Chapter Text
Pictures of you, pictures of me
Hung upon your wall for the world to see
Pictures of you, pictures of me
Remind us all of what we used to be
They’d finally found it. After catching the missing nin they had been chasing for over a month, Kakashi’s team had been tasked with clearing out the many safe houses they had used to store their smuggling goods. This one had been exceptionally hard to find as it hadn’t been used very often apparently. Kakashi had expected it to be in a bad state, but it looked quite well kept. It even had a garden of some sorts. With a few quick hand signs, he told the chunin to scout the area for traps while he examined the wards around the house with his sharingan. There were the standard barriers they had found around all the other places but this one seemed to be even better secured. It had seals for letting people in and another one to keep specific people from getting out. Kakashi had a bad feeling in his gut. He really didn’t want to dwell on what such a seal could mean. But they would hopefully find useful information in there. The other places had turned out to be mostly empty. According to their intel, this should be their last location… Kakashi couldn’t wait to get back home, receive his mission pay and take a few days of. This mission was getting to him. The many things that had been smuggled weren’t the problem. Not even the attention to detail in the planning and the effectiveness in which goods had been moved which had enabled the organisation to stay under the radar for so long. It was the fact that they had found empty cages in two of the warehouses. Not the ones you kept animals in. These people had dealt in human trafficking and apart from the cages, they had found no trace of where the people had been taken from or moved to. Hopefully, they would find some information in this location. It was their last hope.
His team gathered again, having dissolved all traps they had found. With their path cleared, they jumped down to the outside of the barrier. Kakashi focussed his sharingan on the buzzing wards and shimmering seals to dissolve them. It didn’t take him long and they moved in quickly and silently.
They had searched so many houses; it had become a routine they didn’t even have to communicate anymore. Kakashi kept the sharingan open, just in case. Something was glowing in one of the rooms, probably a seal. He moved in to see what it was. What he didn’t expect to find was a small figure cowering in one of the corners. Big, frightened eyes looked up at him. Kakashi stopped in surprise, only for a second, then closed his sharingan to not scare the boy any more than he already had. So, this was what the seal had been keeping inside. Just like he had learned in the books, he moved slowly, crouched down to get to the boy’s level, and kept eye contact. “Yo,” he said as softly as he could, “I’m a ninja from Konoha, we’ve come to investigate this house. I’m not going to hurt you. You are safe.” And it worked! The boy seemed to relax, his frightened scent calmed a bit, there was a hint of relief in there. He still had the scent of a pup, even though he looked too big to actually be one. Kakashi opened the sharingan again and found the seal he had been looking for. It was attached to a chest of drawers. Unfortunately, this seal was much more intricate than the others. It would take more effort to dissolve it. The scent of the boy changed from relieved to… something. Kakashi cast a glance at the boy who inhaled deeply. And again. His breath sped up - his whole body started to shiver. Shit, he was hyperventilating.
Kakashi didn’t know how to deal with the panic attacks of other people, usually he was the one having them. So, he did the only thing he knew worked for him. He scooped the boy up in his arms - he was alarmingly thin - and rubbed his wrists at the boy’s scent glands. They might not have known each other but… he was a pup and Kakashi was an omega. It was the one thing his scent was actually good for. Without further thinking, he broke the chakra control over his scent glands and did his best to release calming pheromones. He had never tried that before, and he had no idea if he was doing it right, but he tried to keep his nervousness out of his scent. It wouldn’t help anyone. The boy extended his arms and wrapped them around Kakashi to hold on for support. The shivering turned into full-body shudders but at least his breathing had calmed down. It took Kakashi a moment to realise that the boy was crying.
Kakashi didn’t know for how long he just held the boy. His hands had started stroking the bony back on instinct. It was all he knew how to do. His people skills were non-existent, but this was a pup, and he needed his help. So, he let himself be guided by his gut as well as he could.
At some point, the rest of the team gathered in the room and even in the darkness, he could make out their sympathetic glances. Hoheto turned his attention towards the chest of drawers and started investigating the drawers he was able to open. It was mostly paperwork. Kabure pulled out his scroll to seal the documents in there while Ensui investigated the locked drawer. “It’s sealed,” Kakashi informed him quietly. “Bit of a complicated one. It’ll take me a while to open it.” He wasn’t even sure if he could do it, but he would at least try.
“There are financial reports in there,” the boy in his arms hiccupped. His voice was soft and strained from the tears. “And contacts to… to different traders. I can open it.” Kakashi had not expected the boy to be so forthcoming and proactive. Apparently, his soothing had worked.
“Actually, that would help us a lot.” The Nara smiled and still looked intimidating, Kakashi wasn’t going to mention it. He might have been the team leader, but Nara Ensui was still his senpai. The boy untangled himself from Kakashi and walked to the drawer. It opened without resistance for him. As soon as he was done, he retreated to where Kakashi was still crouching and crawled back into his embrace. Kakashi was slightly overwhelmed, but he didn’t try to remove to traumatised boy.
“Thank you, you are a great help,” Ensui complimented the boy who only pressed his face against Kakashi’s neck to scent him.
“We’re going to take you back with us, to Konoha, okay?” The boy probably had more information about the inside workings of the smuggling ring than the documents could ever give them. And he needed to be cared for properly. Kakashi felt the nod against his shoulder, but the boy didn’t let go when Kakashi tried to stand. So, he moved anyway.
In daylight, he could get a proper look at the small human he was carrying. He saw what he had noticed already: the boy was skin and bones. Long brown hair fell over his shoulders in unkempt streaks, he had a tan skin and a scar bisecting his face across his cheeks and nose. It was hard to guess his age, somewhere between eleven and sixteen probably. Kakashi tried to get him off once again, but the boy clung to him like a limpet. It was probably not advisable to use force in a situation like this, so Kakashi repositioned him onto his back. “It’ll be about two days until we reach Konoha, but we will keep you safe, okay? You can trust us.”
He felt the nod; the boy nestled against his back and Kakashi jumped up into the trees. The others followed. They could make it to Konoha in two days if they hurried. The boy wasn’t much of a weight and his teammates knew that he wanted to get the boy into Konoha as quickly as possible.
They stopped in the evening to make a night camp. Kabure set out to actually cook for once… not necessarily for his teammates but for the boy. The others weren’t going to complain about it though. Kakashi rolled out his sleeping mat and carefully put the boy down who sat up but didn’t let go of Kakashi’s hand. He had dark, chocolate-coloured eyes. Kakashi didn’t know what to say or do in this situation, so he just let the boy hold his hand and looked away. “What’s your name, boy?” Kabure handed him a bowl full of soup and a spoon with a smile. The boy finally let go of Kakashi’s hand but kept the contact by scooting closer to Kakashi and resting his shoulder against the jounin’s side.
“Umino Iruka,” he replied and started to eat hungrily.
“Umino… I feel like I have heard this name before…,” Ensui mused. The boy stayed quiet and finished his soup in record time. Kabure wanted to give him a second helping, but Kakashi stopped him. Judging from the state the boy was in, he would probably not be able to stomach anymore food right now. Kakashi took over bowl for himself and had it filled for him instead. They hadn’t expected to find people, so they had only enough equipment for three people. But Kakashi didn’t mind sleeping in the ground.
The Hyuuga volunteered to take the first watch and the others retreated to their sleeping mats. Iruka was already occupying Kakashi’s, so he handed the boy the blanket and expected him to curl up in it. What he didn’t expect was for the boy to pull him down with surprising strength. Of course, Kakashi could’ve resisted easily but he let himself be pulled down to the mat facing the boy. Iruka scented him again and then snuggled up to him. Kakashi wasn’t used to physical contact, not like this, so he felt a little bit overwhelmed. But he couldn’t exactly move away without risking that the boy might start panicking again. He didn’t sleep much that night, or the next.
They reached Konoha late in the evening of the next day and Iruka still refused to leave Kakashi’s side, so he decided to take him into his flat for the night. He let the boy sleep in his bed while he sat next to him on the bedside with the bony arms wrapped around his waist and wrote his mission report. He would report to the Hokage tomorrow and they could still decide what they should do with Iruka then. For now, it seemed as if the boy was attached to him. Quite literally. It didn’t bother Kakashi as much as he had thought it would… maybe this was the effect of his omega instincts speaking up for once and wanting to care for the boy. Some part of him enjoyed looking after the other. The warmth of the arms around him. The weird trust the chocolate-haired boy put into him. It felt good.