Fallen Leaves (Formerly Kakashi: No Regrets)

Anarchy-Bell101: Here you go! ^_^
Toolazytologin: The bloodplay chapter was probably my favorite too. It’s erotic first.

Beta'ed by PhoenixInnocence

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Kakashi lied. He didn’t wake Sasuke for dinner. Sasuke needed sleep; they hadn’t stopped for real rest for two weeks and Sasuke was easily irritated when he was tired or just woke up. Kakashi was still rather laid back and held up better. Sasuke had also spent a good amount of time in one hideout before Orochimaru moved them; he wasn’t used to constant travel as Kakashi was when doing mission after mission. And Kakashi would follow him into hell no matter how far away it was. In a way, he had followed Sasuke to hell; after all they’d done, they were sure to end up there. But he didn’t regret it.

Kakashi brought up a cold supper for Sasuke for when he woke up. He kept a watch for a while out of habit, then crawled in beside Sasuke.

Normally, Sasuke getting up didn’t wake him, but the way Sasuke got up did. Sasuke was concentrating. It was only about midnight. Sasuke moved to the window and carefully looked out.

“There’s a squad of shinobi approaching,” Sasuke whispered.

“With intent?”

“No. They seem to be headed here for a place to rest. No, they are walking with purpose, but they’re not in pursuit.”

They both forced their chakra levels as low as possible and forced themselves to complete calm to prevent the shinobi from sensing them.

“How far away?”

“Summon him quickly.”

Kakashi summoned Akino, his stealthiest ninkin. “Go below and listen in to what the approaching shinobi say and do.”

Akino nodded. Kakashi held the door open for him and then left it open a crack. Akino descended and hid behind a potted plant. Soon the shinobi entered.

The four men came up to the landlord. “We’re looking for these men.” The leader of the squad opened a bingo book. “This one is about twenty now,” he said pointing to Sasuke’s genin photograph.

“I’ve only seen them on the wanted posters.” The landlord gestured to the poster showing Sasuke and Kakashi’s face on the wall.

“We’re trying to get a message to them. We’ll leave this with you and if you see them, give it to them. Understood?”

“Yeah.”

The shinobi handed the landlord an envelope and then left. The landlord tapped the envelope on the desk a few times, wondering if he should walk it up to the pair’s room, but decided it would be better to hold onto it until they came down for breakfast or ordered it brought to their room.

Akino returned to the room.

“The shinobi left, but they left a letter for you in case you came to this inn.”

Sasuke and Kakashi looked at each other in confusion. Sasuke got up and went down to collect the letter. He returned turning the envelope over in his hands, examining it with his Sharingan.

“It doesn’t appear to be a trap,” Sasuke said without hiding his shock. He carefully opened the envelope and unfolded the letter. He read it out loud.

“’Sasuke, Kakashi-sensei, I know you both want nothing more than to see Konoha destroyed and all of us dead, but I beg you to help us. Kabuto has begun an attack on Konoha. He’s using the same Edo Tensei technique that Orochimaru used to bring back the First and the Second Hokages when he killed the Third. He’s using many great shinobi, even Haku and Zabuza and we’ve seen one member of Akatsuki so far. A few people believe they’ve seen Itachi.’” Sasuke paused. “’I fear he may be using Itachi as an undead puppet like the others.’” Sasuke stopped again. “’Please help us. We’ll declare a truce for now, just help us. Naruto.’”

Sasuke shifted his eyes to stare at the ground as he thought about it. “Get some sleep. I’ll finish eating then join you. We’ll need our strength to get to Konoha and fight that son of a bitch.”

Kakashi nodded and obeyed.

-----

They came to the top of the cliff, not wanting to use the main entrance or see the Hokage faces. They looked over the village for a moment before ANBU surrounded them.

“I believe we were invited,” Sasuke said.

Naruto appeared in front of them. “I’m glad you got the message.” He took in the pair’s appearance; Kakashi hadn’t changed at all, but Sasuke’s sparse bread was new to him. Naruto had let his hair grow a little, but didn’t wear it like his father had. He finally looked like an adult.

“You’ve seen Itachi?” Sasuke asked.

“I haven’t, but several others saw him. I know you’ve become mercenaries; I’m willing to pay you, but no one else is willing.”

“That’s insulting,” Sasuke said. “I’m here because of Itachi and Kabuto, not to help you. Considering our history, expecting more than that or paying us if we were to help, is insulting. We’re not poor or petty or forgiving. We’re here to free my brother and murder that son of a bitch. We don’t care about Konoha; he can destroy it for all we care, but the moment we have a shot at him, we’re taking him down. Then we’ll leave. It’s open season again once Kabuto is dead.”

Naruto nodded. “Agreed. No Konoha shinobi will attack you until Kabuto is dead.”

“Where is he? I want to get this over with as quickly as possible. Wouldn’t want to get the urge to destroy this fucking village. Again.”

Kakashi just stood there listening and eyeing the ANBU around them, not looking at Naruto. Sasuke hadn’t really changed his attitude, but Kakashi’s was a completely different person to Naruto. He was the closest he or Sasuke had to a father figure and he had not just abandoned Naruto, now Kakashi hated him just because he reminded Kakashi of Minato.

“Shikamaru’s team will support you and guide you to where we believe Kabuto is right now,” Naruto said. “Ino is a medical-nin and has been ordered to render you aid. It’s an eight man team; ten with the two of you. I’ll be leading another team. There are six teams in total who will be looking for Kabuto. If any other team finds him, they will let me and Shikamaru know. We’ll move out now.”

Naruto led the pair to Shikamaru’s team; ANBU was on edge having these two so close behind their Hokage, but the pair had no killing intent except that which was directed at Kabuto and ANBU felt that. They almost felt sorry for him.

-----

The outlaws kept their distance from the rest of their team. In fact, they didn’t really feel like part of a team, more like these others were tagalongs. All eight of these Konoha shinobi wanted nothing more than sink a kunai in their backs.

Kabuto wasn’t where they thought he’d be. They searched the area and found only traces. Kabuto had been here.

When night fell, Kakashi and Sasuke moved away from the others; they would eat and sleep separately. Kakashi took the first watch, pulling Sasuke’s head down to his pillow next to where he sat. The Konoha shinobi had their own watch.

Kakashi felt something familiar nearby; it made his hair stand on end. He looked up and saw Itachi. Kakashi’s heart clinched. It felt like a vice gripped it when he saw Kabuto move in behind Itachi.

‘Alone,’ Kabuto mouthed. He and Itachi melted into the darkness.

Kakashi looked down into the fire and thought about it. He was two full minutes thinking. He looked down at Sasuke’s sleeping face and then made a clone to follow the pair silently into the darkness.

Itachi’s presence worked better than a scent to guide Kakashi through the darkness. Itachi shook his head, wanting Kakashi to leave, but he wouldn’t speak. Kakashi looked at Kabuto.

“I promised him that if he tried to alert anyone else to the danger, I’d force him to kill you all right now,” Kabuto explained.

“What do you want with me?” Kakashi asked.

“I know about you and Itachi here. I want to offer you a trade. You can have Itachi back. He’s immortal and I can give him back his will. He can be yours again. In exchange, I want his brother. In order to finish what Orochimaru started, in order to become the ultimate shinobi, I need the body of a young, healthy, living, male Uchiha. Unfortunately for all of us, there’s only one left in the world.” Kakashi’s eyes narrowed. “Bring Sasuke to me, unharmed, unconscious, and bound and I will release Itachi to you and relinquish my control over him.”

“Please don’t do this, Kakashi,” Itachi begged in a low voice. “You can’t.”

Kakashi stared at Itachi for a long time then looked at Kabuto. “Alright.”

“No,” Itachi said, still trying to restrain his voice.

“I love you far too much, Itachi,” Kakashi said. “Give me a little time to catch Sasuke at the right moment.”

“Not too long,” Kabuto said.

“A day, maybe three.”

“Hurry.”

Kakashi nodded and looked at Itachi again. It didn’t perturb Kabuto that Kakashi’s eye was emotionless and Itachi believed that he’d sunk too low to show emotion. If he would betray Sasuke to a fate—no doubt—worse than death then he must have completely died inside and believed that Itachi was the one thing that could save him from himself. Itachi wanted to scream at him not to do it, but he didn’t want to be used to kill his lover and brother and Konoha shinobi—even if he didn’t succeed.

The clone released himself and Kakashi, still sitting by the fire, thought about what had happened. He looked down at Sasuke’s sleeping face again, then stroked his beautiful white skin. Sasuke felt safe in Kakashi’s presence and didn’t wake, just snuggled in a little more.

-----

Shikamaru was watching the rouges like a hawk; only he and Sasuke noticed anything different about Kakashi. Shikamaru sent messages to Naruto.

Two nights later, Kakashi made his move. As he woke Sasuke to take his watch, he used his Sharingan to put him out. Sasuke trusted Kakashi and had no defenses up, especially as he was being shaken gently awake. Kakashi bound him and slipped into the trees without direction, counting on Kabuto coming to him. He was right. Kakashi set Sasuke down gently on the ground, but he didn’t step back.

“How do I know you won’t keep control of Itachi and use him to attack me?”

“I can only give you my personal assurance. Itachi will also verbally warn you. That’s the one thing this jutsu doesn’t control. And I’ll let him stay ‘alive’ as long as I live. Trust me, Kakashi-san, we both want Konoha destroyed. So does Sasuke-kun. In the end, he’ll get what he wants too.”

Kakashi nodded and stepped back from Sasuke’s body. If Itachi was physically capable of it, he would have cried. Kakashi had changed so much; Itachi couldn’t love him anymore, not if he could do this to Sasuke. He was forced to walk toward Kakashi by Kabuto’s control. He looked down at Sasuke as he passed him. He stopped in front of Kakashi. Kakashi pulled his mask down, put a hand to Itachi’s cold cheek and kissed him. Itachi didn’t kiss back. Kakashi pulled back and just stared into Itachi’s eyes for a moment before he replaced his mask.

“I assume you’ll relinquish control when we’re far enough away?” Kakashi asked Kabuto.

“Yes. But first, I want to check the goods.” Kabuto knelt next to Sasuke’s body. He put a hand on Sasuke’s forehead and pulled up an eyelid. Suddenly both of Sasuke’s eyes were open and blazing with the Mangekyou. Kabuto was trapped and froze.

“That worked better than I thought,” Sasuke said as he slipped the ropes from his wrists. He stood up and turned to his brother. “You worry too much, Aniki.”

“I used my Sharingan to tell Sasuke all about Kabuto’s offer,” Kakashi explained. “Then Sasuke informed Shikamaru. Naruto should be on his way.”

“I’ll kill this bastard in front of the Hokage and hopefully, they’ll let us slip away again.” Sasuke approached his brother and lover. “We really don’t want to start another war.” He hugged Itachi and Itachi was surprised to feel Kabuto’s control gone. Itachi hugged him back.

When Sasuke let him go, Itachi turned to Kakashi to hug and kiss him. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

“I’m glad I played my part well enough to trick you.”

“You won’t keep me here, will you? I want to be released, I don’t want to live anymore, not on more stolen time.”

“Do you remember anything from the afterlife?” Kakashi asked.

“No. But I do want to go back. My time is over.”

Kakashi brushed Itachi’s hair back. “Yeah, we’re going to release you and kill Kabuto.”

“I’m going to get all the information I can from his mind before Naruto shows up.” Sasuke crouched in front of Kabuto and entered his mind.

Kakashi pulled Itachi into his arms and held him. “I’ve missed you so much, but I think Sasuke’s missed you more. I love you so much, Itachi.”

“I love you too. Though, I didn’t think I could anymore when you turned on Sasuke.”

“We’re very close; I would never betray him. We came here to help Konoha just because of you, to free you.”

Sasuke came back over having learned everything of interest from Kabuto’s mind. He snaked his hands between Kakashi and Itachi’s bodies to hold Itachi around the waist.

“I’ve missed you terribly,” Sasuke said. “I miss being able to talk to you. I really got used to having you in my mind.”

Itachi leaned back away from Kakashi and turned in Sasuke’s arms. He ruffled his little brother’s hair and then stroked that pathetic beard with a smile.

“My baby brother’s finally an adult. Are you happy?”

“Content. Maybe more than content. With Kakashi, yes, sometimes I’m happy. I want you to know something . . .”

Naruto and his entourage arrived to see the three Sharingan users showering each other with affection. Kakashi had an instinct about people seeing his face and managed to keep it hidden from the newcomers.

Itachi petted Sasuke after Sasuke informed him of some other changes in their lives which the Konoha shinobi could not hear, but Itachi looked very happy.

“We’re not ruled by revenge anymore,” Sasuke informed his brother.

“I’m glad.” He hugged Sasuke tighter, then turned back to Kakashi to hug and kiss him again. “Let me go now.” Itachi stroked Kakashi’s face. After Itachi’s fingers left his skin, Kakashi raised his mask.

Sasuke turned Itachi around and seemed to just stare at each other, though there might have been more going on through their eyes. Sasuke turned away and crouched in front of Kabuto again. Itachi looked into Kakashi’s eye as he melted into ash and the corpse at his core sank to the ground.

Sasuke was preparing to leave Kabuto’s mind again and kill him when Kabuto was able to break the jutsu. Panicking, Kabuto pushed Sasuke away. Sasuke turned the momentum of Kabuto’s shove into a flip.

“You learned more from Orochimaru than I thought,” Sasuke said. “Very few without a Sharingan could break that genjutsu.”

“Don’t underestimate me, Uchiha,” Kabuto growled.

Naruto, Shikamaru, and several other Konoha shinobi joined Sasuke and Kakashi in fighting the Snake Sage. Genjutsu would not work, but against about a dozen powerful shinobi, Kabuto could not survive. In the end, it was Sasuke’s katana that lopped off Kabuto’s horned head, slaying the dragon.

The tension and killing intent did not die with Kabuto. Kakashi moved to Sasuke’s side and the two rouges stood opposite Naruto and his fellows. Sasuke and Kakashi radiated nothing at all, no killing intent; they really didn’t want to fight, they just wanted to slink away.

“I’m sorry, Sasuke,” Naruto said. “I didn’t ask you here in order to kill you.”

“Nor did we come here to fight Konoha.”

Naruto attacked Sasuke and Kakashi took on all the others. They seemed evenly matched. Kakashi took down three men while Sasuke and his Susanoo fought the Toad Sage. (AN: In this timeline, Naruto never learned from Killer Bee, so there’s no Ultimate Kyuubi Mode in this story)

After nearly ten minutes of fighting, Naruto’s Rasengan forced its way through Susanoo. The power of it was halved, but it was still coming toward Sasuke. Sasuke was in too much pain to move much, but he avoided a direct hit to the chest. But Naruto was readjusting as well. The Rasengan struck Sasuke in the throat.

Kakashi glanced over, feeling something wrong with Susanoo. He saw Sasuke fall and Naruto toppling over him. Susanoo dissolved. Kakashi abandoned his own fight and leapt to Sasuke’s side, taking a vicious slash to his right bicep and across his back in the process. Sasuke was still alive, but he was gravely wounded, struggling to breathe and not moving otherwise. Kakashi spared Naruto a glare before he took off with Sasuke in his arms.

Naruto didn’t follow and held out a hand to stop the others from going after them. He knew Sasuke was a dead man; the wound was fatal. Sasuke’s larynx was crushed and he was sure he’d broken his neck. Sasuke was probably dead already; Kakashi was carrying a corpse. Without Sasuke, Kakashi was probably not a huge danger anymore. He’d probably make a run against Konoha and be killed. It was over.

Naruto felt cold. He’d just killed the man he once believed was his best friend. He’d just killed Sasuke. He killed Sasuke. Naruto wouldn’t let the true extent of his pain show, but he looked grave. He’d just killed his best friend. Shikamaru wanted to comfort Naruto, but he knew he could do nothing; he looked a lot like he did the last time Sasuke had left him.

“Let’s go home.”

TBC