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The Trollocs were coming. The ground rumbled with their heavy footsteps.
The deep and dank twists of the labyrinthine Ways were home to the dangerous Shadowspawn that hunted humans for sport. It had been a long time since humankind used the Ways for travel between cities. Most people preferred to travel Overland despite the longer journey time. It was safer though, and less of a chance of being overrun by monsters if you chose your route carefully.
Umino Iruka’s heart pounded heavily against his rib cage as he ran. He urged the kids forward. To keep going and to not look back. To place their trust and safety in the hands of a strange grey-haired Warder and his brown squashy-faced Aes Sedai mage.
It wasn’t the Trollocs that had Iruka worried. Physical entities could be dealt with metal and wood. There was a corporeal form of flesh and blood that could be downed. Those he could take care of.
It was the insidious dark that Iruka was fearful of. Something had whispered into his mind. Threats, thoughts of failure, prophecies of their collective deaths. Iruka felt violated. After all, how do you take down smoke that flowed through the gaps in your fingers?
There was but one option: to outrun it before it had the chance to take hold.
Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he urged Naruto and Sasuke to run through the waygate. Past the open portal were foreign lands of sand and red stone, so unlike the deep forests and rivers of the Two Rivers that they all once called home. Sakura was screaming at them to run faster, desperation in her voice. By her side, Sai had an arrow nocked, ready to let loose.
There was no time; Iruka dared not look back. The noise was deafening.
Floating behind them with his paws outstretched was Lady Pakkun, the One Power channelling through him to keep the waygate open.
Iruka leapt through, feeling a tingle brush over his skin as the portal washed over him. The cold of the Ways had been unbearable, and Iruka was glad to feel the heat of the Overland once more.
Lady Pakkun's Warder had been the one to bring up the rear. He whipped around, his long braid flying, and watched in horror as a Trollic unleashed a heavy overhead blow. "Kakashi! We're through!" Iruka yelled, feeling his arm quiver in sympathy as the Warder parried.
Lady Pakkun was sweating with the effort it took to keep the gate open, the edges of the portal wobbling. A wind picked up, blowing his long hair into his puggy face. "Hurry it up in there, will ya, kid?"
[Image Description: A greyscale image of Kakashi, dressed as Lan Mandragoran, is holding Pakkun. His speech bubble says, "Pls I need this job". Pakkun is dressed as Lady Moiraine and sparkling, saying: "You're fired."]
Hatake Kakashi blocked a blow from an axe, casting a glance over his shoulder and gauging the distance. Sweat gathered on his brow. In one fluid motion, his sword sliced through the Trolloc’s wrists like butter. And then he was running.
Iruka felt like everything was happening in slow motion. The Trolloc fell with a roar, a noise that tapered off into a gurgle when the horde of its brethren stampeded over his body. Thousands of bats screeched from the sky, an amorphous mass of dark wings and beady eyes.
It was going to be close.
“Pakkun! Now!”
As soon as Kakashi made it past the gate, Pakkun stopped channelling. The waygate closed too slowly. Sai let loose with his arrows, stoic and expressionless in his efficiency. Iruka readjusted his grip on his sword, ready.
And then the wall of sound disappeared as the waygate sealed up. There was no more clanking of Trolloc armour. No more screeching of a thousand swarming bats.
The silence was as welcome as it was disconcerting.
Relief flooded Iruka. Iruka was glad to be on the other side in the over world where the dangers were better known to him. His hands shook when he resheathed the sword and threw his thick braid over his shoulder. They could have died. Echoes of moments before, of the sheer terror and dread— Iruka wouldn’t wish that on his enemies.
He glanced around at their ragtag group. His four teenagers from the villages near the Two Rivers — Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Haruno Sakura, and Sai — that he had vowed to protect and take home. They looked as shocked as Iruka himself felt. Past them was Asuma the perpetually smoking Ogier, a humanoid leonine race, who possessed dedicated knowledge of the Ways. If it wasn’t for their guide, Iruka supposed they might not have made it out at all.
And then there was the pair from Tar Valon’s White Tower: Lady Pakkun, an Aes Sedai of the Blue Ajah; and his loyal protector and Warder, Hatake Kakashi. If it hadn’t been for the pair of them waltzing into the Two Rivers talking about the Dragonborn, Iruka would still be a Wisdom and he wouldn’t be prancing through the country on a quest that was likely going to get them killed.
But you would have failed them sooner , the voice in his head promised.
'No. Those were lies. All lies,’ Iruka argued back.
“—Iruka. Hey.” A hand reached out and squeezed at his wrist, startling him. “Come back to us.”
The pressure was welcome and grounding. Iruka stared at the worn leather bracers, sweeping up the lace wrappings until he settled on Kakashi’s worried face. Or at least the parts that weren’t hidden behind a mask.
You can’t protect them. The voice had said, twining itself around Iruka like a snake. You are not strong enough.
Iruka snatched his hand back, cradling his wrist to his chest. He stared in horror at the empty space where the waygate once stood and then back at Kakashi. “What was that? That black— ” He trailed off with a shiver. That voice had to come from somewhere… It hadn’t followed them through the waygate, had it?
“The Machin Shin,” Pakkun answered simply in his gruff voice, dusting off his blue cloak as if nothing deeply unsettling had happened mere moments ago. “In the Old Tongue, it means ‘the Black Wind’ and it is drawn by anyone channelling.” Sakura winced. She had instinctively touched on the One Power when a Trolloc had broken into their camp earlier. “It manifests as nightmarish winged creatures and feasts on your fears; don’t listen to what it has to say.”
You won’t make it back to the Two Rivers, the Machin Shin had said, all the kids will die. One by one. And you will too, trying to save them.
“Easy for you to say,” Iruka muttered bitterly. The Aes Sedai were chanellers of the One Power. Of course it would be easy for the trained to shrug off something so trivial as fears.
Kakashi was a solid steady presence by Iruka's side, within touching distance after being so firmly rebuffed. “It’s over for now. We best make haste into the fortress of Fal Dara before nightfall and whatever’s crawling out here finishes the job.” Kakashi gestured out towards the quiet plains of red rock and sand, and at a citadel that could only be Fal Dara standing proudly on the barren horizon.
“I will stay back and reinforce the waygate.” Asuma tossed his massive dark-maned head, lighting up a cigar and rummaging through his pack for his books and tools. “Save me some beer when I’m done. Would be shit if we have to contend with both the Blight and those flying bastards.”
“And the sooner we figure out which one of us is the Dragon Reborn, the sooner we can go kick the Dark One's ass," Naruto said earnestly, sliding around Kakashi to stick against Iruka’s side, “and that means the sooner we can go home. Right?”
Iruka ruffled Naruto's hair. “I sure hope so.” Voices in his head be damned. Iruka wasn’t going to let anything bad happen to any of them.
[Image Description: A greyscale image of Umino Iruka as Nynaeve, with his long hair in a braid that falls over his right hand side. He has a pout on his face.]
Iruka spent the walk to Fal Dara hanging back with Naruto and Sakura, glaring daggers at Kakashi's back at the approximate height of where Lady Pakkun was being carried by his Warder.
All this nonsense of the past few weeks was too much. The Dragon Reborn was rumoured to save the world from falling into Darkness with the one exception that no one knew who that person was. What were the chances that the Two Rivers could provide so many candidates? And then there was the drama surrounding the White Tower's Amyrilin Seat. As a Wisdom of the Two Rivers, Iruka had learnt how to cure ailments and heal those that required it.
Even though he had been trained to use the One Power, as all Wisdoms were taught, Iruka could never quite grasp it. At least not when he wasn’t feeling a strong emotion that allowed him to get past his block: like seeing Kakashi hit by shrapnel and bleeding out on the floor during an attack. Tapping into the One Power had been one thing. But being able to control it was another thing altogether. It must have been a fluke that it all turned out for the best. Iruka prayed he would never have to heal Kakashi from the brink of death like that ever again.
Kakashi spoke quietly with Pakkun as they crossed the gate into the city proper. Iruka's instincts were screaming at him to never trust the words of Pakkun easily, despite his oath as an Aes Sedai of being unable to lie. That wouldn’t stop him from deliberately misdirecting or leaving something important out.
Fal Dara was nothing like the ostentatious glittering towers of Tar Valon, or the vast forested farmlands of the Two Rivers. This was a working garrison, stationed by those fleeing from the ever growing Blight that spread across the Northern Lands. The streets were lined with tired people, stalls with awnings that had seen better days and ramshackle cobbled together homes. Fal Dara had probably never expected to see the mass exodus of people fleeing their homes.
Iruka listened with half an ear when they were presented to the siblings, Lord Agelmar and Lady Amalisa of Fal Dara in the great hall. All along the walls were armour and weaponry, polished and well maintained.
“Lady Pakkun of the Aes Sedai,” Agelmar greeted from atop his dias. Turning to Kakashi, he inclined his head. “Dai'shan.”
Iruka had never heard that word used before. It must be some sort of title.
“What brings you and your… friends to Fal Dara? Did my sister here ask the White Tower for aid against the Trollocs?” Agelmar shot Amalisa a look. “We can handle it as our father has done before us.”
“I did not write to the White Tower. But it is undeniable the Blight is coming for us, brother,” Amalisa said, then turned to address Lady Pakkun. “Everyday the Trollocs gain strength. I fear there will come a day where our defences will not be enough and it will fall like Malkier. No offence, Dai'shan.”
Kakashi shrugged. There was a thread of tension that hadn’t been there previously. An unspoken history and story there that must link to his past, and perhaps in time Iruka would know that story.
Lady Pakkun was well versed in the art of politics. Iruka was impressed with how little the Aes Sedai revealed while heavily implying that they were trustworthy. Perhaps it was a skill that they trained into you at Tar Valon during Aes Sedai training. “We are headed to the Eye of the World.”
Lady Amalisa was just as amused. “You will need to cross the Blight onwards to get anywhere north. It won’t be an easy journey.”
“We’ll get by.” Lady Pakkun tilted his head. “We travelled with an Ogier. The waygate that we travelled through needs to be blocked off.”
“We will send someone to meet your Ogier. You and your guests are welcome to stay here with us. We’ll have your quarters prepared,” Agelmar said. “But there is much to discuss, Lady Pakkun. Dai'shan. If your friends would like to explore the city, they are more than welcome to.”
Kakashi turned around then, meeting Iruka’s questioning look. “Go. You’ll be safe here. I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Stay close to the light,” Amalisa added. “You never know if there are Dark friends about.”
It was a clear dismissal. Iruka ushered the kids out of the great hall. He wasn’t sure about them, but after everything that happened, they earned themselves a drink.
If Iruka was being honest — and at four drinks in, he might admit it aloud — he was furious with Pakkun and the Aes Sedai. They had led them so far from home. There were four kids — FOUR — and neither of them knew for certain who the Dragon Reborn was.
Lady Pakkun kept inferring that if they all went to the Eye of the World, then three of them would not return. Would not return. That was unacceptable. The longer Iruka sat in the Tavern with his drink on his lonesome, the more annoyed and angry he became. Lady Pakkun knew nothing. The weaving of the Pattern shouldn’t mean that three innocent kids would die.
All of it was bullshit.
Iruka left the tavern when the sky turned starless and dark. The streets were emptier now, well lit by torches. Iruka picked a direction and started walking. His thoughts hadn’t cleared up any more; the alcohol hadn’t provided any more clarity. In the quieter moments without the well-being of his kids to consider, Iruka found his thoughts circling back to Kakashi.
Travelling with Kakashi and Lady Pakkun had been… fun, if one could discount all the near death experiences and the large amount of pressure they were all facing from near imminent doom. Iruka had learned a lot more about the greater world at large, about the Aes Sedai and their protectors, and certainly a lot more about the prophecy and the Dragon Reborn.
There was a connection there. A spark of… something . Iruka couldn’t help but be attracted to Kakashi. Perhaps it was his loyal nature and his competence. The little things as they travelled together, as they sat by the fire and cooked, exchanging stories and quiet smiles. It was… nice, to be desired by someone of Kakashi’s calibre.
Iruka was thinking so hard about Kakashi that he was seeing the Warder in the streets. But there could be no one else of that stature wearing those colours. He rubbed at his tired eyes and made haste to investigate, tracking Kakashi until he could no longer see him.
Iruka frowned, looking past the wooden crates and the residents of Fal Dara that were out until he caught a whisper of conversation coming from within one of the houses.
“Dai'shan! It is so good to see you.”
Iruka crept closer, spying through an open window. Kakashi was embracing a dark-haired woman. A little girl the spitting image of her tugged excitedly at Kakashi’s hand. Similar to the braided cord that wrapped around Kakashi's head, the pair of them sported the same. Iruka felt his stomach drop. Had he misread the signs? Did Kakashi have a family here in Fal Dara? He had been so certain that—
Iruka shook himself. He was so stupid and he oughtn’t violate Kakashi’s privacy like that. It was time to retire in his rooms and catch what rest he could. Iruka startled when he turned around to find Kakashi standing there with a raised eyebrow. Of course any Warder would have known Iruka had been there.
"Hello," Iruka panicked. "I was just... "
"Following me," Kakashi supplied, amused. He lifted an eyebrow daring Iruka to contradict him.
Iruka flushed. Busted. "Yes... well..."
“I don't really think you could call this tracking,” Kakashi continued, like the ass he was. "Why don't you come in and meet the Teuchis?" Kakashi offered, tilting his head towards the door where a small family of three had gathered and were openly smiling warmly at them. "Unless you plan to stand there all night?"
Iruka ducked his head and felt his face warm, taking Kakashi's lead and feeling a little foolish.
"Oh, hello, who is this, Kakashi?" The older lady spoke quietly behind Iruka. She was clad in armour from the lower half down. From the scars littering her face and forearms, she had seen her share of battle defending Fal Dara from the Trollocs. "He's beautiful."
“Really?” Kakashi chuckled, the door closing behind them. “I hadn't noticed.” His offhand comment spoken in jest, that Iruka was trying desperately to pretend like he wasn't eavesdropping rudely, only served to make his face warmer.
"Everyone, this is Umino Iruka, one of my travelling companions. Iruka, this is my, well, family." The lady in armour was Tomoyo, wife to Teuchi - a chef that served the Lord of Fal Dara - and mother to Ayame, who looked at Kakashi as if he hung the stars and the moon.
“Have you eaten yet? There’s more than enough to go around.” Teuchi said kindly. He felt warm and welcoming.
“Can he join us?” Ayame asked, excited at the prospect of hearing stories about Kakashi's friend and turned to her mother who gave her a nod. \
“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Kakashi asked.
“Would you like to stay forever?” Teuchi added with a mischievous grin, much to the amusement of his family.
]I
[Image Description: A greyscale two panelled comic with Kakashi and Iruka in the first panel at the top. Kakashi is maskless and says: "Would you like to stay for dinner?". In the second panel below, the Teuchi family are gathered around a short table. On the left is a little girl who is amused and giggles Hee hee. Tomoyo, her mother, sits in the center, amused by her husband. Teuchi is the man on the right who asks "Would you like to stay forever?"]
Iruka’s eyes skated around the wooden table where a giant steaming pot of noodles and vegetables sat. His face burnt with the intensity of multiple suns. “Oh, well, not yet, but I wouldn't want to intrude on your family…”
“You're so pretty!” Ayame declared. He fought the desperate urge to fidget as Ayame beamed brightly at them both. It was good to have approval from Kakashi's family at least.
“A bit too late for that now,” Kakashi said as he dusted the top of a spare stool and placed it gently by his side. He gave it an inviting pat.
Iruka obediently sat down. “I, well. Thank you for your generosity.”
“Think nothing of it, Iruka,” Tomoyo said, passing around an extra set of chopsticks and an empty bowl. “Any friend of Kakashi here, is a friend of ours. Now, why don't you tell us of your adventures?”
Kakashi was at ease in the Teuchi’s home. It was a side that Iruka had never seen before. The mask usually hiding the lower half of his face was pooled around his neck, and Iruka tried not to stare. He felt every touch of Kakashi’s foot and knee acutely, every accidental brush of their fingers when they reached for the same thing at once.
“Sorry,” Kakashi would murmur, not at all apologetic when he leaned in close on more than one occasion.
“Ah, no. It’s…. fine.” Iruka tried to sound like a normal human, hiding his blushing face behind his bowl when Tomoyo caught his eye and winked.
The food was exquisite and the company divine. Iruka was enchanted by Ayame, who seemed eager to pump every last bit of information from him about the outside world and their journey so far.
“Mama won’t let me go on any adventures,” Ayame lamented with a pout. “The Two Rivers sound wonderful and I would love to visit.”
“Perhaps someday when you’re older,” Tomoyo said mildly, standing up to gather the dishes.
With his stomach pleasantly full, they bade the Teuchi family goodbye and made their way back to their assigned rooms. Iruka was sad to see Kakashi hide his face away once more.
The walk was pleasant now that Iruka had company. Kakashi stared at him openly, assuaging any of Iruka’s earlier doubts about this being potentially a one-sided attraction.
“Your family… They seemed nice.”
“I grew up in Malkier,” Kakashi said quietly, a painful history heavy in his regreteful voice. “I owe the Teuchi family my life. She was one of my father's guards. For getting me out on the night the Blight overtook Malkier and my family was slaughtered.” They hadn't spoken much of Kakashi's past.
“I am glad that they did and that you have people that you can rely upon,” Iruka said earnestly as they walked side by side through the long hallways of the fortress. They paused once they reached Kakashi’s door.
There was an invitation that quavered in the cool night air. Long moments that passed as Kakashi looked his fill. Iruka wasn’t sure if he should answer it or if….
“I should…” Iruka said softly, breaking the silence. What should he do?
“Yes.” Kakashi said at long last, quiet like a breeze. His gaze seemed to have closed off. “Goodnight, Iruka.” He reached out and gave Iruka's forearm a friendly squeeze then entered his room.
Was Kakashi disappointed? Iruka stared at the closed door in confusion. Had that been a sign that Kakashi would welcome some company in private? Had that been— Iruka blushed, ears and cheeks aflame. He was terrible at reading between the lines. People needed to be direct with their desires. Be blunt and upfront about what exactly they wanted from Iruka.
Bravely, gamely, Iruka pushed the door open to find Kakashi had set aside his sword and his gauntlets, and was working on freeing his tunic. Iruka’s breath caught in his throat and he leaned his weight against the door to close it shut.
“Do you want me to go?” Iruka asked, trying his best to sound assertive and not like a mess of emotion roiling in his stomach. He hid his clammy hands behind his back.
Kakashi crossed the threshold of his room in two strides, crowding Iruka up against the door. He cradled Iruka’s face like it was something precious, thumbs brushing gently against Iruka’s cheekbones and over the ends of his nose scar.
And then there was a hungry mouth on his, the scrape of teeth that pulled a moan from Iruka. There was a new invitation there. A new question.
Iruka gamely pushed Kakashi’s tunic off his shoulders and answered with a kiss of his own.
Kakashi's body was littered with scars, a testament to the hard life on the road of being an Aes Sedai's Warder. “Iruka,” Kakashi breathed his name like it was a prayer. And perhaps it was. The way Kakashi instinctively knew where and how Iruka liked to be touched. Iruka had marvelled at the way Kakashi had picked him up like it was nothing and placed him gently upon the bed.
Iruka had never known passion like that. For hours, Kakashi had learnt every inch, every nook and cranny with his fingers and tongue, and in turn, Iruka had done the same, mapping the cartography of scars long healed over with feather light kisses.
Kakashi had done things that no one had dared to think of in the Two Rivers, carefully orchestrating Iruka’s destruction with a well placed thrust or a kiss. Iruka could only cling to Kakashi’s shoulders, fingernails digging parallel marks into his pale back as they both chased their release.
They had gotten little rest that night.
When morning came and the sun ran her golden fingers through the open window, Iruka awoke to fingers in his hair.
“Good morning,” Kakashi murmured, voice husky from sleep. His hair was sticking up impossibly in every direction, making him look younger.
Iruka nuzzled close, unable to rein in the fondness deep in his belly. He dropped a kiss to the nearest patch of skin and stretched, luxuriating in the feel of a warm bed and the rarer opportunity of having a bed mate in it. “It is, isn’t it?”
“How are you feeling? Was I too… rough?” Kakashi asked, sweeping a large hand down Iruka’s back and settling gentlemanly on a hip.
“I’m—” Iruka took stock. He had aches in places that would remind him for days to come of their time together. “A little sore, but I feel fantastic.” Lazily, he draped himself over Kakashi and kissed along that strong jawline. Iruka settled against Kakashi’s strong chest and indulged in breathing him all in.
“I can tell you have questions to ask,” Kakashi said, amused, as he combed his fingers slowly through Iruka’s long hair.
Iruka bit his lip, wondering how transparent he had become that Kakashi could read him so easily. “Why does everyone call you ‘Dai'shan’?”
Kakashi’s fingers paused, twitched against Iruka’s shoulder. “Dai’shan is the title for those that are expected to become the next King of Malkier. Not that it matters any longer.”
“I should go before Naruto discovers that I hadn’t slept in my bed last night.”
“I could convince you to stay.”
“You could,” Iruka trailed off with a small laugh. “But then we’ll—”
A loud furious knocking came, startling them both apart and breaking the moment. Naruto’s panicked voice came through the door. “Kakashi? Kakashi! Lady Pakkun and Sasuke are gone and I can’t find Iruka. Are you awake?!”
Reality had a funny way of interfering when things were finally looking up. Naruto had run off to go find Sakura and Sai before Kakashi could say anything which was fortuitous. They had dressed quickly in silence.
Kakashi walked to the balcony of the room, staring out towards the mass of gnarled trees that made up the Blightborder. His hands were balled up and there was a furious look on his face.
Iruka was torn, feeling helpless. He couldn’t imagine what Kakashi was feeling to be left behind in Fal Dara by the Aes Sedai. “Are you alright? Can you feel anything through the bond?”
Kakashi shook his head. “Pakkun doesn’t want to be followed, not to what they're facing now.”
It was strange to see Kakashi so defeated. The bond that an Aes Sedai had with their Warder was special, but to have that blocked off must be jarring.
“After the Trolloc attack in the Two Rivers, when I followed you,” Iruka said, drawing close to stand shoulder to shoulder with Kakashi, “It wasn't you who I tracked. It was Pakkun. I can show you how.”
“You would let me go without you?” Kakashi looked surprised.
Iruka covered Kakashi’s fist with his hand, trying not to mourn their short time together. “You bring them back. You bring them back to me.”
“You are a remarkable man, Wisdom.” Kakashi brought the back of Iruka’s hand up to his lips. “Perhaps in a different life, we could have...”
“A Wisdom never weds,” Iruka said quietly, as if his heart wasn’t breaking into pieces. He lifted his chin higher, fighting the tears in his eyes. “But if I go to Tar Valon, maybe I’ll become… something. An Aes Sedai who could have a Warder. Perhaps a husband.”
“I will hate the man you chose because he is not me,” Kakashi replied. “And I will love him if he makes you smile. You are as beautiful as the sunrise and fierce as a warrior. You are a lioness, Wisdom.” He bent down to kiss Iruka one last time, lingering and regretful. “Now tell me how to find them.”
