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Every once in a while, Team Seven had a movie night.
Kakashi wasn’t entirely sure where the idea had come from. Probably Naruto – he seemed like the kind of person to come up with group activities and then drag the rest of the team along. And because Kakashi was also part of the team, he was dragged along as well.
He found that he… didn’t mind the movie nights as much as he’d thought he would. The four of them gathered at Sasuke’s house at the Uchiha compound; he was the only one with a TV and enough space for all of them. Sakura went by the library in the afternoon to borrow a movie, and Naruto made sure that there were enough snacks for everyone. And even though the movies usually weren’t really Kakashi’s genre, he found that he enjoyed just relaxing for an evening.
And so, the team movie nights became a thing. Everyone took them pretty seriously, too; Kakashi had never seen Naruto more organized than when he was calculating the amount of snacks. Sometimes, they agreed that the winner of a sparring session could pick a movie, and that somehow made them very focused fighters. It was nice to see his students so invested in team activities, so Kakashi tried his best to take it seriously, too. He even tried to be punctual, to the best of his abilities.
One night, though, Kakashi came back from a mission later than expected. Much later. The movie night was supposed to start at eight – Kakashi rushed into the Uchiha compound a little after eleven.
He’d found his kids waiting for him, the VHS tape lying on the table, untouched. They were unanimously mad at him. That night, they didn’t get to have their movie night at all, because it was late and Sakura’s parents wanted her home before midnight. Kakashi doubted they would’ve been able to have fun even if they had watched the movie. The kids went home disappointed, and Kakashi was left feeling strangely guilty about the whole ordeal.
That had been their most recent movie night, and Kakashi hadn’t forgotten about it. In fact, it was the whole reason why he was stressed out right now.
His solo mission had taken him a bit longer than he’d hoped. He was already late for the movie night, and he was only just passing the gates to Konoha. He still had to report to the Hokage, too, so his time was getting really tight.
Problem: he hadn’t come back from his mission unscathed. An enemy nin with a sword had landed a lucky hit on him. There was a deep cut on his side – not deep enough to be dangerous, but it was bleeding pretty heavily and it would definitely need medical attention.
Second problem: he’d promised his kids he’d be on time. And he truly, genuinely wanted to keep to that promise.
Maybe it was just the blood loss messing with his logical thinking, but he really couldn’t stop by the hospital if he wanted to meet his kids at an acceptable time. He could handle the pain; he could go to the hospital when the movie night was over. That was the best option.
So he reported the results of the mission to the Hokage, making sure that he stood up straight and that the tear in his flak jacket was hidden from view. “It’s the enemy’s blood,” he lied, straight-faced, when the Hokage asked.
The man studied him for a moment, making Kakashi’s heart race in his chest because shit, but then he shrugged. “Make sure you clean your uniform before morning.”
“Yes, sir.”
Kakashi then quickly made his way to his apartment, hopping across rooftops while holding his side. He would’ve preferred to go straight to the Uchiha compound and be a little less late, but he really needed to dress his wound, and he needed a change of clothes. He dressed his wound as thickly and tightly as he could without drawing attention to it and put on a black sweater – it was harder to see blood on dark fabric, should he bleed through the bandages. He put on pajama pants as well, because it had been a long day and nobody cared what he wore, anyway. Like that, he left, carrying extra painkillers and bandages in the front pocket of his sweater.
“I’m here!” Kakashi knocked on the front door to Sasuke’s house, even though the door was open. As he toed off his shoes, Naruto came to greet him, pointing at him accusingly.
“You’re late!” he shouted. Kakashi was glad to see that the look on his face was just him being dramatic, not disappointed. The dramatic effect was exaggerated even more by Naruto’s pajamas – they were bright orange and very on-brand for him.
Kakashi shrugged. “Ah, but I’m only a little late,” he replied, cursing himself for being so slow even though he’d left home on time. “My mission was pretty intense. I wanted to change into clean clothes.” He still smelled like sweat and blood, but his students probably wouldn’t notice – Kakashi’s sense of smell was a hundred times better than theirs.
“Oh. I guess that’s fair.” Naruto then cocked his head at him, wrinkling his nose in a thoughtful expression. “By the way, are you okay, sensei? I don’t know – you didn’t get hurt, did you?”
This was Kakashi’s own fault; he’d trained these kids to be so observant himself. He put on his most innocent face and stepped into the house, putting far too much effort into not limping. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he replied, and brushed past Naruto. “You didn’t start the movie without me, did you?”
“Hm? Oh, no. It’s no fun if you miss part of it.”
Naruto lead him into the living room, where Sakura and Sasuke sat on the floor at the coffee table. Sakura waved as soon as he walked in; Sasuke just nodded at him.
“So you did make it, this time,” he said, and got up. “Good. We can start, then.”
Sasuke worked on getting the VHS tape to work while Naruto and Sakura divided the popcorn evenly across three bowls – it always ended in a fight if they tried to eat from the same bowl, so this was their solution. Kakashi, meanwhile, gratefully sank down on the couch; he hadn’t taken the time to sit down since he’d left Konoha hours earlier. The bandages pulled on his wound as he moved. He was thankful for his mask, because it prevented his kids from seeing his grimace.
Sakura quirked an eyebrow at him. “Tired, sensei?” she asked.
“Yeah.” It was hard to relax his jaw enough to talk normally. “Difficult mission.”
“Well, it’s probably fine if you sleep during the movie,” she said. She held up the bag of popcorn; “You want some, too, sensei?” When he shook his head, she continued: “Naruto picked out a horror movie, so it’ll probably be boring.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Naruto protested. “I never pick boring movies!”
“I wasn’t commenting on your taste,” Sakura replied. “I’m just saying that horror movies are unrealistic and super predictable, so Kakashi-sensei probably wouldn’t like it.”
Sakura clearly didn’t know him well enough; all of his favorite media was unrealistic and super predictable. Just to mess with Naruto, though, he agreed: “She’s right.”
Naruto protested loudly, and then Sasuke told him to be quiet, which thankfully took the attention away from Kakashi. When everyone had settled down again, Sasuke turned off the lights and started the movie.
From that moment on, everyone’s full focus was directed towards the TV screen – something that Kakashi was very glad about. It was getting harder to hide that he was hurt. He’d been able to ignore his pain during the mission itself and while he was rushing to get here, but now that he was sitting still, the adrenaline was wearing off.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t handle it – he’d had so much worse – but he just did not want his students to find out that he was injured. If he could stop by the hospital when the movie was over, then there was no reason for them to find out. He didn’t want to ruin their night.
For the most part, he kept himself together. He managed to take a painkiller without anyone noticing, and he applied pressure to his side in a casual enough manner that nobody questioned it. As soon as the painkiller kicked in, he was even able to follow the movie a little. The movie was alright, he supposed, although the romantic subplot was really bad. It wasn’t really scary, either; his students’ terrified reactions were more entertaining than the movie itself.
And, just like Sakura had predicted, Kakashi began to doze off. For twenty minutes or so, he drifted in and out of sleep, comfortably listening to the movie and forgetting about his pain. He wasn’t really following the story, anymore, but he did register at some point that his kids were apparently very spooked by something – and that’s what made stuff go sideways.
On screen, a jumpscare happened. Naruto, being Naruto, shrieked at the top of his lungs.
And Kakashi, a second ago mostly asleep but now very awake, bolted upright on reflex.
An open wound and sudden motion wasn’t a good combination. Pain exploded throughout the whole left side of his torso, creating dark spots in his vision. He balled his fists in the side of his sweater. Underneath his hands, the fabric became wet with blood.
A choked sound escaped from his throat, drawing his kids’ attention. “Sensei?” Sakura asked. “Are you okay?”
Kakashi nodded and breathed out as slowly as he could. His side was throbbing horribly. “You just startled me,” he said, hoping that the tremor in his voice could be written off as a scoff or maybe a startled chuckle.
Apparently, that didn’t raise any suspicion. “Okay, then,” Sasuke said. He paused the movie and stretched his hands above his head. “We should take a break, just to catch our breath. It’s getting pretty intense, and I don’t want anyone dying of a heart attack in my house.” He sent a pointed look towards Kakashi, who didn’t care enough to be offended. Being insulted by a twelve-year-old was not his biggest concern right now.
Sakura left to use the bathroom. As she walked away, Kakashi got up as well, hoping that he didn’t look as lightheaded as he felt. “I’m going to get a glass of water,” he said, because that was the first excuse he could think of to walk away into the kitchen.
He closed the door behind him and breathed out through gritted teeth. Trying not to make any sound, he leaned against the counter and carefully unstuck his sweater from the soaking wet bandages. His entire side was covered in blood; some had crept down and stained the waistband of his pajama pants.
He couldn’t leave it like that – the movie probably wouldn’t be finished for at least another hour, and he’d probably stain Sasuke’s furniture if he didn’t stop the bleeding fast enough. He had to change his bandages, and he had to do it fast, before anyone got suspicious.
He took the clean bandages from his pocket and put them on the countertop. It was easy to get to his wound; his bandages were soaked enough that they practically fell off of the cut. For a lack of a better option, he stuffed the bloody bandages into the front pocket of his sweater.
Exposed to the air, the cut stung even more. Kakashi hissed quietly through his teeth as he reached for the bandages on the countertop--
--and then the door slid open, revealing Sasuke.
Acting purely on instinct because his mind hadn’t caught up yet, Kakashi shoved the bandages into his pocket and yanked his sweater down to cover his wound. In his speed, however, he accidentally hit the wound with his hand. He swore loudly and doubled over, clasping his hands against his side and desperately struggling to breathe.
“Sensei!” he heard Sasuke shout. “Hey – what’s going on?”
“I’m fine,” he managed to utter, but even though he could barely hear his own voice over the rushing in his ears, he couldn’t imagine that he sounded very convincing.
“Shit,” Sasuke mumbled. “Naruto! Come help.”
Kakashi made no effort to keep protesting; there was no use, anymore. A couple of quick footsteps sounded, and then Naruto entered the kitchen as well.
“What--?” he began, but Sasuke cut him off.
“Let’s get Kakashi-sensei over to the couch, okay?” He frowned at Naruto. “I don’t know what’s going on, either. We need to be careful.”
A minute or so later, the boys had half-carried Kakashi over to the couch. He was sitting upright with his eyes squeezed shut, still clutching his side and waiting for the pain to ebb away. He’d heard Sakura come back into the living room, had heard her gasp and ask what was wrong, but the boys couldn’t give her an answer and Kakashi had said nothing.
Eventually, after at least five minutes of silence, Kakashi found his ability to breathe again. He carefully straightened up a little and looked at his students, who were watching him anxiously.
Kakashi cleared his throat and turned to Sasuke. “I’m sorry for bleeding on your couch,” he said.
Sasuke only sent him a glare. “I’ve cleaned blood off of this couch before, and I can do it again,” he replied, and then he asked, more quietly: “We should get you to the hospital, right?”
“Yeah,” Kakashi replied, tiredly. “You’re right.”
The four of them put on their shoes and left the house. Kakashi had thankfully gotten less dizzy over the past few minutes – he could walk just fine, as long as he didn’t jolt his side too much. His students walked very close to him regardless, in case they needed to catch him.
There were very few people outside; it was already around eleven in the evening, after all. It was dark, and most people were probably either at home or drinking in the busier parts of the village. In this silence, the four of them walked, slowly.
After a while, Naruto turned to him. “Hey, sensei?” he asked.
“Hm?”
“What… What happened, exactly?”
Kakashi sighed. “I guess that’s fair of you to ask.”
And so, he explained how he’d gotten injured during his mission, and that he hadn’t wanted to be late to the movie night because he’d let his kids down before and he’d felt so bad about it – he just didn’t want to let them down again. By the time he got to explaining that he’d meant to go to the hospital after the movie night had ended, his kids had started yelling.
Naruto was especially shocked about how he’d lied to the Hokage, Sakura called him an idiot to his face for not going to the hospital, and Sasuke mostly seemed baffled that Kakashi had found it necessary to lie to them about something important at all. And when Kakashi had stopped talking and his students were all shouting at him in the middle of the street, he numbly realized that while he’d tried so hard not to disappoint his students, he’d probably let them down even worse in the process.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly when everyone was done yelling and the silence had returned. He stared down at the ground. “I… really tried.”
“We know,” Sakura replied. “That makes it even worse, somehow.”
“What do you mean?”
She twisted her hands in the front of her dress. “Putting something as dumb as a movie night above your own health,” she said.
“I know,” Kakashi replied. “I thought…”
“You thought what?” Sasuke snapped. Kakashi flinched away from him; he hadn’t yelled at all, so far. He got a shock of pain for it, but he supposed he deserved that. “What did you think?” Sasuke continued, his face slowly going red. “That it’d make us happy if you bled to death in my living room? Because you didn’t want to be rude or whatever, or did you really think that we were that selfish? Did you think we’d stand over your grave and go, ‘well, he’s dead now, but at least he came to our movie night!’?”
“Sasuke,” Kakashi said. “It really wasn’t that bad.”
Sasuke glared up at him. “It could’ve been.” He scoffed and looked down. “For a moment, I thought it was.”
“It was never my intention to scare you.”
“I know. Just don’t ever do that again. Enough people have died in my house.”
In silence, they reached the hospital. Kakashi went inside; the kids stayed at the front entrance. The procedure took exactly as long as he’d expected: it took the medical-nin ten minutes to clean the wound, then a few minutes to heal it, and then twice that time to lecture him about walking around with a bleeding injury for hours. Kakashi mostly stayed silent throughout it all.
When he finally walked back out, it was fifteen minutes to twelve. His students were still waiting at the main entrance. Naruto raised his eyebrows at him in a worried expression.
“Are you okay, now, sensei?” he asked.
Kakashi nodded. “Yeah. Much better.” He put his hands in his pockets, noticed the painkiller wrapper and the unused bandage that were still there, and sighed. “Listen, guys. I’m really sorry for ruining your night – again. I really didn’t mean to – and if you want, we can finish the movie some other time…”
“Actually,” Naruto said with a grin, “sensei, we were thinking. Maybe we could finish the movie now.”
“If you want,” Sakura added. “My parents want me home by twelve, but I’ve decided that they can wait.”
“Let’s make at least part of tonight a little normal,” Sasuke said.
Kakashi huffed a laugh. “You know what,” he replied, “that’s actually a really good idea.”
The ending of the movie was totally unrealistic and predictable. It was a little scary, though, so Kakashi volunteered to walk Naruto and Sakura home. “You can be our human shield if we run into any psycho killers!” Naruto told him cheerfully, which was rude, but at least he wasn’t angry anymore.
They wished Sasuke a good night and then left for home. Once Naruto and Sakura were both in their homes, Kakashi went back to his apartment as well and got ready to go to bed. And as he studied himself in the bathroom mirror, he swore on his new scar that he’d never make his kids worry again.
-END-