Kakashi: Confusion

Being a ninja, Hatake Kakashi accepted that one day he would die. However, he would have preferred that day not be today. His mission was in shambles; the contact he was supposed to be retrieving a scroll from had been killed by Iwa-nin shortly before he arrived at the contact point. Said Iwa-nin were now doing there best to ensure he joined the man in the afterlife. Kakashi was an elite journin, but eight against one was excessive even by his standards. That three of the eight were journin made it worse.

The kicker, however, was that the lead Iwa journin turned out -against all the odds- to be wind natured. To Sharingan no Kakashi, whose lightning affinity -strong against earth, weak against wind- was infamous, it was a match made by vengeful kami in the lowest circle of hell. He had managed to kill two of the chunnin, critically injure a third and seriously maim the second strongest journin when the battlefield was blasted by a tidal wave, sweeping everyone off their feet.

A wounded Kakashi staggered upright in the aftermath of the overpowered suiton justu -it couldn't be anything else this far from a notable water source- gripping a kunai in his fist and fighting off blood loss and the fatigue of keeping his sharingan active for so long. He had just got his bearings and located his adversaries when Hoshigaki Kisame, nukenin and former member of the Seven Swordsmen in the Mist, charged into the fray, bellowing in fierce berserker joy and swinging his sword, Samehada, with gleeful abandon.

The surviving chunnin fell like ninepins and the maimed journin had his head bludgeoned clean off in that first, bloody charge. The lead journin turned to run while his last surviving associate tried futilely to hold off the gigantic, blue-skinned swordsman, but the wind user found himself staring into the triple tomoed sharingan eyes of Uchiha Itachi. Caught in a genjutsu, the Iwa-nin never had a chance.

Leaving Kisame to toy with his prey, the nukenin advanced on the the injured Konoha journin. Kakashi's last thought before the world went black was, I am so screwed this time.

All things considered, Kakashi had not really expected to wake up. Even if Itachi had, for some insane reason, decided to keep him alive for interrogation purposes, the bed he was lying in was entirely anomalous. As was the lack of restraints. Of course, wounds and borderline chakra exhaustion ensured that he couldn't move far even if he wanted to, but still.

A noise to his right prompted him to turn his head in search of its source, profoundly greatful that his captors had left his mask on and pulled his hitai-ite down over his sharingan.

Hoshigaki Kisame, the 'Monster in the Mist', blue skinned and blue haired with gills and pointy teeth, was lounging on the floor by the bedroom door and cleaning blood off his scaled sword with steady, repetitive movements. Again, somewhat in line with imprisonment etiquette; the captive must be guarded, after all. Said guard is however usually on the other side of the door from the prisoner. Kakashi cleared his throat:

"Yo."

Kisame glanced up at him, then went back to cleaning the blood off his blade. "About time you woke up; sempai-chibi was fretting."

"Sempai... chibi?" This was surreal. Is it a genjutsu of some kind? Interrogation through mental confusion?

"Hai. Nice girl; not all there in the head though. Seems to think you're important." The shark-nin narrowed his eyes at Kakashi, right hand caressing Samehada's hilt: "Hurt her in any way, shape or form and I'll rip you apart."

It sounds like Hoshigaki Kisame has a crush, Kakashi thought hazily. Hoshigaki Kisame, rogue member of the seven swordsmen, Monster in the Mist, has a crush on a girl he calls 'Sempai-chibi'. It was like finding out Orochimaru of the Sannin had a pet rabbit called Fluffy.

Mutant scaled bunnies danced in his mind's eye as he reviewed his situation:

His wounds had been cleaned, bandaged and partially healed, and he still had his mask and hitai-ite. Unfortunately, that was all he had on other than his boxers. He was suffering from borderline chakra exhaustion, lying in a bed in a small room with infamous Kiri nukenin Hoshigaki Kisame, who incidentally was wearing a black cloak with a red cloud pattern. Said nukenin had also rescued him from Iwa nin alongside former Konoha-nin Uchiha Itachi. I think my life took a left turn into crazy-town while I was out.

The room's only door opened, revealing Itachi wearing a cloak that matched Kisame's and carrying a tray. The Uchiha placed the tray beside the bed, eyeing Kakashi carefully. Kakashi stared back, still unsure whether or not this was a new kind of genjutsu, or possibly a fever-induced delirium dream.

"Can you sit up, Hatake-san?" Itachi inquired neutrally.

With a bit of effort the silver-haired shinobi levered himself into a sitting position, propping his back up against the pillows. The Uchiha handed him a bowl of oden and a set of chopsticks, then slipped deftly out of range.

Kakashi decided to eat the food. The situation was so unbelievable his instincts had short-circuited. He was able to take his time, as Kisame only had eyes for Samehada and Itachi seemed to find the ceiling oddly fascinating. The silence, broken only by the swish of the leather cleaning cloth and the clicking of chopsticks, was awkwardly opressive.

His meal finished, Kakashi put both bowl and chopsticks back on the tray and turned to watch Itachi, who seemed to be the person in charge. Unless 'sempai-chibi, who I haven't seen yet, is.

The Uchiha slid the tray away from the bed and carried it over to the door, gently nudging Kisame's ribs with his foot as he did so.

"Give Sempai-chan some privacy. You can ask your questions later."

"Who's Sempai-chan?" Kakashi asked. There were only three people in the cramped room, all of them male.

"Me," said a soft, feminine voice far too close to his left ear. Kakashi spun his head around so fast he almost cricked his neck, then retreated as far as he could into the cushions supporting his back, heart thumping and adrenaline pumping, wishing he had his armoured journin vest on instead of just a few layers of bandages.

There was a girl in an oversized cloak that matched the two nukenin kneeling on his lap, the top of her bowed head scant inches from his face. He hadn't sensed her at all. The hell..?

Itachi bowed politely to the apparition as Kisame grudgingly rose to his feet. "I leave him to you, Sempai. Please inform me of your decisions once you have determined an appropriate course of action," the Uchiha murmured, pushing Kisame out of the door and closing it behind them.

Kakashi hadn't taken his eye off the girl in his lap for so much as an instant. She still wasn't there to his chakra sense and by the feel of his legs she had nowhere near enough mass to be real. He gingerly put his hands together in the ram seal:

"Kai." Nothing happened. Not even the slightest ripple.

"I'm real," the girl whispered, lifting her head to reveal star-spangled darkness where most people had eyeballs, peeking cutely through untidy white bangs. Her mass increased abruptly and she sunk into his lap, knees sliding apart to settle around his thighs. She looked larger, though still fairly petite and fragile. Under his fascinated gaze her hair darkened to caramel and lengthened until the ends trailed past her hips onto the blanket. Colour bloomed in her face, making her look so much more alive as his ears caught a soft, rapid heartbeat and the scent of her skin teased his nose.

"How on earth is that possible?" Kakashi asked faintly. He could even sense her chakra now, thick, heavy and slightly sweet with an undertone of midnight breeze.

"I am a wind master," she said simply, as if it answered his question. Perhaps it did.

"What's going on?" Might as well ask. "It's not every day a person gets rescued by nukenin."

The girl stared into his eye. "You are Hatake Kakashi, Sharingan no Kakashi, Copy-nin and son of the Konoha no Shiroi Kiba." A fingertip caressed the thin line of skin between the bottom of his hitai-ite and the upper edge of his mask. "You stand still and the world moves around you." She laced the slender fingers of her left hand into the stronger, longer fingers of his right. "I have many names, many faces, many duties and more memories than any mind should hold. Will you see me?"

Kakashi knew that there was more to the request than met the eye, but having a lapful of pretty girl teasing him with gentle caresses made it hard to concentrate. Besides, she doesn't seem to mean me any harm. If anything, the vibe I'm getting is rather like the one you get off front line ANBU medics; someone for whom healing is as necessary as breathing, yet has seen so much death and pain they damaged something inside themselves that no amount of medical ninjutsu can fix. He felt like that himself most days, except he was a killer through and through rather than a healer.

"I'll see you," he agreed quietly, tracing her jawline with his free hand. Her shivery reaction was very gratifying to his ego.

The still unnamed girl pushed up his hitai-ite, caught his left hand in her right and met his eyes squarely. "I am Genseisen Amemaihana, Rikugou Yogensha and heir to the Sanjuu Shikaku kekkai genkai;" she said clearly, her chakra reaching out to envelop him in its embrace, "See me."

Kakashi felt himself fall into the starry void, but was unable to prevent it. He saw.

He saw a toddler, a little girl, sentenced to death because her kekkai genkai made her a threat.

He saw a sixteen year old boy abandon family, love and duty to save the child's life.

He saw a tall man with curly hair and eight mismatched swords strapped to his back, hilts in a fan-like array.

Watched a perfectly coiffed geisha serve tea to the fire daimyo.

Witnessed the bloodline massacres of Mizu no kuni, where despite everything she could never rescue more than a handful of children at a time.

Felt the world bend around him, past, present and possible futures all clamouring for attention.

Then the world twisted and stilled, and he saw himself on the battlefield against the Iwa ninja, pale and wounded. The clarity and silence of that instance shook him to the core as he realised why Amemaihana had so desperately wanted him to 'see' her.

In a world of confusion and clamour, he was a fixed point of silence and peace. The eye of the storm.

Then the pain started.

Being overlooked by his father in favour of never-ending missions and other ninja duties.

Coming home one night to find his father dead by his own blade in a pool of drying blood.

Obito arguing with him.

Obito half-buried under a rockfall.

Rin.

Minato-sensei collapsing like a puppet with the strings cut as the Kyuubi no Yoko dissolved into nothingness.

The bodies of ANBU comrades, a dozen different masks, like broken dolls on ground dyed red with their blood.

If Kakashi had been able to find his voice he would have screamed himself hoarse. The pain was beyond anything he had ever experienced. Then cool relief washed over him and the pain faded away to almost nothing, the twinge of an old scar rather than the burn of an open wound.

Reality rushed back and Kakashi blinked dizzily. For the first time he could remember -quite possibly ever- he didn't feel a knotted ache in his heart. He felt whole. No, more than whole: complete. He pulled his hitai-ite down over his -not Obito's anymore but mine, he gave it to me- sharingan eye and looked down at the pretty girl in his lap, who had slumped forward once he had broken eye contact, her forehead resting against his shoulder.

Genseisen Amemaihana, Rikugou Yogensha. Ame-chan; geisha, seal expert, wind mistress, genjutsu specialist, healer and seer. He knew her better than he'd ever known anyone, maybe even himself, and she'd healed the wounds in his heart and soul.

Ame-chan?" He stroked the back of her head tenderly. She looked up at him, bleary-eyed with exertion.

"Hai, Kashi-kun?"

Kakashi yanked his mask down in one swift, deliberate movement, firmly gripped the nape of her neck and pulled her into a kiss. The feel of her lips against his set his nerves afire and he pulled her closer, exploring the inside of her mouth with his tongue. He could feel her heart pounding in time with his as one of her hands tangled in his hair and the other caressed down his spine, the bandages where wounds had been the only thing between his skin and her teasing fingertips.

He had barely started investigating her figure through the oversized coat she wore when a wave of dizzy exhaustion collapsed him back into the pillows.

"Kashi-kun?" Ame asked anxiously, leaning over him and stroking his shoulder.

Kakashi chuckled weakly. "You know, I'd completely forgotten I had chakra exhaustion. Here I am with a beautiful woman in my lap and I haven't the energy to do anything about it."

Ame blushed pinkly. "Ano, Kashi-kun, would you mind my staying with you while you sleep?"

Ame liked touching and holding onto people, Kakashi remembered from his little mental trip. It helped her keep track of who, where and when she was. "Of course you can;" he paused thoughtfully, "What are you wearing under that cloak, anyway?"

Ame blinked blankly. "Underneath?"

Kakashi closed his eye and took several deep, calming breaths. "I hate, hate, hate chakra exhaustion," he said evenly, glaring as Ame giggled behind her hand. "Just one question, though Ame-chan: Why?" Why me? Why do it at all?

Ame paused thoughtfully. "My kekkai genkai, the sanjuu shukaku, triple vision that opens my mind to past, present and futures turns me into a boat on a stormy sea without anchor, rudder or any means of charting my course. To compensate for this directionlessness, when we meet our soul-mate, our one perfect counter, we know them instantly. There is no-one else like you to me. You give me peace and clarity, let me be myself rather than just a shell gifted with an overwhelming kekkai genkai. I had not even realised how lost I was until I found you." She snuggled against him under the blanket.

"I love you Kakashi, not just for that but because I've seen you, past and present, flaws and all, and you are so beautiful inside my heart yearns for you."

Kakashi couldn't help blushing at her extravagant complements. "I've seen you too, Ame-chan, and I'll admit I am seriously attracted, but beyond that, well... give me a little time, please?"

"I've found you now. I can wait a little longer for certainty," she said simply, resting her head against his chest as her body went lax. Kakashi wrapped his arms around her and closed his eye, praying his strength would be sufficiently recovered by the next morning to show Ame-chan exactly how attracted he was to her.

A/N: Here it is; the promised romance. I really like Kakashi, so I decided he'd be the one to get the girl. Plus, he really does balance her out. Of course the in-laws may give him a little trouble, but what is life without risk?