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 8: Red Moon
Recap: Five years after Iruka leaves Konoha on a mission to contain the situation of the missing experiments, Kakashi follows after determined to bring his fiancé back home. He stumbles into the illusion world the last experiment Iruka was supposed to contain and in effect together with Shinjiru form a plan to find a way to break the illusion. Shinjiru takes his memories temporarily and Kakashi becomes part of the illusion world up until their chance appears when both he and Iruka at the same time are caught in a tear in the illusion and temporarily they remember everything about their true lives. Disoriented, Kakashi is forced to flee without Iruka again and Shinjiru brings him to a safe place encouraging him that the experiment or his 'sister' is failing and becoming desperate to hold the illusionary world for much longer. She becomes desperate enough to change the illusion so dramatically that it allows Shinjiru to give Kakashi back his memories because the experiment labels Kakashi now as the enemy of her world of wolves and shepherds in the form of a hunter.
Kakashi stroked the barrel of the shot gun in his hand, he was visibly thinner and his hair was coarser not just because of the weather. There were already inconsistencies in the world they were in like the nights getting longer or the unexplained balloons in the sky and it was only a matter of time before either he or Shinjiru could just push the experiment out into the open.
He walked up the path from the village, now dead silent and he felt like a ghost walking through the streets of freshly fallen snow. He had come in the night, if not for the gun, it felt like a memory of a mindless machine sent out to kill, which at one point he probably was. Flawless. Perfect. A cold killer. Quietly he had opened every door to every house starting with the first one at near the entrance to the village. There was a wife, husband and child. He had killed the parents first but the child had unfortunately woken up, the look of shock and fear frozen on the decapitated head. He did not spare animals either, just to be sure. There were three infants all in all, even one being suckled by the unsuspecting mother. Despite what Shinjiru said about that village in the real world being abandoned it did not change the screams that he had heard that night as he was splattered with blood, this time there was no ANBU mask to hold on to to encourage him of the division of monster and man. There was only himself. Kakashi.
He steeled himself as he traveled deeper into the woods.
He watched Iruka from a distance, from up in the branches of trees, the corpses of wolves saddened the man but other than that he couldn't draw a reaction helpful to his cause. The phases of the moon were inconsistent as well, the full moon instead of being three weeks away was only few days away from completion. He wondered about the risks of the plan now, does dying in this world mean they'd be dead in the real world?
He cuddled the black pup close to his chest, Kaimu's breath was coming sporadically and the thermometer told him the fever was getting out of hand. He slipped the pup into his vest and put on his raincoat and before leaving through the window made sure the other pups would be sleeping peacefully with Iruka for at least another few hours before running out into the rain. The curtain of rain was so thick he could barely see past arm's length in the dark. Finally he reached his destination, tapping urgently on the window Tsunade let him enter.
"Brat you better have a good reason for waking me up at 3am." She said crankily and brushing off the alerted ANBU.
He wasted no time and present the pup to her, Kaimu was wiggling uncomfortably but otherwise he was dry. Kakashi on the other hand was soaked in a lot of places where the wind blew rain into his coat.
Tsunade took the pup from him. "He has pneumonia."
"Can you help him?"
Her hands began to glow with chakra and almost immediately the pup stopped wriggling and seemed to relax. Kakashi breathed a sigh of relief. "You on other hand get dry before you catch something worse." She threw a towel in his direction.
"Thank you." He began drying the worse spots and his hair, only noticing then that he had made a really big puddle.
The next day however he was stuck in bed with a recovering puppy while Iruka gave him an earful about running around at night in the rain.
"For a jounin AND a genius that was a pretty stupid move."
"Yeah." He agreed. "Love does that to a person, you know make even the smartest amongst us stupid… You know, like tending to obviously capable people like a mother hen…" He chuckled when the chunin attempted to smother him with a pillow.
Images of late nights making puppy food, he and Iruka being dependent on caffeine where three hours of sleep was a blessing, dinners and lunches with Naruto and the pups…
The seven dogs that he helped raised were running around in the snow to Iruka's side and prodded him with their noses until he scratched them behind the ears.
He listened to the man breath hotly into the shell of his ear, collapsed on top of him he shared the same pace of breath. Their hearts were slowing down and he felt his cock slip out of his lover's tight entrance. He rolled them over, facing side by side as he brushed the man's hair from his face. They shared a futon on a summer night, the sound of the ninken, one big pack now running outside on a full moon. The pups still had a very wild heart inside their chests and gave something back to their seniors, a song was the best way to put it. They would howl at the moon. There safe in his ancestral home with the door opened to view the field and let the view of the full moon in, there in each other's arms they'd be lulled to sleep.
Flashes of them together, the two moments where the man made him hold his breath and gave him the greatest relief by saying yes (the night on the beach, that moments in his house and the rings)… watching Iruka leave that faithful day.
A tear slid down his sad grey eye as he slowly started counting down from a hundred. All the traps were set.
/
Shinjiru stalked silently through the woods of his ancestors, the woods that if the snake man never came would be his inheritance from his parents. He breathed in the scent of pine and hiding animals and scent that marked the wolf territory and when he exhaled his breath became a swirling cloud. He was going to put souls to rest tonight.
The Sun and Moon of the pack stood on an elevated piece of rock as everyone got to know the newest addition to the family, a pup that looked exactly like his father. He was very much loved, every night sleeping between the warm of both his parents in a well hidden den where his own father was born. He remembered his first hunt, then his first kill an injured caribou buck who had almost killed him with a ram to the side but he was able to counter with a fatal blow to the throat. He had earned his place that moment, when he fed the pack.
Shinjiru brushed the fake memory away, as pleasant as his place in this world where it was so easy to just let go, he owed Iruka more than this.
The large wolf ran towards the direction of the shrine and almost immediately the wolves began their hunting cry. No matter, more than half of them would be caught in all the snares and bear traps that littered the woods. There was the sound of gunshots and more howling, joined by Iruka's pack now.
He skid to a stop, his claws digging into the ground when he reached a clearing that was not there before. Somehow he felt he should know this place. The howls of the wolves were getting closer and there the wolves surrounded him but the pack leaders were still absent. They no longer looked like wolves, a little larger than normal, their eyes only pure white, hackles raised, they bared their white teeth. The pack had been reduced by half but that still left ten not including his parents.
He bared his own teeth and growled, daring them to come at him.
/
Kakashi ran up the path he had planned with Shinjiru, there were only three pups following him now, including Iruka. Up above, it was a clear night absent of clouds and the full moon lighted the forest, aurora lights were there as well violently whipping up in the sky. The experiment was not pleased.
Two distinct snaps were heard, the interval between the two only a few breaths. His eye closed for a few moments, only one pup and Iruka were following him now. He had regained some of shinobi prowess when Shinjiru was able to return some of his memories, he soundless glided through the forest paths steadily ascending up the mountain which now seemed to be higher than normal where every few moment he felt it getting harder and harder to breathe.
With the shrine coming into view another snap was heard.
/
Shinjiru stood in the clearing dumbfound for a few moments, breathing deeply he began running again. His senses were assaulted by the blood and the new image that was burning into his mind. Now it wasn't the work of the snake man or the memories of his mother, despite the illusion what he saw was real to him. By his own fangs and claws he had took apart his pack that had refused to die quietly after being injured but rather until their very hearts could be ripped out of their chests.
He felt Kakashi's presence already nearing their destination, as they wanted the sky began gathering clouds and there was a growl of thunder that rumbled so deep it felt like an earthquake.
/
The large red wolf stood in the clearing of the shrine grounds, eyeing the silver haired hunter who was watching a blind shepherd glare in his general direction. They were joined by two other wolves, his parents that in reality were long dead.
The four figures eyed everyone else, tense and ready for the battle ahead as the sky above them cackled with thunder illuminating the red wolf and the white haired man's forms, covered in blood.
A/N: things ok so far? xD