I do not own Naruto – if I did, Kakashi would really be great – like a Sannin etc etc etc… and we'd see what's under his mask.
READ AND REVIEW! OTHERWISE I CAN'T JUSTIFY THE WAY I SPEND MY TIME WRITING TO MY SIBLINGS!
Revelation of the Wolf: The Glory of the Hatake Clan
Pushing the Limits
As he reread the answer once again, Iruka sighed despondently. His usually cheerful smile was replaced by a worried frown, which even caused young Hyuuga Hanabi to pause.
I never got a chance to say goodbye.
"Sensei?"
Or even a thank you.
"Seeennnnnnseeeeeiiii!"
But then, why is that a surprise, considering the fact that he never likes to say goodbye?
"So you're leaving tomorrow on a mission?" Iruka probed quietly.
Kakashi shrugged – a slight lift in slouched shoulders.
"Aaaaa……" he drawled, his voice soft.
Iruka, however, wasn't an Academy institution for nothing. Underneath the smooth surface – as calm as a pond – he could feel tension, like the beginnings of a tsunami, rippling far and deep.
It was….. excitement, suppressed, contained, controlled.
"You're a masochist bastard, aren't you?" Iruka chuckled, exasperated.
"Aaaa." Kakashi nodded. "But no worries, I'll be back, safe and sound, without a scratch, just like the first time."
"Egotist." Snorted Iruka, who couldn't hide his relief.
"So no more weepy eyes at the gate."
"Weepy eyes?"
"C'mon. That night? Remember?"
"I WAS not 'weepy eyed' at the gate!"
"You had a pained expression, Iruka-sensei. No use denying it."
"That was from the hangover!" screeched Iruka, outraged – until he noticed Kakashi's shoulders shaking with quiet laughter.
He couldn't help but join his older friend.
It had been too long since he'd seen Kakashi laugh with an open heart.
"Well. It's not like you ever say goodbye anyways."
"Yeah. Well. When you've seen what I have, finality is rather…. Worrisome. It's like you will never see the person again…"
Iruka looked down at his sandaled feet, trying to remember all of his friends who had died – there had only been three. And his parents. So five. Five losses in total.
But Kakashi.
Kakashi had lost so much. His mother. His father. His teammates. His teacher. Although Kakashi never talked about it, never complained, Iruka had learned from the Sondaime that Kakashi's life had been one of many farewells. Teammates. ANBU mates.
I've been lucky, Iruka realized.
A week later, Kakashi wondered if he really was a masochistic bastard. Two kunai were lodged in his flak jacket – one deeper – hard up against his rib bone. Another deep gash ran down his left bicep, tied together quickly with a blood-stained kerchief.
Three men down. Six more to go.
Already wounded. He pulled out the two kunai with a grunt.
His eyes creased as he chuckled rather cynically to himself.
"It is important! The reason why I put the addition on is because Iruka-sensei may have the powers and abilities to get the bell, and may be able to work solo or with a team to acquire it ….. but a shinobi also must have the ability to finish his mission – which means thinking ahead and learning to reserve chakra."
"He's got a point……It's one thing to get a scroll from an enemy camp, it's another thing getting out of there and arriving in one piece to the kage's desk."
Genma. Genma. Genma.
That's the trick isn't it? Arriving in one piece to the kage's desk?
He jumped away quickly as the ground beneath him shifted and a hand shot out to grab his ankle. Trying to twist out of the strong grip, Kakashi groped and found the hilt of his sword.
He was running out of kunai too.
The silver-haired ANBU tried to pull away, only to meet a foot. It connected solidly with his jaw, nearly snapping his neck in two. Reeling away, Kakashi managed to pull out his sword and slice off the hand. Continueing the arc, he spun around, kicked his second attacker and buried his hilt into his enemy's chest.
Scrabbling out of the ground with one hand missing, the other one was sitting prey for Kakashi. Beheading the guy didn't even waste chakra, for which Kakashi was thankful.
Why didn't Tsunade give me a team? What's with the one man missions she's been giving me?
He leapt away and began to run – tree limb to tree limb – trying to find his bearings. Kakashi tried to remember where he was last when he first felt the stirrings of unease in the pit of his belly.
The forest he had been traveling through had been too quiet. There had been tension and a feeling of expectancy. When the attack came, it hadn't been much of surprise – although Kakashi hadn't really expected anybody to target him.
Nobody should know I'm in this vicinity. This was a top-secret mission. Tsunade-sama….. what was so important about that scroll that it couldn't be sent through bird?
Well…. It's not really my right to question why…. One more thing I hate about ANBU missions.
Suddenly, his hyperactive senses could smell it.
People. Lots of people. Animals. And…….. fumes?
Dropping out of the tree, casually, he walked down a dusty lane past small hovels, lean-tos and shacks. Then, came paved roads. And larger houses with bricks and tiles for roofs. Then, came heavy traffic and fumes. And the business quarters.
It was a city.
But which one?
Still…. Here, Kakashi could recoup for a while, hide his scent and then continue onto Konoha….. If he could find out where he was….
Kakashi looked around and found a café. Walking in, he heard screams and shouts. "Look there she is!" People jostled him as he ambled through the door and up to the counter.
Geez! It's just my luck that I picked a famous café! Aaaaa…. Well….
Leaning over the counter, Kakashi stared absent-mindedly at the selection.
"What do you like, sir?" asked a tiny female, behind the counter, staring at Kakashi curiously.
"Ummmm….. just tea…. With that cream cake…."
"Be right up!"
As he took his seat in a shadowed corner and waited, Kakashi looked around – there was a huge crowd around one table. The lights of flashbulbs lit the café and journalists jostled with TV reporters for prime questions and spots.
"Please, please…." A city official of some kind could be heard to say. "Let her have some room."
Kakashi fell into deep thought, while the crowd was forced outside.
These people are so crazy! Well…. I guess in Konoha we don't have a lot of celebrities…. The Hokage….. that little brat Konohamaru, who I often wished I could smack around – he was so annoying…. Well…. In a sense, as I told Naruto. All the heroes. All the celebrities are those found on the monument. And they were never able to hear the praise they deserved.
Resting his chin on his arm, Kakashi stared moodily at his tea cup swishing it around.
In that round pale circle of china he could see their faces.
Sensei, blonde hair waving in the wind.
Rin, looking up at the stars.
Obito, laying underneath a boulder seeing something else which no eye could see.
His two ANBU mates, lying dead in the snow, watching with unseeing eyes, the light snowflakes, no two the same.
"Kakashi?"
He had not noticed how quiet everything had gotten in the café. Kakashi looked up.
And met blue eyes, black hair, an oval face and long eyelashes. And a wide smile. No chance for dreaming though.
"KAKASHI-SAN!"
A small body hit him, nearly tipping his chair backward.
Kakashi found himself nose to nose with –
Raiden?
"Raiden-san?"
"Kakashi!"
"Fancy meeting you here," Megami said, with a warm voice and serious eyes.
Kakashi grinned and sweatdropped.
SHIT! SHIT!
"Well…. It's… uh… nice seeing you guys…"
What the hell….. On a mission….
Kakashi surreptiously eased his ANBU mask into his backpack, congratulating himself mentally again for not keeping his hitae ate on during the mission.
Raiden was chattering on about nothing and everything.
Kakashi just nodded, wondering how he could get away before everybody noticed that the stains on his clothes and body weren't paint.
"Raiden…. Go get the chauffeur, we're going to back to the hotel."
Raiden ran off and Megami stood up from the chair she had taken.
She looked down at the shinobi who sat slouched, at ease, seemingly harmless, who was looking down at the round tiled table and his cup of (now cold) tea.
"You're on a mission?"
"Aaaa…" The man hesitated. "Well…. It's done…. I just have to get home. What's this city's name?"
"You don't know the capital of Lightning Country when you see it?"
"Apparently not."
"Hmmm…. You look beat up…. Is that your blood?" She paused as Kakashi shifted in the shadows. "Yeah…. You need a doctor."
"I'll be fine," Kakashi said, softly. "I'll be off."
"Without saying goodbye to Raiden?"
"You can explain it to him."
"Why not you?"
"It's dangerous. There're guys after me – I don't know if they'll attack in such a public place as this…. I'm endangering the city as it is…."
"Kakashi."
There was a pause.
"How much blood have you lost?"
Another silence.
"You can't get up, can you?"
She sighed as he turned his head away from her.
What a stubborn man!
"C'mon. Let's get to the hotel, and we can try to contact your village for you."
Kakashi nodded slowly and slowly rose to his feet, pulling his backpack on lethargically. Although he didn't ask for help, Megami put her arm through his, steadying his swaying body and stumbling feet.
"No hospital." He mumbled.
"Right. Bed."
Sliding him into the limo, Megami smiled for the cameras before entering and driving away.
"Who d'you think that was?"
"Another boyfriend?"
"Too beat up…"
"But soooo hot!"
"You'd think an ape was hot."
"He so was sexy!"
"He looked old to me. Gray hair?"
"His face was young."
"You think Megami-san would do him?"
"Hmmmm…."
"Who wants to lay a bet on it?"
By the time Kakashi got to Megami's apartment, fatigue, blood loss and chakra depletion had taken its toll on him. Megami ended up forcing Li to half carry, half walk the Jounin to her bedroom.
Li smirked and whistled.
"Shut up, Li," Megami said in a business-like voice, as she unstrapped the shinobi's gear. "And DON'T touch."
She whisked the backpack away from her son's prying hands.
Raiden watched soberly as she lifted away the last protector and pulled off his shoes.
"Will he be okay?" he asked nervously.
"Yeah, baby, I think so…" Megami said, pushing away Kakashi's wild hair from his face – his closed eyelids. "I think he's out…"
"Can I help?" asked the young boy, with wide eyes.
"Go get some rags and hot water – in a bowl and the first aid kit – Mai will help you. Li… if you can't be a help, leave! And don't say a word of this to anyone. You too, Raiden – you tell Mai to keep her tongue still!"
Both boys nodded solemnly and left. Megami sighed and started to pull off the unconscious man's shirt. By the time Mai arrived with Raiden, Megami had Kakashi stripped and underneath a blanket.
"He really needs a bath." Megami sighed. "But I think that'll have to wait for later."
Her eyes ran over his pale skin, coated with grime and sweat.
"A sponge bath will do best," Mai said, kindly.
"Uh-huh," Megami said, thoughtfully.
A pause.
"You think his people need to be contacted?"
"How would we do that?" asked Mai.
"I'll write a note, Li can carry it to Fire Country's embassy and they can deal with it."
Li was sent off, Mai disappeared to cancel appointments and do the shinobi's laundry. Raiden became Megami's errand boy.
As she washed down Kakashi's body, Megami smiled softly. A year ago, if somebody had told her she would spend the time caring for, worrying over a lazy mutt of a man, she would have laughed hysterically.
But Kakashi had changed everything.
Now, she was talking more with Li, enjoying Raiden and learning to be less careless with other people's lives. Thinking about others.
Well, it wasn't hard to care for Kakashi.
He was definitely easy on the eyes – even unconscious, dirty and beaten up.
Her eyes, following the trail of droplets on his chest – across the washboard abdomen (deep cut and all), across the ribs, and the dusky nipples, drank in his pale beauty and her hands trembled across his skin. Trying to deny the deep unfurling of desire in her lower belly, Megami turned away, her breath shallow, as she rung out the rag and moved lower.
No.
It isn't hard to care for Kakashi.
And this time. Maybe….
UP NEXT! MEGAMI TENDS TO KAKASHI! KAKASHI'S BATTLE IN THE CITY! WHO WILL WIN? THE COPS OR THE SHINOBI?