Visit.
The sky is dark.
Each star glows bright as Kakashi stands over the body of the hag who had forced him to do it,
Her blood spoils his clothes and her carpet,
Blood, Blood, Blood-
“Kakashi-?”
Kakashi turns sharply, knife raised, ready to attack,
“No!! stop-“
He strikes,
“Rin-?”
He misses.
Her hands bleed and mix with the woman’s.
“Kakashi-!”A new voice , a familiar voice,
“Aoi-san , I can -“
“Just give me the blade Kakashi, and don’t utter a single word. Now run, and scrub your hands clean.”
Kakashi does as he was ordered.
____
Kakashi wakes up on the floor. He scrubs his eyes to rub away the sleepiness. That was when he caught sight of his hands. There were red splotches that would have bled had he rubbed them anymore, surrounding his hand.
He sighs and moves to his bag to clean and wrap it up with gauze. He first cleans it gingerly with the alcohol disinfectant he had managed to snag and then grabs the gauze. He wraps it in fluid, familiar movements and stares at his handiwork before taping it. He stretches his finger to check it’s functioning and then steps out of his room after switching off all the appliances he had turned on.
He moves to the kitchen to make himself a cup of coffee. He places a vessel on the stove and peers into the fridge to find a bottle of milk. He swirls it to check for anything flaky or weird in it and pours the milk into the vessel when he decides that there was nothing much to worry about. He decides to make some breakfast for himself and his housemate. Speaking of said housemate, the man had been missing all day. Not that Kakashi minded, but he had been a good distraction from all his swirling thoughts of guilt and regret of being unable to acquire any information about his old coworkers.
No newspapers came here so he had also lost contact with the latest news.
Now he just had two things to do- clean the house and read and maybe as a third entertainment he could add the Alpha as one but the Alpha has been missing in the mornings and so he was back to just two.
And all this sort of was boring. Still, it was better than nothing he would suppose. The milk boils and he switches the vessel with a pan to make himself two eggs. He makes a ‘double sunny side up’ and plates them. He then checks the toaster he had found the previous day. He shakes it and grimaces when tiny little black pieces fall out of it.
Kakashi throws the toaster out, washes his hands and makes himself toast by just flipping the bread in the frying pan he used to make his eggs.
He plates the bread and keeps two of them aside with some coffee for his house mate.
He then moves to the recently clean and trash-free dining table to have his five or rather seven minute breakfast. He inhales it and proceeds to sit down on the couch to read.
He flips to page 89 and continues reading the horrid book Yugao had bought for him.
The girl is in a new genre- fantasy- great- new appearance as well?- nice- she’s a bandit- nice and she’s in a world full of ninja- absolutely wonderful,
He quickly reads the chapter and it is basically her investigating her surroundings after she landed.
He decides to wash the dishes before reading the next chapter. He puts on gloves to prevent water from seeping into his gauze and scrubs his plate and mug clean. He then cleans the pan and vessel he had used to cook himself breakfast.
He removes the gloves and relocates his housemates' lukewarm breakfast to the table and curls up on the couch to read the book again.
Then ah- the immediate confrontation by the best friend of the real lady and the fake- the protagonist - doesn’t lie- the best friend is trusting. Right. He moves on, carrying himself through four chapters with ease- the four chapters were simple and long- describing her struggles and problems after landing into a new mess of a world.
A knock on the door stops him from completing his fifth chapter of the day. He glances back to see the Alpha- his housemate - back.
“Breakfast on the table. ”
“Oh? Thanks. “ The Alpha moves to the kitchen and grabs the sugar. He dumps three spoons of sugar into the coffee and stirs it into some sort of sludge before chugging it down in one sip. Kakashi feels disgusted despite not being the one drinking it. The Alpha then shoves the two toasts into his mouth and disappears into his room.
The Alpha reappears after changing into more sociable clothes and wore sunglasses instead of a blindfold.
“Go get changed. We’re going to visit someone.”
Kakashi shrugs and moves to the room he was provided with to change into slightly decent clothes. He grabs his worn out sandals and heads back to the living room.
The Alpha was hissing something into his phone as he edged closer to the room. The Alpha cuts the call abruptly and his azure blue eyes dart towards him,
“Change of plans,”The Alpha barks, clearly annoyed at something, “Ijichi will drive you there.”
Any lesser Omega would have cowered, baring their necks. But Kakashi only felt that way when he was demanded to be vulnerable in the hands of another. Here, that was not required, the bed was far far away and the sun would not set for many long hours. Kakashi simply shrugs.
The Alpha seems irritated by his lack of words but doesn’t complain. The Alpha nods and turns to walk out of the house before pausing and turning back to Kakashi,
“Also, don’t take any late night showers, the neighbour said that the motor is down. Maybe store some water too,“
Ah, Kakashi realises, the Alpha had noticed. Ideally, an Omega he should tell the Alpha about his tendency but the Alpha needn’t know anything more than necessary,
“Okay,” Kakashi nods, “I won’t,”
The Alpha hums and leaves,
Kakashi fills two large containers and four unused water bottles. Kakashi then washes the plate with the Alpha’s toast and the mug which housed the sludge. He places the sugar back into its rightful position and decides to curl up on the sofa again.
But before he could once again retreat into the safety of a story the doorbell rings and he has to force himself not to groan. With a grunt he stands and opens the door slowly.
“You must be Kakashi-san. I will be your driver” A thin, wiry man greets in rush. Kakashi instinctively looks for the man’s scent and finds no scent or scent patch on the other. So a Beta then, Kakashi concludes, and speaks after a moment of silence,
“Okay?”
“Yes,” An awkward pause “so, uh, please - follow me,”
“And you are..? “ He guesses that the man is the ‘Ijichi’ the Alpha had mentioned.
“Me? I am Ijichi,” the Beta nods,
Kakashi nods in acknowledgement, “Nice to meet you Ijichi-san,”
They take the elevator. The silence was stifling and extremely awkward. Neither made a move to break it or initiate any sort of conversation. Kakashi counts the number of seconds it took for the number on the screen which displayed the floor number to change to pass the time. It only took them a few seconds over sixty to reach their designated floor but those sixty seconds felt much longer.
They shuffle out of the elevator and make their way to the Ijichi gestures,
Ijichi opens the door for him and he slips inside. Ijichi takes the driver's seat and starts the engine. The car hums and soon starts to move at a steady pace. Kakashi leans back and watches the buildings and lamp posts flicker and move back,
Kakashi then realises that he had never questioned where he was being taken and that was perhaps rather careless of him. Extremely careless. He glances at Ijichi who is staring at the road,
“Ijichi-san” He says, raising his voice, “ Where are we headed to?”
“Gojo-sama didn’t tell you?” Ijichi asks, his surprised eyes glancing at him through the rear view mirror,
“No.” Kakashi answers,
“Well, we are headed to the hospital,”
Why, Kakashi wants to ask but wonders if he should. Asking needless questions was not something a docile Omega must do but the sun was still up and would not set any time soon,
So Kakashi decides to not care,
“Why.” Kakashi asks,
“You really do not know?” Ijichi asks,
“No.”
“I- you have a friend, Uzuki-san, don’t you?”
“Yu- yes, yes I do,”Kakashi mumbles,
“We are going to visit her,”
“Why?” Am I really allowed to-
“That I do not know. It was simply a demand placed by Gojo-sama,”
“I see. “ Kakashi mumbles after a few moments, eyes once again moving towards the window to watch the sights the city offered,
They soon arrive at the hospital and Kakashi walks in a daze as Ijichi asks the details of the room in which Yugao Uzuki was staying.
The nurse provides them the room number and takes Ijichi’s sign,
They enter the elevator and travel to the first floor with three others and a lady in a wheelchair , who he assumed had a surgery, going to the third floor.
They step out when the elevator stops and an automated voice says “First Floor.”
Kakashi follows Ijichi who leads him to room 213.
Ijichi then pushes the door open and ushers him in. Kakashi stands in front of Yugao’s bed, staring stiffly at his sandals and not meeting her eyes.
“My, my, why is my snappy Kouhai staring at the ground like he wants it to swallow him?” He hears Yugao’s voice. It was raspy, as though she was sick, but he could hear a smile in her words and he finally looks up,
Yugao sits on her bed, legs stretched out and back supported by pillows. She smiles at him and adds,
“How have you been, Kashi?”
And Kakashi feels like he wants to both cry and laugh. So he does neither and simply sits in the chair next to her and chokes out a ‘Fine,’
“What are you going to do now?” Yugao asks
“I found a benefactor” Kakashi answers after clearing his throat,
Yugao hums, “That’s good,”
“And..you?” He whispers,
“Hayate proposed,”
“Oh. I, wow. “ Kakashi stares dumbly for a few seconds before saying, “Congratulations. I am happy for you.”
Yugao smiles, bright and wide, “Thank you, you emotionally stunted brat.”
Kakashi finally chuckles, choking around his laugh, a smile spreading with familiar warmth settling in his chest. Yugao smiles,
“When are you getting discharged?” Kakashi asks, starting the conversation for once,
“Today,”Yugao answers, “Hayate is coming to pick me up.”
“I see. That’s good.” He pauses before adding, “What happened, what injuries do you..”he trails off,
Yugao shrugs and says “A fracture and some wounds. I’m fine now.” She smiles,
Kakashi nods, but doesn’t return it, an ugly feeling clawing up his underbelly,
“Kakashi,”He hears Yugao say, voice serious, Kakashi looks up to lock his eyes with hers, “Promise me you will stay in touch.”
“I will.”
Yugao leans over and grabs a phone,
“Here keep my number. “
Kakashi snags a tissue and writes down the number she recites with an abandoned blue coloured pen. He then tucks the tissue into the pocket of his pants and decides to take the pen with him as a souvenir.
“Kakashi, promise me you’ll call,”
“Promise,”
And then they bid each other farewell with one last promise to keep in touch.
Kakashi moves mechanically out the doors, down the stairs and stands outside the hospital doors quite lost.
“Kakashi-san, “He hears a voice say and a hand steer him by his wrist, “This way, “
He lets the hand guide him (as he grows even more lost, LosT, lOsT, LoSt, LOST. )
A car door opens and he lets himself be pushed into the car. He sits and stairs out of the window. His mind dangerously blank. His breathing is shallow but steady for now.
The car door opens after a bit and he steps out into the sun again. He looks around but cannot understand or process where he is.
A hands clasps his shoulder, a different one this time,
“Omega, come back.”
A command - but something blocks it off.
A warm sigh can be heard by his ears and the hands on his shoulder lead him inside a building he didn’t know was there behind him.
He is brought into an elevator which brings him to a floor and the hands on his shoulder steadily guide him to an apartment.
He is forced to sit on the couch and then the hands disappear. He looks around. He needs- needs - needs -
He stumbles into the kitchen, his smallest toe hitting the door as he enters. He doesn’t acknowledge the throbbing pain and strides forward towards the knife. He grabs it by the hilt and with startling efficiency he grasps his hair by its base and cuts it off neatly.
He collapses to the floor, gripping the knife with both hands. One hand on the hilt and the other on the edge of the blade drawing blood. He watches as his blood dribbles down his fingers and onto the floor. He watches with distant amusement as though the blood was not his and dripped from some fascinating creature. His eyes find his grey tresses chopped next to him and his lips curl into a smile. Grey clouds his vision as he loses consciousness.
_______________________