Archive of Our Own ^beta

“So,” Tsunade says, signaling at the calendar in the front of her desk, “You have until the end of the month, Kakashi.”

Kakashi’s hands clench and relax in his pockets, pinching the fabric in order to dry the sweat.

“Everyone agreed that there was no one better than you, you just have to choose a day.” Tsunade crumples the paper. “It doesn’t matter which.”

Kakashi doesn’t appear to be amused at her words and gently scrunches his face into a scowl. He isn’t anxious to be Hokage. The war was over, he returned an eye to a schoolmate and friend, and the last thing his heart wants is to sit behind a desk and solve the problems of everyone around him.

However, Kakashi maintains a serious face. Everyday he can hear Obito saying that he will become the Hokage. And every day he can see Minato’s pride in him, murmuring that he would fulfill his team’s dream.

“I know it sounds complicated, but you will get used to it in time and before you realize you will be as committed as all the previous Hokages.” Tsunade appears to consider her own words, letting out a joyful laugh. “You will understand what I mean when you have spent many years leading Konoha, the time you spend as Hokage will pass very quickly.”

Tsunade laughs again, but the idea of spending many years leading Konoha turns around in Kakashi’s head like insects behind a spotlight and his fists close more tightly in his pants.

“I guess I’ll think about it.”

“You have to do more than think,” Tsunade notes gloomily, containing an implicit threat that slides off her tongue. “There’s no escaping from it, Kakashi. And honestly, I would like it if I were present when you receive the hat, so you have until the end of the month to choose a date.”

The calendar on Tsunade’s desk watches him with invisible eyes, and Kakashi ignores the pang of fear. The thread of responsibility makes him jaded, similar to the taste of sadness or pain.

But after everything, this also sounds very similar to Rin’s laughter and the quiet voices of the tombs that say such things, so loudly he can almost feel their hands pressing on his back. You are the next Hokage.

And Kakashi doesn’t have a chance of refusing that.

“Well then,” his eyes narrow, “I will choose a day as soon as possible.”

Tsunade straightens her back in the swiveling seat, and the hand pointing at the calendar taps a few times at the end of the month. Which is in about two weeks.

“Great.” Tsunade’s smile is a little bit jaded and mocking, but she also dreams calmly about the idea of leaving everything in Kakashi’s hands as if there were a valid reason to trust in him.

As if there was anyone else in Konoha who could take responsibility for the what he promised his old master and team.

The kid’s scandalized expressions last only a few minutes after Kakashi enters the room.

They have been following this routine since Guy woke up from his coma a couple of nights earlier, entering the room with shiny gifts and boyish speeches before leaving with the promise to return while Guy gives them the greatest encouragement in the world.

Kakashi does not go unnoticed in their conversation as he wants. It’s difficult trying to catch Guy up on what has happened in the last few months since he has been asleep. But Kakashi has arranged things so that the kids will keep the secret of his appointment as the next Hokage, at least until Guy is discharged.

After all, even his students know that Guy would freak out over the news of Kakashi’s new position, and this is no time for Guy to worry about him when he the only thing he should be focusing on is his recovery.

But maybe Kakashi does it because he is also a little bit selfish and talking with Guy is one of the few things than make him happy.

Guy is animated. Always with his vision focused on the future. And the stubbornness so present in his spirit makes Kakashi forget all about his nomination and everything outside this room and the promises he made, as if nothing exists except Guy’s silly stories and his need to stay positive.

“This is for you, sensei!” Lee shouts while he tears apart a plastic bag at the end of his visit, dropping a box on Guy’s lap. “In order to heal your spirit!”

Guy’s teeth dazzle, flashing pleasantly as his student while his hand forms a youthful and passionate thumb’s up in the air before holding up a CD player.

It seems that his students bought it with the savings from their most recent mission and TenTen gives him the only disc they have apparently managed to buy. “It’s ridiculous. You are going to love it.”

The CD case is shiny, but not the flashy kind that would make Guy want to start dancing, but rather something smooth that will help him come up with new words for his lectures about youth.

“Thank you, my beloved students, I will treasure it with all the strength of my spirit!” Guy presses the case against his chest and his tears moisten the sheets of his hospital bed and the bandages that are still healing his injuries.

Guy’s spirit has always been radiant, but it doesn’t seem like a bad idea for him to have some entertainment other than trivial gossip about their old friends and the romance novels that Kurenai bought.

“We hope you get better soon!” Lee raises his hands along with TenTen, and they leave together after Guy flashes a proud and powerful thumb, rubbing his eyes with the edge of his robe while Kakashi dismisses the children with a complicit gesture in order to keep an eye on him.

“My students are so considerate, don’t you think?” Guy sobs when the door closes, breathing deeply before looking at Kakashi with all the strength he has acquired in his physical therapy. “This is an incredible gift they have obtained on their first mission without me! I am sure that their lives will only begin to grow from this moment on!”

Guy’s words are full of pride and he brushes his fingers against the album cover when he lies back down, turning to look at Kakashi with a face much more honest than the invincible facade that he puts on in front of his students. “They make me feel anxious to recover and test this new and fantastic power they have acquired.”

Kakashi sighs, because “testing the new power” of his students should not be an option for Guy after everything that has happened in the hospital, but he smiles anyway, amused by the way Guy keeps talking so emotionally about absolutely everything. Including impossible things that somehow seem to make sense when he talks about them, so full of spirit and passion.

The way Guy speaks has always made Kakashi feel confused about life. It is, in the best case scenario, a crossword puzzle that makes him feel dizzy. And through the years, Guy’s affirmations have distorted his life enough that Kakashi believes every grandiose thing he says.

“Mhn, I am sure they will become very strong.” Kakashi leans against Guy’s shoulder, glancing at the CD case in order to read the white words on the blue background. It’s a simple design: a pretty scene of a snowy mountain. And the contrast of the winter trees conveys an undeniable sense of peace.

“Anyway, even if they don’t need me anymore, I’ll catch up with them when I resume my training.” Guy winks, as radiant as ever, and turns the album over in his hands as if it were a shuriken about to go flying towards an enemy at maximum speed.

“Mm-hmm, sure, sure.”

Kakashi rubs his nose against the mattress, lowering his shoulders in pleasure when Guy’s scent, mixed with antibiotics, makes him feel light-headed, as if he has become a different person, completely distant from the responsibilities of the Lord Sixth.

“Then what are we waiting for, Rival? Let’s listen to it right now!”

The box with the CD player spins in Guy’s fingers with the velocity of his sosetsukon and Kakashi watches him with skepticism for a few seconds before helping him pick up the tiny pieces that have fallen on the bed, taking care not to touch Guy’s injury when the cable of the headphones stretches across the hospital bed like a two-headed serpent.

“Come on, come here, Rival, let us enjoy this beautiful moment that destiny has allowed us to experience!” Guy’s hand smooths the pillow with a punch and slides across the bed to make space, signaling that Kakashi should sit down next to him.

And even if he is sure that the doctors wouldn’t approve of it, he lies down next to Guy, a secret between the two of them. 

Here, Kakashi isn’t Tsunade’s successor.

And Guy isn’t a man recovering after the war.

“Mnh, well, I guess this is better than reading those cheesy books.” Kakashi teases quietly and immediately slides onto the bed, cautiously putting his feet next to Guy’s legs and turning on his left side so they can look at each other.

“Only Human?” Guy reads the cover of the CD, opening the lid of the CD player while Kakashi arranges the headphones between them. “Such a curious name. What do you suppose it means?”

Guy’s eyebrows droop heavily over his nose and Kakashi simply shrugs his shoulders.

“I suppose we’ll find out.” He fits the headphone into his ear, offering the other to Guy before he inserts the disk and it starts to spin.

Neither of them are particularly big music fans. Music was considered a privilege for shinobi when they were kids, and the only music they heard were the shouts of war and the roar of the clans. But over the years, Guy learned to enjoy loud dance music while Kakashi prefers rhythms slow enough to remember later.

“Well, it’s just as TenTen said it would be,” Guy murmurs when the music starts, and Kakashi makes a sound as he grabs the CD case.

The image is extremely moving, almost nostalgic. It’s either an incredibly stunning or incredibly mundane place, the kind that makes you wonder where it is. In all his life as a shinobi, Kakashi has never seen a similar landscape, but judging by the snow, it could be somewhere near the Land of Iron.

On the other side of the world.

“I believe it is a marvelous photograph, don’t you think so, Kakashi?” Guy speaks very softly, trying to lower his voice as best as he can while he points at the snowy mountain and the trees that Kakashi can imagine sliding beneath his hands, with the cold flakes of snow scraping beneath his hands and the cold air tickling his nose. 

“Yeah, they did a good job with the lighting. I can almost feel myself freezing.”

A happy smile forms under his mask and Guy returns it with so much energy that Kakashi can’t help but stare at it, at the same time laughing simply because they are together.

Being able to see with two eyes again is fantastic. But being able to keep looking at Guy is even better, and Kakashi avoids blinking when Guy takes a deep breath and rubs his nose on the sheet, reducing the moment into something almost ridiculous for someone who is supposed to be in the hospital.

“Well then, how are your injuries today?” Kakashi twists in the small bed to lift his hand, completely distracted by the marks that the Eighth Gate have left on Guy’s skin, deep as the cracks of mud drying in the air.

It had been horrible. Guy had been left unrecognizable. But the excruciating pain from the burns had decreased after several days and the question is only a pretext for them to touch each other like super best friends.

“I feel wonderful, Kakashi! I’m practically healed, so prepare yourself immediately for some fabulous new challenges!”

Obviously, Guy is feeling completely honest and Kakashi laughs at his face, full of enthusiasm for climbing a mountain with his eyes closed, floating as always in the bubble that only exists between the two of them.

“Mnh, then prepare to lose.”

Guy’s hand twitches between his fingers when Kakashi gives him a teasing glance, but he doesn’t let go and only turns back to staring at Kakashi with that same intensity that makes him forget about everything else. Including very important things like colors, taste, and sounds.

The truth is, Kakashi is a little grateful. It has been many years since Kakashi thought Guy was just a weirdo, but they have become friends in their own way since childhood and before Kakashi realized, they were spending all their free time together.

Most of the time, they did silly things, but they had also been together in battles, in loss, getting into trouble and saving the day. Even crying, though more than anything, that was Guy’s thing.

Kakashi laughs at the strange way that after everything, they ended up lying here in a hospital bed, half bruised, relaxing together after a war.

“Well, Kakashi,” Guy hums and starts twitching his fingers, “what have you been doing when you’re not here? Your free days must be fantastic, the longest vacation that you could ever want!”

Kakashi chuckles and nods, with the time suspended in this way, the reality is he cannot tell Guy that he doesn’t have any free days and he spends his rare breaks with the shinobi counsel in order to come here.

“I’ve been around, you know, I’m a little tired of everything.”

Guy laughs loudly, making the bed vibrate as he raises his free hand in a motivating gesture. “I’m happy for you, my Rival! You deserve a dignified break after everything that happened in the war and with your old team. There is nothing more revitalizing than for a noble heart like yours taking some time to reflect on everything.”

Kakashi blinks a couple of times at Guy’s words, remembering his old team for a few seconds but they fade from his thoughts when he shakes his head and they disappear.

Outside the door, he can only hear the words of Obito, Minato, and Rin reminding him that he must achieve their dreams, but next to Guy he feels at peace with his old comrades. And for the first time in many years he does not feel guilty for forgetting about them while he is here.

“I am also eager to begin a new training, but I don’t have time.” Guy’s overgrown and badly-cut bangs twitch in affirmation, trembling as his wide chest fills with air. “I feel so good after this battle, Rival, even with this broken leg. It is as if I have finally achieved my destiny and I don’t have any pressure to do anything. It’s wonderful that neither of us have any responsibilities after nearly thirty years of serving Konoha! It’s... it’s a blessing to able to be here!”

Guy’s affirmation is a lie in so many ways that it makes Kakashi sigh, but in the moment that he breathes out, Kakashi has already forgotten any worries. “Fine.”

Their hands press together at the same time, as if they were about to have an arm-wrestling challenge, or as if Kakashi doesn’t want to let go because holding Guy’s hand makes him feel invincible. As if he could do anything or face anyone, even if he wasn’t able to protect Guy on their last mission.

“I’m sorry, Guy. If I had been stronger, you could be relaxing out there with me right now.”

“What nonsense you are talking, Kakashi! You were a hero and you did fabulous!” Guy turns to give a thumb’s up and squeezes his other hand all around Kakashi’s fingers. “I... really nothing could be as wonderful as you are, but this is why we are Eternal Rivals together, Kakashi! We will be together forever, always at each others’ side, and we will always complement each other in this way as we advance towards the future!”

He flashes another wink and erases the reminders of the war as if they had never happened, if Guy had never fought against Madara, if Kakashi had never had to see Obito and Minato die before his eyes once again. 

“Yeah, yeah.”

His eyes close for a bit, opening with a start when another track begins, and Guy’s eyes also widen, looking at Kakashi with a youthful spark of emotion.

“This... is a fabulous song, don’t you think?”

Kakashi’s head drags across the pillow and his hand closes around Guy’s with more care, tracing the injuries and scars when the sweet notes enter the depths of his heart as the music plays on.

“Mnh, yeah, it’s like...”

“Like flying!”

“Yes, as if it were ethereal.” Kakashi laughs between his teeth, closing his eyes again to follow the lyrics of the song and the diffuse piano notes. “It’s like... floating.”

Guy’s chest inflates, shaking the bed again like a cloud in the sky when he circles to raise the disc above his head, focusing his eyes on the scene and the beautiful mountains, so unlike anything they have ever seen or felt in their lives.

“What a marvelous feeling! It really makes me feel free, like I’m flying!”

Free. Kakashi feels a gentle pang in his heart and he slides closer to Guy in the bed, until their shoulders touch, twisting his neck a bit to look at the back of the CD case.

“It’s the song with the same name as the album.” His finger traces the tiny letters that he can only read using both eyes. “Only Human.”

Guy’s eyebrows scrunch together again in an enormously deep and meaningful thought about all his passionate feelings. And very slowly, his trembling fingers caress the title of the song before smiling with all his might.

“Yes, it really makes you feel just like that. The cover compliments the melody perfectly. It’s... an amazing work, I can almost believe that we are floating in front of those enormous trees, Kakashi!”

The high-pitched notes of the song fade and Kakashi nods to the lyrics, turning to trace Guy’s scars with the tips of his fingers as if he is caressing the clouds or the leaves.

To feel like this always. The idea makes him smile and the woman’s voice in the background makes him imagine crossing the mountain and the trees, he and Guy flying without ever touching the ground again.

“The top shelf is where we keep all the mission registries,” Tsunade explains and turns to the shelf, poking an old box with her fingernail. “The outdated archives have to be removed and sealed, but there hasn’t been time to clean anything out since Pain attacked us, though I do regret leaving you extra work to do, kiddo.”

The label classified is written in bright marker on the back of the box, and Kakashi doesn’t have time to say anything sarcastic before Tsunade points to the other side of the storage room.

“We keep all the mission registries for test missions there, which you also have to plan and... if you get three requests per day, prepare to sleep here.” Tsunade’s laugh is bitter and combines with the smell of old, wet paper. “It’s a pain in the ass.”

Her strong hands rest on her waist and she looks around as if she is thinking of something else to say, as if the thousands of earlier things were not enough.

“A system of scrolls would probably be easier for organizing the storeroom, but you know quite well that you won’t have time to improve anything Hiruzen left behind, so it’s still the same system my grandfather used.”

Tsunade’s heels click when she turns, tapping gently on the surface when she sees him.

“And please, stop making that bitter face or else you will end up scaring all the nations. Smiling sometimes won’t hurt you.”

Kakashi scrunches his forehead even harder when Tsunade makes fun of him, and it is obvious that he cannot completely hide his frustration and boredom with the endless talk about taking up the hat in a couple of days.

“It’s a question of practice. You’re young, so don’t complain.”

Kakashi only shrugs his shoulders and shoots an indifferent look at the boxes all around him, following Tsunade to the other side of the aisle where there is a library of jutsus and scrolls that only the Hokage can access.

“This might seem like a lot, but even I took the time to learn them, so take an hour or two per day after you take the hat to come here and study what they say,” Tsunade continues her lecture on the first shelf, taking down an enormous encyclopedia with the name Tobirama written in ink. “To be Hokage is a synonym for being ‘those who know everything’. So don’t let your predecessors down and read something else beside that stupid pornography.”

Tsunade’s words avoid her sadness about Jaraiya’s death, and she extends the encyclopedia towards Kakashi with an improvised movement that nearly makes Kakashi fall to the ground, stifling a groan when Tsunade mocks his protests again.

“You should be thankful that I’m here doing this, brat. Hiruzen was dead when I took the hat and I had to figure it all out for myself.” Tsunade squares her shoulders, taking a few steps forward. “This training is considered a luxury. Only you and Minato had it so easy... I suppose that being a spoiled Hokage suits the two of you.”

Tsunade’s words echo against the boxes and the memories of previous generations, but in reality they are too far away to hear.

Minato was definitely not a spoiled Hokage and Kakashi won’t pretend to be one either, especially because Kakashi wouldn’t want to be like his sensei. Minato knew how to lead. Minato was a fabulous Hokage who trusted his legacy in someone as bright and animated as Obito. He would have been a Hokage spoiled by the entire town, but Kakashi?

Honestly, it sounds like nonsense.

“Well, you know what they say, the faster you do it...” Tsunade doesn’t end her sentence, only lifting an accusing eyebrow when she stops at the edge of the small room field with the ancient secrets of the shinobi.

“Yeah, I’m still thinking about it.” Kakashi shrugs his shoulders and breaks the eye contact to look at another book, avoiding Tsunade’s skeptical gesture and groan.

“And by ‘thinking about it’, you mean you’re just avoiding thinking about it, no?” Tsunade crosses her arms and laughs at him, leaning casually against an old and wide counter. “You should stop acting like a child, Kakashi. You are being a brat for doubting this.”

Kakashi’s eyes flicker with the accusation and he looks at Tsunade between the enormous rows of shelves. This isn’t about him acting like a child or not. Kakashi simply wasn’t made to be a Hokage. He’d never wanted to be, regardless of the fact that Obito’s voice was now on his shoulders, repeating over and over that Kakashi had to achieve Obito’s dream before he could rest in peace.

“Listen, Kakashi,” Tsunade’s voice softens again and she takes a few steps back into the library. “I know it sounds like bullshit. Your life will not be the same as before and you won’t be able to do what you want, but there are so many things in play that only a shinobi like you can succeed in protecting Konoha, and everything else will become insignificant.”

There is a hint of flattery straining her voice as she speaks and Kakashi relaxes his face to enough to look her in the eyes.

“You are strong, so stop being a coward.” Tsunade’s hand punches him in the arm, making him trip towards the shelf with the name Hiruzen scrawled in ink. “After all, I suppose you’re not that much different from me.”

Tsunade’s chest rises as she sighs melancholically and she crosses her arms again, resting on the same shelf where Kakashi is tapping his fingernails.

“Those two lost everything, and you have nothing better to do than that.”

Apparently, Tsunade is trying to say something deep, but Kakashi rejects her words immediately, even if he himself had gone through exactly the same thing before the fourth ninja war.

There was no one left. He lost everything. His life had no meaning. Nevertheless, the only thing he can think about right now is that he wants to be lying in bed with Guy, forgetting everything else while imaginary snow falls all around them.

“Mnh, the job of Hokage shouldn’t be done by only one person.”

His words sound slack and rough, but Kakashi think about the Eternity he promised Guy, swearing that they would stay together, by each others’ sides for the rest of their lives.

And in some way, it’s as if becoming Hokage means he has to leave Guy’s side.

As if he had to choice.

“Don’t say anything weird, boy, you know quite well that the responsibility of a Hokage is to serve the village.”

Tsunade winks and punches him more gently, turning again to direct Kakashi to the next room.

The pillow on the bed where Guy is sitting is especially uncomfortable this afternoon and Kakashi rubs his head a couple of times, turning the CD case over in his fingers before looking at the calendar on the wall and gasping.

“This... is so touching!” Guy sobs at Kakashi’s side and makes him turn his head, making him forget his inauguration for a few seconds when the tears on Guy’s face practically make a puddle in the sheets. “We should listen to this song again, Rival! I have not had enough of this marvelous piece of art!”

Guy holds the CD player, rewinding the songs until he arrives at Only Human once more at the same time that Kakashi turns to look at the calendar, feeling disgust in his stomach when the deadline is so close. Only three days. In three days, there will be no going back.

Another sigh gets stuck in his nose and Kakashi closes his eyes in order to wait for the song to begin, blinking when Guy spins abruptly and adjusts the pillow to hold them both firmly.

“You seem thoughtful today, Kakashi. Has something happened on the outside that I haven’t heard about?”

Kakashi laughs and quickly denies that anything is wrong, even if all of Konoha is preparing for his ceremonial party, shooting Guy a friendly smile as he turns to look him in the face.

“No. I’m just bored.”

“Ah, I bet you must be bored of resting! An S-rank mission would be perfect for you now!” Guy crosses his arms in the air, full of exaggeration, and then looks at Kakashi with a much more honest and intimate face. “Or have you found something to do, Kakashi, and is that why you’ve been spending less time here?”

Kakashi sighs deeply, evading Guy’s gaze in order to look at the calendar and the lamp, letting the CD case stop spinning as he thinks about finally telling Guy the truth about the time Tsunade gave him to take the position of Hokage and all the paperwork he has been doing with the shinobi council in the mornings.

Guy will find out afterwards. And even worse is that Kakashi will not be able to come back here for some time after he takes his place as Tsunade’s successor.

Nevertheless, he laughs again and his head sinks into the pillow in a playful denial that makes Guy’s straight hair stand up with static electricity.

“No,” Kakashi says, “it’s just that I been thinking a lot.”

Guy nods slowly at his lie and turns to look at the CD player, passing his fingers over the miniature screen even if the pause button is activated.

“I... know that I am no longer of any use for anything, Kakashi, but at least I can listen to you.”

A painful sadness drips from Guy’s words, making his eyebrows twitch and Kakashi shakes his head again, not wanting Guy to think negatively after everything that after so much mutual suffering.

If Guy simply gives up, Kakashi won’t be able to do anything about his own pain, because he depends so much on Guy’s strength.

And Kakashi doesn’t want them to have to be apart for exactly this reason. His only desire is that they spend more time at each others’ sides. That no one will take Guy from Kakashi ever again after he has managed to get him back from the war.

After everything, probably the truth is that only with Guy is Kakashi truly strong. Authentically strong. In a way that makes him feel complete for once.

“Mnh, I thought that you were going to keep watching my back,” Kakashi responds to the depressing line with a joke, and Guy’s cheeks puff out before he laughs, giving Kakashi a small punch on the shoulder.

“Of course I am still going to do that! As soon as I get up out of this bed you will not have to spend so much time bored and alone. When I leave this place we will begin a 24-hour training routine!”

Guy lifts an arm with anticipation, and Kakashi rolls his eyes and leans back in the bed to keep from falling, once more looking at the lamp while thinking that even if he would like to spend 24 hours a day at Guy’s side, it will simply be impossible.

His slim brows scrunch together and he turns to face the calendar again, and they remain silent as if there were nothing he had to say. And even if Guy’s finger is caressing the tiny play button in circles, the music doesn’t start and their eyes meet again.

“What are you going to do next, Guy?” Kakashi takes off the headphone and Guy does too, abandoning the CD player at his side in order to turn in a way that distorts their faces from the closeness.

“Training!” His teeth sparkle in all their splendor and his scarred thumb sticks up. “Now that my students have their own missions I will have plenty of time to fortify myself!”

Kakashi swallows and sees an intensity and a love for life in Guy’s eyes, sparkling like the reflection of the sun on the water in a way that makes Kakashi want to sink into that feeling.

He would sink deeply enough that he could dream for himself for once.

“Mnh, yeah, but I was referring to something besides that.” Kakashi finally takes a courageous breath and he straightens up on the mattress, looking at Guy with such seriousness that he has to curl up and return to the pillows. “Guy, what is your plan for when you leave here?”

Guy’s eyebrows tremble before squeezing together and he looks at Kakashi as if he doesn’t understand the question. They are shinobi. His dream is to protect the village. They’d never thought further than becoming the strongest shinobi in the Land of Fire. Strong enough to fight Madara and seal Kaguya.

And the two of them had already accomplished that.

The two of them had accomplished more than that.

“I... I don’t know, Kakashi, I suppose I could...”

“What if we ran away?” The question tickles on Kakashi’s tongue like he’s swallowed ants and he closes his mouth with a click of his teeth, afraid of his own words at the same time that the irrational desire to be free compels his spirit and makes him smile.

“W-what?” Guy’s eyes open wide and he stares at Kakashi as if he were crazy. Crazier than all the crazy things they’ve done and said for the last 30 years and crazier than anything that Guy has ever hear before.

And even if Kakashi’s rational mind knows that in reality, this is a mad idea and he should take it back, he doesn’t. He doesn’t what to have to choose. He doesn’t want to have to choose anything ever again. And his hand is trapped firmly in Guy’s.

“We can pay for everything, Guy—we don’t owe anything to anybody. And with the kids here, they don’t need us to protect Konoha either.”

The pinch of truth mixed into his words makes Guy’s face soften and Kakashi’s head begins to throw new sparks, filling him with a dangerous and immature enthusiasm that there is endless time for them to do whatever crazy training they want, whenever they want.

“Are... you being serious, Rival? You really want to leave right now?” Guy leans back against the metal bedframe as if, like any respectable shinobi, he were oblivious to the idea of leaving the village, but Kakashi can feel the strength growing in his hand. The adrenaline. The emotion. The dreams. “I mean to say, you always...”

“Oh hell, Guy, nothing here matters to me anymore.” Kakashi is getting ahead of himself with his emotional outburst and he rolls his shoulders up to rest on the metal railing alongside Guy as if all those years crying after his team no longer had meaning.

And it probably doesn’t. Now Kakashi knows perfectly well that Obito, Minato, and Rin are fine. Sasuke came back. And Sakura and Naruto have become strong.

“We are free.”

The word seem to ignite something in Guy’s heart and his fingers squeeze Kakashi’s with all the strength in his hand, jumping on the mattress as he squares his shoulders and stabs the air with a youthful punch.

“I... definitely want to!” Guy shouts with all his strength, and his smile widens as if he is already planning an endless parade of challenges that they can do together. “There are many places that I could never go during my earliest youth! But now we can be free and go wherever in the world our hearts tell us to go!”

Kakashi laughs and his feet shake with emotion when he himself begins to ramble, remembering sites where he has always wanted stop and thinking about all the places they can go, walk, sleep, camp, live...

“Guy,” Kakashi gasps, his own thoughts hectic as he lifts the CD case between them, indicating the mountain that makes them feel so free, “what if we went looking for this place?”

Inevitably, tears break out on Guy’s face like a waterfall and make a small puddle on his lower lip, falling when he determinedly lifts his face to the future.

“Ah, that is a marvelous idea, Kakashi! Typical of the man who is my valiant destiny!” Guy’s eyes reflect the blue of the cover art, while also appearing to reflect Kakashi’s expression, feeling the wind in the trees exactly like him. “Let’s do it, Rival! Let us visit this beautiful country that has grabbed our heart so deeply!”

Guy places a trembling hand over the bandage on his chest and Kakashi laughs softly as he grabs it in his own hands, swallowing, and when he closes his eyes he can almost smell the humidity of the wood, the snow, the pines, the coffee and smoke coming from the chimney of a small and warm house.

“Mnh, and what if we do more than that?” One of Kakashi’s eyes open to look at Guy in defiance, and that mystery only seems to make Guy even more emotional about the idea of running away. “I think we could build a house somewhere around there. We could grow vegetables and train in the woods. We don’t need anything else.”

Guy swallows his mucus with when his dramatic crying intensifies and he lifts both fists, smiling with the happiness of someone who has been given a new beginning.

“Yes! We can stay and live in this place after we have traveled the world! It’s... it’s so amazing, Kakashi! Nothing will ever haunt us again.”

Nothing will ever haunt them again. Kakashi’s mind floats adrift with this idea for a few seconds, feeling free when he imagines himself without responsibilities, without fear, without the past, just the two of them and that song in their head every time they see the mountains, and every time that Kakashi arrives home with firewood, Guy will start the fire, chatting about the same things as always while the outdoors fade away and the ghosts with all their forgotten promises sleep far away in their tombs in Konoha.

“Mnh, yeah. We could do whatever we want there.”

His eyes close with the prospect of doing what he’s always wanted. His dream, and not the dream of another. Now, for the first time, Kakashi wants something of his own, something very similar to flying.

Guy appears to freeze for a few seconds from all the things he is imagining before he punches Kakashi and leans over him, lowering his voice all of a sudden as this is all a huge and dangerous secret.

“But, Rival, how do you suppose we are going to do it?” Guy’s raspy voice, full of secrecy, makes Kakashi laugh, because it doesn’t matter how much time has passed, Guy is still lousy at talking about anything discreetly. “Lady Tsunade definitely won’t discharge us... I very much doubt that Izumo and Kotetsu will let us leave through the main door... I’m stuck in this bed and...”

Guy’s face darkens when he remembers his injury and it almost seems like he is immediately giving up, looking at his leg in frustration because he cannot jump out the window and run away to this magical place by his own account.

“Great, just leave it to me.” Kakashi winks at him gently and hums with the arrogant and intelligent demeanor that always makes Guy nervous. “I’ll take care of everything so that we can leave.”

“But...”

“Guy,” Kakashi gives him a pat with his hand when he sees the gentle scrunch of Guy’s lower lip, looking at him with a bored, narrow-eyed expression as if they aren’t literally planning on becoming deserters. “Everything will be fine. I’m going to look for our things and I’ll come by for you after midnight.”

Kakashi’s smile turns sharp as that of a very pretty fox, growling when Guy’s face fills with shock.

“You are... talking about tonight?” Guy’s eyebrows shoot up, squeezing the words through his teeth in a strange whistle that tries to be a discreet murmur and totally and completely fails at everything.

“I suppose so.” Kakashi’s eyes close in a tranquil half-moon. “Don’t you always say that there’s no better time than now?”

Guy smiles a bit at that, pouting again and making Kakashi laugh hard enough that he can’t think about the only reason that they need to flee tonight, which is that the council is going to name him as the next Hokage in only three days. And Kakashi has to be at least on the other side of the world at that moment.

“Or perhaps you’re afraid, Guy-kun?” His words try Guy’s patience and he puffs out his cheeks and shrugs his shoulders again, leaning against the metal headboard before laughing.

“Yeah, as if that would be enough to stop me! I will be more than ready for your arrival or else I will carry all our luggage myself until we arrive at the place in the photograph.”

Kakashi rolls his eyes and hums in affirmation, nodding at him one more time before going back to looking at the album, imagining that they are there again, just the two of them, without having to think about anything else.

Kakashi arrives at Guy’s window at a quarter after midnight. His days as an ANBU guard were gloomy and majorly horrendous, but at the same time they made him learn the shift changes and the habits of the usual guards in a way that allows him to climb the wall without being seen by the elite patrol.

The darkness is a fabulous ally, but Kakashi is one of the best ninjas even without the Sharingan and he taps lightly on Guy’s window from the blind spot between the trees, greeting him with a hand when Guy crosses the room with a crutch, looking absolutely surprised to see him as a part of him had been sure that Kakashi was going to change his mind.

But Kakashi isn’t going to back down. This time, there is no doing things halfway. It’s govern Konoha or stay with Guy. And Kakashi had almost immediately made his choice.

“Kakashi, are you sure you can get down now?” Guy murmurs quietly, leaving the crutch leaning against the wall to hold onto the windowsill.

And even if it appears that he is having doubts about this decision, Guy is ready to run away. Or at least he has a pair of blue pants in place of the robe and a sweater that some nurse had to give him when he falsely complained about the cold only because he had to be covered when they crossed the village in the middle of the night.

“Completely sure.” Kakashi smiles, signaling towards the bag on his back with their clothes, food, and all the money that he found in his apartment and Guy’s. “But we only have ten minutes to get out of here.”

Guy nods, looking back at the hospital bed a moment before filling himself with determination at the idea of fleeing, handing Kakashi the CD player before jumping through the window, landing on his shoulder with a tight, firm grip that leaves a pair of furrows on Kakashi’s skin, but he accepts them without complaining.

“Great, let’s get out of here,” Kakashi murmurs in the lowest voice he can, letting Guy carry the backpack on his own shoulders in order to get a better grip on Kakashi before giving him a tactical nod to leave.

If they discover them near the hospital, they will lie that this is only some stupid mischief between two old friends. But if they discover them after crossing the gates, they will turn into deserters, in the same way that Itachi and Sasuke had... even Madara himself had sometimes been. A renegade. An enemy of Konoha.

Kakashi’s throat closes and he feels Guy swallow his spit when he grabs onto his back for the last stretch over the hospital wall, possibly thinking about the same things as Kakashi when he looks behind them once more with an expression of fear and premature regrets.

They don’t say goodbye or thanks to anyone. But... it’s not as if they couldn’t live without it. One day, their students will forgive them. And they can wait for that moment together while enjoying their freedom from the other side of the world.

Guy sighs with the hopes he has placed on this fantasy and closes his fists when Kakashi lands in the backyard, finally accommodating to Guy like a horse and holding his legs with the intent to avoid doing any more damage to his injury.

“I’m sorry, Guy, I have to be quick or else we’re never gonna get out of here.”

Guy smiles and nods, wrapping his hands around Kakashi’s neck before he starts to move between the trees, dodging the places where he knows the ANBU guards could be paying attention.

And Kakashi is fine. After all, he’s running away from being Hokage. But instead of leading a city that has never understood him, Kakashi has decided to abandon the village with the only person he has ever truly wanted. Well, that was totally reasonable, wasn’t it?

Yes. He supposes that’s the answer, and he would even carve a line over the symbol of the Leaf Village on his hitae-ate if Guy asks him to.

He would do anything.

Including jumping into the unknown.

Guy seems to enjoy the fresh air, smiling when they jump over the rooftops together, across all the houses that they will never see again and their silhouettes block out the light of the full moon before they enter the training grounds surrounding the woods, flying like moths toward the flame.

This is the last stretch before freedom, and even if a part of Kakashi wants to turn around for one last look at the village, wants to doubt, Guy’s hands press against his neck and all of a sudden he doesn’t want to be anywhere else than by Guy’s side. Far away from here. Where the fantasy of spending 24 hours together doesn’t have to be an illusion, but rather a dream that has finally come to life.

Where no one can ever take it away.

The guards at the entrance don’t seem to notice his flickering speed as Kakashi jumps over Konoha’s walls, holding Guy against his body with all his strength before throwing himself into the woods furthest from the village limits.

Further away from the prison and the prohibitions and the past and all his responsibilities.

Away from always having to lose and always having to choose.

To a world where there is more value and power in being nothing more than a man in a bed.

“Mnh, then, are you ready to scale that mountain?”

Kakashi straightens his posture, smiling at Guy over his shoulder when the clouds part and the light of the moon lights a silver path in front of their feet.

“Yes.” Guy’s breath is warm against Kakashi’s ear, and somehow all this sneaking around has made him breath more deeply. “More than ever.”

Kakashi laughs and hums, immediately choosing the best route to escape from Konoha as quickly as possible, en route to a place where they will be allowed to live and to dream.

Kakashi stops when the midday sun shines through the bright leaves on the edge of the Land of Fire.

They are five hours short of crossing the river at the border and becoming official deserters of Konahagakure, but they have a 12-hour head start against the ANBU guards and it seems safe enough to take a break so Kakashi loosens his grip on Guy’s legs, gently sliding him to the ground next to a tree trunk.

It’s colder than he imagined but at the same time there is a light sheen of sweat on his back that chills him when Guy hops away from him to lean against a tree before sitting down on a large rock and sighing with exhaustion.

Of course, Guy has not taken a single step, but Kakashi has not been gentle on the way here. Hesitating means the ANBU will catch up with them. And treating Guy with care would leave tracks that Konoha dogs would pick up on immediately.

“This... has been quite an energizing walk, Rival! It has been some time since I have felt so alive!” Guy says in a constipated voice and wraps his arms around his chest, sneezing a couple of times, probably already affected by the cold air and the sweat from where their bodies were pressed together.

Of course, Kakashi doesn’t acknowledge it and neither does he respond to the words full of youthful energy. The ANBU had to have noticed Guy’s absence around one in the morning and perhaps after informing Tsunade, she herself noticed Kakashi’s absence around 5 o’clock.

Which is actually even better. It has taken them exactly as long to escape to this place from Konoha as two healthy jounin-level shinobi could expect.

And soon, Kakashi will cross the border and they will both be traitors. Completely free.

His lungs burn from the cold air and he feels a pinch on his skin when the sweat on his back begins to drip and freeze in the freezing wind blowing from the north mountain, making Guy suddenly sneeze behind him.

“They don’t know what route we took, although they are separated in at least three groups of trackers,” Kakashi murmurs more to himself than to Guy, and he removes the map from his pants in order to assure himself that they are on the right road to the Land of Iron.

Obviously, Tsunade will assume that they are only pretending to flee, but their escape route is completely unpredictable for her or any other shinobi and none of the watchguards will be of any use when not even Tsunade knows where they running to.

And once they cross the border... they could be anywhere in the world.

Guy sneezes again and Kakashi feels his own goosebumps cause a tickle in his nose when the wind blows and wrinkles the map, obliging him to hold it by the corners in order to memorize the route towards the last base.

Exactly five hours.

His sneeze turns into a slight nasal drip and Kakashi blows to clear his nose, perceiving the odor of the food bars that Guy must have already found in their gear and which he is eating tranquilly in his spot.

After all, they left at midnight and they both need to eat and rehydrate before they continue. The next stop on their journey will be when they arrive at the Land of Iron and Kakashi needs to be completely ready to follow while carrying Guy, the equipment, and the guilt.

His heart squeezes when he turns back to glance at the road, thinking vaguely about Naruto and Sakura leaving in search of them along with Lee and TenTen, because all the children probably believe that their senseis could not possibly be such cretins that they would abandon Konoha without saying a single word.

Maybe Naruto will keep searching for them for days. And perhaps he will be sad for having lost Kakashi so soon after finally having recovered Sasuke, but Kakashi couldn’t say anything to anyone. Not to them nor Guy’s team, which is still crying disconsolately at Neji’s grave and now have to live their lives without the presence of the only adult who cared for them like a father.

His hands are sweating despite the cold, and Kakashi cleans the moisture off them in the pockets of his pants while thinking about how mad Tsunade will be when she realizes that they are really gone. Kakashi didn’t want to be Hokage, despite all the words and promises and memories, the photo of Minato in the office, and Obito and Rin’s tombs.

But Kakashi isn’t going to apologize. Tsunade doesn’t have any more options for a successor until Naruto is ready. And Naruto won’t be able to do anything more than understand and accept another loss at this stage of his life but the difference between that boy and Kakashi is that Kakashi can’t take it anymore.

If he has to lose anything else, he will not be able to bear it for any longer.

The noise of the few things in the backpack mixes with the air and Kakashi guesses that Guy must be rearranging what they’re carrying, perhaps searching for one of his super-dynamic jumpsuits to change into when they arrive in the Land of Iron, or perhaps he is making sure that Kakashi is completely committed to the idea of leaving the past behind.

“You... really have prepared for everything, Kakashi,” Guy murmurs behind him, laughing briefly and emotionally when he realized that Kakashi has not brought the photograph of his team. This, more than anything, at any time, is proof that Kakashi has really left the ties to his ghosts behind, inside the Konoha city limits.

“Mhn, I don’t need the rest of it anymore, not if we’re going to a place where we can just be ourselves.”

Guy laughs loudly, cutting his laugh short with another sneeze, wiping his face with the palm of his hand before taking another food bar from the box that Kakashi has tied firmly to the backpack.

Kakashi’s stomach also growls with eagerness at the smell of the food pills, but his eyes look toward the road once more and he thinks about everything all over again, almost feeling anxious when he wonders whether Tsunade will really wait for Naruto or simply elect another Hokage, and if so, who. It must be a person that supports the village, someone... someone...

No. His eyes close. The cold air rustles the hair underneath his bandana and Kakashi extends his hands slowly.

He doesn’t want to think about everyone else now. He doesn’t want to worry about everyone else and not receive the same courtesy. He doesn’t want to have to postpone his own dreams and the only thing he needs to focus on right now is what he wants, what will make him happy, about what he will...

Guy’s next sneeze is much more forceful and Kakashi turns, opening his eyes wide when Guy’s face pales, covered in a fine layer of cold sweat that makes him look as wet and strange as if he has just stepped out of an ice-filled river.

“Guy, are you OK?” Kakashi moves his ear away from the road and puts away the map, moving closer to the rock when he notices the strange color of Guy’s scars.

“Stupendous, Kakashi. I’m just a little cold, but that’s nothing that my heart cannot warm!” Guy’s smile sparkles, but he also looks bruised, like the fragile wings of a butterfly crumpled in the hand of a child.

Kakashi sighs and shakes his head, thinking about taking out the medicine he brought with him to alleviate Guy’s discomfort before it becomes a much worse cold and they have to go to a doctor in the Land of Iron just because Guy’s clothing isn’t warm enough to keep out the cold at night.

Anyway, when Kakashi crouches in a squat in front of Guy, he can feel him, and only a second later, he notices it, gritting his teeth when he realizes that the inside edge of the bandage on Guy’s leg is bloody, staining the thin hospital pants in the shape of the scar where his toes used to be.

Guy doesn’t seem to have noticed his own injury and he looks toward the trees, closing his eyes to enjoy the breeze with a tired smile that also conceals the erratic tremors caused by the fever that Kakashi can feel clearly now that he has stopped running and he realizes that the bloody bandage is a sign that the lesion has opened.

A sign that Guy is still in too much pain, practically agonizing, and that if Kakashi takes him out of Konoha he is not going to survive.

The pain in his chest makes him stop breathing and lowers his head to the ground, holding his hands in the closure of his backpack while looking at the sand and the thin grass with empty eyes, thinking inconsolably about his regrets one more time.

“Guy,” Kakashi speaks very quietly, lifting his face to look at his best friend, who is now looking a little green, “where do you want to go?”

Guy’s skin looks strangely opaque, but he lights up at the question anyway, taking a breath and ignoring the agonizing tremors he must be feeling as he settles on the stone and lifts a hand towards the place where he knows that the Land of Iron is waiting, that magical place where anyone can achieve their dreams.

“Obviously I want to see that mountain, Rival,” Guy sighs, and then his hand forms a fist when the tremors nearly block out the pain, “but if I am being honest with you, I am not interested in any particular place! I will go where you go, Kakashi.”

He winks happily and seems eager to keep walking, as if he must take advantage of every moment that he remains conscious before he enters a coma. Or even something worse.

“Mmh, it sounds like you are only doing this for me.” Kakashi looks once more at the ground, opening his fists when Guy takes too long to respond, breathing with difficulty when he slumps his shoulders and looks in the opposite direction from Konoha.

“The only thing that I want is to remain by your side and for you to be happy. I am more than ready to go where your heart says we must go!”

Guy straightens his shoulders, combing his bangs to part them to one side. He looks full of determination and madness, completely ready to confront anything that could get between the two of them even if Kakashi can see his leg is leaking drops of blood on the grass.

“You don’t have to do anything just because I want to, Guy.”

Guy looks at him, and Kakashi lifts his face up too, shying away from the drop of blood and probably showing a face so full of worry that it makes Guy laugh, rejecting the line with shaking hands as if he had never worried about anything else.

As if everything was perfect and not as if Kakashi knew that Guy was going to pass out and die in the hospital in the Land of Iron after they have been unable to return to Konoha for being deserters.

“Listen, Rival, I know that sometimes we have not been the best of friends and I am always trying to convince your heart to believe in what I believe, but... even if I am only an old and meddlesome idiot, I cannot approve of the way you lie to people and hide how you are feeling, even if it doesn’t matter now that I cannot do more than hear you out and accompany you to achieve your dreams, I will stay. I will follow you. I will be at your side until you are satisfied!”

Kakashi scrunches his eyebrows and realizes how stupid he was, finally understanding that Guy knew perfectly well that he was going to die if he abandoned the hospital, and he had still agreed to accompany him.

Because Guy was sacrificing himself on principle just so that Kakashi could be happy.

“Why did you do it?” Kakashi is stuffed up, wiping his nose on his hand and feeling like a delusional idiot whose dreams has been taken away, and the feeling only gets worse when Guy takes a deep breath and looks at him with a face full of kindness and understanding.

“I am sorry, Rival, I think that this useless and mistreated body will hold out at least until we arrive at the mountain and then I can die with the satisfaction of having seen you achieve one of your dreams.” Guy’s hand touches his shoulder, giving it a squeeze when Kakashi lowers his head between his knees and moistens the grass with something more than Guy’s blood—his own tears. “You seem too emotional, you... You have never had a dream of your own, nor have you ever desired something with so much passion. And this is the first dream that I have heard you desire, and this is why I want you to have it! I want you to be a free man who does not need anything from your previous life! I... I want to see you become a new man.”

Guy winks at him, making Kakashi lift his face to see his determination to gives away his heart even if it costs him his life just so...

“But why? A dream, freedom, to be yourself?”

Guy’s hand crosses his shoulder, moving away when he covers his nose to sneeze, hiding mucus filled with blood so that Kakashi cannot figure out whether he is bleeding on the inside and if the overwhelming pain does not kill him, then the fever will, or the exhaustion, or the grief.

Obito and Rin never speak when he is with Guy, but this time Kakashi can feel them at his back, making him terribly sad when another drop of blood touches the ground.

And he realizes that he does not want any of these things. It was selfish. It was a childish and infuriating impulse because Kakashi was still too afraid of just doing what the rest of the world told him to do and he was afraid to lose himself.

That’s why he wanted to flee to a place where he could just be himself. Not a student, teacher, or friend of anyone.

Only him.

Only him.

Guy continues to pat him, and Kakashi lifts his head out from between his knees to look Guy in the face even while he is looking at the landscape, caressing Kakashi in view of the birds and the leaves all around them and making Kakashi forget about everything for a second and...

Oh.

Kakashi also looks at the landscape, and when he thinks about that mountain he can feel the bark of the trees in Guy’s hand which is stroking his neck very quietly.

“You have always done more than hear me, Guy.” His voice is clear, and Guy looks at him with a strong smile that attempts to hide his pain. “Whenever I look at you, I feel like I could reach the clouds just by raising my arms because you make everything sound so ridiculously easy.”

Guy’s face softens and it seems like he wants to cry or say something else, but Kakashi stops him before he can say a word and grabs Guy’s hand on his shoulder, touching the scars like they are already lovers whose passions are igniting once again.

“I wanted to find a place where I could just be myself, but... I already have it.”

“Eh?” Guy blinks, lifting his face when Kakashi stands up and casually shoves his hands into his pockets, smiling so hard that his eyes crinkle at the same time that his smile turns honest.

“You are truly incredible, Guy, and when we are together I forget everything else in my life... and I believe nothing in the word is complete until you are there to look at it with me.”

Kakashi tilts his head, giving him an embarrassed smile as he shyly scratches his cheekbone.

“You are so brave and strong... and I love the way you are, Guy. I really like it.”

“What?” Guy’s eyes open wide, and Kakashi smiles slightly and scratches his cheek with a pinch of youthful shame, showing Guy a smile full of happiness and kneeling down on the stone in front of him before he can ask Kakashi what he means.

“Well, we should get going, if we make good time Tsunade won’t be too annoyed.”

His words are firm, and his knee sinks into the ground a bit when he signals Guy to get on his back and they begin their return to the village before ANBU catches them so far away.

“What are you saying, Kakashi?” Guy is balancing on the rock, grabbing the backpack but at the same time looking like he has no idea what to do after all that conversation. “We’re going to the Land of Iron to find the mountain!”

Kakashi’s head hangs in a refusal to answer and he wraps his arms around Guy with something like tenderness, digging both knees into the grass to get in a better position to avoid hurting Guy any more than he already has.

“That doesn’t matter, Guy.”

“But... what about your dream?”

His dream. Kakashi’s lips curve into a smile and he turns to look at Guy, twisting his smile into a sigh.

“Well, I believe I have already found my own mountain.” Kakashi winks at him, giving him another signal to climb up. “And my dream is not complete without you, so get your ass up.”

Guy smiles again, or maybe the fever is too sudden and has made him look too nervous, with his nose stained with color and his cheekbones are slightly darkened from Kakashi’s bold statement.

Nevertheless, Guy obeys. Of course he does. Guy will follow him until Kakashi is satisfied even if it means coming or going or staying or disappearing.

As long as they’re together.

The outpost on the border of Konoha is through the trees and Kakashi finally sighs and loosens his hold on Guy’s legs, helping him to rest against a tree before giving the guards a signal that he can see them.

He has hidden from everyone for more than twelve hours, but now he is a little desperate for medical attention before Guy vomits again and all his insides turn into a mess of guts.

“Listen here, I believe I have them!” the jounin shouts from the vast watchtower, loud enough to travel through the woods, and Kakashi rests timidly next to Guy, hoping the reinforcements have only been searching for him since he decided to just leave the village.

“Well, I guess we did it,” Kakashi laughs as if this whole thing hasn’t become a disaster for the council of shinobi and he hums when the two watchmen start to run, something that probably means that Tsunade will be here at any moment.

“Yes, although it’s unusual that that there are so many people around even if we left, don’t you think?” Guy gasps a little, feeling that all the people are beginning to convene around them. “It’s almost as if...”

“He is the Sixth Hokage! Lord Sixth came back!”

Guy’s mouth shuts with a click and he immediately looks at Kakashi, blinking with surprise when the guards begin to shout that the Sixth Hokage has returned, pointing at Kakashi as they run in what is clearly a high-level ninja formation.

“You... are going to be the Sixth Hokage, Rival?” The shock in Guy’s voice is painful, and the accusation in his eyes makes Kakashi hide against the tree and give him a shameful smile when Guy finally appears to understand everything that has happened these last few days. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Guy readjusted himself against the tree, suddenly looking indignant and even more embarrassed than Kakashi himself when he opens his eyes wide and points towards Konoha.

“But... you told me that you didn’t want to look out for anyone! Are you truly going to abandon Konoha even if you have been elected at the Lord Sixth just to elope with me?”

Kakashi shrugs his shoulders, winking playfully at Guy before returning his gaze to the communication post, feeling Tsunade approaching with her two ANBU guards in a frenzy. That probably means all of that business about being the Hokage probably won’t matter after this.

Kakashi isn’t going to be a coward. He will pay the consequences for his stupidity, and if Tsunade and the council decide to remove him or even demote him after he tells them that he only wanted to leave in order to spend more time with his friend, he’s not going to complain.

“Kakashi!” Lady Tsunade’s voice arrives before they can see her, but no matter how far away she is, she is diving in front of them from the edge of the clearing. “What the hell were you thinking?”

Tsunade’s fury slaps him like a blast of water and he almost hopes that Tsunade will hit him for real for having run away in the middle of the night after he’s learned so much confidential information about Konoha. Even so, Tsunade is still the Fifth, and in reality, he knows it is logical for her to express her fury in a better way. Kakashi is in agreement with this, even lowering his shoulders so Tsunade can beat him until she tires of it.

He deserves it. He risked Guy’s life for nothing. And he also risked Konoha’s reputation and customs just because he was afraid that he could never be himself.

“Do you have any idea what this means?” Tsunade pokes him with her index finger, shortening the distance between them and looking even more annoyed than she had when Kakashi was simply staring at the ground. “What is going on in your head, Kakashi? Your official appointment is in two days. If the Daimyo finds out what you did, we are going to be paying a very dear consequence, just because you decided to act like that spoiled student of Minato’s, always thinking as if you’re a stupid child who doesn’t understand—”

“I’m sorry, Lady Tsunade.” Guy’s voice cuts Tsunade off abruptly, and Kakashi immediately turns to see him jump to his feet in front of all the guards and straightening with pride and courage. “Everything is my fault. I asked Kakashi to bring me here.”

Tsunade’s face, red with anger, looks at Guy, and it almost seems that she is made enough to tell him to shut his mouth and stay out of the situation, but the determination in Guy’s movement stops her and even makes Kakashi remain frozen, not understanding what Guy is saying.

“Now that he will be the Sixth Hokage, we will not have time to go out together like best friends, and so I asked him to go to the river one last time. The mornings in this place are gorgeous.” Guy nods, gesturing to the nearby river. “Regrettably, due to my injury, it took us longer than necessary, my Lady. I am very sorry, our intention was never to cause any problem, I just wanted to feel alive one last time now that I can no longer walk.”

Guy lowers his head formally in an apology full of decorum, maintaining his balance perfectly well considering the fever and the dizziness his injury is causing.

“So if there is anyone you must scold, it’s me. I begged Kakashi to carry me on this walk, so I am the only one at fault! And I am ready to accept the consequences for myself even if this means I will lose my hite-ate as a shinobi.”

Tsunade’s eyebrows shoot up, looking at them both with doubt as if she does not know what to believe after she sees the terrible stain on the bandage.

And despite the fact that Kakashi is just as surprised as Tsunade, he simply smiles at her and looks around innocently.

“Mnh, I didn’t think that a walk with my friend would drive you all crazy,” Kakashi says, playing along with the game and sighing when he hears a guard saying that this sounds like one of Guy’s usual whims. “But if you think that it’s a very serious crime, Tsunade-sama, you can tell the Daimyo that I took Guy to see the dawn.”

Kakashi signals to his companion, extending an arm around Guy when he leans on him for balance, giving Tsunade a firm smile and winking with an air of sincerity so powerful that the ANBU nod and the jounin get in position to advance, sighing and shaking their heads, believing Guy’s words because obviously it cannot be possible that Kakashi abandoned the village just as he was about to become Hokage.

And after all, it does sound like something crazy that Guy would do.

“This... you cannot leave the village without authorization.” Tsunade clears her throat and crosses her arms, staring at both of them as if she expected to see some doubt. “We have been looking for you for hours. Your kids are going crazy, and the shinobi council is more than crazy. But that’s your problem now, kid.”

Tsunade pokes Kakashi’s chest once more, and Kakashi nods as if fighting with the council will be as easy as breathing. But honestly, fighting with them is the least of his worries right now.

“Yeah, I get it. I’ll take care of it before the ceremony, my Lady.” Kakashi leans too, and Tsunade frowns and turns to give them another accusing look before sighing and signaling Guy to come closer.

“You are a hard-headed sentimentalist, you shouldn’t even be thinking about going out when you’re in such bad condition. Even if your idiot of a best friend is going to be my successor, it’s not a sign that you can do whatever you want.”

Guy gives her a big smile, limping with help from Kakashi to move closer to the medic nin so they can start healing him, which appears to alleviate a little bit of his pain.

And despite the fact that Kakashi wants to keep holding Guy in his arms, he is grateful for having been saved in such an ingenious manner and perhaps also for his earlier confession, Tsunade’s guards separate the two of them before Kakashi is even aware what he is feeling, he is being escorted back to the village, listening to a boring lecture on the unfinished business this morning and the things he will now have to resolve in less time than he had before escaping.

The door to the room open silently and Kakashi enters with soft steps, signaling his ANBU guards to wait for him in the hallway for a few minutes before he closes the door securely and turns into the room.

Guy immediately jumps when he sees him, and Kakashi rolls his eyes when Guy sits up completely straight even in his hospital bed, squaring his shoulders like he is one of Kakashi’s soldiers.

“Hokage-same, it’s a pleasure to see you.” Guy’s voice is serious, but Kakashi can detect the hint of a tease and at the end of his sentence, he laughs, taking off the hat to leave it on the table next to Guy’s bed, because now, more than ever, they are sure that they will be together, side-by-side, nothing more than themselves.

“Mhn, don’t call me that.” Kakashi’s complaint is almost too tender and Guy teases him for it, sliding across the pillows in order to sit up as straight as he can now that he has to use the IV again.

“OK, but in any case, it is a pleasure to see you, Kakashi.”

The sound of his name in Guy’s mouth is pleasant and Kakashi stays silent for a few second, listening to the brief echo of his voice before becoming distracted when he sees the little CD player on the headboard.

“Mm-hmm, I miss spending my days here,” Kakashi says and sits down in the chair that Lee had left there for him even if Kakashi has not been able to come by since the day of his inauguration. “Being Hokage is horrible.”

“Yeah, I bet it is. I never imagined you as an office guy.”

Kakashi hums at Guy’s laugh and leans forward, looking at the digital screen of the CD player, which is still stuck on the same song, as if Guy had not stopped listening to it all this time.

“Yeah, I suppose I never did, either.”

He shakes his head, then holds the CD case and looks at the mountain until he can only think about the madness that he had been about to commit and idea that his dream is probably just an illusion, too... too good or too stupid to exist.

“I’m sorry.” Kakashi’s words are soft, and he looks at Guy with genuine repentance for having dragged him along on his little crisis.

“It’s fine, Rival.” Guy shrugs, and then he slumps a few centimeter down in the bed in order to look at this place that Kakashi had almost glimpsed all around him. “It is too good to be true.”

Kakashi wants to deny it and say something a little cheesy just so Guy will be encouraged, but he just lets the case fall from his hands and signals at the corner of the door with so much sadness that it breaks his heart.

“My students... they told me that this isn’t even a photo, Kakashi, it’s a painting.” Guy runs a finger over the signature of the painter, and Kakashi feels even more absurd and guilty when he reads the tiny mark on the crumpled paper for himself. “It’s only a drawing, the place where we could free ourselves from everything never really existed.”

His eyes turn glassy and melancholy, and Kakashi doesn’t blink when Guy loosens his grip on the CD case and lies back against the pillows.

“From the beginning... we never could go there.”

Guy looks at the lamp with the intention of sounding a little more brave, but Kakashi only catches the CD case and feels a new knot of terror as his dream fades away. Unreal, like all the rest of it.

“I’m sorry,” Kakashi says and he looks at the title of the song for the last time before leaving the album in the drawer. “I made you do all those things for something that isn’t even real.”

Guy shakes his head, now with his bangs perfectly trimmed since TenTen fixed his hair while scolding him.

“It’s fine, those hours at your side feeling like fugitives were quite exciting! And it would not change my opinion even if I knew that... we were walking towards nothing.”

Towards nothing. Kakashi leans back, humming and looking at the lamp. He’d gone running towards an idea that he could not find, not anywhere, because all he really wanted was to stay beside Guy. All this time.

“Yeah, I guess the idea of escaping sounds better in books. In reality, running away is quite difficult.” Kakashi laughs enthusiastically before turning to look at Guy. “Mmh, but I think you’re right. It was such a stupid dream.”

Kakashi presses the play button on the CD player, and the song wafts from the headphones coiled in the box like a far-away chirp.

“No, I am sure that it was a good dream.” Guy winks, but he relaxes until the IV seems to make him uncomfortable. “Only, you were aiming at the wrong target, there’s... nowhere in the world where we can feel truly free, as long as we have hearts full of memories, and... it’s all around us, in everyone we can trust with our authentic selves.”

Guy scratches his cheek, smiling when he think about what Kakashi said next to the woods, and now he doesn’t have a fever and cannot blame his soft pink blush on anything other than nerves.

“Yes. I know I would have believed that we’d get off without getting scolded by everyone if you’d told me beforehand.” Kakashi narrows his eyes, chuckling when he thinks about what Sakura and Naruto said before TenTen arrived to claim him.

“In reality, it was a beautiful demonstration of your love! It’s natural to worry when someone matters to you.”

Guy lifts a fist up to his head before exhaling slowly, looking at Kakashi and shrugging his shoulders as he leans back in the bed.

“Tenzou realized that we were actually escaping, he checked our apartments,” Kakashi murmurs, biting back his laughter. “But fortunately, he kept the secret... and the council pardoned the offense knowing that you were the one who had the idea to leave. So it’s not necessary for you to stop being a shinobi.”

Kakashi winks, disguising the fact that he obviously used his influence in order to keep them from removing Guy’s rank as shinobi.

“That’s fabulous, Lord Sixth, I assure you that I will care for the village with all my heart.”

Kakashi hums and nods. Obviously he doesn’t doubt Guy, even if in reality, he will be spending a long time in here in the hospital after Kakashi’s actions almost killed him.

“Anyway, I’m sorry. I won’t be able to come by here too often anymore.”

Guy shakes his head a couple of times, returning the smile when he points to the window eagerly.

“Don’t you apologize. I will be just fine here, seeing your face up on that stone everyday.”

Kakashi turns to look at the Hokage mountain, smiling with a hint of embarrassment when he sees himself carved there, beside all the previous Hokages.

“Great, although I can definitely lose a couple of minutes per day to continue doing challenges with you.”

He winks at Guy, and the sigh he lets out while he gets up is long and tired, making it difficult to see eye-to-eye.

“Sure, Rival, but then...” Guy stops speaking, looking at Kakashi as though he wants to return to the theme of his dream and ask what Kakashi was referring to when he told him that he liked him or even say something himself.

But Guy looks and the mountain and gives him a confident wink, gritting his teeth before smiling again.

“Then, we will keep sharing memories together.”

Kakashi nods, turning to pick up his hat and balancing it in his hands, staying quiet, looking at Guy a second before laying his left hand on Guy’s chest and giving it a squeeze.

“I agree. See you later,” Kakashi says, but his legs still won’t move and his hand doesn’t let go of Guy’s, moving lightly to touch his neck. “I... I’ll come back later.”

“That’s good.”

“Yeah.”

Kakashi sighs very deeply, and even if his movement is clumsy and timid, he leans in close enough to press a quick kiss onto Guy’s cheek, barely pressing his masked face against the skin before moving away in fear.

“So... this is... see you.”

Guy shoots him a happy smile, and Kakashi turns his face away, trying to hide all his nerves and embarrassment as he walks out of the room, ready to go back to being the Sixth Hokage, the famous copy ninja, student of the Fourth, an old friend of the legendary Obito Uchiha, son of the White Fang, teacher of the world’s savior and...

His hand freezes on the doorknob, and when he bolts toward the bed, he can almost see the snow, the trees, the chimney, the mountain, and someone with an idea as simple as his own.

“Guy... do you think it’s a good idea if I come back now and kiss you?”

“That... actually, that sounds like a marvelous idea!”

Kakashi tosses the hat to the floor, taking off his shoes and his mask at the same time that Guy makes space in the bed, letting him in beneath the sheets when Only Human begins once more on the CD player, sounding like the air whispering between the leaves.