A/N July 21, 2018: Hello! I see I still have a small, steady flow of readers that pass through here, so a passing note - I'm looking for roleplay partners for 1x1 hurt/comfort/angst roleplays. If you're interested, shoot me a message here. I don't care about your writing level - just looking for a casual, angst-filled, hurt/comfort roleplay. Thanks!
Author's Note(s)/Disclaimer: First and foremost, I don't own Naruto. All that I own of this is the ability to put words to paper (or, in this case, on a screen). Equally important, however, is the note that this is set in an alternate universe. There will be many inconsistencies with the canon, and I am aware of this. I'll be changing around the facts quite a bit to better suit this story. I don't have all of these inconsistencies planned, but there are a few important ones that I can inform you of, to avoid too much confusion:
In this universe, Obito did not die at Kannabi Bridge. You can safely assume that all went as depicted in the Kakashi Gaiden (anime version, since I haven't read the manga), except Kakashi, Obito, and Rin all safely escaped the final boulder-falling, and carried on with their lives as usual, however Kakashi still did lose his eye (and didn't receive a Sharingan replacement, or any replacement, for that matter). This takes place sometime after Kannabi Bridge, before Rin or Minato's death (so, Kakashi is around 13 years old, and is already a Jounin).
I got very annoyed with having to copy and paste the letters with macrons in my last fanfiction, and therefore will be using spellings such as 'Jounin' and 'Chuunin'. Be warned, though, for at times (in certain words) I may completely forego any replacement or compensation for missing macrons, simply because taking the time to looking up how to Westernize a word generally ends me up completely distracted and bored of writing a story.
As is dictated on my profile, I must warn you that this story may be subject to sudden, abrupt time skips, in order to maintain my interest in writing it. If this interest-preservation fails, it may also abruptly end. Finally, I may rush through some parts to get to more interesting parts, once again to maintain my interest.
Now, without further ado, enjoy!
Kakashi cursed in a low hiss as a kunai flew past him, slashing his right shoulder as he barely avoided a much more serious hit. Several unseen enemies - three, as far as Kakashi could tell - lurked somewhere nearby, one of which Kakashi assumed was responsible for the kunai which had just narrowly missed his chest.
In the distance, off in another section of the forest, Kakashi could make out the cries of Obito, Rin, and Minato-sensei. Thankfully, they weren't cries of pain - for the most part, they were cries of panic and warning, as the three waged their own battle against a slightly larger group of enemies. Just moments ago, Kakashi had been fighting alongside his team. Now, however, they had been separated, and Kakashi was on his own, outnumbered.
Not that such odds mattered, of course. These three Iwa-nin didn't faze Kakashi in the slightest, despite the fact that he had yet to land more than a single hit on each.
Now, backing up on a thick branch, to press his back against the tree's thicker trunk, Kakashi scanned the forest intently, hoping to catch even a glimpse of the enemy. Met with no such luck, the young Jounin remained motionless, alert, and frozen in position for what seemed like an eternity, yet could have been no more than a minute.
"Ah, he's a strong one."
Kakashi snapped his gaze to the left as a cruel, sneering remark rang out. It wasn't hard to spot the owner of said voice - making no attempt to disguise his presence, the Iwa-nin was crouched on a branch disturbingly close.
"Most would've at least fallen off that branch by now, with the disruption in chakra control," The Iwa-nin continued cryptically, smirking at Kakashi's confused expression, "Don't worry, brat. That poison will set in any second now."
Kakashi's eyes widened as he processed the Iwa-nin's words. The kunai... It had been poisoned?! Now that Kakashi checked in with his chakra flow, he did notice a slight jerk in the usually steady stream, rapidly intensifying. It seemed to be fast-acting too... Kakashi swore silently, scolding himself for not considering the possibility of poison earlier. Now, it was far too late, as Kakashi sensed his chakra control slipping away all too quickly, and a wave of nausea overcoming him.
The leering enemy forgotten momentarily, Kakashi managed to tear his mask down just in time to lean out from the branch and promptly empty the contents of his stomach - albeit against his will.
"I'll give you credit, brat. Not many have lasted that long before the effects of my poison started to show."
This time, it was the sharp voice of a woman that greeted Kakashi's ears, much too close. The young Jounin glanced up quickly, to find said woman standing only a foot away, on the same branch as he. How had the enemy moved so quickly, without him noticing? Was his chakra control really that far gone already?
"Now, before that poison kills you, you're going to tell us where the Konoha reinforcements will be arriving, brat," The woman ordered, taking a step closer to Kakashi. Crouching down, she reached out swiftly, grasping the front of his shirt in her hand. Instinctively, Kakashi reached up to swipe her away - except he didn't.
Kakashi stared into the woman's eyes for a moment, shocked. His arms - he couldn't move his arms! Now that he tried, his legs seemed immobile as well, all his extremities tingling with a strange, half-numbness.
"Answer me, brat!" The woman snapped harshly, standing and pulling Kakashi up with her easily. With firm resolve, Kakashi shook his head, and was glad to find that at least those muscles were responding correctly.
"How about this? You tell us where the Konoha reinforcements are arriving, and we kill you right here, quick and painless," The woman paused, letting that sink in for a tense second, "If you refuse, we leave you here to die in agony, as the poison slowly spreads through your system, rendering you entirely immobile as your muscles seize up and you lose complete control of your body."
Kakashi kept his one-eyed gaze locked with the woman's, making no move to reply in any way.
"You sure that's what you want, kid?"
Kakashi swallowed hard, doing his best to maintain his stony external resolve, as he slowly slipped into panic internally. It wasn't the prospect of death that this woman had so elegantly presented to him - not even the likelihood of a painful death disturbed him. No, it was the thought of being utterly helpless in one's own body that unnerved the boy the most - the thought of having not a scrap of control.
"Well, I warned you. Although, I suppose we can't leave you like this, if someone does happen to find you."
The woman regarded him for a moment, before pulling a kunai from her belt.
"Have fun with that poison, brat."
The glint of sunlight clashing with the gleaming blade flashed in Kakashi's vision, before agony consumed him.
The woman was gone before Kakashi had even registered what had happened - and, of course, she'd taken the liberty to hold him away from the tree branch before she dropped him. However, Kakashi failed to even notice he was falling, as his instincts fought the poison in his bloodstream, and ultimately won out, one hand flying to his face and the other flying out behind him in an attempt to break his fall. Ultimately, his hand just added to his problems, as his wrist was suddenly strained upon impact with the ground, and bent back at an awkward, unnatural angle. Kakashi barely noticed.
He had been screaming, Kakashi now realised, as his arm buckled beneath his weight and he crumpled to the ground. Even as this fact vaguely dawned upon him, he made little attempt to cease the choked grunts that now escaped his throat with each breath that he forced out, each followed by a sharp gasp.
These realisations, however, were all distant, seeing as his immediate world seemed to exist solely of the sharp, flaring pain radiating out from a vertical laceration over his eye. With his hand pressed firmly against the deep cut, in some inane attempt to dull it, or maybe absorb it, Kakashi's trembling form gave into the boy's instincts, the poison's control pushed off for the moment as he rolled onto his side, drawing his legs up slightly before the poison's control took over once more, leaving him shuddering violently, frozen in that half-curled position.
Slowly, sensations other than the searing pain in his face returned to the young Jounin. Ultimately, in the farthest reaches of his barely-conscious mind, Kakashi decided he had been better off without them.
Aside from the pain encompassing his eye, a sharp ache suddenly rose to Kakashi's awareness in all of his muscles, accompanied by the strange, tingling, half-numb feeling he had previously experienced. It was growing increasingly hard to breathe as well - Kakashi wasn't sure if this was due to his sharp collision with the ground, an effect of the poison, or both. Vaguely, Kakashi was also aware that he was shaking, more so than before. This was out of his control, the violent contraction of muscles, which the boy was certain was due to the poison.
Although every second seemed like a passing eternity to the young Jounin, he wasn't mistaken in his belief after several minutes that he had simply lay there for far too long. Four minutes wasn't much, admittedly, but it was far more than enough time given the circumstances. However, unable to gain control over his quivering limbs, Kakashi had no choice but to remain where he was, trapped in this world of pain. Beneath the hand pressed to his eye, the bleeding from the deep laceration had yet to cease, though it had slowed considerably, leaving Kakashi's hand soaked with the drying crimson liquid.
In those four minutes of eternity, Kakashi failed to regain much composure. Somewhere, deep within the semi-conscious corners of his mind, he had a few coherent thoughts. However, the world around him was entirely drowned out. Therefore, when a warm, calloused hand suddenly came to rest on his trembling arm, Kakashi reacted purely out of instinct, once more forcing the poison's control of his movements away for a moment.
In a mere second, the boy had drawn a kunai with his bloodied hand, and had resorted to slashing wildly out in whichever direction his instincts took him, thinking only of fending off this attacker.
"Kakashi! Stop, Kakashi! Stop!" A moment later, the world returned to Kakashi, and with it the alarmed voice of his teacher as the same hand from before clasped firmly around his wrist, forcing him to relinquish the kunai almost immediately.
"It's me, Kakashi. It's okay, it's just me." Even with his chakra control shot, Kakashi could still vaguely confirm that this was, indeed, Minato-sensei's chakra present next to him. However, slightly further back seemed to be two others, a fact which immediately set Kakashi into panic again, as he strained against his teacher's grip to reach his dropped kunai.
"Oh, well, Obito and Rin, too, but it's okay. We're here to help. Just... Calm down."
It was clear that Kakashi could do no such thing, however he did cease his attempts to lash out, even after Minato released his wrist.
"Kunai... Poison..." Kakashi managed to gasp out these two words, before he was cut off by a violent series of coughs, likely the poison's attempt to force him to vomit again, despite his now-empty stomach.
"Okay, don't talk. Just... Let me see your eye," Minato placed a hand on the boy's wrist again, that hand having returned to Kakashi's face to press against his eye. Carefully, he pried the hand away, against Kakashi's resistance, and winced at the sight he was met with, blood obscuring any physical details of the wound that could be of use.
"Can you open it?" Minato questioned, holding Kakashi's shaking hand away from his face still.
The eyelid, which seemed to have cut cleanly in half at the top, but had survived when the kunai's pressure came off at the bottom, twitched slightly for a moment, as Kakashi attempted to open his eye. After a second, however, Kakashi released a sharp cry of pain, snapping his wrist out of Minato's grasp and pressing his hand against his face once more.
"Alright, let's just get to a hospital."
Now, Kakashi's world had begun to fade again, replaced by pain and a strange, creeping exhaustion. The poison's doing, again, he figured, as he slipped away into unconsciousness in a matter of seconds.