A/N: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME (Literally) The last chapter at last! OMG I'm so happy I could scream!

Human Nature.

Chapter Twenty One: Unnatural Selection.

When Iruka came to the first thing he noticed was all the white. The second thing he noticed was that he was lying flat on a bed, a very uncomfortable bed. The brunette shifted onto his side ignoring the screaming ache of his muscles and the tug of something sharp in his arm. Drowsy eyes looked down at the limb and noticed the tube protruding from his arm.

IV drip.

That meant he had somehow ended up in a hospital.

Closing his eyes he tried to focus on the last memory he had before waking up. It was hazy but he remembered being grabbed from behind by a man in body armor, a gloved hand sliding across his mouth to silence him and Kakashi running in and...

Oh gods, where was Kakashi?

Heart rate spiking with worry Iruka sat up as quickly as he could pulling off the various monitors and leads attached to his person, causing the nearby machines to go into meltdown. A shrill alarm pierced the air as the heart monitor flat-lined and the room was suddenly awash with nurses and doctors ready to leap into action. They didn't look overly impressed with Iruka's escape attempt and immediately wrestled his hands away from the delicate equipment. The brunette fought against them but he was still physically weakened so they quickly overpowered him.

Iruka squirmed under their grip still not giving up; shouting as loud as his ravaged throat would allow him that was until a familiar voice cut across the hubbub.

"I hope that isn't how you treat all of your patients."

The low, dulcet tones of Ibiki drew the medics to attention and they all had the decency to look embarrassed.

"He was being... difficult Sir."

The large man strode into the room cobalt eyes blazing.

"Of course he's being difficult; he's just been through an extremely traumatic experience. I think difficult is relatively tame in comparison to how bad things could be."

The assortment of doctors and nurses scowled slightly but didn't offer any back chat and reluctantly let go of Iruka's limbs. The brunette hastily sat up hiding the wince and turned wide eyes up at his boss.

"Morino-san? What are you doing here?"

The scarred man narrowed his eyes at the rooms other occupants and tilted his head in a clear gesture of dismissal. The medical took the opportunity and fled the room leaving the two men alone and Ibiki closed the door behind them, giving them complete privacy.

"Military doctors 'ey? No bedside manners at all."

Iruka's brow furrowed in confusion still baffled to the other man's presence.

"Why are you here?" He reiterated lips curling down into a frown.

The question was blunt and to the point and although Ibiki had been expecting it he still found himself at a loss for words. Silently he stalked over to the customary bedside chair and plopped himself down, the chair creaking under the sudden pressure. Iruka tried to quell the worry in his chest, his employer was usually the strong, silent type but he was never this silent and it was grating across his nerves like a cheese-grater. Something was wrong, something had to be wrong.

"Ibiki-san..."

The larger male started slightly as if he'd been drifting in his own thoughts; he turned dark eyes on the brunette and let out a small sigh.

"Everybody's alive Iruka so stop your worrying..."

The heaviness in Iruka's chest lifted slightly. Alive, alive was good, Ibiki continued looking uncomfortable.

"As to why I'm here... Well that has a few answers."

A moment of awkward silence passed between the two and although Iruka desperately wanted to know he knew that pushing the other man was not the way to get answers.

"Firstly imagine my surprise when your next door neighbor shows up your little brood in tow..." Iruka did and chuckled softly "… Saying that Hatake had told her to come to me."

The chuckle died in Iruka's throat his eyes going wide.

"He… what?"

"Iruka... Don't freak out we had a little chat before he decided to try and break you out of the Kyubbi headquarters. He must have figured he'd been compromised and needed a safe place to send them."

The brunette tried to wrap his head around that particular piece of information but found that his sluggish brain was having none of it. He couldn't for the life of hinder figure out why Kakashi would trust a complete stranger... Unless, unless Kakashi knew Ibiki.

"You knew Kakashi didn't you, before all this..."

Ibiki sighed wishing that the other man wasn't so damned observant.

"It's complicated Iruka..."

"Then simplify it." The brunette shot back, clearly not in the mood for games.

There was another awkward silence.

"I was a member of ANBU, part of specially formed team to hunt down one of Kyubbi's notorious assassin's codenamed 'Wolf'."

Iruka knew he shouldn't have been shocked by the information, it was a small point in consideration to everything else that had been thrust upon him but he still couldn't hide the small gasp that escaped his throat. Ibiki let out a mirthless chuckle and shook his head.

"He was slippery character, ruthless and professional and an eternal pain in our sides, there were a few close calls when we almost got him but he always just managed to evade our grasp… and then one day he just upped and vanished. We were informed that Kyubbi had finally seen him as the dangerous liability he was and disposed of him, which of course we now know was false. But the team disbanded and we moved on, until today when an anonymous tip was called in..."

The brunette lay back down as his head spun and blinked at the ceiling in an attempt to clear his head, it didn't work, the stark whiteness of the ceiling causing his brain to throb further. The information whizzed through his mind and he didn't quite know what to say to this so he just kept his mouth tightly shut. Iruka was pretty certain that the scarred man had revealed information that he probably shouldn't have and he was grateful for Ibiki doing so but it caused his heart to twist painfully as the full levity of the situation hit home.

They had gone from one from one prison to another.

"Where is Kakashi?"

The younger man's voice was weary and Ibiki let out a sigh.

"He's in a secure room just down the hall, number nineteen. I left him to come and check on you."

"Can I see him?"

"I don't know if that…" Ibiki started but was cut across by an angry voice.

"If you dare say 'I don't think that is a good idea' I swear to every deity I will make your life and every other person's in this facility a living hell."

There was such a steely edge to the brunette's voice that the scarred man didn't doubt for a second that he would make good on his threat, so he rather wisely halted the flow of words. Ibiki quickly reconsidered his options and knowing that Iruka would not take 'no' for an answer he merely replied…

"I'll see what I can do…"

It wasn't a promise, far from it but it was enough to give Iruka a small kernel of hope and he clung to it fiercely as Ibiki continued to talk.

"… But you need to rest in the mean time. Your body is still recovering from all the shit they pumped through you and until you're rested I won't allow you anywhere near him. So don't be getting any ideas."

The brunette was about o stubbornly argue that he was fine and didn't need any more rest when a jaw-cracking yawn swept through his body. Flushing he narrowed his eyes at his boss, daring the older man to pass comment. Ibiki just smirked in response, ignoring the blatant challenge.

"See… Your body agrees with me."

Iruka couldn't muster up a suitably barbed reply to that and just grumbled about his mutinous body under his breath as his eyes once again slipped shut. Within minutes he was snoring lightly and the scarred man let out a small sigh of relief that could have gone a lot, lot worse. He had honestly expected Iruka to wake up fighting just nowhere near as soon as he had and that could now cause some complications. Making sure that the brunette was deep in slumber once more Ibiki stood and silently slipped out the room nodding imperceptibly to the guard as he passed.

He walked down the sterile corridors toward the room at the end of the corridor again he nodded to the numerous guards standing to attention outside the heavily fortified door. Ibiki walked inside without so much as a second of hesitation and none of the guards went to stop him, knowing that it was way above their pay-grade. The door slid shut behind Ibiki and he waited a moment before stepping forward into the padded room toward the room's sole occupant.

Laid out on an adjustable gurney and hooked up to all manner of drips and machines was Hatake, his pale skin in stark contrast with the off white robe. Ibiki tried to hide the wince at how god-awful the other man looked but he didn't do it very well, his years of being out of the field leaving him somewhat rusty at hiding his emotions. He pulled up a chair and sat down next to the incapacitated man, trying to ignore the chemical smell lingering on the man's skin. Ibiki stared at his long-time nemesis wondering if he was aware of his presence through the chemically induced coma he'd been put in, he seriously doubted it though.

Finally deciding that enough time had passed he palmed a small box from his pocket, keeping it hidden from view and discreetly flipped the switch. He turned his dark eyes up to the various security cameras' watching as the 'active' light flickered and then died on all of them.

'Good, the feed-back loop and scrambler are working.'

"We're alone Hatake… No one can hear us, see us, it's just you and me…"

Ibiki went into his inside pocket and pulled out a syringe full of a clear liquid, staring at it intently before uncapping it and pushing it into one of the many IV drips hooked up to unconscious man.

"I'm doing this for Iruka; he deserves to be happy so I hope he won't hate me too much for doing this. But in the long run he will see I did it for the best and for what it's worth I'm sorry it had to be this way."

Iruka awoke to the sound of the alert alarms going off and the stampeding of people outside his room, he glanced at the clock seeing that he had barely been asleep for an hour and sat up straining his ears to catch a snatch of what was going on.

He didn't have to wait too long.

"What the hell is going on?"

There was a 'humph' from one of the passerby's and he addressed who Iruka assumed to be a guard outside his door.

"The guy they brought in, he's gone into cardiac arrest they're trying to revive him now."

Iruka felt his heart stop in his chest.

They couldn't be talking about…

He couldn't be…

Suddenly finding strength in his legs the brunette swung his legs over the side of the bed, roughly pulling out the IV still attached to his arm and biting back a small scream of pain. Gingerly he stood up, pleasantly surprised when his legs only wobbled slightly and didn't just dump him straight on the floor. Taking small measured steps he made his way to the door as fast as he could and pulled it open. The guard instantly spun round a look of shock on his face and Iruka didn't even hesitate, he raised his palm and slammed it into the man's nose causing him to back away, clutching it to stop the sudden spurt of blood.

He moved quickly down the corridor toward the source of the commotion, heart pounding wildly in his chest. He was genuinely surprised that not a single person stopped him until he reached the door of room nineteen, when he ran into a startled Ibiki who instantly grabbed hold of his arm.

"You shouldn't be here."

Iruka rounded on him furiously, emotions raw on his features.

"Let go of me… I need to see him…"

The scarred man's dark eyes looked sorrowful.

"You'll just be in the way Iruka…"

Anger exploded through the brunette, he was so sick and tired of people telling him what he could and couldn't do. He'd just been through hell and back surely he deserved some kind of break, he just wanted to see Kakashi was that too much to ask?

"NO! Let me go! I'm going in there!"

He pushed against Ibiki with all of his strength but the man remained an unmovable, unyielding wall in front of him holding gently but firmly as he fought.

"Iruka. Stop. You're just going to hurt yourself."

Iruka continued to fight not willing to give up so easily, he twisted in the other mans grasp fists pounding against his broad chest. That was until the door behind them opened and a solemn looking doctor came out.

"I'm sorry Morino-san... We did all we could."

The world seemed to crumble around the brunette as he froze on the spot, surely they were joking? Kakashi couldn't… He just couldn't be…

Knees that had previously easily held his weight shuddered and faltered causing Iruka to plummet toward the floor barely stopped in time as Ibiki tightened his hold and took the strain. The doctor looked a little shocked but remained silent his face solemn as he watched his superior carefully handle the other man. Ibiki carefully lowered the brunette to the ground as sobs began to wrack the man's still recovering frame, uttering soothing words into his ears. Not that Iruka heard him; his mind had gone completely blank as soon as the doctor's words had registered. All he felt was a gaping numbness where his heart was that was rapidly spreading down his body. He could sense that he was shaking but it felt like it was a million miles away as if his consciousness was trapped outside his body just watching the event unfold. It was as he felt a weightlessness steal over him that he realized that Ibiki had lifted him into his arms and was carrying him back to his room.

"No… Please…"

Ibiki stopped and looked down at the man in his arms and tried to hide the wince of pity as the brunette babbled, clearly in shock.

"Need to... See, please 'Biki... Please."

The scarred man was suddenly reminded of the lost and desperate young man Iruka had been and he found he couldn't deny his request as much as he wanted to. He turned on his heel and headed back toward the room amidst the stares from his subordinates but he truly didn't care. He strode into the crowded but deathly silent room and shot a dark look at the occupants still milling around. Taking the dismissal for what it was the doctors quietly left leaving the two of them alone once again.

Ibiki carried the shaking brunette to the bedside chair and gently set him down. Iruka just looked blankly at the friendmancorpse laid before him and tried not to break down completely. Tentatively he reached out and entwined his hand with the cold still one on the bed squeezing gently even though he knew there would be no response.

"I'm so sorry..."

The words were choked with grief, guilt and sorrow.

"This is all my fault, if I'd been more careful none of this would have ever happened and you'd still be here."

Iruka's voice broke off into heart wrenching sobs and Ibiki wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders.

"This is not your fault Iruka; there was nothing you could have done."

The words were meant to be a solace Iruka knew that but how could he find peace when he knew they were a lie. He knew he'd, admittedly unintentionally caused all this and in doing so possibly lost one of the best things to ever happen to him. How could he find solace when his hands were so stained with red?

The funeral was a very small affair, it appeared that the life of an assassin didn't leave one well off in regards to friends. It was a sorrowful Iruka, Gai, Tsunade and the children that stood huddled against the elements in the small graveyard. Not a single member of the group spoke, none of them really knowing what to say and Iruka had to admit that he preferred it that way.

Time trickled by and slowly the group dispersed, Tsunade was the first to go a solemn nod in the brunette's direction the only gesture needed. Gai was next his usual vibrancy completely gone, he patted Iruka on the shoulder with a sad, and knowing look on face as he walked away shoulders slumped.

Iruka didn't really want to leave but the kids were really starting to feel the chill and he didn't want them getting sick.

"Come on, let's go..."

Naruto turned wide, watery blue eyes up at his brother, teeth chattering as he spoke.

"We don't have to go Nii-san, not if you don't want too... We'll be okay for a while."

The brunette couldn't help but smile and he shook his head.

"No, we should go. The last thing we need is for you guys to get ill."

The children looked as if they wanted to argue but then decided against it and the five of them slowly made their way toward the cemeteries exit. It was as they approached the steel gates that a figure stepped out of the shadows, he was dressed in a clean pressed suit and was carrying a briefcase that seemed to be overflowing with papers.

"Mr. Umino?"

Iruka froze on the spot and subconsciously drew the children closer to him.

"Who is asking?"

The man smiled a little and held out his hand.

"My name is Jones, I'm a lawyer."

The brunette did not move to shake his hand and instead fixed him a stern glare.

"I thought there were no legal ramifications from what happened? They said I'd been caught at the wrong place at the wrong time..."

The lawyer genuinely seemed confused by his outburst and held his hands in an 'I surrender' gesture.

"Mr. Umino I believe you have misunderstood me, I'm here on behalf of the late Mr. Hatake."

Brown eyes went wide.

"W-What?" The single word question was croaked.

Jones sighed slightly and opened his briefcase pulling out a stack of important looking documents.

"Mr. Hatake named you as the sole beneficiary to his estate in his will and I'm here to ensure to transaction runs smoothly."

Iruka's jaw dropped and he struggled to find the words, when had Kakashi found the time to do something like this?

And more importantly why?

It was at this moment the brunette realized that Kakashi hadn't been expecting to survive this situation and even if he had expected to then he was taking no chances. It made Iruka's heart ache and he fought back the tears he'd desperately tried to suppress the entire day.

"Um... Mr. Umino if this is a bad time we can rearrange this."

The brunette nodded as he battled with his emotions.

"I-I would appreciate that..."

Jones gave a quick nod a sympathetic look on his face and handed the other man a business card before walking slowly away. Iruka tucked the small card inside his jacket and gave a weak smile to the children as he herded them toward the waiting taxi. He'd deal with this later when the guilt didn't make him feel so numb.

~Three months later~

"Nii-san! Nii-san! You got mail!"

Iruka looked up from the steaming cup of coffee and into Naruto's big blue eyes as he waved the envelope around. As much as he loved his little brother it was far, far too early to be dealing with that level of volume, apparently the new additions to their little family agreed.

"Pipe down Dobe! It is far too early for that racket!"

The blonde ignored Sasuke and stuck out his tongue, still running around waving the letter. Dark eyes flashing at the slight the Uchiha dove for his 'brother' in an attempt to snatch the missive, this quickly turned into a small fight which Iruka was forced to break up. Scolding the two boys he reclaimed his seat at the table and turned the letter over and squinted at the awful yet somehow familiar writing. Curious he ripped open the envelope and pulled out its contents.

It was a photograph.

It was a picture of a beach house on a beach that Iruka didn't remember ever seeing but for some reason looked familiar. He turned it over and scrawled in the same messy script were four words.

Wish you were here.

Now officially confused the brunette placed the photo on the table and finished his coffee deciding to deal with this little mystery another time.

This carried on for several weeks, every day the same photo adorned with the same scruffily written message arrived at Iruka's door and it was starting to drive the brunette a little crazy. The more he saw that location the more he was convinced he had seen it somewhere before and it wasn't until he was doing some spring (Or should that be summer) cleaning that he found the answer.

The brunette had been sorting through a stack of paperwork that had been given to him by Kakashi's lawyers. He hadn't really looked through much of it, the sting of loss still being a little too prominent but the lawyers had given him the general gist of it. Kakashi had been quite wealthy and owned a number of (as they put it) choice real-estate one of which he and the kids were living in now.

So he'd been sorting through the many folders when he'd knocked one to the floor and the contents had spilled out. Grumbling Iruka bent down to pick up the scattered papers and it was then he noticed the corner of a photo, a familiar looking photo. Eyes wide he plucked the image from beneath the scattered papers, his heart hammering in his chest.

It was the same photo.

So Kakashi had owned the beach house, that at least solved the mystery of where he had seen it before now all he had to figure out was the why someone was trying to lead him there. He gazed at the picture a while longer, it really was a lovely house sat on the most pristine beach he had ever seen he could just imagine the waves lapping against his toes as they dug into the soft sand and it filled him with a sense of longing.

Perhaps it's time we had a vacation?

Mind made up the brunette strode into the lounge to tell the kids his idea knowing that they wouldn't object.

The drive up to the small coastal town had been fairly uneventful, a montage of trees, fields and mountains but as the town came into sight Iruka felt excitement bubble up in chest both at the thought of the vacation and at hopefully solving the little mystery surrounding the photos. Slowly he pulled up in the small car and parked a little away from the house itself the jolt of the stop causing the slumbering kids in the back to rouse into life.

Rolling his eyes at the instantaneous bickering that broke out between Neji, Naruto and Sasuke he opened the car door and promptly escaped the chaos for a calmer environment with Hinata following closely behind. Soon realizing that their guardian had left the three boys ceased their squabble and clambered out, over one another.

The beach-house was in a lot better condition than Iruka had thought, in fact it looked as if it had been recently been given a fresh lick of paint. Suspicions raised the brunette told the children to stay and wait by the car and walked toward the front door. He pulled the key out of his pocket and opened the door as silently as he could before stepping inside. The first thing he noticed was the cleanliness of the place, it was pristine, sterile almost. The second thing he noticed was the smell.

Was that bacon?

Confused and worried Iruka made his way toward the kitchen, palm clasped around the pen knife he had taken to carrying after his run in with Kyubbi He didn't like being caught vulnerable, having learned his lessons the hard way. He moved silently and approached the door which was mostly closed over, the smell of cooking food washing over him. He took a deep breath and readied himself to accost the squatter.

"I can hear you brain whirring from here Iruka, why don't you just come in."

In the hall Iruka froze at that voice.

It was impossible…

Feeling his whole body begin to shake the brunette knew he had to move but whether it was to escape or proceed he couldn't decide, fear and hope gripped him in equal measure and he internally fought down both emotions.

"Come on Iruka I haven't got all day, the bacon is going to burn."

Resolve strengthened Iruka pushed the door open and faced the owner of the voice. Miss-matched eyes twinkled in amusement as a pale hand brushed slightly longer silvery hair out of his face and the brunette saw red.

"You son of a bitch!"

He stormed over to the counter and punched Kakashi square in the jaw.

"I thought you were dead you asshole, I saw your body! I was at your funeral!"

Iruka continued to whale on the apparently resurrected man all the grief and anger that had been stored up for over three months being unleashed. Finally Kakashi had had enough and he grabbed hold of the man's wrists and pinned them to his side before leaning forward and planting a firm kiss on his lips. The brunette squawked slightly but didn't pull away and he soon lost himself in the kiss just happy to have the other man back.

A shocked gasp brought the two men back to reality and they turned to face four very startled children, all of whom looked as if they'd seen a ghost.

"Um…" Kakashi started eloquently.

"Urgh we did not need to see that!..." Naruto grumbled, recovering spectacularly from the shock. "You two need to get a room."

Iruka blushed slightly and Kakashi leered playfully at the children.

"We have a room you brats, you just happen to be in it."

Naruto huffed indignantly and was about to retort when Neji and Sasuke in a show of maturity realized that the two adults needed to talk and slapped a hand over the blonde's mouth and dragged him out the kitchen.

Hinata gave a weak smile "We'll be playing on the beach if you need us."

The two adults nodded and watched as the timid young girl followed her adoptive 'brothers' out of the kitchen. Iruka turned back to Kakashi a solemn look on his face.

"How, how did this happen?"

The silver-haired man looked a little sheepish and released Iruka's wrists to scratch the back of his head.

"It was Morino, he knew that I wasn't going to get out of ANBU clutches and I guess he figured I deserved a second chance. While I was under he gave me something he called the 'Juliet serum' that made me appear to be dead for 24 hours and then he smuggled me out of the morgue telling me to run for it."

Iruka gaped and mentally vowed to thank Ibiki the next time he saw him.

"But what was with all the secrecy? Why couldn't you just tell me what had happened?"

There was a sigh.

"ANBU were still watching you, Morino had managed to convince them you were innocent but they were still looking for a scapegoat since I had 'died'. I had to wait until they left you alone, I'm sorry it was the only way."

The brunette nodded slowly and wrapped his arms around the other man, heart feeling lighter than it had in what seemed like forever. He buried his head in the crook of the other mans neck and took a breath, inhaling the other mans scent as if to convince himself that he wasn't dreaming.

"I missed you."

Iruka could feel the other man smile against his skin.

"I missed you too."

"So no more surprises?"

Kakashi chuckled "Not if I can help it, you're not getting rid of me now."

The words were music to Iruka's ears and he was quite to content to just stay there and bask in the joyful feeling in his heart but then something caught his attention. Pulling back he furrowed his brows in confusion.

"Kakashi, what's that smell?"

Red and grey eyes went wide as the pungent aroma of charred meat filled the air.

"Shit the bacon!"

~The End~

A/N: OMG it over, it's finally FINALLY OVER! It's taken me FOUR years to write this and I can't thank everyone enough for all the support that everyone has given me throughout this whole Endeavour. You have all been amazing and wonderful and I should really stop gushing like a fan girl now. But either way thank you. *Bows*

Anywho Smaell out for the last time on this fic. *Squees*