Truth of a “Hero”

Ryukyu knew what she was doing wasn't allowed. Illegal, in fact. It could very well result in her getting her license taken away, even though she was a top hero. She was risking her very title and prestige. Her livelihood. Her passion.

All to just get a feel for Kakashi. Her adopted son.

She'd tried once already. Tried to somehow connect with him so that she could learn his past, his hurt that she could clearly see behind that black orb. She knew that she was supposed to keep him away from things that would draw on his assumed PTSD but he seemed strong minded that she felt that this one time could be an exception. She needed to see what his eye would show seeing a sight like that.

And regardless of the result, she would be there.

"A hero killer?"

Kakashi asked slowly, the words coming out more as a question. Clearly, he hadn't know about such a monster. At least, his thoughts weren't on such a thing, a relieving thought. Hopefully he wouldn't gain interest from what he was about to see. She would hate that.

She nodded.

"Yes. A man calling himself Stain has been going around killing heroes indiscriminately, hence the name."

Kakashi crossed his arms, pointing something obvious out.

"A criminal was killed. Is that a break in pattern or is this by another killer?"

Ryukyu spoke as she went back onto her computer, going through the Hero Network and gaining access to the files that were currently on the Hero Killer. Seemed she had access to stage 2 information, Kakashi filed that in his mind for later. Reports on all his confirmed and unconfirmed kills showed that while he killed more heroes than anything else, criminals, villains, and even a couple of civilians were part of his kill count.

"Not quite. As you can see he's killed in variety before. Heroes are his main target, however. It's why the Hero Killer is in his name."

"And we're going after him?"

Her answer was quick.

"No. We're only investigating. There's been no surviving victim that could describe his quirk. This could be our chance to do so, report it and let the heroes in Hosu deal with them."

She felt Kakashi's eyes land on hers. She couldn't tell what he was thinking. Sometimes she couldn't read his eyes.

"What would we do if we were to come across him?"

She didn't know why, but a creeping feeling settled deep in her stomach. She gripped her arm tightly, and the next words that came out of her mouth came from her heart.

"We'd run."

X

It didn't take long to reach their target, even if it were far away. To Kakashi, these cars were more handy than any ninja or horse could run. They were fast and hadn't the need to pull from any source besides smelly liquid called gasoline. No stamina needed and no stopping to rest or for food. Other than being a bit too boxed in for his liking, it was convenient.

They'd stop a small ways away from their target, walking the rest of the distance through alleyways to avoid crowds that would recognize Ryukyu. Bring a hero was more troublesome than what it was worth, if crowds were going to follow you around. When he said as much, she said that one could be an underground hero and be less known throughout the public. One could receive less attention, but on covert missions that was what was needed.

If Kakashi had been striving to be a hero, he would've chosen that path, but the only thing he could think about was the new problem this revelation posed. And that was that underground heroes worked secretly in the underground of all these cities, hiding among criminals. If they saw a child running throughout there and then saw him as Ryukyu's child, it would cause unnecessary problems.

That would mean he'd have to use the Tranformation Technique, and that meant no Sharingan training. Holding that specific technique always drained him, he didn't have the necessary chakra to both hold the transformation technique and use his Sharingan in any meaningful way other than to scout ahead. His Sharingan drained enough, he could only use it so much a day, though he still didn't have a set limit, he'd resigned that he would say he could only use it for five minutes.

That way, if he would face a tough opponent or that man, he'd have a way to catch them off guard. Five minutes was a very believable time limit, especially within a fight. Five minutes in a fight could very well be life and death in an instant. He knew that, he lived through it.

When he sighed, Ryukyu glanced at him, most likely wondering why'd he done it all of a sudden.

She asked as they turned a corner down a even longer alleyway, the smell of a bloody corpse and a scent getting stronger the longer they walked. At this point, Kakashi could very well track the dead body himself, Ryukyu seemed to notice this, as he was turning corners before she even did. Though she still hadn't guessed how he was able to track the body, the thought of smell did come to mind.

"What's with the sigh, Kakashi?"

"Nothing. I simply sighed."

She sent an uneasy glance at him, but this time she said nothing, something he was thankful for.

It wasn't much longer after that that they'd found the bloody corpse they'd been searching for. It was a ghastly sight, even for a seasoned Shinobi like Kakashi. He felt Ryukyu stiffen beside him, he didn't blame her. The man had some sort of metal tubes attacked to his soles that were probably how he got all the way out here so quickly. But that was probably the only way he was recognized. His face was contorted, twisted, like a pair of tweezers had been used to pull his face into a swirl. His guts were hanging out of his rather ragged split open abdomen as his mouth hung open in what looked to he shock.

Wanting to get a closer look to see what injury exactly killed the man, Kakashi walked up to it, while Ryukyu stayed back, perhaps out of disgust. She hadn't moved since they came across it.

Kakashi ignored the putrid decay smell that reached his sensitive nose as best he could, his nose only scrunching up in mild disgust briefly before he was able to level his face out into a blank stare.

Kakashi stared at the deformed body leaned against the dirty alleyway wall, then glanced at his hand, noting the lack of cloves. He only had a single storage seal that held his White Charka Sabre. He was told by Ryukyu that he couldn't bring it with him in public and since he wouldn't go anywhere without it, he put it inside a storage seal that he hid away from the rest of his gear that Ryukyu had taken to some kind of Support Company that would fix it. He didn't question it, he didn't want to seem suspicious, but he did wonder what exactly her goal was.

He sent chakra to his fingertips, coating over his fingerprint. They weren't on an official mission, Ryukyu said, so they were unauthorized to be near this location unless they were reporting it. He didn't know why she was avoiding protocol, even though she was a bit of a stickler for rules, as he was still a small bit, but he chalked it up to her trying to get a feel for him.

He grabbed at the bloodied, smelly shirt that covered up the upper intestines that had spilled out and made sure to be careful as he split the shirt open a bit more, holding his breath. They spilled out a bit more, grossly sliding down onto the corpse's lap but Kakashi was more focused on the jagged, rough lines that had caused it. From what Kakashi could see and guess accurately, the blade had to be a dagger about the size of a forearm. But he didn't think this had killed the person. When he turned his gaze up to the man's face, he could see that much, much more blood had come from their, implying that he bleed out from his brain.

That meant that he was beaten to death and that these other injuries were things that happened afterward. The reason, he didn't know nor could guess, but it was most likely rage, something the Hero Killer was known for. If only they had more of a profile on him.

He stood away from the body and let his chakra back into his body, before turning to Ryukyu who had a curious look on her face. Most likely because he'd shown barely a reaction to seeing the dead body in a state like this. Where she had been paralyzed, he had barely felt a thing.

He decided to forgone her reaction and give his report.

"I believe that he died through the injuries from his head rather than from his stomach. More blood from the head area suggest that his blood was still circulating before his heart stopped. He would've had more blood come out from his stomach area if he died that way."

He looked back over at the dead body.

"We'll need to go back to the Agency with our findings. See if there has been some a murder just like this that the Hero Killer has done. If so, this is most certainly him. If not, then that lowers the possibility of him being a suspect, even if this is within his territory. Killers don't change their methods at the drop of a hat."

She remained silence, almost constipated like. He glance back at her, seeing the nausea on her face, like she was actually going green. He frowned and turned around completely, stepping forward to her.

"Are you ok?"

Her jaw clenched and he saw a hard swallow. She was trying hard not to throw up. He glanced back at the body. Sure it smelled bad, but if one had seen plenty before they shouldn't have this bad of a reaction to i-

Just then he realized that she wasn't used to it the way he was. She hadn't seen death, not this close.

She stepped back as she chocked out words, bile mixing with saliva.

"Let's go, Kakashi. Now!"

She slapped herself in the face, trying to cover up her nose and mouth from the stench and rung her eyes away from the sight, walking back until she reached the edge of the alleyway, aiming to go back the way they came.

A puzzled look etched itself on his face as he began walking, following after her.

X

The car ride home was full of tense silence, and awkwardness that could only come from a two seated car, nearly shoulder to shoulder contact, and a two people in conflict, but both have yet to say anything. If this was some type of exotic dish, it would be the recipe for a disaster only certain combinations could cook up.

Something special. And uncomfortable.

Buildings, peoples, trees all of it wizzed by at the speed of which the car was going. Kakashi was usually one to take things fast, so the speed at which they passed things captivated him, if only diverted his attention from his normal brooding and silent personality.

Suddenly, she had stopped the car, and he thought that they had made it back to the agency, but when he looked out of the window, he only saw a very busy streets filled with cars passing by and buildings lit up by bright, colorful lights in the distance. They were still on the street, so why'd she stop?

He turned to her, a silent question hanging off his eye. No words needed to be said.

"Why..."

She said shakily, head lowered until it laid on the steering wheel.

"Why... are you like that?"

She had to ask. The question has been weighing on her ever since she saw his reaction to the corpse. He shouldn't have acted like that. No child should barely have a reaction other than the smell. It was... disturbing and disgusting and repulsive and just so many words that she couldn't say it all.

Kakashi had no idea what she was talking about, staring at her lowered head in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

She suddenly broke in a whirlwind of emotions, telling what she felt.

"Why didn't you get disgusted by that body! Or scared! Or or anything! You just stood there like you'd seen one before! Why?!"

She didn't know why she was so angry, or even if she was angry. Maybe she was scared too. Scared that a child had the capability to act like this. Scared that this was a world capable of making a child this way. Scared that she could've been that way too, a long time ago, so long ago.

"Because I'm used to it."

Those few words gave her immense paused. Her blood ran cold and she could only feel her heart beating, thumbing through her head. No way he actually said that. How is that possible? How could he be used to it?

"H-How?" She whispered softly, a single tear falling down her face.

Kakashi played with the idea of telling her. He felt bad, somehow he knew he was the reason she felt this way, why she was doing what she was doing. But he'd gain nothing. And he didn't trust her. Kakashi turned away from her, and said nothing more about the subject.

"Let's just get back to HQ." He said silently, crossing his arms and sinking a bit awkwardly into the seat.

Her lips quivered and she turned back ahead, watching as cars whizzed by their stationary car.

"No. We're... we're going back home. We won't complete this case, it's unhealthy." She said, wiping the trail of tears off her face.

Kakashi eye shot back over to her from just as she continued driving, her face set in a determined glare, though her eyes still held sadness.

"Why? We still have a mission."

"No we don't, not anymore. This was never a mission, we were supposed to never be here in the first place. Now when we get back home, I want you to repeat what you told me back then. We need to report that to the heroes and police in Hosu, so they can deal with it."

Kakashi slowly glared, his lid falling down into a glare. She couldn't be serious. Why was she acting like this? Like she was his real mom? She was dead, dead ever since he was born. They just met, how could she have this much emotion with him. It made no sense.

"I'm not telling you anything." He said, finally turning away from her completely, turning to the passager side window.

She gaped at him, nearly letting go of the steering wheel in shock. She hoped she heard wrong. "You... did you-"

"There's no point in trying to get it out of me using the law as your crutch. You've already broken the law yourself, going against your peers to bring me to this crime scene to learn more about me."

He said it such in a way that he seemed almost bored. She looked even more surprised that he had figured out her intentions.

He turned to her, gazing directly into her reptilian eyes.

"If you tell anyone of my involvement they will become suspicious of you. I shouldn't know a thing. And since I shouldn't know, no one else is going to know."

They both stared at one another, one with a sort of shock on her face, and the other a gaze full of intensity. This was a hero? Someone who protected ones who couldn't protect themselves? She hadn't even seen a dead body before, how could she protect anyone? This can't be what a top hero was. She'd rather leave this Hero Killer out, running free because of him than save everyone with the information they'd just gained herself. Obito wouldn't have done that. He'd fight against that. So Kakashi would to. He didn't know what drove him to care but, his next question slipped out before he could catch himself.

"What is a hero? In this society," he turned to her once more, perhaps for the last time. "What makes one a good hero?"

His question went unanswered. But the silence was more than a clear answer would give him.

They were no true heroes. Like Obito.

X

Kakashi held up an envelope in his hand, flipping it around to see it blank white on all sides excepts for a gold seal on the front. Ryukyu had given it to him without a word, and went into her room, shutting herself in for the night. She hadn't spoken since they got home, she doubted they'd speak on any type of friendly terms any longer. He'd made sure of that.

But it wasn't like he cared. This was the way things needed to be. Once he killed the Iwa Ninja he'd find some way to get home. Neither of them needed to get attached. He still had loose ends in his own world. Minato and Kushina were likely worried about him, as well as Gai. And he had to go back to protect Rin. He wouldn't be able to do that here.

He scratched where the seal on the letter was, the scuffing noise making his ear twitch before the seal gave away. He finished it off and tore open the envelope. He didn't expect light to jump out of the envelope, so he'd accidentally dropped in in surprise. Light blue light formed into the form of the most popular hero in this country. Even if Kakashi didn't know how to access these machines like everyone else did, he had heard about All Might enough and seen him on commercials as he walked with Ryukyu that he pretty much knew a good bit about him, that was public knowledge.

The symbol of peace. The man who saved everyone with a smile. The only hero that might be like Obito.