Just A Spark

Summary: Kakashi is comatose due to his Sharingan but not all is lost, there is one thing that can help him. Sakura goes on a mission to recover the thing but ends up surprised when the item appears to be a person and gets in the hands of the Akatsuki. SAKUHIDA

Extra Information: This is an AU story which alters the storyline somewhere after Sasuke joined Akatsuki. I know of the recent things happening in the story but this idea had been stuck with me for a while and only recently I decided to write it down since it kept 'bugging' me.

Also for obvious reasons Sakura is older in this story.

Pairings: Main: SakuHida

Side: InoCho, ShikaTem

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or anything related to it. Only my OC's and elements you don't recognize from the manga or the anime.

- Chapter One -

Two sides of Darkness…

It was over. Finally this charade had come to an end. As in admiration for their effort the forest remained quiet. No animal squeaked, no crickets chirped, there was not even the rustling of the leaves among the trees.

If those sounds were there she didn't hear them, she remained deaf for them since her ears only caught one sound. It was the soft, dull thud of the last cockroach that had hit the floor.

She stood in the middle of the open field, slightly hunched forwards, her breath heavy and feeling pain over her entire body. But eventually she slowly turned around, facing the massacre that was the only evidence of their struggle.

Six dead bodies on the floor of the forest, either letting their blood soak into the earth or having died from many internal fractures.

A week ago Team Kakashi had been assigned to the capturing of this Bloodstalker gang, a band of 6 S-ranked ninja who, unlike the Akatsuki, didn't hunt the Bijou but raided and pillaged towns before completely wiping them off the map.

Tsunade had put them on the task since their team had the advantage of being able to track the scum down as well as taking them down rapidly.

Sakura felt weary now, the battle hadn't been a gentle one and a few times she had feared for her life had her teammates not been there to safe her though she had on her turn saved some of their lives as well.

Just as she wanted to sit down she looked up at the sound of another thud. Her eyes widened, knowing that this couldn't be a good thing.

Even before her green eyes had seen the origin of the noise they had grown wider and then she saw it.

"Kakashi!" she screamed in horror. Her shriek immediately followed by the ones of Sai and Tenzou.

ooooooo

With a shaking head she glanced down at the body in front of her. The woman bit her lower lip in defeat and looked over at her assistant, Shizune.

They had brought him in a day ago, his clothing tattered and bloodied, his wounds oozing with blood but most concerning; limp.

Kakashi did not look good. Physically he was in order, well as far as was possible after such a struggle but nothing that couldn't be repaired with little healing chakra. There was something else. Something else that stood as a boulder in the way of his recovery.

It was his own body.

It hadn't taken Tsunade long to see the cause since she had anticipated to be in this situation at one point. It had been a mere matter of time before she'd see the son of the White Fang like this. And the day had come.

Kakashi Hatake, strong, intelligent and powerful as he may be had one weakness. He was no Uchiha.

It was as Itachi had said before; Kakashi might be able to use the powers of the sharingan but his body hadn't been through the long, natural selection of the Uchiha and thus his body was never created to endure the pressure of such a strong technique.

After using his Mangekyo one time too many his body had used a preventive maneuver and had merely shut down.

Kakashi Hatake was comatose from this point on until there was a way for his body to strengthen he would remain like this. Tsunade had been called a miracle-worked before but this was beyond her abilities.

"Is there nothing we can do for him?" Shizune enquired, not being able to accept seeing the strong ninja like this. "Absolutely nothing?"

"His body had shut down in a preventive action, we can consider ourselves lucky that his body didn't tore itself apart due to the strain upon him." Tsunade countered, she sighed deeply before embracing herself.

There had to be another way to revive him besides risking him not only to lose his Sharingan but also half of his vision completely.

The woman slowly strode towards the door, leaving the man in peace since there was nothing she could do anymore.

As soon as she had opened it she looked into the green eyes of Sakura who stared at her from across the hallway.

The blonde bit her lower lip. Kakashi and herself was all that was left off Team Seven. Sasuke had deflected from the village for over five years and there had recently been rumors of him not only having defeated Itachi but also being involved with Akatsuki.

Naruto was still a part of Konoha but not nearly in the way he used to be. The Elders had grown frightened with recent Akatsuki activities and decided that it was for the best for both the village and the boy if he would be elsewhere. In the end Naruto had started his sagetraining and would be safe, for a while.

And now Kakashi? Tsunade thought of Asuma and his tragic death and felt her skin crawl at the thought of his funeral. But Ino, Choji and Shikamaru had each other for support and Sakura had only herself. Yamato (or Tenzou) and Sai were there for her but they hadn't been through the same.

"Shishou?" Tsunade got ripped out of her train of thought by the voice of Sakura. The young girl glanced at her, a small glisten of hope shimmering in those emerald eyes. "How is he? He will pull through, won't he?"

Slowly the slug-sage opened her mouth. "His state is stable and he was never in critical danger, Sakura. But I'm afraid Kakashi is comatose…"

The intense silence was only strengthened by the small gasp of Sakura and later the small sobs.

"This can't be!" Sakura cried out. "Kakashi is strong! He'll pull through! He-He-"

In the meantime Tsunade had neared Sakura and embraced her in a motherly manner, trying to sooth the girl she had come to see as a daughter.

"I'm sorry, Sakura." The woman muttered. "I did all I could do."

ooooooo

There had only been darkness, complete and utter darkness. Had he not been disadvantaged in intelligence he would've known that he was blind due to the lack of fluid for his eyes but he was sure it was a punishment from Jashin, one of the first signs of him losing his immortality.

He was still buried deeply in the earth. He could not see, he could not speak but he could still hear. He heard the scurrying of things beneath the surface.

He could still smell though he had grown weary of the stench moist earth combined with his charred body. But he had forgotten other smells. He couldn't remember a fresher, more pleasant smell.

And he could still feel. The agony of his widely scattered body had faded away to a dull ache. His body was dull, he couldn't locate or feel it but his head still held onto the five senses. He could feel the pressure of tons and tons of dirt resting upon his body.

If he opened his mouth he would taste the earth but he preferred not to. Two months of spitting out mud had been more than enough. He may be dimwitted but he wouldn't make such a disgusting mistake again.

How long had it been since he was trapped here? A few monhts? A year already or perhaps even more. He hadn't been able to tick away the days and due to his long time in unconscious state he wasn't certain if he had been out of it for a few hours or even a few days or perhaps even a week.

All he did know was that he was sick of the same scenery for such a long time. He was sick of being locked in this grave. He was sick of not tasting blood on his tongue. He was sick of not feeling the satisfaction when he impaled himself while killing his victim in the same manner.

That was until he felt something different today. Something light and refreshing. It wasn't water seeping through the ground nor was it a mole digging a tunnel nearby which had always given him some cool air.

The pressure on his face became less and less. His grin widened. Could it be? Could someone be digging him out? Did Kakuzu finally decide he couldn't let him rot underground?

"Look at that stupid mug of his…" someone called out. He couldn't place the voice but he was glad to hear it.

"I'm amazed he's still alive after all this." Another one chimed in.

"Shut up! Gather his pieces and let's get out of here. We might've delayed them but it won't be long before they're onto us."

"Yeah, this bastard isn't worth our hides."

Hidan desperately wanted to say something, to curse at these motherfuckers for being so disrespectful towards him but also strangely enough say that he loved them for relieving him from this hellhole.

But his tongue, dry as the deserts of Suna themselves wouldn't allow it. He curse inwardly before he felt how strong hands clasped themselves around his head before he got roughly pushed into something else, from the feel of it it was a sack.

ooooooo

To be quite honest there had never been any intention of relieving Hidan from his grave. He had been more of a burden rather than an addition to the team. His nagging, whining and utmost disrespectful nature had made sure of that.

But the number of Akatsuki had diminished at a fast pace. First Sasori then Kakuzu and Hidan not too long afterwards there was the loss of Deidara and Itachi to the same person.

In addition they had received Tobi but he had been with the team since the beginning and they had received Team Taka but they might be strong but they weren't wise.

With only Pein, Konan, Zetsu, Madara and Kisame left there was need for additions to the team.

Now, Hidan wasn't wise at all. Nor was the Jashinist smart but he had a special condition allowing him a great deal of errors before things got nasty. The guy was immortal and it wasn't something that you got everywhere.

And thus they stood there, in the middle of a bloodly massacre. The victims were the deer who desperately had kept them from their 'prize' but in the end hooves and antlers were no match for a well-placed jutsu here and there.

Kisame had either 'shaved' the poor critters in pieces or he had drowned them, using his massive pool of charka to recreated it into water.

Zetsu hadn't been that involved in the massacre. He had killed a few which came to close but he had mostly been busy digging half of the Zombie Twins out of the rubble.

"Look at that stupid mug of his…" Kisame had remarked when he had returned from his 'recreation' and had seen the head of Hidan the first.

Indeed, the priest had a rather odd expression upon his face, a mixture between relief, pleasure, anger, agony and irritation.

'White' Zetsu hadn't commented on the expression but was more intrigued with another thing about the priest. "I'm amazed he is still alive after all this." He had said. The buried man had survived for a year without food, drink or sacrifices and was clearly still alive, his facial muscles still worked.

But 'Black' Zetsu wasn't having any of it. He felt nor awe nor disgust for the torn body. He only remembered the priority and danger of this mission. They might have killed a few deer but either the heavy scent of blood would attract unwanted visitors or some other alarm-system might've notified Konoha of their actions. "Shut up! Gather his pieces and let's get out of here. We might've delayed them but it won't be long before they're onto us."

Hastily both Kisame and Zetsu stuffed every large enough piece of the man into a burlap sack before Kisame heaved it over his shoulder after having dropped the head in as the last item.

"Yeah, this bastard isn't worth our hides." He had remarked before looking around. A toothy grin upon his face at the sight of the torn mammals but he shortly after turned away, following Zetsu deeper into the woods before he vanished, using a simple teleportation jutsu to do so. Let Konoha search for them, he dared them to face Akatsuki at the brink of their overtake.

A/N: I am not too pleased with this chapter since it handles quite a lot of events on such a short notice.

The following chapters will either handle less action or the action will be written a bit longer.

I hope you all enjoyed and you're free to leave a review or not.