Naruto doesn't like hospitals. They smell weird and they're too bright, and the last time he was in a hospital, it was because Kakashi was badly injured and unconscious. So, yes, Naruto really hates hospitals.
It's not that they aren't useful and important-they are!-but he doesn't want to be stuck in one while he recovers! He'd be just fine if he could go back to his cave and suffer in silence, but no, even Obito declared that Naruto wasn't allowed to leave the hospital until Rin okayed it! Obito! Who's supposed to be on Naruto's side!
He's bored, and his senses are on overload from the stupid cleaners they use, and the only person who's come to visit him since he was brought to a recovery room is Rin to check on his injuries.
If he's going to be alone, he'd rather be alone by choice!
He looks up from the book in his hand when the door opens, but his hope is extinguished when he realizes he's not getting a visitor-they're just bringing in another recovery patient.
He doesn't fail to notice that she's tiny, though. She can't be more than three or four, maybe a small five year old.
When the nurse is finished with helping the girl settle, Naruto leans forward to see around the curtain separating them even though it makes his ribs ache. The cloth isn't drawn all the way to the ends of their beds, though, so he doesn't have to bend in half to see her face. (He's really glad, because he really doesn't want to make his injuries hurt any more than they already do.)
The girl is pouting, arm in a cast and a sling. It must be a bad break if they're keeping her after treating it.
"Hi!" Naruto chirps after a moment of staring at her while she stares sullenly into her lap. She's a pretty little kid with pink hair and green eyes, eyes that bore into his when she looks up in surprise. And then her tiny mouth turns up in a smile.
"You look funny. How come you're wearing a mask in the hospital?"
He hides a laugh behind a cough, fidgeting with a loose thread on his blanket. "I wear a mask to keep my identity a secret."
"How come?"
Jeez, she's a curious little thing, isn't she?
"Well," Naruto hums, "I have to keep my identity a secret, because if people knew who I was, I wouldn't be allowed to stay here. This way, I can protect the people I love and they don't need to know I'm the one doing it."
The girl makes a face, pout returning full force. "You can't see your family?"
"Well… I can, but they don't know who I am when I see them. I'm just another ninja to them." He reaches forward and pulls the curtain back so he doesn't have to lean forward to talk to her. "Does your arm hurt a lot?"
The girl shrugs, peeking down at it like it's miraculously going to be healed. "They gave me some medicine, but I was hoping it would just get better."
"Do you want me to try? I heal people all the time."
"You're just a kid!" She frowns, squinting at him. But then she looks down at her arm and back up at him. "Well… I guess, if you want to try…"
Naruto smiles underneath his mask, watching her kick her blanket away and slide to the edge of her hospital bed to hop down. She has a bandaid on her knee and a few scratches on her shins, but the rest of her looks totally fine.
Well, aside from her broken arm.
"What's your name, kiddo?" he decides to ask when he reaches out and places gentle hands on her shoulder and her wrist.
"Sakura," she says, a little more timid now that she's up close. "Haruno Sakura."
"And how did you get hurt, Sakura-chan? It looks like you fell out of a tree or something."
She lets out a tiny gasp when his hands light up with purple chakra, but she answers his question diligently. "I did! I was at the playground with some other kids and we were climbing, but I'm not very strong and I couldn't hold on…"
Naruto nods, humming like he's thinking hard. "Say, Sakura-chan, what do you want to be when you grow up?" He glances down at her leg when he asks to see that her scratches are already gone, and he's willing to bet that her knee is healed, too. Tapping into this particular gift has become second nature to him, and while his healing ability doesn't work on himself, he's glad he can help others, even with the smallest of injuries.
"Well, I haven't really thought about it…"
He can't exactly blame her. She's still a little kid. The only reason he'd known what he would be as a little kid-aside from being kidnapped-is that he'd looked up to Kakashi so much that there was never any doubt in his mind who he wanted to be like.
"You know, if you decide to go to the ninja academy, you'll definitely be able to get stronger and climb trees all the time. But I bet you're going to have lots of options, so I wouldn't worry about it too much just yet. However, if you're dedicated to this village and the people in it, it's a good way to go." He lets the chakra fade from his hands and releases her arm, leaning back on his bed. His shoulder is stiff and sore again, but her arm should be healed, if a little tender.
She's still blinking down at her arm in confusion when he presses the call button and a nurse comes rushing in.
"I'm sorry if I worried you, nurse-san, but I think you should check Sakura-chan's arm again."
"It doesn't hurt!" Sakura finally pipes up, turning to him with big eyes. "I wanna learn how to do that!"
Naruto blinks, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well, you could always train to be a healer, but if you want to be a specialized healer, you'll have to go to the ninja academy first."
The nurse just looks between the two of them, confused.
/
In the week after Naruto leaves the hospital, he finds himself spending a lot of time in the shopping district of the village, looking for something to leave in Kakashi's apartment when the man isn't home.
But it's hard, because he doesn't actually know what kind of thing Kakashi would want.
Honestly, he doesn't think Kakashi wants anything short of Naruto's return, and sadly, Naruto can't give him that. At least, not yet.
Even so, he knows that Kakashi will be angry and hurt when Naruto does reveal himself. He knows, and he understands, but it's also something that Naruto is dreading, no matter how badly he wants to come home.
Besides. Naruto has a lot to do before he'll be ready to face his family again. He and Kurama are on good terms, but that doesn't mean they've reached an entirely mutual symbiosis. He wants to be able to work on equal terms with Kurama at all times, to have an equal give and take, and equal footing. He wants to be able to trust Kurama whole-heartedly, and to experience the same trust in return.
They're getting there. They are.
For now, Naruto can at least let Kakashi know he isn't crazy for thinking Naruto is still alive. He may not be the little kid that Kakashi remembers, but he's still Namikaze Naruto, son of the Yondaime and one of the last Uzumaki.
"Kitsune?"
Naruto turns, offering an unseen smile to Obito's younger cousins. "Hello, Itachi-kun! Sasuke-kun!" He ruffles the youngest's hair and turns to a less than familiar face. "And you must be Shisui-san! It's a pleasure to meet you!"
Itachi's older cousin gives Naruto an indulgent smile. "I'm glad to meet you, too, Kitsune. Itachi speaks highly of you, but I have to say, I was expecting somebody a little older."
Embarrassed, Naruto can only chuckle, ducking his head. "No, uh, I'm eleven? Say, are you guys any good at giving gifts?"
The Uchiha look at each other for a moment before Itachi steps forward with a small smile. "Who are you shopping for, Kitsune-san?"
He hums. "I don't really know how to explain. He was my best friend before I left the village. He doesn't know who I am, but I want to let him know I'm okay, leave him some kind of sign."
"What's your favorite memory with him?" It's Shisui that asks, cocking his head.
A lot of his memories with Kakashi are pretty fuzzy, and it's a real shame, but Naruto can think of one that always stands out and never fades.
He'd seen a butterfly in shades of blue and black and followed it. Before he'd known it, he was separated from his father and in a small meadow all alone, but back then, he hadn't really understood why that scared anyone.
Kakashi found him, of course, and indulged him for a little longer before pulling his attention.
It was the first time Kakashi had shown anybody his face. Naruto knows, because he'd asked Obito if Kakashi ever took his mask off and the answer had been an exasperated 'no, Naruto'.
"When I was little, I got lost following a butterfly and when he found me, he stayed to watch them with me. It's my earliest memory of him, too." He bows to them, wondering if they can tell he's smiling. "Thank you. I think I know just what to get him now."
Shisui offers one last smile before they part ways, but Naruto will be seeing them again. There's something about the new generation of Uchiha that has him expecting big things.
/
Kakashi sighs when he closes the apartment door behind himself, kicking off his shoes by the door. There's something gratifying about coming home after a long mission, something pleasing and relieving. And his home is quiet, as it always is, but there's something different about it.
It's driving him crazy that he doesn't immediately know what that something is.
Kakashi is a tracker. He can pick out different smells that even the Inuzuka get mixed up, and he prides himself on that fact.
His apartment doesn't smell right. Somebody was in it for a very small amount of time, but it's enough for Kakashi to know.
His footsteps are nearly silent in the house despite the fact that he's the only one there-it's routine and habit, Kakashi knows that whoever paid him a visit is long gone.
In the kitchen, a lone object sits on the empty counter, gift-wrapped in bright orange wrapping tissue.
Somebody broke in… to leave me a gift? If I didn't know Gai was out of the village, I could simply chalk this up to him, but… then my apartment would smell like Gai.
It kind of smells like summertime… and grass… and fresh air...
It can't be him.
He doesn't know when he moved, but all of a sudden he's at the kitchen counter, fingers twitching a few inches away from the paper. He knows he shouldn't open a strange package following a break-in, but he can't resist, he can't, because what if?
What if it's from Naruto? What if his silent plea has been answered? What if the boy he'd been willing to devote his life to is really reaching out to him?
He shouldn't be getting his hopes up. Even if Naruto is alive (and Kakashi's positive that he is), there's no guarantee that he remembers his family, or Kakashi, or anything from his childhood. If he was kidnapped that night, and brainwashed, and trained as an enemy nin, there's going to be a lot of recovery when they do find him.
But Kakashi can't resist. Even if it's just a small chance, it's a chance nonetheless.
He has to take the risk.
Finally, he takes a deep breath and slides a finger under the edge of the wrapping, pulling it up to unstick the tape and pull the box out. It's not very big, but the moment he opens it, he understands why.
A dreamcatcher.
And glued to the thread is a handful of beautifully painted butterflies in different sizes and shapes, clustered at the edges to keep the center open.
The craftwork is pretty, and Kakashi can appreciate that it must have been on the pricier range of dreamcatchers, but that's not the part he focuses on, because the second he lays eyes on it, he knows.
There's only one person in the universe who could truly understand the significance of butterflies in his mind, only one person who could share the same reverence for that single moment in a lifetime of moments.
He's okay. He's okay, and he remembers, and he doesn't want to be found.
Why doesn't he want to be found?
/
For reasons unknown to even himself, Kakashi doesn't immediately go to his Hokage's office with this new development. Even though he's positive that his gift is from Naruto, it's not nearly enough proof for anybody else, and Kakashi doesn't want to get Sensei's hopes up, even though he knows-
He just can't do it.
That doesn't mean he doesn't try to track the son of the Yondaime down by the gift he was given, except-
Except he tracks the gift to a small shop in Konoha.
'Yeah, sold it just this morning, Hatake-san! I'd love to tell you more, but I'm afraid the kid that bought it was wearing a mask.'
Masks.
But why do you hide, Naruto? What are you hiding from? Surely, we could help you.
An eleven year old wearing a mask.
Kitsune.
…
No, that's just ridiculous. If Naruto was that close, I would have pegged him already. It must be a coincidence.
Kakashi pauses his footsteps, looking up at his surroundings only to realize he's followed a trail all the way to the fence surrounding the Forest of Death, the training ground that goes on for miles and miles and is filled with creatures big enough to swallow Kakashi whole.
There's absolutely no reason an eleven year old would come here unless they had a death wish. Or they fear nothing.
But, Kakashi can't forget that Naruto, precious, wonderful Naruto, didn't fear much. And every time Kakashi had seen him frightened, it was because Kakashi or one of his parents was in danger.
But why would he still be in there?
The answer is simple: he wouldn't. And aside from that, the scent is different, now, mixed with something that isn't Naruto. And that means Kakashi might be following the wrong trail anyway.
Either way, if someone went into the Forest of Death, they must have come out, too, so Kakashi sets off to find the trail leading out of the forest by walking around the outer edge of the fence. It's time consuming and tedious, but Minato-sensei had forced him to take time off, anyway, after his last mission, and he gladly spends the majority of his time off looking for Naruto.
All in all, the only thing that's changed is that Kakashi has proof that his betrothed is still out there, still alive.
Eventually, he picks up another trail, but it's even more faint than the last, and it leads away from the village completely.
The only thing he can think is that this is the trail leading into the village, and even then…
He's still not sold on it being the same trail. It smells different, and Kakashi is fairly certain that the scent in his apartment is all Naruto. It can't be him.
Kakashi isn't ready to give up, though, so he returns to his apartment and finds the other trail, the one that doesn't backtrack to the shop where the gift was sold.
It leads him to the rooftop, but all he finds when he gets there is Obito and Kitsune in the middle of an argument.
"-you crazy?! You're the one laying low here, so why-"
Good grief. Their scent is covering his up, I don't know which way he went.
But why are they having an argument on my rooftop? What risk did Kitsune take?
"I had to do it, Obito. Why are you mad at me? You're the one who wants me to go home already! And I can't do that."
I never thought these two would argue, they always seem to be on the same page… Then again, that was before Rin knew Obito was alive, and before Kitsune was almost killed. Obito had been so worried, it's no wonder he wants to put Kitsune somewhere safe and leave him there.
"You're eleven! You almost died! You're acting like it didn't happen, but I was worried sick and-"
"Obito." The boy straightens, dropping his arms and facing his-Kakashi doesn't really know what they are to each other, actually. "You have no idea what kind of danger I am to the people around me. When you came to stay with me, I was still too young to understand the kind of danger I was putting you in, even though I know exactly what can happen if I lose control. Because it happened."
Kakashi suppresses a sigh, leaping down from his side of the roof. Even if they had noticed him, he doesn't think he heard anything too sensitive. Besides, his trail has gone cold.
Unless I've been ignoring the obvious and Kitsune is Naruto.
A beat.
No. I'm not that blind, if they were the same person, I would have figured it out already.
He sighs, heading back into the shopping district to find a restaurant. He doesn't feel like cooking tonight.
(He falls asleep curled around one of the pillows on his bed, his apartment still filled with the scent of the boy who disappeared all those years ago. He doesn't know if he should be relieved or hurt that he finally has proof.)