Instinct von Cosifantutte ================================================================================ Kapitel 5: Questions -------------------- Iruka woke to a softly humming voice, his body curled up tightly within his very own blanket. For a moment he lay there, blinking, refraining from moving at all. He was warm, comfortable, enjoying the peaceful quiet he so rarely encountered. Yet his chest was heaving with every breath he took, and the longer Iruka was conscious, the more vital grew his memories of what had happened… well, how long had it been? A day ago? Maybe two? For a moment the chuunin even doubted his own vitality. Had he died, after all, and was now being cared for in heaven? A sudden pain along the right side of his neck drew the man’s attention back into the present. Carefully, he had craned his head to take sight of whatever situation currently encompassed him, and was now interrupted by the sharp pull of freshly sewn stitches. Iruka heaved a sigh as his fingers slowly traced along his accurately bandaged jugular. The events of the past night still seemed a little blurry to him, but one thing was for sure: There had been something attacking him- or rather someone. Someone he knew and couldn’t believe was involved into all of this. However confusing the circumstances, the chuunin’s considerations were interrupted all of a sudden. Iruka’s breath caught as a low hiss emanated from a silhouette that had just entered the room a few feet ahead of him. One single grey eye met two hazel-colored ones with a cautious stare as Hatake Kakashi started to pace along Iruka’s bedside slowly, his lean frame shuddering ever so slightly. His arms were crossed in what seemed like painful restraint while the mask, now covering the lower half of the man’s face again, quivered every now and then like the man was just experiencing utterly stressful minutes. Iruka gaped at the jounin with silent astonishment. So it really had been him. Fireworks of colorful pictures flew past his inner eye, leaving traces of what might have happened in all the incidents nobody had been able to explain just yet. Bare fangs ripped through Mizuki’s throat, tore at his neck until it snapped. One rapidly spinning red eye flashed through thickly grown bushes, observing a chuunin that was grieving for his former best friend. Innocent words and appealing gestures formed a mixture of attraction and betrayal, and Iruka’s eyes snapped widely open as he finally found the piece that had yet been missing. The puzzle was solved. There had never been a monster, never been an animal nor a formidable unknown opponent. It could have been so obvious; it could have been so easy- if the ferocious beast had been any other than the infamous Hatake Kakashi. It took Iruka a moment to regain his calm; being gazed at like he were tonight’s dinner made him feel both endangered and thrilled at the same time. His thoughts kept circling around what his mind still had not really processed, while his heart was hammering against his ribcage like it was going to pop out at every moment. “So it was you”, Iruka finally managed to choke out, his face a grim façade of all the horror he had been struck by just seconds ago. “Of all people who could have committed such crimes, it was you. You, who kept playing the innocent and was roaming around my house like a stray cat, you, who was trying to give me the feeling of being appreciated for what I am. All you wanted was my trust. Isn’t that true?” The chuunin’s throat was burning with both anger and pain; anger towards his own stupidity for not doubting the man’s intentions any more seriously before; pain rising from the torn flesh that no other but the man in front of him had brought about. A low cough emanated from Iruka’s throat, but the heavily metallic taste didn’t even make him flinch. Brown eyes bore into the visible grey one; and Iruka could see the other man struggle for his self-control. The chuunin pushed himself up onto his arms with an effort. He was not ready to let the other go without receiving so much as an answer as to why his friend had had to die. “Blood. You drink it”, he continued. “Why? How can you be the monster that has been haunting Konoha for so long without being detected sooner or later? You’re Sharingan no Kakashi, you can fool one or the other fellow shinobi, but how have you been able to betray your Hokage? Have all your actions been a mere act of distraction to make people miss your real self? It’s logic, isn’t it? Now that I think about it, why has nobody ever wondered how you were on missions every single time the beast attacked? How come nobody has ever seen your face? You couldn’t show it, is that it? You had to hide yourself so nobody would find out what you really are?” Iruka had talked himself into a rage. His chest was heaving under the weight of the blankets that were still wrapped neatly around his lower body and his legs, and the appearance of blood that kept mingling with his saliva seemed to increase in frequency. Yet, the chuunin couldn’t have cared less. He was so close to the solution of all the mysteries that had made his life a mess ever since Hatake Kakashi had encountered him on the balcony that night; he was not going to give up just now. However, there was something that was bothering Iruka even further; something that made his anger flourish and his calm vanish into thin air. “How can you even STAND there and watch me with that cold eye of yours, not saying a word!? You killed my best friend! How dare you still staying at my home!” the chuunin spat out as another coughing fit started shaking his frame. Iruka was panting for air, carefully biting back on the sound of pain that was rising within his throat. He was breathing deeply to overcome the sudden weariness as a cold hand was pressed flatly against his chest and pushed him back against his pillow in a surprisingly gentle manner. One attempt to object was all Iruka managed to bring up before a second hand covered his lips with twitching fingers and made him fall silent. “That’s enough, Sensei”, a quiet murmur reasoned while the blanket was drawn back over the now shivering frame with expert movements. Iruka’s lips parted for another raging fit, but once again, the fingers were way faster. “Please, rest now. You lost a lot of blood and I would regret losing you now that I managed to let you live.” For the blink of an eye, Iruka considered objecting once again, but found himself within the tight embrace of warm blankets before he was even done thinking. His lips twitched with discontent but kept still as chilly fingers slid into his shirt’s collar and moved with utter caution to readjust the bandages he had just strained a little too much. A low hiss slipped through Iruka’s teeth to ward off any further contact; and the fingers retreated. That last statement made it seem like the attacker had decided not to kill him against his own expectations, but Iruka didn’t feel like hearing him out just now. His throat was burning like fire while the blood loss was still wearing him out. One last intent look into his eyes, then Kakashi slowly backed out of the room and into the corridor. Iruka listened to his softening steps as the man strode away. It was only when he heard a door lock that he finally relaxed. He wanted answers to all the questions he had asked, explanations for all the incidents of the past weeks, but for now, he couldn’t ward off his weariness any more. Just as Iruka’s eyelids started growing heavy, he gave into his exhaustion and fell asleep once more. Hosted by Animexx e.V. (http://www.animexx.de)