Hound

The Eyes Have It

Team AU: Hound (Water_bby)

Story Notes:

Prompt: Ghosts

Rating: NC-17

Pairing(s): Kakashi/Iruka

Summary: It was supposed to be simple job. Show up, banish the ghosts, collect the money.

Contains [warnings]: character death (of characters dead in canon)

Word Count: ~3000

Kakashi Hatake found Asuma Sarutobi at their favorite bar. He slid onto the bar stool next to him, signaled the bartender for his usual drink, and then asked, "So, any idea why the old man wants to hire me? I would think that between him, you and Kurenai, there would be no need to bring in an outsider."

Asuma sighed. "He asked if you still hunted. I thought it was just curiosity."

"Hmm." Kakashi downed half his drink in one long swallow. Of course he still hunted. He wasn't sure he could stop hunting, but he wasn't going to knock the money from the mundane art lovers, either. Kakashi's photographs were prized by both those who knew his camera recorded the truth and those who thought he was very good at manipulating images. And he hadn't had a good real haunting to investigate in months. "What's going on?"

Asuma shrugged. "I don't know, but I suspect it's a job for a Uchiha, and the only one available is still in school."

"I thought they were all dead."

"One survivor. He's been at the Konoha ever since the massacre."

Both men fell silent. It was the great horror story of ghost hunters, the spirit that escaped the control of the head of the Uchiha family and proceeded to kill all of them before the teenaged son managed to banish it with his last breath. Kakashi had never suspected that any of them had survived.

"Even if he's young, he ought to be able to at least sense things," Kakashi noted.

Asuma laughed. "Probably, but short of the threat of another massacre, my father wouldn't raise even the possibility with Iruka."

"Iruka. That's the kid's name?"

"No. The kid is Sasuke. Iruka is the teacher at the Konoha. He's ghost-blind and insists that the children shouldn't be forced to deal with anything supernatural. My father may be in charge of Konoha, but Iruka is in charge of the curriculum for all the kids." Asuma turned towards Kakashi. "Remember the story about Hiashi Hyuuga being told to leave and not come back until he could keep a civil tongue in his head?" Asuma waited for Kakashi's nod. "That was Iruka protecting one of his kids."

Kakashi raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"If you're going to take this job, just be prepared to not challenge Iruka about his students. Has a bit of a temper."

Kakashi grinned. "You know, you've just made me more interested."

Two weeks later, Kakashi still wasn't sure why Hiruzen Sarutobi had decided to hire an outside ghost hunter. The older man was legendary, and while the Konoha Lodge had a perfectly normal existence as a mountain resort, it was also home base for a number of hunters. He arrived near noon on a cool early spring day, having carefully closed his studio, arranged for someone to care for his home in his absence, and then allowed himself the luxury of an unhurried trip to this job.

He parked his car on the long semi-circular drive and walked up the stone steps of the large wooden lodge. From the porch he could see the paths that led off to various groups of smaller buildings or to hiking and riding trails. Kakashi had read every thing he could find about the Konoha as well as talking with Asuma and his wife, Kurenai. Kakashi didn't like not knowing everything he could. Shouldering his bags, he went looking for his new employer and, he hoped, an answer to why he'd been hired.

"Two years ago," Hiruzen Sarutobi explained when Kakashi had taken a seat in his office, "I had the opportunity to purchase the property on the other side of the mountain, and late last year we finished building some hiking trails. Almost immediately, we started to hear stories about one particular clearing, especially from some of the Konoha's more imaginative visitors. Unfortunately, none of the hunters in residence last winter were those I'd trust to look into daytime ghosts on my own property, and I'm not really up for the walk anymore."

"Asuma says you have the last Uchiha boy here. Why not send him out with an older hunter?"

Hiruzen laughed. "Because I wouldn't want him to walk into something he's not prepared for, which means the older hunter would need to be up to the job on his or her own, and because I'm not going to make Iruka angry without a good reason."

"Iruka?" In the two weeks since he'd first heard the name, Kakashi had decided that teacher couldn't be as fierce as Asuma had described him.

Hiruzen smiled at him. "Oh, I couldn't possibly interfere with your first impression of Iruka! Now get your equipment. I've put you in the cabin closest to the clearing, and the children will be able to show you where to go."

Kakashi rolled his eyes but picked up his bags and followed the older man from the office.

The lobby was reasonably busy, as lunch was just finishing in the dining room, but the children were easy to spot as he followed his employer across the room.

"Kakashi Hatake, these are Sasuke Uchiha, Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuuga, and Sakura Haruno. Children, Mr. Hatake will be staying in the cabin next to Mr. Umino's, please show him were it is." With that, Hiruzen Sarutobi left him at the mercy of the four children.

Kakashi nodded politely and started for the door. He didn't know what Sakura's background was, but the other three were all from old hunting families, and Naruto looked far too similar to his father for Kakashi's comfort at the moment. He was here to find and banish ghosts, not to mourn, again, the loss of his teacher some dozen years ago.

Once out of the lodge, the children ran ahead, while Kakashi followed lazily behind them. They were clearly comfortable with each other, though Naruto glared at Sasuke every time Sakura fell into step beside the latter boy. Since Sasuke would walk with her for about thirty seconds before moving to walk with one of the others, Kakashi figured that Naruto could save his energy.

About ten minutes after they left the main building, Hinata came to a stop in front of one of the three cabins in a pretty little clearing. "This is your cabin, Mr. Hatake," she said softly. "Mr. Umino lives in the cabin next to yours. The last one is one of our classrooms. Please do let us know if we get too loud."

Kakashi blinked. "Thank you." He moved to open the door, wondering how he would get rid of the group, when a loud voice sounded from the cabin Hinata had pointed out as the classroom.

"You have two minutes to get over here and in your seats!"

Kakashi turned to watch the children hurry towards the voice. A young man stood in the door, mock scowling at the group. So that was the mysterious schoolteacher, was it?

Five minutes later, as he was just starting to unpack, a knock sounded on the door. It was the teacher.

"Sorry, I don't have time for a proper hello, but I'm Iruka Umino, from the next cabin over. Let me know if you need anything." He grinned at Kakashi.

Kakashi introduced himself, smiling his mostly winning smile.

"The photographer?" Iruka asked. "Or the hunter?"

"They are one and the same, I'm afraid," Kakashi drawled. "What do you know about hunting?"

"I may be ghost-blind, but I'm not mundane," Iruka growled. "My parents worked for Mr. Sarutobi for years. They went missing on a hunt when I was Sasuke and Naruto's age."

He paused for a long moment.

"I believe that most or even all of my students have the sight; I just don't believe they should be pushed to do it before they're old enough to tell the difference between imagination and reality. That's what I know about hunting."

Kakashi laughed. "I started young, and my teacher's wife often complained that I was too young."

Iruka relaxed and his smile reappeared. "And now I need to get back to my students before Naruto decides to blow up his desk again." And with a wave he was off Kakashi's porch, walking quickly back towards the classroom.

Kakashi wondered how many times he could get away with pestering the younger man before he left the Konoha.

Just as the lodge started serving dinner, Kakashi left the cabin. The kids had run past about an hour earlier, and he was sure he'd heard Iruka going towards the main lodge shortly after that, so Kakashi was free to head for the clearing that had the old man so worried. After the three-mile walk, he saw where the path opened into the clearing. The sun had begun to set, so if there were ghosts here, and he trusted Sarutobi's instincts, they would surely put in an appearance.

He set up his tripod and camera and bent to look through the viewfinder. He didn't need it to see ghosts, but it often made seeing easier. More than one person had joked that he might as well only have one eye.

"Hi, brat."

Kakashi jerked up, staring at the figure who was grinning at him from barely a foot away.

"Oh, come on. I can't believe you've stopped talking to ghosts, Kakashi."

"I thought you thought it was a dangerous practice," Kakashi replied, eyes flicking from the figure in front of him to the places where he'd seen signs of five other figures.

"Well, it can be, but I'm not dangerous, so you might as well enjoy a word or two."

The other figures faded into view, each at a different rate, until Kakashi could see the features on all of them.

"What happened?"

"Hunt gone bad, though it was mundanes who managed to trap us here." The figure cocked its head. "Though Kushina's version is probably the scariest."

Of course it was, Kakashi thought. If you had a choice you always let Kushina Uzumaki tell the scary stories. He might have loved Minato, but the man was incapable of maintaining the proper narrative tension.

"Why are you still here?"

"Trapped, originally. But once we got free, we figured out that Hiruzen had bought the property, and we all decided we wanted to check in with someone before leaving permanently." Minato's ghost grinned at his former student. "And look who we got! You know Kushina, but let me introduce you to the others!"

Kakashi shook his head, but couldn't prevent the introductions, paying much more attention when Minato introduced two of the ghosts as "the Uminos; they have a son about your age."

"Iruka," Kakashi said.

"Yes," one of the ghosts replied. "You've met him?"

"At the Konoha."

"Do you think you could bring him here? We'd love to see him again!"

Kushina sighed. "Yes, we know. Minato and I would like to see our Naruto, but you can't expect a ghost hunter of Kakashi's caliber to just bring a child of...." She looked at Kakashi again. "How long have we been dead?"

"Twelve years."

"A child of twelve to meet with ghosts."

Iruka's mother sighed. "But I can wish, can't I?"

Kakashi disconnected his camera from the tripod and began to pack his equipment away.

"Kakashi?" Minato's ghost asked.

"I was hired to determine if this place was actually haunted and how best to deal with any ghosts that might be here. I think I need to check with my employer." He walked out of the clearing and then turned to face them all. "Iruka teaches here. One of his students is named Naruto. I'll think about bringing them."

And he strode away as quickly as he could without seeming as if he were running.

Whatever Kakashi had expected to come from his discussion with Hiruzen Sarutobi later that night, having to stand in the older man's office while Iruka raged about being ordered to take the children on a "field trip" the next morning hadn't been it.

After a restless night, Kakashi joined Iruka and his students for the three mile walk to the haunted clearing. At Hiruzen Sarutobi's command, neither man mentioned to the children that they were going ghost hunting, and Kakashi couldn't figure out how to tell Iruka what waited for him there.

Kakashi took a deep breath before stepping back into the clearing. He'd managed to get Iruka here, and the kids, but he was prepared if this all went wrong.

It was clear the moment the ghosts realized who had arrived in the clearing. One by one they became visible, until a half-dozen translucent human-shaped figures stood in a ring around the living humans. He heard the students draw breath as they saw the ghosts. Iruka stood still, his head cocked to the side as he watched his students.

"Mr. Hatake?" Sakura's voice was the quietest he'd ever heard it. "Why are they here?"

Kakashi glanced down at her and then over at Iruka. "They wanted to see some of you," he responded.

Iruka's eyes had turned to stare at Kakashi. "Perhaps a better question, Sakura, would be, 'Who are they?'"

She turned to look at Iruka. "But..."

"Why would a ghost want to see a particular person?" Iruka had retreated into what Kakashi had already dubbed his "teacher mode."

All the children had gone silent, their attention moving from Kakashi to the ghosts to Iruka and back again. Naruto was the first to break the silence.

"So, who do they want to see?"

"You, for one; Mr. Umino, for another," Kakashi kept his eyes on Iruka. He trusted that the children would warn him in the unlikely event that the ghosts made an aggressive move, but he couldn't tell how Iruka would respond, and he was most worried about the other man's reaction. "And I suspect they understand that it will be good for all of you to have a fairly safe encounter with ghosts."

"Brat," breathed one of the ghosts. Kakashi didn't have to look to tell which one.

He had gotten Iruka and Naruto here, now to figure out how to tell them that the ghosts of this clearing included their long-dead parents.

Sasuke solved his problem by staring from Iruka to Iruka's parents and back again. "Mr. Umino? Your parents would like to talk to you, if that's OK."

Iruka looked shocked.

Kakashi wrapped an arm around the younger man's shoulders. "Why don't you allow Sasuke and maybe one of the others to help you with your parents, and I'll deal with Naruto and his."

Iruka head jerked toward him. "Is the whole team here?"

Kakashi shrugged. "There are six."

Iruka drew in a deep breath. "That would be all of them then." He smiled shakily at Kakashi. "Don't let Naruto do anything too rash." (Kakashi was happy that Iruka couldn't hear the indignant squawk from Minato about having better sense than to hurt his own child, and Kushina's remark that Minato wouldn't know rash if it bit him.)

"Sasuke, Hinata, would you allow me to converse through you?" Iruka asked, the formal request sounding odd in this place. When the children nodded, Iruka moved further into the clearing with them, tugging Sakura along as well. Kakashi noted that four of the ghosts moved with them.

Kakashi held his hand out to Naruto. "So, want to meet my favorite teacher? He's kind of weird, but he had the good sense to be in love with your mother."

Naruto grabbed Kakashi's hand and then grinned at the ghosts. "Hi, I'm Naruto!"

All in all, Kakashi thought it had gone quite well, and he assumed that he would go back in a day or so to banish the ghosts (even though it would be like losing Minato and Kushina all over again), when Iruka showed up at his cabin door with a bottle of good wine and two glasses.

"Thank you, Kakashi," Iruka said after they'd each settled on the couch with a full glass. "Naruto couldn't stop talking about his parents, and even Sasuke seemed to have enjoyed the trip."

"You're welcome."

"Though I should warn you that I've gotten approval for a new ghost hunting curriculum. My parents and the others have offered to tutor the students once a week for now, going up to three times a week as the children age."

Kakashi choked. "You what!"

Iruka grinned at him. "Also, you might as well plan to stay a while. I may have mentioned that you're a famous ghost photographer, and my mother wants a family portrait."

Kakashi glared at him. "I'm expensive to hire."

"I'm sure we can work out a trade."

Kakashi drained the rest of his glass. "So, what's on offer?"

Iruka's grin turned impish.

The following winter, Kakashi found Asuma and Kurenai staring at the large black and white photograph hanging in the lobby. Kakashi was proud of that photograph. It had taken months to get everyone to agree to the style and the setting. (Kushina had been particularly annoyed at having to "look like a generic ghost.")

"Welcome to the Konoha," he said, from just behind Asuma's right shoulder, quickly leaping back as the other man turned to glare at him.

"Why is there a very, very expensive Kakashi Hatake print hanging on my father's wall?" Asuma growled, more good-naturedly than not.

"Oh," Kakashi smiled, "Those are the ghosts from the clearing in an approved non-specific form, so mundanes can convince themselves that if they see something that it's just their imaginations."

Asuma and Kurenai stared.

"Kakashi," she asked, "why haven't they been banished?"

Kakashi smirked. "Let's get you settled and then I'll introduce you to my in-laws."

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