may never be the same." He removed the senbon and waggled his tongue experimentally.
Another glare was thrown in Genma's general direction.
"I need help, guys. I'm not sure what's going on, but I think things are even worse than I realized." Iruka blushed slightly. "I was scening with Kakashi in my classroom and then he got a little spacey, yelled something, and ran out."
Genma arched an eyebrow and muttered something that sounded vaguely like 'hmmm… kinky' but otherwise concentrated on the business at hand.
Raidou ignored the aside. "So he spaced out on you, ran out in the storm, and threw a jutsu at us. And you're worried he's breaking, now. That's not his normal pattern, though, is it?"
"No. And I don't know what the hell happened, but we have to find him. I don't want him to hurt himself or anyone else. How much further?"
"He was just up ahead. I don't see any sign of him now of course. How are we going to do this when we find him?" asked the now serious tokujou.
"Actually, I think we better split up for this. Someone needs to go tell Tsunade-sama, for multiple reasons," a tight grimace accompanied this statement. "Will you go tell the Hokage, Rai? I'm afraid I may need Gen's special talents for this one, especially if he didn't recognize you guys, and I don't know if I'll be any more familiar to him at this point."
Raidou nodded and turned his vest over to Iruka. "At least take my vest, you can't chase after him like you are. You guys going to bring him in yourself? I'm bringing a squad of ANBU with me if you're not back in an hour. Ok, be careful." Neither laughed at the sight of the dripping chuunin wearing the oversized vest, although it made him look rather like a child playing dress up in his father's clothes. Raidou made a quick hand sign and disappeared in a rather damp cloud of smoke.
The remaining two shinobi scouted for any sign of the missing jounin.
"It's a good thing this storm is so bad, Iruka."
The scarred chuunin quirked an eyebrow at his friend. "How on earth can that be a good thing, Genma? We can't see more than 20 feet in front of us. We can't even track him except by the occasional chakra trace he's left behind. The storm's so bad he could already be lying injured out there and we wouldn't know till too late…"
"Whoa, whoa whoa, there, Chibi. Slow down a sec. Have you seen anyone else out here, tonight?" He paused to let the implications of the comment sink in. "I don't know what happened while he was with you, but he let loose a blast at each of us, without even thinking twice. Hell, for all I know, without thinking once. He ran away from you and attacked us. What would happen if there were innocent civilians out here? This weather has anyone with any sense inside, so I'm thinking it's a good thing. But don't take any chances tonight, okay? Just get him to an open area where I can get one clear shot with a coated senbon."
Something about that comment struck Iruka. "He looked like he had a specific destination?"
"Yes, and we were between him and where he wanted to go," answered his friend.
"Headed slightly southwest of here?" Iruka began running in that direction.
"Yeah. Think you know where he was going?" The older man followed.
"I hope so. Kami-sama, I hope so."
Pop! The smoke swirled its misty tendrils around Raidou as he made his way to Tsunade's office. Knock. Knock. Knock.. Three raps announced official business with a superior. "Come."
He stepped into the office, seeing the lights of Konoha spread out in the window beyond the Hokage. "Tsunade-sama. We have a situation."
Tsunade looked up from the piles of paper littering her desk to see thoroughly disheveled and worn looking Raidou dripping on her floor. He was one of her most solid, dependable shinobi, and not given to exaggeration, so she paid immediate attention to what the man had to say, only a small fraction of her brain cataloguing the distinct outline of the tokujo's crotch, the wet uniform clinging to every part of his anatomy.
"Something's happened to Kakashi." He had her undivided attention before, but now the amber gaze pierced like an eagle tracking its prey. " I don't really know what, but Genma and I passed him on our way back from patrol and he threw a lightning jutsu at us. Nothing very high level or sophisticated, pretty much a blast of raw power, and then he kept on going, right through us, like we were just in his way. He didn't even seem to recognize us. And Iruka is really worried; I think this is something big." He lowered his eyes and his voice with the grim words.
"Iruka is afraid he's breaking, but it's not his usual pattern, and he just broke six months ago." Cinnamon eyes raised, pain for his friends showing clearly through the calm he had tried to impose upon himself while making his report. "I know the workload's been a bit heavy lately, but this is Kakashi. He can go years at a time without reaching this level of emotional instability. Genma and Iruka are trying to track him down…" The voice trailed away and Tsunade heard the unspoken before he hurts himself or someone else.
"How bad do you think it is, Raidou? Do I need to assemble one of the ANBU special squads?" The thought chilled her blood. She had known Kakashi's parents, had been close friends with his mother Kyoko, had even saved his life when Kyoko had stumbled into the hospital after a mission, bleeding and ignorant of her condition in the earliest stage of her pregnancy. Tsunade had sensed the bright pulsing white point of chakra that had been Kakashi, and soothed it and her friend as she worked the healing jutsu. They had drifted apart in the intervening years; she had left the village and he had pulled back into an unemotional shell after losing his mother, father, genin team and sensei in a matter of years.
She considered the idea of deliberately ordering an assassination and recovery team to hunt down one of her strongest jounin. She remembered him first as a shy, serious toddler trying desperately to emulate his famous father. Later he was a serious, intense bratling wrestling with conflicting feelings of adoration for his great golden god of a jounin sensei while simultaneously decrying the myriad faults in the talented man. Now, he was the Leaf's famed copy-nin, master of over a thousand jutsus, feared by all but the most foolhardy opponents, a shinobi whose arrogance was matched only by his sense of duty to his village and his team. The very thought of ordering his death was repugnant, but she was Hokage. She would make sure it was the very last option she considered, but if necessary, she would once more do her duty to her village.
"I don't think it's quite that bad. I… He wasn't consciously trying to kill; I couldn't sense that level of intent. It was more like he was running blind and panicked and lashed out when we got too close." Raidou paused and then, because blind and panicked were never words used to describe the copy-nin, admitted slowly, "Like a wild animal. Iruka is worried. I don't think I've seen him that scared since Mizuki tried to kill Naruto. It might not hurt to alert just the recovery squad. I don't like to think what could happen if he feels cornered or threatened in his current state. I told Genma and Iruka I would bring the ANBU with me if they weren't back in an hour."
The door rattled and Shizune appeared, bearing a tray laden with a light dinner. "Namiashi-san," she nodded. He returned a slight bow, which caused his wringing wet shirt to pull tighter around his shoulders, molding to the well-defined muscles in his back. Pink cheeks revealed her appreciation of the damp clinginess of his attire, and an answering dampness arose below her waist. She locked the image of the drenched tokujou away in her memory for later use when she would indulge in a hot bubble bath and sighed as she remembered the old adage. The good ones are always gay or taken… or in this case both.
"Shizune, we have a possible A-level break…"
All thoughts of the scarred brunette's sensual appearance left Shizune's mind. Her eyes flew to meet Raidou's. Not Genma, he mouthed, remembering the brief fling the two had shared years earlier.
"… of a high level jounin. Inform the ANBU recovery squad captain and have him report ASAP. And gather up supplies, I'll be attending to this one personally. Hmm. Get towels, blankets and food for Namiashi-san." Raidou started to protest but the blonde leader continued giving orders. "Have ANBU ready the highest level detention cell they have and get Morino Ibiki in here too. He needs to hear this and should have some useful advice. Go, Shizune." The younger woman scurried away to fulfill the numerous tasks.
The Hokage turned to Raidou, "Sit down before you fall down, Namiashi. If anyone can bring him back, those two can. And if they can't, we'll need you to help us find him. If they do succeed, we may still need you and Shiranui to help keep Iruka together if things are as bad as you say." She stood up and walked to the scarred, somber shinobi, placing a hand on one cold, clammy shoulder. If it is worse, then you'll all need to pull more than your own weight filling in for Kakashi until he's recovered." He sank wearily into the chair she pushed behind him. "We can't let this leak out. If word gets out that Kakashi is… indisposed," a downward twist of the lips accompanied the euphemism, "it will be a weakness, a liability. We can't leave ourselves open to attack."
"Of course, Hokage-sama." Raidou answered automatically, his mind still occupied with worrisome thoughts.
She retrieved a cup from the tray on her desk and poured tea for the now shivering man. "I don't think it will come to that, Raidou. Kakashi's strong. Iruka's love for him is even stronger. Have faith; things will work out for the best. Those two won't allow anything else."
He nodded once, taking a deep swallow of the tea, before bowing his head in thought.
// And nobody smiled as we took back our own,
While rain beat upon us, the thunder did moan
And nobody smiled when we knew what was lost,
We knew well enough only time proves the cost //
"Over there. Off to the left. It's faint, but it feels right."
Iruka examined the chakra residue. "Yeah, it's his, but it's been a while. We're going the right direction, I'm sure he's there. Come on, this way. We're getting closer."
Iruka set a punishing pace through the trees, knowing they were traveling faster than the weather warranted, but driven to reach Kakashi before anything else could happen. He could only trust to their own skill as shinobi and luck that no ill would befall them in their headlong rush. They landed a short distance from the front of the tiny estate.
"You sure he's here, 'Ruka? I don't feel anything. He wasn't exactly in a coherent state when we saw him, what makes you thing he did the logical thing and came here? He never does what's expected when he's in a normal state."
"That." As they approached, Iruka pointed to the front gate, hanging half off its hinges. "Look at everything else. It's all taken care of except for that gate. You're right though, I can't feel anything either. But I don't think he'd come here and leave. Come on, let's get in there and check."
"Iruka…"
"I'll be careful, Gen, but… what if… I have to go in now… Do what you have to do. But I have to find him. Don't hurt him more than you have to," The whispered plea fell unwillingly from lips now bleeding from the force of his emotion.
"You know me better than that, kid. He won't see it coming and he'll never feel a thing. Just a little painless sleep until we get him in and get him some help. It's fast. Just get me a clear shot." Genma cast concerned hazel towards the house. "Let's do it."
// I know I can never return
To the time of hope when I was born
Let the strength of peace run through my hands
When we walk away from the storm's roar
Then I will be afraid no more
And now I'm sure of where I stand
Let the strength of peace run through this land //
Iruka nodded once and walked through the remains of the gate to the main house. Rain and now a faint layer of sleet covered the stones of the pathway. No light or hint of wood smoke extended any hint of welcome from the structure. He felt odd entering the home without the courtesy of knocking or removing his shoes, but he was afraid Kakashi would be in no fit state to take him to task for his lack of manners. Footsteps echoed hollowly down a hallway unlit by anything more than the fast-fading gloom filtering through the windows. Some instinct urged him past the bedrooms, across the tatami room floor, and out into the garden.
Rain still fell in steady streams from the sky, although the electrical pyrotechnics had lessened from their previous fury, only the occasional dim rumble punctuating the quieting night. He followed the sleet slick pathway to a stand of trees almost bare of leaves. A small trickle of water issued forth from the rocks, forming a mournful counterpoint to the steady drip, drip of rain from the maple trees. A delicate looking bench and a small shrine completed the tranquil scene. Iruka gained a small measure of comfort from the utter serenity and beauty of this slightly wild corner of the garden. That serenity was shattered when he rounded the corner of the path to the area beyond the small stand of trees.
His lover lay on the rocky ground curled around a katana embedded into the very rock. Wet silver strands gleamed against the dark uniform and crimson leaves. Somewhere to the left a cuckoo called from the pine trees edging the walls of the estate. Iruka rushed forward. Kakashi. He stroked the cold face, the cheekbones standing out in prominent relief. "Kashi-love, are you ok?" Pale skin glowed in the falling darkness. "Kakashi… can you hear me?" He ran his hand down to the neck, felt a thin, rapid pulse, and noticed the small remaining frayed tendrils of chakra. "Kashi…please wake up, " he pleaded. Iruka heard the footsteps coming up behind him and reached forward to uncurl his lover from around the sword. Long pale fingers were clasped tightly around the blade, cheek pulled tight against the metal's embrace. "Kakashi, my love…" He carefully released each finger.
"Genma..." The chuunin's voice broke. "We need to get him to Tsunade…"
The tokujou took in the scene before him with a single glance. "Iruka, you know we can't teleport him that far, at least not after the energy we used finding him. You're right though, he needs medical attention now." The older man peeled back the eyelid from the unscarred eye. "Looks like he's out for a while. Iruka, I'll go get the Hokage and bring help to take him back. Will you be ok for a bit? Stay here, I'll be right back." There was a slight pop and a hint of smoke as the shinobi disappeared.
Iruka moved to pillow the head in his lap. He got out his med-kit, used a scrap of bandage to clean the clotting blood from the cheek and pulled out a roll of bandages to wrap the slashed palms. Crimson drops fell unnoticed to the ground carpeted in the same hue. He gathered the jounin close against him, rocking him in the falling rain.