AN: I wrote this for Bimbomushi's challenge 'but aren't you meant to be dead' yonks ago. Just got around to posting it here. Please enjoy.
Chapter One
There was only the sound of the ocean; the gentle shush of the waves at the foot of the cliff. But the cacophony of explosions was still ringing in his ears, and the smoke that curled upwards from the rocks was casting a thin veil over the moon.
The cliff face curved outwards into the sea, forming a quaint little cove below. The pale smoke was rising from the where the cliff reached out into the ocean, where the rock face had been decimated to rubble and the rocks had tumbled into the sea.
Something had blasted the cliff apart.
It was none of Kakashi's business. His mission was over, he had been on his way home when the explosion had vibrated through the ground. It was simple curiosity that pulled him towards the sound of the ocean, that made him step out to the edge of the cliff and look across to the destruction.
It was quiet now. If it wasn't for the tendrils of smoke winding upwards from the ruins of the cliff, Kakashi would never have known that anything untoward had occurred there. But there were not many things that could cause an explosion of that size, one that rocked the ground even miles from the source.
The sand looked grey in the darkness; the ocean looked black. There were footprints in the sand below, but whoever had made them had climbed up the rocks and escaped the cove before Kakashi had arrived.
He should turn around and go home. Instead, he pitched himself over the side and slid down towards the thin strip of shore that was trapped by the cliffs and the sea.
The waves were reaching further towards the cliff, washing the footprints away, so it was impossible for Kakashi to tell how many people had been involved in whatever had happened there. When he looked out across the water, towards the smoke and the rocks, he thought he saw movement.
It was none of his business. He was impatient to leave, to get out of Earth Country and pick up his pay cheque, (which he had better still receive, even if the mission had been a waste of time,) but there was something squirming at the back of his mind, something that made him scan the waters.
Further down the beach, steadily being pushed further onto the sand by the rolling waves, was a body.
Kakashi's stomach dropped, but he didn't know why, and with each step it seemed to drop further. He felt vaguely nauseous, sick with dread when he finally reached the body.
The man was lying face down in the sand, naked but for a pair of dark pants that clung wetly to his skin. The waves kept pushing and tugging at his form, nudging him further onto the sand and then pulling back into the shallow water.
Kakashi could only stare at the back of the man's head. His chest felt tight. There was something ominous hanging in the air around him.
The man had light hair. Blonde, but with only the light of the moon it was impossible to tell what shade. It hung limp with water and obscured what little of the man's face that wasn't buried in sand.
When another wave tried to drag the man back into the sea, Kakashi bent over and clutched at a firm bicep, heaving the man further onto the shore so he could roll him over and get a look at his face.
The wet cough that racked the body made Kakashi release him and step back. He was alive, Kakashi was surprised he hadn't noticed. His flesh had been icy to the touch, and he had looked so still that Kakashi had been sure it was a corpse lying on the sand.
Kakashi watched the man shiver as the coughing subsided, and he propped himself up on his arms, leaning up onto his hands and knees. He dragged in a shuddering breath before he turned his face to the side to look up at Kakashi.
Kakashi's breath froze in his chest. The nameless dread he had carried with him across the shore exploded fitfully inside him. He wanted to be sick.
The face of Yondaime Hokage blinked up at him in confusion.
"It's… it's you," the man spoke softly.
Before Kakashi could remember how to breathe, the man's blue eyes rolled up into his head, and he fell forwards onto the sand once again, unconscious.