War Hero

[bluerising]

Title: War Hero
Author: Clearheart
Words: 4,500
Rating: T
Description: For lulu_42 , in response to her story Lost. Which is a very rare and amazing KakaSaku WWII AU.

I promised her a long, long, long time ago that I would write a WWII AU story in response that also involved solider!Kakashi and nurse!Sakura. With gas-masks thrown in. I'm sorry it took so long, but here it is! It's definitely warped and evolved over the year, but now has little fandom treats thrown in. Please enjoy.

Edit: Please forgive any misspellings and grammatical errors. They will be fixed in time.

++++++++++++++++++++

Hatake Kakashi was no war hero.

But he knew how to put up a good fight. Sakura examined the burn marks on the back of his left arm, gently using her hands to hold his elbow and wrist steady. Sakura eyed where the grenade blast had scorched the skin. In her mind’s eye, she could see the tall silver-haired man standing in a trench, wearing his helmet and full uniform, and holding up the same arm to shield his face as the bloom of fire came towards him.

Fortunately, the blast marks were isolated to only one arm.

Unfortunately, the rest of him didn’t get away so easily.

“When’s the last time you had someone look at that eye?” Sakura asked. The bandage clung to her fingers as she slowly rolled the cloth out, forcing her to gently stroke and spread bandage flat as she wrapped it all the way around his arm. Every movement was careful and tender.

The tall man idly scratched the back of his head. He had messy silver hair that spiked up in the most interesting way. He seemed quite at ease wearing nothing but a tank top and fatigue pants. His dog tags glinted off his chest. Sakura could not help the way her eyes lingered on the dark pattern of the swirling tattoo on his non-burned arm. His body was chiseled and well-defined. There was a certain slender strength about him.

“I don’t know. Maybe a week ago.”

Sakura let out a low hiss.

“That’s not good,” she said simply, then batted his hand away as he tried to prod at the metal clips on the bandage. Sakura dipped into the pockets of her apron for a clean cotton swab.

An explosion rocked the building. Sakura stumbled for balance as the floors and walls shook from the outside blast. The glass from the windows rattled. The lights swayed overhead. Then the sound slowly faded away. It took several long moments before the building stopped it’s tremulous shaking.

Sakura readjusted her nurse’s hat-a small glimmer of tin foil winked from underneath the rim before disappearing into the nest of neatly pinned pink hair.

“The blast sounds closer than before,” she said.

“It is closer than before,” Kakashi emphasized.

Bombings had become a frequent occurrence over the past few weeks, giving residents of the outpost hospital a steely resolve and a veneer of indifference to the blasts. Nurses and doctors dashed across the rooms, followed by shouts and the wheeling of carts through the hallways. Patients, most who were experienced soldiers at this point in the war, settled back down in their beds to continue their snooze. The faint echo of planes and bombings disappeared into the backdrop of activity.

Sakura took a deep breath to steady her hand, then brushed the silver hair away from Kakashi’s face.

A piece of shrapnel had slashed his eye clean through, it would seem. There was a bright red scar there now. It was a wonder it had not turned into a festering wound, or into any other horrifying infection.

“How is it that you’re still here?” Sakura marveled, as she lightly dabbed around his eye. The antiseptic had a dull chemical smell.

Kakashi twitched under every light touch, with his fine eyebrows pointing down. The dark gaze of his one good eye lingered to her face before turning away. He let out a shrug.

“It’s not so bad,” he muttered.

“It’s not so bad? If this goes unattended you could lose your eyesight.”

“I’m sure you’ve seen worse.”

To Kakashi’s credit, the rest of his body remained completely still under the stinging treatment, as if every lean attentive muscle was under the soldier’s tight command. He sat at the side of the bed-back straight and hands gripping into the sheets.

He had such an easy air of confidence about him that it only seemed natural to believe every glib and guileless word that passed his lips.

But Sakura was not so easily comforted. Her mouth formed an unhappy frown.

“It’s true,” she admitted. “There are some really nasty injuries that go through here. Shattered bones, lost legs, and missing eyes.”

Her voice suddenly dropped down to a whisper, and she leaned close for secrecy. “And they say… that sometimes you can hear a maniac screaming about red clouds and multi-tailed demons when you walk down the east ward at night.”

“Poor chum. That’s too bad.”

“Post traumatic stress disorder,” she agreed.

Kakashi tilted his chin up slightly and nodded in her direction. “You seem unaffected by it all.”

Sakura busied herself by pouring out a cup of water, and straightening the clutter of magazines on the bedside table. The gleaming smile of buxom women stared back in all their curvaceous glory, with long flowing hair and movie-star glamour. There were magazines of pin-up girls and articles of gossip of scandal. One magazine in particular that caught Sakura’s attention had a picture of a celebrity couple that read: A Marriage Inconvenienced? She picked this up, mouth freezing into a nameless expression as she flipped through the pages before placing the magazine back down.

But the small moment of excitement was fleeting, and there was no eagerness in her eyes as she handed Kakashi the water. Instead, she straightened up her hat, then searched through her apron for another item, going through each pocket in earnest.

“People say I’m too stuffy for my age. But I wasn’t like this before the war. I really loved following all the latest movies, fashion, and other trendy things. I had big dreams for life.”

“Really. Like what?”

Another explosion rocked the building. The floor and walls shook just as before, and the windows jarred and rattled. Sakura stumbled forward against the bed, with Kakashi’s good arm to steady her. All of the magazines fell off the bed stand in the blast. As the tremors faded away, Sakura stood back up and smoothed out her skirt. Half of Kakashi’s water had spilled on to the floor.

Sakura didn’t miss a beat.

“Before the war,” she said, “I dreamed of becoming an astronomist.”

Kakashi’s eyes drooped. “You mean… you wanted to go to space?”

“More like star gazing,” Sakura smiled and pointed to the ceiling. “Except you stay on earth, and now days you can study celestial bodies using radio frequencies instead of telescopes.”

“Hmm.”

“But…” Sakura’s eyes darted both ways. She dropped her head close again, lowering her voice to a whisper. “I have decoded messages from extraterrestrial beings before.”

A long and silent pause stretched out. Kakashi cleared his throat.

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“I mean whenever I listen to the radio, I can detect the subtle change of radio frequencies and hidden codes sent over the airwaves.”

“And you think they’re hidden messages,” Kakashi said. His fingers wandered to the bandages on his arm, lightly tracing over the seams.

“Not necessarily. I don’t want to put a claim on anything before it’s certain, but the signals are pretty strange.”

“And you said you can do this at any time?”

“Yes.”

Kakashi reached for the radio beneath the bed stand. He placed it on top of the table. “Do it now.”

The girl suddenly seemed bashful. Kakashi watched, both eyes focusing in interest, as a pink blush rose to her face.

“I’ve never done this in front of another person before,” she admitted.

Or probably told anyone either. Which Kakashi thought was understandable, as talk of hidden messages and conspiracies did not always go over well and make for acceptable daily conversation.

Nevertheless, Kakashi was intrigued by this girl. She was a pleasant change from over-boastful, hyper-masculine, unthinking group of slobs he had to deal with on a daily basis while marching through the trenches. And he wouldn’t be lying if he said he also found his eyes trailing to the stars during those quiet moments at night.

He clicked the radio on, and kept a carefully neutral expression on his face as he blipped over the stations. Turning the dial, he went past the music stations, news stations listing off casualties, and the drone of talk shows until he came across the dry crackle of low static.

Sakura took a reluctant step towards the radio, then obediently lowered her head to the speakers and closed her eyes. Kakashi listened, as well, but heard nothing profound within the noise. A beat of silence passed.

“Do you hear anything?” he prompted.

“Shhh… let me concentrate. There's a pattern here, the noise keeps repeating itself.”

Kakashi frowned, but sat back anyway. He let his back and shoulder relax, and openly watched as the girl worried away at her bottom lip. The wisp of pink hair floated gently against her face. There was a look of intelligence behind those closed eyes as focused brows lowered in concentration. She twisted the dial ever so slightly before settling back to the previous frequency.

“It was a little difficult to understand,” Sakura finally said. “Especially with the surplus of static noise surpassing the threshold floor.”

“Right… of course.”

She narrowed her brows in concentration. “But I think I can hear it.”

“Go on.”

Sakura slowly let the words drop one-by-one. “It keeps repeating the same words …Waffles… of… Mass... Destruction…”

Kakashi meditated on the words, finding no meaning in the gibberish. Perhaps the girl did hear some sort of profound, complex message in the wash of static, or perhaps she was just a little strange in the head. Either way, Kakashi didn’t want to prod the girl any further over the edge. Especially when she still needed to patch up his eye.

Sakura frowned. “Well, that didn’t make sense at all.”

“Hmm. No it didn’t.”

Sakura clicked the radio off with a huff.

“But you believe me, right?” she continued. “There’s something big going on out there, and once the war is over, I’m going to be the person who finds it.” As she fiddled through her pockets, she pulled out empty gum wrappers and hair-pins.

Kakashi regarded the pink-haired nurse over his cup. She looked young… no more than seventeen, if he had to guess. Despite the severe way all the silver buttons of her uniform was done all the way to the top, the outfit was still a little snug, and hugged her slender form.

In Kakashi’s eyes, she still had all the trappings of a high school girl. Even if her hair and hat were pinned perfectly straight, a single wisp escaped to trail along the patch of skin by her ear. He tried to imagine her outside the context of war.

Perhaps it was delirium from days of trekking and dehydration, but he thought he could capture the scent of the warm sun and sea on her skin. He wasn’t always accurate, but he had an uncanny ability to guess people’s backgrounds.

Her parents probably lived by the coast, if the tan-line on her arms and face were any indication. In his mind, he saw a snapshot of her bedroom. The windows stood open to let in the fresh air, while the translucent curtains fluttered in the breeze. He imagined the girl sitting at a desk working on math problems for school. He could see her chewing on the end of her pen, and leaning forward, while her toes slipped in and out of her shoe. She was probably the academic sort. But held a weakness for mass produced romance that came with the posters of heart-throb idols plastered on the wall.

That image faded away. Then sharpened to the young nurse before him. Closing his eyes, he knocked his head back, and drained the rest of the water in one go.

“I believe you,” Kakashi said. His mouth quirked up into the smallest of smiles. “And I don’t think you’re a stuffy person at all.”

At that, Sakura flashed him an appreciative grin. The green glow of her eyes disappeared behind fluttering pink lashes. For a split second, Kakashi couldn’t think as the scent of warm sun and sea washed over his senses. And for just a small moment… he thought he caught a glimpse of the outside world.

It was a place that remained untouched by the war and horror. Somewhere far away from the endless jungles and trenches, and from the younger draftees who relied on his good senses for direction and survival. If it weren’t for him taking the brunt of the grenade blast, then the young girl before him would be dealing with far more horrifying things tonight.

He thought he heard the echo of the blonde and serious brunette in his regiment who were fond of squabbling. He could imagine them trying to reach out and fight each other in the cots, even with fatalistic blast marks all over their bodies, as the pink-haired nurse fluttered over their wounds.

“Are you okay?”

The smile was gone, and now Sakura was watching him with serious concern. There were bandages in her hand. Apparently she found them from some unseen pocket, then paused at his strange mood.

Kakashi lowered the cup. “Yes.”

“Then I’ll finish taking care of your eye.”

There was the high-pitched whir of airplanes flying overhead. Closer, ever closer. Followed by the dull rattle of gunfire. The small bang of distant explosions shook the building with the smallest of tremors. From across the hall, Kakashi could hear a man screaming about the beauty of explosions and art.

He was reminded of the trenches, except now without the option to take swigs of alcohol from hidden flasks, or to hear rousing speeches about the Will of Fire from the bushy-eyebrowed religious nut in his regiment. That man was a strange one all right, and at this point Kakashi was almost certain that the Will of Fire was a cult.

“I still don’t see how you deal with this every day,” he said. With the slight shrug of his shoulder, he indicated the whole hospital.

If Sakura understood the context of his comment, she chose to ignore it.

“The worst injuries aren’t the gruesome ones,” she admitted. “Some soldiers hurt themselves… self-inflicted, you see. So they can avoid the war and get shipped back home. I hate seeing those the most.”

Kakashi let out a harsh sigh, then turned away as if he had swallowed something very bitter. He ran a hand through his hair.

“I suppose you can’t blame them if they want to cling on to life,” he agreed. He cracked open one eye and let it trail along the marks on the wall.

Sakura gently pulled his arm down, and gave him a sad smile. “You don’t sound like you agree with them, though.”

“It’s really disgusting. The way some people can forget, and turn on their comrades so quickly.”

Sakura nodded in agreement, but remained unimpressed.

“Then there are other people I have to deal with…” she continued. “Who like to like and hide their injuries. So they can get shipped back to battle field.”

“Like I said before, it’s not so bad.”

“You nearly had your arm blasted off, and eye taken out by shrapnel.”

He shrugged. “But they weren’t.”

“Oh… I get it now. I’ve seen your type before”

She poked the slash mark across his eye a little too hard at that-forcing him to flinch. Then she pulled back with a serious frown.

“You think you’re invincible, don’t you?”

Kakashi gently covered his eye. He answered back in a calm and even voice. “I never said that.”

“You don’t have to. It’s written all over your face.”

Kakashi’s eyes drooped, and his shoulders slumped forward. There would be no reasoning with this girl.

“And if it’s not invincibility… then you probably think you’re expendable. It’s usually one or the other. I haven’t finished looking you over, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re hiding bullet wounds in your legs.”

When Kakashi didn’t respond, Sakura pulled back, eyes wide with alarm.

“You’re not hiding bullet wounds, are you?” she whispered, horrified

“What-? No.”

“You laugh. But I’ve seen people who’ve tried that ploy.”

“Then I promise you,” Kakashi deadpanned, “I’m hiding nothing.”

But it took long for Kakashi to formulate that response, and Sakura was never satisfied until she saw things for herself. Without further warning she stepped into his personal space. Her snug uniform was especially tight around the chest area, and the white cloth stretched at the silver buttons. Kakashi felt it all intimately as she pressed in close, and became awash in the tidal wave scent of youthful innocence and warm sunlight.

Sakura slid her hands into his hair, searching for hidden injuries. Her cheek was close to his face and breath warm against his ear. Finding no cause of worry, her hands dragged down. Light fingers traced over his chest and back. Poking, prodding, inspecting. Lean muscles twitched beneath her fingers. That swirling black tattoo on his arm was examined.

Then Sakura’s hands dropped to slide across his thighs and knees, and gave his legs a thorough pat-down. After yanking up his fatigues and staring at his shins, she stood back up.

“Drop your pants,” she ordered.

Kakashi’s mouth was dry. For the first time, in a long time, he wasn’t sure what to think. He felt oddly affronted. Not to mention a little violated.

And if she did that again, they’d have bigger issues on their hands than bullet wounds. Because Kakashi thought his body enjoyed the hustling from this seventeen year old girl a little too much. A familiar zing rushed through his veins, raising every hair along his arms and legs.

For a brief moment during the examination, her breasts had been pressed his arm, and her body was nearly flush against his chest. Surrounded by her warm breath and intoxicating scent, he could feel his heart soar with unbridled abandon, and a charge ran through his body as if he had been struck by a bolt of lightning.

Perhaps, he should invest time in finding a girlfriend.

“You’re very charming, but I don’t think our relationship is ready to take that jump yet.”

“I won’t be happy until I see your pants down. And no, it’s not like what you’re thinking. And no, I don’t say this to every man I meet.”

Despite himself, Kakashi couldn’t help but smile, as her words strummed away at his chest deep like a chord. “You’re a very strange girl.”

“Don’t mess with me,” Sakura threatened. “I have a very cranky boss with a bad temper, and if you prefer, I can drag her out here to examine you instead-”

An almighty bang rocked the building. The deafening sound roared around them. The walls and ceiling crumpled away to smoke and debris. Thunder and fire ripped the building apart, and the walls and floors shook. The force of the impact threw Sakura straight into Kakashi’s arms. Her head bumped into his chin, clacking his teeth together and for a moment causing him to see spots. A bright burst of pain exploded into his mouth, but he managed to still envelop her in a tight and steady embrace. It wasn’t until he felt the taste of warm salty copper seeping through his teeth that he realized he bit his tongue.

Shouts of panic filled the hallway, followed by anguished screams. A dark, gray smoke lay thick in the air making it hard to see. The dust immediately filled their lungs. The debris and plaster fell like rain on to the ground in heavy splatters. A steady staccato. Bits of metal and sharp glass fell, too. It was as if the floor had been overturned, throwing the layout of the hospital into a chaotic labyrinth of half-standing walls.

And when Kakashi glanced up there was no longer the ceiling, but a wide and endless sky.

His body switched over to automatic mode. He stood up-legs nearly giving out the first time. But after staggering, he managed to pull Sakura up from the bed. She coughed into his chest, shaking in uncontrollable fits. He could see the movement of her mouth, but not hear her violent coughs. A dull, high-pitched ringing filled his ears instead. They were in the initial stages of shock

It was impossible for Kakashi to hold Sakura up with both arms, as using his left arm caused indescribable pain. His bandaged eye was just as useless. Even after pawing the wrappings off, the freshness of the injury forced him to blink it shut against the smoke and dust.

With Sakura lurched forward and coughing, he pushed them both into the hallway of the hospital. The doorway and wall of the previous room crashed down as they bumbled forward. Another wave of dust rose from the collapse.

They passed by a fallen body and other people stumbling around in the smoke. But with the thick smog it remained impossible to see. Kakashi was only aware of faint brushes and hard hits against his body, or the way their feet would drag and stumble if they ran into another fallen comrade.

The black spots in Kakashi’s vision were growing, and he found himself losing energy and ground very fast. With each faltering step the pain in his eye and arm became sharper. Sakura could walk now, but her steps also grew weaker with every passing moment. Her violent shakes had quieted down to soft tremors, and Kakashi’s wondered if it was because she was losing oxygen and consciousness quicker than him. Regardless, she was relentless as she tugged him towards the center of the building and away from the exits.

She seemed incoherent. Kakashi didn’t understand what she was saying, but he followed.

They reached an island of cabinets covered by plaster and thin metal beams. Sakura picked one and clawed at the cabinet door. But her grip slackened around the handle. The grip she kept around his waist also went loose. She slumped to the floor. Kakashi grabbed the handle and wrenched the door open.

It was a stash of emergency supplies. Through the haze of smoke it was difficult, but he saw the outline of aluminum cans stacked into a pyramid-cans and cans of peaches. First-aid kits, torch lights, blankets, and more importantly… a gas mask. They must have reached the nurses’ station.

The gas mask seemed like a strange and outdated model. It was not the advanced full facemask with buggy-eyed goggles and breathing tank that his regiment had been trained with. But it was small and simple. Basic, with the thick rubber band to keep it in place around the head, window goggles, and a triangle-shaped rebreather. There was only one.

With heavy hands he placed his chin in the face piece and pulled the straps around his head. He took a shallow breath. Then a deeper one. It was slow and difficult. Like breathing through a cloth mask. The smell was of strong rubber and disinfectant. It was hot and heavy, but the air was clean and he was no longer coughing.

The black spots faded away. With arms burning from injury and strain, Kakashi scooped Sakura up into a grip. Even though her skin looked ashen, the touch was warm. Which gave Kakashi hope as he heaved her weight into the crook of his good arm.

The desperate rush for survival cried through his veins, even as his energy levels crashed lower under the crunching seconds. The hurry towards the exit was sloppy and weak, with his knees buckling more than a couple times. It became harder to stand with each occurrence, but even through the mask, Kakashi thought he could smell the hint of the warm sun and summer breeze. He thought he felt the spray of water against his face and sound of waves crashing onto the shore. There was light ahead. It was the exit.

He stumbled out into the bright sun. The smoke cleared away, revealing a somber battlefield and the waste of the hospital. Kakashi walked until he could go no more, making a small distance from the ruins of the building into the green grass of the hills.

He collapsed, having just enough strength to roll Sakura down into the grass before falling next to her. He ripped the mask off.

The girl’s chest fluttered in shallow movements. When all at once she stirred, and her chest heaved up in violent fits. She rolled over, coughing, with the long curtain of pink hair blocking her face. The sounds were more drawn out and desperate than when they were in the building, but also stronger and more earnest. She coughed and gasped, breathing and struggling to suck in air.

Her pink lashes fluttered open, revealing two intense green eyes. A shade deeper than the grass. A fresh breeze went by in that moment that stirred her hair. Despite the sound of airplanes whizzing high overhead and light pattering of distant guns, Kakashi thought he could feel freedom. The feeling of peace and that some other distant place untouched by war washed over him. Only when he gazed into those green eyes.

There was shouting from across the hill. Kakashi looked up and saw trucks and troops over the ridge. They were small figures against the backdrop of the great blue sky. However, he could recognize that exuberant shouting and blonde hair anywhere. The morose dark-haired teenager was there too. Along with the religious nut with crazy eyebrows. The blonde boy was pointing and waving at him. So distant. So far away. But they were approaching, slowly but surely.

Kakashi let his body relax and fall back down into a heap in the grass, confident that they would be in safe hands soon.

Sakura crouched on her hand and knees, racking up the last of her coughing fit. After her breathing evened back out, she turned a weary head towards him. A gurgle followed by a dry wheeze left her mouth.

Kakashi blinked and turned his head.

“What was that?” he rasped.

He held up a hand to shield his eyes against the sun. The light gave her pink hair an interesting glow.

“Okay… I’ll admit,” Sakura panted. “You don’t… have… bullet wounds after all.”

Kakashi blinked against the sky, his dry mouth fell open.

He closed his eyes in weariness. “… you’re such a strange girl.”

“Also, I think I love you.”

“Yes…” he said. “Very strange.”

Kakashi didn’t know what else to say, but they both survived through some grave peril, and probably deserved some just rewards for living. So he didn’t protest when the girl rolled over and gave him a kiss full on the mouth. He wondered if it was her first.

With all energy gone, and having been pushed past the limits of its physical capabilities, his body didn’t know what else to do but tremble. It shook him deep inside as those full lips pressed against him. Blood rushing, heart pounding, and with that intoxicating taste of summer. It pulled at some hidden string, making his knees buckle. It was pure sweetened energy. Innocence, and gratitude, and longing. Lightning struck twice.

As they broke apart, all Kakashi could think about was how difficult it would be to keep this girl around. The high of surviving would wear off. They just met. She was too young. People would talk. She would come to her senses and run off with a younger boy someday. Yet despite the creeping doubts, he found his hand stroking through her pink hair. The girl, Sakura, pinned him down with those lovely green, green eyes.

Hatake Kakashi was no war hero.

But he knew how to put up a good fight.