Chapter Text
Footsteps alert his sharp ears to his aniue’s presence long before he’s found. He’s discovered a good spot this time, far better than his cramped nook between the old, retired tatami mats stuffed deep in the dojo’s closet.
Between all the suffocating dust motes, the damp air, and the black mold creeping up the walls, it wasn’t exactly ideal, but it had been small and secluded and that’s what had mattered. Regardless, his aniue found that one, so now any time he disappears that’s the first place they check.
This time, though, he’s found a small cupboard just large enough for him to sit upright inside of, tucked away in an abandoned store house on the edge of their village. There’s more bugs here ( eight hundred and forty three spiders in this room alone ), but they’re more like a soft, effervescent glow on the edges of his consciousness. Nothing to hide from.
And he does that a lot- hiding, that is. His brain is so loud all the time, and with the bright, passionate, fiery chakra burning around him from all sides, it’s all he can do to keep from going insane. It’s starting to become unbearable, but he thinks his aniue has figured it out. Let it not be said that his aniue was anything less than perceptive when it came to his younger brothers.
His aniue is brighter than most of the people who surround him, and sometimes he’s not sure if it’s a blessing or a curse.
On one hand, it gives him something to focus on; a way to block out the constant assault on his senses with reliability. On the other, his aniue is absolutely blinding. He has more chakra than most of the active shinobi combined, and he’s not even started puberty yet. Chichi-ue is terribly proud - in his own twisted way - and beats that pride into his aniue until he’s painted in galaxies of purples, blacks and blues.
His small, slight fingers twist worn fibers of an empty flour bag cushioning his bony backside from the splintered wood beneath him. There’s a small pile of broken strings by the door, leaning precariously to one side, a single disturbance away from collapsing under their own ill-aligned weight. He doesn’t remember doing that.
Footsteps stop directly in front of his hidden nook, and he hears light shuffling as his aniue hesitates.
“Kakashi?” comes a soft voice, the speaker bending down and brushing his fingers against the door. “What are you doing all the way out here, sweetheart?”
Kakashi doesn’t respond, but he knows it’s not exactly surprising. He hasn’t spoken a single word since he woke up here, after all.
“Come on, sweetie. Ryouta hasn’t seen you all day. Have you at least eaten?” his aniue asks, slowly prying the broken door open.
His pile collapses. Kakashi frowns, brow furrowing.
“Oh, um, sorry about that,” his aniue says, startlingly sincere in all that it’s awkward. “We can make a new one?”
Kakashi blinks slowly, shaking his head after a few moments of silence. It’s… not important.
His aniue sighs. “So you haven’t eaten, then. Kakashi, sweetie, you know you can’t be doing that. You make me worry.”
Kakashi isn’t sure what that has to do with anything, but slowly raises his arms in the universal signal of ‘pick me up, now,’ and watches as his aniue’s face crumbles.
“Alright, alright. Come on, let’s go,” his aniue says. “You know I can’t stay mad at you when you look like that.”
He shifts forward, tucking his hands underneath Kakashi’s armpits and hauling him out, pressing the younger boy against his chest. Kakashi tucks his head underneath his aniue’s chin, clenching his hands into fists and squeezing his eyes shut. He doesn’t even realize he’s faintly trembling until his aniue starts gently hushing him, brushing a hand through his tangled hair and pressing him even further against his collarbone.
“Figures you would be a sensor to put even me to shame,” his aniue sighs. “I’m sorry I can’t make it better, Kakashi.”
Kakashi just shakes his head, bunching some of his aniue’s haori in his hands to pull himself even closer. He understands why his aniue can’t help. If he asked around, chances were news would get back to Chichi-ue, and with all the trouble his aniue goes through to protect Kakashi and his siblings, all it would do is make things worse. Kakashi knows this - Ryouta and Izuna too - so he stays quiet and stationary, meditating the way Naruto used to talk about in an attempt to make it better.
Sometimes it works. Sometimes his tiny, useless body gives out on him halfway through and he’s left dazed and exhausted in any number of hidden cracks and crannies around the village. That’s usually how his aniue finds him, weekly outings turning into biweekly, then daily. His brain just can’t handle the constant influx of information, and when he finally shuts it down, he’s stuck inside his head reliving memories of a Konohagakure not yet built, his fist smashing through chest after chest, a bloody chipped mask dangling from limp fingers.
It seems, in any life, he just cannot win. His aniue has taken to coddling him, carrying him from place to place and handling him delicately, like uncured leather. His clan thinks he’s sickly. His chichi-ue thinks he’s useless. His Kyoudai know differently.
Too much chakra, constantly leaking around the edges and following along behind him like a bad omen. According to his aniue, he shines like a beacon to anyone with even a whisper of sensing capabilities, which is a massive security risk. His aniue sleeps with Kakashi tucked underneath his arm, pressed so tightly against the rhythmic movement of his chest that sometimes, Kakashi forgets to breathe.
When Kakashi sleeps, it’s short and sporadic, often abruptly interrupted by either Izuna’s rowdy chakra bouncing off the walls or his own twisted night terrors. His aniue never asks, but Kakashi knows it eats at him.
The closer they drift towards the village center, the more chakra signatures begin to assault him from every angle. Kakashi squeezes his eyes shut hard enough that colors dance off his eyelids, but it doesn’t do him any good. The world is agonizing in its vivid splashes of color, so bright it scorches whatever senses he has left intact by the end of the day. Meaningless words wash over him as various members of their clan bow and offer respectful greetings to their heir, his aniue’s chin brushing his head as he nods in return.
“Ah, Madara-nii-sama!” comes a bright voice, a body only slightly smaller than his aniue’s running up from behind and skidding to a stop in a sloppy bow across from them. Kakashi can feel as his aniue shifts in surprise at the out of character display, stopping and settling into a wider stance.
“Hikaku-kun,” His aniue murmurs, lightly transferring Kakashi to his hip. “What can I do for you?”
“Ah, Madara-nii-sama, I’m so sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could come and train with Izuna tonight?” Hikaku inquires politely, rising out of his bow to show off a flushed face and a shy grin.
Kakashi feels his aniue take a step forward, settling his now free hand into Hikaku’s tangled hair, ruffling slightly.
“You know you’re always welcome at the main house, Hikaku-kun,” His aniue admonishes lightly, allowing his hand to trail off the boy’s head as he steps past and continues on his way.
“Ah, thank you so much Madara-nii-sama!” Hikaku whoops before slapping a hand over his mouth, blushing.
His aniue just chuckles softly, gesturing over his shoulder for the wayward Uchiha to follow. Kakashi feels as the boy springs forward, hesitating only a moment before lightly grabbing his aniue’s sleeve and following along diligently. Kakashi stirs slightly as he senses Hikaku’s attention turn to him.
“Hello, Kakashi-kun,” he says softly, in the same tone nearly everyone has adopted when talking to him now-a-days. It’s entirely his aniue’s fault, but he can’t say anything when it does, actually, aggravate his senses less. “Another bad day today?”
Kakashi actually manages to pry his face away from his aniue’s neck for a moment, blinking blearily at Hikaku before swaying his head side to side. Exhausting his social battery for the day, he slumps back into his aniue’s neck and sighs soundlessly.
“Was that a no?” Hikaku asks, not quite sure what to make of the interaction.
“More of a so-so, I believe,” His aniue replies, nuzzling the top of Kakashi’s head now that both hands are preoccupied.
Hikaku frowns and pulls his aniue’s sleeve a bit, pulling his attention back to him. “Is that normal? I feel like he’s been having more than-“
“Hikaku-kun,” His aniue cuts the boy off sharply.
Hikaku glances around and takes in the faces of his clan, pointedly looking away with their ears conveniently directed towards them.
“Sorry Madara-nii-sama,” Hikaku mumbles, staring down at his feet.
“Don’t worry too much, Hikaku-kun,” His aniue says, face soft as he looks down at the chastised boy. “Just remember there is a time and place for every conversation, yes?”
“Yes, Madara-nii-sama,” Hikaku mumbles even softer this time, sticking himself closer to his arm.
His aniue gives Hikaku a pitying look, tucking him against his side. He really is much too soft on the boys, Kakashi thinks, but he would never express such a thing. He hasn’t had to walk anywhere he hasn’t wanted to in months, and who is Kakashi to ruin the only good thing he has going for him?
After several more minutes of walking, they cross through the gates marking the main house of Taijima’s children; separate from his own dwellings. His chichi-ue couldn’t be bothered to raise his own heirs, and had often foisted them off onto clan elders or, more commonly, Hikaku’s haha-ue until his aniue was old enough to take care of them all himself.
Kakashi wasn’t sure if eleven years on this planet was old and worldly enough to be raising children, but he himself had been cooking in an apartment on his own by the time he was five at one point in time. It was probably fine. Izuna seems mostly normal, and Ryouta does a good job of pretending, at least.
His aniue had older brothers himself previously, Kakashi knows, but he doesn’t talk about them much. It makes Kakashi wonder, sometimes, with just how overprotective his aniue is, exactly how they treated him. It also makes him cling just that much tighter to his aniue on dark evenings.
There’s clattering on the engawa as another blindingly bright chakra signature bursts through the door, flinging itself at his aniue.
“Madara-nii!” Izuna cries, crashing into his side.
“Ah, Izuna, watch it!” His aniue yelps, pulling Kakashi up higher and inadvertently jostling him harder than Izuna ever would have managed to. “You’re going to squish Kakashi! And greet our guest first, you brat!”
“Maa, but it’s just Hikaku-nii,” Izuna whines, ignoring the flat look the boy in question shoots his younger cousin.
His aniue just sighs as Izuna detaches his pudgy limbs and flings himself at Hikaku instead, the two boys breaking into squabbling almost immediately.
“For such a polite boy, he sure is a terror when it comes to Izuna,” his aniue says into Kakashi’s hair as Hikaku uses his ever-so-slight height advantage to lift one of Izuna’s sandals he’d somehow managed to wrestle off the boy above his head. Izuna shrieks like a banshee, hopping around on one foot while swinging his fists at the opposing boy. Hikaku just smirks. “I swear Izuna brings out the worst in him.”
Kakashi can’t help himself but nod against his aniue’s collarbone, still struggling to connect the shy, well mannered boy he knows Hikaku as to the borderline sadistic terror he becomes around Izuna. Perhaps it’s his aniue’s influence. Sage only knows the family carries a strong dose of the maniacally crazy gene.
His aniue hums, brushing his now free hand up Kakashi’s back and stepping across the doorframe, deigning to ignore the chaos behind him. “Tadaima Kaerimashita,” he calls, just loud enough to carry.
“Okairinasai, Onii-sama!” comes a faint, if excited reply. Fast footstep approach before another, smaller body appears from around the corner, trotting up to his aniue. “You found our wandering Otouto, then?”
“So I did, Ryou. He’s found a new hiding place, it would seem,” his aniue agrees, rubbing circles now on Kakashi’s back. He shivers, pressing closer. “At least this one isn’t infested with termites, even if it is a bit out of the way.”
Ryouta wrinkles his nose, reaching over to gently pat Kakashi’s ankle in reassurance. “I suppose that’s better. I’m still concerned about all the mold spores he probably inhaled in the last place. I’m telling you, we need to just burn those stupid mats.”
His aniue just sighs and shakes his head, ushering his younger brother further into the house. “I wouldn’t worry about it so much. That cloth he keeps tied around his face all the time probably filtered a majority of it out, anyway.”
His aniue tugs at the (functional, albeit improvised) mask on Kakashi’s face, resulting in a weak slap on his wrist. Chuckling, his aniue drops the hand and mercilessly ruffles Kakashi’s hair.
“Such an adorable little face, and yet you insist on covering it all the time. I’ll never understand that,” he teases, playing with the tied end of the mask on the back of Kakashi’s head.
He swings blind, again, and squirms in dissatisfaction as his aniue just laughs while Ryouta radiates amusement from his side. Menaces, the both of them.
“Why don’t you take him into the Ima while I make something for us to eat. We have an extra mouth tonight, so I’ll need more rice than normal,” his aniue says, carefully transferring Kakashi’s small frame into Ryouta’s outstretched arms.
“Is that what all that commotion outside was?” Ryouta asks, adjusting Kakashi over his hip so he doesn’t drop him. “I heard Izu-nii shrieking about a shoe or something, but I just assumed he’d fallen in the pond again.”
His aniue snorts and rolls his eyes, sending a baleful look towards the door. “No, he’s just polluting Hikaku’s mind, like always.”
“Ah, Hikaku-nii is here?” Ryouta asks, eyes lighting up. “Maybe Izu-nii will be too tired to be an idiot tonight, then.”
His aniue huffs out another laugh, patting Ryouta on the head. “Try to get him to sleep, yeah?”
“Yes, Onii-sama.”
“Oi, it’s just Hikaku here tonight. No need for the stuffy formalities,” Madara grumbles as Ryouta sways towards the Ima, using chakra to balance his uneven weight.
Kakashi squirms at the flare of light scorching his senses, squeezing Ryouta’s arm when he apologizes for it.
Not like it’s his fault Kakashi is more than half his size. His brother is only seven, after all. They stagger into the room, the tatami mats under Ryouta’s feet making light thwaps! with every uneven step before he pauses at the corner, lowering Kakashi gently onto the pile of blankets and cushions they’ve amassed.
“You’re almost getting too big for me to carry anymore, Kakashi-kun! You need to stop growing so fast,” Ryouta complains with a wry grin, fluffing his Otouto’s wild hair. His smile intensifies at the aggravated puff of air he gets in return, the equivalent of a groan in ‘Kakashi language.’ “Ah, but I’m sure I’ll always be taller than you. You’re so slight an oddly placed sneeze could blow you over.”
Kakashi actually opens his eyes and glares at Ryouta, the tiny sadist taking far too much after his aniue for Kakashi to be anything less than suspicious.
“Alright, alright,” he placates, not dropping the grin. “But you really do need to sleep more. Anija is worrying himself sick over you, you know.” Plopping down next to Kakashi, he pulls the younger boy into his lap and threads his fingers through silky black hair. “I never will understand why you hate sleeping so much. It’s my favorite part of the day.”
Kakashi just sighs, burrowing his face into Ryouta’s lap to block out the physical light. It does nothing for the chakra signatures all around him, pulsating as life itself moves on its way just outside their room. The family of eight field mice making themselves at home in their pantry is something he should definitely tell his aniue about. There’s a snake in the tree just outside their window, devouring her fill of eggs as an upset shrike watches on, defenseless. On the east end of the village a young shinobi has just cut himself with a sloppily thrown shuriken, while to the north a young couple hurriedly mashes their chakra together for the first time as they hide behind a storehouse. There’s a young man watching them from the inside of the building, but he doesn’t seem too inclined to stop them. Kakashi pointedly directs his focus elsewhere.
When Ryouta feels him shift uncomfortably, he places a hand over Kakashi’s nape and begins to hum. It’s an old tune that Kakashi is fairly certain his Haha-ue used to hum when she was alive, for the sparse handful of minutes she was ever allowed to spend with him. He’d been whisked away to live with his Kyoudai the second he was weaned, and an infection had taken her and his two younger siblings before they’d ever opened their eyes.
Kakashi doesn’t really remember her, doesn’t grieve her. He’d lost far too many precious people before to spare even a single thought for her soul. He wonders now, though, if she was ever properly put to rest. If anyone ever comes and speaks to her.
He certainly won’t be the one to start such a tradition. He’d done enough of that before.
Ryouta does manage to be somewhat successful in quieting Kakashi’s constantly overwhelmed senses, however. The hand rubbing his back is a good thing to focus on, and he lets his thoughts drift, directionless. It doesn’t take too terribly much longer before his brain follows suit, succumbing to days worth of exhaustion and sleepless nights. He’s going to miss dinner, now, but he’s sure his aniue will stuff more food than his tiny body can handle down his throat tomorrow. He's good like that.