Prologue: Don’t Let Me Go
Kakashi Hatake sighed through the thin material of his ever-present mask, the heat from his breath making a soft cloud before his face. His body was not cold – his use of the chakra warming technique and his constant movement prevented that – and so he was somewhat surprised to find how cold the air really was. The snow crunched under his thick sandals, and the silver-haired shinobi automatically tugged his long cream-colored cloak tighter around his lean form. His single visible eye was seemingly lazy and at ease, but that was part of the jounin’s deadly charm. Enemies who were rookie enough to be ignorant of Kakashi’s reputation often thought he was not worthy of the titles bestowed upon him. Oh how quickly they learned that this was not the case.
The B-ranked mission had been pathetically easy, Kakashi mused as he made his way down the road that led back to his home village. A simple escorting mission to Sunagakure. It had taken all of five days to get there, and without any trouble along the way. Kakashi hadn’t been forced to partake in such a simple task since his chuunin days, but he assumed that the Hokage wanted to give him something to preserve his strength before another A-ranked mission. Maybe the next one would be something slightly more interesting…like retrieving valuable jewels, assassinating some evil drug lord, or spending the entire day reading his beloved Icha Icha. Hmm…that sounded interesting indeed.
The jounin stared up at the bleak gray sky, and shook his head to free his hair from the clinging snowflakes that seemed to gravitate toward Kakashi’s person. He hated snow, but at the same time he was a shinobi, and as such he was required to put personal discomfort aside in favor of being efficient. In reality, Kakashi wanted nothing more than to curl up on his lumpy couch at home and take a nap with his Icha Icha books close at hand. Honestly, winter was just a bad season to be active. He sometimes wondered how it would be to hibernate, and the more he thought about it, the more he realized how lucky those hibernating animals really were.
His breath smoked up once more as a heavy lament was emitted from his lungs, and he shoved his hands deep in his pockets. His senses automatically remained on alert, but he allowed his mind to wander ever so slightly.
Kakashi didn’t know why losing teams hurt so much. He had lost Sasuke to Orochimaru, Katsumi to Ren on her journey back to the village Hidden in Whirling Tides, and Naruto to the great Toad Sage. He knew that he would see Naruto again soon, but he wasn’t sure about the other two. Ren hadn’t made it clear when she planned to return, and Katsumi seemed happy to leave the village after Sasuke left.
Oh Sasuke…
Kakashi had always known that Sasuke would fall. Perhaps he saw himself in the boy, and put his hope in the fact that maybe, just maybe, Sasuke would find something to keep him in Konoha. Kakashi had found and lost his best friend, and that motivated him to protect those precious to him and to the village. Sasuke had so much more than Kakashi had…and yet he still chose to throw it away.
It made Kakashi sadder than he could put into words.
The bonds he had made with Team 7 were dangerous, and Kakashi would probably be better without them. But he just…couldn’t find it in him to stop making connections. Maybe it was that masochistic tendency that seemed doomed to haunt Kakashi for the rest of his days. Maybe it was just a cruel, terrible twist that was a mere result of coincidence. Maybe, maybe…
”Kakashi-sensei, what are we doing today?” a much younger Naruto screamed as a greeting, too excited to dwell on the fact that the jounin was nearly two hours later than he said he would be. Katsumi and Sasuke were sitting on the wooden surface of the bridge, leaning against the bars and talking quietly. The quiet closeness that surrounded the Uchiha children never ceased to amaze Kakashi, and he let himself smile behind his mask before turning to Naruto.
“Well, the sweet old lady from the dango shop needs her cats washed, and I owe her a favor…”
Katsumi raised an eyebrow, scowling furiously, and Kakashi was struck with the painful memory – as he often was when he looked at Katsumi – of Kushina Uzumaki making that same expression at him when he accidentally walked in on her and his sensei as they became…rather involved with their training session. To say the least, Kakashi couldn’t look at either shinobi for at least a week after the incident without blushing under the safety of his mask.
“Tell me he’s joking,” Sasuke grumbled darkly, his eyes closing in exasperation. Katsumi sighed in response, putting her chin in her hands. The two Uchiha sat there, unmoving, as Naruto shrieked in indignation.
“Hold on…wait…hey…hey just wait a minute!” Naruto’s mouth turned in childish fury, and Kakashi leaned back so his lower back was supported by the railing.
“Waiting…” Kakashi said mockingly, checking his imaginary watch, and Naruto fumed as Katsumi burst out laughing. Sasuke settled for a smirk, and Naruto pointed a very calloused finger at the silver-haired man, and continued to shriek – by now, Kakashi had decided to just accept the truth that Naruto had only two volume settings: loud, and louder.
“That isn’t even a mission, you old geezer! Where’s the training in that, huh?”
Kakashi’s stare turned into a glare, and he enjoyed watching as Naruto squirmed uncomfortably. Katsumi sat up straighter, and her mouth pursed in annoyance.
“Aww, someone’s in trouble, now! Way to go Naruto…now we’re all gonna get it,” she hissed, slapping her hand to her forehead. Sasuke had decided to disengage from the conversation entirely, and was currently flicking pieces of twig into the gurgling river below them.
Kakashi nodded slowly. “For that little ‘geezer’ comment, Naruto, you get to wash Miss Bunny. The rest of us get the cute, complacent little kittens that smell like milk and sunshine.” The team then – albeit a very saddened Naruto – made their way to the woman’s house, and as they walked the streets their journey was complimented by Katsumi’s ceaseless excitement.
“Yes! I love kittens! They’re sooooo cute! Like seriously, next to puppies, kittens are the cutest thing in the entire world! With their little tails and their little pink tongues that just make you go–”
Katsumi then made a cooing sound/squeal that was so high pitched and strangled that everyone – except Sasuke, who assumedly was used to this sort of behavior – stopped to stare at her in amazement. She didn’t look perturbed, and challenged Naruto to a race. The two immediately ran off, and Sasuke turned to Kakashi, giving him his full attention at last.
“Do they even know where the house is?”
Kakashi gave Sasuke one of his devious eye-crinkle-smiles. “Nope.”
“Hn.”
“They’ll find us eventually…”
Kakashi felt his feet stop at the memory, and he spared a glance behind him. Part of him was hoping to see his three students behind him as they always were, Naruto and Katsumi laughing and running while Sasuke rolled his eyes and forced himself to keep up. The snow was falling thickly, and it made the entire road behind him look hazy and unremarkable. There was nothing but the silence, and Kakashi slowly turned to face front again.
But then, the sound of staggered running reached his keen ears, and he froze. His hand immediately clutched a kunai, and he sank into a protective crouch, listening as he peered into the cloak of falling snow. The sounds were coming closer, and Kakashi focused, discerning that there was a group of them.
Were they shinobi? The uneven steps sounded like a civilian, but Kakashi couldn’t be sure.
Just as he was about to call out, six figures burst into view, snow cloaking them like a second skin and blood soaking through the powdery-white flakes like red wine soaks through a linen tablecloth. They all had Hidden Whirpool headbands on their heads, but even so Kakashi did not let down his guard. They could be spies who had taken Whirlpool headbands to trick passing Hidden Leaf shinobi. Kakashi removed his headband to reveal the Sharingan, and relaxed slightly when it picked up no hidden genjutsu.
The leader stopped, and blinked at him with pale gray-blue eyes that were unmistakably familiar. The voice that spoke cut through him like a knife, and his defenses melted into nothing. He hadn’t heard that voice in a year and a half, and it wasn’t until that moment that he realized how much he had missed it.
“K-Kakashi? Is th-that you?” Ren Uzumaki’s voice, unusually timid and broken, spoke into the silence, and Kakashi moved forward at once. His eyes widened as he saw the injuries that were scattered across her trembling frame, and the haunted, lost look in her usually cheerful eyes. The other shinobi were shaking and groaning, and Kakashi let his gaze fall over all of them, searching for someone in particular, and he reached for Ren’s shoulders. A spark of panic began to flare in his chest as that particular person eluded his search.
“Ren…what happened?”
Ren closed her eyes, and Kakashi blinked as angry tears streamed down her cheeks, making two wet tracks through the ash and blood that coated the skin there. “The Hidden Wh-Whirlpool Village…is no more. We’re a-all that’s left. They just…killed everyone…” she croaked, and Kakashi’s shock left him temporarily unable to speak, unable to think properly.
Then he recovered.
How could that have happened? How, but more importantly…why? Kakashi had been to Whirpool Country many times, and the place was a peaceful one. The shinobi village was a powerful one, but they were structured around peace, not used to being attacked. They were always vulnerable to attack, but Kakashi had always assumed that Konohagakure would come to the village’s aid. Kakashi hadn’t heard anything concerning the Whirpool Village being attacked…how had the attack gone unnoticed?
Was the attack so strong and so sudden that no one was left to send out the call for aid?
Who could have possibly arranged that kind of army?
Kakashi looked down at Ren, and waited until she looked up at him to ask the question that was beginning to feel like more of a death sentence than an actual question. The answer was beginning to creep up on him, and Kakashi was tempted to leave it be and assume the worst. But he had to know. He had to know.
“Ren, where is Katsumi?”
Ren stared into his eyes, and Kakashi felt his anguish overflow into his throat as Ren’s face crumpled up into a pitiful expression of someone who has lost everything. Kakashi knew that expression, because it had once been his face. When he lost his father…when he lost Obito, Rin, and finally Minato-sensei. The face had softened into his current expression, but in the moment, when Kakashi lost them, that face was him.
“I tried…I tried to get h-her out, Kakashi. But sh-she told me, she kept telling me to get out…the building was burning, Kakashi! She was stuck, she couldn’t get out, I tried to help her…but the walls crumbled before I could reach…”
Kakashi felt as though his mind had disconnected from his body, and he watched as his hands slowly released Ren’s shoulders. His eyes stared off into the distance, blankly trying to compute what Ren had told him – was still telling him, even as his mind shut down.
“I-I heard her screaming…so loud…I coul-couldn’t help her! D-Dammit, oh god, oh god my little n-niece…I l-let her die, because she told me to run. W-Why did I listen, why, why why?” Ren whispered, falling to her knees and began pounding at the snow with her bruised and bloody fists. The blood left a mark on the whiteness, and Kakashi found himself staring at the bright red color.
Finally, his body kicked in and took control. Mechanically, he bit his thumb – there was no concept of pain in the action – and summoned Pakkun. After giving instructions, the dog sped off, faster than Kakashi could possibly run. Kakashi then moved to help Ren sit under a tree, and then focused his attention on the others, helping them to safety under the canopy of trees.
But his mind was a blank slate, and if one looked at his face – the shinobi were too injured and shocked to notice his expression – they would find the most saddening expression on the face of Kakashi Hatake.
He knew that Team 7 would someday face death, whether from disease, enemy intent, or old age. It was stupid to hope for old age or disease in the shinobi profession, and so Kakashi had assumed that the death would come in battle.
Naruto, Sasuke and Katsumi were each so strong that Kakashi had highly doubted they would die within the next three years. And in any case, each was guided by extremely skilled shinobi, and so that added extra protection to their cause. The jounin always hoped that out of all of them, he would be the first to go. He had had a good life, if any of them deserved it, it was him.
Why was it that logic never seemed to factor into the life of a shinobi?
Kakashi never imagined that Katsumi Uchiha – the most thoroughly protected out of the three genin of Team 7 – would be the first one to fall. Not bright, lively, spunky Katsumi. Not at fourteen years of age, not at the same age Obito Uchiha had…
But she had, and that made Kakashi want to fall to his knees and scream at the unfairness of it all.
Of course, he didn’t do that. He put on a brave face and blocked out his own sorrow, because that was what he had been trained to do from the beginning of his career. Kakashi treated the wounds with what supplies he had, and waited for the Konoha medics to arrive. When they did, he helped the best he could, and stepped back when it looked like they had it under control.
Inside, Kakashi Hatake was crying.
Because no matter how many times he had team members fall in battle, the pain never lessened. His ability to hide his feelings improved, until he was considered by most to be unaffected by the idea.
But the feeling of helplessness and quiet lament never became less suffocating.
Kakashi knew that one day, he would drown in it, and nothing would be able to save him. And deep down, part of him didn’t want to be saved. At least then, he would have some sort of release.
Then, finally, he would find some sort of happiness.
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Chapter notes: THIS IS A SEQUEL!
The first story's called Another Survivor: Uchiha Love Blossoms. Go check it out.
OKay, for those who read said story, here's a warning for you.
THIS STORY IS NOT LIKE UCHIHA LOVE BLOSSOMS! It's gonna be a lot darker and more graphic, especially with language and sexual themes (not the warm and fuzzy lemons, but kinda dark stuff). The characters have gone through a lot, and the situations are a lot more mature than the previous story. There IS going to be rape, as well as many other darker themes. There's still going to be happy bits, as well as funny bits, but its not as dominant as it was in the previous story.
I rated this story 15, but as the story goes on I'll probably up it up to R18. So this is a warning to all of y'all.
Did I cover everything? I think so.
Oh yeah, and it's gonna be kinda AU. I'm gonna cover some manga events, but most of its gonna be from my crazy noggin. So no reviews telling me that its AU, cuz dude, I KNOW! I'M WRITING IT.
So on a lighter note, I hope you like the beginning of Another Survivor: Come What May!
(ps. I got inspiriation for the story from the song Come What May from the movie Moulin Rouge. I highly recommend you guys listen to that song before you read this story...it's such a breathtaking song.
PLEASE REVIEW! It'll determine whether I continue this or not...
=D