Demons at Night
Five,
Colors (Vision), Kakashi

He's a legend.

"Watch out for his eye," the bingo books say.

He's wanted in most of the smaller villages, and everyone knows that when his hitai-ate comes up and his eye comes out, it's time to run…run, and hope you can do it fast enough.

But Kakashi is getting old.

There was a time when he could have probably won a marathon, or beat each member of ANBU in a race. There was a time when he knew well enough to elbow the others out of the way and take what he wanted, take the life of another and receive payment for it.

There was a time when he didn't mind killing so much, when he was almost eager for missions. But then 'time' became longer and longer because he was the best around and everyone knew it, and they all knew they couldn't outrun him, and they knew he would live forever.

He plans on living for as long as possible, but certainly not forever.

If he has to survive in a world with fewer people, so be it. But he doesn't want to be responsible for cutting down the population anymore.

Some days, when the sun shines into his room and he groggily wakes up, turning to the picture frames behind his bed like he always does, when the sun reflects off of the frames and the glare hides everything but Obito's happy face…on these days, he isn't sure he wants to be part of the population at all.

Some days, on certain missions, when his Sharingan comes out to play and the air spoofs into it and stings stings stings, he isn't sure that he is so blessed to have it.

Some days when he looks into the mirror and sees the red in his eye there, he thinks of how Obito's blood was red when it was all over him, and how the stripes on Rin's cheeks had been red, and how the leaf emblem on Arashi Sensei's sleeve was red.

And on these days, he looks around in the rest of the bathroom and sees the blue walls, and he thinks of how Arashi Sensei wore casual blue shirts a lot, and how he himself used to wear a lot of blue.

And then he goes to his bedroom and makes a beeline for the white closet (white, like the zipper on Obito's jacket, and like the white in his teammates' eyes) and he pulls out his old outfit from the top shelf, and sees that it is definitely blue, and thinks of how Arashi Sensei's eyes were blue too.

So on these days when he is drowning in memories, he thinks it might be nice to drown in the shower instead, and so he steps back into the bathroom and walks over the green shower mat (green, like the tree that Rin slipped out of once, and like the grass beneath our feet as the four of us ran together on missions, and green like Arashi Sensei's Jounin vest, and like how on certain days Obito wore a green coat, and how sometimes in just the right light Rin's eyes looked really green).

And when Kakashi is finally finished with his shower, he grabs a towel and remembers that though he bought his towels white, they look more gray now, and then he asks himself, Weren't Obito's goggles gray?

And then when he is so overcome by everything inside his house, he steps out onto the porch and sees the colors all around outside, and every color reminds him of something.

And on these days, these tragic days—every day—he wishes that he couldn't see any of the colors. He wishes Obito hadn't offered him his stupid eye; he wishes that he didn't have eyes at all, and he wishes he could bring himself to just gouge his eyes out once and for all, but he knows that he doesn't have the guts, and he knows that he will go on living safely forever.

Kakashi is going to live forever. He just wishes he could do it blind.

TBC.