At some point, Kakashi blacked out, he doesn't remember when, but he does remember dreaming of a flying dragon named Madara and an evil rabbit named Kaguya. Oh, and All for One's a potato apparently.
When he woke up, his vision was still blurry, and for some reason Sasuke was staring at him looking very disappointed.
"What?" Kakashi coughed.
"You look like shit." Sasuke commented.
"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't really have time to freshen up before I got the shit beaten out of me."
"I'm just saying." Sasuke shrugged and sat down in front of him.
"Why are you here anyway?"
"Oh I'm not. You're actually insane, I'm a hallucination."
"That's nice." Kakashi put his head down. "You wouldn't happen to have any water, would you? I feel like I haven't had anything to drink in at least a week." Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "No? Can you untie me then?"
"I've just explained to you that I'm not real."
"Yeah well I thought maybe my hallucinations would be good for something." Kakashi sighed, then winced. "Can you at least tell me my injuries?"
"Should've hallucinated Sakura or Tsunade if you wanted that. Hell, even Kabuto."
"That piece of shit would just laugh."
Sasuke shrugged. "It was just a suggestion."
"You have shit suggestions. You really ought to work on that." Kakashi coughed and blood trickled out of his mouth. "Damn, am I really going to die here?"
"If I recall correctly, when you were taken here first, you were in so much pain you wanted to kill yourself."
"Let bygones be bygones."
The door slammed open and the heroes rushed in.
"Huh. They actually showed." Sasuke folded his arms.
"Of course they did." Kakashi retorted. "They aren't shinobi."
"You're talking to yourself." Sasuke sighed.
"I know."
~~~
They searched every abandoned building until they found the bar, nearly 3 days after they began the search. The door burst open and they searched the place. The screen flickered on.
"Hello heroes." A voice said.
"All for One." All Might crossed his arms. "Where's the boy?"
"I'm guessing you asked where the boy is, but I wouldn't know because I can't actually hear you, I'm not actually speaking right now." He paused. "The child is in this building... somewhere. But that's not why I'm here to speak to you. Soon enough, you'll get a call telling you that Kurogiri has been broken out of jail."
On cue, their phones began to ring.
"A new era is upon us. Thank you in advance for your sacrifices. But enough about that, there's a child to save, right?" The screen turned off and the shelves behind the bar moved to reveal a door.
Aizawa and All Might looked at each other, before All Might stepped forward and kicked the door down. Kakashi was tied up and littered with injuries, the heroes swarmed the room.
"Of course they did," Kakashi said to no one. "They aren't shinobi."
There was a pause, then he said, "I know." and passed out.
They untied him and Aizawa carried him out of the room.
There was an ambulance waiting outside. The paramedics immediately loaded Kakashi onto the stretcher. Aizawa and Hizashi joined him.
When they made it back to the hospital, Kakashi was rushed to the ER, and Aizawa and Hizashi had to wait.
And wait.
Eventually a doctor came to speak to them. "You might want to go somewhere else to wait." She smiled sympathetically. "This is going to take at least 5 more hours."
"Why? What's going on?" Hizashi asked.
"He has a lot of broken bones, burns and bruises, but one of the ribs punctured a lung." She explained. "Plus there's the drug in his system and..." She paused for a while. "Well there is one more thing, but it's best if you see it for yourself later. You two need rest and a good meal. You won't be missing anything, I promise."
Hizashi and Aizawa gradually left the hospital. When they returned home, there was a package for Kakashi at the door and a letter. Aizawa took the package inside, and Hizashi started making food.
They both said nothing, but the silence wasn't comfortable. It was tense with worry and nervousness.
"I... think we'd better call Goto again." Hizashi said quietly.
"Right. I hadn't even thought about that." Aizawa set the plates on the table.
"That's why you have me." Hizashi gave him a small, tired smile.
The echo of cutlery clinking on the plates was the only sound in the room for a long time.
They both ate and slept for a few hours before going back to the hospital. They took the package with them for when Kakashi woke up.
Someone went to greet them at the entrance. "You are Hatake Kakashi's guardians, right?" He asked.
"Yes, why?"
"I'm Dr. Akihiro. Don't worry, Kakashi's going to be fine, but there is something else."
"What?"
"Well, you'd better come inside and sit down." He motioned for them to follow him and pulled out a chart of Kakashi's body. "Kakashi has another... fluid running through his veins. You two aren't his biological parents, correct?"
"No, we're not, we took him in from the streets." Aizawa nodded. "Why?"
"Has he ever told you about his life before he came to live with you? Anything about his parents or... human experimentation?"
Aizawa and Hizashi looked like they were about to say something, until they thought about it. It would make sense, wouldn't it? They didn't want to jump to conclusions because they didn't have a lot to go off of, but the reverse was true as well. Since they didn't have anything to go off of, the evidence they did have was pointing to this, or something worse.
"He said his mother died when he was born, and his father killed himself." Aizawa supplied.
"And how old was he?"
"6 or 5." (I just realized I said two different ages before, but his memory of the incident is probably foggy, right? Yeah let's go with that.)
"I see. I don't want him to panic, but we will need to ask him some questions when he wakes up." The doctor said and he stood up. "He'll be out in an hour and a bit, we just need to finish setting his bones."
"Okay, thank you." Hizashi said.
"I'm going to go buy something really quick." Aizawa left the box he was carrying on his seat and left.
Hizashi watched as people walked by, some of them with tears running down their cheeks, and others with beaming smiles. Most people just looked tired. Hizashi could relate. Did he look as tired as he felt? He wondered absently.
Aizawa returned after 15 minutes with a face mask. "What's that for?"
"Kakashi. He always wears that mask of his, I imagine there's a reason, so I bought this for him."
They sat quietly for the next half hour until Dr. Akihiro entered the waiting room with a small smile.
"Kakashi is going to be fine." He said first. "That other fluid he has in his veins seemingly speeds up his recovery time, so he'll be out of here in a few days." He sighed, "But taking the nature of his injuries into consideration, his mental state might not be the greatest for a while. Now, if you would follow me." Aizawa and Hizashi stood up and followed him quickly. "He's in this room here." He pushed the door open.
~~~
I like to believe that in the future, everyone has free healthcare, so there isn't a cost for Kakashi's hospital stay.
Kakashi felt cold. Not the sort of chill you feel on a winter's day with your coat and hat, the sort of bone deep coldness that settles after a bad injury or experience, and Kakashi's had enough of those to be able to recognize the feeling.
He woke up with a start, memories of a hot knife clouding his mind. He felt someone holding him down to a soft bed, and telling him things he couldn't understand. Kakashi felt tears building behind his eyes, laughter in his throat, and pain everywhere.
When his vision cleared, he recognized the familiar scent of a hospital first, the white ceilings and walls second, and Hizashi and Aizawa third.
"Glad you're awake." Aizawa smiled.
Kakashi tried to say something, but just ended up coughing, so he didn't try to say anything else.
"You've got a broken ankle, 6 broken ribs, a fractured elbow and a lot of burns." Aizawa told him.
Considering the circumstances, that wasn't too bad. Kakashi coughed again and was handed some water. The water did little to soothe his throat, but Kakashi found he could talk again.
"What did... they tell you?" He asked. His voice was quiet, but they still heard him over the silence in the room.
"They gave us a rundown of your injuries, and said you could leave in a few days." Aizawa paused. "Oh, here." He handed him the mask.
"...Thank you." Kakashi took the mask and put it on. He winced at the strong smell, but he was grateful. They hadn't asked about the... markings on his chest yet, so he assumed they hadn't seen them. "Do you want to know what happened?" He figured he owed them that much.
"Only if you want to tell us." Hizashi interjected.
Kakashi hesitated, then began to speak, "First, I fought All for One after he destroyed the building I was in with Todoroki and Bakugou. I lost." Kakashi bit the inside of his cheek. "Then I was taken to Shigaraki's hideout." Hizashi breathed sharply and Aizawa shut his eyes. "It... wasn't a fun time."
It didn't bother Kakashi as much as it should've. He could understand the motivations behind what Shigaraki did, that didn't mean he liked it, he just got it. He'd tortured people too. The first time was when he was in ANBU, he still remembered it from time to time, though the memory was fuzzy.
It was only his 2nd mission as an ANBU captain, and it was his job to get information from the victim. He was 13 at the time.
It took a long time, he didn't talk until Kakashi got to the last toenail. The rest up until then was deep inside a locked part of Kakashi's mind, where the more vivid parts of his trauma lay.
Kakashi snapped out of his daze. Instead of pity, which was what he expected, Aizawa said this:
"I'm sorry." Kakashi knew what he was apologizing for, and he understood it, but it did nothing to placate him. While the gesture was appreciated, if anything, it made Kakashi feel guilty.
He kept forgetting that there were people who cared now, and that those people weren't shinobi. Here, dying at 25 was considered young, but in Konoha, it was a privilege and a rare occurrence, especially during wartime.
"When can I leave?" He asked, breaking the tense silence that was blanketing the room.
"In a few days." Aizawa told him.
Kakashi didn't want to stay in the hospital for that long, his chakra exhaustion wasn't as bad as it should've been, and the injuries would be gone in a month at most.
He felt his vision begin to blur, and he collapsed back on to the bed, blacking out as soon as his head hit the pillow.
Well, from here on out... I no longer have a plan! I was planning of finishing this up in like... 3 chapters from where we are now, but that would leave a lot of unanswered questions, and I don't want that. So... uh... yay?