The monster clone perched on top of one of the dock's poles, eyes wide. For once, he said nothing. The children who surrounded him grinned. They had looked so happy to be showing an outsider this marvelous thing. He was almost overcome with love and deep, unyielding affection for the kids whose lives he had enriched with one of a kind memories. But he was overcome more with shock and awe.

The waves sparkled, dancing as if with sunlight on this cloudy day. Beyond the waves, a gigantic wooden chariot seemed to carry the sun over the waves, gliding toward land as smoothly as if its golden passenger had commanded the ocean to rest easy. It was just like watching a god come to earth. The clone got that impression before he remembered what class of being was supposed to be crewing that vessel. He swooned and nearly fell off the post. He was forced to climb off of it and sink to his knees on top of the dock, still filling his eyes with that strange and gorgeous light. Anyone else who wanted a dockside view stayed out of his way. That was wise.

Kakashi whimpered. "Aahh…" He shivered with desire and fear both. "My instincts warn of danger, but that makes me want more!" He risked a glance at Orochimaru to see how the sight was affecting his companion. He saw deep unsettlement. Orochimaru's soul rocked as if hit by an earthquake, breaking through and casting off all its layers of protection. The transformation wavered and broke, revealing his natural golden eyes. They reflected the golden light as if it was their own light, even as they fought to look away. Kakashi got the feeling of wanting to run away desperately, but being too paralyzed to do so, as in a nightmare.

Silently, he stepped in front of Orochimaru, but not enough to block the snake's view. He didn't know what the cause of the disturbance was, but regardless of cause, perhaps having a shield would help the snake relax and enjoy the sight. The Snake Sannin reached forward and hooked his fingers into Kakashi's vest, locking the both of them together as he leaned onto Kakashi's back. Kakashi could feel him shivering slightly. Slowly, very slowly, it lessened.

The monster clone pressed his hands into the wood of the dock, struggling to hold himself up and not faint. With what little of his mind remained, he decided to take notes. The first thing he noted was what he didn't hear. No creaking came from the wooden vessel, though it was almost near enough to tie ropes to the dock and come to anchor. It sounded unearthly. No wonder the people of this town thought it must be a ghost ship. Was it even disturbing the water? The clone did not get a chance to find out, because he was too busy fainting from the revelation. His last thought before complete unconsciousness set in was, Taking human form must be the start of an automatic process…

Kakashi gasped as he saw his clone faint. I didn't know dark clones could do that! But more importantly, that event was almost immediately followed by flying ropes of light, arcing gracefully across the water and finding their way onto dock posts as if nothing else could have happened. Nobody on the dock moved to tie them. But a ship that large couldn't come in close enough for anyone onboard to leap onto the docks! Could it?

It was hard to tell what was supposed to be real anymore. They both stood at the top of the beach, but Kakashi was sure he should have been able to hear some faint creaking of old timbers from here. Yet he heard none, despite the abundance of timbers to go creaking. The ship was large. No ship nowadays would be built that large, unless it was made of metal. The days of gigantic wooden behemoths had passed as soon as large-scale fire jutsus were invented, with storage scrolls adding an extra push to send them toppling into history. It would just be wasteful to build one now, when cargo space was no longer so needed and wood was too vulnerable to be trusted with carrying important people. Yet as it flew over the water, higher than any metal ship could ride and seeming to be literally gliding, Kakashi thought that ships like this should be built, waste be damned. Just to...just to be seen.

Its tattered sails, 3 of them stacked one on top of another all the way up a single titanic mast, flapped gently as if they had no tatters at all. Kakashi saw the light filling the spaces where air should have been passing through, and felt his own darkness churn. Another two sails swung out to either side of the ship, seemingly as rudders. The wooden beams supporting them swung back and forth regularly to keep the ship on course, until they both folded back next to the ship's body at once. The rudder-sails were promptly released and rolled up. Kakashi barely even realized there were now many visible people onboard, because the sea bloomed with light the next instant, all around the ship but concentrated directly in front of the bow. The vessel shuddered and came to a stop.

While the main sails were released and furled, a single rope with a loop already tied at the end arced out and lassoed one of the dock's poles. A crew member swung a metal brace over his hands before placing it on top of the rope. Several small ropes attached to the brace to prevent him from falling from it were tied by other crew members, and then he set off down the rope, hanging from the metal brace as it carried him down. The children became the first to break the complete silence that had descended over the beach as they cheered. Kakashi had to admit he desperately wanted to try that himself. The crew member landed, stood on the dock (where townspeople stiffened, looking torn between edging away and edging toward him), and went around tying the other ropes. As he did so, two other crew members ziplined down in order to get a landing board in place. 3 metal braces with ropes untied clinked together at the end of the rope. Presumably the looped rope would be hauled back once the board was set, with the braces on it.

"This is the creepiest fucking thing I have ever seen," Orochimaru whispered.

Kakashi's eyes widened. Now that the angels had landed, the spell cast by the ship's arrival was wearing off. People were beginning to move and speak. "Transform, now!"

"Hmm? Oh, yes, of course." Orochimaru reluctantly took his hands back and stepped away from Kakashi to perform Transformation Jutsu. Kakashi heard him inhale nervously.

"Why is it creepy?" the demon asked. He instinctually recognized that light as dangerous, yet felt no intense fear of it. His reaction was equivalent to a normal person's reaction to a spider; nothing to be frightened at the sight of, but he would have needed to muster incredible courage before he could touch that thing.

"It is…" For the first time that Kakashi knew of, no words were coming. The Snake Sannin could not find any explanation for his reaction. "It just is, Puppy."

"Would you like to stay ashore, or can you handle being surrounded by it?" Kakashi didn't have a tail, so he reached back and touched Orochimaru's hand softly to convey sympathy.

Orochimaru pulled his hand away, rejecting that sympathy. "Of course not," he sneered. "It's fucking eerie, but it won't kill me. I'm human, unlike you. Let's go." He walked around Kakashi, ventured down the beach by a meter, then stopped to adjust her kimono. She looked up, once more an admiring girlfriend. "Well?"

"Yeah…" Kakashi's heart was beating fast. "Let's go see if we can get a meeting with the captain." He offered his arm. Orochimaru took it, and they set off down the beach together.

.

A certain mischievous clone awoke to the sound of a board thumping into place on the dock. He looked up. It seemed like an ordinary board, but it was very long and led upwards at a moderate slope onto the deck of a gigantic glowing ship. Once more he was reduced to staring with wide eyes and a slack jaw at the glowing ship.

Both of the two that were setting it up got to work lashing the board in place and securing it with a makeshift railing, among other things. After a few minutes of this, one of them left his companion to finish the work and walked over. He crouched a decent meter in front of the fallen clone, careful not to get worryingly close. "Are you all right?" asked the crew member.

The clone stared back. Without revealing his demon eyes, he tried as hard as possible to sense what this man's soul was like, how he felt, etc. He could not. The man was a mystery, more intangible than any ghost. The clone worried that he might pass out again. It's true… "Um, uh, wuh, um… I can't answer that here… Not with, you know…" The clone tried his hardest to indicate the ordinary townspeople all around them without actually moving any part of his body, and wondered if he was succeeding. I can't tell! I really can't tell! His sense of being a demon vanished, and he felt like just a shinobi again.

The crew member in front of him frowned. This one had long brown hair, of a shade very similar to wood and very curly. If it was straight, he would have had hair long enough to be mistaken for a woman, but at its current curliness it did not even need to be tied up to avoid getting in his eyes. His eyes were a dark purple, which was weird. Purple eyes usually did not exist, aside from people with some kind of eye-altering power, like the Rinnegan. But his appeared perfectly natural.

Before the purple-eyed crew member could say anything, his companion came over. This one had orange eyes. What the hell was going on with the eye colors around here? Orange, apparently, had heard the clone speak. "I do not know what he says by that. Perhaps he needs food?" Orange glanced at Purple. They both looked suspicious, and rightly so.

Food? This might be my chance to get aboard! The monster clone pushed himself up off the dock, no longer woozy. "That might help," he agreed.

Orange sent a signal up to the ship, and other crew members - in all hair colors, a variety of curlinesses (except for straight), and mostly pale skin tones - started to carry boxes down. Orange stayed behind to help with that while Purple took the monster clone up to the ship, staying on the right side of the board so to avoid the others coming down.

The monster clone was brought below decks, where Purple left him in a decently sized room while he got food. The clone took this time to survey his surroundings. The room was pretty plain. It contained some seating, one small table, and boxes which pictures of what appeared to be dice on them. It must be a break room. The clone took out one of the boxes that caught his attention and stared at it, unwilling to open it in case that was rude yet unable to look away. It was impossible not to wonder, What kind of games do angels play?

Purple returned with something liquid and hot in a cup, and a pile of small and chewy things beside it. The clone took that as his cue to sit down. "I apologize. I was just very curious…" He motioned at the game box.

"That has sense," Purple replied. He did not look hostile, or even particularly suspicious. "What were you saying?" He gestured at the drink.

The clone glanced at the drink, determined that he did not recognize it, and started trying to come up with an answer. "Um…" He did not feel like a monster clone right now, or even a rogue one. Being a fearsome and mysterious figure among regular people was too different from being one among angels. How could he answer that question? "Well, I, I mean…" Stalling! So much stalling! Please let my original get here soon. I shouldn't be making the decision to reveal myself as a demon by myself; I'm just a clone!

"Are you not thirsty?" asked Purple. He looked just as worried and awkward as the clone felt.

"No, no," the clone said, trying to make him feel better. "I'm just, well, not real, that's all. That's why I can't eat."

"Not...real?" Purple looked very confused. "No, you are. Behind your eyes, you are a person. You are real."

A snappy rogue-ish reply leapt into the clone's mouth before he could stop it. "Yeah, and that light you have all over your sails flaps gently in the wind like real canvas does."

Purple looked him up and down. "Light can't be gifted eyes."

The clone restrained himself from saying "Darkness can" just in time. He did this by choking himself, so it was very obvious.

Purple looked down at the food. "If you cannot eat, then you only wanted to come here, on the boat. Why?" The suspicious look returned. However, he still did not look hostile or defensive. Without being able to sense any of this man's soul, the monster clone nonetheless knew that if he answered the question all suspicion would disappear, and there would be no lingering traces of doubt.

It almost hurt to not be able to answer the question, then. "Since I'm not real, I was obviously made," he got out, before having to look away out of guilt. "The one who made me wants to see you, so I want that too. I saw an opportunity and took it. But I shouldn't say anything more; it's not my place." I'm disappointing an angel. Why? What kind of person am I? Disappointing an angel felt uniquely bad, like a whole different variety of bad that no version of Kakashi had experienced before. It was a lot like existentially-bad, but not quite. He decided to call it disappointing-an-angel bad.

Purple looked very confused, but did not press further. He gestured to the plate of snacks. The clone nodded, feeling very guilty now for accepting hospitality he had never needed. Purple took several of the snacks and happily chewed on them as he walked away. Something about this act seemed genuine, telling the clone that he really was as not-offended as he seemed. The clone took a break from castigating himself.

That was what allowed his shinobi training to finally kick in, telling him exactly what he needed to do in this situation. "Wait!" the clone exclaimed, standing up. "I have more to ask. I apologize - I was overwhelmed and could not remember before. I could ask someone else, if you have business to attend to." He bowed apologetically.

Purple looked around for several seconds. "I do… Yet I made time to ask before. It is the same. I wish you were not overwhelmed," he finished sadly.

The clone smiled. "I am not used to such kind people. Thank you."

The suspicious look disappeared from Purple's face. "You are a friendly one," he observed back.

The clone nodded. "Thank you for saying so." What strange people! I'm a guest he has every right to be suspicious of, on his ship under false pretenses, and he feels the need to apologize and compliment me? No wonder they aren't thought to be real people!

The clone cleared his throat. "Anyway, the reason I am here is that I suspect a brother - er, fellow creation - of mine may be aboard. If not aboard this ship, then another one. I have very good reason to believe he is aboard one of these light-covered vessels. I am not sure how he disguised himself, but I do know that he most likely would have been discovered swimming in the ocean and acted nervous and overwhelmed while onboard, yet strangely happy for some reason. Possibly even adoring. He would have refused to answer questions, as I have. Is there anyone onboard this ship matching that description?"

"There is!" Purple replied in a loud whisper. Were his eyes literally lighting up? "I can ask someone for him. Any else?"

The clone grinned. "You had better tell someone else what I've told you. My original should be trying to get aboard any time now."

.

Kakashi stopped and blinked at the spot where his clone had fainted. "Where did he go?" he asked aloud. "And without telling me?"

The result was being welcomed onboard without even having to ask, and taken directly inside. When he asked to see the captain, a purple-eyed man was dispatched down the hall while Kakashi, Orochimaru, and their other guides changed course.

Kakashi saw Orochimaru's eyes darting from side to side. "Hey," he whispered, laying a hand on her arm. "They're supposed to be friendly." I think. I do not actually have any information about what angels are like.

"You cannot possibly know that," Orochimaru replied. Damn. He saw through me.

"Does a problem exist?"

They both stared at the guide who had asked that. Kakashi glanced at Orochimaru, who had no trouble stating, "You are too friendly."

"We are not used to such hospitality," Kakashi added. His shinobi brain started to function, and the truth of that statement hit him forcefully. They welcomed us onboard as if we were expected, with no surprise at all. Did we even ask to be taken onboard? We did not. We were simply waved aboard as soon as we passed...the spot where my clone used to be… "But then, I can understand it. My brother is very charming."

"He is," one of the guides agreed. She wore her hair very short, almost as short as the men's. "A friendly one! It is sad he is not real."

Kakashi giggled nervously. He told them? Might as well have gone a step farther and told them I'm a demon. There is no other way to explain that statement! Orochimaru took his arm, and told the angel lady, "Let's continue, please." They resumed walking.

Orochimaru tugged on his arm gently. Kakashi sighed and did some more thinking. How did he get invited aboard? And what has he already told them, besides the fact that he is 'not real'? And why the hell are they so friendly?! Even if they are angels, this is creepy. Kakashi was beginning to understand Orochimaru's reaction to the light. It appears to be genuine though. He patted her arm gently to convey that he thought there was no threat.

Orochimaru glanced at him and blinked noticeably. Kakashi nodded, agreeing to keep his eyes and ears out. That would not do much good inside this ship, though. Light was everywhere. Kakashi had to perpetually glance around like a civilian after dodging a large item being carried by a crewmember. Neither the crewmember nor the item had been sensible to him. After months of having the best sight of either of them, he felt very naked and blind.

The guides watched them, though. Kakashi saw movements and gestures passing between the two angels, and they moved out farther to either side, in a formation less likely to be rushed and captured at once. Kakashi and Orochimaru relaxed at once. When they stopped outside the captain's door, after one of the guides knocked to announce their presence, Kakashi thanked them for it. "Thank you."

The female guide giggled. "Apologies! We have not sailed before. Others told us, but we forgot."

Kakashi blinked and realized that they did look rather young. He felt like an idiot. "Ah, no trouble."

Orochimaru smiled. "They have instructions, where you come from, on how to approach and treat foreign visitors?"

"Yes," the male guide said. "I have my notes from the class still."

Orochimaru blushed. "I didn't know your visits here were so important!"

The female guide bit her lip. "We wish…" The sentence sounded like it would have ended with a heartfelt, truly visceral desire of the kind that could become a lifelong dream. Kakashi was startled to hear such a thing. Perhaps because of that, she shut her mouth and did not finish the thought aloud.

"May your wish come true in the future," Orochimaru offered diplomatically.

"Thank you." She still looked sad.

Kakashi elbowed his companion in the ribs. I'm a demon. You know a goddess. We could help. But they had best save that discussion for after they were alone. He cleared his throat. "Mah, how long will you be in harbor?"

The guides glanced at each other. "A threenight?" the young man asked.

"Two," the young lady replied.

Kakashi grinned. "That is good! I hope we will meet each other again."

The female guide glanced at Orochimaru as she replied, "Equally." Orochimaru stifled a snort. Kakashi wondered how he would feel about the prospect of dating an angel, if dating an angel had been possible. It might be easier because I wouldn't have to negotiate around being able to see her soul. On the other hand, it might be harder because I would not be able to see her soul. How comfortable would she be flying on a dangerous substance, as well? Maybe angels would not make good mates for demons.

There was a knock on the inside of the door. The guides stepped back, and the captain opened it. "Welcome," he greeted, and gestured for Kakashi and Orochimaru to step inside.

.

The captain had a desk with documents on it, but did not sit down behind it. He brought out a cushion and sat on the floor. Kakashi and Orochimaru did the same across from him. Kakashi's heart beat in his chest rapidly. He was rather distracted by the person who had just walked out.

The captain was an older man, with a curly greying beard and a lined face. His warm eyes glanced at each of them, reassuring both serpent and demon. The lines radiating from the corners of his eyes wrinkled and became more prominent as he squinted for a closer look. He wore a yellow-gold coat, with green throughout. The patterns and the way they wove through the fabric resembled the weavings on the clothes of the stored people to a disturbing degree. Kakashi had trouble believing his eyes.

"I was told you were very important guests," the captain prompted. It was the first sentence of decent length that had been spoken normally by an angel so far.

"Yes…" Kakashi hesitated. Even knowing that they were friendly, even knowing that they were like himself… But I have never met anyone like myself, and I never wanted to because I knew they would be monstrous… He struggled to so much as speak.

Orochimaru batted her eyes up at him. "Haven't we lost a certain somebody?"

"Yes." Right: business. That was something he could talk about. "One of my brothers. He went out to explore at sea, and did not return. I have reason to think he may be aboard a ship."

"Purple has orders to fetch him now," the captain replied.

"Purple?"

"Purple Sorrows. A valuable member of the crew. Please, go on."

Kakashi blinked. What an odd name. Most people had the names of things that actually existed. How could sorrows be purple? That was like calling ideas green. And colourless at the same time. Very odd.

Business! Yes. The trouble was, Kakashi couldn't remember any other business. Only one thing came to mind. But he couldn't just say that! ...Could he? "Was that a human?" Kakashi asked, gesturing at the door. "I didn't expect any onboard."

Orochimaru shot him a warning glare, but there was no need. The captain laughed. "That isn't possible!" he said upon recovering his composure. "The portion of lightbringers in our lands is not that much greater than in yours, even if yours are very suppressed. There could never be enough to fully crew a ship this large. Of course most of the crew is ordinary heartbringers."

"...Heartbringers? Where do they bring their hearts to?" An image of a stone snake flashed in Kakashi's mind. A feeling of impending ideas both frightened and thrilled him.

"The gods," the captain said. It wasn't much to say. "But I must ask: how did you know?"

Kakashi's eyes twitched. The image flashed again. "Ah...I… Excuse me for a moment." He turned to Orochimaru. "Drop the transformation."

Orochimaru looked at him with her best offended look.

"I just...think it would work," Kakashi said. He couldn't say something stupid like, Just trust me. Particularly with Orochimaru, he must have reasons. What were his reasons? He didn't know. "My instincts say so."

Orochimaru looked back at the angelic captain. "Your instincts have proven themselves." She said it so lightly, so casually, as if it was not the greatest compliment Kakashi had ever heard. He was already smiling when Orochimaru dropped the illusion, revealing his clever golden snake eyes. Damn, it is good to see them again! Kakashi's smile widened to a grin.

He turned back to the captain and tried to suppress any accidental swooning. "Ah, well… It would be best if my wayward brother were here, so I could...demonstrate."

The captain stared at Orochimaru with wide eyes. "A serpent?" he whispered. "Oh… I am honored." And he bowed his head, very slightly, but enough.

Orochimaru was visibly speechless. A strangely helpless look overtook his face and soul. Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder. "Mah, maybe they know your mother. Gods and all."

Orochimaru's jaw worked up and down. "No," the captain admitted. "But there are legends."

"Legends… of…" Orochimaru's eyes began to twitch.

Uh oh. Kakashi raised his arms, dropping his own transformation as he did so. "Hey. It would be best if we did not speak more. We only recently learned of the existence of any other serpent. This is a lot of news to take in." He was about to ask for his clone again, but there was a loud and frenzied knocking on the door. The captain stood and opened the door.

The seafaring clone, not disguised at all, leaped over Orochimaru's head as he dove to the floor, tackling Kakashi to the firmly carpeted surface. "You came!" He hugged his original very tightly. After several long seconds, he sat up. "I knew those would be interesting traces!"

Kakashi snarled, causing his clone to flinch. Sternly, he said, "Did you never consider swimming away from the ship to give a report?"

"I was under the impression that it was okay to venture out to sea," the clone muttered.

Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Yes, but it is not okay to disappear from my view! Light is invisible, remember? I couldn't find you."

The clone's eyes widened. He had not considered that being inside an invisible structure might also make him invisible. He scurried away from Kakashi. "Oh...sorry."

There was a second knock at the door. "Not cool!" the monster clone complained. "You don't just run away like that!"

The captain opened the door, allowing in the monster clone and the purple-eyed angel that had departed earlier. The captain nodded at his crewman. "Thank you, Purple. Your hospitality and grace among these southerners has been noted." The crewman nodded and left at a dismissive gesture from the captain.

The monster clone stopped mid-working up to a tirade. "Wait, his name is actually Purple?"

"Don't ask," Kakashi suggested. "Anyway, now that you are both here, I thought a demonstration would be helpful."

The monster clone sat to Kakashi's left. The captain returned to his seat, where the seafaring clone waited patiently to his right. The two clones faced each other. The monster clone glared. The seafaring clone looked down. Then the monster clone brightened into a smile and bobbed up and down.

Where were you?

Just here. I didn't think. Sorry!

Ah, you're forgiven! Look how much fun I've had!

Kakashi cleared his throat. It's time. I must speak directly now. He sat up and directly faced the captain, who looked very interested. "I knew the crew member you were talking to before us was a human because I could sense his soul," Kakashi began. He took Orochimaru's hand for comfort. "I can't sense angel souls. That is because I am a demon."

The captain froze. He was the first angel any of them had seen look wary. "Demon?" Not frightened, exactly. But he was close to it.

"Yes," Kakashi continued. I'm scaring him. Must prove I am friendly! "A...darkwielder?" I thought I was more creative than that. "Anyway… You. Come back." He held out his hand to the monster clone beside him. Not the seafaring clone; not yet. The seafaring clone had too many memories.

The monster clone hesitated. He was really enjoying his role as an independent, fun-loving being. To give that all up and return to being Kakashi, a neurotic man still obsessed with his childhood friend who could never stop worrying about other people and his own future? The clone wasn't sure that was who he wanted to be.

But it wasn't his decision. It wasn't any of theirs. And maybe the simple fact that he could exist meant that, deep down, there was a fun-loving spirit inside there after all. It only needed to be purified and removed from the rest to express itself.

I am composed of a particularly fun portion of our soul.

The monster clone smiled. Maybe he was returning something very valuable, then. He gave up his appearance, gave up all human appearance, turned darker and darker until light seemed to drain from the room around him. His appearance dulled until nothing could be distinguished about it at all. No light reflected, none shown forth. Nothing could be seen. Only now did Kakashi recognize the vibrancy that everything on the ship seemed to have. The ship was built of many old timbers, but every single one of them stood out to the eye. They were detailed, shining, almost superreal. This darkness, by contrast, looked like reality had gone missing. It possessed none itself. Its special qualities were real enough as long as you looked directly at it, concentrated, but once it disappeared it would be like a puff of black smoke at night - gone.

Or, if you thought carefully, not gone. Simply hidden. The sort of thing that would hide beneath reality, lurking, as shadows, inside every wall you laid a hand on, and move on without ever appearing. Only destruction and rot would remain to prove it had ever existed.

Nothing on this ship looked to be touched by destruction or rot. That force had no place here. Kakashi shivered at the thought.

Like the tendrils of a monstrous nightmare beast, the darkness reached out to Kakashi's hand, wrapped around his wrist, and poured in. Even its pouring did not look right, because real liquid would be changing its angle and creating dancing reflections off its surface as it flowed. The darkness poured as if it was only pretending to, as if a real pouring liquid had been subtracted from reality somehow and this was the shape left behind.

It disappeared beneath Kakashi's skin and was gone. Not gone. Hidden.

I would understand very well right now if he ordered me away from this ship, never to come back.

Kakashi folded his hands in his lap and waited.

The captain's brows moved, rising and falling as his eyes darted around the general area where the darkness had just been. He looked quite stunned. No wonder, when everything you see is touched by a brush of reality itself. The hidden and obscure do not exist here. Underneath the underneath is an invention of ninjas. It is not an invention of angels, who feel no need to hide. Kakashi felt like a creeping thing, a stealthy thing, crouching in the darkness. He had felt like that before, on missions as a shinobi, but never like this. Then, he had felt like a wolf. Now, he only felt like a coward, hiding and crying in the dark where nobody could see, too afraid to be out and vulnerable and seen. Tears rose to his eyes.

The captain offered him a handkerchief.

Kakashi stared. That simple gesture, of reaching out, was everything. Could he do it? Where light reached, darkness fled. Which was he? The reaching or the fleeing?

Kakashi raised a hand and took the cloth. The tears spilled out, and so did other things. Before he knew it he was saying, "I've never meant anyone or anything else like me," in a strained voice like he was gasping for air while speaking.

The captain looked to his right, at the clone. "I knew that already."

Kakashi scrubbed at his eyes with the cloth, trying to get tears out of his vision so he could see clearly. What does he mean by that? How could he have known?

The seafaring clone looked up at his original with bittersweet sadness. He turned to darkness and surged forward, washing over Kakashi as a single gigantic mass.

.

A/N: "Colourless green ideas sleep furiously" is a sentence used in Muse magazines and English classes. It is an example of a sentence where the words do not make sense, and yet grammar allows us to know what there is (an idea), what it is like (green and colourless), and what it is doing/how it is doing it (sleeping furiously). Grammar is very important.

Finally, several disparate ideas start to come together. I think the plot might be achieving coherency. Yay!