Fallen Leaves (Formerly Kakashi: No Regrets)

Sasuke stood outside under a solid piece of roof examining the sky through the gaps. It wouldn’t stop raining for some time. Karin stood behind him while Suigetsu stood out in the rain.

“We’ll have to move in the rain,” Sasuke said. “I had hoped the rain would pass over us. This storm will not let up for a while. Suige—”

Karin broke in. “There are several shinobi headed in this direction. Several spread out groups coming from the north. They’re spread out, so I don’t think they know where we are.”

“They probably don’t know who they’re chasing,” Suigetsu said.

“We’ll stay another night,” Sasuke said. “Get below.”

-----

Sasuke came into Itachi’s room to find Kakashi doing pushups in the small space.

“We’re being pursued,” he told him. “We’re staying.”

Kakashi stood. “Well, this place is better than a forest clearing.”

“Itachi assures me this place should be safe from most sensor types. I thought, since we’re not going anywhere and we have some privacy, I could give you and Itachi some time together.”

Kakashi’s one open eye widened. “I’d like that.”

Sasuke nodded. “So would he.” Sasuke shut his eyes and summoned Itachi. When he opened his eyes again they were very different. “Kakashi.”

Kakashi put out a hand to touch Sasuke/Itachi’s cheek. “My little raven.”

Itachi put a hand over his and a tear escaped his eyes. “I’ve missed you so much sempai. Sasuke said he’ll give us until morning together.”

“We’re stuck here for now, perfect opportunity.” Kakashi kissed him. He tasted like Sasuke, but kissed like Itachi: more lips than teeth. Neither of their bodies were sex-starved, so the kiss didn’t greatly arouse them. It was never purely about sex anyway.

Itachi’s hand came up and touched his necklace. The kiss ebbed away. “My necklace.”

“I kept what I could. I remember when I bought it for you after I saw you admiring it.”

“I remember. It’s one of the few things I kept from Konoha. There’s another hideout like this one near the border between the Fire and River. That’s where I left my armor. Perhaps you can use it. My ANBU sword, the one I used that night, is there.”

“If it’s not too painful, can you please tell me the truth?”

“I thought Sasuke told you.”

“He did, but I want to hear it from you. And I just want to talk and be near you for a while. Maybe make love to you later.”

Itachi smirked. “Alright, I’ll tell you everything.”

They sat on the bed and Itachi told the while story going back to Madara and Izuna. He got up to the Kyuubi attack when they were interrupted by Suigetsu’s knock.

“Eh, Sasuke, lunch,” he called through the door.

“Think I can bluff my way through?” Itachi asked apprehensively.

“I think so, just look mildly unhappy or annoyed, don’t laugh and don’t emote.”

Itachi smiled sadly. “He’s really not happy, is he?”

“He has little to be happy about. Once we kill Madara, I’m sure he’ll he find happiness. Come on, just don’t engage in conversation.”

Itachi was able to remain emotionless, but he had a hard time stopping his eyes from darting to look at Kakashi. That was noticed, but no one suspected that this was not Sasuke.

Until Itachi whipped himself up a sugary desert.

They all stared at him. “What?”

“I thought you hated anything sweet,” Karin said.

“Sometimes you crave strange things.”

“What’s wrong, Sasuke?”

“Nothing.”

“You’ve been acting strangely.”

“Maybe you should tell them,” Kakashi said.

“Me?”

“I told you they were suspicious.”

Itachi didn’t move or say anything for a moment. He sighed then smirked. “He has a smart remark for you, but he agrees. Couldn’t it wait until tomorrow?” Itachi took a bite of his desert. Sasuke apparently answered him, he looked up at the other three. “I’m not Sasuke; I’m Itachi. I sealed my chakra, and my soul it appears, in my eyes. Sasuke has control over me though, so you don’t need to worry about that; he can reel me in whenever he wants. But he’s giving me a day ‘out,’ so to speak.” He took another bite, supremely enjoying it. “I led you here. I’ve been giving Sasuke all the information I have on Akatsuki and the Bijuu. I will not betray him or any of you.”

“So that’s why you two have been spending so much time together,” Suigetsu said.

“Yeah,” Kakashi said.

“How often has it been you?” Karin asked.

“That time when you all killed Kisame and when I led you here. This is first time he’s given me any real time. Nice to be able to eat again. Amazing how you miss the small things.” Itachi’s smirk was disturbing on Sasuke’s face.

After a meal, Kakashi and Itachi returned to his old room and he continued his tale, including how he had planned to die by Sasuke’s hand. At that point they cuddled even closer together.

“You were going to leave me regardless,” Kakashi said softly.

“For Sasuke.”

“I understand and agree with your putting your brother before me; you should.” Kakashi stroked Sasuke’s jaw. It was the fact that jaw was not as angular as he desperately wanted it to be that caused Kakashi to break down. Itachi was dead. He was here, but he was dead. He pressed his face into Sasuke’s chest.

“I love you so much, Itachi,” Kakashi wept. “If you were going to die anyway, I wish you had left me to be executed so I wouldn’t have to suffer the pain of your death. I miss you so much.”

“I’m sorry. But I had to save you. And you were the only one I could trust to take care of Sasuke and give him my eyes.”

“You have nothing to apologize for. You sacrificed too much. I love Sasuke, but you were the only person I ever loved. I wish we could just be together in the afterlife, if there is one.” For a shinobi who never showed a great deal of emotion, Kakashi’s tears and been a torrent, but quickly over.

“This is sort of an afterlife. I’m already dead and you’ve been exiled. I don’t want you to morn me. Please, sempai.”

“You can’t ask that.”

“I am glad we can have some time together now. I hope it makes it easier for you. If not, I’d rather stay hidden.”

“I don’t know. But I want to be with you, even if just for a few moments.”

“So do I. I love you, sempai.” He titled his head up to kiss him.

Kakashi was so much more gentle with Itachi than he was with his brother. The kiss was slow and loving. He didn’t tear at his clothes, but eased them off his body. Itachi groaned as Kakashi prepared him, tender from the treatment Sasuke’s body had received recently, and gasped as Kakashi entered him, Sasuke’s body being much tighter than his own.

“Feels so different,” Itachi struggled to say.

“Sasuke’s not very experienced. I’m not hurting you, am I?” He never would ask Sasuke that anymore.

“It’s fine. It’s nice to feel anything again.”

Kakashi caressed his face. The expression on his face was so Itachi, he only saw Itachi, couldn’t see Sasuke at all. It had nothing to do with their brotherly resemblance, just the emotion. “I love you so much.”

“I’ve missed you. I should say I sealed my charka in these eyes purely for Sasuke’s benefit, but I also wanted a chance to see you again.”

Kakashi took Itachi’s hand and kissed his palm. It was more calloused than his cremated one, but Itachi could feel Kakashi’s lips and tongue. Sasuke’s body didn’t feel the same way Itachi’s had, but he could feel it and remember.

“Sempai . . .”

Kakashi started rocking his hips into the body beneath him. Itachi was lost in physical sensation and memory, his being still more spiritual than physical; the physical sensation was wild and overwhelming to a mind too long out of touch with regular physical senses. That only made the feeling of Kakashi making love to him more powerful.

But damn, it was Itachi. Every moan and arch of his back so familiar. The taste of him was wrong, but it was him. It was enough to turn a man to religion, to thank a deity, thank someone, anyone, for this. But his god was here in the throes of wanton abandon.

“Itachi, I’ll sell my soul for you. I worship you. My only light.”

Itachi couldn’t even manage to open an eye, but the strangled wail was answer enough. Kakashi kissed him as they both neared their climaxes. Itachi clawed at him, trying to ground himself, finally finding purchase on Kakashi’s shoulders. Kakashi swallowed Itachi’s scream.

Itachi’s body stiffened before going completely slack. As he came down from his own high, Kakashi searched for and found a pulse. Sasuke’s body still gripped him, but the muscles slacked as the waves of endorphins coursed through his blood. Itachi had blacked out. Kakashi had to chuckle. He spooned the limp body and pulled the bedding over them.

Kakashi shut his eyes and was back in Konoha with Itachi napping next to him for just a few hours before he had to escape the village to avoid being discovered. The warm body he touched now was Itachi’s thin one, his ribs just under the surface of his smooth skin.

For a moment, huddled in this illusion, Kakashi let go of his lust for revenge and tried to imagine life with his resurrected lover, just for a moment. He nuzzled the raven hair and that brought him back to reality. Short hair rather than long.

He thought again about what the elders of the village had forced Itachi to do. That impossible choice. Life in exile, being reviled for saving the village, living among the scum of the shinobi world, living with his beloved brother’s loathing, separated from the two people he loved, left to dream only of dying by his brother’s hand, and then ending up as nothing more than a ghost trapped in his brother’s mind. Itachi’s delight in just being able to feel or eat again made Kakashi shudder at what it must be like to be nothing more than a disembodied soul.

If he’s cut off from Sasuke’s senses he must be in darkness, not able to feel, hear, see, smell, or taste. It must be a form of hell. He petted his lover’s head. I’ll avenge you, Itachi. I swear it.

Especially underground, the hour before dawn was the coldest. Sasuke shivered and pressed back against Kakashi, waking him. Kakashi pulled the covers more securely around the young man. Sasuke turned into his warm body.

Sasuke or Itachi, Kakashi cuddled him. He’d left some of the candles burning and there were still two that hadn’t guttered. He looked down at the sleeping face trying to press itself deeper into his chest. I’ll keep you safe. Both of you. Kakashi started petting the raven hair again. This woke him up.

He sniffed. “Sempai?”

“Itachi?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, I don’t think it’s dawn yet.”

“I’ve been asleep all night? You should have woken me.”

“I didn’t have the heart to. And I fell asleep too.”

“But it was nice. Thank you, Sasuke.”

Kakashi kissed him. “I’ll see you again.”

“Ah.”

Kakashi could see when their souls swapped; Sasuke’s brow tensed, nearly furrowed, and his eyes became harder. It hurt to remember how Sasuke was once able to relax and was not constantly scowling when he was thirteen.

“You and Itachi should have eaten alone.”

“Good morning.”

Sasuke smirked. “That should deflect them about our relationship.” He closed whatever distance was left between them.

“So, were you eavesdropping the entire time?”

“No, just when I heard Suigetsu’s voice. I was meditating the rest of the time. I listened in while you were out there. Then I went back to meditating.”

“Thank you, Sasuke. That time with him only steeled my resolve to destroy Konoha. They’ll pay for what they did to Itachi.”

Sasuke looked pleased. “You deserve time with him too. We have some time.” He snuggled back down and they slept for another hour before getting up and preparing to leave.

Sasuke knocking on doors like a prison guard to wake the others up. They all noticed he was back to his emotionless, if not ill-tempered, self.

The group took off with clouds overhead, but no immediate threat of rain. They all wore their Akatsuki cloaks against the damp chill. If nothing else, they were warm.

They approached the border. Karin suddenly leaped ahead of them all and stopped with a hand in the air. They were not alone.

“They must have stopped at the border and are waiting in case we hadn’t crossed yet,” Sasuke said in a low voice.

“Well, we did capture their Jinkuiki,” Kakashi said.

“We’ll have to push straight through; they will not follow us into a neighboring country. You’re all free to kill if you need to.”

“Ah.”

“Now you’re talking,” Suigetsu said as he prepared his sword.

“Let’s go.”

The five of them continued on as if they didn’t know about the shinobi waiting for them. They were set upon by just one shinobi. Sasuke tossed a kunai to kill a bird that was being sent off to bring reinforcements, but another one merely lost a few tail feathers.

The one shinobi was nothing to the five of them. But the rest of his team appeared. They tried to move closer to the border with the Frost Country, but Suigetsu was all too eager to fight. The whole team was forced to stop and back him up. And more shinobi were coming.

“So be it,” Sasuke muttered. He cast off his Akatsuki robe and jumped straight into the fray. The air charged with Chidori and the two enemy shinobi were thrown. He let Suigetsu finish them off.

“Chidori won’t work on most of them,” Kakashi commented.

“I’m aware of it. I could see they didn’t have lightening nature. Karin, just hide.”

“I can fight!”

“Karin!”

In a huff, she obeyed, eliminating all traces of her chakra and finding cover.

A fresh wave approached them.

Juugo transformed halfway and the other three prepared. Two full teams arrived. It was a pretty one-sided battle. Sasuke cut through two before they could put up any kind of fight. Juugo pulverized his opponents and Suigetsu cut through his ruthlessly. Kakashi and Sasuke seemed to move in unison, moving at astonishing speed. Sasuke’s sword sometimes sparked with Chidori while Kakashi made do with a pair of kunai.

Karin watched and realized she was no match for any of her own team. She had her specialties, but she was far from the combat specialists these others were. Four to eight, and they won.

“Let’s head for the Frost Country border,” Sasuke called.

Karin came out of hiding and checked for any enemies. “There are four more squads heading this way.”

“We’ll lose them once we’re over the border.”

But they didn’t. The four squads followed them over the border.

“Guess I was wrong,” Sasuke admitted. “Kill them all.”

Sasuke put on a burst of sped as he continued on his path right into a tree he used to rebound and now flew back toward their pursuers. Karin pulled back and hid without being told this time. Leave the slaughter to the experts.

And a slaughter it was. In the end, they left only one alive, but wounded.

“Why are you so zealously pursuing us?” Sasuke asked him. The man wouldn’t answer. Sasuke’s Sharingan was already activated and it only took a moment to enter the man’s mind. After a few seconds, the man fell over, dead.

“The Jinchuiki was the Raikage’s brother.”

“You’re kidding,” Suigetsu said.

“Madara neglected to tell us that,” Kakashi said.

“Let’s move before more come and chase us all the way,” Sasuke said as he secured his cloak.

“The Akatsuki is risking the Five Nations allying against it doing this.”

“That could be troublesome for us.”

Another few hours and they made their way into the Land of Fire.

----------
Yeah, forgot to mention it earlier, but there is definitely a little Children of Dune by Frank Herbert in there. You know, Alia and the Baron. ‘Just let me have a few moments contact with your senses like when you’re with your lover and I’ll advise you . . .’ That was definitely in the back of my mind.