A/N: Someone mentioned, some time ago, that there was no need to "rush" my stories. However, the actual amount of time I spend writing any one chapter is hilariously low. I need several hours overall, which is an estimate that includes both writing and thinking time, since I think as I write. Or maybe they're the same process. On a chapter like this, where one part was written in one mood and another part in a completely different mood, I need a day or so to change moods as well.

That is it. Everything else, all of the weeks or days that pass between publishing a new chapter, all of that is just me spending my time on things that have nothing to do with this story. There is no such thing as "rushing." All increased pressure to write would do is bump this story up my priorities list so I spend more time on it and less time on the other stuff.

I have no idea why I feel the need to clarify how little work I put into this, especially after a delay.

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Time passed. Kakashi continued to observe the young snake's responses to the outside world, and was overjoyed to notice that his eyes began to twitch in response to sudden light or sound after several days. At around this same time, his body began to noticeably change. He would have periods where his heart raced and he breathed fast as if afraid, his temperature rose and fell more than it had before, and there was just more overall change in his physiology over time. Kakashi dutifully began to record body temperature, heart rate, and breathing rate every hour. Collecting the data each night before they went to sleep, he and Orochimaru worked out predictable patterns. One of these patterns was that there was more change from hour to hour at night. Using his eye movements as a sign, they also found that he dreamed more at night.

This discovery, about a week and a half after they had learned what the role of dreaming was, called for celebration. Kakashi and Orochimaru disguised themselves - Kakashi as a random nobody, Orochimaru as Tsukina - and bought desserts at the nearest market. They had an extra-fancy dinner the night after.

Kakashi raised a skewer of dango. "To recognizing night and day!"

Orochimaru raised his cup of mint tea, and they toasted.

They toasted three more times after that: once for emotions returning, once for dreams causing emotions, and the third time just for good luck. The food and drinks used to toast changed every time, with Kakashi using food and Orochimaru using drink, except for the last toast where they both used soups of different kinds. Kakashi noticed that his companion was rather quiet, even during the toasts, but he said nothing. As long as the celebration stayed happy, all was well.

The shadow clone returned to Kakashi and was reformed two times. The first was a delivery of good news: the rogue clone had returned with information about sighting some strange tracks as if nothing had ever happened, the clone in yellow was being sued by the former magic-traders (or they were trying to; nobody had much sympathy for them, and the clone was interfering with the legal proceedings), and the seafaring clone sent back an emoji of contented boredom, with a dash of excitement as if smelling something delicious far away. The shadow clone had not seen any dimensional rifts, other demons, or other terrible things. That was the good news.

Bad news: Two weeks after the discovery of dreaming, the shadow clone popped to quietly and quickly inform his original of the presence of shinobi.

Three and a half weeks post-dreaming, Orochimaru found Kakashi feeding the boy and told him not to go out and look over the fields.

"We're packing" were the actual words he used, but Kakashi understood instantly. Do not go outside, pack our things, decide on one of the other bases, and leave at nightfall.

"My clones?"

"Tell them all to disguise themselves, and make more trouble. Nobody will ever think they're you if they make trouble," Orochimaru said.

Kakashi nodded and sent messages to all of his clones. To the shadow clone: Keep watching. Send frames from now on, don't pop. Spread conspiracy theories about what kind of research you're actually here to do. To the yellow clone: You're doing well with the legal proceedings. Keep up the good work. To the rogue clone: Help the shadow clone with his conspiracy-mongering. Be as eccentric as possible. Keep up the good work. And, to the seafaring clone: ***!*** That was an emoji; Kakashi didn't make a frame from anything more than feelings of discontent, warning signs, and the feeling that he should stay as far away as possible.

Orochimaru quickly returned. "I have forgotten to ask; how has your research proceeded? The ritual and the books? We have not talked about that for a long time."

They had not. Kakashi thought it might be deliberate, as neither of them really wanted to think about what had almost happened. He sighed. "Clone 1 used what I saw of reality to take his own look at reality, see if that could explain the ritual. Reality appears to be...folded. He could not find another way into the fold. I've been brainstorming ideas sometimes, such as designing a ritual that can at least view the same space, but I have yet to learn how this one created that fold, or whether the fold already existed and it merely provided access. I am forced to admit I might have to look back in time to the people who actually used the thing."

Orochimaru glanced over at the boy. "Don't do that just yet. He had to agree to it; he must know things about how the ritual works, at least enough to be assured of his safety."

Kakashi nodded. "I was already holding back, for my own reasons. That's just going to have to wait." He rested his chin on one hand. "Regarding my book research, Clone 2 and assistants finished going through them very quickly, and I showed them how to send themselves through space to my rogue monster-hunting clone. Where do you think he got that amount of darkness from?"

The Snake Sannin narrowed his eyes. "That means you don't actually know what they learned."

"I do not," Kakashi agreed. "I don't need to. He has their memories, so he also has my teachings about how to send himself through space if he has news that he needs to send me very quickly. I've decided to trust myself."

Orochimaru hissed. "Well, it is good that you've done what you can here. I may have distracted the shinobi earlier by investigating their activities as Tsukina. It kept them away from your clones until you could tell them to disguise themselves, but in the long run that will only attract more."

"Did you see what village they were from while you, ah, distracted them?" Kakashi asked.

Orochimaru shook his head. His eyes were hard again, shining like cold yellow diamonds. Kakashi realized he hadn't seen them this hard in a while, and he was very glad for that. The Snake Sannin continued. "They were undercover, doing their best to not look like shinobi. Of course I saw right through that; the imbeciles don't know how to sit back and relax. Only a powerful shinobi can pass themselves off as a civilian, because only a powerful one can truly relax without a care. You would think any decent village head would know this, Kage or no. The fact that the village head is obviously incompetent and/or didn't have any powerful shinobi to send shows that this village is either small or has a foolish leader. That covers...every village I can think of, except for Konoha and, perhaps, Sunagakure. Good luck shortening that list."

Kakashi smiled. "Aw, it's nice to see that you get along so well with your teammates."

"I have always respected Tsunade," Orochimaru said firmly. "She's always had a good head and the best of intentions, no matter what bullshit was thrown up in her way by fate or malicious gods. Only Jiraiya ever bumbled around like an idiot."

Kakashi nodded. Stay quiet. It is not a good idea to say anything at all when he starts talking about Jiraiya. Say as little as possible.

"Don't worry, Puppy." Orochimaru mustered a small smirk. "I'm not about to go on an angry rant and take it out on you or some bystander. Let's just pack and get ready to go."

Kakashi smiled beneath his mask and nodded. But first, he had to finish feeding their little brother.

.

Kakashi created two stones, placing one on either end of the map. "Any ideas?" he asked.

They had planned on moving on to Orochimaru's largest base, but that was back when they were trying to figure out what to do about the ghost. There was no need for space anymore, so they could theoretically go anywhere they wanted. But where did they want to go?

Orochimaru meditated for several minutes in order to call up and organize his memories of what each of his hideouts were like. When he eventually opened his eyes, he shrugged. "None of my activities were particularly relevant to what we're doing now," he said, "so the decision is yours, Puppy. Only you can tell what will be most interesting and relevant and what will not with those senses of yours."

"Hmm." Kakashi looked at the map. "Well, thank you for giving me the decision, but I'm not entirely sure what to do with it. Let's see - have you seen any strange phenomena around before that you haven't told me about?" He glared at the snake. It was still very much not cool to not have told him about the ghost.

"I'm afraid not," Orochimaru replied. Kakashi could feel him being honest.

"Well, that rules out deciding on the basis of interesting things." Except for one.

Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. "Your tail."

Oh, crap.

Kakashi looked down at it and sighed. "Alright, there is one interesting thing I would like to learn more about."

"Where?"

Kakashi winced. "Ah...here."

Orochimaru stared at him, and Kakashi could not meet his eyes this time. He saw the snake glance down at his tail. Then back to his face. Then back to his tail, which was still tucked close to his leg in apprehension. Kakashi cleared his throat. "I, ah, may have learned of something interesting that I didn't tell you about."

He felt Orochimaru's eyes return to his face, and flushed. "In one of the books, there was a mention of ghost ships. Ships built of old-fashioned materials, glowing with strange light, populated by people who act unlike real, living people. They stop by sometimes. I wanted to be here to catch one."

The Snake Sannin crossed his arms. Kakashi continued. "Someone asked a 'ghost' once where the ship hailed from. The ghost said they were from up north. But there isn't anything up north - nothing except the remains of an island that exploded centuries ago. That's why the strange people are thought of as ghosts, sailing the seas without any idea that their home has been destroyed, not even aware they're dead despite glowing with ghostly light and being unconcerned with their lives. They only smile when threatened, and if you point at a patch of light they just say it's a part of the ship and act confused.

"The book classified them as benign to friendly, because they never harm anyone and the people who meet them feel good in their presence. It's actually celebrated like a festival whenever one of the mystery ships arrives in port. They don't have a home, so whenever a ship appears they get treated as though they've arrived home. I wished to wait for a mystery ship so I could meet one of these people. I also wanted to explore the sunken island with you," Kakashi finished.

Orochimaru let him stew in silence for several minutes. Alternately, it was possible he needed the time to think, but Kakashi didn't have much faith in that theory. He had even less faith in it when Orochimaru's first words were, "And you didn't tell me you were planning this?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise, like any other celebration," Kakashi claimed. I also did not want to appear foolish or make you worry with my ideas. If they really are ghosts, that's fine, but if they are what I think they could be…

"Any other surprises you've decided I would like without asking?"

Kakashi winced, but he would rather Orochimaru was angry than worried, especially after what had almost happened. He never wanted to see his companion, normally so calm and smart, out of his mind with fright again. "No."

Orochimaru's eyes narrowed suddenly. "What about that discussion the clones were having when we were listening outside? Magic? Overturning the world as we know it?"

"The so-called sea witches," Kakashi explained. "If the tales they told had been true, they had a mysterious source for their powers, which is why they supposedly had magic and other people didn't. You were right; I shouldn't have gotten my hopes so high. Not only does this supposed source not bestow magic powers, but it doesn't have any other special properties either. My shadow clone looked at it. I'd thought that it could be true, there could be something there that regular humans can't see, but there wasn't. It wasn't even a bizarre twist of reality like I was kind of hoping to see." His tail and shoulders slumped. He quietly admitted, "I didn't want to tell you there was nothing."

Orochimaru chuckled quietly. In a mild voice, he said, "I am a scientist, but more importantly, I am a shinobi. If I were either of those alone, I would be used to disappointment. We don't have to discover something world-changing every month, Puppy. The discovery of a storage ritual full of people that we will need years to recover and may, in fact, never be able to do anything with is excitement enough."

Kakashi's throat tightened. "It doesn't feel real, though. Having all the time in the world, but all of it without you? It feels like nothing could ever be as real as it is now, that every other life will be false. That I have eternity, but I have to have it all now, while I still have my body and I still have you."

Orochimaru stood up, walked around the map and crouched next to Kakashi. With some awkwardness, he wrapped his arms around Kakashi's torso and buried his nose in the wolf ninja's hair. Kakashi felt a chord of tension in him, a wavering indecisiveness, so it was just as well that the snake chose not to speak. Kakashi closed his eyes and leaned in. His scent is so strange. It's not like anything else, not even the boy's. I need to be able to look forward to this; I might fall apart if I can't even do that. I need this to be somewhere, someplace I could smell it again, even if I choose not to.

"The next closest," Orochimaru whispered. "As long as you take guard duty in case of shinobi and we stayed packed at all times, it's safe enough."

Kakashi nodded. A ball of anxiety burned in his gut. He's doing this all because of those mystery ships. I'm staking so much on them. What if they are just ghosts? If they are he'll never have to worry, but then what will I do? I hope so much that they aren't.

Orochimaru released him. Kakashi sat up straight, and said nothing. They rolled up the map and finished packing, and still he said nothing. Kakashi wrapped up the boy in darkness, taking care to obscure his brilliant hair, and they took off under cover of night. Still, he said nothing.

I can see so far in the darkness. Practically the entire distance to the next nearest base stretched out before him under the new moon. But even so, I don't want it. I'm tired of the darkness.

Let there be light.

.

He could tell almost immediately upon landing that Orochimaru knew something was wrong. It was in the strain he could see in Orochimaru's soul. It was in the subtle mismatch in the way they communicated. It was in Orochimaru's eyes, which had not warmed back to their previous warmth. It was in the way Orochimaru cornered him once they had decided on a guard post, and said, "You haven't told me something, Puppy. Something's wrong. Tell me right now."

Kakashi scratched nervously. "You told me not to. It's one of the things you can't fix at all, that's solely up to me to deal with. Thank you for comforting me, but there is nothing else you can do."

The snake's eyes flared with anger, but he remained silent. He had said that, and he hadn't been happy the last time Kakashi told him something unsolvable and terrifying. Kakashi turned to look out over the cliffs. "It's alright, though. As soon as one of those ships arrives…"

Orochimaru's hands curled into fists. "Damn," he cursed. "I didn't like hearing about your fears the last time, and I don't like not hearing about them now. Can I never be satisfied?"

"If I could satisfy you, I'd be boring," Kakashi replied. He smiled, his eyes forming happy little curves above the mask he still insisted on wearing. It wasn't like it ever needed to be washed. "I know you like being teased, just from how patient you've been already."

Orochimaru huffed. "That's just because I can stand being teased. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to wait this long? Most people marry in their twenties, but I've been waiting for you for at least that long, and I'll be waiting for longer yet. Just because I'm willing doesn't mean I like it."

Kakashi's tail drooped against his leg. "Yeah." He turned away. "I know."

Orochimaru went silent. Kakashi felt something small but hard lodge painfully in his companion's soul. Guilt. "Perhaps I ought to extend the same courtesy of discretion to you," the snake said.

"Perhaps you should," Kakashi agreed. He didn't like hearing about problems he couldn't solve any more than anyone else did, but especially so when those problems were so close that he could almost think he could solve them, sometimes. Could almost feel like it was his fault or like someone else thought it was his fault, sometimes.

Orochimaru left, and Kakashi settled down for guard duty, alone.

This next base was situated amongst hills and cliffs since it was a little more inland, so guard duty was almost trivial. Kakashi could see through rock if he cared, while nobody but a Hyuga could do the same, and he very much doubted there were any Byakugan users among the enemy shinobi. Orochimaru would have noticed the manners and tactics of someone from Konoha.

It was looking like being alone was going to be the hardest part of guard duty. It was one damn hard part. Kakashi was considering regretting the decision to stay nearby instead of move farther away. Would it really make such a difference in travel time? Did he really need every last second anyway?

It was lonely, moving away from home. Kakashi couldn't remember the last time he had felt this insecure of his position in life. He spent the night reminiscing about his time in Konoha. Even if it wasn't home anymore, it had once been, and he still remembered what it had felt like to have a home.

.

Though he despised it at the moment, Kakashi took advantage of his ability to see through darkness to wander the base, leaving a dark clone on duty. His justification was that only his body needed sleep, but he wasn't really planning to sleep. There was something else he hoped to find.

Using his darkness to muffle the sound, he silently pushed open the door. The room was a little cramped, so there was no great area for multiple people to stand before the stone snake goddess. Maybe Orochimaru got tired, he thought. Or maybe there was some reason why further expansion would have been a bad idea. Either way, the room was only large enough to hold her and allow a person to fully open the door.

"Hello," Kakashi greeted. What am I here to say?

He didn't know.

Instead of saying anything, Kakashi walked forward and hugged her snout. The now-familiar warmth reassured him in a way that Orochimaru's hug had not. He tried to look into her, but couldn't. He sighed. If only I could see divinity.

Kakashi clung to her as if she was his own mother. I suppose she's the closest thing I have. He sniffled. It's dangerous to think like that. I should be careful. I don't want to lose the ability to speak. He was already doubtful. Not being able to think of anything to say was the worst sign. Physical paralysis was minor compared to the mental problems he used to have, not being able to come up with words in the first place. Kakashi gently rocked himself from side to side, all the while keeping the side of his face pressed against her warm snout.

After some time of this, he thought of something he could say. He opened his eyes and whispered, "Help me," to the closest being he had to a mother. Then he closed his eyes and resumed his slight rocking.

A sudden falling sensation alerted him to himself falling asleep, and Kakashi jerked awake. He banged his elbow as he did so. He blinked and looked around at the stone coil now holding him. He had never stopped hugging her before falling asleep.

The sleepiness came back. Kakashi smiled slightly as his eyelids drooped. So she can hear me after all. He lay back down and drifted off, safe in her warm stone coils.

.

Flying after something, but never being able to reach it. Settling down for lunch on a desolate mountain peak. Finding a cottage, the same as the one in Kamui. Looking through Obito's possessions while he was out, and finding...what?

Kakashi opened his right eye. What had he found? His heart beat fast, and it felt so good. He had found something very important. But what was it? The feeling faded very fast; after only a couple of seconds Kakashi no longer felt willing or able to move. He closed his eye.

What can I do to make everything in the world better? He pictured the world as he had seen it on the map the night before. There is too much loss, and not enough homes. There need to be more homes. How can I create homes?

Coherent thought faded, to be replaced by a parade of vague feelings and images that he could not remember after they had passed. Coherent thought returned suddenly in the middle of an image of Konoha paired with a feeling of home. "That's it." Kakashi opened both his eyes, and flushed. He had turned too far away from the ninja life for a while. He needed to turn back.

He wriggled his way out of the stone coils. Pleasant as they were, he had business to attend to. "Thank you," he murmured to the serpent before he left. The world seemed a much brighter place than it had before, and he had no difficulty speaking.

Kakashi encountered Orochimaru on the guard post, talking with the dark clone he had left there. He hid the object he had fetched from their packs behind his back, then stuck his hands out to the side so it would not seem as if he was hiding anything.

Orochimaru sensed movement and turned. "Did you sleep well, Puppy?" he asked coolly. They had hurt each other.

Kakashi nodded. "Mah, I couldn't have dreamed up a better mother in law. Don't worry, I've already been properly appreciative. Or, hmm - she is a goddess, so could there be special rites I would have to perform?"

Orochimaru blinked. The look of perfect openness disappeared from his face. In a more civil tone, he said, "That's good. No shinobi were sighted last night."

Kakashi looked out over the hills. They were bright in the daylight, so alive-looking that he had trouble believing this was the same place of troubles he had flown them to last night. This was a good place. How could he have missed its goodness? "I'll send a message to my shadow clone asking him to inquire about how often the mystery ships come and when the last one came. It will give away some information about his purpose for being there, but as long as the rest of his cover keeps him from being traced back to me it should be fine. I'll have a better estimate of how long we need to stay here within the hour."

Orochimaru nodded, and moved past Kakashi to leap down from the guard post. Kakashi turned as if he had just remembered something else he wanted to say. The real purpose, of course, was to prevent Orochimaru from seeing what he held. But then he had to think of something to say, and say it convincingly. Crap. "How is our little brother doing? Any change in the measurements?" Nice.

"Same variability as always," Orochimaru answered. "You missed nothing." And he leaped down and disappeared.

Kakashi wilted like a sad flower as soon as he was gone. "Mah…" Dammit. What we said to each other last night was hurtful. And now, we can't be fully open with each other because of that. I shouldn't have said what I said. But what can I do about that now?

The dark clone reached behind Kakashi and pulled out the old Konoha vest Orochimaru had retrieved from his box of memories, so long ago. "We forgot about this, didn't we?" he murmured.

"Yeah." Kakashi looked up at him. "You take care of it." The dark clone nodded. He placed the vest inside himself, then disappeared.

Kakashi made another dark clone to take up guard duty (seriously, why do I have so much darkness? My darkness is like Naruto's chakra!) and went into the base. What else could he do to make things better?

I'll tell him about my dream, he decided. As luck would have it, Orochimaru was also busy pretending things were normal by making breakfast. They sat down to eat together, and Kakashi told him about the dream.

Orochimaru looked askance at Kakashi when the dream telling was done. "Obito appears often in your dreams," he noted.

Kakashi pointed with his chopsticks. "Oh, don't tell me Jiraiya doesn't feature in yours."

The snake tilted his head. "That's very different."

Kakashi disagreed. "No. Obito is the little brother I failed to save, who was lost and alone for so long and I knew he was, yet I did nothing. I remember him out of pain and a hope that things could have been different. Jiraiya was the teammate you failed to connect to, who was right there for many years and should have seen you, but never did. I don't believe that the same pain and the same hope that things could have been different doesn't exist in your heart."

The veneer of civility cracked, as Kakashi had anticipated it would. Orochimaru's eyes showed more feeling in them. "Blind idiot."

Kakashi transferred a slice of meat from his own plate to the snake's. "You both missed valuable things," he said softly. "Jiraiya just doesn't realize it yet. When he does, you will both be able to understand what happened and fix it."

"I have no interest in mending whatever bond we might have had," Orochimaru snapped. Kakashi believed that to be a lie, but said nothing.

He let Orochimaru drain his cup in silence. When that was done Orochimaru wiped his mouth and suggested, "How about you transform into a bird and we fly today, Puppy?"

Kakashi blinked in surprise. "Really?"

The snake chuckled. "It's not in the nature of a ninja to stay still for too long."

"Won't a giant bird be very visible to the enemy shinobi?"

"You turned us invisible once," Orochimaru remembered.

"Yes, but that won't stop the air disturbance, or sound, or our awareness that we could be spotted at any moment."

"It almost sounds like you don't want to fly, Puppy."

"Oh, I do. But we have to be smart about it."

Orochimaru picked up the cup just to thump it down on the table between them. "Have a dark clone round up the enemy shinobi and trap them inside. Your monster clone is rogue enough to get away with it, right?"

Kakashi grinned and created a large, fairly thick frame. He found reality, shaped himself into a needle, and pierced through it. Now we wait. Kakashi would have liked to say that aloud, but he was too busy giggling maniacally.

A frame appeared out of nowhere in seconds. It read, Yes. Yes. Now. Rar!

"Let's go!" Kakashi pulled Orochimaru off the ground, where they raced each other on foot through the base. Kakashi did not borrow any of Orochimaru's slightly better knowledge of the base, so the snake was the first to leap out into the open air. His hair billowed behind him beautifully, like a shining black tide of onyx, and Kakashi felt so very happy to lose. He spread his arms and let his darkness out, swooping over Orochimaru in the form of a dark hawk. He solidified his darkness and disguised it, changing his feathers to a normal shade of black and his eyes to a piercing gold slightly darker than Orochimaru's. He turned those gold eyes, beckoning.

Orochimaru's eyes glowed back, and Kakashi felt himself beckoned. They rose into the air as one. Kakashi paid great attention to how it felt to fly in this form, and found that it was quite different from being a dragon. As a dragon, it was only a matter of spreading your wing membranes wide and adjusting them up and down to match the contours of the air. As a bird, he found himself constantly adjusting his feathers in and out. Like a fan, they slid over each other seamlessly one moment, then spread edge to edge for maximum area the next. This seamless sliding was gorgeous to feel, and Kakashi wondered why he had never flown with feathers before. He resolved to be a bird more often, and gave in to the feeling of being a bird with complete abandon.

As a bird would do, he dipped low, searching for prey. He dived for a deer which had ventured out of the edge of the forest, talons outstretched, but a sudden gust of wind at the last second adjusted his course and the deer bounded to safety. Orochimaru laughed, and Kakashi flapped his wings harder and faster in the direction of a nearby mountain so that he could roll in gravel and get this little parasite out of his feathers. There turned out to be not nearly enough gravel on any area of the mountain for a bird of this size; he would have had to fly upside down. So he squawked in outrage and headed for the trees, where the branches might do. Orochimaru abandoned his grip on Kakashi's neck and attempted to head for the tail feathers, where he might be safe.

Kakashi winced, because any real bird would feel pain and fear at one of their tail feathers being pulled like that. His disguise was convincing enough that they had both forgotten about darkness' chakra-nullifying properties. Kakashi flew up then dived down, at which point Orochimaru let go and shot up into the air above Kakashi. Kakashi the hawk smacked him with one wing, then angled beneath him so Orochimaru could catch his grip. The snake handled these movements with as much grace and fluidity as a creature of the air himself, though they were both sure he was not a flying snake. Kakashi knew then that it was himself and this little dance they were doing which Orochimaru was participating in so fully, and that everything was right between them.

.

A/N: Good to know that exclamation marks follow the same rule as question marks, but asterisks don't. I can use this in formatting things.

I find it interesting how I talk about eye contact so much in this story when I don't practice it myself. Perhaps it's because learning to write involves reading, and the works I've read describe eye contact. Perhaps it's because I have no trouble making eye contact with fictional characters, so I actually have paid great attention to their eyes and faces. It is interesting.

I have developed a great interest in feathered wings recently, where before I thought more about dragons. Kakashi will use feathers accordingly.