Freefall (Kakashi HatakeXOC Part1)

Pain

"This is of utmost importance, Keira. I need you to understand that," Tsunade says with a stern edge to her voice, "I don't need you messing this up, so take along one of your summonings and explain to them what's going on so you don't lose focus along the way."

"I understand," I reply with a quiet sigh, "Just deliver the scroll and come back, it's not that hard to mess up."

Tsunade laces her fingers together and props her elbows on her desk as she leans forward in her chair, there was an annoyed look on her face as she then says,

"You've been out of it lately, I'm only taking precautions. Now, I want you to leave immediately. This should take you at most a day or two of travel there and back."

~

Tsunade said this scroll was important, that I shouldn't let anything happen to it. But the more I looked at it, the more ordinary it seemed. She was letting me do small missions like this to help me pass the time since I wasn't really allowed to do much else anymore, the Hokage saw D rank missions as suitable options. I told Kakashi the short version of Tsunade's explanation, and he said I should bring along Pakkun. The pug was walking at my side currently, we had delivered the scroll sucessfully and were returning back to the Leaf.

It wasn't really taking as long as I thought it would, we were actually already almost there; we'd be there in another hour or so. Pakkun looks up at me while asking,

"Has Kakashi said anything to you about Naruto yet?"

I glance down at him and shake my head, I reply simply,

"No, I haven't seen him in a while actually. Do you know where he went off to?"

The pug nods, his nose twitching at the scent of the surrounding forest. There were smaller animals nearby, I could smell them as well; all thanks to the damn monster inside me still.

"He's at a place called Mount Myoboku, he's doing sage training right now to improve himself," he explains, "With sage training, he'll be able to master sage mode. And even sense the nature energy around us."

I couldn't help but smile, Naruto really was improving all his skills greatly. He may already be on the fast track to becoming an even stronger ninja than Kakashi and I combined, it makes me proud of him to think that.

~

As Pakkun and I neared closer to the village, something felt off. I couldn't explain it, but there was a chill in the air that made me uncomfortable. It was similar to the calm before the storm, execpt the storm is already here and still raging on. Looking upwards to the sky, I spotted trails of smoke rising into the air. It was then I realized why I had gotten that feeling, there was something wrong at the village.

I look down at Pakkun and say,

"Can you go ahead and see what's going on in the village right now? I'm sure you can smell the smoke by now, there's something wrong. I'll meet you up ahead."

The pug nods in response and runs off in the direction of the smoke. I quickened my pace, eager to get there and find out what was going on back home.

~

I reached what was supposed to be the edge of the village, but my heart seemed to drop as I came to the edge of a giant crater filled with rubble. This was the right place, but what the hell happened to the village?

I looked around in a panic, my instinct to find Kakashi was already getting the better of me. Making my way carefully over the rubble, I could hear things shifting around for a moment; Pakkun bounds over to me and walks next to me as I continue forward slowly.

"It's not safe to be here," he says simply,

"You should leave, Keira. This place doesn't hold any safety for you right now."

I shake my head and brush off his words with,

"I have to find Kakashi, I can't just leave without making sure he's not hurt."

There was a bad feeling lingering in my chest, it was caused by a thought already forming in my head that I didn't want to think about. Pakkun looks up at me and adds quickly,

"That's the thing though, you know he's fine. He's strong enough to care for himself, let's turn back."

"I'm sorry Pakkun," I reply with a glance down at him,

"You know how much he means to me, I just want to be sure. Once we find him and confirm he's not hurt, we can go."

An uncertain look crosses the pugs' face right as I look away from him, my eyes scanning over the area for any sign of my partner. We continued onwards for a few moments longer before approaching a clearing, I stepped down from a slab of concrete while looking down so I could watch where I was stepping. As soon as my gaze was off the ground, my heart seemed to stop, my chest tightening up right along with it.

In the middle of the clearing was a smaller pile of rubble, another slab of concrete on top. There, lying on the slab was a body. A body with all too familiar silver hair blowing slightly in the gentle breeze. My body froze up as the realization hit me as to who it was, and why they were just lying there, not moving. Not moving, from where I was, I couldn't even see their chest rising or falling with their breathing. No twitches, no breathing, no nothing.

It was Kakashi.