The scene was not, unfortunately, an unfamiliar one. In fact, it was depressingly familiar. The hospital room they were in was almost permanently reserved for its current occupant, who tended to come home from missions with chakra exhaustion or deeply wounded. It was an unavoidable side effect of being one of the top jōnin, and of being given more than his fair share of solo A-rank and S-rank missions.

What was unfamiliar was the screaming. Hatake Kakashi had earned more wounds and scars than any man his age had any right to. He was used to pain. The medics and nin surrounding him were used to seeing him grit his teeth, grunt, clench his eyes shut, sometimes even hiss. They were not used to hearing him scream. Then again, it wasn't often one came across Three Fires Venom, a poison concocted from the venom of three different deadly vipers. It was said to be one of the most painful poisons out there. If it could make Kakashi scream, they believed it.

"I can't get through to him, M'Lady!" Sakura's voice was still professional, though cracked a bit with a very deep worry. She hated to see her sensei like this. She'd been trying to calm him down for the better part of fifteen minutes. If they could only get him to stop flailing then maybe they could jab him with a sedative. The man on the bed lashed out at his pupil, blinded by the pain and irrational panic, stuck in an endless attack mode. Tsunade growled from the other end of the bed as she was struck by a swinging foot.

"Where are those restraints I asked for!" the Godaime had good lungs for yelling. The three other medic-nins in the room winced at her volume. People all down the hall looked up briefly in curiosity before deciding that they didn't really want to stick their nose in. It was never a good idea to get involved when Tsunade started using that tone.

Kakashi's back arched as another lance of pain shot through his body. His mask stretched as his mouth opened for yet another soul-hollowing scream. His voice was hoarse and breaking but he couldn't stop. His blood was fire and his skin was shattered glass, grinding and tearing. Every breath was agony as he had never felt before. He could hear voices but none of them made sense and he could do nothing more than let the panic rise. He was barely aware of his own limbs fighting against those trying to help him. He needed relief. He needed safety. He needed this to stop!

"Honestly brat, you're going to hurt yourself even more!" The Hokage growled at her patient. With her strength, she could have held him down, but it would only have made the situation worse. Especially if he started fighting back with chakra.

"His pulse is rising," one of the medic-nins exclaimed. She was staring at the throbbing artery in his neck. "He's already in tachycardia. If his heart beats any faster he'll go in to cardiac arrest!"

"Kakashi-sensei, please, you need to calm down!" Sakura tried to make her voice firm and soothing at the same time. She wasn't sure how well she managed. He responded by snarling, his one visible eye rolling blindly in her direction. The pupil was blown so wide she couldn't see any hint of his iris. There was no recognition in that eye; he didn't even see her there. To him, she was nothing more than a blur. She tried again, letting some of her emotions leak through. "Please, let me help you. I need you to calm down." He swung a fist at her, simultaneously bucking off the bed as someone tried to brace his waist. Voices rose at the doorway as some newcomers stepped in to the room, but Sakura was busy dodging limbs.

Suddenly Kakashi's eye rolled away from her, and his struggles changed. Instead of fighting aimlessly to ward them off, he seemed determined to get out of the bed. Sakura, Tsunade, and the three other medics fought valiantly to keep him in place as he strained towards the doorway, his gaze finally come to rest, fixated intensely on wherever it was he was trying to get to. As she made another fruitless grab for her sensei's arm, Sakura looked up, curious to see what he wanted. Perhaps it was something that could help calm him.

She was stunned to see Iruka-sensei calmly pushing his way past a frozen Naruto, his expression as serene as if there were nothing at all happening in the room. The young brunette side stepped Tsunade as she made a grab for a leg, deftly avoiding the appendage himself before stepping closer. Then he brought the entire room to a standstill with his next actions.

Slipping under the arms of a struggling medic, he brought his knee up on to the side of the bed. Then he levered the rest of his body over and crawled up the thrashing man's body. There was an instant change. It was like all the fight left Kakashi's body; the thing he had been straining to get to had come to him. With a choked off sob, the attacking limbs wrapped around Iruka and pulled him close. Calmly, Iruka laid down on the bed with the older man, placing his head on a well-muscled shoulder, and patting the heaving chest with one hand.

"I'm here," was all he said. Kakashi whimpered and closed his eyes, all movement in his body subsiding to a steady all-over tremor.

For a long time, there was silence in the room. The medic team stared at the two men in the bed. The Hokage raised both eyebrows. Sakura traded astonished looks with Naruto. None of them dared to do more than breathe, lest they break the sudden calm. Then Kakashi spoke.

"Ru…" he croaked.

Iruka patted his chest again, drawing small circles. "I'm here," he said again.

"It hurts," Kakashi's voice sounded far away, like he still wasn't entirely present.

"I'll stay with you until it stops hurting." Iruka sounded calm. He needed to be calm.

"Tell me you love me." Kakashi couldn't hear the quiet gasps. His entire world was narrowed to the pain and the man in his arms.

"I love you," Iruka told him obligingly. It had the sound of words spoken many times, words that he meant every time.

Kakashi sighed, and went on trembling. The pain hadn't changed. It still felt like dying and he didn't know if it would ever stop. But it was bearable now. He had found his center, the calm in his storm. He had found his island of safety, and he would cling to it for all he was worth. He had Iruka; he could do anything.