A MISSION: The Land of Waves!
As the three genin hurried to the front gates, the slouched, but tall figure of their sensei started to form in their line of vision, the messy shock of silver on his head being the dead giveaway that he was Kakashi indeed.
But as they neared the lanky jonin, another man came into view, one with grayed hair and tanned, muscled arms from doing hard, laborious work for the majority of his long lifetime.
"…Old man Tazuna?" Naruto uttered in confusion, skidding to a stop in front of the two older males. Sakura and Sasuke also looked up at the elderly carpenter, their eyes glinting with recognition.
"Naruto! It's been a while, hasn't it?" Tazuna said cheerfully, genuinely glad to see the team again after so long. He was especially happy to meet the Uzumaki, since he'd helped Inari's bravery and optimism rise to the surface.
"It sure has, old man!" Naruto exclaimed with an ear to ear grin, "So, how's Inari?"
"He's training to become a fine carpenter, just like his old grand pops," Tazuna chuckled gruffly, scratching the back of his head and pointing a calloused thumb to his chest.
"And none of those bullies mess with him anymore!" he added proudly. Naruto's grin only widened. Sakura stepped up with a small smile, leaving Sasuke standing behind the two of them.
"What about Tsunami? How's your daughter?" she asked politely, hands clasped behind her back.
"Tsunami? She's fine, takes care of her two boys very well," the bridge builder answered with a hearty laugh, "Oh, and those two boys would be me and Inari, of course!"
Kakashi sighed at their exhaustive small talk and shifted his weight impatiently, his gloved hands stuffed deep into his pockets.
"Um, guys…I think we should get going," he prompted, expression bored and passive as always.
"Heh, let's go then. I can't wait to get home and eat dinner with my family, anyway," Tazuna proclaimed loudly, turning his attention to the team's leader.
Kakashi started toward the open gates without a word, the others following after him. Naruto and Sakura immediately assumed positions on either side of Tazuna, while Sasuke took the back, sullenly gazing at those ahead of him.
"Where are you guys going?" Kotetsu drawled curiously, seeing the group venturing outside of the gates. Kakashi threw a lethargic glance at the chunin, secretly relieved that he was on duty instead of Genma, or Raidou, especially Anko. He certainly didn't want them, or anyone else for that matter, to be asking questions about the 'incident' at the bar.
"We have an escort mission to the Land of Waves," he told him simply, adjusting the straps of the seemingly heavy backpack on his shoulders. Kotetsu nodded curtly, approving of his reason to exit the village.
With the granted permission, the copy ninja started to trudge further away from the hidden leaf, distancing him from easily accessible medical care with every slow, unhurried step that he took.
They were walking along a wide, dirt path, ensconced by tall trees on both sides. The old carpenter and his three students were following closely behind him, talking animatedly about petty topics, such as their zodiac signs, or favorite colors.
Sighing, the Hatake pulled out his familiar, orange colored book from his ninja pouch, and turned to the first page, deciding that he might as well entertain himself for however long the journey was about to take.
Kakashi would at least be able to enjoy his favorite read for a good chunk of the morning before a "headache" became too prominent, since he'd taken his prescribed medication right before body flickering to the training grounds.
Although he was busy reading in the front, he couldn't help but hear little snippets of what the rest of the group was talking about.
"What about you, Sasuke, what's your favorite color?" Sakura crooned, trying to include the ever quiet Sasuke in the conversation.
"Hn," the Uchiha grumbled, "I don't have one."
Naruto didn't take long to retaliate.
"You can't be serious! I've always thought your favorite color was dark blue or something!" Naruto exclaimed in astonishment.
"I've already told you," Sasuke started, crossing his arms, "Navy is not my favorite color."
"Then why do you wear it all the time, huh?!" The blonde said in exasperation, not understanding why Sasuke refused to admit that he did indeed love dark blue as a color.
"Yeah, I agree with Naruto, for once. I wear red and Naruto dresses in orange every day because those are our favorite colors. You can't just wear the same color every day and not have some kind of connection with it," Sakura added shrilly, disagreeing with her crush for once.
Sasuke just clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"I only wear navy blue because I hate most other colors. Like red. And especially orange," he argued, not really in the mood to talk anymore.
Sakura sunk into herself, her face falling with disappointment that Sasuke disliked something about her. Naruto just got even more riled up, his chest puffing out as if he had something to prove.
"Orange is a GREAT color!…And so is red, ya know!" Naruto added quickly, the passion coming off of him in waves, that didn't seem to affect the Uchiha, of course.
"No it's not," Sasuke articulated firmly.
"Is too!"
"Is. Not."
"IS TOOO!"
"It is not!"
Tazuna face palmed at their childish bickering, his face scrunching up in annoyance.
"Hey! Shut up! I thought that at least you would be more mature, broody!" he exclaimed. The bridge builder got them to quiet down, but he also caused Sasuke's scowl to deepen even further.
"What'd you just call me?" the Uchiha asked rhetorically, his voice menacingly low and quiet.
"You didn't hear me the first time? And I thought I was the old one…" Tazuna muttered obliviously, scratching the top of his head of graying hair in confusion.
"Are you stupid or-" Sasuke started vehemently, before getting interrupted.
"Enough, all of you!" Kakashi called from the front, finally deciding that it was time to intervene. He kept his gaze focused on his favorite literature, not even glancing back at them.
He was successful in shutting them up; an awkward silence had settled around the group. Not that Kakashi minded, anyway—he actually enjoyed the unsettlement of those around him. They walked in the same tense quietness for a few moments, until Naruto spoke up.
"Hey, sensei, Kakashi-sensei!" he shouted excitedly, although the man was only a few feet ahead of him.
"Hm…?" the jonin grunted in response, his dark orbs skimming over the never ending kanji before him as he continued to trudge along the dirt path.
By that point, he'd started to experience a dull throbbing in his head, but it was nothing that he couldn't handle. At the same time, however, Kakashi felt less inclined to partake in any conversation; he felt that if he did, it would tire him out quicker.
"What's your favorite color, huh?" the blonde questioned curiously, unaware of the glares he was getting from his two teammates, and even the old carpenter.
"Don't ask that, you idiot! Didn't you see what just happened?!" Sakura hissed. Tazuna nodded in agreement.
"Yep, she's right, Naruto. Ya don't want your sensei to react like broody, right?" the bridge builder explained, gazing down at the hyperactive child. Sasuke bore a hole into Tazuna's back at that, but it wasn't like the old man noticed.
"Yeah, yeah, makes sense!" the Uzumaki said quickly, squinting up at him and nodding vigorously in understanding.
"Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto tried again, looking intently at the copy nin's slouched back.
"Yes, Naruto?" Kakashi responded casually, pretending as if he hadn't just witnessed their whole conversation.
"What's your zodiac sign?!
Zodiac signs? Seriously?
Kakashi stroked his masked chin, pretending as if he were deep in thought.
"…My birthday's on the fifteenth of September," he started with a contemplative tone, "So I guess that would make me a Virgo."
"You know, now that I think of it…you do act like a Virgo, sensei…" Sakura mused.
"…Wow, really?" Kakashi drawled listlessly, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone, licking a thumb to turn another one of the worn pages of his book. In truth, he didn't particularly care to talk about astrology; people who actually believed in it had always slightly annoyed him.
"Well, first of all, you're really meticulous—I mean, you pay close attention to details. Remember the last time we had to go to the Land of Waves? It was you who deduced that Zabuza was still alive by being really picky and critical of the whole battle," she explained, everyone's attention drawn to her, "That hadn't even occurred to me until you gave the evidence!"
"Well, that's how you'll be too, when you become a jonin…" Kakashi told her simply, reading the same page over and over again while simultaneously talking to Sakura and inspecting his surroundings for any threats.
"Fine, I guess that makes sense," Sakura accepted, "But what about how reserved you are? The first time we met, the only thing that you revealed in your introduction was your name!"
"Hm…perhaps you're right after all, Sakura...You sure do know a lot about Zodiac signs," the Hatake replied monotonously, trying his best to politely validate her unnecessarily long observation, even though he definitely disagreed.
Sakura blushed modestly, twiddling her thumbs.
"Yeah, Sakura, it's awesome that you know so much!" Naruto added, perhaps in an attempt to win her over.
"Well, actually…Back in Kunoichi class, Ino-pig and I used to make trivia cards on the signs and quiz each other later, for fun. I know it sounds kind of cliché, but I guess it kind of helped me to…find out who I am…" Sakura told them uneasily.
"What kind of name is Ino-pig?" Tazuna asked with a snort, diminishing the nervous energy that had settled around them.
"Ino-pig is just a nickname, gramps!" Naruto explained with a few loose guffaws.
"Yeah…her real name is Ino. She is-I mean she used to be my friend…but now, we're rivals!" Sakura said with a raised fist, her face set in determination.
"And she's an annoying fan girl, too," Sasuke added tersely, rolling his eyes. Sakura flinched and lowered her fist, her expression softening ruefully. For some reason, when Sasuke said that, it made her feel bad. The kunoichi almost felt guilty for not defending the Yamanaka.
"You know, broody, you've got a serious attitude problem," Tazuna told Sasuke seriously upon noticing Sakura's gloomy mood. Naruto nodded his head furiously in agreement, clutching his stomach as he laughed at Sasuke's expense.
"He does, he does!"
Sasuke scowled in annoyance, his fists clenched tightly to keep himself from punching the man that they were supposed to be protecting.
"Hey, we're here, guys," Kakashi informed them, stopping in front of a boat dock. The rest of the group had been so involved in their pointless conversations that they hadn't even noticed the disappearing trees, or that they were getting closer to the body of water in the far distance.
"Wow, already?!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise.
"Yeah…Now we just have to take a boat to the Land of Waves, and drop Mr. Tazuna off," Kakashi said with a fatigued sigh, strolling down the wooden dock that extended onto the vast body of water. He raised a gloved palm and waved for a paddler to come over.
An old man with a gnarled face got the signal and started rowing his empty boat towards the group, the water rippling every time he thrust the long paddles into the water.
The copy ninja stepped aside to let the others board the watercraft before he did so himself, crossing his arms as he waited. They slowly lowered themselves off of the wooden surface of the dock, the boat creaking underneath the pressure of their weight as they stepped onto it.
Sakura and Naruto immediately took the front, gazing in wonderment at the dark sea sloshing beneath them. Sasuke got on without a word and cautiously sat down in the middle, crossing his legs.
After seeing that Tazuna had also taken a seat, Kakashi brought himself down into the rocking boat, careful not to lose his balance. He occupied the space between Sasuke, and his other two students, who were now both smiling as they caught sight of small fish flickering in the depths of the water.
The Hatake nodded curtly to the paddler, upon noticing that the old man had been patiently looking to him for a signal to start rowing toward the pier.
He exhaled and extended his long legs, attempting to lean back, but to no avail. His backpack was boring into his spine, preventing him from enjoying the experience to its full extent. Kakashi frustratedly removed the damn thing and hastily plopped it onto his lap, heaving another sigh.
Let's try this again.
The copy ninja slumped against the side of the boat, his head nodded forward in exhaustion. As much as Kakashi hated to admit it, he was tired. Really, really tired. The fact that his muscles ached as if he had ran the whole of the journey, truly made him despise his body. Like, come on, he hadn't even really used any chakra.
And on top of that, it had become sharply apparent by that point that his medication had "worn off". Kakashi would be kidding himself if he said that the headache was faint, or if he told himself that it was something he would be able to handle on a day to day basis. The pain bloomed at the crown of his skull and radiated in waves all the way down to his jawline.
He closed his sore, dry eyes and massaged his throbbing temples in an attempt to soothe his pounding head, one of the only things he really could do at the moment. If Kakashi was allowed, he would have greedily taken the pills stowed away in his backpack already, but unfortunately, he was strictly prohibited to taking them only twice a day—once in the morning and once at night.
Kakashi wiped the sweat accumulating on his clammy brow, only to have more perspire there in an instant. Unfortunately for him, the fog had decided to dissipate that day, so the sun was shining brightly on the back of his head and chafing his neck, making him even more uncomfortable than he already was.
"What's wrong?"
Sighing deeply, he squinted his visible eye open and glanced to his left, where Sasuke was looking at him apprehensively, the faintest hints of concern tingeing his usually impassive expression.
"Are you…okay?" Sasuke started shyly, as if the words were too foreign to come out of his mouth.
"Yeah. Why do you ask?" Kakashi replied simply, granting his student a full view of his face, which made his frown only deepen.
"What's wrong with you?" The genin said more sternly, his brows furrowing tensely as he inspected his sensei even further. And he was right; Kakashi certainly didn't look his best at the moment.
His visage lacked color, and was clammy with perspiration that hadn't accumulated on any of his students' flushed faces. He had pronounced dark circles under his lidded, bloodshot eyes, and in addition to that, his pained breathing was starting to become audible, his chest rising and falling with every strained inhale and exhale.
"What are you talking about…I'm fine," the jonin reassured his student, waving off his concern, and trying his best to keep himself upright.
I need to get it together…
He blinked slowly, tightly closing his moist eyelids in an attempt to ward off the sudden blurring of his vision.
"You're not fine," Sasuke stated dryly, placing a reluctant palm on Kakashi's clammy forehead, who was too exhausted to fight back, "You look worse than you did this morning…"
The surface was cool to the touch, no fever whatsoever, so his theory about Kakashi having a common cold, or maybe the flu, was proven wrong. The Uchiha retracted his now moist hand and wiped it onto his white shorts, even more confused than before.
"Don't worry…I'm just…tired," Kakashi brought out with difficulty, the ringing in his ears getting louder with every passing moment. The blood steadily drained from his face, making him look scarily blanched.
The jonin inhaled shallowly and put a shaky hand to his brow, his heavy head leaning loosely into his fingers.
"Kakashi?" Sasuke said uneasily, sitting up in alarm at his sensei's worsening condition. Sakura and Naruto, having heard their teammate's disturbed cry, whipped their heads around to look back at the rest of the group.
"Kakashi-Sensei? What's the matter?" Naruto cried out immediately upon noticing how ill and unsteady his teacher looked. His eyes were dim and glazed over, as if he wasn't fully there, and he was deeply hunched forward, his shoulders heaving up and down with his visibly labored breathing.
"Sensei?!" The Uzumaki repeated intently when he didn't get a response, shifting his position so that he was right in front of the ailing man.
To Kakashi, their worried voices seemed far off, as if he were underwater and someone was trying to speak to him from the surface. He groaned incoherently, feeling nauseatingly light-headed.
"Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura exclaimed worriedly, jolting forward and placing a hand on his slumped shoulders. By that point, even Tazuna had scooted over in concern, remarking that the man "didn't look too good".
Kakashi exhaled shakily, his eyes rolling back into his head, and his muscles losing their tone. He crumpled into a limp heap, falling sideways, onto Sasuke. The Uchiha caught him by the shoulders with a grunt, straining to hold the dead weight of a grown man. All of their gazes, even the bridge builder's, were fixed on the unconscious ninja, and wide with shock and concern, as his sudden collapse was completely unexpected.
It was Tazuna who first spoke up.
"We should lay him down. Come on now, we can't keep him in that position forever, can we?" the carpenter prompted, taking the lead. The three Genin nodded in solemn agreement, and lowered Kakashi onto the base of the wooden boat, placing a T-shirt that Naruto had procured from his overstuffed backpack under the jonin's head.
The group sat around his form in silence, nervously waiting for him to regain consciousness. Sakura lightly dabbed his damp forehead with a small, pink handkerchief that she had brought along with her, claiming that he would be more comfortable if his face was "dry".
Finally, with the town slowly forming in the distance, Kakashi began to reclaim his lucidity.
He opened his eyes, blinking several times to make his surroundings a bit clearer. Upon glancing up, he saw that his students were surrounding his form, their round faces twisted into varying expressions of intense worry. Kakashi sat up stiffly with a small grunt, a hand clutching his throbbing head.
"Kakashi-sensei?! Are you alright now?" Sakura asked out of relief that he'd regained consciousness, her hands clasped to her chest.
"Yeah…" he croaked, looking down at his lap. They observed him skeptically, none of them believing his claim.
"Water! Get him some water!" Sakura called out authoritatively. Naruto nodded vigorously and immediately started to search through the many contents of his messily packed rucksack. Before he could come up with the requested item though, Sasuke reached into his neat belongings and offered the kunoichi a plastic water bottle, who then forced it into Kakashi's hands.
"Here, sensei."
He gave a small, hesitant nod in thanks, before opening the cap and looking at them dubiously. At the moment, his mind was too blank to come up with a clever solution to keeping his face a secret.
Naruto, seeming to understand Kakashi's dilemma, ordered everyone to turn away.
"Hey! Don't look at Sensei! Turn around!" Naruto exclaimed firmly, turning the other direction himself. The rest of them shifted the other way without argument, their gazes settling on the vast body of water that they were traveling across.
Tazuna was especially confused that he had to look away at first, thinking, how could such a feared ninja be so shy?
Kakashi quickly pulled down his mask and guzzled the cool liquid rather greedily, drinking all of it in the end. After telling them, much to his chagrin, that it was okay to look, he placed the empty container into Sakura's readily outstretched hand, most of the color restored to his complexion.
"What happened, sensei? Why did you faint like that?" Naruto asked him seriously, his cerulean orbs locking with Kakashi's dark, exhausted gaze.
Realizing that they were starting to become suspicious, the jonin felt the urge to reassure them with a crescent eyed smile.
"Ah, it's nothing, really. I skipped out on dinner last night and also missed breakfast today, since I was in a hurry. I guess I was pretty dehydrated too. I really do need to start drinking more water…" he said quickly, still a bit drowsy. It wasn't completely a lie, but it wasn't even close to the truth.
Sasuke looked at him skeptically, eyes narrowing as if he were trying to read Kakashi's mind. He knew that something was wrong—that much was obvious.
What are you hiding, Kakashi?
"You're a grown man, aren't you? Honestly, start taking care of yourself like you're supposed to," Tazuna rebuked obliviously.
"I-I would give you something to eat, but I didn't pack any food…" Sakura said softly, her eyes shining with undiluted worry.
He said he missed breakfast the last time, too…
"And the only thing I packed was cup ramen! I would give it to you right now, if it weren't for the three minutes needed to heat it up!" Naruto exclaimed, cursing the three minutes needed to cook his ramen. Kakashi smiled genuinely, touched by their concern.
"It's okay, I have my own food…" he told them quietly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment at all the attention he was getting.
Before Tazuna could invite the team to dinner, per se, the paddler pulled into the pier, rowing to a stop in front of another wooden dock, one that led into the village.
The team thanked him for the ride and started to get off, Kakashi going first this time. There was a small, wooden ladder extending beneath the landing stage to help them climb to the surface, but the danger of falling back into the deep depths of the water below them was still present.
Once everyone's feet were firmly planted onto the surface of the bridge, they started toward Tazuna's humble abode, Kakashi's backpack weighing down on his shoulders yet again.
"Well, this is it," Tazuna told his escorts. The group had stopped in front of the front door of his quaint home, finally arriving a little before evening, after a whole tiring day of traveling.
"…I guess we should take our leave, then," Kakashi said stonily, his hands tucked deep into his pockets. He pivoted on his heel to start the journey back home, ignoring the disappointed faces of his students—well, Sakura and Naruto's disappointed faces, because Sasuke didn't really care if they stayed or not.
"Hey, wait!" Tazuna called frantically, "Why don't you stay for dinner?" Kakashi paused mid step, turning back around. He glanced down at his genin; two of the three flushed, sweaty faces had lit up at the offer.
"No, no, I don't want to impose," Kakashi politely started for all of them, "And if we want to reach the Inn by nightfall, then we need to leave as soon as possible. Tazuna crossed his muscled arms, unimpressed.
"Oh, come on! You practically collapsed today, so at least stop to eat something! It's not "imposing", cause I'm sure my family will be glad to see you guys again," Tazuna encouraged loudly, " And I'd be more than happy to let you guys stay here for the night. Being a family of only three people, we have some extra space."
Kakashi scratched his forehead, a thoughtful gaze fixed on the wearing straps of his blue sandals. The Jonin's students looked up at him expectantly, quietly waiting for his approval.
*Grumble, grumble*
Kakashi's head shot up in the direction of the unmistakable sound of churning stomach acids. He found himself staring at an uncharacteristically flustered Sasuke, who was clutching his rumbling stomach as if doing so would shut it up. Naruto held a hand to his mouth to halt his laughter, but loud snorts escaped through anyway. The copy ninja lightly chuckled himself, looking back at Tazuna.
"Well, as long as it's fine with you…" Kakashi answered sheepishly, approving of the idea. Naruto and Sakura cheered simultaneously, giving each other ecstatic high fives without even realizing it. Sasuke just pouted and averted his eyes, a faint blush still dusting his pale cheeks.
"Great! I'm sure you'll love my daughter's cooking!" Tazuna boasted happily as he slid open the Japanese styled door and strolled into the small house, taking his shoes off at the entrance. The rest of them followed him in, also leaving their sandals by the front door.