(Fic) Lunar Mage, Chapter 1
Okay... Iruka 1/2 has not been cooperating at all. And while I'm not stressed out, precisely, I am rather brain tired. So... Here's a fic that I've been working on for some time. Probably going to be KakaIru, but don't hold your breath for it... It's quite possibly ItaIru too.
Actually, I don't know *where* this is going. But there are quite a bit of kakairu interaction... eventually, so. I think this probably can go up on the KakaIru Comm.
Warnings: It is AU. EXTREME AU, as in, all characters are not exactly as they appear in the anime or manga. It would disappoint some people, but I couldn't fit in the characters any other way... Not even original characters. This is like... er. Some OVAs of animes, where the characters have the same name, look the same, but are totally different? Well. It'd probably get me ANBU-ed. But I currently don't care anymore. AU = OOC. Nothing more need be said. And. It came from a dream. Again. Before the Twisted Dimension dream, even. This was meant to be a very dark Naruto fic, but after TD... Well.
Pairings: None so far. But hinted at SasuIru, ItaIru, MizuIru. Whether they resolve into anything is up to the story.
Disclaimers: I don't own these characters, I am not making any money from writing this. I think Iruka's *very* glad I don't.
On to the story!
Lunar Mage
Chapter 1: Going Home
The water was soothing on his skin, still warm from the day's sun, and cleansing besides. Iruka ducked his head under, and shrugged out of the water, half-listening to the streams of water pouring through his wet hair and down his shoulders.
It was a cool quiet night; and Iruka was content, even anticipatory - he had finished his mission and he was looking forward to getting home. His mother would be waiting for him.
'Father might even come home tonight,' he thought happily.
It had been a long time since the whole family had been together, he mused as he swam lazily about in the small lake. Father was constantly on long missions that took him out and away, and now Iruka himself, at fifteen had started taking up simpler missions. His hope was to do well enough - heh, all missions paid well! - so that his father didn't have to work any more and could stay home with his mother, especially since she was expecting now.
'Would the baby be a boy or girl?' Iruka smiled to himself. It had been one of the questions occupying his mind ever since his parents, in one of those rare times when the whole family had been together at once, had announced that he would be a big brother soon. And really, he didn't care which sex the baby would be - he would love it to bits, as would both his parents.
His father had been worried though. He possessed one of the rare powers - Lunar Powers - and while he was not very powerful himself, only being a medium level mage, the Fire Group was still extremely desirous of having him in their employ. They were also very eager to get Iruka too - but his father had fended off the Hokage by showing that Iruka was of meagre Water ability, barely lower tu status - only worth working part-time.
Fortunately, the Hokage appeared to believe that - magic powers were not genetic, nor inheritable. Or at least, there is no direct relationship between the powers of a parent and the chance of a child having the same power, if any at all.
They did not know that Iruka had unfortunately inherited both lunar and water magic from his parents. His mother had been horrified - she was only a water potential - and his father grim, when both powers showed themselves when he was ten. It was the first case that they had heard of, someone being able to manipulate two elemental powers, and the Fire Group - well, any of the Groups - would kill, literally, to get their claws onto him. Iruka was not stupid enough to want to be a 'hero' or great powers. He knew the things his father had to do to keep the family safe and out of the Hokage's clutches - he didn't want to be involved, if he could help it!
Which was why Iruka took the lowest level jobs as a part-time. He did not need to give his blood-seal for that. And if the Hokage did not know he was a lunar mage, he wouldn't be pressed for it, like his father had been. Water mages, like Wood, Earth, Fire and Air mages were a dime a dozen - they wouldn't want him.
So, as long as they kept his powers a secret, the family was safe. Father had managed a contract with the Hokage, guaranteeing a term of service of only five years, no longer, and that term of service was nearly up - soon they would be able to cut ties with the Fire Group, and get out of here, this horrible bloodthirsty world. The money both Iruka and his father were saving up would be enough to keep them on the run for months, and perhaps they would be able to reach a haven several countries, or even a continent, away.
Iruka ran his hands idly though the water, revelling in the feel of the water rippling through his fingers, and the the same time absorbing the base elemental power of the water, replenishing his store, warming his body.
So cold - while on missions he was careful to use very little of his water-magic, and none of his lunar-based powers, so that if anyone actually checked his reserves, they would find it low, a level consistent with his status. While this masked his abilities, he felt cold all the time, for he dared not to recharge too often.
He felt rather than heard the other's approach. While he didn't actively use his lunar powers, sometimes they twinged his senses, warning him, and had saved his life several times before.
Low-level missions were not precisely easy.
Iruka sank deeper into the water, stopping the absorption. He didn't stop moving, however, only slowed imperceptibly, for he did not want the other to guess that he had heard his approach.
"I thought that I'd find you here."
Iruka turned slowly, fighting down his faint blush. It was one of the Uchihas, either Sasuke or Itachi - both sounded the same sometimes, and both were equally bad, in his opinion. Whenever he met them in the mission room, Sasuke was always staring at him, as though trying to figure out his prowess, his powers, as though he was hiding something, and Itachi just watched him, a sort of faint calculative smirk on his lips and predatory light in his eyes, that made Iruka want run far far away. Or blast him to kingdom come. Either was fine.
And now, with the moon in his eyes, Iruka could not make out the other's face from the shadows, and he didn't dare use lunar magic to peer clearly through the shadows.
But he didn't need to see it to know that whichever Uchiha it was, he was smirking at catching Iruka naked and vulnerable.
"What do you want?" Iruka asked, trying to move casually towards his clothes.
"You're to come back to HQ now," the older man answered.
Iruka scoffed. "*Now*? I've already sent in my mission report. I'm going *home*."
"Well, it's up to you; it's either you or your mother." The Uchiha's voice was flippant - definitely Itachi. Sasuke was always bored.
Iruka froze. "What do you mean?"
"Stop pretending, Iruka," Itachi dropped the flippant tone, his voice becoming silky; silky and dangerous. "We know that you're more powerful than you're telling us, and even," his voice lowered, dark and predatory, "have lunar powers."
Iruka's laugh sounded fake, even to his own ears. "You've got to be joking. My powers are just this," he lifted a small sphere of water, "And besides, my father..."
"Your father is dead."
The sphere of water collapsed, spilling across his hand, streaming down his arm.
"Now we need one of the Umino clan to replace him."
"Who...?" Iruka's mind was reeling; he couldn't think. "We never agreed to that sort of thing...!"
"Your father did." Itachi snapped his fingers, and a scroll appeared, unfurling like slow flame, words streaming across the page like rivulets of burning blood.
His father's handwriting, his father's genuine seal. Iruka's blood turned cold.
"Well?"
It was too much, too fast. Father dead, he couldn't believe it, but that was his writing, sealed in his blood, stating that one of the Umino clan would always serve the Fire Group.
But his mother wasn't an Umino, why would they...
His heart turned to ice. Oh gods - not his mother, they wanted the *baby*.
What choice did he have?
"Well?"
"I'll go," Iruka said dully. Itachi held the scroll out to him, and Iruka bit his finger and pushed his seal through the blood onto the scroll.
The bloody mark disappeared in a bluish shimmer, and Iruka started to withdraw his hand, only to be stopped by the strong grip on his wrist.
"Why, Iruka-chan, you're shaking." Itachi's voice was solicitous, sweet, his eyes from this close were gleaming red. "Do you need to absorb more energy?"
Iruka clenched his trembling fist and pulled sharply. Itachi resisted a little, then let go with a smirk. Iruka bit down the urge to cradle his fist to his chest - Itachi's touch burned. Instead he dropped his hand into the cooler water and felt the tingle of absorbing energy. Stop it, he thought, willing the tingle away.
"Don't need it," Iruka said curtly, and made his way to his clothes, intensely aware of dark Uchiha eyes boring into his back.
He pulled himself out of the water in as smooth as a movement as he could manage, and dressed quickly, not bothering to dry off. Spending any more time unclothed in Itachi's presence made his mouth go dry. His hands steadied as they fastened the familiar clasps; the uniform material was stiff and so while they absorbed the water, they did not cling to his body, for which Iruka was extremely grateful.
He wasn't feeling much more than that right now; distantly, his mind told him that he was going into shock.
Gods, how he wanted to go home.
Iruka mounted the horse Itachi held out to him, and tried not to flinch as he felt Itachi seat himself behind him. He couldn't quite stop the slight tremor when Itachi reached around to take control of the reins, arms surrounding him in a suffocating circle. He closed his eyes at the darkly low chuckle, and quickly said something, before Itachi could murmur something insinuating about 'Iruka-chan'.
"I need to tell my mother."
"She already knows."
Iruka stiffened, and the arms around him tightened. "What?! You mean..."
Low chuckle in his ear. The sound made him sick.
"We sent her your father's effects and the news that you will be taking your father's place."
"I'm a fool," Iruka muttered to himself.
The one they wanted wasn't the baby.
It was *him*.
They stopped just before daybreak, Itachi pulling up in front of a small wooden structure and dismounting.
Iruka bit his lip; as an un-sealed mage, he walked to his missions, and while he knew how to ride, this was the first time he had ridden for over an hour. He was *stiff* and aching, and he most definitely did not want Itachi 'helping' him at all. The sly side-ways' glance Itachi gave him was knowing, delighting in Iruka's discomfiture.
"Don't be shy, Iruka-chan," Itachi smirked, eyes cold and dark in the paling night. "We'll be working together a lot from here on."
"Together?" Iruka managed to sound incredulous and arch, despite the sharp pain that lanced down his legs as he tried to get off the horse. "I work alone."
Itachi merely smirked and half pulled, half lifted Iruka off the horse, causing him to loose his balance and fall against the broader and sturdier Uchiha. "Of course together. Now that you are in my Team, you get a *personal* mentor. I'm glad to have you working *under* me."
Iruka shoved him away, and stumbled on shaky legs, but managed to stay upright, if barely. He glared, anger simmering within him, as well as a large portion of fear.
What had he let himself in for?
Itachi smirked a little more at him, then turned, opening the door. He made a mocking half-bow, and Iruka went in, glaring as angrily as he could.
The half-point house was larger then he had expected from its un-imposing exterior - it was a huge empty main room, with one door to the side, and the first thing he saw was four men all shifting to look at him with various levels of interest, before the emotion was masked.
Of the four, he only recognized Sasuke leaning in the shadows by the only window in the room. Itachi's twin's arms were crossed, his body language alert, and slightly apart from the others. There was pale haired boy - probably the closest to him in age, about eighteen, idly rolling throwing-stars across his fingers, his eyes intent on Iruka - and the other two were wearing shades, so he couldn't guess their age.
"Ah, I see everyone's up already," Itachi's voice was low and calculatingly soothing. "This is Iruka-chan - he'll be joining our team."
"*This* is the one we were sent to get?" The pale haired boy asked, scornful and derisive. "He's just that useless water-boy, isn't he?"
"Not just a 'water-boy', Mizuki," Sasuke said, tone studiously bored. The others' attention sharpened, if anything; they *looked* at Iruka more intensely, scrutinizing, stances shifting. Iruka felt himself backing up a step instinctively, and walking into Itachi. Before he could do anything - turn, apologize, run away - Itachi's hand had clamped down on his shoulder, a gesture that probably looked supportive and caring, but was a vice that bit to the bone. "He's a suspected Lunar-mage, which you'd have known if you were listening instead of mooning over his pretty face."
Mizuki's dark eyes glared, but he ducked his face beneath his long hair in an apparently chastened gesture.
"Then at least one of you would welcome little Iruka-chan," Itachi intoned smoothly. "Which is nice, but isn't necessary - Iruka-chan's going to work directly under *me*."
Sasuke obviously wanted to say something, but visibly thought better of it. No one talked back to the Team Leader. Iruka's mouth was a little more foolhardy.
"I don't want to work under *you*!" he muttered.
There was a sharp shove to his back, spun negligently and Itachi casually backhanded him across the mouth, sending him to the ground.
"You might be very valuable to the Hokage and the Group, Iruka-*chan*, but don't think that we'll hesitate to discipline or *break* you. And trust me," Itachi yanked him up, hand fisted in the front of Iruka's uniform, pulling him up, eyes gleaming. "it'll be my pleasure."
Itachi let go, letting the stunned Iruka fall into a sprawl on the hard floorboards, and calmly stepped over him. The others made way for their Team Leader as he glided across the room. He paused, hand on the door knob. "Aoba. Take Iruka-chan to his room - he needs to rest several hours before we make our way to the Hokage. Don't forget to set the locks once we're gone."
Before Iruka could once again protest, he was hauled up roughly by another pair of arms. "I'd keep quiet if I were you," the one named Aoba said, steadying the younger boy with a firm hand. "Whatever Itachi-sama says goes."
"Well, I don't want to work under *him*."
"You don't have a choice. Our Team was the first to locate you, so you're going to be on our Team, and so Itachi-sama can dictate terms. Would you rather have gotten Hatake, or Morino?"
Iruka blinked at the other. Aoba was paler in complexion than he was, but did a better job of being unnoticeable than Iruka ever could. "Who are they?"
The dark spaces shielding Aoba's eyes regarded Iruka for a moment, even stopping in their walk through a corridor. Iruka didn't even notice when they had left the huge main room; he clearly wasn't thinking straight. Aoba tilted his head, then continued walking, Iruka following, dragged along by the hard hand on his upper arm.
"You'll be considered lower-tu under Shi-Itachi," Aoba said, as though he hadn't said anything previously. "But you will to answer to everyone else. They rank you - even Mizuki." This was said with a sneer. Iruka gathered that Mizuki wasn't well liked in this team. However, Iruka was not inclined to like anyone here at all.
They stopped in front of a door, the second last in a series.
"You'll be sharing with Itachi; this is your room at every half-point house," he said.
So saying, he turned and left, leaving Iruka to let himself into his room.
It was bare - only a bedroll in a corner, and a low plank of wood built into the wall that could serve either as desk or shelf. On the wood was a lamp, already lit, probably in preparation for Itachi.
Iruka shut the door tiredly behind him, carefully locking the door and collapsed onto the bedroll. He was exhausted, which helped to block the feelings he knew were lurking behind the blank wall of shock.
He didn't want to think.
He closed his eyes - something told him that he would need whatever rest he could get.
He didn't want to know why.
On to Chapter 2