Title: Mending Fists
Pairing/s: KakaGai.
Disclaimer: it's the year of our lord 2K16 and i'm writing naruto fanfiction. when will i be released from this hell.
Summary: Ninjas shouldn't fall for such obvious traps, stupid.
The worst part, Gai laments to Kakashi three weeks after the war ends, isn't the loss of mobility. It's the loss of vision.
Kakashi, naturally, doesn't ask Gai to elaborate on that. Gai, naturally, does so anyway.
"As a shinobi, you spend so much of your time on rooftops, in trees, on the backs of Summons," Konoha's ex-Green Beast reflects mournfully from his hospital bed, staring off into the distance like some old sage. "You get used to seeing the world spread out for you, seeing every aspect. Like this, however—" Gai looks morosely down at his hands, curled tight in his lap, "you see only a Speck."
Kakashi heaves a long sigh, and with great effort, drags his eyes up from his book, which he's been looking forward to finishing for weeks now.
"Gai, I'm here so you don't drive the nurses crazy with your regretful monologuing, not so you can annoy me with it."
Gai turns to him with impossibly big, liquid eyes. "You understand, of course, Kakashi," he says, lips trembling. "How small the world seems, now that you no longer have the Sharingan?"
Ah, shit, Kakashi thinks. He's never going to finish his book at this rate.
With many regrets, the least of which involving his decision to spend the night babysitting a stir-crazy manchild, Kakashi sets the book down on the table beside Gai's hospital bed and stands, holding out his arms impatiently.
Gai's eyebrows furrow. "My Eternal Rival?"
"If being on rooftops again is what it takes to shut you up, then being on rooftops is what we're gonna have to do," Kakashi tells him.
To be honest, by this point he should probably be used to the feeling of holding Gai in his arms, and vice versa. The lives they've lived have the inevitable side effect of gross injury, of the tight grip of fear around your heart, of holding your dying friend's hand in yours and whispering 'no, no, no,' as the blood spreads and spreads under your palms like it'll never stop. And it's not like the feeling of Gai next to his chest is unfamiliar; not like his body being limp and deadweight is anything new.
Except Gai's eyes are open, and he still can't move.
Kakashi carries Gai up to the hospital roof, and leaps on top of the tallest water tower with the hunkering ex-ninja clinging to his arms. It's a good thing the hospital food tastes like dead things, because Kakashi's lost some muscle mass from his own extended hospital "visit" and Gai isn't exactly a ballerina. He sets Gai down on the expansive lid and drops down next to him, swinging his legs to dangle over the edge.
"So?" he asks after a minute. "Any better?"
Gai is quiet. The silence stretches between them, a black and growing thing. "It's dark," he murmurs at last. "I can't see."
"Gai, it's ten at night, what did you expect?"
"People," Gai breathes, and suddenly his head jerks down and his eyes squeeze shut tight, and a flash of memory runs warm under Kakashi's ribs.
The words that burst past Kakashi's lips without volition are echoes of an answer long past: "Gai, I challenge you."
Gai's head whips up in utter shock. "You what?"
Kakashi's mouth quirks. "You heard me. I'm challenging you. I'm one ahead, right? This is your chance for sweet revenge."
Gai is at a loss for words for a few seconds. "Why?" he manages finally.
Kakashi shrugs. "Because you would do the same for me," he says, and the way Gai startles lets him know his friend is remembering, too; remembering dead teammates and worried comrades and senseis too afraid to even touch for fear of breaking. Remembers a loud, booming voice, fearless in its intensity, the sound shattering and healing all at once. Remembers the first challenge, and the last challenge, and how Gai somehow always manages hold Kakashi together, even in the midst of ripping apart every mask Kakashi has ever owned.
"It's—it's your turn to pick," Gai stammers, choosing, apparently, to roll with it. Kakashi's eyes arch in a grin.
"Well, racing's out," he pretends to muse. "Taijutsu, too. Eating contest would throw off your medications. I guess there's always Jan-ken—"
"No," Gai cuts in quickly. Kakashi has to swallow a laugh.
"Fine. I choose the only thing that's left, then: arm-wrestling."
Secretly, Kakashi has kept a pretty good count on their running rivalry. Out of 172 challenges, arm-wrestling has been featured in twenty-one of them. He can see Gai waver a little; then, reluctantly come to the conclusion that, like so many other aspects of his life, their challenges will also be severely limited from now on. He nods, and holds out his hand.
Kakashi grips it solidly. "Ready?"
Gai hesitates. "Kakashi, please don't…" but his voice trails off and he doesn't finish the sentence. Kakashi doesn't press. He tightens his grip on Gai's hand. "Ready," rumbles the deep voice, composed once more.
"Alright," Kakashi says. "On the count of three: one, two… three!"
Bam! Gai slams Kakashi's hand to the concrete with blistering force. The pain thuds through Kakashi's skin, and the thin membranes on his knuckles begin to bruise almost instantly. Kakashi lets out a shaky little laugh.
"Haa, that was fast! Looks like you win, Gai. Good work. I guess we're tied again."
Gai is silent for a long moment. Kakashi narrows his eyes, concerned.
"Gai?"
"Kakashi…" There's a thin prickle of rage seeping out from the creases in Gai's face, and underneath that, a raw, wounded hurt. "I thought you had more respect for me! To let me win, as though I'm a child to be—" He attempts to rip his hand from Kakashi's grasp; freezes when it abruptly becomes clear that he can't.
Kakashi looks up at the sky, their fingers still neatly intertwined. "Maa, the stars sure look nice tonight," he says wistfully. A look of muted horror comes into Gai's eyes as the realization slowly dawns.
"Kakashi—"
"No moon, though. But I think that makes the stars seem brighter, don't you? Ever wonder how many there are out there?"
Gai tries futilely, desperately to remove his hand from Kakashi's. "My Rival! No!"
"I wonder if we could count them. Maybe that should be our next challenge, now that we're tied. Hey, look, a shooting star! Beautiful, isn't it, Gai?"
"DAMN YOU, KAKASHI!"
Kakashi grins beneath the mask, and holds Gai's hand a little tighter.
Above their heads, the stars grow endless.
owari