Other Side of Impossibility 6: Bad End I

Did I say I wanna do Uchiha Mikoto next? Too bad, this attacked my brain soooo, here it is! A Bad End that can possibly happen in the future chapters.

There may be more Bad Endings that I whip out sometime in the future

Warnings: major character death, angst, feels, Kakashi Needs Happiness

Bad End I: Mr. Carrot

The first time around, his father almost left him.

Kakashi was so scared, terrified and downright brimming with anxiety by the time he went over to Rin's house for a sleep over, in an attempt to avoid his very own home, which was tainted with his own father's blood.

It wasn't a bad sleep over, per se, but it'd be better if he wasn't so stressed out, maybe that way he'd be able to enjoy his first visit to Rin's house.

During that sleep over, she gave him a carrot plush toy. Around that time, the carrot was as big as his torso, and it was actually a perfect fit for him to hug in earnest. At that time, Kakashi could only stare in disdain at the smiling face of the carrot, because who even thought of making a carrot as a friggin' plush toy in the first place. If it was, like, a puppy, or maybe a tiger like the one Rin declared as her favorite, he wouldn't judge it so much, but carrot?

Come on, man. It's not like people make tomatoes into plush toys, right?

(When Kakashi is fifteen, he sees a tomato plush toy on sale, and his first train of thought is of how Rin is possibly going to love this tomato to death. His second train of thought is not nearly as pleasant, and he walks away from the store as if his ass is on fire.

When Kakashi is seventeen, he buys the tomato plush toy, reasoning that he'll give the toy to little Naruto, along with the toad plush that he buys at the same time. He doesn't give the tomato away.

When Kakashi is twenty, everyone learns not to question his choices in plush toys.

When Kakashi is twenty four, he gives the tomato away to a child who has lost his entire clan.

When Kakashi is twenty six, the tomato is back within his apartment, left behind by the boy who betrayed his entire village.

When Kakashi is thirty, the tomato is destroyed along with the village when the Akatsuki attacks.)

Rin told him to keep Mr. Carrot (and what an unoriginal, lame name. Kakashi could only sigh at that naming sense of hers), and albeit reluctantly at first, he did.

"Hug it whenever you're sad during the night," she told him with a smile, and Kakashi only scoffed. He had his pups for him to seek comfort from (and a rather snuggle happy girl, really), there wasn't any need for a smiling carrot.

But he kept it anyway.

(And he will always, always keep it, even to his death bed).

The first person to truly leave him is Obito.

Obito died smiling and gave him his Sharingan, so that they could see the future together. So they can see the future together.

When they returned back to Konoha, Rin hadn't been her usual self, and Kakashi realized that both of them needed some time alone and away from each other to properly grieve. Rin for the best friend she lost, and him for the friend, the comrade he lost.

When he saw the orange carrot, all he could remember were Obito's shitty fashion sense and goggles.

He threw the carrot away from his bed.

He didn't want any more reminders of his failure; his newly obtained Sharingan was more than enough.

He wanted to return the smiling carrot to Rin. He never hugged it anymore anyway.

But then-

But then Rin left him too.

And it was still his fault. (And isn't everything his fault?)

When he woke up, he was screaming.

Her death kept on replaying inside of his mind and his dreams, day and night and it wasn't getting any better- It's never going to get any better-He remembered the feel of her heart against his palm, the feel of her blood slipping from his fingers and dripping down his hand, the way some of her blood splattered on his face, the way that bloodied mouth croaked out his name in silent horror, the way she fell and didn't move, not again, not anymore, never going to get back up and smile and tell him that everything's okay and make his day better never going to be there for him anymore no no nO NO NO please please I'm sorry please don't die please I'm sorry

He held the carrot and cried himself to sleep.

And it kept on happening.

Again,

and again,

and again.

When he lost someone (Sensei and Kushina-san, dying to defeat the Kyuubi, to protect their son. His father, in an explosion caused by an unknown party in the middle of the village. Mikoto-san, who whopped him hard after he killed Rin, yet still gave him a comforting hug in the end, who died from her own son's blade), when he failed someone (Itachi, why, why, why? He thought he was nice, thought he was loyal, thought they were similar), when he failed and failed and failed and failed.

Mr. Carrot is always there and it makes Kakashi happy, and really, how fucked up must he be to be happy because of the presence of a single, smiling carrot?

But he is.

He's an adult, he doesn't need cuddling partners anymore, no matter how Gai likes to offer such thing for him.

(There hasn't been any more cuddling partners, not after she's gone. Not ever).

Mr. Carrot is enough.

Hatake Kakashi is known for keeping a strange pair of carrot and tomato plush toys within his room. Some time within his life, the tomato disappeared for a few years, only to come back sometime later.

Everyone knows not to ever question his tastes in plush toys. (And everyone knows not to try to steal them, an ANBU has suffered enough one time, and nobody is willing to try it out ever again).

Everyone knows that during a certain day in every year, he never goes out from his room even if the Hokage is asking for him or if the whole world is on fire, only to lie in bed and stare at the carrot. (Everyone knows not to question it. Yamato suffered enough that one time.)

Naruto and Sakura knows of Mr. Carrot as the toy their sensei pushes at them when they were sad over Sasuke's betrayal.

Naruto knows of Mr. Carrot as this cool orange smiling carrot, and he thinks maybe he'll like this certain vegetable, only because it's orange.

Sakura knows of Mr. Carrot because of the way Kakashi smiles at her when he lends the plush for a short while for her to cuddle with, when she's still sad over Sasuke's betrayal.

Nobody really understands, though, on why he keeps it even to this age and day.

The one who knows are dead, really.

Except for him, and, well, maybe Gai, too.

Mr. Carrot smiles at him every morning,

and Kakashi smiles back.

aka the Bad End where Kakashi is so emotionally stunted he seeks comfort from a plush toy.

This idea popped out when I started writing about Mr. Carrot, okay? Sue me.

A free cuddling session from Mr. Carrot for your thoughts?