Chapter 5
"Now... Kakashi... you will give it baaacck..."
An evil grimace crossed Obito's face as he pulled a rusty dented kunai from behind his back and leaned closer to Kakashi...
"Obito... no... please... why?" Tears rolled down his cheek from his own eye, as the Sharingan remained inactive.
Obito's only response was the grimace as he leaned the tip of the kunai toward the bottom of Kakashi's eye socket and the world was enveloped in black...
(Saturday, 8:43 A.M.)
"GAHHH!!!"
Kakashi sat up quickly, his face displaying an expression of frightened shock, sweat pouring down his forehead. Quick gasps echoed through his apartment as his mind slowly recollected itself, pulling him out of the dream-state.
It was a dream...
"Was it all just a bad dream?" Kakashi whispered to himself, his heart slowly resuming it's correct pace. He was answered with a soft grunt and a rustle of blankets. The jounin gazed over the edge of the bed staring down at his new resident, one Naruto Uzumaki, asleep in his own pile of blankets softly snoring.
It was good to see him sleeping. The genin hadn't slept the last three nights, but he tried his best not to let his sensei notice, keeping his sobs as quiet as possible. Of course Kakashi had noticed anyway and had expected it when the blond had asked him if he could stay at his apartment for a while. The jounin had told him he could stay as long as he wanted, he needed company himself anyway after... after...
His muscular structure tilted forward, face buried his hands, silver strands tickling his knuckles. Six people gone... six people that should be living. That he could have saved.
Ino... Shino... Kiba... Kurenai...
Sasuke and Sakura... his own students. Dead.
He felt he had failed them. Failed them just like Obito, so long ago. Let them walk blindly toward the bridge and plummet to their deaths, and now they were gone. Just as dead as Obito... another Uchiha's blood on his hands...
Kakashi moved the heels of his palms upward rubbing his eyes, making them shine with tear-fluid in the early morning sun, the covers on his bedspread laid out haphazardly across the bottom-half of his frame.
"Kakashi-Sensei?"
He jumped with a start at his name being called and looked away from Naruto who was now peeping at him over the edge of the bed, his blond hair resembling a tangled bushel of hay in the sunlight.
Quickly rubbing the tears from his eyes and giving a rather loud sniff, Kakashi responded with a jumble of words, his voice cracking a bit after hours of not being used in his sleep.
"Y-yes Naruto, sorry if I woke you up. I just like to stretch in the morning you know! Get the kinks out..." Very much exaggerating, he spread his arms in the air imitating a yawn.
Naruto gave him a wavering smile, fully knowing his sensei was crying a few moments before, and decided to change the subject.
"So uhhh... you got anything to eat around here? The funeral is in about 3 hours and I need some energy..."
"Hmmm... oh! Oh! Yeah! I have some cereal... or I could make us some pancakes before we leave?"
Naruto nodded and licked his lips at the pancake idea. He stood up, clothed in a black t-shirt with a swirl on it, and pair of knee-length orange shorts, and stumbled over to the counter top taking a seat on one of Kakashi's stools. Kakashi tossed his sheets aside and gained his walk back as he walked to the other side of it, pulling out a pan, a mixing bowl and several essential ingredients.
As Kakashi mixed the correct ingredients and Naruto sat on the stool, their smiles waned melting off their faces like heated up wax and quickly formed back into the reserved gloomy expressions they had come accustomed to over the last several days. As Kakashi poured the white batter into the pan filled with golden-yellow melted butter, Naruto laughed a bit causing him to look up.
"What?" He asked, a little puzzled by this small outburst.
"Well it's just, I've seen your true face over the last couple of days and haven't really noticed until now."
He gave Naruto a quizzical look and replied with a smirk. "I don't like people seeing my face much... too much history behind it." He looked down at the pancake batter, bubbling from the heat.
Naruto laughed a bit more. "Yeah I've noticed. I remember that one time I wanted to see it so bad! Me and Sasuke and Saku--.." He stopped, quickly looking down at his hands. For a few minutes the only sounds in the apartment were the sizzling of the pancake and the wet flop when Kakashi turned it over.
"I... remember that too Naruto." the jounin responded after a few minutes, using a spatula to place the pancake on a plate and dousing it in maple syrup and melted butter. He placed a fork on the plate and set it in front of Naruto, who looked at it glumly for a few moments and then started eating it.
"I'm not much of a looker anyway." He said smiling at Naruto who looked up with a small hint of laughter in his deep blue eyes.
"It's good to see you smile, sensei."
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(Saturday, 2:14 P.M.)
White rectangles played across the green grass as the clouds shifted and the afternoon sun appeared. The rectangles were reflecting the sunlight from a source of six picture frames placed on a table laden with white roses placed across a black tablecloth. The pictures showed the smiling faces of three females and three males, all smiling for the camera (save for Sasuke and Shino). Faces that would never smile again...
The funeral had been enormous, as the entire village of Konoha had shown up. It had been the biggest turnout since the Third Hokage was assassinated by Orochimaru. All clothed in funeral garb, funeral patrons had all resembled a sea of black, but instead of the sound of seagulls and waves crashing it was the sound of crying that was heard. Mourning... so much mourning...
Kakashi's silver-hair had poked out of the crowd like a beacon but he had only sat with Naruto. The others had each other and their own things to deal with.
Hinata was at a complete loss as her entire team had been victim of the tragedy. She sat crying into her dad's sleeve during the entire procession, her father rubbing the back of her head in comfort which was very unlike his usual actions.
Chouji and Shikamaru sat on either side of Asuma who's stare was vacant, his light hazel eyes not showing half the light they had before. Asuma had stared directly forward for the entire proceeding and then had walked out without saying a word, stiff as a zombie.
Then there was Anko. She had sat near the front, constantly clutching a tissue and occasionally casting glances back at Kakashi who, when he met her gaze, would turn quickly away. She seemed rather nervous and fidgety and had attempted to converse with him when the funeral was over, minutes before. She had opened her mouth to say something, closed it and walked quickly away leaving both Naruto and himself in confusion.
Now the funeral was over.Yet, Kakashi and Naruto stood staring silently at the six pictures, the wind moving his silver hair about to it's own accord. The jounins' eye twitched a bit from the sunlight as he stared, his Sharingan giving a slight twitch underneath the dark blue fabric. It had not stopped completely twitching since that day, but it had weakened a lot since then. He figured it would probably end at the funeral. It was the "end" after all right?
A long sigh escaped his lips and Naruto looked up, the white parts of his eyes a tired pink from crying and lack of sleep. Kakashi put a hand on Naruto's shoulder.
"Why Kakashi-Sensei?" he asked with a quivering voice, his eyes once again filling with tears "Wh-why did they have to die? What did they ever d-do..?" He buried his face in the jounin's black vest, causing it to dampen, his sobs muffled by the heavy fabric.
Kakashi answered slowly, trying himself not to erupt into tears.
"Naruto... sometimes... it's your time to go. Everybody dies. It's a part of life..." he sighed a bit regaining himself, rubbing the back of the young genin's head. "Losing a loved one sometimes is just as hard... or... a teammate."
"It's n-not fair sensei..." Naruto replied, his voice still muffled by the jacket.
"No Naruto, it never is..."
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(Saturday, 6:18 P.M.)
"No, Tiffany, please don't leave me this way!" Reginald clung to the hem of her red dress as she attempted to leave the bedroom, clutching her purse, her cleavage exposed a bit more. "I can't take this anymore Reggie! Every other night I find you with some new woman in our house..." a worried expression crossed his face, "Please baby! It won't ever happen again! I love you and only you... I was just confused before." He held her shoulders, staring her in the eyes. "You're the only one for me..." "Oh Reggie!" she exclaimed, tossing her purse to the floor and embracing him in a long passionate kiss. They both fell onto the bed, as Reginald fiddled with the clasp of her bra, exposing her---"
"DING-DONG"
Kakashi jumped, grumbling a bit as his doorbell rang. He hated the way people interrupted his reading exactly at crucial moments such as these. He stood up, placing his book face down on the covers and padded across Naruto who was sprawled out on Kakashi's cream-colored carpet, toward the door.
Naruto looked up and tilted his head to the side wondering who it was, his fingers holding a place on chapter three of Icha-Icha Paradise, the first edition. There wasn't much to read in Kakashi's apartment so he had decided to see what thrilled his sensei so much about Ero-Sannin's books. Kakashi had happily picked out the first volume and shoved the orange copy into his hands. He had been reading ever since. Anything to keep his mind off of... he let out a small sigh as he heard the jounin's wooden entry door open with a creak.
Kakashi stared down at a young genin in green spandex. Lee looked up at him with a sort of sad smile.
"Is Naruto here?" he asked nervously.
Kakashi nodded and looked sideways "Naruto! Someone wants to see you!"
After a few moments, the blond's head poked out the doorway.
"'Lo Lee..." he responded, a small smile flitted over his glum expression.
"Hello Naruto! I was wondering if you'd like to go with Neji, Tenten and I to the movies? We have an extra ticket and Hinata is coming too... we're trying to cheer her up."
Naruto's face lit up a bit at the sound of Hinata's name but then fell again. He was too depressed to do something like that at the moment...
"I..."
"He'd love to go." Kakashi quickly interjected.
Naruto gave his sensei a look of disbelief. Kakashi quickly responded.
"Naruto, if there's anything I've learned from loss it's that you have to keep on living. You need this. Go have some fun with your friends ok?"
Naruto gave him a sad expression for a moment but then nodded. "Ok Lee, let's go."
"Don't sound so excited!" Lee said with a bit of a laugh.
Naruto laughed too and they both exited down the hall toward the elevator.
Kakashi closed the door, and went back to sprawl on his bed. He ignored his Sharingan twitching and tried to push the heaping pile of paperwork off the desk that was his mind, as he distracted himself with the latest installment of the Icha-Icha series. Jiraiya had given him this copy early considering his loss. He wouldn't have accepted it, but at the moment he was grasping at any possible distraction. He turned his book over from it's face down position, got comfortable and was just about to scan over the next sentence when...
"DING-DONG"
He let out another groan, rubbing his hand through his silver hair as he walked quickly across the carpet toward the door, nearly tripping over Naruto's blanket. Had Naruto forgotten something? Probably... he rolled his eyes turning the doorknob and swiftly pulled it open.
"So what'd you forg--"
His words stopped in his throat and hung in the air like a dying arachnid.
"Oh... it's you."
Anko shifted uncomfortably on Kakashi's doorstep, her right hand moving up and down her left arm, violet eyes maintaining their downward gaze.
"Yeah... it's me. Could I come in?"
The jounin nodded opening the door and sweeping an arm inward. "Be my guest."
She walked in slowly, her violet hair shifting in the draft as Kakashi shut the door. She then took a seat on his dilapidated couch and averted her gaze toward the bedding on the floor.
"You don't clean up much do you?"
Kakashi leaned against the counter. "I hardly think you're here to insult me on my housekeeping."
Anko nodded, her hands at her sides.
"Listen, Hata--... Kakashi. I just... I wanted to apologize..."
"Oh?" he took a seat on one of the stools. "About what? The fact that you totally ignored my intuition? The fact that you were so stubborn you wouldn't give my insight the time of day, resulting in the deaths of six shinobi? Or was it the fact that you have blatantly ignored me for the past few days, not saying a word and treating me like some disease?"
Anko's face took on a hurt expression.
"I just---"
"You just what?! They're all dead now and--"
"I KNOW THEY'RE DEAD! I BLAME MYSELF FOR IT EVERY DAMN DAY KAKASHI! EVERY SECOND IS A LIVING HELL FOR ME BECAUSE OF THAT GUILT!"
She erupted into wracking sobs, burying her face in her brown sleeves. The jounin was taken aback by this sudden outburst of emotion. He had never seen Anko show anything other than anger... he had been very harsh. How could she have known his visions were the truth? He supposed it would sound pretty far fetched to him if he weren't himself anyway...
Kakashi stood up, walking over to the couch and pulling Anko into a tight embrace, getting cried on for the second time that day.
"It's ok Anko... I forgive you. You didn't know. None of us did..."
"You d-did and I st-stopped you."
"Yeah but my story did seem far fetched... don't blame yourself for this..." he rubbed his hand through her violet hair as she sobbed into his jacket.
After a few minutes, Anko pulled herself away from the embrace quickly grabbing a tissue out of her pocket sniffling into it.
Kakashi sat up and after a few minutes of silence he talked in a soothing voice, holding both of her hands in his.
"It's over now though. Has been for three days. We can't do anything about it now except remember them in our fondest of memories. At least seven of us got away, it could have been much worse."
"Th-that's just it Kakashi..."
"What?"
"You're wrong."
"About what?"
"It's not over..."
Kakashi looked at her with a bewildered expression on his face. "Please elaborate..."
"I... I don't know. Ever since that day... I've had this weird feeling. Like... like I don't belong. Something isn't right."
"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, a bit of a waver in his voice.
"I don't know what I mean... I feel like a doe... with a tiger in the bushes. I know it's there, but I don't know when it's going to strike..." She released his hands and used the tissue to wipe her face. "I... I think I'm going to go. I'm sorry I bothered you Kakashi..." She quickly stood up and headed toward the door.
He walked her to the door, opening it as she stepped out.
"Anko..."
She turned around, looking him in the eye. "Yeah?"
"Don't worry so much. I'm sure it's all in your head ok? You can come over anytime you feel uneasy." He gave her a small smile with his eyes and she nodded gratefully.
"Thank you..." She turned and headed toward the elevator as Kakashi stared after her.
He had lied of course. He had felt that same feeling she had explained down to the very "t" the last couple of days... what did it all mean? Was this not the end but really just the beginning of more things to come?
Goosebumps covered his bare forearms, and as he closed the door a small breeze caressed the back of his neck. Somehow he figured, it wasn't the draft. His gaze fell on the objects of his house cast in an orange hue caused by the setting sun, his Sharingan twitching even more. The jounin sat down on his bed contemplating the day, and found himself asking a question out loud breaking the silence.
"What's next?"