A/N: Sorry for the delay! Exams are coming up at the end of this month and things are heating up! XD
The medic, the Hyuuga that sees Kakashi at the ANBU headquarters, soon arrives at the estate. Kakashi lets her through the shimmering wards immediately. "Where's the child?" she asks in her usual no-nonsense manner, sparing Kakashi a brief once-over for injuries. Kakashi points her to the house, and she nods briefly. "Inoichi-san says that he's preparing the things you'd asked him for."
"Great, I should go over to T&I then. Please stay behind the wards until we send someone to collect you. I will leave the children in your hands."
She frowns. "I don't know what's happening, but be careful, Hatake-san."
Kakashi smiles faintly. "I will." They part ways there, the Hyuuga medic fast on her way to the house and Kakashi sprinting towards the village centre.
However, it isn't long before Kakashi is intercepted.
"Senpai!" The ground explodes into dirt and wood and Kakashi leaps into the air, barely avoiding the twisting columns of wood reaching for him. Sakumo's heart skips, a gasp escaping him as the columns crash into one another, sending wood chips raining down. Underneath the shower stands Kinoe, his masked face upturned towards Kakashi.
"Kinoe," Kakashi gasps, hitting the ground with a roll and steadying himself with a hand braced against the ground. He glances about— they are still far away from the city centre and no-one is around. "Don't do this."
There is a clap and more wood bursts from the dirt. Kakashi leaps forward, kunai flashing into his hand to parry the jutsu. It's tremendously difficult to counter solid wood with just a kunai, however, and soon the weapon's edge dulls. Kakashi scowls and throws it to the side.
Gritting his teeth, Kakashi seizes his right wrist with his left hand. A split second later, lightning spills from his palm and the air fills with a screech, stray sparks of electricity sizzling through Sakumo and Rin as they scurry away from the fight.
"Kakashi, no!" Rin cries, shielding her eyes from the light.
"Don't make me fight you, Kinoe," Kakashi growls. "I know you don't want to do this. I can get you out from ROOT."
The boy wavers, his mokuton creaking as its growth slows. His mask renders his expression unreadable, but Sakumo can see the regretful slump of his shoulders. "Senpai..."
Before any of them can react, a black snake shoots out of the undergrowth and sinks its fangs into Kakashi's foot, striking for that small portion of exposed skin at the back of his heel.
Kakashi yelps in alarm, his leg snapping out in a swift kick. The snake is sent flying, but it has given Kinoe enough time to wrap Kakashi up tight with a few solid bands of mokuton. Kakashi grunts and struggles weakly, his face blanching as the poison rapidly takes effect.
His Chidori soon sputters out, leaving him slumped in the mokuton jutsu's grasp as Sakumo and Rin watch in wide-eyed alarm. Rin is there with him immediately, her hand on his brow as she frowns in concentration.
"Well," a low, raspy voice says as Orochimaru emerges from the trees, flicking stray leaves off his sleeve. "That takes care of things." His yellow eyes narrow in satisfaction at the sight of Kinoe's jutsu. "Looks like you weren't a failure of an experiment after all."
"You... bastard..." Kakashi gasps, teetering on the brink of unconsciousness but protective all the same. "He's... a person."
Orochimaru ignores him. "Take him back to Danzou."
"Yes, sir."
"No," Sakumo breathes in horror, his fists clenching as Kakashi slumps, fainting dead away. "Not now."
Rin looks up, her face pale as well. "What do we do?"
"You haven't killed him, have you?" Danzou asks dryly when Kakashi is deposited before him, the mokuton binds around him withering away into nothing. Rin is already on her way to Hyaku and Kagami to inform them of the sudden change in situation.
Kinoe shakes his head. "No, Danzou-sama. Orochimaru-sama poisoned him. He says it will wear off with time."
Danzou sighs, looking over Kakashi's unconscious form with cold eyes. "I don't suppose there has been any word about the runaways."
"Not yet, sir," Hinoto replies, dutifully by Danzou's side as always. "Though Hatake must have hidden them somewhere. Shall we interrogate him, sir?"
Danzou taps his fingers against his face as he considers and Sakumo grits his teeth, seething. "No, leave him in solitary. I'm certain that he has them in the Hatake estate. Those wards... what a headache. We'll see what Orochimaru can do, but either way, I'll have to teach this brat a lesson."
He presses his hands together in several rapid seals, but nothing happens. Sakumo frowns, but the ROOT agents are taking Kakashi's limp form by his arms and dragging him away, down towards the basement cells. Sakumo's head spins— it hurts to see his son being treated so roughly. Yet he has to draw upon all his years spent on the field to assess the situation rationally. Kakashi's mission depends on it.
Incorporeal as the older Hatake is, he is unable to reveal to anyone Kakashi's location. But they still have a card to play, don't they? The flare of chakra from Kakashi's Chidori would have surely raised some eyebrows. Orochimaru's presence at the Hatake estate will also spark questions. And Inoichi should be searching for Kakashi soon, if he hasn't already begun.
Danzou doesn't know it, but Kakashi has gone missing under the most suspicious circumstances. There is no way that Kakashi's allies will let his disappearance go without a word, not when their plans have already begun rolling with that phone call earlier. As he follows them down to the lower floors of the ROOT headquarters, these thoughts are the only comforts that he can cling to.
The only thing he can do now is to kill Danzou. Sakumo would have done that in a heartbeat if he hadn't been plagued by fears of ruining everything that Kakashi has worked so hard for. With the plan having just begun, there is a real chance that Hiruzen might simply sweep everything under the carpet and declare it distasteful to speak ill of a dead man. Others might think it a waste of time to investigate into a dead man's past.
Sakumo bites his lip. Then there is Kagami. He cannot figure out what that man is thinking. Kagami is honourable, but when it comes to his old friend, he seems like a different person. He'd said that he'd already tried to kill Danzou once; but that had obviously failed. Perhaps he'd faltered on account of their friendship.
Sakumo is sure that should he try to fight Kagami, he would lose.
"Don't act hastily," says the very voice that Sakumo has been dreading.
Sakumo whirls around, his hand twitching towards where his tantou used to lay against his back. "Kagami-sama," he says, his voice straining. He drops his hand. "I wasn't going to." It is a half-truth. He hadn't decided yet.
Kagami gives him a warning look as he steps past him and into the basement cells. Each one has a solid door inscribed with seals. Sakumo's hand itches for his tantou as the ROOT agents push Kakashi limp form into one of the cells and slams the door. From the brief glimpse he'd gotten, the cell's interior is smaller than expected and absolutely bare, with nothing but a small gap under the door for air, small morsels of food, or a shallow bowl of water. Sakumo's heart grows cold at the thought of Kakashi being shut in that cramped, pitch black cell.
"I'm sorry," Kagami says, regret written in the lines bracketing his mouth. "But there are things you don't understand about the situation."
"Then explain to me," Sakumo demands, unable to keep the snarl out of his voice. He wants to grab him by the lapels and shake him.
"Danzou won't let Kakashi die," Kagami says, avoiding the question. "Kakashi is too valuable to him."
Something inside Sakumo snaps. "Are you even on our side?" Sakumo accuses, disgust curling his lip. "This is my son, I can't just sit back and let Danzou torture him. Can you even imagine—"
"Do you want me to use Kotoamatsukami on you?"
Sakumo gaze flinches away.
"I will, if I have to." The Uchiha's voice is dangerously quiet.
Sakumo swallows, suddenly aware of the low buzz of the Uchiha's chakra as he approaches. Kagami grasps his shoulder and he twitches. "Just so we're on the same page," Kagami whispers, "I'll kill you if you do anything to Danzou."
Sakumo inhales sharply, speechless. Kagami pats his shoulder once and leaves.
Sakumo can't see Kakashi, but he can tell from the change in his breathing that he has woken up. His shuddering inhale quickly turns into a choke and a cough, the kind that he gets when the silencing seal garrotes him. 'So that's what Danzou did,' Sakumo realises, his jaw tightening.
Kakashi wheezes as he shuffles around the room, feeling out the walls. His breaths turn panicked when he realises that there is nothing but the small gap under the door. Sakumo knows from the hours he's spent here waiting for Kakashi to wake that there is no breeze, not even a draft. The air is cooler outside and slightly less stuffy, but it is just as dark in the hallway as it is inside. Kakashi scratches under the door, a barely audible whine escaping him. The plaintive sound lances through Sakumo's heart.
"Kakashi..." Rin murmurs, her voice loud in this tiny chamber, but Kakashi cannot hear her. He continues feeling around the room, his clothes rustling he moves about, and his breaths heavy with fear. It's strange to feel Kakashi's tentative hands pass through them, and Kakashi shudders as well, snatching back his hands before waving them around again. Sakumo and Rin withdraw to the opposite corner, and Kakashi hesitantly feels out the corner they had vacated.
It's horrible just to think about it. Fumbling around blind and not even able to speak due to the silencing seal— it won't take long for most people to break.
He can hear the grind of Kakashi's teeth, and a moment later, Chidori flares into being with a screech. Rin shrieks and shoots out of the cell, but Sakumo catches a glimpse of Kakashi's unmasked face, lit from below by his jutsu. His Sharingan blazes a wild red as he thrusts his hand towards the door, but he is still weak from the poison, and the seals on the door are strong. The lightning skitters and breaks into a sizzling paths of light, shooting along the walls and throwing sparks onto the ground. Kakashi whirls around to follow the electricity's path as it fizzles along the seals etched into the cell, but it only shows him that the cell's defences are complete.
Penned in on all sides by chakra dissipating seals, the last thing Sakumo sees as the light fades is Kakashi's despondent expression. The young shinobi pants heavily, the sound of his exhausted breaths echoing off the walls and making the cell seem even smaller.
Reluctant to leave Kakashi but worried for Rin all the same, Sakumo feels his way outside. "Rin?" he whispers.
"I'm fine," comes a squeak somewhere down the hall. Sakumo gets up into a low crouch and puts his hands before him, patting the air.
"Rin, I'm coming over."
His hand touches her soft hair and they both startle. "S-Sakumo-san."
"Oh dear." He hugs her carefully and realises that she's shaking. "Rin, I think you should go. Danzou's doing this to hurt Kakashi and I'll be damned if I let you get hurt too."
"But..." she sputters. He can hear the shame in her voice even without looking at her. He sighs.
"Kakashi won't want you trapped here in the dark too. It'll... it'll just be a while, and help will come soon. Inoichi and the others will make sure of it."
He has to believe that. He hasn't told Rin about what Kagami had said; he needs to think about this carefully.
She hugs him back tight. "I'll go ask Hyaku about the seals," she whispers. "Maybe she can do something."
"That sounds good," Sakumo agrees, relieved.