Kakashi woke up to Itachi's face.
The jounin gasped and skittered backwards, obviously afraid of what Itachi could do to him. Itachi sighed and reached over, hooking his hands behind Kakashi's back and pulling him close again. Kakashi gave a small mewl of terror when Itachi pulled him close, and cowered before the missing-nin.
"Oh, what do you think I'm going to do to you?" Itachi huffed, exasperated. Kakashi shrank back as far as Itachi's hold would allow.
"I-I'm sorry," he stammered, pulling away. "B-But…why are you angry with me? Did I do something?"
Itachi sighed and carefully lifted Kakashi into his lap. "No, you didn't do anything. I'm not angry with you."
Kakashi looked surprised, and he pulled back to look Itachi in the face. "W-What are you-?"
Itachi pulled him close again and set his hands in Kakashi's hair. "I'm not going to hurt you, if that's what you want to know."
Kakashi felt Itachi's hands running over his body, and held stock still, trying to figure out Itachi's intentions. Itachi noticed the change and stopped stroking Kakashi's hair.
"What?"
Kakashi suddenly jumped into his arms, shoving Itachi's legs apart and slipping between them to get closer to Itachi's body. Kakashi buried his face in the curve of Itachi's neck and his hands went to Itachi's shoulders, clutching desperately. Itachi groaned at the sudden pain in his groin, but otherwise ignored it and wrapped his arms around Kakashi's shaking form.
"Shhhhhh, what's wrong?" he asked, stroking Kakashi again. The jounin continued to shake, and Itachi gently kissed his forehead. "What?"
Kakashi shook his head and Itachi exhaled and continued stroking Kakashi. "Can you tell me what happened? What's got you so upset?"
Kakashi's trembling dramatically increased, but he managed to force out, "Kisame."
Itachi's eyes narrowed. "What did he do to you?" he growled, voice husky with anger.
Kakashi sounded distressed, and he pulled away at Itachi's words. "Please don't be angry with me," he pleaded, looking into Itachi's eyes with tear-filled gray orbs. "I didn't want him to even come in, but he told me he was going to hurt me if I did anything wrong…I didn't know what to do, so I just did what he told me to."
"In other words, he forced you to be a sex toy?"
"No, no!" Kakashi cried. "No, he just…he told me he didn't want to see me, and that I should just stay in here until he wanted me."
Itachi exhaled and pulled Kakashi back into his arms. "Sh, it's okay. I'm not angry…with you."
Kakashi seemed comforted by Itachi's words, and slipped back into his embrace. "Thank you, Itachi-sama."
"Itachi-sama?" Itachi repeated. "Who do you think you're talking to, Orochimaru? Just my name is fine!"
"I-I'm sorry," Kakashi whispered. "I didn't know-"
"Kakashi, you don't have to apologize for every little thing you do," Itachi said dryly. "I don't care what you say or do. I won't hurt you if you say something wrong, or if you do something I didn't want you to. I understand."
"Thank you, Itachi."
"See? Isn't that better?" Itachi caressed Kakashi's form, running his hands over the broken ninja's back. "You okay?"
Kakashi nodded, and Itachi held him close. "Good. Are you hungry?"
Kakashi shrugged. "I wouldn't mind something to eat…"
"Okay, then, come with me."
Kakashi followed, realizing as he moved that his jounin vest was gone. They must know about my scrolls…Itachi motioned towards an empty chair at the table and went to the stove. "I just made myself lunch," he said, "So there's a bit leftover. It's just plain ramen; that okay?"
Kakashi nodded and took the bowl and chopsticks Itachi handed him. "Thank you," he murmured, and began to eat quietly. He never said a word, and Itachi sat down, absently chewing on the side of an apple. "You want one?" he asked. Kakashi shook his head and took another bite of ramen. Itachi noticed that Kakashi would only eat when he was certain no one was looking. Itachi had tried to catch a glimpse of the Copy Ninja's face through his black bangs, but Kakashi would give him a "please look away" look, and Itachi would look away. He didn't want to deny Kakashi the right to eat.
Wait, what was he thinking? He wasn't supposed to care if his little prisoner died or not! He wasn't supposed to care what happened to what the Akatsuki thought of as slaves and trash. He wasn't supposed to care-!
"But you do," Kisame had taunted him. And Itachi had backhanded him for that. But it didn't smack away the fact that he cared about Kakashi.
"Itachi…?"
Itachi swallowed the last bite of his apple and tossed the core into the trashcan. "What?"
"What would you do if…if I asked you to let me go home?"
Itachi shrugged. "I probably can't let you," he said slowly. "Kakuza gave me strict orders-"
"But…would you…" Kakashi swallowed hard, trying to swallow his fear. "Would you…"
"Would I what?" Itachi asked, standing up and taking Kakashi's empty ramen bowl and putting it into the sink. "Come on, you can talk to me."
"W-Would you hurt me?"
Itachi sighed. "Haven't we been over this?" he asked, walking back over to Kakashi. "I would never, if it cost me my life, hurt you in any way."
Kakashi nodded. "Thank you…how can I ever repay you?"
"You can keep your mouth shut about what I'm about to do."
Kakashi looked frightened as Itachi pulled out a scroll from his kunai pouch. He handed it to Kakashi, grinning. "I believe this belongs to you."
Kakashi's muscles slowly relaxed, and he took the scroll from Itachi, turning it and examining it. "It is," he said, shocked.
Itachi smiled and ran his hands through Kakashi's hair. "Use it wisely. And you know what I mean."
OOOOOOOO
Kurenai surveyed her team; shy Hinata, standing behind Shino, Kiba and Akamaru, ready to go, and passive Shino, just kind of standing around.
Kiba set Akamaru down and looked at Kurenai. "So, what are we doing today?"
"Just brushing up on basics," Kurenai said. "You've all been working really hard, so I want to take it a little easy today."
"Thanks," Shino said. Kurenai tossed each member of her team a kunai.
"Pick a tree, and up you go."
OOOOOOOOO
Asuma saw Chouji running up to them, and then Ino walking calmly, pushing Shikamaru in front of her, and smiled. They were the same as ever, really; lazy Shikamaru, preppy Ino, and Chouji…well, Chouji was fine as long as he could eat.
"Just a spar today," Asuma informed the team as they clustered around him. "Nothing too special."
"Hey, how's Kakashi?" Ino asked, finished pushing Shikamaru. "I heard he was really hurt-"
"He's okay," Asuma said. "Tsunade is going to release him from the hospital in a few days. The only thing she's worried about is the trauma."
"That's good," Ino said.
"Wait, wait," Chouji said. "What's trauma?"
"It's when someone…is deeply affected by a experience they had, for the negative, and their survival instincts kick in. Kakashi's gonna be a little flighty for a while, but he'll be fine."
Ino didn't look convinced. "Kakashi? What could ever faze him?"
Asuma sighed. "So you can imagine what he went through. And he did it for Leaf."
Shikamaru's attention was caught. "Whoa-Kakashi's in every bingo book in the known world. Orochimaru had trouble with him, and even Itachi was taking a little longer than usual with him. And he's…traumatized?"
"Yikes," Chouji said. "I once went on a joint team mission with Kakashi. He scares me."
Ino rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh. "Chouji, a lot of things scare you."
"Whatever. And Ino-"
"Hey, hey," Asuma said quickly. "No fighting, please. Ino, you're first up. Strike to kill, or you won't stand a chance."
OOOOOOOOO
Tsunade woke up and stretched. A day off had felt good, but she had to get back to work now. No doubt Konohamaru had set booby traps for her in the Tower, and Kakashi was probably in a mood because she couldn't let him out just yet. Sighing, the Godaime stood up and picked up Tonton.
"Find Shizune and eat," she told the piglet. "Don't bug me until I've had my coffee."
Tonton squealed and ran out of Tsunade's room, more than ready for breakfast. Tsunade headed into the bathroom, combed her hair, brushed her teeth, and went to the bathroom. She came out dripping from the cold water she had splashed over her face, and Shizune was smiling.
"Good news," she said. "Tonton didn't pee on anything overnight!"
"Awesome," Tsunade said. "And the stats at the hospital?"
"One problem."
Tsunade noticed Shizune's face fell when she said this, and she stepped closer, staring her assistant down. "What happened?"
Shizune bit her lower lip.
"Kakashi's missing."
Tsunade groaned and threw her hands up. "I have had it with that brat!" she howled. Seeing Shizune's face again, though, she stopped and asked, "There's more…isn't there…?"
"We found blood where he was sleeping and…it's Uchiha Itachi's."
Tsunade gasped. "So…he came back…because Kakashi knew too much…he wanted to shut his mouth…"
"We have to do something," Shizune said. "If we don't, Kakashi could end up-"
"Second time…" Tsunade murmured. "Have we received any demands yet?"
"No," Shizune replied. "No one has sent us anything…but Kakashi was smart. He must have scratched himself or Itachi, and there's a trail of blood. I sent the ANBU to follow it as soon as I found it to avoid losing the trail. Whoever was taking Kakashi with him or her wasn't very smart; they didn't notice they were bleeding."
Tsunade nodded. "So it wasn't Itachi…so Itachi and someone else. For sake of argument, let's assume it was Kisame. I know he's not smart, and he probably wouldn't notice a superficial scratch, maybe from…Kakashi's nails?"
Shizune nodded. "Like I said before, I have an entire ANBU squad on it, and I have a chakra signature map. I was going to wake you up and we could go, but I guess you're up already."
Tsunade nodded. "Meet me downstairs; I'm getting dressed."
Shizune nodded and went downstairs, carrying Tonton in her arms. Tsunade sighed and rooted around in her armor closet.
"This is my last resort…"
A/N: Haha, I'm so mean, leaving you with a cliffy! Oh well. If you want to see what happens, you're going to have to review!