Hidden Depths

Trust Arc

Part 3

Silver clouds drifted across the night sky, occasionally sealing away the light of the waxing moon. It's soft light only made the shadows darker in contrast and two shadows slipping past went unnoticed. Despite this the shadows remained wary, as alert as if they were trespassing on enemy territory and a single slip up could mean fates worth than death.

They blended into the shadows of an inconspicuous building and there they paused, waiting. Their information wasn't guaranteed to be accurate, but their worst fear was not that the building wasn't an entrance to their targets lair, but rather that it might be in regular use.

The larger finally signaled to the smaller shadow to stand on lookout and turned his attention to where he suspected the seal to be. Now that lack of chakra residue, misplaced smells, and worn paths indicated that the entrance wasn't in frequent use, he was free to search for a way in. They would have retreated and tried a different entrance if this one had been active. His hovering hand found a faint amount of chakra right where he expected it to be, and he carefully traced the curves and lines of the seal. He smirked to himself slightly at the dust that hid the seal - if anyone tried to brush it away to reveal the dark ink they would be in for a nasty surprise. He was perfectly happy to cheat and let his knowledge of the seal and the strength of his sensing bypass their security.

Carefully he visualized the tracings of the little seal, another deciding factor for their retreat or advance, before he withdrew his hand, pleased with the results. Within moments he had scrawled out a seal of his own onto specially prepared paper. The seal on the wall wasn't the same one their information had given them, but the style and effects were similar, and it was easy enough to make the appropriate modifications to the corresponding unlocking seal. A few more moments to make a duplicate and they were in with none the wiser.

They passed the the edge of the seal and he had to restrain himself from cackling madly. Their target had managed to commission a seal that muffled chakra to prevent other shinobi from sensing whoever was in the barrier, but it was subpar. All it did was tell him at what point the target would have to start personally masking their chakra as they left their lair. If he could get a look at one of the main seals, even with his own 'dabbling,' he might be able to puzzle out how to create a blind spot in it for future infiltration.

They dropped through the trap door after only a quick scan of the building and landed silently. Any differences between their information and reality had been few so far, but they expected that to change soon. A few signals latter and the two set off, aware that any targets would be masking their chakra for at least the next half-mile. Neither were surprised at the distance - there were few who would be foolish enough to build their base directly under a Hidden Village.

Earlier that day...

The atmosphere shifted slightly, abruptly pulling him from his thoughts. His state of mind was worrying but he played it off - no need for both of them to be doubting his sanity. He had the feeling that Gai had said something but he'd put money on it being something about his 'hipness' despite the early hour - it wasn't the first time Gai had said that. With that in mind he responded like he normally did. As in, not at all, and instead took his time getting out of bed. The room and it's green occupant contorted alarmingly but he had long since learned to compensate for such inconveniences. "Maa, what's in the fridge this morning?"

Vaguely aware of excited exclamations following him, he concentrated on walking steadily and through doorways rather than doors. Sight would've been nice to help find the kitchen as he walked out into the main part of the ... apartment? No, house - he hadn't felt any presences since he woke and he never would have been able to stay asleep with unidentified presences nearby. His nose twitched as a new scent reached him and he obediently followed it to the left with a slight smile. It had taken years before Gai had been able to cook without burning the food to some extent. And by that point, the smell of burnt food had long seeped permanently into his kitchen's.

He let a soft humming took over his directions and he found himself in front of a white blob that could've been a refrigerator and he paused just long enough to figure out where the handle was. For a moment, he simply stood there letting the cold air seep towards him, trying to figure out what each blob of color represented. Soon enough though, he simply gave up and started tossing whatever he grabbed over his shoulder. Gai wouldn't care what they were having as long as he made enough and he could rely on his nose for the rest. He gave the pantry a similar treatment then turned to where the charred smell was strongest. The flames were already going and he set a pan on them, catching the oil out of the air. Gratefully he let the familiar routine of cooking take over, finally closing his eye to headache inducing world around him and slipping into his own mind.

"Five eggs sound about right?" The oil was traded with a casual flick of the wrist for a flying spatula.

His mind wasn't much better than the contorting world outside it, but that was something he needed to address. Normally his mind would process all the information and give him nice, logical conclusions and courses of actions to take upon finding a mini Gai and a building layout he hadn't seen since before the Kyuubi attacked. But as it was, only a few things stood out. No one could know. And he needed to be clear-headed. Gai couldn't tell anyone - needed to convince him not to tell anyone. There wasn't much he could do in a state like this except run or kill.

"The onions need to be diced, they can't go in like this." A whole onion went back over his shoulder. He turned around a second later, pan held out to the side to catch five liquid missiles, absently shifting it to prevent the gooey goodness from splashing out.

Neither or those would be good. The first because it would most likely end in the second. And the second because that would end in the first. Truly a vicious cycle. Not something he wanted to involve Gai in. At the moment they were good. If Gai was willing to keep his secret. If Gai actually thought he was ... himself, and not pretending. It must've been strange from his perspective, what exactly was it that he had seen that had convinced him to take him in for the night? He thought that he might've asked that old keyphrase, half inside joke, half code of desperation. Gai was strong, tricky, and compassionate enough to take a risk on a possibility of danger. How big a risk he'd taken would determine how much convincing he needed to do.

"Do you want to add nuts to the dough? It wasn't a prank." He switched pans on the stove with one hand and caught the sauce with the other. "You know it wasn't henge or genjutsu. Plates?"

Which he would need a clear mind for. He needed to know what was wrong with him. It wasn't just his head, but everything else was ignorable, and most of it seemed to originate in his head. The chakra exhaustion wasn't helping, but he could function around it, and he was suppressing his chakra anyway. It was a hard-won instinct whenever he was injured or sleeping. And it was currently keeping him hidden from a village full of shinobi's that were already on alert after last night. Not that it would have mattered if he had been on his own. There was more to tracking than following chakra signatures and the shinobi of Konoha were more than up to the task of tracking a half-dead bag of flesh. It would've taken interference for him to stay safe - skilled interference.

He turns with the last pot and approaches Gai at the table. "I'm glad you were the one I stumbled across, Gai." He doubted even Minato would have hidden and kept him a secret for even this long.

"Eh?" He opens his eyes again in time to see a suspicious gleam in Gai's eye accompanying the shock and he's suddenly reminded why he avoids being emotional around him. He sets down the pot of miso soup (like hell is he gonna serve it up) and lets his hand reach up to the rub the back of his head in a self-conscious gesture and a sheepish smile curve his eye. Hopefully Gai would get the message and tone down his response, but he knew it was unlikely and he braced himself for the onslaught. Fortune favors him though and Gai's stomach growls, breaking some of the tension. He laughed along with Gai as he proclaims about the 'spirit' and 'youthfulness' of his stomach and it's eagerness to devour such a wonderful breakfast.

He lets his eye-smile become more genuine. "Maa, I hoped I made enough - you trained longer than usual today didn't you?" Time beyond 'this morning,' and 'last night,' were beyond him at the moment, but the painfully still way Gai was waiting to eat instead of bouncing around the kitchen said enough.

"Aa," he agreed. "I was feeling most unyouthful this morning." Now that Kakashi had joined him at the table, their unspoken agreement to start eating, Gai made quick work of his food. Half of it had already vanished. He smiled to himself - and Naruto thought he could eat fast. "But don't worry," Gai exclaimed, throwing a nice guy pose out there with his voice, "I doubled my training regiment to make up for such a betrayal of the Spirit of Youth!" Kakashi gave him another eye smile and the other half of Gai's plate vanished.

Feeling generous in the face of actually having to eat himself, he prepared another plate with the mishmash of dishes they were having for 'breakfast' and replaced the now empty plate in front of the bottomless pit. He poked at his own, nearly full plate, glaring at it balefully when it didn't succumb to the same magic that Gai's plate seemed to be subject to. Right after an injury he tended to eat light, food seeming entirely unappealing. He blamed it on being poisoned by a traitor while he was recovering after a bad mission. But nonetheless he began to pick at it courageously before Gai could intervene. He could quite happily go his whole life without hearing that lecture from mini-Gai.

A soft tap drew his attention to where Gai had deliberately placed down his chopsticks. He glanced up and slouched further over the table in response to the seriousness Gai was showing. Serious Gai was dependable when you were in the midst of the enemy or on a mission going bad, but serious Gai staring at you from the other side of the table wasn't reassuring at all. So intense.

"I'm glad you're aware of me again," Gai said calmly.

He raised his brow in a nonchalant question.

Gai leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and looking over his folded hands. So very intense. Always intense. "Do you remember a single word either of us said since we entered the kitchen?"

He glanced away from the intensity, trying to recall their conversation for the last ... hour? Anxiously he realized that he had no idea what had happened in the kitchen. A glance over the table showed him what he'd made; the steam still coming off the miso soup, the way his eggs were slightly cold the way he liked them, gave him a rough estimate on how long it had been between when he'd started cooking and when they'd sat own. Perhaps an hour or so. But other than a vague impression that he had spoken, he had nothing.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Gai blink and he quickly shoveled some food into his mouth, replacing his mask just as Gai reopened his eyes. Pure reflex and habit - and maybe a bit of desperation; he hadn't even thought about it. But Gai had been trying to catch him with his mask down since the first time they'd eaten together. It was one of their oldest ongoing challenges; he couldn't help but taunt him. And people thought their 'rivalry' was one sided.

"You're mind is wandering again." His attention snapped back onto Gai. The serious eyes had the fierce shine of challenge about them, but it was clear that he wasn't going to let himself be distracted. He wasn't about to get caught off guard again, but he was in Serious mode now. Clearly he thought this was important. He considered fidgeting under the intensity like someone else would have done. But that wasn't what he wanted to say. "How bad exactly is it? If we need to go to the hospital-"

"An unknown shinobi walking into the hospital in the middle of Konoha? I don't have the chakra to hold a henge that long." At the moment.

Gai stampeded right over his interruption, "- or find a medic-nin we could trust to-"

He made sure his voice was hard and flat, the opposite of both the dry monotone he'd used as a genin and the careless tone he'd adopted later; his own version of Serious. "No. One. Can find out Gai." Still, he was careful to make sure he was only impressing his Serious-ness and not giving commands. Bad tactics that.

Leaning forward, he dropped his voice, "Listen, Gai, there's another-" he paused for a second unsure but plowed on as he saw Gai's brow scrunching up, "there's most likely, still a little Hatake running around. If I'm not insane, and this is all real, then I've already lived several years past this one." He paused again, this time to let this sink in. Mini-Gai had copied his secretive movements as he predicted and so the outburst people would have expected was carefully bottled up, only revealed in the wild gleam in his eyes. If Gai had come to the conclusion that he truly was Kakashi, then time-travel probably would have crossed his mind if only briefly, after seeing a clearly older version of his 'rival.' Right along with mutated experiments and long lost relatives. But hearing it presented as fact was something completely different - it was an outrageous claim. He smirked to himself to see the reaction completely stifled. There were few who would believe it possible, the sneaky bastard. But ultimately it didn't matter whether or not Gai believed his claim - he continued on to the part that did after a moment to ensure the impact of his delivery.

"Even if people come to the right conclusion about who I am, instead of killing me the first chance they get, (or trying to anyway,) they will still hunt me down; as a possible liability, hazard, source of information, forbidden jutsu. Even if they don't specifically want to hurt me, they will want the significance of what I represent - and they will tell others. Even if they try to keep it a secret, people will be brought it to help with verification, recording, healing, interrogating, guarding, advising, etc." He broke off suddenly to emphasize his next words.

"They don't know who they can't trust - Gai, this cannot dissolve into politics." His whole body had tensed with the words as they truly sank in for the first time for him as well. It wasn't just a matter of upsetting timelines - there were shadows festering in this Konoha, traitors potential and current. And they were on the verge of war - things that shouldn't have been allowed were being brushed under the carpet of 'the necessity of war.' If people found out - it wouldn't just be the traitors that would complicate things.

A rattle directed his focus back onto Gai, and he ignored the sudden wavering of his vision to watch him pace. He blinked as he realized that the kid had masked his chakra at some point, and tried to not to let the implications of his slipping awareness overshadow the relieved, grateful feeling that Gai had remembered when he had not. It would be silly if all Gai's efforts had been ruined by broadcasting his wildly fluctuating emotions to whoever was paying attention.

Gai made an angry gesture, briefly taking his eyes off him and he quickly took advantage to clear more of his plate. Once again his mask was safely back in place before Gai could turn back toward him. The tension didn't exactly leave the atmosphere, but it was a different type of tension now. One far less sour and bitter. He swayed with the change but retained his focus. Or thought he did. He wasn't sure when Gai had approached him, hand outstretched to steady him. He carefully didn't react and let him do so.

"How bad is it really? I didn't think you had any really bad injuries aside from possible chakra exhaustion." 'Possible' - because he knew Kakashi's default was to suppress his chakra whenever he was 'compromised.'

"Maa, I'm not sure."

"There's a line, my eternal rival, between being hip, and being foolish. Even for you. If you won't see a medic-nin then at least rest."

He nodded without protest as he gave up on his sight once more, but put up a hand to stop Gai before he could 'help him up.' Maybe he could use some assistance, but with Gai, that was a last resort when a few additional injuries wouldn't make much of a difference. He would make it back to bed without his ... exuberant help.

The mattress was like heaven after the battle to cross the room, and he would have passed out right then except for a hand that moved into his space to shake his shoulder. He was briefly considering whether Gai would accept him being too tired to restrain himself as an explanation for stabbing him if he touched him again, when the kid spoke - "I'll have the windows covered before you can blink or I'll do five hundred one armed handstands!" - and he lost any wish to unleash his restraint no matter how much energy it was costing him.

The light was quickly barred from the room and he gathered what energy he could to convey his thanks - and slide his mask down in the cover of darkness. The familiar smells surrounded him and he slipped peacefully into unconsciousness before Gai had even left the room.

Note: A couple of notes this time. Again, this has not been edited, so let me know if I made any mistakes.

For the scene in the kitchen, if it's not clear, Kakashi is making breakfast with Gai's help. He's not consciously aware of Gai's presence or actions, only of the items that he's interacting with and is doing alot of this on instinct (and the habit of twenty odd years) What's happening is that I can't picture anything these two do as anything less than intense. In other words, they are tossing ingredients, pots, knives, spatulas, etc back and forth. Kakashi is the one at the stove, while Gai is prepping the ingredients or getting what he needs like oil to grease the pan. They're not making anything in particular besides the eggs (the five liquid missiles) and bread (the dough) because Kakashi isn't really paying attention and Gai doesn't really care as long as it's food (and Kakashi cooks it - he's actually a pretty good cook).

And finally, I struggled with this chapter quite a bit. I took out a lot of the content in this chapter and also simply cut it in half because I thought that this would be a good stopping point and most of that cut content is going to end up in the second half and I didn't want to put off posting any longer. Because of this I may have accidentally put some holes in the chapter, so let me know if you have questions.