Other side

Chapter 4

Kakashi loved this time of the morning.

The pre-dawn glow settled over the village like a protective shroud, lovingly warming the sleeping village like a mother cradling a child. Thin tendrils of light skipped through the streets banishing the shadows, seeming almost alive as they chased away the nightmares the darkness had wrought as it crept in the windows and roused the slumbering populace. From his perch on the Hokage monument Kakashi watched the village slowly come to life, watching in wonderment and envy.

After all he had yet to wake from his nightmare.

It had been a few days since his body had been brought back to Konoha and no one appeared any closer to finding a solution to his problem. He surmised that this was mainly because the ninety nine point nine percent of people weren't even aware there was a problem, Kakashi being the odd point one percent. The jounin frowned, what he really wanted to do right at this moment was throw a massive temper tantrum at the complete unfairness of this whole situation, because he was completely helpless to do anything about it and because no one seemed to have any idea what to do. But he was a grown man and grown men did not throw temper tantrums.

So instead he had climbed to his favourite reading spot and tried to calm himself. He had dared not spend another minute in the hospital; it was far too depressing and was playing havoc with his already precariously balanced sanity. That, and the fact Tsunade's mood had been far from pleasant and his unconscious body seemed to be the outlet for her wrath. If... when he woke up from this nightmare he was going to be having some serious words with his Hokage about her bedside manner.

Somewhere below Kakashi a bell began to chime reigning in his thoughts and bringing them nicely back to his other problem, besides Tsunade's appalling patient care.

Iruka.

To be honest Kakashi was worried about the other man. He had seen the breakdown after his clash with Tsunade, he had followed the other man back to his home afraid that he was about to do something stupid. Hell he had even spent the entire night watching to make sure the brunette hadn't done anything stupid. Not that Kakashi could have really done anything to prevent it in this state, but the fact that he had gone with the man gave him some solace. After all he didn't think Naruto could take another blow at this time, and to lose Iruka would crush the Kyubbi container completely.

So he'd stayed and watched the entire night even though his head had pounded and his Sharingan had ached. He'd watched the completely exhausted brunette just flop on to his bed not bothering to strip off his wet clothing or shoes, shivering from the cold. The display had caused the jounin to frown deeply, the morbid irony not missing him. Iruka was normally the first to complain about people not looking after themselves, Kakashi had himself a few tongue lashings over the years after showing up to report one too many times caked in blood, gore and entrails, rather than going to the hospital and getting checked out.

No, the irony of the situation really wasn't funny.

Kakashi stayed until the alarm went off, lost deep in thought. His mind furiously trying to comprehend what had gone on that evening. The whole seizure thing and the fight between Iruka and Tsunade were quickly thrown in the mental bin labelled 'Mind Screws', they were easily categorized due to the nature of the incidents. However one little, insignificant thing kept coming to the forefront of his mind.

Iruka had kissed him.

Okay, maybe not so small and insignificant, actually it was more big and mind blowing and the silver haired man just couldn't wrap his head around it. Why on earth had Iruka done that? Clearly Kakashi had missed something major in his interactions with the teacher, but the more he thought about it the more he noticed a distinct lack of evidence to support what he thought. Before that night the teacher hadn't shown any kind of interest in him. Or his mind interjected He's just very good at hiding it. That thought gave birth to a whole host of other questions. Why would Iruka hide his attraction, if it was attraction, to him? Did he think that lowly of Kakashi that he thought that he would make fun of him for it? It just didn't make any sense.