Kids In The Dark (A Kakashi Love Story) (1st Place in NWA Kakashi 2015)

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Kakashi carried Meiko all the way back to where they were heading, in complete silence. No one spoke, the silence was tense. The silence was deafening to them, but who could speak after one of their comrades died, and the other would never be a proper ninja again.

"Meiko..." Rin said, breaking the silence. Meiko turned her head towards Rin, her eyes barely open from the exhaustion and the new pain that was forming up her leg. "Are you feeling okay?" She asked.

Meiko shrugged slightly, laying her head back against Kakashi's shoulder. "My legs starting to hurt." Meiko said quietly, and Rin sighed heavily, shaking her head slightly. She felt so bad that they had to take Meiko's leg, but it was the only way she could survive. If she didn't, she could have died just like Obito, and that was something Rin couldn't have taken. She didn't think Kakashi could have taken it either.

When Minato finally came into sight, he smiled at his students for only a brief moment, noticing fairly quickly that Obito was gone and that Meiko was now passed out on Kakashi's shoulder.

"What happened? Where's Obito?" Minato asked, and Kakashi closed his eyes, squeezing them shut.

"He's dead." Kakashi said blankly. "I was strong enough to save him. Rin and Meiko were taken hostage, and Obito went after her. I didn't at first. But I followed him soon after. We were standing outside of the base and we were attacked by a Rock Shinobi would caused me to lose my left eye. Obito killed him, and his sharigan was activated. We went into the cave to rescue Rin and Meiko, and the ninja we had taken down for a moment awoken and caused the rocks at the top of the base to fall. Obito saved Rin and I's lives, while Meiko attempted to save Obito from the bolder that fell. Obito's entire right side was crushed under the rock, and Meiko's right leg got caught. I wasn't strong enough to get the bolder off of Obito, but he told me it was okay. He gave me his sharigan to replace the eye I had lost. Meiko was stuck under the bolder as I mentioned, and the only way to save her was to cut off her leg. I'm sorry sensei, I failed." Kakashi said, his voice cracking every once in a while. Minato sighed heavily before he glanced at Meiko's leg, noticing the stump that was now there, right below her knee cap. A small amount of blood was still dripping from the wound, and Meiko was sound asleep on Kakashi's back.

"Let's go finish our mission and head home, Meiko's wound will need to be check out better back in Konoha." The yellow flash said sadly, and the two students he had left nodded their heads and began to run towards the bridge.

Once they arrived at the bridge, Kakashi placed Meiko down beside a tree, sitting her straight up, her back resting against the trunk. Her legs were straight out in front of her, and Rin quickly wrapped a bandage around the stump to keep anymore damage from coming to the wound.

Minato, Kakashi, and Rin got to work destroying the bridge, while Meiko slept against the tree. Of course, she woke up when the loud explosion and the crumbling pieces of the bridge fell, she awoke with a jump. By now the pain in her leg was a lot worse, and she was finally feeling the effects of getting her leg cut off. And it hurt, a lot.

Meiko's brown eyes gazed down at her stump slightly, and tears formed in her eyes. Her father would be so ashamed of her, she would never be a proper ninja again. Hell, she was ashamed of herself. Ashamed of the fact that even at her speed, she was unable to push Obito out of the way fast enough. It should have been her under that bolder, not Obito. Obito should be here with his team, celebrating that they succeed in blowing it up, jumping up and down and bragging to Minato that he finally unlocked his Sharigan and that he could surpass Kakashi now. Kakashi should be making a smart ass remark to Obito, causing the Uchiha to steam in madness and go on about how he could now surpass Kakashi because of his Sharigan. But that was the case. There were no words spoken, just the empty stares of a broken team.