✔️Heal My Heart {Kakashi Hatake}

110 | well, not quite

I felt like flying as I crossed over the border into the Fire Country. Finally, finally, I was home. It felt so good to be back in familiar territory, surrounded on every side by trees and plants.

A loud bang suddenly sounded, not too far away from where I was. I quickly changed course and headed towards it, wondering what it was. A fight, maybe?

Well, it was indeed a fight. A fight between a dead man and my fiancé, over a princess. Or so it seemed.

"Kakashi!" I called, landing in the trees over his head. "What's going on?"

"Turns out he's not dead," Kakashi said, gripping Shiroha tightly. "Good to see you."

"Good to see you too." I jumped out of the tree and landed nimbly on the dirt beside Kakashi. "But this is a really bad time, dude. I just cured a disease and fought off two rogue ninja, I'm not in the mood to kill you again."

Kokuyōseki laughed. "You always were amusing, princess."

"Again." I sighed. "She's the princess, not me." I pointed at Chinai, who was cowering a few metres away.

"I couldn't care less for her." Kokuyōseki sniffed. "Nor for this heterochromatic clown. I'm here for you, princess."

I unsheathed Hokori and Yorokobi. "Okay, I'll let you off with the 'princess' thing for now. You're here for me? Again? You have a terrible track record, I'll point out. What is this, your fifth attempt?"

"Fourth," Kokuyōseki snapped. "Maybe I've been letting you win so far."

"Mm, doubt that," I said. "I'm curious, though. How'd you avoid death after I slit your throat?"

"I'm just magical, darling." Kokuyōseki laughed.

"One last thing," I said. "Who's that Sabanto dude you were on about last time we fought?"

"Nobody of consequence," Kokuyōseki said airily. "Not to you, anyway."

"Sounds like he's of consequence to me," I responded. "Y'know, since he's the guy who wants me killed or kidnapped or whatever, I've lost track."

"And even he takes orders from a higher power," Kokuyōseki said.

"Interesting," I mused. "Random Sabanto dude giving orders for me to be molested by rogues, taking orders for me to be molested by rogues from a higher power dude. Anything else you got that I can use?"

"Miyoshi," Kakashi murmured warningly.

"It's fine," I assured him. "Based on past records, he's not going to hurt me... oh look, he stabbed me." I glanced down to see his obsidian blade poking out of my midsection, and spontaneously crumbled into earth.

Watching my Earth Clone collapse, I stepped out from the trunk of a tree nearby. "Good job he's so thick he can't tell the difference between an Earth Clone and a human being."

Kakashi let out a long sigh and ran his fingers through his hair. "You gave me a heart attack."

"I'm fine," I said. "Don't worry about me."

"Alright, enough of the cutesy couple mush." Kokuyōseki reached forward to grab his blade from the pile of soil, but Kakashi stepped in front of it.

"I don't think so."

"So you're going to play like that, huh?" Kokuyōseki's playful face morphed into an ugly image of hatred. "Fine. I can play like that."

He flickered, then there were suddenly five of him, and they were all charging at Kakashi. I raced in with Hokori and Yorokobi raised, stabbing into every clone I could reach. Kakashi was left with three, and he was fending them off quite well, for the most part. I took the brief opportunity to sling the obsidian blade into the trunk of a tree, where it vanished from sight.

"Oi," I hissed to Chinai. "Get over here."

She turned to me with eyes wide with fear. "Why?"

I growled. "I haven't got time for your stupid questions, get over here if you want to live!"

Chinai hesitated for a moment, then hurried over to stand beside me. I made the tree containing the blade bend over and curl its branches protectively around her.

"Hey, what is this?!"

"It's for your safety," I replied. "I'll get you out of there once this guy is dead."

"When I'm dead, is that it?" murmured a dangerous voice just behind me. I leaped out of the way just as a fierce punch came flying towards me, and narrowly avoided having an arm broken or worse by the concentrated chakra in the blow.

"Give me back my sword!" Kokuyōseki demanded.

"Never!" I snarled. "Wind Style: Invisible Blade Jutsu!"

Kokuyōseki avoided having his head taken off, but one of my blades hit him in his bad leg, and he screamed in pain as blood gushed from the wound. Taking advantage of the situation, I landed a harsh counter-clockwise kick on his temple, and he stumbled backwards and collapsed to the ground before disappearing into thin air.

I raced over to join Kakashi, who was facing off against the last remaining clone, which had to be the real one. He had his Mangekyō Sharingan ready, and although I was uneasy about it, I didn't say anything.

Kokuyōseki was limping, badly. He also looked prepared to murder, which didn't bode well for Kakashi since I couldn't be killed if I was wanted alive. Kokuyōseki lunged forward, and Kakashi darted out of the way and used Shiroha to send an arc of lightning flying toward the rogue that hit him square in the back. He fell forward onto the ground, and rolled over just in time to receive my heel in his stomach.

Kokuyōseki was beaten. I bound him up in grass to make sure he couldn't escape.

"This is your last opportunity to talk," I told him fiercely. "So talk."

Kokuyōseki glared up at me. "Think you can kill me again? Go on, I dare you. Kill me now and I won't come back. Last time, you simply killed a dummy substitution. I'm the real deal. Do it."

"Answers first." I pressed into his neck with Hokori's tip, and a bead of blood appeared against his dark skin.

"I'll give you answers if you give me my blade," Kokuyōseki answered.

"I can't do that."

"Then I can't talk."

A crumpling sound and a soft scream behind me made me whirl around to see that Kakashi had collapsed. Chinai's eyes were wide and tearful. I felt my heart stop. Had Kakashi used Kamui after all? I looked between Kakashi and Kokuyōseki helplessly.

"Pick one." Kokuyōseki smirked. "Heal your boyfriend, or kill me. Your choice."

I knew he was trying to mess with me. I knew it was just to make me afraid, or stressed, or both. It still didn't stop me from panicking for a moment. I didn't know what to do.

You've got to calm down, whispered the echo of a memory. Breathe slowly.

Then I knew what to do. I sheathed my blades and walked over to Kakashi. Kokuyōseki laughed out loud, but I spun around, shot him a glare, and made the sign of the Snake for the second time that day. The earth opened up and the chakra-enforced grass pushed him down into the earth, and he was swallowed up, never to be seen again.