Star Struck

Chapter Three

The wheels of the cart squeaked and squealed, high pitched noises that made anyone within hearing distance wince and quickly cover their ears. They tended to get stuck when the cart was supposed to turn, causing it to stall at corners. Behind the temperamental cart Iruka was fighting to keep his temper in check as he struggled down the hallway. STI was one of the top talent agencies in the whole Country of Fire. You would think that they could spare a few bucks to oil the wheels of a cart! Or better yet, just buy a new one!

It didn't help matters that the cart was loaded so high with boxes of food that he found it almost impossible to keep from running into something…or someone. Finally the doors of the elevator came into sight and all the angry yells were far behind him. Iruka quickly pushed the call button and leaned against the cart to catch his breath. He was glad that he had taken Akimichi-san's advise and slipped the cart out through the back doors of the kitchens. He could only imagine the hassle it would have been to push the damned thing through the crowded cafeteria. He shuddered, Anko would have caught him for sure. He would have been a sitting duck!

The 'ding' of the elevators arrival roused him from his thoughts and he straightened himself as the doors slid open. Grumbling, he twisted and turned, maneuvering the cart inside. He ended up having to lift the back wheels, to keep them from getting stuck, and had to dive to catch several falling lunches.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Iruka and the cart were finally settled inside the elevator. Tazuna had mentioned that someone would be waiting to help him unload on their floor. Feeling extremely grateful Iruka pressed the button for the 21st floor and leaned back against the wall smiling. Smooth sailing from here, hopefully they would have reached a solution about how to finish the shoot and his day could finally resume it's normal routine.

The doors had almost slid all the way shut when a hand forced itself between them and they quickly slid back open. A tall man, with silver blue hair stepped inside and glanced at Iruka with a dazzling smile.

"Iruka-kun! How good to see you. When I hadn't seen you around I'd thought that Hatake asshole had driven you away! It's so nice to find out that I was wrong."

Iruka forced himself to return the smile, reminding himself of his reputation as a polite man. Mizuki had always seemed nice enough. After Iruka had been attacked, Mizuki had been the first face he had seen at his bedside. For some reason he had thought of a snake and had wanted to scream, to crawl away from the concerned looking teen, but he couldn't remember why.

Even now Iruka couldn't remember anything that had occurred on the day of the contest. Upon discovering his amnesia Mizuki had…smiled for a moment, before assuring Iruka that they had become the best of friends during the competition. Iruka had his doubts though. Mizuki's shit-eating grin from that day still haunted his nightmares. A slight cough alerted Iruka that Mizuki was waiting for a response and he laughed nervously, blushing slightly as he unconsciously rubbed at the scar across the bridge of his nose.

"No, no Mizuki-san. Kakashi-san really isn't that bad. He is slightly…difficult sometimes. But he isn't so difficult that I can't handle him."

Mizuki laughed, an innocent enough sound, but as Iruka smiled and chuckled along, he couldn't help but envision himself as a tiny mouse. Smiling and laughing along as the viper strangled and poisoned him. It was a chilling thought and as much as he fought against it, small shivers racked his body.

Mizuki stepped closer, his eyes shining with something Iruka could almost identify, but Mizuki was getting closer and Iruka's brain was flipping out! He reached in close, a hand snapping up to capture Iruka's chin. His grin was a mirror copy of that day in the hospital. Iruka's breath came in short gasps, why? Why was Mizuki do damn terrifying? He wanted to push the other man away, but his arms were frozen. His whole body was frozen with some instinctive terror.

"So you've managed to 'get a handle' on Hatake Kakashi huh? That sounds like so much fun. Would you like to 'get a handle' on me too Iruka-kun?"

Mizuki was pressing in even closer, bringing his lips slowly towards Iruka's. He wanted to scream, to fight. His blood was pounding in his ears, but he was trapped against the cart and paralyzed buy what he couldn't identify as the venom dripped into his veins. "Nee Iruka-kun, you should ditch Hatake and become my manager! I'll treat you right," his smirk increased. "We'll go out sometime, get some sushi."

In that instant, Iruka's heart seemed to stop. For some reason the word reverberated in his ears, again and again. Beating against him violently like a base line. He broke away from Mizuki's hand, collapsing to the floor.

Somewhere above him he could hear Mizuki speaking, asking him if he was alright. But he wasn't! He fisted his hands before his eyes, shaking. He could almost remember. But did he really want too? It hurt! It had hurt so bad! There were voices, almost ancient voices, from a lifetime ago, ringing in his head. Garbled, almost indistinguishable.

"Is he dead?"

Was he fighting to remember? Or was he trying to hard to forget?

"Did…tell us to kill him?"

He wanted to scream. He was gasping in air, but none of it seemed to reach his lungs. His face! Was he bleeding, cut, all over again? It hurt so much.

"What was his name again?"

Somewhere he heard the ding of the elevator doors opening. He heard someone yelling. Felt someone grab tight onto his shoulders and shake hi,. But he didn't know anything anymore. Nothing but the stupid, garbled voices and the pain. His ears were ringing with it. His bones were aching from it. He knew nothing but all of this. Then…

COLD

Suddenly everything was gone, all of it replaced with the cold. Gasping, Iruka's eyes snapped open and all that he could see was Kakashi. Mismatched eyes, one blue-grey the other blood red with a slightly distorted pupil. Worry blatant in his features. Iruka shivered, blinking owlishly as he focused on those eyes and Kakashi smiled.

"Iruka! I'm so glad that you're okay!" He stood, pulling the shaking man up alongside him. "Come on. Let's get you back to the set, find you something dry to wear." Iruka nodded absently, tugging loosely on his now soaked through shirt before he furrowed his brows together and turned to Kakashi with a question on his lips. But the other man smiled, already having an answer ready. "You were hyperventilating. I tried calling to you, shaking you, slapping you. But nothing worked. So I dumped a pitcher of ice water on top of you."

Iruka stumbled slightly and managed to turn a heated glare upon the other as he slipped a supporting arm around his waist. The other employees in the hallway turned away, hiding their smiles.

"Soaking a person with cold water is NOT an approved method to stop someone from hyperventilating! Hell Kakashi you could have made it worse! I could have gone into shock, been in serious trouble." Kakashi did nothing but smile, relieved that Iruka was already feeling well enough to bitch at him. As they disappeared down the hallway his grin only grew. Oh Iruka was going to throw a fit when he learned what solution they had come up with to finish the video.