Past and Present // Kakashi Fic

12.***

  "What is this?" his voice was soft as his fingers traced the outline of my curse mark.  

"Orochimaru placed this curse mark on my so that he could effectively control my chakra flow, making it easier to imprison and conduct experiments on me." I turned to face him, his eyes full of sadness. "Kakashi, I need you to seal it. Without sealing it, I will not be able to manifest any chakra in my main charka points."

"Can't we just remove it? Break the curse mark seal that currently binds it to you? Surely that would be better?"

"No one knows how to remove it. It is a powerful jutsu and I don't have the time to wait around for someone to discover how to free me of this. That's why I need you to seal it."

He thought deeply for a moment, probably trying to think of a way to remove it but obviously coming up empty when he replied, "I'll do it."

I put my hand on his face as I spoke, "Kakashi, you'll need to seal it with the Evil Sealing Jutsu, it's the only one capable of completing the task."

If he wasn't concerned before, he definitely was now. Both Kakashi and I knew that this particular jutsu was not only very difficult and charka consuming for the user, but it was also extremely painful for the recipient. It is not a common jutsu and I had only seen it used once. The recipient died from the pain.

I cut him off just as he started to object, "I know you know how to do it. I am aware of the risks but honestly Kakashi, compared to the last 12 years, it'll be nothing." I forced a smile and pulled his headband down and his mask up. "We'll need the others to keep watch and I assume you haven't let them in on the secret of your model good looks?"

His mask shifted slightly and I knew he was smiling, "No, those are exclusively for you."

We made our way back to the camp to tell the others and begin the jutsu. As we neared the camp I could see Naruto trying so hard to get Sasuke's and Sakura's attention.

"Has it been hard for him?" I didn't need to say anything else, Kakashi knew exactly what I meant.

"Incredibly hard. He has been shunned by the entire village and so he misbehaves as his way of being noticed. This of course, doesn't make the villagers like him any more than they do. He has great potential though, and I believe that, one day, he'll be as great as his dad."

A tear escaped my eye and I wiped it away before he could see. We entered the circle of the others and briefly told them what we needed them to do.

"So, you want us to what? Keep a look out for enemies? For how long?" Sakura asked.

"For as long as you need to. This jutsu is very draining on the user and as such I may be rendered unconscious for some time. Until I am able to tell you otherwise, I expect you all to keep watch." Kakashi's voice was stern and authoritative, I liked this side of him.

The three young genin stood around us at equal distances to offer as much protection as they could, while still keeping a curious eye on us.

I knelt down in front of Kakashi and lowers my gown until my entire back was bare. Kakashi pulled a Kunai from his belt, one that I recognised very well, and made a small cut on the index finger of his right hand.

"Kakashi Sensei! What are you doing?!" Sakura screamed at a decibel I did not think possible.

He answered without turning around, "This kind of jutsu requires the characters to be drawn in blood". He began drawing the Japanese characters on my back, making their way in a circle outward from the curse mark. Once he was done he wiped his hand on his pants, "are you ready?"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breathe, "as ready as I'll ever be."

This justu required the hand signs to be weaved then chakra infused into the seal via the characters drawn in blood. If it is successful, the characters will slowly retreat towards the curse mark finally forming a solid circle around it.

I heard Kakashi suck in a deep breath as he began the hand signs.

Hare, snake, horse, ram, bird, tiger, hare, snake, that's as many as I could figure out as Kakashi picked up his speed and I could not keep track.

Before long he had finished the hand signs and I felt his soft hand upon my back. After a couple of seconds an almighty heat began radiating from where I assumed the characters had been drawn. My breathing became laboured and sweat began to beat as the pain increased.

"Ahhhh!" I let out a blood curdling scream and felt the flow of charka from Kakashi hesitate. "Keep going!" I knew he didn't want to but he did.

The pain became almost unbearable and I doubled over. Hands in the dirt, I screeched again for Kakashi to continue. The pain hit my spinal nerves as the jutsu neared its conclusion and my body sprung up as if I was praying to the heavens.

I felt the pain dissipate and Kakashi's hand removed from my back. I couldn't hear anything over the sound of my own breath, but I pulled myself to my feet. Unsteadily, I stood in front of Kakashi and the three genin smiling.

"Ha, it worked" I swayed uneasy on my feet and took a step forward towards Kakashi. I made one foot move then felt something warm dripping down my face. I put my hand up to my nose and pulled it away to see crimson blood covering my hand. I looked up at Kakashi but my vision was blurred. There was 3 of him, and he was swaying. Why didn't he just stay still and stop making clones.

I coughed and the force was enough to push me off my feet. I stumbled forward and fell straight into the arms of one of the Kakashi's. I coughed again, into his chest and pulled my head away to see more blood, a lot more blood on his jacket.

This was it. I reached my hand up to Kakashi's face and his fear stricken eye looked down at me close to tears.

"At least we tried my love." His eye welled up, but I didn't see anything come of it before I was plunged into darkness.