"It didn't. You've moved on to hallucinating," Haruichi replied evenly, very quickly backpedalling from the crevasse of screaming anguish they'd been about to crash down. Paradoxical and insane as it might be, Haruichi had the feeling that this was one of those times when his own voice was going to keep the patient in his care calmest... so he didn't give Kakashi the chance to start spiralling off again. Once he'd edged him around to lean against the wall more comfortably and strapped a splint to his ankle, he kept speaking to him as he splinted his fractured arm. "And you're lucky you hit me in the head just then instead of breaking my mask, the quartermaster bitched at me enough for needing one with decent eyeholes and I doubt I'll get another one in a..."

Haruichi's voice fell silent, there was the muted crunch of blood-vessels around his eyes as his Byakugan flared to life, and his eyebrows quite quickly rose in shock. Then Haruichi turned his face down so he could continue binding the splint and then Kakashi's burnt hand - very, very quickly. His attention though, was focussed up above them. At the source of the burst of chakra he'd just sensed so extraordinarily vividly about a quarter mile distant... near the top of the slope that led down into the basin of stone they were currently underneath.

"Kakashi. That scroll you stole... it was waterproofed, wasn't it." It wasn't really a question.

(Reply to this)(Thread)

Kakashi couldn't really smell anything over the blood and burn stench filling the cave, but he didn't need to. Even with the scattered shards of panic still carving up his focus, he caught the change in Haruichi's mood. The shift from medic to something else entirely. The sharper focus that went with A Problem, and the sudden speed with which he moved. That swiftness brought new pain as Haruichi's hands moved over his injuries, binding the hurts rather than healing them. Either the medic was out of chakra--which was A Problem all of its own--or he was in a hurry for much worse reason.

"Yes," rasped Kakashi, trying to think. "It was." Which meant Mist-nin would have no problems flooding them out of hiding. Of simply drowning them both and looting their bodies. The scroll was long gone by now, safe at home--but the Mist-nin didn't know that. Kakashi looked up at the ceiling and saw only black. The green light didn't stretch high enough to illuminate the rock over their heads, and his chakra was far too low to sense anything.

Pakkun's low warning growl confirmed what Kakashi didn't have the energy left to; enemy ninja.

They'd found him.

"Well, that only took a day," Kakashi whispered to himself. He couldn't run, he definitely couldn't fight, and he couldn't provide a warning that would tell Haruichi anything he didn't already know. He wasn't much of anything beyond a dead weight. A heavy dead weight that would get the Hyuuga killed if he couldn't get away fast enough. Kakashi looked down again, and then he jerked his hands away, coughing a scream down. "Go," he said shortly, when he could speak again. "Now."

He was not going to cost Haruichi his life. Not if he could help it.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

"Oh don't make me slap you," Haruichi snapped, grabbing the halves of Kakashi's armour and tying them to his satchel by the straps. "I've done ever so well refraining from it thus far." Moving as quickly as he could, Haruichi gathered up all the scraps of uniform, footwear, bandaging and weapony that had scattered around them and stuffed them into the medical satchel. "What's his name... Pakkun-san, come here please," he called quietly, snapping a finger at the mouth of the crease in the rock they'd snuck in by. Hell, he didn't know how to get the nin-dog's attention and he needed it right now. The little pug scampered over, giving Haruichi a look that was likely to be unimpressed as he settled next to where Kakashi sat against the wall. Haruichi rubbed the heel of his hand against the sore spot on his temple, but didn't look away from what his enhanced vision was showing him now. Water. Lots of it.

Arriving now, with the splash and gush of oddly neutral temperature liquid through every crack and crevice in the basin - including theirs. Genjutsu seals did not trick water and gravity, and there wasn't going to be much that could trick the Mist nins who were by now doubtless reinforced and perched in every tree and atop every high boulder waiting to see what might scurry from the cracks.

Haruichi was a Hyuuga. He did not scurry anywhere. He focussed his eyes on Kakashi and Pakkun again, lukewarm water on his fingertips as he reached to start snatching up the glowsticks too. "We can't lose anything, or it'll float out and they'll know we're here," he said, stuffing a few of the chemical-lit things between his armguards and his cold skin for light - and reaching over to attach one to Kakashi's splinted arm. They'd be able to find each other and light a small way in front of them this way, for what it might be worth. The water sloshed in higher and faster by the moment, and Haruichi had to lunge his arm out sharply to catch a glowing green rod that nearly bobbed away from them. That would be all they needed - the enemy would either know they were here, or that they'd successfully flooded a rave. Which, coincedentally, this cave was probably large enough to host - and therefore might serve to save their lives.

"This cavern is quite high, there isn't likely to be enough water to flood it completely if we can stay afloat. So as long as they aren't smart enough to drop an electric jutsu on top of this and fry us we'll probably be alright..." And as for keeping afloat, Haruichi knew exactly how to make sure of that. He'd paid attention at the orientation Genma gave him (though it had probably cost him a good dozen IQ points) and he remembered everything the other agent had told him about his uniform and what it did in emergencies. Haruichi's eyes narrowed as he looked down at his chest and fished around on his ANBU vest for that red thing Genma had pointed at. "Hn. Where's the float-pull on this thing..."

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

Kakashi flinched when water hit his feet. It climbed quickly, soaking into his clothes, swirling over his limbs. It felt freezing, icy against overheated skin. He knew that was his own issue; fever destroying his body's ability to tell the actual temperature. He didn't much care because it was cold.

And it hurt. There was still no feeling in his shattered ankle, thank the sky bullies and Haruichi's justu. But he could feel the pressure elsewhere, hitting bruises, messing with his fragile balance, torturing on his injured arm until he lifted it. That pain wasn't anywhere close to what his ankle had been, but it was enough to make him consider biting through his lip just to distract himself. He had sharp canines, he could easily get through if he did it hard enough. Fast enough. The brain had a gating mechanism for pain--new injuries would blot out old ones. His lip would hurt, and his body would forget about broken bones. Kakashi set his teeth, braced his jaw--

And Haruichi lost his mind.

"It's not a damn life vest!" the copy-nin snapped, staring as the medic groped for a cord because he was insane. "It's armour, it doesn't float. It'll just..." drag you down. Kakashi blinked, then lifted his head as the water flowed higher--up his legs, up his waist. It slowed just below his lungs. He began to shiver. Haruichi looked ghostly, cast in green light and broken shadows. "T-tell me you can actually swim," he asked, teeth beginning to chatter, and reached out his good hand to grab Pakkun by the necktie.

The little pug gave them both a disgruntled look, kicking his legs to stay afloat. "You," he snapped at Kakashi, "stop being a self-sacrificing moron. I need you, even if you think no one else does. Or had you forgotten that?"

Kakashi blinked.

Pakkun rounded on Haruichi before he could answer. "And you! You better be able to swim, or at least float worth a damn, because there's no way I can drag you both out of here myself."

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

Oh, in-bloody-deed. Haruichi was no longer concerned in the slightest about their chances of survival - he was going to live. He had to, so he could catch up with Genma and kill him for telling him complete and utter fibs about the capabilities of his ANBU gear! That bastard, a reckoning there would be, even if he had to drag Kakashi's soaking carcass back to Konoha by the scruff of the neck to achieve it.

Fittingly enough, that put some fire in Haruichi's veins and he barely noticed the rising chill of the water, busy as he was making sure everything that could be tied to the satchel was tied to it, and then leaving Kakashi for the first time since he found him, he dragged a rock over to sit atop it and weigh it down. It could stay anchored there, but the three of them would - as the dog was so astutely noticing - drown in very short order at this rate if they didn't head upwards. Shit. This would have been so much easier if ANBU armour really did float if you pulled that little red tag Genma had pointed out.

"Have you both finished?" he inquired acerbically, eyes moving from the paddling dog to the shivering jounin. "Because hilariously enough I have something to add. I swore to the Hokage all of yesterday that come hell or high water I'd do my duty to ANBU and just because my very first mission has turned that cute turn of phrase into a literal truth I am not about to fail."

Haruichi adjusted his katana, made sure his mask was still tied to the side of his head, and picked Kakashi up - arm across his back and under his relatively uninjured shoulder. It put Kakashi's head higher and would hopefully keep it there. Haruichi took his free hand, let the chakra glimmer faintest blue around it and gripped his hands to the wall. Basic gennin training exercise given its full measure - he'd use his chakra to stick to the cave's walls and anchor them against the rise and pull of the water that way.

"So have some faith. I had to scan most of this basin's cave systems before I found you, Kakashi. And this one has a ceiling height that a surge of water probably can't fill before the sub-systems leading back to the water table siphon it off. Keep calm and I'll keep your head above water. They can't keep this up indefinitely."

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

In ordinary circumstances Kakashi would've countered that he was perfectly capable of keeping his own head above water, thank you very much, and Haruichi could take his acid wit and sit on it. But these weren't ordinary circumstances, and he wasn't currently capable of keeping his vision straight, let alone not drowning without Haruichi's slim shoulder braced under his own. Kakashi's broken arm hung in the water, heavy and painful and useless. His other hand was tangled in Pakkun's necktie, keeping the little dog close to them. "I'm c-calm," he snarled, losing his temper at water and pain and Mist-nin that did not know when to quit. Cold made his words shake, breaking up around chattering teeth and shuddering lungs. Kakashi clenched the former, tried to take deeper breaths with the latter. "W-witness my calm."

Ceiling height meant they probably wouldn't drown--if Haruichi was right--and human limits meant the Mist-nin definitely couldn't keep their attack up forever. So it was a question of chakra; Haruichi's versus theirs. One medic-nin who'd run for twelve hours, performed a complex series of healing jutsu, and was now supporting his own weight in rising water, as well as Kakashi's, against what had been two Mist-nin and was now probably twelve.

There wasn't a word for how screwed they were.

For once, Kakashi didn't say that. Haruichi had worked too hard, he didn't deserve to hear it. Instead the copy-nin pulled Pakkun close, tucking the little body against his chest until the dog could anchor himself by biting into the cloth of Kakashi's shirt. Then he let go and braced that same hand against the wall. He had no chakra to spare sticking himself the same way Haruichi had, but at least he could take a little weight. Green light flickered, pulling up lined shadows under the water. The glo-stick strapped to Kakashi's broken arm, and the few tucked into Haruichi's armour, were the only light source in the cave.

Water rose, seeping up Kakashi's chest. It passed his lungs, crept up his ribs, and swallowed his collarbones. He gasped as the cold stole what little body heat he'd managed to conserve, and squeezed against his torso, compressing his chest. It was just water, but the weight made it hard to breathe. "I--c-can't--believe--y-you--came--back--to--to--ANBU," he managed, and tried to ignore the lack of feeling in his ankle. There was nothing there, he could snap it off against a rock and not know. "You--regret--it--y-yet?"

One mission in. He wouldn't be the first.

Haruichi didn't have time to give an answer. The water surged, rising up in a swell that splashed the ceiling and swallowed them both. Kakashi didn't panic; he didn't have time. Mostly he began to drown.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

The first thing to go was his ability to kick any higher than a few inches at a time, the suck of the water's invisible currents too strong to fight, and the next thing to go was the Byakugan - his concentration shattered by the strain of working his chakra-clinging feet and hand against the slick rock and vicious undertow. Haruichi's slender physique wasn't built for stamina and it wasn't built for massive muscular exertions either, but he kept Kakashi balanced against the water's flow and kept his soaking gray-haired head above water and it was enough. It was enough.

A cold rush of air, a roar that went through all of him and not just his ears, and then a swell of water that dwarfed the rest of them slammed the pair of them against the wall and closed over their heads before Haruichi could inhale. Both men were crushed and pulled by the water and without a free arm to compensate, the Hyuuga's body was whipped round - crashing his head against the wall and knocking the air from his lungs and sense from his mind.

Sparks of pain flew behind his eyes in colours suddenly glimmering sluggishly in orange and purple and blue. There was a consuming silence under the black water, just the sensation of water rushing the same way you could feel your own pulse in your ears.

Regret it yet?

He hadn't even told her he was going.

Haruichi's feet suddenly pushed, his arm straining, fingers too cold to feel the nailbed he'd just ripped out his ring finger scrabbling up the rock with chakra burning too frantic through his palm and soles as hard as the cold water was dragging back against them. Higher. Higher. High--

"--ah!" Haruichi's green-lit wrist was in air, Kakashi's face, his own, he gasped a breath and coughed hot water, nearly got them both pulled under again before his hand smacked into a rough protrusion in the rock and stuck there. His feet were torn free, but his arm was across Kakashi's chest, pinning him against him so his face was up to the water too, and his hand was the only thing holding them up. Haruichi coughed more water, his eyes feeling hot and glassed as he blinked filthy water away - as though it was the source of the monumental headache spreading from the side of his face. They had a foot and a half of air left, and Haruichi couldn't tell if the turbulent water level was rising any longer.

"Kakashi!" he coughed, trying to check, make sure he was still alive even if it'd only be for a minute or two longer.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

The only reason Kakashi didn't get crushed into sheer rock and break every bone in his body that wasn't already in two pieces was because Haruichi hit the rock, and Kakashi hit Haruichi. Even that was almost enough to shove him right over the edge, battering his shocky nervous system with every sensation that ranked as 'bad'. Pain, cold, pressure. And he couldn't breathe.

That was what happened when bastard Mist-nin tried to drown you in a hole in the ground.

Kakashi didn't have the luxury of panic. He didn't have anything besides a whole lot of rage that burned up from the acid in his stomach and tried to replace the job of oxygen. It wasn't enough to live on, but it gave him a half-second of focus to really appreciate the amount of pain he was in. Haruichi's arm around his chest was the only thing stopping him from getting swept away by the crush of water and dashed against every rock until what was left wouldn't even serve for a spectacularly messy paperweight.

Haruichi's tired arm.

Kakashi writhed in the water, twisting as bubbles slipped out of his mouth, and fought injury and agony to get his own functional arm around the medic, locking them together. Haruichi had refused to let him go, so Kakashi wasn't going to. His personal survival instinct was that strong at least.

He still couldn't breathe. Steel bands screwed into his temples and tightened, squeezing his skull. Kakashi wondered if the bones would fracture first, or if his brain would simply rupture. He couldn't breathe. His chest ached, skin drawn tight over muscle and ribs. He couldn't breathe. His blood wasn't getting air, organs weren't getting oxygen, brain wasn't going to survive. He couldn't breathe.

Three minutes, that was all you had when you went under. Less if you were hurt.

Kakashi didn't know how long he'd been underwater. Long enough to hurt. Long enough to get grabbed by the current and spun around and hurt. Long enough to not breathe.

Two minutes left, maybe one. He didn't know where Pakkun was.

The water squeezed, lashing against his skin, and Kakashi lost the fight. His body needed to breathe now, and it didn't care there was no air. His mouth opened, thoat worked, lungs inhaled. He got nothing but filthy water, and now he was cold from the inside out. Kakashi convulsed, body automatically trying to curl as it coughed and retched. He inhaled more water.

Then he panicked. He was going to drown!

Which was exactly the moment Haruichi chose to yank his head above the water. Kakashi gasped, feeling relief like no other, and promptly vomited up a chestful of dirty water. His body took that as its cue to double him back over, and knocked him into the damn sewage again.

He inhaled more water, less air, and reached a whole new level of misery to go along with broken bones.

(Reply to this)(Parent) (Thread)

There was nothing Haruichi could do save hold him above the water. Each painful convulsion either of them had trying to cough up water without choking on the rising swell felt like it might yank his hand free of the hold he had on the rock above them. Only half a foot of air now and he could barely keep his grip, only a minute more of this then the black water again. That rushing deaf blankness. Oh, Hoshi.

He'd done the right thing though. Kakashi was still kicking and coughing, still alive, they weren't dead yet and until they both were he'd know he'd done the right thing coming back.

And even afterwards, too. If it came to that.

Bare inches of air left, Haruichi managed to drag a knee up against Kakashi's back and shove him up into it a little higher. They were really horizontal now, the water's spinning current and the angle made that possible and...

Haruichi stopped noticing the cold, then, or the noise of water on stone and harsh gasps for air. Spinning current. The water was siphoning away, the flow was easing off! But that meant--

"Whirlpool!" he coughed, redoubling his grip on Kakashi's body best he could and realising he didn't know where the dog was. Shit! "Hang on! It'll get worse before it gets better." He'd known he was right, the water was draining off! Now he had to make sure that didn't kill them either.

(Reply to this)(Parent)