"I... I don't know about the sub-factors, but we're both O-pos." Iruka offered, feeling slightly hopeful at last. Here was something concrete and useful and meaningful he could do - something that might really make a difference.

"Let me work on this first," Numa replied. "I want to narrow the opening, even if just a little, and put a chakra barrier in place to seal out infection- although I suspect it's too late for that."

She pulled a bottle and brush from her bag, and began to decorate the edges of the wound on both sides of the cut, from navel to hip, with delicate script. When she had completed the seal, she held the edges of the wound closest to Kakashi's navel together, directing chakra in, drawing the cut surfaces to reunite. Nerves and vessels and fibers reconnected, layer by layer, healing together with only a smooth pink scar to mark where they had once been divided. When she sat back at last, panting and a little dizzy from her exertion, the wound was several centimeters smaller.

While she had worked, Iruka had monitored and supported. When the medic sat back, breaking the connection, he stayed hunched over, sliding his hands up Kakashi's limbs to rest at hip and shoulder. He could feel the strength of Numa's jutsu still humming through his lover's body, and Kakashi's own chakra felt stronger, more stable, than it had since they'd arrived.

"You're gonna be OK, Kashi, I swear it. You have to. Just... Just keep on hanging on." He brushed his lips over Kakashi's forehead.

The silver-haired ninja, white as alabaster, did not respond.

Chapter 12: AWOL

In Konoha, on Monday, Iruka's absence was noticed. In fact, it was much remarked upon by those that knew him. The generally reliable teacher was never absent without leave; it was unprecedented. In the canteen at the administration building, little knots of ninja sat and ate and gossiped together.

"Oi, maybe he's away on a secret honeymoon," said Genma, shoveling in a mouthful of spicy curry.

"What makes you say that?" his dining companion asked.

"Heard some of his kiddles bragging about tailing him on Saturday morning. Naruto and Sandaime's grandson – you know the kid, right?" Genma paused and looked up.

"Yeah, Konohamaru. Ebisu's brat," Raidou said, "Go on."

"Kids were going on about how they tailed Iruka-sensei early Saturday. He was headed out on the Azumatora." Genma paused for effect, taking another gargantuan mouthful of curry.

"Don't tease. And don't choke yourself, idiot," Raidou chided, refilling Genma's tea in anticipation of the gulps his partner would soon be consuming, judging by the fiery color of his face.

Genma pouted briefly at the epithet, but gratefully slurped the tea.

"Go on," Raidou prompted. "What's the big deal about him being on Eastern Tiger? People jog there all the time."

"Yeah, but he had full camping kit on, like he was headed out for a mission. And he didn't have a mission." Genma paused again.

"Dammit, Genma, quit being a prick and spill it already." Raidou gave Genma a surly glare.

Genma grinned knowingly. "Someone else we know did have a mission in the northeast. Kakashi. And he's overdue to return."

"Oh geeze, you think they're..."

"Come on, we both know they've been doing the nasty. And Tsunade's on to them. Izumo told me. Probably wanted to take a couple days to fool around before the official crap hits the fan and they have to do the Personal Alliance Risk Assessment paperwork and all that."

"I'm not buying it. We did the PARA's - a lot of people have. It's not like they're gonna tell 'em they can't sleep together, they just want to know where the liabilities to the village might lie." Raidou shook his head and rubbed a hand along his scarred face, an almost unconscious gesture, but it set his mind tumbling down darker paths. "Anyway Kakashi's overdue? How overdue? And what kind of mission was he on?"

"Infiltration and recovery, and I think he's seven days late at this point."

"Well that can't be good, can it?" Raidou frowned.

"Well you know him," Genma's voice was artificially light, "he'd be late to his own fu- Er- he's always late to things..."

Raidou gave Genma a silent look.

"You two seem to know an awful lot of things about other people's missions," a tart voice interrupted from behind Genma, as their buxom Hokage materialized there. "Come with me."

"Fuck," Raidou and Genma said almost simultaneously.

"What was that, Shiranui? Namiashi? On your feet." Tsunade scowled at the jounin.

"Yes ma'am. Sorry, ma'am," they apologized, scrambling up from their chairs and turning to bow at Tsunade.

"With me. You have a new assignment. I'm briefing you now." The feisty blonde woman clacked away from them at a rapid pace, expecting to be silently followed.

Genma and Raidou fell in step a respectful pace or two behind their leader.

"You think it's about the missing sensei?" Genma asked in coded hand signals.

"Don't know. But it's high priority whatever it is," Raidou signed back, looking worried.

They brushed past Izumo and Kotetsu, the hokage's chuunin office assistants, and Genma gave Izumo a wink. Another artificially cheery smile. Izumo knew what they were there for though. He just gave Genma a silent nod and watched the door close behind the jounin's back.

"Look, it could still just be something stupid, right? I mean, Iruka wouldn't just up and go missing nin, and there's no reason to think he'd be hurt," Kotetsu tried to cheer his sullen-faced comrade.

"He went to meet Hatake. I'm sure of it. I can just tell, Ko. Something's wrong." Izumo brushed the long lock of hair off his forehead a moment. "She summoned his fucking dog for godsake."

ooo

Inside Tsunade's office, Genma and Raidou found that the hokage had indeed summoned one of Kakashi's ninja canines. Pakkun, the dour-faced pug, sat on a chair looking, if possible, even more morose than usual. Morose and very, very focused.

When the Godaime took her seat behind her desk, the dog stood and gave her a bow. "Tsunade-sama, with all respect, only Kakashi has a contract to summon me."

"And what do you surmise from that, then, mutt? You are a sentient creature, and a trained ninja, loyal to the Leaf. I am Hokage. I have summoned you." Tsunade's voice was imperious, but with an undercurrent of something else. Worry.

"Where's Kakashi?" the dog sniffed suspiciously.

"That's exactly what I would like to know." Tsunade picked up a small scroll from her desk. "I received this report on his progress on his mission some days ago, and it was not encouraging. He is now seven days overdue. And his lover is now also missing."

Genma and Raidou stood uncomfortably, watching the interaction. It was already clear what their new mission was. A search and recovery. If Tsunade had even the slightest worry that Kakashi or Iruka had gone rogue, there would be hunter nins in the room getting this briefing, not themselves.

"Sit, all of you," Tsunade directed. She handed the scroll to Genma, along with a map and a mission brief. "Hatake's mission was an S-class infiltration and stolen scroll recovery in Lightening Country. According to that report," she indicated the scroll she had handed to Genma, "he had successfully recovered the contraband in question and neutralized the initial threat to Konoha, when he was compromised."

"Caught, you mean." Raidou felt the sick knot in his stomach tighten.

"Yes. And he escaped. He sent me that immediately after neutralizing the enemy nins who had apprehended him. They were an unexpected complication. Our advance intelligence did not indicate the initial target was in contact with Cloud shinobi." Tsunade sounded bitter.

"So it was definitely a Kumogakure operation?" Genma asked. He perused the scroll. "Kakashi says here that he believed the opposing ninja had no opportunity to contact their base."

"Yes," Tsunade agreed, "He believed he had successfully neutralized the threat entirely. That it was an invisible op. But in light of the fact that he and now Iruka-sensei are both missing, I am not so sure we can rely on that assessment."

Genma nodded, and passed the scroll to Raidou. "How does Iruka-sensei fit into the picture?"

"You said it yourself. He and Kakashi are lovers. If Kumo was aware of this, and has managed to recapture Kakashi, they may also have abducted Iruka as a pressure tactic. Especially since they were still keeping their relationship clandestine."

The long-haired special jounin frowned and nodded again.

"What reason do you have to believe that Iruka-sensei was abducted?" Raidou asked.

"None at the moment. I sincerely hope that you will find exactly what you were so vulgarly speculating about at dinner," Tsunade looked Genma in the eye. "But if that is not the case..."

Genma broke eye contact first, looking down and away.

"So I'm here as a tracker?" Pakkun asked.

"Yes. You're familiar with both missing men's scents. You are to follow Iruka's trail."

"We don't know for certain that they're together," said Genma, "Is the priority on locating Iruka or Kakashi?"

Tsunade templed her fingers and looked at the men and dog. "Priority is on locating Iruka-sensei first, since his disappearance is unexplained. However, this mission encompasses a potential search for both missing shinobi.

"Shiranui Genma, you are squadron leader. Your team will be Namiashi Raidou and Pakkun here, and Shizune will accompany you as field medic. This is a top priority, S-class S&R operation. If you find they are in well-fortified enemy hands, you will request Anbu support immediately. I will not sanction any stupid heroics resulting in further personnel loss. Understood?"

"Understood, Hokage-sama." Genma answered, "We will exercise all appropriate caution."

"Shizune has already been briefed. She will meet you at 1800 at Tiger Gate for departure."

"That gives us an hour," Genma said, looking at Raidou and Pakkun.

"Do you accept this mission, Konoha Shinobi?" The Godaime looked expectantly at the three ninja she had mustered for this mission.

"On my mark, I will carry out this mission to the best of my abilities," Raidou said, raising his right hand to touch the Anbu tattoo hidden within the sleeve on his left arm.

"On my mark,"Genma echoed, using the same gesture.

Pakkun bowed. "I accept."

"May you complete your duties swiftly and safely," Tsunade said, standing and bowing to her soldiers. "Go and come back."

ooo

Outside Tsunade's office, Pakkun looked up at Genma. "I'm going to do a little digging. I'll be at the east gate at 1800."

"That's fine," Genma answered. He turned to Raidou. "Shall we go home and pack?"

Raidou nodded, and they were about to leave, when Izumo stopped them.

"You're going to find Iruka, aren't you? And Kakashi-sensei?" the chuunin asked.

Kotetsu joined his friend, looking up at Genma and Raidou through narrow eyes. "He didn't just go AWOL for no reason."

"Do you know any more than what you already told me?" Genma asked. He pulled a senbon from his kit and slipped it between his teeth. The false cheeriness was gone, replaced by a calm determination.

"Iruka got a message from Kakashi, we think," Izumo answered.

"He was carrying around a little scroll late Friday," the shaggy-haired Kotetsu added, "And he went shopping and seemed all excited and happy. He'd been kind of mopey before that, worrying about Kakashi being late."

"So we think that's why he went out. To meet Kakashi on his way back from his mission. But they should have been back by now," Izumo continued. He pushed the lank hair back from his face, looking up at Genma with a plea in his eye.

"Did you talk to him at all?" Genma asked.

"No, not really. He did say he'd be gone Saturday, and to cancel his office hours." Izumo answered. "But he didn't say why."

"Yeah, we asked," Kotetsu added, "but he just said he was taking a personal day."

"And as far as you knew, he was planning to be at the Academy today?"

"As far as we knew, yes. He would have arranged a sub if he'd been planning to miss class. Same with his mission room shift."

Genma looked at Raidou. "What do you think?"

"He could have been planning a tryst. You said he was happy, and he went shopping, right?" asked the scar-faced man. "What was he shopping for?"

"Food. I saw him go to Nak's." Izumo gave his jounin colleagues an imploring look "You'll find him, right?"

"We'll do our best," Genma answered, touching his left biceps again in a silent vow.

ooo

The search party met at the head of the Eastern Tiger Road at exactly 1800, just at the sun was falling below the horizon. The wind had picked up, and heavy clouds blotted the orange glow, threatening rain.

Shizune greeted her fellow shinobi. "Genma, Raidou," she said. No honorifics needed – they had formed up as a squad many times before. "Where's our fourth?"

"Here," a grumpy voice announced from near her heel, as Pakkun materialized.

"Ah, Pakkun-san. Good evening."

"I have new information," the pug said, looking up at Genma.

Genma gave his team a swift nod, and squatted down to be at Pakkun's level. "Let's hear it."

Shizune and Raidou also knelt in conference, and gave the dog their attention.

"Tampopo, another one of our pack, delivered a message to Iruka on Friday afternoon. Kakashi summoned her two days earlier and gave her a mission to carry the scroll to Iruka immediately. She travelled without resting for two days straight, and arrived in Konoha Friday at around 1600."

"Did she know the message contents?" Genma asked.

"Love note, she thinks. Something telling Iruka to meet Kakashi on his way home."

Genma smiled at that, ever so slightly, and the senbon in his mouth twitched up. "Well that corroborates Izumo and Kotetsu's story. What was Kakashi's condition when she left him?"

"Battered. He looked like he'd been beaten, and he was tired and in pain but hiding it," Pakkun said, "That's what she told me. But she didn't think the note was a request for help. She said he didn't look any worse than he usually does after a mission, and he'd summoned another courier dog – one of the greyhounds – the day before, to carry a 'mission completed' message to Tsunade-sama."

"The scroll she showed us," Genma said.

Shizune shifted slightly, mentally tallying the items in her med kit again. "Even if it turns out they're just playing hooky, if you find the Hatake brat, he's gonna need patching up," Tsunade had told her.

Genma pulled out a canvas map and unrolled it on the ground. It was contoured and heavily marked with trails and symbols, and here and there annotations in a couple of different code systems and scripts. "Here's the Azumatora." He took the senbon from his mouth and used it as a pointer. "If Tampopo-san took two days full out jogging to get to Konoha," Genma dragged the tip of the senbon along a red line cutting towards the northeast, "then she probably left him here." He stabbed the needle at a spot high in the mountains at the southwestern edge of Lightening Country. "That sound right, Pakkun?"

"Yeah. Sounds right."

"So if we assume Iruka and Kakashi were both taking breaks to eat and sleep, and traveling at a decent but relaxed pace, they would probably have encountered each other in this region." Genma swept the senbon back and forth over a section of the map densely covered with symbols and a network of intersecting trails.

"That's still outside Fire Country," Raidou said. "Still exposed."

"Yeah," Genma nodded. "Pakkun, can you pick up any of Iruka's scent here?"

"Yes, but we're still inside Konoha," the dog answered. "His scent's all over the place here."

"Well, we know he was logged exiting this gate at 0530 Saturday morning, and was seen heading out on the Azumatora, so we'll stick to the road to start. I want to cover as much ground as possible as quickly as possible, assuming you find a trail to follow." Genma looked at his squad. "No breaks unless absolutely necessary. Pakkun will take point, Shizune and Raidou, you take left and right. I'll tail."

The other shinobi nodded. Genma stood and readjusted his pack, and his teammates did the same.

"Let's move out."

ooo

After two hours of swift travel, Pakkun stopped. "He left the road here," he said.

"What do you want to do? Can you tell where he went?" Genma asked.

"Let me check it out for a minute," the dog replied, putting his nose to the ground.

Genma nodded, and took out his canteen. While he watched Pakkun investigate the area, he drank, then passed the bottle to Raidou. "Have some water. You too, Shizune."

"You don't need to tell me," Shizune said, already drinking from her own canteen, "I'm a medic, remember."

"Oh, how could I forget?" Genma grinned.

"You can't, the number of times I've put you back together. Don't make me do it again this trip, understand?"

"Sure, sure. This isn't gonna be a combat mission if I can help it."

"You either, Raidou," Shizune said.

"Aww, but you like seeing us naked and bleeding, don't you?" Raidou retorted.

Genma held up a hand to cut them off as Pakkun returned.

"He hid in the tall grass here; he was apprehensive. Then he crisscrosses all over the place in those trees there," the dog said. "He was trying to lose someone tailing him."

"You know Naruto's scent?" Genma asked. "Is it out here?"

Pakkun sniffed the ground again, backtracking a little, then coming back to the waiting jounin.

"He was here, and that little brat he pals around with. The one who smells like Sandaime-sama did. Same time as Iruka was."

"Good. That's exactly what you should have found. We know Naruto and Konohamaru tailed Iruka-sensei that morning. This must be where Iruka ditched them." Genma looked up at the sky, where the heavy clouds were blocking out the moon. "Can you pick up Iruka's trail again?"

"He stayed in the trees, I think. He was taking more care to cover his tracks. But yeah, I can follow it," Pakkun said.

"Let's move on then. We're gonna get rained on, I think."

Raidou groaned and pulled his knapsack back on. "Damn rain."

They resumed their four-point formation and took to the trees, still on Iruka's trail.

ooo

Several hours later they stopped again. It was nearing 2:00 AM, and they were tired. They'd been running swiftly, and steadily gaining elevation, their exertions keeping them warm, which was a good thing, because the rain had come, bringing with it a chill that let them see their breath on the air. While they paused in the shelter of a bamboo grove, they stamped and shook to get the water off themselves. Genma's hair hung in slick curtains from underneath his sodden hitai-ate. The knotted ends of the bandanna drooped and dripped between his eyes, and he yanked it off his head and wrung it out, before smoothing it back on.

Raidou's usually spiky hair fell over in sad clumps, and raindrops channeled down the scar on his cheek. Shizune looked as bedraggled as her male comrades, rubbing her face with a dripping towel, merely moving the water around without drying it. Only Pakkun seemed little affected by the rain. He shook, showering the ankles and calves of his teammates, then seemed nearly dry.

"Damn mutt," Raidou grumbled, envying the dog. Their uniform vests shed the water well enough, and the heavy garments they wore under them kept some of the wet off, but the humans were generally cold, damp and miserable after running for nearly six hours in the driving late autumn rain.

"Iruka made camp here," Pakkun said, as he nosed around the grove.

"Can you tell how long he stayed?" Genma asked.

"Several hours. Slept here."

"Anything else?"

"I'm not sure, but..."

"What?"

"There's another smell. Another human. But it's masked. I don't recognize it."

Genma frowned and exchanged looks with Raidou. "So he had company."

"Not sure about that," Pakkun said, "I think there's a small time gap between Iruka's being here and that other scent."

"Is there any evidence that Iruka was uneasy or upset?" Raidou asked.

"No. He just slept. If anything, he smells happy."

"We need to eat," Shizune interrupted, setting down her pack. "And if you're willing to risk a fire, something warm to drink would be good for us, if you mean us to keep moving tonight."

"I think a fire would be safe. We have no reason to believe we're being tailed, and we are still in Fire Country," Genma said. "Raidou, check the perimeter of the grove with Pakkun. Look for any signs of struggle or evidence that Iruka encountered this mysterious other person Pakkun's scenting. Shizune and I'll get a fire going and set up some rations. We'll rest here for an hour."

By the time Pakkun and Raidou finished their inspection of the surroundings, Genma and Shizune had a small canvas shelter erected and a fire flickering in a pit. Shizune prepared tea while Genma set out a meal of dried fish and onigiri for his teammates.

"You're not going to get too tired keeping that fire up, are you, Genma?" Shizune asked.

"Please. Ask Raidou if I ever have any trouble keeping it up." Genma briefly made the flames leap and curl into obscene shapes for emphasis, and Raidou laughed. "Besides, it's not entirely chakara-fed. I'm just giving it a little extra juice because of the rain."

"You don't have to be crude," Shizune turned her back on the fire, "I just don't want to run into a situation where you're chakara-depleted and have to fight."

"Shizune, this is different. We were at the end of a mission then, not the start of one," Raidou said softly.

"You don't even remember it, so what you have to say on the matter is irrelevant." Shizune thrust a tin cup of tea roughly into Raidou's hands. As she did, she looked at his face. Even though the burn scars across his nose and left cheek were most prominent, it was the faint mark on his forehead, mostly hidden by his hitai-ate, that drew her attention.

"Shizune." Raidou put his hand over hers before she could release the mug. "It's not going to be the same."

"Raidou's right, Shizune. If we are facing any enemy action, and we don't even know that we will be, it's likely to be ordinary Kumo ninja, not Orchimaru's bastards with their curse-seals." Genma put a hand on his comrade's shoulder. "Sit and eat and get warm. We're moving soon. I want to be within the region we think it's likely Kakashi and Iruka would have met up by sunrise, if we can manage it."

Pakkun looked from one face to another. "What's she so worried about? You're not weak."

"Don't worry about it. Just ghosts of missions past coming to haunt in the dark of night." Genma smiled and offered Pakkun a rice ball and a piece of fish. It was another one of those smiles that didn't quite reach his eyes. A smile one sees on the faces of all experienced shinobi. A smile that says, "It's painful, don't ask."

Pakkun took the food and let the question drop.

ooo

By dawn the rain had stopped, though it threatened to begin again at any minute. The sun struggled to light the landscape through the thick overcast, as Genma called a halt once again. They stood on the rocky road, soaked and puffing in the cold mountain air, huddling close to each other for warmth. While Raidou took a compass reading, Genma pulled out his map and consulted it, then crouched down to talk to their tracker.

"How's the trail? Did the rain destroy the scent?" Genma asked Pakkun.

"It's fainter, but I can still smell him," Pakkun replied. He trotted back and forth, seeming agitated.

"What's the matter? Are you still picking up that other scent? Or anything of Kakashi yet?"

"There's something wrong," the dog answered, "but I can't tell what it is yet."

"What do you mean, wrong?" Genma asked.

"Wrong. Wrong like death. Just wrong," Pakkun snapped. "We should keep moving."

Genma glanced up at Shizune and Raidou, then back to the dog. "It's not just this area, is it?"

"No, it's not just this area! I can tell the difference between something that smells wrong and a bad memory." Pakkun was all but snarling at Genma now.

"Alright, we'll keep moving. Don't forget who your allies are, Pakkun," Genma said quietly.

As the team pressed onward, Shizune glanced over at Raidou, who looked grim, then back at Genma, who was scowling and scanning the landscape from side to side.

"What's the issue about this area?" she asked, "We already crossed over the border, so it can't be that."

"There were some big battles here, during the Cloud War," Raidou answered.

"Oh, of course..." Shizune reddened a little. "You were both here, weren't you?"

Raidou nodded.

"I was in Konoha, at the hospital. I didn't get sent out to the front," Shizune said.

"I know. You fixed my leg," said Genma. "You probably don't remember it."

"Well..."

"With the number of times she's had to fix you, you think she remembers every one?" Raidou joked, trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Guess not." Genma said with a wry smirk. He was about to say something else when Pakkun suddenly raced ahead, then ran back, so agitated that he barked.

Genma immediately dropped into a crouch, facing Pakkun. "What is it?"

"Blood! It's his blood! A lot of it! And a corpse!"

Shizune took a sharp breath, kneeling next to Genma, while Raidou drew a kunai and scanned the horizon.

"Whose blood, Pakkun? Iruka's?"

No, dammit! Kakashi's!" Pakkun danced back and forth in jerky paces, unable to be still. "Come on!"

"We're coming," Genma said, getting to his feet, "How old is the scent? And can you tell whose corpse it is?"

"It's a couple of days old, and the corpse is burned, but it might be that other scent." Pakkun dashed down the road as fast as his stubby legs could move, becoming a blur even to the experienced shinobi eyes on him.

Shizune, Raidou, and Genma took off after Pakkun, racing openly on the road now, following the frantic animal. They covered a couple of kilometers like that before they crested a small rise in the road and looked down to see a wide clearing on the left, where Pakkun was running in circles with his nose to the ground. In the road itself, though somewhat washed down by the rain, was a charred, man-sized shape.

"Status, now!" Genma ordered, in a voice that brooked no nonsense, once they reached Pakkun.

"Kakashi fought that man." Pakkun indicated the remains in the road. "He was wounded badly – there's so much blood I can't tell where it was coming from! His, the other guy's... There are traces of a Konoha poison in it, but he doesn't usually use those."

"Was Iruka here, too? Maybe it was his," Shizune said. "He knows a thing or two about poisons."

"He was here," Pakkun confirmed. He squirmed and sniffed at the air, eyes wide and anxious.

"Any others?" Genma asked, scanning the clearing.

"Just those three scents. From two days ago,"Pakkun looked up anxiously the jounin. "I can pick up his trail again. We need to go!"

"No. We need to evaluate this scene first," Genma said, "We'll get moving again as soon as we can, but whatever we do, we're not going in blind."

While Genma conferred with Pakkun, Raidou was inspecting the battlefield. He found places where bladed weapons had churned up the ground, and other evidence of the fight that had raged here. "Hey, over here!" Raidou called, bending down near the base of a tree at the edge of the field.

"Shizune, see what you can tell about the corpse," Genma instructed, then he raced over to where Raidou was beckoning. Pakkun followed close at Genma's heels.

"We're just fucking around!" he barked. "Kakashi's hurt! He's hurt bad and we're just fucking around!" The little dog growled at Genma, glaring at his team leader.

"Pakkun, you said yourself it was from two days ago. If Iruka wasn't hurt, then he's probably taking care of Kakashi. Now settle yourself and focus. We need to understand what happened here and what we may be facing when we find them." Genma was stern. He turned to Raidou. "What'd you find?"

"It's an old bunker from the war. It looks like someone was in it recently." He held up a scrap of gauze with a little dried blood staining it, and pointed to a faint bloody fingerprint on the tree's root. "They used an earth jutsu to enter. See where the dirt's softened and overturned?"

Pakkun had raced back to the area of ground where they had first found him, presumably where he detected the most blood. Shizune called to him. "Pakkun-san, can you tell if this corpse was poisoned?"

The dog ran over to her, panting and grunting. "He smells of it, but I don't know. I can't say. It's in the blood over there, too. We need to go to Kakashi now!"

"Pakkun..." Shizune started, but the dog had already dashed back to where Genma and Raidou crouched near the bunker.

"We're wasting time," Pakkun snarled. "What more do you need? He's dead, Kakashi's dying."

"You don't know that, Pakkun," Raidou said.

"Focus. Whose blood is this?" Genma held the scrap of bandage Raidou had found out to the dog, then pointed at the fingerprint.

Pakkun sniffed them both, then looked up even more alarmed. "It's Iruka. Now are you satisfied? I'm not gonna fuck around here anymore!" With that, he took of into the trees, presumably following a trail he scented.

"Shit." Genma stood and watched the dog. "Go, Raidou. We'll catch up."

Raidou didn't even wait for the words to leave Genma's mouth before he was dashing after the disappearing dog. As soon as Shizune got to Genma, they, too, broke into a run.

END Chapter 12

Author's Note:

Extra special thanks to my beta readers and cheering section (in reverse alphabetical order): Winter of our Discontent, Telosphilos, Messy Peaches, Laura Aoshi, Kaja, Hey Diddle Diddle, Carcinya, Bitter Eloquence, and Bite the Hand That Feeds

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