Theme 12 - Wall {Kakashi x You}

Atop of the high walls that encircled your house, you could see for miles and miles easily; your vision only being interrupted by the larger walls that protected the village. It gave you almost a birds-eye-view of Konoha, as you lived on a row of houses situated on the top of a hill.

It was early evening and the sun was beginning to set. The sky was a pool of reds and purples, casting the village into shadow.

You tapped your heels gently back and forth against the bricks of the wall, a sketchpad held in one hand, a pencil in the other and a small box of paints sat next to you. With a view as nice as this, you knew it would be a shame not to recreate it on paper.

You brushed your pencil against the paper again, defining the half-circle of the sun.

It wasn’t often that you climbed the walls; it was too troublesome. On your side of the wall stood a large oak-tree; surrounded by many small bramble-patches. Though what were a few bruises when it came to art?

You smiled, putting your pencil down to pick up the paints. It was only at the last second you realised your pencil was rolling to the edge of the wall. With a simple click against the bricks the pencil rolled over the side and dropped. You watched it fall a moment; then it disappeared from view as a speck, crashing against the floor moments later. You squinted, trying to spot it on the ground but it was no use; it was too far away to see.

“Damn…”

You put your sketchpad down and gripped the edge of the wall, leaning forward slightly, trying to spot your pencil. There were a couple of people walking by, but as they were only a mass of pink blob the chance of seeing your pencil was slim; especially in the now-fading light.

Realising what little time you had, you snatched up your sketchbook and took hold of the paint set. You set to work quickly, dabbing your brush into the red and wiping it against the paper. Your heels knocked against the wall vigorously, keeping in time with the steady brush-rhythm you’d created. Your eyes were flickering between the sky and the paper so there was little time to see much else.

The sun was only a small line against the walls of Konoha now, and the street lamps were beginning to flicker into life. Overhead, birds were travelling the sky to find a place to roost for the night - but you didn’t have eyes for them. You were in deep concentration.

…Though maybe it would have been a good idea to look up once or twice; or maybe just when the bird cried out so close to you. It flew by you; its wings so close that they nearly clipped your back. You swayed for a second, nearly losing your balance. You held onto the bricks, trying to stable yourself. After feeling yourself swaying for a moment, you slowly rocked to a stop and sighed in relief.

“Way to close…-”

Bang.

You dropped. The bird steadied itself after crashing into you and flew away. Now dangling in mid-air, the only thing stopping you from falling to your doom was the weak grip you had on the wall with one hand. In the other you held your sketchpad. You didn’t want to drop it, no way in hell. It was your life’s work!

You reached your hand up and took hold of the ledge, the book just-in-so stopping you from holding on properly. You let out a low growl of annoyance. You tried again, but only managed to get your fingernails to scrape the brick. Seeing nothing left to do you looked doubtfully at your sketchpad. Your eyes flickered between it and the wall, and then once down to the world below – but only briefly. You didn’t have a head for heights…at least not when there was a chance of plummeting down to the floor, easily fracturing both legs, possibly your spine and who knows what else. You let out a whimper at the thought. You looked to your pad again, and then, after letting out another sigh you let it drop from your grip, using your now-free hand to hold on to the wall.

* * *

Down below on the ground, a man was walking along with his face hidden in a book. He let out the occasional giggle. It was only when he heard something hit the ground in front of him that he looked up from his novel. That was odd, he thought. A sketchpad was lying on the floor, a small dust-cloud swirling up around it.

He leant down and picked it up. Putting his own book away, he opened this one and flicked through the pages. Sunsets, forests, oceans, deserts, they were all here and extraordinarily done. The man raised his eyebrows. Who would throw this away? He looked up, curious to see who had thrown it. He dropped the sketchpad in shock.

Above him, quite a distance up, there was a girl hanging off the edge of a cliff - well, a wall, but it was big enough to be a cliff. He could see she was having trouble holding her grip. Thinking quickly he pulled a scroll from his jacket vest.

* * *

You closed your eyes tight, holding on for dear life. You’d tried and tried to pull yourself up but to no avail…obviously. You were grasping at the bricks with all your might, determined not to fall - but without being able to pull yourself up there was little else you could do. All of a sudden you let out a scream of pain as your shoulder joint dislocated from the stress of holding yourself up. It dropped to your side with a sudden numbness, adding to your worry on top of everything else. Now with only one hand to hold you up and another with which you couldn’t feel a thing, the tears welled up in your eyes as the strain on your remaining arm built. You went past your fear and looked down at the ground below, but with eyes blinded by tears there was nothing to see but the colour of the dirt swimming about your sight.

You heard the bark of a dog below you. It was low and terrible. As soon as you hit the floor that dog would probably rip- no, you couldn’t think like that. You tried to move your limp arm by the shoulder, but this only caused a jolt of pain and a scream. You shut your eyes tight.

“Help!” Your voice broke out of panic, “S-someone! Please help me!”

You could feel the fingers on the arm holding you up start to lose their grip. They were slipping to the edge of the brick, just like your pencil had done, and just like you had done. You knew that soon they would lose total grip and you would crash to the ground. It was only a matter of time. You sobbed, feeling your fingers drag across the bricks again.

* * *

“Pakkun, get going.” The man ordered. The dog that sat in front of him took one look up at the high wall and said in a low voice, turning on its heels,

“What is she doing up there?”

But without waiting for a reply the dog sped off into the village, looking for a way up to the wall with a pack of five much larger dogs behind it. The man looked up at the wall again, anxious over the girl. He looked down again, shaking his head. What had happened up there to get her into that situation?

He heard the scream.

His eyes darted back to the wall but she was no longer at the ledge. She’d dropped.

“Damn, Pakkun never made it in time.”

The man ran towards the wall.

* * *

The world above you was spinning in circles, not letting you keep focus on what was happening. The air was being rushed out of your lungs so fast all you could do was scream and not take breath. You tried to shut your eyes, tried to block out what was about to happen, but with the tears streaming and the pain in your upper body building it was all you could think about. Suddenly your eyes focused on the things that appeared above you. Up on the wall there were six dogs looking down at you. What? Why…what were they doing?

You let out a scream, feeling your back connect with the ground-…wait no. It connected with…something. What? You were still falling. No…there was something different now. You weren’t falling; you seemed to be steadily dropping, as if it was controlled. You shook your head, trying to remove the tears from your eyes. You could feel a strange pressure behind your knees and your upper back.

“W-what…?”

You looked up to have a man with silver hair smile at you from behind his mask.

“Hello. My name is Kakashi. You looked like you were in trouble so I came to help.”

He held your body close to him and flash-stepped mid-air, hitting the side of a tree then jumped downwards again, hitting the wall, bouncing back and hitting the tree, and then this time landing with one foot on the ground.

After maintaining his balance he let you go, setting you on your feet - though through it all your legs had turned numb from fear and so you collapsed on yourself.

“Oh dear…” Kakashi bent down and scooped you up in his arms again, “I think you’ve had a bit too much excitement for one day. I’ll take you home.” He looked down and smiled again, “Who are you and where do you live?”

A curtain flapped in front of your mind, blocking the thoughts.

“Uhh…” It opened, “____ ____... and I live up there.” You said, going to point with your hand but you found yourself unable to; a shot of pain running through your body, making you whimper instead. Kakashi’s eyebrows furrowed.

“Are you alright?”

You looked down.

“My… my arm. I hurt it trying to hold on.”

Kakashi inspected you for a second, then turned on his heel.

“Change of plan, let’s get you to hospital instead!”

“What?”

He looked down at you, an evident smile behind his mask.

“You can’t be too careful! You might have done some real damage!”

Without any word of protest from you Kakashi jumped off his left foot and sped to the hospital, holding you close the whole time.

It was a short while later that you found yourself alone in a hospital bed, your arm in cast. You sighed, looking down at the bed sheets in front of you.

‘What a day…’ A sudden thought hit you.

“Oh no, my sketchbook!”

Just as you were about to leap from the bed and charge out to look for said sketchbook, the door to your room slid open and someone stepped inside. You faltered your eager stance when you saw who it was.

“Oh Kakashi,” You tucked yourself back into the bed with your one free hand, “Hello.”

He raised a hand and smiled.

“Hey.”

You went to thank him for saving you but he produced something from behind his back first. Your eyes lit up.

“I think this is yours?” He said, opening your sketchpad and flicking through the pages again.

“Uhh…yes-”

“-It’s good.”

He snapped the book shut and walked forward, handing it to you. You took it with your good hand and muttered a shy thank you. You noticed that he was watching you so you looked away - and at the same time he turned so you looked back at him instead. Walking towards the door he raised his hand in the air.

“See you ‘round, ____.”

You were almost a little sad that he was leaving so soon. You waved.

“Bye, Kakashi. And thank you.”

He turned, hearing your words. The smile was there behind his mask.

“You’re welcome, ____.” He paused and turned again. Just before he left the room he said, “You should finish that sunset painting sometime. Show it to me when you’re done.” And with that he left the room, shutting the door behind him.

You were left in silence for a moment, then smiled at what Kakashi had said. You put your hand on the cover of your sketchpad and opened it, flicking through the pages. When you turned to the page of your sunset your eyes noticed something written in the corner.

‘I’ll be checking up on you every day to make sure you get this done. Kakashi.’

Your mouth grew into a smile, and then a grin, and then you started to laugh. You scooped up the book in your arm and hugged it to you.

“I’ll be seeing you ‘round, Kakashi!”

On the other side of your hospital-room door Kakashi smiled to himself and set off walking, pulling out his book to read again.