Second Sight
Note from the authors: We will be introducing actual, serious plot in a few chapters. xD Just as a heads up. Thanks again for sticking with us and supporting us! It means a lot. --Obito-mun
Chapter Fourteen
Not three weeks later, there had been some sort of motorcyclist-versus-city bus-versus-cliff wall accident just outside of Konoha one morning, and the General Hospital was absolutely swamped. They had started moving patients out of the ER to anywhere that had the room to spare to make room for the overflow. One of the temps working the reception desk was doing her very best to keep things straight as she had been charged with calling the emergency contacts of anyone fit to leave the hospital to clear space. She crossed out the twentieth or so name off a list of fifty-some and was about to move on to the next when one of the nurses came by and asked her to run a memo to a doctor who wasn't answering his pager.
Ten minutes and eight flights of stairs later, the temp was back at her desk, breathless as she dialed the emergency contact of the next name. She tried to catch her breath as she waited for the other party to pick up.
Shimenawa had just seen another patient and her mother out the door with a lollipop, an antibiotic prescription, and a smile when he heard the phone ringing back in his office. Closing the front door behind him, he quickly stumbled through the waiting room and back over to his desk, just managing to grab the phone off the hook by the fourth ring. Phew.
"Shimenawa Pediatric Clinic, Dr. Shimenawa speaking. How can I help you?" Maybe someday he should consider getting himself a secretary to do this stuff, he thought idly.
"Oh, uh," the poor girl blinked, for a moment forgetting where she was because she was young, overworked, and had more different jobs in the last few months than she could count, and definitely hadn't expected to call a clinic.
"This is Konoha General Hospital, Shizune speaking. Ah, I'm calling because you're listed as the emergency contact of Kubutsu Sakumo, who is currently in our ICU due to--" she was about to continue with 'an overflow in our ER', but someone was calling a code down the hall and a nurse yelled at her to find a doctor, startling her enough that she dropped the phone back into the receiver. She realized what she'd done halfway around the desk and grimaced, but kept running for a doctor because, well, she would just have to call again when she got back. The person crashing down the hall wasn't getting any better on his own, after all. Sighing inwardly, she decided maybe it was time to settle down with a real career.
"What? Why-- How is he--" The phone went dead and Shimenawa could only stare down at the receiver in his hand with a very cold feeling settling in the pit of his stomach. Kumo shouldn't even be in town, what was he doing in the-- oh god, the ICU--
He didn't waste any time. Grabbing his keys and throwing on a coat, he flipped the front sign to Closed, stuck the 'sorry, having an emergency' sign on the front door (it had seemed prudent to just make one up to keep since Kakashi had come to live with them), and rushed off down the street to the bus stop. At times like these he wished his Hiraishin no Jutsu didn't need a seal to work -- it would've been nice to just teleport straight into a hospital bathroom or something...
He was fairly fidgeting with anxious worry by the time he got to the hospital. Pushing past the crowds of people coming and going and milling about the entrance, he made his way inside to the reception desk, trying to get the attention of one of the very frazzled-looking clerks. "Excuse me!"
Shizune had only just gotten back and was about to try Shimenawa's number again when he arrived. She barely looked up when he approached her because she was still trying to get a hold of, well, him because she felt just awful and he was probably so very worried.
"I'm sorry, sir, but we're very busy right now. If you're here for someone who was involved in the accident on the interstate, updates are being sent directly to the waiting room."
Huh, no one was answering.
"Someone from the hospital just called me -- I'm here about Kubutsu Sakumo?" he said, leaning forward over the desk a little to try and catch her attention. He could feel his heart seize up a little at the words -- accident on the interstate? And knowing Kumo's run of luck he'd've been right in the middle of all of it and now he was -- was--
"Oh!" Shizune cried as she stood quickly, knocking her chair over in the process, face flushing with embarrassment, "Sir! I'm so sorry about... about..." The snobby other receptionist was glaring at her to get back to work and she swallowed, looking down at the mess of papers on the desk to see where Sakumo had been relocated.
"Uh, Kubutsu Sakumo was moved to... let me write this down for you..." she jotted down his room number and then pointed down the hall, "Elevators are around the corner."
It didn't occur to Shimenawa to ask any questions; he just accepted the note with a strained smile and nod and quickly went on his way. Though -- if they were going to just let him walk into the ICU -- that... that wasn't at all a good sign--
He took a very deep breath and just kept walking. Third floor... room twenty-seven... ...ah, here it was.
Swallowing a little, trying in vain to mentally prepare himself, he pushed open the door.
The room was empty. There was no one in the bed, but the sheets looked decently rumpled to prove that at some point or another, Kumo had been between them. The light was still on, but the occupant of the room was definitely not within. Before Shimenawa even had a chance to react, someone tapped him on the shoulder.
"About damn time you got here, Sunshine. They were trying to feed me. And let me tell you, hospital food is made to kill but even that doesn't warm me up to it," Kumo was grinning and looking rather cheerful and the very image of health and vitality as long as the cast on his leg was overlooked. "You been looking for me long? I just saw a really cute doctor and had to hobble out after him to chat with a bit. You know how I've got a thing for cute doctors." He winked, then seemed to finally take in Shimenawa and all at once looked concerned, resting his hand on his old friend's shoulder.
"...you okay, Sunshine? You don't look too hot. Well, you look hot, just not... well?"
"Kumo-- oh my god--" Shimenawa was swaying on his feet for a moment with the sudden sheer relief. He took another deep breath. "They said you were in ICU and that's all they said -- I thought -- you--"
He stopped himself for a second to look the other man up and down with a slight frown.
"...why the hell are you in ICU? You're fine." His eyes alighted on the cast around one of Kumo's legs. "...Well, except for that, but."
"Didn't you hear? Some guy tried to throw himself in front of a bus and the bus ran into a cliff. Tons of people got hurt and the hospital's ER couldn't handle it," Kumo shrugged, "So I got transfered here. Wasn't about to complain either, because it's quieter... but they said they were going to call you to get me hours ago. I tried to tell them I could just limp on over to your clinic but there's paperwork and whatever yada yada so I just decided to sit tight and hit on that really cute blonde over there." He paused then, giving Shimenawa a searching look before he grinned suddenly, digging his elbow into Shimenawa's side.
"Awww, you were worried about me, Sunshine. And here I was thinking that you were just waiting for GH to call you to come ID my body one of these days."
"Of course I was worried about you... don't even joke about that," Shimenawa protested, the expression on his face somewhere between a pout and a genuinely worried frown. As the nerves began to wear off, he was really starting to feel like he needed to be sitting; he moved over to plop down in the chair next to the bed with another deep breath that he let out in a long, heartfelt sigh.
"Well, at least we can be glad it was all just a misunderstanding," he murmured, running a hand through his hair. His eyes turned back toward the cast Kumo was wearing. "You probably shouldn't be walking on that so much... what did happen to you, anyway? I thought you were leaving town again?"
"I did," Kumo shrugged as he limped his way back to the bed and sat down as well, "Guess I just started missing your pretty face too much. Aren't enough cute pretty-boys in the army, I suppose, so I decided it was high time to come home. Of course, I couldn't just quit, so... easiest way to get back here is to ask your drinking buddy to look the other way as you accidentally get yourself caught up in some very neat earth jutsu. Luckily the bone's just cracked in a whole buncha places rather than shattered like what usually happened. You always told me I had a thick skull. I guess it applies to all my other bones, too."
Shimenawa was following him until about the third sentence.
He was quiet for a long moment; after Kumo had finished speaking he looked up at the other man slowly, expression unreadable.
"Kumo." His voice was very quiet, slow and deliberate. "Did you just tell me that you broke your own leg?"
"I really fucked up the jutsu too," Kumo sighed, seeming to completely miss anything wrong with Shimenawa's expression or tone, crossing his arms over his chest with a familiar pout, "I should practice it while I'm on leave so that it actually incapacitates people."
"Kumo."
Shimenawa's eyes were narrowed, and one hand was gripping the side of the hospital chair very, very tightly.
"You broke. Your own. Leg just to get back here?" he managed through gritted teeth, looking like it was taking all his self-control to keep from doing something he'd regret.
"...yeah?" Kumo squeaked, shrinking away. He gripped his sheets and pulled them around himself defensively, for the first time realizing that Shimenawa was actually quite terrifying when angry.
"I thought I'd... I'd... come back and try my hand at settling down and being a dad and stuff," he shrugged, shying away from Shimenawa's wrath, "But... you know me, Sunshine. You probably know me better than I know me. I wanted to make sure I'd be able to go back if I'm too... me to really do this."
Shimenawa's display of temper was cut short before it had really begun -- he stopped to blink at the other man in astonishment, some of the tension ebbing out of his body as his expression shifted into a faint, sober frown.
"You... came back for Kakashi?" he murmured; he couldn't help his surprise, even if it made him feel a little guilty. Kumo was a good person, but he had never, as long as Shimenawa had known him, been the type of person that you could count on to be around for you. He was just flighty and commitment-shy by nature... but this... Even if the man was leaving himself an out in the form of the army, Shimenawa found himself amazed and, strangely, somehow proud for him that he would make the attempt at all.
"...You could've just called me and worked something out," he murmured, glancing away and shaking his head with a faint, rueful smile.
"Yeah, but that would've involved waiting," Kumo smiled back with a sheepish shrug. He fell silent then, scratching the back of his head without really knowing what to say.
"I..." he began, hesitating a moment before continuing, "We should get out of here, Sunshine. I'm pretty sure they need the room. What are the boys up to? And... you busy today?"
Shimenawa sighed again, and looked over at his friend with a grin. "You are a moron, Kumo," he declared fondly as he rose from his seat.
Not that he was planning on just letting the man get away with this, but... it was good to see him.
"I have work, but well," he glanced toward the clock on the wall, "it's only about an hour until closing, I can finish up early today. Obito's at his job 'til the evening and Kakashi's... somewhere," and he gave a short rueful laugh, "but he'll turn up for dinner."
He paused, looking toward Kumo again with a serious expression.
"This might not be easy, you know," the doctor murmured. "I don't know how he's going to react when he sees you again."
Kumo nodded and sighed, shrugging once more as he tried not to look too uncomfortable about the whole thing, momentarily staring at the ceiling before he hopped off the bed and landed rather gracefully on his good leg.
"Well, all I can do is try," he mused quietly before he patted Shimenawa affectionately on the head, "But don't you get too jealous, Sunshine. I'm here to see you, too. If you've got the time, you want to go out? I'll treat you to dinner."
Shimenawa gave another rueful shake of his head, still smiling.
"I suppose, as long as we're back before seven or so. Obito worries." Glancing around, he headed toward the open doorway. "So, is there a wheelchair around here? And don't even try to tell me you're not riding in one," he added genially. "Let's go get this paperwork over with..."
Quietly, they headed out of the ICU.
- - -
Dinner was fun, peppered with jokes and stupid flirting, reminiscing about old times and trading of stories -- now that his identity was no longer secret, Shimenawa was able to match Kumo blow-for-blow on the subject of amusing mishaps on the front lines, which, if he wasn't mistaken, got under the man's skin just a bit -- and despite the fearsome surprise he'd gotten earlier, the young doctor was in a generally cheerful mood as he and his friend arrived home. He sat Kumo down on the comfy couch in the living room and made him some tea before going to work on a quick dinner for two in the kitchen. It was already a few minutes past seven; the boys would probably be over any time now.
"Should I make sure the boys do their homework while you cook, Mother?" Kumo teased from the doorway to the kitchen, because he could hardly be expected to actually stay put when told. And besides, the sight of Shimenawa cooking, while common, was not one to miss. The way he moved and his precision and his grace and, well... What could Kumo say? He was a man and he was a fairly gay man and he had been harboring a crush on his best friend since he was a child and said best friend happened to have an excellent ass.
"Sure, and then you can do the laundry and sweep for me, Papa," Shimenawa smirked over at him, waving him toward a kitchen chair with spoon still in hand. "Have a seat."
He went back to his work for a minute or three, spooning sugar into two glasses of piping-hot black tea to go with the hastily thrown-together curry bubbling on the stove.
"Thanks again for dinner. It was fun." The doctor laughed a little. "Good stress-relief."
A complete miss. Kumo lamented the fact for perhaps a split second before he limped over to the table and sat down to covet his own mug of tea, which was absolutely smothered in sweet condensed milk beyond all recognition. At this point in their lives, Kumo wasn't entirely sure if Shimenawa was still missing his not at all subtle hints on purpose, because he was used to them, because he was preoccupied, or a mixture of all of the above. But then again Kumo didn't really care. Shimenawa's persistent cluelessness was one of the things about him that Kumo honestly adored.
"I get the feeling you don't have enough of that," Kumo shook his head, "I'll just have to take you out more, get you to take a real vacation someday. You don't smile the way you used to, Sunshine. Hurts me to see."
"Well... I guess these things happen." Shimenawa grinned awkwardly, not quite sure how to respond. It was true, he'd have to admit, there were things that had been hard on him. Losing his parents this time around... even though a part of him, the part that still remembered everything about fighting and jutsus and seals and the duties of a Hokage, had never entirely thought of them as his real family, it had been every bit as difficult coming to terms with their absence this time as it had the first. At least mom had gotten to see him graduate medical school like she'd wanted...
"I'm fine though, really," he said, glancing back to give Kumo a warmly reassuring smile. "Just busy. But I kind of like being busy."
"Sunshine, I know life doesn't get memos to you a lot and you don't even really read them then, but usually things going to hell in a handbasket isn't considered 'busy'," Kumo sighed, shaking his head, "Let's see if the great Kubutsu Kumo can't settle things enough to get you to come with him to up north somewhere for some skiing and fancy restaurants and keeping each other warm."
"It's not that bad around here all the time," Shimenawa laughed (though it was true that it was that bad more often than he'd like, but the amount he would like was ideally zero).
"Hm. Well." He looked down at the rice cooker thoughtfully for a moment before beginning to spoon out portions of rice onto plates for Kakashi and Obito. Kakashi liked a little more rice, Obito preferred more curry... "A vacation's certainly not entirely out of the question. Maybe if I could sneak in some free time in a few months..." He had a number of parents who scheduled regular checkups for their kids well in advance, but if he gave them a month's notice or so...
"A few months, Sunshine?" Kumo groaned, shaking his head, "Only if you're not dead or irreparably insane by that point, but I guess I can only ask for so many miracles at once."
"It's really not that bad here, Kumo," Shimenawa insisted with another quiet laugh as he turned around toward his friend, setting the rice paddle down on the counter. "The boys can be a little bit of a handful sometimes, but they're basically adults, they can take care of themselves." Well, Kakashi was debatable, but he'd somehow managed to get by for three thousand years without anyone's help, which spoke well for his self-sufficiency if not for his sanity. "I just do all this," and he gestured back toward the food with a fond smile, "because they deserve a little babying."
He was acutely aware, and always had been, of the fact that he was essentially the closest thing to real family that both boys had. Father and mother all wrapped in one... he didn't like to think of it that way because it weirded him out a bit, but they deserved to have someone looking out for them, to not always have to be tough and do everything alone all the time. They deserved someone that could blunt the hard, sharp edges of the world a little for them, and as much as he was able, Shimenawa tried to be that person. He'd tried to do the same for Kumo when they were in school; he'd keep doing it, he suspected, even after this life was long gone and he was reborn as someone else. It was just in his nature.
It was exactly all of that, that thoroughly convinced Kumo that Shimenawa was entirely masochistic. He was so busy looking out for other people without anyone to look out for him and, well... It wasn't as efficient as Kumo's boyhood attempt to hang himself but he was certain that, given enough time, it would be just as effective. Which, of course, meant it was Kumo's job this time around to take away the metaphorical rope. Which could possibly prove to be a little difficult, given that the rope in question suffered a psychotic break upon seeing him, but one step at a time.
"Yeah, well so do you. I always had this nagging suspicion that you'd never enjoyed just being a kid a day in your life and now I know so," Kumo crossed his arms over his chest as he spoke, frowning half-heartedly.
Shimenawa pouted a little. "Aw. It's not like I don't have any fun," he protested. Who could deny the merits of eating too much candy? Making animal-shaped pancakes? Playing with frogs (he couldn't summon them anymore, but still got on famously with the wild variety) and puppies, making snowmen? Going out picnicking and cloud watching? Dragging the boys to amusement parks on the weekends? Nobody could say he didn't have any hobbies. And that was only the beginning of the list, he thought indignantly to himself. It was true that he'd always seen things a little differently than other people his age; but knowing from birth that you were actually the reincarnation of a long-dead Hokage tended to do that to a person, and he didn't see anything wrong with it.
"It may not always be sunshine and roses, but I've got a good thing going here." He raised an eyebrow at Kumo and turned back to spoon some curry onto each of the two plates before carrying them over to set down on the table. "I'm doing great, really I am. But I've taken on responsibilities here, I've made myself a necessary person. I can't just pack up and leave without even a moment's notice. Not everybody can go gallivanting off whenever they want the way you do, y'know?" There was no malice in the words, and indeed he felt none -- it was just the way Kumo was. But it wasn't the way Shimenawa was. Vacations were all well and good, but he honestly liked being at home, having somewhere to come back to.
Maybe he really should have just been somebody's housewife, he thought with a quiet chuckle as he went for the glasses of tea.
"You look old, Sunshine," Kumo sighed, shaking his head once more, "You're gorgeous and you're to die for but you still just... you've got that little boy face and then you've got those eyes like you should've hit the retirement home decades ago. And it worries me and it breaks my heart. You ever sit at home and wonder how I am, Sunshine? If I haven't got myself killed or in trouble or if I need saving and you're too far away to help?" Kumo was averting his eyes, staring down into his mug of tea. He was almost speaking to it, getting the way he always got when he was telling a truth he'd rather not face, when what he was saying made him uncomfortable in ways he couldn't explain.
"...I get that way about you all the time when I'm away. You help people too much, Sunshine. You're just one person and you can't fix the world all by your lonesome. And you're everyone's dad and mom and big brother and fun uncle, but you still don't let anyone in," Kumo mumbled all of this, finding it hard to say, "No one really knows you but me, Sunshine. And now I'm thinking maybe even I don't know you that well."
Shimenawa paused in place next to the table, still holding the glasses of tea. He too glanced downward for a moment, a thoughtful, sad sort of expression -- an old one, Kumo would have said -- passing across his face for a moment, before he gave another faint smile.
"You know me, Kumo." Pause. "At least, I think you do."
He set the tea down on the table, looking down at the other man's bowed head as he ran a hand through his hair, slightly sheepish.
"Either that, or I've been lying to myself all this time, which is really way too depressing to contemplate," he murmured.
After a second, he pulled out a chair and swiveled it around a little to sit next to his friend at the table.
"I'm sorry I kept some things from you," he said quietly, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked toward the door, face serious again. "But... you know all the important stuff. And if you're not sure you do, well..." He shrugged and gave another faint, solemn sort of smile. "You can always ask. I can't really think of anything I would ever refuse to tell you."
A moment later he glanced away, smile turning a little rueful. "I'm not sure I can do anything about the helping people, it's just kinda the way I am... but I can do that much, at least... Anyway."
He reached up to rest his hand on Kumo's shoulder.
"You really don't have to, but. Thanks for worrying about me," Shimenawa murmured.
"Sure I do," Kumo finally sighed in response with a helpless shake of his head, "If I didn't who would?" He paused then, feeling rather strained and tired and serious and came to the conclusion that he rather liked being run through with a katana better than this and decided a subject change was in order.
"So, Sunshine," he began in the tone of voice that had always tipped Shimenawa to head for the hills back during their school days, "I can ask you anything?"
"Umm... yes..." replied Shimenawa, whose expression was now slightly tinged with dread.
"How well did we know each other back when the kid was actually my kid?" Kumo asked mostly innocently, taking a sip of his tea to punctuate the image before he continued, "Did I do any better then?"
Shimenawa was glad he didn't have any of the tea, because without anything to drink it wasn't quite as obvious when he choked.
"Um-- er--- that's---..."
Coughing a little into his hand, he shook his head at the other man, slightly pouting as he replied.
"He was older than me and..." Straight, I think, he did not say as it would only encourage more teasing at his own expense. "Well, a senior officer, basically -- this was before I became Hokage, of course," he said, nonchalantly. "I talked with him sometimes after I started teaching Kakashi, and we ran a few missions together, but we weren't really close at all... That's probably why I never realized you were who you were," the doctor theorized with a shrug.
"I'm almost disappointed," Kumo laughed as he set down his mug to fold his hands behind his head, "But you know, on second thought I'm okay with that. It'd kind of suck to have to be jealous of myself. And kind of weird. Speaking of weird, is there any particular reason you refer to me in third person when you talk about past-life me? You're going to make me forget who we're talking about."
"Well..." Shimenawa blinked, and somehow managed to look puzzled himself, instead of guilty. "You don't remember back then... you're working with a very different set of life experiences, and in a lot of ways, that makes you essentially a separate person from who you were before." And I never want to start thinking of you as the same, because I think I would go crazy. "Your personalities are pretty different... I can guarantee you Hatake Sakumo would never have gone around teasing me about being somebody's mommy," he added with a laugh.
"I guess that kind of makes sense," Kumo dismissed, finding himself more and more disappointed with the person he had been. If Hatake Sakumo got any more boring, Kumo was going to start disassociating himself from, well... himself as well.
"About when did I kick it, anyway? And was it at least kind of cool or did I somehow manage to off myself like I almost did earlier today?" he switched gears away from sex momentarily to try to actually learn something about his previous life, "And how'd you get landed with my kid if we weren't that close, now?"
Shimenawa swallowed.
"Um, well... Kakashi was about six, I think... I was... eighteen?" He took a deep breath, glancing away as he tried to figure out how to talk around this subject. "You, um... he died at home... He was... sick, I think." In heart, perhaps. "And I, well... I was Kakashi's teacher, and he didn't have anyone else to look out for him." The doctor smiled awkwardly. "In those days a lot of war orphans lived alone, even the young ones, but I couldn't just leave a six-year-old to fend for himself... Chuunin or not."
Kumo promptly knocked over his tea but didn't have the mind to notice, instead giving Shimenawa an utter look of disbelief.
"...six? Kakashi was a Chuunin at six?" he gaped, pressing a hand against his forehead, "I failed that exam like eight times! I was... what, twenty two when I finally got there? Has the test gotten seriously harder or what? ...six? Could I even walk at six? No wonder the kid's so messed up!" If Shimenawa had been trying to distract Kumo from exactly how the White Fang had died, it was working rather well.
Shimenawa's answering smile held a note of apology to it.
"...Yeah."
He rose after a second to turn Kumo's teacup right-side-up again, and go to get some paper towels. "He was Genin at five, Chuunin at six, Jounin at thirteen... He's a genius," Shimenawa said contemplatively, walking over to blot up some of the milky tea on the tabletop and lay a paper towel or three over the part that had dripped onto the floor. "And it was wartime... and Konoha was shorthanded, and needed people with smarts. They passed kids a lot younger back then, but still... as far as I know he's the youngest to make Jounin in Konoha history, to this day," the doctor murmured, picking up the teacup to wipe it off as well.
"As far as I've been able to see, he hasn't lost his touch over time, either." Shimenawa paused for a moment, cup in hand, looking down at it with an expression half proud and half regretful. "I'd bet money he could still take down a room of ten men in two minutes, with the right equipment. Maybe less than that now -- I don't know much about his kitsune powers."
"...he gets it from me," Kumo declared with a firm nod after a thoughtful moment's pause. Because honestly, he wouldn't have failed the Chuunin exam nearly so many times if he hadn't had the fatal character flaw of caring too damn much. Throw the match so geeky clan kid wouldn't get his ass handed to him by his dad later? Sure. Ditch the written portion to go to Sunshine's parents' wake? Wasn't even a debate. Stack the tournament matches because his buddy really needed that pay raise? There was always next time. Whatever Shimenawa had that made him such a disgustingly good person was probably at least a little contagious. So maybe he wasn't a child prodigy or even appeared as though he could have sired a child prodigy in any life. He had the potential and was doing pretty well for a guy who hadn't known he wanted to have anything to do with the army until he was seventeen.
"It takes effort to die in your own home during wartime," he continued, "Actually--... You know, I think I remember some punk kid doing a report something about a Hatake Kakashi and his dad. How did it go...?" Kumo squinted as he tried to remember.
"Something about... oh god damnit, I can't remember. It was too long ago and I think I fell asleep halfway through the report. Maybe I should go look it up again when I go scope those parenting books."
Shimenawa swallowed against the way his heart suddenly threatened to burst out of his chest, and leaned down to finish the cleaning job on the floor, where Kumo couldn't see his face. "Parenting books?" he asked, putting a laugh into his voice. The idea was kind of funny, if he thought about it hard enough. Perhaps if he could get the other man distracted on that tangent...
"Mmhm. Like those books that tell you how not to screw up your kid," Kumo nodded, standing to help Shimenawa. He lingered a little bit before joining him because, well, his Sunshine was bending over and Kumo so hated to waste good opportunities. "I'm hoping they'll have ones that tell you what to do in the event you do end up screwing up your kid. And while I'm in the library, I might as well look up a bit more on me and my son. Kakashi'll probably be in the books a lot more than me, huh? Hatake, you said? Funny how we have the same first name. Ah, well, makes it easy to remember."
...Oh. Fuck.
Shimenawa cringed a little on reflex, and then took a deep, quiet breath and did his very best to get his expression under control as he mopped up the last of the spilled tea.
"I, uh-- really don't think you need to go to the trouble," he said as the idea came to him, "I have quite a few parenting books right over in my office, you know. I lend them out to my clients all the time." He wore a smiling expression that he hoped didn't look strained as he rose to go throw away the wad of now-sodden paper towels.
Kumo frowned at him, gripping the edge of the table as he pulled himself back on his feet.
"Sunshine, has stress made you stupid or have you forgotten I can read you like a book?" he reminded Shimenawa almost accusingly, "Now are you going to tell me what you're hiding that's got you all worked up or do I have to duct tape you to the ceiling first?"
And because Obito had positively cosmic timing, the door slammed open just then and a streak of orange appeared in the kitchen, a little white fuzzy thing curled around his neck like a muffler.
"Oh god, Sensei, we're so sorry we're so late we weren't looking at the time and--" Obito cut himself off as he realized Shimenawa had company, "...oh hey! Your boyfriend's back! No? Mistress? Friend with benefits? Domestic partner?"
"He's not my boyfriend," Shimenawa gritted out utterly on reflex, nerves still on edge, before he'd even fully registered who he was speaking to. "Oh--" He blinked wide-eyed at the pair. "Obito-- Kakashi--"
The little white fox had perked up from its formerly relaxed position and was sitting upright on Obito's shoulders now, claws poking at his flesh and ears pricked, entire bearing tense as Kakashi stared at Kumo.
"Kumo came back to visit again," Shimenawa said quietly, his own gaze keeping close watch on Kakashi. "He wanted to talk to you and get to know you... remember, Kakashi?"
Kumo completely dropped his previous train of thought to sort of scoot himself behind Shimenawa, noticing that already his presence was having an adverse effect on his little boy. (His little boy? Where had that come from...?)
"Maybe this was a bad idea," he whispered to Shimenawa, definitely having second thoughts. Obito, meanwhile, was trying his very best to act as though nothing was wrong.
"You okay, Kakashi? I know the idea of your dad doing someone can be really gross and freaky, but you had to come from somewhere," he was beginning to ramble again, because rambling was how he got by in situations like this, "Though I guess it's double gross since he's doing Sensei. Look at what you've done, Sensei."
Even in a situation like this, Shimenawa could still pout. "Obito, I'm telling you, I'm not--"
Kakashi hopped down off Obito's shoulders.
This was... this was okay. He could do this--
don't move your hands it'll all come out don't move your stupidhumanhands
--he just -- wouldn't be people -- just for a minute--
why won't he talk to you why's he smell like heshouldn'tsmellike blooddeathrotting oh god he's rotting like the guy you killed when you were a genin--
--no -- come -- come back.
For a second he blinked at the floor, swaying a little on his paws, and then he breathed deep and took a step forward, and another, and looked up at the man's face half hidden behind Sensei's hair. The man -- he was -- Daddy but he was... was different... somehow... wasn't he.
He was... what was he.
Kakashi walked a little closer, but not too close, and curled up on the floor and stared a minute longer; and a minute after that there was a boy in the fox's place, curled up with legs underneath him and hugging himself, breathing just a little fast, staring up at Kumo with a guarded expression.
"You're... not... dead, right?" he mumbled, looking away and back and away again, somehow too scared to keep staring him in the face -- he didn't want to be looking if there was really a ghost and it disappeared.
"Not yet, unless the guys at base are holding out on me," Kumo laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, absently tugging his mask further up his nose. Then he grimaced at himself and rubbed his palm against his forehead, mentally ordering himself to stop acting like a teenage delinquent and more like a father. Ugh, a father. He shuddered to himself as he remembered his own suit-and-tie and 'wear formal clothes at home, Sakumo' and 'organize your socks by color, weave, and fiber, Sakumo' father. Kumo would put both himself and Kakashi out of their miseries rather than be that kind of dad.
"Uh..." he cleared his throat and moved away from Shimenawa to crouch down in front of Kakashi. Or at least he tried to, but the cast on his leg made him slip and land rather forcefully on his tail bone. After turning an interesting shade of ashen white, he tried to speak again.
"Hey, kid," he smiled the best he could manage because oh god his ass hadn't hurt like that since the ninth grade. And there weren't words to begin to describe how weird it was to call someone who looked at least as old as him and was, in reality, far, far older than him 'kid' but it (kind of) felt right. "I'm alive and I plan to stay that way for a very long time."
'Especially since I haven't reeled in Sunshine yet, and if I plan on living as long as it takes to get him I'll probably live forever.' The thought was there but Kumo kept himself from blurting that little gem out because that was his teenage delinquent self talking and it would probably only distress everyone in the room more than anything else.
Shimenawa made a reflexive jerk toward Kumo as though to go help him, but then glanced back toward Kakashi and hesitated, stopping to simply continue to watch the pair with a worried expression. So far, this was going, well... as close to "all right" as it was probably going to get. He wasn't sure he wanted to disrupt the mood just yet.
And... not that he really had any doubts, these days, but it felt very good to hear words like those coming out of Kumo's mouth.
You've come a long way... The thought made him feel, somehow, proud.
And now, someone else here was trying to take a big step of his own... Shimenawa gave an encouraging smile as Kakashi briefly looked up to meet his gaze.
The kitsune was frowning slightly, still looking skittish and a little wary, and his tail thrashed behind him on the floor like an agitated cat as he absently tugged on the hem of his sweater.
"A-- are you--"
He wasn't dead, really he wasn't, he said he wasn't and Sensei's eyes and Obito's smell said he wasn't and the Sharingan didn't see a ghost, it saw a man and -- he -- Kakashi -- could -- he could do this. He had to... he should... talk to him... or something. It was weird looking at him; Kakashi felt... completely blank, and full of everything, all at once. It took so much work to just be calm and not think about moonlight and blood on the floor it's cold don't move your hands stop-- stop it--
...it was hard to make his brain want to do anything else, save sit there and stare.
"...Who are you?" he finished the thought finally, in a mumble, eyes drifting away from the man's face again as he spoke. "What's... your name?"
"Kubutsu Sakumo," Kumo introduced, beginning to offer Kakashi his hand before thinking better of it. It seemed like a no-sudden-movements, no-loud-noises sort of situation. "My friends call me Kumo, though. I'm twenty-seven years old, I went to high school with Sunshine here, I've been enlisted in the army since I was seventeen-- ...whoa. Sorry. Just realized I've been in the army for ten years. Now I kind of feel like I've burned my youth away. Anyway. I was ranked Genin at eighteen, Chuunin at twenty-two, and I gave Sunshine a heart attack last year by getting myself promoted to Jounin so I could get him that shiny promise ring he never wears, which I hear is a complete embarrassment compared to how fast you climbed ranks back when. And, uh..." Kumo scratched his chin through his mask, feeling the stubble even through the cloth. Shaving wasn't all that important when no one ever saw your face, but Kumo tried to keep up. Sadly hospitals didn't have razors handy and he hadn't been able to get his hands on a scalpel while he was there.
"I dunno, kid. Is there anything specific you wanted to know?"
"...You're shinobi?" Kakashi murmured, using a term that probably sounded ancient and strange to Kumo's ears as his eyes alighted on a point somewhere around the man's ankles.
That was... good, he concluded. It would be weird if Daddy wasn't shinobi. Like it was sorta weird that Sensei wasn't Hokage even though he was alive and his face was still on the mountain and you could go see it whenever you wanted and did Sensei ever walk by it and have people go "Hey, it's the Hokage?" because, if not they were really stupid people because his picture was right there and did it ever bother him? The way it bothered Kakashi when he went to the memorial and couldn't find Obito's name anymore because it was too big and.
...Also couldn't find daddy's.
After a while he realized he was staring at Kumo's cast, and he blinked at it speculatively, finding he felt a little better for some reason. He wasn't quite sure what the thing was for, there were no medical seals on it or anything, but clearly it was binding a wound of some kind.
"Field injury?" he wondered with a certain professional interest.
Kumo coughed and scratched the back of his head, averting his eyes. "Uh, yeah. Pretty much." He could just about feel Shimenawa's stare of utter disapproval boring into the back of his skull. Ah, good times.
"Earth jutsu," he added, "But it was weak. Only fractured the bone in a couple places." He neglected to mention it was self-inflicted because, well, it did sound rather lame when put that way.
Kakashi nodded absently, apparently satisfied by the explanation, and his gaze drifted downward toward the floor again with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"Did it hurt?" he asked seriously after a moment.
"Like a bitch," Kumo nodded rather proudly, then rolled his eyes at himself. What kind of father openly swore in front of his son?
...a cool one, come to think of it.
The kitsune blinked at him for a second, and nodded. After a second he glanced down again, pausing.
He was really really... was. Here. Not just a little bit here but like... totally and completely and it was... weird. Kakashi had a daddy but he didn't have a daddy and he'd always had a daddy but not had a daddy except now he had a daddy which was... was different from the other way even though he couldn't really explain it.
...This was really confusing.
Tail curling up around his waist, he glanced up at Kumo, managing to meet the man's eyes for just a moment.
"...Um... I'm Hatake Kakashi," he said quietly.
"I know," Sakumo murmured with a nod, and for the split second he was saying it he actually completely meant it. He knew, knew like he had known all along, known everything about his little boy. Everything from Kakashi's name to how he, as Hatake Sakumo, had begged and prayed to know what to do on his way to the hospital because he was terrified out of his mind about being a dad and and had asked the gods for a sign which came in the form of tripping over a scarecrow in his haste. Everything from Kakashi's favorite foods to his hopes and dreams and fears and insecurities. Sakumo knew.
And then it was gone. He blinked, confused at why he had just said what he said the way he did and then shrugged with a soft sigh, figuring all those years of drugs and booze probably had something to do with it.
"You should eat, kid," he continued, nodding toward the table, "I'm new at this parenting thing, but I think I'd want you to eat even if I weren't your dad. You're all fur and bones." He wasn't sure what was weirder. Knowing he had a son from a previous life who was sitting before him, or knowing that said son occasionally had fur. And a tail. And ancient magic powers. Shaking those thoughts away, he glanced briefly up at Shimenawa with a slightly helpless 'am I totally fucking up yet?' look on his face.
Shimenawa just gave him an encouraging smile. Kakashi wasn't freaking out, running away, or trying to do anyone violence, so in the doctor's book this was all really going quite well, comparatively.
Kakashi didn't move from his spot, but he glanced hesitantly toward the food on the table and then back at Obito, looking a little conflicted about whether they should go sit down. Watching his face, Shimenawa decided that perhaps this had been enough Kumo for now; it would probably be best to acclimatize Kakashi in small doses. Knowing Kumo was somewhere in the same house with him but not dropping everything to go have a panic attack over it would be as good a place to start as any.
"Hm, he has a point," the doctor piped up cheerfully, decision made. "You two had better hurry up and eat or your curry will get cold, especially since you were running late anyway..." He blinked and stopped himself, frowning thoughtfully.
"What did you say you were doing again?"
"Uh..." Obito looked more uncomfortable all of the sudden, which was saying something considering he was looking almost stricken the moment before, "Uh, well, we got caught up... uh... doing... that thing... with the, uh... we were, uh... in the... living room? Fixing... er... the..."
Sakumo hid his laugh in his cough because, good lord he hadn't met someone quite so bad at lying since listening to his stoner friend try to explain to his mom why the room smelled like pot. What had that little white-haired pervert finally come up with? Something about it being cat mating season?
"We were kissing," Kakashi supplied helpfully, climbing to his feet. "And stuff," he added nonchalantly, expression thoughtful, as he brushed off his backside and glanced toward Obito again. Obito could only offer him a look of complete mortification and betrayal, like Kakashi had gone and rolled a boulder over him and left him to die. Only just a little bit more horrified. Because Sensei was in the room and oh fuck Sakumo was in the room and... and... If he could have ever let himself live down fainting, he would have done it.
For his part, Kumo just about choked on his own laughter, deciding right then and there that he liked his boy. Good and honest, and he could count on Kakashi to let him know if the boyfriend was going to try anything funny. It wasn't as though Kumo actually believed in anything resembling abstinence, heavens no, but somehow it was different when it involved his son. He was still adjusting to the idea of having a son to begin with, but him not wanting said son to get taken advantage of was something he knew for certain. The boy was confused, a little bit lost, and a lot of out of his mind so there was no way he could know what was best for him. No, it was up to Kumo to decide what was best for his son, and he had ten years as a shinobi to back it.
Shimenawa just grinned a little and tried very hard not to think up any mental images. Whatever made them happy, right? He could deal... oh yes... totally. (And he had come to understand completely why his parents were too mortified to ever give him the birds and bees talk...)
"Well, clearly you were hard at work then," he managed to joke, though his accompanying laugh was slightly embarrassed. His smile grew more sure of itself, however, as he gestured toward their dinner laid out on the table. "Kumo and I have eaten already, so we'll leave you to it for a while, okay?"
Kakashi gave a nod in response; he looked calm enough now, but hesitated before taking another step, glancing between the table where Kumo sat and Obito behind him a little nervously. After a second, he reached over to grip Obito's hand before they went to sit down.
"Shall we move to the living room?" Shimenawa suggested to Kumo, offering a hand up for the other man. Kumo could probably use a break from Kakashi too, now that he thought about it.
"Sure, Sunshine," Kumo nodded readily, taking Shimenawa's hand and climbing to his feet, "Have fun, boys. Eat all your veggies and remember, we're just in the next room... if you need us for anything." The bit about them being nearby almost sounded like a threat. Which actually probably was exactly what it was.