In a body that's burning with fever, Kakashi dreams.

He's never been the type of person to have peaceful dreams, but his nightmares are always even worse whenever he's sick. There's a specific kind of bizarreness that only fever dreams can achieve. Past blurs together with present, reality blurs together with dream, and it all becomes a strange mess in which the worst moments of Kakashi's life are mixed together with a weirdness that he wouldn't be able to come up with if he tried.

He dreams about his last day in Konoha, about the discussion he had with the Third, except everything the Third says is garbled and he inexplicably has Pakkun's face. He dreams about watching himself rip through Rin's heart, except when he looks up, it's not Rin anymore; it's Naruto. He dreams about going about his work day in a civilian village with a giant hole in his stomach, like the holes he'd seen on Minato and Kushina. He dreams about going home and finding his dad waiting for him.

He dreams about waking up to darkness and the smell of dirt and the soft sound of someone crying.

It's not a dream he's had before, and it takes a while before he realizes that the darkness that he's seeing is the inside of his own closed eyes. Groggily, he cracks his right eye open. His eyelid feels heavy, like it hasn't been open in a while. When he opens his eye, it takes a few seconds before he can actually see, and the darkness sticks around in the corners of his eye afterwards.

He's lying on his back, staring up at a ceiling of tightly-packed dirt, roots sticking from the ceiling like hands that are reaching for his face. The bright light of a flashlight shines above him, casting warped shadows. Kakashi doesn't immediately remember where he is, but he does notice that he feels safe. Which is weird. He hadn't felt safe since-

The thought is lost underneath the sudden feeling of his breath catching in his throat. Kakashi forces himself upright and coughs, something rasping deep in his chest. It takes a while before he feels like he's able to breathe again; by then, he's out of breath and uncomfortably warm. His side is throbbing badly, and he can't remember why, though he knows that it's something that he should definitely remember.

With the palm of his hand, he wipes his sweaty hair out of his face. His forehead feels hot, and there's a pounding headache pressing against the backs of his eyes; Kakashi presses his hand against his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut. It helps a little bit.

"Holy crap," someone suddenly exclaims next to him. "Holy crap, you're awake."

It startles Kakashi – he hadn't noticed that he wasn't alone here. With some effort, he manages to recall that he'd heard someone crying earlier. He'd completely forgotten about that. Shouldn't his instincts be better than this?

He opens his eye to see a boy staring at him, his mouth dropped open, his eyes blinking rapidly. It's a familiar face, but Kakashi has a hard time remembering who he is; he can't focus his vision, and his head feels hazy. The part of his brain that's still working immediately recognizes that the kid isn't a threat, though, so that's probably a good sign.

The kid seems to be waiting for him to respond, but Kakashi has already forgotten what he's supposed to be responding to. He clears his throat. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention," he says – his voice is really rough. "What'd you say?"

The kid laughs – the sound is wet and vaguely hysterical. "I said, you're awake," he repeats.

Kakashi makes a groggy noise. "Am I?"

"Yeah!" the kid says, turning around to grab something. "That's good, that's really good, I was scared that you wouldn't wake up again- Here, you need to take these. Right now."

He hands Kakashi two pills; Kakashi stares at them, moving them around in the palm of his hand. The possibility that he's not actually dreaming right now has made him a bit more determined to push through the haziness in his head – the part of his brain that's awake tells him that he should be suspicious about this. He's just been handed two pills. What do they do? Why does he need them? Will they harm him?

He doesn't seem to have access to the ability to actually voice those questions, though, so he finds himself just frowning at the kid, confused. "Huh?" is what comes out instead of an coherent question. "I don't… get it."

The boy snorts, though it sounds more like a sniffle. "It's medicine," he says. "One of the pills will hopefully help with your pneumonia, and the other one will bring down your fever. I know you said that you just needed to sleep it off, but it's been two days and you were only getting sicker- I got worried."

Recognition sparks in Kakashi's tired brain – he remembers getting sick, and he vaguely remembers overusing his Sharingan and passing out. Has it really been two days? He must be sicker than he realized. "Yeah, medicine is probably a good idea," he agrees, looking down at the pills in his hand.

The kid watches as Kakashi raises his hand to his face and tries to smell whether the pills will kill him. They don't smell suspicious. It should be fine.

He raises his other hand to pull down his mask, though he pauses with his hand halfway to his face. "Would you mind looking away?" he asks the kid.

"Huh? Uh, yeah, sure." He sounds puzzled, but he turns away regardless.

Ignoring the sting of pain in his injured wrist, Kakashi quickly pulls down his mask, dry-swallows the pills, and pulls his mask back up. With a sigh, he lies back down. No matter how much it annoys him to need medicine, he's glad to know that he'll probably start feeling better soon. He's sore all over, and he's starting to get really frustrated about the fact that he can't think.

"The meds should kick in in about half an hour," the kid says quietly. "I hope they'll help."

Kakashi makes an agreeing noise – which makes him want to cough again – and closes his eye. "I hope so, too," he murmurs.

He's barely been awake for a few minutes, but he can already feel tiredness overtaking him again; three cheers for chakra exhaustion and fever. Despite how groggy and disoriented he is, though, he's still awake enough to know that he hasn't thanked the kid yet. He should do that, before he falls asleep again.

"Thanks," he mumbles, and he realizes absently that he still isn't certain who he's talking to. In an impressive moment of fever-born stupidity, Kakashi decides to sense the kid's chakra signature and guess. "Thanks… Kushina."

Which is grotesquely incorrect and Kakashi knows it the moment the name leaves his mouth, but he's too sleepy to correct himself or to worry about the potential consequences. He's already dozing off fast.

"Who the Hell is Kushina?" the kid asks with a snort, but Kakashi is already sleeping too deeply to respond.


When Kakashi opens his eye again, his head feels marginally less weird. His headache has receded somewhat, and it no longer feels like reality is happening kilometers away from him, which is a relief. It seems that the meds are working – at least the one that should bring down his fever, anyway.

Naruto is sitting next to him, and- with some deduction, Kakashi concludes that the kid must've been here the entire time. The minutes before he fell asleep again are a bit of a blur in his memory, but Kakashi very distinctly remembers not recognizing Naruto – and calling him Kushina. A jolt of adrenaline follows at the realization that Kakashi just gave away something so personal, but he forces himself calm. Worst-case scenario, he'll have to admit that he knew Naruto's mother. If Naruto asks about it, he can keep it vague.

There was something weird about Naruto's reaction, though… Maybe the fever is messing with Kakashi's memory, but it almost sounded like Naruto didn't recognize Kushina's name. That'd be ridiculous, though. He probably just couldn't hear Kakashi clearly, and Kakashi wouldn't blame him; he was barely conscious when he thanked Naruto, and there's barely anything left of his voice.

Well, anyway. Kakashi is probably overthinking everything. He should just try to clear his mind and appreciate the fact that his head isn't hurting.

He watches Naruto, idly debating whether he should alert the kid to the fact that he's awake or to appreciate the silence for a bit. It seems that Naruto hasn't realized that he's awake yet; he's sitting against the wall, his eyes closed. His eyes seem a bit puffy, Kakashi notices, and he remembers suddenly that he'd heard someone crying earlier. He hadn't been sure whether it was a dream or not, but the redness around Naruto's eyes answers that question for him.

That's not all, though, Kakashi realizes as his vision slowly focuses. There's some blood underneath the kid's mouth, smeared out like he tried to wipe it away, and there's blood matted into his hair around his temple. It's not that unusual for an Academy student to get hurt during sparring or something like that, but combined with the crying, it's-

"Oh, hey, Kakashi-san, you're awake," Naruto says, rubbing at his eyes. "Feeling better? You seemed like you were pretty out of it."

"I- Yeah. I was. And, I'm feeling better, thanks." He presses his hand against his forehead; it still feels a bit too warm, though it's not nearly as hot as before. His skin isn't stinging with goosebumps anymore, either. "Seems like the meds are working."

Naruto beams at him at that, and Kakashi notices that there's a tooth missing from Naruto's smile. Once again, it's not that unusual in and of itself – children lose teeth all the time, especially during Academy sparring – but combined with the crying and the head injury, it's worrying. Kakashi feels a frown pulling at his brow.

Should he ask about it? He'd been so careful not to get too close to Naruto, because everyone he gets too close to dies – but for some reason, it really aches to think about what would be needed to make this cheerful kid cry. He's Minato and Kushina's son; his parents wanted him to be happy, and Naruto deserves nothing less.

If Kakashi did nothing about the fact that Naruto is sad, then he would've failed the kid's parents even more than he already has.

"Kakashi-san?" Naruto asks him, a worried expression on his face. "Is something wrong?"

"Ah- No. Just wondering." Kakashi sits up, his back against the wall; for some reason, it feels better to be sitting up than to be lying on the ground during a conversation that might get emotional. He clears his throat, smothers a couple of coughs in his sleeve. This should not be this nerve-wracking. "You seem like you've been crying. Everything all right?"

"Huh?" Naruto reacts with a nervous laugh. "I wasn't crying. I don't cry. Ever."

Kakashi sends him a skeptical look, and apparently that's enough; Naruto looks away.

"Okay, fine, I was crying," he admits. "I was worried you wouldn't wake up. That's why." He plucks at the knee of his pants; there's a fraying hole there that wasn't there before. "It was a pain in the ass to get that medicine, and I was scared that it was all for nothing and also that you were going to die on me."

It really catches Kakashi off guard to know that Naruto cried because he was worried about him. Apparently, Kakashi's efforts to keep the kid at arm's length were entirely futile.

"I'm sorry you had to go through so much trouble for me," Kakashi replies, while he'd actually like to say "I'm sorry for making you cry", or actually "I'm sorry, sensei, for making your son cry".

Naruto shrugs. "Nah. All it took was asking a few people for help, borrowing money for the meds, and getting into a fight with my asshole classmates. I was doing it to help you, so I'm really not complaining. If I had to do it again tomorrow, I would." He huffs a laugh. "Though I hope I won't need to. Getting kicked in the head kinda hurt." He sees Kakashi's frown and adds quickly: "Still not complaining!"

Kakashi sits back, trying to think. Naruto has given him a lot to process – once again, he's mentioning the fact that he doesn't have enough money for something while that really shouldn't be a problem with the Third taking care of him, and his classmates picking a fight with him is worrying as well. Judging by the missing tooth and the blood on the kid's head, Kakashi guesses that these aren't the same kinds of fights that Kakashi had with Gai when he was Naruto's age. This seems far more serious.

Kakashi bites into his tongue, frustrated. He really wants to get some answers, because he's increasingly sure that some of his assumptions about Naruto are grossly incorrect – but he can't ask Naruto about the Third without admitting that he knows who Naruto is, and admitting that would open up a whole other can of worms. So for now, he files the thought away for later and focuses on the stuff that he can ask about without talking about himself.

He nods his chin towards the blood on Naruto's head. "Has someone taken a look at your head yet?" he asks. "That doesn't seem like something you should just be walking around with." There's only a very small chance that an Academy student would be able to kick Naruto hard enough to actually do significant damage, and the Nine-Tails' chakra would heal him quickly on top of that, but still. Judging by what Naruto describes, he might be concussed, and Kakashi finds that he kind of hates that thought.

Naruto shrugs. "I don't think it's that serious," he says. "It feels like it's mostly healed already. Barely hurts anymore." He reaches up a hand to touch the side of his head, scratching it thoughtfully. His eyes flicker up to the entrance of the tunnel; Kakashi follows his gaze and notices that it's dark outside. "Maybe I'll hole up in here again tonight, though, if you don't mind. I'm not sure I'd be able to find my way back home. It's dark and I'm still a little dizzy."

The request surprises Kakashi – enough so that it launches him into a coughing fit. "I suppose it's fine," he manages in between coughs. He catches his breath, clears his throat, and gives Naruto a puzzled look. "But… What do you mean, you'll hole up in here again?"

Naruto jumps a little, apparently startled by the question. "I, uh, I spent the past two nights in here," he admits, a little sheepishly. "Keeping watch." At Kakashi's shocked expression, he adds: "I was worried, okay! I didn't want you to get eaten by a bear while you were passed out, or something like that."

The idea of someone keeping watch while he rested takes Kakashi right back to his time during the war, though he manages to push that memory to the back of his mind quickly. This isn't a mission. Naruto isn't supposed to be out here at night – he's probably not supposed to be out here at all – and if someone noticed he was gone and came looking for him, that could really dangerous really fast.

And yet… And yet, no one has come looking for him.

"But hasn't anyone missed you for the past days?" Kakashi is asking before he can stop himself.

To his alarm, Naruto scoffs. "You're asking a lot of questions, Kakashi-san." He looks down at his hands; they're fidgeting with a hole in his jacket. "No," he says eventually, "I don't think anyone noticed that I was gone. I mean, my sensei would notice if I missed school, but I tried to avoid that as much as possible." He looks up at Kakashi, his gaze surprisingly sharp. "Are you done asking questions now?"

Kakashi's headache is definitely returning. He rubs a hand against his forehead, trying to figure out what he's supposed to do. He can tell that Naruto wants him to drop the subject, and that this is going to be a really difficult conversation if he keeps talking now – but there's something very wrong here, and if Kakashi doesn't figure out what it is, he's going to freak out.

"Just… one more thing," he says cautiously. "Do you remember that I called you "Kushina" earlier? Right before I passed out?"

"What about it?"

Kakashi swallows difficultly. Is he strong enough to handle the answer he fears? "Did you… really not recognize that name?"

Naruto scrunches up his nose, thinking – the fact that he needs to think about it at all is enough of an answer. "I mean, not really… Is it someone that I should know?"

There isn't the slightest indication in the kid's chakra signature that he's lying. Kakashi's blood is rushing in his ears. "What about the name "Minato"? Does that sound familiar to you at all?"

"You mean the Fourth Hokage?" Naruto asks, and when Kakashi nods mutely, Naruto continues thoughtfully: "I don't know very much about him… I know that he was pretty badass? And that he sacrificed his life to save Konoha when the Nine-Tails attacked?"

That's not the answer Kakashi was looking for. He feels like the ground is crumbling underneath him – Hell, he feels a bit like he's going to throw up.

Naruto doesn't know his parents' names.

He doesn't even know his parents' names, and with that realization, the fragile image that Kakashi had had of Naruto's life finally shatters to pieces. It should have shattered a while ago, Kakashi realizes in hindsight.

He'd gotten it all wrong. He'd gotten it so wrong. All that time, he'd assumed that he'd left Naruto to a comfortable life; a life without his parents, sure, but there would at least be someone who cared for him. The Third had promised that the kid was in good hands.

Except, the opposite turns out to be true. There is no one who notices when Naruto is gone for three nights straight. There is no one providing for him, at least not enough. There is apparently not even anyone who helps him when other kids are beating the Hell out of him, which raises some horrifying questions about how the rest of Konoha views Naruto.

But the Third had promised that the kid was in good hands, and for ten years, Kakashi had believed him.

Why had he believed him? Because he was naïve? Or because it was easier? It was certainly easier to believe that Naruto was happy and cared for, and that Kakashi would not need to feel guilty for turning his back on him.

Did he leave Naruto entirely alone?

If he'd stayed, would he have been the only person Naruto had?

Is he… Is he currently the only person Naruto has?

Naruto leans to the side, trying to catch his gaze. "Uhm, Kakashi-san? You have a really scary look on your face right now, did I say something wrong?"

Kakashi forces himself to take a slow breath, and then another. He can't solve all of Naruto's problems, not without a lot of preparation, and not in the state he's in right now. As a matter of fact, it would probably be for the best if he dropped the subject and went to sleep. He just woke up from being unconscious for two days. Working himself up certainly wouldn't help his recovery.

Kakashi doesn't give a damn about his recovery, though. Naruto doesn't know his parents' names. And Kakashi cannot allow that.

And so, he forces himself to take a final slow breath and focus his tired mind.

"There's some stuff I need to explain to you, Naruto."