The Assassin and the Dolphin

Author: jabotus

Rating: T

Pairings: Kakashi x Iruka, Lee x Sakura

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

Disclaimer: Don't own.

'…..' – thoughts

Chapter 3

Years of experience kept Kakashi from moving or opening his eyes when he woke. Always check if the area is secure before letting anybody know you were awake. The first thing he sensed was how cold he was and that his head hurt like the worse hangover in the world. He won over the urge to groan as he tried to recall what happened. A mission went bad? No, he remembered going home. He had gone to the ocean. He found the shell…and a fish?...went into the water…being shot at…the water was freezing…a bullet in his shoulder…nearly drowning, but then someone caught him. He remembered arms wrapping around him and then…then there was nothing.

There was someone in the water before hadn't there been? So they must have taken him alive. Kakashi concentrated on his environment. Voices, but it wasn't any language he knew and he knew several. It sounded like…gurgling?

Something moved closer to him. As far as he could tell, there was nothing strapping him down. He could move away if he had to, but he wanted to know more about where he was. He felt a hand on his shoulder where he'd taken a bullet. The hand was gentle, but steady. A cloth was laid over his shoulder and held in place while another hand taped the cloth in place. A doctor maybe? But he wasn't in a hospital. Hospital beds were not cold and hard as rock. It was probably just someone who knew how to remove bullets. He'd removed his own share to know what he was doing even without medical training.

There was a soft laugh. Female?

"You can stop pretending to be unconscious. The men who shot you won't find you here," a feminine voice right beside him said. She must be the one bandaging him up.

"Not unless they are good swimmers and can hold their breath for thirty minutes," a young male voice said.

"Nobody here is going to hurt you," the female encouraged.

'That's what they always say,' Kakashi thought. Still she knew so why not get it over with. He opened his eyes. He wasn't surprised to see her eyes widen when she saw his red eye.

"Your eye..?" Her hand brushed over his scar. "That's an old wound." As she did this, Kakashi studied her. A young woman, perhaps late teens, with shoulder-length pink hair kneeled beside him. She looked as friendly as she spoke, but appearances can be deceiving.

Looking up he saw a rock ceiling. Was he in a cave? He didn't know of any caves in the area he was in. The area was lit by a lantern, the waterproof kind used by ocean divers, hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room.

The young woman laughed softly and brushed fingers through his messy hair. He stiffened, not at all comfortable with how intimate her touches were even if she had just saved his life. Nobody ever touched him gently.

"I can see why Iruka is obsessed with you," she whispered. "If I wasn't engaged…"

"So why were those men shooting at you?" asked a new voice – male.

"Sasuke! He just woke up. Give him a minute." A third male chastised.

Kakashi started to sit up, but a hand on his stomach stopped him. He gave her a look which scared most people. She wasn't immune. The pink haired young woman removed her hand.

"You shouldn't move too much or you'll pop the stitches."

Kakashi sat up anyway, his body was sore and cold, but nothing that would stop him from escaping if indeed he needed to. He wanted to know how many people were here and find an exit. His eyes fell on the group sitting around. He looked again and blinked. They were just kids! Besides the female, there were two guys a few feet away; one with a bowl hair cut and thick eyebrows sitting on a rock. And was that dark haired boy sitting with his back against the far wall naked? Okay so maybe these kids had seen him drowning, rescued him, and brought him here…wherever here was.

It had to be a cave. Four walls, ceiling, and floor were all wet brown rock. Various objects lay around the floor. Most looked useless or had seen better days – a pocket watch no longer ticking, a fork, a broken glass cup, a lady's matching brush and mirror… Very random and more or less what most people would consider to be junk. Another closer inspection revealed there were no openings or at least none he could see…except for the pool of water about five feet in diameter not too far from where he sat. What was it he had heard about holding their breath for thirty minutes? And where was the other? He had heard three male voices, hadn't he? He only saw two.

As he thought this, he noticed bubbles forming in the pool. A few seconds later, a head of golden hair popped out of the water. The blond saw him and grinned before hauling himself out of the water. Kakashi blinked again. He was seeing things or did that boy really have webbed hands and feet?

"Hello. I'm Naruto." The boy moved to his side opposite the young woman. "What's your name?"

They all seemed to hold their breath at the question. Kakashi hesitated, an alias name on his lips, but stopped himself. They were kids, he wasn't restrained, and they were hardly threatening him. They had saved his life. It wouldn't hurt to give his real name this once, would it?

In his hesitation, mere seconds, someone else rose out of the pool; another male with shoulder-length black hair, a kind face, maybe a few years younger than himself. He looked nervous and ready to bolt at the slightest movement. He remained in the water.

"I'm Kakashi Hatake. Thank you for saving my life." His eyes swept over the lot of them, but then rested on the young man in the pool. There was something about him that seemed familiar…The young man caught his gaze, his cheeks went pink and he ducked under the water, breaking the gaze. 'Strange,' thought Kakashi, missing the shared smiles between the other four.

"That was Iruka. He's the one who saved you from drowning," the only female spoke up.

'Iruka.' So that was who grabbed him. He couldn't recollect if he saw his face at the time…just arms…and a tail? Wait. Didn't the young woman mention something about an Iruka being obsessed with him?

"I'm Sakura. The skinny one is Lee, my fiancé…and Sasuke…the naked one." She threw him a look that said she didn't care for this display. Sasuke only shrugged, clearly not caring. Lee, however, stood up and moved beside Sakura. He was wearing green shorts. He knelt beside his fiancée and held out his hand. Kakashi shook it.

"It's always a pleasure to meet a human. Where are from?"

"I live in New Hampshire."

"New Hampshire? In the United States correct?"

Kakashi gave him a strange look before answering, "Yeah, it is. Where are we?"

"In our secret hideaway," the blond answered enthusiastically.

The young woman, Sakura, rolled her eyes. "It's an undersea cave we found when we were children. We hid our treasures here." She gestured to the gathered junk.

"It's junk from the surface. We really should clear it out," the one called Sasuke grumbled.

"Hey, this isn't junk." Naruto picked up a book rotted so bad the pages fell from the binding. "Oh, well I guess some of it could go."

"Did you say undersea? But there's oxygen." Kakashi stated.

"There's what you might call a ….air vent on the far wall; too small for a person to fit through, but it goes all the way to the surface and allows fresh air in here." Lee responded pointing to the wall.

"How deep underwater is this place?"

"About twenty feet best I can figure. It's hidden because there is a tunnel to get here; the tunnel is submerged." Then pointing to the pool, "Only way in or out. It's about a ten minute swim underwater and the tunnel goes down so the surface is about 300 feet below the surface, hard to find for most. And the tunnel breaks into all different directions, only one leads to this cave." Lee explained.

"How did I get here then?"

"Iruka brought you," Sasuke answered, standing up. He had a beautiful body, not that Kakashi was looking. He'd always liked males and females equally, but he didn't like kids. Not his fault the teen was naked and flaunting himself. Besides, he had to look somewhere…the young man was in his line of view is all. While telling himself this, Kakashi's eyes drifted over the male, he noticed the teen had four long slashes below his ribs. Though they didn't bleed, they looked deep.

"You have a few cuts on your side."

"Huh?" Sasuke glanced at his sides, but didn't seem alarmed by what he saw. Then he smiled. "No, I don't. Come on Naruto or we're going to be late for dinner."

"But I don't want to go yet," the blond whined.

"You promised me you would come tonight. I'm not going near that jerk without some interference between us."

"Ah, does little Sasuke need protection from his big bad brother."

"No, more like someone to keep me from killing the bastard. I don't think my parents would appreciate the gesture."

"Fine then. I'll go be referee. It was nice to finally meet you Kakashi." Kakashi nodded, wondering what he meant by 'finally'. He watched the teens dive into the pool. They didn't come back up.

"We should be going too Sakura. My uncle Gai has invited us over to dinner this evening. He wants to know more about Christmas." Lee stood and went over to the pool.

"All right." She checked Kakashi's bandages once more. "You need to rest and don't move if you don't have to. I don't want to have to re-stitch you up tomorrow." She set a bowl in his hand. "Drink this. It will help with the pain."

Sakura stood up and moved to the pool. She wore loose clothes and her lower back was bare. Kakashi caught a glimpse of similar slashes on her sides as well. Lee jumped into the pool.

"See you tomorrow, Kakashi."

"You're just leaving me trapped here?" He hated how his voice sounded when he asked; it sounded afraid. What was there to be afraid of in an empty cave?

Sakura paused and turned to look at him. "Trapped, maybe so, but Iruka will be around if you need anything." With that, she dived into the pool.

Silence pressed in on him. Kakashi shifted the liquid in the bowl and sniffed the contents. It didn't smell horrendous so he tasted it; a little bitter. Oh well, what did he have to lose? The kids may have been lying about where he was and how to get out, but the only exit was the pool. After nearly drowning, he was in no hurry to get back into the water. He might as well sleep while he could. He drank the mixture, then lying back down, he closed his eyes.