Past Regrets

Chapter 9: The Fellowship Shatters

Warning: If you like Kakashi more than anyone in this fan fiction, I advise you to stop reading. No flames, please. I made a displeasing decision, though I think it was the right one.

A very dazed and drowsy Kakashi stumbled out his door to see Tetsu and Sasuke doing the same. Loud crashes and bangs had awoken them all from downstairs, and it wasn't the thunderstorm.

"What is that?" Kakashi asked the dumbstruck pair. Sasuke looked across the hall to see Naruto and Sakura's door slightly open. He peered in and saw no one in the room.

"Naruto and Sakura are in trouble," Tetsu muttered, sparing no time and running down the hall to the stairs, closely followed by Kakashi and Sakura.

As they entered the room, a table and all its assortments flew in their direction. Sasuke jumped up between the table and his companions, whipping out a kunai knife. In mid air, the table split in two, and he sheathed his blade. The trio looked to where the commotion was centered and saw a shadowed man fighting Naruto and Sakura.

It took them no time to start fighting alongside their comrades. Sakura's right arm was limp and dangling loosely at one side, Naruto's nose was crooked; they were both bleeding from many points of their body.

The shadowed man charged the two wounded, just to be deflected by Tetsu, who jumped between them. The man, however, continued to charge, ramming right into Tetsu with a pair of knives drawn. They both collided into a far wall, the man stapling her left shoulder and right hand straight through and into the wood. She winced and, in horror, watched as none other than Masahiro looked up, grinning wickedly.

"I left you for dead!" Tetsu growled, clenching her fist.

"With chopsticks? You didn't hit any of my vital points. I did have to take out hundreds of little splinters," he paused, pointing to the red spots all over him, "Which was a righteous pain in the ass."

Before he could continue, Sasuke grabbed Masahiro's shoulders, pulling him away from Tetsu and flinging him across the room, where he rammed into a drawn katana held by Kakashi. The demonic man and the sensei stood there a moment. Silence swept the room. Masahiro had jammed a kunai knife deep enough into Kakashi's chest to make a difference.

The pair of warriors fell to their knees, never looking at each other. At the same time, they both ripped their blades from their opponents.

"Kakashi," the Akuma muttered.

"Masahiro," the sensei replied. They both raised their blades, but Kakashi was too quick for the shadowy man. The katana slid swiftly between the man's head and shoulders. He sat there for a short moment, before every side of his neck began to spurt blood. He fell forward, his head slipped from its place, and rolled idly under a stool.

Everyone was silent for a moment. Kakashi kept completely still, holding the katana out steadily. Sakura clutched her limp arm, Tetsu stayed nailed to the wall, and Naruto and Sasuke stood firm in the positions they had been in when Kakashi lopped off the intruder's head.

After a moment, Kakashi fell forward, clinging to the wound in his chest that was bleeding profusely. Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura rushed to his aid, while Tetsu pulled the knives from herself. She dropped to the floor and immediately ran to the others.

"Gauze," Sasuke ordered. "We need gauze."

"Naruto, run upstairs and get some," Sakura demanded. He flinched and was about to run when Kakashi grabbed his wrist.

"No," the bloodied man spat out. "Not this time."

"Whaddyou mean, sensei? We'll get you bandaged up and you'll be fine!" Sakura pleaded, tearing up.

"No," he muttered again, blood flowing from his mouth all too rapidly. His face was paling quickly. "He went... through... my heart," he slurred and coughed, "and one... of my... lungs-"

"We've beaten worse before! Please, let us help you Kakashi-sama! You'll be fine!" Sakura said, tears pouring out of her eyes now. Kakashi's grip on Naruto's wrist tightened.

"No." His hand fell from Naruto's arm and his head drooped forward. Sakura bit her lips, trying desperately to hold back the tears that wouldn't stop falling. Naruto's eyes brimmed and soon he was crying silently, the blood washing from his face. Sasuke just crouched there, bewildered and completely confused as though he didn't understand what just happened. Tetsu stayed completely silent and still, wishing she were invisible.

"You said he was dead," Sasuke muttered sinisterly. Tetsu said nothing. Sasuke stood up and got inches from her face. "You said he was dead."

"...I-"

"Get out of here," he hissed with the most hateful glare anyone could give another. Without a second opinion or second to spare, Tetsu turned on heel, running out of the tavern.

She didn't care anymore. She didn't care. She didn't know where she was running or what she was doing; all she knew was that she didn't care. The storm hadn't ceased and only seemed to get worse with the more she ran. She ran out of the docks and out of the town, into the woodland areas and over boulders and creeks turned violent at the relentless storm.

She began to run up a hill, sinking ankle deep into the thick, syrupy mud. She fell forward and hit her forehead on a rock, a bright pain filling the back of her eyes. She knelt there, bloody and mud-covered, holding her stomach and leaning forward, crying her heart out. She felt the rain beat her back as though a giant was stomping on her with blunt cleats. Sasuke didn't care; she didn't care.

"He's gone," Sakura kept repeating. "He's gone, he's gone, he's gone." Naruto stood there, trying to hold back every part of him to keep the tears from showing he was weak. Sasuke continued to look over them at his master's defeated body. How could he have been killed so easily? He realized now that the simplest of flaws could kill a shinobi. But why did it have to be him?

After nearly an hour of this, Sakura sat back, hiccupping and gasping for breath. Naruto had stopped himself from crying, but it was ripping himself up inside. Sasuke hadn't moved an inch.

"What are we going to do," Sakura whispered. No one answered; no one knew.

"We need to get back to Konohagure," Sasuke muttered. "We need to bring Kakashi with us." Naruto nodded. Sakura gripped her limp arm, realizing for the first time that it was throbbing; she was too numb with grief to realize it before.

"Let's get ready. Pack up. Naruto, bring a blanket down from upstairs to gather Kakashi with." Naruto got up silently at Sasuke's word and walked to the stairs behind the trashed counter.

Sakura stood and gently turned Kakashi's body over. She crossed his arms and brushed his blood-caked hair from his face. Sasuke left her and went upstairs to pack his belongings.

He sat on his bed a minute after packing everything up. It was against the code to cry, so he kept his eyes winced shut tightly. His door was closed, so he wouldn't be seen, but he still fought his own instinct to cry. He opened his glassy eyes and a solemn tear streamed down his battle worn cheek. How could this have happened? He looked at the ceiling and blinked back the oncoming tears that threatened his ego. The disappeared, but he still felt them in the pit of his stomach.

He glanced over to the end of the bed, looking at Tetsu's bag. His brow narrowed and he stood up, grabbing her bag and throwing it against the wall. He ripped through it and thrashed it. She lied. She lied. That Akuma brother was alive. What else had she lied about? Were the others alive? Did she care at all about him or was she lying? Did she care about him still?

All he knew was that Kakashi was dead and she had lied. If she hadn't lied, he'd still be alive. If she hadn't come into their lives, they'd all be fine. If she hadn't come into their lives, he'd be just as hollow as before.

A knocking interrupted his thoughts. He wiped his cheek quickly, making sure that he wasn't seen as a real person with real feelings. Naruto opened the door slowly and peered in. He saw Sasuke picking up Tetsu's belongings and putting them back into a torn backpack.

"I don't think she lied," the fox demon muttered and backed out of the door, shutting it silently behind himself. He'd been thinking about the same thing.

They waited in silence until the rain eased to a slight drizzle. Kakashi, now in a tightly bound blanket, lay lifeless on the floor. Sasuke and Naruto had fashioned a wheelbarrow out of four round tables and the bar counter as the boxed-in platform. The handle was made from the table posts.

The three of them picked Kakashi up and placed him gently into the makeshift cart along with all of their belongings. Sakura stood beside the pushcart and stared blankly at Kakashi's form. It wasn't fair.

"We need to get moving," Sasuke muttered and threw the last pack into the cart. Sakura looked up at him with hatred in her eyes. As fast as light, she was in front of Sasuke, eyes ablaze. She flung him to the ground and held a blade at his throat, grabbing his collar with her other hand.

"How the hell can you stand there and act like nothing happened! He's been like a father to us for nearly a decade! He stood by us! He stood by you! Would it kill you to show a little compassion! You think you're mature, you think you're so great and that you can't show your emotion! Well guess what! You're a human being!" she paused, tears streaking her angered face. "You're a worthless wretch if I ever saw one! I find it so hard to believe that I wanted to be with someone like you! You're the worst person in-"

She was interrupted by a thrust upward, throwing her off of him. He pinned her down the exact same way. "Listen," he seethed. "I don't know who you think you are. We are not allowed to cry. We are not to show our feelings and we are not to become that attached to anyone. If you ever think that you can judge me again-"

"You'll what, Sasuke? You'll kill me? And then what? Will you regret it? Will you be sad if I were gone? I can't read you. No one can. You felt nothing for Kakashi. You don't care." Sakura hissed. Sasuke, though he didn't show it, was heart broken. Of course he cared! Sakura thought that she saw his eyes welling up, but she ignored it, thinking she was seeing things.

Sasuke let go of her and sat up, dropping the blade. He stood and stormed out of the tavern and up the stairs, out of sight. Sakura sat up and looked over at Naruto, who had blank, yet surprised, look on his face.

"I think you struck a nerve," he murmured.

"I think you're right," Sakura replied and was about to follow him when Naruto grabbed her shoulder.

"Let him go."

Sasuke sprinted, going nowhere in particular. He was trying desperately to out-run the words that were said in the bar. She was right, mostly. He did care, but he never showed it to anyone. He jumped up a tree and sat in its branches, as though hiding from the inevitable. He wasn't going to return to them. He wasn't going to show his face to them again; not after the way he reacted.

He glanced down and saw a lump of oddly formed mud. He focused a little bit more and saw that it had hair and an arm. He jumped down walked over to the mass of hardening muck. As he approached, he knew who it was. Should he help her? He didn't want to, not after what she had done, but he knew it was better than abandoning her there.

He bent down and listened intently; the heap was breathing. He found its shoulder and turned it over, uncovering a pair of bright but sodden eyes looking back at him.

"Why are you here?" Tetsu asked quietly after a few minutes of awkward silence.

"Why are you here," Sasuke muttered. Tetsu didn't respond, but kept looking up at him; a crumpled mass of blood and tears.

"Sakura confronted me," he confessed, kneeling beside her. Tetsu stayed quiet. "I ran from it."

"I see," Tetsu whispered. She turned over, hardened mud crumbling from her. "Why did you run."

After another long silence, he replied, "Because she was right."

"I see," she responded again. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he whispered, nearly tearing up again. "It was my wrong."

"Alright." Tetsu stood and started walking up the hill she tried to walk up earlier. Sasuke stood and watched her walk away and disappear over the knoll. He wasn't sure about what to do.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry," Sasuke shouted then blushed slightly; he'd never said that and meant it before. He was always right. The other person always apologized to him, not the other way around.

"I forgive you, Sasuke," Tetsu shouted back with an unfriendly voice. There was no invitation or hint to follow her, so he stayed behind. Why did everything end up so out of whack?

Sasuke stood there a while, still looking in the direction that Tetsu left. He heard footsteps and she reappeared at the top of the hill. "You're welcome to join me," she said with a frosty voice. They stared almost challengingly into each other's eyes until Sasuke finally decided to look away, following her up the mountain.

"He's not coming back, is he," Sakura muttered, pushing the wagon up over a small mound.

"No," Naruto replied, helping her with the cart.

"Then we won't ever see him again will we?"

"Not with his consent. We might see him if we bump into him someday."

Despite what Naruto thought she'd say, she replied, "I hope we don't."

Sasuke and Tetsu arrived at the edge of the woods at evening of the third day traveling alone. They stood on their past Hokages' busts that were engraved into the Cliffside that overlooked Konohagure. The sun began to set behind them as Tetsu took a breath in; she wasn't sure if she was ready to confront her father.

"I have a place we can stay in for the night," Sasuke murmured, sensing her tension all too instantaneously.

"That would be good," the young woman agreed; her voice still held slight agitation within it.

They stepped into town after descending from the mountainside. This place was nothing like Tetsu had ever seen before. It was so brilliant and happy as opposed to Kirigakure. They buildings were in perfect condition, the streets were filled with many a person, and there was a pleasant atmosphere that she felt as soon as she stepped onto the path.

She followed Sasuke silently; she was never that good with crowds. Some people stopped what they were doing to look at her because of the Kirigakure headband; everyone knows how dangerous a place that is. She was thankful when they got to a small tenant and had no more eyes looking at her.

Sasuke slid open the door and walked down a hallway to a flight of stairs, Tetsu following close behind. On the third floor, the man took a key from around his neck and unlocked the door, sliding it open. He took off his shoes in the doorway and stepped up into the small apartment; Tetsu did the same.

He turned around and looked at Tetsu for the first real time in a few days. He cocked his eyebrow and disappeared into a room as Tetsu looked around. He reappeared a few moments later with two changes of clothes and herbal soaps.

"There's a bathhouse down the street. You might consider washing before you see your father."

"I don't want to go to a bathhouse. There are too many people."

"There's a hot spring a little farther than that if you're willing. Only a few people go there."

"Then let's go there."

"Alright."

"Good."

"Yeah," Tetsu concluded. The stood there awkwardly for a moment before slipping back into their shoes and heading out the door.

It took a little while, but they made it to the spring. There were four or five different hot tub-like springs with a bush that split between a few, offering privacy. They could tell that some people were there with the dim light of the moon and stars, but didn't dare look with a light in case they wanted as much privacy as Tetsu did.

Tetsu picked an empty spring and walked over with Sasuke following behind. Tetsu paused and looked behind herself. "Do you mind?" she sassed, stepping behind a bush to disrobe.

"Sorry," Sasuke whispered and sat down on the other side of the bush. He heard her step quietly into the pool and sigh in contentment.

"Hand me the soaps," she ordered, not wanting to get out of the tub. Sasuke obediently handed her the cleansers and, sneaking a quick peek, sat back down. He may be feeling guilty and he may be a hard-ass, but he was still a guy.

"I told you I was sorry," he said, starting to get agitated.

"I know," Tetsu replied as though it wasn't a big deal.

"Stop acting like this," he grumbled.

"Acting like what."

"Acting like you hate me and I'm a horrible person who didn't apologize."

"Am I acting like that?"

"You know you're acting like that."

"Do I. I guess I don't know myself that well then. Because obviously, you have me figured out before I have myself figured out," her voice starting to rise a little.

"What is your problem?" Sasuke's voice was rising like her

"I'm a little bit tense, okay? First you accuse me of letting an Akuma loose on purpose, then you say you're sorry, now I'm going to see my father, and you expect me to be peachy keen? You thought I lied to you!"

"I took it back and apologized!"

They continued shouting at each other angrily. As though they were in a library, they heard dozens of voices around them in a big "Shh!" They got quiet and Sasuke inched to her side so they could argue quieter.

"Why can't you accept my apology?"

"Because being accused of something so bad then having someone say that they didn't mean it is pretty drastic, dammit. I don't care what you say."

"You said you accepted my apology."

"You accused me of being Masahiro's aide! You thought that I hadn't killed him on purpose!"

Another "Shh!" echoed throughout the springs. There was a long pause before Sasuke continued.

"How did Kakashi know Masahiro?"

"Hell if I know."

"You told me about them holding you captive. You should know something."

"Can we get off the subject?"

"Fine."

"Fine."

There was another long pause.

"I need to wash, too."

"Fine. But don't try and pull anything on me. If you do, there'll be hell to pay."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Fine."

"Fine." Sasuke quickly disrobed and slipped into the water across from Tetsu.

"Could you pass the soap?" Tetsu didn't say anything, but tossed the bar at him. He grumbled as it slipped around and fell into the water.

"Good job."

"You should have caught it."

"Humph." Sasuke searched the black water for the soap. He found something slippery and Tetsu squeaked.

"That's my toe," she grumbled and pulled it away.

"I didn't know," Sasuke snapped back.

"Humph." He grabbed something again; this time it was the soap. He scrubbed himself of blood and guck as Tetsu watched in silence.

"I forgive you. For real this time," Tetsu said, slight guilt in her voice.

"Alright," Sasuke muttered, putting the soap down. "That's good."

Tetsu swam up beside him, hugging him tightly around the neck. "I'm so sorry," she muttered, her eyes beginning to overflow with grief. Sasuke was shocked for a moment, but then embraced her embrace.

"It's not your fault," he muttered, kissing her forehead tenderly. She sighed and smiled slightly, a little released but still very sad.

They sat like that for a while before returning to Sasuke's place, fresh and clean. As soon as they got home, they nearly fell on the floor; the warmth of the spring making them drowsy. Sasuke showed her his room and tucked her into his bed.

"You don't need to sleep separate from me," she muttered and patted the pillow next to her. He smiled ever so slightly and slipped between the covers, staring at her gray-blue eyes. She turned over and scooted into his arms, sighing in contentment. He nearly smiled again as they both instantly fell asleep.

Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto

To Everyone: I apologize for the lateness. This chapter had several different phases and several different outcomes, but I believe I chose the best one. I can understand if you don't want to read anymore because of this outcome or don't want to read due to the delayed post. (Many of my Hanyou Kagome readers have done that.) Thank you for the numerous comments everyone! It's extra long this time to make up for the lost time posting.

P.S. Let Kakashi rest in peace. :sigh:

Dragon's Shadow: There's going to be more Naruto/Sakura scenes in the next chapter. I'm not sure if they're going to be together or what, but I know there's going to be more of them. Possibly a surprise guest too. (But you didn't hear that from me. :sneaky grin: ) Thanks for reviewing!

TamAra2187: Sorry about the miss-pronunciation of your name. I just saw it addressed as Tamara, so I though that was how it was. Thanks for correctin' me! That review was possibly the longest I've ever received! It makes me so happy. :grin: Yes, I pictured Hisoka to be a hottie too. Heh heh. I hope you continue to review even though I haven't updated in about a little over a month. I'm disappointed in myself. I'll try to update ASAP for the next chappy. Thanks for the review!

Nezuko: (if you read this far) Hey! I'm glad you like my story and I hope you're still reading it! Yeah, everyone liked Hisoka. :grin: But (as you can see in this chapter) I love death scenes. This one was particularly boring, though. If I put more time in it, it would have been good enough to make some people cry. That happens on occasion. (EMO TO THE MAX, BAYBAY!) Thanks for the review; I hope you continue reading!

Justforkicks (Gary):laughs: You might consider getting your own account, (if you're allowed. My brother wasn't allowed for a long time) before your sister busts you. I know I'd be a little erked if my brother played on my account. Heh heh. I hope you continue reading, thanks for the review!

v son sayian: Hey! Aren't accents amazing:squeal: That review sounds like an old fashioned cliff hanger:cracks up: "What will happen with the bro whose supposedly dead? Will Tetsu meet her father, and what will happen when she does?" Tune in next week for the awesome conclusion to, "Past Regrets!" :laughs at own joke: I kill myself. Thanks for the review!

krn-kimbap:laughs: Yes, it was a serious cliff hanger. But if you look at the clues, (the spots from the MANY chopsticks piercing him) you can figure that is was Masahiro. Yasuo is very, VERY dead. :giggle: I don't know if Naruto and Sakura will pair, but I'll see what I can do. You didn't hear that from me, though. :wink: