The village where the children were being kept consisted of tiny shacks that were falling apart, a small street market that reeked of old fish and rotting fruit, and what could have once been a lovely mansion or palace which had long since been reduced to ruins.

I bet this was once a lovely village run a feudal lord, Iruka thought as he followed the squad of Ninja who had met them at the village gates.

The feudal lord was probably some sort of dictator and the citizens over threw him only to realize that they couldn't support themselves without him… He thought. Or…or maybe the village was attacked, but the attackers realized that they'd gain nothing from ruling this village and left in in shambles…Or…

Iruka kept coming up with different ideas as to why this village was in such horrible condition. He couldn't help it really; stuff like this fascinated him.

"So, tell me," The head ninja with the long black pony-tail spoke as he lead his squad of three other ninja and the two Konoha Nin through the run down village. "What ranks do you hold in your village?"

Upon being addressed, Iruka instantly forgot all his little stories about the village and looked up.

"Oh, er…I'm a chunin and-"

"I'm a retired jonin." Kakashi interrupted. Clearly Kakashi didn't trust this ninja squad enough to tell them his true status. He wanted them to underestimate him, just in case…well…just incase something happened. Iruka was only mildly surprised by Kakashi's lie, but he certainly didn't let it show. He just kept walking and staring ahead purposefully as if the sharingan-user had just pointed out that the sky was blue.

"Retired?" The pony-tailed ninja asked, turning to look back at Iruka as if asking him to explain.

He suspects us of lying…why does he care? Iruka thought, but immediantly launched into an explanation.

"Yes, retired. I'm afraid my comrade was out on a mission in the land of mist with his genin team. The man who hired them lied and told them it would be a simple mission, but they were unexpectedly attacked by one of the seven swordsmen ninja of the mist and his companion, who was skilled in the use of senbon needles and held great knowledge in the chakra points of the body. Unfortunately, Hatake-san took several chakra-injected senbon needles to a very sensitive chakra point. Needless to say, his chakra levels have been halved." The chunin explained. Kakashi was impressed by his companion's quick lie.

Clever Iruka. Very clever. You based the lie off of truth…

The ninja with the long dark pony-tail arched an eyebrow and turned to glance at Kakashi as he walked.

"Is that so?" He asked. It was impossible to tell if he was questioning the fact if that was truth of if he simply wanted to hear more. Kakashi simply nodded.

"My strengths lied in Gen justsu and Nin jutsu that relied heavily on my chakra. Tai jutsu has never been a strong point. Without my usual chakra levels I'm simply not the ninja I used to be." Poor Hatake appeared to be genuinely depressed as he told his sob story.

"So I sort of retired now. I mostly run errands for Lord Hokage and do small missions here and there." He explained, shrugging half-heartedly. The squad leader furrowed his brows a bit, but seemed to accept the lie for he did not question the Konoha shinobi any further, and simply turned his head to look forward again, walking in the direction of one of the most run-down shacks in the entire village.

"Here we are!" One of the other ninja announced as he followed his pony-tailed leader into the tiny old building. Kakashi and Iruka exchanged a glance before following suit.

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Iruka noticed four things when he entered the run down shanty.

One: The extreme lack of light. This made him rather uneasy.

Two: The fact that they were now practically trapped in this small hut, what with there being no windows and only one door. This made him even more uneasy.

Three: There were eight more ninja in this place, all wearing the same uniform as the four who had 'met' Kakashi and himself at the gates.

Four: In the very center of the one-roomed shack sat three children who couldn't have been any older than his current students at the Academy.

"Allow me to introduce you to the current security threat of the village." The ninja with the ponytail said as he pointed at the children.

"This one is called Ryu." The leader said, pointing to the first of the two boys. He was very pale, but had flaming red hair that stood up at all angles and bright green eyes that smiled, despite all the horrible things that had happened to him. Ryu lifted a small, frail-looking hand and waved once.

"This one is Kazuki." The second boy the leader introduced didn't seem nearly as happy as his companion Ryu. He glared at the squad leader, yellow eyes flashing in anger, fists clenched at his sides. His hair was short and the brownish color of a moth and the way it hung, limp and dull on his head, matched his obvious attitude. He had a huge scar across his face.

"And this is Haruka." The leader said ignored Kazuki's glare and introducing the only girl. Just as her name suggested, she seemed to be distant, almost totally out of it. Her ghostly grey-blue eyes were literally glowing, and they just stared blankly straight ahead of her. She was a beautiful young girl however; she had rosy skin and soft lavender hair that hung down across her shoulders in bouncy ringlets. After the three kids had been introduced, the Konoha team bowed and introduced themselves as well.

"I am Umino Iruka."

"And I am Hatake Kakashi."

"We are here to escort you back to our village where you will be protected and educated by very skilled ninja." Iruka explained, his voice warm and face friendly.

Ryu grinned and laughed, clearly excited by the new adventure. Kazuki simply made Iruka the subject of his death-glare. (Kakashi wondered if the boy was seriously capable of making any other facial expressions.) Haruka however, simply stared into the space between Kakashi and Iruka.

Iruka could have sworn he felt something probing his mind…felt someone digging around, but the feeling was so faint that he couldn't be sure that the feeling was real at all, and even if it was really someone trying to read him. Whatever was happening, it wasn't probing too deep, just scratching the surface of his subconscious. It made him more curious than defensive.

After several long, silent, awkward moments during which everyone looked at the children as if wondering what to do, the young girl let out a tiny sigh. Instantly Ryu and Kazuki turned to look at their female companion with gentle yet expectant eyes. Haruka bowed her head and closed her eyes. When she looked up again, the glow in her eyes was gone and her face was no longer blank, but very lifelike.

She gave Ryu and Kazuki a meaningful look and smiled an adorable little smile, then started playing with a tiny cloth doll that sat at her feet. It was as if she had been in a trance before. Ryu grinned and watched her play while Kazuki went back to glaring at everyone around him. The two Konoha Ninja shared a questioning glance.

"Well, the sun's setting and you've met the children now, so why don't we show you to your sleeping quarters?" The pony-tail ninja said, almost eager to get the two Konoha ninja out of the shack and away.

"Sleeping quarters?" Iruka questioned.

The squad leader nodded.

"We don't recommend leaving tonight. You look tired. I can't imagine you could handle an ambush right now. The kids are safe here for one more night. Just take the night off." He said in an insistent tone and then called out to one of the young shinobi that made up his squad.

"Aki, take our fellow Shinobi to the Inn."

The young ninja who had cropped brown hair and big blue eyes bowed.

"Yes sir. Please follow me." He said to the Konoha nin, then left the shack. Iruka and Kakashi had no choice but to follow and they did just that.

Kakashi made sure that they were a good distance from the shack when he spoke to Aki.

"So, how long have you been working for the man with the ponytail?" He asked as he stuck his hands in his pockets. Iruka listened intently.

"Hm? Oh, you mean Jiro?" Aki asked, flashing a grin. "Oh, not very long. We had the children in my village for a while, just after they'd been rescued, you know? And just before we were about to attempt to move them to a safer place, Jiro and Goro just appeared and helped put this team together."

"Goro? You mean the man with the green eyes and face mask?" Iruka asked.

Aki nodded once.

"Yeah, they just appeared and said they were from this village, and had come to help us bring the children here. They said that they didn't need more than a fair-sized team of chunin. So myself and nine others were put together. Most of us just recently became chunin." He admitted. "But we trust Jiro and Goro. They're very kind to us. Well, Jiro is at least. Goro doesn't ever really talk. But he gave us these really neat uniforms! They're made of really nice silk!" Aki said, running his hand down the sleeve of the black uniform.

"Hm. How very…thoughtful." Kakashi muttered.

Aki nodded in agreement.

"Well, here we are!" He announced as they approached the least run-down of all the buildings in the village. In front of it there was a huge sign nailed to a post that read 'Inn'.

"We've prepared two rooms for you already, and-"

"Two rooms? Do you think there's a chance we could share a room? Two beds of course. We need to prepare plans for the return journey you see." Kakashi interrupted.

"Hm? Oh…yeah, I suppose that won't be a problem! Let me go talk to the manager of the Inn and see what we can do." Aki said and ran into the building.

The two were silent as they stood outside and waited. Iruka was running the events of the day over and over again in his head. Clearly he wasn't the only one who suspected something weird was going on; Kakashi was obviously rather suspicious as well. They had a lot to discuss, so it was good that they would be sharing a roo-…

KAKASHI AND I ARE SHARING A ROOM? Oh SHIT. Iruka screamed in his head. He found it difficult to keep himself from snapping his own neck right then and there to end the unbearable sexual tension that was already building. Any sense of calm that he had before had gone out the window. Luckily Aki returned before Iruka could do anything.

"Alright, all set! The manager had a room with two beds in it. Here's the key for ya." He said. The chunin held out a violently shaking hand and took the room key from Aki who then bowed and started walking back the shack where the children were being held.

"Wait! Aki!" Kakashi yelled out. The young ninja stopped quickly and spun around.

"Yes Kakashi-Sempai?" He asked.

"Listen…I'm not saying anything is going to happen…but if anything unusual occurs at all…if anyone…disappears…even if their own your own squad…I need you to inform us immediately." Kakashi ordered in a firm 'no crap' voice.

Aki arched a brow in confusion, but decided not to question this official-sounding ninja.

"Uh, hai!" He said, throwing in another quick bow and then took off again towards the shack. Iruka watched him run off, then glanced at Kakashi who was already walking into the Inn.

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"H-Here we are…r-room 7…" Iruka muttered as he and Kakashi approached the room they were to be occupying that night. Kakashi nodded once. From the outside he appeared to be his usual calm self, but inside his brain was churning.

This is gonna be tough… He was thinking, but he certainly wasn't referring to the suspicious Jiro and Goro and the mission.

If Iruka has a dream about me again tonight, I'm not sure what I'll do…what if it's not just a dream after all? What if there's more too it and he really feels that way? What if-

"Kakashi? Kakashi!" Iruka interrupted and the copy-nin's half closed eyes snapped open. His train of thought had been derailed.

"Hm? Oh, sorry." Hatake muttered and entered the room, which was a rather nice considering the condition of the rest of the village. It was small so the two beds were rather close together and there was a bathroom contained only a toilet and stand-up shower stall that had barely enough room for one person to squeeze into.

"So, clearly I'm not the only one who is getting bad vibes from that Jiro guy." Iruka muttered, flopping down on one of the beds. He had to focus on the mission to keep his mind off…well, off other things.

Kakashi shook his head.

"No," He agreed. "There's no way that 'Jiro and Goro' could just happen to show up and happen to choose a team of inexperienced, young and impressionable ninja…but we simply can't run around making accusations. We're just going to have to let everything play out and stay alert." He said, sitting down on his own bed.

Iruka sat up.

"You're right. We'll have to be very careful too. It's quite clear that, whether they be friend of enemy, Jiro and Goro are very suspicious of us." He said. Kakashi nodded in agreement, and a silence fell over the two.

Iruka tried his best to keep his mind on the task at hand, but it was proving difficult. He just needed to get away from Kakashi and clear his head. He needed to re-focus on the mission and purge the lust that was building up inside of him.

"Uh, if you'd excuse me, I think I'm going to make use of that shower." Iruka said, rushing into the bathroom and sliding the door shut with a bang behind him. Kakashi was really not all too upset that Iruka had left, for his mind was as focused on the mission as Iruka's was.

Ugh…this is so not good… He thought as he smashed a pillow over his face.

I…I have to do something…I really must….but…I need to concentrate on the mission too…and…ARGH!

This was the first time in a LONG TIME Hatake Kakashi could remember being so hugely confused and flutter brained, especially during a mission. He simply didn't know what to do. Half of him wanted to burst into the bathroom and tell Iruka that he had the option to make his dreams reality…but the other half of him knew that now wasn't the time to be making any life changing confessions of love. With a heavy sigh, Kakashi pulled off his vest, headband, shirt and shoes then sprawled out on his back across his bed eyes closed, letting sort of a half-sleep take him over.

You can imagine the sight Iruka got as he exited the bathroom in only his uniform pants and shirt; shirtless Kakashi, breathing slowly and heavily, laid out in a delicious position across his bed. Iruka nearly passed out right then and there, but instead he managed to rush to his own bed, jump under the covers, and pull them over his head in attempt to block the outside world.

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"Kakashi…mmmm…Ka-kakashiiii…."

The copy-nin's eyes snapped open. All he could do was simply lay there, listening to his companion purr and moan his name as he tossed and turned in a passion-laden sleep. Kakashi never thought it was even possible to get a hard-on so damn fast, and he winced. Unlike Iruka, he was grateful for the loose uniform pants because there was nothing worse than having some stupid stiff fabric like jeans press and restrain an already somewhat painful erection. Slowly Kakashi turned to look at his mission partner in the bed over. The scar-nosed chunin had kicked half his blankets off and was lying in what could only be described as a lewd pose; sprawled on his back with legs out to either side of him. He seemed to have pitched his own (decently sized, Kakashi thought,) tent under the midsection-covering blanket.

Kakashi groaned and rubbed his forehead.

"I can't do this…I just…I can't do this anymore…" He grumbled, and with the skill that came with his being one of the most amazing ninja in Konoha, he slipped out of bed without a sound and padded silently over to Iruka. He felt strange just standing over the younger man and watching him as he squirmed and moaned under an invisible body. The copy-nin felt his breathing coming in short, heavy pants and his heart started racing. Slowly he bent over, his face just inches from Iruka's. Kakashi then slowly lifted a hand to his mask, tucking his fingers under the fabric and gingerly pulled it away from his face. The younger of the two became more active as Kakashi's warm breath danced across his face. The now unmasked man nearly leaped on Iruka right then and there as his moans became more desperate and wild.

"I can't do this anymore…can't deny it…I must…I must…" Kakashi whispered, his voice hoarse. Then slowly, ever so slowly, he began to close the small distance between Iruka's face and his own. He swore he could already feel the tenderness of the younger man's tender lips; he could imagine the feel of Iruka's supple, plump tongue warring with his own in a desperate kiss that would mark the release of so much pent-up sexual tension. Their lips were just a hairs width away…so close to connecting…so close…

BAM!

Instantly Kakashi's mask was back in place and he was upright again, spinning around to stare at the door which had been swung open with great force. Standing in the doorway was Aki, who, like any good ninja was trained to do, instantly took in all the details, which happened to include a very startled Kakashi and Iruka (who had awoken instantly), both obviously very aroused.

"Um…did I interrupt something?" Aki asked, looking incredibly uncomfortable.

"No Aki, no you did not." Kakashi said in a firm voice that demanded that no questions about what he saw were to be asked. Aki nodded.

"Yes Sempai."

"What do you need Aki?" Iruka asked.

"You told me to come see you if anyone disappeared and…well…Jiro and Goro…they're…well…they're gone."

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Author's Note: Ah, finally a nice long chapter. Oh, the tension is unbearable. But you'll just have to bear it anyway. :)