Kakashi felt the chillingly cold touch of metal against his naked back. He could not move, nor could he open his eyes, yet somehow, he saw himself from above, outside of his body.

He looked frail on the tray preceding the cremation unit, gray in the face with a disturbing waxy texture to the rest of his flesh. His joints were swollen with edema, his nostrils and mouth stuffed with cotton.

The Hatake wanted to scream, because he realized then that he was dead.

Gai and Asuma stood beside him, a few feet back, behind an aged man who seemed to be in charge of the machine that would soon burn him to ashes. They looked white with trepidation, seeming as if they were scarred for life and would soon vomit.

"I'm here!" He wanted to shout, "I'm ALIVE!"

Kakashi felt his body jostle grossly as the funeral director pushed him up into the crematory. The heat hit him immediately, charring his silvery hair, burning his mask to his visage.

He heard someone wailing outside of the four walls of metal, procuring gut wrenching sobs, as if they were not ready to see such a terrifying ordeal.

Orange and red was all he saw, and pain was all he felt.

Kakashi woke with a start, heaving for a proper breath. He pushed his sweat dampened hair out of his face with violently trembling fingers, resting his palm on his eyes, as if that would make him unsee his horrific dream.

His heart pounded against his ribcage, in a complete panic. The Hatake knew that he was having something along the lines of an anxiety attack—they'd become somewhat normal to him now.

Whenever he thought about the prospect of death being so near, he sometimes felt his chest tighten with fear, and inhaling at a constant rate often became something he had to consciously monitor. It had happened a few times after Tsunade had told him about his new diagnosis, but he usually dealt with it on his own.

Looking to his right, he saw Yamato sleeping in a plastic chair by his bedside. His muscles clenched dramatically, and he clamped a hand over his mouth to quiet his wheezing. This only made him hyperventilate further.

No one could see him like this. He needed to leave.

Kakashi shakily took off the heart rate monitor on his finger and clasped it onto his friend's index finger as fast as he could. The rapid beating was quickly replaced with something more slow and even.

He made the hand signs to teleport himself to his apartment, his home. Yet, somehow he ended up in a dark alleyway, surrounded by darkness, hearing nothing but the buzzing of street lamps. The Hatake breathed out tensely, recognizing the area as the neglected, run down part of town, where Naruto lived.

Of course he didn't have the energy to teleport. He wondered if his chakra was still intact, or if the tumors were using all of it to expand in size.

Kakashi placed a palm on a grimy brick wall next to him, still trying to catch his breath from before. He clutched his chest, and took measured inhales and exhales, just like Tsunade had instructed him to before. It was just a dream, so why was he so worked up over it?

Because it was bound to happen to him in a few months.

Gradually, he calmed down enough to realize just how cold it was outside. It was nearing the end of winter, so it wasn't as bad as it could've been, but for him, the frigid wind went straight to his bones. He had become hypersensitive to the cold over time, and on top of that, his lungs were not well equipped to handle such weather without becoming irritated.

Kakashi glanced downward and cursed audibly. He was barefooted, still wearing a hospital gown.

Putting his arms around himself in a desperate attempt to protect himself against the temperature, he headed home, already exhausted. However, he was still ecstatic that he was out of the hospital.

He managed to stumble a few meters before doubling over, as an onslaught of wet coughs wracked his thin frame. The Hatake raised shaky fingers and tried to create the hand signs that would get him home, because he knew his place was too far, and it was just too cold.

Before he could complete the gesture, another series of hacks erupted up his throat. He pulled down his mask and wiped the phlegm dripping from his mouth, not even caring that he'd dirtied the piece of cloth.

"Kakashi?"

The man turned around, quickly gathering his composure. It was Sasuke.

"What the hell are you doing here?" The Uchiha started confusedly, giving him a long stare, "And what...are you wearing."

Kakashi shrugged, trying to hide the chattering of his teeth. "Got lost on the path of life."

The Uchiha noticed the distinct rasp in his former sensei's voice with a furrowed brow. It became clear to him within a few seconds that the copy nin was in awful condition. He'd already seen the man doubled over and heaving—it would be messed up if he just left him there.

He hurried over to Kakashi and slung one of his arms around his shoulders. The Hatake didn't argue, which worried his past student even further.

Soon enough they'd made it to his home.

Sasuke helped him to his bed, and slowly set him down, propping a pillow under his head, and immediately placing a blanket over his quivering form.

He stared at the man with a fear he hadn't felt since he'd last seen him. He noticed that Kakashi looked distinctly sick, with deep purple indents under his glossy eyes, and wrists bonier than his own.

It looked like he hadn't been eating.

"Shouldn't you be in the hospital?" Sasuke questioned with his arms crossed.

The Hatake coughed, clenching the comforter tightly around himself. "I was going to get out tomorrow anyway, but yeah. I should be."

Somehow, the young ninja could tell he wasn't lying.

They stared at each other for a few silent seconds, before Sasuke sighed and pivoted on his heel to exit the room.

"Where are you going?" Kakashi asked quietly, feeling the warmth slowly return to his chilled limbs.

The Uchiha didn't bother turning around. "Making you tea. Where's your telephone?"

Sasuke had decided that he would need to call someone more experienced to come and take care of his sensei, as he had literally no idea what he was doing. In the meantime, he would make him a hot beverage to...heat him up?

"On the...on the countertop."

Kakashi's breathing evened out, his eyelid drooping as he became increasingly sleepy. Noticing this, Sasuke moved to the living room without a noise, immediately finding the landline he'd been looking for.

He ultimately decided to call Gai, the strange man who seemed to be extremely close to Kakashi, and was the first number saved on the phone. Within two rings, he'd answered.

"Kakashi?! How are you calling me? Aren't you at the hospital? Did you leave? Are you oka-"

"It's me, Sasuke. He's in his apartment right now."

Before Gai could ask anymore annoying questions, the Uchiha continued, hoping to make the conversation as short as possible.

"Listen, he's not doing good. I found him half naked in the cold outside...he was coughing a lot," Sasuke began tersely, "I brought him home and put him in bed, but I think you should come and watch him."

Gai cursed on the other line. "I'll be there as soon as possible."

Kakashi's rival burst into the apartment as soon as Sasuke had let him in, heading straight towards his friend's room.

The Uchiha followed closely behind with a cup of steaming green tea he'd managed to procure from the remaining contents of the sickly man's cupboards.

"Kakashi?" He started softly, shaking the Hatake's shoulders to get him to wake up. The tone of his voice contrasted greatly with his panicked body language.

With a groan, Kakashi opened his eyes, his palm slowly going up to his throbbing head. He immediately took notice of their blatantly concerned expressions with blurry vision.

"What happened?" Gai asked, a little more loudly than before, "Why did you leave the hospital like that, my rival?"

He blinked lazily in response, yawning widely, and turning to change his position. "Didn't like it there. They had bad food."

"You can't just leave whenever you feel like it! They're taking care of you!" Gai exclaimed finally, standing up, and gesticulating wildly with his hands, "You could've frozen to death! Not to mention you-"

He quickly cut himself off before he said anything he would regret. His hands dropped to his sides with an audible slap, and he sat down, defeated. There was no response from the unmoving heap of pillows and blankets on the bed.

Sasuke's eyes glinted curiously at the way the strange man had suddenly stopped in the middle of what he had to say and gave up his lecture. He set the tea on the nightstand with a furrowed brow, realizing that something was being hidden from him.

"It's okay," the Uchiha said, "He was supposed to leave tomorrow anyway."

Gai looked up at him and nodded a few times in understanding, his forlorn gaze quickly settling on his unresponsive friend once more. How was it that someone he'd known his whole life, suddenly felt like a stranger?

"Fine…" Gai grunted with a discernible pout, "But listen up. I'm staying with you now, whether you like it or not. We're living together, starting today!"

At this Kakashi's head shot up, his visible eye wide as he stared his best friend down.

"Please tell me you're not serious, Gai."

The said man grinned widely, managing to thrust a thumb's up in his rival's face. "Of course I am!"

Watching in amusement, Sasuke couldn't help but smirk at the look of horror on Kakashi's face. He'd never seen the man display such animated facial expressions before, so his interaction with Gai was intriguing, to say the least.

Facepalming, Kakashi slid down into his sheets, pulling them over his head. He knew he'd have to agree, because he could barely walk at the moment, but why did it have to be Gai.

"Come on now, it won't be that bad!" Gai spoke excitedly, "We'll have so much fun! We can stay up late and watch movies! And oh, we can read Icha Icha together! It's so weird that I haven't slept over yet, isn't it?"

Sighing, Kakashi braced himself for what was to come.

A/N: hey guys! sorry i took so long...i started college LOL. i'm a bio major and omg, is it hard to keep a 4.0. hopefully I can! I hope everyone is safe through this pandemic. please stay home and read fanfictions lolol. missed ya:) stay safe