This was a dare from a very close friend of mine. She asked me to do this a few weeks ago, and I just now finished it. I couldn't think of a name, so until then go ahead and put your own name in. And, you know what? Go ahead and dare me to write a one-shot. Any series, any characters, any scenario. You name it, I'll do it. Just leave your dare in the comments.

I bit my tongue about it to help the others clean up, look for survivors. Every second someone wasn't speaking to me or I wasn't pulling a body from the rubble was when my eyes welled with tears.

He was gone.
He was really gone.

"_______!" One of my team members called. "Come lend a hand, will you?"

I nod and ran over, pushing the broken, stone panel up as another carefully pulled another fallen Shinobi from the rubble.

I couldn't recognize him.

I shook my head with a sigh. "Add another one to the list." We gently put the stone down and the two rushed to find another spot to search.

And I was alone again.

I was desperately searching for something to do to keep myself from practically breaking down. I could imagine Gaara telling me to take a break for some strange reason, bless his soul.

But my mind couldn't escape the thought of this new enemy: "Pain." It's obvious that his name is his life work. The destruction was evidence enough. The town was in pieces, and he was the only one who walked away practically unscathed from what I had heard from a wounded survivor.

If it were up to me, the bastard would be rotting in Hell.

He took Him away from me. He deserves to pay.

I looked around for something to take my mind away from it again. That was when I saw Kaida slumped over Raiden's dead body on the ground, her face buried in her hands.

I sighed and got down close next to her, resting my hand on her back. "He was a good man, Kaida."

She nodded over her sniffles. "He was. I-I just don't understand w-why it had to be this way..."

I felt my heart shatter at her words, unable to find my own to speak. It was true; I couldn't understand, either.

Kaida ran a hand through her former-fiance's dark hair. I admired how brave she was. I was scared to touch him when I found Him; I wanted to hold on to the little chance that this was all a freakish nightmare that I couldn't snap out of.

If it was a nightmare... Who knew the mind could attack you in your sleep with your fears?

"Dreselfa-San!" My head turned to see Akimichi Chōza coming our way.

I nodded, gave Kaida a light pat on her back and stood up to face Chōza. "Yes, sir."

"My son and I would like to thank you for staying to help with the aftermath, despite..." He sucked in a breath and took my hands in his large ones. "Despite what has happened to your tokubetsuna mono*."

I nodded, fighting back my tears. "It's what Hatake-Chan would've wanted, Akimichi."

"Please, refer to me by my surname. My son and I accept you as family."

I smiled a little. "Thank you."

He gave me a small smile with a nod, and went back to where his son, Chōji, was tending to a wounded Shinobi survivor.

It was what He would've wanted.

Right?

To my luck, I was preoccupied for the next hour with moving the wounded out of the Konoha area.

We were ordered to not worry about moving the dead out quite yet.

But we were told to stay put to wait for further instruction.

So we all just sat there, not knowing what to say, mourning over the ones we lost.

I know I was. I couldn't even look at His body. I was just praying that this whole thing was just a big nightmare.

About a half hour after our last set of orders, the messenger came back: begin moving the dead out so clean up crews could start work tomorrow.

Kaida sat down next to me, her eyes still pink from her tears. She just looked forward for a moment, folding her hands in between her legs. "Have you gone to see him yet?"

I looked at her. "Once. When we first got here." I watched two Shinobi Men gently lift a deceased onto a gurney, sucking in a breath. "I went around that pile of rock, and I-I knew something wasn't right. And when I got closer to the epicenter of the blast..."

It kept flashing through my mind. The image of His whole lower body crushed under the rubble, and His head hanging back with blood dripping down his face. His left eye was black, cold...

And dead.

"And I saw him there..." I failed at fighting my tears and buried my face in my hands, breaking into a sob.

I felt Kaida's hand run across my back, giving me almost no comfort at all.

I just couldn't accept that He was gone.

Hatake was gone.

My Hatake Kakashi was gone.

I was praying it wasn't true. I had to know for sure whether or not this whole thing was just my mind tormenting me.

"I need to touch him," I said softly.

Kaida's hand stopped. "What?"

"Kakashi. I need... I need to touch him."

"What do you mean, touch him?"

"I need to know whether or not this whole damn thing is a nightmare." I shot up onto my feet as I spoke, wiping the tears on my cheeks away.

"Nightmare? ______-Chan, as much as I hate to say it, you're not dreaming. I had to tell myself the same thing."

"No. No, I need to know for myself."

"_____-Chan, you did touch him. I remember seeing you hold onto his body as if he was the only thing keeping you from falling into a pit."

"I was numb. I... I couldn't feel anything."

She stood up and put her hands on my shoulders. "He's gone. I'm sorry, but he's gone."

It seemed like she said some sort of magical line, because as soon as she finished her sentence, a stream of neon green orbs were swarming in a circle above the whole area, seconds later the orbs rained down on us one by one, surrounding the fallen Shinobi.

I swear, I saw Raiden's eyes open. I blinked myself, and I wasn't​ imagining anything. Raiden sat up.

Kaida started crying at that second and ran over to him as he stood up with a dazed and confused look, and she flung her arms around him and buried her face in his shoulder. He looked as confused as a man could be.

I saw the same happen with the others: they all just woke up.

But if they were all coming to, that would've meant that...

I had to see for myself. I took off towards that epicenter and ran a little ways down.

I saw Chōza, and Chōji, and... Him, slowly getting to his feet with Chōji's help.

I felt the tears again. And I started running that way.

"Kakashi!"

I saw him look up. The blood was still stained on his face, I could see his Sharingan, full of color, his hair was stuck up straight.

I went barrelling down that slope and my face went right into his chest, gripping his shirt, trying to take it all in.

This was real.

I was awake.

I knew it as soon as I felt his warm breath on my neck and his hands gripping to my shirt.

And we didn't say anything.

We didn't have to.

I finally knew that I was wide awake.

*Tokubetsuna mono = special one