Aftermath (Kakashi Hatake)

Part 9: Nine Tailed Demon

This cant be happening. No. No. NO. I ran faster than ever towards the chakra signal in the distance. Kakashi right on my heels. Tonight, Kushina-chan was to give birth. But something is wrong. With the seal being at it's weakest measures were in place for the prevention of someone taking advantage and releasIing the fox to destroy the village. But something went wrong. The fox is here. I reached the enemy first. I flashed to a group of people and flashed away just in time to miss a swipe from it's massive paw. Then I took point against it. "HEY!!!" I yelled getting it's attention, it turned to me with an almost annoyed look in its eyes. Just before his paw made contact with my body I flashed away. This time closer to the outside of the village. I did this several times. Provoking the beast and leading it away from the villagers who were rushing for safety. Then it go mad, It suprised me by beginning to form a black orb in its mouth. Kuso, thats a beast bomb. I grabbed ahold of it's claw just as it came crashing down on me, just the chakra around the beast burning me and tried my best to flash as far out of the village but even I did not have enough chakra for that. So imagine my surprise when I felt the Nine Tailed Demon disappear from me. I sensed it's chakra and took off but it was too late. Minato-sensei and Kushina were both impaled. Both, fataly wounded as they sealed the demon into their newborn son. I banged agressively on the forcefield holding them in, the third Hokage watching in horror by my side. I screamed out in agony as the fox disappeared, sealed away inside the unsuspecting baby, I cried. I flashed away as the sound of their son, Naruto, cried. 

It was a week before I left my room again. I didn't bathe, I didn't eat, I drank one glass of water, and got three hours of sleep. I didn't let anyone in. Several of the ninja my age attempted to visit me. Yuhi Kurenai, Miato Gai, Sarutobi Asuma, and even the Third Hokage himself attempted to coax me out of my bed. But the person who spent the most time was Kakashi. He wasn't doing much better than myself. He didn't speak but he would knock once and a while to let me know he was next door if I needed him. After a week I pulled myself up and took a shower. I scrubbed my skin and hair far more than I need and as I stepped out of the shower all I could do was stare at myself in the mirror. My long curly mane was started to poof out around my head as I dried and soon I found myself frowning and with the swift snip of some scissors I kept under the sink it was gone. I cut my once knee length locks until it rested above my shoulders. Then I looked down at the mask in my hands. It was beautiful. Shining like polished ivory it took the form of a cat. Smooth, even blue lines swirled down under the black lined eyes. The pattern of vines from my eyes, the nose was colored with black and the insides of the ears with pink so you could really tell the animal form was a lion. Kushina had gifted it to me for her wedding. 

"We live for them." Minato-sensei's words resonated in my mind. "That's how we move on." I placed the mask back down on the kitchen sink. Instead I looked up and inspected my face in the mirror. When I was born my face was instantly covered. The orphanage I stayed in for my early years did their best to conceal my features. I understand why they were so horrified though. Under my each eye, starting on my cheek bones a set of scars went down to my chin. Claw marks etched in thin white strips of skin all down my cheeks. I placed my ANBU mask on instead and made my way out of my apartment in my normal ANBU gear. "Kakashi." I called, letting myself in. I found the boy I was looking for asleep on his couch in a rather uncomforable looking position, holding a cup of room temperature. 'Must have had trouble sleeping' I noted. "Kashi?" I asked again and he startled awake. "Asa." He murmured in his groggy voice. I couldn't help but feel my heart skip a beat as he looked at me in relief. We didn't say anything for the rest of the day, we just read and ate and slept. We repeated this for several days, hiding away from the rest of the world. We were hurt, and were doing the best we could. We became snappy to our friends. We refused to let anyone in. When we finally started taking missions again we were placed on a team where we served as Co-captains of the group. We were mechanic, empty, empotionless. The dreams came back and neither of us slept on a daily basis. We quit speaking to each other. We did everything together but we never spoke, it was like we were on auto pilot until the moment I couldn't take it anymore.