Chapter Twenty-One:
As the warm sun was beginning to dip towards the west, Kakashi stood in front of the large Memorial. He hadn't been there long, only a few minutes. It had been several weeks since his return from the Snow Country and he had not had any contact from Saiji since then. He had briefly heard word that the man had left the ANBU and was back in the Jounin ranks, but Kakashi took little interest in the subject.
Kakashi reached out with his left hand and lightly touched the cold, black stone. In a haze, he saw Kazuma's robed back as he faced the Kyuubi, and then glimpsed Sousetsu's body in the castle. Kakashi narrowed his eye and reached down with his other hand to the holster strapped to his leg. Flicking out a kunai, he twirled it around his finger once and then clamped his hand over the blade, tightly. The sharp edges dug into his gloved hand, cutting through the thin material and into his skin. The pain helped to withdraw him from the memories as his left hand slipped away from the stone. He concentrated on the pain, feeling his pulse pump gently in his hands as the glove slowly absorbed the blood. What it didn't manage to soak up dripped between his fingers and onto the ground.
I can't keep myself tied down to the past. I need to forget in order to move forward – to get stronger. That's why…Kazuma-sensei, Midori, Obito…I'm not going to come back here anymore. I'm going to get stronger, no matter what it will do to me or what it will make me.
His hand tightened over the kunai making him wince a little. Then in one deft motion, he hitched the weapon up a little so that he only held the tip of the blade, and then he flung it towards the line of trees, where it struck with a dull thud. He turned from the stone to stare at the trees that were beginning to be engulfed by shadows.
"What are you looking at?" Kakashi asked in a quiet, cool voice. There was immediately a shuffle in the leaves and a figure dropped down. Interestingly, the dark green spandex did not do a bad job in blending in with the shadows. Gai grinned broadly, walking forward with the usual bounce in his steps.
"As expected of my Eternal Rival!" he said loudly, but a tone of slight uncertainty quickly slipped into his voice. "Although, that kunai was a little sudden." He tentatively touched the thin cut along his cheek that the weapon had created. But it was more of the way his rival had acted in front of the Memorial with that kunai that bothered Gai. Despite what others thought, Gai was not stupid and he knew something was different about the other boy.
"Are you…all right, Kakashi?" he asked a little hesitantly.
"What do you want?" Kakashi said instead, the cold edge to his voice very clear now. Gai felt a little ill at ease having his rival's full attention, especially when that one eye was not as nonchalant and laid back as it usually was. It was more shuttered, dark, and demanding. Nevertheless, it took more than a cold stare to frighten Gai, or so he liked to believe. He regained his posture quickly and he stood up straighter, brandishing his nice-guy pose.
"As your Eternal Rival, I came to challenge you to a duel!" he announced. "In this last month I have trained continuously with Genma to improve my skills. You will not win so easily anymore, I assure you, Kakashi!"
Kakashi slipped his right hand into his pocket when Gai's eyes shifted to look at it for the third time. "Go home, Gai," he said softly as he turned and began to walk away leaving his 'rival' spluttering in disbelief.
"How dare you!" he shrieked. "How dare you turn down our duel in such a cool, youthful way! But I am not letting you go! Today is the fated day that I will win!" Gai sprinted after Kakashi, overtaking him, and then blocked his way. He stood firmly with both arms spread and a determined look on his face. He didn't know why, but somehow, he felt as if Kakashi would never come back again if he let the boy leave now. He had to keep him there.
With a great amount of bravado, he threw an accusing finger at Kakashi's face. "I understand your mind! You are just afraid that I will beat you! You are afraid of having someone stronger than you! I – "
The smallest twitch of Kakashi's eye was all the warning Gai got before his rival attacked him. In one bound, Kakashi had closed the distance between them and his right foot came around in a blurred snap kick. From the sheer speed and the ever decreasing visibility, Gai would not have been able to counter the attack and its follow-up had he not gone through the extensive blind-fold training with Genma. He ducked under the kick, barely avoiding it, and then raised both his hands, crossing them at the wrists to block the sudden downward plunge of the heel. He then threw himself to the side to create some distance between them.
"You have at last decided to accept the duel!" he dared to exclaim in triumph, though it was short lived. When Kakashi leapt forward again, Gai went to meet him. He deflected his rival's left punch and then threw his own combination of quick, hard blows which had given even Genma some trouble. But Kakashi evaded them with obvious ease, occasionally slipping in a kick or punch, which Gai managed to block only at the last seconds. It was only when he felt his back bumped into a tree trunk that he finally realised he had been pushed back.
Gathering chakra to his feet, he leapt over Kakashi's left handed strike that would have been ended their fight had he not acted. Breathing quickly, Gai landed several metres behind Kakashi, who only turned around, his right hand still unmoving from his pocket. Gai pushed off the ground again with a burst of chakra and he leapt up into the air, spinning his body at a great velocity. Coming down with increasing momentum, he threw his newly created Konoha Douriki Senpuu down at his rival. His backward kick penetrated Kakashi's striking distance and was well on its way to his face when Gai's eyes widened. It took only a simple thrust of Kakashi's left hand to successfully cancel Gai's entire momentum and attack. Then before he could react, Kakashi's hand gripped his ankle tightly and he was hurled into the tree.
With a rough gasp, Gai crashed against the bark with the wind knocked out of his lungs. Wincing against the pain in his back, he glanced up at Kakashi and his eyes widened again as his rival knelt in front of him and deftly wrapped his fingers firmly around his throat. Though it was not enough to stop his breathing, it was enough for Gai to feel defenceless and intimidated. Kakashi had never gone so far in their duels to stand over Gai in a position where he could easily kill him. A foreign sensation of fear prickled down his spine.
The two locked gazes and Kakashi finally withdrew his bloodied right hand, which he used to pull out a kunai from his holster. He wasn't thinking about anything as he raised the weapon and poised it. This was how it was supposed to be. Someone had engaged him in a fight and lost. Now Kakashi had the right to decide the loser's fate. His hold around that throat felt all too familiar. His grip around hilt of the kunai tightened and he brought it down in one swift, efficient motion of his arm.
"That's enough, stop right there."
A strong hand snapped around Kakashi's wrist that held the weapon and another on his forearm that was still gripped around Gai's neck. Gai slowly slid his eyes away from Kakashi and looked at the shinobi who had suddenly appeared between the two. His almost black hair was tied in a small ponytail near the base of his head and from his position, Gai could make out a round, golden earring on his ear. Though he wore a standard Jounin vest, he immediately recognised the Uchiha crest on the shinobi's long sleeved shirt. The three of them remained very still for another few seconds, and Gai noticed that the man's eyes never left from where they were trained on the kunai.
Kakashi was the first to move. He tugged his right hand free and let his left fall away from Gai's throat as he stood up, briefly meeting Yuki's gaze, which now turned to him. He slipped the kunai back into its holster and slid both his hands into his pockets. Yuki narrowed his eyes and rose to his full height, fixing Kakashi with a warning glare.
"What were you thinking?" he breathed dangerously.
"It's not like I was going to kill him," Kakashi responded quietly.
"With that Sakki, you could have fooled me," Yuki pressed. "That did not look like a constructive spar, Hatake."
Kakashi shrugged and said nothing. He turned away from Yuki and his eye paused on the silent Memorial Stone. He felt as if it was staring at him with the same, scolding look that the Uchiha had given him. He averted his eye and walked away, just as the last rays of the sun disappeared behind the horizon, plunging everything into complete darkness. There was no moon in the sky, and the stars alone could not lighten the night. As Kakashi leapt away, he sent one last bidding to his lost team mates.
"Please don't watch me," he mouthed in a barely audible tone even to his own ears.
Yuki watched him leave silently and couldn't help but release a small sigh of relief. In truth, he had been downright scared. He had arrived just as the battle had begun and decided to wait for it to finish before meeting Kakashi. But the way Kakashi had fought had disturbed him. It looked like watching the boy fight an enemy and not a friend. There was an unspoken rule in Konoha stating that all training spars were to be done strictly without the intent to kill. All of Kakashi's blows, however, had been placed to deliberately crush the bowl haired kid, who was obviously not half as strong as Kakashi. When Kakashi's sakki had flared dangerously, Yuki moved. He would be damned if he sat still and watched a Konoha shinobi trying to kill a comrade.
Yuki sighed again and glanced at the boy who was still slumped numbly against the base of the tree. "You alright?" he asked.
It took him a moment to realise he was being addressed. "Uh, yeah, yes, I'm fine," he mumbled.
"What's your name?" Yuki asked, hoping to distract him from what he had just experienced.
"Gai," he replied almost automatically. "Maito Gai."
"Are you Hatake's friend?"
"I…" The focus suddenly returned to the boy's eyes, which were cast down. Bingo, Yuki thought, and then allowed Gai to continue. "We're rivals…Eternal Rivals. I've known Kakashi for years, and I knew his strength was leagues ahead of mine. But I thought I could catch up to him by working hard. When I heard that Obito had died, I thought sparring could help Kakashi. By challenging him, I thought I could train myself harder to catch up. I know he's a genius and I'm a dead last; he was a Chuunin before I even graduated from the Academy and when I finally made Chuunin, he was already a Jounin. Even now, the rumours…"
Gai clenched his fists, which shook his arms a little as he dropped his head onto one raised knee. He tried to keep his voice steady. "I didn't realise he was so far away."
Yuki lifted his eyes away from the boy and took a few steps back to lean against the tree next to him. He crossed his arms over his chest and tipped his head back to stare up at the dark sky.
"Rivals are very complicated, but at the same time are natural," he said after a pause. "Some get along, others hate each other and even others don't even realise their competing against one another. But in any type of rivalry, rivals aren't there to pull and drag on each other's legs. They're there to help each other grow. Try and think about that, and once you find your answer, you can confront Kakashi again. Until then, I would advise you to stay away from him." Just in case, he added silently.
Gai raised his face and thought over the words. Then he nodded once in understanding. Yuki looked down at him and smiled, reaching over to ruffle the boy's strange hair.
"Ah, it's so nice to talk to honest kids," he said playfully as Gai gave an indignant little noise and tried to push his hand away with little success. "Well, good luck, Gai."
He pushed away from the tree and was considering what to do next when the boy spoke up again.
"Who are you?" Gai asked, looking up at him from the ground.
"Yuki," he replied. "Just an acquaintance of Hatake's."
"Then would you know – " Gai paused, chewing his tongue for a moment and wondering if it was right to ask. But curiosity soon got the better of him. "Would you know if the rumours saying Kakashi is in ANBU are correct?"
Yuki glanced over his shoulder at Gai. "Does your rivalry depend on ranks?"
Gai was taken aback for a second, but then shook his head firmly and managed to grin again. "We are Eternal Rivals," he said.
Yuki smiled and then disappeared into the night. Gai waited another minute to make sure his limbs wouldn't fail him, and then he got up and leapt into the trees. The night was still young and their team meeting was at noon the next day. So he headed to his usual training area, trying to push the image of Kakashi's cold eyes away from his mind.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Yuki sat silently on a slanted roof that gave him a discrete view of the window of Kakashi's apartment. The boy was sitting on his bed with his back turned to the window reading a thick scroll. Yuki hadn't seen Kakashi since he had talked to him about the Cloud Prison mission. He knew the genius had been sent to the Snow Country and had taken on other missions since then, most of them solo. Seeing the kid almost killing another boy was not a very nice reunion either.
More than once, he had had the urge to request seeing the reports of Kakashi's mission to see if the hushed whispering of the ANBU agents were true. According to them, Agent Dog was going distant – which usually meant that he was becoming more ruthless and cold-blooded in his missions. Yuki had waved them away as mere rumours, until Fuji, one of Yuki's squad subordinates had come back from a joint mission with Kakashi and a few others and told the Uchiha about the change in the Hatake genius. It was true that none of the ANB U were very nice when they were trying to extract information out of a captive on the field, but Fuji had described Kakashi's methods to be almost too thorough. In other words, very, very nasty. Yuki hadn't asked Fuji to elaborate.
Being a squad captain, Yuki had a higher clearance than normal agents, but it wasn't enough to allow him access to mission reports that he had nothing to do with. And Kouyama had seemed rather tight-lipped about the whole business. He hadn't even told Yuki who Kakashi had been partnered with during the Snow Country mission. So it took him a while to track down the people who knew this piece of information, and at length it took him to a Chuunin who had been on watch duty when they had left. He had at first refused to speak up, claiming that he was taught to not spill a word about his duty, so Yuki had been forced to resort to a few threats and taunts. Only a little. It was then that he finally found out that the Dog and the Boar had left together one early morning.
It was only a slight disturbance in the air and the sudden stench of booze that warned the Uchiha of a new arrival.
"Oh, now I get it," a voice drawled behind him. "So you're the one playing good ol' protector and kind guardian."
"I don't think so much alcohol is good for you, Toyoaki-taichou," Yuki responded nonchalantly, tipping his head back until he caught a glimpse of the Jounin standing behind him. "It's only Tuesday, after all."
"Mn, don't worry, this is only my second one this evening. I'm still sober," Saiji said, coming down stand beside Yuki, holding a sake bottle in one hand.
"It's been a while since I've seen you wearing a Jounin outfit," Yuki said. He hadn't gone temporarily deaf when Saiji had made his appearance, but he thought he ought to keep his head clear enough for the argument that was bound to happen. Small talk could work wonders at times.
"And it's been too long since I could kick your ass for all the times you tried to disobey your captain when you were still a rookie," Saiji retorted. Yuki laughed, remembering those days all too well.
"Hey, but that saved the squad on more than one occasion, Taichou."
"Don't call me that, Yuki. I'm not an agent anymore, much less your captain."
"True, but your last mission took you to the Snow Country with Agent Dog, I believe," Yuki said, bringing their conversation back to the original topic.
"I think so," Saiji said, glancing at the window some fifty metres away, beyond which sat a tuft of familiar silver hair. "But I don't remember much of it, thanks to the great drinks they had up there."
"What did you say to him, Taichou?" Yuki asked, his voice unconsciously hardening a little. "I know that your words are often double-edged."
"You're sounding an awful lot like Kouyama-san, you know that?" Saiji said, taking a sudden interest in the bushy cat across the street, sitting atop a vending machine.
"Do I now?" Yuki mused quietly. "And where did you make such a connection? Maybe I really do look like your superior with the way you cling onto your drinks like that."
"The way you keep prying for information about that whelp," Saiji replied, blatantly ignoring the latter part of Yuki's speech.
"I can tell he's about to break. It's the least I could do to try and prevent it happening."
"For what? If he breaks, that just means he wasn't fit for the job. You're only pretending to care about him because you feel guilty that your cousin (Obito, was he called?) died. You're overlapping that whelp with your dead cousin, that's all."
"Then what are you trying to do? You're just trying to drag him down with you since you lost your reason of living. It's so typical of avengers, especially those who come back empty-souled after they've exacted their sweet little revenge."
"Watch it, little brat," Saiji hissed softly. Yuki took no heed of the warning.
"You never really cared about anything other than your revenge, your strength and the missions. Now you're suddenly interested enough in a kid to try and push him over the edge. If it's not your plan to take him down with you, what do you want from Hatake?"
Saiji remained quiet, staring at the top of the vending machine that was now bare. The silence continued for several minutes, both men somewhere deep in thought. Neither of them moved so much as a finger, as if they were frozen still. Only the light breeze and the distant sounds of a lively village reminded them that time was still ticking constantly by.
Yuki went back to that sentence that had stung the most. You're overlapping that whelp with your dead cousin. He knew it would be stupid to try and deny it, since that was really the reason why Yuki had taken to watch over Kakashi. But now it was different. Now, he sincerely cared about the boy, because he saw him as a friend and almost a little brother. It had already occurred to him long ago that Kakashi wasn't looking for someone to stand protectively at his side. He was simply looking for something to live for, and that was something Yuki couldn't give him. He knew that, kept reminding himself of that, but it still didn't mean he could stop caring. I'm probably just an idiot, he thought hopelessly.
"He won't break," Saiji said suddenly, breaking the motionless silence.
"And how do you know that?" Yuki asked bitterly.
Saiji shrugged. "I just do."
"He almost killed a Chuunin friend this evening," Yuki said, though he felt as if Kakashi hadn't acknowledged Gai as a 'friend' just yet.
Saiji smothered a laugh with a snort. "I thought I taught you not to always jump to conclusions," he said with a hint of amusement.
"I don't think I was mistaken," Yuki said, not finding it at all funny.
Saiji sighed and sat down beside the Uchiha. "Look, all I did was tell him the truth. What he needs now is not your coddling, but the truth. Let him do what he wants for a while. If he can't handle this, he's not even worth your worry."
"What would you know?"
"Yuki, he's been on active duty since he was what, five, six? He's the White Fang Hatake Sakumo's son and was the student of Yondaime Hokage-sama. He and your cousin set a record of becoming the youngest Jounin at eleven. He's been in war and stared death in the eyes. He faced down the entire Uchiha Clan and is working on mastering that Sharingan, which was deemed impossible. Hell, he was on the ANBU recruit list for four years before he finally joined. Do you seriously think he's going to snap?"
Yuki bit the inside of his lip and reminded himself that he had been the first one to acknowledge Kakashi as a Jounin. "They're going to use him though, like an emotionless android."
"You give him too much credit. He's just another agent among so many others. This isn't a gang rape."
"You know just as well as I do how the ANBU works. They pick the rookies and the young ones to do the most dangerous jobs – the suicide missions. They try to keep the veterans alive so that they'll be able to perform well on the more important jobs. With his skills and mentality and background he's going to be a sitting duck."
"Wanna bet?"
Yuki frowned at the sudden change in flow of the conversation. "What?"
"Want to bet on whether or not Hatake Kakashi will mentally break down?" Saiji explained.
"You know I don't like playing around with other being's mentalities," Yuki said. "And I'm not going to do something as disgusting as betting and hoping on him breaking."
"Fine, like I care," Saiji scoffed. "Then we can do it this way: if he doesn't break, you win, in which case I'll…" He paused to think of something. "I'll become a Jounin teacher." Yuki tried not to laugh at the image of Saiji trying to take care of a group of young Genin.
"If he does break," Saiji continued, "I'll take the responsibility and kill myself."
Yuki snapped his head to look at him disbelievingly. "There's nothing in it for you then," he said, attempting to point out Saiji's lose-lose probability just in case the alcohol had gotten the better of his rational mind.
"Well just listen 'till the end," he said a little impatiently. "The results will be mine to bear, but the process is your job. In other words, you're to swear not to get in his way for at least the next two years. What about it?"
"You're drunk out of your mind, Taichou," Yuki muttered with a slow shake of his head. "Why are you so interested in him?"
"Maybe for the same reasons as you," he mumbled under his breath only loud enough for Yuki to barely catch. Then he turned to face the Uchiha and smirked. "So, you in or not?"
Yuki just frowned at him for the longest time, which was long enough for Saiji to get impatient again. He rolled his eyes and stood up.
"Trust me, Yuki, that pup isn't going to snap if you do as I say and stay away from him," Saiji said with a hint of exasperation. "In a few years time, come look for me in the training fields and you'll find Team Saiji, just as promised."
Yuki looked up at the worst captain he had been assigned while still a rookie in the ANBU. He could swear he saw a gleam in Saiji's eyes, which told him clearly that the other man was very much enjoying this. He then looked back at the window and found Kakashi gone.
"Just two years?" Yuki asked quietly.
Saiji's smirk grew. "Just two years."
Yuki could hear the triumphant laughter in that confirmation. Then he turned and glared up at the Jounin, who merely grinned.
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Did I tell you my muse has returned home? Unfortunately, this will be the last update for a little while since I'm utterly screwed if I don't start studying now.
I'm sure some of you have picked up the little hints in this chapter about the timline that will follow in the next chapter (I think I just gave it away), so a small break will work well, I think. Anyways, please check my profile for my ramblings!
Translations:
Konoha Douriki Senpuu – Konoha dynamic whirlwind
Sakki – killing intent
Taichou – captain
Thank you all for reading!!
.LinSetsu.