Other side

Chapter 7

It took a few minutes for Kakashi's fuzz addled brain to start to focus. His head still hurt like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his skull and then ran over his body for good measure. But through the haze of pain the jounin was beginning to become aware of his surroundings. Mentally giving a sigh of relief Kakashi turned his gaze back to the man still heaving in the corner. Iruka's breaths were coming out in short sharp gasps as he tried to control his retching and even addled as he was the silver haired man could see the teacher was shaking violently.

Soon the brunette's breathing even out and he once again turned to face the copy nin, his expressive eyes wide with a myriad of emotions and a look of mortified shock etched across his features. Kakashi almost chuckled at the man sprawled out on the cold hospital floor or he would of if his damned throat didn't hurt so much.

Just why did it hurt so much?

With tremendous effort Kakashi managed to get one of his arms to respond and it slowly crept from its limp position up toward his throat. After a few agonizing and painful minutes it reached its destination and a look of panic crossed the copy nin's masked face as emaciated digits came to rest on a cold plastic tube.

Just what was going on?

Why was there something sticking out of his throat?

Unless...

Unless...

He was back in his body.

He could be seen, heard.

He could talk to Iruka, and he would have already if the damned tube wasn't putting pressure on his voice box. In a moment of blind desperation Kakashi tugged on the tubing. A wave of pain shot through his body and the jounin lashed out accordingly, knocking a tray of medical implements to the floor with an almighty crash.

On the floor Iruka's eyes went wider but the shock numbing his body prevented him from moving.

Outside the room a scraping of chairs echoed through the desolate corridor which neither occupant of the room noticed, already far too wrapped up in their separate turmoil's. Also neither man noticed the door swinging open violently and a pair of honey coloured eyes locking onto the brunette sat sprawled on the pristine hospital floor, not noticing the rooms other occupant.

"UMINO WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE!"

The sheer volume of the voice was enough to wake the dead and caused the majority of the hospitals occupants to shudder in fear and sympathy for the recipient of Tsunade's wrath. Iruka however paid her no heed and continued to stare in muted shock at the silver haired man on the bed. The Hokage was never one to take being ignored lightly and she crossed her arms gripping the fabric of her sleeves in a death grip in an attempt to control her temper.

"Umino I asked you what the hell you are doing here?" Her voice was quieter but the menace was just as present.

Still the brunette said nothing just simply staring his whole body trembling. The grip on Tsunade's sleeves, if possible, tightened and the vein in her forehead began to tick violently.

"What the hell are you doing here when I forbade you to come here! God damn it Iruka answer me... ANSWER ME!"

The blond moved a step forward to grab the man by the scruff of the neck but stopped when a small flash of movement to her right caught her attention. The anger melted from her features and a sort of hopeful disbelief replaced it, the honey coloured eyes going round. Slowly she followed Iruka's gaze to the pristine white bed and as a pair of alert mismatched eyes met her own the blond Hokage let out a strangled gasp and staggered back coming to rest against the wall. She brought her hands to her face to hide the tears pooling in her eyes as she slid to the floor as her personal and professional emotions battled for dominance.