Don't own Naruto.
Kakashi groaned as he rolled over on the concrete floor. He looked around at the dim cell. The shadows held secrets that made him fearful. He was captured yet again. What happened to Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto? Were they okay? He choked on his laughter. He wasn't worried at all for himself. Only them. He looked at the shadows because something moved. It could've been a rat for all he knew, but he was terrified of the shadows. The door screeched loudly opened, and another body was thrown on top of him. He felt sick looking at the tattered orange on this body that was bleeding and breathing shallowly.
"Brat, you better give up those passwords. You and oldie there better soon or you'll both die," the thrower said. Kakashi felt Naruto shake and waited for the man to leave. They were alone. Kakashi felt Naruto begin to cry. He looked over the boy and found what he feared the most. Chakra represents attached to his wrists and ankles. They were burning into his skin. Before long, Naruto would never be able to call upon his chakra. He'd be just like Lee.
Kakashi lost track of how long they were in the cell. Naruto and he don't talk because of the fear eating away. They both wear chakra represents now. Kakashi can feel his chakra becoming distant with each passing week. Years could've passed, and neither man would've noticed. Every so often, they're given cold baths and are shaved bald. Naruto didn't look right without his hair. His eyes looked too big for his face. Kakashi didn't want to know how he looked himself. They both only wore cotton pants that were tattered. Kakashi's mask was destroyed, and Naruto peered at the face without a word. No shouts of finally being able to see the skin beneath. Kakashi didn't like the silence.
When they come once more for more torture, Kakashi noted that they took both of them. He doesn't reassure Naruto anymore. They might not make it out of here anyways. Kakashi gave up trying to smile during the first three sessions. Naruto hasn't smiled since the first. One day, both of them will forgive Konoha for the abandonment, but they weren't children anymore. Childhood was taken away when they took the hitai-ate in hand. Said hitai-ate were no more. The captors took them away. Kakashi ignored the rough way they forced him into a new kind of chair. He doesn't care that they're hooking wires up to the both of them. Whatever they were after is long forgotten by both men. They can barely remember what their precious people and village looked like. Kakashi almost puked after the first wave of electricity is sent through his body. He doesn't hear Naruto screaming at all either.
Konoha did eventually come. Kakashi got use to holding Naruto every night because silently they both agreed that it made some of the pain and fears go far away. When Konoha came, they looked like the captors taking them to another torture session. The passwords they were looking for were no longer in Kakashi's memory. He had a feeling that this torture session would be their last, so he grasped Naruto's hand. They were led into the blinding light of the outdoors. Two medics are waiting for them, and they're wearing Konoha hitai-ate. One of them has pink hair and is crying. The captors turn into a wild looking man with red triangles on his cheeks and a dark haired man with dark eyes. Kakashi began to cry with Naruto. He collapsed on the ground with his hand still connected with the blonde beside him.
"Oh, Kakashi-sensei! Naruto! We're so sorry," the pink medic cried as they both passed out. When they awake, they're in the hospital. The chakra bands are gone, and everything feels funny. Naruto climbed into Kakashi's bed because if anything, they still feared the shadows, loneliness, and the darkness. Broken memories flicker behind their eyes, but they still don't say a single word. They don't cry or laugh. The only sound coming from them is the sound of breathing, living, and freedom.
Kakashi later found out that Naruto and him had been in captivity for two years and had been moved around a lot. Kakashi doesn't remember being moved at all. He chalked it up to being a jutsu. It makes him feel sick whenever he found out that the passwords that the captors were after were fake. Sasuke and Sakura were the ones with the real ones. Naruto and he won't leave each other alone. They don't understand anymore what it's like wearing actual clothes. They act like children at first, but slowly, they get used to it. Kakashi and Naruto no longer wear their hitai-ate on their foreheads. Kakashi likes the eye patch better than the cloth. The Konoha symbol beams out from their thighs. They don't like weight on their heads. They don't talk, but somehow they can understand each other.
"Talk damn it!" Sakura shouted at them. She tried getting Naruto to eat ramen again, but he would eat a bowl and throw it back up. Their stomachs were used to going weeks with little food that was usually bad. Kakashi holds Naruto's hand whenever they're out of the apartment. "You need to talk. It's been a year, and I can't believe I miss you two talking. I miss the idiocy and the wisdom. I hate that you two aren't you anymore. I hate it. Please talk." Sasuke is there. He doesn't talk either, but that's because he's watching them. He's always watching, and it makes Naruto and Kakashi nervous.
"Sorry," Kakashi said. His voice is broken and whisper like from three years of retirement. He doesn't eat his ramen because the smell makes him sick. Naruto tightens his grip on his fingers, and Kakashi closed his eye. Moments of them being happy flicker on his lid, but he doesn't say anything more. Sakura is satisfied and is now on a new goal. Get them to eat more than once a week. That's all their stomachs could handle. They don't discourage her, but they don't encourage her. They haven't been on missions since the day they left three years ago. Tsunade doesn't want them to have a breakdown on a mission and ruin the entire thing. They are eighteen and thirty-two. They shouldn't be like this.
One day, something changed in their routine. Naruto laughed. It was short, sweet, and innocent. Kakashi started talking once more. Nothing more than a few words to respond to questions. Naruto's laughter is at anything funny. They're in the healing process, and Sakura is happier when they eat twice a week. She's still not giving up. Nobody wants her too. Their other friends are helping more now too. Gai continues to challenge Kakashi like usual, but he can tell there is some refusal in Kakashi's whispers. Every time they eat, it's usually ramen, but ramen is one of the things they can't keep down. Kakashi holds Naruto as the blonde is puking. Their hair is neatly trimmed, and Kakashi doesn't wear a mask. Anything like that makes him feel like he's suffocating. Naruto doesn't puke for very long, and Kakashi usually calms the tears that follow. He's afraid for the future.
After another year, Kakashi is sent on a mission because he's healed more than Naruto. He still barely talks, but Naruto and he have learned to eat about four times a week, not all the same day. They're still learning to adjust to ramen because Naruto isn't Naruto without it. Naruto is talking again, but it's the same as Kakashi. They only cry in private and still fear loneliness, darkness, and shadows. Kakashi is afraid of getting captured again, but he makes it back unscratched. Naruto had spent the entire time huddled in a corner with all the lights on. Kakashi is the only one able to get him out of the corner, and he doesn't use words at all. It's weird seeing the two without their hitai-ate on their foreheads, Naruto's smile, and Kakashi's mask. Everyone feels that, in time, Naruto and Kakashi will heal. They're frightened of the scars on their skin because the Kyuubi never healed Naruto until the bands came off. By then, it was too late. Kakashi doesn't use the Chidori too often and never around Naruto because of the electric chair sessions. Electricity is their enemy and friend, but they survive.
"Naruto, let's go. We're going to be late," Kakashi said. He's thirty-five and still is a Jonin. He's surprised that he's still alive. He looks plain uncomfortable in his suit, but for Sasuke, he'll wear it. "Do you want Sakura to hurt us?" Naruto walked out of the bedroom in a suit as well and smiles at Kakashi. Every single time Naruto smiles, Kakashi's heart aches. They don't say it aloud, but they both know it. Kakashi held out his hand and felt whole when Naruto grasped it. It took them exactly four years to hold conversations with more than one word replies, to eat almost every day twice, and to be able to sleep in total darkness. They still hold hands, wear their hitai-ate on their thighs, and hate masks. Kakashi kissed Naruto's forehead and laughed. "Maybe we should get married next?" Naruto laughed and shrugged.
"Sakura would have way too much fun. She's like a mother to us. It's scary sometimes," Naruto said. He ignored the stares they were getting by the unfamiliar people. Not one of their friends cared that they held hands. Everyone on the rescue team could remember when they came out into the sunlight. Naruto and Kakashi cried and fell to the ground in relief. Both of them were never angry with the village. They hated only themselves for a period of time. "Kakashi, promise me that you'll never leave me." Kakashi nodded and kissed his blonde. They never cut their hair too short because they didn't like looking at each other bald. "Let's go see Sasuke look happy." Naruto dragged Kakashi along with half the energy he had at fifteen. They're still healing, but Kakashi assures people that they're okay. The darkness doesn't look so dark whenever you're with someone, and the shadows don't come closer whenever sunshine is there to block their paths. The scars aren't that scary anymore, and the Chidori doesn't bother them anymore. Naruto's laughter chased away Kakashi's nightmares, and Kakashi's smile fought back against Naruto's. They were able to go on solo missions, but they preferred teams. They didn't think about the days in the darkness and silence because some things are better off forgotten.
Kakashi's thirty-eight years old now. It's been seven years since their freedom. He loves every damn year that he is still alive for Naruto. The blonde is now twenty-four. They don't act majorly different from what they did nine years ago, but now life is different for them. Naruto sleeps in Kakashi's arms every single night because they don't like the darkness. Memories of the darkness have faded and became almost forgotten. In truth, only through darkness can one see the light, and Kakashi definitely saw the light in that prison cell and held onto it every damn night in fear of losing said light.
He would live only for this light. It was better choice anyways. He dreams peacefully every night with that light beside him. Light took away the darkness and cleansed his soul. He would never leave. He loved this light of his. Yes he did.
And there you have it. Another KakaNaru. Tell me what you think.