Warlord

Chapter Seven

This is all my fault, I should never have left him alone, Kakashi berated himself as he tore across the landscape in a daze, ever more terrifying visions of Iruka broken, bleeding, and dying parading across his mind. He’s so small, was the warlord’s last coherent thought before he allowed himself to be swept up in his rage, roaring his anger to the world as the miles sped by.

It was evening by the time he arrived, his horse spent and his rage congealed into a coldly terrifying shard of hatred, formed under the pressure of his emotions much like a diamond is born in the earth.

The warlord dismounted in front of the medical tent and turned his fierce glare on the small group of men standing nearby. Not me, not me, not me they all muttered to themselves, the bloodlust rolling off the man in front of them instantly sparking their flight responses. “Someone,” Kakashi began coldly, in a voice just loud enough to be heard, “touched what was MINE. I want to know who . . . now.” At that the men scattered, frantic to find someone, anyone, else for their commander to focus his anger on.

The warlord turned on his heel, lifted the flap to the medical tent, and stepped inside . . . squinting as his eyes adjusted. He quickly spotted the scribe on a pallet on the floor and was instantly at his side, dropping to his knees and examining him closely.

“Medic,” he said coldly, “why is this man lying on the floor when there are beds empty? Has he been tended to at all?”

“He’s someone’s pleasure slave . . . he’ll survive, just had a bit too much fun.” the clueless medic chuckled and continued, “He’s pretty enough, I’m sorry I missed the party.”

In the blink of an eye he found himself pinned to a storage cabinet by a hard forearm, inches from the intimidating face of Hatake Kakashi. “He’s NOT a pleasure slave . . . he’s my scribe . . . MINE, and extremely valuable. You should thank the gods you weren’t at the ‘party’ as you so sweetly described it, I NEVER share what’s mine.”

He pulled away, leaving the medic gasping for air, and returned to Iruka’s side, carefully picking him up and heading out the door, back to the relative comfort and privacy of his own tent. Every eye followed his progress as he strode through the camp with the small limp figure in his arms, breathing a sigh of relief when they finally disappeared into the warlord’s tent.

Kakashi faltered when he entered his tent, the worktable had been overturned and papers were scattered everywhere. The odors of sex and blood hung heavy in the air, and a few flies buzzed lazily around some still sticky puddles of fluid. Gathering his composure he continued to the bed, tenderly placing the unconscious figure on it, smoothing back the sticky hair from his forehead.

He lit the stove and set a couple pails of water on to boil before moving to air out the tent and begin straightening the mess, righting the table and gathering the scattered papers. Once the water was warm he took one of the pails and a soft rag and carefully began cleaning the unconscious scribe, tenderly washing the residue of his ordeal away, all the while murmuring a constant stream of apologies. He even clumsily washed the chocolate locks, patiently combing out the tangles until they lay smooth.

By the time Raidou caught up with him he was slumped in a chair beside the bed, stroking a thumb over the back of the small hand clasped in his large, calloused one. “They almost killed him Rai . . . and it’s all my fault, I should have never left him alone.” The warlord turned pain-filled eyes on his friend, “He’ll never forgive me for this . . . how could he, I’ve ruined everything.” Kakashi dropped his head, unable to look the general in the eye.

“Kakashi, look at me.” the general said firmly. When the warlord finally raised his face he continued, “You’ve done nothing, you failed to anticipate this situation, true . . . but you couldn’t have expected it, there was no reason to. You need to calm down and take care of Iruka, he needs you right now. I’ll see what I can find out about what happened.” he nodded, pleased with his solution. At least this way he wouldn’t have to clean up a bloodbath.

“I warned them.” a very cold voice broke into his pleased assessment, “I made it very clear on day one he was MY property, MY business. Someone thought they could do this . . . in MY tent no less, and get away with it. I want to know who it was Rai . . . there are some people in this camp who need to learn a lesson about loyalty and respect . . . and I’m more than ready to give them some one on one attention, make sure it sinks home with everyone.”

The general shuddered at the look in Kakashi’s eye . . . the last time he’d seen it had been in battle, over a hundred men had fallen under the warlord’s blade that day. “Look, let me see what I can find out. I’ll stop by the mess and get you something to eat on my way back.” With that he left, he needed some answers . . . and soon. He refused to even think about what would happen if the scribe didn’t recover.

Raidou headed for the mess, it was the best place to hear the latest gossip after all . . . and someone had to be talking about this. He was met with the raucous din that was to be expected from several hundred men. He grabbed some food and headed for a likely table, plunking himself down on a bench and greeting his table mates. “Oi, what’s the news, I’ve just gotten back from the line.”

The men were quick to chime in with various stories from the past several days, none of which involved the warlord or his scribe. The general did notice, however, that one man was conspicuously silent. Tetsuyami Rei poked listlessly at his food, never meeting anyone’s eyes, and soon rose and shuffled out of the mess. Raidou was quick to follow.

“Tetsuyami, hold up a minute.” the general called. Rei stopped, fists clenching at his sides. “What’s wrong?” Raidou bluntly asked, “And don’t tell me nothing.”

“I did something I shouldn’t have, I feel bad about it but I can’t undo it, alright?” Rei ground out, then he paused for a moment before continuing, “I don’t even know how to begin to fix it and it’s eating me up inside.”

Raidou steered him to his tent where they’d have some privacy, and once inside pushed him into a chair and took one himself. “Okay, just you and me, what did you do?” The other man merely stared at the ground, “If you don’t tell me I can’t help.” the general gently prodded.

“It was Ibiki’s idea.” Rei slowly began, “He said that pleasure slave the warlord got had disrespected him and needed to learn a lesson. That we’d be doing the commander a favor. He made it sound reasonable so I went along. But it went so much further than I thought, and he was bleeding and I wanted to stop it but I didn’t know how. And then I just left him there, like everyone else, left him to die and it’s killing me.” He looked up and Raidou was shocked to see tears running down the hardened soldier’s face.

“Rei,” he began tentatively.

“No,” he was cut off firmly, “you don’t understand . . . I was enjoying it until . . . I’m no better than an animal.”

Raidou felt for the man in front of him. But his loyalties were clear. “Come with me Tetsuyami.” he said, grasping the man firmly by one arm and pulling him up and out the door.

When they reached the warlord’s tent Rei panicked and tried to pull back but the general kept his firm grip. “You want to make it right, this is where you start.” he said firmly as he dragged the terrified man inside. “Kakashi, come here a moment.”

The warlord looked up and pinned Tetsuyami with a cold gaze. “Is this the source of my problems Rai?”

“Not exactly . . . just listen to what he has to say.”

Rei haltingly told his story, flinching a few times under Kakashi’s hard stare. When he finished he stared at the ground, waiting for the deathblow he was sure would follow.

The warlord clenched his fists, he wanted to kill the man in front of him for hurting Iruka, but he did honestly seem to regret his actions, and he had confessed and thrown himself on Kakashi’s mercy . . . leadership has a heavy price, this time the right decision was at odds with what his heart clamored for. “Tetsuyami,” he began, “what you did was horrible, but I believe you are truly remorseful. I appreciate your loyalty in telling me this, it could not have been easy. You are dismissed.”

Rei couldn’t believe his ears, dismissed, really . . . “Thank you commander.” he said bowing low before dashing from the tent before the warlord could change his mind.

“Raidou,” the warlord began in a soft, tight voice, “I will deal the others involved in this little incident in the morning. At muster.” The general bowed and left the tent, grabbing some guards to help him round up the men Kakashi wanted to see, he wasn’t taking any chances on them being tipped off and bolting.

The warlord returned to his vigil by the bed, gently squeezing the limp hand. “I’m back ‘ruka, I’m right here.” His head dropped and in a broken voice he finished, “Please come back to me . . . I need your guidance right now.” Then he fell silent, holding onto the small hand like a lifeline as he fell to deciding the fate of the men who had destroyed his fledgling happiness.