He Could Never Understand: Part II
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters with are in any way, shape or form dealing with the series.
Tsunade has not exactly been pleased with the behavior of one of the village's best jounin as of late.
Kakashi was just a mere shell of his former self now that he and Iruka were no longer together. He didn't smile anymore, he didn't laugh anymore. Hell, he didn't even try to come up with lame ass excuses when he was late. He didn't even pretend to read Icha-Icha Paradise anymore. He trained, but his heart was never in it.
He was gone. And worse, he knew it.
Many of the villagers felt sorry for the poor man as they all knew about the couple moving in together into Iruka's childhood home a little over two years ago. All of the villagers felt something akin to pity, all but Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji. Both of which held no compassion for the man, only hate, anger, and disgust.
About three weeks (three weeks, two days, seven hours, sixteen minutes, twenty-three seconds to Kakashi's ever counting mind) after Iruka left, Sakura visited Kakashi at the home that he used to share Iruka.
She was about to knock on the door, but it was already unlocked and partially opened.
When she pushed the door open enough so that she could walk in, the sight that greeted her had made her wish that she had just stayed at home that day.
Kakashi lay sprawled across the couch nearest the window sill where he used to sit with Iruka in his arms and watch the stars at night.
All he had on was a pair of sweat pants. His ever present mask… wasn't… present.-
"I don't know what you did, but when Iruka gets back, you really need to speak with him."
Kakashi looked at her with unseeing eyes. "He won't forgive me. I'm not worthy of his forgiveness."
Sakura let out a small giggle as she sat on the edge of the couch by his ribs.
"He's more forgiving that you think and he loves you. Nothing could change that, even if you are a bonehead sometimes. Just what did you do to him anyways?"
"I did the worse thing I think that I could possible do to him."
"I'm guessing that I don't want to know?"
"Something like that."
He sat there for a minute, his eyebrows furrowed; his eyes glistening from a new wave of tears that have yet to fall. "I can feel him, even though his isn't here. Every time I feel the gusts from the open window above our bed, every time I stare at the stars from our rooftop, I can hear him in the wind and he's near to me. I don't know where he is; I feel him so close but he's so far away. Every night I lay down to try to sleep and he'll still be on my mind."
Sakura looked down at her former sensei with pity in her eyes. She hated seeing him like this. She looked out the windows before closing them and drawing the curtains. She returned to her besides him and leaned over him so that her lips were just a hairs breadth from his ear. "Do you remember those healing jutsus it taught you a few years ago?" He gave a small nod. "Good. Now, there is a cabin seven miles west-southwest. Be there at precisely 2:30 am. Make sure you chakra is completely masked and untraceable. If not, you will be killed." He gave another small nod.
She stood and made her way to the door. Before she opened it, she looked at him over her shoulder. The seriousness in her gaze made him feel as if he were looking to his superior, not the other way around. "You are not, in any situation, allowed to disclose where you have gotten this information. Not only is my job on the line here Kakashi, but so is my life. Please do not make me regret doing this."
With that, she turned and left the house. A small smile was tugging on the corners of her lips as she made her way down the street.
O.o
It was one o'clock in the afternoon and Kakashi was charged. Kakashi was energized. Kakashi was kicking the ass of each and every shinobi that happened to pass by his training area and thought that they could take him down a notch.
True, he had done nothing but mope around for the passed few weeks, but they had forgotten one very importing thing.
He was still Copy-nin Hatake Kakashi of the Sharingan Eye of the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
O.o
It was one o'clock in the afternoon and no matter what he did, he could never get rid of the stench of blood. He stood there in that freezing cold river. As the water rushed past him, it was tainted more and more as the red in the water became thicker and thicker.
There was blood. Oh god, there was so much blood.
It wasn't an assassination. Hell, it wasn't even a murder.
It was a fucking massacre, and he was the one that killed them all.
He scooped up more sand from the riverbed and continued to scrub his already raw skin. No matter what he did, he could still see the blood run in streamlets down his once white armor and fall onto the water.
But this day wasn't even close to being over yet. And he hated that fact.
O.o
It was only seconds 'til midnight, the was moon still hiding behind the rain laden clouds that were going to pour down its burden any moment and Hyuuga Neji was watching Uzumaki Naruto and their ANBU Captain easily avoid the jutsus that were thrown at then by the Wasureru. Their Captain was one of, if not the most, powerful shinobi in the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
But he would never get acknowledged for it.
He would never get the thanks.
'Panther' would, not him. If people knew who 'Panther' really was, they would not believe that someone they considered so weak could lead their nation in its fight for existence.
But something was wrong. The plan for the infiltration of the Wasureru headquarters was going smooth, but Neji knew that something was bound to go wrong. He could taste the bitter sting of uneasiness as it slid down his throat and into the pit of his stomach. Wasureru, a newly formed but very powerful terrorist group, was after Naruto. But unlike the Akatsuki, who wanted the Kyuubi, Wasureru just wanted the newly appointed Sixth dead.
And just as 'Panther' had gotten his hands on the scroll that was the whole purpose for the mission, Neji felt it. There was a chakra flair powerful enough that it had set of the chakra bombs that they had placed around the entire underground compound only minutes ago. Neji and Naruto escaped through the central ventilation shaft just as the level they were in had imploded, the levels above crashing down upon the levels below as the concrete walls buckled, no longer strong enough to handle the weight.
When they reached they surface, Naruto felt his heart lodge itself in his throat. Their Captain was still in there.
Neji had to hold back the Kyuubi holder as he tried to run back into the flames of the demolished compound.
The last thing Neji heard before another blast knocked both he and Naruto unconscious was the heart-wrenching scream that tore from Naruto's throat.
"Iruka!"