"Good night, Dickless..."
There was a sigh on the other line, Sai smiled, picturing Naruto rolling his eyes. "Way to ruin the mood, Sai. Good night..." and the line went dead.
Sai wiped his nose with tissue papers for the second time that day after hanging up the phone from his boyfriend who just informed him that he had arrived home safely. He looked at his reflection on the body-size mirror in his room. He frowned. Naruto was right, he looked thinner than before.
What's wrong with me? Sai thought as he spun his body, suspecting the change of his body on the mirror.
It's not like I was on diet or something... I eat like a pig, then what the hell is this? Sai pondered again as his frown deepened. He suspected his bandaged pointer finger of his right hand Naruto had taken care of before. He was sure bleeding a lot, it was strange. He was bleeding like a waterfall over a small wound. If it wasn't Naruto, he would have never noticed.
He looked at the other pointer finger of his left hand. It was still bandaged from a week ago. He remembered when he got it. The idea was to cook and feed his boyfriend a proper meal because the guy almost ate ramen daily and even though Naruto was a doctor, he sometime couldn't take good care of himself. All he thought was his patients. And who was to look after him if it's not his boyfriend?
So when he was about to cut the vegetables, he cut his finger instead and hell the blood was everywhere. It was strange when he put his cut finger under the faucet. The running water wouldn't stop washing the blood away. He just shrugged it off and decided to put a band aid on the finger.
He lifted his right hand and then the left, weighing them. He frowned as he felt how light they were. He went downstairs and found the weight measurements. He remembered his last weight was 117.5 lbs. His heartbeat increased the time he lifted his first leg on the device. He took a deep breath before he lifted his other leg. With eyes closed, he gulped.
"Oh God have mercy on me... You can do it, Sai. Remember what Naruto said when you are nervous. Inhale... Exhale..." Sai murmured through closed eyes. He took another deep breath and counted to three before he opened his eyes.
His heartbeats increased ten folds as he looked at the number which was shown on the device. "Holy dick..." It was 90.3 lbs... "I lost 27.3 lbs..." He gave the device a funny look.
"This thing must be broken, isn't it?" Sai murmured again as he kicked the device slowly, hoping it could fix itself.
He sighed.
Sai wondered just when he does exercise. Was he a sleepwalker? Or was he exercising while sleepwalking? Pale pointer finger was tapping pale chin in wonder. He smiled, feeling funny.
"Non-sense..." He murmured and shook his head, all the while dragging his foot leisurely to the kitchen. Maybe, just maybe, a late dinner with do him a good weight, hopefully.
He grabbed the leftovers from the refrigerator which he thought might contain a lot of cholesterol and put them in the microwave. He sat down and drummed his finger until the thing gave a "ding" sound, meaning that his food was ready. He stood up and took his food. He said to himself "let's eat!" before savoring them all into his awaiting mouth. Just when the food entered his mouth, he found it hard to swallow them without the help of mineral water.
Instantly he felt his throat sore. He put the barely touched food back into the refrigerator with knitted eyebrows while murmuring "what the hell?" to nobody but himself. He would never notice if Naruto never mentioned it about the change of his body.
He shrugged it off anyway and went back upstairs to his room. Maybe he was just feeling unwell, but he couldn't deny the dizziness he felt while climbing his bed.
"I'm okay... It's nothing to be afraid of, right?" He tried to calm himself down even just a little, but he couldn't deny the feeling deep down that he was nervous.
He was about to go to sleep but his phone caught his attention. He then remembered that he had to do something.
He scrolled through his contact after he unlocked the phone and tap down the person he intended to text.
"Kakashi, I'm sorry to disturb you at this time but, there is something I really want to discuss with you since it's very important. When you have a free time, please let me know. Thank you."
~o0o~
Kakashi was laying on his back staring at the ceiling when his phone vibrated. He checked the device to see an email from Sai. He could already tell what's inside but opened the message nonetheless.
Sai was asking some time to discuss something. He could already tell that Sai wanted to know about the Uchihas and their relationship with Naruto and his past. After Naruto told about his encounter with the "strangers" and not to mention about Itachi sudden call hours ago, he already knew that these would come eventually.
"There is this restaurant named Aida Hanten in Shibuya, tomorrow at 5 pm if that's okay for you." Kakashi typed a text back to Sai and hit send. He had an appointment with Itachi at lunchtime. Might as well clear his schedule for tomorrow.
Not waiting for long when his phone vibrated again and it's from Sai. "Sure. Thank you, Kakashi."
After reading it, he sighed and put his phone on the nightstand.
He had two appointments for tomorrow, Itachi, and Sai.
Itachi had found out about Naruto. It was about time this would happen. Kakashi had anticipated this long ago. Sai, meanwhile, would probably ask about the Uchihas and their relationship with Naruto. Naruto did mention about the strangers ruining their date night.
He remembered that night crystal clear.
FLASHBACK
It was one rainy night when he received a phone call from an unregistered number. From his slumber, he managed to open his eyes and picked it up.
"Hello?"
That was the first time he talked to Sai.
"Is this Kakashi Hatake?"
"Yes, I am. Who is this? Can I help you?"
"Sorry, Mr. Hatake. My name is Sai. Are you Mr. Namikaze's guardian?"
"Why yes."
"Uh... Mr. Hatake, you need to go to Konoha hospital in Chiba."
"Did something happen to my son?"
"You see, Mr. Hatake... That, maybe it's safe that I will tell you once you are here."
By now Kakashi was massaging the bridge of his nose. "Tell me where I could meet you?"
"Once you arrived in the lobby, just ask which room Naruto Namikaze is at. From there I will approach you. I will be waiting there if that's okay with you."
"Okay. I will be there as soon as I can."
"Be careful." And the line went dead.
The time he arrived, he did as he was instructed, and a pale guy with a strange smile tapped him on the shoulder. Kakashi was almost lost it seeing the guy's blood-stained white button-up shirt. There were bandages on his head and his left hand.
"Mr. Hatake?"
"You are..."
"I'm Sai. I was the one who rescued your..."
"I'm his guardian."
"Ah, I see..."
"Thank you, really. Are you okay?"
"You are welcome. Nah, it's just small wounds. The nurses already handled me, don't worry. The doctors are doing their best to your son so don't worry."
"What exactly happened?"
When Kakashi asked that, the smile immediately dropped from the pale guy's face. "Follow me. I will explain."
Kakashi nodded and followed behind. "But he is okay, right?"
Sai shrugged. "I'm not sure, but let me start first. He was speeding up on the wrong track. I was driving in a different direction when his car mirroring mine. I honked few times but when his car didn't respond, I had to swerve my steering wheel. I could hit the brake and stopped even though I had minor wounds. He, however, collided with the tree. I had figured that he was in a daze before he gained his consciousness in last minute. I had to call the ambulance real fast and admitted him to the nearest hospital. From what I could assume, he was crying while driving his car. His cheeks were wet and I couldn't smell any alcohol so he might be sober. He must be in trouble before he drove away, crying."
Kakashi could only think one person right now, Sasuke. So he fished his phone in his pocket and dialed the said person. When he was connected to voice mail, he called Itachi instead.
"Really, Sai, thank you. I wouldn't know if you weren't there to save him." Before Sai could reply, Kakashi raised his hand in the air for Sai to hold his speech when the other line picked up the phone.
"You better have a really plausible reason for calling me at this hour."
"Itachi, it's me, Kakashi."
"...Kakashi? What the hell? It's like... Two in the morning!"
"I know. I just want to know if Sasuke and Naruto had an argument or something."
"Why don't you ask Sasuke? In case you forget, it's my brother who is dating your son." Kakashi pinched the bridge of his nose when he felt a headache was building up.
"I called Sasuke but I was directed to the voice mail."
"What's wrong, anyway?"
"...Nothing. Just want to make sure of something, 's all..."
"Those kids... I'll inform you when I find out."
"Thanks."
The line went dead.
"We are here." Sai declared and stopped in front of a room.
Just when he said that a doctor exited the said room. "Which one is the relative?"
"Kakashi Hatake, doc." Kakashi said with a polite bow.
"Well, if you please follow me." Kakashi nodded and left Sai in the hall.
They arrived in a white room Kakashi assumed as the doctor's room. The doctor instructed him to sit while the doctor himself sat across Kakashi with the table as the barrier between the two.
"Mr. Hatake, I'm Shirakawa. If I may know you are?"
"I'm Naruto's guardian."
"Okay, Mr. Hatake. He lost so much blood, but luckily we have plenty of his blood and made an immediate transfusion. He is stable now. However, he is in comatose. He broke some of his ribs, but we could handle them. We just afraid with his head because it got hit quite hard. The only thing we could confirm anything is until he wakes up. We will inform you immediately if there will be any progress."
"Thank you, doc." He seriously never thought this could happen.
"Since it's already late, I suggest you take some rest. You can come back here again in the morning."
"But my son-"
"I understand that you as a parent worry about your son. But I assure you he is in the hands of professionals and you don't need to worry. If something happens, we will call you immediately."
"Okay then. But can I see my son before I left?"
The doctor nodded. "You can. However, please note that he just broke few of his ribs and his head was hit hard. Don't touch him just yet. But you can hold his hand."
Kakashi nodded. "Thank you so much, doc."
"You should thank the guy who saved your son. If he were late to admit him even a minute, we could have lost your son."
"I will see you later, then. If you'd please excuse me." Kakashi bowed and left the room and went back to his son's room. When he entered the room, he was shocked to what was displayed upon his eyes. The guy named Sai hadn't left yet. He was sitting on the chair beside the bed holding his son's hand. He didn't notice Kakashi's presence because he was sitting with his back facing the entrance. He smiled to himself and decided to break the silence.
"Sai, thank you again."
Sai was startled at the voice, he removed his hand immediately from the tan-now-pale hand, and looked behind him. He stood up and smiled.
"It's okay. I am glad that I was the one who happened to be there." Sai said as he rubbed the back of his neck, still smiling.
"I'm afraid you might be heading somewhere before. Not to sound rude but you can leave now. I got it. I can handle things from now. It's late and you must be tired, so..."
"I understand. I will go home now. But... Can I ask you one thing?"
"Sure. What is it?"
"Umm..." Sai blushed before he continued. "Can I visit him again?"
Kakashi's eyes went slightly wide at that. He might like this guy. He was so well-mannered and sweet at the same time. Kakashi smiled and nodded.
"Of course you can. Anytime you want."
"Thanks! I guess I will take my leave now. Umm... See you later, Mr. Hata-"
"Kakashi is fine."
"Oh okay, umm... Kakashi?" Sai said, testing the water.
Kakashi smiled and waved goodbye to the other. Sai smiled back and closed the door with a soft click.
Kakashi waited until the footstep disappeared before he looked at the comatose blonde on the bed, he sighed. The usual cheerful, happy-go-lucky blonde was now lying unconscious on the hospital bed. The usual tan skin was now somehow pale. The beeping sound of the ECG was the only noise in the quiet room. Kakashi studied the comatose Naruto. He was supported by oxygen and the rising up and down of his chest made Kakashi slightly better that Naruto was still breathing.
He remembered crystal clear that he went back and forth back and to the hospital, for almost three months Naruto was still in a comatose state until he woke up without any memory. Sai continued the visit and there was still no news from the Uchiha. Kakashi had to tell Naruto from the beginning that he was his godfather and he would always call him only Kakashi. Kakashi explained that he had an accident and went unconscious for three months. He also explained that Sai was the one who saved him, he was an orphan and was the second year as a medical student. He explained everything he thought as important. Naruto just nodded and eventually continued his life without having zero memory about Sasuke and their past.
Kakashi had taken care of all of Naruto's credits from his first year of university and decided to send him back to German and continued his school there. Sai followed them and reasoned that he would accompany Naruto. Sai had said to Kakashi that he had no family member left in this world and he had found comfort in the presence of Naruto. How he said that he almost lost the desire to live before he met Naruto. Kakashi had agreed since he couldn't be with Naruto all the time what's with the business and all.
A year had passed. Sai and Naruto were still in German when Itachi finally "called Kakashi back". Kakashi had long lost faith toward the Uchihas. He had been waiting for months and nobody ever informed what the actual fuck had happened for this to happen. He almost lost his son, for fuck's sake. Until one of their friends, Kiba Inuzuka informed Kakashi that they had arguments before Naruto disappeared. Naruto was never open and he never told Kakashi about it so he never knew.
It wasn't logical when a partner was missing for a month, let alone a week when you were living together and you wouldn't even have the need to look for them. And it's been a year until they found the balls to look after him? Kakashi was mortified. From there on, he made sure that nobody would know about Naruto's whereabouts. Just think that he was already dead, or not even existed. It better stayed that way. It was lucky when the accident happened in Chiba, not Tokyo, and in the almost deserted area in late night. He was easily covering the accident like it never happened.
Kakashi made a mental note that that accident which almost took Naruto's life would be the last suffering Naruto had to endure. He nodded to himself before he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.
TBC
Updated: November, 3rd, 2017 2.53 PM (JST)