*waves* New chapter because it was the first day of the new semester (yay?).

Special thanks to Jleath1234, LilyVampire, CrazyAnimeFan1228, VampireDoll666, celohei, Takashiro Yuki, and Prescripto13 who reviewed!

BTW! This story has reached 100+ reviews, so woot! Thank you for that. I wouldn't have expected it, honestly.

The title: Spanish. I dreamt the now was burning.

Soñé que la nieve ardía
Eighteen years old

Hiro Sawamura rushed back to his team, scroll in hand. The wind whistled in his ears, and he could barely hear the faint flutter of wings as one of Konoha's eagles began its flight back to the village.

"Reinforcements are well on their way!" He told the other men, all who, like him, sported bloody bandages around legs and torsos and heads "They should get here soon."

And soon they did arrive. Clad in green flak jackets, both man and woman landed in front of the cell not five minutes later, faces stern and quickly shouldering past the wounded team.

"Where was the last place you saw him?" Asked Obito Uchiha. Clammy skin and purple bruises under his eyes did little to hide the light tremble that had taken control of his hands.

Without really waiting for an answer, he shivered at the freezing air, and had to look down to make sure his feet were not being swallowed by the snow.

"He gave the signal to run about a mile from here, sir! We haven't seen enemies since, but Kakashi-senpai was wounded when we left."

Obito gritted his teeth and, next to him, felt his partner tense almost audibly.

"You left him by himself?!" Her face remained impassive, but she had audibly bristled.

One of the young jounin glared at her. "Fuck it, Kurenai, what's with you?"

"What's with her is that you left your squad leader behind, knowing full well he was injured." Obito reprimanded, visibly struggling to keep his voice under control. "What about a chakra signature?"

The three other men vacillated, throwing each other swift glances and then looking down as if the snowy path would help them reply.

"There, uh, never was any chakra signature, sir. Not even before we left the village." Said the youngest. He was tall, but scrawny, and held himself like a chastised child.

"You're shitting me. How did you ever make jounin?" Obito told the team. He shook his head, then took a glance at his partner "Kurenai, let's check out the area. These rookies have been here for hours already."

He disappeared in a blur, and the younger ninja swiftly followed. The 'one mile' reference had been utterly ridiculous, but at least Team Dumbass had been right, there was no chakra signature whatsoever. They had been looking for too long. The waning light had all but disappeared behind the peak of the mountain, and as the hours crawled by, the temperature had dropped. The air had picked up until shards of ice were violently cutting their skin and they had to scream at each other to be heard.

"Kurenai!" Obito yelled. His shivering had only worsened, and he had come to a stop so he could hold his weight with the help of a tree next to him. "This is ridiculous! Can you tell if there's any genjutsu around?!"

With half-lidded eyes to keep the hail out of her eyes, the woman took a deep breath. She let go. After a second, she took her hand in front of her face and formed a seal. Immediately, a weak, restrained pulse of foreign chakra trickled up their spine.

"There it is." Straining, Obito steadied himself and nodded at Kurenai, who nodded back.

They set for the north, following the waning but rhythmic beat of energy to higher up the mountain as fast as their lags would take them, and finally zeroed on a spot. It was well-hidden, but noticeable by the protection it offered from the cold.

"Kakashi?!"

There was a pause, then a more urgent, stronger beat that fell out of rhythm that allowed them to pinpoint an exact location in the clearing. The Uchiha knelt next to it, and shakily began to dig into the snow. Kurenai was not far behind, and with stronger, more precise strokes, began to work next to the man.

Kakashi was buried and lost under a whole foot of snow and ice and rock. It proved difficult to dig him out completely, with Obito's teeth clattering and muscles turned to dust. Kakashi was no help, either. He alternated between unconscious and barely awake enough to groan, clearly not able to move, with or without help.

The icy powder that should have been white was red at the level of Kakashi's abdomen, and though both Kurenai and Obito doubled their efforts after noticing, it was her that ended up hauling the ANBU up by his jacket and laying him down to tend to his injury as quickly as she could. She stitched and dressed the wound properly before Obito pulled a warm, fuzzy blanket from his backpack and threw it over his friend's shoulders.

"You, mister, got defeated by snow." Obito told the other man. He held Kakashi close despite the jab, because Rin's death would forever be too fresh in his mind for him not to be scared shitless at the thought of losing his best friend as well.

Kakashi's laughter was almost unrecognizable in its roughness, and Obito cringed. He almost never heard him outright laughing, but the once or twice he did, the odd, wheezing sound had been almost funny. Now it transformed into a severe cough that made Kurenai wince and put her hands on his shoulders.

But Kakashi was safe now, if not out of the woods just yet. There was still a chance of the injury getting infected, not to mention the level of chakra depletion he was suffering from.

"Were you sending that chakra signal since you got lost?"

It was a rhetorical question that Kakashi failed to answer. He just crumpled over Obito, head buried in his friend's shoulder.

"We need to get him to a hospital quickly." Obito said to the chuunin, adjusting his grip so Kakashi's head lolled against his neck.

"You both need a hospital, if you ask me," Kurenai said under her breath, and they were hidden enough from the storm that Obito could hear her. He nodded in agreement, giving her a pained smile.

"Can you carry him back to the village? I… I can't do it while I'm like this. And I'd rather not have those three even get close if I can help it."

Kurenai looked at him, then nodded. Obito watched in amazement as the chuunin hoisted a man a solid twenty-eight pounds heavier than herself onto her back before standing up, holding him in place like he weighted nothing.

{…}

Kakashi opened his eyes to a very different scene of white almost two weeks later. Obito was on the bed next to his, oxygen mask pulled down to his neck like a collar while he slurped a bowl of food with too much enthusiasm for someone that sickly-looking.

He tapped the railing on his bed, the back of his brain asking why his bed even had a railing in the first place.

Obito turned to him and grinned. "Yo! You've been out cold for days!" He paused, then said, "Naruto insisted the nurse do that so you didn't fall of. He's taking after sensei even at four, huh?" Kakashi quickly realized he was pointing at the railing he had just been questioning the existence of.

Instead of replying Kakashi raised his hands, and struggled to make the signs he needed. He failed miserably and let his arms fall into his lap like lead.

"Your team is fine." Obito said, even though Kakashi hadn't managed to ask. "They gave up your search and called us instead, though." he confessed, sighing. "I swear, I'm choosing your teammates from now on. May I suggest Yuuhi Kurenai? Fucking carried your sorry ass all the way back here." Pause. "Honestly, I think she carried the both of us at one point. She's freaking badass."

So there it is! wish for me to have a good semester!

Oh! And if you want in on a little Easter egg, reread chapter 17. A character came back =D