Chapter 2

"No good sacks of sh....."

"Need help..... listen now.... get help!"

"OBITO!"

With a jolt Kakashi sat bolt upright, eyes wild with terror and it took him a moment to realise he had control over his own body again. He was drenched in cold sweat and he realised he had been shouting in his sleep as his throat felt hoarse and scratchy. Thankfully someone had the foresight to place a pitcher of water and a glass on the bedside table to his left, which he was very thankful for as he downed a glass in no time and felt the relief it brought. Footsteps were pounding on wood flooring towards him and he lowered his gaze from the door, too ashamed to face whoever it was that had saved him.

He could feel someone's presence at the door but he couldn't bring himself to meet their gaze so he pretended to be studying the pattern of his duvet instead, it wasn't his own as the duvet was patterned with little foxes. His was plain navy blue.

The person at the door coughed politely to get his attention and Kakashi felt he could no longer pretend not to have noticed them, so with much trepidation he slowly lifted his gaze from the duvet to finally look at his saviour. His heart sank when he saw who it was. This was one of the last people on Earth he would have wanted to see him loose control like that.

His sensei wore a pitying smile on his face. Obviously he wasn't aware of how transparent his emotions were to Kakashi. For some reason the pitying look did nothing to make Kakashi feel any better, instead an angry surge like fire spiked inside of him and he quickly turned away to try and hide it from his sensei. It wasn't his sensei's fault that he seemed so pathetic after all.

"It's ok Kakashi kun I don't think any less of you. We all snap at some point. To be honest I'm surprised it didn't happen to you sooner and if anything it's our fault for not noticing the signs."

'Well you sure know how to make a person feel better' Kakashi thought sarcastically. Minato's little speech only made him feel even worse, because although Minato had outright told him he didn't think any less of him his face belied his words. That was always Minato's downfall after all, he was simply too easy to read.

"You can cut the crap sensei I know what you really think. I can see it in your face. I hurt someone didn't I? A civilian no less, that makes me less than trash and you know it."

There was a long, very uncomfortable silence before Minato spoke up again.

"Well I can't say I'm not a little disappointed that you didn't come to me before to ask for help that's all. I don't blame you for hurting the civilian though, anyone with half a brain could totally see they needed to leave you the hell alone until a shinobi came for help. I wouldn't worry about him anyway other than a fat lip he's fine."

Kakashi was simply stunned into silence. Of all the people he had been practically pleading with for help not once had he gone to see his sensei. When he finally found his voice it was hard to get his words out.

"I'm sorry sensei. I guess the one person I never wanted to look weak in front of was you, yet you were the one person it makes sense to go to."

Kakashi felt ashamed that he had allowed himself to even get close to breaking point like he had when here was someone who could have stopped it from happening altogether. Minato was just one of those people who always seemed to know what to say and how to help and he had always been there for Kakashi. Seems it just wasn't enough.

He had been only barely holding himself together for some time now, first after the death of his mother. That had hit him harder than he could ever have imagined. As a shinobi he was always prepared for the possibility of death, but anticipating it and having it actually happen were two totally different stories. He had been too young. He had never been quite the same after that and that had just been the tip of the iceberg.

The death of his father had hit him even harder as after his mother's death they had grown closer than ever before. They had each other to keep themselves from going under. It had been working until his father had been disgraced after a failed mission in which he had chosen the life of his team-mates over the success of the mission. Culminating in many lives lost as a result of his father's stupidity.

After that failed mission it seemed Kakashi just couldn't bare to look at his own father the same way again. It was Sakumo after all that had taught Kakashi the importance of succeeding in every mission and taught him the shinobi code till he had learned it by heart. Sakumo maybe could have gotten through the angry jeers and comments if his son had been on his side but it seems luck wasn't to smile on him and finally he took his own life to escape the pain.

Kakashi had never really forgiven himself after that.

As much as he agreed with the villagers about his father's failure he had never wished it to end like this so it came as a shock to find his father lying in a pool of his own blood with a katana through his heart. Kakashi had been too shocked to move and it was only when Minato sensei had come to find out why he hadn't met up for training that he managed to move him away from his father's body.

He would never forget the glazed look in Sakumo's eyes and the grey palour of his skin.

Kakashi had been on a downward spiral ever since. Obito's death had been the straw that broke the camel's back and he had finally lost it. He began shaking as the memory of Obito's half crushed body filled his head. He buried his fingers in his silver locks and tugged hard at them while rocking back and forth muttering Obito's name under his breath.

"Obito i'm sorry, please forgive me Obito. Obito!"

He suddenly felt a pair of strong arms encircle him from behind and he was pulled back into a warm chest. Kakashi couldn't remember the last time anyone had hugged him and he found the sensation comforting. He stopped rocking back and forth and instead opted to bury his face in his sensei's chest and cry his eyes out.

"Shhh it's not your fault. Stop being stupid Kakashi kun and get a grip. Obito wouldn't want to see you like this. You'll soon be competing with him in the cry baby stakes if you carry on like this."

Despite how miserable he felt Kakashi couldn't help letting out a muffled chuckle against his sensei's chest. It was just like Minato to make light of such a dire situation like this and manage to still honour Obito's memory regardless. For the first time since Obito's death he felt safe and protected. Slowly his tears began to dry and he peeled himself away from Minato.

"Thank you sensei."

It was all he could think to say right now and he was exhausted anyway. The medics had obviously done a good job patching him up but he still wasn't ready to be moving about too much. Sleep seemed like the best thing at the present time.

Minato slid off the side of the bed to leave but found a small hand was encircling his wrist in a death grip despite the boys' drowsy state. He turned back to look questioningly back at his student but found he was already asleep, a small frown adorning his cute little face.

The yellow flash of Konoha simply sighed and was just glad Kakashi was unconscious to Minato's own tear stained face as he lay on top of the covers beside him. Minato was more upset about Obito's death than he was letting on but he felt Kakashi needed him to be strong for him right now, so he had done his best to hide his moment of weakness.

He brushed aside a small silver lock of hair that had stuck to Kakashi's cheek from the tears and simply stared at the boy beside him in wonder. It had always amazed Minato to see how strong Kakashi was, he was still a child after all and had been through more than most of his jounin friends had and yet he had held it together all this time. Minato was immensely proud of his student for all this so it broke his heart to see him so vulnerable. It left him feeling guilty that he hadn't noticed the signs and he felt it was his fault as much as anyone's that Obito had met his death so early.

He gave himself a little mental shake when he realised the dark path his thoughts had taken and resolved to never again allow himself to think this way. Right now he had to be Kakashi's pillar of strength otherwise the poor boy will surely fall. He had seen the psychiatric reports after all and they all pointed to one seriously fucked up child.

His own grief would have to wait, this was all about Kakashi now. He had to help him heal.