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

Chapter 1- Sayuri

It took 3 weeks for my cough to heal properly. One day I woke up earlier than usual, feeling better than I had in a long time. Kakashi was gone. That didn't surprise me though- he had a life of his own after all. When my cough had been in its worst stage, he had stayed with me day and night, but over time he'd started leaving for a couple of days at a time. He had been quite secretive whenever I asked him where he was going.
"It's just some work in the village I live in." He'd always reply, but it was pretty obvious he was avoiding the topic. The problem was that Kakashi wouldn't talk even when I accused him of hiding something. I had also been wondering about the weird uniform he always wore. The first time I had seen him, he had been wearing all black apart from a green vest that looked like it could stop a knife. He'd also had a pouch strapped to his thigh, almost overflowing with a strange type of knife and shuriken. After that day, he'd stopped wearing it while I was around though. Then there was the forehead protector. It looked almost like the ones my parents' murders had been wearing. I'd started worrying slightly about what "work" he was doing. I was reminded unpleasantly of the night my parents were killed, but shook my head to rid myself of the thought. Kakashi would never do something like that.

I lay still for a few minutes, staring at the tent's ceiling and blinking back tears, trying not to drown in the new wave of grief that washed over me at the memory of my parents. This had become somewhat of a ritual. Waking up was always the hardest part of the day.
After my parent's death, time had become very invalid to me. I had difficulty judging it- sometimes one painful second of a memory would seemingly last an eternity while other times I would wallow in my sorrow for a whole day without realising it until it was dark and Kakashi started turning on the lights in my tent. This morning however, I didn't feel quite as empty as I usually did. I got up and opened the tent's entrance before sitting down, wrapped up in my blanket, looking at the forest outside.

Suddenly I noticed a shadow, jumping from one tree branch to another. I watched it, my curiosity slightly piqued. As the figure got closer, I noticed how far and high it could jump. It couldn't be a human.
Then it suddenly dropped down in front of me and I started in surprise. It was Kakashi. I looked up at the branch he'd been standing on just a second ago. It was at least 4 meters high; that should be too high to jump from.
"Kakashi?" I said uncertainly, hardly able to believe my eyes. "How did you do that?"
"What?" He looked at me with a laid back look in his eyes.
"Umm... Jumping between trees? Dropping four meters without breaking a leg?"
"Oh, that..." He rubbed the back of his head. "Practice."
"Can you teach me?" I asked, my enthusiasm building.
Kakashi chuckled. "Maybe one day." Then he looked at me strangely. "Looks like you're feeling better today."
As soon as he pointed my attention to it, my mood declined again. How could I ever feel better after what had happened? But I nodded nonetheless.
Kakashi looked at me a little sceptically. "Well that's good... I was thinking of taking you to a hot spring. You know, to take a bath."

Oh yes. A bath. I hadn't had one in almost a month. I was grimy from lying on the forest floor and smelled quite strongly of sweat and medicine. My hair was also completely tangled. I hadn't had the will to care about my appearance and even now it didn't matter to me. All I wanted to do was... I didn't actually know what I wanted to do. I wanted to forget. I wanted all this to be a dream. But that was hardly going to happen. I looked up at Kakashi uncertainly and he gave me a comforting smile. Once again I could see a touch of uncertainty in his gaze though.
"Come on, you'll feel much better afterwards." He said brightly and so I nodded.

Kakashi decided he'd take me to the nearest town which was 2 and a half miles away. After the first half mile I was already drained, so Kakashi carried me on his back the rest of the way. Before we went to the hot springs, he bought me some new clothes. It was quite obvious that he was trying to cheer me up, but I didn't have the energy to laugh. The best I could do was smile but each time I did Kakashi would stop what he was doing and walk over to pat my head with a sad look on his face. I supposed I wasn't very convincing.

 Finally we reached a hot spring. I was drained from the journey and actually somewhat looking forward to finally being able to relax. At the front desk, Kakashi booked a room for the night. At first, the receptionist eyed us suspiciously- especially me, but considering my current appearance, how could I blame her?- but when Kakashi gave her the money, she reluctantly handed us the keys to our room.

Before we went into the water, Kakashi asked me to take a quick shower. He thought it would be a little unfair for any other bathers if I went in in my current state. Once most of the visible dirt was gone, he led me to the hot spring. It appeared to be mixed bathing.
Kakashi sighed as he sunk into the hot water. "Ah that really hits the spot," He smiled. "You know I specifically chose this hot spring so I could keep an eye on you. Normally I wouldn't go to mixed bathing."
"I'm sorry," I mumbled as I got into the water next to him.
"I wasn't trying to accuse you or anything!" Kakashi said awkwardly. "That's a nice necklace you've got." He tried to change the topic. "Where did you get it?" 

My necklace wasn't anything fancy- just a leather string with a silver, dragon charm, strung in the middle of a row of sharp teeth.
"It was a gift from my mother." I muttered and blew some bubbles into the water.
"I see."
There was a short silence.
"Kakashi?" I asked.
"Mmm?"
"How old are you actually?"
"10 years older than you." Kakashi smiled. I frowned, counting on my fingers. "So you're 16?" Kakashi nodded.

It only took around half an hour until I started seeing stars. The heat of the water had exhausted me. We made our way to our room, where I took a lukewarm shower and washed my hair with conditioner but it didn't help clean up the tangle as much as I would have wanted it to. In the end, I asked Kakashi to cut out the knots with one of his knives.
"Why is that knife such a weird shape?" I asked as Kakashi started cutting.
"Hmm... I'm not actually sure." Kakashi replied.
"What do you use it for?"
Kakashi was silent for a while. Then he sighed. "Umm, for fighting?"
I looked down at my hands.  I was frightened, but I noticed that I wasn't especially surprised to hear that about Kakashi's job. He wore weird clothes, carried weapons around, hid most of his face and was quick and noiseless when he wanted to be. And he wore a forehead protector. I let out a quivering sigh.

Of course he didn't have a normal job. Could he be one of the people that killed my parents?

Surely I couldn't have that bad luck? Kakashi wouldn't kill people, I decided. And if he'd been ordered to kill me, then he would have done so already.
I pondered over the matter a little more and decided not to worry about it. I trusted Kakashi.
Just then, Kakashi tensed. He reached for the kunai knife that he had put down and clenched it in his hand, ready to strike.
"K-Kakashi?" I asked uncertainly. Kakashi spun me round and placed a finger over his lips, signalling me to be quiet. Then, he pointed outside and held up three fingers. I had no idea what he meant by that, but after a few more motions, I at least understood this: I was to be quiet and stay where I was. Carefully, Kakashi got up and started sneaking to one of the windows. He opened the window quickly and looked outside. From behind him I couldn't see anything. Then a metallic glint caught my eye, and before I could warn him, a kunai knife pierced Kakashi's chest. He fell back and my eyes widened in terror. It was that night all over again.