Kakashi realized too late what had happened.

That Chiisai hadn't known all of the power she had possessed, and Kuroi did. He had snuck inside of Kakashi's mind with ease, even while awake, and taken over his body, casting him into the back of his mind, surrounded by his memories, chained to the ground.

But Kakashi wouldn't be fooled again. And this time, he had Chiisai's chakra, and an infinite world of possibilities.

Kakashi slammed the palms of his hands to the ground. Her chakra funneled through them, and he grunted as sizzling heat radiated from the chains, decorating his skin with a ring of burns.

He grit his teeth, centered himself, and studied the chains. He flexed his Sharingan eye, but the chains didn't disappear. It was made with chakra, and he couldn't use his own chakra to break them, it seemed.

Visions of finding his father's dead body flickered in front of him, but he ignored it, focusing on the task at hand.

His lips formed a tight line as he changed the positions of his hands. He had only done this once before, and it had been painful, so he braced himself.

Using the pressure of his cuffs, he dislocated his thumbs. Next, his pinky fingers. Pain pulsated up his arms, but he continued on, slowly maneuvering his hands out of the cuffs.

Memories of death and screams and blood echoed around him, and he took a deep breath, focusing on escape.

The chains fell to the ground, and he snapped his fingers back in place with a grunt. He turned a blind ear to the faint whisper of Rin's voice, of Obito's dying breath, of the sound of a sword piercing flesh over and over.

But then images burst forth from the ground, coming to life around him and blocking him in. Rin, Obito, Minato-sensei- they stood in front of him, and Kakashi blinked to find himself in Konoha on a crisp spring morning, the scent of leaves and fresh air being carried by the breeze.

"Kakashi!" Rin smiled, grabbing his wrist. The wind caught in her short brown hair, and her eyes were bright with life. "You're finally here!"

His sensei said, "It's not like you to be late, Kakashi." His blue eyes were kind, his posture laidback.

"Ha, I even beat you!" Obito grinned, widening his stance.

Kakashi looked between all of his comrades, their faces tugging on emotions buried deep inside of him. He stared down at his hands, and they were smaller, his clothes different.

Minato laid his hand on his shoulder and crouched down to face him. "Everything alright?" he asked.

Kakashi swallowed and squeezed his eyes shut. "This isn't real," he breathed, whispering to himself.

"Oi, you do look kinda sick," Obito said.

This wasn't real.

No matter how much he wished it, desired it- his comrades were gone. This was a trick.

"Kakashi?" Minato asked.

Dead. Minato sensei was dead. This reality was a lie. He wouldn't be fooled.

Kakashi opened his eyes, taking one last look at his fallen team.

Then he activated his Sharingan. The images around him fractured like glass, and Kakashi's chest rose and fell with each hard breath.

He had one comrade that still needed to be saved, and there was still a chance he could make it in time.

He extended his hand, thinking of Chiisai. She had made it look so easy in the dreamworld, summoning a portal with a single thought.

But then an image of her appeared right in front of him, and he paused.

"Farm Boy?" She tilted her head to the side and looked around. "Did you just...?"

Was this another trap? He studied her face, her body language, the clothes that she wore. She looked real, but so had his teammates.

"What's wrong?" She asked, stepping closer. "You just summoned me, and that's pretty amazing, Kakashi."

He flexed his Sharingan again. For a brief moment, he thought he saw a flicker, but no, there was Chiisai, still in front of him. He could keep flexing his Sharingan, and it could be replaced with another illusion, and another, and he'd wear himself out, wasting time.

"You once called me an amazing, good person," Kakashi said. "Do you still believe that?"

"I saved your life, idiot. Of course I think that." She stepped closer, and Kakashi watched as she placed her hand on his chest. "You real?"

He placed his hand over hers. Her skin was warm and soft, and their eyes locked as he nodded.

The tension in her shoulders dropped. Her eyes flickered to his mask, and Kakashi watched as she slowly brought her hands up. Her fingers gently pulled down his mask. The fabric shifted down his nose, his cheeks, over his lips and jaw.

Her words were soft as she said, "You really do care about me, don't you? And it's not just the mission. You...you saved me."

He paused, searching her eyes. The stiffness in her body was gone, replaced with a tenderness he had never seen before.

"I do," he said. Could this be real? Was it really that simple?

The mental alarm in his head returned once more, and this time, he completely ignored it. Ignored the logic, ignored the reasoning, because deep down, despite the situation he was in, he wanted this.

To be touched, and held, and looked at like he wasn't a monster, a man who could kill his own friend. And he was selfish for wanting it, because he didn't deserve it. He didn't deserve to be looked at the way Chiisai was looking at him now.

"I...I want to try something, just in case something happens to me. Will you let me?" She asked.

He slowly nodded.

Her hand went to his jaw, and he rubbed his thumb over her cheek, wiping away the smudge of blood. The physical contact made his skin buzz like an electric shock, and he welcomed the new sensation. He wanted his hand to trace other parts of her skin, to feel the warmth of her soft body against his.

Chiisai tilted her head slightly, and her gaze traveled to his lips. He leaned forward, and her breath touched his jaw as she lifted her head. Chiisai closed her eyes as their lips brushed against each other. It was small, and hesitant, and Kakashi waited for her approval.

She rose on her toes and pressed her lips against his. His mouth moved against hers, searching, seeking, as his other hand slid down to her waist. They broke away, only to catch their breath, before their mouths met again, and again, and his tongue slid across her lower lip and into her mouth. A noise escaped her lips, and he pressed harder into her, wanting every single inch of her against him.

It was as if a hunger had overtaken him, one that only Chiisai could satiate.

His fingers rested on her hip, feeling her bare skin. Her tongue traced the edge of his lips, warm and wet, and his body groaned against her, the desire quickly turning into need. His fingers spread and traveled upward, over her scars, feeling the curves of her waist, the outline of her ribs. The feel of her skin only had him kissing her deeper, and she didn't back down.

They broke away, and Kakashi moved to her neck. His tongue slowly traced up to her ear, and a noise escaped her lips. Her pulse was hot and quick against his careful touch, and she dug her fingers into his shoulders. She arched against him as he leaned into her, and his hand moved farther up her back as her fingers fumbled with the buckles to his vest.

"Kakashi," she breathed, and his eyes flew open.

What the hell was he doing? Chiisai would never act like this, especially knowing that the village she cared about was in danger.

"What's wrong?"

Kakashi closed his eye and took a deep breath. He had been an idiot, letting his emotions supercede the task at hand. Again. This was a mission, and people were suffering, and here he was falling for a poor imitation.

In a flurry of handsigns, he activated his chidori and rammed it through her chest. Blood splattered, and Chiisai's mouth gaped open as Kakashi stared down at her. How could he have ever thought this was her? He had been selfish, seeking his own desires, oblivious to the truth in front of him.

"You're not real," he said grimly.

The image of her dissolved like snow, and Kakashi's facade finally shattered. He staggered back, staring down at his shaking hand.

He tugged his mask over his swollen lips and swallowed hard.

There was no time for the guilt or the shame that flowed through him like his own chakra. He had made a mistake, and he'd have to suffer the consequences later.

So, Kakashi extended his hand once more, utilizing Chiisai's chakra.

Slowly, a portal appeared, though small, and Kakashi crawled through.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

Chiisai was in hell.

Not a fiery pit, per say, but it would have been a welcome exchange to the screams of everyone in the leaf echoing around her.

Her hands and feet were shackled to the base of the dream tree. She had tried using her chakra to break the chains, but the chains themselves had only absorbed it, sucking her dry as she was forced to listen to thousands of nightmares at once.

Did she mention what happened when she tried to absorb chakra? The chains had responded like white-hot lava, sizzling and melting her skin around the binds. Her own screams had mixed in with those around her, her own voice lost in the sea of other tortured souls.

Kuroi had learned from last time, it seemed, and he wasn't playing games.

Everyone in the leaf was under his control, and it was spreading, with more orbs popping up by the second, and for Chiisai, she had tried and tried and tried to break out those chains, refusing to give in to the misery around her.

Tears and snot stained her face, but she didn't care. She was surprised she still had any tears left to shed.

Her plans so far? She didn't have one. But everyone was counting on her, and as long as she had breath, she was going to keep trying. Even if it meant melting her own hands and feet off.

Tori wasn't going to die. She'd fix this, return to reality, and save him.

Her father had visited her once, to bask in his glory. And then he had left to continue his work, to make sure she saw the new dreams, heard the victims' cries.

Footsteps echoed. Light stained her eyelids red, but she was in too much pain to open them. But she had to push through it, she told herself.  Everyone was counting on her, and she was failing them right now.

"Chiisai!"

She didn't open her eyes at Kakashi's voice. Her father was toying with her, and she was dying, and this was her last punishment, she thought.

There was a sharp intake. "I can see the bone."

Well, this clone was certainly a good one- his voice was perfect, his touch both firm and gentle.

Chiisai scoffed, whispering, "You real?"

He cradled the back of her head now. "I'm here, Chiisai. I'm real."

That caused her to blink up at him. His expression spoke of pain, and she waited for him to pierce her chest with chidori.

"He's barely keeping you alive." His words were hard and factual, but underneath the surface lay a boiling rage. "I should have gotten here sooner."

She was silent for a moment, her brows furrowed. "You're...you're really Kakashi?" Her mind was playing tricks on her, that was it. She was hallucinating.

He nodded, his expression grave. "You gave me your chakra, remember?" He forced a smile, adding, "And call me Farm Boy. I think it suits me better."

Tears fell down her eyes, and a sob escaped her from the relief of seeing him. Kakashi held on to her, and she rested her head against his.

"I got you," he said. "Now let's get you out of here."

"My chakra doesn't work," she replied, tilting her head to the chains.

Kakashi furrowed his brow. He pulled away and stood, and in his hand appeared a sledgehammer. He said, "I think we have to do this the old fashioned way."

Her eyes shrunk in their sockets. "If I live through this, you're buying me a ton of books."

"To your heart's content," he replied. His eye focused on the chains, but they were filled with pain. "Now widen your feet for me."

"Stick your headband in my mouth," she said first. "So I don't bite my tongue off."

Kakashi nodded and untied his headband, folding it into fourths. Chiisai bit down on it and nodded, forcing her legs apart with a muffled grunt of agony.

His knuckled turned white against the hammer as he held it up in the air. "Hold on."

And the hammer came down.

With each strike, the chains grew hotter, and Chiisai tried her best to hold still, to not writhe under the sizzling heat of the metal. But she knew, as she watched Kakashi, that the chains were weakening, and he enjoyed no part of this. Her voice was a ragged scream, muffled by the headband, and stars blinded her vision.

After the fifth hit, the chains broke, crumbling to ash. His gaze shot to her hands. "You ready for round two?"

Sweat dripped down the side of her face as she looked down at her wrists. Faintly, she nodded, and with the headband in her mouth, laid her hands out as far as she could, through her body shook from the effort.

One.

Two.

Three strikes, and the chains broke to pieces. Her voice was gone from the screaming, and her body was sticky with sweat. Kakashi laid his hand on her shoulder, and she latched on to her chakra, using it to slowly heal her wounds as her chest heaved, struggling for air. Her hands sank into Kakashi's clothing, and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

Now, she was free. And though there was guilt, and despair, and pain, another feeling was planted inside of her for the first time- hope.

Hope because Farm Boy was here, and he had saved her, and there was a chance, albeit small one, of saving the village. Of saving her people, and getting back to Tori and Mizuki.

And though there was hope, there was something else- anger. A righteous, heated fury that was slowly rising up inside of her the longer she listened to the nightmares around her

Her father had done all of this for revenge. Hurting all of these people- it was madness, and she needed to stop it, to take him down.

Her gaze shot up to the floating orbs, each one representing a human life. And though she knew of these nightmares, she also knew their dreams, their desires, their hopes.

So Chiisai pulled away, bracing her hands on her knees as she rose to her feet. This time, she could feel everyone's chakra seep into her, reminding her that she needed them as much as they needed her.

And that's where Kuroi failed. He had told her that she cared too much, and it would be her downfall, but now, staring up at the lives above her, she understood what Itachi had told her.

This was her burden to bare, and she was going to take it all.

"Chiisai?" Kakashi said.

"I know how to defeat my father," she said. "Though it's a stupid, crazy idea, and it might not work."

Oh? Why don't you show me.

Chiisai and Kakashi turned as Kuroi stepped  from an orb and into the dream world.

I'm gone for five minutes, and you manage to break loose. His gaze shot to Kakashi, and he said, I'll kill you this time, and make her watch.

The ground shook, and chakra swirled around Chiisai in a rainbow of colors. She stepped forward, and the ground cracked underneath her. "You're not going to lay a hand on him," she said with a growl. "I'll kill you first."

He smiled, and then his hands clenched in fists. Chakra swirled around him just like his daughter, and the air picked up speed as his eyes glowed.

Let's see you try.