Title: Falling Apart
Author: creepycrawly
Fandom: Naruto
Pairing (if any): Yonkashi (Yondaime/Kakashi)
Rating: Mmmm, PG-13
Request: Made by darlingfox, a YondaimexKakashi where Yondaime survived the Kyuubi attack. Full request can be found here.
Disclaimer/Warnings: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto-sensei. Warning, this contains Yonkashi. Yondaime's only 7 years older, though, and it's not graphic.
Summary: The world's falling apart around their ears, and they're not doing much better.
Arashi could feel the world swirling around his head, and that was enough to keep him from opening his eyes. He felt nauseous enough with them closed, thanks. Unconsciously, he groaned, trying to fight his stomach into staying where it belonged.
"Sensei?" a quiet voice asked, sounding panicked. "Sensei!"
Why did that voice sound so familiar? Arashi knew he had heard it before, but there was something strange about it…something was there that had never been there before…
"Rin!" the voice called. "Rin! Where the hell are you?"
There was anger in that voice…lots of anger. There was also that edge of panic, as if though the owner was terrified for his life. Distantly, Arashi could hear echoing screams and crashes. It sounded like…like the walls were falling. As the thought percolated through his exhausted mind, Arashi began to struggle to sit up.
A strong hand pressed lightly against his chest. "Lay back," the voice commanded. "Don't try to get up, Sensei." There was a light rustling, as if though the unseen watcher was looking around. "Where is she?" he grumbled. "RIN!"
"Rin can't get here," a soft voice answered, twigs and leaves cracking and crunching under the woman's feet. "She's over on the other side of the village."
"Did the gates fall?" the boy asked.
"Yes," the woman sighed, sounding sad. "Took out half our team."
There was a harsh gasp. "The Uminos? The Namiashi? Tobi?"
"Tobi's still alive, for now, anyway," the woman sighed. "Keiko's fine. She's taking care of Tobi and Yukiko. Yanina's with the rest of the team. The Uminos…well, they were called to the frontlines when we saw that Arashi-sama was up there."
"Are they okay?" Arashi asked, voice weak and rough.
"Arashi-sama!" the woman gasped. "Dear heavens, are you still conscious? Kakashi, why didn't you tell me?"
The boy snorted. "I figured you were a full grown med-nin. I thought you could figure it out on your own. Was I wrong to trust Sensei's health to you, Noki?"
The woman huffed something angrily, rifling through the canvas pouch on her hip. "Please, hold still, Hokage-sama," she said respectfully. "I'm going to sedate you. We can't have you moving around until after we fix you up!"
"My…my people!" Arashi gasped, trying to bat her hands away but finding himself weak as an infant. "I have to save my people!"
"They can save themselves, now you've done the hard part," the boy answered soothingly. "Now, shh, Sensei. Sleep. Wasn't it you always telling me not to fight a med-nin?" he asked, hands running easily down Arashi's arms as the woman pressed a needle into his thigh.
Finally remembering who the voice belonged to (sweet Kakashi, such a brat now that he was older…when had he learnt what fear meant?), Arashi caught his student's gloved hand in one of his own and squeezed it tightly as the drug forced his grip on the conscious world to slip and fall.
Kakashi stared down at his unconscious teacher as Noki removed the needle from his leg. His blonde hair was patterned a splotchy gold-and-scarlet with blood. Some of it had fallen into his face, painting it in fierce stripes. His hands, clenched in loose fists, were also painted red, most likely from the blood still leaking from the gaping wound in his stomach.
"Fucking hell," Noki grumbled, hands flashing through signs quickly. "Stand back, Kakashi-kun. This is gonna be big."
Kakashi stepped back a few feet as she brought her hands down on his teacher's stomach. A greenish glow lit the area as her chakra engaged the wound, slowly forcing the blood to clot and the cells to divide and repair themselves. From the sweat pouring from her forehead, Kakashi could tell that it was one of the suicide techniques taught to the upper echelon of the med-nin—something one was only to use in the direst of circumstances, as it drew on one's own cell's ability to divide, and thereby shortened one's lifespan. That was probably why she had asked him to step away—if he had been in casting range, then his lifespan would have been drawn in as well, and shortening his lifespan went against her Hippocratic Oath, no doubt.
"Done," Noki panted, the glow fading slowly. "That should stabilize him enough that we can get him to the hospital." She thought for a moment. "Actually, can you get him to the field hospital? You know where we set that up, right?"
Kakashi nodded. "Yeah."
"Good. Take him over there and ask Keiko and Amenani to prep him for surgery, ok? They'll know what I mean."
"Okay," Kakashi said, watching her walk purposefully forward into the darkness. "Where are you going?"
"He was sealing the Kyuubi into that baby, wasn't he?" she asked. "If he's here, then somewhere around here there's a baby with a demon sealed inside."
Kakashi nearly dropped Arashi's still form. How could he have forgotten about the baby? How could he have forgotten how Sensei had said he was going to seal the demon into his nephew, and then sealed them—Rin and Kakashi—into that tiny room inside the Academy?
"Get him to the field hospital!" Noki barked. "I'll find the baby. At this rate, it'll take a bit more than an unseasonably warm October night to kill it."
The teen nodded, sliding on his ANBU mask before turning and running to the other end of the village as quickly as he could. He could feel Arashi's soft, golden hair rubbing against his neck with every swing of his legs, and the steady flow of warm air over his shoulder let him know that the blonde was still alive. It was a reassuring feeling, one that gave Kakashi a feeling of hope even as he ran through the piles of rubble that were once houses, the smoking pit that had—just three hours back—been his apartment building, the hospital with the top floor torn away, the bodies that littered the streets.
He spared a glance towards the destroyed hospital, and immediately wished he hadn't. When the top floor had been torn off by the Kyuubi, there had been people in those wards. People he knew. The top floor was reserved for ANBU, Special Forces, and the mentally ill. Now, however, there were bodies thrown everywhere. One dangled from the broken edge of the wall, golden hair shimmering grotesquely in the dancing light of the houses on fire. Her blue eyes stared out over the village, now more like bottomless pits than ever before. Thanks to gravity, her hands dangled down towards the street. Kakashi knew without needing to look what the bracelet clasped around her thin, scarred wrist read.
'Matarashi Ameko. ANBU Monkey. Emergency C-Section.'
He ran on, hoping that the body would be taken down and buried before Arashi awoke and could see his sister pinned to the wall. He knew his instructor would blame himself for her death. If he had not needed an infant with an umbilical cord for the sealing, then Ameko would have been at home, almost nine months pregnant. It wouldn't help that his brother-in-law was dead, and the child completely orphaned now.
"Got us another one, eh, ANBU-sama?" Namiashi Keiko asked, watching Kakashi run in.
Kakashi nodded from behind his mask, knowing that there were very few people who could recognize him on mask alone. Keiko, not one of the main ANBU field surgeons, probably couldn't even place his code name.
"I've got the Hokage," he grunted, mask disguising his voice slightly. "Jounin Noki requested that you and Amenani prep him for surgery."
Keiko took his instructor from him easily, laying the tall man down on a nearby bench. She looked around the crowded field of tents, somewhat harried. "Oy! Hana!" she yelled, waving at the five-year-old Inuzuka. "Bring ANBU-sama some water!"
The little girl nodded and raced off.
Keiko turned back to face Kakashi. "Sit down, kid," she ordered. "You're burnt crispy. Lemme deal with that, okay? Noki's fixed the Hokage up well enough that he can wait a while before we screw with him. I want to get some of that dirt out of your skin." Without waiting for a yes, no, or so much as a by-your-leave, she pushed him onto a stool and began to pull a pair of tweezers out of her bag.
Waiting for the other med-nin to show up and care for his instructor, with his friend's mother picking dirt, leaves, stones, and bits of fabric out of the burns peppering his skin, Kakashi began to go numb. Slowly, his grip of reality faded, leaving him in a sort of half-world. Things still happened, they just didn't happen to him. As he faded mentally, he faded physically, too. His skin, already dreadfully white, was turning whiter by the second as his blood seemed to drain from his body.
"ANBU-sama?" he heard Keiko asking, the words seeming to swirl around him. "ANBU-sama!"
Strong hands slid around his shoulders as he began to fall off the stool, someone removing his mask as quickly as time would allow. Kakashi saw a stripe of light as the mask came off, and then the world went black.
Arashi came to slowly. All around him, he could hear the sounds and chatter that meant wherever he happened to be was full of people. He could also hear the steady thumping of a heart, and the soft woosh-hiss of someone breathing very close to him. Slowly, he opened his eyes to look at the warm weight currently on his chest.
"Kakashi?" he rasped, recognizing the shock of silver hair.
The boy stirred, eyes coming open slowly. "Sensei?" he asked, blinking as he sat up and rubbed a hand across his eyes. "How are you feeling?"
"Drugged," the blonde laughed weakly. "Where am I?"
"The Uchiha clan house," Kakashi yawned. "In their medical ward."
"Why?"
Kakashi fidgeted slightly. "Well, mostly 'cause Shisui was on duty and saw me max out, and figured I might as well get treated by someone who understood the strains of the Sharingan. Mikoto-san's been making sure I don't max out again."
Arashi glared at his student as best he could. "You maxed out, Kakashi? I thought you'd learned better than that!"
"It was an accident, okay? It was an emergency! I couldn't just say, 'oh, I'm sorry, that might hurt me'!" Kakashi exploded.
The blonde man struggled into a sitting position, glaring angrily at the teenager. "Kakashi, you're one of Konohagakure's most valuable resources! How could you risk yourself like that? You're important to this village. You're important to me."
"And you're not important to this village?" Kakashi shot back. "I'm just a jounin. You're the Yondaime. How could you risk yourself like that?"
"It was an acceptable risk!"
"An acceptable risk? An acceptable risk? Throwing yourself in front of the Kyuubi no Youko and using a suicide technique is an acceptable risk?" Kakashi yelled back.
"If it's to save the village I'm sworn to protect, yes!" Arashi returned.
"Do you really not care about yourself that much, Sensei? Do you really not care about us? Did you think about what Rin might do if you died, too? What I might do? Did you not think about us?" Kakashi screamed.
"Kakashi, I had to save Konoha! I had to!"
"So you didn't care that you dying would kill Rin? She's close enough to breaking already and you know it! But you'd desert her? And me? You'd leave me?" Kakashi yelled, voice falling as he continued. "You'd—you'd leave me? I…I…you…but…" he shivered, voice becoming oddly flat. "I…I thought you loved me. You…you… I l-l-loved you."
As Arashi stared in horror, tears began to well up in Kakashi's visible eye. He knew that if the red eye hadn't been covered by a piece of gauze, he'd have seen the tears in it long before. Obito always had been the first of his boys to reach his limits.
"Kakashi," he whispered, laying a hand on the teen's pale shoulder. "I do love you. I do. Shh, shh." Carefully, so as not to disturb the new scar on his stomach, he pulled Kakashi into a tight embrace, much as he had when the boy had been little. "Shh," he cooed, rocking him back and forth gently. "Shh, 'Kashi. Don't cry. Don't cry."
Kakashi sobbed into his shoulder. Sighing, Arashi swept the boy up into his grasp, ignoring the way the move pulled at the tender skin of his recently-healed stomach. He held the teen the same way he had when he was only a little kid, curled up in his lap. Kakashi was now old enough—and tall enough—that he could press his face into Arashi's shoulder, and his legs dangled over the edge of the bed as the blonde rocked him back and forth, calming him.
Eventually, the boy fell asleep. Sighing, Arashi settled his ex-student on the bed. He removed all of his weapons pouches, pulled the two shuriken hidden behind his book out, found and removed all of his hidden kunai, and tugged the three senbon in either sandal out. Laying the collection out on the bedside, he tugged Kakashi's mask off. Smiling softly, he pulled the edge of the blanket up over Kakashi's shoulder, and tucked the corner into Kakashi's loose fist. Even in his sleep, the teen took the hint and curled up in the foetal position, effectively hiding his face from view. Checking the tape holding the gauze over the Sharingan, Arashi satisfied himself that his student would be safe and settled himself to working over the jutsu he had used.
A soft knock at the door drew him out of his intense concentration. He looked up, startled to see that the alarm clock next to the bed read 5.00 PM. "One moment," he called, standing up slowly and making his way to the door. He unlocked it easily—like most clan house med rooms, this one had been designed for dealing with Ninja Paranoia™ and locked from both sides—and smiled at the woman on the other side.
"Good evening, Arashi," Mikoto said, smiling at him. "It's nice to see you up and moving."
"It's nice to see you, too, Miko," he said, beaming at his sister's best friend. "You like tired, though, doll."
She shot him a look as she settled the tray she was carrying on the desk. "You think I look bad, wait until Noki or Keiko comes into check on you."
"Sit, sit," Arashi urged, indicating the chair. "Do tell," he added, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Well, Noki and Keiko've been running themselves ragged trying to get everything handled," Mikoto explained. "I'd help more, but…well, Sasuke's…" Helplessly, she waved a hand at the tiny infant asleep across her chest.
Arashi nodded understandingly. "He's not on chakra-support anymore, is he?"
She shook her head. "They said we could take him off that during the days now. I'm just so worried, you know? Itachi was a week late—they said that was normal—so I didn't expect him to come this early." She shook her head. "He was almost a month early. It scared me so much when…when she said…"
Reaching forward, the blonde man caught her hand in his and squeezed it. "Hey, don't cry, Miko."
"Sorry," she said, wiping tears from her eyes. "I'm just so tired! We've got so few people who can help. So many of the ANBU squads are hurt in some way or another, but they're donating chakra and running double and triple shifts. Those with medical training are doing absolutely everything they can, but I'm still having to be careful with Sasuke, and Tsume's trying to take care of Kiba, and Yuuni's pregnant enough that they won't let her run around much—mind you, she's tiny, so that may be why. Still, Hizashi and Hiashi have taken in a few of the kids until homes can be found, as have most clans. All of the major clans have opened their clan houses for medical care."
"What about the hospital?" Arashi asked.
"We've got two running field hospitals, mostly full of leftovers from that night."
"What about the main hospital?" he asked. There was something not being said here, and it scared him.
"It's—it's been closed, Arashi," Mikoto murmured. "The Kyuubi attacked it, tore an entire floor off, and the entire building's unsafe."
Arashi's blue eyes widened. "An entire floor? Not the—oh, Miko, no, please, tell me it wasn't…"
Sadly, she nodded, tears starting to fall.
"Who—who did we lose?" he asked, voice rough.
"The ANBU Tiger. ANBU Dragon. ANBU Ox. Otter. Parrot. SF Dog. SF Rat. Turtle. And…and…" her voice shook. "And…oh, Arashi, Ameko—she's…she's…"
Arashi let out a rough wail, burying his face in his hands. "Who else?" he demanded, shoulders shaking with his sobs.
"U-Umino Ryuusa," Mikoto whimpered. "And with him, Umino Atariko. Namiashi Genbu. Namiashi Arin. Namiashi Tori and Hikouki. Hagane Koteru. Hagane Tetsumiyo. Hagane Rumi. Kamizuki Zukomi. Kamizuki Hinata—"
"Oh, dear god, that's going to really tear up Hyuuga Yuuni."
Mikoto nodded. "His—that is to say, Izumo's—grandmother has taken in Kotetsu and Iruka for now, but they will most likely need other foster homes soon."
Shortly after that, Sasuke woke, and Mikoto excused herself to go feed the whimpering infant. Arashi curled up on the bed behind his still-sleeping student, trying to wish himself into a similar state. If he could sleep, maybe he could forget…
Sadly, sleep did not bring forgetting. Over the night, and the day that followed, and the days following that, the death toll continued to rise. Reports poured in of people dying from burn wounds, of slices from flaming claws, of houses collapsing spontaneously and killing their occupants. Kakashi proved to be, despite laziness, a genius of paperwork. He collected all the reports from hospitals, kept track of which clans had died out, which children needed to be placed in foster homes, which people needed to be told they were now the head of their clan.
He did it all to shelter his mourning instructor. After collapsing the night he learned of Ameko's death, Arashi stayed in bed for three days. He didn't do anything. He didn't move if Kakashi told him to, he didn't eat, he didn't drink. He barely lived, and it was tearing the young jounin apart. Friday morning a week after the attack found him crying himself out at the grave of his father.
"And I just don't know what to do, Tousan! He's hurting—god, how he's hurting—and I'm hurting, too. We're all hurting, every single one of us. Even the little kids whose families are safe—they don't know why, but they're hurting. And the orphans! I've had to cover for five kids who were lined up for the Hiddens already! Umino Iruka—you were his trainer at one point, remember?—fell apart at the seams Thursday afternoon. I had to race over and sedate him before ANBU got there and the jig was up. As it was, Mikoto-san and the Yamanaka have their hands full covering up the memories of those kids flipping out. It's awful!
"And I just don't know what to do! I hurt so much, so, so much!" Kakashi sobbed, shaking in the chill air. It had gotten brutally cold, as if the world itself mourned with Konohagakure.
An infant's soft cry broke the air, followed by a hurried shushing. Kakashi whirled around, kunai already at the ready, left hand near his hitai-ate. They fell again as he recognized his sensei. The tiny bundle in his arms must have been—
"Kakashi, I'm sorry," Arashi whispered, stepping closer. "Naruto—well, he doesn't cry much. I think he's as sad as you are."
Kakashi glared at the blonde man. "Whatever," he grunted, pushing himself to his feet. "Nice to see you out of bed—finally."
"Kakashi," Arashi began, starting to jog to keep up with the teen. "Kakashi! Slow down, dammit!"
Kakashi ignored him and kept walking. Behind him, he heard a frustrated sigh and a muttered, "I had been hoping it wouldn't come to this." Then, abruptly, Arashi flickered in front of him, one hand outstretched and glowing blue. "Tomemasu!" he hissed, the jutsu activating.
Kakashi glared at him. "Why is the control jutsu still active?" he demanded.
Arashi grinned. "I used it to train you to fight with your chakra disabled, and the Uchiha used it to help teach you your limits with that eye. That's all."
"Let me go," Kakashi hissed.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Clearly," Arashi said, "you have a few problems. You're going to sit and listen until I say you may leave, or until you figure out how to break that jutsu. Clear? Okay, good. Here goes. Kakashi, the hell is wrong with you? First you max out last week. I'll admit, I was pissed to all hell because of that—I mean, seriously, I was scared for you, child. Then, I find out from none other than Uchiha-fucking-Fugaku that you maxed out because you were using your active chakra to create seals! Your active chakra!
"We've been over this before! If I can't trust you not to use your active chakra for things like that, I will have the med-nin remove that eye and replace it with a glass-and-chakra implant, Kakashi. I cannot have you stupidly risking your life every single time you use that eye. Gift of Obito or not, the body of a Hatake is not equipped to handle the Sharingan eye and you know it! You've already had a few years taken off your life by having your chakra pathways rerouted; are you going to take more off for stupidity?" Arashi demanded, pacing agitatedly in the field.
"And that's not the end of it, oh, no. You then proceed to work yourself to the breaking. I was talking to Mikoto, and you haven't eaten in eight days! You haven't slept in six. Kakashi, should look in the mirror! You're disgustingly skinny, you've got huge bags under your eyes, the one I can see is bloodshot, your hair is a mess… God, you look like you've just given up on living."
"What do you care?" Kakashi demanded, still fighting the jutsu. "Just leave me alone!"
"No!" Arashi barked. "Kakashi, I care! Does that mean nothing to you?"
"About as much as the fact that I love you meant to you last Thursday night!" Kakashi yelled, struggling.
SLAP!
Kakashi froze as Arashi's hand hit him solidly about the face. It had been a long time since the man had slapped him—indeed, it had been a long time since the man had needed to slap him.
"You—you hit me," he breathed, oddly calm.
"I did," Arashi said, breathing quickly. "And I'm sorry. But I need you to listen to me, Kakashi." He shifted his grip on Naruto quickly, still staring at the teenager. "Kakashi, listen. I'm the Hokage. I have to protect Konoha—I promised that when I accepted the office. I swore to the entire village that they were my main concern. That doesn't mean I don't care about you, or Rin, or Obito. You three will always be the first in my heart."
Arashi sighed, and then breathed in deeply. "And Kakashi? I'm…I'm not lying when I tell you I love you. I really do love you, sweetheart."
There. He'd said it. Now Kakashi could make of it what he wanted, and could interpret it how he would. He could say that the 'sweetheart' comment was merely because Arashi had been his teacher for years, when he was young and cute, or he could take it how it was meant.
There was a slight pop, and Arashi felt a warm rush of energy race along his body. That warmth only increased when Kakashi reached forward, one hand weaving gently through his blonde hair. Slowly, almost hesitantly, Kakashi leant forward and kissed him.
Mindful of the infant in his arms, Arashi pulled the teen closer, kissing him back. For the time being, he did his best not to focus on the fact that he was kissing his student.
His fourteen year old student.
Who'd been his student since he was nine.
"You know this is really fucked up, right?" he mumbled, breaking the kiss. "And probably really, really immoral. And illegal. This is definitely illegal."
Kakashi grinned. "It's not illegal," he teased. "I'm of age. I can consent. And I do, which should take care of that whole 'immorality' complex of yours."
"You've been 'of age' since you were five, Kakashi," Arashi snorted, looking across at the teen.
"Details, details," Kakashi laughed. He leant in and quickly kissed Arashi again. "And would you look at that, I broke that 'unbreakable' jutsu of yours."
Grinning, Arashi tossed an arm over his student's shoulder and steered him back towards the Uchiha clanhouse. "It's gotten old and brittle. That's all."
"Oh?" Kakashi asked, raising an eyebrow.
"It's been on you since you were four. You expect it to still work properly?" Arashi defended his jutsu.
"Since I was four? I don't remember that."
"It was in the experimental stages then. One of my genin missions had me babysitting you, and apparently your dad decided I made a great babysitter for likkle-Kakashi-kins." He grinned and poked the teen in the side.
"I hate you."
"I know."
"No, seriously. I really, really hate you."
"You've said that before, and you know deep inside you still love me."
"Even though you're a lazy bastard."
"Even though I'm a…hey! Wait! How am I a lazy bastard?"
"You make me do all your chores."
"Oh yeah…remember that month I had you guys do all my laundry for your missions?"
"…I remember that. I turned all your shirts pink one day 'cause you pissed me off."
"…So you did, so you did. Brat."