Mizuki

One day became two and two days become two weeks. The time he spent with Kakashi proved to be enjoyable and comfortable. Despite being a little shameless and naughty, Kakashi still respected Iruka's boundaries and never crossed that line. Sure, the werewolf was a little heartbroken after he found out that the gentle teacher was already dating someone. However, he never gave up hope and continued to court after Iruka.

Work was normal but there was one thing in Iruka's life that seemed to be falling apart. Ever since he lived with Kakashi, he had been denying visits from Mizuki. They were childhood friends who turned lovers but the teacher wouldn't say that they had a very smooth-sailing relationship. Mizuki was a very difficult person who was often hot and cold with Iruka. It didn't help that the man wasn't able to secure a job and got into some really nasty troubles that Iruka had helped him out of before. unfortunately, his boyfriend wasn't one to learn from mistakes and continued hanging out with bad company. Iruka sometimes wondered what would happen if they were to break up someday. Honestly, he was getting very tired of Mizuki's nonsense. 

In order to keep Mizuki away, Iruka had already loaned the man some money despite facing financial difficulties himself with an additional mouth to feed. Still, the teacher didn't complain.

[Meet me after your work ends. - Mizuki]

Iruka read the text and felt very nervous. Did Mizuki finish spending all the money so quickly? Still, Mizuki wasn't somebody who could take rejection well. Iruka sighed. There were only two more hours before his work ended. Perhaps it really was time to end things with Mizuki. Knowing the personality of his childhood friend, Iruka didn't want things to become worse when Mizuki found out about him living with another man.

The two hours passed by quickly and Iruka hurried away to meet with his boyfriend at his home. standing outside of Mizuki's house, Iruka wrinkled his nose. There was a reason why he never wanted to cohabit with Mizuki. His childhood friend was a slob and often drank. When he was drunk, it wasn't unusual for him to become violent.

Iruka knocked on the door and he heard stumbling from outside. Mizuki was definitely drunk. Iruka could already foresee himself needing he first aid kit when he got back. The scar on his nose was also done by Mizuki on a particularly bad night when he used a shard from a broken bottle to slash at him. Iruka didn't know why he stayed with such a man for so long but he really couldn't help it. The Mizuki he knew from his childhood wasn't like this. If it weren't for Kakashi's presence in his life, Iruka might have continued swimming in this poisoned pond, not knowing that it was slowly killing him.

The door opened and revealed a very haggard looking man with white shoulder-length hair and bloodshot eyes. He smelled of beer and had a five o'clock shadow. All in all, Iruka's heart sank into his stomach. he had a bad feeling about this meeting up.

"Mizuki," he tried to keep his voice neutral so as not to give away his fear. "Is everything alright?"

The drunkard didn't reply the question and dragged Iruka into his apartment by the wrist and threw him mercilessly onto the ground. Iruka who wasn't prepared for that hit the ground hard on one shoulder and groaned in pain. That was going to leave a very nasty bruise. Still, Iruka was collected and tried to get off the floor before Mizuki could have his way with him. It wasn't uncommon for his boyfriend to treat him like a call girl. It was also not uncommon to see Mizuki in the company of other men or women. Iruka long knew that Mizuki was sleeping around but he didn't have the heart to call him out for cheating on him so he turned a blind eye to everything he knew.

Today, however, things were different.

"Mizuki, please. I have something to tell you..."

The drunkard wasn't in a good mood and hearing that only made him angrier. "Shut up you whore!" he yelled and smacked Iruka across the face, throwing the teacher across the small room into a pile of empty beer cans.

Iruka could still hear ringing in his ears after the impact. He felt dizzy and his cheek throbbed. The teacher knew that Mizuki wasn't going to give him a chance, he had to run away while he could. This time, it was really over. He never wanted to have anything to do with Mizuki ever again. Coming here was a mistake.

Mizuki grabbed Iruka and pinned him to the floor, hitting the poor teacher a few more times to make Iruka more pliant in his arms so that he could get rid of Iruka's clothes. Iruka couldn't even scream in pain as the blows rained down on him. He felt hands reaching for his lower half and panic gripped him. At that moment, an urgent sense of fight possessed him, giving him the strength he needed to kick his abusive lover away and make his escape.

The moment Iruka broke free, he launched into a mad sprint. Mizuki knew where he lived and Iruka didn't have much time. He had to pack and run, he had to warn Kakashi.

Not having enough oxygen in his lungs made every fibre of his being burn but Iruka wouldn't stop. Mizuki wasn't going to be stalled for long. He had to be running for at least ten minutes before he could go no further. As it was, Iruka collapsed in an alley two blocks from his apartment to catch his breath. With the adrenaline still pumping in his veins from earlier, Iruka didn't feel anything. However, now that he was out of immediate danger, the teacher was starting to feel the pain return to him.

"This wouldn't do," he told himself and got up again as soon as strength returned to his limbs. He could barely walk but Iruka did his best to hurry back. He would deal with his injuries later. Right now, it was more important to chase Kakashi away.

When the teacher returned smelling like blood and alcohol, Kakashi panicked. He opened the door even before Iruka could find his keys. The sight of a very battered Umino Iruka made Kakashi gnash his teeth in anger and growl menacingly.

"What happened? Who did this to you?" he demanded and carried Iruka in, already assessing the severity of the injuries.

"No time. Listen to me Kakashi, you have to get out of here. This is all my fault..."

Kakashi refused to listen to Iruka's pathetic pleas and focussed on dressing those wounds instead. Throughout the sobbed explanation, Kakashi learnt the name of the person he needed to punish for tarnishing his mate and hurting his love. As luck was on his side, the person responsible for hurting Iruka showed up at the door, banging loudly and yelling profanities.

"Don't!" Iruka tried to stop Kakashi but the albino only smiled at him reassuringly before going to the door. Iruka could only cry in both guilt and fear for Kakashi's safety.