Hospital:
He opened a pair of unfocused orbs, wincing as they made contact with the harsh light above him. Looking around, he saw nothing but white. The smell of bleach and antiseptic tickled his nostrils, and he heard a steady, hypnotic beating.
Something was covering his face and it wasn't his usual mask. He lifted a hand, one that was attached to an IV, to his mouth, lightly touching what was shielding it from view.
An oxygen mask…
Underneath the wrinkly, spotless sheets, he was wearing nothing but a thin, blue gown, his usual clothing nowhere in sight. Kakashi pulled the white blanket up to his chin, the lack of cloth on his body causing him to shiver.
Suddenly, the door swung open and Tsunade entered, her heels clicking loudly as she walked to the IV pole next to his hospital bed to replace the emptying bag of fluids. She silently did her work with her back to him, somewhat ignoring his presence.
Kakashi, now fully awake, lifted his head from the pillows and turned towards the hokage, straightening his posture.
"Lady Tsunade…" he brought out numbly, greeting her out of respect. Kakashi pulled the oxygen support off of his mouth upon noticing how muffled his voice sounded, his black mask still covering the lower portion of his face.
"Would you care to explain what's going on, Kakashi?" she said finally, her voice dangerously quiet as she turned to face him. Tsunade crossed her arms, waiting to hear what he had to say—she wanted him to be completely honest about any changes in his lifestyle, because his health was obviously suffering.
After his friends had forcefully brought him into the hospital last night, and frantically told her about the blood in his vomit, she'd admitted him rather quickly. She had found that he had a rather nasty stomach ulcer, which would explain the scary occurrence. The hokage hadn't really gotten the chance to tell him about his diagnosis though, as he'd been unconscious the whole night, so now, she was keen on having a long talk with him.
Although she'd easily fixed the issue with healing chakra, Tsunade was still concerned—she wondered why Kakashi was suddenly being afflicted with all of these symptoms. It seemed as if his body was under an immense amount of stress.
"…What do you mean? Nothing's been going on," he answered dubiously, his tone laced with fabricated confusion.
It seems like she's accusing me of something.
"You know very well what I'm talking about, Kakashi," she pressed gruffly, her temper rising to the surface at his seemingly innocent, but rather obvious diversion, "You haven't been feeling very well lately, have you?"
At this, he looked up at her with wide eyes and parted lips, her words resonating with him. She noticed his unblinking, secretly fearful gaze, looking away with a sigh, and trying to find the right words to say.
"...I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on, Kakashi," Tsunade told him calmly, a glint of worry in her intent look, "Have you been eating properly? Sometimes ulcers can be caused by prolonged bad eating habits, and stress…"
Kakashi exhaled deeply, nodding slightly, and closing his eyes.
"You're right," he began hesitantly, "I should've told you this sooner, but your medicine hasn't been helping my headaches…they've gotten much worse. I also feel…nauseous, a lot. It's getting harder to eat properly…"
"Headaches? You mean to say they're still there?" Tsunade inquired curiously, suddenly feeling unsettled, "Kakashi, you should've come to me sooner..."
I thought that after a few days, they would surely stop bothering him. This certainly doesn't sound too good…
"Yep, they are. Can you get rid of them?" Kakashi asked expectantly, cutting straight to the chase. Tsunade shifted her weight, her arms crossed underneath her voluptuous chest.
"Okay," she said firmly, with a curt nod, "You're staying for another night—I need to run some tests, to see what's causing your headaches."
He sighed loudly, quietly agreeing, mostly out of fear of what would happen if he didn't. It didn't really seem like she was giving him much of a choice in the matter, anyway.
Great, now I have to stay in the hospital. Instead of relieving my pain, I've just caused more problems…
Kakashi blinked his groggy eyes, struggling to stay awake. Although he had been unconscious well into the afternoon, he still felt strangely tired and sleepy.
Tsunade watched him rebel against his drowsiness with slight amusement.
The poor brat's probably exhausted.
The hokage stepped forward and reached out a hand to his cool forehead, brushing back his silver bangs like a mother would to her son. He tensed up immediately, not used to such affection.
She stood her ground, continuing to gently smooth back his hair. Slowly, he sank back into the pillows, closing his eyes in contentment. Though he didn't want to admit it, the touch felt nice, like a cool breeze on a sweltering summer day. His breathing evened out and before he knew it, he had drifted off into a dreamless slumber.
"Get some rest…You need it."
She retracted her hand and sauntered toward the door, dimming the bright lights on her way out.
"Where is Hatake Kakashi's room?"
"It's the second one on the right, just down the hallway." The receptionist clarified with a smile, pointing in its general direction.
Kurenai, Gai, and Asuma nodded in thanks before treading away from the front desk.
As soon as they'd finished training with their genin, the three had rushed to the hospital, wanting to see for themselves if Kakashi was alright. They'd stayed by his side for a good portion of the night yesterday, however, he'd been asleep the whole time, so it only made sense to check up on him again, and see if he'd finally woken up.
Kurenai pushed open the gray door to his room and slowly walked in, the two male ninja following closely behind her. She sauntered over to Kakashi's bedside window and put a few daisies in the empty glass vase. Sighing, the kunoichi perched on the window ledge, leaving Gai and Asuma to sit on the hard, plastic chairs that had been left behind for visitors to use.
The three gazed at his sleeping form, not wanting to wake him up. The blankets were pulled up to his masked chin, his chest rising and falling with every soft, even breath he took. His dark circles were gone, nothing but a memory on his fair visage. Even through the freshly washed mask, they could tell that his lips were slightly parted. He looked peaceful; his serene demeanor was so candid compared to his usual show of indifference and boredom.
"When's he going to wake up?!" Gai cried impatiently, not able to handle the loud silence that had spread across the room, "He's been asleep for so long!"
"Shut up, you idiot! Let him sleep," Kurenai hushed him quickly, hoping that his obnoxious jabbering hadn't woken Kakashi up.
"This is so troublesome…you're both going to wake him up," Asuma said bluntly.
The Hatake slowly cracked an eye open, leaving the other one shut, of course. He lethargically glanced around for the source of the noise, surprised when he saw Gai, Asuma and Kurenai surrounding his hospital bed.
"What're you guys doing here?" he croaked, voice raspy due to surviving on IV fluids since being admitted there. Three heads spun toward the new sound, their eyes wide at seeing him awake.
"Of course we're here! How could I leave my rival to suffer the pains of an ulcer all alone! " Gai exclaimed passionately, getting up from his seat. Asuma clicked his tongue and pulled him down, an unimpressed look set on his face.
"I bet he didn't even know what ulcers were until yesterday," the Sarutobi thought to himself, frowning in annoyance at Gai's unnecessary zealousness.
"Some ulcer, huh…I was wondering why you'd been losing your appetite at lunch. I guess that was the reason," Asuma said with a listless tone, his gaze focused on the window.
Kakashi blinked at the ceiling with a tired, drawn out sigh, not knowing how to respond. He didn't feel like telling them the true nature of his ailment. To them, it was just an stress ulcer, but to him, it was so much more.
"You know, you could've told us if you were feeling sick. We wouldn't have forced you to come. Sorry, Kakashi…" Kurenai apologized, guilt-ridden at how they'd practically dragged him there, pushing him to the point of vomiting blood.
"Please, don't apologize. If you guys hadn't pressured me to come, then I would probably still be at home right now, in a condition much worse than this," he reassured her, forcing his eyes to crinkle into crescents.
Kurenai gave him a tenuous smile, glad that he wasn't upset with them, but still conscious-stricken.
"When do you get outta here, man?" Asuma drawled, in desperate need of a cigarette. One of the hospital policies was "no smoking".
"I'll be cleared to leave by tomorrow morning, at the latest," he replied, remembering his conversation with Tsunade.
"Perfect, I've already planned it! We'll race to the hokage monument right after you get out! You better step it up though; it's 55 to 54, and I'm the one who's winning!"
*Everyone sweatdrops*
"Well, I guess I'd better go. I've got a few errands to run." Asuma stood up and brushed the invisible dust off of his slacks. "See you around, Kakashi. Take it easy, okay?"
The rest of them followed, Kurenai giving Kakashi a quick, one sided hug, which he didn't bother returning. If he was being completely honest, he was relieved that they were leaving. It wasn't personal at all—he just had a very limited social battery.
"Bye, Kakashi!" With that, his comrades slipped out of the room, leaving to do whatever they usually did with their time.
Kakashi sighed and leaned back into the strategically placed pile of pillows, his arms resting above his head. As weird as it seemed, he still had a headache, even after getting a day's worth of sleep. Although the throbbing was not nearly as bad as it had been the previous night, it was still there.
I wonder how it feels like to not have a headache…
*knock, knock*
"I'm coming in," Tsunade announced, not waiting for an answer. She strolled inside, her ever faithful assistant, Shizune, at her side. Kakashi quickly sat up in bed upon seeing them enter, feeling that laying down would be disrespectful to the hokage.
"How are you?" Tsunade asked, crossing her arms underneath her chest.
"Um…I'm fine."
I already told her about the headaches before…telling her again would just be a bit annoying.
"So, Kakashi, the blood we took earlier revealed an elevated white blood cell count...This could be an issue. We need to run some more tests to better understand why you have leukocytosis...Anyways, how's your head feeling right now?"
"...It's fine," he responded quickly, his gaze fixed on the drab white wall in front of him. A trickle of sweat slid down his forehead.
What's this feeling?
"Also, we fixed your ulcers with healing chakra, so you can virtually eat anything now, but to be on the safe side, avoid anything with alcohol or caffeine. And make sure you don't skip too many meals."
His eyes were unblinking and his complexion was unnaturally pale, a sudden wave of fear and apprehension passing over him. It was like something very bad was about to happen; he just didn't know what it was.
"You definitely can't take Ibuprofen, or any similar painkillers for a while-"
A strangled groan ripped out of Kakashi's throat and he fell back into his pillows, his eyes rolling back into his head. His mind grew scarily foggy, and his back arched up painfully, all of his muscles contracting of their own accord.
"Kakashi? Are you alright?" he heard someone ask him, their voice seeming distant and echoey.
Tsunade rushed to his bedside in shock, her brows furrowing at his sudden loss of consciousness.
Her eyes widened as Kakashi crumpled into a seizure, his whole body beginning to convulse uncontrollably. He gasped for a proper breath as his arms and legs violently spasmed, rhythmically bending and relaxing at his elbows and knees.
"He's seizing! Turn him over!"
A few nurses brushed through the door and calmly rushed over to the bed, grabbing parts of his shaking frame. With the extra help, they were able to turn Kakashi onto his side.
After a few moments of nervously waiting for him to stop seizing on his own, he finally let out a deep sigh and fell limp onto the bed, his limbs still rigid and tremulous. Tsunade walked over to his IV pole and inserted some muscle relaxants into the pouch, knowing that he would probably be in pain when he came to.
Shizune hesitantly pulled down his mask and separated his lips, letting the spittle and vomit that had gathered in his mouth trickle onto the white sheets. Instead of fawning over his astonishingly handsome face, she stuck to her job; providing her patients with comfort and the best treatment she had to offer.
"…W-What's…happening?" he choked out, eyes only half open. His silver eyebrows were scrunched together in confusion, and his whole body felt strangely stiff and achy.
Shizune grasped one of his clammy hands in her own and gave him a small, strained smile. She felt for him; she'd never had a seizure of her own, but as a doctor, she knew that they were one of the most terrifying, debilitating things that one could ever experience.
"You're alright now, it's over," she told Kakashi sympathetically, her free hand resting on Kakashi's quivering arm, gently rubbing back and forth in an effort to calm him down.
"Can you tell me your name?" she asked, assessing his mental state.
"H-H-Hatake…K-Kakashi."
"Good job, Kakashi. Now can you tell me…the names of your students?"
At this, his expression twisted into a look of unmasked bewilderment. Why couldn't he remember the names of his students?!
"That's okay. It'll come back to you sooner or later," Shizune encouraged him, smiling kindly.
"…What's…wrong with me…" he asked, with a sluggish panic brewing in his chest, slowly losing his grip on consciousness.
"You just had a seizure, Kakashi. Right now, just rest. We can talk more about this tomorrow," she reassured him quickly, her forehead creasing with concern as she took in his vulnerable state. It was hard for her to believe that Kakashi, the man who knew a thousand jutsu, and was feared by nations, had just had a seizure.
She couldn't help but think that the headaches he'd mentioned to Lady Tsunade were far more serious than they'd initially thought they were—that much was very obvious.
Kakashi remained silent after that. An overpowering tiredness weighed over him. Sure he'd been exhausted after missions and such, but he'd never felt this drained before; the feeling was completely new. Shizune continued to stroke his arm, trying her best to comfort him. His eyes drooped closed, his breathing slowing, evening out.
"He's not leaving here tomorrow morning," Tsunade stated dryly, standing behind Shizune, who'd turned to face her teacher, a worried look set on her face.
"W-What are we going to do now, Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked nervously.
"Just keep calm, Shizune, we need to run more tests before we start to panic. Inspect his head for any injuries or swelling, and take some more blood." Tsunade began to walk out the door, her lips set into a firm, straight line as she thought about the newly pronounced seriousness of Kakashi's condition.
The hokage needed some time to think, alone.
"Wait, where are you going?" Tsunade paused and turned back towards her assistant.
"I'm going to check Kakashi's medical records. Get to work." Shizune nodded and did as she was told, raising her hands over the unconscious man's skull, a green chakra beginning to emanate from her palms.
Tsunade rushed out of the room and headed to her office, her pace picking up dramtically. She needed to see if he had some kind of underlying condition that could have caused the full blown tonic clonic seizure. She hoped that it was something they could easily fix, like an electrolyte, or glucose imbalance, but she knew in her heart that it was probably much more serious, especially since he was also suffering from a high white blood count.
She couldn't help but feel an insurmountable amount of dread for Kakashi's health.