The raging black and red tide was rising, higher and higher and he couldn't swim, he couldn't float couldn't breath couldn't fight couldn't think couldn't-
He woke with a shuddering gasp, desperately trying to regain his stolen breath.
'Best to keep things in the shallow end,
Cause I never quite learned how to swim.
I just didn't want to know...'
Slowly, cautiously, a smooth golden arm wrapped around his waist, bringing him against a firm chest, allowing his racing heart and mind to come under control.
Naruto frowned at his lover, worried. It was the fifth night in a row that Kakashi had woken up, after only an hour of sleep. Each night a different mission came to the fore, to torture Kakashi once more.
Kakashi, with enough personal demons to share with an entire village.
" 'Kashi?"
Kakashi tilted his head slightly towards Naruto.
"... What was it this time?"
He drew a deep breath, and held it, before releasing it, sounding as if he was trying to expel all of his memories with it.
"Fire. Smoke. Drowning in the fear. Choking on your guilt..."
'I close my eyes,
Ignore the smoke.'
... all part of the usual in times of war.
War is renown for its terrible crimes, but ninja... Ninja always had to do dirty work, it wasn't all rescuing princesses and liberating countries.
'Ignore the smoke'
It was selling your soul and hoping to find redemption along the way.
'Mistook the nods for an approval.
Just ignore the smoke and smile.'
Kakashi turned enough so that he could rest his head in the crook of Naruto's neck, inhaling the pure, woodsy smell there, proof of his own personal redemption's presence.
'Call it aftermath, she's turning blue,
Such a perfect color for your eyes.'
Naruto hummed faintly, and started to rub a soothing line along Kakashi's spine, feeling the tense muscles relax a little more with every breath.
'Call it aftermath, she's turning blue
While I just sit and stare at you.'
After all, one's own nightmares are their own. Shared knowledge of their existence just means you have to acknowledge it...
'I don't want to know...'
~*&*~
A/N.
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters of Naruto. If I did, it would have ended up as a short and unsuccessful manga. As we can see, it's the exact opposite of that...
The song is "Blue" by A Perfect Circle, I make no claims to owning that either ... unless you count the copy of it on my computer :3
I went with what my psychic computer decided to play, and so this story was born.
My Knight, I miss you~ *sends huggle waves*