Running. Running. Running.
Gai's breaths were heavy, his body slicked with sweat and his skin tingling from the heat of unlocking five Gates. Yet, still, he could not push himself fast enough. His footsteps, leaping off trees, broke the branches and sent them clattering to the floor. He silently apologized to Mother Nature, but refused to lessen his brutal pace.
It was too quiet. The usually chatting birds were nowhere to be found. The small woodland creatures had all scurried away to hide in their burrows and nests. Even the wind seemed too frightened to move. Everything, although deceivingly peaceful, screamed that something was amiss.
Gai needed to find that something before it was too late.
The weight of what he did and didn't know lie ahead was incredible. The green-clad ninja pushed himself to go faster. His heart was beating so quickly he could feel it in his limbs, in his throat, in his fingertips.
A growing sense of dread closed in on him as his eyes caught sight of the battlefield. First, it was minute signs, like gashes on trees and a few kunai and shuriken littered about. It grew increasingly more noticeable by the second. Within two minutes of his running, entire trees were knocked over or had their trunks shattered to pieces by powerful ninjutsu or taijutsu blasts. The worst of it, however, was yet to come.
Gai froze when he saw it. A giant crater that scarred the earth loomed in front of him. When he stopped running at the edge, everything was silent except for his intensive breaths and the blood roaring in his ears. He needed to rush down there and find the one in the crater, who had taken such a blast, but his instincts were telling him no, as if what was to be seen in that hole would be something that would change him forever.
The need to satisfy his mind won over his fear of the knowledge, and the Jounin sprinted down. At first, his eyes picked up nothing in the crater whatsoever; there was no movement, no breaths, no life.
As he drew closer, Gai realized he was wrong. There was something, someone, in the center, half buried in dust and dirt.
Instinct rushed back and screamed at him to stop, to turn around before it was too late. His feet, however, did not comply, and four seconds later, it was too late to turn around. His eyes had already spotted the silver, dusty hair.
Gai knew, instantly. He knew who it was, what had happened, what would happen. It was becoming more difficult to breathe, and still he ran. He arrived at the body's side within seconds, immediately beginning to throw away the dirt and debris of the battle's outcome. Rocks a bit bigger than his fist were the largest thing he had to move, and for some reason, he prayed that those small things could not have killed the one before him.
He knew better. He was kneeling in a crater larger than the block he lived on, and the man he loved was in the center of it.
By the time the last rock hit the dirt a few feet away, Gai already knew Kakashi wasn't breathing. He'd known for a long, long time, but that did not slow the waterfall of tears cascading down his face, or ease the pain of his breaking heart.

* * * * *

Gai's eyes shot open, instantly greeted with darkness and his dim ceiling. The nightmare came rushing back to him, and his heart lurched painfully. It all felt so real, like he'd lived it once and was forced to live it again in his unconscious state. But it was just a dream, he told himself, as his eyes began to adjust to the lighting of 4:13 AM. Kakashi was fine. There was no need to be so paranoid.
Letting out a shaky sigh, the Jounin moved his arm out from under the blankets, instinctively reaching out for the warm body lying next to him. He needed Kakashi's comfort right now, even if the other man was sound asleep.
Gai's arm hit only sheets and mattress.
Turning his head to the side, the man's eyes began to fill with fresh tears. He was alone.
It wasn't just a dream, he told himself, as his pillow began to soak through.
No, it wasn't a dream. Just a memory.