The Stray
Chapter 1
He was walking through the woods, feeling lonely. A man who worked with him for nearly three years in the academy died while on a mission the previous week, and Iruka had spent the morning of his day off attending the memorial service. His walk carried him to the Memorial Stone, where his fingers rubbed over the engraved names in sad arcs. He let his hand fall away, deep in thought, unaware he'd been staring at the stone for nearly an hour.
The fellow teacher, the one who had died...he'd left behind a wife and a six-year-old daughter. He was popular in the academy, and quite a few of his students attended the ceremony. Many villagers came, too, as he was friendly and well-liked by most that met him. He'd written a book of poetry that had been published before he died, and everyone said at the service that it was sad to see such talent lost.
It was a little easy to pretend the memorial service would be like his own at first, when his time came, but then Iruka began to have doubts. There were many things he hadn't accomplished in his life. His stack of things he wanted to do was impressive, but he never seemed to get around to any of it. His students thought highly of him, but he didn't know how many of them would make the time to come to his memorial service.
An image flashed through his mind of a small ceremony with only a handful of people he didn't know that well, without Naruto there even, because he was away training, and Iruka was alone again, even at his own funeral. It was horrible of him, he thought, to want to leave behind a grief-stricken wife and a mourning child, but having such precious people in life—wasn't that important?
Maybe that was the sort of thing that made life worth living, for all the pain and heartbreak it caused.
Yes, he realized, his walk taking him further into the woods, beyond the border walls of Konoha, he was feeling very lonely, and he was thinking about the fact that thirty years was not enough for him to do anything worth mentioning in a funeral service. This was when he found him.
Iruka ignored his ninja instincts, telling him to be cautious, to be suspicious. Maybe it was his dark mood that made him think so little of his safety, but when Iruka saw the viciously battered enemy ninja lying half-concealed in the underbrush, he rushed to find a pulse instead of reaching for a kunai.
"Hey, can you hear me?" he asked. The ninja, a beautiful ghost-like man, blinked hauntingly blue eyes up at him. He wore a mask over the lower part of his face, and Iruka worried it was impeding his breathing. He delicately peeled it down, crouching a bit helplessly at the dying man's side. Even bruised and battered, the man was achingly beautiful. Iruka wondered what sort of people would be disappointed when the man didn't make it home. He gently took hold of the man's bloodied hand.
The hand squeezed his own, with failing strength. Iruka felt a lump settle in his throat, and he looked around a bit helplessly.
"No...hospital..." the man said, his voice a badly broken whisper. Iruka shook his head, feeling the pressure of tears behind his eyes.
"No, I won't take you to the hospital. You're...you're going to be okay. Don't worry," Iruka comforted. He didn't even know the strange ninja, but all he could think about was the people who would be waiting on him wherever he came from, worried about him, praying that if he had to die, then at least it would be quick and painless.
From looking at his wounds, Iruka judged that the man had been dying in the woods for hours.
"Cold," the man said, his lips tinged blue. "P-p-please...w-warm," he begged. Looking down on the mysterious man in his final moments, Iruka allowed himself to pretend the world of ninja did not exist. For just a moment, something human that had long been buried broke free and said, unwilling to be ignored, he's just a man like you.
And then the question, how would you like to be treated, if the roles were reversed?
Not particularly mindful of any injuries—it was going to hurt no matter how he did it—Iruka picked the man up in his arms.
"It's alright now. I'll take you home and get you warm," he promised. The icy blue eyes closed, and a puff of dirty, bloody silver hair tickled at his chin. Broken in his arms, the man twitched with occasional shivers, but didn't move. He was completely limp.
Slipping past the guards (he knew exactly where in the woods they patrolled, after all) Iruka had the strange man lying on his worn-in mattress in less than a half-hour. The man passed out, though he was still sluggishly clinging to life.
Iruka's house felt a little less empty with the dying man for silent company. He stripped him and cleaned his wounds, took his time washing away dirt and grime, set up his winter space heater on the bed-side table and tucked the man under three heavy blankets.
When he realized he'd been staring at the man for hours, thinking way too much about things that were dangerous for a ninja to think about, Iruka decided to grade some papers.
So he graded, and sipped some tea, and waited for the man to die.
Then the thought occurred to him—what if he survived the night? So Iruka wrote a note saying he was not feeling well, the first time he'd requested off in years, and carried it to the academy and placed it in the basket for the substitutes to find in the morning. He didn't bother with lesson plans. He felt disconnected. A small part of his brain helpfully informed him that it was possible he was having a breakdown.
Iruka ordered some ramen on the way home, only enough for one, and went back to his house to wait.
~*~
Kakashi knew exactly where he was. When he depleted his chakra, when his body couldn't take much more abuse, his mind helpfully shut down and he found himself in a quiet, dark place, where he could focus on healing.
He'd always healed exceptionally fast—some even considered it a technique, though he had no idea how he did it. With practiced ease, he focused on what needed to be healed and took his time, in no particular rush. It helped that the cold was gone. When he'd first reached his healing place, he'd been too cold to focus on anything, and he'd worried for a second that it might really be his last moments in life.
But then he'd gotten warm somehow, and thinking about being warm and comfortable summoned vague images of a man with the kindest eyes Kakashi had ever seen below a forehead protector.
So Kakashi slowly pieced himself back together.
When he woke up, it was early morning. He still felt the burn of wounds not entirely closed, and the pounding headache that always accompanied chakra depletion, but all things considered, he was in a much better place than he'd been the previous night, shivering to death out in the woods.
He was secured in a cocoon of blankets, and nestled against his side was his rescuer. The Leaf ninja still wore his uniform, though his hair was loose and the forehead protector was gone. Kakashi felt the warmth from the small electric heater, and noticed the empty tea cup nearby, and the messy scatter of scrolls at the foot of the bed. They appeared to be essays, or perhaps mission reports.
Kakashi's eyes were drawn back to the strange ninja, who had taken him in when he should have killed him, or brought him to his Hokage for questioning. Instead, he'd bandaged him and bundled him up, keeping watch over him until he fell asleep beside him.
What kind of ninja was so trusting, and so kind?
Kakashi wondered.
While he was absorbed in these thoughts, the sleepy man's soft brown eyes blinked open, and he cuddled closer to Kakashi's side for a moment before he seemed to realize where he was. He sat up, breathing a little too fast, his fingers racing to Kakashi's neck.
Kakashi had manged to feign sleep just in time, and lay perfectly still as the man found his pulse and breathed a sigh of relief. Kakashi kept his eyes closed as the man got off the bed, tucked him in more securely, and then left the room for a moment. Kakashi heard the rush of water and the sounds of teeth being brushed. Strangely routine, and somehow soothing to hear.
His oddly kind rescuer returned to the room, leaning over him. He pulled the covers back after a moment, and Kakashi faked unconsciousness as the man's gentle hands applied fresh bandages and rubbed on healing salve.
"You look so much better today. I didn't think you'd make it through the night," he said gently. His voice sounded nothing but relieved, and Kakashi drank in the concern he could hear.
"I don't know what came over me when I found you. Pity, I guess. Even a ninja can't be strong all the time." It was almost as if the man sensed Kakashi's need to know how he ended up in a Leaf ninja's bed. Kakashi's confusion was not, however, abated—not in the least.
And then the man did something completely surprising, and it resulted in Kakashi falling in love, for the first time in his life.
The man gently lowered his lips to Kakashi's cheek, and kissed him. Then he soothed the sheets back over him, added a few more blankets, and left him be.
~*~
Iruka began to worry that he'd gone off the deep end. He knew all about ninjas having breakdowns—knew they came in strange forms sometimes.
He knew bringing a dying enemy ninja home, nursing him back to health, and then kissing him goodnight and tucking him in like a small child were all very good signs that he was losing his sanity. His mind raced with logical explanations. He'd been alone too long. The funeral had upset him more than he thought. He'd latched onto the dying man in a moment of vulnerability.
All of it was perfectly logical, and yet none of it quite explained why there was an enemy ninja sleeping in his bed.
Iruka knew he needed to report to the Hokage, he knew, but he just didn't. He made his favorite breakfast instead, and then he tidied up his bedroom a bit, and then he took a long bubble bath.
When he returned to the ninja's side, it was impossible to think he was on the brink of death. His color was good, his breathing was smooth and steady, and there was no expression of pain on his beautiful face. He was just sleeping quietly, innocently, and Iruka pretended for a moment that he was his, and that he belonged there, and that he'd never leave.
He sat at the man's side and pulled the blankets back enough to find his hand. He held it.
"Can you wake up?" Iruka asked gently.
~*~
The idea was crazy, but Kakashi was a genius, and quite accustomed to crazy ideas popping into his head at the strangest of times.
You've found your owner.
He opened his eyes. His rescuer looked adorably startled and smitten at the same time.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I...err...found you in the woods. I thought you were dying," his rescuer replied. Kakashi felt a little confused—his memory was failing to tell him exactly how he'd ended up in Leaf territory, though he certainly remembered who'd put him in such horrible shape. Now, though, that didn't seem to matter much.
"Who are you?" he asked. That was important. He needed to know the name of the person he fancied himself to be in love with. Kakashi had never felt something similar before. It was as if he'd waited all his life for him, not really believing there could be such a person out there, only to wake up in his arms. His person blinked in surprise, adorably confused.
"I'm Iruka," he said. Kakashi smiled. It was a good name for his person.
"I've waited for you. I'm glad you finally found me. I've been a stray for a long time," Kakashi said, before sleep claimed him again and he was whisked back to his healing place. Perhaps he was more wounded than he thought.
Iruka.
He remembered of all the dogs he'd taken in over the years, strays that wandered the streets cold and hungry. He'd turned them into ninja dogs, and kept them with him always through the magic of scroll techniques. With each one he found, he recognized the same look in their eyes—confusion, wariness, but ultimately hope. Instant love. For so long they'd watched other dogs be loved and cared for by their precious people, while they had been left alone and forgotten. For them, finally, Kakashi was their person.
For Kakashi, Iruka was his. It made perfect sense, when he thought about it.
A/N: Not much to say about this one – I know it's pretty weird, but sometimes weird things turn me on, and this idea just pressed my buttons. Thought it might press yours, too, so I thought I'd share. ^__^