Beginning Post

[sprial_hatake]

Who: Hatake Kakashi, and anyone else
What: Kakashi first comes to this world
Where: At the bottom of the stairs
When: early evening

Kakashi had no idea where the fuck he was.  He had gone to bed in Kohona, and woke up…here.

Here seemed to be a huge spiral staircase that twisted up into eternity and the inky sky.  Nonplussed, he ran a thumb across

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[sprial_hatake]

This place was just getting weirder and weirder. Kakashi was pretty damn sure that there wasn’t that red door a few seconds ago, but here it now was. Shoving those thoughts to the back of his mind, Kakashi focused himself on the present situation.
He grinned sardonically behind at his mask at the wide berth that Riku gave him and Haku. The young man was shifting his weight slightly, and Kakashi saw his eyes flick to the door as if he wanted to escape into it.
“Really, it’s ok, we won’t bite you. It looks like we’re all in the same boat here, so there’s really no advantage for us to attack each other. After all, we’re probably going to need all the help we can get surviving in this world.” Kakashi shrugged, “And we certainly won’t last long if we start killing each other right off the bat.”

[white_needles]

Haku managed a soft smile at Kakashi's words, though neither would be able to see it because of his mask. What the elder ninja said was true enough, though there was something that caught his attention.

"Kakashi-san, you say that as if we're going to be here for a long time."

[sprial_hatake]

Kakashi shrugged a shoulder, and shoved his hands in his pockets in an " obviously nonthreatening pose.
"We might be Haku. I might not want to linger here, but how about you? Would you rather be dead?"

[white_needles]

"I don't know. I haven't had the chance to think about it yet." He tightened his grip on his needles, and the smooth metal was painfully hard between his fingers. It could not, however, erase the emptiness he felt at that moment.

"If Zabuza-san also ends up here, I will follow him. If not..." There were a lot of things that remained unsaid.

[sprial_hatake]

"You loved him didn't you." Kakashi said quietly, letting the silence stretch.

[white_needles]

That last line felt like a knife being twisted in the gut, and he felt his throat tighten.

"I do," Haku whispered, very much aware of the different tenses that he and Kakashi had used. He resisted the urge to hug himself with difficulty, as this was neither the time nor place for a breakdown.

[sprial_hatake]

Kakashi watched Haku. It seemed like the boy had shrunken inwards, weighed down by the weight of his words. Biting his lip, Kakashi lowered his gaze almost guiltily.
“I’m…I’m sorry Haku.” It seemed like the right thing to say. But what he was sorry for, Kakashi was not sure. Sorry for being a major part of Zabuza’s death? Sorry for killing Haku?

[white_needles]

His vision was getting cloudy and his eyes stung. Had he not been too preoccupied at the moment, Haku would have been surprised that he was very close to crying, something he hadn't done for a long time now.

The hunter-nin mask now felt stifling, and he couldn't breathe properly. Haku took it off and tried to smile his usual, polite smile, but his composture was already hanging by a few threads.

"Would you tell me more? About how he d-died, I mean." He paused for a moment and then laughed depreciatingly. "I know this might sound trivial to you, but -" he swallowed the lump in his throat "- I need to know."

[sprial_hatake]

Kakashi felt another surge of pity when Haku took off his mask, without it he seemed vulnerable, it was easy to forget that he was only a child when he had it on. Kakashi could see that the boy was near tears, his voice shaking and control slipping