Illuminating Heaven

Title: Illuminating Heaven / 天照 / Amaterasu

Pairing: Kakashi/Sasuke

Rating: NC-17 (eventual)

A/N: Set in post-canon. R&R appreciated.

Summary: How many years had passed since that day when Akatsuki and Taka swooped down in an attempt to crush Konoha? The intensity of Naruto's anger and the thickness of Amaterasu's black smoke; Sasuke's escape from Fire Country and subsequent disappearance -- Kakashi'd wondered when and if he'd ever encounter his prodigal former student again, but never expected it to be quite like this.



The Second Night



The air was too warm and Konoha surrounded and filled him at every turn.



Sasuke wished he could hold his breath to stop himself from breathing it in, that scent of warm bark and moist grass mingling with damp earth, heady with the sharpness of a fresh rainfall that left the air heavy and humid. It made him think too much, made him remember a time when things were simpler, when everything made sense. It reminded him of the strangest things -- Naruto facedown in a rice paddy and unapologetically covered in mud; Sakura's arms so willow-thin around his waist; the feeling of Kakashi's large, strong calloused hand brushing through his hair and causing an inexplicable tingling in his chest -- the pride of being acknowledged, most likely; that itchy feeling of laughter caught in a throat before it spilled over.



They always visited him in his sleep, even when he told them not to.



He tried to hold his breath but found himself drinking in that scent and told himself the lump in his chest was just a rock, that bridges burnt were safer than those forged from precarious rope that would fray anyway. Wood would crack and give way underfoot. Better to destroy it, to let it go. Rocks were too much hassle, and even then, the elements eroded them until they crumbled underfoot.



There was nothing guaranteed in the world except for the self standing on an island, hands buried too deep in all the things he couldn't change and all the things he wished he could.



He tried to hold his breath but Konoha kept rushing in, filling his lungs. Konoha kept rushing in, and he wondered if he'd asphyxiate on that scent of home.



~



When Sasuke opened his eyes, looked up and saw the blurry vision of a familiar mask-clad jawline and a shock of silver hair, he knew that he was dreaming. What was Kakashi doing here, with skin too warm and breathing in the same rhythm as he was? There was a sense of quiet security and lazy indifference to his surroundings that felt more reassuring than letting out a breath held in too long, and Sasuke was positive he was dreaming.



As he made a soft, sleepy sound and burrowed closer against that too-warm body against him, breathing in that warm, masculine scent of Kakashi and the underlying notes of Konoha, he thought to himself that it wasn't such a bad dream after all.



~



When Sasuke opened his eyes a second time, he wondered just where the fuck he was, why the hell he was so warm, and where did that scent of roasted fish come from? His vision was foggy, but that was nothing new. What was new was the headache that pounded at his temples and throbbed at the back of his eyes, stemming from the searing pain that emanated from his left eye. What was also new was that he was apparently hallucinating or trapped in genjutsu, because Kakashi was sitting there across the fire, calmly reading Icha Icha Violence.



He watched him for a moment, taking in the sight of the illusion sitting perfectly slouched and lazy like Kakashi always was. The man never seemed to summon up enough energy to straighten that spine when there was no reason for it. The set of his shoulders were relaxed and lopsided as he held the book open with a thumb creasing the pages, his elbow resting on his knee.



Using his arm as a buttress and pushing himself up into a seated position, Sasuke winced as pain stabbed through his eyes and rendered him momentarily blind, forcing him to squeeze his eyes shut for a moment as he pressed the heels of a hand gingerly against his throbbing eyelids.



"Good morning, Sasuke-kun," came Kakashi's voice, as gentle and calm as it was indifferent.



Apparently, the hallucination or genjutsu was talking to him. Great.



"Don't call me Sasuke-kun," he growled in response, pressing his hands together to form the seal that would dispell the illusion. But when he tried to draw up enough chakra to dispell it, Sasuke discovered that he couldn't even sense his chakra, let alone mold it. He looked up at the Kakashi illusion with a quiet, calculating look, a frown stitched between his eyebrows. .



Kakashi's uncovered eye arced gently over the lowered edge of his book. He was vaguely amused that his former student believed that he was caught in a genjutsu (after all, since when were genjutsu this harmless?) and almost entertained the notion of playing into it a little, if he weren't more concerned about that wince and the way Sasuke's hand moved to his eyes moments ago. "Ah, sorry, old habits die hard," he paused. "Sasuke-kun."



He didn't sound sorry at all.



"Oh. You probably shouldn't move much yet," Kakashi tacked on casually before Sasuke had a chance to open his mouth and object. "Your body needs more rest."



"Don't tell me what my body needs." Sasuke's voice was as quiet as it was dangerous, and he slowly started to shift out of the bedroll despite the itchy, painful pins and needles that shot through the tips of toes and fingers -- only to discover that he wasn't wearing a stitch of clothing. If he had any doubt that this was an illusion before, this new discovery confirmed that it most certainly was.



He remembered the alarms; the sudden descent of soldiers and ninja alike; the springing of traps and the clashing of steel, the chirping of one thousand birds to counter what felt like one thousand opponents rushing him at once. The black flames of Amaterasu rose harsh behind him as he escaped through fortified security gates and finally through a monster that rose up before him to stop him; a monster born and bred right in those military laboratories he had broken into. Then, overwhelming pain avalanched his eyes and the world went dark just moments before he plunged into water so cold it stole his breath.



Suddenly it all made sense -- the enemy must have captured him and forced him into some kind of strange genjutsu that conjured up Kakashi. The type of genjutsu his subconscious produced to fabricate someone he could trust and confide in. If he'd dreamed about Naruto earlier, Naruto most likely would've been sitting here looking at him over the fire instead of Kakashi, saying something like, "Na, na, na, Sa-su-ke~ what were you doin' breaking in like that???!" in his overly loud voice.



Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he evaluated the space between them instinctually when the illusion shifted close enough to be just an arm's stretch away -- knowing that he'd be just be wasting energy if he attacked him (after all, Kakashi was an illusion, and the sole purpose of illusions was to wear the victim down), frustrated at his lack of chakra to perform something as simple as dispelling a genjutsu (he chalked it up to Amaterasu draining him dry).



Any moment now, Kakashi would ask him what his purpose was at that military complex.



"Well, if you want to be that way, you might as well eat. I caught some fish while you were sleeping." Kakashi held out a stick with a roasted fish impaled on it instead, fully expecting Sasuke to take it, as the boy hadn't eaten anything all day and needed metabolic energy to recover.



But instead of taking the fish, Sasuke's gaze grew harder as he studied the illusion, trying to gauge its true intent.



Kakashi read distrust and suspicion in Sasuke's eyes, could feel the caution, the walls of protection that his former student threw up, and wondered if he still believed this was all a product of genjutsu. He realized how different Sasuke looked when his eyes were open, finding the juxtaposition of such cutting eyes set in such a gentle face almost jarring -- but then again, the Uchiha had eyes like that from the moment they'd met. Eyes that knew too much, that'd seen too much.



The jounin sighed softly and kept the fish extended towards Sasuke, who made no movement to take it. "Sasuke, you realize if the enemy really wanted to force information from you, there are easier ways to do it than genjutsu, and they all involve extreme pain."



But Sasuke'd already convinced himself otherwise and decided that if he didn't have enough chakra to dispell the illusion, then he'd do it with pain. Without a weapon at his disposable, he snatched the fish from Kakashi and threw back the top cover of the bedroll with the intent of driving the jagged edge of the stick into his bared thigh, in hopes that the self-inflicted pain would be enough to crack through the genjutsu. But before the stick could connect with his intended destination, Kakashi had moved right in front of him, fingers tight around his wrist.



"That's enough," the jounin said, his voice steady. Sasuke's eyes blazed up at his and widened in surprise when he met a mismatched gaze, the red and black whorl of the Sharingan swirling slowly, wrapping around him and driving into him as it tore down his defenses. He recognized the technique before his mind could process what was happening. "Go back to sleep, Sasuke."



He went back to sleep.



~



When Sasuke opened his eyes a third time, it was with heightened awareness as his guard immediately shot up, eyes moving to locate Kakashi and finding him across the fire, book in one hand and a canteen in another as he sipped water through his mask. He'd woken with a start, ripped straight from the depths of sleep and into full consciousness, the kind of awakening only an artificial rest induced by Sharingan could produce.



This wasn't an illusion.



But he was still very much naked.



For a moment, Sasuke wondered if that dream he had earlier actually happened. He remembered warm skin, strong arms, and the scent of that place and Kakashi filling him and giving him such a strong sense of security, it had to be a dream.



Kakashi moved without taking his eyes off the page he was reading and held out the canteen he was drinking from to Sasuke, fully expecting him to drink. It'd been nearly a full day since he discovered the boy floating down the river, and he hadn't had a drop of water or a bite of food in all that time. Dehydration was a given, and he wasn't going to take no for an answer. He was relieved when Sasuke didn't put up a fight and took the canteen begrudgingly, drinking from it hungrily.



He must have been parched.



"Your fish is probably very overcooked now."



Sasuke hated how calm Kakashi sounded, how controlled. As though there was nothing strange about being holed up in a cave with Sasuke (a very naked Sasuke, too) and offering him food and water after three years apart, like it was perfectly normal. He hated how Kakashi acted like the world didn't change, like everything had its place in stasis, and wondered if the jounin believed the world spun around them while they still remained the same -- when that couldn't be further from the truth. He wanted to take Kakashi's truth, smash it apart between his hands and show him how quickly it crumbled between his fingers. He wanted to eat, because he was very hungry, but he wasn't about to give into that just yet.



There were more pressing matters at hand.



"Why are you here, and where are my clothes?" The questions came out in the form of demands. "Tell me what the fuck you're doing here. Give me my clothes. Now." is what Sasuke said without quite saying it, yet Kakashi heard his impatience just the same. Sasuke watched as Kakashi's lips formed a smile under the mask, like he was amused when there was nothing to be amused by.



"Why am I here? Ah, well you see, I was taking a nice stroll along the river and saw you swimming in it. You looked like you were trying to do an impersonation of an ice statue, and I thought you could use a thaw," Kakashi drawled in that infuriatingly smooth, calm lazy way of his that sounded as though he was about as interested in having a conversation as he was in pondering the meaning of life. Kakashi didn't ponder the meaning of life. He was too distracted by dirty books.



Sasuke just stared at him, incredulous.



Then his brow lowered ever so slightly, eyes narrowed. "My clothes," he said, but this time, it was delivered as a command.



Kakashi considered all the ways he could respond, ranging from "A monkey appeared out of nowhere and took them right off your back," to "You had clothes on to begin with?" but didn't think Sasuke's patience would last long enough for that. He decided to go with the truth instead. "You probably shouldn't put them on yet. You'll get hypothermia. Again."



Sasuke digested his words quietly, and Kakashi watched as confusion settled across the boy's face, his eyes drifting off towards the fire.



Hypothermia. Again?



Suddenly things started to make sense. The drowsy memory of too-warm skin; a large, calloused hand sliding down his back; not being able to breathe anything but the scent of this man watching him like he knew exactly what was going on in his head. Like he expected how Sasuke would react when the pieces finally clicked in place internally and the tide of awareness broke through his dam of disbelief.



Kakashi watched as the cogs turned in his former student's head, as he suddenly became unguarded with the shocking (and quite possibly incredibly embarrassing) realization smashing through what anger he previously had. Sasuke looked so soft at that moment, with his lips parted slightly in surprise, eyes wide as imagination probably started to sweep in low (maybe he was wondering if there was nothing separating them except for skin the night before, and trying to recall the details despite his inability to do just that).



Now was a better time than ever to disrupt that train of thought.



"Oh, by the way. I sealed your katana," the jounin paused once he knew he caught Sasuke's attention -- the boy's eyes snapped back on him once more, but his gaze looked hazy, as though he hadn't quite registered the meaning of the other's words.



Kakashi's uncovered eye arced then in a gentle smile to prepare Sasuke for the next blow. "And your chakra."



---



TBC...