Title: Admit Defeat
Author: Kisu
Rating: PG
Pairings: ?
A/N: Sorry for the wait, hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.
Chapter 15: Obito"Where the hell are you, Naruto?" Sasuke yelled as he slammed his phone down for the millionth time. With a harsh exhale of breath, he sat down on his leather sofa, staring intently at the phone for a few moments. The hand that was resting on top of his knee twitched as he fought the urge to dial Naruto's cell phone again.
"Master Sasuke." His housekeeper approached him and quietly placed a tray down onto the coffee table. With years of practiced experience from the Uchiha's infamous tempers, the housekeeper kept her hands steady as she held out the cup of tea that rested on a pretty white saucer.
Sasuke sighed and accepted the cup of tea. "Marie, you know that if I wanted a cup of tea I would get it myself."
"I think you'll die of thirst first before you give in on your stubbornness." Marie replied. She stood up and brushed the wrinkles out of her crisp white apron. "I have served your family for years, Master Sasuke."
"Marie, you were always like a second mother to me and Naruto." Sasuke replied. "You should let the other maids do the work."
"It's my joy to watch you grow up into a wonderful man, Master Sasuke." Marie replied warmly. "But…Master Naruto on the other hand…"
"I know." Sasuke sighed as he stared mournfully at the phone. Ring. Damn you. Ring.
"Please bring him back, sir." Marie murmured. "I feel that something terrible is going to happen soon."
Sasuke stared at the phone for a moment before reaching for it. Then, he dialed the numbers slowly. He never did use the redial button, because pounding on the keypad was a wonderful way to relieve stress. He raised the phone to his ear and held his breath as he waited for the other line to ring.
---
BRRING.
Kakashi stared at the cell phone with great interest before shifting his gaze to Naruto. Naruto was concentrating hard on the flashing screen of his phone but making no move to pick it up.
"Aren't you going to answer that?" Kakashi asked, finally.
"It's Sasuke." Naruto mumbled.
"Sasuke eh?" Kakashi exclaimed in delight. "I heard about him from Iruka!" With a quick motion, he leaned over and grabbed the cell phone from Naruto's side of the table. "Hello!"
"…"
"Professor!" Naruto gasped in shock.
"Not very conversational are you?" Kakashi asked, glancing at the screen. Yep. It was definitely Sasuke.
"Who are you?" The voice on the other line demanded. Kakashi blinked. This man had a wonderful baritone and the traces of anger in his voice made it send chills down Kakashi's back.
"Who are you?" Kakashi asked in return. He gave a broad wink to Naruto who was still staring at him in horror.
"Damn you! Why do you have Naruto's cell phone?" Sasuke yelled angrily. "If I find out who you are…"
"I'm Naruto's lover." Kakashi replied, happily. Silence was on the other line before he heard a choking gasp.
"What?"
"Professor!" Naruto cried, grabbing for the cell phone. Kakashi leaned back from the advances of the blonde.
"Professor?" Sasuke sounded suspicious. "Was that Naruto?"
"Oh yes, my pet name…" Kakashi grinned. "…in bed."
"Oh god." Naruto gasped before attacking the older man. People must have thought the pair was very strange, because Kakashi hit the floor rather hard with Naruto on top of him. The blonde quickly grabbed the phone away from Kakashi and jumped back. "Sasuke?"
"Naruto?" Sasuke asked. "Who the hell was that on the phone?"
"Don't believe anything he said, Sasuke." Naruto said, urgently. "He was my professor at Konoha University and Iruka's lover."
"Iruka?" Sasuke repeated. "Our teacher from middle school?" Naruto nodded earnestly into the phone and Kakashi raised an eyebrow.
"He can't see you, you know." He pointed out.
"Why do you insist on making my life a living hell?" Naruto hissed at him.
"Because it's fun!" Kakashi beamed. "Iruka never forgets to mention you, you know. He's always saying how smart you are and how you'll become a doctor someday…"
"I already am a doctor." Naruto reminded him.
"You see?" Kakashi replied. Naruto glared at him before resuming his conversation with Sasuke.
"I'm a little busy right now, Sasuke. I'll call you back later." Naruto said.
"Don't you dare hang up." Sasuke warned. "Do you know how many times I have called you? Where are you right now? That Haku is a bad influence on you! Tell me where you are! I'll come pick you up."
"Just give me a few days, Sasuke." Naruto murmured. Kakashi sat back down in his seat and Naruto eyed him warily. "I'll come back to you."
"Naruto-!"
Click.
"Well I think that went well didn't you?" Kakashi commented as he signaled the waitress to take his order. Naruto frowned and slipped his cell phone into his coat pocket.
"Now, tell me. What are you doing here, professor?" Naruto demanded.
Kakashi smiled mysteriously as the waitress walked over with a pad and pen in her hands. "One latte and a scone, miss." The waitress nodded and walked away. The man with silver hair that fell sexily over one eye turned around slowly and gave him a broad grin. "Let's just say, 'the road of life took me here'."
"You and your stupid excuses." Naruto huffed.
---
"Let's go! Let's go!" Haku cried as he rushed toward the door. Zabuza followed him, slowly putting on his jacket. Haku pulled it open the door and the two of them stared at the figure on their doorstep. The man stared back at him, finger already poised to ring the doorbell. Then he straightened and cleared his throat.
"Hello." He smiled, uncertainly.
"Mr. Umino!" Haku exclaimed in delight. "You're here so…early!"
"Iruka will do just fine. Where is Naruto?" He asked.
"Naruto's gone." Haku replied. "We're going out to look for him right now."
"Come to think of it, he left early too." Iruka mumbled. "Wait a second…"
"He?" Haku repeated, confusedly.
"You don't mean that stupid pervert, do you?" Zabuza spoke up.
"Kakashi!" Iruka scowled, rushing off the steps.
"Wait! Don't you have a class to teach today?" Haku called after him. But the man was already out of hearing distance in perusal of a certain dark-eyed man.
---
"Any girls lately?" Kakashi asked.
"No." Naruto frowned. "Why the hell are you here, anyways?"
"Because I love you!" Kakashi replied, messing up his hair with great enthusiasm. "You were my best student! Teaching wasn't the same after you graduated."
"You made my life a living hell in your class." Naruto reminded him, grimly.
"Because you were so damn introverted." Kakashi said. "Someone had to pull you out of your shell." Naruto glanced at him before turning back to stare out the window. Sensing the change in atmosphere, Kakashi waited until the waitress placed his scone and coffee in front of him. Then he let the silence stretch as he took a sip from his cup.
"You haven't told me why you're here." Naruto reminded him as he reached for his cup. Kakashi slowly placed his cup back onto its saucer and watched him solemnly.
"Your father was a great man." He said. Naruto's fingers tightened around the handle of his cup.
"I know." Naruto replied, calmly.
"He taught me many things when I was in Shinja." Kakashi continued.
"You were in Shinja?" Naruto whispered. "Are you here to take me to Orochimaru?" He shot to his feet and slammed his cup down onto the table and it shattered upon impact. Kakashi watched him calmly. "You'll never take me back!"
"Naruto, calm down." Kakashi said as he reached for his coffee cup.
"How much are they offering you, professor?" Naruto spat. He lashed out at the Kakashi's cup, sending it shattering to the floor. Kakashi stood up and in one fluid motion, grabbed Naruto's wrist.
"You are paying for those cups, Naruto." Kakashi told him. His visible eye glinted with hidden anger. "Now come with me."
"Hell no!" Naruto snapped before hissing in pain. Kakashi tightened his grip on his wrist and Naruto winced.
"Have you forgotten your past?" Kakashi asked as he leaned over him. "You were not the man that you are now. Did you remember your despair and your loss of hope?"
"No..." Naruto closed his eyes in an attempt to block him out.
"Crimson red weaves like silk; staining the floor with anger, and tears come slowly." Kakashi murmured.
"Shut up!" Naruto screamed.
"Kakashi!"
The intruding voice made Kakashi swiftly turn his head, so that the silver tendrils that fell over the left side of his face lifted up. Revealing to them the single scar that ran from his eyebrow and vertically down his eye.
Iruka stared at him angrily. "Let him go."
Slowly, Kakashi straightened and he lifted his fingers one by one. He released Naruto's wrist and the blonde buckled to his knees, falling to the floor. Iruka rushed over to Naruto and gathered him in his arms. "Kakashi that was uncalled for." Iruka frowned. "What made you react that way?"
"He must know the truth." Kakashi said, quietly. He reached up and his fingertips brushed his scarred eye.
"Kakashi. You got carried away." Zabuza spoke up from beside a furious Haku.
"Where were you planning on taking him?" Haku demanded. Kakashi slowly looked up and studied the slendar man. Then, his gaze shifted to the shaking blonde in Iruka's arms.
"His godfather wants to meet him." Kakashi murmured.
---
Iruka sat across from Kakashi, studying the somber man with sad eyes.
They had gone back to Zabuza and Haku's apartment and Haku was seeing Naruto to bed.
"For as long as I've known you, Hatake Kakashi…" Iruka began. "I've never seen you lose your cool."
"There are some things that you don't need to know about me." Kakashi replied. "You're better off being ignorant."
"That haiku you said to Naruto, shook him up pretty badly." Iruka frowned. "I want to know why."
"Crimson red weaves like silk; staining the floor with anger, and tears come slowly." Haku said as he entered the room with a tray of tea and rice crackers. "A poem that Naruto once wrote. Am I right?"
"There was a time when Naruto was unstable." Kakashi told them. "When he would never smiled, nor spoke. He sat in my class, in the very front row listening to my lectures on the human anatomy but never focusing. His gaze was always vacant and staring off into the distance. He had registered under the name of Uzumaki and I knew that the Uzumaki clan had been wiped out long ago. So I figured Naruto was the only son of Uzumaki Asato. A man that I betrayed."
"Uzumaki Asato?" Iruka repeated.
"A man I betrayed for power. The fault will be carried by me forever, etched into this scar." Kakashi continued. He moved back his hair that covered the left side of his face and opened his closed eye. The eye was the color of freshly spilled blood, crimson red and eerily inhuman.
"That is…" Zabuza stared.
"A trait of the Uchiha bloodline. On the brink of death, their eyes would turn a blood red." Kakashi explained.
"How did you obtain it?" Haku asked, feeling slightly sick from Kakashi's explanation.
"It was a parting gift from Uchiha Obito, who gouged out his eye by his very own hand." The silver haired man said.
"Uchiha Obito?" Zabuza nodded slowly. "He was a great man and destined to greatness. But he died at a very young age."
---
"Kakashi!"
The young man with silver hair swung around as a tall man with golden spikes and broad shoulders hurried toward him.
"Let go of me!" He screamed as the man placed a hand on his shoulder. He swung around, his left hand covering his left eye where rivets of blood trailed down his face.
"Kakashi, who did that to you?" The man asked, blue eyes wide with worry.
"None of your business!" Kakashi screamed. Uzumaki Asato straightened slowly, face devoid of expression.
"Forgive my intrusion, Master Kakashi." Asato said as he began to walk away.
Kakashi stared through his good eye. That was right, he had killed a man to get into Orochimaru's good graces. But today, the gang leader had been in a bad mood. So he had thrown a bottle of sake at his face and it shattered on the left side of his head.
Now he watched as Asato disappeared around the corner and a blue ball bounced to his feet. His gaze went up to the young boy who was watching him solemnly. His blue eyes so much like the man he had admired so much and betrayed his trust for Orochimaru.
"Forgive me." Kakashi whispered as he reached out to the innocent toddler boy. "Orochimaru requested for you."
"Kakashi! What are you doing?"
His concentration was once again broken as his best friend, Uchiha Obito walked up to him. "Your eye…" He reached out but Kakashi slapped his hand away.
Hiding his hurt expression, Obito bent down to pick up the ball at Kakashi's feet. "Naru-chan, your Okaasan is calling." Obito said, reaching out for the little boy.
"What are you doing?" Kakashi snapped. "He's mine!"
"What?" Obito started.
"Orochimaru wants me to take him to him!" Kakashi snarled, lunging forward.
"Your eye, Kakashi." Obito stared as Kakashi's hand slipped. "Can it ever be saved?"
"Don't act like you care, Uchiha! You are a Ryuujin! An enemy to Shinja and our leader!" Kakashi yelled. He had attacked Obito and everything became a blur after that.
But when he came to, he was lying in a bed with soft pillows and a warm blanket. His head had been wrapped with heavy gauze and bandages. Asato had walked in with his son hand in hand.
"His gift to you." Asato said, solemnly.
Kakashi didn't understand the mirror that sat at his bedside table. Not until the day the bandages came off and staring back at him was one crimson red eye.
A gift from Uchiha Obito.
---
Thump. They looked up to see Naruto at the head of the stairs with tears chorusing down his face.
"Naruto! You should be resting!" Haku gasped as he jumped up.
Naruto choked back a sob and closed his eyes.
"To die with eyes of red is to die with a broken heart." Naruto whispered. "Itachi died with his eyes red."
"The eyes are the windows of the soul. Red is the color of the soul bleeding."
---
TBC….XO I know this chapter sucks and it's short… The next chapter will be much better… This has just been sitting on my comp for far too long. R/R, comments, flames, food most happily welcomed! This was unedited so please don't shoot me.