Chapter CVII
Face to Face
Shikamaru kept a safe distance from an angry Naruto. His gaze was icy, and he contemplated the void in front of him; he was focused on his other senses, focused on Kakashi on the other side of the door, who constantly overwhelmed his crazy eyes. His posture was unstable and his gestures anxious. He bent and unbent his toes incessantly. His fingers clung to the fabric of his sleeves. His tail, on which many hairs stood up, moved weird way. Besides, the feral boy let out aggressive hisses and refrained from entering the room despite Kakashi's order to stay outside.
The almost murderous waves he projected made the young shinobi anxious. Shikamaru did not feel safe at all with him. He remained as still as possible so as not to stir up his boiling anger. Out of the corner of his eye, he stared at the blond and hurried to look away if Naruto returned it. He badly needed a cigarette to relax, to reduce his growing stress … but he could only wait.
Despite the stifling tension, Shikamaru was deep in thought. As he had agreed with Sakura, he would reveal everything they knew about the Copy Ninja. Mentally, he was working out the report he would give to the Hokage. He was also anticipating the lectures he would receive for hiding things, long before Kakashi was hospitalized. Sure, Tsunade knew most of the information, but after what he and Sakura had seen on that full-moon night, he could no longer remain silent.
Like a movie, Shikamaru relived the scene.
- XxX -
With his Kagemane no Jutsu, Shikamaru took Kakashi to one of the warehouses away from the city centre, in an industrial and very uncrowded district. The warehouse in question had no windows—as a result, the moonbeams could not reach the Copy Ninja spellbound by their power. However, his technique had many flaws; it didn't work if there was no light. Shadows could only exist with sources of light. Thus, Shikamaru got his hands on an oil lamp, with which he could produce shadows and thus maintain his spell on Kakashi. His time was running out. He had almost used up all his chakra.
"Sakura, tie him up and hurry up. I won't last long," he ordered.
As Sakura set about finding a rope, Shikamaru spotted a solid pillar. He placed the lamp on the ground and forced Kakashi to sit down, leaning his back against the pillar. Kakashi protested with low growls and struggled even more against the spell, which forced him to imitate the teenager's gestures. Shikamaru was out of breath and sweating profusely. Kakashi demonstrated exceptional power, capable of rivalling Naruto's.
Sakura tied her Sensei's wrists behind his back and tightly wrapped the rope around his torso and the pillar to tie him up, making sure that the rope was tight. Her heart was racing despite herself; her hands were shaking and making her task difficult. She finished the last knot and jumped back when Kakashi moved.
Inevitably, Shikamaru had drained his chakra reserves, and his technique had stopped.
Still frowning, Kakashi looked behind him and tried to free his hands … without success. The restraints were too tight to allow him to do so. He stopped struggling and glared coldly at Shikamaru. Needless to say, he was in a murderous mood.
"Stop looking at me like that!" Shikamaru cursed between two gulps of air. "You tried to kill someone! That's all you deserve!"
Kakashi huffed and turned his head abruptly, closing his eyes; under his mask, he was sulking. There wasn't an ounce of regret in him, and his spoiled brat reaction made Shikamaru's hair stand on end. The young shinobi sat on the ground to catch his breath, wipe the sweat from his forehead while Kakashi glared at him again, piercing him with his two heterochromic eyes as icy as death. The azure phosphorescence emanating from the back of his neck contrasted with the almost total darkness. As long as this glow persisted, this darkness was in control of the Copy Ninja's body.
As for Sakura, she was watching the hands she had just tied up. "Shikamaru, come to see this," she called out to him.
Shikamaru let out an exhausted complaint before getting up. The piercing irises fixed on him made him feel like he was being raped by them. When he was behind Kakashi, the latter turned his attention forward, since he couldn't turn his head any further.
Sakura pointed at Kakashi's fingers—or rather, nails. "Have you seen their length?"
"I wasn't sure since he was quick to hide his hands if I lingered over them."
"Kakashi-Sensei did it with me too."
"If he hides it from us, probably from everyone, there's something wrong with his nails…"
They thought the same thing. Their current length gave the impression that Kakashi's fingers were armed with claws, although their tips were round … human. Since he was a neat person, taking meticulous care of his hygiene, his nails were clean and immaculately white.
"We just have to wait for him to regain his senses," Shikamaru whispered, returning to his place in front of the Copy Ninja, and at a safe distance. "The influence of the full moon should leave him in a few minutes."
Sakura sat down next to him. Kakashi glared at them, especially Shikamaru.
A silence settled in.
"He also harbours a darkness in him, that's irrefutable," he noted, holding Kakashi's murderous gaze. "That thing's not happy at all, and by glaring at me like that, it doesn't like me either."
Sakura clenched her fists. "It's completely taken possession of him," she added darkly. "That… That's not Kakashi-Sensei."
"Yeah. I'm willing to bet he won't remember anything when he comes to his senses. It's very likely that this thing was in control of his body when Naruto was almost kidnapped… But something's off. If it was really the case, Kakashi-Sensei would have no memories. However, according to reports, he remembers certain things."
"What are you getting at, Shikamaru?"
"I think this darkness is gradually mixing with him and corrupting him over time. His personality's started to change since he got this mark."
Sakura gasped, and her emerald eyes opened wide.
"Just before the full moon was at its peak, I saw him wasting his time in a store," he continued. "I don't know what was going on in his head, but he had lingered over a curtain of marbles for over thirty minutes, playing with them. I'm sure he'd have continued fooling around if I hadn't come to set him straight… And when I talked to him, he looked at me sideways, as if I was speaking to him in a foreign language. He started acting normal again when Naruto hit him with his tail."
Sakura's heart leaped into her chest. That morbid scene she could never forget resurfaced. She swallowed to loosen her tight throat. "I think so… The day ago, Naruto … 'offered' a cat to Kakashi-Sensei… And Kakashi-Sensei… He… He ate it…"
This sordid revelation made the young shinobi break out in a cold sweat. "Right. That thing's definitely mixing with him," he said categorically. "It's possible that Kakashi-Sensei falls more easily under its influence when the full moon arrives. Once he's exposed to its rays, that darkness takes its place."
The Copy Ninja continued to stab Shikamaru with his gaze. Aside from his piercing and killer eyes, which gave goosebumps, this entity seemed calm.
Shikamaru decided to confront this thing. He stood up and approached Kakashi, who let out a high-pitched hiss. He froze in place, not expecting to hear the same hiss Naruto was making from Kakashi's mouth. However, he didn't let it scare him.
"What are you doing?! Don't come near him," Sakura cried worriedly.
Shikamaru ignored her and put on a stern look in turn, challenging Kakashi with his gaze. A few inches away from him, he crouched down to get to his level. He noticed how sure of itself this darkness was, not at all worried despite its current situation; the composure it displayed was appalling.
"What are you?!" Shikamaru hissed with as much coldness as the heterochromic irises in front of him. He got no answer, no reaction from Kakashi. "I know you can understand me! So tell me what you are!" he insisted even more.
Once again, Kakashi remained silent.
Shikamaru fumed to himself. The fact that he couldn't get any reaction from this thing was annoying him, not to mention that it was simply ignoring him. He had a golden opportunity to learn more about the darkness that Naruto and Kakashi had inside them … and this entity wasn't cooperative at all. Moreover, it had allowed him to enter its personal space. It could push him away with its foot, but it did nothing, nothing at all. He didn't understand how this entity thought, what it was thinking. Its mental reasoning, its thought patterns… Shikamaru couldn't decipher its mystery. But most of all, he wanted to get a reaction from it.
Looking at the face hidden behind the mask that never left him, an idea germinated in his mind. If this darkness was an entity of its own and determined to remain impassive, maybe it didn't care that Kakashi's face was revealed? Shikamaru pinched the mask above the bridge of the nose, and the effect was immediate. He saw panic in Kakashi's eyes before receiving a violent kick to the abdomen. He was propelled a few metres away, doing many barrel rolls. On all fours, he brought a hand to his stomach while coughing.
"Shikamaru!" Sakura cried, coming to inquire about his condition.
"I'm… I'm fine," he mumbled between breaths, wiping the blood from the edge of his lips. "He didn't hurt me… I mean, he held his blow. He could have broken me in two, but he didn't."
The kunoichi inspected Shikamaru with her medical ninjutsu. As he had said, he had not suffered any serious injuries. Meanwhile, Kakashi fell back into a disturbing immobility, staring coldly at Shikamaru.
"That blow was a warning," he deduced. "I wanted to remove his mask and that thing wouldn't let me. Obviously, it's protecting Kakashi's interests."
Saying this, he turned his attention back to Kakashi. Determined to get answers, he clenched his fists and jumped up. Without hesitation, he approached to confront this entity that was seriously starting to piss him off. The adrenaline rush through his veins erased the pain.
"Stop provoking him! Leave him alone!" Sakura begged.
Shikamaru crouched down in front of him and punched the pillar, a few millimetres from Kakashi's face, who didn't flinch an inch. "What are you?!" he asked again, his eyebrows as furrowed as the Copy Ninja's.
Silence.
Shikamaru punched the same spot again. Again, Kakashi didn't react. "Are you able to talk?! Or are you too stupid for that?!"
No response.
No reaction.
The teenager growled. He wondered if this entity was unable to speak, or if it was ignoring him. If it really couldn't communicate, maybe that was the cause of Naruto's muteness?
"Fuck you," Kakashi hissed.
Shikamaru froze, stunned. This thing could communicate. "Oh?! You can talk after all!" he exclaimed out loud. "Right! Tell me what you are!"
The Copy Ninja fell back into silence and simply glared at Shikamaru with his small, piercing, icy eyes like a predator at the top of the food chain that knew no fear.
"YOU'RE GONNA ANSWER ME, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"
"Don't provoke him, Shikamaru!" Sakura insisted.
"We don't want to talk to you. Period," Kakashi growled.
"What do you mean 'we'?!" he immediately said. "What are you talking about?! Is it Kakashi? Or are there other entities in there?!"
Kakashi remained silent… However, he stopped holding his attacker's gaze. His intention to no longer converse with him was very clear, since he avoided eye contact in addition to ignoring him.
This enraged Shikamaru, who grabbed him by the collar with both hands. "I DEMAND ANSWERS!" he yelled.
Kakashi's two eyes widened and he let out a chilling, toxic hiss from beyond the grave; the air was poisonous and as cold as a winter night. At the same time, lightning pulsed from the pores of his skin. A torrent of lightning enveloped him and electrocuted Shikamaru head-on. The power of his electric discharge pushed him back even further than his kick.
Shikamaru bounced several metres away and remained curled up on the ground, groaning in pain. All his limbs were numb and paralyzed due to the electric shock. As Sakura treated him, Kakashi stopped producing lightning.
"He severely burned your skin and damaged your nerves," Sakura said darkly. "Please. Leave him alone…"
"Okay, I'll leave him alone," he resigned. "Ah… Better wait for Kakashi-Sensei … to come to his senses. It shouldn't be too long now…"
Mechanically, they looked back at Kakashi, who hissed back at them.
His request to leave him alone was clear.
- XxX -
In silence, the duo waited for Kakashi to "return." However, the wait dragged on agonizingly. Shikamaru had recovered from the devastating assault on his tired body; he could move normally, but the gentle pain was uncomfortable.
As time passed, the Copy Ninja showed more and more obvious signs of boredom. He let out heavy sighs here and there. He swept his heterochromic irises everywhere—searching for visual entertainment. Sometimes, he drew abstract shapes with his feet in the accumulated dust and dirt. Sometimes, he wiggled his leg, as if impatiently waiting to be released. Quickly, he stopped. He searched for a comfortable position … in vain; he was tightly bound. Boredom had chased away his impassiveness and sinister immobility. Kakashi could no longer sit still.
About an hour passed. The shine emanating from his neck persisted with just as much intensity.
"At least he's not spreading pheromones…" Sakura consoled herself, although the smell was foul, but tolerable.
"What a drag… What does that mean? It shouldn't take this long," Shikamaru complained.
As the teenager thought, Kakashi began to sigh loudly and whine.
"We know you're bored! Stop annoying us! We won't untie you!" he cursed.
Kakashi rolled his eyes and sighed.
"That thing is worse than a kid…"
"It didn't try to break free once," Sakura added.
"Who knows…"
"I think I know why it attacked Neji," Sakura suddenly said. "Ever since you left it alone, it's been calm. Now that I think about it, it started hissing and growling when you approached it aggressively. You continued to push its limits until it became violent… Yet, it held back the force of its blows. It preferred to … 'warn' you instead of causing irreparable damage."
"Now that you mention it… It could have seriously hurt me, but it didn't. What does that have to do with Neji?"
"I think it felt threatened when he used his Byakugan. When you subdued it with your technique, it must have realized that the Byakugan were harmless to it."
Shikamaru gasped. "You're right, Sakura. As long as that darkness isn't provoked, it stays in its corner and does its thing. I'm sure those guys tried to stop it when it started trashing the bookstore. It attacked in self-defence." He paused. "It's a good thing Kakashi's darkness isn't aggressive. Ino told me Naruto's darkness immediately jumped to her throat when she entered his mind…"
"Really… Really…?"
Shikamaru nodded and sank into thought. He wondered why it was taking Kakashi so long to come back to his senses. If he was to believe the report from the first full moon, Naruto had only needed a few minutes to become himself again when he was out of the moon's reach. Kakashi had been under its spell and shielded from the rays for over an hour. He was honestly starting to fear that this darkness had possessed him once and for all… He went over the report carefully, remembered every little detail. Something was eluding him. For the past hour, Kakashi—this darkness hadn't done much except die of boredom.
Then, an answer finally enlightened him.
"I know why it's taking him so long!" he exclaimed. "The moon must grant him a special chakra that allows this thing to be in control. As long as this chakra isn't spent, the spell persists. Naruto had used up all his chakra and since Kakashi is doing nothing, the spell takes forever to dissipate."
"You… If that's the case, do you think Kakashi-Sensei might not … come back...?"
"I don't know. It's just a theory… In any case, I have to find a way to extract information from this thing…"
"Shikamaru don't—"
"I won't provoke it, don't worry," he cut her off. "I doubt my body will survive another discharge like that…"
Despite his growing irritation at Kakashi's uncooperative silence, Shikamaru took a deep breath to calm himself. He had to try again. Since the aggressive and intimidating approach had not been conclusive, he opted for a softer approach.
Shikamaru walked to Kakashi. Immediately, the small, piercing eyes were on him. The eyebrows were relaxed—something that gave him hope. In front of him, he crouched down to his level. "Well, I agree that we didn't start on good terms," he acknowledged. "You're endowed with intelligence and you're capable of communication. Why not negotiate? You tell me what I want to hear, and I release you, does that work?"
Kakashi arched his eyebrows, exasperated. Shikamaru's lie wasn't working. He was fully aware that he wouldn't be freed, and he was letting him know that in his silence.
"Right, you're not stupid either. You tell me what you want and in exchange, you answer my questions. Okay?"
Like a child, Kakashi suddenly turned his head and huffed, expressing his absent intention to bargain.
With pain, Shikamaru contained his rage that boiled in his veins. An urge to punch him in the face crossed his mind a bit too often. He refused to consider this darkness as his equal. It was a feral entity with no consideration for others. All that mattered was itself. To add salt to the wounds, it had taken possession of Kakashi's body, and it did so without shame.
"Don't make me believe you're not interested! I can have you whatever you want!" he insisted in a helpless tone. "Don't tell me you've been wandering around the village aimlessly. You were clearly looking for something, am I wrong?"
Kakashi returned the gaze. Then, he looked in the air. Shikamaru's excitement skyrocketed. This thing was thinking about his proposition. After long, painful seconds that stretched into hours, Kakashi turned his heterochromic irises back to the teenager.
"We're not interested in anything you can offer us. Go fuck yourself."
Shikamaru flinched at this gratuitous insult and his categorical refusal to negotiate. This entity spoke as if they were several. Pushed beyond his patience, the young shinobi became angry. In a flash, he grabbed a kunai and planted it in the pillar. Kakashi's right cheek was cut along its entire length. A few red beads clung to the blade now stained with fresh blood.
Kakashi had neither reacted nor moved; no start, not even in his now icy glare, to the point of causing frostbite where his pupils landed. Calm and not at all worried, the Copy Ninja produced a few sparks that escaped here and there from his skin. It was a dire warning; his next discharge would be that of a poisoned storm of murderous violence.
"Bastard!" he growled, directing the tip of his blade against Kakashi's throat, who remained unmoved. "You're doing it on purpose! TELL ME WHO THE OTHERS ARE!"
"Shikamaru! Stop!" Sakura implored, forcing Shikamaru to move away from Kakashi. "It's reached its limits!"
"DAMN IT!" he thundered, stopping himself from throwing his kunai with all his might.
Kakashi's murderous glare was back; it pierced the teenager to the deepest of his soul. Unfortunately, Shikamaru could only give up. If he confronted him one more time, he would be killed by a lethal discharge. But above all, he didn't want to awaken the anger of this thing, which would set the village on fire and blood. He had to leave it alone … whether he wanted to or not.
"I beg you, don't provoke it again," she cried.
"Sorry, Sakura… I got carried away…"
Kakashi was in a black rage, given that he hissed loudly; at that, he began to spread a putrid odour that was barely tolerable. This stench stung the vulnerable nostrils that burned under its olfactory acid, forcing them to pinch their noses. In the middle of this oral hubbub, a strange sound stood out; this noise was similar to that of a blade heated with a red-hot iron plunged into a bucket of cold water. The cut on Kakashi's cheek released a soft white smoke and in a few seconds, the wound healed and disappeared as if it had never existed. From then on, Kakashi fell silent again.
"You… You saw the same thing as me?!" Shikamaru stammered.
Just as stunned as her comrade, Sakura nodded. "The cut healed in a few seconds…" She swallowed and turned pale. "Shikamaru… The full moon turns Kakashi-Sensei into a chakra devourer…"
Kakashi was one of them … even if he was still human.
A silence settled in.
Kakashi displayed unusual behaviour. He let out dry and short growls; he seemed to be nodding endlessly; he blinked rapidly; his eyebrows furrowed and relaxed constantly. He lowered his head, closing his eyes tightly. The azure glow at the back of his neck lost intensity and mingled with the darkness.
Shikamaru and Sakura held their breath.
Kakashi raised his head with difficulty, whining. His head was unable to stay straight; it was spinning in all directions, implying that he was dizzy and disoriented. Finally, he cracked open his right eye.
Kakashi was back.
