A Hole in One's Village [Kakashi Hatake]

Chapter 6: Recon

I'm back!!! Muwahahahahaha!

... I don't know if the evil laughter was entirely necessary, but it seemed like a good idea. Read the A/N at the end of the chapter for important notifications for the new posting schedule and such. The hiatus is finally over so I'm not going to delay you any longer with my rambling. Enjoy!

-------------Kakashi's POV-------------

     I was having a strange dream where Pakkun learned how to fly when I was awoken by a loud scream.

     I blinked both my eyes in the darkness, 'What on earth was up with that?'

     Then I remembered the scream and all thoughts about airborne ninken disappeared from my head. Ana must have had another one of her nightmares.

     It was hot out so I grabbed the shirt that I had thrown into the floor next to my bed and pulled it over my head while making the hand signs for the transportation jutsu. The moment that I appeared in her apartment and knelt next to her bed, Ana latched onto my chest.

     Ever since the war, her dreams had only been getting worse. Naruto hadn't been able to fix everything.

     I wrapped my arms around her slowly and rocked back so that I was sitting with her in my lap.

     "Shh, it's okay. It was just a dream."

     Her grip around my chest tightened to an almost unbearable degree as she continued to shake.

     "I couldn't save them. I couldn't save any of them."

     What had her dream been about?

     "None of it was real, Ana. I'm sure they're fine."

     "I know that." She hiccuped, "The patient today..."

     Now things made a bit more sense; she always blames herself whenever anyone dies under her care.

     "I'm sure that you did everything that you could. If it was possible to save them, then I'm sure that you would have. Sometimes there's just nothing that you can do."

     Ana sniffed a little, "I know that too. But it doesn't make it any easier. And then tonight everyone else was that patient. It wasn't just a nameless ANBU agent anymore. It was you and Sakura and Naruto and Lady Tsunade and nothing that I did worked. In fact, I was only making it worse. I was only killing you guys faster the harder I tried."

     I pulled her even tighter to my chest and rested my cheek on the top of her head. It's so painful to see her suffering like this.

     Right after the war when Naruto was able to save her with the power that the Sage if the Six Paths had given him, we had thought that Ana's mind was completely back to what it had been before she was pulled into this world. However, that simply was not the case. That's when her nightmares started again, and they've only been getting worse. About once every two weeks, I hold her until the dreams pass. I fall asleep listening for any sign that she might be having some sort of night terror, and whenever I'm out of the village, I can't help but wonder if she gets any rest. Her own imagination is her worst enemy. So I held on tightly until Ana was able to breathe easier again.

     Every time I leave for a mission, I feel guilty because there's no one there for her when she wakes up. I've tried to convince Ana to stay with Sakura or Shizune, but her pride won't allow it. She simply doesn't want to be a "burden." I know now that tomorrow morning she'll apologize and feel horrible for interrupting my sleep and tell me that it's fine if I don't rush over, like she always does.