"He can't feel anything now," the young medic tells him as he slips the needle under the skin on the back of Gai's limp hand.
It's meant as a comfort, Kakashi knows that.
It's wasted on him, though.
Because when he looks at Gai's body – the contusions, the lacerations, the fractured bones – the purple, red and white – he feels it all.
And it feels like someone is flaying his heart.
Bearing this, it's asking too much, it's more than Kakashi can give.
He won't be here when Gai wakes up.