Chapter 6
Healing.
Maa, this is kind of a sucky chapter in my opinion, mostly due to the fact I had writes block during most of it, though in that aspect, it actually turned out quite well…weird I know.
Anyway, I know next to nothing about physio therapy, so if I got something wrong, that's why. You people already know the warnings (least I hope you do) so I'll stop talking and we can all get on with our lives!
…
"Good, you're doing great, Iruka-san, just one more minute"
Iruka bit back his groan and stayed obediently in the twisted position of pain he'd been in for the past four minutes.
He was trying to be good, no, more like trying to be nice. No complaining, no bitching, no curses – even though the last one was very tempting.
Physio therapists were probably the most harassed workers in the village, even more then the hospital staff because at least they had morphine and other drugs on hand, not to mention the threat of calling Tsunade. Iruka knew this for a fact as he had always stopped to talk to the therapists when they were in the break room, so he had heard more than one of them bitch about their ungrateful, unwilling patients.
Of course everyone understood why the people they worked with weren't always happy. They consisted of ninja with new amputations, nerve damage that was un-repairable or people like him, who had been batted so brutally they needed help getting their body to work like it used to.
Iruka knew he was lucky. Most of the people in this room with him would never be able to go back to their old life's, and as he could count five Jounin – at least two of which were ANBU – that kind of news would be devastating.
So he was being good, biting his tongue every time he was about to snap, doing as he was told and making jokes when it started to hurt. Trying to give the girl a break from what was the usual attitude also helped distract him from the pain in his hip and leg as they were bent or twisted in ways that were designed to help, but at the moment were just plain painful.
He could hear the moans, curses and insults from the other nin from where he was and made a mental note to start baking these guys cookies every week for what they put up with for the village.
His therapist, Mai, was a very nice girl of twenty-two. It was her second year on the job, which she had worked toward because he father had lost both his legs when she was ten and had made a full turn around thanks to his own therapist.
She was a couple inches shorter than him had bright blue eyes and light brown hair styled in a pixi cut. She was very patience and had a wonderful sense of humor.
"Alright, that's good; you can sit up, slowly"
Iruka sighed in relief as he straightened his back and legs. May giggled besides him.
"Ya, it's a wicked position but it works. You doing much better though, I can tell you've been doing the exercises I assigned you"
Iruka smiled as he pulled himself up off the floor "In the mornings, yes"
She nodded "You can tell, at this rate should be under a month and we can let you go! Well, that should be it for today, I just saw my ten O'clock come in, so I better set up for her. See you on Wednesday Iruka-san"
Smiling Iruka gave the girl a nod before walking toward the change room, happy beyond belief that the hour was finally over. It wasn't Mai, if anything she was the only thing that made the whole thing bearable. He'd have to get to know her better – outside if the physio.
A quick shower and a comfy set of jeans and a grey, hooded long sleeve later saw Iruka strolling from the change room, humming softly as he collapsed in one of the big comfy over-stuffed armchairs in the office lobby. He had to wait for Ibiki to pick him up or the big man would throw a fit and harass the staff when he came in and couldn't find him.
He sent the girl working the counter a smile before turning his attention to the big glass windows that gave view into the workroom as well as let in light. He could see Mai's next patient, a black haired Jounin of about 30, was a double amputee, with one hand and good deal of her left leg gone. Iruka fought back a wince, knowing very well that it told of a wire trap.
Mai was trying to get her to work on the tread mill. Try being the key word as the Jounin seemed to want nothing to do with it if the set in her jaw was anything to go off of, though Iruka could also see the woman's eyes tightening at the corners. A definite sign the poor woman was fighting tears.
He couldn't take it. Jumping up Iruka made his way back into the workroom, ignoring the worried calls of the receptionist, as he walked over to Mai and the Jounin. Who by now were exchanging heated whispered words, the name 'bitch' leaving the Jounin's mouth more than once.
Upon his approach however both woman quieted as Mai looked up and spotted him, a mix of worry and relief on her face. Jounin regarded him with curiosity, though her eyes softened when they saw his uncovered hands and missing ear, clearly shown by the braid he had his hair in. He knew everything about his appearance screamed torture victim and that it would put him closer to the same level as her.
"Iruka-san" Mai almost bounced over "Is something wrong?"
Iruka smiled, shaking his head "No, I just came back in to see if I left my water here"
Mai looked confused, knowing full well Iruka hadn't brought a water bottle with him, then her gaze softened as she realized why he'd come back in.
"Ah, I'm not sure; I just cleaned up our area so if you did I might have put it in the back. Give me a minute, I'll go check"
She smiled at him as she slipped away, leaving the two nin alone.
The Jounin glanced at him out of the corner of her eye as she collapsed down on a bench, remaining hand reaching down to rub her thigh. "Iruka? The Sensei?"
Iruka glanced over startled, not expecting her to strike up the conversation, before he nodded and leaned down replacing her hand with his own. Helping her relive the tension in her leg "And you? Your familiar but I can't place a name, which means your reports were clean and I didn't have to yell at you"
She snorted "Loka, Shima Loka"
Special Jounin in long bow and defence tactics.
"You went missing a few weeks ago right? With Morino?"
Iruka nodded slowly, not sure how much had been shared with the ninja community, as she snorted humorously again.
"Guess that explains it, the gossip line was you got handed over? Turncoats or something?"
He nodded again.
"I'd say you got off easy"
He knew the flippant remark was deigned to piss him off, she wanted to fight, but he wasn't going to let her. She had to heal and this wasn't going to help.
"I know I did"
That shook her, just as he hoped, she'd expected him to fight back. All ninja knew two weeks in any T&I – let alone Stone's – was nothing to scorn, there was nothing 'easy' about it and she knew there'd be a ton more damage that could not be seen by the naked eye.
He stood, turning away slightly while she bit her lip, looking mildly shamed at her comment now but not knowing how to take it back.
"Mai-chan's great though"
She jumped, glancing back up before following his gaze toward the back room where Mai had disappeared – and where Iruka knew she was waiting for his signal to come back in.
"Who? That girl?"
Iruka smiled "Ya, she's really helped. They had to reform the bones and muscles in my hip, leg and shoulder; they'd probably be paralyzed now without her. Her father's Tomaci, did you know? That's why she works here"
"Lorci Tomaci? The general who lost both legs?"
Iruka nodded," He's come in a few times, great guy. A lot of him in his daughter"
He let the silence stretch just enough to make her shift uncomfortably, like a kid who'd been caught kicking the dog cause they'd had a bad day, before turning back to her and glancing over at the hated tread mill.
"You're doing muscle work then? That's a big step"
Loka looked startled for a moment then her face dropped into a glare "I don't see the point, it's not like it will do me any good"
"Why do you say that?"
Her expression clearly stated she thought it would be obvious "I'm never going to be a ninja again"
"Really? You sure about that?"
"How the fuck am I supposed to fight like this?"
He dropped down on the bench next to her, sighing as he took the stumped wrist of her right arm in his hold "Which is your dominate side?"
She glared at him but didn't pull away – a good sign "My right was"
"Your right is. You're not useless and you can still shoot a bow, the only thing getting in the way is that attitude of yours"
Loka startled back, the look in her eye showing she didn't know if she should believe him "Don't mock me!"
The brown eyes narrowed "I'm not. They make specialized bows, you can get a hook extension for your arm, one that can clip onto the bow string and release it quickly; I've seen them. One of my co-workers lost his hand five years ago, and he still teaches weapon training. He's also a swords man, he had one of the smiths make him one that could be strapped to his arm; he's still Jounin level in a fight and still goes on missions"
She was visibly shaken by that and Iruka had to fight his grin of triumph when he spotted the glimmer of hope in her eyes. It quickly disappeared however, which he expected. She spent too much time being told by herself and her friends that she was doomed.
"That's wonderful for him, but my leg-"
"Is a small road block, which is why they assigned you to Mai, she helped her father recover when she was ten and he lost both legs. And think about this, there are double amputee civilians who still compete in track and other sports. If they can manage that, surely a Kounichi, especially one with medals for tactical genius, can manage to learn how to run with one real leg"
She gaped at him, stunned into silence. She was trying to find a good argument, he could tell, but he could also see that she was wondering herself just why she was fighting in the first place.
Smiling softly Iruka reached out and took hold of her other hand, making sure she was looking at him before continuing.
"I'm going to guess that you've been told by friends and family both you'll never be what you used to be. That they pity you and treat you like a glass figure, broken and about to shatter at one wrong move?"
Anger and helplessness filled her eyes even before she started to nod. Iruka took in a deep breath, hoping with every inch of his being that his next words would work.
"Prove them wrong"
She flinched as if struck, but wonder slowly began to replace the bitter emotions and his smile grew grim.
"Stand up, heal. Remind everyone that you still are Shima Loka, you were strong then and your still strong now" he leant forward into the woman's space "Prove them wrong"
Pulling back and releasing her hand Iruka stood, smiling when he saw Mai emerge from the back room. Loka had yet to move from the bench but he could see the determined light dancing in her eyes – she would be ok. He'd done the reality check, now Mai could do her job and began the healing. Both the physical and mental.
Mai smiled when she approached, a happy look in her own eyes as she noticed the change in her patients posture, then she shrugged and shook her head, reminding Iruka of she made up reason she'd left "Sorry, Iruka-san, I couldn't find anythin- "a confused look crossed her pretty face as her gaze slid past him and Loka, toward the window connecting the workroom and the waiting area "Why are Kakashi-sama and Mornio-sama here?"
The usually soft voice seemed to say the words louder than necessary, or maybe it was just the strange nature of the words that made every person in the room – both ninja and worker – stop what they were doing and look over at the window.
Iruka cursed under his breath as he too turned, only to find that Mai was correct. Ibiki and Kakashi were indeed in the waiting room and, by the looks of it, traumatizing the poor girl working the counter without even trying. If the terrified, rather pale look on her face was anything to go off of.
"Oh great" Iruka rolled his eyes before turning back to the two woman who both switched their gazes to him at his whispered words "Don't worry bout it, Mai-chan, their probably looking for me, I'll deal with them. Anyway, I'll see you on Wednesday?"
She nodded numbly as his words slowly sunk in – looks like he'd be the gossip of the break room, again.
Resisting the urge to roll his eyes again he turned and bowed to Loka "Good luck, Loka-san, I hope to see you again sometime"
The smile she sent him was firm and thankful as the Jounin stood back up, balancing out her weight between her real leg and the light metal attachment "Of course you will, Iruka-sensei, next Monday at ten o'clock"
Grinning Iruka nodded, bowing once more to both woman before hurrying from the workroom and back to the reception.
"Shouldn't you be working Morino?"
Iruka rolled his eyes as he dashed from the change room in time to hear Kakashi's bored comment, knowing it was meant to piss the big man off.
"I could ask you the same thing Hatake"
"Maa, Tsunade decided to reward me for the double time I've been pulling and gave me the week off"
There was a mocking tone in the copy nin's voice, clearly underlining the fact everyone knew Ibiki didn't go on missions very often. As head of T&I he was too important but Kakashi could still use it as a dig.
Rounding the final corner Iruka re-entered the waiting room, only to slam into what could have been a solid wall of killer intent. The dark chakra filled the room, enough to make Iruka want to knell over and pass out and by the looks of it, that's exactly what the poor woman behind the desk had done.
The two Jounin didn't even notice when he stepped into the room, they were so intent on glaring at each other. It made Iruka very glad 'death by glare' wasn't a real jutsu, because the both of them would have been ten feet under and pushing up daisies by now.
Iruka glanced over at the receptionist, passed out over her desk, then over at the window where the workers and nin alike had stopped all activity and were looking around nervously as the killing aura's leaked into the work room before he gazed back at the Jounin. He felt his eye brow twitch.
Ok, this has to stop, and it has to stop now.
"Will you two CUT IT OUT!"
Ibiki and Kakashi both jumped at Iruka's yell as the injured man stormed up to them.
"Maybe you didn't notice but you've just put a room full of injured Jounin into panic mood and traumatize the receptionist into fainting! Now, will you stop clawing at each other before I have to report you to Tsunade?"
Iruka huffed as he turned his back on the other two men and walked over to the chair he'd been occupying earlier to snag his bag from the floor.
"Iruka"
His name was spoken softly as a large scarred hand came around to touch his shoulder gently before trying to take the bag from him. Anger boiled up and Iruka roughly shoved Ibiki away.
"Leave it Ibiki! I'm perfectly capable of carrying my own bag!"
Not looking at either man Iruka stalked over to the desk and slipped in behind it, reaching out to gently shake the woman passed out there awake "Miss?" the lady started up, glancing around blurrily for a moment before looking over at him and giving him an out of focus smile.
"Oh, hello, came I hel-"
Her gaze shifted and settled on the two Jounin still standing in the middle of the waiting room. The colour drained from her face with alarming speed and she pitched forward over her desk again, sliding all the way from her chair this time and onto the floor in a crumpled heap.
Iruka stared at her a moment before sighing and pulling her into a more stretched out position that wouldn't cramp her legs then walked from the office, leaving the shocked Ibiki and Kakashi to catch up.
Iruka gave them no such opportunity however as he ducked out through the back and skirted off down a side alley, taking the back roads of Konha – which he had learnt during his younger years as ways of escape from ANBU and Jounin sent to drag him back to the orphanage - to get home. Knowing that neither man would be able to find him until they gave up and went to his house.
The wood door rattled in it frame when Iruka slammed it closed with far more force than necessary. Still mentally fuming he stormed through his apartment, throwing the work bag somewhere before he moved to the kitchen and began violently making tea.
Biting back a growl Iruka ripped the seal from around the tea bag and hurled the packet into the cup, then sighed and sagged over the counter. Maybe he was overacting but he just couldn't get it, why did they hate each other so much? What had happened between them that was so terrible that they couldn't be in a room together without traumatizing everyone in it? The fact they hadn't even noticed was even more worrying and in that moment Iruka saw his perfect little plan crumbling before his eyes.
He sighed again, it had been far-fetched form the start, and he'd known that. But the two Jounin really were extremely similar in many aspects, so much that he knew they could be good friends. The years with Kakashi and the weeks with Ibiki had shown him they had similar tastes in humor, music, books, even political views,
Yet still everything was a competition, it was almost like they didn't just not want to get along, but they simply couldn't.
And then there was how they were still treating him. Ibiki like he couldn't do anything and would break if moved wrong while Kakashi was trying to pretend anything was the same between them, like their little falling out had never happened. Iruka knew it was partly his fault, he'd been letting them and the only excuses he had were at the start he had needed the extra help and he didn't want to talk about the break up any more than Kakashi.
He knew he'd have to put his foot down more from now on but – did it even matter if they couldn't get along?
No. the answer was depressingly simple, no.
And if they couldn't get over whatever their road block was – well, they would want Iruka to cut one of them out and even in the sense of just friends, he couldn't do that.
Iruka huffed again. Why did it have to be so complicated? He should have just stuck being the third wheel with Izumo and Ko. They had no psychotic issues (well, they had a few but those were mostly his fault so it was fine)
He turned a flicked off the kettle before it finished boiling, no longer feeling like having tea. What he really needed was a drink, but it would mess with his meds and he wasn't that desperate or stupid. The movement brought his hands into view and the brown eyes narrowed.
Loka's face surfaced in his mind and Iruka found himself subconsciously moving toward the bedroom. Stripping away his clothes as he walked and dropping them on the floor, leaving a trail behind him as he reached the bathroom and flicked the light on.
He stared at the thick blanket that hung over the big bathroom mirror for a moment before he sucked in a steadying breath and ripped the cloth from the wall.
The thick blue blanket fell to the floor with a soft 'thump' the pins following close after with little 'pings' of their own as they hit the tile. Iruka however remained oblivious as he took in the marred state of his body for the first time since getting home.
The missing ear and strange hands were definitely the most eye drawing features, and he'd been right in his guess that he could now rival Ibiki for the scars on his face. The long familiar scar across his nose remained the most prominent but was now kept company by the jagged cut that started middle of his left cheek, continued on passed his jaw and neck until it stopped half way down his chest. Next were the slash scars over his right temple, three long, claw like marks that went from his cheek bone up, to disappear in his hair line.
The rest of his slender body was riddled with white marks, some risen away from the darker skin while others sunk into it, leaving pale little hallows. Injection scars from needles, odd shaped cuts and slashes from different tools spread over pretty much every available surface of his torso, arms and legs. Straight cut lines from knives, deep hallows from wipes and chains, rough puckered marks from burns, the left thigh was littered with cigar burns and he could clearly see the round dips in his skin on his shoulder, hip and leg where the iron rods had been thrust through muscle and bone.
Iruka stared in silence for a moment then smiled. Honestly – it wasn't as bad as he had expected, it was still pretty awful, and there'd definitely be people who would flinch away from it. But he also knew none of his friends would.
He and Ko hadn't been disgusted when Izumo lost his eye, or when Ko had received the oil burn across his face so neither of them would make a fuss over his new scars. It was great having friends who were freaks themselves.
Iruka let himself chuckle at that as he picked the blanket from the floor and folded it neatly. Gathering all the pins from the tile as well so he wouldn't step on them in the near future, before moving to place both back in their proper places.
Just as he started to close the door on the linen closet a loud bang from the door made him jump, just as a clicking sound came from the window and a whistling sound of his traps as they activated.
"Ru-koi? Can we t- I THOUGHT YOU KEYED ME INTO YOUR TRAPS!"
Kakashi panicked shriek signaled that the copy nin had just failed to dodge the wire traps, which would probably having him hanging from the ceiling by now. Iruka sighed and started to move from the bedroom to free the Jounin when a crunching sound had him freezing just before a cold blast of air followed by a yell and a thump came from the hall.
So Ibiki had broken the door down then. You'd think an Interrogator would be smarter than to break into a trap specialist's home.
"YOU'RE BOTH MORONS!"
Iruka hollered the words at the two men he knew were now stuck – one suspended from the ceiling fan and the other stuck in a freezing justu - as he grabbed his jeans from the floor and stormed from his room, flicking his hand toward the door and freeing Ibiki while going to grab the wire cutters to get Kakashi down.
Moving a kitchen bar stool Iruka chambered up on it and began snipping away at the metal strands as Ibiki stumbled into the living room, frost still clinging to his black bandanna. "Impressive" was the only thing the big man seemed to be able to say as he rubbed at his arms, trying to warm them up, a small smirk on the scarred face when he saw Kakashi's predicament.
"That's why people use doors Hatake"
"Shut the fuck up Morino"
Kakashi growled as he swing in a circle, the grey eye clearly annoyed – until he swing around to face the chuunin however. Masked face dangerously close to the toned, scarred, bare torso.
The fact his mouth was level with the younger man's abs while his eye was level with the lower, jean covered part of Iruka's anatomy distracted the copy nin enough that he failed to realize Iruka had cut the last wire holding him up. Until he was plummeting toward the ground – upside down.
He let out a very unmanly yelp as he tried to twist upright in the space of three feet. He sort of managed it, getting half way before hitting the floor, resulting in him landing on his back instead of his head.
"Damn it Kashi, you ok?" hopping down from the stool Iruka hurried over to the Jounin who was trying to draw in air through his winded lungs. A gloved hand waved, trying to reassure the fussing man, despite the fact Kakashi still wasn't breathing right.
"I thought you could land that! You always do"
Heaving himself upright Kakashi sucked in a deep breath, sending a glare at the smug looking Ibiki before he turned back to the younger man "I'm fine Ru-koi, I got distracted. Where's your shirt?"
Iruka felt his face heat up and muttered something neither Jounin could have heard before dashing for the bedroom. Unfortunately there was no door to slam but the walls still hid him from view as he scrambled around in search of his shirt. He knew he'd thrown it somewhere by the bed-
"Good going Hatake"
Iruka paused at the sound of Ibiki's growl, the brown eyes narrowing as he tried to figure out what the Jounin was talking about.
Kakashi, it seemed, was wondering similar thing "What the fuck are you talking about Morino?"
"You know what Hatake. Or is the whole genius thing a cover?"
There was a choking sound, possibly Kakashi inhaling his own spit in shock. Kakashi usually had no issue with the 'idiotic genius' joke, hell he'd made it himself more than once. But apparently he drew the line at Ibiki.
"You fucking-"
Ibiki sighed, like someone tried of having to explain a simple concept to the child for the hundredth time "He's sensitive about his body right now Hatake or did you forget?"
Kakashi gave out a low growl and Iruka sighed, deciding it was time to intervene before things got ugly. Snagging the shirt which had somehow ended up under the bed Iruka stormed back into the living room, marching toward the, once again, glaring Jounin.
"Alright that's enough!"
Both men whipped around, staring in shock at the younger man, standing barefoot and rumpled in the empty doorway. Fire danced in the brown eyes as he glared the two men down with much more venom either of them had managed in the past few days.
"I am sick and tired of this! I don't understand why you two can't be civil to each other for more than five seconds but I'm fed up with the fighting, insults and most of all the killer auras you two don't even seem to be aware of!"
"Iruka we just-" Ibiki moved forward quickly, reaching out a big hand to touch the smaller man's shoulder in a tender action while Kakashi sunk in on himself and backed to the far end of the couch. He knew what it meant when Iruka got this mad.
"LEAVE. IT." Iruka batted the hand away with surprising force, making Ibiki step back "I am NOT a glass doll Ibiki! You of all people should know I'm not going to shatter! I do not want or appreciate being coddled!"
"Iruka I wasn't-"
The burning eyes transferred to the copy nin who had foolishly spoken and drawn the attention to himself "Don't give yourself airs Kakashi. You've been an asshole this whole time, and don't think I didn't notice it was you who started the fights most of the time. I don't know what happened to you guys to make you hate each other, but if you can't be in this house peacefully I don't want either of you here at all"
Stunned silence met his words as he turned his back on the older men, returning to the kitchen and restarting the tea, just to give his hands something to do.
"Iruka we-"
"Ru-koi don-"
"Was I not clear?" he cut their protests off before they could start. Iruka knew himself too well, he would cave if he gave them a chance to talk and then nothing would change. They'd go back to snapping at each other while playing their stupid game of tug-a-war over him. He was sick of it and it had to stop.
"I don't want either of you here at the moment, now get out"
"Iruk-"
"OUT!"
Iruka clenched his eyes shut as he yelled the word, not wanting to see the expressions on Ibiki and Kakashi's faces, knowing he'd crumble if he did. Slowly he heard shuffling, the window sliding shut as Kakashi slid away and the soft click of the door as Ibiki left too.
Biting back on a sob Iruka slid down the kitchen counter. Praying to anyone and anything that would listen that he hadn't just made a horrible mistake.
….
*cowering behind her chair* you guys are going to kill me now, aren't you?
Haha, it gets better I promise! Ibi and Kashi just needed a good wakeup call!
Ok, well that's it for this week, hope you guys liked it. See you next week!