A hand is stuffed into his pouch and his Icha Icha is taken out to compensate for the long and tedious walk over to the Hokage's office. He was irritable and shaken from his previous mission. He hadn't slept in weeks during his mission and then he had a four day trek back to the village. He was pretty much running on caffeine pills to keep him moving but it did nothing for his less than tolerable mood.
The mission itself wasn't all too hard. It was the mission before that had been plaguing his mind. It wasn't what had physically done to him, either. It wasn't the fact that he killed yet another person. Killing was like breathing to him; it came naturally. Yet that mission…that mission brought back something that was buried so deep in his mind that he thought he forgot it for good. Yet he knew that all of the pain comes back at some point in time. It was the thing causing him to sleep less. Yet that pain felt cold. He hadn't thought of that pain for many years. Decades even. Yet, as he walked and thought about those painful dreams, the less he remembered about them.
He knocked twice on the large, wooden doors and waited impatiently until he heard a 'Come in.' He slid between the two doors and closed it behind him quietly.
"Ah, Kakashi, you're back! Do you have the reports?" Tsunade knew it was an idiotic question but it was mandatory to ask. He jumped in her chair as a stack of paper was slammed onto her desk. Her mouth opened in astonishment. She rummaged through the papers quickly and finally determined that they were, in fact, his reports.
She muttered to herself, "Well that was unusually fast." She took a quick sip from her sake and lifted her gaze to Kakashi, who was still there waiting to be dismissed. She quickly took note that Kakashi's eyes were bloodshot and heavy, purplish bags hung beneath those eyeballs. His back was tense and his hands were very jittery. Tsunade asked, "Hatake, when was the last time you slept?"
He stood there and thought to himself, counting the days he decided to skip on the trivial chore known as sleep. "I would estimate, three weeks."
With a heavy sigh and a massage to her forehead, she pointed at the door, "Go to the medics right now. I can't have one of my top shinobi having insomnia. And if I find out that you played hooky I will have your ass!" She sighed once more, "Go!"
The shinobi was frustrated but complied, knowing full well that having a witty banter that also counted as a debate was too much energy that he could output at that moment. So he trudged down the hall and exited the building by the front door.
His eyes now just looked at the two pages instead of actually reading them. Focusing on the words was a troubling task so he decided just not to read. Sooner than he expected, he arrived at the hospital.
He loathed coming to this building. It was filled with such horrid memories. That and he didn't care much for the stale scent of rubbing alcohol and lemon-scented disinfectant. He pushed open the door and was met than no other than Sakura.
The young kuniochi smiled when he appeared. "Shizune sent me a message that you would be here and told me to wait for you. Apparently you haven't been sleeping, Sensei?"
Kakashi shrugged and he pocketed his book, "I don't need it."
She snorted, "That's what they all say. Come on. I'll check you out." As much as Kakashi wanted to poof out of the building, he didn't want to piss off Sakura AND Tsunade at once. That would be pure hell. He would rather be in the torture dungeon than to piss both of them off.
So he followed obediently, although he didn't remember the walk to the sterile room. Nor did he remember the checkup. What he did remember was Sakura saying, "Alright Kakashi-Sensei, this will make things better." Before he knew it, he was knocked out like a light.
His body filled to the brim with warmness he hasn't felt for a while. His body felt lighter, like he was floating on a still lake. He felt calm and at piece. Yet…it was dark. He could hear the faint sound of pots clanging and a pan scraping against a rack.
His eyes fluttered open to a wooden ceiling. He sat up in his bed and moved them over to the edge. His stubby feet landed on the soft floor and he padded through the room and into the hallway. He could now smell the sweet aroma of flowers and salted fish wafting up the stairs and into his nostrils. With a smile spreading across his face, he ran down the stairs, practically leaping from the first step to the last, his little thumps trailing behind him.
Skidding to a stop, he barely missed the woman as he dashed into the kitchen. Unbalanced, he fell onto his back and looked up to Onix colored eyes. "Kakashi, what have I told you about running in the house?"
"Sorry Mama."
A scared hand reached down and pulled him to his feet by the collar of his shirt, "I'll have to take away your bear now." The toddler tilt his head back to look at his mother again, his big, wide eyes full of crocodile tears. She tsked, "Don't give me that face. You knew the rule very well." Kakashi humphed and stuck his lower lip to pout as he glared defiantly at his mother.
The woman placed the tray she was carrying on her hip and raised an eyebrow at him. "Don't give me that face." She pressed her free hand to pinch the bridge of her nose. Muttering, "I thought that nap would make your angry mood go away." She breathed heavily out of her nose before smiling fondly down at her troublesome son, "Your father is expected home in a few hours and I don't want you to bring him a sour homecoming."
The three year old squealed in delight at the mention of his father's homecoming. He hasn't seen his father in over three months and he was excited to show him all of the fun new jutsus his mother had taught him. Kakashi wrapped his arms around his mother's legs, "Sorry Mama!"
She knelt down and picked her son up by his collar again, carrying him further into the kitchen. "That's alright honey." She set him down by the sink as she set the tray onto the counter, "Now, how about you help me set up the table?" The eager, hyperactive young lad didn't bother to give her an answer and started to pulled dishes out of the ground cabinets. The young woman laughed heartily before assisting him in handling the plates.
She leaned down and whispered into his ear, "I promise, I will return."
Then, darkness overridden the dream. It came in a flash, and just as quick as it darkened, a bright light enveloped his person. He was no longer small and fragile, but the large and fairly skilled man he currently was.
Then, he saw his mother's hand, again. It reached for him, and he in return, reached for it. He touched that scared, slender hand but her warm touch turned cold. His fingers were slowly incased in ice and traveled up his hand and crawled over his arm, to his shoulder. The hand drew back and dissipated yet the ice still ventured.
"Tick Tock."
Then everything shattered before him.
The sun seared through his eyelids as he slowly began to wake up. His muscles felt a tad bit stiff and he felt groggy, but otherwise, well rested. His lids fluttered open and he slowly lifted himself onto his elbows. He looked around and noticed he was sleeping in one of the hospital rooms. He inwardly groaned as he knelt on to all fours before turning himself around. He knew there was a more graceful way of doing that but he just didn't seem to care at the moment.
The rubbed his yawned for a brief moment before he finally recognized the brief dream he had. It was odd, to say the least. His mother was in it. He didn't remember his mother well. He remembered a few of her aspects; like her lullabies and, of course, when the ANBU came to tell him that his mother passed. Other than that, he had no real memory of her. But his dream….he rested his arms on his legs as he pressed his hands into his face.
That dream seemed so real. It felt familiar, in a way. Like a memory but more refined.
"I see you're awake, Kakashi-Sensei."
Kakashi raised his face from his hands and stared at crinkled his eyes to show a false smile. "Ah, Sakura. Thank you for that wonderful shot. I feel much more rested."
Sakura couldn't help but to roll her eyes. She moved over to his bed and took out his medical chart, "Well, you did indeed had insomnia, but it seemed that some…foreign chakra had disrupted your sleep time clock. Although, as much as I searched, I couldn't find the source of that chakra. It simply…disappeared."
Kakashi leaned against the wall behind his bed in mild confusion, "Wait? There was foreign chakra in me? I didn't detect a thing."
Sakura shrugged, obviously as lost as he is, "Sometimes it sneaks up on you. Otherwise, you are all well. No signs of poison or breakages of any sort. So, I think you are all ready to go!" Her mood perked up, as a nurse should be after a patient has been released.
The monk sprung up from his bed and ran outside of his cottage. He looked to the mountains before him and muttered a rare curse. The sun has not risen but he could see a faint light in those unforgiving crags and jagged hills. The light faded but the image was fresh in his head. He knew that the danger was still near.
He ran inside his hut. He bumped into his desk harshly, shifting the wood to cause a screech from the hawk perched on the chair. The monk quickly apologized as he fumbled the drawers in search of a scroll and ink.
He needed Her. She was the last who knew everything here. She, and two others, had the power to contain everything here. She and the boy were easy to find, although it would be hard to have Her come here, considering her circumstance. The other, however, was lost to him. She would have to find him herself. He didn't know how the other would react, but the monk knew that She was persuasive enough to have him venture along.
He only hopped that the Godamie was wise enough to allow Her to go. All the leaders knew how drastic this was. They knew this day would come.
He outreached his arm, allowing the white beaked hawk to jump onto his sleep. The monk rolled the paper and placed it carefully into the socket of the carrier. He walked the short distance to the door, and commanded the bird to fly.
He watched helpless as the black bird disappeared over the horizon, right when the sun began to rise, hoping, prying that his word is reached.
Hello. This is a reboot of A Promise is a Promise. If you have read that story before, this is slightly similar and different. The plot is different but a few aspects are the same. So don't spoil anything. If you are new, don't bother with the old one. I don't know if I want to keep it up, but it is still there. A Promise is a Promise was my very first story and, well, it sucks majorly. But it is my baby, so I decided to remake it. Frankly, I think this one will be better. Hopefully. I'm trying to write more...don't know how well its working for me.
Anyways, subscribe and review. Sorry if it sounds confusing. Its usually how you create a mystery, after all.