Genre: Angst, Romance
Status: WIP
Summary: Iruka plans a pleasant surprise for Kakashi to take his mind off training ... of course, the best laid plans of dolphins and men go oft astray... and angst ensues
Warnings: yaoi, coarse language, violence, steadily building angst, will eventually have NC-17 lemon. Specific warnings posted for each chapter. severe length warning this chapter pt 1 and 2... seriously, i know fics shorter than ten thousand words... and this tops that without notes, sigh also, some medical imagery and vague references to bodily functions
Disclaimer: You know Naruto and its characters belong to Masashi Kishimoto, because if I owned them, yaoi pairings would be canon… "Alone" lyrics belong to Big Country

To Hatochan, for new out looks on old ways of life…I had no idea…
Occurs several weeks after the end of "Odd Admiration" within the Tolerant Intolerance universe, (early November) with permission from Hatochan. Story title comes from Big Country's "Fields of Fire"

o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

She gathered the requested items and left the office to assemble the rest of the supplies… and immediately ran directly into two of the last people she wanted to see right then, well, the two last people other than, say Orochimaru and Kabuto. The near inseparable duo assailed her in stereo, "Shizune-san."

"Izumo… Kotetsu…"

They cocked their heads at near identical angles, and Shizune had the uncanny feeling they could sense she was hiding something. Kotetsu spoke first, "I have a stack of books the Hokage asked me to find."

"And she sent me to find several old records," Izumo added.

"Oh. Very good, then. I'll make sure she gets them."

"Oh, no problem, Shizune-san, we'll be glad to bring them in ourselves. They're all dusty and so heavy…"

"Yes, we wouldn't dream of asking you to take them yourself, Shizune-san. Let us."

"Uh… but Tsunade-sama specifically asked not to be disturbed… I couldn't possibly…"

"Couldn't possibly let us know you're trying to keep us out of a completely empty office?" Izumo asked.

"Wh-whatever do you mean?" Shizune sputtered.

Kotetsu shot her a disgusted look. "Do you think all chuunin are stupid, or just us?" He ticked the points off on his fingers. "We've barely seen Tsunade-sama for the last 24 hours. ANBU officers were flying thick and fast around the tower last night. Izumo had to cover Iruka-sensei's mission desk shift this morning, with no warning from Iruka himself, and he always makes his own arrangements when he is called away, and now we hear he's been sent on some hush-hush mission… with Hatake Kakashi, of all people. The Hokage might send Genma and Raidou out together as a team, but they're married, and have been partners on missions for years now."

"The books Tsunade-sama had Kotetsu dig out for her are on mission stress and stress-related breaks. I was searching through old records from some of Kakashi-sensei's missions as a chuunin. We know she's not in that office, Shizune-san. We have much better chakra sense than you apparently realize. No one's been in that office since lunchtime."

"Not to mention we didn't hear you scold the Hokage for her afternoon drinky drinky," Kotetsu smirked. "Obviously the copy-nin finally went around the bend, but who's hurt? And don't bother trying to hide the med-pack or the scroll. We noticed them earlier, so it's too late now."

"And how are Genma and Raidou involved? We know they've been pulled off the regular duty roster until further notice, ostensibly as backup for this 'mission' of Kakashi's and Iruka's."

Shizune stared at the two, her jaw dropped in amazement and not a little dismay. She wondered if Tsunade or Ibiki knew the extent of the intelligence gathering capabilities of the pair. She opened the empty office and directed them to put the books and records on the desk.

"They're at the old Hatake estate, aren't they?" Izumo asked.

"What? But how?" Too late Shizune realized her mistake and tried to backpedal. "What makes you think that?"

"That puddle. When you popped in, you brought snow with you, didn't you? It's all slushy here in town, not real snow, and if it was real snow, it wouldn't be all clean and pure. There would be at least a little dust or smoke or ash mixed in."

"And you smell of pine. Your normal soap is an herbal-citrus blend. The southwestern sector has been closed off to all recreational activity, and that's where most of the pine trees in the area are. It's also where the Hatake estate is, the estate belonging to a certain shinobi whose chuunin records we just sifted through this morning, who just happens to be away on a highly suspicious and probably spurious 'mission.' Come off it, Shizune. We know you weren't out cross-country skiing or snow-watching with some ANBU or jounin boyfriend." Kotetsu smirked yet again at the boyfriend comment.

"It wasn't that difficult to figure out. A genin could have done it with access to the information we see everyday."

Shizune just looked from one to the other. "Obviously, if there were any truth to this wild, hare-brained story you two have concocted, then there's no way I could possibly verify any of it. I trust you'll keep these blatantly false rumors to yourself?" Izumo shared a long, speaking look with Kotetsu, then they nodded. "I thank you for your discretion… but if I hear one single word about your observations, you'll have the worst duties imaginable for a month." She let that threat hang until they knew she was serious, fixing each of them with a deadly glare. "Not a word," they answered, once again in chorus. She had wasted enough time with the pair, and would have to hurry to make it back in time for the meeting, and she still had supplies to gather. "What are you waiting for? Go!" She shooed them from the empty office. She perused the records as she considered what other supplies she needed. The information was definitely important to Tsunade in treating Kakashi, but she had to admit the sannin's cunning. All the data the two chuunin had amassed would easily point to a similar scenario as the one they had outlined, but by makin sure the busybody, gossiping Kotetsu was aware of the information and tying his hands… err, his tongue, so to speak, she had almost ensured any rumors would not spread. If Kotetsu didn't spread them, in fact, if he outright denied them, as she was sure he would, any similar rumors would die a quick and painless death. Maybe Tsunade had better qualifications for being Hokage than any of them had even dreamed. Shizune quickly gathered the last remaining supplies and began arranging them for the jump to the estate. She stared out the window into the wall of white, watching the shifting snow... a familiar face morphing within the icy storm, framed in white just as thick as the falling flakes.

"Jiraiya-sama?"

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Cold. Teeth chattering, bone shaking cold. He felt like he would never be warm again, and dimly remembered the searing fire with some slight fondness and regret. He dimly remembered another time, similar feelings of being encased in ice, of whispering voices at his head, of a familiar white-haired man. He knew that man, remembered him telling stories to himself and Ruka-chan… he moaned again, wondering when Umino-san would bring Ruka-chan to him. Everything would be better then…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The young ANBU member gratefully accepted the mug of tea from the serious, tired-eyed chuunin. The storm hadn't gotten any better, and his captain had ordered them to stop back hourly, in shifts, to warm themselves and take what refreshment they could. He finished the tea quickly before returning the mug to the table and snatching up a few cakes from a basket. Hmm. Red bean paste. Not bad, but he wished they were the little sesame ones. He nodded his head in thanks to the dark-haired man before silently returning to the hushed forest.

He reached the rendezvous point and motioned the all clear to his team mate, who made his own solitary trip back to the warm haven in the snow-covered forest. This was one of the most boring patrols he had been assigned lately, although he supposed he shouldn't complain. In his line of work, exciting usually equated with deadly. At least he had a chance to rest and get warm from time to time… and he couldn't complain about the food. Beat the hell out of field rations.

He reached down into a pocket for one of the little cakes he had brought with him. He was starting to develop a fondness for them. He slipped the cake beneath the cold porcelain animal mask and chewed thoughtfully. He supposed he shouldn't be wondering about his mission, should only concentrate on doing it, to the best of his ability, but it still seemed odd to be patrolling a relatively empty sector so close to the main part of the village in a snowstorm. His mind filled with thoughts of a surprise invasion by Sound or an infiltration by high-ranked missing-nin.

He shook his head. Was that a movement he saw from the corner of his eye? He turned, and walked closer, examining. He could have sworn there had been something there just a moment before. The snow remained undisturbed, and he saw no more movement, and he put it down to an overactive imagination and a very boring patrol. Besides, it was easy to see motion where none existed in the falling snow in such thick forest. Still, maybe he would ignore the sweet little cakes when he next went inside… no use having a full belly lull him into a false sense of security…

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The cold slowly gave way, the icy feeling slowly melting, but his uneasiness didn't lessen, he felt no more comfortable or secure. That warm, safe feeling hadn't yet returned, and the aches and torment were never ending. Emptiness clawed at his stomach and his heart and his mind. When would this end?

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Junyo Yahagi wondered how long this meeting would take and hoped she wouldn't be sitting there in 3 hours asking herself 'When would this end?' while wishing for a nice A-rank mission. She resettled the Usagi mask against her face, feeling the condensation forming inside as the heat of the room warmed the cold. She'd not yet had the dubious pleasure of an extended mission in Snow Country, and so was unaccustomed to the all-encompassing uniform temporarily ordered for use on this admittedly unusual mission. The all white uniform combined with the mask to make her laughingly think of a snow hare.

Everything about this mission seemed to add to the sense of unreality: the heavy snowfall, so unusual in Konoha, the unfamiliar uniforms, although she did appreciate the extra warmth and camouflage in the snowy woods, and even the people they were guarding, although if even half of her father's and grandfather's stories were true she was having an easy time of it. She hoped some of the tales they'd shared were only stories. She did not look forward to trying to subdue a chidori-wielding fever crazed jounin, if the situation required it.

In fact, she was not sure if she would rather have been in her father's place or her own right now. Her father had had to subdue this same jounin almost twenty years earlier, after his father had committed seppuku, and then again almost two months later after a mission took a surprising turn. Her father had never gone into great detail about that second time, but he had grown a bit quiet and flustered the few times it had come up, and anything that so unsettled a former ANBU medic surely couldn't have been pleasant. Her grandfather had told even more fantastic stories about the man's father, the famous White Fang of Konoha, when he was a new jounin.

She might not have followed their calling as medics, but she had followed their footsteps in ANBU, finally rising in rank to Captain, and while there were similarities, she knew her method for subduing unruly shinobi would be much more direct, a last ditch effort if the Hokage or her assistant lost control. Her methods might not be pretty, but they were effective, and quite necessary as captain of ANBU's Recovery Squad.

She made a quick bow to the Hokage as she passed her on her way to what was now the operations center for their mission. She appeared to be laying down the law rather firmly to a rather rumpled, vaguely familiar looking chuunin. Ah, Iruka-sensei from the academy and the mission room. Curiously, the teacher didn't seem to be taking the lecture with very good grace; he wore a distinctly mulish expression on his face, but finally nodded reluctantly at the Hokage's orders. After the nod, she whispered a low comment meant only for Iruka, grasped his shoulder, and turned to follow to their mission center.

She scanned the room quickly, and saw Morino Ibiki setting up a presentation board at the front of the room. The tall scarred interrogation master was a close friend, and she respected him deeply, but she hoped dearly that the man was not giving one of his meticulously detailed reports this night, and irreverently wondered if the man had ever considered his lengthy dissertations as torture material. Standing quietly in the back corner was the head ANBU captain himself. He stood watching the proceedings quietly from a corner. Another captain she wasn't familiar with stood just inside the door with a mug of coffee in his hands. He looked to be in charge of the security detail. She nodded to the captains before letting her gaze rove over the few other people in the room.

Her own squad was standing together behind the last row of cushions. She gave them a quick once over, and was more than glad her own squad was in top form while under the head ANBU captain's close scrutiny. Her team leaders had almost as much experience as she did herself, and their discipline and attention to detail showed. The only remaining people in the room were the Hokage and two special jounin. Tsunade-sama appeared to be even more worn than the other people in the room, although she looked a far sight better than Iruka-sensei had. She heard an almost audible click in her mind as the puzzling thought finally fell into place. Iruka was obviously involved in the care of the copy-nin, but she had been unaware that he had any serious medical training. Now she realized he was being allowed to care for Kakashi-sempai because they were a couple. It explained the resentful looks the chuunin-sensei had leveled at the Hokage, and the unusual restraint she had shown towards his otherwise unpardonable behavior. He was nowhere in sight, so she surmised he was caring for his lover while Tsunade-sama attended the briefing.

She glanced at the two tokujous. Ah. Namiashi-san and Shiranui-san. She had worked with them several times before, although never with both at the same time. Good men, although Shiranui could be a bit of a prankster and would nail anything with a hole and a heartbeat. Hmm… the heartbeat was even optional if she remembered a certain story correctly. She walked over to them, nodding, smiling through her greeting, "Raidou, Treeboy." She was instantly rewarded by a strangled gasp and a startling shade of pink staining cheeks half covered by honey-colored hair. Bullseye… my source must be even more reliable than I realized.

She saw Raidou frown slightly, looking from his husband to the young captain and back again. He mouthed the word "treeboy" questioningly and was answered with a "Later," half mumbled around a senbon.

"So, who did Shiranui piss off this time to get you two stuck on this detail?" she asked, as Genma's muttering quieted.

Raidou laughed at the indignant glare his lover sent her way. "I always enjoyed working with you before, Yahagi, but this time promises to be so much better," Raidou teasingly eyed his partner as he commented, provoking a giggle from her and another glare from Genma. "Actually, we were involved in tracking Kakashi. We had the rather unique luck of running into both Kakashi and Iruka as we came back from patrol. What about you? Get caught yawning during one of Ibiki's lectures… err I mean personnel development briefings again?"

Genma couldn't help glaring yet again as he touched the tip of his still slightly sore tongue.

Yahagi laughed before pointing to the dull silver leaf symbol pinned to the collar of the white tunic. "Doing my new job, Raidou. I got promoted a few months back. Recovery Squad."

Genma stopped muttering long enough to let out a low whistle. "Is the pay enough to make up for a job like that?"

She let out a snort. "It's never enough in any ANBU position. The retirement supplement will be good, but hell, how many of us last long enough to cash in on it?"

The tokujous nodded, very familiar with the sentiment.

"So I guess that means you had to trade your bow in for a captain's katana?" asked Raidou.

She nodded mournfully. "I barely have enough time to practice more than a few times a week now. The only thing worse than that is all the paperwork."

They commiserated for a moment until the sound of shuffling feet and muttering as people shifted positions alerted them to the imminent start of the briefing. "I'll catch up with you guys later. See ya later, Raidou, Treeboy," she winked before joining her squad.

At the last moment, she saw a wrinkled looking old man with a stern, disapproving mouth enter the room and quietly sit off to one side, making no attempt to communicate with anyone in the room. He just sat there, silently taking everything in and Yahagi shivered a bit at the dark, judgmental stare.

Thirty minutes later, she was ready to volunteer for a solo mission to bring back Orochimaru. Fifteen minutes after that, she was ready to go missing-nin herself. This information is important, but why do these briefings have to be so damn long and boring? And why does Ibiki feel the need to cover the same damned information over and over? She felt herself drifting slightly, her thoughts floating and unfocused.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Floating. He drifted slowly in the dark netherworld that was his fevered mind. He dimly sensed the return of that warm safe presence, but could not seem to be able to gather up the strength to care. He found himself carried along by the currents of the fever, moving where it flowed, further and further away from that one bright pinpoint of happiness. He was just too tired.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Tsunade was tired. Not the pleasantly familiar aching-muscled tired of a particularly good sparring session, but the bone-deep weary exhaustion of a month-long solo mission to Sound. She allowed herself to drift, one corner of her mind listening to the security team captain's monotonous droning. Another part of her mind ran through thousands of different scenarios in her mind, prioritizing their likelihood of occurrence and threat level from their repercussions.

She was almost more worried about the council's reactions than Kakashi's condition. The safest thing in all situations would be for Kakashi to return to full health as soon as possible. The first priority was to get his fever under control so they could assess his mental state. It was actually possible that some of his irregularities were due to the fever-induced delirium, and not from any real break with reality, but they wouldn't be able to tell until the fever broke or otherwise was brought under control. Likewise, if there was a break with reality, they couldn't begin to treat it until normal unfevered consciousness returned.

She indulged the small wish that he would wake up soon, all his faculties about him, and they could tell the council it had all been some giant mistake, some temporarily delusional state, but she knew the likelihood of that happening was about the same as Orochimaru returning to the village, begging forgiveness. She could only realistically hope the fever came under control relatively quickly and his full mental capabilities returned soon thereafter.

Breaking was treated as a normal occurrence in a shinobi village, a fact of everyday life. They did so many things, saw so many things their minds couldn't or didn't want to deal with at the time. As long as any violence or destruction was kept to a minimum or carried out in a safe place, as long as the shinobi had no intent to hurt themselves or others, as long as the threat was relatively under control, breaks were pretty much ignored as an inconvenient but inevitable eventual occurrence, rather like the flu.

By a certain point in their careers, most shinobi even learned to recognize some of the early warning signs and made sure they were in a safe environment or situation when the break actually occurred. Then there were the sudden, unexpected, uncontrolled breaks. While understood, they were taken a bit more seriously, as the threat to the shinobi and anyone around him was so much greater. An uncontrolled break usually called for a mandatory period of downtime until the risk was again deemed negligible.

She heard the security captain ramble on about patrol patterns and once more went over in her mind what information she was willing to and what she was obligated to share. That Kakashi had a high fever and broken ribs was obvious, so no use denying that. The seriousness of the fever and any potential complications could be glossed over or presented as remote possibilities. Likewise, she could present his earlier irrational behavior as panic brought about by the early stages of fever-induced delirium. Hopefully no one would comment on the fact that the fever was most likely due to the broken ribs and exposure to the elements and thus not present when he initially turned irrational.

She decided to shift discussion of what to do if this was not a temporary situation to a further time. She wanted to go over it with people whose input she trusted and relied on before hashing details out in front of a council member, especially if the outcome was still in doubt. Kakashi had pulled off miraculous recoveries before, and she didn't want the stress of this particular discussion if he might surprise her and render it all a moot point.

Another thread of consciousness returned to memories of a similar situation, with a miraculous recovery nigh on twenty years ago. Kakashi, eight years old and newly orphaned, supposedly resting thin and pale under a mound of heavy blankets, mind and body frantically fighting the drugs carrying him towards healing sleep, his young sensei Minato hovering worriedly at his side, very like Iruka in his single-minded devotion to the last Hatake experiencing his first break at such a young age. It had been the first break of many over the years; he seemed to do everything years before his comrades. Not for the first or last time she wished the boy had grown up a bit more slowly, a bit more normally. His beloved Namikaze-sensei brought him back from the brink that time, maybe Iruka could effect similar results.

She remembered young Kakashi's frustration at the lack of missions and any serious training immediately after his father's ritual suicide, and wondered how much worse it would be for the man now, if the council deemed this break uncontrolled.

It sounded like the security captain was finally ending his report. She wished she had paid closer attention to how he had managed to speak so long without saying anything of any real value or importance. Maybe she should speak with Ibiki about getting him switched over to negotiation work where his true skill could be put to useful applications. If she only had five more minutes to watch him, she could employ some of his techniques so she could continue to keep the council member as much in the dark as possible.

It seemed fitting, since he looked rather like he had crawled out from some dark, unsavory place. She took a deep breath, worrying about council relations now before reporting before one of them could not help the situation. It was bad enough facing them so tired. Still, she wished something would save her from this dreaded briefing.

"Tsunade-sama!" She heard a panicked voice in the hall. Her head came up sharply when she recognized it as Iruka. He was probably overreacting to some minor progression in the course of the fever, but she listened carefully, anyway. Even simple things had a way of becoming complicated quickly anytime the brat was involved. The chuunin called again, "Tsunade-sama, please, I think he needs help." Odd. It almost sounded like he was calling from the doorway of the other room. He really must be worried. Too bad I can't cancel the meeting without making his condition seem more severe.

She heard a loud cry that was most definitely not Iruka's, followed by an "Oh shit!" and the sound of running footsteps.

At that she jumped up and raced to the room herself. That loud cry wasnot a good sign. She entered the room to find her fear justified. Kakashi was on the futon with the covers thrown haphazardly, body stiff. Even as she approached his muscles began jerking wildly and deep breaths quickened. She quickly reached him and turned him onto his side, making sure his head was turned as well. She folded one of the blankets and placed it behind him to keep him in place. She saw the sweat standing out on his body and the blood tinged saliva trickling from one corner of his mouth.

"Stand back!" she ordered as Iruka reached out to him.

Iruka raised his expressive chestnut eyes to her, pleading.

She held fast but allowed her voice to soften. "Stay where you are, Iruka. Yes, it's a seizure, but it's not unheard of with high fevers, especially in a weakened state like his. As scary as it looks it will stop shortly." She pushed all other concerns to the back of her consciousness and concentrated solely on the man in front of her. The deep rapid breaths became labored and the pale skin slowly turned bluish-gray. She sensed several presences watching behind her from the hallway but ignored them all.

"Tsunade-sama! I have important… oh!" Shizune made her way through the small crowd to Tsunade's side. Her eyes met the Hokage's in a long speaking glance. Shizune nodded and began herding the visitors away, allowing only Iruka to stay.

As quickly as they started, the convulsions stopped. Although they had seemed to Iruka to last forever, in reality only three minutes had elapsed since he called Tsunade's name. As soon as the trembling ceased, Shizune rolled Kakashi onto his back, swiping his mouth with two fingers before tilting his head back. Iruka had been relieved at the cessation of movement until the significance of Shizune's movements registered with him. He could only watch numbly as the healer breathed for the helpless shinobi beside him.

Tsunade tapped Shizune on the shoulder and Shizune looked up. Color was returning slowly to Kakashi's skin, and he took a slow, shuddering breath. They shared a quick smile before erupting in a frenzy of activity. Tsunade began a thorough examination of the jounin while Shizune left the room, obviously in search of something.

Iruka watched silently, unable and unwilling to stop the tears that overflowed, blurring his vision. His hand blindly sought Kakashi's and he gasped at the overwhelming heat in the almost non-existent grip.

"Iruka, I need your help. Uh Kakashi's a bit sweaty from this fever and we need to keep him dry, could you go get fresh bedding and another set of clothing? I'll stay with him and strip these clammy sheets. Just get the supplies and come back. Don't answer any questions, and if that bastard from the council bothers you, remind him my office as a medic supersedes all other considerations and you are acting on my orders.

Iruka nodded and slipped from the room as well.

Tsunade gathered the blankets and sheets from the futon before quickly stripping the soiled clothing from the still unconscious shinobi. She used one of the wet strips of fabric to quickly wipe him down, erasing all evidence of the seizure's effects from the fevered body. She searched the trunk at the foot of the futon for one clean blanket to cover him with, finding only a small blanket.

Her eyes teared up at the sight. She had given the small lightweight field blanket to the son of her comrade on his graduation from the academy. She and Jiraiya had teamed up to outfit the five-year-old genin with equipment suited to his small size. The finest senbon, shuriken, and kunai had been scaled down to fit the small hands. Blankets, packs, and field gear were made to custom specifications, lightweight and fit to the small body. She smiled at the memory, once more thinking of her teammate Jiraiya and wishing he were here.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Heat and cold warred for control of his tired body, jarring him from the dark place he drifted. Warm comforting presences surrounded him, buffering him from the pain. His last conscious though was of Ji Ji, Tsunade-obasan, and Umino-san. Then everything gradually faded as his breathing became labored and what small bit of consciousness remained drained away

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Jiraiya drew near the small house nestled in the woods, stopping first in the garden to pay his respects to his dear friends. He placed a single dried rose before the small shrine under the bare maple trees and whispered a fond prayer before approaching a weathered blade anchored in the very rock of the garden. He stood before it silently, head bowed, searching for some sign of the man who had once been as a brother to him. Finally he drew out a small bottle and two tiny cups from his pockets. He poured two cups of sake and set one next to the rusty sword before downing his own. It's been awhile, old friend. I've missed you more than you probably ever realized I would. I know it was more than I ever thought I would.

I hope you can see him now. You would be so proud. I wish I had done more for him when he was growing up. I promise I'll never leave him alone again like I did after Minato died. That was unpardonable. I'm sorry. I have another student now. Minato's son. The brat taught him first. Did a remarkable job with a kid everyone else wrote off as a nobody. Turned him from a clueless stubborn troublemaker to a shinobi with real promise. Umino Sunameri's son Iruka was his academy sensei. Together they've helped mold the next generation, Sakumo. Can't ask for any better legacy than that. Just remember that. You taught Kakashi what he needed before you left, and he's passed it on. A part of that will never leave this village, friend. I'll stop by a little more often, now, after all, I'm sure it won't be long before my time comes to join you. Farewell, my friend.

After one final glance at the katana, Jiraiya walked down a rocky path to the small dwelling. The scent of pine, woodsmoke, and snow reminded him of happier times. There had still been war and enemies, but he had also had so many more friends to share the hardships with then. Tsunade was one of his few remaining comrades, and even they had drifted apart a bit after Sakumo's loss.

He quietly opened the door to the kitchen and walked down the hall. Instinct drew him to Kakashi's old room. He opened the door to the room and slipped inside. Tsunade and Shizune were placing towel-wrapped packs of snow under the copy-nin's arms and on his groin area and sponging down his body with tepid water. Iruka sat off to the side, torn between wanting to be close and trying to stay out of their way. From time to time, Tsunade would monitor Kakashi, the slight glow of her hands above his head tinting their skin a sickly greenish hue. Finally, after almost an hour, the two women sat back, smiling. Tsunade rose to her feet and hesitated a moment. Shizune's cry was Jiraiya's only warning as Tsunade swayed and slumped towards the ground. He rushed forward, catching her, easing her to a seated position, cradled against him.

"Oh, Tsunade-sama, umm, we got so busy with Kakashi I forgot to tell you… Jiraiya arrived."

Tsunade looked up into the familiar, worn face and burst into tears, burrowing her face into the warm shoulder of her dearest friend. "I'm fine, just tired, overwhelmed. Hold me?" She sobbed quietly for a moment before her breathing eased and the soft cries abated. She squeezed the hard shoulders beneath her once before sitting up. "I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me." Pink tinged the healer's face below the direct gaze of her amber eyes. "I'm fine, now. And so, apparently, is Kakashi. The fever's broken."

Iruka looked up, hope suffusing his entire being.

"The fever has broken, Iruka. Physically, he should recover fine, now. We still have to wait and see about his mental state, though, determine the extent of his break, assess any potential damage. Most likely he'll be fine in under a week, if he follows the pattern of his normal breaks. But this hasn't exactly followed his normal pattern. I know how rough it would be on him if the council rules this is an uncontrolled break. I don't want to see that either, and I know from experience he can pull through something like this. I'll keep as much of this as I can from anyone else as long as you can keep him under control and he shows improvement. Is that understood?"

Shizune brought a few light cotton blankets from a pile of fresh bedding in the corner and tucked them around the tired looking jounin.

Iruka nodded, determination joining the hope on his face.

"Now that you know he's going to be fine, go get some dinner. I also recommend a quick soak in the springs. Trust me, you'll thank me in the morning, if you plan on sitting up with him all night tonight. I'll stay here until you get back. Shizune, do you feel up to running damage control with that crowd out there? Namiashi and Shiranui are fine, but reassure and disperse the rest of them ASAP. I suppose Ibiki can stay as well. He'd probably disobey if we ordered him away. Oh, yeah, act properly contrite and conciliatory to the council asshole. Let him know it was just complications of a high fever due to mission-related exhaustion and associated stress blah blah blah. He is now conforming to standard on file break patterns consistent with his history. Tell him I'll give the council a full report tomorrow evening, everything's under control for now. That should keep them off our back until then."

Iruka and Shizune left the room and Jiraiya let his gaze rest on his old teammate. "So does this warm welcome mean you actually missed me?"

Tsunade just smiled, "Welcome back, old man," before shocking the Toad Hermit with a quick kiss on the lips.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Kakashi snuggled beneath the warm blankets a week after his father's funeral. He had vague recollections of nightmares from the night before, but the storm seemed to have died down now, and he felt a bit more normal. He was still sad and upset, a little lost, more than a bit guilty, but he knew he could go on, could make it though one day at a time. After all, he was a shinobi. He had Namikaze-sensei, Ji Ji, Tsunade-obasan, and Ruka-chan to help. Everything would be just fine, now. He thought he recalled a vague memory of Tsunade-obasan and Ji-Ji kissing, but immediately dismissed it. I must have been asleep and dreaming of 'Tou-san and 'Kaa-san. Tsunade-obasan would never let that old pervert anywhere near her. He rolled over and decided to enjoy the warm covers just a bit longer. This morning he felt like relaxing and sleeping a little while longer

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