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The village was relatively busy, the streets being shared by people coming home from work, and those prowling around for the night life; and as Kakashi and Iruka wound their way through the people, they ended up on the outskirts of the red light district. Exiting a strip club ahead of them was a group of loud, drunken men, heading in their direction. The rowdy civilians gave off a somewhat menacing vibe, and Kakashi could tell they were looking for a fight, but knew they wouldn't be a problem – even the drunkest civilians knew not to start trouble with a shinobi. However, that didn't stop them from staring at Iruka, their faces filled with disgust and an ugly fascination for him. Kakashi felt anger boiling within, and his arms twitched, itching to lash out and wipe those grotesque expressions off their faces - Iruka didn't deserve to have people looking at him like that.

“He’s actually hanging out with that thing? Doesn’t he know what’s good for him?” One of the men whispered loudly as they crossed paths.

Iruka had heard it all before when he first began teaching Naruto. People whispered similar things all the time when they saw him spending time with the boy inhabiting the very demon fox that destroyed Konoha; and Iruka particularly hated it when people asked 'why?' when he heard them discussing how he took a large shuriken to his back to protect Naruto from Mizuki. Most of the village seemed to see Naruto as a monster, and treated him like a piece of trash; like his life wasn’t important. This time though, Iruka wasn’t with Naruto; and he realised that instead, the comment was directed at Kakashi and he himself was the shameful one to be seen with. Iruka was that thing; the monster being ridiculed.

Kakashi was torn between morals and the rules. He wanted to beat those men to near death, peg them with kunai and shuriken, and then for a final blow, hit them with his most powerful chidori attack; but he would get into serious trouble if he got into a fight with civilians. He wished there was something he could do, some way he could interfere – perhaps if he disguised himself as a civilian and masked his chakra?; because he didn't think anyone should speak about a person like that. Especially someone as kind and forgiving as Iruka – he didn't deserve it. Kakashi looked towards him, and froze when he saw Iruka's hurt expression, his eyes glassy from tears threatening to stream down his face. 

"Iruka..." Kakashi began softly.

Iruka turned away just as the first tear fell, and Kakashi wanted nothing more than to wipe the pain away. It was unbearable, seeing him like this. As Iruka's body began to shake, Kakashi was sure he heard a choked up exhale; but before he had a chance to finish speaking or respond in any way, Iruka wiped his face and sped off.

“Iruka, wait!” Kakashi panicked, reaching out for him. He couldn't leave Iruka looking like that.

Iruka ignored him and hurried on, his surroundings becoming a blur as he escaped. He wasn't thinking when he left Kakashi behind, but at the same time, he couldn’t tell him that he just wanted to be alone, that he didn't want to be seen crying over some stupid words. He had never imagined it would hurt so badly, and he wondered how Naruto managed to put up with torment so often and still keep on smiling. Iruka sighed sadly to himself as he slowed down and found himself on the path to the memorial stone he often visited to speak to his parents. He was sure his one mistake had ruined his life.

Kakashi had started to chase after Iruka, but when he didn't slow down and darted off onto a side street, it became clear that he didn't want to be followed, so Kakashi stopped and left him be. He didn't think Iruka should be alone, though, so he bit his thumb to draw blood, and then placed his palm on the ground. When a puff of smoke smothered the area, the silhouette of a small canine appeared.

“What’s up, Boss?” the dog asked in a gruff voice, cocking his head to the side.

“Pakkun, do you remember Iruka?” 

"He's the kid who lost his parents to the kyuubi attack, right?"

“Yes. I need you to find him and check on him for me. Something happened, and I want to make sure he's okay."

"You can't find him, yourself?"

"It's not that I can't." Kakashi said, his heart aching as he pictured Iruka disappearing from sight. "It's just, for some reason, he doesn't want me around.”

“Oh.” Pakkun simply stated. "I'll report back to you soon, Boss."

As his ninken dutifully bounded off, Kakashi was left to himself, and began wandering aimlessly, with Iruka on his mind.