Dangerously Beautiful

Chapter 10 Driven Iruka stepped up to Kakashi's front door, kicking his legs on the porch and raising his hand to knock, his loose fist pausing as he scratched his brown scalp in thought. It was sort of unusual for him to visit a fellow teacher at his home, especially so early in the morning. But something inside of him was just aching to vent his recent problems to someone about his age. With a loud groan, the young Chuunin knocked on the door. Kakashi wiped his eyes, sulking over to the door and scratching his back, wondering who could possibly want to bother him at this terrible hour. It was, after all, ten o' clock. The gray-haired Jounin barely bothered to tie a bathrobe around his boxer shorts before opening the door, his lazy eyes still drooping. "Yes?" The Jounin cocked his head in surprise at whom his visitor happened to me. In reality his heart sunk down in his chest at seeing it wasn't Sasuke, who hadn't been seen in Konoha since yesterday. He leaned on the side of the door curiously. "Kakashi... we need to talk." Iruka muttered, staring at him with determined brown orbs. A few minutes later the two Hidden Leaf instructors sat in Kakashi's kitchen, seated at his small dining table and sipping the instant tea the Jounin had prepared in a hurry. Iruka groaned, his eyes darting around the room before he decided to speak, "Kakashi, have you noticed anything different about Naruto lately?" he questioned, the most sincere look on his face. Kakashi could tell how worried he was about the blonde, "Hmm... well, I haven't seen him much lately... I saw him a day or so ago, and come to think of it, he was acting pretty strangely..." he remembered, cradling his chin in his hand, his eyes rolling up in his head as he recalled that day. Na see seemed to be rushing around and constantly looking over his shoulder, as if he were watching for something, an act very uncharacteristic of the relaxed blonde. Iruka nodded, staring at his cup of tea, "Yes, the few times he's run into me lately he was either extremely mad or... like last time, he was crying. I've never seen him cry like that before; he looked so frightened..." he muttered quietly. The young gray-haired teacher leaned back in his chair, staring out the window at the eerie gray morning skies that loomed above the mountains and looming over the buildings. "... There's something weird going on in this town lately..." He whispered. The brown-haired Chuunin sighed, a slight red arising in his cheeks, "I feel sort of bad for getting so involved in a student'fe."fe." Kakashi whispered at hearing this, knowing how far involved he himself had become with his own student. The awkward atmosphere made him cross his legs and stare intently at his cup to avoid eye contact with his fellow teacher. Iruka held his aching head, leaning forward to look the Jounin straight in the eye, "... I don't know, maybe I'm just being too paranoid. I care about Naruto so much, he's sort of like a little brother to me, but maybe I should lighten up. He's not a kid anymore, I c I can't look out for him forever." He realized, taking a sip of his tea to finish it off and placing the empty cup on the sink, looking back at his senior. Kakashi nodded, though Iruka's comments flowed in one ear and out the other, the entire while the gray-haired young man was wavering between whether or not he should be concerned that Sasuke had disappeared after supposedly visiting Naruto's home, even though he made a promise to immediately return or allow his young boyfriend a little more freedom. Iruka was right; it was hard to treat the students like children when so many things had occurred in their lifetime that forced them to mature quicker than most. The Jounin wondered why he would be so concerned about the youngest Uchiha's safety, after all, had he not lived for many years by himself, walking to the market, cleaning his house, and attending ninja school, even graduating with top honors. Kakashi had fast convinced himself that it was ridiculous to be worried about such an independent kid. Several yards away the fifth Hokage paced the streets, her shoes skidding along the cold, damp dirt, as she looked her small Anbu alignment over. She had several teams bowing in a military style line in front of her, her incessant pacing showing she herself still had not devised a plan yet. A few days ago she had received reports from scout teams that two S Rank criminals had somehow entered the town. Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi, two of the most dangerous members of Akatsuki had apparently been causing trouble lately, the former even burning a building to the ground. With their abilities it was impossible to tell what they would do next. Tsunade stared a burn hole at her Anbu line, finally deciding to speak, "So, we've received information that two S Rank criminals might be somewhere in Konoha. I don't want any ces tes that they'll harm any of our residents..." she muttered, looking at one particular Anbu member in the mask, seemingly burning through it with her eyes, "I'd like the entire Anbu taskforce to keep a tight surveillance, if you see anyone suspicious, I want them reported and kept under watch. We can't afford another war when the country is just recovering from the last one." She stopped, wondering if all the Anbu she had acquired would be enough. Only several dozen or so of them were free for this assignment, all of them lined up properly in front of her. They were about to dispatch when she stopped them, "Wait. I want you to collect those members of Konoha that were previously Anbu, I'm sure there are several who would be willing to put on the uniform again. Just please collect as many as possible and take position." She demanded loudly, throwing her arm up to signal for them to disappear into the streets. Kakashi sighed, reaching over to close the blinds that hung in front of his kitchen windows, no longer able to stomach the disgusting gray skies that seemed to stretch out across the entire landscape. Behind him Iruka sat on that same chair, unmoving for a long while as he thought. The gray-haired Jounin felt his stomach churn at seeing the worried, somewhat terrified look on the young man's face, "Iruka," he started, patting him on the shoulder from behind, pulling his black mask down for a second so gringrin could be plainly seen, "I'm sure he's alright. You shouldn't worry about these things. Naruto's a smart kid, he'll be himself soon, I'm sure." He reassured him; already seeing his advice was taking affect as Iruka's shoulders loosened under his hands. The doorbell rang over their backs. Kakashi rubbed his temples, wondering if it was some new tradition that anyone who woke up early should ring his doorbell, knock on his door, or just breaking in. It was beginning to disrupt his daily routine of sleeping till' noon. Tiredly he sauntered to the door and opened it slightly, seeing two crouching Anbu bowed at his doorway. The gray-haired Jounin raised an eyebrow, "Can I help you?" "Hatake Kakashi, the Hokage is requesting your services as a former Anbu member." One of them muttered, reaching upwards to hand Kakashi a rolled up scroll, most likely the details of the mission. "Please dress and report at plot E-5 as soon as possible." secosecond added, both of them instantly vanishing into the large country. This had sparked Iruka's curiosity, he took a few steps forward, looking over his senior's shoulder, "So, what is it?" he asked as Kakashi tore the binding off and unrolled the short document. His eyes graced over the words for a short while before widening as if he had seen a ghost, his jaw hanging open and his hands shaking violently. "Oh my god..." Meanwhile Naruto sat on his wide porch, staring at the people who passed by and leaning against his front door. He ran his fingers through his blonde bangs, panning his blue eyes back and forth, watching in case Itachi decided to return. He was desperate to see him again, after noticing how depressed he had seemed late last night. His hear ached in his chest as he wondered if he was all right. He had seemed so rushed, so drained of energy the last time he had seen him. The young fox played with his fingers, hoping Itachi would come back to him soon, at least to prove that he was okay. Naruto sighed, searching the streets again, finally seeing a familiar face coming his way. His young female teammate spotted the blonde teen and hurried over to his side, her mint green eyes looking frantically troubled. She waved her hand in the air from the crowd in case Naruto hadn't seen her, "Naruto!" she called, approaching his porch and taking it upon herself to sit next to his side. Naruto didn't bother to look up at her as she spoke, continuing to look at his small hands. "Naruto," Sakura began nervously, "I was wondering if you've seen Sasuke lately. He was doing some special training with Kakashi lately, but this morning he didn't know where he was..." she muttered, clearly concerned. The blonde grumbled, not particularly concerned with the youngest Uchiha's whereabouts at the moment, knowing he was too secretive and quiet to tell anyone if he did wander off somewhere. "I haven't seen him." "Oh..." Sakura muttered, "It's just... he's been acting really strangely lately..." Naruto scratched at his whiskers, sighing exhaustingly, "I really don't know where he is." He repeated, wringring in his boggled mind if Itachi would still come to visit him if Sakura was sitting right next to him. Suddenly he felt inclined to get her the Hell away as soon as possible. Sakura stared at her sandals and fiddled with her thumbs as she brought up a subject she was hesitant to accept, "Do you think... maybe, maybe he decided to take Orochimaru up on his offer? I mean, he did want power..." Naruto fumed at the accusation, bolting up from where he sat and staring at his female companion with disgust, "No! He would never do something like that. Sasuke's not the type of person who would betray his teammates!" he shouted, looking down on her and realizing how he had just blown up unfairly in her face. Quietly he sunk back down to his previous sitting position and let out a long breath, "I'm sorry... It's just I don't think Sasuke would do that, he's not that type of person... You know him, he probably just wanted to be alone for a while, I'm sure he'll be back in no time." He assured, even going so far as to pat her on the back, a wide grin on his face. Sakura still held her doubts but half-heartedly agreed with him, hoping that what he said was true. She stood up, knowing she had many more people to ask about the Uchiha's disappearance that day, looking back at the blonde with an obviously forced smile, "Well, tell me if you see him." She mumbled before heading off into the crowd once again. Naruto sighed, continuing to look into the crowd for any signs of Itachi, his long black cloak, his wide kasa, somet tha that would indicate he was all right. After that horrifying image that had entered his mind yesterday, of the eldest Uchiha covered in blood as if he had murdered someone, he needed to be sure he was safe. Murdered someone... The words echoed in his mind as he thought about it. It was true the person he had fallen in love with had brutally killed all of his family, except for Sasuke of course, but he was sure that he wouldn't do it again. He just didn't seem heartless enoug kil kill again, the mere thought sending a chill up his spine. He just couldn't believe that Itachi would ever do something so cruel, especially to his family. Maybe Sasuke was right; maybe he was getting in over his head with his brother. Suddenly a sickening thought crept into his mind without even his knowledge. He had seen Itachi covered in blood in a horrible vision, and now Sasuke had gone missing. Putting the two together seemed painfully obvious, though the blonde didn't want to admit it. "No," he muttered aloud, "he couldn't have killed him..." It was impossible, right? The two events just had to be awkward coincidences, nothing more, absolutely nothing. Naruto felt an unpleasant lump arise in his throat, biting his lip to stifle the sickening thoughts in his head. Itachi would never kill his younger brother, no matter what he had done in the past, the young blonde was sure of it. Rising to his feet, Naruto decided he had to go out in the large city to look for his lover, knowing it would be too difficult for the convicted criminal to simply walk up to his doorstep, especially in this bright daylight with so many people around. He jumped off of his porch and weaved his way through the groups of people heading down the block, shopping or visiting with other people in town, knowing it would probably be virtually impossible to find the eldest Uchiha, but he knew he had to try. After a few minutes of wandering the city Naruto began to think perhaps he had done something yesterday that made Itachi leave. Maybe he had annoyed him and driven him off without even knowing it. He sincerely hoped that wasn't the case, that he had lost one of the only people who cared for him. The young blonde was lost in his thoughts as he bumped into someone in the street, looking up to apologize. "I-Iruka?" Iruka let out a chuckle, brushing the dirt off of his clothes and returning to his feet with a wide grin, "Naruto, we seem to be running into each other a lot lately..." he mumbled, a slight blush catching on his cheeks as he leaned down to offer a hand to help his young former-student up. Naruto nodded, noticing how long his teacher's hand lingered in his own before the dark-haired young man pulled it back. "Naruto, do you know how dangerous it is out here? You shouldn't be wandering around town today..." Iruka advised, placing his hands on the boy's shoulder and leaning down to his eye-level, raising his arm and pointing upwards at the trees and rooftops, pointing to each Anbu who had hidden themselves and were keeping a constant surveillance. "The Anbu aroutiouting around, I'd hate for you to be out here if something dangerous starts." He muttered, staring into Naruto's pearl blue eyes. The blonde was a little wary of asking, but decided he had to, "Why are they out on watch today?" Iruka scratched the back of his brown hair, staring up at the Anbu who were now on the move to a second location, "Well, two S Rank criminals were spotted in town lately, so you have to be careful, you know? You can't just wander around like this." He repeated, hoping to finally get through that thick skull of his. "Who are they looking for?" Naruto asked, already fearful of what the answer might be. The brown-haired Chuunin at first was a little nervous to name names, wondering how shocked Naruto would be that Sasuke's older brother was in town, but then realized he had to inform him, knowing he couldn't lie to the boy's face, "Well, one of them is an exile from the Water country, Hoshigaki Kisame, and the other one is from Konoha... originally, Uchiha Itachi." He muttered under his breath, hoping the young teen would simply go back home and not cause any more trouble for himself in this potential war zone. Naruto's blue eyes shot open, his body freezing in place as he heard that name, though he already suspected it was him, it was very different to hear the name so clearly. His heart felt as if it skipped a beat as his mind raced to think of what the Anbu would do to Itachi if they found him. Again the sick image of Ii coi covered in blood entered his mind, causing his entire body to shiver. "I-I got to go." Naruto mumbled quickly, already headed in the opposite direction as Iruka forcefully grabbed his arm to stop him. Iruka stared his young student directly in the eyes, looking incredibly serious, "Listen, Naruto... If you ever need to talk, I'm here, you know?" he said, hoping Naruto would take him up on his offer if something really had been troubling him lately. Naruto raised a confused eyebrow, wondering why anyone would care about him like this before nodding and running off into the distance, still continuing his long and exhausting search for the eldest Uchiha, his search becoming even more frantic now that he knew Itachi's life might be in danger. Itachi let out a long sigh as he sat blatantly on the Uchiha estate roof, shifting his weight so he wouldn't fall off. He ran his pale fingers through his black bangs, staring at the grayed skies above and the passing clouds that hoverover the mountains and the Hokage monument. He seemed virtually unconcerned with the few Anbu that he saw dashing through the streets and leaping through the treetops, figuring they were just keeping an everyday watch. The eldest Uchiha looked down at his familiar home, remembering the many times he would climb up on the roof to get away from it all, also recalling the time a four year-old Sasuke had decided to follow him up and would have fallen on his head if Itachi hadn't grabbed him. The eldest Uchiha let out a stifled laugh, wondering why he would be thinking about Sasuke so often lately... When he thought about it, it was probably out of guilt for what he had done to him lately. He folded his arms calmly and sat them in his lap, his mind couldn't help but wander to the many times he had sat upon this roof to think, namely when he was about the age of nine... Young Itachi stretched his short arms in the air as he walked back and forth on the roof, looking down on the entire city that seemed laid out personally for him. The young boy sat down on the large building and stared out at the clouds, a slight smile spreading on his face. Suddenly from below him he heard a small grunting sound coupled with the squeaking and scratching of the rain gutter as if someone was climbing up. Itachi sighed, walking over and staring down at his younger brother, clinging to the pipe and swaying from it as he tried to make it to the top of the to-story building. The younger four-year old brother smiled nervously, knowing he had been caught. Itachi sighed, reaching down to grab his younger sibling's hand and pulling him up in his arms, placing him down on the roof and grumbling, "What're you doing? You can't just climb up here by yourself." He scolded, placing his hands on his hips angrily. Sasuke bit his bottom lip, "But you did ityo'syo'self." He defended, wiping the small traces of dirt off of his smshorshorts and looking over at his brother for an answer. "I'm older than you are. I can do these sort of things," Itachi explained stubbornly, noticing his younger brother had crawled over nervously and sat next to him contently. Sasuke hated that old excuse, knowing he could do anything his sibling could do if he really tried. He crossed his arms over his chest, "I just wanted to see what you was doing." He muttered quietly, his pale cheeks flushing slightly. "You're always doing something cool." Itachi raised an eyebrow, he hated compliments. His younger brother leaned closer, his black eyes drooping from his tiring efforts of climbing the gutter pipe, "Big brother, when I grow up, I'm going to marry you." He said boldly, still grinning widely and looking his somewhat shocked older sibling in the eye. Itachi was taken aback by this strange statement, Sasuke was just a kid, and he was already planning whom he was going to marry? And the worst of it all, he had picked his older brother? So many things were wrong with this situation it was impossible to escape the awkward feeling that hung in the air. The elder of the two decided to speak up against the idea, "You can't marry your own brother, Sasuke. That's just... not right." He muttered, finding it hard to explain uch uch a young child. Sasuke groaned, "But I like you da' best! I can't marry mom, she's married to dad. And yer' the coolest person I know." He explained, thinking his plan was perfectly logical. He stared at his older brother with large, childish black eyes, smiling as Itachi returned his look for a split second. "You can't marry your brother, Sasuke." Itachi reinforced, "I'm sure you'll meet someone you'll like a lot, then you can marry them." He told him, wrapping his short arms around his younger brother's shoulders. Sasuke yawned, his face pouting a bit as he hadn't gotten his way, "... Okay, how about instead of me marrying you, you can marry me!" he offered, letting out a laugh as his older brother reached over to his stomach, tickling him for suggesting the same thing again. "That's the same thing, Sasuke." Itachi muttered, letting out a laugh before looking up at the wandering clouds, "You should marry someone better than me, stronger, and att attractive." The eldest Uchiha began to think of the qualities as if he were naming things he himself would like in a marriage partner, "And they have to be really smart, and a ninja of course, cause' then you could go to work together, and they..." Itachi stopped as he felt a weight press down on his lap, peering down to see Sasuke's head had fallen over, his eyes closed tightly as he slept calmly. Running his fingers through his younger brother's hair, Itachi smiled. Itachi laughed at the strange memories that had entered his head lately from being in his hometown for such a long period of time. He continued to perch himself on the roof of his old home, covering his pale complexion with his wide, straw kasa when the sun began to beat down on him. As much as he despised the city for letting him down so many times in his life, it was hard not to appreciate its beauty when the sun was brightly bursting out of the dark clouds like this. He rested his chin in his hands, his elbows rested on his knees as well as he looked out upon the Hidden Leaf villagemethmething in his mind causing him to wonder where Kakashi was at this moment, his chest aching at the thought of what he had done with him the night before. He knew it was wrong of him to force his ex-lover into that sort of situation, but it felt so good to be with him physically again. His entire body trembled at the thought, goose bumps forming on his arms. He let out a long sigh, knowing still he had to finish him off, or he would never be able to leave this place behind him. He had to do it, one way or another he had to find a way to kill him. Kakashi sneezed, covering his nose with his hand and grumbling, someone must have been talking badly about him again. Without a second thought he rolled his mission papers back up and headed to his room with the intent that he would do his job, regardless of his feelings or history with the subject. By order, after all, ninjas were not to show any emotion. The gray-haired young Jounin opened his dresser drawer, seeing the outfit he'd not worn for a long while, the long black tights, the off-white, padded covering, the arm and leg bands, and of course the mask-his happened to be shaped like the face of a cat, with small red stripes painted on as whiskers. He had not seen this uniform in years, the outfit set alone in the otherwise empty drawer, thankfully not accumulating much dust. He carefully pulled it out, stripping down to his underwear and stretching the tight outfit over the contours of his form, straightening it out before strapping on the arm and leg bands. He held the mask in his hand as he walked over to his long mirror. The last few times he had worn this he was doing some serious missions, assignments of life and death that required him to kill or be killed. The smell of blood and death still seamed vaguely smeared on the costume, some of the old stains now a rust color. Kakashi stared into his own eyes, one the same he was born with, the other a replacement of the Uchiha clan's famed Sharingan. He could feel his stomach churning still after reading that assignment, 'Hunt down and keep surveillance for two S Rank criminals: Hoshigaki Kisame and Uchiha Itachi. Assassinate if resistance occurs.' The word 'assassinate' sending cold chills up his back. Would it be true, would he actually have to suit up, and kill Itachi on the spot if he even so much as saw him? He swallothe the large lump in his throat. Could he actually do it? The gray-haired Jounin peered down at his hands, many times have they been drenched in the blood of his enemies, sometimes even friends as they clutched onto him before they died, but how could he possibly soak his hands in the blood of the person he fell in love with, the one he had shared countless intimate moments with? It was excruciating to think of how he was now forced upon him as his enemy. All along he knew Itachi had decided to betray Konoha, and that was all well and good until he returned, until Kakashi now was forced to fight against him. Tears welled up in his wide eyes, he held his hand up to his face and wiped away the tears, determined to keep whatever happened between them in the past, strictly memories. He needed to stifle his emotions as best he could, knowing if he could just do that, it would be no hard task to kill Itachi. He stuffed kunai and shuriken into his pouches and tied the mask over his face. But there was still something left to do. Silently the young instructor wandered over to his bed stand, pulling out the bottom drawer and shuffling through it to find a photograph of Itachi and himself, the eldest Uchiha leaning over to place a gentle kiss on his boyfriend's cheek, a blush appearing on the Jounin's face. It was one of the last traces of Itachi he had left. He slowly headed out the door, stepping into his hallway and heading to his front door, the photo still tightly clutched in his hand. Kakashi took in a breath of fresh air before stepping a few feet from his home, and casually dropping the picture in the trash can before dashing off into the mid-afternoon town. Author's Notes: Sorry this chapter's a little short... and there's no lemon = ( That really sux. Believe me, if I could put a lemon in every single chapter, I would ^^ Oh well, I guess I can't or it would be kinda 'harmful' to the story. Well, I have so many art projects and tests to study for, I should probably get going. Hehe oh well. Hm, btw is anyone curious what happened to Sasuke yet? *evil laughter* I'm always so mean to Sasuke in fics, I wonder why... Maybe it's because I love him so much <-- sadist Hehe Well, I hope everyone likes this fic, I already came up with an ending, but keep reviewing cause' I usually change my story a lot depending on what ya'll say ^^ Oh! And if anyone hasn't seen episode 80, YOU MUST! *drools*