Chapter 59!
Title:'Everything's Fine.'
Note: This one's much longer, though I tried not to make it too long.
I hope you enjoy it… despite… well… lots of things.
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
Again, I couldn't tell how much time had passed. But I was greedily taking as much as I could from him, my hands hungrily searching his back in an effort to feel more of him.
But his grip started to loosen and even if I felt a bit better, just loosing that almost painful embrace of his was enough to make my eyes sting again.
After all this I'm going to have to find time, I'd visit his apartment even without permission if I had to, to get the rest of this hug. It could take hours to get all that I needed from him, but I don't think I could ever get enough of him, anyways.
But right now… we had a mission… and he had more responsibility than I did.
"We don't have long until they'll make a move." He spoke up.
And as if right on cue we suddenly heard a very familiar voice, "Oi, what d'ya want?"
Naruto's volume let us find him immediately. There were two of the lackey's we'd seen at the party last night walking closely by the sides of Naruto and Sai, tall and quiet, shepherding them away from the crowd towards the door in the back.
Naruto started throwing a few punches that left them unaffected as they only pushed Naruto towards the door faster. Sai was more compliant for some reason.
I figured it out quickly when Kakashi turned back to me.
"Finally, time for the end."
The way he said that before he started tugging back through to crowd towards our other teammates hit me. This really did seem like this mission took forever.
So much has happened… and it's about to end.
Hopefully he good way.
"Hey there, are you escorting my friends to the meeting?" Kakashi asked with casual charm that would've been funny if the two men didn't look down at us coldly before saying,
"Momoshita wants to see you, too."
"I have a few things to settle with him, too." Kakashi answered as if he had no idea what was going on.
He started walking in pace with the two men and our two team members, Naruto still showing attitude while Sai was just as cool-headed as before, Kakashi's hand tightened around my own at an angle that Naruto or Sai couldn't see. I squeezed back, getting a little nervous.
… … … …
"Welcome friends and enemies." The fat, balding mob leader stood in front of the large room housing two groups that were filed down the center. Momoshita's men were sitting on the floor to the left, looking up at their boss admirably, the right side was sitting behind the white haori-wearing Yomasa family head. "Let us switch the roles tonight." He announced festively, "Old enemies will become allies." He nodded happily to the Yomasa clan, who seemed only partially moved. "And new friends revealed as the enemies they always were."
The lackeys manhandling us took the cue and threw us forward onto our knees, our hands tied behind our backs. Kakashi was forced to sit in front of the three of us, his own wrists tied with thicker rope than ours. He handled the force of being pushed to the ground with more grace than Naruto, Sai, and I were able to.
The entire room turned to look at us. At least a hundred men were in this room, all of them hated shinobi enough to kill them on sight.
But something told me they weren't going to try and kill us right away.
Momoshita walked down the open aisle between groups quietly towards us, his white cane thudding against the tatami mats every other step as he limped slightly. Everyone was still staring at us. I felt a little scared, still not able to use my chakra-strength seemed to take some of my confidence away, but I only let agitation show on my face.
Momoshita stopped in front of Kakashi.
I suddenly only felt fear for him, forgetting myself.
A moment of silence passed.
A flash of white later I heard a little thudding sound as Kakashi-sensei leaned forward slightly with the impact of the cane hitting his stomach. He didn't make a sound, but I was close to saying something. I tried to keep myself from making a scene.
The other men in the room let little smirks pull at their lips, like they knew this was just the beginning of violence toward us.
I really hoped Kakashi had a reason for letting us just walk into this situation.
A moment of stern silence followed.
"Kyousuke-kun." Momoshita spoke up. "Hatake Kakashi." He corrected.
Suddenly a soft chorus of mumbles and slurs could be heard all across the room. I almost forgot again how famous he was…. or 'infamous', really. The smirks either turned into sneers or grins form the men who seemed to be anticipating what they thought was going to happen to 'Hatake Kakashi'.
"You bought our time with your food and drink, and tried to rob us of our opportunistic arrangement with the powerful Yomasa clan," Momoshita nodded to the left side of the room, flattering them shamelessly. "But we now see who you really are. And, like any other ninja, you're going to pay the price of meddling with our affairs."
Quiet cheers could be heard from both sides.
I was getting pissed.
I could feel chakra start coursing through my arms… I felt confidence bubble in me with the familiar twinges of tingles of the chakra as it started swirling through my fists instinctually. I forgot chakra could be tied to emotions and heighten as a defense mechanism.
But my confidence weakened, my stomach lurched, and my head got a little fuzzy when I heard the next word come out of Momoshita's mouth.
"Hiroki."
I started to feel sicker with the thought he was in this room, my mind blurred a little more, I had no idea why… the toxins were gone, I was okay… but it almost felt, psychological. I tried to wake my mind back up, but it was a little difficult to focus when I recognized the tall dark figure stand up from the left side of the room. A gold chain decorating the side of his face, like it had yesterday, glimmered. He made his way past the men.
Tall, wide, intimidating.
I bit the inside of my cheek and forced myself not to look away from him as he walked down the aisle towards us. I could feel my face screw up with anger. I could see Sai and Naruto give me a questioning look out of the corner of my eye. I didn't care.
I had trouble correcting my breathing when I could finally make out his eyes.
They were fixated on me.
He was smiling. The chain stretched slightly with the tension of his face.
It was a sickly smile that made me feel like he thought he wasn't done with me. His bottom lip was split open in three spots, still bright red, they cracked as he smiled wider. He licked the fresh blood off his lips, his eyes still on me.
I wanted to kill him.
"Hiro-tan, here, has offered us some entertainment." Momoshita bellowed to the crowd with the voice of a game announcer. "He's requested that he 'finish his business' with Hatake-kun." The left side of the room cheered for Hiroki, who was beaming towards them proudly. The right side of the room seemed interested, if not pleased, but I could pick out a few unamused faces.
One of them spoke up. An older man with scars on his neck and a missing ear.
"Wouldn't it be best to just cut off their heads and be done with it?" He spoke up gruffly.
But before others could 'yea' or 'nay' that idea the Yomasa clan leader, with his eyes closed, lifted his white sleeved arm slightly, silencing his half of the room. He didn't say anything but Momoshita nodded and smiled amiably with the silent permission to continue.
Momoshita snapped his fingers almost theatrically. In reaction, a small-framed young man came stumbling up from the left side of the room holding a large lacquer case, he looked nervous, like a new recruit.
Momoshita opened the lid after the boy bowed in front of him, his head facing the ground.
The light shimmered off the metal as Momoshita carefully removed two daggers, using the tips of his yukata sleeves while handling the blade parts of the daggers.
He turned to the blond-haired man next to him. Holding out the daggers with a slight nod. I noticed only momentarily that the gold handles of the daggers matched the gold of his chain. The daggers glimmered similarly as he took them carefully, the blade part was welded intricately into crescent shapes, little aqueduct-like indentations followed along the edges of the blade.
The Yomasa clan leader opened his eyes, one clouded over, to observe.
Hiroki spun the blades in his hands as if he was greeting some old friends.
After a moment longer of that silence, Hiroki turned to Momoshita, smiling.
Momoshita glanced at the guards behind us, nodding slightly just before he was about to walk away. Hiroki reached out a hand, his fingers stopping Momoshita's shoulder, the blade in his hand almost looked threatening for a moment. Momoshita turned to him, then, very quietly, I heard Hiroki's voice.
My stomach turned with the sound of it, but it was what he said that made me feel like breaking up this ceremonious moment and punching him into bloody pulp, "I kill Hatake and she's mine, right?"
Momoshita glanced over his shoulder at me.
He eyed me for a moment, grading me.
"As long as you can keep her under control."
"Don't worry, I'll keep her on a short leash."
"I've no doubt." Momoshita chuckled before patting the man on the shoulder and walking away.
I could feel myself shake with anger and the need to do something that could take away this incredibly powerless feeling that was eating me up right now. My nails dug at my palms painfully.
But I was distracted when Kakashi stood up sharply and, without hesitation, circled on the spot with one of the more powerful kicks in a ninja's taijutsu inventory.
Half the men in the room almost stood up, grabbing their swords.
But the men settled back in their spots, probably less at ease, when Hiroki started laugh. His voice cracking and splintering with every guffaw. He had blocked the kick with his forearm; he pushed Kakashi's leg back to the ground with force.
"I was thinking maybe we should untie your hands, but I think you can give a fight just like that." Hiroki rose his arms in front of him, pointed the daggers at opposing angles, "Plus, we don't want you casting any annoying jutsu."
Kakashi didn't say anything.
They circled the spot.
I noticed a little movement from Hiroki, his thumbs were twitching on the handles of his daggers.
They took a few more opposing steps.
Hiroki made the first move, lunging forward with a side-handed thrust. Kakashi dodged it. Hiroki lunged forward again, Kakashi took another step back. The blond went for another stab, predicting Kakashi's movements and shrinking to his right just in time to barely scrape the blade of his dagger on Kakashi's arm. They both backed away from each other at the same moment. The material of Kakashi's tuxedo sleeve separated, revealing a sliver of skin and an even thinner line of red.
"You're quite careless for being so famous." Hiroki spoke up with a chuckle, looking at the edge of his blade that was coated lightly in red.
"You can say that." Kakashi agreed without much hesitation."But I think it's even more careless for an exile shinobi to mix himself up with yakuza."
Hiroki's posture straightened at that, his smiled weakened. The room was full of little murmurs. Momoshita frown as he lifted his cup of sake to his mouth.
"You're movements give you away. And those knives of yours." Kakashi nodded towards Hiroki's defensive arms, "The design is rare, but I've seen them before. They come from the Land of Rivers. But they're specially designed for only one clan."
The men in the room listened intently. I could see the faces of some of the men on the left start to drop. I guess they didn't know their beloved Hiro-tan was actually one of us once.
"The Kurobane clan is the only family of ninja that uses chemicals and reactants in their fighting style. Those daggers hold vials of chemical in the handles and secretes it to the edges of the blade."
The design made sense now. The indentations, the twitching of his thumbs to release the chemical.
I was suddenly grateful Kakashi was who he was and could analyze a situation like this so quickly.
But before any relief could sink in Hiroki's voice made my muscles tense instinctively.
"So if you know what they do, why'd you let yourself get cut?" Hiroki spat, practically seething now that his 'good' name with his men has been tarnished greatly.
"You're only using sedatives I've been immune to for years. I've dealt with your family before. They're a peaceful people that can only use sedatives…" Hiroki's face tightened with frustration, "I can understand why they disowned you." Kakashi goaded with false sympathy.
It wasn't a moment longer before Hiroki let out a grating yell before lunging forward again, slicing the air in front of him. Kakashi stepped to the side quickly before kicking Hiroki in the back, sending him falling forward.
Hiroki, nearly growling with anger, lifted himself off the floor and spun forward, kicking off from the ground with force, keeping his daggers angled outward to catch Kakashi in the rotating blades. But, as if Kakashi knew he would do that, he jumped from the ground, kicking his legs up high enough to swing his arms underneath them, and at just the right moment, used Hiroki's senseless flurry of knives to cut the bonds. They both landed on their feet a moment later, staring at each other with the cold killing intent you could only see from two shinobi.
Nearly all the men in the room stood up, grasping the hilts of their swords.
The Yomasa clan leader made no attempt to calm them, and only watched the scene with an aged and passive expression. Momoshita looked slightly worried, but when Hiroki raised his own hand to calm everyone the men hesitantly sat down. Hiroki stood on the spot, breathing a little hard, his blond hair as messy as it was last night.
"It's better this way." He commented, sloppily using his fist to brush away the hair from his face.
Kakashi didn't wait, immediately lifting his hands up to perform signs I saw Hiroki flinch suddenly, he started waving his daggers in mid-air as if he was attacking several enemies at once. He almost seemed panicked, as if his worst nightmares were clawing at him from every angle.
Genjustsu.
It was only a moment later before Kakashi was behind Hiroki, grasping his daggered hand behind Hiroki's back. Hiroki shuffled on the spot awkwardly for a moment, struggling to break free.
"This is it." Kakashi muttered seriously to the somewhat desperate Hiroki.
That was one of my favorite sentences to hear Kakashi say. Relief soothed me only slightly before Kakashi spoke up again, this time to the whole room,
"If you don't want 'Hiro-tan' staining the mats of your meeting room, you'll let them leave unharmed." He motioned towards us three still sitting over here. "I'll stay."
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled defiantly.
I wanted to say something, but I didn't want to distract him, or call Hiroki's attention to me. But if they tried to pull me out of this room and away from Kakashi, I was going to have to send some people flying.
No one reacted to Kakashi's offer. Both the leaders seemed to either be taking a long while to consider it… or they already knew the answer.
"I'm the one doing the entertaining here, let them go." Kakashi repeated, pushing the blade against Hiroki's back, making him grunt a little.
But that grunt turned into a laugh. Another, deadlier, cracking laughter that rang out.
"Fool." Hiroki caught his breath with that. "How can you call yourself shinobi if you're willing to sacrifice yourself and your mission for your teammates?" He brought up a very old shinobi code with a cold tone.
'Always ensure the survival of the mission, not your own or your comrades'.'
That was a code I knew Kakashi-sensei had a run-in with more than a few times in his life, though I've never heard details.
"Ninja are heartless demons who only know selfishness and killing." Hiroki added, his voice churning with hatred that seemed to be rooted in another moment in his life that wasn't now. He sounded like he'd experienced that code first-hand, too, but it was hard to care about what he had been through when he had the audacity to say we were heartless.
A tense moment passed.
Besides, this isn't over yet." He croaked.
Everything was quiet.
"I'm winning." Hiroki chuckled under his breath.
Kakashi looked back to Hiroki, probably as confused as I was.
"Just wait a few seconds." Hiroki added with a high pitch, "You'll see."
It wasn't a moment later before Kakashi's grip on Hiroki eased begrudgingly, it was only a 'few seconds' until Hiroki was freed. The blond man stood up straight again before turning around and administering a right jab to Kakashi's stomach. I bit the inside of my cheek too hard. Kakashi backed away slowly.
"There you go." Hiroki bowed his head a few inches to get a look at Kakashi's masked face, "I think you're starting to feel it." He sounded like he was talking to a kid. He probably did see Kakashi as a kid, the age difference was apparent when they were next to each other. There must've been at least ten years between them.
But I forgot that observation when Kakashi stumbled back a little after another punch.
I could feel my heart start pounding.
Worry crept into my limbs with a sickly cold feeling.
Hiroki smiled that bloodied, cracked smile, pushing back his hair again.
"You were right." He started, "My specialty is sedatives… just like my family…" he added with hate in his voice, "But I've learned a few things over the years… I've created a few of my own mixtures that no one could possibly be immune to." He took a few more steps towards Kakashi. I wanted to stop him. To punch him into the next room and make sure he never even looked at Kakashi again.
He placed his blade under his chin, lifting his head up to face him.
"This is a chakra-activated neurological inhibiter." Hiroki explained with some pride, pumping the chemical into the edges of the blade again. A little green drop fell to the floor. "After entering the bloodstream it sits dormant until the host performs any kind of jutsu. It locates the chakra points in the brain and starts playing with the synapses and connectors in interesting ways." Hiroki twisted the blade under his chin a little, angling it downward. The edge grazing the fabric of the mask down to Kakashi's neck. "Quite like what you used to spike our drinks last night, this one has a Takao root base." That was when he found out. Hiroki is a chemical specialist, he probably knew who we were last night from the moment he tasted the sake. I watched, feeling powerless, a few red drops ran down the side of the blade. Kakashi winced with more reaction than I thought he would give.
"It makes you feel weak, tired, sleepy, it may even make you see some pretty scary shit… it tends to mess with people's head like that. But it intensifies the pain receptors." Hiroki slid the blade over to Kakashi's shoulder, digging through the material of his jacket until Kakashi winced again. Hiroki pressed harder, letting red dribbled onto his blade and down to the floor. Kakashi let himself fall to his knees. I could feel the skin of my palms protesting against the pressure my nails were giving them.
Can't I get up?
Can't I do something about this?
I remembered what Kakashi told me before they pushed us into this room, 'Don't do anything till I tell you to.'
This might be Kakashi's plan, but what if it isn't… what if he made a mistake, what if he miscalculated?
But what if I get him hurt by trying to save him?
I could feel a little trickle of wetness seep between my fingers. I didn't pay attention to the crescent-shaped sources of pain in my palms when Hiroki spoke up again.
"I always use this one for a man I want to see suffer."
Hiroki raised his blade, slashing it downward at just the right angle that it barely cut his cheek.
The blond leaned down. He took the sides of Kakashi's face in his daggered hands. His right thumb rubbing against the fresh cut until more red spilled out. It dripped down into his mask, darkening the black material.
I watched with more hatred than fear when Hiroki leaned down farther.
His tongue peeked between his lips as it dabbed at the blood trails on Kakashi's cheek. Swiveling over the red patterns in a way that sickened me not only because I recognized how that tongue must've felt, and the fact he was doing it to Kakashi, but that he was inflicting the same disgusted and weakened state on Kakashi that he had on me earlier.
Hiroki leaned in closely to the side of Kakashi's face, his lips next to his ear.
He started to whisper.
Anybody who wasn't shinobi wouldn't be able to hear.
"And if this isn't enough suffering for you… Just imagine all the pretty things I'm going to do to your girlfriend after you're dead."
I was already resolved to standing up, breaking these bonds, and taking on all hundred of these men and possibly ruining Kakashi's plans if it meant I could have a chance at killing that man, but I didn't need to.
The moment Hiroki finished those words he let out a grunt of pain.
He backed away, stumbling slightly.
Half of a kunai was sticking out from his side.
All the men in the room murmured as Hiroki took a moment of shock before he clumsily started to pull it out, wiggling it from side to side to loosen its hold between his muscles. Before he could manage to free the first kunai, a second found itself imbedded in the hand that had been trying to tug out the first.
Hiroki looked back to Kakashi sharply, rage in his ice blue eyes, his hair whipping messily with the movement of his head.
The silver-haired man brought up his knee, planted his hand on it shakily and lifted himself up to his feet slowly.
He raised another kunai in front of him, his mismatched eyes focused on his opponent while his stance struggled slightly.
"Ha…haha…" Hiroki stared to laugh again, nervously. "You can't do anything! You should be dead on your feet!"
Kakashi took a shaky step forward, "You know… You were right when you said ninja were selfish and heartless…" He took another step, "That we only knew killing…"
Hiroki took a few steps back, something like horror spreading on his face slowly.
"That's how we're raised." Ignoring Kakashi, Hiroki lunged forward, his blade cutting into Kakashi arm shallowly. Kakashi just winced and took another step. "We're cold and decisive and throw away life because that's all our nations have taught us." Kakashi only kept cornering Hiroki. The blond man started to panic, his voice touching into his breathing as he started swinging his blades against Kakashi's arms and sides and chest, administering more of more of that toxin with every cut, hoping it would take effect and stop Kakashi's steps and words. "We learn to fight for the mission and not for ourselves." Kakashi only grunted slightly a little when Hiroki punched him harshly with the handle of the blade.
The blond took another step back after seeing the look in Kakashi's eyes.
It was that look.
The one he always wore when he knew he had to win, when there was no other option, when he had to protect something important to him. I still remembered the day by the misty lake when Zabuza attacked us on our first mission. That was the first time I'd seen it.
And just like then, I couldn't help the confidence and admiration that washed over my fear.
Hiroki stopped. He only stared at his weakened, but altogether more powerful opponent.
Kakashi looked up at Hiroki, his eyes tired but determined.
"So you can imagine just how much killing a shinobi is capable of when they find a heart and something worth fighting for. Especially when they're selfish."
Everything went quiet for a moment.
And then he was gone.
Hiroki stepped back and looked around, panicked, the other men in the room went silent as they tensed.
"I'm very selfish."
Kakashi finished casually after he rematerialized behind Hiroki.
The blond man's eyes widened for a nanosecond before he was rocketed face first into the ground.
All the men grabbed their swords and in a flurry of movement and a puff of smoke they ran towards the silver-haired man. All I had to hear was his voice say, "Now!" And all three of us were off the ground and unbound.
We ran into the smoke towards the shouting men. I punched a few of them, already feeling all the better as I saw them go flying backwards. But right now I didn't have time for fun. I needed to find him.
I turned to my left, knowing Sai was there, and in that moment I saw another dark figure come rushing towards me in the smoke, it was kicked away before I had a chance to build up chakra.
"I got this, go see to Kakashi."
I'd never felt so grateful to Sai or grateful that he knew about my feelings for our team captain.
I made my way through the crowd punching away a few men now and then. Just as I sent a guy flying to the other side of the room with a good kick, I felt a hand land on my shoulder. I wasa about to grab it and pull it over me to slam the guy against the ground, but as soon as my hand landed on his I recognized it.
"You look good fighting in that dress."
He sounded tired, but still… him.
"Kakashi."
As soon as I turned around there was no way anybody could stop me from wrapping my arms around him. He stumbled back a little, his hands finding my back quickly despite the surprise. He gave a little grunt and I pulled away quickly, afraid I was hurting him. But as soon as my arms gave hims some slack he pulled me tighter against him than before.
Again, all I could think was:
I need this.
I love this.
I need this.
Everything around us was moving so fast, but time seemed to slow just for this.
And just when I thought this moment couldn't get any better (despite the yelling and frantic men losing terribly against Sai and Naruto, who was making his own inventions of battle cries) he laughed.
It had been too long since I heard him laugh.
And with what he just went through, I was scared I wouldn't hear it for a while… but here I was, in the midst of chaos finding internal peace in the way his laughter vibrated through his chest like this.
"Are you okay?" I asked stupidly, but still not able to think straight with being this caught up in this irrational happiness.
"This helps." He tightened the hug and answered smoothly enough to make me laugh at him.
"Just let me treat you anyways." I spoke up as I noticed the cuts on the arms.
But just as I said that I felt his grip weaken as he pushed me away.
And just like that reality poked through the moment and I had to think about my surroundings.
"Later." He said. He sounded a little serious again, "I have something I need to do first."
"Wha-" Before I could finish my single word I was interrupted by his masked lips. I backed away quickly after enjoying a few seconds of it.
I looked around; Sai and Naruto were too busy fighting in the giant puffs of smoke. I was too drunk with relief and adrenaline I almost didn't care if they saw what just happened.
"That wasn't it, though." He let me know as he laughed again. I did too."I'll be right back." He kissed me again, a quick peck like the one he gave me this afternoon when he was having fun with pretending to be a married couple.
I laughed again as I saw him walk back into the chaos, ignoring the fact he was limping a little and indulging in the relief I felt that he was safe… he was still Kakashi.
But my laughter and that surreal moment of happiness was cut short.
A sudden pain across the back of my shoulder woke me up from my careless blind joy. I winced as I grabbed at the pain.
I turned around and any amount of relief and happiness vanished.
It was replaced by disgust and fear ad a haze blurring my mind.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
He made his way through the chaos. All the men caught up in the violence, fighting themselves and the opposing clan without focusing on the real enemy.
He'd seen this type of insanity before. Bloodthirsty men not caring who they kill or dismember as they hack away with their swords.
He avoided any of the men that spotted him and tried to pick a fight. Even if his muscles were aching and lagging behind as his reflexes seemed sluggish, he could still maneuver his way through the room quickly.
He found the loose mat, pried it away, and grabbed what he had hidden there earlier that day before starting to make his way into the chaos to get back to her.
… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … …
"Luck really is on my side." He repeated his words from that time we were alone… He took a few stumbling steps toward me, his smile even more bloodied now that his nose was bleeding from the face-dive he was given only minutes ago.
I raised my fist, unable to think of anything other to do than back away at the same time.
"Use any chakra and you'll find yourself unable to move…." He leaned in, "Or fight back." He waved his dagger back and forth a little. Suddenly the pain on my shoulder made sense.
I tried to think through any options I still had as he leaned even closer, his hands finding the wall behind me. A regular punch wouldn't be able to do anything against this guy. He leaned down to me, his bloodied face only centimeters from mine.
I couldn't think.
This was too much.
I wanted to cling to my sides, fall to the ground and wait till he left.
I wanted to claw at his face.
I wanted to-
I couldn't even finish that thought when I felt him lean forward. He pressed his face against mine, I could feel the blood smearing across my cheek.
That woke me up.
I suddenly remembered what was tied around my leg.
It was placed so perfectly, I didn't even have to lean down to get the kunai.
I pushed him away with the strength I could use without chakra. He pulled away compliantly, as if he knew whatever I did wasn't going to stop him.
I smiled for a moment. Anticipation bubbling in my stomach.
His own faded slightly, not that he knew what I was about to do, but I got the feeling he didn't like it when the girl he was interested in smiled.
Feeling all that anger and hatred again in this moment I raised the kunai up to my eye level. He only reacted minimally, like he didn't think I could do anything.
I raised the kunai higher. He seemed ready to block, but what he didn't know until it was too late was that I wasn't going to stab him.
I slid the kunai between his face and that freaking golden chain.
His eyes widened before he could stop what I did next.
"I don't need chakra to do this."
I yanked down quickly.
He pushed himself away from me with force, clutching the side of his face as the little gold chain glimmered down to the floor. And just when he seemed so ready to kill me, I anchored all my weight onto one foot and spun on the spot, giving him the kick he had blocked from Kakashi before. But this time it did what it was supposed to and sent him crashing into the ground unconscious.
I took a moment, standing over the unconscious man for a moment, breathing hard.
I could feel some of the dignity this bastard stole from me come back.
I didn't know until I heard a familiar voice that I had been smiling for the past few seconds since hearing this voice made me want to smile and I found I was doing it already.
"You really do look good when you fight." He extended that stupid compliment from before and I almost laughed. I think I would've if my whole body still wasn't shaking with what just happened.
I turned around.
He was just standing there, looking over my shoulder at the blond mess on the ground. He was only a few feet away, but that was miles away as far as I was concerned.
Ignoring how it was actually kind of annoying to see him just standing there inspecting my handiwork… I still loved it. I didn't know how long he'd been there, but…he didn't even try and save me. That sounded like a bad thing, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.
And he knew that.
It was like he knew I could handle it on my own.
That thought alone was enough to make my heart leap a little.
He smiled at me. Pride in his expression.
I could feel that stupid, blind happiness steal away my sense of danger or responsibility.
I ran up to him, acting pretty much like how I used as a kid to whenever he praised me on learning a new technique or handling a key component of a mission. But unlike when I was kid I could wrap my arms around him now.
I didn't hold back after his arms closed around me too.
It was so addicting, feeling him like this.
"Sakura…" He called me back to reality after only a few seconds. "I don't have much time."
I eased my arms from around him hesitantly.
"I probably won't be conscious for very long after I do this." He spoke up again. This time sounding a little serious. I ignored the yelling and sounds of metal clanking together as I watched him slip his hand into the inner pocket of his jacket.
"What?"
He took out a reverse summoning scroll, he unlatched it and let it fall to the ground. I didn't know what he was going to use it for, but all I knew was that he'd need a large amount chakra for a summoning jutsu.
My eyes found all the cuts on his arms and sides, all up and down his chest. There had to be so much of that toxin in his bloodstream...
My stomach churned.
He can't seriously be thinking abou-!
He wiped some of the blood off his face onto his thumb. And before I could stop him he performed seven signs before slamming his hand onto the scroll. Nothing happened here except a little puff of smoke, but somewhere out their he had summoned one of his canine helpers for something.
He stumbled trying to get up, he only fell back to his knees.
I knelt down next to him immediately, ignoring Naruto's shouting and the men's battlecries. I reached out to his shoulders.
"Pakkun and the others will be notifying the law enforcement in charge of this region... They should be here in only a few minutes." His voice got softer towards the end of that sentence. The way he was starting to lean over to his side scared me.
"Kakashi-sensei!" I pulled him closer to me. He lost his balance, on purpose or not I didn't know, and fell forward. He leaned his head onto my shoulder.
I let my hands cling onto the fabric of his tattered jacket a little too tightly, the dried blood on my palms rubbing off on it.
He chuckled a little against me. "Just Kakashi, remember?"
Immediately I was reminded of all the times he reminded me not to call him 'sensei' anymore.
I smiled at the memories, some of them were embarrassing, others were the happiest I had.
"Yeah…" I answered back, letting my face press against his.
It was only a moment before he turned himself over. I could tell how difficult it was getting for him to move. He scooted over, letting his head fall onto my lap tiredly. A moment of trying to calm my heartbeat later I let my hand fall onto the top of his head, running my fingers through his hair a little.
The silence between us was perfect.
The way he was looking up at me.
The look he always gave me when he whenever he told me how much he needed me.
His hand reached up to my face. His fingers rubbed away the blood on my cheek carefully, his touch getting weaker by the second. I couldn't help but lean into his touch, letting my lips press against the inside of his slightly weathered palm. He smiled tiredly.
We must've been a strange scene in this room full of violence of noise… but this probably summarized our lifestyle more appropriately than any other situation.
"Sakura…" His eyes were closing. He sounded a little worried. Like I would disappear as soon as he closed his eyes.
I let my fingers run along the side of his face, admiring him.
"Don't worry, I'll be there when you wake up." I smiled as I leaned down.
He chuckled.
"I'll look forward to that." His voice was almost too soft to hear.
But when my lips found his masked ones, he kissed back weakly for as long as he could… his lips lost tension when his hand fell from my face.
Even if he hadn't seen me, he knew I was here till he wasn't anymore.
Everything was quiet for me for a moment.
Naruto and Sai were still fighting the last stragglers as I started wiping the blood off of Kakashi's face carefully, using the front train of the dress he picked out for me.
Yeah…
This was our life.
…
Surrounded by violence.
Covered in blood.
But too blinded by happiness to even notice.
…
I smiled to myself.
…
This is our life.
…
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I walked through the hospital doors at three o'clock in the morning.
I wasn't the only one there.
I kind of felt bad for not being the first one here, but I had to go home first to tell my mom and dad I wouldn't be home till the afternoon.
The mission had finally ended and we were back home, breathing a sigh of relief that the craziness was over. The regional law enforcement arrested Momoshita and the Yomasa family head, and took most of their men to the local hospital to get stitched up before being arrested too. The officers thanked us for our help gruffly, like they didn't like having to work with shinobi, they told me to thank Kakashi when he was conscious again.
I don't think anybody cared about their thanks, but I planned to tell him anyway.
But that wasn't the only reason why I was here visiting him, of course.
I walked into the waiting room, my sandals making little scuffing sounds against the aged tile floor. I saw Naruto and Sai sitting on the single couch, waiting quietly.
I guess they were worried about Kakashi enough not to go home yet.
Naruto looked up as he heard my footsteps, he smiled immediately and sprang up, "You here to visit Kakashin-sensei?" He asked a little unnecessarily.
Sai peeked over at me with his own smile as I answered hesitantly, "Yeah."
Naruto took a little breath like he was going to pick up some sort of small talk but a little voice interrupted him (for a change, he was interrupted. I felt like laughing at the irony).
"Oh, Haruno-san." I turned when I heard my name being said so respectfully. I immediately recognized her, not from the months I had trained my healing skills by helping the staff here, but from the last time I came to visit Kakashi in the hospital past visiting hours. She was the nicer one of the two receptionists.
"Yes?" I asked, Naruto looked curious, too.
"You're here to visit Hatake-san?" She asked for verification, checking her little clipboard of recent admittances. I nodded quickly. She smiled when she checked her paper, "You can go see him now."
My heart jumped happily.
"Huh? Really?" Naruto freaked out for a moment, smiling widely.
"Only Haruno-san, sorry." The receptionist shrunk back a little with Naruto's hyperactivity, trying not to hurt his feelings.
"Wh-Why?" His feelings were hurt.
"Her name is still listed as one of his exceptional visitors." She explained politely.
Naruto immediately whipped his head to me, demanding an answer silently.
I was quick on the uptake, my smile still showing through on accident.
"I was his medic-nin last time he got injured. They needed to let me see him whenever he needed me."
"Oh." Naruto nodded after a moment, he crossed his arms with a pouty attitude like he'd just been denied entry into a special club, "Well, tell me how he's doing if you don't stay until 8:00." He asked to me to fill him in if I left before the visiting hours started.
I was definitely staying till eight.
But I nodded as if it was a possibility
The receptionist pointed me towards the door that led to the hospital rooms, I already knew where his room would be (recent and short term admittances always ended up with the left hallway), but I thanked her for the directions and went through the doors, glancing at Naruto and Sai as Naruto went to sit back down. Sai was still smiling at me.
I almost sighed at how I much drama I was probably going to have to deal from him later.
I could just imagine him trying to set up fake dates for Kakashi and me, making us talk to each other alone… well, as long as he didn't snoop around for too long, I guess Sai could actually help us find time together without really knowing that we were already way past the stage he thought we were at.
I did sigh when I realized, despite how annoying those little games sounded, I was still kind of looking forward to them.
This lifestyle was turning me into some sort of danger-seeking teenager or something.
Well… I guess it didn't matter right now.
I took the left down the hallway.
Right now was perfect.
It was that time after a mission wrapped itself up and we were free from worrying about anything for at least a couple days until things got in our way again as they always inevitably seemed to do.
But for right now, this was just another happy ending to another crazy mission.
Everything seemed back to normal already.
Even walking to his 'usual' hospital room seemed part of the normal schedule now.
I peeked through the window. The room was dark, but the moonlight from the window was enough to see him lying on his side, sleeping.
I smiled as I opened the door quietly. I walked a few steps into the quiet room.
I could hear him sigh in his sleep when I closed the door behind me.
My eyes adjusted to the dark as I walked up to his bedside.
Just like last time, the hospital staff seemed to understand not to take off his mask, but took off his jacket and shirt to treat the cuts along his arms, sides, neck, and chest. My eyes lingered on all the little bandages and the large purple bruises on his stomach and chest, I could even see one forming on the side of his bandaged cheek from where Hiroki punched him with the handle of his dagger. It was a painful to see him like this, but I tried not to focus on that.
I pulled up the chair closer to his bedside, quietly. I focused instead on the pace of his breathing, on the way the moonlight reflected off his shoulder as it rose and fell, how his eyebrows furrowed a little in his sleep like he was having a bad dream.
I reached up to his face. My fingers smoothed his forehead gently. He didn't look so upset anymore.
I let my fingers peek into his hair, brushing through it once.
I always did love running my fingers through his hair, it was one of the first things I wanted to do when I realized I had feeling for 'Kakashi-sensei'. I would probably do it more often, if I never got the courage. I knew he wouldn't mind if I did it more often, he was the one who would always run his hands through my hair, but I just felt like he wouldn't like it as much as I did.
But the way his face lost all its tension and calmed when I let my hand run through the silver locks again told me otherwise.
I smiled to myself, having too much fun just looking at him.
I moved my hand from his hair and let it find the bandage on his cheek, tracing it lightly. His nose twitched like it tickled. I wondered if he was actually awake already.
I could almost imagine him speaking up when I least expected and saying 'You know, sleep harassment is a punishable offense.'
My smiled widened at the thought.
I let my fingers find the fabric of his mask.
I was feeling kind of reckless right now. I let my fingers slide between his mask and face.
Maybe I was turning into a 'danger-seeking teenager'.
I knew he wouldn't mind me kissing him, but while he was still asleep, that seemed like I was asking for him to make fun of me and do something worse to me.
I pulled at the fabric a little more, about to pull it passed his nose.
But I didn't get a chance to.
His eyes tensed a little and he rolled over onto his back, away from me. If I couldn't tell he was awake before, I knew he was definitely just waking up now when he sleepily raised a hand to his forehead, rubbing the heel of his cut hand against his eyes.
"Morning." I spoke up with a big smile.
His eyes flashed open after a moment. He found me sitting by his bed. His eyes moved from me, looking around the dark room and finding the moonlit window.
He groaned a little as he rubbed his eyes a little more.
I didn't wait for him to wake up entirely before I started picking on him.
"You just can't seem to stay out of the hospital this month." I poked verbally, sitting up in my chair, stretching a little. "I think you probably enjoy making me go out of my way to visit you like this." I joked, smiling widely as he turned back to me.
He found his voice a moment later, it sounded a little sore.
"I appreciate you visiting me, Sakura." He spoke up as he was still rubbing his eyes as if they ached. I got a little worried about how much pain he was in. "But before you accuse me of doing this on purpose, can you tell me why I'm here?"
He sounded a little weird.
He must be in a lot of pain, most of his body was covered in cuts and he was injected with foreign chemicals, I'd be a little out of it, too.
"Hiroki's neurological toxin… you got too much in your system." I answered, standing up and taking a step towards his bed so my hip was leaning against it.
"A neurological toxin?"
He sounded like he didn't know what I was talking about.
He looked back at me a little confused.
But something was weird about the way he was looking at me.
It must be my imagination.
I found my voice after a moment.
"You don't remember the mission?…" I asked, feeling worry creep into my stomach as I said the words.
His expression only tensed with thought, like he was trying to think… trying to remember…
The Takao root base. Hiroki said he used something similar to what Kakashi did.
Kakashi said… the side-effects.
Too much and you could…
This…
this…
This can't….
"No…" His voice interrupted my thoughts, but not the sick feeling they were giving me. "I have a feeling I lost a lot of time." He spoke up, his right hand rubbing his temple as if he could massage the 'lost time' back into place.
He doesn't…
…
I have to be wrong.
This isn't what's happening.
He still… he still… still remembers… he has to…
"I think I need to speak with the Hokage about this." He spoke up after a few seconds, I didn't pay attention.
All I could notice was the way he was looking at me.
The way he hadn't tried to kiss me yet.
The way he hadn't even reached out to me once yet.
The way he said my name.
He was 'Kakashi-sensei'.
Only 'Kakashi-sensei'.
There wasn't anyone else in this room, right?
He wasn't just acting like this because someone else was here, right?
… no.
… this wasn't really happening.
I was just overreacting.
Of course his first thought wouldn't be to touch or kiss me when he realized he forgot the last mission.
Everything's fine.
Everything's fine.
Everything's fine.
He wasn't looking at me. He was just looking at his right arm and side, leaning on his left hand. Looking over all the cuts.
It felt like I didn't exist.
Everything's fine.
I felt my heart tighten painfully when I wasn't so sure anymore.
I let my hand inch forward on the bed, excruciatingly slowly.
My fingers bumped into his.
He didn't do anything.
I slid my fingertips onto his. My fingers between his.
He didn't move. He was too busy inspecting the bruises under the bandages, as if he was trying to read what happened to him from how they looked.
But he wasn't pulling away.
My heart eased slightly with relief at the hesitation… until he saw my hand on his.
In only a moment my hand was cold again and the look he was giving me was shredding my insides before I could even accept what it meant.
The look in his eyes looked like….
Like I crossed a line.
Like he didn't understand why I would reach out for his hand like that.
Like I was only just a student.
Like this was three months ago.
Like he felt nothing for me.
He took the hand I had only barely touched and pulled the covers over his chest, covering himself.
He'd done that before, when Asaka put him in here, but it was only because he didn't want me to see the damage.
This felt like it was for another reason.
"Haruno." He distanced himself from me by using my last name. "Can you go find Lady Tsunade for me? I need to figure out just how much I lost."
…
I couldn't move.
I couldn't think.
…
I couldn't…
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Sorry.