Tainted Hope:
It had been nearly 4 weeks since Kakashi's surgery, and Naruto and Sasuke were sitting in his hospital room, having done so several times after the major procedure. Sakura would've been there as well, but after staying at his bedside for the whole previous day, she needed to rest at home.
In all of their combined visits since the surgery, they had yet to see him wake up.
The two boys had been sitting in silence for the most part, just staring at their sensei's unconscious form to check for any subtle movements. There had been none.
Sasuke rested his chin on his hands with a broody expression on his face, hunched forward and deep in thought. He knew the surgery could've done more harm than good, and Kakashi not waking up seemed to be proof of that.
"What if he can hear us?" Naruto said suddenly, "We should talk to him."
Sasuke made no move to say anything, feeling as if there was no point in talking to the sleeping man.
When the Uzumaki saw that Sasuke wasn't going to respond, he got up and trudged to Kakashi's bedside, staring down at his weakened form with a somber gaze.
There were dark circles underneath his eyes, and his complexion was white and waxy, an oxygen mask covering the lower portion of his face. Several tubes were connected to both of his arms, and his under eyes and cheekbones were swollen and bruised as a consequence of the operation, littered with raised, purplish red blotches.
It looked as if somebody had punched him in the face.
"Kakashi sensei…" Naruto began hesitantly, glancing at the thick bandages peeking out from underneath his shock of silver hair, "I know you might not be able to hear me, but I just thought I would say that…it would be really nice if you could wake up. I really need to know if you're okay, because right now, I don't…none of us do, a-and we're really worried."
"But I know that if anyone can get through this, it's you."
Looking down at the pulse oximeter on Kakashi's index finger, Naruto noticed a small twitch, his eyes widening at the tiny motion.
"Sensei? Sensei, can you hear me?"
Another twitch, this time more noticeable.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
Sasuke stood up upon hearing the excited change in Naruto's voice, swiftly walking to the bedside, and intensely searching the Hatake's motionless body for any signs of consciousness.
"Kakashi," he called out reflexively, his brows furrowing as he looked at his sensei's closed eyes.
The arch of Kakashi's eyebrow jerked up subtly, his pale eyelashes shifting slightly.
Slowly, his swollen lids cracked open a sliver, the harsh light rushing into his vision. He squeezed his bruised eyes shut with a pained look, groaning quietly and releasing a small breath, his mask fogging up.
Kakashi heard distorted voices frantically calling out his name, but felt as if they were in the distance, and he couldn't exactly make out what they were saying to him. Although he could vaguely hear people, he couldn't really make the mental connection that someone was actually there. A heavy pressure weighed down on his head and his chest, and he could hardly feel the rest of his body.
"He's awake! Kakashi-sensei? Can you hear me?" Naruto said excitedly, putting a hand on his shoulder, and waiting for him to make another movement.
The man blinked lethargically and sluggishly observed his surroundings, barely able to keep his unfocused eyes open, much less talk. Everything seemed ridiculously blurry to him.
"Just give him a second, Naruto," Sasuke told his friend with a tinge of worry lacing his voice, as it was hard to see Kakashi look so out of it. It felt like he didn't realize that they were there, as he'd made no move to acknowledge their presence.
The Hatake coughed harshly, immediately feeling an intense pain all over his tender torso at the action. His trembling hands moved to touch his bandaged chest as he continued to hack, and he turned to his side with his eyes shut, writhing in pain after every violent expulsion of air.
Feeling an obstruction covering his mouth, he shakily pulled down his oxygen mask, his usual mask rolled down to his chin,as if he didn't even know that he wasn't alone. His shoulders heaved as he raggedly breathed in the antiseptic scented hospital air.
"We should call a nurse," Naruto stated promptly, turning to Sasuke. The Uchiha nodded in agreement, moving to press the call button above the bed.
Sighing as he relaxed against the pillows, Kakashi sniffed quietly, feeling a strange wetness trickle down his upper lip. He made no move to wipe it away, gingerly shifting under the blankets so that he was facing straight up once more.
Naruto and Sasuke noticed as blood began to drip down Kakashi's nose, smearing over his exposed mouth when he moved to change his position in the bed. They shared a shocked, worried look, both of them knowing that the bleed, and his uncovered face definitely weren't good signs.
Kakashi slowly turned to the two of them and took in their appearances, his eyes gleaming with false recognition.
"S…sensei?" he whispered with difficulty, his voice scratchy and hoarse from misuse, "Obito?…What happened…w-where am I?"
Naruto frowned deeply, his brows rising with hurt and concern as he realized that the man didn't even know who they were.
"Kakashi-sensei? It's me, Naruto," he began softly, placing a tender hand on his arm, "Don't you know you're in the hospital? W-Who are you talking about?"
Kakashi inhaled unsteadily in response, a flash of pain enveloping his tender head.
He began to breathe faster, his eyebrows scrunching together as he tried to make sense of what was going on. An image of him thrusting the chidori through his comrade's chest flashed through his mind, and the smell of blood began to overwhelm his senses.
"Minato-sensei," the Hatake asked Naruto confusedly, tightly gripping his wrist as a familiar panic consumed him,"R-Rin…where's Rin…"
His two students stood still in silent bewilderment, having no idea who he was talking about.
"Kakashi, your nose…we need to stop the bleeding," Sasuke said finally, sighing deeply. The man let go of Naruto's wrist and turned away with a pained, confused look, burying himself under the sheets in a way that hid his face and left only his unruly hair peeking out from outside.
He closed his eyes and urged himself to go back to sleep, however, it wasn't that simple—his mind was completely overwhelmed with intrusive thoughts of the past, and he couldn't tell if he was in a dream, or living in reality.
With a sudden, sharp breath, Kakashi's head jerked back forcefully and caused the blanket to fall off of his face, the muscles in his neck becoming visibly strained.
"Sensei? Are you alright?"
Naruto watched in silence as Kakashi just grunted in response, his eyes rolling into the back of his head and his arms and shoulders becoming stiff. Underneath the blanket, his hands clenched into tight, rigid fists.
Suddenly, the door opened, and a nurse came inside, immediately noticing the renewed consciousness of the legendary copy nin, and the redness painting his upper lip.
"There's something wrong," Naruto told her worriedly, his eyes wide and glossed over, "There's definitely something wrong—"
Kakashi began to tremble violently, making a strained sound, his brows furrowing deeply. He gasped desperately and choked on his spit as he tried to get a proper breath, his gaze wide and staring into nothing. Although his stare was vacant, there was still intense panic in his eyes as he seized.
He involuntarily bit his tongue and cried out in pain, blood and white foam gurgling out of his mouth, staining his clenched teeth red.
Naruto and Sasuke watched with dread as the nurse rushed to push the code blue button, and then began to shift Kakashi onto his side, pulling a syringe out of her coat, and quickly injecting it into a tube that connected to his wrist.
They made eye contact and gave each other grave looks that showed hidden terror at seeing their sensei in such crippling agony. Naruto felt a huge lump in his throat and thought he may be on the verge of crying, but the shock of witnessing the intense seizure unfold before him was immensely numbing.
Lady Tsunade suddenly burst through the door, her eyebrows tightly knit together as she hurried over to his convulsing form. At this point, his seizure was coming to an end due to the medication, however, his hands were still rigidly brought up to his face, his fingers locked in an awkward, unnatural position as he jerked rhythmically in the bed.
The hokage caught sight of the blood staining his upper lip and dribbling out of his foaming mouth, her frown deepening as she heard his pained wheezing and grunting. His glossy, vacant eyes fluttered shut, and he released a sharp breath of air, his consciousness mostly fading in response to the medication, to the point where he was only awake enough to hear snippets of what the echoey voices around him were saying.
"Is he going to be okay?" Naruto asked nervously, shaking himself out of his stupor, and feeling somewhat relieved that Tsunade was there.
She put a hand on Kakashi's quivering arm with a deep sigh, pausing briefly, before gently prying open his swollen lids and shining a light into his dark gray eyes. Upon doing so, she found that his pupils were exhibiting reflexes, albeit sluggishly, and much slower than what was considered normal.
Tsunade didn't know how to respond to Naruto.
"Only time will tell," she said finally, deciding on telling the truth. The hokage pulled out a handkerchief from her pocket and began to softly wipe the pink foam from his mouth, and the crimson liquid staining the area underneath his left nostril.
She knew that at this point, Kakashi's will to live also played a factor in his recovery—and she just wasn't sure if he was willing to fight. Sighing, she pulled his black mask back up, wondering why it was off in the first place—it was very unlike him to not have it on.
"He couldn't recognize us…" Naruto continued softly, his watery gaze fixed on the floor, "He took off his mask like he didn't know anyone was there…and then he kept calling us Minato-sensei and Obito…and asking for someone named Rin."
At this, the look in Tsunade's eyes softened with empathy, and she felt as if she was in danger of releasing her pent up feelings of sorrow and guilt at how the surgery had gone. Although she knew she had tried her absolute best, the fact that he had taken so long to wake up, and was hallucinating when he did, had to mean that something had gone wrong.
Perhaps her best hadn't been good enough.
Upon hearing a soft groan coming from the bed, her head snapped towards the noise. She found that Kakashi was staring straight at her with a drawn gaze, his eye only opening a tiny sliver. Although she could tell that he was fighting sleep, there was a distinct pain and urgency in his look that made her wonder if he was trying to tell her something.
His gaze shifted away from her and settled on a spot on the wall as his breathing began to quicken and come in shallow pants, a high pitched wheezing sound becoming audible.
Kakashi watched blankly as she came closer to him, her concerned face directly in his eyeline.
"Is there something wrong? What hurts Kakashi?" he heard her say, her voice seeming distant and muffled to him, as if she was talking underwater, "Where does it hurt?"
He grunted incoherently, feeling a sharp pain in his chest, and trying to bring his arms up to the palpitating area, only to find that his limbs were heavy and numb, with hardly any feeling in them. After a few attempts to move his arms, he let his tingling hand relax onto the mattress, closing his eyes in frustration.
"Is he going to be okay?" Naruto questioned tensely, coming forward as new worry grew within him, "Why does he look like that?"
The Uzumaki eyed Kakashi's sweaty brow, and his heaving chest, the sound of his labored breathing ringing in his ears. Tsunade didn't respond to alleviate his concerns, however, looking intensely at the rapidly beating heart monitor as she noticed his increasing heart rate and decreasing oxygen saturation levels.
"He's going into cardiac arrest," she said suddenly, her thin eyebrows furrowed together so that a thin line was present between them.
"What?!" Naruto exclaimed, his eyes widening in shock, "But he just had a seizure! What's wrong with him, granny?!"
Before she could respond, the alarm on the monitor began to blare, and the EKG began to show irregular, fibrillating curves, indicating that Kakashi's quivering heart didn't have adequate cardiac output.
Exhaling sharply, Tsunade quickly placed her hands on his chest and began to perform CPR, a stern focused look on her face as she stared down at Kakashi.
"He's got V-fib, we need a crash cart, now!" she ordered the nurses around her, her blonde bangs falling in front of her face as she rhythmically applied forceful pressure to his chest, "And get them out of this room."
Sasuke began to walk towards the door, but Naruto stayed put, wringing his arm off of the nurse who was trying to guide him outside.
"I'm not going to freak out! Let me stay…please," Naruto began earnestly, stuffing down his panic, "I won't get in your way."
Sasuke paused at the door, waiting for her response as well.
Tsunade glanced up at him hesitantly, sighing. "Fine, but don't freak out…Or talk."
Naruto nodded quietly, watching as one of the nurses came back in with a crash cart, wheeling it towards the hokage. Sasuke slowly walked forward, his eyes dark and deep in thought.
Tsunade readily pulled out the paddles and brought them to his chest, drops of perspiration forming on her forehead.
"Charge to 100…Clear!"
Kakashi's students saw as his torso was jarred off of the mattress with the electrical pulse, his back falling back onto it almost as quickly, with an audible thud. Their fear grew as the frantic beating persisted, not resolving with the shock.
"Let's try again! Clear!"
An electrical buzzing, then a hollow thump. No change.
"Ok, charge to 130!"
All they could do was watch as the hokage tried to save Kakashi's life, not allowed to freak out, or talk.
Gai sat at Kakashi's bedside with an unblinking gaze, his eyes locked on his friend's body. It had been several hours since the Hatake had suffered cardiac arrest that had initially started as a seizure, and Gai felt immensely guilty that he hadn't been there when his friend had woken up.
"Kakashi…please, be okay…" Gai started sadly, his hands resting on the mattress, "I'm sorry I wasn't there…"
Kakashi was sleeping on his back, his head facing straight up, and his eyebrows unconsciously drawn together. His heartbeat was fast, but stable, and he was completely still, not responsive in the slightest.
Gai sighed, looking down.
"You know, the other day, Shizune fainted after performing some weird jutsu on you…I could tell it was very taxing on her body," Gai spoke in a matter of fact tone, glancing up to see if there was any response from Kakashi, "She hasn't woken up yet…I heard that her condition was pretty critical…"
"If she hadn't stopped performing the jutsu on you, she could've died."
At this, Kakashi's brow furrowed slightly, his hidden lips parting as he released a heavy exhale that fogged up his oxygen mask.
"Kakashi?" Gai said excitedly, unable to stop himself from standing up,"Kakashi!"
The man blinked repeatedly, struggling to keep his swollen, heavy lids open. His chest was distinctly sore, as if the area had recently gone through some sort of trauma.
"Gai…Sit down…" he brought out with great difficulty, gulping dryly.
Gai nodded quickly and took a seat in his chair, his hands gripping the arm rests. Kakashi turned slowly onto his side with a grunt, careful not to open his incisions, or tangle up any of the wires that were coming out of his arm.
He stared at Gai with a blank look, not feeling the need to say anything else.
"I'm so glad you're awake…A-after they told me what had happened I rushed straight over here…But by then, you were already unconscious again…"
"It's okay, Gai…You didn't do anything wrong…" Kakashi rasped weakly in an effort to alleviate his friend's obvious guilt, his mouth uncomfortably parched, "Can you get me some water?"
Gai picked up the glass of water on the side table and began to gently raise Kakashi's head, choosing to ignore his pained breaths and protesting groans at the unappreciated movement.
"I know It's not my fault, but I should've been there when you woke up. I mean, I'm your best friend!" Gai told him exasperatedly, pulling down his oxygen mask and bringing the straw up to the black mask that was covering his lips, "I'm sorry..."
Kakashi drank from the metal straw with a focused look on his face, dampening the area of thin fabric over his mouth, and not really paying any mind to Gai's apology. It didn't make sense to him that he was saying sorry for something that was almost entirely out of his control; it wasn't rational. And although he did understand, Kakashi was really in no mood to entertain Gai's misplaced guilt.
He pulled his mouth away from the straw with a contented sigh, allowing Gai to help set him back down into the pillows.
"I don't know if it was a dream," Kakashi started unsurely, "But I think I heard you talking about Shizune…"
Gai parted his lips slightly and then shut them again, as if he was trying to hold back something important. Sighing, he moved to set the glass back onto the side table, averting his eyes.
"Um…yeah I was talking about her, actually…" Gai told him nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. Noticing his anxious behavior, the Hatake's eyes narrowed suspiciously, and he wondered if something had happened to the kunoichi.
"What, Gai? You're acting kinda weird."
Kakashi widened his eyes and looked at him intently, as if to tell him to just say it already.
"Ok, I'll tell you…So, Shizune might've possibly created a jutsu to kill cancer cells, specifically your kind…" Gai started to say with a huff, tiredly sitting down in his seat, "A few days ago, I caught her in this room at 2 AM, using it on you."
At this information, Kakashi sat up in bed despite the pain, a surprised expression on the visible portion of his face. He was both baffled and flattered that she had personally created a jutsu for him—no one had ever done that before.
With slightly flushed cheeks, he thought about the unusually late time she had come in, which led him to believe that she was being sneaky, and had something to hide.
She definitely didn't clear it with Tsunade, then. That's pretty ballsy.
"Anyways, it hadn't even been 5 minutes, and she passed out…" Gai continued somberly, remembering how he had to press the code button to alert someone of Shizune's worrying condition, "I could tell the jutsu had used most of her chakra—her face had no color Kakashi…and she was practically drenched in sweat."
"That happened three days ago…and she still hasn't woken up. Also don't tell anyone I told you this. Lady Tsunade told me to keep it between me and her."
Kakashi's face darkened as he worried about Shizune, his brows furrowing in deep thought. He wondered what drove her to act so recklessly—it seemed like an act of defiance that she could potentially lose her medical career over. Most of all, though, he just wanted to know if she was going to be okay.
"You okay?" Gai asked him with concern, as Kakashi had been silent for a while. His features were drawn and serious, and it looked like he had tunnel vision—his gaze was unblinking and focused forward, as if he wasn't paying attention to Gai at all.
"Where is she now?" the Hatake responded quietly, finally managing to make eye contact, "Why isn't she waking up?"
"She's actually right next to your room. They…didn't have time to move her to a different floor," Gai told him with a sympathetic expression on his face, "And Kakashi…I don't know why she's still unconscious. All I can say for sure, is that she risked her life to use that jutsu on you."
Kakashi nodded slowly, not knowing what to do with that. He saw Shizune differently now—before she'd been cautious, and logical about everything, seeming like a person who would refuse to break the rules. However, in that instance, she seemed passionate and strong-willed, as if she had her very own agenda, and didn't need anyone's help.
And Kakashi knew she was smart, but he hadn't known exactly how smart until that moment. She was a true genius.
"Okay…" he uttered finally, not knowing what to say, because of how many thoughts were circulating inside of his head, "Thanks…for telling me."
Gai looked at him curiously, intrigued by how obvious it was that he cared. Well, not traditionally obvious, since the Hatake rarely had any expression on his face—but after being his eternal rival for so long, Maito Gai had just learned to read his emotions very well.
Kakashi hadn't said much at all, but the way he'd so quickly sat up on his own, and the barely noticeable look of worry and distress in his eyes, gave away his true feelings.
As for Shizune, Gai thought that her valiant behavior had made it very clear that she deeply loved Kakashi. He was moved by how she'd created a procedure made exactly for his tumor, and then risked her life to use it—It was strangely very romantic.
On any account, Gai just hoped that both of his friends would be okay.
When he looked back up at Kakashi, he found that the man's eyes were closed, and his breathing was shallow and pained. His sallow, clammy brow was furrowed in a way that made it seem like he was focusing intensely.
Upon noticing the slightly green hue that Kakashi's visage had taken, Gai realized that what he was focusing on was trying his hardest not to throw up.
Without a word, Gai scanned the room for a vomiting bucket, quickly finding one next to his friend's bed and bringing it up to his face. Kakashi cried out as Gai pushed his torso to get him into a sitting position, tightly squinting his eyes shut, and repeatedly gulping down the saliva that was gathering in his mouth.
"It's okay, Kakashi, just let it out…There's nothing to be embarrassed about," Gai told him gently, rubbing his shockingly bony back, and encouraging him to not hold it back, "You'll feel better afterwards."
Kakashi almost rolled his eyes at how Gai thought he was holding back his throw up because he was embarrassed—he just didn't want to vomit, because who did? Before he could show his annoyance, however, he felt his gag reflex over power all of his attempts to gulp down the bile in his throat.
Ducking his head into the bucket, Kakashi pulled down his mask and retched into the opening, his face hardly visible. Gai warily eyed the way that his rival's thin hands were hugging the sides of the container, noticing that his knuckles and wrists seemed swollen and strangely protrusive. It was almost as if they were filled with fluid.
Kakashi released a sharp breath, groaning at the pressure that throwing up was placing on his raw surgical incisions. Every time he gagged, he felt like someone was plunging a dagger into his chest—and he actually knew how that felt, so it was no exaggeration.
His vomiting episode lasted for a couple of more minutes; whenever he thought he was done, the unbearable nausea would return, bringing him back to square one.
At the present moment, he was leaning back against his pillows in a somewhat upright position, making small, breathy noises of discontentment in response to the agony he was feeling near his wounds. He closed his eyes with a pained groan that he couldn't suppress, feeling Gai take the bucket from his hands. Kakashi pulled the blanket over himself, feeling himself start to shiver uncontrollably due to both the cold, and the trauma his body had gone through since his surgery.
Gai brought a few of the discarded blankets at Kakashi's feet up to his shoulders, taking note of how he'd suddenly started to quiver, after vomiting for the last 10 minutes. It wasn't exactly an encouraging sight to watch, especially in the weak condition that Kakashi was in already. Gai felt his eyes begin to water, feeling awful that they had put him through so much.
"I'm going to talk to Lady Tsunade," Gai said suddenly, sniffing and blinking the wetness out of his eyes, "You shouldn't have been throwing up for that long."
"You shouldn't have had cardiac arrest either…none of this should be happening to you, Kakashi…" he continued with a lump in his throat, feeling a tear fall down his cheek, "Why…Why is this happening to you, my rival? It's not fair!"
Kakashi opened his eyes and made eye contact with Gai, his eyes softening when he saw the wetness streaming down his friend's face. Sighing, he stuck his hand out of the sheets and put it over Gai's, tightly clasping his fingers, as if to tell him that it would be okay.
"Can you get me a ginger ale? I think it'll help me feel better," the Hatake asked him intently, genuinely hoping that the small act would help him feel like a good friend.
Gai nodded furiously, quickly wiping the tears from his eyes.
"Yes! I'll get 10 ginger ales for my eternal rival!" he told Kakashi enthusiastically, already up from his chair and halfway towards the door.
"Gai?"
"Yes, my rival?!"
"Just one, please."
With an oblivious nod and a hearty thumbs up, Gai ran out of the room, in search of a can of ginger ale.
Kakashi paused with wide eyes and waited as Gai's chakra moved down the hall. When the man was definitely gone, the Hatake slowly brought himself into a sitting position, his trembling palms pushing against the mattress. Breathing heavily at this point, he grabbed his IV pole and slipped his feet onto the ground, leaning on the metal rod heavily as he attempted to stand on his own.
Grimacing in disgust, he grasped the urinary drainage bag at the side of his bed, and gingerly slipped it into an opening at the foot of the IV pole. Since it was inside of him, and going directly into his urethra, Kakashi had no choice but to bring it. Looking down at the fluid in the bag, he noticed the cloudy, brown colored urine, knowing that its abnormal appearance was definitely not a good sign. Regardless, he decided to ignore it for the time being, as he had more pressing matters to attend to.
Gasping quietly at how tingly and weak his limbs felt, he tightened his grasp on the pole, in danger of losing his balance. Gulping, Kakashi put one foot in front of the other, and tried to continue at a normal pace, only to find that he didn't have enough stamina to walk a few meager steps. His posture wilted, and his breathing began to quicken, but he kept trudging away from his bed, until he had turned the doorknob and made his way outside of the room.
He leaned his back against the closed door with shut eyes, his shoulders heaving, and stifled sounds of pain beginning to leave his panting mouth. His whole body was on fire, and it felt like he wouldn't be able to keep going. Nevertheless, against every fiber of his being, he made himself turn left and continue to the room next to him.
Other people in the hallway stopped to gawk at him staggering towards the door at a snail's pace, giving each other concerned looks at how he was crying out in agony with every step that he took. Kakashi outstretched a hand towards the seemingly blurry doorknob, immediately bearing down on it with all of his body weight, feeling the urgent need to lie down.
Wheezing, he pulled the door open, his red rimmed eyes desperately searching for Shizune, and widening considerably when he found her.
She was lying unconscious on the bed, her head tilted slightly towards the side, in a way that made her fine, black hair splay over her closed eyes. There was an oxygen mask strapped to her mouth, and needles attached to her wrist, her hands wrapped up in thick bandages.
"Shizune…" Kakashi started through rough pants, eyeing how prominent her dark circles looked against the concerning pallor of her usually rosy visage.
"S-Shizune," he said again, shuffling further into her room, until he was at the foot of her bed, "Why would you do this?"
"You shouldn't have…not for someone like me..."
He suddenly doubled over in pain and tightened his grip around the IV pole, inhaling sharply, and shakily bringing an arm to his torso. Looking down at his hand, he saw that his fingers were stained with fresh blood, a familiar nausea rising up in him at the sight.
"Excuse me, sir? Are you lost?" a voice said behind him. A doctor came closer to his wobbling, unsteady form and put a hand on his heaving shoulder, eyeing him for any injuries, and immediately noticing the blood staining the front of his hospital gown.
His face was grey, but flushed, and his breathing made it obvious that he had overexerted himself to the point of excruciating pain and unbearable exhaustion.
The doctor glanced behind herself and noticed hospital staff and patients watching from outside, which prompted her to crack the door a little more closed so that they would have some more privacy, at least temporarily.
"Sir, what's your name?" she asked him intently, maintaining direct eye contact with his half-lidded, tired, gaze. She didn't know him personally, but she could still tell that he had gone through a lot, and was a strong person.
"Kakashi…" he brought out with a pained grunt, "Hatake Kakashi."
"Kakashi, I'm Dr. Suzuki. Let's sit down, okay? Just for a moment," she told him gently, but firmly, guiding him to a chair in the room, and eyeing the urine bag next to his feet with a grim, serious look. Before the doctor could help, he jerked away from her grasp, trudging stubbornly to Shizune's side.
The doctor's eyes widened slightly at the defiant action, and she began to understand that he hadn't just wandered into the room—he actually knew Shizune.
To the rest of them, she was the hokage's assistant, and one of the top medical nin in the hospital. She'd performed surgeries and procedures that a resident could only dream of doing one day.
Judging by the worried look behind Kakashi's dark eyes, and how he was on his feet well past the point of exhaustion, the doctor could ascertain that he didn't just know Dr. Shizune—he really cared about her. Nothing needed to be said or proven, because sometimes the look in someone's eyes can tell far more than their words could ever try to.
"Hatake-san, come on, let's sit down," she prompted again with a sigh, coming forward and placing a hand on his tremulous arm, "Your incisions are bleeding, and you can't be walking around in this state. Don't you want to sit—"
Before she could finish her sentence, he gagged, hunching over and abruptly vomiting all over the floor, right next to her shoe. He grasped onto her forearm with a strangled cry, feeling his tender sutures stretch and pull away from his skin with every heave.
Undaunted, the doctor placed a supportive arm around his waist, basically holding up most of his limp body weight. Glancing back towards the door, she noticed a familiar nurse peeking inside, her eyes wide and full of pity at the sight.
"He's Hatake Kakashi, right? Lady Tsunade's patient…" the woman brought out softly, her eyebrows raising with a type of worry that only a mother would truly understand. She had a son that was around Kakashi's age, and she knew that she would never be able to bear seeing him in so much pain.
The middle-aged nurse had also heard of the copy nin's prowess since he'd been a teenager, and to see him so frail and distinctly ill was enough to make her tear up.
"Nurse Tanaka, please page Lady Tsunade," the doctor told her with an urgency to her tone, "Now, please. Tell her it's important."
The nurse nodded quickly and fled out of the room, rushing to alert the hokage.
Groaning, Kakashi crumpled to the floor, tugging the doctor to the ground with him, as she was still using both of her arms to support him so that he wouldn't fall. Furrowing his brows, he continued to throw up, his hand covering his face in a way that hid his exposed face from the doctor.
"I can't…I can't do this, anymore…" Kakashi gasped, pulling his mask back up, and staring at the big puddle of vomit in front of him, "I think I'm going to die…"
Dr. Suzuki smiled lightly, patting his back, and looking at him intently. "You won't die, Kakashi—not today. Right now, my top priority is to get you back in bed, and get these stitches closed up."
She began to get up slowly, trying to guide him into a position that would make it easier for him to stand. While she was acting charming and confident about his well-being, the doctor knew that he was potentially in serious danger- the brown color of his urine was an un-ignorable indication that his kidney's weren't functioning.
"Doesn't your bed sound nice, Kakashi?" she encouraged him lightly, "Come on, now, just lean on my hands—I promise I won't drop you."
Exhaling sharply, he glanced at her earnest gaze and confident smile, hesitating slightly, before pushing his weight into her steady grasp, and trying to bring himself up into a standing position. He attempted to get up a few times, but found that he really couldn't; he simply didn't have the strength to keep walking, or the energy to even push into the doctor's hands.
His limbs felt like they didn't work, and he quite literally thought he was going to pass out.
Suddenly, the door flung open and Gai walked in, a can of cold ginger ale in his hands. There was a bewildered expression painted on his face as he caught sight of the clear puddle of vomit next to Shizune's bed, and the blood soaked front of Kakashi's hospital gown.
He lunged forward and quickly got on the ground, hastily discarding the soda from the vending machine.
"What happened?" Gai asked the doctor in a panic, glancing at her, and then swiftly getting behind Kakashi's hunched form on the floor, firmly grasping his two shoulders, and protectively pulling him into his chest.
Kakashi allowed himself to wilt into Gai's hold, closing his eyes, and letting his head rest loosely in the crook of his friend's shoulder. His breathing was shallow and rapid, and he could barely hold himself up.
"I found Kakashi in Dr. Shizune's room…" the woman began, "I think he ripped his stitches because he strained himself by walking here, and then he threw up. Right now, Kakashi's having a little trouble getting back up, but don't worry—I've already paged Lady Tsunade, and she should be here any minute. "
Gai nodded briefly, straining his neck forward to get a better look at how Kakashi was doing. He squeezed his friend's shoulder and tried to straighten the awkward position of his bandaged head, only to find that when he tried to move it, it turned loosely to the other side. It didn't even seem like Kakashi was conscious.
"Hey?…Kakashi?!" Gai called out stressfully, shifting his body so that he was laying down in his lap.
He patted his friend's cheek in an effort to wake him up, but Kakashi stayed silent and unresponsive, his eyes closed, and his limbs heavy and limp.
Dr. Suzuki came forward and put two fingers to Kakashi's neck, checking his pulse. It was there, but fast and thready, not as strong and rhythmic as it should be. At that point, she was seriously wondering where the hokage was.
"Kakashi, can you hear me?" she asked him loudly, "Can you hear me? Stay with me, Kakashi."
She strained her neck towards the door, spotting a few nurses and doctors peeking into the slightly open room.
"I need a gurney, and a rapid oxygen kit, now!" she commanded sternly, the seriousness in her voice making them move quickly.
In Gai's arms, Kakashi released a heavy breath, cracking one of his eyes open. He immediately saw two concerned faces looking over him, and felt the cold tile underneath his bare legs, coming to the conclusion that he was lying on the hospital floor.
He blinked slowly, feeling too tired to really say anything. Despite how he felt, though, Kakashi managed to clear his throat and get out a sentence anyway, before passing out again.
"Tell Shizune…I said thank you."
Author's note: Another long chapter. The end is nearrr! As always, leave reviews.