âYou were supposed to be there!â
  The words are a grief-laden accusation, helplessness funneled into something, anything that made Kakashi feel less. The emotions twisted in his heart, his usual, stoic demeanor crumbling away, leaving behind a child that felt so small, so useless to do anything to fix the world. It shouldnât have to be this way, he shouldnât be a harbinger of death to everyone who was close to him. The guilt bubbles in him, a putrid, awful feeling like acid eating away at his insides. He blames himself more than anyone else, and was going to feel even worse once this anger left him, twisting with embarrassment for projecting his own failures onto his sensei. But for now, he only felt the vindication of throwing another personâs failings back in their face.
âWe were Team Minato, werenât we? Why were you never with the team named after yourself, huh?â
  He shouldnât have put any trust into him. In the shinobi world you could only rely on yourself. (He knew that wasnât true, and hoped that if Minato could have been there, he would have, right?). Surely Minato should have seen they werenât ready for that first mission alone, that the teamwork was faked and tempers still clashed. Wasnât Minato able to teleport when help was needed? Why had he and Rin been left alone in a two-man squad, surrounded by the enemy? Kakashi did everything he could, but he was only one person, carrying the weight of war and death on his shoulders.
âYouâre always late. I thought you were supposed to be The Yellow Flash?â
  Mismatched gaze glares up at Minato, Sharingan tomoe spinning, volatile emotions expressed so clearly through it. A sorrow fills his bones, photographic afterimages replaying perfectly through his optics whenever he blinked. A gift and a curse wrapped into one. He deserved the pain it brought him to view his failed promise over and over again in his mind. First Obito, and then Rin. Just one simple thing that he failed, always failed at keeping those closest to him safe.
âWhy are you never there!? Theyâre both dead.â Because of me. Because of you.
@aflashoffaith // have some pain












