Kakashi woke up in another place. A room.

He looked around, panicked, when realization hit. His first concern was his aunt's location. Was she still in the same place as last night? He found interest in a book on a mahogany desk in the corner. He stalked over to it and opened it slowly.

It was a journal, an old leather book with a broken spine. Dates all the way from January leading to the night before. A picture fell out of one of the pages. He picked it up to see his own face. A sickened frown creased on his brow. He flipped back through the pages to see various entries about the Sharingan and its power. One page, the page containing the picture of him, was labeled, "Single Wheel Eye holder?" And then next to it, "Kakkashi Hatakke."

Kakashi felt extremely uncomfortable when he saw all the taped-in pictures of himself at different angles, all of which he was oblivious. Taken by spies, he presumed. He wasn't affected by his tragically misspelled name.
Kakashi put the book down and walked away from it, now more concerned about getting out of the room and out of the prison. He spotted a spoon in an empty ramen bowl on the desk. Then he looked intensely at the door. He knew there were guards standing there. He could smell them, each basking in gunpowder.

A window caught his attention. The young Jonin took the spoon and started prying at the jammed frame.
After a few times of picking and toying, the frame gave and slide easily up. Kakashi put the spoon on the book and quietly slipped through the opening.

Kushina was tied up in the courtyard, arms over her head again and gagged. Her ankles were tied together. Her eyes were closed against the hot sunlight. Perspiration made her skin sparkle. Dehydration made her dizzy. Kakashi approached her, but all she saw was a shadow against the sun. She squinted and frowned dangerously at him at first.

"Kushina, it's me." Kakashi knelt down and started working on her restraints on her feet. Kushina mumbled his name through the gag. He nodded. "I'm getting you out of here. There has to be a boat or something going back to the mainland."

Kushina made another sound, this time more assertive. She shook her head. Kakashi shook his back. "I can't go with you. He wants me, not you. I'm not letting you die here."

Kushina's eyes enlarged: you would do that for me, even after what I said to you?

The boy nodded simply. "You're my aunt."

The woman's eyes softened, then sharpened. She was telling him no and that she was never going to let him risk himself for her. Then her purple irises darted behind her nephew in hurried panic. She mumbled his name again, this time in a scream. By the time Kakashi turned his head in the direction she was looking, there was a retractable cable arm grabbing his neck and throwing him against a nearby pillar. He heard his aunt call for him again. She could do nothing, but watch.

Kouzan, the warden himself, approached Kakashi slowly as he was composing himself and coughing, trying to get to his hands and knees. He had hit his head and was mildly dazed. The warden grabbed and slapped the boy hard across the face. Kushina flinched hard at the sight and sound, then frowned in parental instinct. Kakashi spat out blood. "You aren't being a very good guest, boy."

"You need to let her go." Kakashi demanded, on the floor. His eyes were serious, unwilling to negotiate.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because I'll surrender and stay here with you as your prisoner." Kakashi offered. "I know it's me you want. I won't even fight back."

Kushina managed to get her gag down to gather around her neck. She called out in a breathless scream, "Kakashi! Listen to me, you're not going to stay here! Do you hear me?!" Nearby guards held guns to her head, but she didn't notice.

"We made a deal." Kakashi ignored her, for once regretting it. "My freedom for hers. Please."

"We didn't make any deal, Kaka-"

Kakashi flinched when he saw his aunt get pistol-whipped. He wanted to call out to her, call her Oba again. Kouzan broke his trance, "And how far would you go to ensure its safety? Aside from staying here with me?"

Kakashi frowned at him, not liking the way he referred to his aunt. Regardless, he swallowed hard. "I told you; I won't fight."

"I don't trust lurkers."

"Give me a gun, then, and I'll prove it." Everyone watched him. "But you have to let my aunt go."

"Sure." Kouzan agreed after a while. He gestured to one of the guards, who gave the boy a pistol.

Another guard was aiming at him, in case he was to turn the weapon on the warden. Kakashi held the gun with shaky hands. He never fired one before. The things were new to their world. Alien objects. Kushina was saying his name through the pain in her head, pleading him not to do what she knew he was going to.

Kakashi breathed in much-needed air and aimed the mousegun to his hand. The nose was a foot away from his open hand. He knew that, once Kushina reached the Leaf, he'd die of blood loss anyway. He breathed one more time before slamming his eyes shut. His finger pulled the trigger as a strained, ear-piercing voice echoed.

"KAKASHI, NO!"

He felt a gust of wind brush against his face, so he opened his eyes. And there was his aunt Kushina, diving towards him with a hand reaching forward. Her hand was over his.

The bullet had severed their stacked hands, leaving an inch diameter hole through the center. Kakashi heard the bullet hit the floor beneath them. He didn't feel the pain immediately as he was transfixed on the sight of his aunt's face in pain. He caught her in a clumsy hug and stumbled a bit.

One of the guards snatched Kushina by the hair and tossed her away from Kakashi. "Kushina?!" he called out. Then, the agony set in. He held his hand against his stomach to ease it. Blood spilled on his feet, stained his shirt, his arms. A puddle under him. Eventually, he grew weak and fell to his knees.

"I've decided to deny your offer." Kouzan smiled evilly. "She has a good flow. We could use her to power the island. When she runs out, we'll just...dispose of her."

Kakashi was too weak to answer. He looked desperately at the warden.

"I've got plans for you, boy. You're coming with me." The warden signaled his guard to tend to Kushina. The evil man then approached Kakashi, kicked him across the face, and snatched his ankle. Other guards gathered by Kushina.

Even in his giddy, Kakashi still fought back. "Get the hell away from her!" He was silenced when he realized he was being dragged on his stomach by the ankle. Away from Kushina, who lay bleeding, beaten to a pulp, and sucked clean of chakra just five feet away. "Sensei?!"

He outstretched a hand towards her.

The woman's eyes were dimming to almost black. She showed no signs of acknowledgement. Death present in the room, lurking about. "Kushina! Please, don't close your eyes!" Kakashi called to her, clawing at the floor to try to get back to her side with one hand. His other hand left a long blood trail on the grey cement.

Tears fell. "KUSHINA, PLEASE!"

Kushina lifted her head slightly, too drained and in agony to hold herself. She heard her heartbeat. Her torn hand was left under her body, the pressure easing the pain. "Kaka...shi..."

This wasn't the Kakashi Hatake she knew. The kid who remained calm in every situation, who could watch a thousand men die without flinching. Perhaps he wore two masks, hiding away who he really was and what he really was. Desperate, alone, forlorn, angry, afraid. A human child.

He was a superb ninja, but even so, he had feelings and emotions. Feelings and emotions that have been locked away for years and years without so much as a glimpse of sunlight.

The latch had become undone.

Kushina froze, taking the sight in. Kakashi was sobbing...for someone else. His bloody hand outstretched painfully towards her with desperation in his mismatching, bruising eyes. He was begging. What was he saying? "Ka...ka..shi..."

She could not do anything but reach out to him in return. She saw the shock and panic in the boy's eyes as he was being dragged away. Suddenly, darkness caved in on her field of view. Kakashi faded.

"OBA!"