The Shepherd's Dog
Author: remthedogsitter
Rating: M
Summary: It's been five years since Iruka left the village on an important mission and Kakashi has been searching for him ever since. Kakashi's journey leads him deep into iron country where he is later rescued by a shepherd and his eight dogs. Will Kakashi manage to solve the mystery and save Iruka in time?
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or their characters in any shape or form
Chapter 5: Breaking at the Seams
"… we're just two lost souls swimming in fish bowl year after year"
wish you were here, pink Floyd
The foliage crunched with each step they took up the mountain path. Each sound echoed in his head twice over as a headache was starting to form. Kakashi began rubbing at his temple, falling a bit behind from the shepherd who walked the path with a familiarity as he easily found his footing that he himself was prone to slip on once in a while.
After a few minutes Kakashi started thinking about the staff in his hands again, the intricacies that he traces every night before bed and some part of him swelled with pride that his shepherd made this just for him. They were carvings of the world as his shepherd had put it, his, no their world at least. He smiled despite the headache and picked up the pace to keep up.
There was still a few hours before sunset when they heard the howl of wolves. Not a whole pack, just one or two judging by the tone, Iruka had told him in passing before that this part of the mountain was sacred and no blood may be spilled here unless the gods themselves spilled it and for wolves only their pack leaders were allowed. This is the place where the wolf god and a human met after all and where she bore the first men.
/
"Can you accept you've already died uncle? You're just a spirit now and my sister is blocking your way from joining the ancestors in the mountain." There was no malice in his voice, just a wistfulness.
"You lie." Hr growled, white and grey fur bristling and claws digging into the damp earth.
"What happened when the snake man came uncle?" his gaze was distant, towards the direction of the shrine in the mountain. His parents were there, Navaho and Ixkin, consulting with the gods most likely or they went on a pilgrimage around the land and left his uncle in charge.
Adal roared and lunged at his throat. The size difference was obvious, Shinjiru towered over him and with a swipe of his paw the attack was stopped.
"I'm sorry for what happened that day, that I never got to meet you and run with you." He turned to leave but the other with a hurt pride lunged again.
Shinjiru snapped back, leaving a gash in Adal's side with his fangs. "I'm leaving."
Adal watched him, crouched low in a defensive position, fangs still bared and blood was spreading on the thin blanket of snow. He stayed like that until Tala found him.
/
Iruka stopped, the shrine was already close by but perched up on a stone ahead were two wolves, one a little dog like and merle colored and the other a large crimson male.
"Navaho, Ixkin." Iruka tilted his head in acknowledgement and the two did the same. Kakashi did the same, he had heard those names somewhere before but he couldn't remember where. After a few moments the shepherd and the wolves looking each other over, the wolves moved on.
Iruka's concentration faltered and he almost lost his step, he felt the beginning migraine starting the closer the came to opening of the shrine. Getting to the top he paused, breathing slowly before he began guiding Kakashi with his words. There were motions he had to learn if he was going to be a shepherd.
Two statues sat at the opening of the cave, a wolf and another god deity. The natural crevices in the walls became shelves for the sheep heads already in various stages of decomposition but the temperature was low enough to preserve them to a degree. Animals from the woods traveled up this mountain to pass on, somewhere beyond the cave outside was a bone yard and somewhere was also the graveyard for wolves.
Iruka blinked into the darkness, his eyes felt warm. The temperature was dropping, the night was coming. The shepherd leaned back against the wall and sunk to the ground he just felt so warm and his grip tightened around his staff. Where am I?
Kakashi had only meant to check what was wrong with his sempai, their faces an arm's length away from each other as he crouched down next to the man. To his surprise Iruka turned and kissed him, arm curled around the back of his neck to keep him in place. How much time do i have this time?
"Fuck Kakashi please tell me you're real." Iruka had tears running down his face. The sky began to rumble. "Damn it. Run." This happened only a few times before but he knew he wouldn't be able to stand, the illusion was almost perfect if not for the few places that it would falter every once in a while where it was weak at the seams. Iruka had experienced this first hand one time or another but only for a few minutes with a mind splitting headache.
Kakashi wide eyed stared at him, one of his eyes were slowly turning the familiar red of the sharingan. Iruka could see he was remembering but not fast enough. With the strength he could muster he pushed him away just as the thunder illuminated the darkening sky. "She wants me. RUN. I'll be safe trust me."
The white haired man stumbled, a hand over his eye that was beginning to burn. There was the howl of wolves again that Kakashi had only heard once before, it was a hunting cry. The last time had been against a rival pack, they were wiped out in a single night. Kakashi swore under his breath looking at Iruka one last time who was still pleading for him to run, reluctantly he did after hearing the howls coming closer.
Seeing Kakashi disappear into the woods heading south Iruka curled up around himself, mentally kicking himself for being unable to fight back against the illusion. She was mad as the vision around him was collapsing into itself and expanding again as she was redoing the illusion from the weak tear they were in. Ever so slowly Iruka felt a slimy coldness creeping into his mind as hard as he fought it his world still went dark again.
The sharingan was on overdrive sensing chakra all around him draped over everything like dust, everything was pulsing with energy but even stronger were the dense balls of chakra chasing after him. He had seen this wolf pack before, ate at their table and seen their pups and he's seen them fight and tear something apart. His mind felt heavy as he tried to remember, he had stumbled a few times down the path. Were the wolves really after him? His face was full of scratches from branches and his skin felt numb since he lost his coat to a tree somewhere far back. He gripped his staff tightly trying to make sense of everything when suddenly he was flipped into the air before he landed on something furry.
"Hold on tightly." Shinjiru cautioned as he clawed his way up a pine tree and took to the canopy instead where the wolf pack wouldn't be able to reach them.
A/N: a few revisions here :D