Chapter 4

Silence reigned for a few moments, moments Kakashi was grateful for. The image of the hospital fluttered in. The quiet beep of monitors, keeping vigil over Jiraiya, bandaged and unconscious.

'Sensei, I'm going to lose to this, aren't I. This all that I am, isn't it?'

Naruto.

'Death and pain.'

Taking a breath, he pushed that old memory - images of shattered buildings, shinobi ... friends, away. Bewildered, Kakashi said, 'It's not you, that's done this.'

'No, but I can't control it,' he could hear the tremor in Naruto's words, but the jounin was shaking his head. 'If I were stronger, I could stop the nine-tails.' It sounded like the boy was giving up. And for the first time since this began, he was thankful Naruto could see his memories as well. 'Maybe we should just let whatever this sickness is, win.'

'Naruto, did you see what Kyuubi did to Konoha?'

'… yes.' His voice was so small, so tired. The jounin looked at the poison-soaked chakra in the over-saturated hospital room and despaired. It was so much thicker here, in this memory. He thought about all Naruto had gone through before they'd started this, how drained he'd been.

They were so close to finishing this, he could feel it.

'How can you think you're weak?'

'But …'

'Are you saying the jinchuriki of Konoha is weak?'

'I …'

'The nine-tails is the strongest of all the tailed beasts. Even injured as you are now, the monster sleeps.'

'Ero-sannin almost died!' Naruto voice cracked into the shadows of his mind, rippling through the memory. The walls of the hospital room shimmered, like waves in a pond. Kakashi felt the layer of toxin shudder around them, but it didn't lessen, even a little. 'I did that to him!' And the jounin heard the catch of breath before Naruto said, 'You don't know what it's like.'

Even desperate as he was, hearing how the boy's voice was weakening, and pushing back the panic chewing at the edges of his resolve, he wanted to laugh. 'You may be right, Naruto. I have never been host to a tailed beast.' He sighed. 'But I've lost people. I've made mistakes.' He did laugh then, and it was bitter. 'Too many to count.' He raised his gaze, looking for the blue-eyes of his student. 'Sometimes, it doesn't seem possible, but you can move past them. You must.'

But there was no response. The silence around him was steeped in self-recrimination and it clicked then - that the poison they'd washed away earlier had settled here, in this most recent, rawest place in his student's mind. There was too much of it now. Kakashi had already been exhausted when they started; re-living all this with Naruto, while holding the jutsu for so long had done more to drain him. With Naruto poisoned and worn too, from re-living all of this ...

He needed a reaction from Naruto. Something to keep him here. Silently, he sent the boy another apology. He had to focus that incredible stubbornness on this. 'Maybe you're right. Jiraiya-sama must have seen how weak you are, neh?' Even insubstantial, he felt his student's unsteady pulse rachet higher, the boy's breathing grow rough. 'He must have at least shown it, in his face, or actions.' And then something he didn't expect - Jiraiya's face appeared. Another memory? One side of his mouth lifted in a sneer, expression twisted. Naruto cringed, pulling away, and Kakashi felt a spike of near-panic. The sannin was talking, but Kakashi couldn't hear what he was saying. The white-haired man's tone, his expression, filled with blame. Had Jiraiya said such things? But no, it looked off, Jiraiya's features distorted and wrong, like a cartoon cutout. Suddenly, it wasn't just Jiraiya, it was Sasuke, and Tsunade. Iruka-sensei. Sakura, Hinata and Shikamaru, Choji, Kiba and others. All of them, disgust on their features and in their voices. So much like the crowd of villagers, but this time the voices, the faces, were Naruto's comrades. Friends.

Was this a symptom of the poison? Was Naruto hallucinating, or had he been weakened so much that these were his fears and doubts, made real?

The noise around them grew, the voices and faces crowding, overlapping. The air grew hotter, and Kakashi's (Naruto's) chest breath was crushed from him, the kunai-sharp pain there growing, as the hospital around them began to stretch, and stretch – everything, so loud – and … that familiar wrenching sensation and nothing, but empty space.

Then. They were in a dark, dark room. Listening to the drip of water into the few inches that layered the floor. Kakashi looked around, into the empty black. All he could see was what was in front of them, the bars of a cell. And then up, up. Through those bars and into glowing red, hate-filled eyes.

Another voice spoke, slow and full of rage. 'I remember you.' That voice. This wasn't a memory, or a hallucination. Those eyes weren't focused on Naruto, semi-translucent and standing by Kakashi. That scarlet gaze focused solely on him and though the heat of it scorched across the jounin, Kakashi's blood ran cold.

Kyuubi.

A spirit that relished destruction, knew only malicious joy in bringing death. Kakashi remembered too. Malignant chakra choking the air. Noise, chaos. Screaming. The fox-spirit towering over the village, tails whipping across the moonlit night. Every muscle in his body screamed to act. But there was nothing he could do – as thought without form.

He pushed all of that away. Looking through the bars he said, 'Your host is dying.'

'He is weak.'

'As he dies, so do you.'

'Perhaps that would be better than this chained existence.'

Kakashi laughed darkly. 'We're all chained, in one way or another.' He felt Naruto's eyes on him, uncertain in the shadow of the demon and hoped the boy didn't take that the wrong way. 'Surely, we've cleared enough of this poison away for such a powerful being …' and he looked into the spirit's eyes, scorn written across his features, 'To overcome. Even chained.'

'Yes.' Kyuubi looked over to Naruto, standing silently next to his sensei. 'If he wants my help.' When Naruto remained silent, brows-furrowed and eyes down, he turned his gaze on Kakashi. 'Jounin. Remove the seal, and I will save your precious student.'

'Mm.' He eyed Naruto, taking in the dark circles under the boy's eyes, the pallor under the sun-touched color of his skin. The fever. The seizure. He opened his mouth, wanting to say yes. The word shaping itself on his tongue, his fingers twitching toward the seal on the cell door. But … that memory was too fresh now, of the Leaf, devastated. Of too many comrades and innocents, dead.

Seals were not his specialty. He could do many things, but if he released this seal … well. With only him here, there would be no remaking it. He took a slow, deep breath and let it out again. He jerked his chin at the boy, saying, 'Nah, Naruto. What he's offering?' He shook his head. 'I -'

'No.' The word tumbled into the air before he'd even finished speaking. 'You can't sensei. Even if I wanted it, you can't.'

The blonde turned to face the cell bars in front of him, voice pitching low and eyes narrowed. 'I've only reached out to you when I had to. It's kept you alive, too. If I die, you'll never be free.'

Hate vibrated through the snarled response. 'Is that a promise?' Menace dripped into the air like the water all around them, raising the hair along Kakashi's arms. Kyuubi laughed. 'You've kept me alive?' A low rumble, denying it. 'I exist.' He growled, something that rose in pitch and ended with the snap of teeth. Ripples radiated through the shallow water in the chamber. 'You stumble around, protecting your precious people, when I could be bathing the world in blood.'

'So you refuse to lend me your power?'

Those glowing eyes moved away, looking into the shadows. Kakashi watched the boy and the fox-spirit, grey and sharingan flicking between them. 'Yes. I refuse.' Edges of his mouth tightening, Naruto nodded, looking down.

Kakashi spoke into the silence that fell after that. 'Hold a moment, Naruto.' He tipped his chin up at the spirit, Obito's gift glinting. 'You can't do it, can you?' Naruto's head snapped up, eyes widening in surprise. 'This poison. It's blocking you, too. You can only act if I completely release the seal. If I let you loose.' Smiling, he said. 'That won't be happening.'

Snarling again, the beast focused on him entirely. In the face of blazing red eyes, the jounin resisted taking a step back. The creature laughed, chilling him down to his bones. 'Enjoy watching your student die, jounin.'

Turning back to face Naruto, words of reassurance stopped in his throat when he saw the boy had grown paler still – the shadows under his eyes standing out, stark in the dim light. Naruto swayed, enough to jerk the jounin's heart into pounding and pull Kakashi into taking a step forward. Just as he heard the hitch of ragged breath and the jinchuriki collapsed. 'Naruto!'

No response. What light there was, was sucked away, a vacuum of dark, silence ringing in his ears. The ghostly image of the young man was gone. The bars of the cell had disappeared. So had the sense that they were in a room, near the cell, in the hospital or anywhere else.

In the void, in utter blackness, Kakashi was alone.

'Naruto, are you with me … Naruto?' He couldn't see anything, or hear anything. Was Naruto unconscious, or worse? No, he was unconscious. He had to be. Kakashi refused to imagine anything else. But, if his student didn't wake up, the jounin wasn't sure he would find his way free. He didn't want to think it, but if Naruto died and he wasn't able to release himself or the jutsu from the boy's mind … the slow, constant chakra drain would kill him, just as surely as the poison was killing his student.

It was laughable, really, that this poison might take both the "Legendary" Copy-nin and the jinchuriki of Konoha. But it wasn't the possibility of his own death that caused the ache in his chest.

Concentrating, he listened. Silence. For long enough that a splinter of fear pierced his heart. And then, at the edge of his awareness, a heavy, wonderful, sound.

The distant beat of a heart. A slow, hesitant breath.

It was infuriating, being unable to affect anything around him. Having to rely on the current of chakra and whatever past memory might sweep him along. But thankfully, slowly, the darkness around him was lightening. Black. To gray. 'Naruto?' And then to white.

A beeping noise entered his awareness, now. Steady and slow. A heart monitor. He was back in the hospital. Turning his head, he saw his student sitting in a chair, next to the bed. His head was in his hands, his fingers tangled in his hair, blue eyes haunted and frozen on the still form of Jiraiya. 'Naruto,' he breathed, relief rushing through him like a tide. The boy didn't react. He frowned. Two breaths later, Kakashi realized this wasn't Naruto's consciousness, replaying the memory. This was just the memory. He wasn't sure what that meant. If Naruto were unconscious, or worse, would he be stuck in his student's past, trapped in memory, forever?

Time was running out. That distant beat was growing slower, softer. And then, the next beat didn't come. No. Gods, no. And then it did, later than it should. Kakashi's heart was hammering, now. Time wasn't running out, it was gone. He needed Naruto awake, now. Fighting for his own life, because Kakashi couldn't do this for him.

Another beat, and another. Then, nothing. Two quick beats.

'Naruto, don't you give up on me.'

And then nothing. Nothing.

Nothing.

No. Nonono.

The room was getting darker.

He had to do something. But he couldn't. Here, he was only spirit. Consciousness without form. His body was outside, in the chair next to the bed where his student lay, dying.

With one hand laid on Naruto's chest, the connection he'd needed when he activated the jutsu.

Was it possible?

Tuning out his surroundings - the hospital, Jiraiya. The silence. No heartbeat. No breath. He focused on his own stream of consciousness, reaching back to himself. Reached for flesh and bone and breath. Don't release the jutsu. You're not done yet. It was harder than he thought it would be. Harder than it should have been.

Finally, he felt it. A nearly there sense of his fingers on rough cloth and his body, exhausted beyond measure. Ah, yes. He'd used so much chakra, before he'd even gotten started with this.

It didn't matter. A candle guttering, the wax almost gone.He just needed a little … 'chidori.' The room flashed blue, jumped around him and continued to fade.

Nothing. No sound.

'Come on, Naruto. Help me, here.' Again. Lightning, a flash. The jump. And the hospital room blanked out, everything went black. 'No!' A wave of dizziness swept through him and he reached out to hold on, but there was nothing to grab on to. He was moving, but this time, there were no memories sweeping by. No laughter or struggle, ramen, Team 7 or pranks. Only stillness and silence. Reaching desperately for that thread to his other self, his real self … he knew. He didn't have enough chakra to do it again.

He did it anyway.

The flash, a blue crackle. The jump. And then suddenly, a huge, gasping breath and a hollow half-beat that erupted into a quick pounding. Rapid and strong.

Finally, finally. There was light. And sound. He was back in the hospital room, but it was fading to gray. Only this time, the light was fading in his eyes, not Naruto's. Naruto was there, in that seat next to the bed, watching Jiraiya. Vaguely, he saw the overlapping image of Naruto's awareness, living the moment again. When Kakashi felt his spirit-self stumble, the young man moved. Now-Naruto jumped up, appearing suddenly beside him. 'Kakashi-sensei!'

'Naruto,' he chuckled. 'Ah, there's my precious student.'

He could almost feel those blue eyes sweep across him, take everything in. Since the essence of this form was chakra, and he'd just … well, he wondered what Naruto saw. He saw enough. It showed in his face and words. 'What have you done, Kakashi?'

'Maa, nothing for you to worry about.' He gestured to the room, to Jiraiya. 'Do you remember, our talk?' He had to hurry. The room was getting darker.

'Yes.'

'You didn't do this to Jiraiya. Kyuubi did.'

'I know. It's just …'

'Naruto. Hear what I'm saying. You need to believe it, or this will kill you.' He sighed. 'I can't have that.' Everything hurt. How could everything hurt when he wasn't connected with his body?

'Kakashi-sensei, what's happened?' Panic was steadily rising in the boy's voice. It hurt to know that he was the cause of it. 'You did this for me, didn't you. You've … you're ...this is my fault, too.'

'Naruto.' He couldn't lie. It would only make things worse. 'Yes, but this isn't about fault. It's because I know something about you. Something you haven't realized.'

Naruto waited, and Kakashi didn't mention all the things he really wanted to say, about his own senpai, the fourth. Kushina and her temper. And how every day, Naruto grew to be more like them, his parents. That they would have been proud.

Rules, and duty. Suddenly, he hated them. 'Naruto. Do you think I would have done this for someone that wasn't worth it?'

Blue eyes overbright, Naruto blinked quickly. Lower lip caught between his teeth, he shook his head. 'No, Kakashi-sensei,' and he could hear the respect and still a little hero-worship, even after how human he'd proven himself to be, over and over again. 'You wouldn't, but that still doesn't make it okay.' A glow appeared behind the young man. Blue-white and growing brighter. It started to move, spinning, slowly at first and then faster. Chakra. It lifted the boy's hair, made it whip around wildly, somehow managing not to disturb a single thing in the room. The curtains around the bed hung still and smooth, the paper on the chart hanging on the bed didn't shift at all. But the colors, the poison, they moved. Changed. Swept up in the riot of that churning energy, everything around them grew lighter. Cleaner. And that energy (such a brilliant blue, without a hint of malevolent orange) swept over them both.

Kakashi smiled. He didn't hurt anymore.

. . .

He woke up to the sound of alarms. Sitting up quickly, he winced. Apparently, the pain relief had been temporary. Gods. Kakashi really did hurt everywhere. But how? He'd burned all the chakra he'd had, to shock Naruto's heart back into beating. All of it and more. He shouldn't still be breathing, but he wasn't about to complain.

He'd figure it out later.

Naruto's eyes were open. Breathing harshly, the young man ran his hands over his face. As Kakashi watched, the shadows under his eyes began to fade away, color beginning to return to his face. Half-smiling, the jounin turned, picked up the lamp from the table beside them. Lifting it and bringing it closer to the bed. Naruto raised a hand to shade his eyes, squinting. Nothing happened for a moment and then, the sensei saw the pupils of the boy's eyes shrink to pinpricks. The last of the tension he'd been holding left in a sigh of relief. "Kaka-sensei, what is that noise?!" He lowered the lamp.

Well, almost all the tension left. "The wards." The thought of having to fight anyone was a frightening prospect. He had to blink hard to clear his vision and Naruto, well … he was better, surely. But he'd been through a lot. Both of them needed rest and time to heal. Gamely, the young man took a fortifying breath, pushing himself off the bed. Pulling his mask back up, Kakashi nodded. "It's the outer wards. If we're lucky, we have a few minutes before they reach us."

Moments later, they'd gathered their tools. Senbon, throwing stars, kunai. A glance between them and they moved to the front of the house. The light outside showed a sun high in the sky. How long had they been gone? "Kakashi-sensei," the boy whispered, gesturing out the window to the nearest cluster of trees. Shadows moved there, discordant with the flutter of leaves.

"I see them." The jounin felt them, too, at least five others. He ignored the squirm of unease that came with that whisper of chakra. He couldn't dwell on his and Naruto's exhaustion; they didn't have time to entertain doubts. That energy told him these were the enemy-nin from the river, the ones who'd poisoned Naruto. He didn't know how they'd found them so quickly. He made a noise, unhappy. "There's no help for it, I guess." He looked at his former student. "Ready?"

Looking determined, Naruto nodded. They moved into the kitchen, out of direct line of sight of the living room window, and those ominous trees outside. Quietly sliding the window there open, they eased out into the overgrowth that butted up against the property. It was easy to slip into old patterns, from their days working together on Team 7. Both already understood what their plan would be. They would split up, flank the enemy, if possible. Take them out. Simple. Effective.

If only they'd had time to rest. Taking a breath, Kakashi was about to move, when, "Wait, sensei." Naruto had an arm up and was crowding him against the side of the house. The jounin turned, upset that Naruto might have given their position away, but something caught his eye. A reflection, off something metal at the edge of the forest. Silver.

A signal. One that he knew. He smiled.

The rough rustle of leaves and a muted cry came from the side of the house. And then there were four chakra signatures from the enemy. A puff of smoke from the edge of the woods drew his eyes, just as newcomers made themselves known.

Newcomers that weren't enemies. More noise, the rustle of branches, leaves. The clang of metal and another cry. And then, Pakkun was trotting out of the forest. "Hey, boss." Shizune came soon after, with Izumo, Kotetsu and two other medi-nin. Pakkun yipped and said, "It's handled boss. We got 'em." The small dog sat, using a stubby foot to scratch under his chin. "Anbu found a nins' camp, too, not too far from here. Looks like these were a part o' that." He panted, his tongue lolling briefly for a few seconds before slurping it back in. Kakashi felt a flash of fondness for the summons; he must have run the whole way. Pakkun continued, "Rogue-nin, all of 'em, from their hitae-ate. And looks like they were up to no good, they were loading some kinda poison dust into bags."

Kakashi smiled again, crouching to speak to the nin-dog. "Good work," he said, satisfied. "How'd you get here so quickly?" The little dog tilted his head, clearly confused.

"Thanks, boss, but it didn't feel quick." He stood up and paced over, nudging at the jounin's hand, looking for petting.

"What do you mean? Not sure how you did it, but you couldn't have taken more than a few hours."

"Boss. I was gone for two days. We got here as quickly as we could, but I thought for sure we'd be too late. Did you hit your head or something?" He made a sound, almost a whine. His hind leg started to thump against the ground; Naruto had reached over to give him a pat and found a good spot to scratch. "Naruto's all right, looks like. I guess it wasn't as serious as you thought."

Kakashi didn't want to get into that at all. Two days. Kakashi couldn't believe it. He'd lost all sense of time in the jutsu. Two days, lying there unprotected, with nothing more than some automatic wards? Another reason why he'd likely never use it again. He looked at Naruto. Unless he really had to.

At least, he'd learned something about his former student, stepping into his shoes for a little while. And for all the pain they'd had to re-live, he hoped Naruto had learned something, too.

Even if he hadn't, he'd do it again anyway.

Naruto was giving Pakkun a belly rub now, smiling. The medi-nins were fussing over the young man and from the expression on Shizune's face, Kakashi was about to get a tongue lashing. Right. The jounin may have dropped from his crouch onto the ground and was now leaning weakly against the side of the house. It was a miracle he was alive to do even that. Resignedly, he waited as Shizune took a deep breath.

Nodding and trying to look mournful as she scolded, he thought again about that blue glow behind Naruto, that rising swirl of energy, right before the final memory washed clean. It had been chakra.

A tremendous amount of chakra. Astounding that, as weak as he was, Naruto could manage it. Kakashi still remembered the feel of it, washing across everything in sight. Including him, when he'd just spent all of his own. Hm.Well. Since he was never going to use that jutsu again, there was no way he would ever really know. But it seemed that after Kakashi saved Naruto's life, his former student had returned the favor.

Tsunade's right hand lady took a break from her tirade with a glare, before crossing her arms in front of her. She started talking to the other medi-nin, wanting an update on the two of them.

Naruto's voice cut through Kakashi's thoughts, chin tipped down and speaking sotto-voice. "Iruka-sensei's gonna be so disappointed."

"Disappointed?"

"Well, he took me for ramen once and said no matter how hard I tried, I'd never do it, but," with a tired scowl that was a half-smile of mischief, Naruto said, "I did. So what if it took a while?" and here he frowned a bit. "I didn't actually plan this, to see under your mask. But that's okay." Naruto shrugged then, looking sheepish. He reached up to drop a hand behind his head, scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah … you don't have big lips or buck teeth."

"… Buck teeth?"

"And all it took was for me to get a little sick. Easy."

"Right. Just a little sick," Kakashi huffed. "Easy." Shaking his head, he tipped his head back, letting it thump against the wood. The medi-nin had finished their report to Shizune. Obviously done with Naruto, they moved quickly to his side, their competent hands already beginning to glow green.

Maybe now, he'd get that quiet night's rest.

.

a/n: Thanks so much to everyone who has R&R'd! This is where this plot bunny ended, pretty much. But it was so much fun to write, I want to keep going, lol. Hmm. I'll have to see if another idea pops up..