AN: This alternative ending for the alternative ending killed me. I hope you guys enjoy this. The break in the last chapter is where this chapter breaks off from.

Disclaimer: I haven't magically acquired ownership of Naruto in the few hours since the last chapter, so it still isn't mine.

'Thoughts'

"Talking"


Morning came and went and Kakashi showed no signs of waking. Since he was admitted the night before, he hadn't woken up and his heartbeat was painfully slow. Afternoon came, then evening and soon it was night again. Tsunade had come in and done some more tests. She said that the new batch of antidote was ready ad she would administer another dose. She and Iruka both hoped it wasn't too late. Another day passed the same as before with no signs of improvement from the Copy-nin. Iruka felt useless.

Eventually, Tsunade came in and practically kicked Iruka out of the hospital. "You have to eat and shower sometime." She said. "Don't come back until you've done both."

Iruka raced home, took a quick shower, changed into a fresh uniform and took a few bites of an apple. How did Tsunade expect him to eat at a time like this? Dumping the rest of the apple, he raced back to the hospital. When he entered, it as if he stepped into another world. There was a deep sense of sorrow and loss and… Was that a hole in the wall? What had happened in the 20 or so minutes he was gone? It was when a nurse looked at him with a pitying gaze that Iruka realized what must have happened.

'No, no, no!' He shouted in his head as he ran as fast as he could to his lover's room. 'This cannot be happening!'

The door to Kakashi's room burst open and Iruka stood there, horrified. The room was so silent it hurt. There wasn't the slow, steady beeping of the machines. The room was empty, no body on the bed, like no one had been laying there for days.

"Iruka." Tsunade's voice brought him out of his thoughts. He turned his teary gaze to her, silently asking her the question he was afraid to speak out loud. The "I'm so sorry" that left her lips in a near whisper was all he needed to hear, but he couldn't break. Not yet. "I'll take you to him." She said softly.

She took him to a room that was completely dark, except for a single bed in the center, its occupant completely covered by the blanket. There was only one light in the room, above the bed. The surrounding area was pitch black. This was it; where he could say his final goodbye. It was such a dreary setting…

"I'll leave you here. You have 20 minutes." Tsunade said and she left, closing the door behind her, its soft click sounding like an echoing boom to Iruka's ears.

He made his way over to the bed and slowly removed the blanket, his heart breaking even more when the silver hair was revealed, followed by the eyes and the still-covered bottom half of Kakashi's face. He stopped at the shoulders. Removing the surgical mask from Kakashi's face, Iruka let his tears fall. The now completely bare face of the feared Sharingan Kakashi looked so peaceful now, but he was so pale it scared Iruka. It was as if he was looking at a ghost.

"How could you do this to me? He asked, voice cracking. "20 minutes. 20 damn minutes, I was gone and you choose then to go and die?" His cracking voice gave way to sobs and his hands went from fiddling with the mask in them to fists. "In the four years I've known you. The four years I've loved you, you've become a part of me, and now… It feels like my heart's been ripped out and I don't know if I can recover from that." Iruka's body was racked with sobs and it took him a minute to compose himself so he could speak again. "I love you. I always will. I'll miss you like hell, too. Everything in our apartment will remind me of you, and there's no way I'm moving. It'll take me a long time to stop grieving, you know. I know you wouldn't want me to spend my whole life crying for you, you've said so yourself so many times, and every time my answer was the same: 'It's not that time yet, so shut up and go back to sleep' But its that time now, and it came way too soon." Iruka slowly ran his hands through Kakashi's hair for the last time; for old times' sake. "I loved doing that, and you loved it when I did it. There's so much about you that I'll miss." Iruka stopped his affectionate gesture and wiped the tears from his eyes. "I'll take care of Ukki-kun for you." He smiled sadly. "I know how much you cared about him." Iruka sniffed and looked at his watch. "It's time for me to go, before I get kicked out again…" The last part was said in a somewhat bitter tone. He gently brushed soft silver hair away from Kakashi's forehead before placing a gentle kiss there. It only reminded him that he would never be able to do so ever again. "Goodbye." He whispered.

Iruka replaced the surgical mask and the blanket and wiped the tears from his eyes. When Tsunade arrived to get him, he was ready.

"Iruka-kun, you should take these." Tsunade said, placing something in his palm. Feeling the coldness of metal, he knew they were Kakashi's dog tags. He always wore them. Always. He should have noticed they were gone when he was saying goodbye.

"Thank you." Iruka said and he left the hospital.


ANII: ='[ Like I said, this ending killed me. I love Kakashi so much, but I wanted to see if I could do a death scene like this, so I'd appreciate if you guys told me how it turned out. Sorry these have been so short. They seem a lot longer hand-written in my notebook… Anyway, that's it for this one, until next time (which I hope is in less than a year) Ja ne!