Chapter 8: Chapter 8: Looming Confrontation

Kiba yawned as he stumbled along the streets in the early morning. His lungs felt thick from the morning fog that hadn’t quite lifted and Akamaru’s heat next to his chest made him feel sluggish. The dog was snoozing in the genin’s jacket and Kiba was sorely tempted to join him. As he neared the school, however, a figure ahead made him speed his pace. “Oi, Neji! What’re you doing here so early?”

The Hyuga turned to him impassively. “The same thing you’re doing awake this early, I’m sure. I wanted to see how Iruka-sensei is doing.”

“You two are checking up on me?” Neji turned again to face the teacher while Kiba jumped slightly before smiling at the man. “Thank you for your concern, I guess.”

“Well it’s been almost a week since you started going out with Kakashi-sensei,” Kiba explained as the boys began walking with their teacher. “I’ve heard some horror stories from Naruto, and I wanted to make sure you were doing all right.”

Neji pushed the door open for the older man. “The entire village is talking about it. Most of the Hyuga compound is being . . . less than kind in their rumors about him. I’ve learned not to listen to them, but I still wanted to see you.”

Iruka only smiled as he entered his classroom, setting his bag on his desk. “I’m fine. Kakashi is surprisingly sweet and kind. He wants to take care of me and I’m starting to think . . . it’s not a bad idea . . .”

The teacher’s voice trailed off as his eyes caught sight of a small envelope on his desk. Kiba frowned, looking at it as well. “What’s that?”

Opening the letter, Iruka didn’t respond. His eyes scanned the short note quickly and widened. He went suddenly pale, his breath catching and his hands shaking. Neji grabbed the note away, reading it over himself. His own eyes widened, taking in the words instantly. It was a threat, taunting Iruka with his nighttime reputation and promising to tell the entire village. Starting with Iruka’s own students. Neji had to think quickly; turning to Kiba, he shoved the letter into his hands. “Find Kakashi and show him this. Hurry!”

The Inuzuka obeyed and Neji saw him scan the letter himself as he darted out the door. Iruka still stood frozen, shaking and pale. His eyes weren’t focused and he was muttering to himself, repeatedly whispering the word “no”.

Neji grabbed the man by the shoulders, guiding him into his chair. “Sensei, can you hear me?” The teacher didn’t respond, trapped in his own inner torment. Neji shook him slightly. “Sensei! Snap out of it!” Still getting no response, the boy looked around the room. It was important to help Iruka, but there were other forms of help that had to be taken care of.

He scanned the room, thinking like a ninja. If Iruka’s students were the target, there had to be something that all of them would see. Not noticing anything out of the ordinary, Neji turned his attention back to the teacher’s desk. The lesson plan for the day was sitting there and Neji scanned it with a single glance. They were going to be working from one of the textbooks today. Neji raced to the nearest student’s desk and pulled the book out, flipping to the mentioned pages. His face darkened as he pulled out another sheet of paper. Scanning it, the note detailed two of Iruka’s less than pleasant evenings. Neji felt his stomach flip and he began moving among the desks, gathering the accursed papers.

It was only a few minutes before Kiba returned, Shino and Hinata in tow. Neji glowered. “I told you to get Kakashi, not your stupid team.”

Shino glared at the boy from behind his glasses. “We have every right to be here, Neji.”

Kakashi had gone straight to Iruka’s side, wrapping his long arms tightly around the chunin. From there, he looked up at the genin in the room. “I’ve got to get him home, he can’t teach like this.”

Shino stepped forward, already shuffling through the papers on his former sensei’s desk. “I can cover the class. You help him.”

Kakashi nodded, gathering Iruka into his arms. “Neji, I need you to find my friends. They’re ANBU, just make it known you’re looking and they’ll find you.” With a sharp nod, the Hyuga boy disappeared. With a glance at the other two, Kakashi leapt from the window, back towards Iruka’s apartment.

There, he settled the teacher onto the couch and turned to the children. Behind him, Iruka dissolved, shuddering violently and hugging his knees to his chest tightly. Kakashi clenched his jaw, forcing himself to focus on the current mission. Iruka was living his worst nightmare, but he couldn’t afford to help him through it just yet.

“Kiba, Hinata,” he snapped, the words coming out harsher than intended. “These blasted notes could be all over the village. We need to find them before Konoha wakes up for the day.”

Hinata’s eyes darkened. In a city of ninja, that left them with less than no time. “But where do we look?”

Kakashi’s fists were shaking, but he ignored them. “Start with the obvious. Every one of those students has parents that would freak out if they found out about this. The families of past students are prime targets, too. I know it’s asking a lot of you, but we have to do this. Hinata, you may be able to use your Byakugan to help.” Hinata pursed her lips, but nodded. The Hyuga bloodline limit didn’t really work that way, but maybe she could figure out how to use it to help. “And Kiba, you and Akamaru use your noses. Here.” He held out the original note and Kiba sniffed at it, trying and catch any scent it still held. Both children nodded, rushing from the apartment to complete their mission.

In the few moments he had, Kakashi turned to Iruka, trying to calm him. The teacher just shook his head, tears starting to leak from his eyes. “They know,” he whispered, voice tight. “They all know.”

“No, Iruka. We’ll stop it. We can beat this, you just have to be strong.”

“But . . . Neji, Kiba-“

Kakashi cursed, throwing caution to the wind to try and snap his lover out of it. “They already knew, Iruka. Just these four. They’ve done everything they can to help you and to keep your secret safe.” Iruka shuddered again at the news, but made a visible effort to gather himself. “I know you trust me, Iruka. I’m asking you to trust them. You mean so much to them . . . to me.”

Neji dropped through the window, forcing Kakashi to turn away from the trembling man. Taking in the two ANBU, Kakashi frowned. “Where are the others?”

Keiko shrugged. “On a mission, it can’t be helped.”

Sato lowered his head grimly. “But we’ve been to Tsunade. This is our highest priority right now.”

Kakashi’s jaw set and he nodded. “All right. Neji, go back to the school. Make sure there’s nothing there that can hurt Iruka more.” The boy was gone in an instant and Kakashi addressed the two masked ninja. “I want to know who did this,” he ground out, voice significantly darker than when he’d spoken to the children. “I don’t care what you have to do, short of letting the village know what happened. But I want him found.”

The two shinobi nodded, but didn’t leave immediately. “Where are you going?”

With a single word as answer, the ANBU left. “Mizuki.” Kakashi turned back to Iruka, almost worried what he’d see. The teacher had uncurled, looking surprisingly unaffected, if you ignored his eyes. He had regained that blank look Kakashi had seen a week ago and he was worried the man had slipped into it on a more permanent basis. “Iruka?”

The teacher did not respond, staring blindly in front of him. Kakashi struggled to keep hold of himself. “Iruka, I have to leave for a little while, all right?” Still no response. “I’ll be back as fast as I can, and I’ll leave Pakkun with you. If you need me, send him, all right?”

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Finally Iruka moved, though it was only a slight nod. Even that flooded Kakashi with relief. Quickly he summoned his dog, giving a bare minimum explanation before he leapt from the small window.

-o-o-o-o-o-

Kakashi was being fueled by his anger. He welcomed it, letting the adrenaline rush through his body and help him speed along. He wouldn’t forgive this. He would relish tearing out the spine of whoever had hurt his Iruka this way. In just minutes, the jail came into view. Kakashi stormed through the front door, fully ignoring the first few guards he passed. Then he came across two men he hadn’t expected to see; Raidou and Genma. Kakashi paused, shocked, and felt his blood boil. “Where’s Mizuki being held!”

The two glanced at each other before Raidou stepped forward. “Is something wrong, Kakashi? You’re not acting like yourself.”

Kakashi ignored the question, simply repeating himself. “Where is he!”

Genma stepped forward this time, hands raised placatingly. “Calm down, Kakashi. Tell us what’s going on-“

Kakashi cut him off, anger getting the better of his tongue. “Didn’t it seem odd? Didn’t you think he was acting strange? You ignored it, only thinking of yourself!”

Genma’s eyes narrowed in confusion. “Kakashi?”

The copy nin clenched his jaw, stalking past the two men. They rushed to keep up with him, glancing at each other in confusion and silently taking him where he wanted to go. Reaching the cell, Kakashi slammed his fist against the bars. “Mizuki,” he growled out.

The frail man looked over to his visitor and a smile broke across his face. “Well, if it isn’t the great Hatake Kakashi. To what do I owe this honor?” Kakashi shoved the note through the bars and Mizuki looked over it with interest. Suddenly he began laughing, looking now into Kakashi’s eye. “Then I take it Iruka hasn’t been able to shake that little rumor I started? It’s good to see at least one of my works has endured.”

Kakashi slammed his fist against the bars again. “What do you know about this?”

Mizuki was still laughing. “He’s finally found himself a savior. I wonder if you’ll ever be able to get him to really trust you. Did you come to him at night, just like the others? Is he fighting at all anymore?”

Behind Kakashi, Genma’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open slightly. Turning suddenly green, he clasped one hand over his mouth, taking a step back. Raidou turned to his companion. “Genma? What . . .”

Genma retreated several more steps. “I’ve done something horrible,” he whispered in horror.

Mizuki sat back on his cot, his laughter growing. “Does it hurt, Kakashi? To know how unclean I’ve made him? You know, it only took two months to break that goody goody teacher.”

Kakashi growled at the man. “Tell me what you know about this, or I will rip you in two.”

The prisoner just looked at him. “No you won’t. The guards wouldn’t let you, I can’t even defend myself anymore.”

Kakashi looked back at the two men that had less than willingly guided him. Genma looked truly sick and Raidou was completely absorbed in trying to figure out what was wrong. As he looked back at Mizuki, Kakashi smiled cruelly. “Something tells me I could do anything I want to you and they wouldn’t lift a finger to stop me.”

Mizuki frowned slightly. “I don’t know anything about this, Kakashi. But I wasn’t the only one to visit Iruka in the beginning.” The man let out another chuckle. “When you find them, give them my compliments, will you? I can just picture what that do-gooder must look like right now.”

With another growl, Kakashi hit the cell bars again and turned to Genma. Anger still fueling him, he grabbed the man’s vest, shoving him against the wall. “Where did you hear about it?”

Raidou was there in an instant, kunai mere inches from Kakashi’s neck. Genma shook his head quickly, holding up a hand in a clear sign to stop. “I swear, Kakashi, I didn’t know.”

Kakashi just glared. “I asked who you heard it from!”

Genma shook his head. “I don’t remember.” Kakashi shook him again and Genma again had to motion Raidou back. “I swear, Kakashi, I don’t remember!”

“I know Itsuo heard about it from you! I need to know who told you!”

Suddenly Genma met the copy nin’s eyes. “Wait, Itsuo?” He shook his head quickly. “I never told Itsuo, I haven’t told anyone, I didn’t want to risk his kids finding out! I only heard about a month ago and right after that he started dating you!”

Kakashi slowly released his hold, letting the startled man regain his own feet. “What are you talking about?”

Genma shook his head again, his eyes still wide as saucers. “I don’t remember who told me, but I never told Itsuo.”

Behind them, Mizuki was chuckling again. “Tell me, does the village still think Itsuo is a bumbling fool? He always was so good at hiding his true nature.”

Kakashi growled, stalking back towards the jail’s entrance. Behind him, Raidou was helping the still green Genma stand steady. “Tell me what’s going on. Genma, please . . .”

-o-o-o-o-o-

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