Two Missions

Mission 1: Day 1 (Part 1)

It had taken Kakashi a long time to master the art of waking up without appearing to wake up. Well, it felt like it took him a long time to figure it out, but he still managed to master it a lot faster than most ninjas. The hard thing had been learning to control his heart and breath rate even while sleepily rousing. Any change to his heart rate, faster breathing, anything, could alert an enemy that he was awake, and Kakashi didn't want that.

Especially when Kakashi wasn't entirely sure where he was.

He fought a groan as sensation started to come to him. The middle of his torso, beneath his chest but above his stomach, felt like it had been taken out by a hatchet. This seemed unlikely, and more like an exaggeration of the pain. His upper left thigh hurt too, worse, if possible. He could figure out what had happened to him later, right now he had to figure out where he was.

He could tell he was on a mat, the kind provided for missions, and underneath it there was cold, hard earth. The air was wet, but in a cool, dank way as opposed to a hot humid way. The air smelled stale and muddy, and he could hear the constant roar of water. He could make out the light footsteps of someone approaching, and though he could tell who it was based on smell alone, it was still a relief to feel the familiar chakra signature and hear the familiar voice.

"Kakashi-sensei?" it whispered.

Kakashi allowed his eye to open betraying himself. He was lying on his back and had a rather good view of a rocky ceiling. He heard a sigh of relief and tilted his head just slightly so that he could take in the sight of his companion.

"Iruka-sensei," he said. It felt like his mouth was full of cotton balls. For a second the desire for water outweighed his desire to know where he was and what was going on.

As if reading his mind, Iruka produced a canteen and then hesitated. Kakashi carefully assessed his arms. It hurt to use the right one, but hurt more to use the left. Either way, sitting up on his own seemed impossible. Iruka once again read his mind and set the canteen down. He got down on one knee by the CopyNin.

"I can lift you up so that your back is against the wall." 'Which will hurt a lot' was left unsaid.

Kakashi tucked his chin just a fraction. When Iruka hesitated he wondered if the teacher couldn't see well enough in the dark or if he didn't recognize his gesture for what it was, a go ahead. Iruka leaned over Kakashi and grabbed his ribcage. Kakashi didn't flinch even if the teacher's hands were dangerously close to his stomach wound. Iruka lifted his hands a little higher, under Kakashi's armpits, and seemed to decide that a fast approach would be best, like ripping off a bandaid.

Kakashi didn't scream, or cuss, or whimper, but he squeezed his one visible eye shut and fought the urge to vomit. Vomit what, he wasn't sure, he didn't think there could be anything in his stomach. He opened his eye and realized that the teacher was still kneeing as his side, looking at him with something that look suspiciously like pity, or maybe it was worry?

Kakashi let out a breath and tried to assess what he knew. Start with what he knew first hand to be true, then get Iruka's version of events, and then speculate.

He was in a cave. The opening of which was guarded by a waterfall. He hated caves.

Iruka-sensei, the quick to anger Chuunin, was with him. They had been on a mission together.

He had been wounded, his stomach and thigh felt like they had been chewed open with a rusty saw. He was suffering from chakra depletion. He couldn't gather any chakra to help ease his wounds. He could remember being attacked by missing nin on their way back to Konoha.

He was wounded, immobile, and trapped in a cave with Umino Iruka.

'Wonderful,' he thought dryly.

Mission 1 is written and Mission 2 is planned. Beta readers and anyone who just wants to talk about the story and bounce ideas around are welcome to message me. SERIOUSLY. Don't be shy. I haven't worked out all the kinks, so talking about this story with someone would be nice. You don't have to be good at grammar to beta, I mostly want someone who will point out instances where there's not enough detail, or stuff doesn't make sense, or where I have Kakashi or Iruka's history wrong.