When everything in my life went wrong, I could have given up...I could have ended it...now, nearly four years later, I'm making a change and...maybe I'll see the light. I was done with their pity, done with their stares. Leaving everything behind me...
The instant I gained some form of consciousness, I could feel the ache that seemed to fill every inch of my head. Followed by that, my cheeks felt flush and even my eyelids were warm. None of these things motivated me to wake up. This was one of those times where I just wanted to roll over and go back to bed, and just sleep through whatever this funk was.
...But I'm not home...and I'm not in bed...what am I laying on?
I became very self aware as I realized I felt lighter and I could feel the breeze on my left arm. My right arm was lifted gently from whatever it laid on. I quickly came to my senses and what was about to happen and snatched whoever's hand mid-air before they could strip the other.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I groaned out. I finally opened my eyes to see Kakashi leaning over me where I laid in the grass under a tree. I glanced side to side-it looked just to be me and him-then looked back to him with narrowed eyes.
Kakashi didn't waver, one hand still raising up my arm and the other trapped in mine hovering at the edge of my sleeve. "You were incapacitated for quite some time longer than I had expected. It turns out you weren't weakened by the jutsu, but an onsetting fever. The overexertion of your chakra just masked it, then accelerated it." He explained.
Great, getting sick on a mission. That's not embarrassing at all..."And so you're stripping me because?" I drawled out, not understanding what this had to do with being sick.
"Even with Sakura's medical nin training, the only thing she was able to relieve is any pain you would have felt in your joints and muscles once up and traveling again. But your temperature is still high, and between this heat and all your layers it's only getting worse." That's when I really took in my attire. My jacket was folded up under my head and my shoes and the other sleeve were on the ground beside me. Kakashi pulled his hand from my grasp and grabbed the edge of the sleeve by my wrist. "You need to let your skin breathe and your body cool down in this shade" Kakashi advised, then tugged to take it off before without waiting for my stubborn protest.
The sleeve didn't make it farther than my elbow before I grabbed the other end and tugged it back into place. But I wasn't fast enough to pull it back before the jagged pink scar tissue cutting across my bicep peeked over the edge...maybe he didn't see it..."I'll leave what you've already taken off for now, but this stays." I told him firmly and unwavering.
Kakashi eyed me for a moment with a bit of aggravation over my stubbornness when he was trying to help with my current condition. "Are you really so stubborn that you'd rather overheat than let someone see what's under that?" He asked.
I pretended to think about it for a moment, "Yep. Yes I am"
He wasn't wrong about the overheat part. The quickness of my movement as I jerked my arm from both of his hands made my head feel a little out of it for a moment. But when my head calmed, my cheeks felt like they only got hotter. Didn't mean I was going to budge, though.
"God help me if she's as stubborn as Naruto" He muttered to himself as he rolled his eyes at my response.
"Hey! I am not Naruto!" I exclaimed at the comparison...and true to my overheated brain, my mind quickly forgot what I was just exasperated about and went blank for a moment. "Hey, where is Naruto...and Sakura?" I asked, looking around again.
"We're 10 miles out from the museum. They went ahead to complete the drop off."
"But you're the Jonin...why didn't you go?"
"Because you needed care and you're my student, not theirs. Now, you should drink some water to stay hydrated. Do you need help sitting up?"
I shook my head and tried to do it myself, but took it too far. Instead of just propping myself up to sit, I went straight for a stand. I instantly felt like I was in a daze and stumbled back. Kakashi grabbed for my hand to help catch me, but my fingers slipped through his hand and I still landed with a bit of a bump onto my ass.
First I winced from my now bruised derrière, then I gasped when I finally glanced up at Kakashi. He hadn't been able to catch my hand because my arm sleeve slipped right off in his hand instead.
Kakashi's eye widened slightly, unable to stop himself from looking at the three long scars that marred my once flawless skin. "I'm sorry, I wasn't trying to-" I snatched the sleeve from his hand and he stopped talking. "What happened to your arm?" He couldn't stop himself from asking. No one can stop themselves from asking. That's why I cover it up. I don't like talking about it and I don't like thinking about it, and those two things tend to go hand in hand.
"What about 'I don't like to talk about myself' does no one understand?" I groaned with some annoyance.
But Kakashi didn't falter or back down. He tore his eyes away from my arm and looked at me with his own annoyance. Kakashi reached up, pulling his headband back to his forehead.
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"Maybe if you did talk about yourself once in a while, you might find someone who understands."
Now I went wide eyed, seeing both eyes for the first time; and the scar that ran across his left eye and down his cheek. But my eyes weren't just wide from that. Even with his face still half covered, I couldn't help but blush from seeing this much of him.
The words came out before I even heard it. "What happened to your eye?" I sounded just like Kakashi did a moment ago, but I couldn't help myself...maybe he couldn't help himself either.
"If you don't have to tell me, I don't have to tell you." He answered, trying to make a point.
And there went my understanding and my annoyance came right back. "It's not the same for women as it is for men, you know" I grumbled while tugging my arm sleeve back on with a little too much emphasis. "For you, scars just add to your strong, rugged handsomeness, but for me-"
"-For you it does nothing to detract from your beauty, so you shouldn't let it bother you."
I froze mid tending to my arm and gazed up at him slowly...what did he just say? My cheeks got hotter, and again it wasn't from the fever. "You think I'm beautiful..."
"Well..." Kakashi caught himself off guard, not having thought about what he said first. The words just came out of his mouth, "You think I'm strong and ruggedly handsome" He retorted, and we both shied away from looking at each other for a moment as we blushed.
"Kakashi! You won't believe this!" Naruto's voice shouted across to us in the distance. Then Sakura smacked him across the back of his head for shouting out their position and he quietened down till they came closer to us.
Kakashi didn't turn to face them just yet. He finally opened the scarred eye and winked at me before covering it back up with the headband.
Naruto quickly ran the rest of the way, unable to wait to tell us what's got him so excited. He opened the new satchel he acquired from the museum and held it open for us to see. That relic certainly had been worth a small fortune. "Can you imagine how much ramen this could buy! No, wait! My own personal ramen chef!"
Sorry this one is a little shorter than most. I do have some bigger things in mind for this story, trust me! But you've always got to have those little chapters that lead you to the big things, or else you end up confused wondering 'how in the hell did this happen?!'
