Getting Lost on the Roads of Life - a KakaSaku Story [CONCLUDED]

Mountains' Graveyard

"Okay, no need to be so rough, I'm walking where you want me to go, see?" Kakashi grumbled with a voice so hoarse he barely recognized it as his own, making sure to use the next opportunity to put his foot out sideways so that one of the Oni masks who flanked him tripped over it.

It gave him great satisfaction even if more immediate mistreatment followed. It wasn't like these men didn't know he wasn't much affected by pain, but it also didn't stop them from afflicting it often.

Sadists.

Oh well, he had decimated them greatly before. And he planned to do it again, first chance he got. His intent had to be obvious, no wonder they were a little skittish. He would kill them all: For what Sakura had had to go through. For Konoha. For the future.

Karin was unusually quiet, looking spooked and defeated as she shuffled along beside him. The Oni masks had bound their limbs tightly in ways that made it impossible to use hand seals. Kakashi was moulding chakra anyway. It took him longer than usual in his fevered state, but it also gave him something useful to do on their wet, miserable journey into the mountains.

"Is there anything else you can tell me about what we're up against," he whispered to Karin when there was an opportunity to exchange a few hasty words. "Something I could use to our advantage?"

"Will Sasuke come and rescue me?" she asked, sounding weepy but hopeful.

"You can't really hope that," Kakashi frowned, taken aback, "it may sound a little harsh, but Sasuke is not interested in you."

"I know," Karin said with a little sob. "No need to rub it in."

"There are many other men in the world," Kakashi tried to comfort her, "I'm sure you'll eventually meet someone who falls in love with you."

"Nobody falls in love with me! I'm a crazy freak. Should have that head of mine checked when I was younger. It wasn't like I didn't know that... that... that I'm not normal."

"Pffft," Kakashi said, "do you think I am normal? I'm pretty sure I won't pass the psychological checks they're adding to the physical examination."

Hm, did Hokages have to take physicals? Maybe that promotion would solve that problem...

"You seem pretty normal to me," Karin said, looking him over with a frown.

"It's called functional, it's most often good enough," he replied with a shrug, before Oni masks came their way to drive them apart.

The vegetation was beginning to change around them. The forest got denser, the trees shorter and the crispness of the air told him they were steadily gaining altitude. These surroundings seemed vaguely familiar, like a nagging something in the back of your head he couldn't fully place. He felt so light-headed that thinking straight seemed an almost impossible feat, but he had to force his brain into action before they got closer to their final destination.

"You know where they're taking us, right?" Kakashi asked Karin.

Karin nodded.

"Did I come to your rescue there once before?"

Another nod.

"So I goddamn met Rin already... and didn't remember until recently? That's seriously worrying."

Karin threw him a questioning look. He must be talking gibberish in her ears.

"That much about being normal," Kakashi murmured. It would be a lie to claim he wasn't massively concerned. Deliberately sealing memories was one thing, at least he was in control of that, but simply having random things erased...