SPOILER: Post cannon- if you have not reached the ten tail / juubi arc, do not read paragraph number 7! Also if you haven't read the war arc or Kakashi Gaiden this may have some surprises!
AN: Don't worry I will be finishing my other story Ramen Soup for the Soul. I just had this idea and had a strong urge to write the first chapter. This is a bit different and is from Gai's POV rather than Kakashi's. Warning, Angst ahead!
Just so you know the story will weave in and out of flashbacks...
Chapter 1
The gates were open. He had pushed himself to the seventh. He didn't want to have to resort to that again. But he had to. If he survived this he knew Kakashi would kill him. He smiled. The thought of returning home to his rival only made him more determined.
He had them cornered. They couldn't run any further. He had all of them trapped before him, all four of- wait! Hadn't there been six?
That was when Maito Gai felt an unimaginable amount of pain and everything went black.
He dreamt sometimes. Of his life, of Konoha, his team, his friends. Kakashi. The silver ninja never escaped his thoughts. Sometimes, as he drifted between drams and nothingness, he thought he could hear voices. They seemed hazy, far away. Nowhere close enough for him to reach. He wondered if one of them was Kakashi's. Or was he being too hopeful?
Occasionally the voices were clear. People were talking about him. People he didn't know. They discussed him. They asked if he would ever wake up. They spoke of him as a hero. Gai wanted more than anything to be able to scream "Yes, I am awake! I am here! Do not leave me; do not forget me!" If he could have shed a tear for himself, for his lonely state, he would have.
He could feel them too. They wiped his brow, tucked him in. He thought he could feel tubes being forced into his body. Injections. But he couldn't react. He couldn't move.
He slipped in and out of fantasies. He saw his father, his old sensei. Neji trained with him. And there was Kakashi. There was always Kakashi. Though Gai didn't have a concept of time as he lay there, useless and tired, he often thought of the copy ninja.
Gai resented so much his current predicament; everything had been going so damn well back in Konoha. He had finally admitted his feelings to Kakashi. They had finally kissed. Gai didn't know what that had meant yet as he had been called away on the mission. The mission that landed him in his current state. But he sure as hell wanted to find out.
Gai had loved Kakashi all his life, but he had always been unreachable. Or so it had seemed. He needed to snap out of this, this- whatever it was. He had to get back to Kakashi. They had to give it a shot.
And then there were his team mates. What had become of them? He hoped they were OK. Maybe they were the ones who prodded and poked him, who were looking after him. He had been leading a team of young chunin, showing them the ropes. What a fine example he had set in getting your ass kicked.
Just as he thought it, his mind seemed to fade again into the numbness.
"Rival. Rival!" Gai called, chasing the teenage shinobi. "Wait up!"
The seventeen year old Kakashi was leaping ahead. Gai, only a year older, could barely keep up with the silver flash of jonin. He followed the trailed of Kakashi's laughter. It was such a rare pleasure to hear, and Gai was certain he was the only one who could bring it out of him. He heartfelt heavy with pride at the thought of it, as if it were one of their challenges.
Kakashi landed on the floor as they reached the rolling hills and plain. Gai leapt from the tree and landed straight on his rival, knocking him to the floor and they rolled down the hill in each other's arms. Kakashi blushed, but didn't acknowledge the intimate position, he was laughing too much. For once he was enjoying himself, forgetting about the pain, about Obito, about Rin, about Minato...
They came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. Kakashi was smiling beneath his mask, Gai could tell. He was on top of the younger teen, watching him contentedly. He longed to just reach out, pull that damn mask away. He had never seen Kakashi's face. He imagined it was beautiful, like everything else about the boy.
A stern cough snapped him out of his happy thought.
"Tenzo!" Kakashi yelped happily.
"Senpai!" Yamato beamed.
"Yamato-kun..." Gai said, nodding at the fourteen year old pest.
"Gai-san."
They glared at each other for a second. If Kakashi noticed he pretended not to. He rose and patted his younger friend on the back.
"Well, it was nice seeing you, young one!" Gai began, enthusiasm returning. Yamato winced at the reminder of his age. Kakashi was too old for that little twerp. "But Kakashi and I have to train now-"
"Kakashi-senpai, please allow me to join!"
"Sure."
Gai blustered. He realised what he was doing then stood tall and pulled out an air of cool. "Ah if only that were possible. Unfortunately the training is much too intense for one so you-"
"I'm in Anbu. I'm probably stronger than you."
"What!? Is that a challenge?" Gai squared up to the smaller teen.
"Maybe it is."
"Ha! Bring it on! You may be younger than me, but you will never be more youthful!"
"That doesn't even make sense!"
"Oh perfect," Kakashi said lightly, pulling Icha Icha from his pocket. "This is great; I am pretty tired anyway, so you two can train and I will head home and read."
"Wait No Kakashi!"
"Kakashi-senpai!"
But the silver teenager was already walking away.
"Oh my gosh. He moved!"
"What? Where?"
"There! His hand!"
"I wonder what this means..."
"Shit! He just did it again! Did you see it?"
"Yes!"
The darkness was finally fading. Gai was starting to feel some strength. He could- shit he could see!
He opened his eyes, then immediately shut them again. The light hurt.
"Hello? Can you hear me?"
"Wh- Where am..."
Gai's voice was hoarse, he hadn't used it for a while. How long had it been? A day? A few days? It seemed like a it could be a few weeks.
"It's OK. You are safe. You are in the small village of Heiwa. We have been looking after you."
Gai's memory of the battle was a little hazy, but he remembers stumbling into this village just before encountering the enemy. There had been a woman. He had saved her, brought her home. It wasn't a part of the mission, just Gai playing the hero and being a gentleman. So that was why they had looked after him. They were returning the favour.
Gai attempted the nice guy pose, though he was still weak. His thumbs up and smile didn't have the usual vigour, but he still felt dizzy and disorientated.
"Many thanks fair citizens, for your service to Konoha's green beast. I am in your debt."
"Think nothing of it. You saved my daughter." An old man with kindly eyes said. "We are just happy you made it. You had us really worried there. We feared you may never wake."
Gai boomed a laugh. "Then you do not know the green beast! I always pull through!" He gave a shiny glint of teeth.
"Would you like something to eat?" The young woman asked. She was very pretty, with wavy brown locks.
"Ah- if that's OK? I need to recover my strength. The village is probably worried about me!"
An uneasy look passed between the father and daughter.
"Umm, about that. How do I say this? They may will probably in for a surprise. You see, we didn't know what village you were from, your hatai-ate was lost. They don't know your here, and we couldn't tell them..."
"But what about my team? Didn't they come for me?"
"Well... I think they all... are gone."
"Gone?"
"You were all stripped and thrown in the sea. You were the only survivor."
Gai put his head in his hands. "No!"
"I'm sorry. We pulled you out and we could see you were alive. So we took you home with us and tried to heal you. You had been knocked unconscious during the fight we think, then thrown to the sea. They must have thought they had killed you. But thank goodness they were wrong."
Gai took a few calming breaths. Him, the only one. Those poor, poor chunin. They had been so youthful, so determined. And now they were gone...
But the old man was right. He was still here. He could return to Konoha, to his friends. To Kakashi.
"Right. In that case my village will be especially worried. How long have I been out of it?"
Again that look passed between the two.
What now?
"Well... it has been... over a year."
