(no subject)
Title: Scar Tissue
Author: JBMcDragon
Genre: Drama
Status: In progress, 3/14-ish
Rating: R for violence and sexual content
Warnings: Het, yaoi, violence, and terrible, terrible angst. Also, very, very long.
Summary: Set during the end of the time-jump.
They returned one teammate fewer. The loss of that teammate changed Kakashi in ways Obito surviving couldn’t have. Kakashi remembers him fondly, speaks to him in dreams, and carries his ghost as a companion.
But his dreams and reality don’t quite match up . . .
Scar Tissue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Obito's ribcage was brittle from malnutrition and scarred chakra. Bones cracked under Kakashi's hands. He ignored it, and kept pushing.
Twenty-eight.
Twenty-nine.
Thirty.
He shifted, mouth to Obito's mouth, holding the man's nose, and exhaled. Then again.
Back to the cracked ribs, listening intently for breath, feeling for a heartbeat, forcing together the tattered ends of both their chakra so Kakashi could try and feed his into Obito. He didn't really have enough left for that, but he wasn't going to let the man die *again.*
Twenty-nine. Thirty. He shifted to force air into resistant lungs. His heartbeat ticked off the minutes, warning him that every moment passed was another moment lost. Another moment leading to brain damage. Another moment that the chakra pathways dimmed.
He started pushing on Obito's torso again. One. Two. Three.
Shouldn't have copied that jutsu. It was stupid. The man didn't have the strength or the reserves necessary to pull something like that off.
Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen.
Obito hadn't wanted to go back. Damn it, Kakashi would've fixed it. Done something.
Twenty-four. Twenty-five. Twenty-six.
He wasn't losing Obito again!
Thirty. He shifted. Breathed. Inhaled. Bent. Breathed again. Inhaled. Shifted. Put his hands over the cracked sternum and--
Obito coughed.
"You stupid idiot!" Kakashi bellowed. "What the fuck were you thinking?!"
Obito coughed weakly again, eyes tearing.
Kakashi forced himself to calm, to check the Uchiha's chakra--disturbingly low--and any other injuries.
There weren't any. He stared at the thin, pale face, and realized that *if* Obito was conscious--and with chakra levels that low, it was doubtful--he wasn't aware of anything.
Cursing softly, Kakashi scooped the frail man up. He looked for a long time at the bodies of his dogs, then whispered a benediction and left them.
Animals took care of each other.
**
They made better time when he carried the smaller man, ironically. He hadn't expected to make the next village, and he didn't, but they got farther than they might have. He settled in a cave he made from boulders and a depression in a cliff face, then booby trapped the entire area and set out chakra lines.
If anyone came, he'd know.
"How are you?" he asked grimly, settling Obito as comfortably as he could in the back of their little shelter.
The man was pale--paler than he'd been, and for someone with ivory skin who hadn't seen the sun in sixteen years, that was pale indeed. His breathing was shallow and ragged, as if simply that act caused him pain. It probably did.
"I'll live," Obito whispered faintly, though his head wobbled on the thin stalk of his neck and his pupil, when Kakashi looked close enough to see it in the black of his iris, was badly dilated.
Kakashi uncorked his water flask and held it to chalky lips, watched the Adam's apple bob as the Uchiha swallowed. Obito didn't protest that he could do it himself. Trying not to show any outward signs of concern, Kakashi dragged his emergency blanket out from his pack and draped it over the slim form, activating the seals so it warmed instantly. He had enough food to get himself from one village to another, if he rationed carefully . . .
He'd have to either hunt, or stop at a town to have enough food for both of them. Neither prospect was terribly appealing. Kakashi glanced up at Obito, at the eye that had closed and the dirty cloth covering the empty socket. The man had sunk back against the rock, chakra ebbing quietly in restorative sleep. It was only barely at levels of consciousness; Kakashi would have felt better if he'd had solider pills or any other chakra-boosting jutsu, but he didn't. Putting his own chakra into Obito's wouldn't help enough, and would only make him too weak to defend them.
It was still tempting.
Obito was alive.
Scarred, twisted, mentally damaged. Kakashi dug through his pack, not looking for anything in particular, simply trying not to look at his long-ago teammate.
A shuddering breath caught his attention, and he glanced over. Obito shivered beneath the blanket. As the sun fell, Kakashi felt the chill seep into his bones as well, and cursed himself and his stupid water jutsu. Sure, the wall had worked great, but the water had been *cold.* He'd spent hours running, but Obito hadn't.
Kakashi gave the world outside their makeshift cave one more look, then stripped off his vest and shirt, stuffing the vest beside Obito, and slunk in under the covers. He pulled off the other man's wet clothes, too, and set about rubbing damp skin until the shivering subsided.
A fire would only attract attention. He felt around until he hit his vest and, assured weapons were close by, wrapped himself around as much of the skinny form as he could.
He could feel scars, shiny and twisted, and the bones in Obito's leg altered in ways no bones should go. With every breath joints and knobs dug into his skin, and the spinal ridge on the Uchiha pressed into Kakashi's chest.
If this was living, Obito had lived in hell.
**
The small man wasn't much better in the morning. Kakashi packed up their things and slung the other man over his shoulders, grateful for the delicate Uchiha stature that kept his burden from being awkwardly long or exhaustingly heavy. He took off through the thick fog that covered the barren country, feeling the man he carried slip farther into unconsciousness induced by low chakra levels.
He made decent time, even with exhaustion and an extra body. Kakashi counted steps, keeping himself to a steady pace, resisting the urge to put on a burst of speed. Bursts of speed were only good for short distances, and they had a long way to go.
Rock began to give way to green. A pressure lifted off Kakashi's chest as they left the barren lands behind. Fields had little to no cover, but at least things were *alive* here.
As if feeling the higher energy, Obito started sliding into awareness. Kakashi stopped every time Obito came to, giving him water and bits of food until the man's chakra ebbed and he went under again. Then they'd move on.
At dusk he happened on a farm, and with a silent apology Kakashi slunk in and stole eggs and grain. He hid himself and Obito in the rafters, counting on ninja-grace to keep him there and tying Obito in place, just to be sure. In the morning he left money for what he'd taken, more than what the eggs and grain were worth, and slipped out while shadows pooled dark across the fields.
He had to get them home.
**
They didn't see any Rock ninja. Kakashi felt them, once, but managed to hide until the shinobi had gone by.
Fields gave way to saplings, and within hours saplings gave into the heavy trees of the forest. Kakashi felt safer in the deep shadows, among branches and trunks and vines, with the predators of his childhood. Here, he could keep his former teammate safe, even as that teammate slid closer to comatose.
They spent the night hidden in the hollow of a tree, and moved on in the morning.
When he felt the Rock ninja again, they were close to the first of the Konoha sentries. He tightened his grip on Obito and ran, flinging himself and his burden through the trees, not bothering with stealth. The other shinobi were too close. The first of the Konoha wards ripped across his chakra as a kunai shot by. Kakashi twisted sideways, ducking behind the massive trunk of a great tree, and heard the boom of an exploding tag.
"It's Hatake Kakashi!" he shouted, hoping he was as close to the sentries as he suspected. "I have a fallen comrade. I'm coming in!" He let his chakra leak, knowing the sentries would read the truth or a lie in it, taking the risk that the Rock ninja behind him would use it to track him.
They did, of course.
A shrill keening was the only warning he had. Unsure what it was, he dropped ten feet to a branch below and summoned another wind jutsu to twist away any weapon. A giant blade sunk into a trunk ahead of him, nearly severing the tree. He felt out, back, and sensed four shinobi behind him. Barely shadows, barely there. Strong enough to hide even from him.
He was carrying an unconscious man, his chakra was low, and he'd been running for days.
He set Obito down, making both of them as small a target as possible. He couldn't keep running. They'd kill him and take Obito, if he did. Making a stand wasn't much of an option, but at least it was home territory.
Then the Rock ninja appeared, two men badly twisted and scarred, one sporting a bloodline limit that altered his body into something half-monster, and a delicate woman with a feather-crusted bow, and no arrows.
She'd seen him.
With a deadly smile she drew back, and light blazed along the line where an arrow would have nocked. The shrill keening started again.
Kakashi gathered his chakra, disturbingly aware of how little of it he had left. He pulled the shreds around him, spinning it into something he might be able to use--
And then a shout stopped him.
"You're in Konoha land," a tenor bellowed out over the forest. "Any act of violence here is a declaration of war. Do you continue?"
It was formal, and it was someone Kakashi recognized. He grabbed Obito and leapt back, toward the voice, glancing around until he spotted Raidou in a tree. With a wink and a nod, the man sent him farther back, into safety.
Kakashi fled, leaving the developing fight to better rested shinobi. The Rock ninja didn't follow.
****
Author: JBMcDragon
Genre: Drama
Status: In progress, 3/14-ish
Rating: R for violence and sexual content
Warnings: Het, yaoi, violence, and terrible, terrible angst. Also, very, very long.
Summary: Set during the end of the time-jump.
They returned one teammate fewer. The loss of that teammate changed Kakashi in ways Obito surviving couldn’t have. Kakashi remembers him fondly, speaks to him in dreams, and carries his ghost as a companion.
But his dreams and reality don’t quite match up . . .
Scar Tissue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Obito's ribcage was brittle from malnutrition and scarred chakra. Bones cracked under Kakashi's hands. He ignored it, and kept pushing.
Twenty-eight.
Twenty-nine.
Thirty.
He shifted, mouth to Obito's mouth, holding the man's nose, and exhaled. Then again.
Back to the cracked ribs, listening intently for breath, feeling for a heartbeat, forcing together the tattered ends of both their chakra so Kakashi could try and feed his into Obito. He didn't really have enough left for that, but he wasn't going to let the man die *again.*
Twenty-nine. Thirty. He shifted to force air into resistant lungs. His heartbeat ticked off the minutes, warning him that every moment passed was another moment lost. Another moment leading to brain damage. Another moment that the chakra pathways dimmed.
He started pushing on Obito's torso again. One. Two. Three.
Shouldn't have copied that jutsu. It was stupid. The man didn't have the strength or the reserves necessary to pull something like that off.
Fifteen. Sixteen. Seventeen.
Obito hadn't wanted to go back. Damn it, Kakashi would've fixed it. Done something.
Twenty-four. Twenty-five. Twenty-six.
He wasn't losing Obito again!
Thirty. He shifted. Breathed. Inhaled. Bent. Breathed again. Inhaled. Shifted. Put his hands over the cracked sternum and--
Obito coughed.
"You stupid idiot!" Kakashi bellowed. "What the fuck were you thinking?!"
Obito coughed weakly again, eyes tearing.
Kakashi forced himself to calm, to check the Uchiha's chakra--disturbingly low--and any other injuries.
There weren't any. He stared at the thin, pale face, and realized that *if* Obito was conscious--and with chakra levels that low, it was doubtful--he wasn't aware of anything.
Cursing softly, Kakashi scooped the frail man up. He looked for a long time at the bodies of his dogs, then whispered a benediction and left them.
Animals took care of each other.
**
They made better time when he carried the smaller man, ironically. He hadn't expected to make the next village, and he didn't, but they got farther than they might have. He settled in a cave he made from boulders and a depression in a cliff face, then booby trapped the entire area and set out chakra lines.
If anyone came, he'd know.
"How are you?" he asked grimly, settling Obito as comfortably as he could in the back of their little shelter.
The man was pale--paler than he'd been, and for someone with ivory skin who hadn't seen the sun in sixteen years, that was pale indeed. His breathing was shallow and ragged, as if simply that act caused him pain. It probably did.
"I'll live," Obito whispered faintly, though his head wobbled on the thin stalk of his neck and his pupil, when Kakashi looked close enough to see it in the black of his iris, was badly dilated.
Kakashi uncorked his water flask and held it to chalky lips, watched the Adam's apple bob as the Uchiha swallowed. Obito didn't protest that he could do it himself. Trying not to show any outward signs of concern, Kakashi dragged his emergency blanket out from his pack and draped it over the slim form, activating the seals so it warmed instantly. He had enough food to get himself from one village to another, if he rationed carefully . . .
He'd have to either hunt, or stop at a town to have enough food for both of them. Neither prospect was terribly appealing. Kakashi glanced up at Obito, at the eye that had closed and the dirty cloth covering the empty socket. The man had sunk back against the rock, chakra ebbing quietly in restorative sleep. It was only barely at levels of consciousness; Kakashi would have felt better if he'd had solider pills or any other chakra-boosting jutsu, but he didn't. Putting his own chakra into Obito's wouldn't help enough, and would only make him too weak to defend them.
It was still tempting.
Obito was alive.
Scarred, twisted, mentally damaged. Kakashi dug through his pack, not looking for anything in particular, simply trying not to look at his long-ago teammate.
A shuddering breath caught his attention, and he glanced over. Obito shivered beneath the blanket. As the sun fell, Kakashi felt the chill seep into his bones as well, and cursed himself and his stupid water jutsu. Sure, the wall had worked great, but the water had been *cold.* He'd spent hours running, but Obito hadn't.
Kakashi gave the world outside their makeshift cave one more look, then stripped off his vest and shirt, stuffing the vest beside Obito, and slunk in under the covers. He pulled off the other man's wet clothes, too, and set about rubbing damp skin until the shivering subsided.
A fire would only attract attention. He felt around until he hit his vest and, assured weapons were close by, wrapped himself around as much of the skinny form as he could.
He could feel scars, shiny and twisted, and the bones in Obito's leg altered in ways no bones should go. With every breath joints and knobs dug into his skin, and the spinal ridge on the Uchiha pressed into Kakashi's chest.
If this was living, Obito had lived in hell.
**
The small man wasn't much better in the morning. Kakashi packed up their things and slung the other man over his shoulders, grateful for the delicate Uchiha stature that kept his burden from being awkwardly long or exhaustingly heavy. He took off through the thick fog that covered the barren country, feeling the man he carried slip farther into unconsciousness induced by low chakra levels.
He made decent time, even with exhaustion and an extra body. Kakashi counted steps, keeping himself to a steady pace, resisting the urge to put on a burst of speed. Bursts of speed were only good for short distances, and they had a long way to go.
Rock began to give way to green. A pressure lifted off Kakashi's chest as they left the barren lands behind. Fields had little to no cover, but at least things were *alive* here.
As if feeling the higher energy, Obito started sliding into awareness. Kakashi stopped every time Obito came to, giving him water and bits of food until the man's chakra ebbed and he went under again. Then they'd move on.
At dusk he happened on a farm, and with a silent apology Kakashi slunk in and stole eggs and grain. He hid himself and Obito in the rafters, counting on ninja-grace to keep him there and tying Obito in place, just to be sure. In the morning he left money for what he'd taken, more than what the eggs and grain were worth, and slipped out while shadows pooled dark across the fields.
He had to get them home.
**
They didn't see any Rock ninja. Kakashi felt them, once, but managed to hide until the shinobi had gone by.
Fields gave way to saplings, and within hours saplings gave into the heavy trees of the forest. Kakashi felt safer in the deep shadows, among branches and trunks and vines, with the predators of his childhood. Here, he could keep his former teammate safe, even as that teammate slid closer to comatose.
They spent the night hidden in the hollow of a tree, and moved on in the morning.
When he felt the Rock ninja again, they were close to the first of the Konoha sentries. He tightened his grip on Obito and ran, flinging himself and his burden through the trees, not bothering with stealth. The other shinobi were too close. The first of the Konoha wards ripped across his chakra as a kunai shot by. Kakashi twisted sideways, ducking behind the massive trunk of a great tree, and heard the boom of an exploding tag.
"It's Hatake Kakashi!" he shouted, hoping he was as close to the sentries as he suspected. "I have a fallen comrade. I'm coming in!" He let his chakra leak, knowing the sentries would read the truth or a lie in it, taking the risk that the Rock ninja behind him would use it to track him.
They did, of course.
A shrill keening was the only warning he had. Unsure what it was, he dropped ten feet to a branch below and summoned another wind jutsu to twist away any weapon. A giant blade sunk into a trunk ahead of him, nearly severing the tree. He felt out, back, and sensed four shinobi behind him. Barely shadows, barely there. Strong enough to hide even from him.
He was carrying an unconscious man, his chakra was low, and he'd been running for days.
He set Obito down, making both of them as small a target as possible. He couldn't keep running. They'd kill him and take Obito, if he did. Making a stand wasn't much of an option, but at least it was home territory.
Then the Rock ninja appeared, two men badly twisted and scarred, one sporting a bloodline limit that altered his body into something half-monster, and a delicate woman with a feather-crusted bow, and no arrows.
She'd seen him.
With a deadly smile she drew back, and light blazed along the line where an arrow would have nocked. The shrill keening started again.
Kakashi gathered his chakra, disturbingly aware of how little of it he had left. He pulled the shreds around him, spinning it into something he might be able to use--
And then a shout stopped him.
"You're in Konoha land," a tenor bellowed out over the forest. "Any act of violence here is a declaration of war. Do you continue?"
It was formal, and it was someone Kakashi recognized. He grabbed Obito and leapt back, toward the voice, glancing around until he spotted Raidou in a tree. With a wink and a nod, the man sent him farther back, into safety.
Kakashi fled, leaving the developing fight to better rested shinobi. The Rock ninja didn't follow.
****