Need You Now - Part 8

It was another two hours before they would let him see him. He was asleep by then, covered in bandages and looking like hell. Tsunade herself assured him that Yamato would be fine. She tried to tell him to go home and get rest, but he, of course, ignored her. He took the chair next to Yamato's bed, put his hand gently over his lover's and refused to move.

His eyes were so focused on the pale face and the bandages that he didn't realize the brown eyes were staring back at him, at first. "Leak," Yamato croaked, obviously putting out a huge effort to do so.

Kakashi stood up and leaned closer to his lips. "What?"

Yamato cleared his throat. "Tell… Tsunade. We have…a leak." He closed his eyes again, his breathing still very shallow and very uneven.

Kakashi stared at him a moment, torn between finding the hokage and staying with Yamato. Between duty and love. Knowing what Yamato would want, he took a deep breath, squeezed the younger man's hand and went in search of Tsunade.


Pain. That was the first thing he knew. It hurt like hell everywhere, even, he thought, his damned pinky toe, though he wasn't positive if he could distinguish that from the rest of his body. He hadn't thought he was that bad off when he'd finally seen the gates. But he'd passed out shortly after he got into Konoha, before he even got to the hospital and right then, as he woke, all he knew was that he was a single mass of pain.

When his eyes opened, the only thing that kept him from thinking he was dead was the pain because right there, in a hospital was Kakashi. The man never stepped foot in one voluntarily. He fought with himself briefly, but knew he was only going to be capable of a very few words, so he cleared his throat, or, at least, tried to. When Kakashi's gaze met his, he managed to say one word: "Leak."

He knew Kakashi would understand. He wanted to tell him how happy he was to see him, how much he'd wished to hell he hadn't had to go, how sorry he was for almost dying. Even wanted to just tell him he loved him, but this had to come first.

When Kakashi moved closer, Yamato managed a few more words and when he knew Kakashi understood what he was trying to say, he closed his eyes again, exhausted. He felt the squeeze on his hand, heard the retreating footsteps and then let himself slip back into the blackness.


The next time he woke, with no clue how much later, the pain was a lot better. It still hurt like hell, but he could actually move now. He opened his eyes this time to see Kakashi still in the chair next to his bed. He looked like he was asleep, but when Yamato shifted, the eye opened and he looked up.

"Hey." He sat up and moved closer to the bed, bending over him. "I swear, you're not getting sex for a month for scaring me like this."

Yamato wanted to laugh but all that came out was a wheeze. "Don't…make me laugh." He paused to take a few breaths. "Did you…talk to Tsunade?"

Kakashi nodded. "You'll have to report in." He frowned. "Another of your team passed away. I'm sorry."

Yamato closed his eyes, swallowing hard. "Three," he whispered, his hand balling into a painful fist. His throat worked as he contained the emotions and finally he opened his eyes again. "I lost three people."

Kakashi took his other hand. "I know you did your best. Don't do it, Yamato," he said when the brown eyes darkened with blame.

He took a deep breath and forced the emotions back, there would be time for that later. "We were ambushed. Someone tipped off the Tsuchikage."

Kakashi held up a hand. "You're not supposed to tell me this stuff, you know that."

Yamato just shook his head. "You're not the leak." He started coughing. "Ouch. Water."

Kakashi got up and poured him a cup of water. "Oh? How do you know?"

Yamato attempted a laugh again. "You've been in my bed for the better part of three months."

"Well, that's not all we've done." Kakashi said, his eye crinkling. He helped the younger man sit up a little and sip at the water. "We did spend some of that time in my bed. And on my couch. There was that time in the kitchen. And…"

"You are not even close to funny." The younger man said. When he was done drinking, he laid back, once more exhausted. "Anyway, we've barely been out of each other's company for those three months."

"True, " he said and chuckled. "Maybe I summoned a clone," he suggested. Yamato saved his energy and didn't even bother to argue that, he just raised an eyebrow. "Okay, okay. Even so, it's classified." Kakashi said, his face turning serious.

"I know." He closed his eyes again and took another deep breath. "But Tsunade trusts you. And you are former ANBU." He paused to just breathe for another moment. "Besides, you're…well, we're practically married. I know for a fact that the few ANBU who are talk about minor mission stuff with their wives or husbands."

"They're not really supposed to," Kakashi said, "but yeah, I know." He took Yamato's hand and sat on the side of the bed. "Let me get Tsunade so she can look you over and talk to you. If she's okay with it, I'll sit in, okay?"

Yamato nodded, his energy almost gone. "Hurry, I don't know how long I can stay awake."

Kakashi placed a gentle kiss on Yamato's forehead, allowing himself a few seconds to just touch his hair - him - again. "I'll be back before you know it."


He was asleep when they got back, but Kakashi told her what he knew. "You don't have to worry about it. I probably would have called you in, anyway. This is troublesome, as Shikamaru would say. If Iwa is going to nullify the peace treaty, we could be in for some real problems."

She paused in her talking to concentrate her chakra and check Yamato over. "He'll be fine. He's already healing well. I could give him more pain killer, but he'll be better off without it. He'll heal faster that way." She turned to him. "What would you prefer I do?"

Kakashi stared at her, realizing that she was asking him because they were together. He was, for all intents and purposes, Yamato's family. The only way they could be any more family was if they were married. Shoving aside the surprise at that thought and the subsequent ideas that formed, he said, "let it go. He'd want to get better faster."

She nodded. "When he wakes, don't hesitate. Send one of the nurses to find me right away. I need to know what he does. And I'll want you to stay when we talk."

"Okay." Kakashi sat back in the chair, pulled it as close to the bed as he could and took Yamato's hand again. He would have preferred to lay next to him, but he was afraid he'd hurt the other man so he settled for simply being able to touch.

Yamato smiled as he watched Kakashi sleep. His head was laid back on the chair, his long legs stretched out in front of him and his mouth open under the mask. His hand, however, hadn't let go of Yamato's.

He must have sensed something, though, because he opened his eye and sat up. "You're awake."

Yamato's mouth twitched. "So are you. Sleep well?"

Kakashi shook his head hard, trying to clear it. He rubbed his free hand over his face, then readjusted the mask. "No. How are you?"

Yamato thought it over. "Still hurts like hell, but I'll be okay. How long was I out?"

Kakashi glanced at the clock. "Um, you've been in a little over twenty-four hours."

"Tell me you haven't been here the whole time." Yamato said and stopped talking as he tried to struggle into a better position.

"Don't move. Let me get Tsunade. She told me she wanted to see you as soon as you woke up." He kissed Yamato's hand, then went in search of the hokage.

When they returned, Yamato looked annoyed. He was scowling and had his arms crossed over his chest. "The nurse was in. Kakashi…" he started, but the older man just held up a hand.

"Let's not waste the hokage's time with this." He said, neatly deflecting the coming fight.

"Kakashi told me what he knew. Your other teammates are still out. What happened?" She asked as she moved to check him over again.

He went through everything, managing to get it all out simply by virtue of the nearly twenty years of reporting he'd done. He still hurt in too many places to count and there were some things he had to strain to remember, but after quite a bit of time, he finally finished.

"Your orders right now are to recover." She turned to Kakashi. "And yours are to make sure he does."

Kakashi tried to hide the grateful look in his eye, but was pretty sure he failed. He nodded in response. "If he continues like this, you can probably take him home in another day, maybe two, but he's at home. And you're to leave him alone," she said pointedly and raised an eyebrow. Kakashi actually blushed.

"Yes, Tsunade-sama." He cleared his throat.

She turned back to Yamato. "Your other two teammates will recover. I'm sorry about the others. You did everything right." She said and patted his foot. "Concentrate on healing. You have someone depending on you to fully recover."

When she left, Kakashi turned back to Yamato to see his arms crossed again and a very pissed off expression on his face. "So, um, can I get you anything?" The copy nin asked.

Yamato just blinked at him. "Go home."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "No."

"Kakashi, you hate hospitals." He said, as if speaking to a child. "I'll be fine. Go home."

"I'm well familiar with my dislike of hospitals, yes." He stepped closer to the bed. "But I love you. Where would you be if our roles were reversed?"

"I don't hate them as much as you do," he said, but Kakashi's comment had effectively disarmed him. "You look like hell." He said, sighing and dropping his arms.

"Gee, thanks. You look lovely, too." Kakashi said, eyeing the bandages.

Yamato rolled his eyes. "At least go get some food? I'll be fine."

Kakashi stared at him a minute, then gave a long-suffering sigh. "Fine." He leaned down and dropped a light kiss on Yamato's lips. "I'll be back shortly. Can I bring you anything?"

Yamato snorted. "How about a big bottle of sake?"

"Right, I'll get right on that." He laughed and waved on his way out.


When he walked into the cafeteria a short while later, he was surprised to see Daichi sitting at one of the tables. He had a cup of coffee in front of him and a haggard look about him. Kakashi got himself a bowl of soup and some tea and stopped next to the other man. "Daichi-san?"

Daichi looked up at him. "Kakashi-san? What are you doing here?"

"Yamato came in yesterday morning. May I join you?"

Daichi waved a hand. "Of course. How is he?"

"Mad at me for not leaving the hospital, but he'll recover." He paused and frowned. "It was very, very close, though. Mitsue-san?"

Daichi swallowed. "Not very good. Tsunade-sama says she'll recover, but she hasn't awakened yet." He shook his head. "They were over near the border to Earth country, helping out a small village that had been attacked. Cleaning up, you know, that sort of thing." When Kakashi nodded, he continued, "well, a group of Rock shinobi came through, attacking again and her group tried to fight them off. They were horribly outnumbered, but they couldn't run or they'd have left the village undefended." He sighed. "The Rock nin got recalled. It's the only thing they can come up with because their shinobi don't give up."

Kakashi frowned. "Yeah, I know."

Daichi nodded. "They eventually managed to secure the village, but she took a few really bad hits. They've got some pretty nasty folks. There are some lightening users that are a little too happy with some of their attacks." He sighed.

"I know, Yamato got hit by one." He said.

They fell silent for a few minutes while he concentrated on his soup. "How long ago was the village initially attacked?"

Daichi thought it over a moment. "Maybe two to two and a half weeks? Something like that. She'd been gone close to that, anyway."

Kakashi nodded. " I'm sure she'll get better. She has great care here. The best medic nins in the Five Great Nations." He put his tray together and stood, putting a hand on the other man's shoulder. "Take care, Daichi-san."

"Thank you, Kakashi-san. That…helps. You take care, too." He said and curled back around his cup of coffee.

Kakashi stared at the man, feeling that tug of guilt and relief again before turning away. His lover, at least, was awake and recovering. Swallowing the emotions, he headed back to Yamato's room.


Yamato was asleep when he got back. He frowned, a little disappointed at missing that time, but shoved the thoughts away. The more rest he got, the faster he'd recover. And the sooner he could take him home. He took his seat in the chair again, clasped Yamato's hand and stretched out as much as he could. By the time his eyes were half way closed, he'd fallen asleep.


After being checked over again later the next morning, Tsunade wanted him to stay one more day. "Go home. At least for a little while."

"I really don't need to," Kakashi tried to assure him, though he did want a shower. And something better than hospital food. But none of that outweighed is need to be there with Yamato.

"You stink." Yamato said.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "I do not stink. But if I offend you that much, I'll sit in the hallway."

Yamato growled. "Go. Home. At least go clean up and eat something besides the god-awful soup they serve here."

It annoyed Kakashi a little bit that he'd basically read his mind. He shook the annoyance off and sighed. "Fine. I'll be gone maybe an hour. Can I bring you anything?"

"My whittling blade. And," he frowned, "a piece of wood. Dammit, I can't even summon any. Never mind." He sighed. "One of the Icha Icha novels. I need something to do or I'll go insane. Especially since I can't do anything with you."

Kakashi grinned. "Yes, I'm afraid that's out of the question for quite some time." He leaned over and dropped a kiss on the younger man. "I'll be back as soon as possible."

It had taken him the full hour, but only because he couldn't find a couple of the things he wanted. He'd had to send two of the ninken out, but was walking down the hall right on time for probably the first time in nearly forever.

As he got to the doorway, Iruka was walking up from the other direction with a couple of magazines in his hands. "Hello, Iruka-san. Did…is Raido-san here?"

Iruka blinked at him a moment in confusion. "OH! Oh, no. No, he got back three days ago, just fine."

"Three days ago?" Kakashi asked. Iruka had been at the bar three days ago. Something didn't add up.

"Yeah." He said, but didn't elaborate and Kakashi wasn't going to push. He glanced down at the books in his hand and blushed. "These, um, Shizune-san gave them to me to give to Yamato-san. She told me he was here."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything to that. "Okay, come on in, I was just getting back myself." He pushed Yamato's door open and the two men stepped through. Kakashi paused when he saw the younger man was asleep, but before they could back out, he opened his eyes.

"Hey. Hi, Iruka-san! How are you?" Yamato said and struggled to try to sit up. Both of the other men hurried to help him. "Ugh, this sucks. I hate being like this."

"I'm sure we both understand completely. I've done my share of time in those beds," Iruka said. When they stood up and Yamato glanced at Iruka's hand, the younger man said, "Um, Sakura-chan ran into me and asked me to give these to you." He held out the magazines. "She said you read them."

"That's like her." Yamato said and paused as he set them on the table next to him. "I didn't know she knew I liked these." He picked one up and glanced over it, then looked up at Kakashi and paused when he saw him giving Iruka a considering look. "Kakashi?"

"OH, right. Sorry." He lifted a bag and set it on the bed, taking out a much smaller one. He glanced at Iruka, "don't tell anyone."

Iruka's eyebrows went up, but he didn't say anything. When Kakashi handed the bag of walnuts to Yamato, the teacher grinned at the look on Yamato's face. "Not a word."

"I think I'm going to cry. Thank you," Yamato said and popped one into his mouth right away. He started chewing with a moan.

"His favorite," Kakashi told Iruka.

"Ah." Iruka said, nodding. "Hey, um how's your hand?"

"Hand?" Yamato asked, peering at Kakashi.

Kakashi paled and glanced at Iruka who blushed. "Oh, um, yeah, he'd…bumped it. While…helping a kitten out of a tree when he'd crossed the street to help… um…" Iruka gave up, his face turning a much brighter red. "Sorry."

Kakashi stared at Iruka for a moment, amused that he'd tried, surprised he knew him well enough to do so and more than a little grateful for the attempt. "Thanks," he said, then chuckled. "It's okay. I've had a lot of practice at that. And they still sound just as lame."

Iruka chose that moment to try to escape. "Well, um, I don't want to intrude." He looked between Yamato and Kakashi. "I'm glad you're going to be okay. Take care, Yamato-san." Iruka started edging toward the door.

"Before you go, do you play?" Kakashi asked, pulling out a deck of cards, hoping to divert Yamato's attention. He knew there'd be questions about his hand. Maybe they could distract him enough to forget it.

"Oh, um, yeah, sure." The teacher blushed a little. "But I don't want to…"

"Intrude, I know," Yamato said around a walnut. He'd watched the byplay, and would have words with Kakashi when Iruka left. He had a feeling he knew where the damaged hand came from. He looked back at Iruka. "You're not. I'm bored stiff. Play with us."

The color on Iruka's face darkened and Kakashi coughed to cover up his laughter. Yamato was obviously sick enough for the double entendre to go completely unnoticed. "You heard the man," Kakashi said with amusement. "Play with us."

The copy nin watched in fascination as Iruka's color got worse before he managed to compose himself. Finally, he said, "I'd love to," clearing his throat. He moved around the bed and took the chair on the other side.

Kakashi sat in the open chair and pulled the lap table over, opening the pack. "So, what's your game?"