After All

The last thing Yamato remembered before blackness shuttered his vision and his nose and mouth burned and his lungs seized up was his desperate need to kill himself.

Then he was in the Konoha hospital like nothing happened. He fell in and out of consciousness a lot, but the best he could tell, nurses were taking care of him and no one he had ever known had bothered to visit him. He embarrassed himself by needing to receive the dreaded bedpan and sponge bath treatment he'd always thought must be pretty horrifying for the severely injured people. He was right. It was pretty horrifying.

It was also ridiculously satisfying when he finally managed to get up and use the bathroom by himself.

Yamato barely had the strength to make it back into bed, though. That probably meant he'd be in the hospital another month, at least.

xXx

He thought it was still later the same day when a familiar chakra entering the room woke him up. Considering who it was, Yamato would rather ignore him until he left.

When he felt the man come over to the side of his bed and just stand there, he knew his luck was as bad as ever.

"Oi."

Yamato cracked open an eye and saw Kakashi leaning over him impassively. Of course, his sempai always looked impassive with that mask over his face. Not to mention the characteristic lazy, detached expression in Kakashi's uncovered eye. "Go away, Sempai."

"Go away?" Kakashi echoed.

"Yes."

Kakashi glanced away, apparently thinking.

Yamato didn't want to know.

"I won't make you do anything," Kakashi said, looking at him again. To Yamato, Kakashi's statement rang with a false note of hopefulness.

"What is it?" Yamato ground out.

Kakashi looked startled. "Nothing, nothing. You're in the hospital. I just thought I'd visit you, that's all."

"You're not sentimental, Sempai," Yamato said.

Kakashi opened his mouth, and then closed it again. "I'm very sentimental," he said finally.

"You're not sentimental about me," Yamato clarified. He rolled onto his side, closing his eyes. "Goodbye, Sempai."

Kakashi stood there. And stood there. Yamato got the hint that Kakashi wasn't leaving. "I'll do it. Just don't stand over my bed like a vulture."

"You're not supposed to be up," Kakashi said.

Yamato sat up with difficulty. "Who gives a rat's ass? You never did." He felt a weakness at the core, and knew he was still suffering from chakra exhaustion. He didn't think he could stand. But that never mattered, did it? He swung his legs over the side of the bed, folding the thin blanket back, and stood. For about two seconds. Then he collapsed, faceplanting on his bed.

"I told you," Kakashi said cheerfully.

"Stupid Sempai," Yamato muttered against the bed. "Why didn't you catch me?"

"The bed caught you," Kakashi said. "Quite nicely, I think."

"This bed's as hard as a rock." Yamato squirmed back under the covers anyway. Just that small exertion made him nauseous. He watched his vision blur, creating three of Kakashi, and then closed his eyes. "I'm going to be sick. Could you get a nurse, or a bucket, or something?"

When he rolled over and threw up, Kakashi was there with a trash bin. Yamato was thankful for that small show of loyalty, at least.

He rolled onto his back and sighed.

"Better?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes," Yamato said. "For now."

"Good, because you don't look any better," Kakashi said.

Yamato gritted his teeth.

"You're all pale and pasty and stuff," Kakashi said cheerfully. "And you're sweaty. You look like you haven't been sleeping very well…"

"Fuck you," Yamato blurted. Then he bit his lip.

Kakashi looked startled. And concerned. That expression didn't fit Kakashi at all. He reached down and squeezed Yamato's hand.

Yamato was shocked. Kakashi was holding his hand. Kakashi's warm, callused, delicate hand was holding his. In a situation other than to help him up after a spar. "You…You're always so…" He shut his eyes again and tried to breathe, a wave of nausea cresting. "So, what? Now you're going to be nice to me? Now that I almost died? Is that all you're good for? Or maybe you thought I was dead and that's why you care."

Kakashi squeezed his hand tighter.

"You care about dead people, don't you, Sempai? You care about the dead people on your conscience. I was one of them, for a little while. Until they found me. Too bad for you. Now you have to deal with me. What are you going to do, Sempai? Visit me every day? Because I think that sounds a little prohibitive." Yamato never poured out his venom on Kakashi. He'd always waited until the man was gone, and he could complain to someone else. But then, being pumped full of venom changes things, doesn't it?

"And maybe I don't want you to," Yamato continued. "Did you ever think of that? Maybe Obito, and Rin, and Minato-sensei, are all sick of you." He horrified himself. Now that was going too far. He'd never so much as spoken the names of the people Kakashi worshipped at the memorial stone. Their names didn't belong in his mouth.

Kakashi knelt by the side of the bed and hugged him. Actually hugged him. Was clinging, even. Yamato didn't know what to do, and he definitely didn't have the strength to make Kakashi let go. What was worse was that Kakashi felt somewhat good. He liked the warmth of his sempai's body. Yamato squeezed his eyes shut tighter, confused. This wasn't the reaction he'd been expecting. He'd expected Kakashi to hit him, to leave. Being hugged was definitely not what he'd had in mind.

"You were always special to me," Kakashi murmured, in that low voice Yamato had come to associate with the memorial stone. Broken. Words welling up out of deep sadness.

Yamato was abruptly angry all over again. He pushed at Kakashi weakly. "No. I never was. That's the problem. I'm only special now that you think I'd died. Another teammate for your roster of the good and the dead."

Kakashi didn't let go of him, didn't say anything for a few moments. "I –"

"Don't eulogize me," Yamato hissed.

Kakashi flinched. "I sometimes wish –"

"Do you listen to me?" Yamato demanded. "Do you ever listen to me? Or do you always do what you want to do, Sempai? Don't you care? Don't you care what I want, even a little? Why does it always have to be you?"

Kakashi crawled into bed with him, slipping under the covers and worming his way into an even more intimate position, compounded by the fact that the hospital bed was only big enough for one. He wound one leg around Yamato's, lying on his side, and clutched Yamato to his chest.

Yamato was exhausted by this. He wanted to keep talking, hoping that one of his stabs would actually draw blood, but he couldn't focus. Kakashi's warmth was too comforting. He'd been so cold…the blanket wasn't really enough. And Kakashi's arms around him felt so good. Kakashi's solidity, and strength.

Why did you never give me this before? Yamato's lips formed the question, but he couldn't get it out. He was being dragged down into unconsciousness.

xXx

He woke up trembling. Not because he was cold. He was very warm. In fact, the warm body next to his was the only thing keeping him from screaming. If he'd woken up cold in addition to being terrified, he would have screamed instantly. That would be too much like the floor of the cave where –

No I'm not going to think about that now I'm not going to think about it I'm not going to think, no, no, no…

Yamato shuddered, and he felt arms tighten around him.

"Yamato," Kakashi murmured.

"What?" Yamato asked, his voice sharp with fear. "You're not going to call me Tenzou, just to piss me off? Why not? I'm entertaining when I'm pissed off, aren't I? Doesn't that always give you a good laugh? Me, pissed off?" He cringed, curling up against Kakashi, horrified all over again that the only things that came out of his mouth were angry. "All you ever want to do is get me pissed off and then laugh at my expense, isn't it?"

And then, suddenly, he was crying, and he wormed his way deeper into Kakashi's arms, pressing his face against Kakashi's chest as if he could wrap himself up in Kakashi and hide.

"It's okay," Kakashi murmured. "It's okay."

"No, it's not. It's never okay." Yamato heard the whimper in his voice, like a child's.

"It's never okay," Kakashi agreed easily. He spoke in a soothing tone Yamato had never heard before. "But it will be now."

"You never cared," Yamato said. "You never cared…" He cried so hard that he forgot what he was talking about. He forgot everything except the emptiness in his chest, and blind, lost fear that consumed him and made him numb. It was a wordless, unimaginable hurt.

Kakashi stayed with him, a warm body, a comforting voice. Strong arms. Yamato didn't know why. It seemed so completely unlike the sempai he knew.

"I just wanted you to care, Sempai," Yamato said. He raised his head and looked into Kakashi's warm gray eye. "That's all I ever wanted…"

"I do care," Kakashi said.

Yamato rested his head against Kakashi's shoulder and fell asleep.

xXx

When he woke up again, Kakashi was rubbing his back.

"Did you have a nightmare again?" Kakashi asked.

"Nightmare?" Yamato said sleepily. He couldn't remember having a nightmare.

"You were moaning," Kakashi said.

Yamato hissed in annoyance. "You make that sound so sexual."

"Do I?" Kakashi smiled.

"Yes." Yamato gave him a look.

"I don't mean to," Kakashi said.

Yamato growled. "Dirty Sempai…" But he wasn't nearly as annoyed as he usually was. And he wasn't sickened at all. For once, he could believe that Kakashi had been trying to voice concern. "I don't remember anything I dream." He paused, as a flash of a particularly horrible nightmare came back to him. Darkness, snakes. "Rarely."

"You were moaning, and calling my name," Kakashi said. "Or I think you were, because you always call me 'Sempai'." He smiled cheerfully. "That's like my name now, isn't it?"

Yamato looked at him suspiciously. "Maybe."

"And I was trying to reach you, but you wouldn't wake up," Kakashi said. He looked at Yamato expectantly.

Yamato looked away. "Nope. Don't remember a thing."

That wasn't true, precisely. Kakashi's description made him remember that he had dreamed being a little boy, running away from the darkness. A flood of darkness, like a black tsunami. It had chased him further and further through a bleak forest, and he couldn't outrun it unless Sempai helped him. But though he knew Kakashi was somewhere ahead, he couldn't see anyone.

He'd had the feeling that Kakashi was running, too, outrunning the tide without him. He'd felt as though maybe Kakashi didn't know he existed. Maybe Kakashi had just forgotten.

But if he related that part of the dream, without knowing what happened next, or what had happened before, he would sound weak. He didn't need to sound weak in front of Kakashi. He embarrassed himself enough.

"How come you care now?" Yamato asked, trying to change the subject before Kakashi got too suspicious. "You never visited. I waited…"

"You don't understand," Kakashi said. "I was there."

Yamato stared at him.

"I was part of the team that rescued you," Kakashi said. "Team Seven. We rescued you. We came after our own, because our comrades are more important than our orders. We came for you, because we – because I –" His expression contracted with pain.

Yamato was frightened. And thrilled. Please, please say it. Please say it, Sempai.

"I love you," Kakashi ground out, his voice rough.

"Yes." Yamato didn't care how little sense that made. He wrapped his arms around Kakashi's neck and clung on. For once in his life, he let himself cry about what had happened when he was eighteen, when Kakashi left. "Yes." I have you. I always wanted you and now I have you. Damn it, Sempai, why do you always make everything so hard? Why did I have to die to make this happen? He didn't even care anymore. He was free. He had what he wanted.

"Yes?" Kakashi looked flustered.

The expression was so adorable, so un-Sempai-like that Yamato laughed. "Yes! I love you."

Kakashi looked absolutely floored.

Yamato found that expression delicious. Even more delicious than Flustered-Sempai. He pulled down Kakashi's mask sensually slow, inwardly celebrating the fact that Kakashi wasn't fighting him, listening to the hiss of fabric against smooth, smooth pale skin. Oh, such perfect skin.

He touched Kakashi's face, stroking the slim, delicate jaw line and the small chin, making a half-conscious noise of pleasure in the back of his throat.

"You're supposed to be sick," Kakashi said, and by god, the man sounded nervous.

Yamato grinned; it was really more like a broad, toothy smirk. "Oh, yeah? Then I'm giving you my germs."

"That is not a come-on line," Kakashi objected.

But then Yamato silenced him with a kiss, molding their lips together, mouthing, feeling, tasting. Fire surged in his stomach. Oh, yes, yes, yes. Mine. He licked, and kissed, and even sucked on Kakashi's lower lip, moaning and closing his eyes in ecstasy.

Kakashi gently placed both hands on his chest and pushed him away in order to breathe. "You aren't sick."

Yamato licked his lips, panting. "You just said I was."

"Not like that." Kakashi shook his head. "Not with germs."

"How, then?" Yamato licked his lips again, eyeing Kakashi's perfect mouth, wondering when he'd get to kiss it again.

"You were in a coma," Kakashi said. "Sakura pumped poison out of you in stages. You were flooded. Poisons for everything. It went so far beyond ordinary poison one could almost call it pharmaceuticals. Chemicals built on the basic structure of poisons that did so much more."

"Snake venom," Yamato said.

"Of course." Kakashi looked angry, and sad, and it was much clearer without the stupid mask on. He looked at Yamato directly. "It was a horror show. I was afraid for you. Sakura kept pulling out globs of poison. I thought it would never end. You went from barely breathing to resting easily, from paper white to warm ivory to pink, and I knew you'd be alright." He shook his head, looking away. "But when Sakura first started pulling out the poison…" He didn't let the sentence rest there for long. "I thought you'd die. I thought we didn't save you. We didn't come to your rescue fast enough. Even though there was all that fighting in the way, we should have been faster."

Yamato gave him a cheeky grin, like the old days. "Then let's celebrate." He wrapped his arms around Kakashi with a possessive squeeze.

Kakashi opened his mouth as if to protest.

Yamato attacked, kissing and slipping his tongue into Kakashi's mouth to silence his Sempai the way he'd wanted to silence his Sempai every time the man said something snarky. He moaned.

Kakashi moaned back, shivering.

Yamato clutched Kakashi tightly, caressing his tongue against Kakashi's in a demand for attention. He was frustrated that Kakashi seemed too stunned to kiss him properly. He knew Kakashi could.

Kakashi squirmed, and, finding himself trapped, finally responded, sliding his tongue against Yamato's, slowly at first, then picking up speed and confidence.

Yamato shifted, kicking the blanket when it tried to trap his foot, and pinned Kakashi to the hospital bed, his hands still fisted around Kakashi's vest.

Kakashi broke the kiss in surprise, looking up at Yamato with wide eyes.

"Kiss me," Yamato hissed. "Just kiss me."

"Maa…" Kakashi stared at him.

Yamato leaned in and kissed Kakashi passionately, sucking on Kakashi's lower lip. He pulled back, panting. "Sempai, you need me. Admit it." He shifted his hips, feeling Kakashi's growing hardness against him.

"I need you," Kakashi mumbled, bewildered.

"I am valuable. I am worth something." Yamato spat out the words fiercely.

"Tenzou, I –" Kakashi stopped, looking frightened. When Yamato didn't react to the slip, he said, "Of course you're worth something. I never said you weren't. I –"

Yamato kissed him again, melting against him with a deep moan. Yamato knew it was probably a bad idea, but he reached out with his chakra and used most of what he had left to make a wooden enclosure around the bed, granting them privacy. Sure enough, his chakra flickered, and he trembled with the resulting weakness.

Kakashi wrapped his arms around Yamato protectively. "Please, don't act so hastily. You could have killed yourself trying to use the mokuton in your condition."

"I need you, Sempai," Yamato whispered. His body ached with it. "I need you now."

He felt tears against his cheek from Kakashi and stroked Kakashi's face, horrified. "Please, don't cry. I didn't mean anything that I said to make you cry."

"I just…" Kakashi trailed off. "I can't help it. I almost lost you. I thought you were one of my ghosts. It hurt."

Yamato kissed Kakashi tenderly this time, stroking Kakashi's cheeks at the same time. He kissed until he felt Kakashi grow warmer beneath him and pulled back to see Kakashi blushing. He chuckled. "I know how we can prove I'm not a ghost, Sempai."

"How?" Kakashi's gaze was bleak with longing.

Yamato slowly let a grin spread across his face. "You can feel my heat."

"What?"

Yamato reached behind himself, to the back of his neck, and pulled the top string that kept his hospital gown closed. Fabric slid against fabric, and Yamato felt a satisfying loosening. He reached behind his back to get the next one, shifting Kakashi's hand over. Then he squirmed out of the hospital gown and chucked it over the side of the bed, into the shadows of the wooden shelter.

He took Kakashi's hands, pulled off Kakashi's gloves, and pressed his Sempai's hands flat against his bare chest. Yamato watched Kakashi's reaction with half-lidded eyes.

Kakashi looked astonished, and then tried to hide a furtive flicker of arousal that Yamato read all too well. Yamato guided Kakashi's hands down to where he straddled Kakashi's hips, rubbing Kakashi's hands over the front of his boxers.

Kakashi jerked at the feeling of Yamato's hardness.

"Yeah," Yamato said. "I want you, Sempai. I always wanted you." He clenched his jaw. "You should be mine. And I should be yours. It was supposed to be that way."

"I'm sorry," Kakashi whispered. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. I…" He swallowed and shook his head slightly. "I messed up. I hurt you. Somehow, I…"

"Stupid Sempai," Yamato whispered affectionately. "Just fuck me."

Kakashi suddenly looked angry. "No."

Yamato was startled. "What?"

Kakashi pulled Yamato down against him possessively. "I want to make one thing clear: there is not going to be any 'fucking'. There is only going to be 'making love'. You can take it or leave it. It's your choice. But I want you to say…" His expression transformed into pained longing. "Say…'Please, Sempai. Make love to me.'"

Yamato looked at him with wide eyes. Yamato didn't think he'd ever been more touched. Kakashi's words touched a place inside of him he'd tried to keep hidden all these years. He licked his lips and whispered, "Please, Sempai, make love to me."

Kakashi kissed him, mouthing his lips gently. This kiss burned more than any of the others they'd shared thus far. Yamato found himself shaking and leaking.

After Kakashi gently disengaged with a lick over Yamato's lower lip, he reached down between them and shifted. Yamato felt the shifting and didn't know what it meant until he felt the outline of Kakashi's erection against his own clothed one. Kakashi had untied his martial arts pants and adjusted his boxers to allow his erection to slide free.

Yamato reached down and felt. Kakashi had unbuttoned the front of his boxers, without taking them off. He stroked Kakashi's hot erection, noting how the soft skin was already slick with moisture.

Kakashi moaned.

Yamato sat up, got on his knees, and fumbled with his boxers. He managed to get them off, and kicked them off the end of the bed. "I'm ready, Sempai."

"No, you're not," Kakashi whispered, sounding exasperated. "You can't just go into it like that."

Yamato scowled.

"Trust me," Kakashi said. He looked at Yamato pleadingly. "I'll take care of you if you just trust me."

Yamato nodded, reluctantly settling down.

Kakashi made hand seals. "Junkatsu no Jutsu."

Yamato flushed. 'Junkatsu' meant smoothness, or lubrication. "Dirty Sempai."

"Prepared Sempai," Kakashi shot back. He ran his slick fingers down Yamato's backside, stroking, and Yamato ceased to argue.

Yamato moaned, squirming into the touch. "Sempai…feels good."

"I am the man of a thousand jutsu," Kakashi whispered teasingly. "I should know at least some that make Yamato feel good." He used his other hand to stroke Yamato's erection.

Yamato pressed into Kakashi's hand, moaning loudly. He could feel droplets of moisture welling up on his tip. "Sempai, please. Please, Sempai. Please. I'll be good."

"You're always good," Kakashi murmured. He sounded sad.

Yamato didn't get a chance to reply. Kakashi gently pressed in on his entrance, continuing to stroke his erection. Kakashi's finger slid into Yamato about a third of the way before Yamato's body tightened.

"Breathe, Tenzou," Kakashi said. "Breathe and try to accept the pleasure of what I am doing."

That directive made warmth unfurl in Yamato's stomach. His legs shook, and soon enough, he relaxed into the feeling of gentle penetration. It felt like nothing else; full, tight, pressure. Like a massage on a pulled muscle. "Good," he managed to moan.

Kakashi nodded. He slid his finger the rest of the way in and made a small, caressing movement.

Yamato's legs flexed. A burning feeling coursed up from his stomach, filling his chest and making his cheeks flush. "Sempai, slow."

"I'll be slow," Kakashi said. "Always. Always slow…good…gentle…I love you, Tenzou." He pressed a special spot inside of Yamato.

Yamato threw back his head and moaned. "Yamato," he said anyway, correcting the slip.

"Hmm…Did you say something?" Kakashi teased. He pumped his finger slowly.

Yamato whimpered and shook, his body pulsing with pleasure. He moaned, leaking onto Kakashi's hand, rubbing his erection against Kakashi's grip. After a moment of flustered incompetence, he pushed back into the feeling of Kakashi's finger.

"Maa, maa, Tenzou," Kakashi said soothingly. "If you want, I'll add another finger."

"Yes, please." Yamato whimpered. His nipples were hard, achingly hard. He was unused to feeling that sensitive.

Kakashi slipped two fingers inside of Yamato. Yamato ached and trembled. He couldn't get enough of this feeling. He wished Kakashi could somehow stroke every place inside of him at once. His hips rolled, pressing him back into Kakashi's fingers again and again.

"You're eager, aren't you," Kakashi said. "Be careful." He looked somewhat disconcerted.

"Been waiting…ten years for this, Sempai," Yamato hissed through clenched teeth. A ripple of pure heat went through him. "Want more."

"Oi, Tenzou?" Kakashi looked sad.

Yamato paused, shuddering and leaking. "Y-Yes?"

"I'm sorry," Kakashi said. "I was stupid."

"S'okay." Yamato leaned over and kissed Kakashi's lips gently. He had no real desire to keep a grudge against the man he loved. "I'm sorry for saying those hurtful things about your team. I was jealous."

"I know," Kakashi said. "I should have known. I should have paid attention better." He ran his thumb over the head of Yamato's erection.

Yamato whimpered. "Sempai…please do something more."

Kakashi gingerly added another finger. He stroked Yamato's prostate, petting and teasing.

Yamato started crying. He was surprised at himself. He didn't think people cried when they were doing this kind of stuff. "Sempai…feels really good." He sniffled, embarrassed. "I think I'm going to come."

"Let it happen," Kakashi said soothingly.

"Won't be able to help it." Yamato gave him a watery smile.

Kakashi gently stroked his fingers in and out of Yamato, his other hand pumping Yamato's erection. Yamato closed his eyes and rocked with it, filled with a pulsing heat that made him lightheaded. He felt himself tightening down and let out a yelp, coming with a shiver down his spine. He felt weak all of a sudden and couldn't help toppling over, falling limp against Kakashi. He felt the warm wetness against his bare stomach.

Kakashi slid his fingers free and wiped them off on the hospital bed. He did the same with his other hand, then hugged Yamato, cradling him. "How do you feel?" Kakashi asked softly.

"Tired." Yamato chuckled. "But so good. I haven't felt this good since –" He stopped, flushing. When he was a teenager, he'd touched himself to dirty magazines and secretly thought of Kakashi. More and more, he'd set aside the magazines and just thought about his Sempai.

That had stopped when Kakashi transferred out of ANBU.

"Since?" Kakashi teased.

Yamato snuggled against him. "You know."

"Hmm." Kakash kissed Yamato's ear tenderly. "I suppose I do. More or less."

"Sempai, why did you leave ANBU?" Yamato blurted. "Why? I love you."

Kakashi jerked underneath him, startled. "You mean they never told you? I assumed they told you why I left, since I had to do it in a hurry."

Yamato shook his head angrily. "No." He tried not cry. He still remembered showing up for their next mission, expecting Kakashi to be there.

"I was kicked out," Kakashi said. "Sandaime told me I wasn't going to be ANBU anymore. He said it was bad for me."

Yamato was shocked at the incredulity, the disbelief, and the anger in Kakashi's voice. "You mean…you didn't leave on purpose?" He felt pressure in his chest. "You didn't leave because I got too close to you, Sempai?"

"No!" Kakashi hugged him tightly.

Yamato cried, hugging back limply, slipping his arms around Kakashi's neck and hanging on. "I thought you'd left me because you found out how I feel and you were offended."

"No, never," Kakashi whispered, sounding horrified. He kissed Yamato's cheek and nuzzled the side of Yamato's head. "I would never do that to you. Never."

"Oh, Sempai…" Yamato blinked, tears stuck to his eyelashes. He didn't think he could describe this moment to Kakashi if he tried. "I'm so happy."

"Good," Kakashi said. "Because you're going to be in a lot of trouble when the med nins find out you've had sex on your deathbed."

"Sempai!" Yamato protested. He pouted. Then he thought about how to avoid the most pain. "You'll just have to help me escape, then, won't you? Take me back to your house. I can hide out until they're gone."

"Sakura will still be able to track you down," Kakashi said. "And then she'll beat your ass for defying orders and engaging in strenuous physical activity while you're supposed to be recovering. You're not even on solid food yet."

Yamato winked. "Then you'll just have to beat my ass first, Sempai."

Kakashi stared at him. "And you call me a pervert."

"I learned from the best." Yamato grinned.

Kakashi shook his head. "What we are doing will never be called 'beating'. Not even ironically."

Yamato's expression softened. "I'm sorry. That really bothers you, doesn't it?"

"Rape and violent sex are no joke," Kakashi said.

Yamato snuggled him. "My Sempai. Sensitive." He kissed Kakashi's neck, just below the curve of Kakashi's jaw.

Kakashi blushed. "Maa, well, you're right about getting out of here. At least we should do that. I'll be in trouble, too."

He teleported Yamato home with him, directly into the bathroom. He used to do that all the time as an ANBU operative. He got undressed and helped Yamato take a shower, followed by a bath to soak. They snuggled together in the warm water.

After about an hour, they finally got out. Kakashi helped towel Yamato off, and carried Yamato to the bed, since he could hardly stand, let alone walk. Kakashi tucked Yamato into his bed, smiling at the sight of Yamato underneath his shuriken patterned blanket, here at last in this place he'd always secretly imagined Yamato someday being.

Then he climbed underneath the blanket with Yamato, lying on his side by his kouhai. He ran his hand through Yamato's hair. "I love you."

But Yamato was already asleep. Kakashi looked fondly at the goofy smile on Yamato's face, sweet and carefree in slumber. He gently kissed the top of Yamato's head.

Yamato murmured in his sleep and shifted slightly closer against Kakashi's side.