Choice - Leave or die.
Kakashi dreams.
Kakashi dreams of Obito of all people. Obito, who dumped all this shit on him, who ran away from the problems he caused to keep Run safe, who Kakashi had forced to leave, to get away, to live.
Obito, who Kakashi loved.
Obito as a little boy, aged 14 or so.
He stares down at Obito who asks him,
“Why are you here, Bakashi?”
“Why am I where?”
“Why didn’t you leave?”
“You know that -“
“Bullshit. Yes, yes you can.”
“I have a debt -“
“A debt can be repaid with money. You don’t need to repay it with your life-“
“That’s all I am worth-“
“Shut up , Kakashi. Where the hell did all these..omegan stereotypical thoughts come from?”
“Using big words, aren’t you?”
“Shut up.”
Kakashi chuckles,
“Well it has been nearly seven years since I left the red light district.. I’ve been in Konoha’s service house for too long, I suppose.”
Obito remains silent,
“How is -“
“Bakashi. Wake up.”
“It’s comfy here, though..Why should I?”
“Because you have one more chance, one more reason to leave now. Don’t screw up.”
Consciousness tugs at him through the darkness and he groggily opens his eyes in a weird room filled with lit candles and papers with weird symbols. He feels rope on his arms and feet. He was seated in a chair. He blinks lethargically and glances around, staring at the papers around with weird lines on it.
“Aww, you’re already up..I wanted to be the first thing you see!”
He glances up at the man who had walked in. It was Gojo, in some sort of weird costume. He even wore a bandage around his eyes. Weird guy. And for whatever reason, Kakashi felt delirious enough to joke,
“Maa, do you company so badly that you would tie me up to keep you company? I would do it without all these you know? Is this your torture room?or perhaps a lair to enslave om-”
“You make me feel like some weird Alpha who tied up an Omega for fun”
“That what you did-“
“I have a really good reason for it, so let me explain, alright?”
Kakashi doesn’t respond.
“Dammit, I wanted to have an entrance and the vibe of the detective sorta movie sorta - anyway , so, have you ever heard of curses?”
Kakashi simply raises a brow and asks,
“Your job’s real then?”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing, I thought you were a fraud or something.”
“Why would you think that?!”
“Well, you looked a little shady and your job description was even more weird and then the tip was far too generous.”
“First off, rude. secondly ,you’ve been cursed, so congrats and also I can’t exorcise it because if I did you’d die cause it’s already diffused into your body, but hey, you can form cursed energy now and well there is the fact the curse is currently passive-“
“You’ll be dogshit as a teacher or lecturer.” Kakashi grunts, irritated, he’s tired,
“Huh?” Gojo tilts his head to the side, confused
“What do you think I’ll understand if you go on and on about shit I don’t know anything about?”
Gojo tilts his head back and sighs,
“Okay, look, there are things called curses which are created by negative emotions from us. Each curse has a different power level. You have been cursed or rather a curse is clinging to you right now, it probably has been inside you for a long time now. It became active yesterday, at the tavern, and well, let’s just say that much cursed energy caused a few accidents and injuries to people but they’ll be fine. However, right now , the elders have their wrinkled, gross eyes on you and want me to assess you and find out whether you are a threat. Which means you’re stuck with me until I find out what is up with your curse.”
“Right.” He grimaces at the building headache and sighs, maybe he should ask Yugao for her - Yugao- The tavern- the fire - oh gods-
“What about the fire? Is everyone fine?”
“Oh! so you finally remember. Few injured, some dead, most survived. “
“What about Yugao?”
“The purple hair? She’s fine. Unconscious, in a hospital in Tokyo but she’s fine, physically at least.”
Kakashi breathes a sigh of relief before grimacing at the pain building on his bound arms,
“Can you untie me now?” He asks
“Oh- yeah. Sorry.”The man grins sheepishly and unties Kakashi.
“Why was I tied up anyway.”
“To see who would wake up first, you or the curse.”
“If it hadn’t been me?”
“You’d be dead.” The Alpha shrugs.
Kakashi sighs, not exactly sad or relieved, just tired..
“Right. Now where are we going to go?”
“To my house.”
“Where’s that?”
“An apartment in Tokyo.”
“I can’t leave Konoha.”Kakashi says immediately,
“You already left Konoha but why do you say that?”
“I have a debt to the lady of the service-“
“Well, just consider that it’s been repaid thanks to your little meltdown. We paid them a hefty sum and plus that lady’s dead. So, when we reevaluate everything, you have no one to repay but me.”
The Alpha grins,
“So, what do you say, Hatake Kakashi? Will you come with me? Or will you die?”
Kakashi sighs, really, really wanting to go back but what can he even do?
And he was feeling more suicidal than usual and if..if Yugao or Mina, if none of them were there then why must he cling to Konoha? Can he simply leave? Shouldn’t he -
“You’re getting one more chance Kakashi. To leave. To escape. Don’t screw it up”
Screw everything , He decides, glancing at the white haired. Then again, it’s not like he has a choice.
It’s either this or death.
And as suicidal as Kakashi is, he doesn’t fancy dying in a sex dungeon.
“I don’t really have a choice, do I?”
The Alpha smiles, pleased.
“Well then, Kakashi, in movies they normally say hell, but well, I’m here, so” He cuts away the ropes “Welcome to the world of curses.”
How wonderful.
And oddly fitting.
________
“Don’t you own anything?”The Alpha asks, eyes glued to his backpack.
Kakashi frowns,
“These books are mine-“
“Like anything other than books and weirdly cut clothes?”
Kakashi shrugs,”Not really.”
“Don’t you buy anything with the money you earn?”
“I do buy things now and then -“Kakashi pauses, suddenly remembering his ring and brooch (his father’s).
He moves towards the drawers and pushes the papers and magazines in it. He nearly sighs in relief when he finds both jewels of the Hatake clan.
“What have you got there?”
“Just some stuff of mine.” He answers,
The Alpha gazes curiously the jewels and asks, extending his open palm towards Kakashi,
“Can I see them? “
Kakashi frowns but complies, placing both in the Alpha’s palm. The Alpha stares at it - Or well Kakashi assumes he does (What’s with the stupid blindfold?) - and smiles before handing it back to Kakashi,
“Ideally, I should confiscate those..but considering that those are obviously important to you, I’ll let you keep them.”
“Why would you want these?”Kakashi asks with a raised brow,
“Well, to put it simply, they are cursed or rather,” He raises his head, “they have been cursed by someone”
He glances down at the two jewels he had bought with the savings he had kept for himself before stuffing both of them into the pocket of his borrowed jeans,
Somehow, that new information doesn’t surprise Kakashi at all,
The Hatake’s are cursed, aren’t they?
What difference would it make to him?
“Ready to go?” The alpha asks and Kakashi nods,
The Alpha pulls Kakashi close and claps his hands. The whole world tilts and they end up in some..garden. Kakashi feels like he’s going to puke.
“Ah, so the technique still needs a little fine tuning.”The Alpha pouts,
“Not to worry!”The Alpha smiles down at him,
“We’ll reach our destination in a few tries.” Kakashi did not believe this man one bit.
The world tilts nearly seven times before Kakashi is released from the Alpha’s hold and hears,
“We’re here”
And then Kakashi pukes his guts out, ripping away the mask on his face as he does.
“Eww.”Is the only reaction he hears from the Alpha who hesitantly pats him on the back.
He wipes his mouth with the back of his hand before blacking out. Hopefully he doesn’t land on his own vomit, it was a pain to clean it out of his head last time.
__________