Blood in the water [Kakairu]

Walking on eggshells

Iruka woke up to screaming. He was out of his bed in an instant, running from his room to the living room, kunai in hand, ready to attack whatever was causing the commotion.

"Kakashi!"

The man was sitting upright on the couch, fingers fisted in the blanket Iruka had covered him with not a couple hours ago. His breath was coming out in short uneven gasps and his chest was heaving, both his eyes were wide open, the sharingan spinning rapidly.

Iruka set down the kunai and gingerly approached him. He could sense his chakra spinning wildly out of control. It wasn't quite killing intent, wasn't quite directed at Iruka, but it was similar. He flinched at its intensity.

"Kakashi"

When he didn't respond Iruka slowly sat down on the opposite side of the couch. His face was stricken and pale in the moonlight.

"Kakashi" he said again, softer and put his hand onto the other's and loosened his grip on the blanket. His knuckles turned back to normal from stark white. Iruka waved his hand in front of Kakashi's face but he didn't seem to see it. His eyes remained unfocused.

It didn't seem like it'd be a gentsu, but Iruka had no idea how to snap the other man out of it. He glanced to his coffee table and saw something that might work. He picked up the special eyepatch the nurses had given him to block the sharingan from draining chakra and slowly moved toward his face.

"I'm going to cover your sharingan okay Kakashi?"

He put the eyepatch over Kakahi's left eye and secured it on the back of his head. With that, his other eye softened and Kakashi slumped forward, a soft sigh escaping his lips. His hands fell to Iruka's thighs and weakly gripped his pants like he was trying to ground himself.

"There, that's it. It's okay Kakashi, I've got you"

Iruka frowned as the other man fell forward into his arms. It seemed that it was nothing more than a fit, he thought that they  would have stopped now that Kakashi had rested some. It made him think about how he really didn't know the other man. What had caused the fits, were they a normal occurrence? Did they happen before the hospital?

Thinking of how his mother used to soothe him and when he had nightmares, Iruka gingerly rubbed Kakahi's back, careful not to touch the large scar. He knew that he was sensitive around his own and didn't want to scare Kakashi.
A few minutes passed and his breathing evened out. Iruka assumed he had fallen asleep again.

He tried not to blush at the awkward position they were in. Kakashi's breath was warm on his neck, still shallow despite him being asleep. It was almost silent, a product of shinobi training. Even in their sleep they were trained to be silent and deadly. His fingers seemed to have a mind of their own as they played with his short's hem. His friend just had a night terror and Iruka was blushing. He shook his head, were they friends? He supposed so, he had waited almost every day at the hospital for him to wake up and volunteered to take care of him. Did Kakashi consider them friends? He hoped so.

Iruka continued to smooth small circles into Kakashi's nightshirt, hoping it would help him from having another fit. Holding him in his arms, Iruka realized how much Kakashi had shrunk since the accident. His spine stuck out of his back and he felt noticeably smaller. Iruka smiled as he thought of him as one of his students. Then a darker thought came, if someone wanted to take out the famous copy nin, now would be the perfect time.

That thought put into perspective how much Kakashi was actually trusting him. He was defenseless like this. If someone came for him, the only thing stopping them would be Iruka, his whole life was in his hands. He was brought out of his thoughts by a sharp gasp and mumbling.