Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

Chapter 4

The sun streaming through the gap in the curtains woke Sakura. Slowly, she opened her eyes and tried to focus on her surroundings as she tried to remember where she was. The gentle pressure around her waist and the warmth of the body next to her promptly reminded her of the events of last night. It had been awhile since she had a good night's sleep. Kakashi's presence was soothing to her and she enjoyed the closeness that they shared. Noting that the sun was fully up, she anxiously looked at her watch and noticed it was 10:00 a.m. already. In a panic, she tried to jump up only to have Kakashi's arm around her waist restrain her.

With a heavy sigh, she turned to face him. "Kakashi," she said softly not to startle him, "Kakashi, I need to get up."

"Hnn," he mumbled.

"Kakashi, I need to get up. I'm really late for a meeting with the Hokage. She's going to kill me!"

"Hnnn…no she won't. You're her favorite," he said sleepily as he released her from his embrace.

Sakura sprang from the bed and ran into the bathroom to gauge her appearance. Kakashi watched her sleepily as she ran quickly around the room. He had to stifle a laugh because he knew it would infuriate her if he did, but she looked so comical running frantically around the room. Finally, satisfied with her appearance, at least all she could do for the moment, her attention turned back to him.

"Be good while I'm gone," she teased, "I'll be back as soon as I can." She leaned down and kissed him on his forehead and ran out the door. The silver haired man mumbled something and promptly fell back to sleep.

Closing the door, she told the nurses to check on Kakashi in about two hours since he was sleeping. Sakura also warned them to be cautious with how they approached him due to his elite skills. She walked swiftly down the corridor towards the Hokage's office. As she made her way down the hallway, she wondered where Moegi had gone off to. Usually the girl was prompt and would do small things to occupy her time until Sakura arrived. She wondered if Moegi had been sent on an errand by someone since the girl was probably sitting there for hours. Sakura let out a deep sigh as she drew nearer to Tsunade's office door. She hoped that the Hokage would be in a forgiving mood today since she was late for their meeting by 2 hours. Her fate would be decided on the Hokage's frame of mind for the day. Telling herself that there was nothing that she could do about it now, she steeled herself for the worst, while hoping for the best.

Tsunade heard a timid knock at the door, and could sense Sakura's chakra outside her door. Telling her to come in, the Hokage could not help but chuckle to herself when her apprentice nervously entered the office looking very remorseful.

"Sorry for being so late, Shishou," Sakura said dejectedly, "I got tied up with something this morning."

"Come in and sit down Sakura," Tsunade snickered. The Hokage would wait to confront Sakura on what she had seen earlier at a later date. She was more interested to hear about Kakashi's current condition.

Sakura moved apprehensively across the room to one of the chairs near her mentor's desk confused by her mentor's response. She took the seat with the easiest route to move out of the way if Tsunade's temper flared. The woman had a bad habit of throwing objects when she was riled. Sakura didn't want to spend her day in the emergency room nursing an injury if her mentor lost her temper. Moegi knocked and came into the room looking at Sakura desperately for relief from the Hokage's endless tasks. Tsunade thanked the girl as she received the scrolls she had requested and gave her a list of things she wanted done next. Moegi bowed knowing that her day would be spent with the Hokage instead of Sakura and that she needed to accept her fate for the day.

As soon as Moegi made her exit and closed the door, Tsunade asked the pink haired woman sitting before her about Kakashi's current condition. Relieved that there weren't any projectiles being thrown in her direction and Tsunade's surprisingly good mood, Sakura updated Tsunade on his condition. The medic also told the Hokage about how he had woke during one of his nightmares last night. The blond woman listened intently as Sakura gave her report. It was obvious that Kakashi was suffering with one of the side effects of the poison, but the Hokage couldn't help but wonder how long he would suffer from this symptom. Both women hoped that this would be a temporary thing and started discussing how to proceed with Kakashi's treatment.

Kakashi fell back to sleep once Sakura left the room. At first, he drifted back into the calm darkness of his dream state, but after a while that all changed. He was in the middle of a forest, the forest near the place that has Obito died in. As he walked, something compelled him to go to the rock pile where his team-mate had met his untimely death. His friend was there waiting for him, under the same rocks that crushed him to death. Obito began to berate him for all the things Kakashi had done to let him down, how he failed to keep his promise to protect Rin, and how he regretted giving him the sharingan since Kakashi was a failure from his prospective. Kakashi didn't argue with Obito since he also blamed himself for the same shortcomings and the promises that he didn't fulfill to the deceased Uchiha. He could feel the cloak of depression closing in on him. It weighed heavily on the infamous Copy Nin. No matter what he did, the facts of his failures were still the same. Nothing could erase his jaded past.

Soon the scene changed, and Kakashi was standing in the village, just after the Kyuubi had attacked. He had just come back from a mission and was too late to help save his sensei. In the dream, he ran towards the battle zone where the fourth Hokage was in the process of sealing the Kyuubi, thus ending his life. As Kakashi ran towards his sensei, it seemed like he wasn't making any progress. In fact, the image of his sensei kept getting further and further away from him. No matter what he did, his legs felt like they were loaded down with weights. A feeling of despair washed over him as he watched the man who was like a father to him dying in front of him. The vision before him narrowed into darkness only leaving his mentor's crumpled and battered body in the distance. His breathing had increased due to the despair he was feeling. When he reached the pinnacle of feeling his loss, the vision disappeared into the darkness making him feel alone and depressed.

He didn't have to wait long for the next nightmare to begin. Kakashi found himself on a bridge, the bridge where he battled Zabuza so long ago. Quickly taking in his surroundings, he found the old team 7 protecting the old bridge maker, kunai drawn in anticipation of the impending battle. Kakashi lifted up his forehead protector to use his sharingan only to find that his vision was spotty. As he drew closer to his genin team to protect them, Sasuke was taken down by Zabuza's great sword. The Uchiha heir was sliced in half through his midsection, blood spraying everywhere. He could hear Sakura's and Naruto's pained screams of despair as they watched their team-mate die in front of them. Before he could stop him, Naruto lunged at Zabuza in anger to avenge what was done to his comrade. Although Naruto put up a valiant fight, mainly due to the partial release of the Kyuubi, he was cut down just like his friend.

Kakashi watched in horror as the two boys went down. His legs were glued to the ground and his voice was gone. The two boy's torsos landed near his feet, their blood soaking the ground where they lay, with both of their eyes looking up at him accusing him of being incompetent. Their voiceless mouths questioned why he didn't protect them as he had promised. Sakura was weeping uncontrollably, while still keeping her stand to protect the bridge maker. He noted that she was covered in her team mates' blood. Finally, his legs gave way so he could move. Taking a protective stance in front of her, Kakashi swore to her that she would not be harmed. The visage of girl he once knew transformed into the adult that he now loved. Zabuza was walking menacing towards them vowing to cut down the one thing that Kakashi truly loved – Sakura.

The nursing staff had let Kakashi sleep the two hours that Sakura requested. Ryu elected to check on him and check his vital signs. He had just passed his chuunin exam recently and was the only one on the floor that was trained as a ninja. Even though the nursing staff was truly smitten with Kakashi, knowing that he was having nightmares scared a few of them due to his status of an élite. Some of them had bad experiences with other seasoned warriors and shied away from them when they could. Ryu gathered his gear and headed down the hallway to Kakashi's room. He hoped that the infamous Copy Nin would sleep through what he had to do and it would be over quickly.

Zabuza circled the small group, looking for an opening to cut them down. While he circled, he taunted Kakashi hoping to make him attack him first. He really didn't want to hurt the girl, since she was such a beauty. Taking down Kakashi first would guarantee that he would have some time to "enjoy" her company, and then he would decide how to dispose of her. When Zabuza started propositioning Sakura, Kakashi growled his displeasure. With a devious laugh, Zabuza disappeared into the mist that surrounded them, grabbing Sakura with him. Kakashi searched frantically fearing for her safety. Haku suddenly appeared in the mist in front of him. He quickly grabbed hold of the boy hoping that he could negotiate Sakura's release. Calling out to Zabuza, Kakashi announced that he had his prized student and proposed that they make a deal to exchange hostages.

Ryu walked into Kakashi's room and noticed that the silver-haired shinobi was still asleep. As quietly as he could, he started his assessment on the man. While he was listening to Kakashi's chest, his hand swept up and quickly caught hold of Ryu. Kakashi jumped out of the bed with amazing speed and held him in a head lock. He began to yell that he had a hostage and proposed an exchange. Ryu was confused by Kakashi's actions since he had never seen someone move as fast as Kakashi did. Soon there was a group at the door trying to find out what was going on due to the yelling that they heard. It was obvious that Kakashi was caught in his dream state, but the man was too strong for Ryu to break free. Ryu hoped, for his sake, that someone would do something fast before Kakashi followed through on whatever plan he was reliving.

Tsunade and Sakura were discussing what was going on in the hospital when Moegi burst into the Hokage's office.

"Sakura-sensei! Sakura-sensei! You need to come quick! Kakashi-sempai is going to kill one of the medics on the floor!" Moegi shrieked.

The two women looked up at her shocked. "What did you say?" Sakura asked starting to panic.

"Kakashi-sempai has Ryu in a headlock and is threatening to kill him unless some man named Zabuza release you," the girl said panting.

"Zabuza?" the Hokage said, "He's been dead for years."

The three women took off down the hall towards Kakashi's room hoping that he would wake soon and realize that he wasn't trapped in his nightmare any more. He would be mortified if any harm came to the boy he held prisoner while he was in his delusion. Sakura couldn't help but worry that his symptoms were getting worse.

When they got to his room, Ryu was in a headlock with his arm twisted behind his back. Tsunade cleared the room and sent Moegi to find Sasuke and Naruto if things got dicey. Sakura carefully made her way into the room and Tsunade followed closing the door behind them.

"Kakashi," Sakura said soothingly, "Kakashi, it's me, Sakura."

Kakashi's head turned to the sound of her voice slightly loosening his grip slightly on Ryu. She was amazed at his control while he was still unconscious, but he had been an ANBU captain so she shouldn't have been so surprised.

"Kakashi, please let the boy go. I'm ok. I'm not harmed in any way," Sakura told him.

Sakura carefully walked near him so he could feel her chakra. As soon as she was close enough, he released his hold on Ryu but took a defensive stance just in case. Sakura motioned to the boy to carefully step away from them and not to run. Ryu cautiously backed away from the couple and made his way towards the Hokage. Tsunade quickly looked him over. Not seeing any damage she whispered to him to wait outside and to tell Naruto and Sasuke to not come into the room until she bid them to. Nodding, the ashen boy wordlessly left the room.

After the boy had left, Sakura placed her hand on Kakashi's shoulder and felt him immediately relax. His arm encircled her waist and he drew her closer to him. "Kakashi, I need you to wake up now. Everything is okay. We are both safe, nothing will harm us."

He took a few deep breaths and slowly woke. When he finally opened his eyes, he saw Sakura in his arms looking very concerned. Thankful it was just a dream, he drew her in close into a fierce embrace.

"Thank Kami you aren't dead," he said to her as he clutched her to his chest. "I thought that you had died, or worse."

Sakura hugged him back trying to console him. She could feel some of his tears on her neck. Sakura looked back at the Hokage, concerned with the man's emotion. The Hokage nodded to her apprentice knowing that she would do her best to calm the distraught man and find out what prompted this outburst. Sakura motioned to Tsunade that she would be by later to update her on the situation. Tsunade silently left the room to contend with the men waiting for her outside the room.

After he calmed, Sakura led him back to the bed so she could assess his physical state. Though he was a seasoned warrior, the look of torture on his face shocked her. His hand never left her waist as if to hang on to her physical presence so he wouldn't lose her again. Finding nothing physically wrong except heightened endorphins, she caressed his face to comfort him. Her touch relaxed him but she could feel his tension in his touch.

"Kakashi, I need to know what is going on in your dreams. I know that they are painful but they may hold the key to unraveling this so I can stop them," she said softly to him as she sat next to him on the bed.

Kakashi looked into her eyes with pain. He didn't want to remember the nightmares that he recently endured, but he needed them to stop. Reliving every fear he had, every trauma that would eventually tear him apart. He came close to losing his sense of reality when he was a teen and he didn't want to go through that pain again. Knowing that he needed to tell her his deepest fears and a part of him that he had only shared with a couple of people, he hoped that he wouldn't frighten her away. She was his last string to sanity and he couldn't afford to lose her. With a deep breath, he took her hand and began to tell her of the terrifying visions that were assaulting him hoping that she would find the answer to releasing him from their terrifying hold.