The Seraph Project - Darkness

Chapter LXX

Between Life and Death

"Kakashi won't wake up for many days," Tsunade darkly said to Shizune and Shikamaru.

Their eyes locked on Kakashi, not far from them. He was lying on a hospital bed, on his back. A blanket hid him up to his neck. Electrodes were on his temples and chest. IVs were stuck in the crook of his elbows. An oxygen mask covered his face; he was on life support since he could not breathe on his own.

Despite his critical condition that was now stable, his mask, the one that never left his face, was in its place. Unless it interfered with his breathing, his mask had to be pulled up over his nose; it was even indicated in his medical file. Since Kakashi was probably the most hospitalized shinobi in Konohagakure, the staff were aware of the importance the mask, and no one asked the question anymore.

On the next bed, Naruto was there, also plunged into unconsciousness. The strange burns on his skin had been treated and bandaged. Unlike Kakashi, his life was out of danger. The sapphire-eyed boy was exhausted; his chakra reserves were dry. Emotionally, he was drained.

Of course, they feared Naruto waking up in this haunting place, which terrified him, to the point that the Copy Ninja had to carry him on his back the other day. They did not know when he would wake up; if he was still human, in at least two or three days. Since Kakashi was not "there" to calm the blond's impending terrors, Naruto was a time bomb whose eventuality could not be predicted.

"Until he regains consciousness, with Sakura's help, you have the task of keeping an eye on Naruto," Tsunade continued to Shikamaru. "We have no idea how he'll react when he wakes up."

A silence.

Guilty and ashamed, Shikamaru had his head down, unable to face the Hokage. He was rotten with guilt and more guilt. He was the reason why Kakashi's life was hanging by a thread. If Kakashi had not intervened in time, Naruto would have been kidnapped again, in complete silence. All these misfortunes, all this because of his negligence. He had been distracted by a lost traveller who asked him for directions. Somehow, it was not random…

This group had made sure Shikamaru was busy so he could not interfere.

"It's all my fault," Shikamaru said in a trembling voice, clenching his fists. "If I hadn't let him go alone… None of this would have happened…"

"...It's not your fault, Shikamaru… They knew exactly how he was gonna react…"

The trio jumped when they heard Kakashi's faint voice answering them. His right eye was half open. He had regained consciousness. Dumbfounded, they fluttered their eyelashes a few times. The medical-nin did not understand why he woke up just three hours after his brush with death. Moreover, he was in no condition to be; it was simply impossible.

With hasty steps, they went to his bedside.

"… They knew about our plans," Kakashi murmured painfully, his gaze blank. "An … old hag erased my scent so that Naruto couldn't … find me… Everything was carefully calculated so that their mission would be … a success…"

Veiled with worry and incomprehension, the two kunoichi removed the blanket and examined Kakashi. They had to find the reason for his sudden and suspicious awakening, which caused the guillotine to hover over his neck.

"... And Naruto...? How is he...?"

"Stop worrying about him, he's fine," Tsunade replied dryly. "You shouldn't even be conscious, Kakashi…"

"… No kidding…"

"How long have you been awake?"

"...I don't know … a little while now… I'm unable … to move… And I… I feel like trash…"

"You were a hair's breadth away from dying," she said in a stern tone. "It's impossible that you could've regained consciousness in your state…"

They inspected his body thoroughly using their medical ninjutsu. They looked at his vitals, but they found nothing. Nothing that can explain this incredible phenomenon.

"What does that mean?" Shizune whispered, confused. "There's nothing wrong."

"Do you think it could be linked to the fact that he's addicted to Naruto's venom?" Shikamaru suddenly said. "He can no longer sleep without the venom."

A silence, a reflection and a common thought.

"Could that be it...?" Shizune questioned out loud.

Tsunade frowned. "Maybe. The blood samples revealed nothing strange, and we don't know all the effects that the venom can cause…" She then looked at Naruto. "Shizune, prepare a mixture of sleeping drug strong enough to make Kakashi sleep, and we'll draw his blood again. Along with that, a sedative for Naruto, in case he wakes up. We'll take advantage of his faint to collect his venom for analysis."

"Right away!" she nodded before running out of the room.

Tsunade and Shikamaru turned their attention to Kakashi. Tsunade grabbed a small flashlight and examined his eye by opening his eyelids. She passed the light beam on the latter. Although the pupil reacted immediately by shrinking, this elicited no response from Kakashi. It was such that he had become an undead, at the crossroads between life and death. However, his pupil had strangely overreacted to the glow. Everything else remained heavily impassive.

"Kakashi, are you still with us?" she asked, arching an eyebrow.

"… Unfortunately," whispered the little voice on the verge of breaking down.

"Kakashi-sensei," Shikamaru called out. "You say the whole thing was carefully orchestrated. What do you mean by that?"

The Copy Ninja made a complaint.

A long, but short silence ensued.

"… This group knows very well how chakra devourers … work," he murmured miserably. "They were … aware of Naruto's progress and … that he'd like to join me on his own… They sabotaged my scent to deceive him and … lead him straight into a trap, out of sight… My nose can't smell anything anymore, but I'm willing to bet it's … still stuck to my skin…"

"What do you mean?"

"...They perfumed my right wrist shortly after … leaving… And I haven't … managed to get rid of it…"

Godaime grabbed the wrist in question and sniffed it… She showed a disgusted pout as she pushed the foul-smelling limb away.

"That explains a lot of things," she noted. "We're still searching the scene of the incident, where your blanket was found. We immediately dispatched a team to your home. According to initial reports, it's a mess and everything has been turned upside down."

"...I see…"

A silence.

"Lord Hokage… Can I have some morphine or painkillers...?" Kakashi pleaded with a broken voice. "I regret … being still alive…"

Tsunade frowned. "You're already medicated for that. Your pain threshold on a scale of one to ten?"

"...Eleven…"

Perplexed, she glanced at the Copy Ninja's IVs. However, after a careful inspection of the equipment, she found no problem. Everything worked very well. The morphine was trickling into his body. From the tone of Kakashi's voice, he was not lying either. All in all, she decided to increase the dosage.

At the same time, the sound of rolling wheels broke the nocturnal silence. Shizune was back and was pushing a metal cart that had everything Tsunade had asked for.

"Take care of Kakashi while I prepare Naruto."

Her faithful disciple nodded while Shikamaru made sure not to get in their way. Through the catheter, Shizune drew Kakashi's blood before injecting the sleeping drug. In the meantime, Tsunade froze Naruto's skin with an analgesic ointment; the risk of the needle waking him up was not to be taken lightly. She massaged his elbow for better absorption. This gave time for the kunoichi to come and help her.

They held their breath as Godaime thrust the needle into the flesh as the arm had a spasm or muscle reflex; at that, Naruto frowned. He was motionless and unconscious. This reaction from him worried them. An infernal tension reigned in the room. Fortunately, nothing else happened when the drug was administered into his veins. Naruto then resumed an impassive face.

Anesthetizing the tanned skin was a wise choice.

Without waiting, they put on latex gloves and took an interest in the blond's mouth. Like Kakashi before them, they examined the oral cavity in depth. The oversized fangs, the unreal white teeth, the pinkish gums, the disturbing tongue armed with mutated spikes… Of course, they focused on the venom glands, which were briefly exposed on the two upper sides of the gums. Tsunade felt both areas cautiously, using her medical ninjutsu to make sure where she should sting.

"Let's go," she said, grabbing the syringe.

Shizune raised the lips, parting them as best she could. Their hearts beat in a similar pace, starting to race as Tsunade approached the instrument. She pierced the venom sac. Immediately, Naruto gritted his teeth, let out a high-pitched hiss, and his eyebrows furrowed. With anguish, she drew the precious, viscous substance that was yellowish and transparent.

Once done, Tsunade briefly opened the eyelids of one of the sapphire eyes. Naruto was still in a daze and strangely, his body reacted as if he was semi-conscious. This aroused curiosity and sowed fear in the two kunoichi. Despite this strange phenomenon, they also took the venom from the neighbouring gland; the blond did the same thing as with the first sample.

To their relief, Naruto then became silent again, his face impassive.

The precious samples collected, Tsunade returned to Kakashi's bedside and saw that both of his eyelids were closed.

"Kakashi? Are you awake?"

Kakashi opened his right eye and uttered an exhausted and desperate wail.

"You shouldn't take long to sink," she reassured him. "The amount is enough to knock you out all day. I'll come back to see you in an hour."

She received no response from him. He just closed his eyes again, imploring the twists and turns of unconsciousness and darkness. He wanted to be delivered from his suffering, which was transforming his life into a real ordeal and hell on earth.

Godaime gestured for the other two to follow her outside and leave him alone.

Outside the room, Shikamaru spoke in a low voice. "When are you gonna confront him about the mark?"

"When he wakes up," Tsunade replied darkly. "I'd like to let him recover, but this thing doesn't bode well…"

"I have a very bad feeling too," he added.

The two kunoichi nodded.

"Keep an eye on Naruto," she told Shikamaru. "I fear he'll wake up before tomorrow."

"Understood."

- XxX -

Never in my life have I wanted to die so much. I'm trapped of my incurable body and devoured by flames straight from hell. Every bit of my skin is mortal agony. I want to tear my Sharingan from its orbit; it's as if it's simmering in water boiled by lava. I have a terrible migraine that is pounding and twisting through my skull and into my brain. All my chakra veins are tunnels of white-hot metal. My body hairs have become thousands of needles that pierce my skin, so deep that they stab my bones. Without the oxygen mask, I'd slowly asphyxiate into a slow death … and again, I weigh my words. My lungs hurt. Every breath causes terrible harm. My teeth are hurting; the superior ones hurt really bad, as if I'm suffering from an atrocious toothache.

My whole being is a useless husk of stone. I can't even move my little toe. Besides blinking my heavy eyelids, I can't do anything except suffer martyrdom. Whispering words, or even sounds, requires inconsiderable effort. In all of this, I have unpleasant, itchy fingers; a desire to scratch obsesses my numb and dazed mind.

I'm so tired, on the verge of a mental breakdown… Despite the powerful sleeping drug supposed to travel through my blood, sleep doesn't want me. It has absolutely no effect, like these so-called painkillers that are as effective as drinking soup with chopsticks. I feel like crying; I'd shed tears if I could. I want someone to come and knock me out with a well-placed punch; I'd definitely accept being repeatedly hit with a brick in the face. Sure, I'm happy to be alive, that Naruto is safe and sound, but right now… At this very moment…

I wanna disappear.

The incessant and painful sensations are worse than my heart once blackened with darkness during my younger years…

My eyes are firmly closed; I still hope to fall asleep… To my misfortune, I hear footsteps entering my room. Half-opening my eyelid, I recognize Lady Tsunade… With horror, I realize that an hour has passed and that I'm still conscious…

"You're still awake, Kakashi?" she wonders.

"...Alas…" Despite my blurred vision, I see her worried face. It's hardly surprising. I should be plunged into darkness for many days… My body speaks for itself.

"It confirms our suspicions," she says. "We began further research with the raw samples of Naruto's venom… You aren't just heavily addicted to it, but because of the venom, you've developed resistance to medicines and drugs."

Astonishment overcomes me; this morbid revelation paralyzes me.

"That's why painkillers don't work for you," she continues. "Not only can't we calm your pain, but without his venom, you won't sleep, Kakashi… However, we still don't know why you regained consciousness."

I'm speechless; at that, anguish possesses me. I didn't expect that his venom could have such devastating repercussions on my body… I sincerely fear that the effects will be permanent, and that I'll remain chained to Naruto for the rest of my life. Furthermore, it implies that I'll suffer, suffer and suffer, to the point of wishing to die throughout my convalescence…

"...I see… Can you … inject me with the venom...?"

To my dismay, she shakes her head. "You'll have to wait until he wakes up, Kakashi. I emptied his glands earlier. Everything we could collect is being carefully analyzed."

I let out an in no way concealed lament.

I want to cry…

I want to scream…

I want to die…

"Since you won't be sleeping anytime soon, I'd like to ask you a few questions, and you'd better answer me."

I sense venom in her excruciatingly harsh words. My bruised heart races. A cold sweat breaks on my forehead—rather, it pierces me like a stalactite. To say I'm anxious would be an understatement. It's only at this moment that I notice a folder in her arms, and from which she takes out some paper…

"When were you gonna tell us that you have a mark on the back of your neck?" she asks me coldly, showing me a photo that she holds up to my face.

My heart sinks into the depths of the earth and comes to a sudden stop. I widen my eyes. It's a photo of the back of my neck… And as she just told me, there's a black mark on my skin. To see it in full, my silver hair was lifted.

It almost looks like Naruto's being in roughly at the same place, if I omit the ebony mosaic that blends in with it, of course. There are five shapes that don't touch each other. A small symmetrical diamond in the middle, above and below it is thinner and longer diamonds. Finally, on each side, two kinds of relatively large triangles with the points at the horizontal ends curved upwards.

I'm in shock; I refuse to believe it. Why is she showing me a photo of my neck that is surely fake? Is she playing a nasty trick on me? I've never seen a suspicious mark on my skin, on my neck… And why would I have a black tattoo that has mysteriously appeared on my skin? Am I dreaming? Have I finally sunk? Am I captive of a nightmare?

"...Am I … sleeping...?" I mumble.

"You don't sleep nor dream, Kakashi," she retorts dryly, waving the paper in front of my stunned eyes. "I demand answers!"

Answers?! I want them too. I'm lucid, awake, and I contemplate a terrifying photo that freezes my blood in my veins. Lady Tsunade has no reason to torment me like this. The tone of her voice implies that she's serious. What does that mean? But above all, how long has it been there? If my body could move, my whole being would tremble.

"… I… I… I don't know," I stammer in a whisper.

I'm unable to react. Again and again, I can't believe that this mark is real and indeed imprinted on my skin…

The unbearable silence becomes painful. I'm too weak to panic…

"I assume you don't know that you were recently bitten in the neck either?!"

What is she blablating about? I checked my neck recently. There are no bite marks. If that were really the case, I'd be in pain. Did Naruto bite me when I was unconscious in the hospital? No. Impossible. From what I heard, he passed out unlike me…

Faced with my silence, she removes the garment that covers the left side of my neck to cautiously feel my skin. As she does so, her pout darkens.

"You don't feel them?" she asks me, perplexed.

"I … Forgive my insolence, but … if I had really … been bitten, I'd be hit with pain…"

A silence.

After an eternity, Lady Tsunade places her palm on my forehead and uses her medical ninjutsu. All of a sudden, her pout darkens even more… She opens my eyelids to examine my right eye. Then, she performs a few hand seals and places two fingers on my forehead.

"Release," she says.

Immediately, I'm struck by new and throbbing pain in my neck, which tears from me muffled moans. Abuse appears in my arms, my wrists, my whole body. I feel like someone has just hit me with a battering ram, that someone is torturing me mercilessly. If I could, I'd writhe in pain… I let out a scream when she touches my neck.

"Do you feel them now?" she questions me unnecessarily.

My high-pitched moans and screams speak for themselves. I'm in so much pain that I struggle to breathe. Horrible twinges pulsate throughout my body, and I can't stop grinding my teeth fiercely… And of course, it accentuates the pain in them.

"...What… What's happening to me...?" I mumble between two loud breaths.

"You were under genjustu, Kakashi. A very powerful spell, by the way," she explains to me. "It seems that Naruto had subjugated you under his powers at one point or another… Would Naruto have attacked you?"

While enduring this bath of suffering, I try to make my useless brain work. When did Naruto bewitch me with his terrifying powers? But above all, why? At first glance, he made the traces of this bite and the pain disappear with his spell … but he also erased other wounds if I trust the pain in my arms, which weren't there before being delivered of his genjutsu…

A memory strikes me like lightning tearing through the black sky. That night… The night during which I was prey to a nightmarish Naruto who captured me with his demon eyes, bit me with agony on my neck…

Did … all this really happen...?

"You don't have clear memories as far as I can see," she concludes, noticing my face as pale as a ghost. "Naruto made your wounds and pain disappear. Obviously, he didn't want you to know… I don't know what his intentions are, but I'm sure that bite is linked to that mark on your neck."

Lady Tsunade shows me the photo again. "Iruka told me that he saw this thing glowing azure blue and that you almost collapsed in pain because of it."

My throat is sealed. I have heart palpitations and I'm panicking.

"I believe that with this bite, Naruto marked you for obscure reasons. This black mark seems to react like his."

I can no longer think. The images are abstract shapes that undulate like an exotic dance among a cloud of dark stars. The sounds are echoes softened by the heaviness of an endless ocean. My body is drowning in my own sweat. My heart is about to explode. My breathing is chaotic; I hyperventilate, unable to fill my burning lungs with air.

Without realizing it, I'm having a panic attack.

"Kakashi!"

Her voice does not reach my ears.

"HATAKE KAKASHI!"

This cry drums my ear canals, and I inhale a big breath of air when she grabs my shoulder to wake me from my torpor.

"We've already analyzed your blood and Naruto's to compare. You're still human, and there's absolutely nothing wrong. Nothing to suggest that you are turning into a chakra devourer. We're going to unravel the mystery of this mark, so you calm down before your heart gives out!"

My breathing slows down and turns into a miserable wheeze… Slowly, I regain contact with reality, the things around me, the unbearable suffering. I have to pull myself together. I'm in no state to stress, regardless of the seriousness of this sordid news, which is causing unparalleled anxiety. I'm in shock, upset, to say the least… For a few moments, I thought I was gradually becoming a chakra devourer, thus condemned to the night and the hunger for chakra…

The fear is so great that it has become a torrent of terror that has turned heaven and earth.

"That's good, Kakashi. Take a deep breath," Lady Tsunade whispers. "Until Naruto regains consciousness, try to remain calm. You're still in a precarious situation. I'm sorry we can't calm down your pain…"

I'm sighing loudly, almost sobbing.

"As soon as you feel better, we'll look into this mark. Your recovery is the priority right now."

I don't have the strength to answer anything. My silence is an indirect request to leave me alone. I hear the sounds of her heels leaving the room. The room plunges back into serenity shattered by the noise of the machines that keep me alive, these machines terribly ineffective in extricating me from hell, in which there are only pain, suffering and agony…

The torments besiege me in spite of myself, boiling like a tornado of misfortune, which carries everything away in its destruction. I can't think of anything else. This black mark obsesses me as my chakra is for my student… This macabre possibility that I'm becoming one of these creatures has made me give in to the greatest panic…

Excruciatingly slowly, I turn my head to see Naruto. He's on the next bed, peacefully in the arms of Morpheus—something I deeply want right now.

'… Naruto… What did you do to me…?'

Hellow ! A few short words from the author!

I'm posting this chapter early since I'm in the process of moving. This is why this chapter is released on a Wednesday evening (Quebec time).