Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I am merely borrowing the characters for my own sadistic pleasure.

Summary: Gravely injured and trapped in the woods just beyond Konoha's border, Iruka patiently awaits his death by pursuing enemy ninja. It isn't until an ANBU member saves him does this story truly begin.

Warnings: Violence and injuries abound, some minor cussing.

Notes: No beta-reader, so the mistakes are my own. Sorry about those, and I hope they don't impede your reading experience to badly. :)

To the Reviewers: You all are so very sweet, and I appreciate the kind words very much. I am incredibly happy that my story has generated some curiosity and I am glad that you have enjoyed the first chapter. ^_^ Thanks for the support, it means a lot!

Chapter Two:

Timeless Wandering

The sensation was like floating on your back in a body of water, body weightless but being weighted down at the same time. Floating in the small rifts of time, hanging in suspension, and not being able to form a full lucid thought before your brain returned to its numbed state where only minute, odd things would drift in every once in a while.

That odd feeling of weightlessness seemed to last for years, but he distantly knew somewhere in the back of his mind, that it was not true. In this current place of dwelling, time seemed to have no clock, it merely was. He was trapped in a complete state of existing.

Every once in a while his ears would catch whisperings somewhere off in the distance. He would try to grab a hold of them and listen closely to determine what was being said, and if they were there to harm him. It wasn't long before he dismissed that notion; the voices spoke softly, fondly, and often, even if he could not make sense of what was being said to him.

Could they possibly be trapped there with him too?

The thought clenched his heart, and he began trying to communicate back to them. He was horrified and incredibly frustrated to find that his mouth would not open, and not a sound would break free from his throat. But that never stopped him. When his game of listening and trying to get their attention tired him, making him recede back into the darkness, he would begin again once a miniscule bit of strength returned.

This state of existing floated all around him, and he wished often for a clock to see how much of his sanity was ticking away with the darkness. He could imagine the round device, and hear the sound of its spinning hands, doing their job to illustrate the past, present, and future moments.

Somewhere in that dark and lonely place, he realized time had to be passing. How else could his body feel a little less weightless, body heavier than he had ever remembered it being in this place with no name and no face. Hope fluttered through him when he realized the voices were louder as well. They were speaking to him softly still, but he could hear them much more clearly, and he knew them to be familiar even if he didn't know who they were.

Shortly after that discovery, he also realized that he could feel bits of his body every now again. It was particularly in his hand. It was where he could feel a light pressure the most often, and for some odd reason it comforted him. At other times he could feel a light presence pressed against his forehead, and he would try to lean into it, never knowing if he succeeded in this place of shadows.

More weightlessness passed when his thoughts were becoming much less jumbled and clearer in his head. They kept him company as well as the flashes of people he couldn't remember. The images played like movies in his head, showing him children, older men and women, a nice man and woman standing behind a smiling young man, and a curious blond boy in a sea of orange. It was fascinating, and he hoped he would be able to see them someday in the light of the sun, rather than in this place of solitude.

Please, he thought sadly as his thoughts echoed in this odd place he had become trapped within. Let me return to this place beneath the sun that I see so often in my thoughts.

This place was grating on his nerves his heart told him to fight like hell. He did, and the dark place he resided in began melting away like candle wax to a hot flame.

It was during his continuing struggle that he felt his body burst into flames. It was a pain so fierce and sharp that for a moment he doubted himself and allowed the darkness to swath him again His thoughts drifted to those faces, and their familiarity spurred him to struggle harder, against the worsening pain. Somewhere he knew those people and for whatever reason, his heart and soul wanted to see them again.

The darkness began to recede.

Everything swirled around him, noises cacophonous and slurred in his ears. He didn't understand what was going on. All he could feel was the pain and confusion that was currently eating away at him. "Gah," a weak voice slurred. Honeyed eyelids cracked slightly open to reveal tiny bits of brown irises still being drowned out by blown pupils.

The image he was seeing spun around him in a disoriented flurry, and he was forced to slam his eyes shut against the bright lights around him that threatened to blind him. Nausea floated around him and he breathed as deeply as he could through his nose, ignoring the way his lungs wouldn't fill up as much as he was used to. A moan broke weakly from his closed, cracked lips and he began turning his head back and forth across the damp pillow supporting his head.

Iruka Umino didn't remember the last time he had ever been in so much pain. This level of hurting seemed to be a completely new playing field in injuries. He moaned pathetically against its barrage of fire.

"Iruka!"

The young injured Chuunin heard the voice, hating the way it made his migraine screech angrily into the front of his skull, but he managed to it since he was much too busy trying to get the nausea and pain down to a level that didn't make him want to die.

Lights were immediately dimmed, and Iruka could feel two new presences in the room with him.

"Iruka." The feminine voice was suddenly above him and soft hands where on either side of his face, holding his head still so he could not keep tilting his head side to side against the pain. "Iruka, open your eyes. Come on now, very slowly."

Iruka gulped, realizing how dry his mouth was, and slowly he allowed his normally brown pools of warmth, but now filled with pain, to grace the woman looming over him.

"Ah, there you are."

Iruka frowned slightly as he felt a comforting numbness spread through his body, taking his pain down to a more acceptable level. He stared up at the woman for a moment, foggy brain trying to piece a name to the grinning face. She looked relieved.

"Hokage-sama," he croaked in a whisper that was nearly non-existent from lack of use.

Tsunade's grin widened even more. "You certainly know how to make an entrance."

The academy sensei's brow furled slightly in confusion. "Hum?"

The woman slowly let go of his face and stepped back, allowing Iruka's eyes to adjust to the dim hospital room he currently occupied. "You have been unconscious for a while Iruka."

Iruka wanted to ask how long, but the frazzled look and bruises beneath the woman's eyes had him deciding against it. He would let her tell him how long he'd been floating about his mind. But the pressing question about why he was there surfaced and would not be allowed to be squelched. The vacant spot in his mind made his heart race uncomfortably.

He wasn't disappointed for long as images of rainy forests, and angry ninja came racing to the forefront of his mind. He had been on a mission for a scroll, he was injured, and an ANBU member had happened across him.

The scroll!

"The scroll?" he whispered dryly before a cool cup of water was pressed to his lips by a young woman that had suddenly materialized next to his bed. He sipped a little, relishing in how the liquid soothed his dry throat before the cup was pulled away.

"Too much and you will get sick," she supplied cheerily.

His attention snapped back over to the woman in charge of his beloved village.

"It was returned to us safely, and destroyed. No one will ever get the chance to hurt innocent people with it ever again. Mission success," she told him with a Cheshire grin.

Iruka let out a relieved sigh. "What about the ANBU that rescued me? He was injured…"

Tsunade nodded at him, coming to sit on the edge of the hospital bed. "He is perfectly fine, Iruka. But I cannot divulge anything other than that, and you know that."

Iruka nodded, feeling quite limp with relief on both counts, he only wished he could remember those details a little better. His fever had been high, coupled with his injuries and blood loss, it was a wonder he even remembered his own name. "Will you thank him for me?"

The blond woman grinned and nodded. "I can do that. But for now, you need to rest. It's not every day that one of the village's favorite teachers almost dies and is stuck in a coma for two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Iruka was suddenly glad his mouth wasn't filled with water, he was quite sure it would have come shooting right back out. He'd been out of commission for nearly two weeks; it was a wonder why he wasn't brain dead. He wasn't used to this kind of injury.

"You were very lucky. You almost died more than once on my operating table. When you were dragged into the hospital covered in blood and dirt, what a spectacle! Nearly gave half of my nurses a heart attack at the sight!" Tsunade sounded genuinely delighted about it too.

"Everyone has been worried sick over you," she told him, motioning to the clustered room.

Iruka looked around, now noticing the bright cards, balloons, and flowers that decorated what would have been an otherwise sad room. "Oh my," he whispered, feeling his heart leap up into his throat at the thoughtfulness of his village.

"You were missed. You would not believe how many Jounin and Chuunin brats I had to turn away. It was a circus, and it is a damn good thing I had a bottle of sake sitting in my office to help me unwind after throwing them out," she explained with an enthusiastic tone. "Not to mention all of those pre-Genin and Genin kids. I thought I was going to have to murder a few of them. How do you manage those crazy little harpies? They…"

The woman stopped herself, grinning sheepishly at him, realizing that his eyelids were starting to drift closer to his cheeks. "A story for another time, neh?"

Iruka nodded, and gave her a soft smile.

"Sleep, you'll feel much better once you start your healing sleep."

Iruka didn't reply; just let himself sink into the darkness that didn't seem to be so oppressive this time around.

The next time Iruka came around, he was relieved to find that his previously felt pain was down to a more manageable level and allowed his mind to be blissfully clear. The young Chuunin had roused in the early morning, surprised that he could hear rain drops patter against his hospital room window.

This year Konoha's storm season seemed to be a bit harsher than he remembered in previous years.

After admiring the sounds at the window, Iruka began expecting himself, unsurprised at the many tubes he couldn't recognize that snake under the ugly blue blanket that covered him. He also realized he was wearing the uniform hospital gown, and he couldn't stop the blush that rose to his cheeks and accentuating the scar across his nose when he realized the nurses had seen him in the buff.

Bags of what appeared to be liquids and medicine hung from metal poles, and he could vaguely smell salve on himself, knowing that the substance would have likely been rubbed over his bruises and cuts to assist the broken blood vessels and skin as they worked to repair themselves.

Brown eyes then began wandering the small room, a small smile coming to the injured man's face as his eyes graced over the get well cards, balloons, and flowers that were scattered about. It was seeing all of these things that he was reminded why he accepted that mission. It was, and always would be his duty to protect each and every one of the special people that made up his village.

"Sensei!"

Iruka tried not to flinch at the loud voice. He succeeded mostly; only trained eyes would have been able to see the slightest tremble in his body when he had been knocked from his silent musing

The familiar face was welcome. "Sakura," Iruka said smiling, ignoring the way his face pulled where a dark bruise occupied his usually honey skin.

The young pink-haired girl grinned at him as she walked over and leaned in, mindful of his injuries, and giving him a hug. "I was worried," she told him as she pulled away. Iruka glanced at her expression and immediately decided he didn't like the crease in between her eyebrows, indicating a young woman who was aging beyond her years.

"I am fine Sakura," he told her with a half-smile. "A little worse for wear, but nothing I won't eventually heal from."

The woman frowned and tilted her head slightly to the side, regarding him almost sadly. "Hokage-sama wouldn't let us see you for the longest time. She told us when you were first brought here that she wasn't sure she could save you. She wouldn't tell us what happened. It's apparently classified information."

Iruka noticed the stray tear that was making its way down her cheek. "Now, now," he whispered as he wiped away the tear with the pad of his thumb. "You know it's the life of a ninja. I wouldn't be doing my duty to this village if I didn't lend a hand when asked."

"She asked us not to write Naruto about this," Sakura muttered angrily.

Iruka's eyes dropped to the blanket covering his legs. As much as he would have loved for the blond ball of energy to come careening back into Konoha to see if he was alright, he knew that it was important the young man continue being taught by Jiraiya, even if the man was a complete pervert.

He would have to thank Tsunade later for her discretion.

"Sakura," he said her name softly as he squeezed her hand softly, drawing her attention once again to his bruised face. "It is important to him that he brings Sasuke home. As much as I miss him, he doesn't need this to distract him."

She sighed and nodded, but continued frowning. "You almost died. What if you had? Should I have just waited for him to return before breaking the news that you had died? That the very first person to acknowledge him and make him feel like he had a right to live was killed and we didn't write him because we didn't want to distract him?"

Iruka winced; Sakura's grip had become painfully tight on his hand. "Sakura," he whispered through clenched teeth.

The young woman's eyes widened comically and she pulled her hand back quickly. "I'm sorry!"

The academy sensei smiled and shook his head, fisting his hand and releasing a few times to get the circulation back into his fingers. "You are upset. It's quite alright." Iruka looked back up at her and had to fight the smile that was threatening to make his lips turn up slightly at the corners. He wondered what Naruto's reaction to her talking so fondly and respectfully of him would be. He was far too used to her threatening to murder him; this was a nice turn about.

"I'm still here so there's no need to worry about could-haves, alright? I am healing and will be back to my old self in no time," he assured her. "And Naruto will be back soon too, annoying you to the point of homicidal insanity. Don't give up on Sasuke either, not yet."

"I won't," she sighed. "But they sure are taking their sweet time."

Iruka laughed at the way she hissed out the last part, immediately regretting it as pain shot up his chest, making him cough raggedly. He hacked, eyes drifting shut as they welled up with tears of pain.

Something was quickly pressed against his lips, and he allowed cool liquid to pour into his dry mouth, immediately softening the dry tissues and clearing his throat. "Thank you Sakura," he whispered raggedly, breathing carefully as to not agitate his injuries any more than he already had with his coughing attack.

"Anytime Sensei," a sultry voice whispered into his ear.

Iruka jerked at the unexpected voice, gasping wetly as his chest exploded in pain again. "Gah," fell through his parted lips. His head clouded at the sudden movement and dizziness shook his thoughts before he felt himself begin to tilt sideways, eyes still clenched tightly shut.

"Whoa there, Sensei," the voice spoke above him somewhere.

A hand wrapped around his forearm and stopped his descent towards the hard floor. He was tilted upright, and then pushed gently backward until his back met a soft pillow.

Iruka sat there for a few long moments, pushing the pain down and breathing deeply as his wounded chest would allow. After regaining his senses he slowly opened his eyelids, surprised at the lone eye that stared back at him. "Oh! Hatake-sensei," he spluttered, surprised.

The eye crinkled upwards in satisfaction and what appeared to be his own version of a smile.

The academy sensei observed the elite shinobi. Iruka noticed he was dressed in his familiar uniform, hitai-ate sitting askew on his forehead, doing its job to cover the famous sharingan as well as most of his face being covered by the mask he was known for wearing.

"Yo," the famous Copy Ninja replied, smile quite obvious beneath the black cloth covering his lower face.

Iruka dipped his head in a polite bow, still unsure as to why the man was there. "Ohayo," he greeted. "Kakashi-sensei, what are you doing here?" For some reason, he wasn't able to articulate the question any more than how he had spoken it. His shock had successfully overrode the polite part of his brain.

The young man watched as the famous ninja's visible eyebrow arched upwards.

"Naruto made me promise to look after you while he was gone," Kakashi informed him, looking quite disinterested all of the sudden. "It appears I haven't been doing a very good job."

Iruka felt the flair of annoyance creep into the forefront of his mind. He wasn't a child and he was certainly capable of taking care of himself, even if he got into a few scrapes every now and again. He wanted to tell the sharingan holder that he couldn't avoid being injured if he was in charge of teaching clumsy pre-genin how to use expertly sharpened shuriken.

"Besides," Kakashi continued, ignoring how Iruka's face was getting redder by the second. "What kind of example would I be giving if I didn't bring you a 'get-well' gift?"

Iruka suddenly spluttered, cheeks returning to their normal coloring at the Jounin's words. "Example? You are always late, by hours even and you read porn in public. Who are you trying to set an example...?"

The upset teacher was interrupted as a furoshiki was dropped into his lap. Iruka gave Kakashi a confused look before glancing down at the beautiful green cloth that sat on his lap. He could only wonder what was inside.

"Wha…?"

"You have to open it to answer that question, Sensei," Kakashi supplied helpfully.

Iruka furrowed his eyebrows and set about unknotting the top, genuinely curious about what was inside. "Kakashi-sensei…" he started, figuring he should thank him for the unnecessary gift.

"Kakashi," Kakashi corrected, eye once again staring at the teacher.

Kakashi knew it was coming, could feel the angry chakra energy fill the small room as the academy teacher realized what he had just been gifted. The famous Copy Nin could sense his former pupil lingering in the corner, having retreated there after he'd arrived a few moments ago.

Smart girl.

The previous red tinge that had left Iruka's face was back again with a ferocity, and Kakashi could hear Sakura gasp as the young woman caught sight of what the academy sensei was holding. Before the sharingan holder could even blink a sharp 'thwap!' sounded throughout the small room as a small orange book smacked against his forehead.

Kakashi caught the book and grinned beneath his mask at the bedridden teacher. He wondered if he should push up his hitai-ate so he could remember the furious and horrified look on the Iruka's beet red face. The teacher was adorable with the expression freezing his handsome face.

"Hokage-sama said you would be stuck in here for a while longer, I thought you'd like something to read to pass the time…"

"Get out!" Iruka screeched, apparently having found his voice, even though it was weak and broke slightly. "Now!"

"Mah, Iruka-sensei it was just a gift…"

"Out!"

Kakashi tucked the copy of Icha Icha Paradise inside his flak jacket and patted it comfortingly. "I'll be back to check on you later Sensei, get some sleep."

After making the necessary hand signals, the man 'poofed' from the room, leaving a shocked Sakura and a mortified Chuunin behind.

"He's insane," Iruka muttered, bringing his face down into his hands.

Over in the corner Sakura shrugged. "You get used to it." She pushed off of the wall and headed towards the door. "I'm going to go fetch Tsunade-sama; she'll want to know you're awake again."

AN: Ohayo: basically means 'good morning'.

AN: A furoshiki: is a piece of ornate cloth that is often used to wrap gifts, presents, and packages. . In this case, to wrap Icha Icha Paradise. Tee-hee.

TBC... Reviews are greatly appreciated and treasured. Let me know what you thought.