Sakumo sits on the edge of Kakashi's hospital bed, his hand resting on Kakashi's foot as his son sleeps. On the other side, Rin hugs herself as she watches the bag of saline drip slowly into the IV line in Kakashi's arm. A machine sits on another stand beside the bed, beeping slowly as it monitors his vital signs. Its information is supplied by the intimidating number of wires running under Kakashi's blanket and attached to the paper seals plastered all over his torso.
"It's a heart anomaly coupled with chakra imbalance and exhaustion, sir," the nurse tells Inoichi. "Has he been exerting himself with jutsus lately?"
Inoichi frowns. "Fugaku tells me that he'd kept him out of the fight."
"That's strange."
Sakumo and Rin share a guilty glance. With all that had been going on, including Sakumo's fight with Danzou and the healing sessions afterwards, they must have drained Kakashi.
"He will make a recovery," the nurse assures, her face creasing with sympathy, "but for now we need to watch him."
"Alright," the Yamanaka sighs, giving Kakashi a sorry look. "We'll be relying on you to take good care of him, then. The correctional facility isn't the kindest place. It'll be better if he is at full strength before he goes. I myself won't be clearing him regarding his mental health for a while yet - not so soon after being trapped in Shimura's basement - so there is no hurry to discharge him."
"Of course. I understand."
Inoichi spares one last glance at Kakashi and bids the nurse a polite farewell.
Kakashi's next visitor, to Sakumo's surprise, is Fugaku. "He just woke up," Rin says plaintively, but Kakashi nods politely at Fugaku in welcome. The older Uchiha helps Kakashi sit up and takes a seat himself at the visitor's chair beside the bed.
"You want to ask me about Hawk," Kakashi says bluntly. He arranges the IV carefully across his lap.
"Yes. Danzou isn't saying a word." Compared to the last time they'd spoken to each other during the raid on the Shimura estate, Fugaku is considerably more reserved.
"I'm sorry for not telling you earlier," Kakashi says, his gaze dropping. "I needed you to trust me, and you wouldn't have if you'd known."
"So you killed him." Fugaku's voice hardens. "Who ordered it? Danzou, or the Sandaime?"
"The Sandaime's seal was on the mission order," Kakashi says, and Fugaku curses under his breath. "But unless you get a Yamanaka to examine my memories again, this is a matter you will have to bring up with the Sandaime. I think, after the trial, there will be many people who will support you if you petition for the Sandaime to step down."
A vein ticks at Fugaku's jaw.
"Without my seat at the Council, I don't think my support means much to you anymore, but please know you have my vote as a jounin," Kakashi says softly. "I only hope to ask that you keep things peaceful. Your clan's reputation is rising by the day now; the truth doesn't need to bled out to be known."
The Uchiha clan head turns away from Kakashi, his face becoming cold. "I will become the Godaime and this will never happen again."
Kakashi bows as deeply as he can in his awkward position, his back straining from the effort. "I beg your clan's forgiveness. Hawk didn't deserve to die."
"He didn't. None of them did."
The door clicks closed behind Fugaku's angry footsteps and Kakashi buries his face in his hands.
Kakashi apologises to the visitors that come next as well. "If they're willing to see me, please allow me to apologise to their families. Or at the very least, write an apology letter."
The Ino-Shika-Chou share a silent look before Shikaku sighs. "We forgive you, Kakashi. Now sit up properly before you strain something. If you want to apologise, do it after you get better."
Kakashi's hand clenches in the blankets beneath him. "Thank you," he says, sounding choked. Sakumo sighs. Kakashi has done terrible things since Snake's death had set him on that path, but still Sakumo can see the son he'd always known and loved. Perhaps he's colder, now, and a lot more jaded, but he hasn't lost himself.
Inoichi reaches out to squeeze Kakashi's shoulder as the other two leave to find some extra chairs. When they've all sat down, Inoichi hands Kakashi some papers with a smile. "We're just here to visit," he says. "I wanted to tell you about the ROOT rehabilitation programme I've been planning with Ibiki." Brightening slightly, Kakashi takes the papers and leafs through it quickly. "They will be under chakra suppression for the time being, but that can't be helped."
"We've been feeding them well," Chouza adds, "so I think they've been happy. I've never seen so many people be moved to tears by food before." The Akimichi looks about to tear up himself as he rubs at his nose.
"Thank you for treating them so well," Kakashi says, brimming with gratitude. "And for your hard work. The food in ROOT is awful, so eating an Akimichi meal must be heaven for them." He lifts the papers. "Can I keep this? I want to read it in detail later."
"Sure, it's yours. You'll be helping out with this anyway, so you're cleared for it." Kakashi nods and tucks it under his pillow carefully.
"The food," Chouza whispers, nudging Shikaku.
"Oh yes." The Nara reaches into his bag and pulls out a bento and a pair of chopsticks. "We need to feed you too. Take this before I forget and my wife kills me."
"Oh," Kakashi says, his hands hovering in the air as if he doesn't dare to accept it. Shikaku pushes the plastic box into his hands. "I... Thank you."
Shikaku flaps his hand. "Well have a taste before you say thanks, you might regret it—"
Inoichi jams his elbow into his teammate's ribs. "This is why you always get scolded by Yoshino," he scolds gently.
"Hmph..." the Nara scratches his head. "Maybe," he admits, and Kakashi smiles at their banter. Sakumo himself is slightly misty-eyed as Kakashi opens the box carefully, revealing a portion of white rice topped with an umeboshi, fluffy rolled eggs, a slice of grilled mackerel, small hotdogs sliced like octopuses, and a side of salad.
"Oh wow..." Rin exclaims, giggling a little. "Kakashi even got tako-chans."
"Heh." Shikaku grins, his scars crinkling as they adjust to the unfamiliar expression. "Yoshino has been working for bentos so she can make them for Shikamaru in the future."
"This is amazing," Kakashi murmurs, rubbing at his eye. "I... Thank you."
After the trial is publicised in a carefully worded statement by the Council of Clans - the Council of Elders not daring to speak for fear of being denounced together with Danzou - things begin changing rapidly. Danzou is secured in one of the T&I solitary cells while the officers of the Uchiha Police and the T&I rush about like madmen, trying to tie up the loose ends of their investigations before he's shipped off to the correctional facility.
While some deal with Danzou, the rest of the forces are busy profiling the hundred plus ROOT agents for rehabilitation. Even after using the T&I cells and the temporary holding cells in the Uchiha Police Station, the cells are still far too crowded to be humane. Luckily, the clans are eager to take back their long-missed members, even though some of them, like Tatsuma, have to be dragged back screaming and ranting about ROOT. As for those who are not so fortunate to have clan names, some are taken in together the other clan children, especially if they were found clinging to each other in the holding cells. It is that, more than anything, that gives Sakumo hope in their village once more.
The last Kakashi had heard, the two boys whom he had sheltered have chosen the names Sai and Shin, and are living with Kinoe in one of the Uchiha households. It is only fitting that the next Hokage's clan would take care of the village's only mokuton user.
Hiruzen steps down quietly with a bland, simple apology within days of the trial record's publication. It is an unfortunate end to a long and seemingly distinguished career, but Sakumo has little sympathy for him by now, and neither do many others.
The revelations regarding the workings of ROOT have been met with horror and embarrassment, especially from those shinobi who have worked with Danzou and advocated for his methods for years. The backlash sends public opinion careening in the opposite direction, and suddenly Danzou's number one enemies, the Uchiha, find themselves respectable, upstanding members of society once more instead of the cancer they'd once been.
The jounin confirm Fugaku as the Godaime a week later. After all the drama of the trial earlier, the vote is a solemn affair. Since the founding of Konoha, never have the village's citizens felt so keenly a turning point in history. The Uchiha are too reserved to be found dancing on the streets after Fugaku's confirmation as Hokage, but it is amusing to see them squinting from hangovers days after their private celebrations within the clan compound. Kakashi's trust is proven well-placed when Fugaku announces that the Uchiha Police will now become the Konoha Police, such that all citizens of Konoha are able to join its forces.
It's the first step towards integration, and one that shows the Uchiha's commitment, even if it means giving up the only source of power that they have leveraged upon for generations. For something so bureaucratic as opening up applications to the Police Force, it is a ground-shattering gesture of trust from a clan that had been viewed as being on the verge of a coup. The village, it seems, is finally stepping out of the shadows that has plagued it for decades.
As Kakashi argues with the nurse again about being discharged - "do you want to go to prison?!" - Sakumo and Rin decide that a stroll through Konoha is in order.
"I can hardly believe it," Sakumo sighs to Rin as they take a break in one of the tea shops. He rubs his hands out of habit as the gentle warmth from the heater seeps back into their bodies.
"Me neither," Rin says, closing her eyes with a long exhale. "It feels as if a war just ended."
"It does."
"They won't let him come to harm while serving his sentence, so don't you worry, Sakumo-san."
"I'm sure they won't. But I'll always worry." Rin shakes her head, but she's smiling.
There are still lingering fears. Some ROOT agents have escaped, after all, and Hinoto is amongst them. With a high-ranking ROOT member still running amok together with a rogue Sannin, there is every possibility that an attack might be orchestrated even without Danzou's interference. Cut off the head of the snake and the body will die, the idiom goes, but with Orochimaru in the picture, the metaphor is much less apt.
But Sakumo feels more at peace than he has for years. He is certain that they can handle anything that might happen next.
A sharp jolt of pain up his spine interrupts his pleasant state of mind. Sakumo shifts in discomfort, his hand coming up to press at his healed wound as he winces. It feels like something had insinuated itself through his guts and wrapped around his spine—a horrible, sickening feeling. "Are you alright?" Rin immediately asks in concern.
"I'm fine," Sakumo opens his mouth to say, but suddenly he can't draw enough breath to form the words and his vision is blurring. His hand goes numb and when he raises it, his fingers shatter into bright pieces of light, dissipating into the air as if they'd never been there.
"Sakumo-san!" Rin shrieks, leaping to her feet. She takes a hold of his arm, as if she could keep him from falling apart with her bare hands, but the bright pieces of himself pass through her fingers as he continues to fragment. "W-What?!" She holds him as he collapses against her, too weak to hold himself up any longer.
He doesn't know what's happening, but if he's passing on, he can't leave her like this. Tilting his head back, Sakumo musters all the remaining energy he has and tries to smile. "I'll be fine," he wheezes. She stares at him in horror and shakes her head wordlessly. "Maybe... I'm done here..."
"But..." she whispers. They both know something's wrong.
Pain lashes through him again and Sakumo groans, his body lurching. It feels like someone had reached into him and twisted his guts. "Sakumo-san," Rin whimpers, cradling his head helplessly. "Sakumo-san, please be alright."
Something cracks and then everything is a perfect, blissful black.
A/N: Oops first Kakashi and now Sakumo XD
Also, I did a mental run-through of the plot and I need to warn you all that by my estimate (though we all know how good I am with estimates), we will probably finish this fic within four chapters or so, including an epilogue. I'm reaching the parts which I've looked forward to writing for literally years, so I'm terribly excited, but ahhhhh... I'm also terribly sad that it's all coming to an end. Everyone, stay with me! XD