"Kakashi! Why are you hesitating?" yells Guy, sweat dripping down his face as he fights Iruka without doing too much damage.
"How will Calista feel about you, when she finds out you killed her dear mother?" says the enemy.
"Kakashi, she is trying to manipulate you just like she has been doing with Calista. Don't fall for it."
Kakashi knows that you ultimate objective when on a mission is to kill the enemy. But this isn't an official mission. And there are exceptions to the rule. What exactly was the objective to this mission anyways? To protect Calista, he decides. And if he kills this woman, would Calista even be safe?
The clash of weapons a little too close to him breaks him out of his thoughts. A parasite was close behind him but luckily, Kurenai was able to slay it.
"Kakashi. I can't say that this spar is challenging but you have to do something," says Guy again.
"Shikumaru! How much longer can you use your shadow possession?" asks Kakashi.
"Ten or fifteen minutes at best. What are your plans for him, er, her?"
Kakashi looks down at the woman. "We hold her here. She can free Calista from whatever spell she is under and speak with her. Then Calista will decide what to do."
The enemy grins. "I would love to, but that isn't possible."
"What's not possible?" says Kakashi.
"To get Calista out of that jitsu she's under."
"Why the hell not? You casted it so you can stop it."
"Ooh," she says patronizingly. "You're talking about that jitsu. I guess you can only go by what you see."
Kakashi activates his lightning blade. "Explain or I won't hesitate."
"Calista is under the spell of my marking. But now something else is going on. Not only did Yuri activate it that day she left, he also implanted one of my parasites into her neck. Right now, it's eating away the block in her memory that her father put on her. Right now, she's remembering. Everything. If we interrupt that process, the parasites will get scared and confused and who knows what other parts of her brain they might eat."
Kakashi looks back at Calista. "There has got to be something we can do."
"Not other than let the parasites do their work. It won't take long. And she'll be ok. She'll just remember and then be... different from what you have come to know her."
"If you won't kill her, than I will," says Guy coming towards her with his deadly thai jitsu.
"Wait, Guy!" says Kakashi.
"What is it now?"
"That's right, now you're thinking," says the enemy. "If I die, yes it will get rid of the marking. But then there's my parasites. If they die before they have a chance to finish with Calista, it will leave her in a sorry state that you will likely regret."
Guy resumes his duel with Iruka but the clashing of weapons gets softer, replaced by the sounds of Kakashi's thumping heart. He walks to Calista's stone body and looks into her lifeless eyes.
"I don't know what to do to help you, Calista," he says to her. Kakashi has never been overly spiritual but he hopes that his words were able to bypass all odds and reach her.
******************
Calista is aware of what's going on around her but her focus is on surviving the excruciating pain as the parasites eat away her brain. But what's more painful than that is what she remembers. Things that she didn't know she forgot. Her true purpose. And it was ugly.
YOU ARE READING
Lightning In The Hidden Leaf
FanfictionCalista Hime is anything but a typical Shinobi and a brief encounter with Hidden Leaf's very own Kakashi Hatake makes her question her wandering gypsy life. It isn't until she takes Kakashi up on his offer to move to the Hidden Leaf when she discove...
