Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Creatures of the Night Series Book 1 Secrets ❯ A Werewolf... ( Chapter 1 )
Sora sat by the campfire, bushing a few strands of long blonde hair from her face and peering into the surrounding darkness of the Forest of Death. Beside her, examining the outsides of the Heaven and Earth Scrolls was Hanyou, his short black hair falling into his brown eyes. Blinking her soft blue eyes, she looked at him with a frown.
"Hanyou, where is he?"
Hanyou snorted and leaned back on his arms. "How should I know where the little brat is? I'm not his keeper."
"Hanyou, you jerk, we need him!"
"Gods above!" Hanyou laid himself back and glared up at the sky. "How did that brat even manage to get into the academy at his age? He had to have been two when he started!"
"And you probably should have been twenty when they finally decided you should have graduated. As it is, you've already failed twice!"
"Hey, shut-up, Sora! At least I'm mature!"
"That can be debated…"
"And what is that supposed to mean?"
"By the gods - you're jealous of a six-year-old! Just how mature is that?"
From the darkness ahead of them, a small figure emerged. Stepping into the warm firelight, said six-year-old Hatake Kakashi, with black eyes and silver hair that fell over his left eye, frowned at his bickering teammates. After a few moments of listening to the two teens argue he decided to make his presence known.
"Unless you two plan on not sleeping during this test," he said loudly, catching the others attentions, "then we'd better get to sleep. From what I can see between the clouds, it looks like it's nearing midnight and I want to get those scrolls in first thing."
Sora folded her arms across her chest and nodded at the sensible words while Hanyou rolled himself over onto his side, back to the fire, and curled around the scrolls.
"If that's what you want," he said, "then you can keep first watch tonight."
"I was about to say that myself," Kakashi said, eyes narrowed at Hanyou. Ignoring the teen's growl of frustration, Kakashi sat himself by the fire and watched the darkness around him.
"G'night," Sora said, ignoring the tension between the boys and curling up on the other side of the fire.
"Good night," Kakashi replied as Hanyou gave a sleepy grunt.
As time passed, the fire grew low and the clouds began to disperse from the sky, revealing a full moon, shining in all her glory.
A wolf howled in the distance.
Before the cry had even ended, Kakashi was kneeling next to Sora, about to shake her awake.
That had been awful loud and had an almost human-like tone to it.
He shook his head and was about to grab Sora's shoulder when it howled again.
Was it just him, or was it even closer than before?
Kakashi bit his bottom lip and almost whimpered when Hanyou grunted in his sleep. The child looked over at the elder and narrowed his eyes as he thought. The fifteen-year-old would laugh at him if he knew a wolf had scared Kakashi. Sitting back on his heels, he looked in the howls direction.
If it was a wolf, it was probably alone.
And it was probably sick if it was coming this close to the scent of humans.
Making sure he had his shuriken and kunai with him, he stood and faced the wolfs direction.
He was going to scare it off before it scared him off.
~*~
Sora's eyes few open and she sat up. Looking around, she saw that Hanyou had woken too and was glaring off into the distance while stuffing the two scrolls down his shirt. With a soft whimper, she turned to him and said softly, "What was that? It sounded awful…"
"I don't…"
A loud howl spilt the night air and a feeble, pained cry followed.
Sora and Hanyou were on their feet and running before the howl ended.
~*~
The wolf growled, blood dripping from its muzzle. Looking at the still body before it, it threw back its head and howled. Running its tongue over its teeth, it opened its mouth and was about to rip into the body again when something sharp grazed its shoulder.
Sora pulled another kunai from her belt pouch as Hanyou threw a pair of shuriken at the beast. The wolf lifted his shaggy black head to watch the teens with glowing yellow eyes and stepped over the body at its paws.
"Get out of here!" Sora shrieked at it, throwing the second kunai, "Leave him alone!"
The beast snarled as the sharp object just barely missed its shoulder and leapt at her. Heavy paws knocked her over, and she screamed, smacking the wolf across the muzzle, causing droplets of blood to fall on her. The beast opened its jaws and was about to bite into her shoulder when it gave a loud, pained howl. Stumbling off Sora, the wolf turned to Hanyou, snarling, and Sora saw the two shuriken embedded in its back.
With pained, scared snarling, the wolf suddenly seemed to decide that the two teens were something it couldn't deal with anymore and it bolted off into the darkness, spilt blood leaving a crimson trail.
Once the beast was out of sight, Sora turned to the body and cried, "Kakashi!"
Kneeling beside the six-year-old, she rolled him onto his side, ignoring how quickly her hand turned red.
"Is he… alive?" Hanyou asked tentatively.
"He's bleeding," Sora said, feeling her stomach twisting itself into knots. "Dead things don't bleed." Very gently, she turned him onto his back, and turned his head to one side, trying to ignore the fact that, along with the rest of him, the entire left half of his face was coated in blood. Carefully, she placed a hand just in front of his nose and mouth. "And I can feel him breathing. It's irregular though." She looked at Hanyou with concerned eyes. "If we don't get him out of here now he is going to die."
For a moment, Hanyou was still, just staring at Kakashi's body, and Sora was about to start yelling at him when, with a care and grace Sora had never seen in him before, Hanyou reached over and picked the child up.
"Go put out the fire," he told Sora. "Now."
Sora leapt to her feet and bolted to their campsite. Quickly, she smothered the flames and ran back to Hanyou. Together the two ran from the Forest to try and save their youngest teammate.
~*~
The Fourth Hokage walked down the hospital hallway, hiding his panic and worry under a calm, collected mask. Pausing outside room 218, he drew a deep breath and pushed open the door.
Sora and Hanyou looked up at him from their chairs, but the Fourth's attention was on the still child lying on the bed.
Most of Kakashi's small body was wrapped in gauze, some of it stained red. Tubes and wires of all sorts were hooked up to him, supplying nutrients, replacing blood, measuring his heartbeat and the sort. But what concerned him the most were the thick layers of gauze wrapped around his head, covering his left eye.
"Ah, Hokage-sama," a voice said from behind the Fourth. Resisting the urge to jump at the unexpected noise, the Fourth stepped out of the doorway and allowed the doctor into the room. Casting a quick glance at the clipboard in his hands, the doctor looked to the two teens and said, "Hatake Kakashi was hurt very badly - his skull was fractured, left arm and right leg broken, two ribs broken with four more fractured, and…" He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. "His left eye was ripped out."
Sora gasped and placed a hand over Kakashi's while Hanyou growled and balled his hands into fists.
No left eye meant that Kakashi's vision was permanently damaged.
With his vision permanently damaged, he could no longer be a ninja.
The doctor bowed his head for a moment before continuing. "He has a glass eye in the socket right now and will most likely have to keep it unless someone donates and eye."
Sora turned a light green and murmured to herself, "An eye. Someone donating an eye…"
Not hearing her, the doctor said, "He had to have over a hundred stitches; it will be a miracle if he survives the night.
Hanyou leaned back in his chair, scowling and muttering, "It will be a miracle if he wants to survive the night…"
The doctor bowed his head once more and turned to the Fourth. "And what for do you wish, Hokage-sama?"
"I merely require a blood sample." The doctor bowed respectfully and left.
Looking once more at the still body of Kakashi, the Fourth frowned before turning and walking away.
~*~
That night, as the full moon rose in the sky, shining her silvery light upon Konohagakure, a nurse walked into room 218. Looking at the body on the bed, she shook her head. Children that young should not be allowed to become ninja.
After checking up on the child and making sure nothing was wrong with any of the equipment, she walked over to the window, placing her hands on the drawn curtain.
No sense in having a window and leaving it closed.
Pushing the curtains apart, she smiled as silver light poured into the room, past the set iron bars. Not a cloud in the sky.
From behind her came a soft groan.
Turning around, she saw with sharp vision that nothing had changed at all with the child.
Looking back to the stars, she frowned. Was she starting to hear things?
A low, animalistic growl.
Once more she turned and paled.
A single, glowing yellow eye stared at her from the darkness.
~*~
The doctor bolted down the hallway, pausing at the end of the T-shaped corridor, gasping and listening intently.
A second bloodcurdling scream followed, this time, by a loud howling, loudest to his left.
Bolting down that corridor, he saw a nurse throw open the door of room 218. Ignoring her torn uniform, she slammed the door shut and leaned against it with all her might.
"What's going on here?" the doctor cried.
"I… It…" Something slammed into the door, making it jolt with a dull thud and causing the nurse to whimper. "It attacked."
"What did?"
"I don't know - It!" She leaned harder against the door and shrieked, "Don't just stand there - help!"
The doctor, startled at her sudden words, grabbed a nearby couch and pushed it towards her. Seeing the piece of furniture, the nurse let go of the door o grab the arm and pull it quickly in front of the door. Whatever was inside the room slammed against the door again, but with the couch in place, the door didn't move.
Breathing a sigh, the nurse sat on the couch and looked at the doctor.
"We need to tell the Hokage."
~*~
The Fourth looked at the seven Jounin standing before him. Taking a breath, he sad to them, "It's here… It's here and It's already taken a victim."
Instantly a babble of voices broke out."
"It's here?!"
"I thought It was in the Hidden Mist Country!"
"Where is It now?"
"How safe is Konohagakure?"
"Who is the victim?"
"Are they alive?"
"Just one in one night? That's a new record for It."
The Fourth held up a hand and the voices quieted, allowing him to continue. "Yes It really is here, and It was found in the Forest of Death. The victim is six-year-old Hatake Kakashi. He is still alive - It was driven off by Hatake's teammates. He was left in critical condition, but I don't think that It will allow him to die."
"Damn beast," muttered Konoha, the youngest Jounin with deep green hair and brown eyes, "going after a child." Looking at the Fourth, she asked, "This child, Hatake, what is to be done with him? It did take him, correct?
"It did," the Fourth said with a nod.
"Then he should be killed, lest It claim us all!" Raiz, dark haired and eyed with battle formed muscles, cried.
"We will do no such thing," Kubi, with soft brown hair and black eyes, said, "except as a last resort."
"And what else do we have going for us?" Raiz asked.
Kubi was about to retort when the Fourth spoke. "I have been researching ever since I found out about It, and I think I have found something. It is called the Wolfsbane Potion and it will, supposedly, keep It from gaining control."
"Wolfsba… There is no such plant in the Fire Country," Raiz said defiantly.
"No," said the Fourth, causing Raiz to smile triumphantly. "But - " Raiz's smile fell slightly " - it does grown in the Earth Country." Raiz snorted and the Fourth Frowned at him. "I will send three of you to the Earth Country to get the wolfsbane. The rest of you, I will send into the Forest of Death to go and kill It. Konoha, Kubi, Nezu - you three will go for the Wolfsbane. Raiz, since you seem particularly bloodthirsty, you will lead the rest into the Forest. Remember that it is morning now, so It will be waiting for night. Now go."
~*~
The Fourth walked down the hospital halls once more, frowning when he saw the couch shoved in front of the door to room 218. Shoving it aside haphazardly, he opened the door and paused.
The bed had been moved from its original position on the western wall to on its side near the northern wall, the bedding and sheets ripped apart and the metal warped. The machines lay on the floor, glass shattered, metal bent out shape. The window was shattered was the iron bars warped. All over the wall were deep grooves and bits of plaster and wood were scattered across the floor.
And there, in the southwest corner, curled into a tight ball and with sliver stands of what looked like fur on his clothing, was Kakashi.
Stepping over the ruined equipment, the Fourth placed a hand on Kakashi's shoulder, giving him a gently shake.
Opening his only eye, the child focused on him (the Fourth noticed that the bandage, as well as the glass eye, were missing) and gasped softly. Attempting to stand, he gave a cry of pain and collapsed back to the floor.
"'M sorry," he whimpered. "I just can't get up…"
"That's all right," the Fourth said softly. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a pair of leather gloves. "Give me your hand." Without waiting for Kakashi to exert any more energy, he grabbed the child's left hand (ignoring the child's cry) and quickly stuffed the glove on, repeating the process with Kakashi's right hand.
Once both gloves were securely placed on Kakashi's hands, the Fourth, very gently, picked him up, saying, "Don't worry, you're being moved to a new room - one better suited to you than this."
~*~
Nezu, with natural gray hair and oaken eyes, placed the package in her arms on the table. Turning to Kubi and Konoha, who were putting down their own burdens, she asked them, "Should we stay here? Or wait for the Fourth?"
Kubi shrugged and placed his hand on his package. "I can't see why he'd want us here."
"He's right," the Fourth's voice came from the doorway, causing all three to jump. "I really don't require any - oh that's nice…"
Nezu blinked in confusion and looked in the direction the Fourth was currently making a face at.
There, sitting on a polished, pine desk with dried blood cascading down the front of it and onto the floor, was a severed wolf's head. Course black fur was matted with dried blood and dirt; its muzzle gapingly open, showing rows of sharp fangs, and its tongue lolling out. Death-dulled, gold eyes shared blankly ahead.
"Ew. Gross," Konoha squeaked, turning and gagging.
"Wow. I didn't notice that there," Kubi said. "No wonder it smelled funny in here."
"Well," Nazu said, placing her hands on her hips and resisting her own urge to gag. "It looks like you should congratulate Raiz for killing It."
"I should also congratulate him on keeping It's head intact. It will make the potion simpler," said the Fourth, walking up to the head (Nezu noticed that he had what looked like silver furs clinging to his clothing). Grasping Its ear with one hand, he used the other to rip out a handful of fur. Dismissing the three Jounin, he placed the fur beside head and stepped towards one of the bookshelves, pulling a few silver furs from his clothing.
It was time to make the potion.
~*~
The doctor stood before Hanyou and Sora outside of Kakashi's new room, clipboard in hand. "I have some good news for you two. We have a donor."
"A… donor?" Sora asked. "For what? Kakashi already has blood…"
"No, not blood. An organ donor. Kakashi can get a new eye."
Sora turned a slight green but nodded anyway. Who cared how he got it, he needed that eye.
"Who donated it?" Hanyou asked.
"Uchiha Kuristuu. She passed away only yesterday. Hatake's operation will begin in a few hours.
~*~
Bright white lights shone upon Kakashi's unconscious body as the surgeon took the bandage from the child's head. Placing the soiled gauze to one side, he pushed up the left eyelid and removed the glass ball. Carefully, taking all precautions, he took the donated eye and placed it into Kakashi's eye socket and began to stitch him back up.
As he tied off the last knot that would keep the child's flesh intact until it healed, Kakashi gave a pained groan. Placing his equipment to one side, the surgeon frowned.
He wasn't supposed to be waking up for a few hours now…
Suddenly, Kakashi's eyes flew open and he screamed.
Thrashing violently, the child threw back his head and screwed his eyes shut again, throwing his hands over them.
Calming only slightly, he sat up and looked briefly at the surgeon with one black eye and one eye a deep blood red with three dots within it.
A Sharingan eye!
Closing his eyes once again, the child whined loudly and then passed out once more.
Afraid of what else the child would do, the surgeon quickly bandaged the child's head again and called for the others to take him away.
~*~
Kakashi smiled softly as Sora grasped his hand and rambled about some inane thing. He had stopped paying attention to her words some time ago. Taking his uncovered eye away from her face, he glanced around his new room for what felt like the hundredth time.
Cold, silvery-steel made all four of his walls. The only opening was for the steel door and that was always bolted shut from the outside. His light came from four ceiling lights, all evenly spaced and each with a thin wire mesh over the openings. His bed, the steel bedside table and two steel chairs were bolted to the floor (also steel) and the cheap hospital equipment seemed to be the only movable things there.
As Sora continued to babble, the door squeaked open and there stood the Fourth, a goblet of something smoking in his hands. Immediately the girl leapt to her feet and bowed respectfully.
"Do you wish me to leave, Hokage-sama?" she questioned.
The Fourth shook his head. "No, Kayama, you do not have to leave if you do not want to." He walked up to Kakashi and held out the goblet, allowing Sora to take it from him. "This is a new medicine for you. Drink it all." Nodding his head to the both of them, he left the room.
Sora took a quick glance in the smoking goblet, seeing that the liquid inside was a clouded white. Setting the goblet on the table, she helped Kakashi into a sitting position and then helped him drink it, ignoring his complaints of how nasty it tasted.
"The Hokage gave it to you," she responded. "So therefore, you will drink it all."
As the last nasty swallow went down his throat, Kakashi made a face. "It makes my stomach feel funny."
"Well, it's got to hurt to heal," Sora said, placing the goblet aside and helping Kakashi lay back down. "Well, it's almost time for visiting hours to end, so, good-night Kakashi."
"Night, Sora."
The blonde smiled at him and left, blinking when she stepped outside and saw the full moon already creeping upwards into the sky.
As Kakashi's eye closed for sleep, he gave a soft groan.
He felt funny.
He shook his head and remembering what Sora had told him.
But this felt different than the potion. He itched all over.
He reached with his left hand and scratched his right shoulder, but the leather gloves he was forced to wear nullified the desired effect. And then he realized -
His left hand.
He stopped and looked at his limb.
Had it healed already? No… He could almost feel the broken still in his forearm.
It just didn't hurt.
In fact…
Nothing hurt!
He then noticed something on his arm. He brought it closer to his face for a better look, but his nose suddenly seemed a bit too big…
~*~
The nurse stood outside the room. She bit her bottom lip, remembering the night before and not really wanting to go inside.
But the Hokage had told her it should be safe tonight…
Drawing a deep breath, she unbolted the door and opened it, stepping inside.
Something leapt at her.
She covered her mouth to stifle a shriek and took a step back when something yipped at her.
Whimpering, she looked down and saw a small, silver wolf pup sitting before her, sniffing her feet and ankles and wagging its tail. Once it had enough of her feet, it looked at her pale face and she saw that it had a single, glowing, golden eye.
With another playful yip, the wolf stood on its hind legs, placing its forepaws on her knees (the highest point it could reach) and gave her a wolfish grin, wagging its tail harder.
For a moment, she was frozen in both fear and confusion.
This wasn't the snarling, rabid beast from the night before. This was a cute, playful puppy.
She hesitantly reached down and scratched behind one of its ears, smiling when it closed its eye and gave a pleasured whine. It was around then that she noticed the bandage wrapped around its head, covering its left eye.
Well, she thought, he's certainly calmed down from last night. It looks like Hokage-sama's potion worked just fine.
~*~
Years later, twenty-seven-year-old Kakashi drank the last of his potion, realizing with a grimace that it tasted just like it did the first time he'd ever had it. Sighing remorsefully, he placed the goblet on the desk beside him and threw his hitai-ate onto his bed. As he walked to his window, pushing it open to allow the full moon to shine her silvery light upon him, he thought of what had gotten him thought the years.
Don't fight the change.
With a wolfish smile, Kakashi the silver werewolf leapt onto the windowsill and then onto the rooftop to enjoy the sweet serenity of night.
~*~
Holy shit! I managed to type up the first chap!
Naruto: Someone call the church! A miracle has happened!
Nine: *pretends to faint from shock*
Kakashi: Wow. I didn't believe you when you said you'd do it, but you did. I now owe Iruka ten bucks.
Angel: You had a firkin bet on me?!
Kakashi: Yeah. I said that if you ever did write it, it would be about ten years form now. *leaves*
Angel: … *twitch* … That almost could have happened, is the sad thing…
Nine: Now all you need to do is type the other five chapters you have and write the rest of it.
Angel: Bleh. Not tonight. I need to do things tonight.
Naruto: Like?
Angel: Stuff. Anyway, if you have any questions, go ahead and ask them, I'll answer them in the next ANs and I don't own Nartuo or the Wolfsbane Potion - that one came from Harry Potter or whatever else you can find that belongs to someone else. So, see you next time! ^^