A series of one shots chronicling Yamato and Kakashi's relationship from ANBU to post-war.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Yamato can count on one hand the amount of times he has ever said no to Kakashi.
The first time Yamato is fifteen and Yamato is Tenzou.
Tenzou used to be Kinoe and Kinoe used to be someone else but whatever his name was, he never learned how to say no. No got you killed, or worse, so his whole life all he learned to say was yes, thank you.
Yes, thank you got you anesthesia in the testing room. Yes, thank you got you solid food instead of liquid injections. Yes, thank you got you only one beating in Root instead of two when you couldn't master a new jutsu quickly enough. Saying yes, thank you to the pain meant it only stayed for a little bit, or maybe a long bit, but it would always go away eventually. Yes, thank you kept you alive, for whatever that's worth.
Tenzou has said yes, thank you to more agreeable things as well. He said yes, thank you when the Hokage pulled him out of Root to let him serve in his own ANBU faction. He said yes, thank you when Kakashi told him they would be on the same team. Tenzou always says yes to Kakashi. Kakashi is his captain and his first friend (or at least, the first friend he can actually talk to. Tenzou called the other test subjects his "friends" but he was never able to actually talk to them and he never will be). Tenzou will do anything for Kakashi, not because he is obligated to but because he wants to (and he's not sure if he has ever wanted anything before).
Kakashi is leaping from tree to tree in a shadowy forest and Tenzou is right behind him. Golden patterns dance across Kakashi's back in the glow of the late summer sun and this thought sticks with Tenzou because he has never really thought about seasons before. And this isn't really the time to be having such thoughts, anyway. Their team has just stolen some country's secrets and is being pursued, but one by one Kakashi has ordered each member to break away and head for the village with the coveted scrolls while he keeps the attention of the pursuers by replacing each member with a shadow clone. It is a risky tactic and it uses up a lot of chakra but it works, and now only Tenzou and Kakashi are left with the pursuers on their tail.
Until Kakashi stops in a place where the sun doesn't fall and tells Tenzou to go join the others. He is planning on taking out the enemy on his own while the rest of his team gets away safely with the information. But Tenzou is carrying no scroll. The mission is already completed and all that's left is the clean up and there is no reason why Kakashi should have to do it alone.
So when Kakashi tells Tenzou to leave, Tenzou, for the first time in his life, says no.
The word feels strange on his tongue and neither of them were really expecting it so Kakashi turns to face him this time and again tells him to go and again Tenzou says no. Even though Kakashi's face is covered by his red-striped dog mask, Tenzou can tell that he is angry. The enemy is closing in so Kakashi tells him one more time to leave and "that is an order."
And remembering something from long ago, Tenzou says, "An order that requires me to abandon my friends is not a valid order."
Kakashi is frustrated at how his own words have twisted and backfired on him and growls at Tenzou that this is "no time to be a hero."
But Tenzou is firm as he tells him "I'm not leaving you," because it is in this moment that Tenzou realizes something that could cause him more pain than anything he has experienced thus far in his fifteen (at least he thinks it's fifteen) years of life. He realizes that to him, Kakashi is not only his captain and maybe not even only his friend. He realizes that if Kakashi goes into this battle alone and does not come out, Tenzou will feel a loneliness more potent than any he has ever felt before. Tenzou is no stranger to loneliness, he watched his "friends" disappear one by one through the glass of his watery test-tube prison, but this is one loneliness he does not want to feel for as long as he lives. Tenzou does not want to lose any of his comrades but he especially does not want to lose Kakashi. Losing him would be like winter, like empty, like ice, like – He does not really understand this feeling yet but he knows that he cannot and will not leave him.
Kakashi simply turns away and mutters "do whatever you want" before rushing in to meet the pursuers.
When the battle is over the two of them stand half dead in a clearing surrounded by their enemies who are now all the way dead. Their wounds are severe but thanks to his borrowed cells Tenzou recovers rather quickly, at least enough to make it back to Konoha and get checked out in the hospital. Kakashi does not recover as quickly but he wraps a few bandages around the worse parts and pretends that he does.
A few minutes into their return journey those bandages are already soaked through. Kakashi's pace is slower than usual but Tenzou doesn't say anything and stays just about half a pace behind him so as to be polite. He watches Kakashi's back like a bee does a flower in spring.
Thirty minutes in and Kakashi's bandages are now leaking and his steps are becoming unsteady. Drops of his blood are being left on tree branches but stubbornly he moves forward and still Tenzou says nothing.
Forty-five minutes in and Kakashi finally stops and half looks back over his shoulder like a leaf twisting in the breeze. His mask is till secured but his body has tuned red like autumn. Even his voice rustles as he whispers "Tenzou..." before slipping out of consciousness and off the tree. Strong branches with lush leaves reach out to cushion his fall.
"I've got you," whispers Tenzou to nothing in particular.
Tenzou does not like to say no, to anyone and especially not to Kakashi, but this time he is glad that he did.
Thank you for reading! There will be more. I hope you stay on with me to read it, though of course, you are always free to say "no". :)
