Questionable Loyalty

A/N: Ah, a little free time and rest do wonders for one's creative juices. I wrote this chapter for less than three hours today and am posting now.



CHAPTER 55





Even after the meeting with Tsunade and the other Jounins was finished, Kakashi remained preoccupied with the problem at hand and it took him quite a while to realize that Iruka took a very long time to come back home. When he finally appeared it was well after midnight, his face pale and drawn, his eyelids reddened and puffy –it seemed like he had been crying. He stopped in his tracks when he saw Kakashi in the living room, his expression unreadable in the semi-darkness.



“Are you okay?” Kakashi asked gently.



The young man took a long time to answer, but when he finally did his voice sounded hoarse and dejected:



“I don’t know.”



“Naruto?”



Another pained pause.



“Yes.”



Kakashi got up from the sofa and went to him, wrapping his arms around him and holding him gently, his right hand coming to rest on the nape of his neck.



“He must’ve been very upset.”



Iruka nodded against his shoulder.



“He lost the only father-figure he had ever had.”



“Don’t underestimate yourself.” Kakashi murmured.



“I am more of an older brother… or a mother-figure at best.”



“I can’t imagine you in a pink apron, Iruka.”



The Chuunin laughed, the sound tinged with hysteria. Kakashi’s arms around him tightened.



“I wish I could help.” It wasn’t a lie – Iruka had become precious to him, and despite his own imminent betrayal, watching him in such a state was unbearable.



“Perhaps you can talk to him.” The younger man suggested.



“Me?”



“Yes. Tomorrow. Take Naruto out for a walk, talk to him. You were still his sensei, he has great respect for you, even if your relationship was a little strained at some point.”



“Take him for a walk?”



“Somewhere outside of Konoha, away from the havoc that would break loose here when the rumour of Jiraiya’s death reaches everyone’s ears. I already talked to Tsunade about it. She agreed.”



Kakashi’s heart was in his throat, thumping wildly. Surely, it wouldn’t be that easy?



“But what about Akatsuki?”



Iruka pulled back a little to look at him in the darkness.



“He’ll be with you, wouldn’t he? He’ll be perfectly safe.”



The hand on Iruka’s nape trembled for a moment at those words but Kakashi steadied himself.



“Yes. He’ll be safe.”



Iruka pulled away from him and gently caressed his face.



“I’ll go to Naruto now. I don’t want to leave him alone tonight. I just came home because I needed to see you. Will you be okay?”



“Of course.” Kakashi lied.



Sleep eluded him that night. The bed was empty and cold without Iruka next to him and his own worries wouldn’t let him relax and close his eyes, even if he felt exhausted. The horizon was already gaining a pinkish hue when he finally fell asleep, too tired to think and worry.



In the next morning he woke up tired and sore. After a quick shower he had a cold, meager breakfast and went back to the Hokage tower to see if there were any updates on the cipher on the toad’s back – there weren’t, much to his relief. The Jounin council convened again and Kakashi attended, but he was too preoccupied to be of any use, so he kept quiet most of the time.



When he returned to the apartment he realized that Iruka still wasn’t home – probably still with Naruto – so he prepared tea and some sweets and carefully sealed the food in a scroll that went to one of the pockets of his Jounin uniform jacket. Thus prepared, he left the apartment and headed for Naruto’s place. By the time he arrived there it was already well past noon.



Indeed, when he knocked on the door it was Iruka who opened it and he looked even worse in the daylight – large, dark circles had formed around his dull chocolate eyes, his mocha skin had an unhealthy ashen hue. Kakashi pulled his mask down and kissed him gently, feeling him pause before returning the kiss, deepening it with surprising fervour, turning it almost violent in his passion. It felt angry and desperate and he couldn’t help but hold him, press him to himself and breathe in his scent. This was it. This was probably the last time he’d do this, the last time when they’d meet as friends, lovers, allies. After this, after he took Naruto out of Konoha and handed him over to Nagato, everything would change.



He loved Nagato, with every fiber of his being, but he could never deny that Iruka too had become important to him. This was a goodbye. He broke the kiss and buried his face in Iruka’s neck, breathing in his scent, tightening his arms around him. He didn’t want to let go. He didn’t. But he had to.



When Kakashi looked up, he noticed that Naruto was standing by the door of the corridor, watching them with an unreadable expression on his face.



“Naruto.” Kakashi whispered. Iruka stiffened in his arms and pulled away.



“Kakashi-sensei.” The young man’s voice was quiet and hoarse, a far cry from his usual exuberance.



“Do you want to take a walk with me?”



Naruto looked at Iruka and the Chuunin nodded minutely.



“Okay.” He turned to Iruka “Bye, Iruka-sensei.”



“Bye, Naruto. I’ll see you tonight.”



Kakashi swallowed and led the young man out of the building.



Leaving Konoha proved to be easier than Kakashi expected – no one stopped them at the gates, he felt no ANBUs following them. The young man next to him was quiet and withdrawn, looking at the ground while he was walking, his hands in his pockets and his shoulders hunched.



Kakashi led them down a dirt road east of Konoha, not wanting to take to the woods yet – besides, this was one of the quickest routes to Nezumi cove.



“Why does Akatsuki do this, Kakashi-sensei?” the young man asked.



“Do what?”



“Attack villages. Kill people. Hunt down… hunt down people like me.” The last was barely audible.



Kakashi looked at his feet as well.



“Why do Ninja kill, Naruto?”



The blonde looked up.



“What do you mean?”



“We all do what you just described. Attack villages. Kill people.”



Naruto glared.



“Are you suggesting that Akatsuki is the same as Konoha?” he said angrily.



“When you kill someone they don’t care why they are dead, Naruto. The only thing that matters is that they are dead.”



“We fight and kill to defend Konoha.” Naruto said, his tone firm.



“Did Iruka-sensei tell you that?” Kakashi asked mildly.



“Of course! And even if he hadn’t, I would have thought the same.”



“Perhaps.”



The blonde frowned even more.



“You didn’t answer the last question.”



“What was that?”



“Why does Akatsuki hunt down people like me? They extracted Gaara’s Bijuu, I know that much. So they need the Beasts. But what for?”



“The Beasts, Naruto, have long been used as weapons. One can assume that they need them for the same thing.”



“And then what? Use them for world domination?” the blonde’s tone was mocking. “Isn’t that a tad cliché?”



“I don’t know, Naruto.” Kakashi lied.



“I have thought about this. Even if they get the beasts, they have no means of controlling them. They still need to put them into people, to get some measure of control. And no matter how powerful a Jinchuuriki is, the combined forces of all the villages can stop them. The other possibility is that they’d just release them back into the wild and watch as they create havoc, but that doesn’t sound like them at all.”



Kakashi paused, surprised at the deductions Naruto was capable of. Why hadn’t he noticed just how smart he could be before?



“What do you mean?”



“Well, general mayhem and chaos doesn’t really sound like their way of doing things, does it? They are well-organized, their teams strike with surgical precision. Anarchy doesn’t seem their style. So what do they want?”



“We’ll find out, sooner or later.”



“I’ll tear it out of that bastard’s throat, even if it’s the last thing I’m gonna do.” Naruto said furiously.



“Whose throat?”



“The Leader. The one who killed Jiraiya-sensei. One day, I’ll get my hands on him and he’ll give me all the answers I want.”



Kakashi had nothing to respond to that, so he kept quiet. He looked up and saw that the Sun had moved – it was almost 4.30 pm. Nezumi cove was only a few hundred meters away. He noticed a small meadow through the trees.



“Naruto, let’s stop here, shall we?”



The blonde stopped and looked at him expectantly.



“We can rest there.” He pointed the meadow. “I brought tea and food too, you must be hungry by now.”



Naruto followed him obediently to the meadow and sat down when Kakashi prompted him. The sky above them was clear of any clouds, blue and bottomless, silent witness to his betrayal. He took out the scroll and unsealed the tea and the food, the brew still as warm as he it had been in the morning, vapor rising from its ember surface.



“Drink, it’ll help you relax.”



Naruto took a cookie, ate it and took the mug Kakashi offered him, taking several long sips from the steaming liquid. Kakashi watched him closely, waiting for the drug inside to begin to affect him. Naruto had an amazing healing ability, but the sedative was mixed with a chakra suppressant – it should’ve been enough to knock him out. Indeed, the blue eyes began to unfocus.



“Kakashi-sensei?” the blonde mumbled with numb lips. “What…?”



The cup slipped from his fingers and fell on the grass, the rest of the tea spilling and soaking in the soil. Kakashi grabbed Naruto before the young man fell, holding him gently as he lowered him carefully to the ground and checking his pulse and eyes. His pulse was slow but steady and his irises were dilated – the drugs had done their job. Now he had to do his. Kakashi reached and caressed soft blond hair, the same as Naruto’s father’s and whispered.



“I am so sorry, Minato-sensei. I need to do this. Better it be me, rather than a complete stranger who’d hurt him unnecessary.”



He lifted the still body with ease, then quickly took to the trees, taking the distance between the meadow and Nezumi’s cove for less than a minute.



Despite its name, the place was far from the sea. Once, there had been a large lake in the area and it had indeed formed a small cove here, now there was only grass and trees and tall rocks surrounding the field. It was secluded and strangely quiet. There was no wind, no birds singing, no insects buzzing. He put down Naruto on the grass and waited, an unpleasant feeling growing in the pit of his stomach. Kakashi didn’t like this place. The rocks were too easy to hide in, too high to allow any normal visibility towards the surrounding areas, the cove itself was too open and offered few places to take cover. Why had Nagato chosen this place to meet? He wished that they had been able to discuss it, but him not being able to leave Konoha had left only the option of written communication.



Either way, it was too late now. Kakashi looked up and noticed that it was already well past 5. Why wasn’t Nagato here yet? He was usually very punctual, this was highly unusual for him. Kakashi began to grow nervous.



Finally, he heard steps rustling in the grass but felt no chakra signature approaching. Tensing, he stared in the direction of the sound. A figure appeared between the trees but their shadows obscured its form. When he finally came out into the open, Kakashi stared in shock.



“Iruka?!”



“Waiting for your lover?” the Chuunin said, his voice calm and cold, his expression stony, only his eyes burning with unadulterated rage. “I’m afraid he’s not coming.”