The Assassin and the Dolphin

Author: jabotus

Rating: T

Pairings: Kakashi x Iruka, Lee x Sakura, Neji x Sasuke

Warnings: AU – yaoi (two guys in a relationship)

Disclaimer: Don't own.

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed my story!!!

'…..' – thoughts

Chapter 2

Iruka swam back and forth in the small pool. Every few turns he glimpsed up to where Sakura knelt by the unconscious human. He was lucky the young woman was home from college for a human holiday called Christmas. Tsunade would spear him alive if he had brought a human to their village. Though many of his people tolerated humans – saving the odd one from a ship wreck if they should come across one – there were still more who feared or abhorred them.

Sakura's family was one of the few who went beyond simple toleration to the point of allowing their daughter to attend a human school on the surface. With an interest in healing, she chose to go to a medical school in hopes of applying human medical knowledge to their own traditional healing methods.

Iruka didn't know much about medicine or healing, but he knew the piece of metal in the human's shoulder had to come out before the bleeding could be stopped properly. Sakura was the only merperson he knew who would have the knowledge and tolerance to help a human.

"Iruka, you're getting me dizzy. Why don't you go help Naruto gather red seaweed?" Unfortunately when he found Sakura, she'd been with her friends including his brother Naruto. They insisted on tagging along and now they all knew his secret. Okay, that might be a stretch. He could say he saw a human get shot and then start to drown so he rescued him. They didn't know he spent hours watching this particular human, did they? Damn, he knew it had been reckless to allow himself to become fascinated with an individual human.

Before he first saw this man five months ago, Iruka had been content to watch any human who came to beach. He found humans in general captivating creatures. They made their lives so complicated and were determined to make nature suit them instead of living in peace within it. They conquered the land, they learned to fly like birds, and they tried to conquer the ocean. He even heard they had managed to go to the moon once, though Iruka didn't know if that was really true or not. Most of the humans who came to the beach came in groups during the day, laughing and playing. Some took naps or ran along the beach. Couples walked hand in hand. In warm weather, they would swim in the ocean. At those times he would come out and walk among them. Nobody took notice of him so caught up in their own activities. It was one of these times, Iruka first saw the silver-haired man.

He had been sitting on a fence bordering the beach from the parking lot listening to music coming from a box a group of teens had brought with them. At least he'd been told it was music. It was nothing like the whale songs he was used to listening to. Iruka was trying to decipher the words of the songs, when he walked by. Iruka was hooked at first sight. Despite his hair color, the man only looked a few older than Iruka himself, who was 23. And he was handsome, the scar only made his features more interesting. The single red eye was something he'd never seen in a human, but it didn't bother him. Iruka had known for some time now that he was attracted to males rather than the opposite sex, but it wasn't the human's good looks that caught his attention. It was the sadness in his eyes. Iruka had never seen anyone look so miserable before.

Intrigued, Iruka followed the man until he disappeared over a cliff of rocks. Fearing the human had jumped to his death, Iruka ran over and peered over the edge only to find the man sitting down on a rock jutting out over the ocean. Even more curious now, Iruka watched him pull out a shell from his pocket. He stared at it a long time before finally throwing it into the ocean. Iruka must have made a noise for the man suddenly looked towards the cliff behind him. He ducked out of sight and waited. The man didn't appear over the edge so Iruka backed away. He went back down to the beach and to the water's edge. From there, he could still see the young man staring into the ocean. Iruka went back into the water after a few more moments. The first thing he did was find the shell he'd seen the man throw. Long after everybody had left the beach, including the silver-haired man, Iruka swam to where the man had been sitting. He put the shell there, wondering why it had been thrown away.

After that day, Iruka came to this beach every day, watching for the scarred man. He didn't come every day and sometimes he would be gone for weeks at a time, but Iruka would nonetheless come by looking for him. When Iruka did see him, he would swim as close as he dared. Iruka didn't want to be caught watching him as he watched the ocean, lost in some mental torment. Iruka wished he was brave enough to approach the other man and talk to him, to comfort him. He looked as lonely as Iruka felt. Yes, Iruka had his little brother, but it wasn't the same thing. And besides Naruto was nearly an adult now. He had even mentioned going to a surface school like Sakura. When that happened, Iruka really would be alone, just like before he had found Naruto abandoned on a beach 17 years ago. No, he would never have the guts to introduce himself to a human and should it ever happen, he would have to lie. Humans who understood and accepted his people were rare finds.

And now…now everything had changed. When he saw those men pull out guns, his heart raced. Sakura had taken a group of them to see an action movie once so he knew what kind of damage guns could do. He couldn't let the silver-haired man die, so he tried to warn him, but he had been too far away to shout and he watched in horror as he fell face first into the water. Iruka had swum to him as fast as he could, but the man was already unconscious. He couldn't take him back to land as the men with guns were still there and he knew the human couldn't take the cold water much longer. His only choice was to take him to the old cave, the playground for his group of friends when they wanted to hide from their parents. Once he had the human out of the water, he wrapped him up in all the pieces of clothes and towels within reach and then went to find Sakura. He knew time was limited what with the human bleeding from the small hole in his shoulder.

This had been about forty minutes ago. He could disappear and let the others handle it, but even so, Naruto would probably bring up his involvement in the rescue. Iruka sank to the bottom of the pool. He was confused and worried about the human.

A flower was suddenly thrust in front of his nose.

"Cheer up Iruka. Sakura said she could fix him up so trust in her abilities," encouraged Lee. Iruka looked at the flower than at Lee.

"People like getting flowers while they're recovering." Iruka, still unsure took the flower.

"I don't think he's the type to appreciate flowers."

"You never know." With that, Lee swam to the surface and pulled himself out of the water to join his girlfriend Sakura.

'That's right. What do I know? Nothing. So the guy is good looking and sad most of the time. That tells me nothing about his personality. Not really.' Iruka wanted to ask Sakura how he was doing, but he'd already asked five times in the last half hour. She couldn't work if he kept distracting her. He could use a distraction though. Where had Naruto and Sasuke gone off to? As he wondered this, something hurtled into his side, shoving him sideways a good six feet.

"Sasuke Teme! You didn't have to shove me into Iruka!" Sasuke only smirked before swimming to the surface. Despite their actions, the two were best friends. They just felt they had to compete over every little thing. Good thing Sasuke liked males. Iruka would hate to see them fight over a girl. For a while though Sasuke had seemed attracted to Naruto, but Naruto had been oblivious and more interested in Sakura than Sasuke. Both had moved on in due time like most teens.

"Sorry Iruka." Naruto looked over him to see if any damage had been done.

"I'm fine, Naruto."

"Sure you are," Naruto said almost knowingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Naruto grinned at him. "You're awful worried about this guy you saved. How did you come across him again?"

Iruka wished he had something more substantial in his hand than a flower he could throw at his adopted brother. "So how much do you think you know?"

"Sasuke and I followed you about a month ago. I was worried about you."

"I've always gone swimming by the coast. What made you worry?"

"You were more mopey than usual and constantly spacing out so I thought I better find out what was going on before it became worse."

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to worry you."

"Hey, you worry about me all the time. It's only fair."

"But I'm the adult." Naruto hugged him.

"Stop trying to be so responsible all the time. Too much worrying is bad for your health." Iruka returned the hug then pulled back to tousle Naruto's hair.

"When did you grow up?"

"Knock it off Iruka." Naruto said while swatting away Iruka's hand.

"Thank you Naruto."

"You're my brother. No thanks are needed, but…a meal of sea ramen would go a long way."

Iruka laughed. "A short way you mean. Until your stomach growls again."

"I'm a growing merboy. I'm almost as long as Sasuke now."

"In your dreams," said Sasuke sinking to the bottom. Naruto stuck his tongue out at the other teen who only shook his head. "You're so childish." Sasuke deliberately flicked his tail which was the only reason he was longer than Naruto. Only purebred merpeople had tails, such as Iruka and Sasuke. Others like Sakura and Lee's families who had mated with humans had lost their tails over the generations. Instead they had webbed hands and feet as did those who chose to live in the ocean among merpeople such as Naruto. After a few days, they developed these adaptations along with gills.

Sasuke wasn't prejudiced but sometimes when upset about something he would flaunt this fact over Naruto. Naruto would never be as strong a swimmer as his purebred friends and adopted brother because he lacked a tail.

Naruto leaned closer to Iruka. "He's mad Neji left yesterday to visit Hinata and Gaara."

Sasuke scowled, "I'm not mad! Neji can visit his cousin if he wants."

Naruto continued ignoring Sasuke's outburst. "His parents wouldn't let him go because Itachi is coming home." Like Sakura, Itachi too was attending a surface school. Rumor was he had a human girlfriend and was bringing her home to meet the family, thus the reason their parents wouldn't let Sasuke go with his boyfriend.

"I'm not mad, Naruto."

"Right. You're about as mad as Iruka is love sick."

"I'm not love sick!" Naruto smiled at the two before heading to the surface. Iruka and Sasuke glared at the retreating feet. Iruka's eyes dropped to the sea bed. He wasn't love sick...he couldn't be. 'I don't even know the man,' he thought to himself.

"Iruka?" He looked over at Sasuke.

"Yes?"

"It's all right to like him. Nobody will think any less of you."

"Thanks Sasuke, but…I don't even know his name or anything else about him for that matter. I don't think I can feel something as powerful as love for someone I don't know."

Sasuke gave him a gentle smile. "You did for Naruto," he said softly then swam after Naruto.

Iruka stared at the place he'd just been, flabbergasted.