La Speranza Ultima

VII. Hatred

With the villagers rounded up and several of his hunters holding swords to the throats of the children, Mizuki was certain he’d have no problem in getting the information he wanted. How ironic it was that he was now helping these pitiful creatures in their endeavor instead of fighting against them. Sixteen years after his precious Iruka had betrayed him and run from him, here he was, in the last place Iruka had been seen. And he wouldn’t have gotten this far had not those stupid hunters come to call. Of course, most were dead now, but the point was he was going to lead them to the Gathering in exchange for his life and Iruka.
He couldn’t help the grin at how quickly the humans were to condemn one of their own.

Mizuki strode forward, eyeing the women who might serve him tonight, aware of every single glare turned on him. But he found his target and pulled the old man from the crowd, forcing him to the forefront and therefore made him the scapegoat for this little trip. Mizuki began to circle the old man, smelling all too clearly Iruka’s scent on those old bones. Had this geezer taken advantage of Mizuki’s Iruka? Had he touched that soft flesh, ruined that pristine body? Mizuki curbed his anger enough so that when he turned to face the old man, all he had to do was bow and grin to get that wonderful stench of fear.

“Where is he?” Mizuki crooned.

“Where is who?” the old man asked.

“You know who. Iruka. Where is he?”

The old man shrugged. “I haven’t seen Iruka all day.”

There was a murmur in the captives, and a small voice piped up asking who Iruka was. Mizuki shook his head to hide his anger and suddenly lashed out, nails tearing a hole in the old man’s throat. The human’s eyes widened, hand gripping his throat as blood bubbled between his fingers, eyes glaring at the demon.

“I won’t ask again.” Mizuki said as he calmly wiped blood from his fingers. “Where is Iruka?”

“Gone!” The old man choked. “He’s gone. You’ll never find him, not now, not when he’s protected by the Prince!”

Mizuki’s eyebrow rose. “Prince?”

The old man’s lips drew into a thin line, refusing to say anything more. Mizuki just looked over at one of his hunters and a mother screamed in horror as her girl’s throat was suddenly missing. Mizuki’s gaze fell back onto the old man’s, head tilting.

“How many more have to die, old man? Just answer my question.”

The old man trembled and looked away, frowning. “Ten years ago you hunters came here, and destroyed our forest. You killed the Lord of the Forest, the great Kyuubi, but you failed to kill his son.”

For a moment Mizuki didn’t know what to think. The initial joy of hearing that at least one of the kitsune line still lived was ripped callously away by the realization the Exodus call had come BECAUSE one of the kitsune line still lived. “And what did you do with the babe?”

“Iruka raised him.”

Which meant Iruka was with him now. Mizuki let out a snarl and swung at the old man’s face, ripping it clean off as he whirled on the hunters. One wave of his hand had the cruel humans tearing into their victims, and Mizuki found he liked the screams of panic and fear. They went well with the roaring anger within him.


Kakashi watched Iruka sleep curled around the Prince Naruto like a mother would. Perhaps Kakashi had been in the wrong when he suggested leaving Iruka behind. The Prince certainly wouldn’t have cooperated and that smile he wore day after day would never be present on his cherubic face. And Iruka… Iruka would most likely be dead. Kakashi could smell it, as he knew Naruto – the Prince, he corrected himself – could smell it. Iruka, with his inferior human nose, couldn’t. Perhaps it was better that way.
The smell of death had wafted deep into the forest a few days ago. Iruka could only smell the strong odor of the smoke and Kakashi was certain Iruka had an inkling of what had transpired. But he couldn’t smell the death, so Kakashi was inclined to keep the truth from the human’s knowledge. He’d beaten that into the Prince too, before they’d even gone to fetch Iruka. Humans were useful for certain things, but always their emotions got in the way of their judgment. If Iruka were to come with them, then the human would only be told enough to keep him in line. No more, no less. So far, Naruto had obeyed.

Kakashi forced his gaze away from the brunette human before his Sharingan eye could show him images of the human’s future. Instead, he rubbed his jaw where Iruka had elbowed him and couldn’t help the tiny smirk. Iruka hit like a girl. The silver-haired man shivered after a moment and looked up into the dark canopy of the forest sky. He had a million questions to be answered, but those who could possibly answer them were long gone now. Kyuubi-sama, Minato-sama – they were dead, among others he’d cared so deeply for. He had a mission though, a mission given to him by the late Kyuubi, and so he looked back over to the sleeping pair and wondered how he could get Naruto away from Iruka.

Kakashi couldn’t help the tiny jump as he realized Iruka was watching him.

The young human could have a piercing gaze if he wanted to, Kakashi thought dryly.

“What?” Iruka asked softly, almost bitingly. Kakashi’s face went blank.

“Why did Minato-sama choose you to watch over his son?” Kakashi asked just as bitingly, soft to keep from waking the boy nestled against Iruka’s side. “Why didn’t he choose one of us?”

“Maybe he figured a human could do a better job of raising a baby than a demon could.”

“No human mother can compare to a demon one.” Kakashi said, eyes narrowing as Iruka’s did.

“I heard demon mothers eat their own children. How is that good parenting?”

Kakashi got to his feet as though to strike Iruka. But he didn’t, not when Naruto yawned and rolled over onto his back, his tail falling against Iruka’s thigh as if to hint to Kakashi what he should do. But the silver-haired demon refused to go that far, hating Iruka as much as Iruka hated him.

“We move soon,” Kakashi bit out. “Get some more sleep.”

Iruka just glared at him and settled back down, arm protectively around Naruto. Kakashi couldn’t help but snarl and resolved to get rid of Iruka first chance he got.

Kakashi woke Naruto first, if only to drive home the fact Iruka was unimportant to the demon. Iruka said nothing after Naruto woke him, merely getting to his feet and putting all of his energy into keeping up. Unlike the demons, Iruka couldn’t travel through the branches of the trees, relegated to running on the forest floor. Kakashi couldn’t help but be amazed at the human’s determination, but he was set on losing the human. When he was sure Prince Naruto was focused on him and not Iruka, Kakashi began to increase the pace until the forest floor below was a blur. He counted to ten, slowly, twice, before he stopped, catching the tired cub before Naruto could leap right off the branch and plummet to the ground, head cocked as he listened for Iruka. There was nothing. No calls, no scent.

The silver-haired demon grinned and began to move once more, hurrying to erase the possibility that Naruto would ask where Iruka was. With the human at the mercy of the forest, Kakashi didn’t care about anything but getting Naruto to where he needed to be.