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“What are you doing, Kakashi-kun?” the human with bright hair asked, his hands shifting on the pot, squishing it a little.
Roots were compressed and rubbed together uncomfortably, and leaves stiffened in reaction.
“Making a safe home. With his name.” the smaller one, Kakashi, his new owner, replied, putting down a heavy-looking pot with human writing carved along the rim. “Everyone deserves a good den of their own.” he said, holding his hands up and taking the temporary pot much more carefully from the other human’s much larger hands. “Ukki-san.” he said softly, stroking gently, fingers following the veins of a large leaf.
Ukki-san.
Ukki ruffled his leaves. He thought he rather liked having a name.
Kakashi inspected his leaves and stems, and Ukki held himself tall, wishing to be judged well, particularly by his new owner. “Good plant.” Kakashi said softly, and then Ukki shuddered as his temporary pot was squeezed and almost crushed a few times, but it was only for a moment before Kakashi pulled him from it entirely.
The air on his exposed roots was somewhat alarming. He was glad to be swiftly tucked into what proved to be a much more solid pot, soft, rich earth tucking around his roots and gentle hands nestling him securely into it.
Kakashi stroked his leaves, then the rim of his pot. “Ukki-san. My friend.”
Ukki stood as tall and proud as he could, delighted to be called such, and Kakashi put him on a windowsill overlooking a large kitchen on one side, complete with a human nest in the centre of it, and on the other, a corner of a wild, lush garden.
“Thank you, Minato-sensei. I like him.” Kakashi said, and the other human patted his head as they walked out of the kitchen together.
“I don’t need help!” Kakashi shouted as he spilled into the kitchen along with another small human, this one wearing green.
Ukki liked him on principle, for the green and for the way he responded to Kakashi’s yelling. Kakashi must also, he thought, because he sulked and shouted, but he didn’t actually attack the other human, and after a little while he huffed and moved over to where the green human had gone to stand at the stove.
Kakashi shoved him sideways muttering about mess and mistakes, and he grinned when Kakashi wasn’t looking. Ukki liked him a little more.
They made a human food together, and Kakashi huffed but seemed a little pleased as they also sat down together to eat. They talked in lower voices, and then the other human started shouting, though he didn’t seem angry or tense the way Kakashi always did when he got loud, which was rarely.
Ukki was a little confused.
The green human went to take care of the dishes and Kakashi came over to Ukki, toying with his leaves and stroking his pot, then watering him carefully, checking his soil. Ukki quivered in happiness, feeling his roots plumping up and the rush in his veins.
Kakashi made a pleased noise and fluffed his leaves unnecessarily, an appreciative touch, then went back to his . . . friend, Ukki guessed.
They talked for a little longer and then walked to the door together.
“I. . . Thank you, Gai.” Kakashi said, his toes dragging along the floor.
The green human - Gai, Ukki supposed - flung his arms around Kakashi, nearly knocking them both over, making rather alarming noises that Ukki was hard-pressed to class as ‘happy’, even with his increased experience interpreting humans over his time with Minato, and then Kakashi.
“You’re my best friend and my Eternal Rival!” Gai said, holding Kakashi by the shoulders, almost nose to nose with him. “We will always be together! Trust in that!”
He left not long after, and Kakashi curled up in his little nest - Gai had not commented upon it, though Ukki knew its location to be unusual, for humans - silently.
“It was nice to have someone else here, wasn’t it, Ukki-san?” Kakashi said after a while, his voice slow and sleepy, and Ukki thought it very much was. He liked having his owner’s company and needed little else, but it was good for Kakashi, he thought, and it was interesting, seeing other humans.
Ukki had made the most of his trip across the village, curiously taking in more of the place his human roamed around when not home with Ukki, but it was nice now to be settled somewhere secure again. Plants were not made to travel, however adventurous Ukki might feel sometimes.
Kakashi placed him carefully on a nice, broad windowsill, tucking the curtains back around him so that nothing would block his sunshine, or the fresh air from the open window, but he could take in the room as well. Only once Ukki was settled there did Kakashi turn to unpacking his own belongings, hiding some of his weapons around the room and eventually stopping on the bed, just sitting there looking . . . blank.
Ukki was a little concerned for him, even with the distraction of the new placement. He hadn’t been worried that his owner was taking him to pass off to someone else, of course - he wouldn’t have thought Kakashi would anyway, but Kakashi had told him they were coming here to stay. With Kakashi’s Minato, and someone else he called Kushi-nee Ukki thought might be Minato’s Kushina.
Kakashi had not been very clear about why, but Ukki knew small humans were rarely on their own like his human was, and thought it was probably a good thing that he would be no longer.
“Kashi-kun! I’m so glad you’re here with us!”
Ukki immediately liked the human who came in, even as she made Kakashi squawk and flail, flustered. She put the blankets she had brought with her down on the already made bed, then sat down beside Kakashi and hugged him tight, ignoring the protests Ukki knew he didn’t really mean from his weak tone.
Kakashi cuddled into her after a few minutes, and the human - who must be Kushina - kissed the top of his head, then hugged him tighter, her long, sunset-coloured hair falling around Kakashi’s head and shoulders where he tucked close against her.
“It is . . . good to be here with you and Minato-sensei.” Kakashi said eventually, and Kushina tutted, patting his back. “I’m glad if I can help you, Kushi-nee.”
Kushina laughed, loud and clear. “I won’t need so very much help, but I will be very glad to have you around!” she said affectionately. “My pretty boy is so busy most of the time, but now I’ll have my little Kashi-kun!”
Kakashi looked long-suffering as she cupped his face between her hands and shook his head gently, but he didn’t protest. Ukki thought he even looked maybe a little pleased.
Rising after a few more minutes, Kushina bustled around the room settling Kakashi in a little more comfortably, and then dragged him out with her, saying he needed feeding.
Kushina, Ukki discovered early in their stay, always thought Kakashi needed feeding. Perhaps because she ate so much and so often herself.
Kakashi grew a little easier in himself, more relaxed and happier, under her constant fussing and teasing, and Ukki was happy his human was happy. It was also nice to see Minato, the human who had first brought him indoors and who had gifted him to Kakashi, once more, though Ukki’s best-loved human would always be his Kakashi.
Kakashi still doted on Ukki, carefully checking his pot and making sure he was happy in the sun, well watered with rich earth, but now as he did he talked happily about his Minato-sensei and Kushi-nee, even more than he had before they moved here, and Ukki was happy to listen. Happier still that his Kakashi was happy in this human nest, no longer alone with Ukki as his only companion.
“Kashi-kun!” Kushina howled, which would be an alarming sound if they hadn’t both been used to it - Kushina was loud, even when she was happy. Perhaps especially when she was happy.
Kakashi murmured a farewell to Ukki and caressed his leaves once more, then hopped up off the desk below the window sill, which he perched on when chatting with Ukki, and trotted out the door, calling out a response to Kushina as he went.
Ukki settled in to bask in the warm autumn sunshine, his roots digging just a little further into the earth of his pot.
Kakashi put Ukki on his new windowsill with all his usual care, but . . . slow and sad. He was always slow and sad, now, Ukki thought. He was distressed for his human - and worried over him.
This new place was tiny, for a human - Ukki had plenty of room on the solid sill, and the sun streamed down cosily upon him, but there was only this room, and it was very small. Barely big enough for the bed, shelves, and the desk built beneath the window.
Once he had spent longer than necessary fussing to be sure Ukki was situated carefully, Kakashi stepped away, to the few boxes of his belongings. He put his books on the shelves, spread paper and the wooden case of writing implements on the desk, and covered his bed with the green spread that his green human had given him, decorated with shuriken.
Then he set to hiding weaponry and trapping the small room, which took him long into the night as Ukki watched, concern only mounting.
Kakashi did not go to bed when he was finished, only donned his second set of armour, picked up the porcelain mask, and passed by Ukki with a brush of fingertips to his leaves on the way out the window.
Kakashi was already home, sitting his narrow bed, tucked just out of the moonlight; Ukki was surprised when the window began to open.
Gai hopped through, almost knocking Ukki’s pot over and pausing to gently straighten it again with a soft-voiced apology.
“What are you doing here?” Kakashi asked without rising from his slouched position in the shadows. His voice was dull.
“You cannot have forgotten your Eternal Rival!” Gai said, voice starting out as something of a boom, then cracking unsteadily halfway through. “And the promises made?” he added more gently as Kakashi looked up at him.
“I don’t. . .” Kakashi fell silent as Gai moved to join him, hardly allowing him a chance to protest and insisting that he was there to help.
Kakashi didn’t exactly seem pleased, but he didn’t fight, either, and he eventually let Gai bully him into speaking, the two humans leaning into one another, side by side. They spoke for a long time, in low, painful voices, and Ukki listened with his own pained thoughts circling over what he had seen of Kakashi’s life, what Kakashi had told him, in the quiet moments when he fussed over Ukki in private, putting it together with what he spoke of now.
Gai remained, even when Kakashi fell asleep, sitting up with Kakashi tucked in the blankets beside him. He rested a hand on Kakashi’s shoulder, tipping his head back against the wall, his face calm but melancholy.
At least Ukki’s human was not entirely alone, he thought sadly.
Gai slid his arm further around Kakashi’s shoulders as they began to shake, holding him a little tighter, rubbing his back. He didn’t wake, even as he started to cry, whimpering.
“Are you sure this is all right, senpai?”
Ukki took in the unfamiliar human Kakashi was ushering inside with curiosity. He was small and slender, allowing Kakashi to pull him in but looking anxiously like he expected to be thrown out once more immediately.
There was something strange about him, Ukki thought.
“Of course it is, kohai.” Kakashi said gently, hand sliding down the other human’s shoulder and neck as the door closed. “It’s not much here, of course,” he shrugged, moving away, “but you are welcome. Always.” he said, his voice suddenly heavy with meaning and intent.
The unfamiliar human went entirely still, wide eyes on Kakashi.
Kakashi smiled at him and waved, gesturing for him to look around. It took another few moments, but eventually he did, with tiny, careful steps.
“Oh! Kakashi-senpai, you have a plant!”
Ukki rustled his leaves a little as the unfamiliar human reached out, touching his pot. Then he brushed a hand over Ukki’s leaves, and there was a familiar feeling. This human felt like a plant, somehow, as though he was, under the surface.
Or. . . Like he carried inside himself the seed from which plants might grow, be called up from, answer to that strange feeling.
“Minato-sensei gave him to me. A long time ago.” Kakashi said, and Ukki stood a little taller.
The plant human came closer, bending over him and reaching out with both hands now.
Ukki wasn’t quite sure what the plant human was, but his touch was gentle and the feeling was not unpleasant. He had missed something of what the plant human and his own human spoke of, and found himself suddenly unfurling new leaves, veins swollen with the energy to grow as the plant human trailed gentle fingers over him.
“You’re always welcome here, Tenzou.” Kakashi said, suddenly behind the plant human, arms sliding around him. “I want you to know that.”
Tenzou’s hands fell away from Ukki as he leaned backwards against Kakashi, eyes closing. “I. . .”
“I mean it.” Kakashi said firmly. “Whether I’m here or not. Whatever you need. It’s not much, here, but it’s mine, and you’re welcome.”
“. . .thank you, senpai.” Tenzou said softly, turning his head against Kakashi’s neck.
Ukki felt a soft stirring as the window opened, and none of Kakashi’s traps went off.
A slender figure with a porcelain mask very like Kakashi’s own slipped inside, ghosting over the shelf and the desk beneath without so much as ruffling Ukki’s leaves. The mask clinked quietly onto the desk, the armour settled beside it a moment later, and Tenzou moved silently towards the bed.
He was stiff and slow, and Ukki thought it was more likely due to injury than uncertainty.
Kakashi rolled over and opened his arms, and Tenzou made a little hitching sound, collapsing down into the narrow bed at his side. Ukki fretted a little as Kakashi wrapped him up in an embrace, drawing the blanket up enough to all but hide them away from both the moonlight and any observations Ukki could make.
They spoke, quiet murmurs, but not for long before Tenzou lapsed into silence against Kakashi’s shoulder and he pushed the blanket down a little again.
Kakashi stayed awake for a while longer, his face troubled, stroking Tenzou’s hair and down his back. The night breeze stirred the curtains around Ukki as well as his leaves, and ruffled Kakashi’s wild hair.
It wasn’t the first time Tenzou had crept here through the window, bypassing Ukki courteously, and he doubted it would be the last.
Kakashi hummed a few times, prodding his throat, then returned to tucking all of his hair up under a concealing layer of entirely foreign brown hair. It took quite some doing, and he muttered to himself the entire time, his voice shifting as he spoke.
Eventually it settled into something very unlike his own voice, but steady.
Kakashi smiled slightly, then set up a mirror and began applying something purple to his face.
Ukki was mystified - Kakashi always wore his mask when he left, of course, and at times he still wore the porcelain mask with its red marks, but this was strange and new.
He wasn’t even covering his eye, though it wasn’t the livid red whorl Ukki was used to, either. Had he done something to conceal that, also?
Kakashi wrapped himself up in a long coat and scarf, still not hiding his face nearly so efficiently as usual, and crossed to the window. He looked out, down to the street, then turned to Ukki, brushing his fingertips up under Ukki’s arching leaves.
“It’s been years since I’ve even tried. . . I suppose we’ll see if I can still play civilian.” he said softly, and Ukki wondered why even as he turned and hurried out the door.
Ukki was surprised, but also a little disappointed when the door opened. Tenzou stepped in alone, and there was no sign of Kakashi.
“Hello, Ukki-san.” Tenzou said cheerfully as he closed the door. He crossed over to the window. “I don’t mean to disturb you, I am only here to check in on things while Kakashi-senpai is absent.”
It wasn’t the first time someone else had done so - Gai had frequently come to provide Ukki with water when Kakashi was away for a long time, which he did with diligent care but less attention than Kakashi - and Ukki liked Tenzou, of course. Tenzou was a strange human, one who carried the life of plants inside him, and Kakashi cared for him deeply, so of course Ukki liked him.
He was not Kakashi, however. And Kakashi was Ukki’s human.
There was little to do in the tiny room other than see to Ukki, but Tenzou lingered, talking to Ukki as he moved around the room, brushing his fingers over the bookshelves, neatening the unimportant papers Kakashi had left out, checking on his traps and some of the hidden weapons. No one but Kakashi and Ukki knew where they all were, but Tenzou and Gai both knew some of their locations.
Tenzou sighed, sitting at the foot of Kakashi’s bed, fingers smoothing restlessly over the blanket again and again. “I should go. . .”
Ukki hoped Kakashi returned soon, and felt an increased fondness for his owner’s strange plant human, rooted in Tenzou’s own clear love of Kakashi.
Ukki was alarmed when the door swung open and almost slammed into the narrow shelf in the wall behind it as Kakashi almost stumbled inside, only kept on his feet by Gai at his side, arm around his ribs.
It was good to see Kakashi home - at last - of course, but this was. . .
Gai clucked worriedly, all but carrying Kakashi to the bed. “I wish you would stay at the hospital, my friend.” he said quietly, his deep voice thick with worry.
“I’m fine.” Kakashi said despite the rasp in his voice. Ukki wasn’t sure Kakashi could have stood up again on his own, and the tips of his leaves curled in distress. “I wouldn’t rest there.”
“I know.” Gai smoothed a hand over Kakashi’s brow. “Promise you will return if you need further assistance, at least?”
“If I must.” Kakashi said, sagging a little against the wall, head bowed. It looked less like compliance and more like he could not hold himself upright any longer.
“I. . . Very well; let me help you get. . .” Gai trailed off into low mutters that Ukki couldn’t quite make out and Kakashi was probably not paying any mind to, pulling off Kakashi’s gear and helping him lie down, tucking the blankets cosily around him before settling beside him on the edge of the bed.
He blocked Kakashi from most of the room, but Ukki could still see Kakashi’s pale face in the moonlight, drawn and thin.
Gai stayed for the rest of the night, as Kakashi slept uneasily and occasionally jerked into wakefulness with scratchy, barely-there sounds of pain. Gai looked fretful as well, hovering over Kakashi and not resting at all himself.
Gai had been a constant in Kakashi’s life for many years, always doing his best to watch over Kakashi, and Ukki knew Kakashi cared deeply for him in return.
The sun was only beginning to filter through the window around Ukki when Gai - still not having slept a moment, from what Ukki could tell - finally took his leave, and left Kakashi sitting on the bed, silent but alert, eyes on the scroll on the opposite wall.
Ukki had spent several days fretting over his human - Kakashi may have claimed he wouldn’t have rested at the hospital, but he had barely slept since Gai had left either, even here in his own home.
Gai had been very apologetic that morning, but he was needed on a mission and could not return to help Kakashi. He had waved it off, of course, and he was healing - he was mobile and he no longer shook or wavered when he moved, even when he walked around their tiny home - but there was clearly something else he needed. He needed to sleep, to rest properly, and Ukki did not know why he would not - could not.
Not that it was uncommon for Kakashi’s sleep to be uneasy and disturbed, but he was barely even slipping into sleep at all, now.
Ukki feared he couldn’t go on for much longer in this state. He hoped Gai would return soon, perhaps, and help. Or-
The curtains fluttered around Ukki as the window opened silently, and fingers brushed his leaves, carrying a spark of that unique energy rich with the potential of a seed. Tenzou leapt lightly over and to the floor, removing his armour and sandals before crossing to the bed where Kakashi sat, staring at him.
“Hello, senpai.” Tenzou said softly, holding out a hand.
Kakashi took a shuddering breath, reaching out his own in response, and Tenzou clasped it, moving in close. He bent over Kakashi, then folded his legs, settling beside Kakashi on the bed, supporting him when he slumped sideways.
They spoke in low voices for a time as Ukki’s leaves rustled in the soft night breeze, and then Kakashi let Tenzou nudge him down on the bed, curling into him the way Kakashi and his dogs sometimes curled into each other. It wasn’t the first time Ukki had watched as they did this, either, though it was more common for Tenzou to press into Kakashi looking for comfort or support than for Kakashi to seek it from him.
Tenzou wrapped his arms around Kakashi, mostly hidden away between Tenzou and the wall, and stroked his hair, still murmuring quietly.
Kakashi slept, and Ukki was relieved to see he slept with an untroubled face, for all the apparent strength of his clinging to Tenzou.
Ukki had been surprised to be carried out of the tiny space where he and Kakashi had lived for so long - he had not been moved in many years - but it was interesting to take in the village from down on the streets, rather than his window, once more.
Kakashi carried him right across the village and out to quieter stretches, then into a large house that was much more peaceful than the building where they lived before had been.
“There you are.” Kakashi said, voice warm, and settled Ukki atop a steady tansu just inside a wide window. It overlooked a broad engawa and a wild garden, only a corner of which was familiar to Ukki - he had been able to see it from his first home in the kitchen of Kakashi’s house.
They had left it so very long ago and Ukki suspected Kakashi had not returned either, but now. . .
It was a nice place, and Ukki was happy to be here once more. More, it seemed Kakashi was happy to be here once more.
Kakashi fussed with his leaves and turning his pot just so, neither of which really needed doing, but Ukki appreciated the care and attention his human had always had for him. Eventually Kakashi left him be in the quiet room, and Ukki basked in the light of the setting sun as Kakashi and Tenzou wandered around the house with the occasional thumping sound, their voices no more than a low murmur from where Ukki sat.
The noises moved to the kitchen after a while, and then Ukki saw them go out to the engawa with their dinner. Tenzou gestured at the garden as he ate, and Kakashi watched him with a fond, indulgent look on his face.
When they finished eating Tenzou made to get up and go out in the garden, but Kakashi pulled him back, almost bringing him toppling down into Kakashi’s lap. Tenzou flailed a little, then huffed, leaning into Kakashi’s arms, head resting on his shoulder.
Kakashi wound his arms tighter around Tenzou and while it was silent from here, Ukki supposed they were probably talking again, quiet and close; Tenzou’s hands stroked over Kakashi’s arms where they crossed his stomach, and his legs on either side of Tenzou’s own.
It was Tenzou who moved away first, and he drew Kakashi up after himself, making no move towards the garden now - instead, he pulled Kakashi immediately back towards the door, even leaving the plates on the engawa.
Ukki furled his leaves a little more, but was swiftly reassured by the familiar sounds they began making together - if somewhat more muffled than usual, from a few rooms away rather than filling the tiny single room Kakashi and Ukki had lived in for so long.
Ukki’s comfortable pot was cosily positioned where he would have the best of the afternoon and evening sun, and his owner was content with his strange plant human companion.
Ukki was pleased. All was well.