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As Kakashi stood before the doors to the office of the most powerful man in Konoha, he again wondered, ‘what the hell are you doing?’
The doors opened and Sarutobi looked at him with folded hands, expectant and patient. The Hokage; the man Kakashi had vowed to protect with his life, the leader of his village.
Kakashi’s emotions clashed with each other.
[his Hokage. but. secretssecretssecrets. His pack. Sasuke. Sasuke.]
Ah, that’s what the hell he was doing. What right would he have to exist if he failed Obito even more by not being there for the last of his family? What right would he have to wield Obito's eye?
“Hokage-sama,” Kakashi got down to his knee, head bowed.
“Kakashi,” Sarutobi said, “I was surprised to hear you request a meeting. I have been hearing a lot about you from my ANBU these days.”
Kakashi was not impressed. ‘I was ANBU too’, he wanted to remind, ‘I was on my way to be ANBU Commander. I was loyal. I gave everything. So why?’
‘Why hide something this important from me?’
He wanted to shout; a family, his family, right there growing up alone as an orphan like Kakashi had. Obito’s eye meaning much more than Kakashi had ever realized. Did he even know what he was gifting Kakashi with?
Did he die alone knowing that he’d given Kakashi the key to his clan, the clan he had wanted to be a part of all his life.
However, Kakashi hadn’t been a Shinobi since he was five only to be the kind of man who gives in to emotions. Obito’s eye might’ve given him the name ‘Copy-nin’, but Kakashi was a stone-cold genius long before that.
And so, he kept calm, observed, and saw.
Saw the slightest increase in the number of ANBU in the room, sensed two of them to be foreign, not known to Kakashi; ROOT. Knew then, that Danzo was curious. Saw the Hokage light up his pipe again, knew it to be something he did before making difficult decisions.
And Kakashi knew deep down to his bones, the Hokage was going to take Sasuke from him.
It did not matter if it was the work of the Council or Danzo. The Hokage had allowed far too much. Kakashi had accepted Naruto held away from him, had accepted orders to never mention Sensei’s name to his child. He has accepted orders to not pursue Itachi further without question, even though he had been his kouhai. His responsibility.
This, however, Kakashi thought with his blood curdling, this he could not allow. Kakashi would gladly suffer solitude for Konoha, but to take away Sasuke’s family? Take it away a second time?
The boy would shatter forever; and that was not something he would accept.
Kakashi bowed his head lower, his face impassive, and slipped into the mind place that had saved him from suicide missions in ANBU.
“I apologize, but I know not what the ANBU tell you, Hokage-sama.”
“Surely you know, Kakashi? Shinobi talk of Hatake Kakashi housing a child.”
Kakashi didn’t falter at the bold statement, Hokage-sama had noticed the game Kakashi was playing, and upped his scales.
“I have three students, Hokage-sama, so, I am surrounded by children at all times,” Kakashi paused here, “Though, just last week, I had dinner with Sasuke-kun. I didn’t want him to go back to an empty compound after a mission like that.”
Sarutobi and Kakashi both knew what the words meant to incite. ‘An empty compound, the clan wiped out under your rule. Have pity for the boy, Sandaime-sama.’
“The other two genin are doing well then, Kakashi?”
‘You’re a sensei to three, do not pick favourites,’ the words warned.
Kakashi’s eyes curved, “Yes Hokage-sama, Naruto has been asking to meet you these days. You’re very precious to him, sir.”
‘Naruto trusts you, yet he’s kept in the dark. Please don’t do the same to Sasuke, Hokage-sama.’
Sarutobi simply puffed smoke through his pipe.
“Hokage-sama,” Kakashi began, ready to play his final card, “Sasuke-kun informed me of something interesting, and I asked for this meeting to beg that you could grace me with your wisdom about it.”
“Oh, and what is this about?”
Kakashi carefully kept his voice plain and unassuming, “Maa, he just mentioned something about his clan and the Sharingan’s connection, Hokage-sama. Something about old Uchiha law, the Sharingan stays in the clan, whoever might wield it.”
Kakashi had his eyes to the ground now, but he felt it the moment the man sank in his chair.
It was silent, and when the Sandaime spoke again, his voice was tired and old, the voice of a man who had survived and held up the weight of the world far too long.
“Yes, I was told about it by the Nidaime - Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Fugaku himself.” Sarutobi examined Kakashi's tense figure and continued, “It's not a commonly known law, since the Uchiha guarded their kekkei genkai fiercely, but there's a reason people married into the Uchiha clan and not vice versa. Anyone with a Sharingan must be in the clan, whether a part of it or in the ground in clan lands."
A pause.
"I assume you know this from young Sasuke, already?"
“Yes, Hokage-sama.”
The Sandaime sighed, “I do not know if it was a blessing or a curse for you to not know, Kakashi.”
“Hokage-sama?”
“I feared that the price of something already far too expensive would become too much for even you to carry. I couldn't afford my strongest to be broken of mind, Kakashi."
Kakashi chose his answer carefully, “Whether a curse or blessing, it is mine to bear, Hokage-sama.”
“You take on far too much, child.”
Kakashi looked up then, and in the kind face of the man who had given him his pack, felt his anger bleed out and begged, “Let me bear my curses and blessings, Hokage-sama.”
Sarutobi closed his eyes for a long time. Kakashi did not move an inch, even his heart felt like it had paused. Time slipped by like molasses and Kakashi felt it choke his insides, slip up to his throat as he lost his voice, felt it creep behind his eyes as they stung.
Then,
“You will house the boy?”
Kakashi spoke, nearly mindless with hope, “I have been thinking about re-opening the Hatake compound, Hokage-sama. It will be easier to host my students there, and make it convenient for me to teach them and guide them.”
“Is that so, my boy?”
He hadn’t. Had never wanted to enter that place again, to the tatami floor stained with his father's blood, but even as his mind screamed at him, Kakashi had never known anything as right. In the face of his tragedies, he felt brave.
“Yes, Hokage-sama.”
Sarutobi gazed at him with sad, all-knowing eyes, “Your curses and blessings indeed, Kakashi.”
Kakashi bowed his head, relief and fear humming behind skin that felt far too tight to contain the storm within him.
“Then so be it, you will open the Hatake compound again. I believe you know the laws of your village, Kakashi, if you take on three students under the clan name, and accept Sasuke as your personal ward according to Uchiha traditions, then you will sit in seat of clan head for both the Hatake and Uchiha name. I will be keeping watch.”
It was a punishment.
Kakashi who wanted nothing to do with politics, taking on the title of clan head, especially for the Uchiha clan since Sasuke was too young, would shake the council, shake Konoha's social order.
But Kakashi nodded his assent. They weren’t alone, the ANBU here would spread what had happened, and Sarutobi needed to maintain the Hokage’s supremacy when he had already submitted to Kakashi’s requests.
Time to pick up the children then, clan head – his mind supplied, and Kakashi wondered if giggling like a mad man would warrant another visit from Ibiki-san.
His life, as predictable, had descended into unpredictable chaos once again. This time he would not let harm come to pack, come what may.
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