Shattered (#1 in Shifting Series)

My name is Kakashi Hatake...

Kakashi was relaxed as he sat along the bank of the river, casting his line into the water. There was something tranquil about fishing. He had already caught two fish, which was enough for him for the day, but he was enjoying the time of solitude so much he had continued casting his line into the water. The sound of the waterfall to his far right gave the atmosphere an almost rhythmic melody to the soothing setting.  He had spent most of his life in violence, so the quiet serenity was a balm to his soul.  He was glad he had decided to do this rather than go into the village shopping.  He was not in much of a people mood today.

He was about to cast his line back into the water after rebaiting it when he heard what sounded like a body hitting the water from a long fall. He turned towards the falls and was surprised when he noticed a head suddenly break the surface and arms flailing in the water in distress. The way they were flailing, he wondered if they even knew how to swim!  He quickly dropped his pole, discarded his outer vest, shoes, and utility bag before diving into the water. The current was strong, but nothing like it would have been had it been storming.  He had swum often in that spot; many people did during the heat of summer.  So, it was no great leap of strength to swim against the current.  He reached the person's side in no time and wrapped an arm around their waist.  Their head had just gone back under the water, and he pulled them up tight to his body, dragging their head back above the surface.

From the amount of hair that was swirling in the water and the way their body felt, it had to be a woman. Her body was shaking as he pulled them to the bank of the river. He planted his foot on a large rock along the side of the river before hefting her up out of the water and onto the ground. He breathed heavily, looking down at her as he pulled himself out of the water and sat next to her with relief that he had reached her in time. He could see that she was breathing but her body looked almost limp as she lay there.

Kakashi placed his hand on her shoulder and was about to turn her over when she spoke. Her voice sounded vaguely familiar as she said, "Thank you. I'm alive, just give me a minute to catch my breath. I almost died there."

He sat silently next to her for a moment and looked at her closely. Her hands were bleeding with deep gashes in them. She had obviously been beaten up pretty good.  He shifted his gaze to the falls. Surely, she had not fallen all that way. If she had, it was a miracle she survived the fall at all.  How did she end up in the river and that beat up in the first place?  Were her injuries from the water or had she encountered some kind of foe prior to ending up in the river?

"Is he okay?" she asked softly, not moving an inch from her prone position.

"Is who okay?" Kakashi asked in surprise, his eyes instantly going back to the water for anyone else that might be with her.

"Your son," she said with an exhausted sigh.

Kakashi laughed softly, "You must think I am someone else. I don't have a son."

Sarah frowned at the words. So, someone else jumped in to save her? She really did not want to move from where she was laying. She felt like she had been beaten within an inch of her life. Every place on her body except for her feet hurt.  Melissa was going to be upset, but she didn't think she was going to be able to go anywhere after the beating she had gotten in the river.  No, she was going to go if it killed her.  She surely wasn't as bad off as she thought she was and even if she was really torn up, she'd just crash with Melissa until she was healed up. She sucked in a breath of pain as she pushed herself up into a sitting position. Her hands were on fire, and she quickly looked down at them. They were torn to hell with deep gashes.  She flinched as she looked at the deep gashes.

"Hey, be careful now. You don't know how badly you are hurt," the man stated while taking her wrists in his hands to look closely at them. "These will need to be bandaged. I don't think you'll need stitches, though.  They're just going to burn like hell for a while until a medic can attend to them."