Fear.
Fear was the first thing that came back to Kakashi's mind as he sat in the emergency room of the Hospital. The emergency room bustled as medics were trying to save lives and stop the huge amounts of blood pouring from many of his comrades.
Every moan or groan, every time metal clicked together, every time somebody coughed because of internal damage, every noise made threatened to trip him out of reality.
Well, what he thought was reality.
There was no reality anymore; they were at war with one of the Tail Demons.
His whole body shook, but not from cold. He felt like he actually about to overheat. He shook from fear. He had never seen something that could destroy so much with so little effort.
The Nine-Tails Fox.
Its coat was an orange-like red, something that resembled the fires of hell almost. Its eyes shone through with a feral, killing, intent. It screamed the name of his Sensei, demanding that his rival as well as the man who had imprisoned him, the Hokage of the Leaf Village, show himself. Until he came, the demon would just keep killing.
Arashi-Sensei hadn't come before Kakashi was critically injured by the flying debris that flew throughout the battle field, via the chakra of the Nina-Tails, and a field medic had shipped him out to the Hospital since the damage done was greater than he could repair with the medic's low chakra. He felt the sharp sting in his side where the shurikens had been and the deep gashes that had poured blood and were still bleeding the vital red substance into dirty bandages.
His Sharingan eye spun and searched the room without his control. He hadn't perfected it yet and it was still damaged, but he had used it anyway. Now he couldn't seem to get it to relax or stop draining his already critically low chakra.
He knew things were bad. He could feel it. He tried to even his breathing so he wouldn't hyperventilate as the echoes of the noises of the battle that was still raging just outside of the Village's borders rang in his head.
The Village would pay dearly for Hirosha's mistake. Very dearly.
"Kakashi?" A familiar feminine voice asked from his left. He turned his head to see Rin standing next to the curtain that separated him from the rest of the room. His curiosity about her welfare sprang into overdrive as he noticed how tired she looked. She wasn't supposed to be on her feet at all.
"Rin?" He asked, fully turning towards her and drawing her close, sensing her pain.
She loved to help people, but mass death, like war created, always upsetted her even though she would never admit it.
"I'm worried." She said in a muffled voice against his unharmed shoulder. "No one knows where Arashi-Sensei is and the demon's getting closer and closer by the minute."
"It's gonna be okay." He reassured instinctively. "You need to be underground." He whispered.
"They need all the medics they can get." She told him apprehensively. "Things are pretty bad."
"Rin!" Tsundae's voice screeched. "You'll have time with him later. I need everyone out here- ." She told her, pointing the room full of wounded.
"Yes, ma'am. Right away." She said as she pulled out of Kakashi's arms. She looked him up and down, looking for any wounds that were going to bleed him to death and after not finding any, kissed him on the cheek and left to fulfill Tsunadae's orders.
Anxiety.
Anxiety was what came back to the commanding leader of the ANBU from that night.
"Hold this ground until the Hokage arrives!" The commanding leader of ANBU called out to his subordinates. He tried to ignore the flying debris that caused more harm than any direct confrontation so far. He tried to ignore the anger filled screams that demanded the Hokage. He was ordered to hold this ground, if the beast proceeded any further, then it would have direct contact with the Village and its civilians. That was unacceptable.
The Hokage was what the beast wanted. The Hokage would have the knowledge and skill to defeat the Nine Tails and save the lives of his subordinates and all of the other shinobi here.
He just wasn't here. He was the only ninja on Active duty that wasn't present.
His heart beat against his chest like a wild bird caught in a cage as the beat took another massive step forward, thrashing its wild red tails.
He had to arrive soon. They couldn't hold this ground any longer.
Shame.
Shame came back to Arashi as he proceeded down to the prison building, trying to block out the loud noises of the battle that raged on outside the Village walls. He'd received word that Aiko had gone into labor.
At first, he was convinced they had the wrong woman. He'd seen Aiko only moments before and she had no physical signs of being pregnant.
They had the wrong woman, because Aiko would never attempt to keep something so important from him. She would never. It hurt him to think that she would have moved on from him, having children with another man, even though he had done the same thing and was expecting a child of his own with his wife. Maybe she knew that and hadn't wanted to impose or create any guilt for him. It hadn't been so long ago that he had seen Aiko last.
If she had disguised her pregnancy at their meeting with some type of jutsu and they canceled it at the jail-house when they booked her, what was he supposed to say to her? He had nothing.
They had the wrong woman.
The ground shook with the rage of the Nine-Tails Fox as he knocked on the door of the prison. The few ANBU still guarding the prison saw him and immediately let him in.
"Yes, Lord Hokage?" They asked at attention.
"Aiko Hirosha, take me to her." He commanded.
"Yes sir." He responded, looking at a chart and confirming Aiko's cell number.
When they arrived underground to where the cells were kept, he sensed the familiar feel of death. His heart grew heavier with the realization that it might be Aiko. No matter what she had done, she was still his friend. She was still important to him. She was still one of his precious people. He just prayed he didn't have to lose her to this. He'd lost her to everything else- but he wouldn't lose her to this war.
His fears were confirmed when the approached the cell she was being held in. There were two medics; they looked young, not even out of medical school yet, preparing her body for burial. He couldn't help but notice how Aiko was pale. Her beautiful olive tan skin was now icily white. Even her honey colored hair was paler. Pale with death.
His heart was crushed.
He swallowed thickly, trying to keep from falling apart in front of the company here. With a war going on, he didn't have time.
"What about the child?" He asked, his voice etched with a shady tone.
"She gave birth to a boy." One of the medic's pronounced. "-called him Naruto."
"She saw him then?"
"Yes sir."
"Take me to him. To the child." He commanded one of the medic's.
She looked at him with a certain fear, but said nothing as she exited the cell and lead him down the hall to where the child lay. His heart grew heavier as he heard the cooing from the makeshift crib that had been created for the baby. He saw a blonde headed infant, flailing his arms around and wiggling, getting used to the outside world. He walked over to the crib and gently lifted the baby from its crib and holding it close against him. It was then he had gotten a better look at its features. Blonde hair, brilliant cerulean eyes, beautiful, even toned honey-colored skin. Things he would not have received from his brown eyed, dark haired mother.
"Medic." He beckoned the young woman. "I want a paternity test taken."
"Yes sir." She said, getting the cotton swabs and swabbing the inside of the baby's mouth and labeling the strip she placed it in "Naruto". "Who would you like the second against?"
"Me." He told her, opening his mouth slightly for her to swab the inside of his cheek.
She gave him an awkward look but did as he asked. "What would you like me to label this as, sir?"
"Put it under "Aiko's team member"." He told her as he placed the infant back in the crib. "- submit the findings to the Third Hokage. I have to go."
"Yessir."
