Title: As the World Falls

Author: Emmy Kay

Summary: When Iruka faces the Goblin King, who will fall? Goblin King!Kakashi. KakaIru set in the world of Labyrinth. Ficlet.

Notes: For aythli.

Prompt: Goblin King!Kakashi

Disclaimer: Naruto and all affiliated characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi. This story is written without permission and for personal/fan/nonprofit entertainment purposes only.

It had just taken a single bite of the peach, the peach that Aoba had handed him, and Iruka had suddenly felt dizzy. Dizzy enough to have to sit down, dizzy enough to put down his head, dizzy enough to close his eyes.

After the feeling had passed, he lifted his head and looked around. Nothing was as he remembered. What -?

He was in a corner of an enormous gold and crystal ballroom, masked couples dressed in ornate fabrics of satin and velvet passed by in a rustling mass, waltzing to an unseen orchestra. Iruka could see a high dias at the other side of the room, the light flooding down upon a great golden throne, with a large trunk at its foot and a tall clock set high into its impossibly tall back.

He stood, and realized what he was wearing - a white silk suit, fitted to his body, embroidered and laid over with braids of the faintest grey, the formal jacket he was wearing was dripping with seed pearls. As he turned his head, he heard the faintest tinkling noise. Reaching up to his head, he touched a delicate hairpin, from whose end dangled miniscule strips of metal. As his hand curled to snatch it off his hair, a voice stopped him.

"Don't." The voice was deeply masculine, familiar, the tone intimate.

Iruka turned to see who might it have been. His only clue was the couple in front of him, the woman looked over the deep blue shoulder of her tall, silver-haired partner, and looked away haughtily, her mask shading her eyes.

Iruka's hand dropped slightly, touching his hair. His hair was loose, spread over his shoulders, but dressed with multiple hairpins, and elaborate ornaments that felt much like twining leaves, dragonflies, and flowers. He followed the woman, intending to get closer to the man with the deep voice.

He made his way through the crowded room, catching sight of the couple as they wend their way through the crowds. He saw the woman's back emerge from behind a great crystal pillar, and then he saw her partner pass her off. All around the room were amusements, tables piled with food, masked people laughing and flirting, playing cards, bowing elaborately toward each other, dancing and dancing and dancing.

The man looked straight at Iruka, his mismatched eyes melancholy, and Iruka held his breath. Kakashi. The Goblin King. Another partner, a man in brilliant black and red, swept in front of Iruka and turned Kakashi about in a circle. Regardless of his new partner, Kakashi's eyes still watched him.

Iruka stepped forward, uncertain, but directly into the line of Kakashi and his partner. Kakashi was reluctantly released. Kakashi himself showed no hesitation in claiming Iruka.

All the masked people seemed to stop to stare at them. To be held by the Goblin King like this, with their hands on the other's shoulder and back, to feel the firm shape of Kakashi's shoulder under his hand, the heat emanating from Kakashi's body...it was beyond anything Iruka had ever dreamed. The music was louder, more seductive in its bass line. They began to dance, perfectly in time, even though Iruka knew nothing of this kind of music, didn't know how to dance a single step.

Iruka found himself spinning about the room, faster and faster, his heart in his throat. The faces, the masks seemed to blur into each other. He felt dizzy, suddenly sick, and he pulled away.

In front of him rose a large chest. It opened without his assistance, and within it sat a small dove, who blinked its dark eyes as it awoke, and then fluttered away, only to be caught by its ankles by its handler.

Iruka turned. He didn't belong here. He needed to leave.

He saw Kakashi out of the corner of his eye, folding up an ivory fan. He suddenly noticed the people who were fighting, hysterical, angry, the stains on the table, the spilled things on the floor.

Where was the exit? How did he get out of here? He made what seemed like several circuits about the room, catching tantalizing glimpses of Kakashi, feeling Kakashi behind him, wanting and dreading at the same time.

He rushed toward the dias, a single thought in his head. The throne. There has to be something on the other side-! Kakashi materialized in front of him, the deep sapphires on his jacket glinting in the light. He extended his hand.

Iruka opened his mouth, uncertain what he was going to say, almost certain he would yield to this, the King's desire, when the clock above the throne began to gong the hour. Iruka reeled, dropping to his knees, clutching the chest. What was he trying to remember? Finally, he flung open the lid and there, wrapped in his ratty blankie, lay Naruto, sleeping the hard sleep of an exhausted teen. Iruka pushed the throne until it toppled over. He barely had time to snatch up Naruto as the crystal pillars and glass walls of the room shattered.

And into the night, they fell.

"You broke my throne." Kakashi stepped out from behind the shadows of the bare, rocky place they had landed.

"Sorry," Iruka replied.

"I see you managed to find the boy." Kakashi gestured to Naruto's small form draped in Iruka's lap. He lounged gracefully against a boulder, his cloak sweeping gently aside to display his crossed ankles all the way up to his fitted shirt. Iruka's eyes saw all that and the considerable assets in between.

Iruka clutched the still-sleeping Naruto to him. "Yes. What did you do to him? He won't wake up!"

"Don't worry. He's not sick. He's just under a spell. Once you agree to stay, he will wake up."

"I will never do that," Iruka vowed.

"Never?" Kakashi murmured. "So ungrateful. All I have done for you. I have become what you wanted me to become - I have turned the world upside for you. And you don't seem to notice all the trouble you've caused."

"I caused you trouble?" Iruka was incredulous. "You stole my brother, you set him at the center of a labyrinth, you made me run a gauntlet of challenges."

"How else would you know you were worthy? They were, after all, challenges you told you me were willing to do when you first followed me here." Kakashi's demeanor changed. "Stay. Stay with me and I will release the boy. You just have to say yes."

"Is there any other way?"

"You know you want to."

Iruka's face felt frozen, he was trying so hard to not show what he really felt.

"It's so easy," Kakashi coaxed. "I can give you the sun -" he raised his hand and a small golden globe appeared, "- the moon - " the globe turned a cold silver, "- and the stars - " the globe burst in a spangled display. Then, as if conceding a point, he tossed out, "I will even free your annoying little brother."

"What would be the cost?" Iruka asked, more out of despair than curiosity.

Kakashi smiled. "Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave."

Iruka's heart thudded in his chest. He looked down at Naruto. It would be so easy. Naruto would be free. He didn't need Iruka, not really, not anymore.

Kakashi's smile became crooked, knowing. "You're almost there."

Afraid, Iruka just shook his head.

Kakashi suddenly looked exhausted and sad. "Then go. And never return."

Iruka opened his mouth - he was wrong, so wrong - and he found himself back in his room, alone. He looked around, nothing had changed. The clock ticked away on his nightstand. The old snapshot of Aoba, Kotetsu, and Izumo grinned up at him from his desk. A spoiled peach with a single bite taken out sat at the bottom of his garbage can. He flew through the door and into Naruto's room, skidding to a halt when he saw Naruto sit up, rubbing his eyes.

"Iruka?" Naruto mumbled. "Wha's wrong?"

"I'm sorry," Iruka replied. "Nothing's wrong. Go back to sleep."

Iruka returned to his room. What had just happened? He checked the calendar pinned above his desk. It was the same day, almost the same time as when he had checked before he had gone to the Goblin Kingdom. He sighed. Everything was as it had been. Just like he thought he wanted. But when would he ever have a chance like that again?

Still, he had done the right thing. He knew he had done the right thing, despite the temptations offered to him, despite that stray thought as they were returned back home.

He sighed. Maybe it was all a dream. So crazy, and so real a dream, with all the ingredients straight from his room. He slowly got together the things he needed for the next day's work. He put away all of his messy things and sat down on the bed. Just that... the Goblin King... Kakashi...

"Now, then," a deep voice purred from behind him. It sounded amused, as if sharing a wicked joke that was just between the two of them. "Second thoughts?"

A/N -

I haven't seen Labyrinth in years (except for some videos to refresh for this story and because I love the songs). I hope the story carries the spirit, if not exactly the ending.