Disclaimer: I own neither Naruto nor the characters therein
AN: Well, it's subpar, but I hope you all enjoy it. Conscrit is welcome :).
Tomorrow, Maybe
Kakashi sits on the hospital bed and listens to the wind smash against the building. There'll be a storm tonight, he thinks. His copy of Icha Icha Paradise lies forlornly on the nightstand. For a moment he considers picking it up, thumbing through it to page 258, but he drops the idea immediately. Not worth the effort, he thinks. His arms still ache from this morning's rehabilitative exercise, and Kakashi doesn't feel like any more pain today.
There are kids playing outside the hospital now, probably just got out of class. Konoha's next generation of leaflets. They're loud, and annoying, and they're fighting about something. Like Sasuke. Like Naruto. Little punks with metal squares strapped to their forehead who think they can save the world.
Kakashi takes a long look at the ceiling and closes his eyes. Maybe if he sleeps the children will shut up. But sleep is slow in coming, and when he finally starts to doze off, someone knocks on the door. Kakashi doesn't open his eyes; he's not really in a chatting sort of mood.
Sakura doesn't go away, though – it is Sakura, he can tell from the smell of the rosewater she uses instead of perfume.
"Oh," he hears her say. "You're asleep again."
The 'again' makes his conscience twinge the slightest bit. He's been asleep every time someone comes in for the last two weeks. It's not that he has anything against them. He'd just rather not have anyone pity him right now. It's easier this way.
Silence. Kakashi takes a deep breath and starts, slowly, to reach for Icha Icha when he hears the door squeak open again.
"I couldn't find a vase, so this'll have to do." Something clinks and splashes water on the nightstand. A chair creaks, then scrapes across the floor. Kakashi evens out his breathing and relaxes into the pillows, even though he knows it's useless. Please, why can't she just run off to play healer and leave him in peace? Several moments pass in silence, and he wonders if she's going to sit there until he wakes up.
She breathes, deeply, shuddering, and Kakashi wonders if in those moments she was crying.
"Those flowers… they're Sasuke's favorites, you know." She laughs, bitterly. "He – he let it slip one day, when we were on a mission. His mother used to take him with her to cut some in the woods."
Outside, the children start up a loud game of tag.
"I… I take some to- to him- every day now. Ino doesn't charge me for them." A pause. "Do you think he-" Deep, low, shuddering breaths. The smell of lilacs: Kakashi knows from long experience that that's what she scents her handkerchiefs. He wonders why she doesn't just use the rosewater for that too.
A minute and a half of sniffling. Kakashi passes the time by counting the seconds. Takes his mind off what she's going to say.
"Do you… do you think he knows? About the flowers, I mean. I guess. And- and not just about the flowers, either. Do you think he knows? About you, and Sai, and… and everything?" She pauses, and he hears her wipe her eyes. She didn't need to say 'everything.' He knows exactly what she meant. "Kotetsu and Izumo said Sasuke died a shinobi of Konoha. And that's what we wanted, isn't it? To make him a shinobi of Konoha again."
Kakashi feels her put her hand over his. It's warm, a bit moist from her tears. He has to force himself not to swallow, not to open his eyes, and put a hand on her shoulder and reassure her the way the sensei in him wants to. Even though she stopped being his student a long time ago.
"I don't know if that's enough. But – Sasuke – he died our friend, didn't he? After everything he did, he came back; he was the old Sasuke again, I think." She squeezes his hand. "Maybe… maybe that's enough." She stands up, and his hand feels cold when she lets go. "Naruto thinks so, anyway."
The chair scrapes back across the floor and bumps up against the wall. The smell of lilacs and rosewater moves away.
"I should be getting back – I'm helping the Hokage look for something she can use for you. She said she's never heard of anyone paralyzed by a jutsu like you, but…"
Kakashi hears the handkerchief being twisted in her hands.
"I'm sure we'll find – something." And then she's gone, and the scent of flowers with her.
Kakashi doesn't open his eyes right away. Instead he lies there and thinks.
He died a shinobi of Konoha. He died our friend. He died the student who used to give me looks when I ruffled his hair, the boy who refused to give up even when it seemed impossible to go on.
He died a shinobi of Konoha, proud as any that ever lived. It would have been enough for Obito.
He died our friend. It was enough for Naruto.
Kakashi opened his eyes and looked down at his legs, lying uselessly under the covers. He looks away quickly. Then his eyes are drawn to his nightstand, where Icha Icha Paradise is sitting under a glass full of lilacs. He starts to reach for it, but has a thought and reaches for the buzzer instead.
The nurse is new, and Kakashi heaves a sigh of relief before cocking his eyebrow the way that Sakura told him made all the women at the ramen place go crazy.
Two minutes later, he has a bowl of his favorite pudding and a glass of juice sitting in front of him, and the nurse is turning to page 258 of Icha Icha Paradise to read out loud.
Two minutes after that, the nurse yelps 'Kakashi-sensei!' in a very shocked tone, tosses the book at him, and stalks out of the room in a huff.
Kakashi sighs in resignation and props the book up against the food tray, but he doesn't start reading it quite yet. He takes a spoonful of pudding and listens.
Outside the children scream and scatter as the first raindrops start to fall. But some of them stay outside, refusing to leave until whatever game they're playing at is done. Kakashi snickers. The next generation of leaflets indeed.
Kakashi takes a breath and turns back to his book, reaching to wipe a stray bit of pudding off his face. It's with surprise that he realizes his face is wet, and he wonders if Sakura knew he was awake. Then he turns back to his book, hoping the time until tomorrow passes quickly.
Tomorrow, maybe, he'll be awake when she and Kotetsu and Izumo and Naruto come by again. Tomorrow, maybe, he'll get one of the nurses to bring him a vase for Sakura's flowers. Tomorrow, maybe, he'll ask her to put some flowers on Sasuke and Obito's graves for him.
Because today, maybe, he can finally admit that it's enough.