Chapter Seven: Arrested
Kakashi located the source of the shout. He saw one of the theives that he buried in the pavement using a Doton Jutsu. Judging by the man's dirt-covered appearance, the officer had just discovered the man in the alley a few minutes earlier.
"You again?!" Shelby exclaimed. The officer strode over to Kakashi, handcuffs ready. "Sir, you are under arrest for attempted murder." Kakshi was undisturbed by the appearance of the two men. He looked at the officer, who was very young. Although the man seemed to be the age of an average chuunin, in some ways he reminded Kakashi of a genin, eager to prove his worh and be noticed. Kakashi felt a little sorry for the guy. The most humiliating thing is to be beaten by an opponent you've underestimated, which would be an understatement in this case. He was preparing to knock them both out when his peripheral vision caught a small flash of movement.
Kakashi blanched. Itachi!
Smiling slightly in his unique way, the ex-nin slowly opened his eyes...
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Kakashi was unfazed by the officer's demands, so Shelby was unworried herself. However, the silver-haired nin suddenly spun toward his left, a whispered, "Itachi!" escaping his lips. Not fully prepared for the attack, Kakashi immediately collapsed, causing Shelby to cry out in alarm. Since his prisoner was lying unconscious on the ground, the officer was unsure of what to do next, so he cuffed the nin's hands behind his back and dragged him to the police car parked on the side of the road. A passer-by stopped to stare at the scene before hurrying on to his own business, determined not to become involved.
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Shelby begged the officer to take her as well. "Please, let me go too! I can help! I'm acting as his translator while he's in America. You see, he knows some English but only a little so if you let me come - "
The man cut her of, fillng his voice with authority. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but I can't do that. Besides, we have our own translator at the station. This man needs to be taken in for questioning, and he'll probably have to stand trial. So if you would please step away from the car..."
Shelby obeyed reluctantly. The man was the police, after all. The theif grinned at her, obviously pleased with himself at getting them in trouble. She glared at him so hard that he winced and fled back to the safety of the police car. As they drove off, Shelby silently ranted at herself for being incapable of doing anything useful.
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Kakashi awoke. He found himself in a room with thick walls and steel bars for a door. So this is what a prison cell looks like. As he sat up, he discovered his hands were in cuffs. Fortunately for him, there was enough room to maneuver his hands into making hand signs. As he began to perform the seals of a technique that would help him escape, an incredible pain forced him to stop, gasping in suprise. Apparently Itachi had sealed his chakra while he was asleep. How annoying, Kakashi observed, wryly rubbing the back of his head in irritation.
His cellmate was already awake and watching the strange actions of the weirdly-dressed old man who had been thrown into his cell, unconscious, the night before. One couldn't help but be a little curious about the newcomer.
Kakashi sat on his bed, gently banging his head against the wall in a gesture of self-contempt. He couldn't use chakra, but he was capable of escaping anyway. However, if he escaped, somehow they would connect him to Shelby and it would reflect badly on her. Bringing her trouble was a poor way to repay her kindness. After all, he wasn't sure how the law worked here. Itachi really got him this time.
Finally becoming aware of his surroundings, Kakashi noticed the other person in the cell with him. "Yo," he greeted.
The man grinned. "Well you're sure a weird one," he commented. Holding out his hand, he introduced himself as Hector Scott, which means that his surname is Scott, Kakashi mentally reminded himself. "And you are?"
Ignoring the man's proffered hand Kakashi returned, "I don't feel like telling you that." The convict looked suprised, them smilied maliciously. "Hidden identity and all that, huh? So that's why you wear a mask? Well, then maybe I should just take off that precious mask of yours," Scott declared, his hand moving toward Kakashi's face. Before the man knew what happened, he had been knocked against the opposite wall, the left side of his face numb from the nin's punch.
"why do people always mistake me fore someone older?" Kakashi muttered darkly to himself. Reaching into his back pocket, he discovered that the guards had taken all of his weapons but, thankfully, had left his book. Kakashi pulled it out and began to read. Finally, something to keep his mind occupied.
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That night, Kakashi woke up to find a pair of red eyes staring at him from between the bars of the cell door.
Jumping up to avoid the kunai Itachi threw at him from between the bars of the cell door, the nin thought to himself, "Shoot, I hope he hasn't killed anyone yet, or they'll blame it on me." Fortunately he had enough chakra to cling to the walls for a better defense.
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His cellmate woke up, alerted by the noise of knives ricocheting off the back wall. Scott looket over at Kakashi. He was astonishid to discover that the white-haired man was standing on the ceiling, holding one of the kunai that Itachi had tossed and was using it to deflect countless shuriken being thrown at blinding speeds. Suddenly the weapons stopped coming and Kakashi gave a small curse, quickly yanking his bed from the wall and using it as a shield, standing it vertically in front of the convict and holding it in place. He was just in time, for a blaze of fire erupted at that moment, burning Kakashi's hand as he discarded the melted bedframe. His cellmate, realizing that he had just been protected, asked incredulously, "Why did you help me? You don't even know me, much less care if I live or die!"
"I suppose I've got nothing better to do with you," Kakashi replied distractedly, never taking his eyes off Itachi.
The man's confidence returned. "So then fight him already! What are you waiting for?"
"I can't!" Kakashi retorted angrily. "He sealed my chakra."
Scott decided it was better not to ask. "This is crazy!" he said to himself, neither nin taking notice as they continued their standoff. "So just unseal it then!" he raged back, feeling helpless and hating himself for feeling that way.
Kakashi thought over the man's words. It was difficult, but he had to try. Jerking the second cot out of the wall and, ignoring Scott's protests of, "Hey! That's my bed!" Kakashi stood it up vertically, just like the first. "Hold this," he told the convict, releasing his hold to better focus on gathering his chakra. The seal immediately began to burn, but Kakashi gritted his teeth and pressed on. Soon it grew so fierce that Kakashi let out a scream of pain as he shouted, "KAI!"
Panting from the effort, Kakashi grinned. The seal was broken.
In half a second Kakashi uncovered the Sharingan and formed the seals for the Raikiri, rushing out from behind is makeshift shelter and racing toward the enemy nin, dodging all weapons Itachi threw at him. Kakashi swung his arm, slicing through Itachi's head and down through his heart. As expected, Itachi disappeared, replaced by water. Searching through the building with the Sharingan, Kakashi could no longer detect Itachi's signature. Resigning himself to defeat, Kakashi let the last crackling sparks of the Raikiri fade from his hand. "Can't be helped, I guess," he muttered.
Hector Scott watched all this from behind the flimsy metal bed, his eyes round. "Now I know I'm crazy," he declared in amazement. Kakashi laughed quietly. "Don't worry, you're not crazy. However, I am going to have to keep you here since you are a prisoner and I'm not here to interfere with the law." He began to bend the deformed metal bars back into some semblance of their original shape.
"WHAT?! That's not fair! How come you can escape but I can't?!" Scott protested furiously. Kakashi replied calmly, "Because I have something important I need to do. You, on the other hand - your job is to stay here." Finished, he inspected his work. Glancing at Scott, Kakashi added, "You know, it will be troublesome if you tell anyone about this." The nin moved in closer, the Sharingan whirling in a mesmerizing way. Satisfied with the quality of his work, he stepped back and took off down the hall, leaving the convict unconscious behind him. Hector Scott would no longer remember meeting the silver-haired jounin.