Dreams of Demons
A/N- I would applaud all those who tried to guess just what I had in store for Kakashi. Some were…unique…others played to the physiological suffering. All were good but all wrong. I'm kinda proud of myself because of that. Now go on and read the chapter, enjoy it!
Truth of the Sharingan
How long ago had he heard her speak those fateful words in his ear? His mask long since torn off and he ran through the black cave as fast as he could. The white haired child ran in the bleak darkness, not knowing if he ran toward an exit or if he merely progressed deeper into the underground prison. Something tugged at his wrist and he turned quickly, striking with a kick to dislodge whatever had grabbed him. Oh no…kami-sama…not Rin.
The kunoichi cried out when her teammate's foot collided with the arm she managed to raise in a block. She sat on the ground, whimpering. "Please, Kakashi-san. Don't hurt us anymore. Just leave us. Let us die in peace!"
A soft glowing light surrounded the girl, leaving all else in the same pitch black. Rin cried while holding onto a familiar pair of goggles. Obito. "I'm sorry, where is he? Can we save him?"
When the nightmare had first started, Kakashi believed it was only a sick and twisted genjutsu, but – as time went on – he forgot. He succumbed to the illusion, lost in a dream world so intricate it was as if it came from his own mind. The pinprick marks on his arm faded, and he dismissed the occasional suffocating smoke as just another part of the never ending cave that tormented him. He had to find his team, and he had to save them, but each time he failed. Now he had done even worse. He had hurt Rin.
"She hates you."
Kakashi spun looking for the source of the voice. It has to be a stone nin! Has to!
"I hate you Kakashi-san." Rin spoke as she curled around the goggles. "Obito hated you too. You left me, even after I healed you! You left me to be raped and killed! You left Obito to suffocate under those bolders and stole his eye for power! You're DISGUSTING! LOWER THAN THE LOWEST TRASH! YOU FEED ON IT, LIKE A COCROACH, WORSE THAN A ROACH!"
Kakashi backed away from the screaming figure of his old teammate and looked down at his hands. I am worse. I let them down. All for the mission. A stupid mission and a stupid village. Kakashi began to cough as smoke filled his lungs and the world tipped once again. Everything dulled, and he floated in a void as a bodiless voice whispered to him. "You left Obito, crushed. Can't you imagine his pain, his final thoughts?"
"No…he was…"
"Kakashi. You made Jounin before us, but you shouldn't have." A mutilated corpse slurred out. Half of his jaw sagged, hanging only a by a single strand of muscle. Yellow jelly dripped down the same side of his face, and an empty socket stared out from the one intact side. His leg dragged behind him and was missing its foot. "You can't take care of your team. You never have, always acting tough but having to be rescued. You let me die; you stole my EYE!"
The corpse reached forward with a bony hand and wrapped around Kakashi's throat. Several maggots spilled from his mouth and he grinned in a way that only the dead can. "O-Obito. I'm sorry I, didn't mean for-"
"You didn't mean for anything!" The rotting body shook the Hatake furiously. "You didn't mean to let Rin get captured. You didn't mean for me to die. You didn't want to spoil your perfect record. Know what?" Obito's body leaned forward to whisper in his prisoner's ear. "You didn't mean to loose my cousin. You wouldn't want to loose such potential, right? You let me die. You let him leave. You let Rin and Me waste, just like the last time."
"Last time..?"
Suddenly Kakashi saw it. The corpse Obito shifted to allow Kakashi to look on and watch the scene from when they had taken their team photo. Slowly, Rin's hair turned to soft bubblegum pink and her clothing changed but she had the same contented and happy appearance. Obito's goggles shifted design and his clothing turned into a familiar orange jumpsuit Kakashi had nearly forgotten, and his hair became a brilliant yellow. Tears flowed from the hardened Jounin as his child form grew, white hair darkened to black, and the mask vanished but the cold and annoyed demeanor did not.
"You always serve yourself Kakashi. You're nothing like our Sensei was. Before you only did things that would make you look good. You've done it again. Admit it. ADMIT IT! YOU ARE TRASH!"
"I-I admit it. I'm worthless. I let everyone down. I let you down. I let Rin down. I ruin everything that matters to me."
"Ne, that wasn't so hard was it…come back to the light."
Hinata stood over the weakened form of Kakashi. She took a syringe from her helper and injected the solution into the former jounin. His pupils remained dilated, but after spending weeks in a drug-induced haze it was to be expected. Hopefully, the solution Tsunade cooked up would counteract the hallucinogens and she would be able to get useful information from him before he died.
"Hinata?"
Hinata's eyes took in the heap before her. It was obvious he was far from healthy with his eyes sunk into his head and bones threatening to break through skin. Kakashi was little more than a skeleton with a skin coat. "Could you save them?" She asked with a smile.
"N-no. I never could…I always fail them. Always." The man curled up with his knees pressed to his chest and fell silent. Hinata waved her servants away and knelt down to pat his shoulder.
"You can make up for it, Kakashi-sensei."
"T-that's right…I'm a sensei, aren't I?"
"Tell me, teach me about the Sharingan. What do you know about it?" Hinata asked hungrily. She wanted to know its drawbacks and weaknesses. She had to know, and with that knowledge she and Oni-sama would kill the remainders of the Uchiha Clan. When Kakashi had first been captured he refused to talk, but now he was weak, mentally and physically.
If there was one thing Hinata learned from Ibiki, it was that no one can frighten another more than they can themselves. Kakashi was given a near lethal mixture of 'acids' and other hallucinatory drugs and left alone in a large, reinforced room. What made the mix work was that like its recreational counterpart, the hallucinations would only show what was suggested. Hinata remembered when she left the room, absently commenting on the loss of Obito Uchiha and asking if Kakashi still remembered the day. Kakashi's own imagination took it from there.
The first few days he tried to break it like a genjutsu, but the drugs would not leave his system, not when he was constantly being administered more in either a smoke form or drink.
Kakashi glanced up. "The sharingan…I stole it. I don't deserve it…" His finger like claws, the man reached for his ill gotten eye.
No! I can't have him die yet! Hinata gripped his wrist with difficultly, realizing that he still had much of his old strength. "You don't deserve to die like this. If you rip it out…" Hinata panted as she wrestled with the Kakashi. "you'll die of blood loss!"
He stopped struggling and closed his eyes, unable to think about the fact that he was seeing through what once belonged to his best friend. "The Sharingan requires incredible amounts of chakra to activate. That's one of the reasons that those who activate it at such young ages are considered prodigies; they have to be powerful to have enough chakra to use it. Did you know that Uchiha's didn't consider someone an adult until they could use the fireball technique, and normal genin can't master that until after at least a year of training? Over time, Uchiha bodies have adapted and are evolving to specialize in focusing and maintaining chakra around the eyes. Truthfully… with enough training…and time…and chakra to waste…anyone could use the sharingan. Why do you think it transfers so easily, but has to already be activated in order to work? Unless it is activated, it's just a normal eye.
"The magenkyo sharingan, that's the best example. Itachi Uchiha claimed that in order to achieve it, one must kill their best friend, that's a lie. I got it to work, for one minute, just by increasing how much chakra I used with a normal sharingan."
Hinata leaned back in shock. "So… it isn't a true bloodline?"
"It is, and it isn't… as I said Uchiha bodies have changed to handle large amounts of chakra and funnel it to the needed places. When watching an opponent fight, the Sharingan records everything in the brain. The downside to this is that it cuts down on originality. If they rely on their ability to read and copy their enemies, they become incapable of learning on their own. Their minds just stop thinking, and all they can do is copy."
"So then… it is more like a ninjutsu technique with one family specializing in it, like the Yamanaka's and Nara's."
"Yes."
Hinata stood up and stretched. If word got out that the sharingan could be attained by anyone, anywhere, another great shinobi war could start! She held her palm out and prepared to strike his heart, when Ino came running in.
"Hinata! Stone ninja have been spotted, they're headed here!"
"What? How many of them are there?"
Ino fingered a small container that dangled from her waist. "Is an army enough for you? They'll be here in two hours!"
Hinata turned to Kakashi. She held her hand out to him in askance. "Kakashi-sensei, do you want to redeem yourself? Fight with us. Avenge your fallen teammates… the third great ninja war isn't over yet."
As the last vestiges of the drug hit his brain, Kakashi instantly felt as if he was somewhat smaller, and this girl could be one of his classmates. The Stone ninja are attacking Konoha directly! "I'll kill them… for Obito."
END.
A/N- HA! The Sharingan isn't a bloodline after all! Well, it is, but it isn't. It's like how people who live in cold areas deal with it better than people from warm places. Of course Sasuke doesn't know this, he couldn't have with all his family dead, and Kakashi figured it out over time. I'm certain I'm the first writer to do this. I feel absolutely evil, but it's just the hormones, and the Wicker Man.
That movie killed my drive to write for about a week. It left me unsatisfied. I wanted the sacrifice thing to fall over and burn all the villagers too. Stupid movie…
Anyway, I'll try to start on the next chapter Monday. It may take some time to finish though, because I want it to be packed with enough gore and righteous death to fill my lunchbox.
In case anyone was wondering, my brother is the inspiration for Kakashi. I swear, after eating some shrooms he kept turning his bedroom light on and off saying, 'Where am I? This isn't my room! Whose dog is this?' Apparently he thought he was 12 again and back at our old house. So as a word of warning, stay away from blue mushrooms! They do not give you extra life! Mario lies to you!