Like a Dog
By: Song

Summary: Kakashi didn't want to die like a dog.
A/U: Possible spoilers for chapter 423-???. I'm going to be really pissed if Kakashi dies (even if I did predict it...) Not the best quality, but it had to be written.

Rubble engulfed him, and fine layer of dust coated his mask and silver hair making it hard to breath. His hitai-ate lay askew somewhere near, much like his father's tanto after committing seppuku. Name disgraced.

The day he discovered his father's body was a lifetime ago. It was yesterday. It had scarred him.

He hoped Iruka would be spared the agony of seeing his corpse with a blood soaked rusted nail in his brow. It was a brutality the chuunin deserved not to witness. The image of a deceased lover is one that is seared into the soul... even for the most war hardened shinobi.

For that's what an invasion was.

War.

Like the Kyuubi attack.

Did sensei feel like this facing the demon? As if fear seeped from every orifice, but with it came a determination so great that he knew he would not deny his duty.

Pein was before him, nail in hand. Was this how he was destined to die? To rejoin all those he had lost? To become another faceless shinobi name in a stone? Like a dog? Miserable and meaningless? By a nail in the frontal lobe?

The metal raced to him, driving into his skull.

Was this the same feeling that all his targets felt when they had... departed? When he plunged his glowing fist through their chest? He swallowed fearfully. The words were so simple. Die. Dead. Death. None had ever meant much to him, he was an assassin after all. Somehow, in the seconds the rusted barb drew near the bitter darkness had taken on a new meaning. He did not want to greet those whom he had failed.

But then again... dogs weren't so bad. They spent their entire lives devoted to their master. An entire life loyal and cherished.

Kakashi blinked.

It was cold.

Fin