Kakashi woke with a start and looked around his room frantically. Nobody was there.
The dream, so terrifying. He had dreamt that he’d been held hostage, attacked and nearly beaten to death, and to be honest, he didn’t feel so good now. He recalled the burning slice of the shuriken and Kunai’s, the heavy blows of the enemy.
That man… Who was he? There was something about him so unrealistic and made Kakashi gulp with terror as he tried to control his breathing and his heart nearly failing to keep up with the events.
He smoothed his hair back with his hand, feeling it slick with sweat between his fingers.
Then he opened his eyes after closing them in attempt to shut everything out.
“WAHHHHRRRRGGG!!” He screamed and sat bold upright from his lazy and exhausted slouch. His body was covered in gashes, his bed sheets soaked in crimson blood.
Suddenly he felt dizzy and vulnerable; he’d never experienced anything like it.
“No…I need to see Iruka…But outside? What if they’re there to finish me off?” He gazed out of the window, getting a head rush.
“I’m done for if I stay here. I need to get help” he gasped and pulled his clothes on as realisation hit him so hard he stumbled back onto his bed.
Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. Were they okay? As they were part of his group, they were in danger too and if anything happened to them because of him, he could never live with himself. He’d already lost too many comrades. Those people were a part of his team back then when he had graduated and become what he was today. The sharingan was a blessing to him, a gift from his friend, a graduating present as he was finally called a Jounin, and it burned as he remembered how the man in his dream had come close to piercing it with a throwing knife. He’d been lucky as he had disappeared so suddenly. The end of the dream was a haze.
“Iruka…Iruka, damn. Wake up!” Kakashi shouted frantically as he pounded on Iruka’s door and after a matter of minutes a sleepy ninja tugged the front door open.
“What is it? I thought the front door was going to come off its hinges the way you banged it…Kakashi?” Iruka stared at his friend and colleague whose skin was nearly as grey as his hair and his eyes looked exhausted.
“You’d better come in”
“What on earth happened to you?!” Iruka gasped as a look of pure shock took over his face. Kakashi didn’t like that look of pure horror and Iruka was usually hard to shock.
“I don’t know, I really don’t remember how I got like this. I was fine when I went to sleep”
“Someone didn’t attack you did they?” Kakashi shook his head which hung low. Both knew he was so alert; also, it wasn’t as though any sane human would sleep soundly while someone hacked away at their body as they slept.
“Then I’m stumped for ideas.”
“Wait! I remember now” Iruka narrowed his eyes. He wasn’t about to tell him that he’d lost to Sasuke in training, was he?
“I had a dream. Though it wasn’t a normal one” Kakashi looked up to Iruka’s face to see if he’d started laughing yet. But instead an expression of deep worry and concern was pasted on every part.
“I was alone, in a shack in some deep dark woods. I spent what seemed like days trying to escape until I just couldn’t do anything more than sit and wait. Then someone arrived - a man wrapped in a dark cloak and robes. His eyes brimming with evil, it made me feel as though all the power within me had been sapped away by that one stare”
“Kakashi I -”
“Hear me out…please.” Iruka reluctantly sat back down and listened.
“He attacked me and I couldn’t do a thing, because I was so petrified, I’ve never felt fear in that way before. Then I awoke at last and my body…my sheets. I had to wait for an hour before coming to find you…in case they were out there” He swallowed a breath that he was midway through releasing, looking into Iruka’s eyes the Jounin rasped
“Someone wants me dead”
“Oh no” Naruto whined as Iruka appeared in the horizon, walking slowly towards them.
“We have him again. When is Kakashi getting back from his vacation? If he even did go on vacation in the first place” Sakura folded her arms across her chest tightly and turned away.
“Nami? What are you on about? Why would Iruka-sensei lie about him not being away?” Sakura’s eyes flashed with an evil joy and grinned.
“Because I went past his place! And in the morning the curtains were shut…well, actually every time they were shut. But this morning they were open” she said, slightly unsure to if Sasuke and Naruto would buy her story. But it was true; she had walked past out of curiosity and worry more than once.
“But let’s try to keep quiet about it…NARUTO! NO!”
“SENSEI?!” the blonde fox like boy was already throwing himself and solid mirror images of himself at Iruka and pinning him to the ground, his arms being pulled behind his back at painful angles.
“What the heck are you doing? Get off!”
“Not until you tell me where Kakashi-sensei is” he clung on, and each copy of himself repeated the exact same question as the original body of Naruto.
After a minute Iruka found a weak point and flung one of the Naruto copies off from his arm and began to rip one after the other from his own form and each one disappeared soon after.
“Naruto? Why did you just attack me?” he panted as he rose from the ground with the three ninjas standing over him.
“He was too hasty and didn’t give you a chance to answer before the latter plan we had” Sasuke murmured as he pulled up Iruka.
“We just want to know where Kakashi-sensei really is. We aren’t convinced that he is where you say” he folded his arms and became silent instantly and gave Iruka his famous blank stare.
“Fine…Fine. I’ll tell you. Sit down first” the three promptly followed his instruction and were seated upon the grass.
“Kakashi was attacked, or so we assume, the other night. But it’s not that simple”
“What do you mean?” Sakura asked eagerly.
“He was attacked in his sleep” the chounin looked bewildered as he said this, hardly believing it himself.
“Say what? I mean… Wouldn’t you know if someone was hacking and slashing you to pieces while you were asleep?”
“That’s exactly what I thought, but when I saw him he was so pale and I almost thought he was some kind of ghost arriving at my door at sunrise”
“This sounds really serious. But is he okay?”
“He’s alive, but he’s not himself in character. He just won’t speak anymore than answers such as ‘yes’ and ‘no’. It’ll be some time until he comes around mentally” Sakura and Naruto stared with their mouths half open as they listened about what had happened to their sensei and teacher. It just didn’t seem real enough.
“Are we able to see him?” Asked Sasuke “Or even more importantly, when will he return as our Sensei?”
Iruka kneaded his forehead after shifting his forehead protector out of the way.
“I can’t say, nothing is certain with him. He just drifts in and out of particular states. One minute he’ll be completely silent, the next he’ll be terrified, overly happy or in tears”
“Tears?” Sakura started, now she was beginning to feel afraid, not just for herself but the rest of Konoha village. She fell back and lay on the grass staring at the sky. Not once had anything like this happened but now that it was it seemed too hard to accept.
“I think you should go home for now, I need to go and see the Hokage to let him know of our situation. But you three are Genins. Please don’t get yourself into trouble, be fully alert and whatever you do…” he let a glance slide over the faces of the three rookie ninjas.
“Don’t go and see Kakashi, it won’t do you any good” He turned and left hastily leaving the three of them to stare at one another in shock and fear.
Naruto was the first to speak after exchanging looks and forming their own opinions as he turned to leave.
”Naruto? Where are you going?” Sakura asked, out of worry that he could possibly disappear or be attacked as Kakashi had.
Naruto turned back to her and Sasuke. “Where else? I’m going to see Sensei, regardless of what Iruka-sensei might think or command. Kakashi is our team leader; remember when he helped us become Genins by telling us the true meaning of the task? We wouldn’t be here without that guy. We’ve been through a lot, from saving him from Zabuza to so much as going to eat Ramen together. It’s not so hard just to go and pay him a visit is it?” hesitantly he turned his back on them and continued to head towards Kakashi’s home. Sakura bounded after him.
”Wait! It’s dangerous! I’m coming with you!”