Author: Kiki (Hey-Diddle-Diddle)

Rating: PG-13

Genre: Tragedy/Tragedy

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It was war, and it was ugly. Sound had pushed too close to Konoha's borders, and in defense, Konoha had pushed back. Now the two villages were at a stand-off, somewhere in between, in a stretch of no-man's land riddled with corpses and traps. Every day the line moved, pushing forward twenty feet, falling back half a mile. Moving up three miles, being forced back a couple hundred yards. Lives were traded for every inch, and soon it just became a game of distance. I'll trade my thirteen jounin for two miles. I'll see your thirteen jounin, and raise you fifty chuunin for those two miles, and then another three. Each village threw its entire resources into the battle, and every shinobi and kunoichi was there.

"Iruka," Kakashi called as soon as he was reached Konoha's lines. "Iruka, where the hell-" It was raining, a cold drizzle, and the few small fires burned pitifully, threatening to go out at every small gust of wind.

"Here," a tired voice mumbled, a few yards away, and Kakashi was by his side in a moment.

"What's wrong? God, you're hurt, there's blood everywhere-"

"Kakashi," Iruka interrupted, pushing off Kakashi's hesitant hands. He was crouched down in a trench, covered in mud and blood. "I'm fine, it's not mine, it's- God, I don't even know- Kakashi, Genma... he's dead, you know?"

"I- what?" Kakashi looked surprised, and Iruka felt bitter that this was the first time Kakashi had shown that much emotion.

"He's dead."

Kakashi groaned, toppling forward to press his forehead against Iruka's shoulder, and the teacher dragged bloody, broken fingernails through the wet silver hair.

"Raidou... How's Raidou?"

"He's back in Konoha. I thought you'd meet him there. It happened a few days ago..." Iruka dragged his nails through Kakashi's hair once last time, then dropped his hand back into his lap. Kakashi looked at Iruka then, looked past the mud and blood.

"You fought today?"

He gave Kakashi a twisted smile and a half-hearted shrug. "We nearly gained a mile, but then they pushed us all the way back. We got beat up pretty bad, I think. Ibiki's squad still isn't back, and no one's seen Anko's squad since before the fighting." He leaned his head back against the mudwall behind him, closing his eyes. "What about you, Kakashi?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Tsunade's sent an envoy to Sand, to see about getting some help. We're running out of ninja, Iruka. Some people are saying they're going to send out the genin soon."

Iruka sighed tiredly. "The kids aren't ready yet, they'll just get in the way and die."

Kakashi looked at him, surprised yet again. "That's harsh of you, 'Ruka."

"Not harsh," he said defensively, opening his eyes to stare up at the dark sky. "Just don't want my students to die." He looked over at Kakashi, caught between wanting to burrow closer to the older man and pushing him away. "Don't you need to get somewhere?"

"Yeah, I do..." The jounin trailed off, looking down the trench, past ninja huddled together in small groups, sleeping fitfully. "Who's in charge now? If Ibiki's not back..."

"Reiji," Iruka supplied helpfully, pointing down the trench. "He's down at the end, I think." Kakashi nodded and disappeared, melting into the shadows of the trench.

!-!-!

Iruka was as fitful as the others, waking from his doze at every footstep within hearing distance. Kakashi approached him cautiously, crouching nearby when Iruka sat up.

"What'd Reiji say?"

"Not much. We're holding here, for as long as we can, until we get word from the Sand. Go back to sleep, 'Ruka."

Iruka bit his lip as his body shivered, then slid a bit closer to Kakashi. "It's cold at night." He looked up, dark eyes almost pleading in the dark. "You got an extra blanket, 'Kashi? Mine's all bloody, it's useless."

He dug through his pack, pulling out his blanket and handing it to Iruka. The teacher's hands were like ice when he grabbed the blanket, and Kakashi had to repress a shudder. "Go to sleep, 'Ruka."

"Aren't you-"

"I'm just gonna keep watch for a bit. Go to sleep." He stressed the last statement, almost making it a command. Iruka blinked at him, then pulled the blanket around his shivering body, covering his head with the wool. Kakashi inched closer, and slowly pulled Iruka until the chuunin was almost in his lap. Half a minute and Iruka was asleep, fingers of one hand clutching the blanket possessively, the other hand digging into Kakashi's shirt desperately. Kakashi rubbed the younger man's shoulder, sending little tendrils of chakra into the teacher to give a bit of warmth to the freezing body.

"Damn war," he whispered angrily. "God damned war…”

!-!-!

When Iruka woke up, it was to Kakashi's frantic shaking of his shoulders. The jounin was crouched over teacher, and the drizzle had let up. He leaned in close, lips next to Iruka's ear, and Iruka stared past the silver hair to pick out stars from sky.

"Sound's almost here," Kakashi hissed into his ear and he nodded, rolling away from the older man silently.

The trenches were silent mass chaos, shinobi rushing about silently, divvying up kunai and shuriken, moving the injured further back. Iruka shoved the blanket at Kakashi and patted down his thighs, fingers searching blindly for his holster. Kakashi folded the blanket and shoved it into his pack, strapping the pack onto his back. They looked at each other, giving each other strained smiles, teeth flashing white in the dark.

There was a scream, loud and shrill, from their right and they slid further back into the dark, waiting restlessly. The screams came closer and closer, first from the right, then from the left, closing in on them. Iruka shifted, pressing against Kakashi's side for a moment, and Kakashi leaned back.

"Don't die, sensei," Kakashi whispered.

Another scream came, this time accompanied by shouts and the sound of metal hitting metal, and they broke apart from the shadows and each other, moving. Iruka rushed to the right and Kakashi ran to the left, both going into opposite ends of the fray.

Time held still, becoming endless moments filled with screams of dying men, shouts of killing men. Kunai and shuriken flashed, and the sky wavered from chakra being gathered and released. It was a chaotic blend of metal and lightening, wind and earth, fire and water, absolutely hypnotic and heartbreakingly beautiful, in a brutal way.

"Run," someone yelled from somewhere behind Kakashi. He ripped another kunai through a Sound-nin and turned, searching the bodies, living and dead, for the yeller. Screams stopped for a moment, the trenches taken over by a deadly calm, and then people were leaping from the trenches, running towards Kakashi on the higher sky.

Asuma lunged out of the mud, grabbing Kakashi's arm and pulling him along. "Get out," he yelled gruffly, pushing Kakashi towards a wall, letting go so he could himself leap out of the trench. "They're collapsing it, get out!"

"Shit," Kakashi snarled under his breath, pulling himself out of the trench. He leapt over a pile of bodies at the edge, running off to the right, to where Iruka had disappeared. "Iruka," he yelled, dodging a kunai. "Get out, get out now!"

A dark-haired head turned in his direction and he slammed into the man in front of him, pushing the shinobi out of the way.

"Iruka, move!"

The younger man looked at Kakashi, dark eyes widening, and the teacher started to move, leg muscles bunching to throw himself into the air when the ground disappeared beneath him.

!-!-!

Iruka couldn't breathe. There was a weight right on his chest, pushing on his lungs and ribs, and his body was twisted. His arms were pinned beneath him, and one of his legs was twisted in a position he knew wasn't right. He could feel something (someone, his mind supplied helpfully) slither against one of his arms, and he gagged, mud falling into his mouth.

"'Kashi," he coughed out, scraping his tongue across his top teeth to rid it of the mud. He pushed up against his arms, trying to slide them out, and the weight on his chest increased, pushing down on him until he began coughing again, mud sliding down his throat. Dark eyes opened, blinking in the complete dark. "God," he whispered, coughing out the bit of mud. "God, oh, god." It took a moment for his brain to catch up with his surroundings. Dark, covered with mud, with a weight on his chest.

Iruka screamed.

!-!-! Three Months Before !-!-!

He was at the academy. Children were running around, boys playing with a ball, little girls picking flowers and chasing the boys. A small group of girls were on the other side of the lawn, sitting under a tree, clapping their hands, and if Iruka listened carefully, he could hear them singing.

Five little ninjas,
All dressed in black,
tryin' to get to heaven
in a flying sack-

A young man ran up to him, breathless and pale. "Iruka-sensei," he panted out, hands on his knees, "Hokage-sama needs to see you." He nodded and stepped back from the young man, raising his hands to create a seal. As the teacher teleported away, he could hear faint strains of the girls' song follow him.

Well the sack, it broke,
And down they all fell,
and instead of goin' to heaven-

!-!-! Present !-!-!

It was getting harder to breathe. His mouth was filling with mud from the outside, and he was gagging, vomit filling up his mouth from the inside. The weight on his chest was increasing, and he could feel his bones in his pinned arms and legs grating against joints. He'd stopped screaming what seemed hours ago, and he was sure when he coughed that his throat was raw and bloody.

"Damn," he groaned, wincing as pain shot through his body once again. "Damn, damn, damn."

!-!-! Three Months Before !-!-!

"Hokage-sama," he asked, bowing, "you asked for me?" He straightened up and glanced around the room, eyebrows lifting as he counted the ninja present. They were in small knots, scattered here and there, speaking in low murmurs and sneaking glances around.

"Iruka-sensei," Tsunade said, leaning forward on her desk. "I'm sure you've heard the rumors. Ninjas are infamous for gossiping, after all." The look in her eyes belied her light tone.

"I might have," he said carefully.

She set her hands down on the desk, one on either side of a mug. She looked into the mug, focusing her attention on the liquid. "I'm sure you've heard that Sound's moving in past our borders. We can't afford another attack on Konoha itself, so we have to stop them."

"A fight, then?"

"A battle," said Tsunade stiffly. "They're encroaching upon our territory. It's war, Iruka." She looked up at him beneath her bangs, her fingertips tapping the desk. "I'm putting you in charge of one of the chuunin teams. You'll be heading out tomorrow, with Ibiki."

Iruka felt his stomach drop out from under him and closed his eyes for a moment, biting his lip. "Of course, Hokage-sama. I'm honored."

"Of course you are," she said, not unkindly, as she handed him a scroll. "The names of all the chuunin on your team." She stood and the room fell quiet, ninja turning to watch her. "Then that's all of you. You've been given your teams. You'll head north tomorrow. I should say something, deep and meaningful, to send you on your way, but there's nothing to say. This is a war. Either they die, or we die. Do your best."

As one, the assembled ninja bowed, then poofed out of the room, Iruka among them.

!-!-! Present !-!-!

The weight on his chest increased, then disappeared. He spat and coughed, vomit dribbling down his chin, his lungs burning. It hurt to breathe, it hurt and hurt and hurt, and the solution to stop the hurting was simple. He stopped breathing. The pressure increased once again, then melted away, and when hands grabbed his shoulders, shaking him, he felt as though he was floating.

"Breathe, Iruka-sensei."

The voice was familiar, but it sounded harsh. He'd never heard this voice harsh, and he tried to ignore it. Breathing hurt, and he'd had enough of hurt.

"Iruka-sensei, breathe."

It was even harsher this time, a snapped command, and Iruka obeyed automatically, taking in another gulping breath. It sent him into a fit of coughing, and the hands on his shoulders held him, supporting him, as his body shook. "Who?" he tried to ask, choking. There was something covered his eyes and he couldn't get his arms to move, to rub at them. "My eyes-"

"Hold on," the voice said, and this time it was no longer harsh. Fingers pressed against Iruka's eyes, then moved away in a wiping motion. "You've got mud in your eyes, and your mouth. Can you breathe, sensei?"

He nodded silently, leaning hard against the voice's body.

"You can open your eyes now. I got as much mud off them as I could."

He opened his eyes cautiously, squinting through the grains of dirt left on his eyelids. He slowly focused on the voice's face, almost incredulous. "Gai-san?"

The older man smiled, a flash of white. "You can see, that's good. Can you move? Your limbs were all pinned in the wrong ways, so they're probably numb, but I couldn't find any broken bones."

Iruka nodded, then dropped his head forward, dizzy. "M' ribs," he groaned. "Think my ribs got broken." Fingers touched his side gingerly and he winced away, biting his lip.

"We can wrap them for now. Do you think you’ll be able to move?”

"Yeah, I- yeah."

"Then let's move," Gai advised. "We'll wrap them once we get out of here." He stood and held out a hand for Iruka.

Iruka grabbed his hand, pulling himself up. His legs buckled and he reached out, grabbing Gai's vest, fingers clumsily fastening around the neck of the flak vest. He looked down at his feet, and stared. A face. He was standing on a face. The corpse's right arm was lying limply next to his leg, her fingers curled into claws. He closed his eyes and breathed in, shallowly, through his nose, clinging tighter to Gai's vest.

"Come on," Gai said, wrapping his arms around Iruka's body. Iruka tightened his hold, and with a poof they winked out of the trench.

!-!-!

Iruka was sitting very still, back straight as a rod. Gai was bandaging his chest and when he pulled the white cloth tight Iruka winced, digging his fingers into the dirt.

"Iruka-sensei?"

"Pull it tighter," he gritted his teeth, "just a bit tighter." He clenched his eyes shut, a whimper breaking free when Gai pulled the bandages tighter, then tied them off.

"Good?"

He nodded, not trusting his voice for a moment. A few shallow breaths later he gave Gai a sickly smile. "How many ribs?"

"Three, I think." He gave Iruka an encouraging smile. "You're young, you'll heal fast."

"Ah. Where're the lines?"

Gai looked over his shoulder, balancing on the balls of his feet next to Iruka. "The lines got pushed south when the trenches collapsed. We're behind Sound right now. We won't be able to break through, so we'll go around, and head for Konoha. We're about a day and a half from Konoha right now, and if we go around, it should take about two days."

"Two days?" Iruka looked paler and Gai shuffled forward, still crouched down.

"We'll have to move fast, and we can't if you can't breathe. He touched his fingertips to Iruka's side, sending in little tendrils of chakra, melding the ribs together. "It'll hold for a bit, if you don't stress it. Should hurt less, too. Think you'll be able to run?"

"Yeah," his eyes were closed in concentration, teeth biting his lower lip, "just a minute." He molded his chakra, boosting the pain-blockers, buffering the transmissions from the pain receptors. He opened up his eyes, looking at Gai. "Ready?"

Gai stood and helped Iruka to his feet again, stepping back when the chuunin was standing, however unsteadily. He started an easy lope, slowing a bit so Iruka could keep off, and the two men began moving across the last bit of muddy land, moving towards the forest. Time passed slowly for Iruka, moments filled with footstep after footstep, jarring pain and lack of air. He stumbled once and again, and each time Gai paused, letting the teacher catch up with him. He tried to focus on other things, the way the sky was lightening, the way the sun was beginning to peek through the leaves, casting twisting shadows and warped sunlight on the path in front of him. He stumbled once more and Gai caught him, wrapping arms around his body to keep him from slamming into the ground.

"God," he gasped out, "it hurts. Please, stop, I just- stop-" His words were broken up and fragmented by wracking coughs.

"It's alright, Iruka-sensei," Gai said almost soothingly, righting Iruka. He set Iruka against a tree, waiting until the younger man had slid down into a sitting position, then stepped back, walking away as the teacher coughed.

"Gai-san?" Iruka asked. He was leaning back against the tree where Gai had deposited him, and when the older man stepped forward he held out his hands. Blood, bright and shining wetly in light, was dappled across his palms. "Sorry," he said, pulling his hands back. "Sorry, I didn't- but when I cough-"

"It's alright, sensei. Are you ready to move?"

Iruka opened his mouth to speak and looked surprised when not words, but coughs, came out. He clutched his chest, fingers splayed out over his chest, and blood dribbled from his lips. He was bent nearly double by the time Gai reached him, big hands grabbing the chuunin's shoulders to hold him up from the ground. Flecks of blood landed on Gai's vest, standing out against the green canvas. When the coughing fit ended Iruka leaned against the older man, limp in his exhaustion. Gai wiped the blood away from Iruka's mouth, eyebrows knitted up in a thick knot.

"Think I'm gonna die?"

Iruka's voice was flippant and Gai frowned when he heard it.

"If you died, then wouldn't your students be sad? You have to live, for your precious people. For Naruto, and the rest of Konoha." He flashed a smile then, big and white and sad. "I'll get you back to Konoha, Iruka-sensei," he said, giving the teacher a thumbs up sign. "I promise on my nice guy pose."

Iruka laughed, a small smile on his face, and when he coughed, Gai silently wiped away the blood.

---

AN: Alright. This story is going to be dark. Very, very dark. People will die, and they won’t come back. Also, please, don’t pepper me with “UPDATE” reviews or e-mails. They stress me out, and then I can’t write. If you want to keep reading, I’m adding bits and pieces to my live journal basically every day. So, if you can’t wait for another chapter to be put up, go check there.

Much thanks to Nezuko for helping me. NeNe’s an awesome possum!