A shinobi is a high school student like another - 21

Soundtrack (non-exhaustive list): 'Casshern: Our last days', by Shiro Sagisu, various songs by Janus, by 
Sigur Ros, a helping of Nine Inch Nails, 'Ergo Proxy OST' by Ike Yoshihiro, 'Tuna fish' by Emiliana Torrini.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The 'Christmas' holidays arrived before I realized it. Two days after Iruka had came with me at Rin's, 
the only conversations we could hear at the end of classes were some 'happy holidays', some 'and 
you, where are you going?', some 'yeah, I'm flying to New York for the holidays'. Okay, I admit I 
heard the last one only once, but everything that was said was out of the same batch.

I knew Iruka was working at the pub during the holidays, and Emily with him ; and who said Emily, 
said Izumo. Iruka had said he would take a break if, I quote, 'Kotetsu can borrow his mother's car 
and there's enough snow', which was strongly implying a visit to one of the near-by ski resorts. He 
had promised to call me if it worked.

I wasn't that sure to be able to take a break myself. The two weeks and some away from classes 
were going to be all but holidays for us - all this show with Uchiha and co and Otsuka-bastard was 
stinking more and more by the day.

If I could manage to see Iruka once, I'd be happy.

And then, I didn't really knew where I would be for the holidays - I mean, the last two years, I had 
spent the time at Sensei's ; first year, they had kept an eye on me, and last year I had kept an eye
 on Naruto. I'd have rather be allowed to stay at my place between my shifts in the HQ this year. Or
 maybe I'd be lucky enough to be assigned to full service for the duration of the holidays...

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

The first Big Bad Thing of the holidays jumped on me Saturday.

Well, to be exact, it began Friday evening, when Sensei had flat out refused for me to spend the 
holidays in full service, saying it wasn’t “healthy”. I protested, to no avail of course – but he accepted
 for me to stay at my place, if I spend Christmas and New year with them. I said yes ; it wasn’t as if 
I could have say anything else.

Saturday, I slept in until I decided to go see how were things in the HQ – Sensei had asked me to 
come, but he hadn’t said when. But as soon as I stepped into the training room where the people 
supposed to be part of my team were, I knew I should have stayed in my bed.

Sensei asked me to go with Genma this very evening – or very night, if you prefer – to meet with one
 of our agents infiltrated into some of the seediest part of Konoha’s underground. The only trouble 
was that the meeting was to take place in a bar. And no-one sane trust Genma with anything 
alcohol-related. I somehow felt that I was going to like my night. This was sarcasm.

OoOoOoO

I went back to my place later in the afternoon, having spent many hours going through the files of just
 about anyone who could have had ties with Otsuka, from gang’s leader to dealer and others – all 
those people we kept under close scrutiny and on which we had files thicker than my thigh. We 
couldn’t do much about them though. Agent Reno Mattura, as known as Carrot Top, had came briefly
 too, bringing records of the security camera from around the Internal Security Department and 
Uchiha’s home - "home" that was a friggin' building, for kami's sake.

 I had the displeasure of confirming what he already suspected – two of the people who had been 
with Otsuka at the meeting had showed up irregularly on the records, at both places. We were all 
sinking deep… and something was telling me that maybe there was no bottom. I had kinda hoped a
 shower would have helped me feel less dirty, but it hadn’t really helped.

I had a nagging feeling, no more than a fleeting impression in the back on my head, that things were
 going to turn ugly – and not just because I was babysitting Genma for the evening.

I waited in the kitchen for Gen' to pick me up, nibbling on a packet of not-too-perished cookies. 
Another post-it found its way on my desperately white fridge – one drawing of Naruto put aside -, 
telling I had to go shopping in a near future if I wanted to eat more than the dust in the back of my 
cupboards. A near future, as in the next time the shops would be open, as next Monday, the 23^rd, 
eve of Christmas’ Eve and major hell let-loose-on-the-shops of the year. Wait a second here… eve of
 Christmas’ eve?

… What gift could I possibly find for Iruka?

The sound of an abused and battered engine drifted from outside, and when I glanced out by the 
street-side window, I got confirmation that it was Genma's piece of junk that was waiting for me 
under the disco-style lamppost - understand here a blinking lamppost... I grabbed my jacket and took
 the time to insure myself of the good concealment of my only weapon, and hop, I was opening the 
shotgun's door.

Genma barely gave me the time to sit down and buckle up, he threw a file on my lap and revived the
 engine. His senbon was angrily clicking between his teeth. He wasn't wearing his 'better days' 's 
face either.

I opened the file. A guy I couldn't have given an age, and that I was almost sure to have forget in the 
hour, stared back at me.

"That's our source -makes himself get called Yamato, but you must have heard about him under the
 name Tenzu. He gravitates in the seediest underground levels, the place we can't reach otherwise.
 Always him who tell when and where to meet - and it's not in the preppy places."

He stopped at a crossing, the 'stop' sign almost unreadable under layers of stickers and various 
writings.

"Did Sensei told you why he put you on this, by the way?"

He re-started as I was shaking my head.

"It was Aoba who was supposed to tag along first, but his girl went at the hospital earlier than 
expected, Aoba Jr. was getting impatient - he had to go..."

I smiled. Genma may act gruff and all, but everyone in the HQ love kids, him the first. Seeing how 
many of us stayed down in the streets to never come back as years crept by, having a kid was 
misleading death. I was sincerely hoping for Aoba, his girlfriend and his newborn kid, that he would
 stop being on the field.

I suddenly frowned, wondering why I hadn't had access to his file earlier.

"Hey Gen', why hadn't I had this all earlier?" I asked him.

His senbon clicked angrily between his teeth, catching sharp and deadly glimpses of light from the 
public lights.

"Morino thinks there's one mole -or more- at the HQ... and Yondaime agrees with him."

OoOoO

The atmosphere was kinda tense when we finally got out of the car in a otherwise unremarkable 
narrow side-street. I noticed the group of too broad-shouldered guys on the other side of the street 
though, the falsely laid-back guy leaning not far from the metallic door toward which Genma was 
walking. I followed him.

The music reverberating in the bar - 'cause yeah, it was a bar - was very close from not being 
bearable because way too loud, and there was literally a mob around the counter. Four girls were 
dancing on the counter top, their boots slapping in rhythm against the overused wood, drinks going
 back and fro between them. Genma brought back two beers, and tried to go around the mob - I was
 hoping Yamato would show up fast. Genma nodded to me and we took a staircase down to go in 
the back-room.

Said back-room was worse than the bar over it, way louder and more crowded if it was even possible. 
There was a kind of grille cage in the middle, over-lighted by smoking projectors - the crowd was 
literally climbing on it, screaming, yelling, whistling.

Welcome to the pit.

"Gen'," I said, my untouched beer in hand, "I thought you couldn't stand fight-clubs."

He shrugged as an answer, nose in his drink, eyes falsely attracted by the cage ; but he was seeing
 everything, spotting, mapping, searching. I had marked the exits too, pro and con of the place.

"No choice."

We got closer from the cage. I snorted - it smelled like adrenalin, excitement, arousal, sweat and 
blood. One of the two guys inside was pouring out blood from his eyebrow and a split lip. The other 
one had an old-looking scar burn on half his face, and seemed ready to beat his adversary into a 
pulp no matter what. The crowd was screaming louder with each hit, eager for blood.

"The Prince is in a good mood tonight, don't you think?"

We whirled 'round at the sound of this voice which had rang a bit too close for my taste. Our guy 
was there - I would have passed him in the street without a second glance - perfect for undercover 
work.

We more or less made our way through the human sea, following him to find a table stuck between 
metallic pillars and blind walls.

Yamato didn't bother with useless politeness and cut straight into the matter at hands.

"Otsuka got allied with the Triads' lowest branches, and word is around that he have passed 
agreements with the downtown yakuza's clans - couldn't get anything more precise. He's leader in 
the trade now, there's only the europeans to stand up against him now, but putting the city to fire 
and sword is the last thing they want."

He stopped to shrug down a mouthful of beer from his can. Mine was on the table, still full. I quickly 
glanced around us - no-one seemed to bother with us, but one was never cautious enough. The 
crowd shouted out suddenly, before resuming to its normal level.

"And about Uchiha?" asked Genma.

"Impossible to know a single thing - from the rare rumors,  Otsuka is personally taking care of it. 
There's something big coming up. Too many people shut up for it to be something else."

The crowd shouted out a triumph - the guy with the burn scar was landing blow after blow on his 
adversary, demolishing his face before letting him fall to the floor, under the acclaims and money 
changing hands.

OoOoOoOo

The HQ looked like an ant-farm a kid had kicked in, repeatedly. Even with the insidious threat of a
 traitor in our ranks, we were getting prepared for the worst.

Do not think we were ringing the alarm at every piece of news we were putting our hands on. The 
informations Yamato had given us a few hours earlier had just been the proverbial drop of water ; 
everything was adding and crosschecking  too precisely to be mere coincidences. 

Every team had been called back, and the manpower affected to full service was doubled. I was
 affected to full service too, to Sensei's great displeasure. He forced me to take the 24th as a day 
off - but Christmas' Night would be spent on the field.

OoOoOoOo

On the 24th, once I was up and ready - not early in any way since I had spend most part of the
 previous night on a patrol - I walked to the 'Ocean's Shore', Iruka's Christmas gift cautiously wrapped
 in my backpack. I was hoping it would please him, since it was more a hazardous guess than 
anything - if wasn't as if I could have asked advice from anyone I knew. 

I wouldn't have seen myself asking Zabuza what he was going to offer Haku for an example ; and 
then, I wasn't sure if Haku's kind of gifts would have been to Iruka's tastes. Maybe I could have 
asked Rin... but I hadn't had any time to drop by her place.

The street leading to the 'Ocean's Shore' was lighted in every direction, strings of lights or candles at
 every window, shadows of Christmas' Trees behind every curtain, fir trees of a bright green covered
 with fresh snow on the length of the sidewalk. Christmas was taking the sense of a real feast in this
 district, and not just a commercial feast with its loads and loads of ads as in the rest to the city. 
There even was a guy dressed as Father Christmas directing kids singing carols at a corner. I was 
surprised by the number of people out, from the kids trying to make snowmen looking like snowmen
 on the sidewalks to the grown-ups muffled up in winters coats and flooding up papers bags.

The 'Ocean's Shore' was full, but it had nothing to do with the screaming crowd in the underground 
bar. People here seemed happy, their beers in hand, singing along in front of the mute rerun of a 
rugby match. There was children here too, sitting on their parents' lap and their noses buried in hot 
cocoa. Everyone seemed to know each other here.

I don't really know what I was feeling. Envy? Jealousy?

Iruka was manning the counter with his uncles, all busily chatting with some patrons. I smiled to
 him when his gaze crossed my eye. He smiled in return, his eyes glittering, before saying 
something to one of his uncles - I think it was Franck - and making sign for me to follow him up the 
stairs.

It's only once we stepped at 'his' floor that he pressed me against the wall in a sudden and very 
enjoyable kiss. 

"I'm glad to see you," he finally said, his face at a few centimeters from mine.

"Merry Christmas," I answered, my face half-eaten by my smile. "Missed me?"

"Idiot..."

"You want your gift or what?"

The eyebrow he rose in response to that was all but innocent, as was his warm body pressed very 
very closely against mine. I carefully cleared my throat.

"The gift and 'that' later."

I was suddenly aware of some green stuff that was dangling from the ceiling not far from our heads.

"What's this?"

Iruka turned a bit between my arms to see about what I was talking about, then chuckled.

"That's mistletoe... Alice says it's for luck but it's just a pretense... You got to kiss under the 
mistletoe," he ended in a breathy whisper.

"... I suddenly adore this tradition."

I didn't even had my hands under his sweater -or his tee-shirt, for all that matters- when a scream 
broke us apart in surprise.

"Oh. My. Goooood!"

It was Emily climbing down the stairs, a box of Christmas' knickknack in her arms, still as 
vampire-like as ever, and her eyes wide. She composed herself back before we could do anything.

"Please guys, don't do this in the corridors, or I'll end up wanting to follow you everywhere with a 
camera..."

I froze quite violently, trying to understand what in the name of the kami a camera was doing in 
this... sentence... Iruka was laughing himself sick before I understood.

"Merry Christmas anyway Kakashi!" She sent, whirling her blackness around.

Iruka was still hiccuping bursts of laughter.

"Sorry... Well, how about we check those... 'gifts' more privately?"

I couldn't help but shaking my head.

"I pity the one who fell to those innocent Bambi eyes of yours."`

"... Innocent Bambi eyes? Was that an insult or a compliment?"

OoOoOoOoOoOoO

I was in a good mood when I made it to the HQ this evening.

It didn't last long.

All people on service were dispatched and sent out in the streets at 0015. The 'infernal team' was 
out too.

Spotting the troubles was easy enough ; as soon as we were out on the rooftops, we could see the 
smoke and the fire. The screaming sirens and others flashing lights were just there for the decor.

Two blocks from our target, two teams left the leading part to circle the place and create a 
surveillance cordon directly linked to the HQ. No-one, and nothing, would move into our action 
perimeter without us knowing on the spot.

Some explosions which were sounding too much like gas explosions echoed over the roofs. I felt 
more than I saw Raidou suddenly tensing up, and with a nod, I told him to leave with Kodia and half 
of the team following us to arrive on the site by the other side.

Genma, Zabuza and me perched ourselves a bit further up.

The site was the Uchiha's home-building, reduced to a flaming torch.

The firemen were already there, but it seemed they couldn't do more than keep the fire from 
spreading further away. The cops were there too, keeping in check the journalists which were 
circling around like as many vultures circling around a dying thing. I saw Uchiha Sr, with his wife, 
poker faced and standing straight as a stick under the hungry stare of the running cameras - they 
looked like they had been dragged out of a very private party. Itachi was there too, with Anko - two 
cops were restraining him, keeping him from running into the inferno. He was screaming and 
struggling - "Let go of me! My brother's still inside! Let me go!".

I saw all this in a red glimpse from behind my mask.

My earpiece was crackling and spitting  info - strangers on the site spotted, unnatural fire, people 
inside, interception on the way. I had stopped paying attention at "people inside", my stare fixed on 
the building. The moves of the flames showed that at least three persons were inside - and two of 
those stank like chakra. The other one was a kid.

I had notified to my teammates that I had spotted survivors and was gone before they could have 
made the smallest move to keep me from going.

My earpiece yelled.

I landed through a window which had exploded outward under the strain of the fire, on the floor where
 I had seen movement.

It was like diving into Hell. Before I had even moved further in, I dodged a blow coming out of 
nowhere, out of the flames. The next one, coming from somewhere else and someone else, was 
already on me though,  and I gave it back, my eyes wide open.

A beam of fire separated us, scratching my right arm. I was already panting - our masks weren't 
designed to be used into fire for more than a few seconds, and it was only giving me a relative 
protection. It was feeling like it was already melting on my face.

The next blow send me sprawling on the floor, and I hit back, struggling blindly. The roaring of the 
flames were covering every other noise.

An explosion covered the sound of the fire from a bit too close. I felt something raining down on me 
where I was laying, but the unbearable heat was grilling my sensations down. The one who had put 
me down on the floor brutally let go of me. Impossible to see them after that.

I saw a path through the blazing inferno. The kid was further in, laying still on the floor. I grabbed him
 quickly, pressing his face against my uniform-clad chest - I couldn't do anything more to protect
 him from the flames or the smoke.

I had to get out, fast. The uniform was heat- and fire-proof only for a short time - same as for the 
mask. I had trouble seeing stuff through the visor already.

There was only walls of fire around us. The flames were blocking every way. I searched frenetically 
for an exit, my left eye darting to every direction.

A window. Nothing more than a gaping hole vomiting fire, but it was a window, an exit. I jumped out.

The landing was brutal - I protected the kid as well as I could, taking the worst part of the shock on me.

And then... it seemed kind of slowing down.

An emergency medical team was there, taking care of the kid. I was vaguely feeling the crawling 
burning that was eating my arm up - it was my right arm... weird, in my dream it had been the left one...

The mask was burning me too - the straps had retracted, and snapped under the heat and shocks. I 
was coughing my throat out trying to breath. The easiest way to do it would have been to remove my 
mask, but... my hand didn't want to move.

I had to have broken myself something. Getting some air to pass down my throat was more and more
 difficult by the second. I was feeling kinda dizzy. Someone suddenly grabbed the mask and tore it 
away from my face. It didn't help in the slightest - the air didn't want to pass one way or another.

"...swer me Hound! Get back together, don't you dare fall asleep! What the hell are you doing, I need
 a medic team NOW!"

Zabuza? Hound... we almost never used those codenames, only if we had to call each other before 
non-nin people... why was he using it now?

... Shit...

I had a brief flash of consciousness - asphyxia dude, it's not pretty, and this coldness sweeping 
through your bones, that means that you are losing blood on top of loosing water due to the burns
 - and then after...

... nothing.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo End 21st chapter oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Emily and her camera : for all of us fangirls. The scar-faced fighter in the bar is none other than 
Zuko from 
'Avatar: the last airbender'. Thought it suited him.

Sorry about the weird-looking chap, something wasn't working -damn I hate this comp', i hope i'll 
got back 
the net on mine soon...
Anyway, seeing as I'm back and not at school yet, I do really hope I'll manage to translate some 
more chaps in a near future.

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