When Kakashi had decided to go on a jog, he hadn't expected to be kidnapped. Well, that was a lie, Kakashi was always ready for attempted kidnapping/assassination.
What he didn't expect, was that the person would be able to turn into mist and teleport him. Which was how he found himself in his current situation. 'This was probably the reason for my irritation.'
"So... why am I here?"
"Well that's simple." The man who kidnapped him said. Kakashi was wearing handcuffs and a blindfold. The handcuffs separated his hands, so he couldn't form hand signs, and the blindfold was wet for some reason.
"Yeah okay, just because it's simple, doesn't mean I know why I'm here."
"You're here because we require your skills."
"And what, pray tell, do you know of my skills?" Kakashi wrinkled his nose at how much he sounded like Orochimaru. Sure the man was good now, but that didn't mean he had to like his voice.
"Well, we know you have more than one Quirk, we also know that you aren't from here."
"Wow. I can't really say I care, but that's good for you. Can I leave?"
"No. Either you comply, or you die, pick one." A very scratchy voice said.
"I hope you know, that was a terrible rhyme." This earned Kakashi a kick to the stomach.
"Ouch okay, sorry for insulting your rhymes." This time it was a slap. "Let's say I agree with you, and I'm not saying I do, but what's your sob story? Left alone? Abused? Quirk malfunction? Hurt someone you love?" Kakashi could hear scratchy's breathing hitch. "Ah, so a mixture of the last two." He concluded. "And what? You hate heroes because...?"
"No one was there to save me. So I'll show the world-"
"Don't say pain, that sounds too similar to a psychopath-turned-good that I used to know."
"I want to show the world that heroes aren't as good as they seem."
"Okay. So you say you're angry because no one was there for the little guy, right? Well I'm saying that, while I understand your anger, that's bullshit."
"WHAT?!" He yelled.
"I'm not good at this talk-no-jutsu schtick, but I know that heroes can't save everyone, I also know that there will always be people out there who want to. Can you honestly expect to be able to destroy every piece of heroism?" Scratchy was silent. "There'll always be a stubborn kid with a dream. And then that kid shows the rest of the world that maybe it's not so bad, and people start to trust him. It's a whole cycle of bullshit, but it'll happen eventually. Be it during your lifetime, or after you die. No one lives forever, even if you think you can." Kakashi was beginning to think that maybe Naruto had rubbed off on him a little too much.
"Shut up."
"I've met people like you. It never turns out well. Someone wants immortality, but throws away what little humanity and morality they have left. In the end, they still fail. Someone wants revenge, but loses what was left of their sanity in the process. Someone makes allies, only to get stabbed in the back by the one person they thought was with them. Someone is drowning in their own sentimentality, too tired to see past the lies and deceit they knew was there.
"You are sad. You are sad and disappointed. You wanted to be saved. You were expecting the heroes to come for you, and while maybe you don't expect that anymore, you are still that same child. A child who needs someone to pat them on the head and tell them where to go and what to do." Kakashi was secretly glad for all those therapists and all those talks with Minato he had when he was younger. All he had to do was smack this kid with a little bit of sense and talk-no-jutsu, and then boom! Or so he hoped.
"Shut up!"
"Tell me, what are you going to do when you achieve your dream?"
"SHUT UP!" Kakashi felt a force collide with his torso.
"You really need more meat on your bones-ack." Kakashi felt something collide with his face, and a cloth put over his face, he felt water being poured over the cloth. Kakashi gagged, and after too many seconds of restricted breathing, the cloth was removed. 'Oh great, torture.' Kakashi thought bitterly, and he spat the water out of his mouth.
"We are the League of Villains." A different voice spoke. "You have powers, and we require them."
"Oh?" Kakashi coughed, "But I'm just your average highschool student."
"Are you?" The same voice said. "If you aid us in our goal, our teacher might be able to get you back to your world."
Then came the laughter. Lots of it. Which got him a gut punch. Kakashi assumed that this punch wasn't delivered by Scratchy, because it didn't feel like he was hit in the stomach with a duckling.
He felt someone's hand brush his leg, and then there was pain. The gag was taken off.
"Is it just me, or does anyone else's leg feel like it's eroding?" Kakashi said weakly.
"Just you, this is my Quirk, see." Scratchy said.
"Yeah that's nice." Kakashi broke the hand cuffs. "Wanna see mine?"
"How did you-"
"Chidori!" He ran forward, and was stopped by a familiar mist. "Maybe another time?" He teased, before he shunshined back to his room. Kakashi immediately collapsed due to his leg. He quickly took off the blindfold, and cursed. The skin on his leg was pretty much gone, you could see the muscle. There was a lot of blood. "Shit... goddamn it." 'Is Aizawa home? Maybe... I don't know, should I call for him? Ow... fuck.' Kakashi dragged his foot to the door, ignoring the stinging in his torso. "Uh... Aizawa?" Kakashi steadied himself against the wall of the living room, and Aizawa turned to face him.
"Jesus Christ Kakashi! What happened?! Aizawa and Hizashi ran over to him.
"Well, I ran into this guy who had this teleportation Quirk, then I got kidnapped. This dude with a scratchy voice touched me, then boom, my leg was like that."
"Shou', I'm calling an ambulance." Hizashi was already on the phone.
"Who would've guessed that having your skin eroded would hurt so much?" Kakashi joked weakly.
Aizawa examined his leg. "This is probably going to hurt." He put a wet cloth over the injury, and Kakashi inhaled sharply.
"The ambulance is on its way." Hizashi said and he sat next to Kakashi. Kakashi's back was against a wall, and his injured leg was on Aizawa's lap.
"Do you have any other injuries?"
"... No."
"Okay... were you hit anywhere else?"
"Oh yeah, they kicked me in the ribs."
"Then why didn't you say so?!"
"Maa maa, it's just some light bruising."
"Just some light bruising." Aizawa muttered incredulously. "How does that not count as an injury?!"
"Eh." Kakashi shrugged. After a minute or two, the ambulance pulled up at the house, and Kakashi was put on a stretcher. Aizawa and Hizashi joined him in the ambulance, and the doctors asked him a few questions. He gave them just enough knowledge for them to leave him alone, but left out some key features.
They kept trying to take off his mask, but Kakashi managed to come up with some bullshit excuse.
Kakashi forced himself to stay awake, he didn't want to fall asleep in front of doctors if he could help it.
"You should rest." One of them said. Her tone was gentle, and the woman reminded Kakashi of Sakura, in a way. Well... most pink-haired medics would probably remind him of Sakura, but there was a certain fierceness in her tone that was eerily reminiscent of her.
"Maa...."
"Sleep." She ordered.
"R-right." Kakashi nodded and closed his eyes. After a few minutes, they'd arrived at the hospital.
Kakashi wrinkled his nose at the smell of disinfectant. It was even stronger than the smell in the Konoha hospitals. 'I can't breathe. This is why I hate hospitals... one of the reasons.'
"Kakashi? You okay?" Hizashi noticed his discomfort.
"I'm fine."
"You sure, you're looking a little-"
"I'm... fine." He insisted.
"Okay." Hizashi glanced at Aizawa who shrugged.
Another doctor came in and put some ointment on Kakashi's leg and bandaged it, they also wrapped his torso. He also suggested pain killers, which Kakashi refused.
"Why won't you take the pain killers?" Aizawa asked once the doctor had left.
"Because... they impair... my senses." Kakashi said slowly. He was feeling lightheaded from the scent of the hospital.
"You wouldn't be experiencing shortness of breath if you took off your mask."
"When can I leave?" Kakashi ignored him.
"After you talk to the police. Why, do you have somewhere to be?"
Kakashi lay back onto the bed and shut his eyes.
"Hi, I'm Suzuki Himari, the detective. How are you feeling, Hatake-kun?"
'Kami, why?' The perfume radiating off her was enough to completely replace the hospital smell, but it wasn't any better. "Like... shit." Kakashi muttered.
She laughed, "I can imagine."
'Please go shower for a couple hours, then come back.'
"So, do you remember what happened?"
Kakashi took a deep breath, and pushed his discomfort away. "Yeah, there was a person with a warp Quirk, and it took me to some place underground, you know villains, living up to their cliches." Kakashi coughed, "If I had to guess, I'd say it was a bar, the smell of alcohol was pretty strong. They said some stuff that I didn't care to remember, asked me to join them, I questioned their morals, told them to fuck off, and then I escaped. Oh yeah, pretty sure this dude touched me somewhere on my leg, then my skin began to erode."
"You seem very unbothered by this." Suzuki noted.
Kakashi almost grinned. Almost. "Well yeah, I've been kidnapped before." He said this for the sole purpose of seeing them all get bent out of shape.
Three pairs of eyes widened, and Kakashi stifled a laugh. "I'll leave you three to talk."
"Thank you." Aizawa nodded, and she left. The room was silent, before Hizashi spoke.
"You've been kidnapped before?"
"Yeah." He wasn't just talking about his time being a ninja, granted, when he was transferred here no one could lay a hand on him, but they tried. And then they died. 'I'm much better at rhyming than scratchy.' Kakashi thought proudly.
"I mean after I turned say... 12, no one could lay a hand on me," not here at least, "most kidnappers don't expect a 12 year old to be able to fight back, so... eh." Kakashi shrugged. 'Oh the looks on their faces.' Kakashi thought while remembering the first kidnapping attempt.
"I just... need a moment. And some coffee. I'll be back." Aizawa slowly stood up, and left the room.
"Did... did they ever hurt you?" Hizashi asked.
'Don't look at me with your Minato-esque eyes.' Kakashi thought glumly. "Well I can't really say... you know how childhood is, you don't really remember that much."
"That is so very obviously bullshit, I don't even know if you're lying or not."
Kakashi shrugged, and got out of bed.
"Woah woah, where d'you think you're going, little listener?"
"Well, I was thinking I'd go back to the house, you know, catch up on homework, devise evil plans of revenge, that sort of thing."
"You've just been injured, take a break once in a while."
"Aizawa said I could leave once I spoke to the police, and I believe Ms. Suzuki stated that she was a detective." Kakashi shrugged.
Hizashi sighed. "Do you have something against hospitals?"
"Yes." Kakashi said, though he didn't offer any more information.
"Okay, I'll go find Shouta, then we'll sign you out." Hizashi smiled gently, then left to find his husband.
Kakashi sat on the hospital bed and went through his kidnapping in his head. They were likely to come back for him, he knew that, and he didn't want to get any of the people around him involved either.
He wasn't going to say some bullshit about how "this was his fight" and how "no one else should have to get involved" because he knew better. These people would hurt people in the future, and while he didn't normally wouldn't care about that, he wasn't nominated to be Hokage for nothing, so he didn't just want to watch while the powerless were targeted, which they would be.
In a way, scratchy reminded him of a younger Sasuke, blinded by his hatred until someone beat the sense into him. This "teacher" of his was Orochimaru, and the other members of The League are team Hebi. Kakashi really hoped that he wouldn't have to be Naruto in this situation. That really wasn't his style.
Kakashi could sit here making endless comparisons to his world another time, but he wasn't going to. This time, it wasn't his job to take responsibility for scratchy. This time, he could watch from the sidelines.
Not that he was going to.
Once he was discharged from the hospital, Aizawa informed him that he would be getting another therapist. He made sure to detail that it wasn't because they thought he was weak, or couldn't handle himself, but because he didn't have to. It was because, although he may try to deny it, everyone needs help with things, and you can never get used to traumatic experiences, even if you tell yourself you have.
Kakashi couldn't really argue with him, so he just nodded. Aizawa had also told him that it was highly possible that he would need to talk to another detective because of the information he had. This didn't bother Kakashi at all, he'd expected it since The League was gaining publicity.
When the three of them returned to the house('home' Kakashi reminded himself), Aizawa and Hizashi went straight to bed. Kakashi didn't blame them, it had been a long night, and they were probably tired. Kakashi, on the other hand, didn't go to sleep, he turned on the computer and pulled out his notebook,
1. Geography
2. ✔︎ Basic Japanese history, a more in-depth look later
3. ✔︎ Japanese culture (somewhat similar to Konoha)
4. ✔︎ Conversational French and Spanish (why not?)
5. Rocket Science
a) ✔︎ Physics
b)Engineering
c) Chemistry
d)Statics
e) Aerodynamics
f) Flight software systems
g) Space navigations
h) ✔︎ Calculus
6. Medical science
a) Chemistry
b) General Biology
c) ✔︎ Physics
d) ✔︎ Calculus
e) Microbiology
7. Law
8. History of Slavery in Africa
9. The Russian revolution
10. Tepui tabletop mountains
11. Species in the Amazon
12. Ancient Egypt
13. Quirk history
14. ✘ WW1 & 2
(Oh my lord this list took so long to make)
This was an ever growing list of things that Kakashi wanted to learn about. He was making progress on numbers 7, 8 and 10, but there was more to numbers 6 and 5 than he'd previously thought (he was starting to understand why people chose one occupation and stuck with it). And while he could name almost all the countries in the world, they had capitals, and other cities inside. He did research on the World Wars, and found he wanted nothing to do with them (why research war when you've experienced it twice?). Even though it was challenging, Kakashi was the happiest he had been since he'd come here. Happiest he had been at this age.
By the time he shut off the computer, it was 5am. Kakashi shrugged it off and went to bed for 2 hours. For once, instead of having his sleep plagued with nightmares, images of the places he'd seen played on repeat until he fell asleep.
Kind of an awkward ending, but I think it's cute.