Chapter 4: Cold Sushi
I clumsily tried to unlock the door to my apartment, fumbling with the keys. After several ungraceful attempts, I opened the door with a click and staggered in, shutting it loudly behind me.
I shuffled into my small room, ready to lay low for a few hours. Bed, I thought, no questions asked.
After carelessly kicking off my shoes, I heavily flopped onto the mattress face down, my arm hanging loosely off the side.
The walk home had tired me—scratch that—completely drained me. I didn't like it one bit; I hated that the meager journey to my apartment had exhausted me of most of the stamina I had built up over the years. How pathetic.
To say I felt terrible would be an understatement; the pain I was feeling was making me absolutely miserable. My current headache made all the other ones seem like a joke.
I tossed and turned on the bed, desperately trying to quench the excruciating fire in my head. Completely forgetting that I shouldn't move, I stiffly sat up, squinting my eyes as my vision blurred. This was not like the previous headaches I'd experienced, I knew that much.
I couldn't hear anything but a dull ringing and the sound of blood roaring through my ears. I felt myself gasping and wheezing every time a sharp throb drilled even further into my sensitive skull.
I didn't know what triggered it. It could've been the walk, to my utter chagrin. Or the fact that I'd actually socialized today instead of immediately heading home. Whatever it was, I knew it was just too much for me to handle.
I pulled my mask down and regurgitated the heavy meal I had consumed earlier all over my covers, the urge to vomit too sudden for me to even scoot to the trashcan by my bedside. I didn't stop myself from crying and shaking this time.
I numbly pushed my disgusting, shuriken-patterned covers to the floor. In the past few weeks, I had learned to shove the inevitable pain to the deepest part of my subconscious, even when it gradually got more and more intense. But this—I just couldn't bear it. I would die before I could even consider this as normal, before it could become a part of my everyday life.
"I can't…do this…anymore…" I said panting. Whatever this was, it hadn't been showing any signs of going away at all. If anything, it had been getting worse. I couldn't do this my whole life. I couldn't.
"I can't fight a Genin…I can't eat a meal without bringing it back up…I can't even take a simple walk home without feeling exhausted…" I whispered lowly, ashamed of myself. How would I hide the fact that I'm not even a worthy ninja anymore from the rest of the world?
"What the hell is wrong with me?" I slammed a fist onto the hard wood of my headboard. The pain coursing up my arm went unnoticed in comparison to the overpowering headache. How do I make this go away?
In a desperate, almost trance-like state, I pulled a familiar bottle out of my vest pocket. If I take enough…They'll numb the pain.
I slowly removed the lid and dumped the remainder of the pills into my palm, barely able to contain them in my grasp with how badly my hands were shaking.
I grabbed the bottle of water that I had brought along with me, and using my teeth, I screwed off the plastic cap and spat it across the room.
My eyes darted back to the pile of uniform pills resting in my palm. I wasn't so sure if I could do this anymore… A tiny voice in the back of my mind urged me to put the medicine back in the bottle and hope for the best. What if I took too much and caused some sort of irreversible damage. What if I…died?
No. There was no time for second thoughts. I had already decided what I was going to do, and frankly, I didn't care what it was as long as it made the pain go away. I was going to do this.
I carelessly threw all of the white tablets into my open mouth, quickly gulping some water to make them easier to swallow. My throat rebelled against them immediately, not being able to handle so much at once.
After painfully choking for a bit, I gulped hard, forcing the drugs down whether my body liked it or not. The lump slowly slid down my gullet; I was past the danger of choking. Soon enough, they would reach my stomach and take effect. The job was done. Irreversible.
My eyes were wide open, blankly staring at the utilitarian walls of my bedroom. I didn't know whether to stick two fingers down my throat and bring everything back up or just lay back and wait for the pills to take effect. I wasn't sure if I'd just made a huge mistake or did the best thing I could've done in the past few weeks.
But it was too late to reflect on my actions. My vision was starting to fade around the corners, fuzzy, black dots obscuring my view of the white walls. I gasped and shut my eyes, tightly gripping the sheets.
The blood from my head drained to my legs, and the room started to spin, scarily so. I didn't feel my headache anymore; I couldn't feel anything anymore.
I felt myself fall backward onto the feeble mattress, my spindly limbs splaying out in random directions on either side of me. My consciousness faded more with each passing second, the low ringing in my ears becoming louder and louder.
I don't want to die…
Kurenai, Asuma and Gai sat at a table in the small, but renowned sushi restaurant that they had arranged to meet up at that night. Their dishes and bottles of Sake were neatly set out in front of them, but they had yet to put any food onto their empty plates.
They had planned to start eating when everyone was there, so they were waiting for just one more person: The infamous Kakashi Hatake, who was notorious for always being late.
"There's fashionably late and then there's just plain old Kakashi late."Asuma mumbled under his breath, pulling out a new cigarette to light. Although they had anticipated his tardiness, it was getting slightly annoying after holding back for an hour.
"Shouldn't we go and check on him now? I mean, what if something happened to him…"Kurenai asked worriedly, imagining all the terrible things that could've occurred.
"Nah, I think he's probably-"
"It is decided then! I will go and fetch my rival!" Gai declared, abruptly getting up from his seat. Geez, he didn't even let me finish, Asuma thought, annoyed.
"We're coming too, then." Kurenai got up from her seat as well and tugged Asuma up by the wrist, not noticing the faint blush dusting across his tan cheeks at the contact.
"No, I'll go alone. Someone needs to watch the food," Gai told them. Kurenai nodded in understanding and plopped back into her seat.
"Shunshin no jutsu!" Gai made the telltale hand signs and vanished in a puff of smoke.
Gai's sandaled feet tentatively touched the carpet underneath Kakashi's bedroom window. His position in the quaint space provided him with a perfect view of the bed.
To say that he was surprised to find his rival sleeping in it would be an understatement. Gai stepped over the crumpled blanket on the floor and leaned in to get a closer look at his friend. His mask was pooled around his neck, exposing his pale visage. Drool escaped through his slightly parted mouth, dampening the sheets below him.
Gai gaped at his face, burning with jealously at how handsome he was. He'd always thought that Kakashi was hiding some terrible secret under that mask of his, like buck teeth or blimp lips. But his lips were small and delicate looking, like a doll's; nothing he had expected them to be like. And he didn't even have buck teeth! At this rate, he'll get all the ladies! Gai thought in exasperation.
*rumble, rumble*
Gai gripped his empty stomach, momentarily distracted from his rival's face. He was famished, and sushi was sounding terribly good at the moment. I need to get him outta here quickly! I can't wait to eat any longer!
"KAKASHI, GET UP!" Gai shouted without a moment's hesitation. Kakashi ignored him, not even twitching a finger. The spandex-wearing ninja's face fell in annoyance. How could his rival be so not youthful?
"Wake up, wake up, WAKE UP!" Gai gripped one of Kakashi's shoulders and shook him violently, this time eliciting a small groan out of him.
"And you call yourself my Rival?! This is the springtime of our youth! We need to get up! See the world! Enjoy food! Smell nice things!" Gai lectured loudly, his mouth right next to Kakashi's ear.
The copy nin curled into himself and gripped his stomach, moaning at the pain radiating from it. It was true that he'd passed out, but he had begun to gain consciousness around the time Gai decided to show up…
"AHHH, GET YOUR BUTT OUT OF—"
"Leave me alone, dammit…" Kakashi muttered under his breath, shifting his position on the mattress. Gai's features scrunched up in frustration; he was vexed at how difficult his friend was being. Ugh, I'm so hungry!
"If you don't get up now, I'll carry you there!" Gai threatened, tugging Kakashi's arm in an attempt to pull him into sitting position. The copy nin roughly shoved him away and sat up by himself, angrily squinting at the person who was bugging him.
"Did I stutter?!" He exclaimed loudly, rubbing his eyes in annoyance.
Why's he here? Kakashi thought, quickly yanking his mask up.
"You didn't seriously forget, did you? You were supposed to come eat sushi with us!" Gai exclaimed in exasperation, his hands on his hips.
"Uh…" Oh, shit. I did forget…
"Listen, Gai, I really don't think I can handle—"
"You're coming!" Kakashi's "rival" grabbed him by the armpits and pulled him into standing position, ignoring his blatant protests.
"O-Oi, wait! At least listen to me!" Kakashi cried out, clutching his burning stomach.
"Shunshin no jutsu!"
With one of his arms tightly locked around Kakashi's, Gai teleported them both to the restaurant where their friends were waiting.
Gai arrived outside of the restaurant in a cloud of smoke. With an unintentional death-grip on Kakashi's arm, he flew inside, scanning the room for their table.
"Over here, guys!" Kurenai called out, waving at the two of them. Gai smiled brightly and headed over with Kakashi in tow, ignoring how one of the copy nin's trembling arms were gripping his midsection.
Gai Immediately plopped into a seat, drooling at the sight of the sushi. Kakashi slowly slid into a chair, gulping down the bile that had rushed up his throat at the sight of the food.
Asuma observed him with a furrowed brow, noticing how alarmingly different he looked from just a few hours ago. His already fair visage was as pale as a paper, and beaded with sweat. The copy nin's poor posture was even worse; he was slumped forward, as if he were in pain. All in all, he looked terrible.
"Well, we might as well get started on the food, right?" Kurenai suggested, a faint smile on her face.
"Yea…I'm starved,"Asuma admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
"We shall! I must replenish all of my youthful energy!" Gai announced passionately, rubbing his hands in anticipation.
Kurenai grinned and served the three male ninja, piling a generous serving of the raw dish onto each of their plates. Asuma and Gai immediately tucked into the meal, absolutely ravenous after waiting for so long. Kakashi grimaced at their famished behavior and looked down at his lap, keeping his dark eyes away from the sight of his own sushi.
"Why aren't you eating, Kakashi?" Kurenai asked worriedly, noticing how distant he was.
She watched him stiffly look up at his food and pick up a pair of wooden chopsticks. He blanched at the sight of it, his face twisting into a look of pure disgust. I think I'm going to be…
His chopsticks loudly clattered to the table, causing the three jonin to snap their gazes toward him. Kakashi tightly clutched his abdomen with the same shaky hand that had dropped his eating utensil.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Asuma demanded sternly, his attention taken away from the plate in front of him.
The Hatake's eyes widened as bile rapidly climbed up his throat, his stomach turning relentlessly. He clumsily slid off of his dusty chair and stumbled to the bathroom, the door swinging close after he bolted through it. Gai and Asuma got up swiftly and quickly followed him in, leaving Kurenai to wonder what the hell was happening.
The two male ninja ran into the bathroom, scanning the line of stalls to find Kakashi. The loud sounds of painful retching didn't make it hard to.
They found him hunched over a toilet, his hands clutching the bowl so hard that they were white.
"Oi, why didn't you tell me you were sick?!" Gai exclaimed. He hurried over to his rival's side and gently started to rub circles on his tensed back.
I tried… Kakashi thought miserably. He wasn't exactly able to talk at the moment; he was too busy violently spilling his stomach's contents into the porcelain toilet bowl.
Instead of the bitter, acidic taste that usually overwhelmed his palate when he threw up, his mouth was flooded with a metallic, coppery liquid; one he recognized too well as a ninja.
After vomiting all that he safely could, Kakashi was left dry heaving, gasping in pain every time he gagged.
"That's enough. You're done," Asuma uttered, putting a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. Kakashi obviously had nothing to bring up anymore. The said ninja tilted his head up and tiredly leaned against the wall separating the small space from the other stall. He wiped his wet lips and glanced at his hand afterward, gasping at the liquid that glistened on the metal protector of his gloves.
"Asuma! Look…" Gai cried uneasily, staring into the toilet that Kakashi had just thrown up in. The Sarutobi leaned forward to peer in, his eyes widening considerably when he saw what Gai was gaping at. A dark, red substance marred the porcelain walls of the toilet. The clear water was dyed a deep crimson, almost black, color.
"Blood..." Asuma whispered, silently closing the lid and flushing the toilet. The two glanced at the Hatake in worry, correctly deducing that instead of food, he had brought up blood.
His mask was still carelessly pulled down, granting them a perfect view of his mouth. Kakashi's lips were tinted the color of coffee grounds. A small dribble of the crimson liquid was slowly trailing down his chin.
"We need to get him to the hospital," Asuma decided. Gai nodded without hesitation, silently agreeing that Kakashi needed some kind of medical attention, and quickly.
"Can you stand, Kakashi?" Gai asked. There was no answer in return. The copy nin's eyes were closed shut, his breathing shallow and erratic. Gai gathered Kakashi's limp body in his arms, and hastily pulled his mask back up.
"Come on, we shouldn't waste any time. This could be serious," Asuma said sternly, stepping out of the tiny stall to let Gai through. The two Jonin, along with the unconscious copy ninja, hurried out of the bathroom to get to the hospital. Gai received many strange looks when he came out with a grown man in his arms, but with one glare from Asuma, everyone went back to eating.
"What happened?!" Kurenai exclaimed, shooting out of her seat when they passed by their table. The Kunoichi had been waiting impatiently for them to come out of the bathroom, and when they did, it was with an unconscious Kakashi.
"I'll explain on the way. We're taking him to Tsunade," Asuma told her hurriedly, his eyes not leaving the Hatake's prone form.
"O-okay, I'm coming, too!" Kurenai decided, her brows furrowed and her eyes glinting with concern.
The three rushed to the hospital as fast as they could, running through the crowded streets and jumping over rooftops. Their sushi was left cold and forgotten.
Author's Note: Tell me how you feel about this!
