Kakashi crouched in the middle of the clearing, five dead bodies spread around him and one more, not yet understanding that he was dead, standing a few feet to his left, staring with wide eyes as blood flowed around the shuriken in his chest. Kakashi felt those eyes on him even before he shifted his own gaze toward the dying man.
Disbelief.
Powerful ninjas often had this look as death took them, as though they could not believe that they had been beaten, that they themselves were actually mortal. It was this look that made them merely powerful, for the great ones had a deeper understanding of themselves and accepted death as part of the ninja way.
This one fell to his knees, still failing to grasp what had happened, before falling forward into the sparse grass and soft dirt. It was only then that Kakashi lowered his left arm, his fingers still outspread in the throwing position, and wrapped his hand over the wound in his right side.
Standing slowly, Konoha's copy ninja made his way to the edge of the trees where he had dropped his pack and, releasing his side for a moment, lifted it, throwing it over his shoulder before once again tightening his grip over the wound. The adrenaline would wear off soon, he knew, and he had a long way to go before the pain hit him.
You know, you should clean that out before you start moving.
Kakashi closed his eyes momentarily before continuing on.
But I guess to the great Kakashi, things like infections and bleeding to death are mere annoyances when it comes to completing a mission.
The jounin stopped, as though halted by an annoying friend and waiting for him to catch up.
There's a stream off to your right.
He turned to the right where he knew there was a stream without having to be told. He could smell the fresh vegetation, hear the gentle babble. He didn't have to go too far before his sandals began to sink slightly in the soft mud of the banks. Dropping the pack, he dropped to his knees, pulled his mask from his face, and bent to drink the water before using it to clean himself. Several handfuls of water were lifted to his lips before he began splashing it on his face, rinsing away the blood that had splattered on him from his attack and leaked from the small cuts on his own face. Then, he unzipped his flak jacket and dropped it beside him. Another zipper, and he shrugged out of his lightweight jacket, wincing as the gash in his side was jarred by the abrupt movement.
He paused here, as feeling began to seep back into his nervous system, to probe the area of the wound. The chakra enhanced blade had sliced cleanly through under the arm of his vest where the armor was thinnest, cutting through his jacket, and tunic underneath. Carefully, he began to peel his tunic from where blood had glued it to his skin. The edges of the wound pulled as he attempted to pull the clothing over his head, and he had to abandon that tactic to merely slicing through the fabric and pulling it off as he had his jacket. As he discarded the bloodied clothing to the ground, he released his held breath.
Apparently, this was worse that he had thought.
I told you so.
"Not now," Kakashi murmered, leaning over the stream to splash water over the wound. It wasn't a large wound, but it was deep enough to be troubling, leaking a decent amount of blood down his side and hip. He cleaned it as best as he could, then drew his backpack closer and fished out the med-pack he normally carried on a mission.
That's the pack Rin gave you, isn't it?
Kakashi ignored the voice in his head as he opened the pack and pulled out several compresses and a roll of bandage and, pressing the compress to the wound with his right hand, began wrapping the bandage around his midriff with his left. It was much more awkward work than he was used to doing, but he didn't really have much choice in the matter. The pain was already beginning to shoot up his side, and with nearly thirty miles between him and the outskirts of Konoha, he still had a long way to go before he could get medical attention. A field patch-up job would have to do the trick.
It took him even longer to pull his clothes back on. The voice in his head remained silent as he slowly pulled the sleeve of his jacket up his arm and zipped it closed over his bare chest. He rested a moment, but as soon as he felt fatigue beginning to creep in, he grabbed his vest, pulled it on quickly but carefully, and pushed himself to his feet.
The earth seemed to tip under his feet, and Kakashi shot out a hand to steady himself with the help of a nearby maple tree until he regained his equilibrium. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, concentrating on each inhalation and exhalation until the dizziness had passed.
Kakashi, those guys weren't alone. You have to move!
Sucking down more air, Kakashi prepared himself to ignore the pain he knew would be tearing through his body in only a few minutes, and leapt high into the maple he had leaned on, and, without pause, sped off toward the village, staying high of the ground in order to avoid detection.
"Shizune!"
Shizune pushed open the door to the Hokage's office, a prepared tea tray in her hands.
"Right here, Tsunade."
She sat the tray on the desk and began to pour out tea.
"Has Kakashi reported in yet?"
"Not yet."
Tsunade leaned back in her chair, balancing her elbows on her armrests and clasping her hands together before her chin, and stared fixedly at her assistant.
"He's late."
Nonplussed, Shizune did not even look up as she answered.
"Tsunade-sama, you do realize you are talking about Hatake Kakashi, don't you?"
Tsunade's eyes narrowed slightly.
"He's late, even for Kakashi."
"There's no such thing as late for Kakashi." Remarkably, Shizune did not flinch at Tsunade's hardened glare.
"I want to be notified if he has not returned by nightfall."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama."
"And notify Yuhi Kurenai that her team is on standby. If he is not returned by nightfall, I want him found."
"Of course."
It won't kill you to take a rest, you know.
"It might," Kakashi replied out loud. Obito's voice had been silent for nearly two hours now, and it was a comfort to hear it again. It made him feel a little less alone as he leaned heavily against the tree trunk, adding a second layer of compresses and bandages in an attempt to stop the bleeding that had begun again with a vengeance. Now that he had lost his pursuers, he could slow down, so long as the bleeding stopped. And if it didn't, well, he had to keep moving.
Just a few minutes, Kakashi.
In his mind, the jounin could almost imagine the thirteen year old boy sitting on the rock across the path from him, the bottoms of his feet pressed against the side of the rock so his knees jutted out before him, peering at the older man through those goggles he used to wear. Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, as he pushed away from the tree to continue along the path.
His steps had grown heavier, and consequently, slower as the pain was aggravated with each step. At this rate, he was still several hours from the west gates, and darkness was already beginning to fall. His left hand still clutching at his injured side, he pushed on, hoping he would make it home before he collapsed.
The voice was silent again, but Kakashi imagined his boy-teammate to be walking beside him in restrained silence, much as Naruto used to do when he was thinking over something troublesome.
Asuma took a long drag off his cigarette and blew the smoke out the side of his mouth, away from Kurenai as they walked congenially toward the Kansai building where Kakashi's apartment sat perched over the Konoha merchant district.
"Do you think he would skip a meeting with the hokage?" Kurenai asked.
"That's not Kakashi's style," Asuma answered, walking with one hand in his pocket while the other flicked ash from his cigarette. "He never pushes his tardiness. He never turns it into a missed appointment."
Perhaps Asuma should have been annoyed that one of the few nights he had to spend with Kurenai was being spent investigating whether another ninja was in town, but Asuma wasn't going to complain. If anything, as soon as Kurenai had told him about her early morning mission, he was planning on coming over here as soon as he left her anyway. She just happened to beat him to the punch.
They climbed steadily to the third floor saying little more to each other in their ascent. In fact, neither said anything more until they were standing at Kakashi's door.
Asuma knocked.
No answer.
He knocked again, calling through the door as he did.
"Kakashi, you in there?"
"He hasn't been home in a week, Asuma."
Recognizing the voice, Asuma glanced up toward the roof of Kakashi's building.
"Are you on guard duty, Izumo?"
Izumo Kamizuki waved down from where he sat cross-legged a few feet up from the edge of the roof.
"Not guard duty exactly. Just watching out for the scarecrow himself."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning the Fifth is either really pissed off at his lateness, or she's really worried." A wry smile spread across his lips. "Sometimes it's hard to tell."
Asuma nodded, then glanced back toward the apato door.
"Anybody check inside?"
"Not that I know of. I was just told to wait, not to enter."
Asuma pulled his own keys from his pocket and flipped a few before coming to the one for Kakashi's door. They both kept spare keys for each other's places in case of emergencies. The Sarutobi assumed a missing Kakashi constituted an emergency as he slipped the key into the lock and turned it until the door opened with a click. He pushed the door open, calling out again as he did so, and gaining no answer, reached in to turn on the light as he entered.
Kakashi's apartment was not large, and therefore took little time to search. His futon had been rolled up and stored in a closet beneath a row of clothing neatly organized by color. The apartment had been swept and dusted, leaving behind an eerily clean living space. The only signs of being lived in were revealed in a chawan, rinsed and left in the sink; a newspaper, folded open to a completed hitori puzzle; and a few pictures, framed and residing on a low shelf beside a stack of books.
Izumo, who had never spent time in Kakashi's apartment, and found it like being introduced into the very private man's mind, thumbed through one of the books, finding that the man actually read outside of the Icha Icha series. He flipped the book back down on the stack and leaned forward to look at the pictures. One was a picture of Kakashi with Team 7, though at this point it was all but defunct with the Uchida kid gone and Naruto and Sakura training with the Sannin. The second picture, Izumo picked up and examined closely. It depicted his first team complete with a very youthful Yondaime and a young Kakashi whose eyes were lit with anger. The other two in the picture were familiar. The kid in the goggles had been a Uchida as well, and, so far as Izumo could remember, had died on a mission not long after Izumo had made genin. Rin, however, Izumo remembered. They had worked together as chunins a few times, and he had even developed a bit of a crush on the older kunoichi before her death.
He hadn't realized she had been on a team with Kakashi, who by that time had been an ANBU, and known to the young chunin only by reputation. With one last look over the picture, Izumo replaced it on the shelf. Asuma and Kurenai were ready to go, and Izumo still had a long night to go on a roof.
Night had fallen full over the Fire Country, and with only a silver sliver of a moon to light his path, Kakashi, stumbled along. His head and shoulders drooped as the trail tipped precariously to the side, shoving the injured shinobi into a small bush.
-kashi.
Ignoring the voice, he took a few more steps before finding his balance again on a sturdy tree only a meter from the path.
Take it easy, Kakashi.
Kakashi, exhausted to his very core, rested his head against a knot in the tree while his body was hidden by the foliage of the branches.
"Do we have any idea where to start?"
Without glancing up at Shino, Kurenai pointed at a spot on the map.
"Our last correspondance with him was from Tukai village. We'll travel along the route he would have taken. If we're lucky, we'll find him before we reach that point. If not, we may be heading into Earth to find him."
"You think he might've been-?" Kiba didn't finish the question. His attention was caught by two shadows that had descended on them.
"N-Naruto-kun!" Hinata stammered in surprise. "Sakura-chan!"
"Kurenai-sensei," Naruto said, focusing squarely on the kunoichi before him. "Sakura and I are going with you."
"Hokage-sama didn't mention-."
"We didn't ask," Sakura cut in. Her face was as set in determination as Naruto's. "We're going to help you find Kakashi-sensei."
Kurenai straightened, concentrating on rolling her map rather than looking at Kakashi's team.
"I can't allow you to go without orders. You know that, Sakura."
"And if you try to stop us," Naruto answered, his voice low, "you'll waste more time than Kakashi-sensei may have."
"Besides," Sakura added, "he may need a medic."
"I can't allow it," she repeated, though her voice was softer.
"Kurenai-sensei," Hinata spoke up, "if it were you, we would want the same."
"Besides, Naruto's dumb enough to follow after us." Kiba grinned. "Then we'd have to search for him, too."
Kurenai looked up and saw Kiba's grinning face, Hinata's pleading, and Shino's. well, blank. She sighed.
"Naruto, Sakura- do you have your gear with you?"
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!"
Kakashi closed his eyes to ward off the dizziness in his head. He couldn't last like this. He'd lost too much blood, and his body was barely responding. He slowly opened his eyes.
A small, round-faced pug stared up at him.
"You look like hell." His ear twitched as Kakashi slid further down the side of the tree so he was squatting before the nin-dog, but Pakkun was not deceived. Were he to step away from the blessed sturdiness of that tree, his master would not be able to remain upright. The smell of blood wafted strongly from him. "You okay?"
"I need the pack to scout the area for enemy shinobi," Kakashi said, ignoring Pakkun's question. "Report any activity back to me." The team disappeared in all directions, leaving only Pakkun to look up at his master with worried eyes as he slid further down the tree and slumped forward over his knees.
"Yo, Kakashi, if we find anyone, you're not gonna fight 'em, are you?"
"There is no 'we,' Pakkun," Kakashi corrected him, reaching forward and scratching him gently behind the ears. "You have a different mission."
"You keep avoiding my questions."
"Ask better ones." He leaned back, wincing at the pain in his side, and moving slightly to wrap his hand over the wound again. "Go to Konoha. Find me a medic. Shizune or Sakura. Doesn't matter."
"Yeah. I'll be back soon." Kakashi nodded. "Make sure you don't die while I'm gone."
"That's the plan," the scarecrow answered with a wry smile hidden by his enigmatic mask.
AN: Just a few notes.
First, this is set after the time skip, but before the Niju Shotai story arc. I know that technically, that's almost no time at all and that Kakashi was training with Naruto at that time, but I actually started writing this before the manga storyline killed off one of my characters and rendered another unfit for missions. And, what can I say? I like having them in here, so I'm not chaging it for continuity.
Second, I hate these things, but before someone flames me for not having one, here goes: I do not own Naruto. I don't understand why people get all bent out of shape if you don't include this. This is a FANfiction site, so wouldn't that mean that we all understand that the stories are based off characters and storylines that someone else created? Seems a little redundant to me, so my passive-aggressive self is tacking it on at the end.