A/N: Theres a lot going on in this chapter and it spans a long time, I hope its easy enough to follow and that you find it interesting! ;) Also, I think next chapter will make us about 1/4 way through the story? I know a lot of you read it and like it so ill try my best to finish it! :) let me know what you think of the chapter and what you THINK will happen in the next chapter;)) Here a pic i drew for this chapter anna-mae . deviant art . c 0 m / # / d5n9ese
PS. Im sure you all have picked this up, but the italics is the language that the time people speak
When Time Stops
Chapter 11: Playing With Fire
"Is he real?"
"He looks like it..."
Kakashi watched the three in from of him. There were two boys roughly his own age and one who was much older. He remembered seeing them earlier that day in the courtyard during his meal. The smallest of the bunch, a small boy with a clean shaven head reached forward cautiously and quickly, giving him a sharp pinch on the arm. Kakashi swatted the boy's hand away, an annoyed expression taking over his face. He glanced behind him, where Pungarh sat under the cover of the great room at one of the tables, leaning forward and watching him intently. He turned back to the boys, wondering what the hell his captors were doing with him.
"Of course he is real, you idiots..."
"What is your name?" The second of the younger boys asked. He had short brown hair and many freckles powdered on his nose and cheeks.
Kakashi stared at the odd bunch, noting how curious and intrigued their expressions seemed to be. He ignored them for the most part. He turned on his heel and walked away, to a small dirt patch in the grassy courtyard. He fell into a squat, dragging his finger through the dirt, making nothing in particular. "Why would they group their prisoner with their kids..." he muttered to himself speculatively.
"Hey!" The short haired boy called, "He is getting away!"
"Quiet," the oldest boy said, chewing on a piece of grass as he watched the young, strange boy. He wore a similar outfit as all of the men. His long shoulder-length brown hair was pulled back sloppily into a ponytail, some strands falling out and falling into his face. He blew them out of the way. "He does not speak our language."
"What other language is there?!" The youngest exclaimed.
The younger boys stared at the newcomer in amazement while the oldest walked towards Kakashi, squatting next to him. The newcomer glanced at him, scribbling something in the dirt. Now flanked by his younger companions, he watched the small silver-haired boy mark in the dirt, wondering what it all meant.
"What is he drawing..." the bald boy wondered aloud.
The oldest shrugged. He waved, catching Kakashi's attention, and pointed to himself, "My name is Duilus."
Kakashi stared at the older boy. They obviously wouldn't leave him alone. He sighed, wishing he could go back to his cell. He never did like talking to people his own age, even at the academy. They always seemed so...unintelligent and emotional. It was a distraction from his goals. He figured he might as well see what they wanted.
The older boy repeated what he said, exaggerating it slowly, "My NAME is DUILUS...D-u-i-l-u-s."
The other boys giggled at how silly the oldest sounded to them.
Kakashi frowned, working his brain to understand. "Duilus..." he repeated slowly, the word feeling thick and foreign on his tongue.
The boy smiled, showing off a mouthful of teeth, the strand of grass still held between them. "Yes!" he replied excitedly, pointing to himself once more and nodding, "Duilus."
"I am Feol!" The youngest boy burst out loudly, hardly able to contain his excitement at having a new friend.
"And I am Gaughtur!"
Their names. They were teaching him their names. Names of three of the children of the Time ninja. There had to be some way to use this opportunity to his advantage. He didn't know what the Time ninja were aiming at, and surely he would have to figure that out first, but he was damn sure he would find a way to make this situation work in his advantage if he ever wanted to escape and get back to Konoha. He turned back to the dirt, sweeping his arm, tunic and all, across his writing with one swift motion. He scratched the kanji of his name into the freshly cleared dirt, trying his hardest to make them legible (his academy teachers always did complain about his illegible penmanship). When he finished, he looked to the boys, pointing at himself. "Kakashi," he said, giving them the friendliest smile he could muster. The motion was awkward and uncomfortable.
The three echoed him, quite excited at their butchered attempt of his name and their newly formed friendship.
"Children," a voice called suddenly.
The three turned, immediately sobering.
Kakashi followed their gaze to a stern-looking, old man with white hair shooting out of his loosely wrapped head scarf.
The boys immediately stood and quickly lined up in front of the man.
Kakashi watched them from afar, seeing how they moved in unison at the old man's words. The way the boys and the old man acted towards each other reminded him strangely of his relationship with Naruto when they trained. "He must be their sensei..." he muttered to himself, walking up to them. He was curious to see what type of fighting skills they possessed in this village. He fell in line next to the oldest boy on the end, and mirrored his 'at ease' stance. He looked to the old man, who was staring at him with an irritated expression.
"What do you think you are doing, boy?"
The older boy, Duilus, stared at Kakashi, shooing him away with a quick, urgent flick of his hand.
Kakashi shook his head, staring at the old man with determination, "Please allow me to train with you, Sensei!" He bent over, hoping his show of respect would allow him to stay and learn.
"Pungarh!" The old man yelled.
Kakashi recognized that word. He peeked up, holding his bowing position, to where Pungarh had been sitting. The man was smirking, a certain amusement in his eyes.
"Take your prisoner away from here, we are training. I cannot have this experiment getting in the way of my children's lessons."
Pungarh laughed, "It does not appear that he will be of any trouble. See? He is asking your permission to train, 'Sensei'.'"
The old man snorted, a pompous air in the way he now held himself, "It is not safe for the children."
Pungarh was suddenly serious as he eyed the teacher, "You know that I am concerned for the safely of Time's children as much as you are." He stood, walking forward to the edge of the courtyard, "I will leave him to you then as I have matters of my own to attend to." He left without a reply, venturing off somewhere Kakashi knew not.
The old man huffed, walking to Kakashi, stopping directly in front of the boy.
Kakashi righted himself and met the old man's stare with a stare of his own.
"Very well, but if you get in the way, child, you will leave immediately."
"Sensei, he does not speak our language-" Feol, the youngest, started.
"Silence!" He yelled, turning on his heel and walking down his line of students, "Begin your exercises! Count loudly so I can hear you!"
"Yes, Sensei!" The three chorused, already moving in unison into their first position. Their weight shifted to their left foot as their bodies opened up and arms moved into a ready position in front of them.
"One!" The boy's shouted.
Kakashi shuffled awkwardly into the same position, straining his neck to see around the older boy to make sure he was in the correct position. Before he could entirely be certain that he had gotten the right stance, they moved again, turning on the pads of their feet and bringing one knee to their chest and shifting their weight back. "Two!"
Kakashi echoed their movements, hopping on the foot he was left standing on. "T-two!" He shouted several seconds too late, trying to mimic their words the best he could.
The other boy's his age giggled, the older trying to hide a smirk.
"Pull yourself together!" The old man shouted at his three boys.
They shifted, moving their weight to their opposite leg and falling into a low stance, arms stretched far above their head. Kakashi copied, sinking low into his legs, arms stretching high. The old man walked by him, speculating him cooly. Kakashi ignored him, until he was shoved in the back.
"Ak!" He yelped, loosing balance and falling forward, waving his arms wildly. He fell to the ground, barely able to catch himself before his face hit.
The boys laughed.
"Lower your center of gravity; you are balanced and centered. Again." The old man instructed.
Kakashi picked himself up, brushing the dirt off of his tunic front. The old man was staring at him expectantly. He lowered into position again, raising his arms up. The man tapped the top of his left leg. Kakashi lowered even more. Another tap on his right heel and he spread his foot further. A hard tap on the back and he pushed out his chest.
The old man again shoved Kakashi in the back. The silver hair boy wobbled but managed to stay balanced.
"Much better…" the man drawled.
"Three!"
They moved again and again, the old man correcting him each time. Kakashi was sure that they had been practicing for hours by the time they were finally allowed to stop. They must have gone through more than one hundred positions. The boys returned to an 'at ease' position and Kakashi copied them. His body was sore from the strange movements, but he was far from tired. They had barely done anything compared to his training sessions with Naruto.
"Very good, now we will meditate, children."
The boys nodded, sitting down on their knees on the soft grass.
Kakashi stared at them and their sensei, wondering what kind of training they were doing. He watched them several moments, but the three boys simply sat there with their eyes closed. "Sensei, when do we fight?"
The old man looked at him, giving him an agitated stare.
"You know," Kakashi continued when they were all looking at him with blank stares, "sparring, training, fighting."
"Kakashi?" Duilus questioned, looked dumbfounded.
Kakashi frowned, shaking his head and wondering how to communicate with these people. "Duilus," he started, reaching for the older boy's arm and pulling up.
Duilus looked to his sensei, receiving a nod of approval, and stood.
Kakashi half-smiled at his small achievement. He fell into a familiar fighting stance, "Spar."
"Uh…" Duilus drawled. He tentatively mimicked the stance.
Kakashi reached forward in a mock hit, bracing his arm against Duilus.' "Spar; when to we get to actually train?" He asked, looking from the older boy to the old man. Duilus' expression was as confused as ever. The old man held an unreadable expression somewhere between confusion and disgust. "Hm," Kakashi hummed in thought, wondering if there was another way to explain himself. An idea popped into his head then and he couldn't help but smile as his own genius. He clapped his hands together, "Shadow clone jutsu!" One Kakashi popped into existence. As the smoke cleared, Kakashi noted, curiously, the amazed look on the boys' faces. Even the old man seemed amazed, though he stifled it well. Kakashi ignored his audience and turned to Kakashi-clone, dropping into a fighting stance. The clone dropped into a fighting stance as well. Without signal, the two Kakashi's began sparring, throwing fist and foot at each other. After only a few minutes they stopped and Kakashi looked to the boys and old man. "Spar," he repeated once more.
All three boys looked amazed, watching him with wide eyes. The old man, on the other hand, looked enraged. The old man stomped towards Kakashi, grabbing his mop of silver hair. The Kakashi-clone disappeared in a puff of smoke. The old man pulled Kakashi back to the line and shoved him down into his knees into a meditating position, like the other boys were in.
"No spar." He growled at Kakashi's face. The old man released Kakashi and moved back to the front of the line, facing the boys and kneeling to meditate as well.
Kakashi winced, rubbing the tender spot on his head. He had many questions, questions that he was sure, would go unanswered.
"Duilus..." Kakashi whispered across the wooden table. The three boys were studying in a small, closed-off library-type room. A small lantern was situated in front of each of them so that they could easily read. Besides that, the room was dimly lit and damp, with few lanterns situated throughout the room. Kakashi had picked out a thick book, one with many pictures inside. He flipped through the pages, glancing briefly at each picture without really paying attention to them. The older boy glanced up, barely pausing in his reading to acknowledge the silver-topped boy.
Kakashi scoot forward in his seat and leaned far over the table, talking in a hushed whisper. "Why no spar?" He asked in his best imitation of their thick language. He had been with the time children for, as best he could tell, about two weeks. He had slowly picked up their language, although he was far from being able to fully understand any of them. The boys, especially Duilus, had also picked up some of Kakashi's language, helping in the learning process even more.
Duilus raised a single brow. "Uhm," the older boy looked around, unconsciously tucking a loose strand of hair behind his ear. He glanced at Kakashi's book. He grabbed it and pulled it towards himself, flipping decidedly through the pages until he stopped at an elaborate image of some sort of deity, garbed in white and with a bright light surrounding him. The deity was surrounded by men bowing and meditating beneath him, as well as ornate designs and gifts. "Our father, he does not allow us to spar. It is against our nature to harm our brethren." He explained simply, shaking his head to make sure the message was realized.
"Hn," Kakashi responded, thinking over the explanation Duilus had given and trying to work out its meaning in his head. He looked down at the displayed picture, studying it. "But the world is based upon ninja defending their village and completing missions."
"No spar," Duilus repeated, smiling as he pushed the book back to Kakashi and turned back to his book.
Kakashi looked at the book, flipping a few more pages. He looked up to Duilus who seemed to be intent on studying. "Duilus," Kakashi whispered again, shrinking as he noticed Pungarh give him a fierce glare at interruption to the boy's studies.
Duilus looked up, smiling at Kakashi's persistent questioning.
Kakashi pointed to himself, "I am good at sparring. Very strong!" He smiled, flexing his arm.
Duilus looked at him wearily. "We do not spar, Kakashi. Few here fight."
"Pungarh and Leobwin spar." Kakashi rebutted quickly.
Duilus nodded slowly, "They have devoted themselves to the father and yet, they are destined to a life of sin. Warriors are not allowed into the afterlife. It is very bad to us."
Kakashi frowned, "Fighting is, exhilarating and challenging." He couldn't help but remember training with his brother nearly everyday. He missed Naruto and Konoha. "I will teach you to spar. Sensei," he said finally, pointing at himself.
Duilus' lip twitched with the slightest of a smirk but soon vanished into a frown. The time boy looked discretely to Pungarh and then down at his studies, deep in thought. Kakashi waited patiently for several minutes until Duilus finally looked up. "You will teach me to spar...?"
Kakashi nodded.
Duilus' eyes bore into him and a smile grew on his lips, "I would like to learn. But we must be very careful, do you understand? No one can no, else we both will be in very much trouble."
Kakashi nodded slowly, piecing what he could together.
"We will have to wait until the time is right...I will come and get you."
Kakashi couldn't understand what Duilus had said, but he knew that he was going to teach Duilus to fight and gain a valuable friend and comrade in this foreign place. Their only worry was that no matter what they could not be caught; he didn't want to be left in his cell for days on end ever again.
"Is it going to work this time?" Pungarh asked, picking up a small vial containing some sort of preserved organ that he could not identify.
"I know not...however, I have uncovered an essential piece of information, based on the Elder's investigation and our own during Kakashi's past childhood in these past weeks, that will help to release Kakashi's locked memories. If I am able to give the child's memories back," Leobwin explained, never looking up and continually scratching words into a book of papers, "It should be an easy task to alter the jutsu to make the person retain all of his techniques and knowledge."
Pungarh approached the doctor, peering down at the desk full of papers, all filled with writing or intricate diagrams of the human bodies or sigils. "Will you be able to complete the jutsu in time?"
Leobwin stopped for the first time, his pen held in mid sentence, and looked up to his companion, eyes serious and direct. "For the first time, I cant tell you with assuredness, yes."
Pungarh nodded, glad that their life time of work would be rewarded by accomplishing the task that they had set forth to do.
"Go and retrieve young Hatake. I am ready to test my altered jutsu." Leobwin instructed, standing and collecting his papers into one neat stack.
"Very well," the other replied, nodding and taking long strides toward the door of the small research office.
Kakashi opened his eyes, immediately alert, when he heard his cell door unlock in the middle of the night. He sat up as the door was opened and two time nin, Pungarh and another that he did not recognize, stepped through.
"It is time, Hatake," Pungarh spoke, taking large, intimidating steps forward. The man grabbed Kakashi's arm, dragging him out of bed and to his feet. The other man shoved a foul, burlap bag over his head as Pungarh roughly tied a rope too-tight around his wrists behind his back.
"Time for what...?" Kakashi wondered wearily as he was yanked forward, out of the cell. They hadn't treated him this way since he had been captured and they had preformed surgery on him several weeks before. He could only assume that they were going to 'experiment' with him some more. They walked several minutes, the two men leading him roughly. "I have to get out..." Kakashi thought, struggling with the ropes behind him. They were tight and carefully knotted. Each guard kept a hand on his arm, keeping him from running. For now he could do nothing until they let go of him.
They finally entered a large, open room as best as Kakashi could tell by the slight echoes of their bare feet. Several steps into the room, a door was closed loudly, and the bag was removed from his head. Kakashi blinked his eyes to a dimly lit room. Pungarh shoved his shoulder down and he fell ungracefully on his tailbone, wincing as he thought he felt it crack against the stone floor. Pungarh quickly ran a piece of rope between his hands and tied it to a small metal loop stuck in the floor. It was tightened so that his hands were forced to touch the ground and he had to hunch his back and pull his shoulders lower in order to sit without leaning back on his tailbone. He took a moment to sweep his gaze around the room. It was completely empty, besides himself, Pungarh, the other escort, and Leobwin who stood several feet away, shuffling through several sheets of paper. The ground seemed to be marked with some sort of white chalk, forming a large triangle around the central point, where he happened to be sitting. Around him were a serious of circles with the scratchy symbols he was sure was their written language. Pungarh retreated, standing behind Leobwin with crossed arms. The man grunted something that Kakashi neither recognize, nor could make out. Leobwin nodded and handed him the paper, looking to the silver-haired boy with analytical eyes. The doctor stepped forward, stopping at one of the triangle's sides. He closed his eyes, slowly raising his hands into a sort of prayer.
Kakashi pulled at his rope, ignoring the aching in his backside and knowing that whatever they were about to do to him would not be to his benefit. "Stop!" He yelled, unable to hide his masked fear which was growing stronger as Leobwin hardly flinched at his yells. The doctor began chanting, or praying, Kakashi couldn't tell. As he continued, his voice grew louder, filling the air with noise in the small stonewalled room.
"Please!" Kakashi cried, unable to hold back the wetness welling in his eyes, "Why are you doing this?! Just, please stop!"
The sigil began glowing, faintly at first, but growing brighter with each word that the doctor chanted. The room was cast into a blue soft light. Three beams at the points of the triangle began to form, shooting to the ceiling of the room and growing brighter with white light and emitting a vibrating energy. Kakashi's body began to be consumed with the pressure of the energy, which filled his chest, limbs and head. His head felt like it was filling up and squeezing his brain while his chest felt heavy and full. The sound of blood pounded through his ears to the beat of his racing heart. He winced in pain, thrashing at his binds.
Suddenly, Leobwin stopped talking and the doctor slammed his hand to the ground on the edge of the sigil. White light burst forth from where his hand was touching the outside of the triangle and raced along the glowing lines of the sigil until it reached Kakashi.
Kakashi screamed as the light reached him and beat into his body with the force of a mountain. His body became rigid and his eyes rolled back in his head as the energy consumed him. He could hardly breath, but his body forced him to scream as the energy filled him to a point past exploding. His brain felt like is was being dissolved into goo by acid and his body was stiff and unresponsive. There was a flash of light and then the energy disappeared as his conscious drifted into darkness.
Kakashi sat uncomfortably on his knees in the grass yard with the other three boys, doing their morning meditations. Pungarh sat with them, meditating a few feet away.
He shifted carefully as his bum pained him when he sat on it. He was sure it was at least bruised as sitting for long periods of time and sleeping had become uncomfortable and painful. At the same time, his body felt weak and tired from the night before, as if he hadn't slept in several days. Its responses were slow and clumsy. His head felt hazy and congested, and his thoughts were sporadic and jumbled. The noise in his head and the pains in his body made it hard to still himself enough to meditate.
Duilus eyed Kakashi, peeking secretly from one eye, as the silver-haired boy squirmed and seemed not to be able to calm the thoughts inside his head, evident by the boy's often shifting eyes and fidgeting hands. "Kakashi, are you well?"
Kakashi glanced at the older boy, looking down to his lap. "Tired," he replied simply, not having the energy to think up a whole phrase in the foreign tongue.
"Did you not sleep well?" Duilus asked, pulling the grass stand from his mouth and reaching for a new one.
Kakashi sighed deeply, "Feel sick."
Duilus made a motion of nodding, thinking deeply for several minutes. "You will teach me?"
"Ah," Kakashi replies, his cool grey eyes looking to the brown-haired boy curiously.
Duilus looked to Pungarh, "Brother Pungarh,"
"Hn?" he grunted, nearly agitated at being disturbed during meditation.
"Kakashi is feeling ill, might I escort him back to his room until he has recuperated?" Duilus asked.
Pungarh finally opened his eyes, staring at Kakashi with suspicion.
Kakashi did not have to act sick in the least, he was sure his face looked as lushed and tired as he felt.
"See what will happen if you try something rash, huh, Kakashi?" Pungarh threatened, staring at the boy.
Kakashi made a show of gulping and nodding. Duilus rose to his feel, helping to pull Kakashi up to his feet. Kakashi winced as a jolt of pain shot up his spine, but ignored it, following Duilus slowly. They left the main courtyard and walked down the hallway which led to the smaller courtyard which housed Kakashi's cell. Duilus grabbed his arm and, in an instant, they disappeared down a dark, deserted hallway.
"Where are we?" Kakashi managed to say, unable to see but following the sound of Duilus' bare footsteps as they padded against the stone in front of him.
"This is the old wing. We were once many people, but we are few now. We are monks and a very ancient people. We do not engage in sexual intercourse and the villages which once surrounded us, from which boys and young men devoted themselves to our lifestyle, have long moved to far reaches of the land, near where your people now live." Duilus explained as they continued walking, passing door after door which had been covered in spiderwebs and other creatures of the darkness.
"How old your people?" Kakashi questioned, surprised that such information was being openly given to him. His friendship with Duilus, it seemed, was beginning to pay off.
"Many hundreds of years older than the people who are from the place you call home, several years into the future."
"How?" Kakashi could barely keep from interrupting the older boy.
"We have devoted out time to manipulating time, Kakashi. Before the death of one of our brethren, we preform a jutsu that will revert the elderly one to their childhood age, though nothing is retained from that past life. The men who are here today have been, reincarnated, shall I say, many times before." They came to another small grassy courtyard, which looked decrepit and forgotten. A weak light shone in from the whole in the ceiling, the only view of life in the area. The walls were cracked, with dead and decaying vines growing up and the grass had grown somewhat wild and unkempt, small flowers finding their way into the emptiness.
Kakashi's steps slowed as Duilus continued down the three steps into the shin high grass. "Wait... so I traveled back in time when you guys captured me?!"
Duilus turned and looked at Kakashi curiously, unable to make out the words when said so quickly.
"You...take me through time?" He struggled to formulate even such a phrase in his shock.
"Yes, we manipulate time. To us there is an endless amount of time available at our disposal."
Kakashi's eyes were wide and searching, putting together all the pieces in his mind. These people were not immortal, but manipulated time in order to cheat death. He felt as though his purpose in all of it was closely related, but his fuzzy mind refused to function properly and analyze everything he had picked up from being in this place.
"Well? Shall we spar then? There is not much time."
Kakashi looked up, seeing Duilus' eager and expecting expression, grass straw still in his mouth.
He nodded, descending the stairs and joining the older boy as he forced his mind to settle and leave the thinking for later. "There are three simple techniques," He started, struggling to place the words he was trying to express. "It is ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu."
"Ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu..." Duilus copied awkwardly.
"I show you ninjutsu only, it is sparring." Kakashi explained, slipping into the fighting stance he had shown Duilus and the others some time before. Kakashi corrected Duilus' copied stance with small taps to the areas which were off. "Ninjutsu is fight and defend, ok? I hit, you block and continues."
"What is the purpose?" Duilus questioned as he raised an arm to catch the soft punch Kakashi aimed towards him.
"Purpose..." Kakashi sounded, feeling the word on his tongue, "To prove worth and show strength."
Duilus made an 'oh' sound but he was sure that the older boy didn't really understand. "Try to hit me, do whatever you think."
Duilus nodded, throwing his arm out towards Kakashi's head.
Kakashi, of course, easily lifted his arm to the slow assault and deflected it downwards. The punch was followed by another attempt and another. "What else? You know I am better, think other ways to attack."
Duilus paused a moment in thought, a smirk appearing on one side of his lips. In a blink, Duilus disappeared from Kakashi's sight and he gasped as a hand hit him on the back of the neck. He turned and stared openly at the elder boy.
Duilus held a smug expression on his face, "I have just learned to spar and, still, I have beaten you, Kakashi."
"Ah," he agreed, unnerved at the thought.
"DUILUS!" came a voice from the hallway, booming and echoing against the lonely walls.
Duilus' face dropped and he turned slowly towards the voice until his eyes came to rest upon Pungarh and Leobwin watching them with anger and disappointment.
"B-brother Leobwin and Pungarh..." he stuttered, nervously swallowing.
Kakashi's heart picked up pace, his senses tuned up, and adrenaline pumped through his veins as the air around them turned tensed and hostile. He glanced, like a cornered deer, to each of the three people, refusing to go through what they had done to him the night before. He pushed off his foot and ran, jumping on top of the roof, and pumping his legs as fast as his feet would carry him. He had to get away. Now was as good of a chance as any he had before. The compound extend a way, but beyond that he could see forest. Beyond that he did not know, but could see no signs of anything else.
Pungarh growled, watching Kakashi jump up and disappear. His fierce, angry eyes shot to Duilus, who looked scared for his life. "You have much to explain..." he growled through gritted teeth.
"I think it is best we deliver Kakashi home now." Leobwin added, looking to his comrade.
Pungarh nodded and jumped to the roof as well, running after their hostage
Leobwin's gaze lowered to Duilus, "You have broken our greatest command, Duilus. Something must be done with you now; you have sinned against our fellow mankind. What have you to say for yourself?"
Duilus averted his eyes to the ground, "I was curious, Brother Leobwin...I will face any judgement you and the father see fit as retribution for my actions..."
"Very well," Leobwin scowled, holding his arm out, "Come, young Duilus."
Duilus nodded, walking to his elder and allowing himself to be ushered forth. His eyes never left his feet as they traveled back through the darkness. "Brother Leobwin, what will you do with Kakashi?"
Leobwin sighed, wondering if his wish to let Kakashi join time's children had been a mistake. "He will be take care of."