Naruto x Digimon
Alive - Team Minato's Digidestined
Chapter 039
Song: Daughter - Medicine (Sound Remedy Remix)
Originally Written: Monday, March 27, 2023 1013PM to 1126PM
. . . . .
It was six weeks before he saw Obito or Rin again. His current mission was the easiest he had been on in a while, but it was easily the most time consuming. The only reason he got a break from the task was due to the spats he was getting into with Kushina. If only she'd stop pouring his money down the drain. His team and Matadormon agreed that he needed to take a break.
Rin dragged him into Konoha's hospital with a giddy, wide smile on her face. He followed her with the same old bored expression on his face. Matadormon had given him a suggestion to follow while he was there. He kept it in mind for later.
He looked around the room in the basement of Konoha's hospital. He should have noticed the seals slowly filling up the walls. Instead, he noticed Obito. His fingers were tracing down the walls examining each and every seal they passed. Obito was double checking the notes Kakashi made and contributed when he could. He'd write it off in code, and send it off with Lunamon. And then Obito and Rin wrote it into existence.
He turned and looked back at Rin. He swallowed thickly, blinking quickly.
"I told you we would." Rin grinned. She looked at Obito.
Their teammate stood on bare feet, leaning on a crutch. His right leg was worse off, so he was favoring his left. The steps he took were small, but were confident. Long dark slacks of high quality fabric only the likes of the Uchiha could procure covered his legs. Pants that were usually folded up underneath him for support and comfort. His wheelchair was in the middle of the room. Fara stood next to it, keeping a close eye on Obito in case he lost his balance.
Kakashi walked forward. He passed Fara, Shiro, Naginata, and Hato. He stopped when he reached the wall. He stood next to Obito.
"Baka." Obito murmured. "Quit crying over me."
Kakashi blinked quickly. He wiped his eyes.
"Thanks." Obito ducked his head. His hand clenched around the handle of his crutch. His other hand pressed against the wall. His shoulders slowly hunched. "You and Rin and Gai and Grandma and Uncle F., Naginata and Fara…All of you guys. Sensei… You never gave up on me."
Kakashi caught him as he stumbled and turned the act into a hug. "Never." He whispered into Obito's bushy hair.
"You guys…you did what everyone said was impossible. I don't know how…" He took a deep, shuddering breath. "Thanks. I won't forget this."
Rin walked forward and wrapped her arms around both of them. "Gentlemen, let's take a break."
Fara unpacked a huge lunch for everyone. "Eat up. This is from Hanku, so you know it's good."
Shiro disappeared for a bit with some of the meal. Lunamon sat next to Rin, not needing to hide here. Matadormon was with Kushina. Obito sent Flaremon on a long term mission that he'd yet to return from. It worked out in such a way that Kakashi had to wonder just what Fugaku was teaching Obito. Long term planning was never Obito's strong suit, yet here he clearly planned his own actions smoothly around Kakashi and Rin's. Since Team Seven minus Minato owed Obito's surgeon their part of the deal, and they couldn't explain how he could walk without heavily incriminating said surgeon, thus failing their deal, Obito revealed that he had to lay extremely low for the time being. It required dragging Fugaku even further within the whole ordeal but no one could know Obito could walk yet.
Kakashi looked down at his soup. He debated on saying something, but paused. Then he summoned Pakkun. The small pug immediately climbed up on his lap and nabbed his sandwich.
"Get your own food." He nearly snarled.
"No." Pakkun replied with a snarl back. "Do you know how long I've been trying to get you to summon me? Matadormon's hints weren't enough for you?" He tore into the meal.
Obito laughed, massaging pain out of his new legs. "What did you do, Kakashi?"
"I summoned you now, isn't that enough?" Kakashi ignored Obito.
Pakkun replied by taking another bite of meat. Kakashi held in a frown, like usual, Pakkun was going to leave him with nothing but bread and greens.
"What did you want to say before, Kakashi?" Naginata asked, leaning over Hato's shoulders like a dead weight. She was able to stay upright relatively well.
Kakashi looked down at his soup. "I told The Fourth Hokage."
"About the vines, the fact you don't like being in Anbu, or Grandma?" Obito immediately replied.
Kakashi looked at him. Who was this and where did he come from?
Obito smirked in response, Uchiha brand cockiness on full display.
"Two and three." Kakashi smiled a small smile. "If everything works out…this is my last mission as an Anbu Squad Leader."
Obito punched his shoulder. "Damn straight it should be."
Rin clapped. "Congratulations."
The room filled with applause shortly after Rin started clapping.
Pakkun barked. "Good job, kid."
"I don't know what to do about…Grandma." Kakashi continued, not one for saying thank you often. "The evidence we have…we don't have an explanation of where it came from or how we got it. Not without…" He looked at Lunamon. "We won't risk them like that."
Obito and Rin both nodded in agreement.
Pakkun circled around on Kakashi's lap. He pointedly dug his back paws into Kakashi's stomach. "You don't have to, kid. Leave the work to us summons."
Kakashi looked down at Pakkun. "Are you…?"
The nurses laughed and smiled in amusement.
Pakkun managed to roll his eyes. "Summons are not loyal to villages. Summons are loyal to whoever signed the dang contact. That's why I told you to familiarize yourself with calling Lunamon, Gabumon and Sunmon summons. You can't explain where the heck most summons came from, and people don't care long as we aren't trying to kill them. It doesn't matter. But it keeps 'em and us off the leash. Like the one you finally asked to be unhooked from."
Rin looked at her. Lunamon smiled, covering her mouth in amusement. She tilted her head, smiling wider.
"The only ones who know your different digimon's forms are all the same individuals are the people in this room save like one person. Play the part and no one has to know a single thing. Use us dangit." Pakkun snapped. "I'm tired of tripping over vines."
Kakashi looked up and around at the group.
Hato held up her hands and turned away, "Don't look at me. I don't know how ninjas do their thing anymore."
Obito laughed, dramatically falling back to lay on the floor. "Of course it's that simple!"
The trio started planning. Their personal team of medical staff checked them over while pretending to not hear a single thing they said. Shiro returned and looked over Kakashi. He pulled him off to the side and in a voice of no nonsense told him he was on his way to needing a new liver. He was also confused that Kakashi's alcohol levels were dropping from what he was used to testing.
Kakashi's gaze shifted. "My mission is pouring it out before I can drink it."
"Thank them." Shiro all but demanded. "They're saving your life."
Kakashi nodded slowly. Pakkun remained quiet, snoozing next to his feet. Obito went back to standing and examining the seals they had written. Their progress and plans were slowly coming together. Rin stood next to him. Kakashi wasn't sure why she liked him. Rin looked like she belonged next to Obito from the start.
"What?" Shiro circled around so Kakashi was facing away from the group.
"What do you mean?"
"You've got that look in your eye."
Kakashi examined himself like Naginata and Obito had taught him. He looked at his hands. The weight on his shoulders felt like it was mostly gone. Nowhere near as heavy as it had been over these years. Oh…that. "What if…" He shook his head. "Does my health matter if I don't make it through this anyway?"
"If our Hokage was anyone else, I'd be asking the same thing." Shiro dropped to his knees. He lowered his voice. He placed his hands on Kakashi's biceps. "But I've had years to watch him. Especially in the manner he interacts with you. That man did not give you the hope that he'd put you in a more comfortable position just to assign you to a mission that would kill you. He would die for you. Don't let him die trying to figure out how to fix your organs the alcohol you're ingesting destroyed."
Kakashi stared at him.
"Don't do that to yourself and don't do that to him."
"I…" Kakashi blinked, breathing quickly.
"Try. Whoever's throwing it out, let them continue doing it, until you can do it yourself." Shiro squeezed his arms ever so tightly. "Take as long as you need. Just try. You'll never know if you can if you don't make an attempt."
Most people blamed him or pitied him for drinking so much. Shiro and Gai blamed the alcohol itself. His clan's personal medic, and his closest friend. He closed his eyes. And nodded. He'd try.
. . . . .
A/N: I am firmly of the belief that (almost) everything wrong starts with one's ability to do the thing that eventually causes the wrong to begin with. Whether out of need, desperation or ease or knowledge access. The older I get, the more I think I'm right on this. Some people do not do well with overwhelming feelings and situations that come with freedom. Drop the ability to do wrong in their hands, and they will do wrong before they even realize they did. And others need to learn to understand that that is okay and does not mean that the former are trying to encroach upon the freedom the latter enjoy to the fullest. And sometimes people in the former group are also a part of the latter group and they don't even realize it.
In the end, despite being easier to destroy, tranquility achieves so much more than chaos. And I'm no longer sure if I was referring to Kakashi's alcohol addiction or gun control or politicians dictating human rights in general here. Pick whichever one you wish. Writing this version of Kakashi puts me in the weirdest of moods.