The Hole (Naruto, Kakashi/Iruka)

Iruka debated turning around. He hovered in the alley, well out of sight, hidden in shadows though the henge covering him ensured that even if someone spotted him they wouldn’t recognize him. There were a number of reasons why he shouldn’t be here. For starters, if anyone actually did see him and saw through the henge, his reputation would be absolutely ruined. But on the same hand, the people who came to this district weren’t the type to talk, if only because it would lead to embarrassing questions of why they’d been there to begin with.

Need overrode embarrassment, like it always did, and he pushed himself away from the wall and out of the alley. The street was mostly empty. It was late, far too late for him to be out, but that only increased his chance of not being seen. The few people passing by kept their heads down, gaze averted as Iruka slipped into yet another alley and then down a well-concealed set of stairs. He rapped on the metal door at the bottom – once, pause, three times, pause, once again. There was a brief surge of chakra and the door opened on its own. Iruka quickly stepped inside, moving out of the way seconds before the door slammed shut.

Just inside the door was a small peg board with large coin-shaped discs. Iruka’s fingers brushed along the bottom row before closing on one of the red discs. He pulled it off the peg, revealing a white painted three beneath. There was a white disc still on the peg directly above the one he’d just taken. He clenched his fingers around the disk and moved down the hall. It branched after a few feet, splitting off to the right and left, while the main hall continued along further into the building. Dim light filtered down from the grimy overhead lights. Iruka turned to the left. The hall was lined with thick metal doors. He stopped in front of the door marked with a three and hung his disc on the peg next to it. He glanced at the other doors along the hall. Half had discs hanging outside.

The door creaked loudly as he opened it. Iruka stepped into the small cell-like room. It was bare of decoration. There was a pile of thin cushions tossed against the far wall, directly below a fist-sized hole in the wall. It was that hole by which the establishment was known. This was not Iruka’s first visit to The Hole. He doubted it would be his last, as much as it shamed him to come here. The door shut with a heavy echo. He locked it with a flip of his wrist and leaned against it while he waited.