The effect of the painkillers had diminished overnight, and Sasuke woke to his entire chest aching and itching. He figured the latter was a sign he was healing, so it was a good thing, but the pain as he shifted to sit up in the bed was not welcome. The skin of his chest felt too tight, and the pain morphed from dull ache to sharp pangs.
"You should probably lie still in bed, don't want you popping any stitches."
Sasuke's head snapped to the side, seeing Kakashi sitting there, slumped into a rickety chair, long legs stretched out in front of him. He looked tired, with shoulders hunched and a dark shadow under his one visible eye.
Sasuke didn't deign him with any answer but scooted further up so he could assume a somewhat upright position, hating the feeling of helplessness that came with being bound to a bed.
"Do you need anything?" Kakashi asked, sitting up straighter in the chair, adjusting his mask and running his hands through his messy hair. It looked like he had just woken up.
I need Naruto, Sasuke thought, but didn't voice it. He'd take every ounce of pain the wounds gave him without as much as a baby aspirin to dull it if it meant Naruto was by his side again. Physical pain he could deal with fine.
"Just… update me," he said instead, the both of them knowing exactly what Sasuke wanted to know. Kakashi was plenty of things, but stupid wasn't one of them.
Kakashi sighed and rubbed a hand over his face in what Sasuke immediately knew was stalling. Something had happened, something Kakashi didn't want to tell him. Which meant it was bad news, and that was the one thing Sasuke really didn't need right now.
"Kakashi," he started, but found his voice breaking, so he didn't finish the question on his tongue. Is Naruto okay?
"I… got a message from Naruto," Kakashi started, and alertness flooded Sasuke, and he found himself trying to sit up in bed, immediately regretting it when a bright flash of pain shot through him, and he fell back to the pillow, wincing.
"Know that I'm doing what I can to find him, but it's not easy, not when I'm trying to keep it under the table for now," Kakashi started.
Sasuke knew why that was. Naruto had hurt his partner because he hadn't been able to control that other side of him, and if word of that came to the wrong ears it would mean he would have to be prosecuted. Naruto would be deemed a danger to society and shut up in a cold cell somewhere until they could be certain he wouldn't be a danger to society. Kakashi would likely lose his job for not seeing the signs in time, and Sasuke would be left alone. Again.
"The message, what did he..?"
"He resigned from the DPA, handed in his badge and gun."
That fucking idiot. He'd really left him. Had turned his back on both Sasuke and the job he had worked so hard to get, run away like some pussy, leaving Sasuke behind. Didn't he get that they were stronger together, hadn't Naruto himself said so time and time again? Didn't he realise that Sasuke wanted to be right by his side, helping him find the answers he was searching for? Did he really think Sasuke was going to blame him for what happened, was he that stupid?
Sasuke's hands fisted around the bars of the bed. Did Naruto really think so little of him? How could Naruto not realise that he was the one good thing in Sasuke's life, that without Naruto he was just an empty shell. He'd lived like that for years, he didn't want to go back there, didn't want to be that angry and lonely man, lost in old pains, refusing to move on. Naruto had pulled him out of that bleakness, showed him that life could be something good, something worth living, and now he was gone, running away from him.
He hadn't even said goodbye, just… left.
There was a hollow feeling in his chest, a cold ache that didn't have anything to do with the row of claw marks across his skin, and it was getting harder to breathe, his throat closing up, steel bands of fear around his chest, clamping around him. He tried dragging in air, but he was left choking on it.
Naruto was gone. He had left Sasuke behind, didn't need Sasuke. Abandoned. Alone.
His vision was narrowing in, and a part of him knew exactly what was happening, that it was a panic attack, but that rational part was too small, pushed away as he fought for air.
Alone. Alone. Alone.
"Shit," he stuttered, clutching at the front of the hospital gown, heaving for air.
He wasn't sure what was happening around him, but soon there were other people in the room, and arms pushed him back to the bed, keeping him there when he fought to get away from them. Calm voices trying to tell him something, but he couldn't focus, couldn't think, couldn't…
Naruto was picking at a hole in the knee of his jeans, unravelling threads, slowly working it larger. The car was silent, no radio playing run-of-the-mill pop music or news, and Sai had just given him a saccharine smile when Naruto slid into the passenger seat, and started driving.
Naruto still had no idea what had happened, but after a short phone call earlier Sai had told him where to wait for him, and when he came over he told Naruto to get in, offering nothing but a shrug when Naruto asked what to do about the Lexus.
He'd left it right there at the curb, the keys stuck in his backpack, knowing Sasuke could always get it picked up later with the spare keys. He kind of hated leaving it, it felt oddly like leaving Sasuke all again, but he had slid into the passenger seat of Sai's forest green Subaru, and moments later they were off.
Naruto would have asked where they were going, what was going to happen, but Sai had just told him that he was taking him somewhere he could get the answers he was searching for, and Naruto didn't have the energy to dig any more, so he just sat there, picking at his jeans and watching the city pass by the window until it gave in to suburbs, areas Naruto had never been in, lots of similar houses in rows, neat gardens, happy families who lived their lives in peace and quiet, everything Naruto had dreamt of as a kid. He'd gotten a taste of it in some of his foster homes, but it was fleeting, taken away from him when he got sent away, new homes, new families he didn't belong in.
Iruka had been his first taste of a true home, and Sasuke had been his second, and now he had neither. He longed to go back to his dad, but he knew he couldn't. He'd probably never get to sit at the kitchen counter again, sharing cup ramen when they hadn't bothered making anything fancier for dinner, Iruka smiling as Naruto prattled on about his day.
No, even if he found a way to get rid of this thing inside he didn't think that was likely to happen. He'd turn himself in to get the punishment he deserved, taking it gladly when he knew that he was no longer a danger to people. He knew he could turn himself into the DPA and let them deal with him, but he knew he was likely to be shut in a cell, experimented on and then forgotten about, agent status ripped away as he was defined by the beast within, not the man he knew he could be without it. This way was the only way he could fix himself. If he could prove that he was no longer a danger, then maybe. Maybe he could continue his job and be with Sasuke, and have the life he always wanted. It was the one chance he had.
He snapped one of the threads running across his knee with his nail. He was putting a lot of faith in a guy he didn't really like, just because he had said a single word to him, Protos. There was a definite chance that Sai was going to kill him and chop him into little pieces, serial killer style, but right now this tiny little fraction of hope was all he had, and he was all in, for what it was worth.
He had no clue what a Protos was, but first Itachi and then this Sai guy had used the term, so he figured it had some merit. Any googling he had done just led him to everything that wasn't preternatural beings. Greek athletes and German trains and not a single article that helped him, no Protos [noun]: evil, should be executed on sight, orHow To Tell You Are a Protos and How To Manage in Ten Easy Steps!
This was the closest he had to a lead, and right now he was desperate, willing to grasp at fickle straws and hope they didn't fall apart in his hands.
At some point while Naruto had been occupied tearing apart his clothes they had left the suburbs behind, driving down a highway, going who knew where. He had no idea if they were driving south or north or west, but it didn't matter, it wasn't like he was going to be going back to the city anytime soon. If Sai wasn't the serial killer he kind of suspected him of being—he had that dead-inside vibe to him Naruto had always imagined serial killers would have—then he might just be a phoney who had the best luck throwing out random terms. He wasn't too worried about the serial killer part, Sai would probably regret that the moment Naruto's beast felt threatened and ripped Sai apart. Naruto didn't think he'd be able to control it at all any more, too fucking weak.
It took him a while to realise they had left the highway behind, and was navigating smaller roads, passing tiny towns and farmhouses, fields on one side and a forest on the other. They had to have driven at least three hours by now, and he had no clue where they were or how much longer they had to go, but he figured they were getting closer when Sai turned left, heading up a dirt path that carved through the forest.
Naruto was fidgeting, restless from sitting still for too long, antsy from not knowing where he was or what was going to happen to him. He had no idea what was waiting for him at the end of this road. The answers he had been searching for all along, or more disappointment. If this didn't pan out he had no idea what he was going to do with himself. This was his one and only lead, and he was all in, whatever good that would do.
A couple of minutes later there was a bend in the road, and he saw something else than trees around. Thick walls spread before him, behind them the top of a building visible. It was clear it was their destination, the dirt road leading right to a gate in the wall, Sai driving straight up to it, idling the car for a moment until the gate slid open.
The house was big, made of thick lumber, like some oversized cabin. The gate closed behind them, and as Naruto twisted in the seat and watched the forest be cut off, nothing but walls all around he caught himself thinking that at least he wouldn't be able to get out if he shifted again, it was eerily like a prison. Whether it was built to keep something inside, or to keep something from entering he had no idea, but he was sure he would know more soon, because Sai pulled up next to two other cars and turned off the ignition.
Naruto got out of the car when Sai did, and swung one strap of his backpack over his shoulder. A few changes of clothes, some toiletries, what he had of cash and a few other things he had thought to grab when he left summed up all he owned right now. The apartment was still there, back in the city, but it was still wrecked, and he didn't think he was going to see it again.
Sai had started trudging up a path that ran up towards the house, and Naruto half-ran after to catch up, head twisting to make out where he was. The house was two stories, but sprawled in both directions. The cars told him that there would be people around, but there was no one outside. He had no idea what waited for him inside. Sai hadn't offered up any explanation of why they were going here of all places. Was there someone here who could give him answers?
The hall they stepped into as they walked past the heavy wooden entrance door stretched through both stories of the house, a staircase on one side leading up to the second level. Dark grey tiles made up the floor, and it was sparsely decorated, nothing that caught his attention as he followed after Sai to the right, past a sitting room with two large couches and no people, into a kitchen.
It wasn't as big or elaborate as the Uchiha manor had been, but even Naruto's decidedly untrained eye could tell that you had to have a sizeable bank account to buy this place. It was like a cabin on steroids, something the rich would call a vacation home and normal people would call excessive.
Sai went over to the fridge, pulling it open and peering inside for a moment before he pulled out a bottle of water, tossing it at Naruto. He snatched it out of the air and peered down at it curiously. He hadn't requested one, and he wasn't sure he was really in the mood for it right now. He wanted answers, not water.
"You are going to need that," Sai said ominously, making Naruto wonder what the hell was about to happen. Naruto had expected meeting someone, talking, not anything that involve needing water.
"Why?" he asked.
Sai didn't answer, just motioned towards the barstools pushed up against the counter. "Sit down."
Naruto narrowed his eyes. He didn't like being told what to do, this wasn't why he was here. He wanted answers, not a chat while Sai whipped up dinner.
"Where are we?"
Sai was ignoring him, going through a cupboard and pulling out a wash bucket. Naruto wasn't sure he wanted to know why Sai thought it crucial to be cleaning the house right now, there were more prudent matters at hand.
"I'm going to find what we need to start, just sit there like a good little boy in the meanwhile," Sai said, tone condescending, still ignoring his questions. Naruto didn't think he liked this Sai much, with his fake smiles and shitty attitude. Here Naruto was asking perfectly legitimate questions, and Sai was being a perfect dickwad, ignoring them altogether.
He was about to express as much when Sai turned around and promptly left the room, ignoring Naruto's indignant sputters.
He really should leave. Just walk off. That would show Sai. He had no idea why he had even come here; did he really think this guy could help him? The DPA files hadn't given him any clue as to what Naruto was, years of research on the preternatural world by professionals, and here he came along with the first weirdo who knocked on his door, just because of one word that he had once heard from a vampire. He really was an idiot, he never should've come. He should have just given himself up at the DPA offices, let them lock him up. The DPA could experiment on him, could figure out what he was.
He didn't leave. Not just because that would meant stealing a car and somehow getting out a locked gate, but also because he wasn't ready to let this go just yet. There was no reason Itachi and Sai had used the same expression, there had to be something to it, and he would just have to follow through on this.
When Sai came back into the room five minutes later he carried a small box with him, and Naruto eyed it warily.
"It's just the two of us here, so we better get started, someone will be here tomorrow to talk to you," Sai said as he placed the box on the counter, opening it, picking out a small vial filled with a pale green liquid. There was no label that gave Naruto any hint as to what it was.
"Start what?" Naruto asked hesitantly.
"The suppressants," Sai stated, as if Naruto had any idea what the hell he was talking about.
"Wha..?"
Sai ignored him in favour of pulling out a syringe still in its package, and Naruto recoiled as Sai peeled back the plastic. Was Sai planning to actually inject him with that stuff? Was he really expecting for Naruto just to agree to being shot up with something he had no idea was? It could be anything from Mountain Dew to heroin, Naruto wasn't about to let him go around sticking that stuff in him.
"Suppressants are developed to keep the animal part of you subdued, will give you control."
It was as if the air had been sucked from the room, Naruto latching on to that one word, everything else fading in importance. Control. The one thing he hadn't been able to have, the lack of which had destroyed everything. Was it this easy, a simple shot and the beast was in control? He could have done this all along.
"What… is it? Like.. sedatives or something?" he asked, eyeing the bottle, stuck somewhere between disbelief and hope.
"No, regular drugs doesn't really do much for Protos," Sai said, throwing out that word again, as if it was something every day, something perfectly normal. He was probably right, alcohol burned through his system fast, and he wouldn't be surprised if that counted for drugs as well. Not like he'd had to take many, he didn't really get sick.
Naruto watched as Sai lifted the small bottle, piercing the top with the needle and pulling up the stopper, filling the syringe. Naruto's insides were in knots. Was he really going to do this, let some guy he didn't know shoot something he had no idea really was into his veins? This sounded like just about the worst idea in the world, but he still found himself rolling up the sleeve of his sweater when Sai prompted him to, fisting his hand as Sai tightened a plastic tube around his upper arm. He knew he should say something, do something, but as the needle pierced his skin and Sai suppressed the stopper, every single drop of that green substance suddenly flowing through his veins, too late to stop, he found that he hadn't ever considered stopping. He was desperate to stop this malevolent side he had been fighting against his entire life, he'd do anything. If only he had done this earlier, if only he had realised that he was nothing but a ticking bomb then Sasuke wouldn't be lying in that hospital bed.
Naruto had been too weak to stop himself, but he wasn't going to be too weak now, he was going through this, whatever it was. This was his last chance.
Sai had taped off a piece of cotton to the small puncture wound the needle had left, and was packing up the vial, still half-filled with liquid, when Naruto felt the first tell that something was happening. Apart from the prick of the needle he hadn't felt much when Sai had emptied the liquid in his bloodstream, but now he could feel a trickling cold spreading along his arm, bringing up gooseflesh and making him shake the limb to dispel the feeling.
"You might want to sit down on the floor," Sai offered. Naruto frowned, what the hell was he even talk—
He doubled over as a spear of pain ran through his gut, twisting up his insides, and he half-climbed and half-fell off the barstool, curling up on himself on the cool tile of the floor, back against the counter.
Naruto had no idea what Sai had shot him up with, he wasn't sure he had ever felt pain like this, icy cold and sharp, twisting up his insides.
The use for the wash bucket became apparent moments later when Naruto found himself scrambling for it, throwing up the shitty waffle he'd had for breakfast, his insides in complete rebellion. He curled around the bucket, clinging to it as the pain kept stabbing through him. It felt as if his veins were filled with ice water, and as if someone had taken a blender to his guts, and he couldn't stop retching, not as waffle turned into bile turned into dry heaves leaving his throat sore and his eyes watering. Still he hurt, the pain sharp and growing worse, making him hunch over and groan against it.
"Have fun," Sai said, placing the water bottle from earlier next to him and as Naruto peered up there was a sickly sweet smile on Sai's face, as if he enjoyed this greatly. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like this Sai much.
Another sharp dagger of pain had his guts contracting and he forgot all about Sai and he curled around the bucket, afraid he was about to start retching up his actual stomach.
When his vision grew hazy and he knew he was about to pass out he welcomed it, anything to get him away from the pure agony that was his world right now.
Iruka took a deep breath to calm himself as he knocked on the principal's door. His mind was a mess, worry about Naruto swirling, nearly making it impossible to focus at all. He had given his first two classes of the day free time to work on assignments, the thought of keeping calm and focused as he held a full lecture had been impossible so he hadn't even attempted it. He knew what he had to do, had gone through how he was going to phrase it in his mind, but he still felt nervous. The principal was a stern man who had the effect of making Iruka mostly feeling like a juvenile delinquent again, not the grown-up teacher he was.
He heard a gruff yeah from the other side of the door and figured that was as good a greeting he was going to get and went inside, hesitating just inside the door when he saw the principal on the phone, but he was waved towards the rickety chair standing in a corner, so sat down, waiting.
It took a full five minutes before the principal finally hung up and turned his attention on Iruka. He had a free period, but he still needed to prep for the next lesson, so he had been spending the majority of those five minutes trying to focus on the intricacies of literary analysis, but failing spectacularly. He couldn't stop worrying about where Naruto was, what he was doing. Kakashi hadn't called back, and he had promised to do so the moment he had more news.
"Yes, what did you want?" the principal said, cracking his fingers, the sound making Iruka wince.
"Ah, yes, I need to ask for some time off," he said, straightening his back, trying to sound calmer than he was.
"Time off? I'm afraid that's not possible, not in the middle of the school year, and you well know that, so any vacation plans will have to wait." The principal looked like he was ready to dismiss Iruka before he even had the time to explain
"No, it's not… it's not a vacation. It's a family emergency," Iruka said, taking a deep breath to settle his frayed nerves.
"Emergency?"
"Yes, my son, he's…" Iruka found his voice failing him, and he stopped to collect himself, but the principal cut him off before he could continue.
"Your son? You mean that shifter boy you took in?" the principal said, and Iruka could hear the venom in his voice, and it made his gut churn with anger and disgust. It wasn't the first time people had talked about Naruto like this, but it didn't fail to make Iruka absolutely disgusted with the lot of them.
"Yes, my son," Iruka said. There might not be any biological connection between them, but Naruto was still his son. "There was an incident at his job, and now he is missing. I need to be there, need to help find him," he continued, surprised with how steady his voice was, the anger just hot enough to keep him from falling into the panic he had been on the verge of ever since Kakashi's call.
"Isn't he old enough to take care of himself by now, no need to take pity over him any more," the principal continued, and Iruka felt his jaws clench shut, anger growing inside, eating up the sadness for now, giving him something else to focus on.
"Sir, he is my son, and he needs me. I need time off to help find him," he said. His hands were fists at his side, and he'd abandoned the chair in favour of standing in front of the desk, staring down at the principal. He had gone above and beyond for this school, spending all his free time on this job because he felt the kids deserved the very best, wanted to shape them into good people who had a shot at the best in the world, but then bigoted assholes like this tore everything down with their narrow-minded world views. Too long had he ignored the whispered comments. He knew they all thought him insane for taking in a shifter, saw Naruto as something dangerous, not the lonely boy he had been. And now Naruto was in trouble, scared of having turned into the monster people had made him out to be, and Iruka needed to find him, needed to make him realise that he was good, that he wasn't alone, and that he had people supporting him, wanting to help him.
"Go back to your job, I'm not giving you time off for hunting down a shifter. He's probably in the forest with his like."
"No," Iruka said, surprising both the principal and himself.
"No? Think about what you are saying, Umino. Your job is at stake here. Are you really going to give that up for a monster like him?"
"He's not a monster!" Iruka barked out. Gone was the calm and collected teacher he prided himself on being, now there was only a frightened father defending his son. The principal didn't know which hornet's nest he had just stirred up. Iruka had felt bad for not just packing up and leaving this hellhole years ago, take Naruto with him somewhere he wasn't looked down on, but Naruto had always been insisting that it wasn't that bad, that they should stay, and he had stupidly listened. And now Naruto was gone, and he might not come back, and Iruka would have failed to protect him.
He bit back the furious anger swirling inside just long enough to lean in, hands splayed on the desk. "I will be leaving now to find my son, and there is nothing you can do to stop me," Iruka said.
"If you walk out that door now you can kiss your job goodbye, Umino," the principal retorted, looking absolutely livid, splotches of red breaking out on his skin, lips pulled back in a sneer.
"Then be it."
He left before the principal could say anything else, and after swinging by his desk to pick up the few things he had that he cared about, a picture of Naruto, a potted plant Naruto had given him a few years ago, and a Number One Dad mug he had gotten for father's day once, he left the building, knowing he wasn't going to come back here ever.
He would've thought that fact would come with some regret. He had spent all his working years here, pouring his heart and soul into the job. He'd cared about every single of his kids, doing what he could to turn them into good people, and now he was leaving it all behind, for a future that was completely open. He'd miss the kids, sure, but other than that he felt nothing but relief.
He'd need a new job if he wanted to keep his apartment, but right now he didn't even care about that. His one focus was on finding his son. When he had Naruto back he could focus on getting his life back in some semblance of order. He had been thinking he wanted to live closer to Naruto, so maybe this would be a good moment to leave this hateful place altogether.
Kakashi walked through the deserted bullpen. It was in the middle of the day and all the members of Unit Seven was at home, preparing for a new night spent on the streets, hunting down vampires in this everlasting battle.
He pointedly ignored looking at the two desks that would still be unoccupied when the others came in. He'd informed the unit about parts of what happened. That there was an incident that left Sasuke in the hospital and Naruto gone, but he had glossed over the details, knowing that it would raise too many questions. He didn't like keeping anything from his unit, but he also knew that if he wanted to give Naruto a chance he had to keep this quiet. If word got back to Tsunade her hand would be forced to find Naruto to lock him up, because even as the head of their department there were people above her, people who cared more for politics than they did other people, and having someone like Naruto around would be horrible publicity, so even if there was ways to help him it wasn't completely certain he would get that help. It had been enough debate about letting shifters work in the department at all, this would be seen as evidence that they weren't safe, and a number of very capable agents would be left without a job.
Kakashi had seen it before, had read too many reports about what had happened. The DPA was a crucial department to keep the humans safe, but it was ruthless to anyone who was deemed a threat. Tsunade had accepted Kakashi, but he was pretty sure he was the exception.
He kept the office door open as he walked inside, wanting to hear the moment the unit members started to pour in, so he could go out there, assure himself that the rest of them was fine. He had let Sasuke and Naruto down, he was going to do his best to assure himself that didn't happen to any of the others. He had failed too much as it was.
As it was, it wasn't any of the unit members that came into the office first. He heard the ding of the elevator and walked to the doorway of his office to greet whoever was the earliest, expecting to see Lee, but the man who walked out of the elevator wasn't sporting a bowl cut or wearing green.
Part of him was excited to see the man, but that was washed away a moment later when he realised just what had brought him here, and he wanted to hide in his office, this was too real, this was another sign of his failure.
Iruka looked across the bullpen, and the moment he spotted Kakashi he started walking across the room, determined steps, coupled with fisted hands and raised shoulders. Kakashi knew that look, knew what was about to happen, and it was the least of what he deserved.
He had wanted to see Iruka again, but never under these circumstances. Anything else. Some shit luck would have it that whenever he saw Iruka it was because something bad had happened, and he was starting to wonder if that was the universe trying to tell him something. Screaming at him that he didn't deserve happiness, that there would be no one for him, and that everything he touched withered away to die.
Iruka made his way up the steps and stopped right in front of Kakashi. He was expecting another punch to the face, Iruka seemed very ready for it, anger surging through him, tinted with what was most likely fear. He was vibrating with it, as if he had been doing his best to contain it until now, until he could find the one responsible and unleash all the wrath hiding beneath that kind exterior. Kakashi braced himself.
He hadn't needed to. Iruka opened his mouth as if to yell, but he faltered before he could say anything, and then he seemed to crumple in on himself, the fear too great, overpowering any anger he had felt. He all but stumbled against Kakashi, a silent sob rocking his frame as he curled his fingers into the front of Kakashi's shirt, burying his face against his shoulder and just seemed to collapse. Kakashi could feel tears wetting his shirt, could feel Iruka shaking, and he was absolutely useless, standing there, having no idea how he could do anything to fix what was wrong.
He did the only thing he could, wrapped his arms around Iruka and held him as he allowed him to cry as he carefully manoeuvred them inside his office, shutting the door behind them to give Iruka some privacy for his tears, knowing they wouldn't be alone in the bullpen for long.
Iruka gathered himself surprisingly fast, taking a few shaky breaths before finally pulling away. His eyes were red, and there were wet streaks down his cheeks. Kakashi ached to brush those away, but he didn't feel he had the right to touch Iruka, not when he should have prevented this pain in the first place.
"We're going to find him," he said, trying to sound as confident as possible. In reality he wasn't nearly as sure. Naruto could have gone anywhere, and he had no idea where to even start. He was still trying to piece together what had happened, truly, and what exactly Naruto was. Any research he had done had lead back to Naruto being a shifter, but that was clearly not the case.
"I know it isn't your fault," Iruka said, wiping at his face with his sleeves, "But I'm probably going to yell at you anyway."
"It's okay, I've probably heard worse."
"I doubt it," Iruka muttered, looking around the room, seemingly trying to compose himself. "Tell me what you know?"
Kakashi didn't really have much to tell him apart from what he had said over the phone. There had been an incident, and Naruto had resigned following it and was now gone. He had tried tracing his phone, but it was turned off or broken, and the Lexus had been found abandoned outside a supermarket, no trace of Naruto. Whether he had taken a bus or a car from there he had no idea, there had been no surveillance cameras nearby to help them out. As it was Naruto was as good as vanished into thin air, and there really was nothing they could do until he resurfaced. The world was a big place after all.
"I should have caught the signs. I was suspecting that there was something different about him, but I didn't look into it, figured he'd tell me if there was something wrong. It's my job as leader to see these things, I failed." Kakashi sat down on his desk, using his foot to nudge the chair in front of it towards Iruka in a silent invitation to sit down.
Iruka sank down in the chair, sighing heavily. "No, Naruto, he… I think he's always been hiding. Where we lived, it wasn't a good place. People were prejudiced towards shifters, so he was always seen as something to fear and stay away from. I think it taught him to hide. He coped by pretending it didn't face him if people called things after him, if they pushed him away. He learned to smile even when he was sad and lonely.
"He opened to me more, but I suspect that he had been pretending for so long he didn't even realise it. He never said that it affected him, never complained. He was such a good kid to have around. A complete brat that tried to eat me out of the house, sure, but just… He's such a good kid." Iruka's voice were sore as he talked, and it was clear how much he cared for Naruto by the sheer hurt on his face.
"Did you ever know he wasn't just a regular shifter?" Kakashi asked.
"No. I don't think he knew either, he never did mention anything like it. I saw the reports when I adopted him, they did tests on him when the CPA brought him in, and from them it seemed like he was a fox shifter. I just don't think we ever questioned it? There were no other shifters around, so we didn't have anything to compare with. I should have done more research, should have read up, should have… I should have protected him."
Kakashi leaned in, hesitating a little before he placed a hand on Iruka's shoulder. Iruka looked up at him.
"Naruto is strong, and he's not a quitter. He'll be back soon, I have no doubt." Kakashi hoped the words made him sound confident, because he didn't feel it.
A/N: Kakashi and Iruka are finally meeting again, but as always under less than ideal circumstances. How will Kakashi get that fine ass if this keeps happening?
