This is a collection of ten 100 word drabbles I've writtenin 2004. The titles are taken from Canary's KI Titles. They will be familiar to those who frequent kakairu Yahoo! Groups and kakairu LJ. If you enjoyed any of them, comments will be appreciated. To complete the challenge I have 90 more drabbles to write, so any suggestions are welcomed.
001 : 忍というもの (what a shinobi is)
Casualties: two chuunins, one jonin.
Iruka stared at the three names in the A rank mission report. He looked up at Kakashi from the reception, who was standing with habitual slouchiness. Today, his shoulders seemed even more rounded than usual.
Iruka resisted the urge to hold the lost boy in his arms. Instead he asked, "Did they die a good death?"
"They fought valiantly to their last breath." And it helped Kakashi carry on. The mission was a success.
To know death, to defy death, and to live on bearing the will of the dead. That's what a shinobi is.
002 : 甘い (sweet/naïve)
Synaesthesia, crossed sensation, seeing a song or hearing a rainbow, whatever you call it. Kakashi recently became a sufferer.
It happened the night he paid Iruka a surprise visit. The lights in the apartment were off, so he crept into the chuunin's bedroom. Like a mischievous academy schoolboy, he tiptoed towards the sleeping figure, pondering whether to kiss or tickle the teacher awake. Under the moonlight, he could clearly see Iruka's peaceful face, dark hair loose on the pillow, soft lips parting as he whispered in his dream,
"Kakashi..."
Kakashi never thought words could have tastes, but now he knew.
003 : ナミダ (tears)
The winter morning was stale cold, and the sky was mourning heavily. Nevertheless, Kakashi kept to his daily routine of visiting the cenotaph.
He wasn't just visiting Obito.
Ever since he became a jonin, Kakashi had lost the ability to cry. It was his pact with the devil in exchange for the lives he had taken. He was once promised redemption. But now the chance is gone.
Tentatively, he traced his shaking fingers along the newly engraved name: Iruka Umino.
He lowered his heard and closed his eyes. His old scar glistened like a trail of tears in the rain.
004 : 距離 (distance)
"What IS bothering you?"
"Nothin' ", Iruka mumbled, avoiding Kakashi's blatant stare. Kakashi rolled his eyes at the word.
"Iruka-sensei, was it really so bad to be my support in a mission?" a sigh. "Never mind. You just seem so... far-away today." Argh! And I fought so hard to look cool in front of him! Our FIRST mission together!
YOU are the one out of my reach. Watching Kakashi in action, the truth was painfully clear. Kakashi will always be a lone wolf in battles. It only confirmed Iruka's worst fear:
Is there really a place for me in you?
005 : 星屑 (stardust)
Every night, Iruka would pack up his work at the academy and visit Kakashi's house.
The jonin's apartment felt cold and empty. Without hesitation, Iruka stepped into the darkness and headed straight to the bedroom.
The moonlight revealed Kakashi's still form, face gaunt under Itachi's curse. It had been weeks since the attack, and there was no way to tell when or whether Kakashi would wake up.
Iruka moved to brush a few silver strands in place, watching the tips glittered like the stardusts in the sky. He then pressed his lips against Kakashi's forehead and whispered a silent prayer.
006 : 酔い (drunk)
Amidst the smoke that was rising from burning bodies, Kakashi could vaguely make out a standing figure in Anbu uniform. The mask was half broken, revealing an eye and a scar across the face.
He walked over and took the man's blood-soaked arm into his own. Mesmerized, Kakashi lowered his head and felt the dip inside the man's elbow with his tongue. With seductive grace, he traced the trail across the man's arm, sucking lightly, staining his own lips crimson.
Kakashi closed his eyes and let his mind submerged in the sweet smell of death. He was drunk with love.
007 : 一つの灯り (one light) Extended as a gift to Rui
It was one of those missions with a bad aftertaste. I couldn''t even remember how I got back to the village. The weapons felt heavy on my body, and I reeked of the metallic smell of blood. Even after I've walked through the gates that marked out territory, my body didn't relax. My mind was still high-strung from the killings, with the fatal screams of death throes still echoing in my head.
Only a few more hours before dawn, the soundless world was slumbering, oblivious to the violence out there. I was suddenly lost in the fragile tranquillity of the night. This village I once thought I belonged in was suddenly a foreign maze, and I was a chess piece that fell out of place.
I began to run in the dark, willing my tired limbs to move as quickly as possible, all the way to Hokage's office. The fear of being swallowed up by the heavy silence gripped me. The shadows were morphing into faceless beasts around me, laughing, threatening to drown me in a never-ending nightmare of terror.
And then, there was a light.
I stopped dead on my track before I realized where I was. I was standing in the school playground. The academy building was on my near left, and from one of the windows, the warm light of a desk lamp could be seem from where I was standing. I knew the position of that window too well. It was the staff room, right next to third office desk from the left.
I should've told him that I'd be late. I should've told him not to wait up for me.
But tonight, I was more grateful than any other days he spent with me. The thought of him drove all my demons away. For the moment, I could only stare at the glowing window and cry. Because now, finally, I knew I was home.
008 : ケンカ (quarrel)
Lying on the snowfield, Iruka watches as his breath rises in the biting cold air. Like words, he thinks to himself. Once they are out from your mouth, there's no going back.
The things people can say in a fight.
Iruka remembers Kakashi's shocked look, how he recoiled like a wounded animal would against a fatal blow. But at that point he was too defensive to care.
They haven't spoken since then. Not even after Iruka accepted an A rank mission.
As he mind gradually slips from his bleeding body, Iruka watches as his last apology disappears into the sky.
009 : ナチュラリズム (naturalism)
He should've stayed the way he was: cold, aloof, and untouchably strong. It was the only route to survival, the supreme law within the chaos of our violent world. But now, blood was seeping through the bandages around his torso, quivering from his ragged breaths, baring a mark of his weakness. He could no longer point his weapons at a dark-haired without hesitation. It was a fatal mistake of his, and of mine.
"Good-bye, Lucifer," I whispered to myself as I softly closed the door.
For from the moment you called my name, it was the beginning of your downfall.
010 : 危機一髪 (escape by a hair's breadth)
"If Naruto and I were poisoned and there's only one antidote, who will you choose to save?"
Iruka gave me a what-the-hell-are-you-bringing-up-mid-penetration death glare, but the effect was dimmed by the screeching of bed springs and his own breathless pants.
"ne.. Iruka-sensei?" I sucked at the enormous scar on his back and rock faster, drawing more gasps from his gaping mouth. I didn't want to give him time to think. Standard interrogation procedure.
Through his quivering lips, I could barely make out these words,
"I will save Naruto. And then, I will die with you."
... phew. That was close.