„Senpai?"
…
„Kakashi-senpai!"
A tanned hand waved in Kakashi's view. He raised his head. „Huh?"
„Kakashi-senpai, the signature," said Naruto, pointing to the sheet of paper on Kakashi's desk. „Oh, yes, of course." He pushed out the tip of his ballpoint pen, which he had been holding motionlessly between his fingers until then, and signed the declaration.
„Thank you," Naruto murmured, taking the sheet of paper, but then he didn't turn to leave.
„Is there anything else?" Kakashi asked harshly, appraising his assistant.
„Senpai, I..." Naruto started, obviously searching for words, and finally asked insistently, „You're so absent-minded these days. Has something happened?"
Kakashi leaned back in his office chair and crossed his arms over his chest, the pen clamped firmly in his fist. „I don't see what concern it is of yours."
Naruto seemed unsettled. „You've been in a bad mood for a week, even worse than a few months ago. You were so cheerful and now... Is everything okay?"
Groaning, Kakashi loosened his posture again, leaned forward and absently started to push some papers from one side to the next, just to appear busy. „Everything's fine."
Naruto, the persistent pest that he was, was not going to be fobbed off like that. „I'm always here for you, Senpai. If you want to talk to me about it, then–"
„But I don't want to!" Kakashi snapped at him, slamming his fist with the pen on the table. „Everything is fine, Na-ru-to, and now mind your own business. Or are you begging for more work?!"
Any other person would have backed away from Kakashi's outburst of anger, but Naruto remained steadfast, propping his hands, including the one with the declaration, which was slightly crumpled because of this, on a few folders, bending down far and staring Kakashi earnestly in the eyes. „Senpai! Obviously NOT everything is fine with you. So come on, talk already!" When Kakashi remained silent, he added, „I've known you long enough and even if not, I have eyes in my head and I'm said to have at least a little empathy. You forget things, you're unfocused, you were much too polite to Tsunade-sama, you didn't even snap at me when I had to leave early on Tuesday because of Boruto. Something is wrong with you and I want to know what it is because I care about you, Senpai. For days now, you've been coming to the office as if the world had ended out there."
„Maybe it has for me!" Kakashi blurted out involuntarily and he would have liked to smash his own skull. How could he lose his temper like that?! He jumped up from his chair, slammed the ballpoint pen down on the plan for a new client in Shanghai and hissed, „Stay out of my life, Naruto. My problems are nothing for you to deal with."
Enraged, he stormed to the door and ran into Sasuke, who blinked at him in confusion. „Kakashi-senpai..."
Without saying a word to Sasuke – because for fuck's sake, he didn't want to look into those eyes that were so similar to those of his older brother – he pushed the Uchiha aside and immediately pointed at Sakura, who was standing next to Naruto's desk and looked surprisingly scared. „You! I expect a report from you about Stockholm, and preferably yesterday!"
Sakura stared at Kakashi in a daze, but nodded and turned around, where she clearly wiped her face with her sleeve. Kakashi stormed out of the building. He was loaded, angry, sad, desperate and so full of hate that he couldn't take it anymore and hadn't wanted to for a long time. He saw his only way out in giving in to his addiction. It burned within him like a painful flame that threatened to consume him again and again. He had fought against it because of his lover, had been able to keep it at bay, but since that devastating Sunday a week ago, it had grown stronger than ever. Since his breakup with Itachi, he had already killed four times. He no longer lured his victims away from Haneda Airport with care, worrying about the consequences of his actions, no, he simply drove into the night, picking out random strays to slaughter in the darkness that surrounded him like an aura.
It was still a long way from evening, but his urge made him move. Dressed in a completely black suit, he mounted his Ducati, which felt the hellfire seething inside him and was just as eager for a fifth tour in six days as he was. The powerful engine under him vibrated loudly as he revved it up and sped out of the underground car park into the busy afternoon.
He drove through the crowded streets of Tokyo, heedless of the lives he might take, be they his own or those of others. In every car sat people who were on their way home or somewhere else. Men and women, some with children in the back seats, all of them tired from the day and the week and their lives in general. A life that Kakashi could end for them, and they didn't even have to do much to make it happen. Their very existence was enough for him. In the past, he had been selective, choosing his prey according to a pattern that was not recognizable to outsiders. Today, he just wanted to kill. He didn't care who it was, as long as he could satisfy his body in every way.
The Ducati purred quietly as Kakashi slowed down, finally stopping in a deserted side street and switching off the engine. He looked around. It was perfect here. A few windows on the wall of the house to his left, with no visible people, access to a warehouse to his right that would provide him with cover. He took off his helmet, swung his leg off the bike, put on a mask and straightened his suit, which had been slightly disarranged by the wind.
When he stepped a few feet onto the busy street, it didn't take him long to find someone who seemed appropriate for his rage. A young thing with headphones in her ears, her hands buried in her pockets, was strolling in his direction. Her gaze was fixed on the sidewalk and her expression seemed sad. A light breeze swirled her light brown hair and her scent of honeydew melon wafted into Kakashi's nose. He took a deep breath. She was cute. Good. The hunt was on.
He set off at a leisurely pace. They approached each other and the girl didn't look up once. If she had, she would have noticed him and dodged him, but they collided, she stumbled and Kakashi held her by the elbows so she wouldn't fall. „Oi, oi, I got you." He pulled her upright again.
The girl blinked in surprise, took out one of the headphones and said quietly, „Excuse me, Kyō-sama, I..." She swallowed, looked away from Kakashi's face to his tie pin, and for some reason, tears welled up in her eyes.
„Are you in pain?" Kakashi asked, feigning concern, leaning forward to catch her gaze and raising his eyebrows. „Sorry, I was just thinking and didn't see you. Did I hurt you?"
She shook her head wildly. „No, Kyō-sama, it's..." Again she stopped.
Kakashi's head was screaming. Couldn't she even finish asingle sentence?! He sighed so as not to lose his polite composure. „Is everything else okay with you? You seem sad."
„I..." she whispered, and a tear actually rolled down her cheek. Kakashi's right eyebrow twitched. Crying like that in front of strangers, how pathetic. „I'm afraid to go home, you know?"
„Why?" Kakashi asked, slowly starting to walk back to his chosen alley, which encouraged the girl to keep pace with him. Simple psychology. He had her hooked.
„My parents, they... I wrote a bad test, they'll be angry."
„Are they so strict?"
The girl nodded and put her headphones away for good. „Yes. They demand top grades from me and if I don't get them, they punish me. Sometimes Oto-san hits me and Oka-san scolds me because she thinks it's my fault."
Only Kakashi's upbringing kept him from laughing out loud. First the girl just stammered to herself, and now she was telling him that she had been abused. Youth was strange. His father had beaten him constantly, so why was it such a big deal nowadays? „I'm sorry for you," he said in a sympathetic tone, although he wasn't sure if she could hear his sarcasm, because she looked up at him in a dejected manner. „Can I cheer you up somehow? Well, I almost ran you over, I want to make it up to you."
„That's really nice of you, Kyō-sama," she murmured, smiling shyly. „But I'll probably be late and then my parents will be even more upset."
„Oh, just a little something sweet on the way, huh?" Kakashi suggested, putting on the smile in his eyes that he had mastered since childhood. He stopped at the entrance to the alley where his Ducati was parked. „There's a convenience store back there, I'll buy you an ice cream and at least ease my conscience a little. Sugar helps with sadness and I can't stand to see you cry." He playfully nudged her upper arm with his elbow.
The girl grinned and nodded. „Thank you, Kyō-sama."
A part of him wanted to tell her his name so that she would stop treating him like a superior stranger, but that was what he was, after all, and revealing his identity was far too risky. „Well then, come on. And tell me about your test. What was so bad about it?"
Now she was literally hopping next to him. „Well, it was in math, probability calculus. I'm just not good at it, no matter how long my sensei talks. It doesn't make any sense. Why should you be able to calculate fate? If it's going to happen, it will happen, no matter how high the probability." She kicked a small stone across the asphalt, which rolled with a soft thud against the metal gate of the warehouse – Kakashi's goal. „Are you good at math, Kyō-sama?" Kakashi remained silent and as she was about to say another „Kyō-s–" he lunged at her, lifted her up and pushed her against the blue-painted metal. A terrified sound escaped her throat, and Kakashi's hand closed around it. „Shut the fuck up!" he growled close to her ear, pulling the mask down under his chin and licking through her auricle. „I hate it when they can't be quiet. Why do you think I like to rip their throats out so much? Well," he chuckled darkly, causing a few strands of her brown hair to swirl around, „because that's where the main artery is. That's the fastest way for me to get their blood, you see? But damn it, I can't stand it when they whimper and beg for their lives." His grip tightened, causing her to gasp again. „Would you like to beg too? Would you like to beg me on your knees to spare you, hm?" He bit her earlobe so that it bled and she squealed in agony. „Yeah, that's what I thought. You don't like pain, they never do. But you know what?" He moved away from her a little, looked deep into her dark brown eyes and smiled devilishly, „I don't give a shit."
He didn't get any further. He was just about to sink his blunt teeth into her seductively pulsating neck when his cell phone rang. FUCK! In all his rage, his euphoria, he hadn't switched it off. „You're a good girl, aren't you?" His fist closed further, her fingers now scraping over the back of his hand and she rolled her eyes into her skull – but her pulse continued to beat against his thumb. That was right, he wanted her to feel it. He could make her compliant by ordering her to submit to him, but he had recently discovered that he enjoyed it when they fought back against him. That made it more thrilling.
With his free hand, Kakashi took the cell phone out of the inside pocket of his jacket. It was Sakura. He accepted the call. „Yes?"
„Kakashi-sensei," said Sakura at the other end, submissively. „I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you, but I have a problem with the report."
The girl let out a gasp, which caused Kakashi to slam her head against the gate. In doing so, he had not considered how much noise it would make. The metal reverberated and he closed his eyes briefly.
„What was that?" Sakura asked in perplexity.
„Nothing," Kakashi evaded and checked with a quick glance whether the girl was still alive. Her panicked eyes were glued to his calm face. „Listen, I'm a bit busy right now. I'll call you back later, okay? The report can wait until next week."
„But you said–"
„I know what I said," he interrupted her. „And now I'm saying it can wait. Got it?"
A brief silence, then a „Yes, Sensei."
„Fine. Have a nice weekend, Sakura-chan, and we'll see each other bright and early on Monday at the office."
„Yes, I wish you the same."
„Thanks, I'll do my best," Kakashi replied, hung up, put his phone in his inner pocket and turned back to the girl, whose face was already turning blue. „And now for you, you stupid bitch. Didn't your parents teach you to be quiet when others are on the phone? Maybe your father should hit you harder so that you will behave better in the future. Ah, he won't do that anymore, so I'll do it for him." With that, he slammed her head against the gate once more, only this time he didn't care about the noise. She should feel what she had done wrong. He pressed his body against her and rubbed his swelling erection against her hip. She trembled and tried to fight him again, scratching his skin further.
„Sh-sh-shhhh, if you're quiet, it won't hurt that much," he whispered close to her ear and ran his hand, which was not choking her, under the skirt of her school uniform. Without much searching, he found her panties and stroked them. In doing so, he felt something that surprised him. „Oooh~," he purred and kissed her cheek, „you're wet. Do you like what I'm doing to you? Do you want me to touch you harder?" With a jerk, two fingers were inside her. She gasped silently and stopped scratching him. „Yeah, you like that, you little slut." His fingers moved inside her tight, wet opening and her lower body twitched, which made him laugh roughly. „Come for me, you little, cock-hungry angel~"
But before she could do so, he was interrupted again. Somewhere behind him, a sharp female voice called out, „Hey, what are you doing?!"
Kakashi moved away from the girl, who had closed her eyes in the meantime – whether out of fear, shame, pleasure or pain was unimportant. He looked for the troublemaker's pulse and found her signature about eleven yards above him at one of the windows. Good, from that perspective she at least couldn't see his face. Reluctantly, he pulled his hand out of the damp vagina, pushed the mask back up and turned halfway around. A middle-aged woman was hanging on the windowsill, and Kakashi recognized disgust in her wrinkled face. She probably thought the scene down here was consensual sex, how naive. The girl gasped again, as if she wanted to call for help. Kakashi shook his head, raised his free arm and pointed at the woman above him with outstretched fingers. „Jump."
The woman obeyed without hesitation. Her gaze went blank and she climbed onto the window sill, dangling her foot in the air for a moment before falling like a sack of potatoes all four stories down, where she finally hit the asphalt with an ugly crunch. Her heap of broken bones and bleeding lacerations wailed pitifully. Kakashi turned away. „Sorry for the interruption, little girl, I'll make it up to you. Do you want to feel my cock inside you?"
The girl's brown eyes widened, darting from the dying woman behind Kakashi to his face and back. „Does the sight bother you?" Kakashi asked innocently, pushing himself into her field of vision. „Don't pay attention to her, I still have a lot planned for you." He lowered the mask again and pressed his lips to the girl's bluish ones. His tongue penetrated her, but something bothered him. The choppy panting behind him spoiled his mood. He pulled away from the girl, who had been crying during his kiss, and looked down at himself. His erection had disappeared and if this cunt didn't shut up, it wouldn't come back anytime soon. Hatred bubbled up inside him. „Fuck," he cursed, effortlessly breaking the larynx between his fingers, tearing a hole in her throat and absorbing the blood that was pouring out of her artery. At least he didn't want to miss out on the sweet honeydew melon.
When the blood stopped flowing, he took his mouth from her neck, breathed a sigh of relief and let go of the corpse. She had not satisfied him to the extent he would have liked, but it was enough to appease him for at least a few hours.
He cleaned himself up as best he could, got on his Ducati and rode off without looking back once. The evening had been unsatisfactory and that frustrated him. He had gotten his blood, quenched his thirst for the time being, but his craving for more was still there. Should he find someone else? Or should he maybe go back, grab the girl and take it out on her? No, that was wrong. She couldn't defend herself anymore and he didn't like it when they were already dead while fucking. Where was the fun in that?
A glance at the fuel gauge told Kakashi that his Ducati was as thirsty as he was. He headed purposefully for a nearby gas station and had just put the nozzle in the tank when someone behind him said, „Kakashi-sensei, hello!"
He turned around and once again saw Sakura's green eyes peeking out from under her pink bangs. Why did she always have to wear that damn wig?! „Sakura-chan. What a coincidence that we should meet here." He gave her bags, in which several bottles of alcohol were clearly shimmering through the thin plastic, a brief eyebrow twitch. „You're planning something, huh?"
„Oh, yes." She lifted the bag somewhat shamefacedly. „It's Shadow Friday again, that's when we have a food and booze binge. I always get the alcohol after work, Tenten and Temari bring snacks and Ino... well, she knows some people."
Kakashi smirked, but decided not to comment on her drug use. „You mean that true crime podcast, don't you?"
„Yes," nodded Sakura. „Have you seen it since that one time?"
„No. But I have to admit that it sounds tempting." With a wry grin, he added, „I never say no to binges of any kind."
Sakura's face turned bright red and was terribly biting her artificial hair. „U-um.. so.." She swung the bag through the air. „I always buy a little more, so.. If you want, you can come with me. You already know Ino and Tenten and Temari is super sweet."
„And they don't mind if I'm around?" Kakashi asked with a smug undertone.
Sakura shrugged, but said nothing else.
„Well then, jump on."
She widened her eyes. „What, on the motorcycle?!"
„Not on me – at least not yet." How horny did one have to be to take advantage of the infatuation of one's student? Apparently very. Kakashi sighed, took the bag and her work bag from the perplexed Sakura and held out his helmet. „Put it on."
Hesitantly, she put the helmet over her wig and said in a hushed voice, „But I'm wearing a skirt. Can I even sit on a thing like that?"
„We'll manage," Kakashi smiled. The Ducati was not designed to carry two people, let alone a shopping load, but he had an idea how it could work anyway. He paid for his tank of gas at the pump, got on the bike and slid all the way back on the seat. Then he tapped the leather in front of him. „Come here."
Sakura looked around nervously. She pulled up her skirt just below her buttocks and clumsily climbed in front of Kakashi. He put his hands on her inner thighs and pushed her legs further apart, allowing her to place them over his knees, causing a tremor to run through her body. „Hold on tight to me, Sakura-chan," he cooed to her from behind, touching her exposed panties gently, and now she began to tremble uncontrollably. „K-Kakashi-sensei..."
„Don't drop your stuff," he whispered, pushing her bags into her hands, which she positioned shamefully in front of her damp, exposed crotch, and put his arms around her on the left and right so that he could grab the handlebars. Place your head on my shoulder, Sakura-chan, otherwise you'll block my view."
Sakura obeyed willingly. She leaned against Kakashi's upper body, pressed her feet onto his calves and clung to the center of the handlebars with one hand, while the other firmly grasped the straps of her luggage. „Ready?" She nodded, he started the engine and drove them both confidently to Shinagawa. For her, this trip was certainly uncomfortable, but Kakashi enjoyed every moment of it. He enjoyed how dependent she was on him, how desperately she clung to him with her legs, and how her hips pressed against his crotch. He stopped in front of Sakura's apartment building and let her get off the vehicle first, her knees wobbling. She trembled all over as she took off the helmet, straightened her wig, and said, „Fuck."
„Was it that bad?" Kakashi asked with a smile. To a mixture of nods, head shakes and shrugs from her, he added, „Don't worry, next time I'll be more gentle."
Sakura seemed to have rediscovered her playful side despite her nervousness, because she leaned forward and whispered, „Maybe I don't you want to."
Kakashi stared at her lustfully. He wanted her here and now. She sensed his greed, grinned at him with her eyebrows bobbing up and down, and went ahead of him up to apartment 14. It looked exactly the same as the last time Kakashi had been here. Everything was crammed full of books and there were now several used bowls stacked on the table in the living room. „Are these all yours?" Kakashi asked, pointing to the overfilled shelves that covered almost every wall.
„No, most of it belongs to Ino, she's studying neuro-medicine." Sakura looked at a wall clock hanging somewhere between thick volumes on blood coagulation and synapses. „She'll be here in a minute. Would you like to make yourself comfortable?"
„I'd rather do other things with you now," Kakashi replied gruffly, throwing Sakura a crooked smile.
She took a deep breath. „Okay, Kakashi-sensei. I need to clarify something. The flirting is... I don't know, cute? And I don't have anything against it in general, but it was you who told me that it was a one-time thing in L.A. Has anything changed?" Her irises lit up with hope and Kakashi could have fobbed her off, kept their relationship on a professional level, but fuck it, he was horny and wanted to sink his cock in her face right now, so his answer was clear. „Yes."
Sakura's mouth opened a crack and her cheeks turned dark. „O-okay, so..." She swallowed. „Why?"
Kakashi shrugged his shoulders. „Do I need a reason for that?"
Sakura was just about to speak when the door behind Kakashi flew open and Ino's leathery scent wafted in before her voice. „Sakura?! You won't believe it! It just came in on the live ticker. The Beast, he's–" The blonde fell silent as she stepped around the corner and noticed Kakashi, who was smiling at her in a friendly way. „Hi."
„Umm, hi?" Ino's blue eyes shifted between Kakashi and Sakura's faces, but as neither of them made a move to explain the situation to her, she shook her head briefly and continued as if she had never been interrupted, „The Beast of Haneda has struck again, this afternoon!"
„Really?!" Sakura exclaimed and hurried to her roommate. „Where? How?"
Kakashi listened with interest as Ino explained that passers-by had found two corpses in the very alleyway he had left an hour and a half earlier – a 15-year-old schoolgirl with her throat torn out and a woman in her early 60s who had fallen from the fourth floor. Damn, those True Crime vultures were quick off the mark and obviously well-connected. For information like that, members of the club had to be among the first responders or they were part of the investigation against him. Given the hints that Temari had dropped regarding the analysis of his sperm, he suspected the latter.
„He's changing his pattern," Sakura murmured thoughtfully. „Why is he doing that? For months, nothing happened, and now all of a sudden there are so many murders in one week. That's the sixth one since the recess, and it's a double one, too. He's never done anything like that before."
„Do you think it's a copycat?" Ino asked. „Maybe they caught or killed the real Beast, or he stopped, for whatever reason. Then someone thought they could imitate his strategy – albeit badly." Kakashi's eyelid twitched at this remark. „Hm, it's all very strange. Unfortunately, it's too fresh to be dealt with at Shadows, so we'll have to wait until the next edition. Or Temari can give us some information." A bright bell tone interrupted them. „Ah! Speak of the devil." She groaned in exasperation. „The two of them aren't coming today."
Sakura almost snatched her friend's cell phone out of her hand. „Why not?!" She didn't read the message out loud, so Kakashi only heard her reaction. „Shit.. And we only have dry sesame sticks in the cupboard." She now addressed Kakashi. „I'll just hop over to the convenience store around the corner and get some snacks, otherwise it'll be boring. Do you mind if I leave you alone with Ino for a moment?"
„Oi, what the hell do you mean by that?!" Ino snapped, waving her arms. „As if I were the most horrible person on the planet, come on. Get lost and bring me a packet of that delicious chocolate as compensation!"
Sakura grinned and said goodbye until a few minutes later.
Ino was still mumbling to herself as she went to the coffee table, threw a large bag of marijuana on it and flopped down in the armchair she had already occupied the last time. Seemed to be hers.
Kakashi sighed, took off his jacket, loosened his tie a little and came over to her. „That's what I call a big pile. How did you get all this stuff?" he asked, sitting down on the small couch and examining the bag with interest.
She looked at him with a grimace. „I have my sources." Kakashi nodded and Ino's eyes narrowed further. „Why are you here, Sensei?"
„Well, Sakura and I met at the gas station and she invited me to join your cozy little group. I'm sorry your friends canceled."
Now she pulled her eyebrows together even more and soon she would hardly be recognizable as the pretty young woman she actually was. „If you hurt her, I'll kill you."
„Excuse me?" Kakashi laughed, realizing too late that this was the wrong reaction.
Ino leaned forward and jabbed her long, purple-nailed index finger into Kakashi's shoulder. „Sakura-chan is the most important person in my life. If you break her heart, I'll kill you without a second thought. She's already cried over you once, and she doesn't need to do it again, got it?"
With an uncontrollable grin on his lips, Kakashi leaned in towards Ino, who didn't back down. She was brave. „What goes on between Sakura and me is our business, got-it? If I want to break her heart, I will." He snorted. „But rest assured, Ino-chan, it won't come to you killing me."
„Good," simply nodded Ino and had misinterpreted his wordsjust as planned. „I hope so for both of you." She ended the conversation by remaining silent and rolling a joint instead, which she immediately lit. Reluctantly, she offered it to Kakashi, who also took a few drags. Ino switched on the TV, opened the app for the stream and a dramatic montage of highlights from the show became the background music to their taciturnity.
After a while, Kakashi looked at his watch. Sakura had been gone for half an hour and a timer had appeared in the top corner of the screen, indicating that the episode would start in ten minutes. „How far is the convenience store?" he finally asked.
„Not far, she'll be here soon."
„Mh," Kakashi said, but he couldn't ignore the queasy feeling in his stomach. After another five minutes, he tried to call Sakura, but no one answered.
„Are you worried?" Ino asked with a strange undertone.
„Are you not?" Kakashi asked in return. He stood up, put his business card next to the bag of weed and said, „My number is on it. I'll go look for her. If she shows up in the meantime, call me."
Ino sat up in her chair and nodded. „I will. I know her, she's probably just chatting with someone."
„Well, I don't know her like that, in my eyes she is too reliable to stay away without an excuse."
Ino now looked at Kakashi with an equally strange look. „Okay. See you in a bit."
Kakashi left the apartment and dialed Sakura's number a second time while still on the stairs – and stopped in mid-motion. A droning sound reached him, echoing off the bare walls of the stairwell. He leaned over the handrail. „Sakura?" Nothing. He hung up, which also ended the droning – and thus confirmed that it was her cell phone and not another one that had happened to ring at the same moment – and hurried down the stairs to the ground floor.
There, on the first landing, next to her, a plastic bag with chips and a large pack of milk chocolate, lay Sakura and didn't move. Her pulse was very weak. Kakashi hurried to her, carefully stepped over her limp body and lifted the pink strands of hair from her face. It was.. Kakashi had seen countless destroyed faces, many of them caused by himself, but what had happened to Sakura took his breath away. A clean blade had inflicted several cuts on her cheeks and forehead. Kakashi couldn't tell how many, her entire face was too bloody for that. „Sakura..." he whispered, carefully feeling her contorted body. The smell of blood in the air was much too strong to come only from the wounds on her face. He cautiously pushed her shoulder back and revealed a pool of blood under her chest.
Kakashi could no longer think, only act. He heaved her unconscious body onto his arms without regard for the consequences. The bag of snacks hanging from her wrist dangled against his waist as he tightened his grip on her and sprinted back upstairs. She wasn't heavy or he was too strong, but for some reason he was shocked by how light she was. Maybe it was just the adrenaline that made him numb to everything. He kicked the door of number 14 and seconds later Ino opened it with a shocked look. „What–?" she could only manage to say before Kakashi pushed her back into the apartment and placed Sakura on the couch.
„What happened?!" gasped Ino, close to tears.
„I don't know," Kakashi replied, already rolling up his left sleeve.
Ino sobbed. „Shit, Sakura... We... we have to get her to the hospital, or she'll bleed to death!"
„She already is," said Kakashi, surprised at how calm his voice sounded. But he knew what he had to do, there was no room for panic.
With an astonishingly strong thrust, he was pushed aside so that he hit the wooden floor with his arm. „What the fuck are you doing?!" he cursed, got up and went for Ino, who only half-heartedly backed away from him and hissed, „Don't say that shit, dude! We have to call an ambulance, they can help her, they can..."
„I am the ONLY one who can help her!" Kakashi thundered, pushing Ino up against the nearest shelf. „If she goes to a clinic now, if she even makes it there, they'll give her blood, it'll take her forever to get back on her feet, maybe they can make some of her injuries look less bad. And then? She'd be disfigured for the rest of her life. Is that what you want for her? Huh?!"
Ino shook her head frantically. „No, but–"
„Then shut your pretty mouth and let me do my duty," Kakashi growled, turning away from the trembling blonde and kneeling down next to Sakura, whose heartbeat was barely audible. He bit his own wrist roughly, held the wound to her slightly open mouth and let his blood run into it in a fine trickle.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ino slowly approaching again. „What... what are you doing?"
„I am saving Sakura," Kakashi replied, stood up, licked his wrist, which closed the bite wound, and sat down in the chair that actually belonged to Ino.
„And... what? Was that it? But... And now?"
„Now we wait."
Ino sat down tensely opposite Kakashi in the second armchair and stared at Sakura. For a few minutes, nothing happened and Kakashi heard Sakura's heart weaken, then stop beating altogether. „She's dead," he said, but he raised his hand because he knew Ino was about to speak. „Be patient." He closed his eyes and waited. Endless minutes passed before he heard her pulse again. At first it was weak and quiet, then it grew faster and stronger, and finally Sakura coughed. She thrashed around, fell off the sofa and landed on the floorboards with a painful scream.
„SAKURA!" Ino screamed, rushing to her friend's aid, lifting her into a sitting position and hugging her fiercely. „Sakura.. Shit.. you.. oh God.. you're alive!"
„Yes," Sakura gasped desperately from under Ino's white-blond hair. „I.. ow.. you're crushing me, Ino!"
Ino immediately let go of her, but did not move away, instead stroking her cheek where the cuts had closed. „Fuck, you scared the shit out of me!"
„W-what happened?"
Ino glanced over her shoulder at Kakashi, who was watching them both from his armchair. „You were gone for so long and then Kakashi-sensei was worried about you and wanted to look for you, he hadn't been away for two minutes when he was standing at the door with you in his arms, saying something about you dying and him saving you and fulfilling his duty and I don't know, then he gave you his blood and..." Ino's voice broke.
„What..?" Sakura murmured, confused, and now looked at Kakashi too. „You.. You gave me b-blood.. but.. how..?"
Kakashi stood up. „I'll explain everything to you later, Sakura. But right now I have an important question for you: who did this to you?"
Sakura blinked, apparently concentrating, then she said quietly, „Sasuke."