- Scroll VII -
- Blackout -
He couldn't get it off his chest, the sudden weight that was pressing down on him, the spike of dread and the feeling of something just wasn't sitting well.
Kakashi always had the instinct for these things. Even all those years ago as a child, when he was no older than Koyuki and the rest of the genin team he now trained, his neck would prickle behind his tight black mask whenever he sensed it - the trouble rearing up from the particles in the air.
Usually, the feeling was followed by a scream, a teammate falling to the ground, a shower of exploding kunai, village bandits, intolerable pain, death…
Whatever it was, it had never been just nothing.
Somewhere far away, Koyuki pulled tightly at the white bandage around her finger while she elbowed the light switch. She darted pass the door, unscathed hand pulling the knob shut behind her before she staggered into the hallway outside.
Then she forced a run, ignoring the complaints of her body. She barely spared the empty fruit stall at the side of the street a glance.
Kakashi held the third Icha-Icha Paradise volume in between his thumb and index. The flimsy book twisted with the tugs of the spring wind and he raised the paperback closer to read the last paragraph, even as walked down the streets of Konoha. There was an occasional greeting from a retired ninja or two, some from former students in the academy, or their parents. Children brushed past his feet to run to the candy store in front of him.
And then he felt the familiar chakra, Kakashi tilted his book sideways and the sight of a rumpled white tank top, black shorts and a badly-wrapped tangle of bandaged arm greeted him from afar.
At once, the jonin remembered the pang of dread from minutes ago, but his mask remained unreadable as Koyuki approached.
His student's pacing slowed and Koyuki's face looked up into his, eyes flickering, weariness radiating from her even when the teacher saw, she was trying valiantly to look almost unaffected.
"Ah, Koyuki-" the jonin's eyes rose in greeting, "what seems to be the problem? You look… winded."
"There is a body," she said stiffly, "-on my bedroom floor."
"A …body." Kakashi tucked the book into his vest pocket, the only sign of a change in emotion was the jerk of his eye.
"The fruit-vendor in front of my compound."
The wizened teacher waited for the genin to say more. Then her eyes hardened.
"Uchiha Itachi."
The way the girl said the name. It sounded resolute, coated in certainty. And Kakashi's face took on a grave seriousness, his chest stiffened, as his one eye watched Koyuki.
"I saw him… after all these years…" The girl's voice was quiet, sounding absurdly nostalgic despite the loathing overtone. "He appeared in my home, Kakashi, in front of me. And I couldn't kill him. Couldn't even touch him."
"… You used the Tenchisei too much."
The girl's eyes flashed at Kakashi's rhetorical statement and for a moment the jonin once again saw the hatred that worried him.
"I wanted to kill him, Kakashi."
"Your chakra is all over you." the older shinobi said quietly before turning his face away from the genin. He placed a hand in his pocket and for a moment his eyes scanned across the expanse of the dark plum sky.
The copy-ninja's mind was working, even if his expression remained as listless as ever.
There should have been a dozen black hawks in the sky by now, had the sandaime alerted none of Konoha's shinobi? Was he aware the wanted ninja was here? Itachi knew he would be returning to his death if he came back, yet he did - and had managed to mask his presence impressively.
The jonin took a moment to look down at Koyuki, who seemed to have her mind distractedly adrift somewhere else, and then he turned back to peer around the busy streets - so many people, a few ninjas… none of them agitated, all oblivious.
How did he penetrate the hidden village gates without anyone noticing?
Koyuki wouldn't speak of something like this without being certain. And the jonin knew that her instincts were right, like they always were.
It was a mistake to brush things off and he mentally swore never to let things slip again.
Still, could he have done anything? Would he have caught Itachi in time?
"Koyuki."
At the call of her name, the girl lifted her head. Stance more slumped and eyes looking more dead than usual.
"I can't leave you by yourself. And my dogs have been sent on a mission with Guy, so come with me. We'll personally inform Hokage-sama about this."
"Sure." The young girl answered quietly.
And Kakashi felt the protective urge to rest a firm, gloved hand over her shoulder. He still didn't know anything about what happened. But to have Koyuki show up looking like she did with her head down, nursing torn dignity.
Her body bruised, battered and exhausted, it was obvious that her painful past had pounced on her, and she had had trouble handling things. The jonin knew the pain, understood how distressing it could get.
The layered, black and white head inches below his chin reminded him again and again about his obligation to the Mikoto. And even if he tried to keep the treatment between his four genin students leveled. The inclination to teach Koyuki never left his mind. He brushed the personal thought away, turning to the girl.
"Let's go. Keep up with me." And with that, the jonin leapt up to a rooftop, waiting for his student to follow.
He knew about Koyuki's pride, and even if the young Mikoto's body had been through the sparring of the morning, and whatever chakra-draining events of the evening, her landing was swift and firm beside Kakashi.
Despite the grim situation, the jonin suppressed a small smile under his mask and made sure to keep the pacing slow.
The trees weren't many along the streets of Konoha, after leaping up to a particularly high penthouse, Kakashi looked down at his student crouching over the roof of the last building before he raised his gaze, an eye estimating the remaining distance.
He could see the Hokage's mountain framing the brown shingled roofs in front of him, and a little way in front of it, the headquarters of the sandaime.
For some time now, Koyuki's speed had been rapidly declining.
Kakashi raised his arm, curling his fingers around the chain link fence surrounding the rooftop as the genin leapt up then hovered over the wires above the jonin's head, before touching lightly to the ground near his feet.
She hovered upright for the rush of a moment before one leg folded under her and she slumped into a dangling crouch. A full sprawl, if not for the jonin's hand now clutching her elbow.
Kakashi hummed in a sigh that was both worry and disapproval and Koyuki's bleak but stubborn dark gaze locked on him. He had underestimated the state of his student.
"How long did you use your bloodlines with Itachi?"
Koyuki only continued to look at him then she turned her head away.
"I'm fine. Just give me a minute."
"You won't last two, judging from your current condition."
Koyuki didn't try to prove him wrong and the jonin's face mellowed as he let go of the girl's elbow. The genin slipped into an exhausted slouch over the floor.
Mutely, Kakashi looked down upon the bangs that fell against the angles of Koyuki's face, into her shadowed eyes, and after another moment the teacher settled into a squat beside his student's stretched-out leg.
The jonin's mind thought about the Tenchisei and Sharingan, and its toll on the body.
It had happened to her years ago, and Kakashi remembered how her body had locked down after excessive usage, he had watched over her for two days in the treatment room.
If that happens, I'll have to carry her.
He knew that as long as Koyuki's eyes were open and she was conscious, the genin would never allow him to do it, refused to acknowledge she couldn't handle the situation.
Stubborn, the jonin thought, so much like her other teammates.
Kakashi turned his head. The young kunoichi's eyes were slow in blinking, and Kakashi knew her chakra levels weren't faring well with the events. He would give her another minute to recover.
The jonin looked at the young Mikoto, who, surprisingly, was already struggling to get up.
Koyuki grunted as the muscle in her left leg clenched, and she looked up to find Kakashi holding out one gloved hand. The genin grabbed it firmly and her teacher pulled her up.
"Can you make it?"
Koyuki grunted softly, "Yeah."
The warmth of Kakashi's hand left her shoulder and Koyuki tipped her chin down, cold sweat snaking down her jaw, unnoticed.
Unnatural. How warm her body felt now.
She shut her eyes, the blood behind her temples pounding so much that it took effort to lift her head.
It was difficult trying to keep a steady focus on the jonin's face, or on anything else for that matter.
Koyuki realized she couldn't.
The world was starting to spin and she looked up at the sky, the blackish glare of it spreading like a dark blanket over her eyes, the clouds were still floating in front of her eyes when she looked down at the floor.
The genin knew something was wrong and she closed her eyes tightly, seeing the images swirling from behind her eyelids.
The jonin had glimpsed it, the foggy tint of red swirling within his student's dull violet eyes before they fell shut, dark lashes lowering and wedging tightly to rosy skin.
He knew the Sharingan's untimely appearance came from the stress and excessive chakra exertion on the genin's body. Her chakra must be fluctuating dangerously.
Koyuki's head felt light - perhaps heavy - she couldn't distinguish the difference anymore.
And then the strength left her, pulling down the rest of her body.
Koyuki fell forward, feeling her legs give up, the motion indescribably slow in her mind…
The ground was rushing up… and the genin heard the urgent shout of her name.
Kakashi, the girl identified fuzzily.
A pair of arms closed around her torso and Koyuki felt the numb knock of her elbow against her teacher's vest. The genin's mouth parted as she felt her back being held securely into the body behind her.
"No." the whispered word came out in a rush of breath and for a moment she opened her heavy eyes and saw concrete floor before it started to blur dizzily and fade to black.
Then the sounds were gone and everything was quiet.
A fairly shorter chapter than the previous ones, and I am able to submit this quicker than usual so you can keep reading. I'm on a roll. ;)
I realize I am slightly diverting from the storyline of the series, but I wanted to add some originality to the plot, instead of soley relying on the dialog and events of the manga to tell the story from my character's point of view. One thing I request for is patience, Sasuke will show up soon I promise. The comments and (constructive) criticisms are welcome as always.