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Kakashi’s sandal squished into a puddle as he pulled up his other sandal from the sucking mud. Rain poured down from the black storm clouds overhead and splattered his cloak. Kakashi looked up at the gates of the Village Hidden in the Mist and sighed in relief. A cough rose in his throat but he swallowed it back.
Just a little bit longer, Kakashi thought. Even though his cloak had kept him relatively dry he still felt damp from the two day run through the rain. He shivered, tightened the cloak around him, and made his way unthreateningly toward the gate.
“Who goes there?” a Mist ninja called.
“Hatake Kakashi of the Leaf,” the jonin answered. The outer gate opened and Kakashi advanced to the secondary gate. Once the primary gate closed behind him two more Mist ninja approached with lanterns. Kakashi slowly pushed the hood on his cloak back, aware of the three ninja who’d jumped down behind him. His silver locks were immediately drenched by the onslaught.
The ninja with lanterns examined Kakashi’s face, then one said gruffly, “your orders?”
Kakashi leisurely pushed back the left side of his cloak and just as slowly withdrew a small scroll from a pouch. He handed the scroll to the Mist ninja who asked for it. He broke the Hokage’s seal, reading the inscription.
The Mist ninja pocketed the scroll for their records and nodded. “Welcome to the Hidden Mist Village Kakashi.”
Kakashi bowed in response. He didn’t bother to flip his hood back up, his head was completely soaked. When the secondary gate opened he walked through and hastened toward Mizukage Tower.
As the Leaf ninja approached the tower he was told to stop once more. He bent to cough for a moment but once he straightened up the guard recognized him and opened the door. “Lady Mizukage is expecting you,” he said.
Kakashi bowed again and entered the tower. By the time he’d climbed to the top floor the last Hatake was panting. He wiped his forehead and scowled at the moisture on his gloved hand. He was trying to decide if it was rain or sweat when a shudder ran through him. He shook his head to clear it and stood up straight. Striding down the hall to the Mizukage’s door he thought, almost there.
Even as he approached the door he heard a raised voice call, “enter, Hatake.”
Kakashi did as he was bidden. Inside of the round office sat the Mizukage herself and one of her advisors. The kunoichi looked up from the report she was reading and rose. She was wearing a blue dress with a swooping neckline that only just covered her chest. She had mesh armor underneath her dress and her auburn hair cascaded in layers down her back to her ankles. Her green eyes were partially covered by bangs that swept across her face.
She smirked, “Hatake Kakashi, it’s indeed unusual to have such an esteemed and famous ninja delivering a scroll.”
Kakashi cleared his throat, then had to clear it again after meeting such resistance at his first attempt. “Lady Tsunade wished to put the Leaf’s best foot forward,” Kakashi responded effortlessly, “as it is of the utmost importance that inter-village relations remain smooth.”
The Mizukage’s smile faded a bit. The Mist’s relations with anyone, much less other villages, had been anything but smooth before she had taken over. He’d traded her small dig for one of his own. “A bit bold aren’t you?”
“My Hokage trusts me to do my job, that is all,” Kakashi responded. He’d begun to sweat under his cloak and was feeling unusually warm. His face and head in particular felt like they were radiating heat into the room.
“I assume you have the scroll then?” The Mizukage prompted.
The jonin’s eye widened. “Of course Lady Mizukage,” Kakashi spat out, embarrassed he’d let his mind wander. He reached into a different pouch and withdrew a much larger and thicker scroll then the one he’d offered at the gate. He approached the desk but was intercepted by the woman’s aide. The older man had short gray hair and one eye covered. Kakashi recoiled the tiniest bit at the hostility. As a result he’d inhaled too fast and quickly stifled a cough. The aide’s eye narrowed but the Mizukage frowned.
“Is everything alright Kakashi?” She asked, more curious than concerned.
Kakashi straightened up and quickly handed the scroll to the aide. The older man was definitely scowling now as he took the scroll from the Leaf ninja and brought it to his kage.
Kakashi carefully inhaled and replied, “fine Lady Mizukage. I apologize for keeping you waiting.”
The Mizukage turned her frowning face from the ninja to the message he’d delivered. She broke the Hokage’s seal and began to read the scroll. Kakashi stood very still, not wanting to give the aide another reason to suspect him of foul play.
The minutes ticked by as the Mizukage read. Kakashi wished he’d taken his cloak off as soon as he’d entered the tower. He was burning up underneath it. The heat made him drowsy and he longed to lie down and get some sleep. His eyelid drooped frequently and he was having a harder and harder time of keeping it open.
After what seemed like ages the Mizukage looked up and said, “from what I can see in the document so far there’s no need for you to remain here any longer.” She smiled again, reassuring, “you’ll stay the night in the tower of course? I’ll send for someone to show you to a room.”
Kakashi’s half-closed eye blinked at the smiling face. He bowed low and thanked her quietly. He turned to go and took a couple of steps toward the door before the floor tilted in an odd manner. Kakashi awkwardly tried to catch himself on one of the chairs facing the Mizukage’s desk. However, as soon as his hand closed on the back of a chair, it seemed to twist away from him. At that point the jonin’s head swam and he crumpled senselessly to the floor.
“Kakashi?” The Mizukage vaulted over her desk toward the fallen messenger. Her face held both a serious and confused expression.
“Wait Lady Mei it may not be safe,” her aide pleaded as she rushed toward the Leaf ninja. “At least let me-” But she was already turning the unconscious man over.
Her eyes widened in surprise when her hand brushed his cheek. “He’s burning up.” She turned to her aide who was practically on top of her trying to get in between them. “Ao get a medical ninja in here, now!”
“But my lady-” This would be the perfect time for him to attack you, he thought despairingly.
“Now,” she bellowed. Her eyes flashed dangerously.
Ao gave a quick bow and hurried out the door. Moments later he returned with two medical ninja at his heels. In the meantime Mei had unclasped Kakashi’s cloak so he was now lying on it and not in it.
“We’ll take it from here my lady,” one of the medical ninja said and Mei stood and backed away to give them room to work.
Dragging her eyes away from the Leaf ninja, Mei quickly turned to her desk and whipped out a piece of paper and ink. “Lady Mei,” the gray-haired man began.
Mei cut him off. “We have to send word to the Leaf at once. I will not allow this to become a disaster.” She paused, thinking on how to phrase exactly what happened here in her office. She was getting a headache at the possible repercussions. “Get someone from coding up here,” she requested of Ao.
“My Lady, we’re going to take the Hatake to the hospital now,” the second medical ninja said.
“Is he alright?” the Mizukage demanded even as what the medical ninja said rang like a gong in her mind. Mei looked up from her half-finished message. Ao hurried out again to get someone from coding.
The medical kunoichi smiled, “he’ll be fine my Lady. He appears to only have caught a chill and has over-exerted himself on top of it.”
Mei sagged with relief and scribbled the rest of her note quickly. Her brain was running in overdrive.
As the medical ninja carried Kakashi out, Ao came back with a kunoichi from the coding department. Mei handed the finished note to Ao and hurried past him out the door and after the stretcher.
Ao stared at the page for a moment before turning, confused. “Lady Mizukage, where are you going?” The coding ninja followed him follow Mei out of the office and down the hall.
“Have that coded and sent off to the Leaf at once,” Mei called over her shoulder. “I’ll be at the hospital.”
“But Lady Mei, why do you have to go?”
Mei was almost out the door when she called back, “if you think I’m letting the Leaf’s first messenger they’ve sent in years, who happens to be the last Hatake, a person any Mist ninja will know on sight-” she trailed off. “If you think I’m letting him out of my sight then you’re very much mistaken!” With that she was out the door, following closely behind the medical ninja headed for the hospital.
00000
Kakashi’s eyes fluttered open to reveal a hospital room that seemed…off. The jonin couldn’t put his finger on what exactly was different about it. Then he saw the woman sleeping next to his bed and he realized why the room looked familiar but not at the same time. This was not a Leaf hospital, it was a Mist one.
The Mizukage was sleeping in the chair on the other side of his end table, her head resting on said table. Kakashi tried to address the Mizukage but all that came out was a croak. He cleared his throat to try again when Mei stirred, silencing Kakashi. Her head rose and they locked eyes, blinking sleepily at each other for a few seconds.
Then Mei’s eyes widened. “You’re awake,” she stated, sitting bolt upright.
“As are you,” Kakashi countered, not sure what else to say. He blinked the sleep away from his eyes and raised a hand to scrub them.
Mei smiled, an embarrassed, apologetic expression. Kakashi contemplated this smile, different from the alluring or cunning smiles she used in political settings to hide what she was really thinking. He found it very interesting.
While he thought about it the smile disappeared and the kunoichi rose to her feet. “Oh, Sakura,” she said as if she’d forgotten something.
“Sakura?” Kakashi repeated slowly, still a little dazed.
Mei didn’t answer as she walked to the door of the hospital room and stuck her head out into the hall. When she pulled her head back in Sai immediately entered. “Kakashi-sensei,” Sai greeted him, bowing.
“Yo,” Kakashi replied, starting to fully wake up. That’s when Sakura stormed in.
“Kakashi-sensei, what were you thinking?! You should have told Lady Tsunade that you weren’t feeling well after your last mission! Now you’ve caused an incident and Sai had to fly me out here to make sure you were alive!” This rant began the moment the kunoichi entered the room. By the time she’d reached the bed her fist was cocked back and ready to fly. As it began to descend, however, Mei snatched the young girl’s wrist in a vice grip.
Sakura paused, surprised. Her mouth dropped open and her wide eyes turned to meet Mei’s icy pair. “There is no incident, your partner Sai stated that it wasn’t a problem, and I think your Sensei has learned his lesson. Now let him rest.”
“Of course Lady Mizukage,” Sakura barely whispered, closing her mouth.
Seeking to defuse the situation, Kakashi said, “Lady Mizukage, Sakura meant no harm. This is how she expresses worry and shows affection.”
Mei turned to Kakashi and he attempted to recoil in his bed. Her expression softened however but her tone was still clipped when she said, “then perhaps as her sensei, you should show her how to better express her feelings.”
Sai, so quiet that Kakashi wasn’t even sure it had happened, snorted.