This just came into my head one day. It's sometime before Rookie Nine. A little time travelly.
It had been a relatively simple mission: deliver a mundane message to the Kage of the Land of Iron and come home.
Somewhere in between delivery and return Kakashi and his team had run into a group of Rock nin. What those Rock nin were doing out in Iron was beyond him, but in the conflict he had become injured and seperated from Kurenai and Asuma.
It also happened to be the middle of winter. In Iron, snow was something of a constant, but in winter the land was prone to sudden whiteout blizzards and avalanches.
Kakashi spat into the snow, leaving a splotch of crimson in the vast field of white. He had managed to defeat his opponents, but not before getting cut off from his team and receiving a few deep gashes in his chest. There had been a fleeting thought of making a fire jutsu, but the force of the winter gail would have just snuffed it out wasting what little energy he had.
Moving in the deep snow was like trying run in wet sand, every movement impeded with a heavy weight. Normally this wouldn't be that big of a deal; his endurance was quite formidable if the sharingan was deactivated. However, the biting cold slashed through his clothes and numbed the flesh beneath, while the horridly dry air burned his nose and throat. All of this combined with his profusely bleeding wounds left him dizzyingly weakened.
A perfect time for Old Man Winter to come and get me. Kakashi mused feebly, recalling the story that had been told at the Oden stand they had visited before heading out.
It was a little hole in the wall resturant. The Oden had been hot and rejuvinating to their numbed bodies. As the old man behind the counter served them, two locals had struck up a conversation next to them.
"Nope, I ain't going out tonight. Straight home after this." His companion smirked.
"What? Afraid the Ghost is gonna get yuh?"
The cook turned to the men and grinned.
"He has it right you know. It's no good business to be out in this weather. I spect a strong blizzard's commin." The old man turned back to the three shinobi."I say the same for you."
"We're shinobi, Ossan. I think we can handle a little snow." Asuma had replied. The old man clucked his tongue chidingly.
"Perhaps, but I don't think it too wise of you to go out tonight. These winters are brutal, especially if you aint familiar with the terrain."
One of the other men piped in."Yeah, If you go and get lost, no one can save yah."He smirked in a conspiring way. "An then Ol Man Winter will get yah."
The man's friend smacked him in the shoulder. "Don't you go on about that rubbish! It's just a boogeyman tale to keep the kids inside during storms."
"Nah! He's real! People have seen im!"
"Load of rubbish." But it didn't deter the man. He eagerly turned back to the three shinobi.
"Wanna hear? Just to pass the time?"
Kakashi had just rolled his eyes. Kurenai and Asuma listened though.
"He always comes out in the middle of the blizzards to attack the lost and injured. You get real disoriented by the storm and desperately lost. Just when you're about to pass out from exhaustion, a figure looms over you. White straggly hair, and eyes like glaciers-"
"Can see why he got his name." Kakashi muttered disinterestedly, savoring his oden.
"He takes you away to his cave up in the mountains and eats you!"
"Shut up, will you." His friend grumbled, embaressed by the man's childish enthusiasm.
"It's true!"
"There's no proof-"
"Of course there is!"The man puffed up in victory."How do you explain the hollows in the trees?"
"Hollows?" Kurenai asked. The man nodded so vigorously, Kakashi was surprised that his head didn't fling off.
"If you go up high enough into the mountains, you'll see these trees with hollows gouched out of them. Big enough for a man to sqeeze in to shelter." He slurped his tea."No one really goes up there, except the hunters and woodcutters, but they all say they never did them. So who did, eh?"
"Probably a bear or somthin." His friend said dismissivly.
"I tell you it's Ol Man Winter!"
The two men broke off into an arguement forgetting about their audience. The cook simply chuckled lightly.
"Don't pay them any mind. They just like to scare the tourists." he said jovially as he refilled their tea cups. They murmured their thanks.
Kakashi eyesmiled at the man."So you dont' believe in him then?"
"Nope. Just one of the spook stories that pop up around these parts." He paused for a moment." However, I do hope you won't go out tonight. The wind picks up awfully fast."
They glanced at each other."No. We really do have to get going." Kakashi said.
The old man looked resigned."Well, alright. But if you're gonna go, go now, and quick."
As they exited, the storyteller shouted at their backs.
"Watch out for Ol Man Winter."
Now, on the verge of collapse, Kakashi couldn't help but think about him. He was never one for ghost stories, but the swirling whiteness that closed in from every side made him understand just a little why they came about.
There was no way to find the others, and he had no strength to heal himself as the cold numbness robbed him of willpower.
A mistep landed him facefirst into the life-draining white. He could no longer feel his limbs. The cold quickly seeped into his core. His thought processes slowed.
If only he could have found one of those hollowed trees.
If only he had heeded the old man's warning and cared more for himself instead of the mission.
If only-
crunch...crunch...crunch...
For a moment Kakashi feared that his delirious mind was playing tricks on him, but over the howling wind he could just make out the sound of approaching footsteps.
No longer caring if it was friend or foe, Kakashi cried out hoping to make himself known...only to find that a weak rasp escaped his wind chapped lips.
Too busy trying to make a louder sound, Kakashi did not notice the sound getting louder.
crunch...crunch...crunch...
Suddenly he became aware of a indisiferable shape towering over his prone body. He gazed up with one blurry eye.
Stringy hair coated in snow danced ominously around the figure's head. It's face shadowed as it seemed to look down on him.
Holy crap...He's real...
It was his last thought before succoming to unconsiousness.