Bound

This was, he decided, one of the worst ideas that either of them had ever had. Kakashi pressed back against the tree, trying to steady his breathing, ignoring the blood trickling down his face from a nasty gash on his forehead; it wasn’t life threatening, not yet anyway, and he had much greater things to worry about. Like where his opponent was going to come from next, and where Sasuke had gone, for example.

Sasuke…the name brought fresh worry to the forefront of his mind, clouding his judgement a little, but only for a second. He was lucky that he wasn’t still engaged in combat with his mystery opponent; that second would have cost him his life. Sasuke, since he had returned to the village, had been doggedly pursuing Kakashi, under the guise of wanting more ‘training’. Finally, after a month or so of this, Kakashi had finally given in, bringing the smug boy out to an old training spot he used to use when he wanted to be alone. They had barely arrived when the mystery ninja with no headband to give away his allegiance had attacked. There was only one of him, and two of them, but still it seemed they were no match for him. A dense fog had surrounded the battlefield, hiding his movements from them, and theirs from each other. Sasuke had disappeared soon into the fight, but the mystery nin seemed to only want to focus on Kakashi, so he wasn’t too worried about his younger charge.

Kakashi had been forced into using his Sharingan early on in the battle, but it hadn’t given him much of an advantage and he was still losing badly. His opponent seemed to be made of the mist itself, the bandages wrapped around his entire form taking on snake-like properties and attacking while the body remained unseen. To his knowledge, none of Kakashi’s attacks had hit home, and he was fast running out of chakra, energy and blood. He had found the large tree and pushed himself against it, hoping to at least limit where the attacks would come from. It was a poor strategy, and probably futile, but it was all he had left. A single kunai was all he had left to defend himself, and he raised it in front of his face defiantly, determined to fight to the end.

Puzzled, as the attack he had been expecting never came, Kakashi looked around. He noticed the slight shift in the fog as it began to slowly dissipate. He swore under his breath; how long had the mystery ninja been gone, where had he gone, and what had he wanted? More importantly, though, where was Sasuke?

Pushing away from the tree, Kakashi swore again as a wave of nausea, pain and dizziness swept over him. Slumping back for a moment and taking several deep, calming breaths he tried again, with more success this time. Moving stiffly, trying not to exacerbate his injuries, Kakashi moved as quickly as he could in what he hoped was the direction of the retreating fog. He was, he thought, pretty good at tracking, even if he didn’t have a hope of defeating the mystery ninja. He didn’t even really know why he was following the trail rather than looking for Sasuke, other than a strange nagging sensation in the pit of his stomach that made him suspect that if he were to find the strange ninja, he would more than likely find Sasuke too, and he really needed to find Sasuke.

It seemed as though he had been stumbling forwards, chasing after the retreating mist, for hours. He could feel what was left of his energy waning as he forced himself forwards; he needed to finish this, he would die out here either way, from the blood loss or at the enemy ninja’s hands, and he knew which he would prefer. Suddenly a commotion up ahead, and a familiar loud booming voice forced him forwards faster than before. Breaking through the line of trees into the centre of the dense fog, he could make out the shapes of two very familiar figures. He almost didn’t see the body, wrapped from head to toe in bandages, in front of his feet. He almost tripped, but righted himself for a moment before slumping to the ground beside the prone form. He began to paw weakly at the damnable bandages that covered every inch of the body in his lap, trying to pull them away from the face that he knew would be Sasuke’s.

Seemingly from nowhere, Tenten appeared at his side, pushing his fumbling hands away with a frown and tugging at the bandages herself to no avail; they just wouldn’t come undone, and she couldn’t pull them far enough away from his skin to cut them off him either. Sharp, cruel laughter broke their concentration and five pairs of eyes were instantly focused on the tall, lithe shape of the now almost-naked mystery ninja. Clearly, he only had enough bandages to bind one person, and it left him more than a little exposed, even with the size difference between him and Sasuke.

“You won’t be able to free him. He’s mine now, and you can all watch as he suffocates to death underneath my bandages, if he hasn’t done so already. My jutsu is unbreakable! It’s no more than he deserves.” His laughter was cut short as Gai dropped, deftly, from the branches above the mystery ninja and snapped his neck in one swift movement. Instantly, the bandages wrapped around Sasuke’s slender frame loosened, and Tenten was able to pull them from his face, freeing his nose and mouth. Quickly, deftly, she cut them from his prone form, careful not to accidentally injure the boy.

Kakashi frowned; he wasn’t breathing. Ignoring the glances he was getting from Gai and his team, he pulled his mask down past his chin and pressed his lips against Sasuke’s, breathing life-giving air into his oxygen starved lungs. Forcing his body upright, he then pressed down on the still chest five times. How long had Sasuke been like this? Not too long, he hoped, practically collapsing down onto the blue-tinged lips to breathe more air into his lungs. He kept going, over and over, and each time Sasuke didn’t respond his heart broke a little bit more. He was running on adrenaline alone, having long since passed the point of exhaustion, but he forced himself to keep going. He had to keep trying – for Sasuke!

“Kakashi…” Gai’s voice behind him. When had Gai moved? He hadn’t even noticed. Not that it mattered anyway; Sasuke was all that mattered, his childish pout and smug grin, the way his hair moved softly in the wind, the subtle touches that were only for him…Sasuke was all that mattered, he was. Gai could be ignored for now. “He’s dead, Kakashi.” Gai could be ignored, he was of no consequence.

The strong arms on his shoulders, pulling him back, those could not be ignored. Kakashi swung around, lashing out at his old rival with his right arm, tears visible on his scarred, bloodied cheeks. It was too much, though. The movement used up precious energy he could not afford to lose and he slumped forward, unconscious, wrapped in the strong arms that he had so protested moments before.