Kakashi struggled vainly against the hands holding him steady. He could see the flames in the distance, illuminating the night sky with red. His finely tuned ears gave him nothing but silence and the distance crackle of flame and his own panicked breathing. He could hear no life.
"Hush." A voice cooed next to his ear.
"Let me go." Kakashi demanded, struggling to race off to his village, to save whoever could be saved.
They couldn't all be dead. They just couldn't.
"No." The man behind him whispered, nuzzling his neck. "I've wanted to hold on for so long. I'm not letting go now that I have you."
Kakashi choked, vainly trying to get away. But he knew it was useless. His chakra was depleted, his strength as gone, his legs barely holding him up. The mission had been a killer, and the battle after that, against the one person he'd never expected to fight with, had exhausted him.
Oe hand lipped up past his chest, fingers dancing over the tattered remains of his flak jacket. Nimble fingers grasped at the edge of his mask and Kakashi shut his eyes in pain and sorrow and despair. The mask was down with a flash and he was turned to his opponent could get a good look at his newely revealed face.
"As perfect as I always imagined." The man smiled, a remnant of his famous grin.
Kakashi gave one last effort and swung his arm, only to have it snatched from the air and snapped perfectly. His mouth open in a yelp of pain but the noise was smothered before it could escape. The other man pressed forwards eagerly, claiming his mouth with great pleasure. Kakashi struggled but knew it was nothing. The man didn't even notice his resistance as he held him firm and steady like Kakashi was nothing.
Finally the other man pulled back, blue eyes full of so many unknown emotions and visions. He grinned at Kakashi, sharp canines glinting in the dull light. Kakashi slumped against the tree behind him for naught else to do. The other pressed firmly against him, trapping him against a body only an inch shorter then himself. Blue eyes bore into his lone grey one, and Kakashi stilled feeling like a butterfly pinned to a board. The smile turned into a feral grin that sent a shiver down his spine and terror into his brain.
"How does it feel?" The once-boy with golden hair cooed his voice breathless with excitement and exhilaration.
He ran a finger down Kakashi's cheek and traced his lips with a long tapered claw.
"To feel so weak, helpless, useless?"
Kakashi whimpered, a sound he'd never made before, full of fear and confusion.
"Not so nice, eh?"
The blonde's grin was gone replaced with a frown that made his eyes crinkle.
"That's how I used to feel. Because you wouldn't train me, wouldn't help me, wouldn't notice me."
Kakashi tried to look away and found he couldn't so he clenched his eyes shut with pain and guilt and sorrow.
"It was all about Sasuke." The blonde spat bitterly, his voice full of memories.
Then he smiled in a twisted way, lips curling back with sick amusement and eyes that showed far too much hate and bitterness.
"But Sasuke's gone now. They all are."
Kakashi let out a choked sob as reality crashed down on him, weighing down his body, mind, and soul. He had known, somewhere inside what had happened, but to hear the words broke him. The blonde just grinned, showing off sharp canines and a mask of feral beauty.
"They all thought I was weak, helpless, useless…But I'm not. I'm strong, independent, and I guess I could be useful if I wanted."
He laughed softly a sound that didn't match his expression, still pressed against the silver haired man.
"…what have you done Naruto?" Kakashi sobbed.
Naruto laughed, glee and excitement shadowing his tone in a way that made Kakashi sick. He'd heard the same laugh in murderers and psychopaths.
"I killed them. All of them." Naruto said, breathless.
Kakashi gave a keen, not knowing what else to do as his heart fluttered frantically. He tried not to picture mangled corpses and yet they all flashed past his eyes as he desperately shook his head, the shock setting in.
Naruto frowned as his trembling form and Kakashi now saw the blonde splattered liberally across his one orange outfit. He wanted to be sick but couldn't even manage that.
"I had wanted you to stay come away with me." Naruto said softly, his voice suddenly the same as Kakashi remembered it, blue eyes peering up at him hopefully like the child Kakashi had failed to teach.
Kakashi gagged suddenly as the wind changed direction and he was assaulted by the smell of burnt flesh and spilled blood and thick rolling despair. Naruto forcibly kissed him again, trying to tear his mind away from the carnage and Kakashi gave in, letting himself be swallowed up by the feeling instead of smelling the defeat. Blue eyes looked deep into his and Kakashi looked back with naked pain.
Naruto smiled sadly and stroked his cheek.
"I know." He said. "You hate me. Or you will. It hasn't set in yet, but it will. And you'll hate me."
He was right of course. Kakashi could feel the sudden righteous anger starting to burn up the shock and despair. Naruto smiled happily and nuzzled his face into the Kakashi's neck.
"I love you Kakashi."
Kakashi wanted to open his mouth and say 'I hate you' in return. But after all this, he still could not get those words to pass his lips. He choked as the anger wavered. How could he ever hate his student? The precious son of his sensei? The boy who always had a smile for the old washed up Hatake brat? The boy who could make him laugh in any situation? The boy he'd failed. He choked out a sob and Naruto kissed away every tear.
"It'll be okay." Naruto said. "Well, no, it won't. You won't come with me and you're broken."
Kakashi didn't even think to deny these words. Everything was gone. Everything but Naruto, and as much as he loved the boy, he could never forgive him.
"I'm sorry." Naruto said lifting his hand and pressing it to Kakashi's chest, right above his heart.
Then he plunged his hand into the man's chest. Kakashi convulsed and his eyes rolled back in pain as Naruto dug his fingers into his flesh, ripping past even bone as he searched. Kakashi opened his mouth in a wordless scream as the blonde gripped his heart with his naked hand. Kakashi stared into the deepest of blue eyes and felt himself falling. Naruto smiled at him, the smile blooming like a sunflower in his mind. Kakashi couldn't focus on anything but those blue eyes and that wide smile.
"I love you." Naruto repeated. "Wait for me hell, okay?"
Kakashi couldn't even nod as Naruto pulled his hand out, his heart resting in the palm. He didn't even feel himself tilt and fall to the ground, every feeling fading away like blood form a wound. He gazed up at Naruto and his bloody skin and his loving blue eyes and the manic grin on his face. Kakashi considered the corpses littering Konoha's street, among them everyone he knew but one. And finally, he heard Naruto's laugh ring in his ears, and then….
….
Naruto looked at his sensei's corpse, still gazing up at him and only him. Paying attention only to him in his last moments of life that Naruto had snatched away. He was looking only at Naruto. And Naruto smiled.
.-.