Kindling

Kakashi looked up the tall stone stairs to Konoha Museum of Cultural History, its imposing facade rising high above him where he stood at the base of the steps staring up, the banners for the exhibit of natural history of the long gone Forest of Death and the exhibit of clan myth fluttering in the wind; the carved lead death-mask of the most famous corpse in the museum flexing strangely in the wind. Kakashi grimaced, he didn’t want to work here. He really didn’t want to work here as a night guard of all things (bit of a step down from spec ops, but then again, that was a long time ago) but if he didn’t find a stable job soon Hiruzen would make good on his threat of calling Child Services on him to take away Naruto, never mind that Minato and Kushina had willed their only child to Kakashi if they died and his godfather was not in Konoha at that moment (a pretty good bet with Jiraiya). Oh Hiruzen had fought it, had tried his hardest to get custody himslef or at least tie it up in waiting for Jiraiya to come back (yeah, as if), but in the end Kushina had gotten a damned good lawyer and Kakashi found himslef the suddenly the adopted father/brother of an infant only weeks old – all while mourning his sudo-family and burning to know who had killed the former mayor and his wife in their home. Which Hiruzen had tired to use as a reason that Kakashi should give the child to him so that the Hatake could hunt down the killers; honestly it had been a close call, Kakashi had almost done it, almost let that sweet child be raised by the former mayor and his current superior but….Naruto had been sent to him, Minato and Kushina had trusted him with their only child and the last blood of two powerful families (there was a lot of money and power that little boy would come into when he hit his majority, Kakashi was very aware of that now even if Naruto was bullied at school for his poor situation and learning style).

So, with so many hands grasping for Naruto Kakashi had to do everything in his power to keep the child safely in his care, he couldn’t imagine what would happen if that sweet ten year old was in the old man’s hands. With that in mind Kakashi took a deep breath and fixed his face mask better over his nose before walking up the steps, stepping into the warmth of the museum and glancing around at the hanging signs and many brochures. It was dominated by the great skeleton of a roaring bijuu staring at the doors and a life size wax figure of Kagami Uchiha on a tall black horse hand raised proudly to halt all comers into the museum he had founded before his untimely death. Biting back another sigh Kakashi approached the big kiosk with its spinning display of a large replica of the famous forbidden scroll of Konoha, the young man working there looked up with a smile pulling at his lips, the scar across his nose shifting with the movement, “How can I help you?” he asked cheerfully, Kakashi’s eyes darting down to the name tag on his chest. “Iruka, hi, I’m here for the night guard position?” the Hatake said awkwardly, gritting his teeth to get through this (he had dealt with torture, he could do this, he could, for Naruto’s smile he could) though to his credit Iruka’s smile didn’t change in the slightest as he chirped, “Oh, right! I forgot Danzo, Homura, and Koharu were retiring. Here, give me a moment and I will lead you down to their office ok?”

Kakashi grunted in understanding and wandered over to the wax figure of Kagami Uchiha, looking up into those famous red glinting eyes and wondering, the Sharingan was nothing more than a myth now of course; all the old mythical chakra techniques were, but sometimes…. “He was an amazing man, losing him so young was a tragedy.” Kakashi turned to blink sleepily at Iruka, humming absently in agreement before glancing back at the figure, “The office?” “Right! Of course” Iruka waved for Kakashi to follow him and the Hatake shoved his hands into his pockets, eyes flickering over the entrances and exits by habit. “Do you think it existed?” the Hatake asked boredly and ahead of him Iruka jumped slightly glancing back over his shoulder at the dark eyed man, trying to shove down his wariness at having the silent man padding behind him like a wolf hiding in the shadows. “Do I think what was real?” Iruka asked as he tried to get his heart under control, Kakashi shrugged absently, “Chakra, the Sharingan, the forbidden techniques, all the myths of Konoha that you keep tucked away in here.” Iruka hummed, thinking, “I don’t know, if it ever was it isn’t now of course and hasn’t been for a long, long time. Still, it's hard to say, I wouldn’t want to discount all the myths given how many of them there is especially if you go back to the days of Ancient Fire and the Warring clans- you really should spend some time in the Tomb of Madara Uchiha, it's an amazing exhibit, we even have his sarcophagus and preserved body! and-" he paused and coughed "sorry, he's my subject of study. So, I think maybe they had some sort of martial art or hypnotism techniques we don’t know about now but Sharingan? Actual magical red eyes? That’s harder to believe.”

Kakashi hummed again, “And yet some Uchiha still have a red shade to their eyes.” He pointed out banally, shoving away the thoughts about the Uchiha he had once known best (Obito was long gone, he and Rin both lost to that hellish mission) with long practice. Iruka glanced back again, looking surprised, “Well, yes, I have seen that once or twice when one of them visited but, an odd eye color is just genetics you know, like the Hyuuga and their pale eyes. I don’t think it means they used to have magic – though it may be part of why the stories started…” he trailed off with a thoughtful moue and then shook his head, waving at the old metal door labeled Security in pealing letters “Well, here you are, Security, if it all goes well come find me some time and I’ll see if the Museum Director will let me give you a tour – though, going all the way through the entire museum is the work of nearly an entire day if you want to do it right!” With that bright statement the young man cheerfully headed back to his post at a fast clip, leaving Kakashi standing in front of the door. With a deep sigh Kakashi turned back to the door and knocked briskly, rocking back on his heels as there was a large amount of shuffling from in the office and loud voices yelling indistinctly until the door flew open in front of him, an old, bent woman with her hair in a tight ball on top of her head was glaring up at him, a sour look on her face. “What do you want?” she snapped, mean and crotchety and Kakashi just raised a brow, unimpressed, “I’m here for the night guard position.” He stated blandly and she stared at him for another moment before snorting and turning back into the cramped office, waving him to follow.

Biting down annoyance (for Naruto, for Naruto, he could do this for Naruto, all he would have to do was lock up and then he could just wander and read and it would be fine) Kakashi followed her into the cluttered office filled with detritus, cleaning things, old broken equipment and three dented metal lockers. Also inside were two men, just as old as the woman, one squat with a long beard and small glasses over his beady eyes and the other looked as though in his prime he had been a strong, broad man though the musculature had withered over the years and he now had not only an arm in a sling but one side of his face was covered in a large eyepatch. The squat, glasses man grumbled under his breath but the taller one’s mouth twisted in what was probably supposed to be a welcoming smile though it very much missed the mark, “So you’re here for the night guard position? Welcome, welcome, I am Danzo Shimura, that is Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, we have to say it's good to see such a strapping young man applying!” the geniality didn’t fit Danzo’s face and Kakashi unconsciously shifted into his least threatening slouch that he had been told made him look disreputable and lazy in the extreme – and also allowed the book shoved in his bag to be more visible as he shrugged indolently, “Seemed like a good job to make a buck without having to do much.” his hand twitched to his book like a smoker reaching for a joint by habit as he spoke and tried his best not to let on that he had noticed the swift look the old guards exchanged at his words – and his best was very good.

“Right, nice and quiet, perfect job to get some reading done if you want while doing the rounds” Danzo said smugly “especially if you are in need of some money.” Carefully Kakashi shifted awkwardly and didn’t let his eyes narrow in suspicion (how did they know about Kakashi needing the job and did they know why? Why? How? What was going on here?), looking like a down on his luck, apathetic man that was faintly embarrassed by his situation in so much as he could bring himslef to care at all. Danzo’s eye glinted and Homura’s glasses flashed ominously (huh, he hadn’t known that happened to people in real life) “Then this sounds like this perfect job for you son! Let me show you around and tell you how it works.” Indolent and now committed to getting this job and finding out what the hell was going on here Kakashi slumped out of the office after the old man, the cane in Danzo’s hand clicking on the stone floors as he led Kakashi through the lower levels, pointing out exits to check and alarms before leading the way up to the actual exhibit halls, his eyes glinting with something nastily amused as he warned Kakashi about making sure every exhibit was locked up- and in- before he dealt with the lower sections. They drew to a stop at the thrown open doors to a large stone tomb, fake braziers burning in the corners of the stone recreation of Madara Uchiha’s tomb; two large statues of Tengu stood guard on either side of the door to the inner chamber where a large stone sarcophagus sat, the lid at least two feet thick and covered in holy paper chains and large recreations of the sealing scrolls that had covered the sarcophagus when it was found, each carefully recorded before the sarcophagus was moved and the ancient paper fell apart.

“Now this one” Danzo said, something odd in his eyes “this one you best make sure never gets out, sarcophagus with the body of Madara Uchiha still inside it and behind it-“ right Kakashi could see a glint of gold on the wall behind the sarcophagus “-the golden Urn of the Sharingan, said to house Madara Uchiha’s eyes themselves but sealed so tightly we will never know if it does or not.” he clicked his tongue “Best to make sure no one gets out of there for sure.” Danzo said darkly, Kakashi turning to blink at him in confusion, “You mean make sure no one gets in.” the Hatake corrected and Danzo laughed “Of course!”, stumping along further down the hall as Kakashi took one last look in the chamber, something odd shivering down his spine. Honestly, Kakashi was astonished that the museum was deciding to have only one night guard instead of the three they had before even if the current three were far too old to do the job well; it was just insane to ask one man to watch the whole museum at night given the sheer value of some of the many objects in the museum, especially since as far as they knew it was one man without training since it wasn’t like he had put his spec ops time on his resume so all it showed was an uninspired list of low level jobs that Kakashi never stayed at long and on paper he looked like a job hopper and wastrel – not the person to put in charge of a museum full of fucking gold covered antiques and gemstones, protective glass or not.

Still, by the time the museum was closing down all three old guards were clearing out there lockers, none of them apparently planning to stay and help Kakashi through his first night as they groused and muttered about retirement and wandered away, a maglight, a ring of keys, and a walkie-talkie connected to nothing shoved into his hands (wait, he was starting tonight? Thank the kami that Naruto had Gai to get him home from school today and make sure that he got through the evening), followed by a large sheaf of papers with a typed list on it and a cheerful, “Here is everything you need to know, good luck!” and then they were gone and Kakashi was alone in the messy office. Fuck. Ok, he had time to clean this space up a bit before the museum closed or it was going to drive him insane; then he would check for any lingers and lock up and then read the papers.

Two hours later the office was clean, the museum was empty but for him, the alarms were armed and Kakashi was ready to start locking up just as the light started going down; with a sigh Kakashi, stood in the lobby, front door locked and wondering if he should start on the exhibits as told or deal with the lower levels where people were most likely to enter the museum – Kakashi froze, a shiver crawling down his spine as something instinctive in him absolutely froze. What-? Slowly, crouched lowly and eyes flickering over the wide empty lobby with its may balconies (kami this was a terrible spot to be, so many lines of sight where he couldn’t see them) Kakashi turned on the spot, only to freeze as a low rumbling growl sounded behind him, nearly shaking the room and vibrating Kakashi’s bones vibrate. Only – Kakashi would have preferred a sniper on second thought, he would have preferred an entire team of snipers over the skeleton of the nine tails bijuu growling at him, nine long skeleton tails lashing and empty eye sockets fixed on Kakashi. Oh.

Shit.

Slowly Kakashi swallowed, hand fisting around the papers he had been carrying around and holding very, very still; running he knew would only provoke a predator but, what the hell else could he do? What – Kitsune, what did kitsune like or fear? Dogs, ok, tomorrow Kakashi could bring a dog or two – or all of them, but what could he do right now? Alcohol? Alcohol was hard on kitsune right? “Yes, exactly, don’t move” the sudden voice behind Kakashi almost made him jump and whip around but he forced himself to hold still “here, let me just..” there was a softly click-clack and then a large black horse drew up next to him the bijuu’s skeletal face swiveling from him to the horse and back, “I don’t suppose you have any alcohol? It’s the best way to distract him, Kurama can’t drink it of course but he will try, kitsune you know.” Swallowing hard Kakashi fished in his bag for the flask he was never without even though he never touched the stuff (some habits are hard to kick), slowly unscrewing the cap and waving it in the bijuu’s skeleton’s direction, the sweet scent of Umeshu wafting powerfully through the air and clearly distracting the skeleton (fuck this thing had a lot of body language for so little body). “Ok” said the man on the horse (yes Kakashi was in denial) “now throw it to him and grab my hand, we need to get going” which, yes, Kakashi was all for getting away from the giant skeleton but – if the noises that he could hear from the rest of the museum were anything to go by he wasn’t sure he wanted to know what else was going on.

Still, giant skeleton of bijuu or get on a horse and face the insanity he could feel pressing on the edges of his sanity? Yeah, he would take the horse even though he was positive that that horse had been plastic and fake fur an hour ago. Gritting his teeth Kakashi tossed the flask, not lingering to watch the bijuu’s head follow its flight or the great jaws snap close on it, as he spun, grabbed the gloved hand and vaulted onto the tall back stallion, grabbing onto the man in front of him and staring blankly at the high collar and uchiwa on the back of the mantle and the head topped with curly hair. “Did I fall asleep?” Kakashi asked numbly, Kagami Uchiha, the founder of the museum laughing brightly as his horse leapt into a fast canter away from the bijuu, “’Fraid not my friend, you are very much awake and sober- you are sober right?- this is rather normal all things considered, now, we should hurry before things get too out of control – it takes rather a lot to keep this place running and I am guessing you haven’t really had anything explained to you?” Kakashi made a sound his dogs would have approved of, and possibly only they could have heard, still Kagami seemed to get it, laughing again, “Thought not, lets ride then! There is work to do!”

And oh man wasn’t there, as Kagami explain (fucking Kagami Uchiha) they had to lock in the natural exhibits so no one got eaten and keep the various historical exhibits separated to keep the peace- “There is a reason that there are doors between rooms”- locking down things as fast as they could though Kakashi hadn’t missed the conflicted expression on the famous Uchiha’s face when he thought Kakashi wasn’t looking (hmmm, locking up what were clearly sentient beings…hmmm). Finally they reached the higher halls of the museum and – Kakashi paused, “Is someone screaming?” he asked slowly and Kagami paled, reluctantly spurring his horse in the direction of the screaming until they drew to a stop in front of the tomb of Madara Uchiha were Kakashi could see the sarcophagus lid shaking, all two feet thick stone jolting and shaking like whatever was inside was fighting to get out, only the glowing seal scrolls draped over the stone seeming to hold it down. “Yes” said Kagami softly “someone is screaming, every night he is screaming, trying to get out.” Kakashi’s eyes narrowed “And you never have?” he asked, trying to keep his voice even as Kagami twitched and shook his head, “No, not when he was sealed in his sarcophagus upon his death – if they feared him that much then to go so far what would he do now? And, Guard, you have to understand it is his power that brings us to life every night, do you see the Urn?” and yes, now that his eyes were dragged from the shaking sarcophagus and he had the height of the horse he could see that the golden Urn was glowing like a small sun, waves of gold, purple, and red light pouring out of it.

“We don’t know how it works, not really, all we know is that the day that His exhibit arrived was the first night we woke up and the Urn always glows like that.” Kagami confided softly, eyes fixed on the shaking sarcophagus as Kakashi thought about that, the Urn, the Urn that was said to have Madara’s eyes, the eyes that were the most mythical of any Uchiha other than their long ago legendary forefather. Then something stuck Kakashi and he jolted, Kagami was wax, the other human exhibits were all figures of plastic or wax or – but, according to everyone he had talked to Madara Uchiha’s body was in there. That wasn’t an animated figure with the memories of continuance they carried, that was maybe a living person, possibly one that breathed and bled and – holy shit, this – Danzo’s words rang through his head “Best to make sure no one gets out of there for sure.” And Kakashi’s jaw tightened, the stories all said that at the end of his life Madara Uchiha had been mad and vengeful and nearly destroyed Konoha though how or why he had done that Kakashi didn’t know. But still – a living person….trapped in the dark….”How long has he been in there?” the Hatake asked briskly, swinging off the horse as Kagami jolted, twisting to look at him with red sheened dark eyes, “I – fifty four years since he came here, not sure about before that. I don’t know the history of his exhibit.”

Kami, fifty four years trapped in a sealed stone box. Licking his lips Kakashi approached the sarcophagus trying to ignore the Tengu watching him, their stone heads turning as he approached the sarcophagus, “Hey” he called over the screams “can you hear me in there?” there was a pause in the screams and then a sharp demanding rap on the stone in response, ok, so he could hear, “Look” Kakashi said slowly “I can’t – I can’t let you out tonight, I need to do some research, but, look, if I do let you out what would keep you from trying to, you know, kill everyone?” there was another pause and the horse shifted uncomfortably at the door to the tomb and then finally, sounding as though it hurt to speak loud enough to hear through the rock and possibly as though the air was running out, in a near wail the corpse screamed “Tobirama!”