Molten lava is creeping through Kakashi's veins. It must be, since there's no other reason he should feel as if his skin has been lit on fire.
When he swallows, a dozen needles pierce his throat, and his eyes flutter open. He remains still, bathing in his own sweat as the walls fold in on themselves.
It's not until his eyes begin to burn that he finally moves, throwing his legs over his bed with a rough exhale. But the moment he rises, his world flips on its axis.
Whitened knuckles curl around the edge of his bedside table, and Kakashi closes his eyes for a brief second before righting himself. When he takes a step, he nearly trips over his own feet, but manages to catch himself before he becomes one with the hardwood floors.
He hears a distant voice, sounding far too much like Sakura, telling him to turn his ass around and go back to bed. He lets her know that he can't, not today, and stubbornly ignores the fact that it's probably not a good sign that he's responding to the voices in his head.
"Boss?"
Oh, he thinks, now Pakkun's here too.
"Are you alright?"
Kakashi blinks. That doesn't sound like it's coming from inside his head. Unless he's finally cracked, which he can't really rule out, given his track record.
Something paws at his leg, and he glances down. He squints at the brown blob at his feet for half a minute before his brain finally gets its act together.
"Peachy," he tells Pakkun as he pats him on the head, doing his best to wrestle his expression into something that looks put-together.
Pakkun blinks and doesn't say a thing. Kakashi pats himself on the back for fooling him so well, even in such a subpar state.
Seeing the pug also causes him to remember that he has mouths to feed. With a hum, he steps out of his room, careful to ensure that he doesn't walk like a blackout drunk.
When he begins portioning out their bowls, his other ninken rise in greeting. His own stomach turns at the thought of eating, but he's not willing to incur brain-Sakura's wrath anymore than he already has, so he forces himself to grab something for himself, too.
"You are definitely not okay," Pakkun says flatly. "Boss, you need to go to bed."
"Nothing's wrong," he denies.
"You're eating kibble," Pakkun informs him.
There's a brief pause before Kakashi takes another bite. "It's not that bad," he tells him, just to be stubborn. Pakkun stares at him disbelievingly, but he chews it all the way through, meeting his gaze head-on.
"I'll be going now," he says after swallowing and pushing away the rest of the bowl, then promptly walks out the door.
"That's the closet."
Kakashi steps back out and moves towards the actual front door. "I knew that."
"Boss—" Pakkun begins, undoubtedly to lecture him, but Kakashi cuts him off by closing the door. What does he know anyway? Kakashi is perfectly fine.
"—sensei?"
Kakashi blinks blearily. "Hmm?"
"We've been trying to get your attention for the past five minutes," Sasuke points out with a flat expression.
"Oh," Kakashi lets out, blinking. "Hm."
Naruto frowns. "Sensei, are you okay? You're not looking too hot."
"I'm feeling it," Kakashi mutters.
"What?"
"I said I'm fine."
"If this is what being 'fine' is, then my mental health is fantastic," Sai comments, earning himself a snort from Sasuke.
"Senpai, are you… sick?" Tenzou asks, like the traitor he is.
"I don't get sick," Kakashi tells him, nevermind the fact that Tenzou has seen him sick before. "It's the Hatake's bloodline limit."
"Really?" Naruto asks with slightly widened eyes, then yelps when Sakura hits him on the back of his head.
"He's lying, idiot. Sensei, if you were sick, why the hell didn't you stay home?"
Kakashi pulls back when he sees her irritated expression. "Maa… a little cold never hurt anyone."
"This looks nothing like 'a little cold,' " she says with a scowl, then leans forwards. Kakashi moves to catch her wrist, but she raises the back of her hand to his forehead before he can do so, shooting him a flat look when he completely fails to stop her. "You're burning up."
"You can't feel that through my forehead protector," Kakashi protests weakly, which only serves to make her gaze even more piercing.
"Sensei, you didn't have to come if you were sick," Naruto says.
"Hn," Sasuke agrees with narrowed eyes.
Sai smiles. "It does seem rather stupid of you."
Kakashi feels suddenly uncomfortable with all of the attention on him. "I'm fine," he says again, attempting to push himself backwards. Unfortunately, he only manages to shove himself all the way off his seat, and sucks in a sharp breath as his vision briefly flickers black.
"That's it," Tenzou says firmly as he catches him, "We're taking you home."
Kakashi opens his mouth to protest, only for the words to die in his throat when the man's eyes narrow. "Fine," he forces out, as if he has a choice in the matter. "But I'm walking by myself."
He steps away, stubbornly keeping eye contact with Tenzou, and promptly stumbles over a rock.
"Alright, we're here," Kakashi says, leaning against his door casually, and definitely not because he feels like he feels like he's about to fall over. "You can go now."
"You don't really expect us to do that," Naruto says, slightly disbelieving.
"What else would you do?" Kakashi replies flippantly. It must be the wrong thing to say, because the blond suddenly looks crushed. He rolls his eyes, ignoring the twisting in his gut as he speaks. "I'll be fine by morning. You don't need to stick around."
Sasuke raises a brow, looking him up and down. "You sure you can survive until then?"
Kakashi suppresses the urge to scowl, instead choosing to offer an eye-smile. "I'll manage."
Not a moment after he speaks, the door opens from the inside, and Kakashi barely keeps himself from falling flat on his back.
"Yo," Pakkun greets.
"What—"
"Hey, Pakkun!" Naruto says excitedly. "Can we come in?"
"Sure, kid. My home is your home, or whatever."
"This is my apartment," Kakashi reminds him, but no one seems to be listening, because everyone steps inside without a care in the world.
"Alright, sensei," Naruto says, "Let's get you to bed, yeah?"
"I can do that by myself," Kakashi points out, but only gets a sunny smile from the blond in return. He stares blankly before turning to eye the other home invaders. "Don't break anything," he tells them.
"Of course, Kakashi-senpai," Sai says indulgently, looking far too amused for his liking.
Before he can say another word, Naruto pulls on his arm, trying to drag him along like a disobedient puppy. He sighs and, knowing how his student can be, allows it to happen.
He does draw the line at tucking him in, though, and no amount of puppy-dog-eyes can convince him to back down.
Kakashi awakens to the scent of earthy broth, both of which are odd occurrences.
First is the fact that he awakens at all, since he doesn't remember falling asleep, and second is the fact that there's something being cooked even though he hadn't been awake.
Briefly, he wonders if Pakkun had somehow managed to figure out how to work around the kitchen, but quickly disregards the idea. Even if any of his ninken did know how to cook, none of them would. They're willing to work for food, yes, but lifting a paw to help make it is a different story.
But the only other explanation is that he'd started on something before falling asleep, which seems unlikely because nothing's burning. Either that, or—
"Sensei!"
Kakashi startles despite himself, and only then does he realize that his sense of smell is far worse than it normally is, thanks to his inconveniently stuffy nose.
"We're done with dinner!" Naruto chirps cheerfully, dancing around to the side of his bed with a steaming bowl.
"What," Kakashi says flatly.
"See, Sasuke made you some miso soup!" he says, shoving it forwards and forcing Kakashi to take it before he's asphyxiated by salty steam.
"Miso?" he echoes. " Sasuke ?"
"Yeah, I mean, I tried to help, but he said that I was a 'hazard in the kitchen' or whatever, so he forced me out and put me on dogsitting duty. Sai helped him, but he only cut up the vegetables and stuff. He's like, scarily good with a knife, y'know. Oh, and Yamato-sensei cleaned up your place some, and Sakura-chan—"
"Please," Kakashi lets out, a little overwhelmed, "Slow down."
"Huh? Oh, sorry sensei," Naruto says with a slightly sheepish laugh. "Point is, this is for you, since you're sick and all. Sakura-chan and Sasuke said it'd help make you feel better, though apparently you still gotta take some medicine later, or somethin'."
Kakashi still feels lost, if he's being quite honest, and he's not sure if he can attribute that to the sickness or not. He has a lot of things to say and ask, but all that comes out is a strangled, " Why? "
Naruto tilts his head to the side like a curious puppy. "Why what?"
"Why," he repeats, "Are you doing this?"
There's a brief pause. "Um, because we care," Naruto replies slowly. "Plus, it sucks being sick, so we obviously want you to get better!"
Kakashi is—
Well, a lot of things right now. Confused, for one. Bewildered. Absolutely gobsmacked.
He knows, realistically, that his students don't hate him. That they even like him, sometimes. But seeing tangible proof—
"Hey," Naruto says quietly. "You know… you're our sensei, but you're also like… more than that, y'know. Like…" Naruto rubs the back of his neck, looking slightly nervous. "An uncle or a brother or something... I dunno."
Kakashi thinks of golden and red hues paired with a salty sea breeze, and he forces out a long, heavy breath.
"So, yeah," Naruto continues, meeting his gaze with a crooked smile. "It would've sucked if you weren't there today, but your health is more important, y'know? We'd rather have you stick around for longer than work yourself into an early grave, and all that."
"Ah," Kakashi lets out. He's fairly certain it's all he can say.
"But enough of that gloomy stuff, yeah?" Naruto says suddenly, plastering on a bright grin. "You've gotta get better real fast so we can make up for this day, y'know! So you better eat all that soup and take all of Sakura's medicine, or… uh… else!"
Despite himself, Kakashi snorts, and for once, his lips curl into a smile before his eyes. His eyes flick towards the door, where everyone else stands outside without an ounce of subtlety. "Ah, my cute little genin… I knew you'd come around eventually."
"Wh— oh, you bastard! You totally had to ruin it, didn't you?! I take all that nice stuff back, I'm totally playing so many pranks on you when you get better!"
Kakashi ruffles the blond's hair, huffing out a laugh when he squawks indignantly. I wouldn't ask for anything else.
A/N:
the name is a bit awkward tbh so i might change it, but i liked the lyric (from Tally Hall's "Hymn for a Scarecrow") and it kinda fits, so for now it stays
wrote this bc i've been sick for like 3 days so now im living vicariously through fictional characters
also, don't ask about the timeline, bc i don't know either. maybe it's an AU where sasuke stuck around. i don't know, i just wanted them all here ;,D
anyway
Thanks for reading!