He runs into the nutcase just outside of Kawaguchi. It's one of those dumb things that just happen, as Obito used to call them. Kakashi was looting a conbini for supplies and suddenly, there he was. Which was something that shouldn't have happened, shouldn't have been possible even, not with Kakashi, who was an expert at survival. Unlike Obito. Unlike Rin.
But this guy managed to sneak up on him while he was bent over, digging through a box that should have been filled with bags of crispy seaweed crackers, but turned out to contain only bits of styrofoam and bubblewrap.
His attention had been diverted for less than a second, and yet he didn't realize that he wasn't alone anymore until the stranger cleared his throat.
His name is Gai and he announces it as if it is messianic. He is wearing a bright green addidas sweat suit and orange sneakers, and there's no weapon in sight, which means he's either exceptionally dumb or very dangerous.
Kakashi himself carries his gun, a SIG P230, tucked into the waistband of his cargo pants, and his hand begins creeping towards it as soon as their eyes meet.
"You?" Gai asks and it takes Kakashi a second to realize that he wants to know his name.
"Kakashi."
Gai beams as if he has been offered a treat.
"There's nothing here," he says apologetically. "But I can show you—"
"I don't do team ups." Kakashi draws the gun, cocks the hammer, and aims at Gai's head. He's not going to waste a bullet going for the chest, and he's certainly not going to let some idiot lead him into a trap. "You go first. Now."
"I was trying to help you," Gai whines like some brat, like he's disappointed.
Kakashi just narrows eye. His trigger finger twitches. He's only half-bluffing. He won't kill anyone unprovoked, he promised Rin, but his definition of "provoked" is starting to become wider and wider.
But then Gai does him a favor by shrugging, turning around on the spot and leaving through the front door, through which, and Kakashi is very sure of that, Gai certainly didn't enter before.
From outside, he hears groans and shuffling, but no sound of footsteps slapping against the pavement in panicked flight, no screams.
He's not sure how he feels about that.
A day later, Kakashi is sure that Gai is watching him. He's good, too. Almost on Kakashi's level, and that makes him wonder if maybe Gai was in the Self Defense Force like him. He doesn't remember the face, but then, he doesn't remember much these days.
Or maybe Gai used to be a cop. Maybe—
And why does he care?
He is convinced that Gai is on his own like him. If it comes down to it, Kakashi is fairly certain; he will be able to take him.
If not, well, so be it.
Making it out of Tokyo, that had been a miracle almost. Kawaguchi should have been a walk in the park compared to that, but if Kakashi has learned one thing in the last three weeks – how has it only been three weeks? – it's that should have been carries no meaning anymore.
He hasn't slept in days, can't afford to, and before, when he did, he dreamt of Obito and Rin and worms crawling over living dead skin.
The house is as secure as it's going to get, Kakashi decides. On some level, he knows that he has stopped caring.
Why is even he still moving? Where is he supposed to go?
Hokkaido, Obito and Rin whisper from the darkest corner of the room, where a spider is building its web. We'll go north, get a boat somewhere and get to Hokkaido, and if it's not safe there, then we'll just look somewhere else. But first Hokkaido.
He sinks down in his corner, defeated. Daylight streams in through a boarded up window, striping the dusty floor. His surgical mask has long since stopped working against the smell of decay and it never helped against the virus in the first place. Still he keeps it on. Out of habit.
I can't make it, Obito says, smiling as sweat runs down his brow and blood oozes from the hole in his head, but you two will. Protect Rin, Kakashi, promise me.
It's over for me, Kakashi, please. Just let me go before I end up like them. Please… Rin whispers. She smiles at him. Why do they always smile? His hand is shaking too much to hold the gun steady. She reaches for it, covers his hand with hers. It's too warm, too moist but surprisingly strong. I won't make it out of Tokyo, but you will, Kakashi. Promise me, okay?
She pulled the trigger herself; I couldn't even do that for her, Kakashi thinks and falls asleep, seeing the shiny red streamlet of blood run past the corner of Rin's mouth, dripping down into her hair.
A crunch and thump make him jerk upright, not awake yet, just there enough to recoil from the half decayed face that stares at him, eyeless, and Kakashi's stomach rolls, even as he kicks on instinct, heavy boot aiming for that horrible head. He misses.
But it makes no difference, because the creature is already falling, torso tilting sharply to the right, the rest follows, crashing to the floor in a jumble of oddly twisted limbs.
Behind it, Gai appears, goo dripping from his fist, grinning.
"You forgot to check the basement, Kakashi!" he announces. Kakashi is instantly dismayed by his overly familiar language, and then surprised at his own ability to still care about the way he is addressed.
Undeterred, Gai holds up a bag of something in his clean hand.
"I brought those seaweed crackers you were looking for the other day!"
Kakashi is too stunned to react.
At his feet, the corpse's fingers twitch.
"Huh?" Gai says like he's just come back from the store only to realize that he's forgotten something, and brings his foot down hard on its skull.