Chapter 3
"Give it baaaaackk..."
The disturbing line from Kakashi's recurring dream echoed through his mind as he raced ahead, his black leather sandals kicking up small clouds of dust. Naruto emitted shallow gasps, panting as he ran with all his might, racing beside his sensei with a determined look on his face. Kakashi glanced sideways at his young student, and just as they were rounding the ridge, the Sharingan twitched like it has never twitched before.
"Aaaggghhh!!!"
The silver-haired jounin fell to the ground, writhing in pain as his eye spun wildly in it's socket. "Sensei!!!" Naruto let out a shout as Kakashi fell backward and the world faded quickly to black...
(Wednesday, 11:06 A.M.)
"--ka-hi..."
"Ka-ash-..."
"Kakashi-Sensei!"
"Ooof!" The jounin let out a groan as he sat up. "Ohhh... my head..." He ran his gloved right hand through the silver tuft that was his scalp, feeling a good-sized bump. That was going to sting for a while...
"Oh good! I knew he'd wake up if I jumped on him!"
The blond genin jumped off Kakashi's chest as he stood up. Asuma grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet as Anko gave him a stern glare.
"You ok there Kakashi?" Asuma gave him a worried look through his dark hazel eyes, cigarette askew, like some weird bearded chain-smoking mother figure. Kakashi smiled a bit at the thought of Asuma in a pink apron armed with a feather duster, as he put a hand on Asuma's shoulder.
"I'm alright Sarutobi-san... the heat must have gotten to me." he sputtered out the lie, hoping his fellow jounin would buy it. He didn't feel like explaining anything about his ocular problems any time soon. They'd think he was crazy... probably send him home. He didn't want to leave all of them because he was "whining". He had a little more self-respect than that, being an elite jounin and all...
"Well I HOPE you're alright Hatake! This is the second time you've delayed this mission! Now hydrate yourself with some water and keep up with the group!" Anko shoved a canteen full of water into the olive green fabric of Kakashi's jounin vest and stalked off trying to gather the other shinobi who had decided to stop and take refuge from the rising sun under the overhanging ridge.
Asuma bit his cigarette through gritted teeth. "I'm tellin' you man...that time of the month" Kakashi laughed a bit. "Aren't you worried Kurenai will hear you?" He untwisted the cap to the canteen, handing it first to Asuma who began taking a large swig of water---- and spitting it out immediately. "UGGGHHHH what's wrong with this water?!"
The bearded jounin took the canteen and dumped the contents onto the ground. A frothy white mixture poured out onto the ground, filling the area with a rancid stench. Asuma looked a little green and disappeared behind a rock, to "rid the problem". Naruto walked up with a hand behind his head.
"Heh..."
Kakashi gave Naruto a knowing look. "Meant for Anko?"
Naruto nodded quickly.
"Rotten milk?"
"It was short-notice! It was all I could come up with!"
Kakashi rolled his eyes. "Wait!" His visible eye widened and he started looking from side to side. "I just remembered! What was wrong with Sakura? Why was she screaming?"
Once again, Naruto gave a nervous laugh and looked downward. "I kind of... put a rubber snake... in her pack... they stopped at the ridge to rest and she opened her pack... and..."
"End of story?"
"Yeah." Naruto sat on a nearby rock, and his sensei joined him overlooking the valley that held their home. The genin looked up at his sensei "Kakashi-sensei..."
"I'm fine Naruto..."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes!" He said a little sharply, causing Naruto to jump back a bit. Feeling immediately bad for this, he gave Naruto a smile with his eye and responded with "I just... got a little tired is all. I'm a little high-strung today. Plus now this bump..."
Naruto looked downward, nodding silently. "While you were knocked out... you were screaming about your eye. And Obito... who is that Kakashi? None of the jounin would tell us..."
He looked away quickly, emotions running through his brain and body like an electrical storm. "I..." He sighed. He might as well tell him anyway... "Obito was---"
"ALL RIGHT GUYS! TIME TO MOVE!"
Anko's voice rang over the ridge, alerting the group and causing them to stand. Asuma emerged from behind the rock, looking a little less green and a bit exhausted. He wiped some remaining "breakfast" out of his beard and stumbled toward Kakashi and leaned on his shoulder. "Uggghhh, I'm going to KILL whoever rigged Anko's canteen..."
"Well, catch up with me later Sensei!" Naruto jumped up and sprinted toward the group. Kakashi gave a small chuckle, helping to support Asuma. "Come on now big guy, a little sour milk going to slow you down?"
"I knew I should've made you drink it first..."
Kakashi laughed at this statement as they hobbled around another corner of the ridge.
And there it was...
It was a humungous wooden bridge, about 2000 feet off the ground. Looking down, made Kakashi dizzy as he neared it. Anko stood at the bridge entrance guiding people onto the bridge. Shikamaru dashed backward looking at his hobbling Sensei. "Asuma-Sensei are you alright?" He looked a little concerned, sweat glistening on his brow.
Asuma nodded a bit. "I'm alright Shikamaru... just had a little food poisoning..." He gave him a goofy smile as Shikamaru hoisted his other arm around his shoulders, shaking his head, and they began across the bridge. Beneath the navy blue mask a frown appeared. There was something wrong... the deja-vu feeling was hitting harder than ever before... and he still couldn't put his finger on what it was. "Maybe it's the bridge..." he thought as he passed Anko, her tan trench-coat flapping mildly in the mountain breeze.
"Tread carefully..." Anko warned, "this bridge is at least 300 years old..."
CREEEEAAAAKKKKKKKKK...
The bridge protested every footstep in a loud noisy whine, as the band advanced across it, the noise turning into a chorus of creaks. Shikamaru had taken over helping Asuma, although he was feeling a little better, which made Kakashi happier than ever considering the combination of his eye twitching madly and the sheer height of the bridge were taking their toll. Kakashi tried to keep steady, holding tightly onto the rope guidelines as he advanced across. He ended up lagging behind even Anko as he tried to maintain his balance. He personally had nothing against the bridge... but his eye and gut did.
The bridge began to sway, as a rather large gust pushed through the valley below. Sakura, Ino and Hinata emitted high-pitched shrieks and the boys grunted "Whoa!" 's wide-eyed and gripping the railing.
"It's ok guys!" Anko reassured them, although she looked a bit nervous herself. "It's just a light wind! Nothing to be worried about! Keep moving so we can get off----
SNAP! SNAP!
The special jounin's words were cut off by two loud snaps and Kakashi felt the railings start to slack in his leather gloves. His eye went wide and in a split second several thoughts raced through his head. The bridge had snapped and he had to get off!
Several loud screams emitted from behind him as he quickly turned around running the way he came but found that pressure on the wooden boards beneath his feet was becoming increasingly less and he ended up snatching one of the boards in his hand. The bridge taught, and he realized now he was grabbing with both hands as he found a large weight attached to his left foot. He looked down... and saw something undescribable.
"It's a dream... it's a dream... it's a dream..." he frantically whispered to himself, clinging onto the remains of the bridge for dear life, shutting both of his eyes tightly, hurting his head from the pressure. It had to be a dream! He didn't just see... that... all those people... tumbling in the air like rocks...
"Kakashi... "
He heard a voice from below, whoever was clinging to his leg. It wasn't real though. This was a dream! It had to be... it couldn't be real... just a dream right? Yeah that's it---
"KAKASHI GET A GRIP!" Anko shouted clinging to his left leg. "You can grieve later! Right now we need to get up to the edge or we're just as dead as them!"
He snapped out of it, tears turning his headband and mask an even darker blue as he looked down trembling at the violet-haired kunoichi. He realized he was supporting a chain. Asuma, Shikamaru, Naruto, Hinata and Chouji all clung to each other's legs in a chain leading up to him. They were all that had survived...
Get a grip was right. He nodded to Anko and reached his right hand toward the next highest plank...
"CREEEEAAAKKK... SNAP!"
The plank snapped in half in his hand! He scrambled to grab another one, his fingertips scraping the edge of the cliff... but to no avail. The seven shinobi let out matching screams in terror as they plummeted toward the ever-growing ground, bodies accelerating from the sheer gravity...
Kakashi let out a small cry about 10 feet from the ground and shut his eye tightly, surrounding himself in the darkness once more...
(Wednesday, 11:06 A.M.)
"--ka-hi..."
"Ka-ash-..."
"Kakashi-Sensei!"
"Ooof!" The jounin let out a groan as he sat up. "Ohhh... my head..." He ran his gloved right hand through the silver tuft that was his scalp, feeling a good-sized bump. That was going to sting for a while... wait... he looked up into the faces of Naruto, Asuma and Anko in bewilderment. What was going on?
"Oh good! I knew he'd wake up if I jumped on him!"
The blond genin jumped off Kakashi's chest as he stood up. Asuma grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet as Anko gave him a stern glare.
He was shaking. Was it a dream? NO! It was all happening! Just like it had before...
"You ok there Kakashi?" Asuma gave him a worried look through his dark hazel eyes, cigarette askew, once again looking like a concerned mother...
He ran his hands over his vest... ALIVE! HE WAS ALIVE! The bridge had never collapsed! But.. but... why was everyone saying the same thing?!
Kakashi yanked away from Asuma and looked at them all with a crazed stare.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"