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The hospital was busy, nurses and doctors bustling around as they tried to sort out rooms and treatment for the numerous shinobi that needed it. Kakashi was lucky; he didn't need anything more than some basic treatment, thanks to the med nin on the battlefield. Gai, however, wasn't as lucky.
He had lived, much to Kakashi's surprise, but not without significant damage to his body, both inside and out. His right leg had been... completely obliterated with a single kick to Madara. It was a miracle that he'd escaped using the eighth gate with his life.
However, his survival didn't mean Kakashi was content. He was furious that Gai would even consider risking his life like that, and he fully planned on giving him a piece of his mind when he woke up. At the moment, though, Kakashi was sitting in the hallway outside of Gai's room, visitors being banned until the doctors declared him in stable condition.
Glancing up from his book, Kakashi's eyebrows raised. He raised his hand in a wave, he tucked his book away and stood up straight.
“Are visitors still not allowed?” Lee asked as he approached, a small bouquet in his hands and a worried look on his face.
Kakashi shook his head. “Not yet. The nurse said that it shouldn't be too much longer until the all clear is given, but even then it's going to be pretty hard to get more than five minutes,” he said, “How is Neji doing?”
Lee shook his head. “Neji is still in pretty bad condition as well. Hinata is waiting for more details on what the outlook on rehabilitation may look like right now, but...” he trailed off, looking down. “Things seem to be very rough for everyone.”
“Well, I'd be lying if I said things were easy right now,” Kakashi said, glancing at the doctor who stepped out of the hospital room. “But we lived, and that's all I think I could ask for out of this.” Turning his attention to the doctor, he continued, “How is he?”
“I'm not going to keep you waiting out here for any longer, but he isn't in any position to speak to visitors. He's stable, but please, keep quiet and calm while visiting,” the doctor said, “The two of you should be fine to stay at the same time, but two visitors is the max for right now.”
Lee and Kakashi both nodded, each voicing a quiet affirmative. With their word, the doctor opened the door once more for the two of them, letting them both in.
The sight before them weighed heavy, Lee clenching his fists next to him, and Kakashi clenching his jaw. Time seemed to freeze as they sat down, the only sound being the beeping of the medical equipment and Gai's faint breathing. Once seated on either side of Gai's bed, Kakashi and Lee looked over at each other, a moment that felt like ages passing before they both broke out into wide grins.
“It is all over,” Lee breathed, leaning forwards with his face in his hands. “It... It is all done. We can finally rest.”
Kakashi nodded. “We can. We can all just... heal, now,” he said, relief and exhaustion mixing heavily in his tone. He slumped back in his seat, sighing heavily.
Neither of them spoke for a long while, both taking time to process everything that had happened in the last while. Lee was crying softly, and Kakashi felt a strange tugging at his heart. This was, technically, the first actual war that Lee and the rest of the ninja he and Gai had trained had ever been in. Despite being younger than all of them, he hadn't had any sort of reaction to the third shinobi war once it had ended. He suspected it was due to everything that he had gone through before it.
“How are you doing?” Kakashi asked, turning to look at Lee.
Lee sat up, wiping at his face and tucking his hands in his lap. “Everything has been... a lot,” he said, “There has not been much time to process everything that has happened. Even less for you, I think, since you now have the duties of Hokage picking up.”
“I've been through war before. You haven't,” Kakashi said, “Don't worry about me, I've got a handle on processing this kind of thing. I'm worried about you, though. I'm worried about all of you kids, actually. None of you have been through anything quite like that before.”
“I... Will be fine. I am not sure that I am right now, but I know I will be. The people that I consider family are all alive, and they will be fine, which means I will be, too,” Lee said, sniffling again, flashing Kakashi a watery smile.
“Good. That's good. I know I'm not... the best when it comes to emotions. You and Gai are both far better and handling anything emotional than I am, but I'm going to try and be there as much as I can as everything unfolds from here,” Kakashi said, looking down at his hands in his lap. “Are you mad at him? For doing something that risky?”
Lee was silent for a long minute. He opened his mouth to speak several times, closing it each time with a conflicted expression. After a while, he simply shrugged. “I only know that I would have done the same thing, if I were in his position,” he muttered, glancing at Gai.
Kakashi's gaze followed Lee's to Gai's sleeping form. He was peaceful, despite his heavy layers of bandages, and cast-bound leg. It was so strange, seeing him in bed rest, when he was notorious for doing just about everything he could to get out of the hospital to keep training.
It wasn't much later when Lee got up, Tenten coming to fetch him with a pained glance of her own at Gai.
“You'll make sure he's not going to do anything stupid, right?” she asked Kakashi, hand resting on Lee's shoulder. That team definitely knew what teamwork was. They were nearly inseparable at the best of times.
“I'll do what I can, but I can't promise anything,” Kakashi chuckled, “You know him. If his mind is dead set on something, not God himself could stop Gai. He practically kicked one, just because he was pissed off and dead set on protecting the lot of us.”
Tenten cracked a grin at that. “Yeah, he sure did, didn't he... Anyways, thanks. Make sure you eat as well, won't you?” she said, “I don't think he'll be too happy if he wakes up and you've collapsed from malnutrition or something.”
Kakashi huffed out a small laugh, shaking his head. “I'll do my best. I was going to go grab something soon, anyways, so there's no need to worry. Why do you kids keep worrying about me like this? This should be the other way around.”
“It's because we know how you old-timers can get. You claim to have seen it all, but then one of us comes around and proves you wrong,” Tenten replied, leading Lee out of the room, “We'll probably see you around quite a bit, so until later!”
With a small parting wave, Kakashi was left alone in the hospital room. Pulling out his book once more, not really sure which volume of the Icha Icha series he was on anymore, he leaned back in his chair. He sat there for several hours, just reading next to Gai's bed. Only when one of the nurses came in to let him know that visiting hours were over did he get up.
He picked up something quick to make on his way back home, settling in for the night with his dogs. He fed them, ate his meal, then went to bed, greeted with a dreamless sleep.
The next few days followed a very similar routine. Get up; eat breakfast; go to the hospital for most of the day; chat with whoever happened to stop by Gai's hospital room (usually just Lee and Tenten, but Naruto did stop by once as well); go home when visiting hours were done, rinse and repeat. By the week's end, Kakashi's anxiety had started eating at him.
Neji had woken up, even if it was only briefly, by the fifth day that Kakashi had made a habit of visiting the hospital. Gai, however, still barely showed signs of life other than the gentle rise and fall of his chest. He barely moved, though Kakashi supposed that he probably just couldn't move, and he hadn't woken up at all yet.
It was worrying, they way that Gai was so... still. So quiet. It was so unlike him that Kakashi frequently had to tell himself that he couldn't just wake Gai up to break the silence. So when the nurse came to get him the night of the seventh day, he was shocked that he found himself not wanting to go home. He was even more shocked when he let the nurse know that as Hokage, he could technically stay there for as long as he wanted to. She had left him be after that, a different nurse coming in a few minutes later to check Gai's vitals.
She didn't speak to Kakashi much, just asking if he had eaten at all, offering to bring him something for dinner. He was tempted to decline, but his stomach growled just as he was about to answer, causing the nurse to laugh and let him know something would be brought for him shortly. With a quiet thanks, he let her get back to work.
Alone once more, Kakashi turned the lamp on Gai's bedside table on, giving him something to read by. His food was brought in after about twenty minutes, and he thanked the nurse who brought it.
He didn't touch it.
With the light from the sunset finally gone from behind the curtains, the room being solely lit by the table lamp now, Kakashi leaned back in his chair. He looked over at Gai, still unsettled by how still he was, how quiet he was.
He went back to his book.
It was quite a while later, probably nearing midnight, when there was the faint sound of fabric shifting that drew his attention back to the real world. A deep breath from next to him caused his heart to start racing.
“Whtimeisit...” came a rough, mumbling voice. A voice Kakashi had started to worry he would never hear again.
Setting his book down, Kakashi leaned forwards, face in his hands. “I don't know,” he breathed out, having to bite his lip to try and stop himself from crying. It didn't work.
“Kakashi? What are you doing here?” Gai asked, still groggy but slightly more aware now that he knew there was, in fact, another person in the room. He turned his head to look at him. “Are you okay?”
“You moron. I should be asking you that,” Kakashi laughed, sitting up again. “I'm fine. I'm regretting not asking Lee if he wanted to stay late tonight, though. He should have been here when you woke up, too.”
“You're crying,” he said, reaching his hand closer to the side of the bed. Kakashi took it in his own two, turning his chair to face the bed. “How long was I out?”
“I've been visiting for a week straight, now. You've been in here for longer, though. No visitors were allowed for quite a while.”
Gai was quiet for a minute, then. “I see... how is everyone else doing?” he asked.
Kakashi shrugged. “Worried. Neji isn't in much better condition than you, but he did wake up for a little bit a couple days ago. I figure it's about another three days before he's bitching about being cooped up,” he said, “Lee's been visiting daily with Tenten. Naruto stopped by as well. Sakura's been too busy helping out with other injured ninja to have had any time to visit. I have no idea where Sasuke's gotten off to this time.”
“How many casualties?”
“Oh, you know. About as much as you'd expect from a fight against an undead ninja with the powers of a god. Less than there would have been if you hadn't done what you did, though. And don't think you're getting out of a lecture on that one,” Kakashi laughed, rubbing his thumb over the back of Gai's hand. “I'm mad at you for that. For landing yourself here, and for giving all of us a scare like that.”
Gai laughed as best as he could in his state. “Well, I can promise I won't be doing it again. And don't you dare blame yourself for me ending up here. I chose what to do of my own free will,” he said, holding Kakashi's hand just a bit tighter. “What else have I missed?”
Kakashi shrugged. “Not much else. Repairs have begun on the village, I've been named sixth Hokage, people have been working around the clock on finding and identifying any fallen ninja, the usual procedure for post-war efforts.”
“You're...” Gai started, closing his eyes and shaking his head, leaning it back on the pillows once more. “I should have figured that that was the only way you could have convinced anyone to let you stay as late as it probably is.”
“I didn't particularly want this, but hey. I'll use the perks it brings when I can,” Kakashi said, letting go of Gai's hand and standing up. Gai brushed his fingers against Kakashi's, not wanting to let go. “I'm going to go let one of the night shift nurses know you're awake. One of them will do what they need to do, then we can talk more, alright? And don't you dare think about trying to escape the hospital this time,” he explained, letting Gai take his hand, and giving a solid squeeze before stepping away.
“Of course. You'll be staying the night here?” he asked.
“If I have my way, yes. I'll be back,” Kakashi said, giving Gai's face one last, long look.
Gai was grinning at him. It wasn't his usual ear to ear beaming; it was something much, much softer. His eyes were gentle, partly closed, and his lips were just barely pulling up at the corners as his gaze scanned Kakashi's face. It was so, so warm, and Kakashi had somehow managed to forget just how much that smile made his days better.
“We can talk more when the sun comes up. You still need rest,” Kakashi muttered, his own gaze softening under Gai's.
Gai let out an affirmative hum, watching Kakashi as he left the room. As Kakashi closed the door behind him, he took just a moment to wipe his eyes before he went to find a nurse.
The sun in the sky may be dark, may have been below the horizon, but for Kakashi, the day was as bright as a summer afternoon, and just as warm. Because Gai was okay, was alive.
And he could worry about the next day when it arrived, alongside his best friend, and, hopefully, right hand man.
Because Gai was like his sun. Warm, bright, and always, always rising again.