Grave of the Dragon / Kakashi x OC (CURRENTLY EDITING)

Prologue- Sayuri

     Darkness.
     "Hey, are you ok?" A voice cut through the bubble of silence that had surrounded me over the past few days. A hand touched my bare arm and shook me slightly. I almost gasped with relief as I felt the warmth from it seeping into my skin. Too soon, the hand tore away, leaving me feeling colder than before. I shivered into a tight ball, taking a deep breath, which triggered the cough I'd been developing. It was starting to hurt every time I filled my lungs to more than a third of their full capacity. The next thing I felt were strong arms lifting me up and carrying me away. I was placed on a mattress and felt a soft blanket being pulled up to my chin. I tried to open my eyes, but realised that they were matted with dried tears. I hadn't opened them for nearly a week. Somebody was rubbing warmth into my frozen fingers. The sudden contact hurt, but I could almost feel my fingertips again once he- I had decided he was a man- was done. He then moved onto my feet. For a moment I was scared. Could my toes have frozen off? It was late September, and I hadn't done anything to stop the cold. Maybe the frosty nights would now take their toll. Then I sunk back into my shell. It's not like it matters.
     I had to cough again, this time I could feel my lungs shaking with the effort. It hurts. There was a metallic taste in my mouth. The rubbing at my feet stopped and I heard a sharp intake of breath. Footsteps made their way to my head and lifted a pillow under it, turning me onto my back.
     "What's your name?" He asked.
     I moved my lips but no sound came out. Shortly afterwards a cup of hot tea was pressed to my lips. The heat made me recoil.
     "Sorry." I heard the man- no, boy, blow on the tea to cool it. Then he put it to my mouth again. This time I tried to drink a bit, but it still felt very hot. It was probably just because I wasn't used to heat anymore though. After a couple of sips I started feeling warm. My senses started working again and only now did I comprehend in what bad shape I was in. My head was throbbing from dehydration, my stomach felt painful from lack of food and if the tea hadn't been this mild, I would have thrown up immediately. Now that my throat wasn't so dry anymore, I could speak.
     "I-I'm Sayuri." I had to cough again and felt droplets of some substance on the palm I had held to my mouth. Now that I had wetted my tongue, I could more vividly taste the metallic flavour from earlier. Blood? I tried to open my eyes again, but still was unable to. I lifted a hand to scratch the crusts away, but with no luck.
     "Here, let me do that." The boy said, pulling my fingers away gently. "My name's Kakashi by the way."
     He dabbed at my eyes with a wet cloth. Soon I was able to prise apart my lashes. Luckily there wasn't much light- it must have been night- but even the small candle that was burning next to my bed was blinding. Once I had adjusted to the light, I looked up at Kakashi. He had snowy white hair and it was standing up on his head in spiky tufts. All his face apart from a small space surrounding his right eye was covered by a black mask. He wore a forehead protector with a weird sign etched into it, which covered his left eye. His one visible eye was a rich black and looking down at me a little nervously and with worry in it's depths. He was looking at my chin.
     I wiped my hand over it and raised it to eye-level. It was covered in blood. There was a thick silence in which I tried to figure out what the blood meant. I noticed Kakashi's awkward gaze still trained at me. He didn't seem to know what to say to me.
     "I'm going to die, right?" My voice was quivering slightly.
     "No your not," Kakashi said, but I could tell he wasn't too sure about that. "You should rest for now. Could you tell me how old you are?"
     "Six."
     "That young?"
     I nodded.
     "Ok, well could you tell me what happened?"
     I knew he was talking about the reason I had been lying in the forest, but it was painful to remember and I was scared I'd start crying again if I told him about it.

***

     It was a sunny day, the weather was a little too perfect for September, but no one complained. I had been playing with my friends at the river, jumping across the rocks and trying to catch fish with our nets, and so I came home a little later than usual. The sun was already sinking, and I ran home, not wanting to be caught outside when it turned dark. At home, the lights were burning welcomingly and I ran into the kitchen, looking for my mother. She wasn't there. That's strange, I thought. The rice is still boiling and she's not watching it? I shrugged and made my way into the living room where I dropped my school bag. Then I heard a crashing sound coming from my parent's bedroom.
     "Mom?" I called, making my way towards the noise. "What's going on?"
     I heard a choked back scream. It sounded like my mom. Now I was running, the door right in front of me, but I stopped when I heard a grunt of pain and the door to the bedroom was flung open by my mom. She ran towards me and scooped me up into her arms, but I didn't miss the terror or the tears that were sparkling in her eyes. Over her shoulder, I spotted my dad. He was being held by two figures wearing masks and right before my eyes, I watched as they stabbed him in the stomach. He locked eyes with me and his eyes were pleading. Go! He mouthed. Then my mother turned a corner and I lost sight of him.
     "D-Dad!!" I screamed. I heard my mom hold back a sob as she threw herself into my bedroom, locking the door behind her. I heard footsteps coming up the corridor and soon after someone started banging on the door, throwing their whole weight against it. They were trying to break it down. I heard the wood creaking, and the hinges were strained. My door wouldn't last long. Just then, my mother put me down and turned me to face her. Her eyes were full of tears.

     "Sayuri, you have to go." She said, trying to hold back a sob. "You can fit through the window. Run away and hide so they won't find you. They're looking for something." As she said it, she pulled the necklace she always wore over her head and fixed it around my neck. "This necklace is very precious. Don't lose it and don't sell it unless you absolutely have to."
     I looked into her eyes in a state of shock. I couldn't make sense of what was happening. There was another bang on the door and the wood cracked. My mother didn't turn round, but continued to face me.
     "You need to go now," She told me, her voice was calm and reassuring. I couldn't move, and so she guided me to the window, opening it for me. The drop was only 1 and a half meters or so. She helped me as I squeezed through the window, but the door had already broken down and one of the bandits ran at my mother, stabbing her in the back. She flinched but didn't move from the window. I landed on the grass below and looked up at my mother, still half expecting her to follow, but she shook her head. I saw the second man come up behind her too, his forehead protector glinting into the dying light. He was pointing at me and saying something to his accomplice. For the first time that night she looked panicked.
     "Go!" She shouted, and her voice made me turn and run. I didn't know where I should go, but my legs carried me into the forest. I was running and running, too scared to stop until I could hardly lift my legs. Tears had blotted my vision, and I accidentally ran into a tree. I fell onto a bed of leaves and let myself cry. I had no idea what I should do, but somewhere in my head I knew that wasn't a problem. When the morning came I closed my eyes, determined never to open them again.