All these annoying voices...
"Kakashi! Hey, you alive?", "Seek for the others!", "Is he okay?", "Here, I think she's punctured lung!", "Somebody, call medical team!"
"Kakashi, do you hear me? Look at me!"
The last one is Asuma. It's certainly Asuma. He smells with blood, bloody cigarettes , korean barbecue and Kurenai's perfume... the sky is so beautiful when the storm is coming... air is heavy with drops fall, washing dirt and fatigue... Asuma's screaming, he's upset, something wrong happened... 'Kakashi'... his name... so there is something wrong with him? It is true that head feels heavy... and it's so hard to breathe, but he's alive... feeling pain, that's an evident sign, surely...
"Asuma..."
Asuma's face... wet from the rain, he's so serious with all this anxiety in his eyes...
"Oh god, finally..." there's a shadow of relief in young Sarutobi's voice "can you hear me? Man, what happened here?"
"Asuma?.."
"Yeah, I'm here..."
"Have you ever wondered... when falling from a great height... if you release chakra at the right time... would you be able to survive with no harm?"
"Well, I..." Asuma looked again at the wound on friend's head. It didn't look serious, almost no bleeding, no swelling. But something was obviously wrong.
"One medic, over here!" he shouted.
"And if someone with such a strong chakra like Naruto... or Jiraiya-sama... freed chakra in the air... would they fly?.." Kakashi said.
"Easy, easy..." Asuma mumbled, more to himself than to Kakashi "...just take a hold of yourself. Try not to push yourself..."
Push...
"Do you think... chakra can be like wings?.." Kakashi asked, trying to get up.
"No, it can't..." Asuma stopped him. "Kakashi, really, you shouldn't speak and move right now..."
"Look..."
"You'll tell me later... somebody get in here, I need help!"
"What is it?" one of the medic appeared. He smells with blood, bloody hospital and pear juice... and fried mackerel.
"Head injury, probably broken ribs, dunno, but started saying weird things..." said Asuma. Kakashi felt obliged to explain.
"I'd like to... fly... somewhere... somewhere far beyond the borders of the map..."
"He did recognize me, but still is talking about flying stuff..."
"He may be in shock. Anyway just let me check, the wound doesn't seem to be a problem..." medical ninja put his hand on Kakashi's forehead. Kakashi got back to his thoughts.
The flow of chakra... and power of will... and if he try? Maybe he can raise a few centimeters up, and then... and then on, above, ahead, with power and faith in his own abilities? He raised his hands slowly and put them into the seal of the tiger. Just mold some chakra...
"No, just no" someone grabbed him by the arm and pulled it away from the other. "Do not try any tricks with chakra now. Asuma, make sure he won't do anything troublesome."
"Sometimes I feel... like I was two people in one body" said Kakashi "sometimes I see something I cannot see... you know what it's like, Asuma?"
"No, buddy..." said Asuma still looking worried. "You're in shock, try not to..."
"People who I've never seen before... you know, sometimes Mangekyo shows quite a different world... so much weird stuff happens in it... but still... I still cannot fly."
"Why is it so important?" Asuma said. "We actually do many amazing things. You can move an object to another dimension, what makes flying better?"
"What, you ask?" Kakashi frowned, closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and smiled slightly. "Because... it's like nothing can stop you from moving. You feel light, you float higher and higher... down there is all that is bothering you. You look around and the world you're leaving seems smaller, better place, you can leave behind all evil thoughts and your doubts, you're separated from them by a fog and clouds... Asuma... is dying similar to that?"
"For god's sake" Asuma squeezed friend's arm. "Man, you're starting to scare me. Why dying? Since when we're about dying? Everything will be fine."
"I promise I won't tell anyone..." Kakashi grabbed a friend's sleeve. "How was it with you?"
"With me?" Asuma said. "Kakashi, you hit on your head..."
"Yes, but... I'm not dead... and you are..."
Asuma's eyes widened. And then he smiled. And then his eyes went empty and dead. Kakashi woke up screaming.
"What is it, senpai?" Yamato was sitting under a tree, he was finishing his dinner, Naruto was sleeping nearby, snoring like a dragon.
"Nothing... just a stupid dream" Kakashi looked at his trembling hands. 'You shouldn't think so hard about dead people before you sleep'. Someone told him that. Probably Asuma when Obito died and the nightmares during missions started. 'Man, you scare me', Asuma used to say, and now it seems that he's turn came...
But... seriously? Flying?