A Series of Tests:
"…Hanawa…Haruno…Hashimoto…Hatake. Found it."
Tsunade pulled out a bulky, manila file folder labeled Hatake Kakashi out from the large file cabinet that she was crouched in front of. She brushed off the dust, and wasted no time in searching through its contents, skimming over the yellowed pieces of parchment.
Now what can cause a seizure…?
She flipped through the countless pages, rapidly scanning them for any significant information.
I'm probably wasting my time looking through his documents…I bet Shizune probably has a good reason by now. I really shouldn't be doing this. It would be more useful to focus on tangible things…
She turned the last page and clapped the folder shut with a deep exhale, getting virtually nothing out of looking through his files.
But…what if he has some kind of weird genetic disorder? I've heard of seizures being passed through families before…
Tsunade neatly tucked Kakashi's folder back into its correct spot, and in its place, she pulled out two older, even dustier ones.
Sakumo and Sayaka Hatake.
Setting Sayaka's much bulkier folder onto the floor, Tsunade gently opened Sakumo's, a feeling of sadness settling around her. The hokage could proudly say that she had been friends with Sakumo Hatake, although she hadn't really known his wife. He was stronger than all three of the legendary sannin combined, and probably even more famous than Tsunade herself.
It had struck her hard when he'd died by suicide. While she was coping with her own grief after losing Dan, she'd completely ignored him, never once coming to him to make sure that he was alright. It was only after she'd attended his funeral that she realized how deeply he had sunken into a depression.
Pushing back the unwanted sorrow, Tsunade opened the folder and started sifting through the contents.
Sighing, she shut Sakumo's binder. It didn't have anything that could give her proof of a genetic disorder. After putting Sakumo's papers back into their designated place, Tsunade picked up his wife's and began inspecting the much larger bulk of documents that made it up.
With the help of a bold word written on the top of the first page, it came to her attention that Sayaka was no longer alive—not that Tsunade didn't already know. Deceased, is what it read exactly.
I've always wondered what happened to her…
A shiny, black piece of paper slipped out of the binder and slid to the floor. Tsunade picked it up, recognizing what it was all too well.
An MRI scan?
She gazed upon the paper, her eyes widening as she realized what it meant. It was a scan of Sayaka's brain. And invading its tissues was a mass the size of a plum.
A brain tumor…
Tsunade studied the papers with a newfound interest. With a tumor that big, it was possible that Sayaka hadn't been killed in action like she'd previously assumed.
Craniotomy to remove tumor in right temporal lobe…radiation and combined chemotherapy…died of recurrent tumor…
To sum it up, her suspicions had been confirmed. Kakashi's mother had passed away due to brain cancer.
Tsunade trudged down the hallway, pausing outside of the Hatake's hospital room.
I bet it's nothing…
She softly opened the door, and reluctantly entered, finding Shizune sitting by Kakashi's bed, lost in her own thoughts.
"Shizune." The hokage's apprentice shot out of her hard, plastic chair to face the hokage.
"Yes, milady!"
"What did you find?" Tsunade asked coolly, hiding her anxiety.
"He doesn't have any injuries...His blood tests were normal, besides his high white blood count," Shizune started somberly.
"What else?" Tsunade asked sternly. She had expected Shizune to tell her something.
"Well…there is one thing. When I was examining Kakashi's head with my chakra, I found that there was a rise in intracranial pressure…The elevated ICP would explain his headaches, and his recurrent nausea."
That can happen when someone has a…No, Kakashi does not have a brain tumor. It's highly unlikely…
"How are we going to treat it, Lady Tsunade? If we don't, this can become dangerous-"
"As soon as he's conscious, get an MRI done," Tsunade uttered defeatedly, her gaze focused on the floor, "Shizune…he had no electrolyte or glucose imbalances?"
"No, Lady Tsunade."
"No brain injuries?"
"No."
"Is there anything else that you would like to tell me? Anything important?"
"Lady Tsunade…Is there something wrong?" Tsunade looked up suddenly, surprised that her apprentice was asking such a question.
"...Kakashi's mother…She had brain cancer," The hokage said softly. Shizune's eyes widened in realization.
"But that doesn't mean that he has it…" she told her teacher, trying to reassure her that Kakashi was fine, even though she was anxious herself. If it were any other patient, they would be more objective and rational about what his symptoms meant, but it was Kakashi.
He couldn't have brain cancer, right?
The hokage spun on her heel, heading for the door. Before leaving though, she looked back at her apprentice, hand on the door knob.
"Just do the MRI when he wakes up. There's only so much that we can detect with medical ninjutsu."
"Good Morning, Kakashi!" Shizune said cheerfully, a tray of breakfast in her hands.
Kakashi rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and sat up, grunting in pain. Frankly, he felt as if he had been run over by a truck. The medical nin handed Kakashi the tray and fluffed the pillows behind him, allowing him to lean back.
Upon waking up, his thoughts had immediately went to his students- he realized that he hadn't shown up to training for two whole days.
They're probably wondering where I am…
"Take it easy. Don't exert yourself too much," Shizune told him seriously, the doctor in her rising to the surface, "Now eat your breakfast. If I'm what's stopping you, then I'll go…"
Shizune wasn't an idiot; she knew that to eat, he needed to take his mask off. She wanted to stay there and explain to him what had happened yesterday, and what they were going to do about it today, but if she was preventing him from consuming a fulfilling breakfast, then she would gladly take her leave.
"No…you can stay," he croaked after a few moments of pondering silence. Kakashi didn't remember much from the past day, but he did recall the soothing touch of her arm, and how she had stayed by his side through the night to provide him with comfort. Kakashi appreciated that even when Shizune had taken his mask off, she didn't take advantage of his vulnerability.
Her eyes widened in surprise, but she ended up beaming at him. He gave a small, strained smile in return.
Kakashi eyed his hearty breakfast of rice porridge, miso soup, and fluffy rolled omelet, for once actually feeling hungry. After surviving on IV fluids for two whole days, who could blame him? Succumbing to the needs of his stomach, he broke the wooden chopsticks, raising his hands in a small thanks.
When Shizune glanced at the tray again, she noticed in bewilderment that it was completely empty, after what couldn't have been more than a few seconds. Looking up at Kakashi with wide eyes, and a gaping mouth, she found that his mask was still pulled up, one of his cheeks rounded out visibly as he finished chewing the food.
Noticing her shocked look, Kakashi chuckled to himself, his eyes closing into crescents.
"So…I see that I'm still here," he said, putting the tray aside, and resting a hand on his contented stomach.
"We couldn't just let you leave. You had a seizure yesterday. A tonic clonic seizure, to be exact," Shizune told him grimly.
"Why did I have a...seizure?" the copy nin asked her, his brows furrowing in the same confusion and fear that he had felt yesterday. He hated that something was happening to him, and he didn't know what it was.
"Well your intracranial pressure is high— this could be due to multiple reasons. To rule one of them out, you're going to have an MRI scan in a little bit," Shizune explained professionally, leaving out the part where they had tested him for all of the common things that could've caused it, and in the end, had come up with no sufficient explanation.
"…an MRI scan? Shouldn't you have done all the normal tests on me first? Why jump straight to that?" he inquired skeptically. Shizune sighed.
Of course he would ask that, being the genius copy ninja and all.
"The truth is…we've already performed all of the "normal" tests on you, and they don't reveal anything. That's why Lady Tsunade ordered an MRI scan…"
"And this reason you wanted to rule out? Is it something…serious?"
Shizune shifted uncomfortably at his question.
"We're doing the MRI scan…to make sure you don't have any brain tumors."
Kakashi's eyes widened considerably in shock.
A…brain tumor?
"Look, none of us can afford to think like that. Let's just do the test first, before jumping to any conclusions," she reassured him. He relaxed a bit at her confident, levelheaded tone, although the anxiety still stayed with him.
"When do I have to do it, then?"
"One of the nurses will take you there when it's time."
"Wait, why can't you take me there?"
He didn't want to go with some random nurse. At least he knew who Shizune was.
"Sorry, but that's not possible; I'm the one who has to prepare the machine," she chuckled, the corners of her eyes creasing as she smiled, "Well, I need to go now. Make sure you take off all jewelry, body piercings, and similar 'metallic items' before the scan."
Shizune got up, her back facing him as she headed toward the door.
"See you then, Kakashi!" she said, briefly turning around to wave him goodbye, before exiting, the door flapping shut after she left.
"It's time for the MRI, sir!" A nurse told him from the doorway. She was fairly short in comparison to him, and her petite appearance was almost childlike, though she was obviously a grown woman. Short brown locks framed the sides of her cheery, round face, and her shiny irises looked at him expectantly.
Kakashi snapped his book shut and set it on his bedside table, before yanking off the comforter and sliding his legs over the side of the mattress. He got up with a muffled groan, his body still painfully sore from the aftermath of the seizure.
"Would you like a wheelchair, sir?" the nurse asked nervously, noticing how difficult it was for him to even stand.
"No, I can walk," he spat out defensively. The nurse nodded and handed him a pair of long, cozy socks with grips on the bottom so that he could make the short trip without dirtying his feet. Although he wished for his actual shoes, he didn't argue and quickly pulled them on.
This was the first time in two days that he had ventured outside of the hospital room. He didn't really need to leave anyway; it had an attached bathroom and shower, so he was able to do all of his "business" in peace.
Still, he wished they would give his clothing back.
They made most of the trip in awkward silence, the nurse leading the way and Kakashi silently trudging behind her. To get to the radiology room, they had to take the elevator to the second floor and walk through the oncology ward. It was starting to get pretty awkward since Kakashi absolutely refused to have a proper conversation with her.
"So how old are you?" The nurse asked him playfully, falling into step with him.
"Hasn't anyone told you that it's rude to ask people their ages?"
"Okay, sorry. What's your name, then?" she inquired with a mischievous grin.
"Kakashi…" he uttered dully, not even bothering to mention his surname.
"My name's Kotomi Hagiwara!" she told him excitedly, reaching out to shake his hand. He stood there for a few moments before reluctantly taking her hand and shaking it stiffly, out of politeness. She quickly retracted it and turned away, her cheeks dusted a shade of pink.
"Say…are you single?"
He mentally cringed at her question, eyes widening.
Ew...Is she flirting with me? How unprofessional.
"Er…Yes?" he answered after some hesitation, deciding that there was no point in lying. She giggled and looked him over, blushing an even deeper shade of red.
Geez, what a pervert… he thought with an uneasy shiver. The thin, blue gown that he was wearing ended right above his knees, so it exposed his pale, shapely calves, which made the situation even more uncomfortable.
God, where are my clothes when I need them?
"Can we hurry up, please?" Kakashi prompted sternly, successfully annoyed. She perked up and started to their destination, not bothering him with any more questions.
Soon, they arrived at the destined door. Kotomi opened it and let Kakashi walk in before entering herself. The room was cold and dimly lit, a huge, cylindrical machine, with a moveable bed pulled out of it, sitting right in the middle. On the left, there was a separated space with a tinted window, so Kakashi could not see that Shizune was inside of the room until she herself came to greet them.
"Well, you're finally here. I hope Kotomi didn't talk your head off," Shizune chuckled, earning a glare from the said nurse.
"Ah…she didn't…"
She did.
"We should get started. You can leave, Kotomi. I'll take it from here." After giving Shizune a short nod, the petite nurse left the MRI room, shutting the door behind her.
Shizune strolled over to a small cabinet in the far corner and took out a syringe, pulling on a pair of blue vinyl gloves before heading back to the silver-haired shinobi.
"I need to inject you with this. It'll make the images come out better," she explained in layman's terms, gesturing for him to take a seat on the examination table. He plopped down and readily extended a pale arm, giving her permission to do as she pleased. Kakashi felt a cool sensation spread around the spot where she'd administered the liquid.
"Lie down," she prompted, after disposing of the used needle. Kakashi eyed the bed—board, rather—in distaste. It looked like a table, one that surgeries were performed on.
He silently complied, and with Shizune's help, he was able to situate his head in the rather uncomfortable head cage. The hokage's assistant stuffed two, small pillows by each of his ears, explaining that the sounds made by the MRI might get too loud.
"If you get too uncomfortable, just let me know. And if you want to talk, don't hesitate; I'll be able to hear, since there's a microphone inside." Shizune spread a thick blanket over his legs, before raising the bed with a small button on the machine's front.
Finally, she slid the table into the cramped tunnel. The only part of his body sticking out of the MRI machine were the tips of his feet.
"You good?" Shizune asked, peeking inside. He realized that he couldn't nod because of how stuffed his head was under the head cage and between the two pillows.
"Yeah…" Kakashi mumbled. The kunoichi headed back to the room with the tinted glass wall, shutting the door behind her.
It was only when she'd disappeared from his limited line of vision did he realize how claustrophobic he felt in the cramped tunnel.
The narrow walls and low ceiling stifled all of his movement, so all he could do was lay there as stiff as a board, his hands glued to his sides. The only noise he could hear amidst all of the silence was the dull sound of whirring fans; the source of the cooling system. Kakashi's wide orbs gazed up at the suffocating ceiling through the bars of his head cage, the harsh white light mercilessly glaring right back at him.
A lone trickle of cold sweat dribbled down his forehead. He didn't dare raise a hand to try and brush it away.
"Hello, hello, testing one two three, this is Shizune, over. Are you there, Kakashi?" Shizune's playful voice crackled over the intercom, breaking the stifling silence.
"Y-yes," he grunted after a few moments, releasing a breath that he hadn't realized he was holding. The fear and nervousness was evident in his voice. First, he was told that he might have brain cancer, and now he was inside of a weird machine that he'd never seen before in his life.
"Are you okay to start now? If you want out, don't hesitate to tell me- I'll be able to hear. It's your call, Kakashi," she reminded him gently.
"Ok…"
"...Are you okay?"
"Yes."
"Alright, then. Just...try to hold still, Kakashi." Through the camera on her many computer screens, Shizune watched him tremble slightly, his eyes wide and uncharacteristically scared.
I never thought that I would see him like this.
I'm trying, Kakashi thought, unable to quench his irrational fear. Back when he was in the anbu, he had experienced torture and bloodshed without even breaking a sweat, so he didn't understand why he was getting so worked up over a petty scan.
"Close your eyes. Try to think of happy things," she told the copy ninja cheerfully, trying to infect him with her joyful attitude.
Happy things…
He shut his eyes tightly, gripping the blankets he was provided with as if his life depended on it. He was unable to find anything "happy" to think about.
When Kakashi was motionless enough, Shizune proceeded with the MRI. His eyes shot open at the sudden, high pitched squeal that rang around him.
"Sorry about that...I know it's pretty loud," he heard her voice say over the intercom, "You'll have to bear through it."
The noise lasted for another few seconds, before it died down, leaving the constant, dull whirring of the fans in its place. In the small room on the left of the machine, Shizune sat in front of her computer screen, the image formulating before her eyes.
There were two pictures, one of each side of his head. They were fairly normal, pretty much how the standard brain was supposed to look, with its wrinkly tissue and nice, round shape.
The only thing that puzzled her was the abnormal looking spot that was invading the scans.
Shizune frowned and leaned into the screen, her brows furrowed at the anomaly. She closed her eyes and rubbed them vigorously, hoping that she was just seeing things.
A…tumor? No…It could be a shadow…
She ran the scan several more times, trying it from various angles. It was all for naught; the same, seemingly harmless smudge was still there.
"Shizune…Are you almost done?" a deep, scratchy voice called out. After laying in the machine for nearly half an hour, Kakashi wasn't too claustrophobic anymore; he was just starting to get a bit tired of hearing the same high pitched noise every time the hokage's apprentice ran the scan.
"Yeah…I'll get you out of there…" she whispered defeatedly. Shizune slowly got up from her seat in front of the computers, her legs wobbly and numb. She opened the door and trudged outside, gulping down a sob.
She quietly pulled Kakashi out, moving robotically, as if she was in a trance. Glancing at her curiously, he pushed the blankets off of his legs, his palms sweaty from how hard he'd been clenching them. Even as he slipped off of the table, Shizune didn't strike up any conversation, or make any effort to look at him directly.
"Uh…Shizune? Can I leave?" Kakashi asked expectantly, quipping an eyebrow at her shadowed face.
"Y-yeah, I guess we should leave now," she replied quietly, her eyes downcast and hidden behind her bangs.
What's up with her?
With that, Shizune led him back to his hospital room, where he continued to read his make out paradise book, oblivious to the damning results of his scan.
"Kakashi…I'm coming in. Tsunade entered his hospital room, Shizune trailing behind her with a hot cup of tea.
Looking up at the source of the intrusion, he quickly put his obscene book onto the side table, his hair still slightly wet from taking a shower in the small hospital bathroom. He had taken off the flimsy hospital gown and slipped into his shinobi slacks, also wearing a tight, black tank top, with an attached mask.
Tsunade walked over to the chair by his bedside and lowered herself down with a hidden grimace, crossing her legs. Shizune took the other seat, careful not to lose a grip on the drink in her hands.
"Would you like some green tea, Kakashi?" Shizune asked nervously, offering him the cup.
"Um…Sure? I guess tea sounds nice," he said reluctantly, taking the steaming beverage from her hands, and raising a skeptical eyebrow at her kindness.
This can't be good…
"So...What are the results of the MRI scan?" Kakashi asked coolly despite his internal anxieties, setting the drink down to the side for later. The two shifted in their seats uncomfortably at his straightforward question.
A strange sense of foreboding started to settle around him, making him hold his breath in his throat. Their behavior didn't seem right.
"What? Did you find a brain tumor or something?" he continued with an uncomfortable chuckle, "Come on, now...don't keep me waiting, guys..."
"There's something we need to talk to you about, Kakashi," Tsunade started intently, her hazel eyes tentatively locking with his darkened, confused gaze. Kakashi's brows furrowed in question at the seriousness of her tone, but he said nothing, a feeling of panic beginning to brew in the pit of his stomach. He now knew, with absolute certainty, that they didn't have any good news to share with him.
"Your MRI results came back…you have a…" Tsunade gulped, her palms sweating. Although the hokage had broken bad news to many other patients, and even their families, she just couldn't bring herself to hurt Kakashi like that.
"No. Don't say it..."
I'm fine. There's nothing wrong. I just have migraines, and they'll get better with medicine. Nothing is wrong. I am fine-
"We found an abnormal mass in your brain, Kakashi," Shizune finished solemnly, very close to losing a grip on her emotions.
He gulped deeply, the blood draining from his face, and leaving the visible portion of his visage a stark white.
"…Huh?" Kakashi uttered finally, his voice cracking.
"There are many treatment options-"
"Is this some kind of joke? If it is, I'm not finding it very funny," Kakashi said with an uncharacteristic hastiness, cutting Shizune off. His eyes sparkled with an irrational hope, pleading that they weren't serious, that they were just pulling his leg.
However, on the inside, he knew they wouldn't joke about something like that-That would be messed up.
"NO, of course not, Kakashi. Shizune's telling the truth…" Tsunade reaffirmed, the hands used to punch countless people resting lightly on his shoulders. He jerked away from her touch, the glimmer of hope in his gaze rapidly fading away.
"Y-You must…be mistaken…" he whispered in shock, tightly clenching the sheets, his damp, silver hair shadowing his eyes from view.
"You have a tumor, we're sure of it. But it's not too late…we're going to treat you…you'll get better with treatment," Shizune told him softly, not sure if she was reassuring Kakashi, or herself.
"To confirm that it is…cancer, we'll have to do a biopsy." Tsunade said the "c word" as if it were taboo, eyeing the Hatake's reaction to what she was saying. Unsurprisingly, he flinched, his form trembling inconspicuously as his body dealt with the sudden trauma of his diagnosis. He felt numb; a part of him didn't believe—couldn't believe what they were saying.
"I want to be left alone, please…" he breathed out unsteadily. The hokage nodded in understanding and stood up, placing a palm on his tensed back with a concerned frown. Through the brief touch, she couldn't help but notice how much he was shaking.
"We'll talk about this more tomorrow...okay? Get some rest." With one last look at him, Tsunade trudged toward the door, emotionally exhausted.
Shizune hesitantly stood up from her seat, gazing at Kakashi wistfully, as if she had something to say. She parted her lips to talk, but then shook her head, her eyes glistening with un-fallen tears. For some reason, it deeply saddened her that he had cancer, after going through so much heartbreak in his lifetime.
Rushing towards him, she tenderly wrapped her arms around his hunched, discreetly shivering form, squeezing him tightly. She knew that he wanted to be left alone, but at that moment, she didn't want him to be by himself.
His unblinking eyes widened slightly at the sudden gesture of affection, focused blankly on the wall in front of him.
"I'm so sorry, Kakashi...We'll help you get through this. I promise."
Too tired to put up a fight, he allowed himself to sink into her comforting hold, resting his heavy head against the crook of her shoulder, and sighing deeply. The hug felt like a gasp of cool air after being suffocated, and he was equally astonished and mortified at how much he'd been aching for the warm, kind, reassuring physical contact.
When Shizune pulled away, he was left bereft from the absence of her touch, stunned by the fact that he was truly yearning for another embrace.
After she left the room, Kakashi sat there in the same position for a few moments, not shifting in the slightest. He felt an intense emotion brewing in his chest; fear, confusion, shock—everything combining into a huge, indistinguishable ball of anxiety and panic.
Exhaling unevenly, he glanced to his side, catching sight of the cup of green tea that they'd brought him earlier. He reached over and grabbed it, tremulously bringing it up to his mouth and taking a long drink. The tea was disgustingly cold by that point, but he kept gulping it down, until there was no more left.
Placing the empty cup back down onto the side table, he brought his hands to his sides numbly, his gaping eyes focused on his lap as he thought about what having a tumor in his brain meant for him, for his life. He wondered how it would affect his role as a jonin sensei to Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto.
He scrunched his eyes shut, and put his face in his hands, wanting to scream, or punch something; it was getting harder to sit there as still as a statue, acting as if everything was okay.
I need to get out…I need to get out of here!
He yanked the sheets back and shot out of bed, his gaze wide and frantic. Kakashi pulled on his sandals, not even bothering to put on a shirt over his thin tank top.
He couldn't stand the harsh, white lights. He couldn't deal with the crinkly bed sheets. At that moment, he needed to leave. Kakashi slid open the glass window by his bedside and jumped into the chilly night air.
The copy ninja leapt onto the dirt roads, sprinting for the sole purpose to ease the suffocating knot in his stomach. He didn't know where to go, but he didn't want to stop either.
It was evening, so the streets were bustling with all kinds of people. Civilians, and even shinobi, were having dinner with their significant others, or shopping for warmer clothing in preparation for Autumn, their laughs and jovial voices piercing through his ears as he quickly passed by them. It didn't seem fair; how could they laugh so easily, like it was nothing?
He kept running, not stopping to look at anyone. But soon, his lungs were not able to take in enough air to support his body.
He collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath, his hands digging into the dry soil.
Kakashi crawled to a bush that was conveniently next to him and puked into the leaves, losing the breakfast he had eaten earlier, before the MRI.
Where am I? He thought, pulling his mask back up.
He wearily inspected his quiet surroundings, recognizing the familiar place as the park he'd used to come to as a little kid.
I used to play here with Obito and Rin...
Kakashi slowly got up, his legs wobbly, blood pulsing through them because of the run. After brushing the dirt off of his black pants, the copy ninja shuffled over to the swing set and gingerly set himself down on one of the many swings, his hands limp at his sides. Kakashi's legs overlapped on the ground; it was blatantly obvious that he was too tall and lanky to be sitting on a child's swing.
He sat there in a depressing silence, remembering all the times he had come there as a kid.
Obito...Rin...I don't know what to do.
Kakashi gazed down at the unruly weeds sticking up from the soil, his head hung low. Although he certainly had the urge to break down after all that had happened to him on that day, he didn't let himself.
The usually composed shinobi was actually panicking for once. He had no idea what the future held. How much longer did he have? How many grueling treatments would he have to endure? Would it hurt?
The question that was probably the most prominent in his mind was, Why me out of all people?
He took in a shuddering breath, clenching his fists until his knuckles were white. Although his life hadn't been perfect before that day, by any means, at least he hadn't had a tumor in his most important organ, or been in danger of dying.
Well, he technically had been in danger of dying on some missions, or in the midst of battle, but that was how he wanted to leave the world. Passing on because of a tumor, especially one in his head, was not the way he wanted to go.
"Kakashi-Sensei?" a very familiar voice uttered. Kakashi's eyes shot up, his face becoming guarded and impassive once more. How he hadn't noticed Naruto approaching him was beyond him. He felt his cheeks burn in embarrassment, wondering if his student had taken note of his feelings, which he hadn't exactly been trying to hide before noticing his presence.
Where do I need to go to be left alone?
A small part of his mind couldn't help but wonder what his student was doing at the empty park at such a late hour. The sky was a deep, dark blue, and the only source of light around them was a humming street lamp, and the moon itself.
"Naruto…what are you doing here…" he said gruffly, not even raising his head to look at the genin.
"…I just like to come here sometimes," Naruto mentioned sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head and taking a seat on the swing next to Kakashi. His sensei noticed that his voice was more subdued than usual, nothing like how hyperactive and energetic he usually sounded.
"But what are you doing here, sensei? I've never seen you here before. And where have you been for the past few days?! Every single day we wait for you and you never ever show up!" Naruto started loudly, "You'd better be there on time tomorrow!"
"I can't…"
"Hey! If I can be there early, then you can at least be there, if not on time!" Naruto exclaimed in annoyance, jutting an accusatory finger at his sensei's slumped form.
"I can't. At least not until I'm out of the hospital," he stated dully, in a matter of fact way. Immediately, he wished that he hadn't revealed the information, not wanting his team to come and visit him. But a part of him was also too exhausted to hide the truth.
"What?! Why are you in the hospital? Did something happen?" Naruto asked in shock, leaning closer to his sensei, "Does this have to do with how you almost fainted during your training with Sakura?"
Of course, Sakura told them.
"…Nothing happened."
Kakashi got up stiffly, feeling the urgent need to get away from the uncomfortable social situation. After standing there for a few moments with a cringe-worthy slouch, his back turned to Naruto, the jonin started to trudge away.
"Oi, wait! At least answer me before you leave! Obviously something happened, Kakashi-sensei!"
Yes, something happened. I have a tumor in my brain.
"Just a little stomach bug," he told the Uzumaki flatly, not bothering to make it sound believable.
"W-When are you getting out of the hospital?" Naruto asked worriedly, getting up from his swing as well, and suddenly feeling deeply unsettled, "Are you okay, sensei?"
Naruto couldn't help but notice that something was scarily different about Kakashi. If one looked close enough, the man seemed deeply upset, as if something very serious was on his mind.
Kakashi parted his lips unsurely, his breath catching in his throat. "...I'm fine, Naruto. I'll be back in a few days."
He continued the walk back to his hospital room, his hands stuffed deep into his pockets. The wind bit at his bare arms, causing him to shiver.
After slipping through the glass window and quietly closing it behind him, he kicked off his sandals and tightly pulled the sheets around himself, his eyes wide and open in thought.
Kakashi didn't get much sleep that night.