Shinobi Code of Conduct, Rule #3 - Hone your reflexes, they often react without you realising it.
It took Kakashi only a fraction of a second to grab Sarada's hand and pull her towards him, using his body as a living shield from what else he knew these eyes could do.
A gesture as desperate as it was pointless.
Shinobi Code of Conduct, unwritten Rule for idiots turning their backs against one of the Three Great Dōjutsu - your reflexes are worth shit, you're already dead.
Pressing the thin body of the girl against his chest, Kakashi braced himself for the end. The black flames of the Amaterasu. A refined Chidori straight to his heart. Was he afraid? No. But he was sorry. It seemed like a stupid way to die.
Several seconds passed…
...the end didn't come.
Kakashi slowly let out the breath he had been holding and then took a new, deep one trying to calm his racing heart.
Sarada was clinging to him with both hands, looking into his face with huge, questioning eyes that turned back to black, then filled with tears and spilled over. She buried her face into his flak jacket, her body racked by sobs.
"Shhhhhh," Kakashi murmured, "it's okay, it's okay," and rubbed the girls back with the hand he didn't need for balance on the floor.
It wasn't okay though. Blood was pounding in his ears like a battle drum, making it hard to hear anything but his own heart. He felt like he was going to faint any minute, but that was not an option.
I broke the Tsukuyomi, Kakashi wondered, how? It could have been Sarada, but had she actually touched him? He wasn't sure how long he had until the aftereffects of what he had experienced inside that red hell would overwhelm and immobilize him. A felt 72 hours vs. a felt 12 hours… It was still going to be very bad. He knew he was proficient at pushing away unpleasant experiences - well, knew quite literally how to lock them away - but he needed time and privacy for that.
Better start moving as long as he was still able to.
With red hot anger surging in his body he turned around and yelled "Are you out of your fucking mind?" at Sasuke. That was only expressing a fraction of what Kakashi felt, but it had to suffice for now.
The Uchiha was staring at him with the Rinnegan hidden behind his jagged fringe and the Sharingan fading from his right eye. He was very, very pale as if the shock of what had just happened had drained all the color from his face. His gaze dropped to Sarada's figure who was pressed up again Kakashi almost as if she was trying to disappear inside of him.
The poor girl. How Kakashi hated to be right about her and the Sharingan. From the one tomoe he had seen, he guessed it had happened very recently. Whatever had spooked Karin to run to Konoha had done this to her.
"Don't be frightened," he said to the child, "nothing happened. You are safe here."
But was she? All these promises to protect the people of Konoha - yet so many dead. Ah, but toward that thought lay utter despair… better not allow it to linger.
"I didn't want… is she…," Sasuke lifted his intact hand as if he wanted to reach for the sobbing girl, but he was too far away and he let it fall again weakly. "I didn't know she has awakened the Sharingan already. When?"
The agony on his face made some of Kakashi's anger dissipate. He knew it took an Uchiha to understand what the awakening of the Clan's eyes truly meant and it was clear from Sasuke's shaking voice that he was capable of compassion for his daughter, whatever else was wrong with him right now.
"I guess we can both agree it's too soon," Kakashi said gravely. "Do you understand now why this child needs a father who can help her with what she's going through? Grow up already, Sasuke. Do you really think I want to be that to her?"
As he watched Sasuke's face darken - he had never learned how to accept criticism - his ears picked up steps on the stairs. Of course, this place was full of Anbu and they weren't deaf. What was he going to tell them? If Sasuke was ready to use his visual powers against people from Konoha, Sasuke could not be allowed to move freely in Konoha. After so many years and so many setbacks, Kakashi felt suddenly very tired of defending him any longer. Maybe it really was pointless like so many insisted... The Uchihas were cursed, they would never be able to escape their wretched fate.
"Why do you have a Mangekyo Sharingan in both eyes?" Sasuke asked, sounding incredulous. "Is this a genjutsu?!"
It seemed that ability had switched itself on without Kakashi having to consciously do anything. While this had probably prevented worse damage, the chakra drain was so intense, Kakashi had pressed his eyes shut as soon as the acute danger from Sasuke seemed over. Now that he had opened them again, the world was still blood red and wavering in front of him.
"That's a long story, but how do I switch this damn thing off?" Kakashi murmured. Was a jutsu needed? Had he forgotten it? How would he explain his eyes to the Anbu? Sasuke was already in prison with one foot, but was it any better for him? Now that the adrenaline subsided somewhat, he became aware of the pain lacing through his body, almost as if he had been plunged into fire and his skin was being seared off. He realized that the amount of chakra his body was producing was far higher than what he was used to and that seemed to be part of the problem. Like…
My Gates? Are they partially open?
He had briefly suspected before that those pills he was regularly taking had an effect on the chakra gates, hadn't he, but that was madness. Or very impressive, depending on the vantage point.
"Are these Obito's eyes?" Sasuke continued, his voice turning cold. "Did you salvage them? How? He disintegrated to ash, I saw it!"
"So you do remember that?" Kakashi asked with a frown.
Gritting his teeth against the mounting pain, Kakashi looked directly at Sasuke. He would not be caught by a genjutsu a second time. Even though he had no clue what his new set of eyes could do, he was certain a Mangekyo could dispel any Genju… Ah. He had likely gotten himself out of the Tsukuyomi when the eyes had activated.
"Not Obito's eyes," Sasuke said. "I've never seen this pattern before." His own right eye was back to normal, but was now showing an almost desperate confusion now.
"You have some sort of amnesia, Sasuke," Kakashi said, remembering what Tsunade had told him. "You and me both. We're running out of time but you need to tell me what you remember."
"I wanted to kill you," Sasuke said, "I would have if Sarada hadn't appeared. I know you would never truly hurt me, it's a glaring weakness."
"Yes, well, you didn't kill me," Kakashi said sourly. "But guess what, I'm not going to thank you. Hate me all you want, but try and use that head of yours now. What is the likelihood of you and me both developing amnesia so shortly after each other naturally?"
Sasuke looked at him sullenly. "Why would I want to kill you this much? Like there is nothing else I need to do in the world… it feels like… like when I wanted to kill Itachi. I think… something is wrong with me."
"That's what I have been trying to t…"
"Everything alright here?" a voice asked from the door.
Kakashi turned his head slightly to the side to hide his eyes, groaning inwardly. Kaeru. Of all possible Anbu! Though not exactly sensory type, the boy was extremely perceptive.
"It's all fine," he lied, with as firm a voice as possible, "the girl just got a fright."
I don't even know what these eyes can do, Kakashi thought, willing them back into a dormant state in vain, dammit. I'm also a danger. Stay away, Kaeru. Stay away.
But Kaeru was not the type to turn back when he was suspicious.
"You don't look fine at all," he observed after a few more steps that brought them into the living room, "Sensei, why are you in such pain? Did that bastard attack you?"
Kaeru's sword was out and pointed straight at Sasuke's throat before he had finished the sentence.
"I did," Sasuke said haughtily, "please seal my eyes and put me in prison. I might be influenced by some unknown enemy force. I'm dangerous."
Dammit! Kakashi let his head fall into his hands. He had hoped for more time to figure this out. Had their enemies meddled with their heads? Did they have an ability to delete memories? It wouldn't be easy to talk to Sasuke in prison alone.
Kaeru whistled once and seconds later, the room was full of Anbu, ready to vanquish any foe.
"I'm not going to put up any resistance," Sasuke informed them, still in that infuriating tone of his.
Sarada had stopped sobbing and was staring at the commotion around her. At least she didn't seem scared out of her wits anymore, though she was still hanging on to Kakashi with both hands.
"Should we have Ibiki check for seals in his head, Sensei?" Kaeru asked.
"I guess," Kakashi murmured, feeling so drained he wanted to lie down and go to sleep this very instance. Why had nobody done this before? The Anbu were carrying out Sasuke, who didn't look back even once. Stupid, prideful boy. And who would care for Sarada now?
"Kakashi Sensei," Kaeru said, bending down to him, "here. You must take this."
He put something between Kakashi's teeth, a pill, and Kakashi swallowed obediently. The pressure in his body and behind his forehead lessened somewhat and the world took on a normal color again. The blasted eyes were deactivating.
"How…"
"I know about the experiments," Kaeru whispered. "I went and got Kabuto to talk. He gave me this, saying it might be useful."
Kakashi felt something like relief, but then wasn't sure he understood the consequences of Kaeru's knowledge.
"That pill regulates the blood release from the seal," Kaeru explained. "No Uchiha blood in your system, no Uchiha eyes."
"You'd think that's something I should know too," Kakashi scoffed.
"You might have forgotten," Kaeru said, looking worried. "Sensei, how bad is it? What did he do to you?"
His eyes moved over Kakashi's body, checking for wounds or any other damage.
"It's nothing," Kakashi lied, knowing this kind of damage wasn't visible, hoping he could hide it from his junior. "I think he was as surprised as I was by how he attacked."
"I hate the Uchihas," Kaeru pressed out, "each and every one of them is useless trash. Was it a genjutsu? I will bring you to the hospital immediately."
"I'm okay," Kakashi wanted to say but now it was here and he couldn't utter another word. Like a tsunami, the memory crashed down on him and he pressed his lips to prevent himself from screaming his voice raw.
Tsukuyomi. The red-hell.
The most damaging and most brutal of all genjutsu because it felt... it was real when you were in it. Going into it happened so fast you had no chance to realize it was only an illusion. It was a living nightmare of the grandest proportion, in which you relived your deepest horrors over and over and could not fathom there was anything else outside of it. Because even if it was finished, it wasn't. It ate away at you. For a long time. Sometimes forever.
Rin.
His hand, a deadly weapon ripping a hole into her body, shattering her heart, her ribs, her spine. Pulling it back is difficult, as if the last of her life force is holding on to it. He feels it drain out of her in one, big gush when he finally manages to dislodge it. The ugly, sucking sound echoes in his head with sickening persistence.
Her eyes widen, a little surprised, a little pained.
Her last words…. "Kakashi."
She says it gently, almost lovingly.
Oh Rin.
The most gentle, the most loving being he has ever known. Killing her is a sin so big he can never atone for it.
"Why?" she adds. "I thought you loved me."
Does she not know that everything he cares for has to die? It is his curse.
And then he kills her again. Over and over and over and over.
The red hell of Tsukuyomi turns redder. There is so much blood... he is drowning in it.
###
"Stop," the young Anbu with the frog mask said and slammed his sheathed sword against her chest. "You can't go through here."
"Oh, you wanna try and stop me?" Sakura retorted, slapping his hand aside with enough force to make him stagger.
"No visitors allowed," the frog mask bellowed, "Hokage's orders."
"I'm the attending doctor, you idiot!" Sakura snapped at him. "Move aside!"
"Oh, I know you. You're foremost an Uchiha," he hissed, "and by choice at that. That's probably the worst kind."
That was it. Sakura's patience had already run out at first sight of him and his belligerent attitude. She really had no time for these kind of people today.
"I'm going to use my genjutsu on you again, but this time, I will not only have you stand on one leg and crow like a rooster!" she warned him.
His face was hidden behind his mask, but from how his body stiffened, Sakura could guess that little froggie had put one and one together. At least he wasn't of the slow sort.
"Y… you are…. that girl?" he stammered. "B...bird mask?"
"Absolutely," she said viciously. "And guess what, I care for Kakashi just as much as you do, so move aside before I need to get violent."
"He said… is this your secret mission?" Frog mask wondered. "Oh, you have a double identity?! Incredible! I always hated you for siding with the Uchiha! You played your part really, really well."
Oh for goodness' sake!
"I have no time for you," she snapped, "this patient needs me."
"Where is Lady Tsunade?" the boy had the gall to ask though his voice quivered a little.
"She isn't well today," Sakura replied, "She's resting. I'm her second in command but known to be much more violent. She's mellowed with age, whereas I..."
"Oh," Kaeru said. "Oh. Ha. Okay. Okay, but I'm coming in with you."
"Suit yourself," she said and shouldered past him into the room.
She had never liked to see Kakashi incapacitated in a hospital bed. She remembered well that as a Genin, she had even cried on the toilet after one of the visits because she had been afraid their Sensei would not wake from his coma. But now, the sight of him with his eyes closed, his face much too pale and covered with a sheen of sweat made her angry more than anything. Though that might just be a self-defense mechanism. If she weren't angry, wouldn't she have to cry?
"Can't leave him alone for even half a day," she muttered, grabbing the medical chart from the end of the bed. Speed-reading through the meager information, she frowned.
"So you were there, Frog?"
"My name is Kaeru," the young Anbu bristled.
"No difference," Sakura sighed. "Were you? I see you brought him here."
"I didn't see what happened. I came too late," Kaeru said. "But I have reason to believe it's the effect of a genjutsu. Likely that very bad one… Tsukuyomi? That bastard of an Uchiha… sorry. But he is a bastard. How dare he attack his teacher?"
Having her guess confirmed only made her angrier. Stupid men. Could they not just talk?
"He's in prison, your husband," Kaeru added sullenly, yet sounding very pleased about that fact.
Sakura nodded. She had gotten word. That part of the problem could wait. Had to wait. And if Sasuke had really attacked Kakashi with the Sharingan, he deserved to be in prison.
Bending over Kakashi, she checked his body for damage. Nothing. Bones, flesh, organs, all intact. Then she checked his chakra flow. Finding a very high activity, she frowned. Why would he be moulding chakra in this state? When she saw his lips move, she bent down even more closely.
Had he just whispered… Saru? Was he murmuring the hand signs to a jutsu?!
"Is he in a coma?" Kaeru asked concerned, hovering close.
"Not in the least," Sakura frowned, sending a bit of chakra into Kakashi's body. So much for being worried sick about him. "He put himself into some kind of trance?"
"Oh," Kaeru said. "Ohhhhhh."
"Any idea why?" she asked him, slightly worried about the excessive amount of chakra Kakashi was currently handling.
"No," Kaeru sighed.
"Do you also take those pills?"
"W… what pills?" Kaeru asked, trying to sound innocent, but obviously, the young Anbu was not a good liar.
"Performance enhancement pills."
"Sure," Kaeru said guardedly, "we all do."
"I had a closer look at them this morning," Sakura said, more to herself than the Anbu operative, "I'm not even a third into dissecting everything, but I must say I'm appalled."
Kaeru dropped his voice. "I don't think any of this is public information!" he whispered agitated.
"I don't give a rat's ass!" Sakura yelled. "If I were Hokage, I'd shut the Anbu down the very second I got the power!"
"You can't say that!" Kaeru gasped. "The Anbu is the most important pillar in Konoha's defense!"
"Watch me," Sakura snarled.
As soon as Tsunade was no longer under the weather, Sakura would be in her mentor's office making a massive scene. She did not understand in all details what those pills did but if she wasn't mistaken, they meddled with the bodies normal chakra capacity by temporarily enhancing it. The risk of that! How could the Hokage allow such a thing!
But first, there was something else she had to check. Bending over Kakashi again, she had a look at his arm. The blood seal was very red and very visible.
"Do you know what that is?" she asked the Frog Anbu sharply, "and don't even try to lie to me."
"Y… yes," Kaeru admitted. "I recently found out. But I don't think Kakashi Sensei would like to…"
"To hell with his privacy needs! I don't think Kakashi Sensei would like to die," Sakura said, "and that thing almost killed him not too long ago. It's Kabuto, isn't it, the person who knows everything."
"I think so," Kaeru nodded. "He was reluctant to talk but I made him."
"It contains Uchiha blood, doesn't it. And it's there to give Kakashi his Sharingan back, am I right?"
Kaeru nodded again.
"Mangekyo Sharingan."
Kaeru nodded more vigorously.
"Do you know when he got that blood seal?"
Kaeru shook his head. "I never talked to him about it. I joined the Anbu three years ago. I'm sure he already had it, I would have noticed a new tattoo on him, especially one of this size."
Sakura sighed. Why was she thinking she needed to understand the timing of this? Three years ago. One year after she had married Sasuke. One year after she had looked everywhere for Kakashi, not leaving a single stone unturned, but not finding him. What had happened before that that he had forgotten? And why?
"Where's Sarada?" she suddenly exclaimed.
"Is that the little girl?" Kaeru asked, wrinkling his nose. "I already tried to make her speak, but she went and hid in a cupboard in the storage room."
"What!? And you just left her there?"
"My job description never said 'babysitting'," Kaeru grumbled, "there's only a broom in there, looks cozy enough. Is she that girl Kakashi Sensei is training? She doesn't look like much and kept crying all the time."
"Shut up," Sakura groaned and ran out of the room and towards the cupboard as fast as she could.
"Sarada?" Sakura said and very carefully opened the cupboard a crack, "are you in here? You can come out."
"Is the silver-haired uncle dead?" Sarada sobbed. She was sitting with her knees up, her knuckles pronounced on her skinny hands as she hugged them to herself.
The silver… "No," Sakura soothed her, "not at all, he's just sleeping. He'll be fine, I assure you. Were you there when it happened?"
Sarada nodded.
"Do you want to tell me about it?"
Sarada shook her head.
"It would help me a great deal though," Sakura said a little more firmly, "then I'd know what's wrong with the ojisan."
And with time, tell us what happened in your village and where your mother went.
"He attacked him," the girl said with a small voice. "Not with his fists."
"With… with his eyes?" Sakura asked carefully and sat down on the floor. Sarada was a witness to many things. If she got her to talk, Sakura felt that it would help shed light on a few things they had no knowledge about.
Sarada nodded again.
"The red eyes."
"Yes," Sarada said. "They're scary. I don't want them anymore."
"Oh," Sakura said, her heart suddenly beating much faster, "they're not only bad. You know, my village - Konoha - is so strong and famous because the people with these eyes founded it."
Was she lying to a five-year old? Strong and famous… feared and notorious. Well, she couldn't quite tell the little girl about the bloody and ultra tragic story of the Uchiha Clan. She herself had no love for Sharingans, Byakugans, Rinnegans and the like. But now that it seemed Sarada might have awakened her own Sharingan, the last thing Sakura wanted was to spook the girl further.
"Kakashi… the silver-haired uncle, he knows really well how to use those eyes," she told Sarada. "He will teach you."
"Is the bad man gone?"
Did she mean… Sasuke? Her own father. Sakura's heart grew very heavy.
"He's not bad, Sarada," she said quietly. "Sasuke is… he's not bad. He's just… lost. You know, when you don't find your way home in the dark? That's what happened to him. We keep lighting up the village so he can see it, but he still gets lost."
She sighed.
"And the frog man?" Sarada asked pouting.
"Pffft," Sakura snickered. "I threatened to beat him up, he's afraid of me. He's not bad either, just… he is stubborn and very loyal, but I'm sure he's a good person. Wanna go and scold him together?"
Sarada hesitated, then nodded.
"Good," Sakura said, presenting Sarada her hand to help her out of her hiding place. "We'll make it an extra heavy scolding. And then, we'll make him apologize, alright?"
The girl took her hand and crawled out of the cupboard.
"Hey," Sakura said and put Sarada's hair in order. "Sarada, never keep your head down. Don't be afraid. Whenever someone bullies you, you can come to me, alright? I'll teach you how to become really, really strong."
Sarada nodded again, her lips pressed together. She blinked a few times and then, she smiled. Only a tiny little bit. But Sakura saw it.
Baby steps.
But it seemed to her that Sarada had a chance to come out of all this alright.
###
He was trapped. Trapped in a vortex of quicksand, his limbs impossibly heavy and useless, his broken fingers frantically trying to find something to hold on to. He was sinking rapidly, the pressure around him mounting, crushing his bones, the sound of their breaking momentarily drowning out the grating song of the incessantly slithering sand particles. There was no more air. There was sand, only sand, it was entering his mouth, it was finding its way into his lungs. As he suffocated, he had one last thought: He had not ... protected … her ...
"Sarada!" he gasped, opening his eyes.
No sand. Air. A room. He lay there, drawing air into his lung in large gulps to convince himself he was not dying.
"Shhhh," somebody whispered, "you'll wake her."
For a brief, very disorienting moment, Kakashi had no idea who he was, where he was, what year it was. But then, a face appeared above him in the dim light. Pink hair. Green eyes. A diamond-shaped mark on the forehead.
"Sakura?" Kakashi couldn't help but stare at her, feeling the very unpleasant disorientation again as he marveled at her beauty. He blinked, but the feeling wouldn't go away. Had he not experienced this very same thing before?
Her hand went to his pulse to check it, then went here and there on his body, prodding more or less gently. A doctor. She was a doctor and this was the hospital. It was night, everything was quiet and dark.
How had he gotten here?
She moved gracefully and with determination, getting this and that from various corners of the room. His heart hurt with a sweet yet painful intensity.
I'm in love, he thought. I yearn for her.
"Am I dreaming?" he murmured.
She frowned at his words. He remembered he liked it when she got angry, maybe because that was when she was the most capable. There was something about her eyes and how they sparkled when her temper rose that he found fascinating.
"How many fingers do you see?" she asked gruffly.
"Four?" he responded.
"Do you feel this?"
"Ouch!" he exclaimed. She had shot some chakra at a sensitive pressure point.
"See? Not dreaming," she said, "but are you quite done with your jutsu-mumbling?"
Kakashi had not the slightest idea what she was referring to. Was it not possible it was a dream after all? It would explain why everything felt so… off. Like his body had just recovered from an incredibly painful ordeal. Like his mind was hanging on a thread over a precarious abyss.
"You're disoriented," Sakura observed, now sounding worried.
"You can say that," he whispered, watching her lips as they moved.
More importantly though, could he kiss her, dream or not? It's what he wanted to do. He didn't care for anything else.
He hooked his fingers around her neck and pulled her mouth down to his. Away with the mask! He had kissed her before, he immediately knew when their lips met and their tongues intertwined. But not nearly enough.
"The proof that Heaven exists hides behind a woman's kiss", someone once had said.
Kissing her made him remember much more. The softness of her body, the texture of her skin. They had made love before and the memory of that awakened another type of yearning. His hands moved from her neck down her back to her hips. She was wearing a doctor's gown, which was effectively blocking his access to her skin. He began to pull at it angrily.
"Stop this," she said and pushed herself away from him. "I'm on duty, I can't sleep with a patient. Besides, we'll wake Sarada."
Sarada.
There was a small presence in the room with them, a child, huddled up in a blanket on a chair, her regular breathing indicating she was sleeping deeply.
Sarada.
Sasuke's child. Sakura. Sasuke's wife. A sudden stabbing headache made Kakashi press his eyes shut.
"Shit," he groaned.
"What's wrong?" Sakura asked and put her hand on his forehead.
"I remembered," he said, opening his eyes to look at her.
"Oh," she said, sounding excited, "everything?"
Again, Kakashi wasn't sure what she was referring to.
"I guess not," she sighed with a glance at his nonplussed face. "But now I'm guessing something else. That jutsu you performed after Sasuke attacked you. It was Fuinjutsu, correct? Did you perchance lock away the memory of what he made you go through during his genjutsu?"
For a moment, the world in front of his eyes turned the deepest red. There was so much blood. He was drowning in it. How could he forget the most gentle, the most loving being he had ever known? How could he even try?
"I tried," he breathed almost inaudibly. "But I failed."
"I'm very sorry," Sakura said. "I'm so very sorry, Kakashi."
Like a tsunami, the memories crashed down on him again.
"Help me," he wanted to say, but he couldn't, he had to press his lips together to prevent himself from screaming his voice raw.
Rin.
His hand, a deadly weapon ripping a hole into her body, shattering her heart, her ribs, her spine. Pulling it back is difficult, as if the last of her life force is holding on to it. He feels it drain out of her in one, big gush when he finally manages to dislodge it. The ugly, sucking sound echoes in his head with sickening persistence.
Her eyes widen, a little surprised, a little pained… angry.
Her last words…. "Kakashi. Why did you kill me? Why are you not coming to get me? I'm here, I'm waiting for you, why do you hate me so much?"
"Where? Where are you?" he yells, but the world is red and turns redder. There is so much blood... he is drowning in it. Over and over and ove…
A hand, warm and firm, grasping his arm, holding him, pulling him upwards towards the light. He grabbed it like a drowning man. Had he ever cried in front of other people before? The tears that marked his cheeks were so shameful, he turned his face to the side to hide it - but Sakura simply stroked his hair, his temple, brushing the tears away with her thumb.
She was crying too, he realized. Again, it was happening. All he ever gave to people was pain.
"I love you," Kakashi said, "I love you so much. Please. Please, Sakura. You must get away from me, do you hear me? Everyone I have ever cared for had to die. I am… I can't… the mere thought of you being hurt…"
"Shhh," Sakura said soothingly and ruffled his hair, "what nonsense is that? You're badly shaken. It's 2am right now and you should sleep, okay? I gave you a sleeping potion. Tomorrow, Tsunade will tell me how to treat the aftereffects of Tsukuyomi. You'll be fine. It's not real, Kakashi. It's only an illusion."
But it wasn't.
With the memory of her kiss on his lips, sitting on a reservoir full of tears he had never gotten to shed, Kakashi made a silent vow.
Love was often selfish. To love a person was to need that person. But if to need a person meant to doom a person? Then love had to change.
