A/N: These are the following songs that had been playing on repeat in my background while I was writing this chapter: Reason Living by Screen Mode and Namae Wo Yobu Yo by Luck Life. Both are the OST of Bungo Stray Dogs which I'm currently obsessing with at the moment, and when I heard the songs, it just felt like everything fell into place. ;)
I'll be marking this chapter with */*/*/*/* and ~/~/~/~ (used as break lines) as a guide on which parts I used the songs as an inspiration. */*/*/*/*(Reason Living) and ~/~/~/~ (Namae Wo Yobu Yo). If you have time, I encourage you to listen to both because (1) they sound so awesome and; (2) they have helped me a lot in writing this chapter.
I also changed the description of Orochimaru's eyes from yellow green to YELLOW and made the necessary changes in other chapters involving such.
Thank you, everyone! And I hope you enjoy this second to the last chapter.
Chapter 48: Kakashi
Kakashi saw the terror in Sakura's eyes a few seconds before the truck hit them, but Naruto, through sheer luck and willpower was able to stomp hard on the accelerator, causing only the back side of their minivan to collide with the face of the truck instead of a full-blown collision. Unfortunately for them, Naruto's decision caused their vehicle to spiral hard, their tires screaming with a loud screech while Naruto desperately maneuvered for control but still crashed into one of the nearby establishments.
There was a tumultuous crash as metal, glass, and cement crumbled upon them. There was smoke coming up from their car, and their vehicle left vivid tire marks on the asphalt road and for a moment, everything was in chaos. It was the peoples' screams that woke Kakashi up. When he propped himself up on his elbows, Kakashi cradled his head and noticed the blood dripping on his hand. When he forcefully pried his eyes open to look, the first thing he saw was Naruto and Sasuke's state. And even though their air bags had gone off, things still looked pretty bad because there were certain objects where they weren't supposed to be. He cursed. Then, he willed himself to move. There was a feeling of minute gratitude because their vehicle didn't topple over and the interior of the car remained the same except for the fact that every window was shattered and that it may look a lot worse from the outside; nevertheless, he was able to sit upright and turned to look at Sakura next.
He immediately checked Sakura's condition and felt for her pulse. She too was heavily bruised and wounded and Kakashi worried because of the things she told them a while back. But so far so good, her breathing was relatively stable and he knew he had to keep it that way because if not, if he fails to keep Sakura breathing even for just a second, the microcapsule inside her head will detonate, which would mean that there would be 0% chance of her being revived.
Kakashi looked around and knew that he had to get Sakura out of there and away from scene. Because if he wasn't mistaken, he knew who the driver of the truck was. And while there was still no movement coming from the truck which also crashed on another roadside establishment a few meters away from them, Kakashi took that opportunity to kick the car door open, carefully carried Sakura out, and used the peoples' commotion of scrambling themselves to safety, to cross the street and hide Sakura in one of the nearby alleyways.
Kakashi sat her upright on a wall and secured the coat further around her to shield her from the heavy raindrops, and as he was about to return to their vehicle to get Naruto and Sasuke, he heard the distinct sound of the truck door being opened and saw a man emerge therefrom.
Kakashi's lips fell into a grim line as he watched and observed from the darkness of the alley. Because of the huge car crash and the heavy downpour, the people, who were too busy screaming their throats raw and getting themselves away from the scene of the crash didn't seem to notice the man wielding a gun who was casually taking his steps towards their ruined minivan.
Kakashi could feel the thrum of his own heartbeat and the rush of his blood as he followed the scene with his eyes and took a mental inventory of the weapons he had left—then he looked at Sakura and finally settled his resolve...
Kakashi removed the transmitter on his finger disguised as an antique silver ring and transferred it to Sakura's thumb. With this, even when they failed to reach the destination Sai told them about, this will help his team find them sooner or later. He was so afraid to leave Sakura alone but he had to do something far more important to ensure her safety—and that was to eliminate the current huge threat to their lives, the one who caused Sakura to be kidnapped, and the person who mercilessly murdered his biological father.
Orochimaru.
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There was a definite slouch on Orochimaru as he approached their vehicle. How he survived the final explosion was beyond Kakashi's comprehension but the man was clearly already heavily injured. In the middle of the chaos, a man happened to bump into Orochimaru. The latter only looked at him for a brief second before he pressed his gun to the poor man's forehead and fired. The screams grew louder.
Kakashi gripped the only gun left with him and unclipped its safety as he prepared to move but the next thing which Orochimaru did rendered him immobile as he watched his father's murderer pry open their car's passenger door and aimed his gun, first at the back seat where he was supposed to be seated, and then to the unconscious and heavily injured Sasuke and Naruto upon realizing that he was able to escape—that's when Kakashi heard the rush of his blood to his ears as ripples of darkness engulfed everything else and Orochimaru was the only one he could see.
The sky was extremely dark that day and the thunder rumbled with a foreboding. Kakashi was drenched to the bone and the cold was biting on his skin but it was nothing compared to the blood lust he had when he launched himself to attack Orochimaru, shooting at his back while aiming for his head with the few remaining bullets he had left. Unfortunately, he was a second too late as six swift shots were fired on his friends' chests, and he knew what that was. It was the Basilisk's trademark of eliminating their victims—three close range gunshots to the chest, piercing the lungs and the heart—but Kakashi did not stop.
Orochimaru was able to dodge the stream of bullets fired at him and brought out another gun as he turned and faced Kakashi who moved at break-neck speed to prevent him from shooting further. Kakashi was able to disarm him with the gun he was holding with his left hand but Orochimaru still had the one he used to shoot Sasuke and Naruto, aimed it at Kakashi, but failed to shoot when Kakashi was able to grab him and flip him over the hood of the already crumpled minivan.
Orochimaru landed with a grunt, the wrecked vehicle creaked and shifted with a protest, but Kakashi did not hold back when he brought down his fist on Orochimaru's face, eyes glinting with such a potent killing intent. However, Orochimaru was able to tilt his head to the side causing Kakashi's fist to meet the metallic hood of the minivan which crumpled further like paper because of the strength packed in his punch.
Orochimaru also didn't hold back and laughed at Kakashi's face as he swiftly made use of the gun he was holding and fired several shots at Kakashi. A few of the frontal shots landed on Kakashi's upper body which made him grunt in pain but the special suit provided by Tobirama did its job as Kakashi landed another power-packed punch on Orochimaru's face. The punch landed with a resounding bang, but Orochimaru used his legs to kick Kakashi off of him as he fired another shot, now directed at Kakashi's face upon realizing that his gun was useless on him. Fortunately, the silver haired man was quick to dislodge himself on top of Orochimaru and was able to move away.
Kakashi used that small window of opportunity to steady himself and studied his opponent. He looked for the reason why his head suddenly spun on close contact with Orochimaru, dimming his vision, and found the reason why. Kakashi wasn't able to prevent himself from taking a lungful of the scent of badly burnt flesh that even the heavy downpour couldn't subdue. It was simply overwhelming. He watched as Orochimaru's face contorted into a grisly display of scorched and melting skin while he laughed his ass off while peeling himself off of the crumpled hood of the minivan.
"I can't believe this! This is truly amazing!" Orochimaru yelled, which made Kakashi's brows shot up.
"You should be dead!" Orochimaru screamed at him. "I killed you twenty years ago, White Fang!"
That's when Kakashi realized that Orochimaru was talking about his father, Sakumo Hatake. Kakashi briefly wondered whether Orochimaru was hallucinating because of the pain of having half of his face burnt off or he had just gone completely crazy, either way, he did not care. He was just glad that in Orochimaru's eyes, Sakumo was alive—and this time, it will be Sakumo who'll end up killing him.
Orochimaru aimed his gun at Kakashi's head once more and fired, only to realize that he was already out of bullets and had no spare, so he threw his gun to side, brought out two hidden daggers from inside his coat and attacked. Kakashi did the same despite having only one.
The rain continued to pour which made it difficult for the both of them to see but neither of them restrained as they exchanged blows after blows in blinding speed, eyes glinting with a deadly flare of bloodlust after having been placed in equal footing because of the absence of firearms. Both grappled for life and tried to drown the other in death as their blades clashed and sparked upon contact, like lightning on that dark stormy sky.
In a swift glide of his wrist, Orochimaru was able to disarm Kakashi of his dagger which flew far away from them with a splash. Blood dripped on Kakashi's side as he received a deep slice on his arm but that did not stop him from grabbing the nearest iron bar from the debris caused by their vehicles' collision. Kakashi swung his newfound weapon hard, which caught Orochimaru by surprise because he did not expect the length of it. The metal rod hit Orochimaru's side torso which definitely resulted to a broken rib or two as the impact sent him flying towards the truck's body with a crash. Kakashi then spun the iron rod and like a spear, he pulled back only to release it with a fast but powerful throw aimed at Orochimaru's chest but the latter was able to dodge it by flipping away from where he was plastered causing the iron bar to embed itself on the truck's cabin. Orochimaru then lunged at Kakashi in blinding speed and shot up, giving Kakashi a sharp upper cut. The assault landed but Kakashi was able to grab Orochimaru's arm despite his vision going black for a split second. He then twisted Orochimaru's arm with one hand which made the latter scream in agony, grabbed the back of his neck with the other, and slammed Orochimaru's face on the hard solid plane of his knee. But as Kakashi heard several bones crack and the gush of blood spluttered from Orochimaru's nose and mouth, the latter was able to stab him twice in the gut and twisted the blade because of the close contact. Kakashi screamed.
Kakashi released Orochimaru with a pained growl as both of them staggered back to catch their breaths and clear their eyes of the pain and the flooding brought by the downpour. Kakashi gritted his teeth as he was slowly but steadily losing a lot of blood and things were not looking too good for him because of his injuries. Kakashi fell down on one knee and was breathing hard and ragged while he clutched at his side, an inch higher to were the daggers were left to put pressure on the deep puncture wounds he had in his gut…that's when Tobirama's face flashed before his eyes. And as though he was speaking face to face with the man, he heard him speak.
"The person who did this to your father is an extremely dangerous man. Many assassins attempted to eliminate him over the years but each of them only ended up dead. Do you want to know how you'll be able to do it, Kakashi?"
Kakashi only looked at Tobirama and waited for him to answer.
"You have to catch him in a surprise and decide how you'll deliver the final blow."
Tobirama smiled at what looked to him like a 10-year-old Kakashi, patted him in the head and lovingly ruffled his hair, and when Kakashi opened his eyes again, he already knew what he had to do.
Kakashi sucked in a sharp breath as he gathered all the remaining strength he had left and stood up. He dropped his hands to the side making a grab for the twin blades which Orochimaru impaled on his insides, and as though provoking him, he looked dead straight at the man and smirked while he pulled out both daggers and threw them to the side. A steady stream of blood gushed out from within but the pain was nothing compared to the reaction on Orochimaru's face. Kakashi's action seemed to tick Orochimaru off as the latter launched himself towards Kakashi one more time. Yes, he was heavily wounded; yes, he just flicked his weapons to the side; and yes, his opponent was undoubtedly pissed because of his display of arrogance but it was now or never.
Orochimaru leapt at Kakashi with so much force, and like a metal chain which was slick but heavy, he was able to wrap himself around Kakashi's waist and ended up straddling him from the back, and had him locked in a rear neck choke. He wanted to break his neck with one swift move but Kakashi promptly made a grab for Orochimaru's nape and pulled him down over his head. This move resulted to Kakashi being able to pull the back of Orochimaru's coat off of him, and when Orochimaru's back met the ground with a heavy thud and his coat was messily splayed around his frame with Orochimaru looking like a disheveled, stunned marionette, Kakashi punched Orochimaru's throat, causing the latter to gasp for air while he used the same material to wrap the whole of Orochimaru's head in it and punched him dead straight on the face. The latter was quick to take on what Kakashi wanted to do, he wanted to suffocate him! And so Orochimaru released both his arms from his coat sleeves and fought to free himself but that was what Kakashi wanted as he made use of the sleeves to further tightly wrap the cloth on Orochimaru's neck.
Orochimaru retaliated by clawing at Kakashi's face and was able to almost get out of the bundle of cloth by wildly thrashing as the burnt part of his face was already peeking through but Kakashi made a swift flick of his wrist as a fine blade was released from under his sleeve and used it to stab Orochimaru on the clavicle. The fine blade sunk on Orochimaru's pale flesh which further stained his already dark suit. This resulted to a ruptured tendon which prevented further movement of his arms.
Kakashi only stopped when Orochimaru ceased his thrashing but still saw the latter's chest faintly move up and down though he could no longer move. That's when Kakashi stood up, casually walked over to where the iron bar landed, pulled it off, walked back towards Orochimaru, removed the entire coat off his face and stared at him. Orochimaru looked backed and chuckled weakly.
"You should've been dead, White Fang." He rasped. His voice throaty and broken. Kakashi stared at him and had this calm and satisfied look on his face. He then raised the iron bar he was holding and with one final boost of strength, impaled it on Orochimaru's chest.
Kakashi watched as Orochimaru spluttered blood from his mouth and his snake like eyes glazed over until his chest ceased to move. He didn't know what was going on inside Orochimaru's head during his final moments but there was satisfaction in knowing that what his golden yellow eyes saw before his final breath was the image of his father, Sakumo Hatake.
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Kakashi staggered back as he allowed the heavy downfall of rain to drench him and wash away the blood. If he wasn't mistaken, he heard the distant whopping sound of a chopper…finally, it was over. Kakashi then looked back and gazed at the alleyway where he hid Sakura, and with slow but definite steps, he began walking towards her.
When he reached his destination, Sakura was still there—secured, unharmed, and fast asleep. His back met the cement wall where Sakura was leaning on and dragged himself downward for him to be able to sit next to her. Kakashi watched Sakura's injured face and reached over to wipe the blood that had dripped from the side of her temple down to her cheek. There was a pained look on her face which made Kakashi unhappy. The next thing he did was to wrap his fingers around Sakura's hand, tugged at her a little and kissed her forehead.
"Hang in there, Sakura. Hang in there." He whispered.
Sakura lightly stirred which made Kakashi look at her face. That's when he saw that she was mumbling his name. She was calling for him. Kakashi smiled and gently pulled at Sakura once more as he cupped her cheek with his free hand and planted a soft, warm kiss on her lips.
"I'm here, baby." Kakashi whispered repeatedly.
"Kakashi…"
"I'm here."
Then he heard them. He heard his teams' voices as well as his father's, Tobirama, and if he wasn't mistaken—Tsunade's too?
"Dammit. She's going to cry again when she sees me like this." He muttered to himself as he coughed out blood. And by the time he heard their frantic footsteps drawing near, he raised Sakura's hand which he was holding and brought it to his chest.
"You're safe now, Sakura…" He breathed as he dragged her hand towards his lips and kissed the back of it, all the while whispering to Sakura that he loved her—that he loved her so, so much. And as their surroundings were steadily engulfed in agitated footsteps and worried voices, Kakashi's hand that held Sakura's slowly fell to the ground with his head gradually falling on her shoulders, until finally…his eyes fluttered to a close.
That was how his team found them. Side by side, holding hands, and drenched to the bone with Kakashi's blood creating a crimson puddle around their bodies.
TBC
