My Lover's Keeper

36. Hope

The sound of birds woke him up from his sleep. He pulled Dango-san into his arms cuddling to it.

His eyes settled on the clock, 11:45am. He was feeling drowsy.

The door opened a few minutes later, Kakashi had been checking on him all morning, so when he saw the blond finally awake he couldn't help but smile. "Good morning, how are you?"

"What did Kurama give me?" Naruto groaned, familiar with that awful side effect.

"A muscle relaxant," Kakashi informed as he sat by his bedside. "You're not hurting, right?"

"No, but I overslept and I still feel like sleeping some more." His speaking was slow almost slurred.

"That's not a bad thing, you do need to take it easy" he rubbed his forearm. "Can I interest you in breakfast though?"

"Yeah...I'm hungry" he said without bothering to move. His bed felt extra comfortable for some reason so he closed his eyes sinking into it.

"Wait, are you being sarcastic? I kind of can't tell with your sleepy voice" Kakashi didn't want to celebrate too early.

"I'm being serious. Don't tell me you ate all of Kaasan's delicious cooking." Naruto opened one eye looking at the shocked face of his father.

"You want anything specific?"

"He made hot chicken curry rice?" Naruto asked.

"That's like asking if the sun rises east" Kakashi chuckled.

"Then I want that and some honeydew for dessert"

"I think we only have cantaloupe but I can go fetch-..."

"Cantaloupe is fine" Naruto smiled, happy to have back some of his appetite. "Not too much though"

"Yeah, I'll heat up the food. We can eat together" Kakashi kissed his son's forehead before leaving the room.

The blond pulled himself away from the comfort of his bed shortly after.
He stumbled as he walked around but managed to keep his footing, although just every once in a while his leg would feel empty for a moment.

"I made it" he leaned against the wall.

"Naruto, I was bringing it upstairs" Kakashi frowned.

"I want us to sit in the garden" he continued walking towards the backyard, leaning on whatever he could for support not wanting to trouble his father.

Kakashi reminded himself that it was okay to let Naruto do things himself from time to time, even if the teen struggled with it. After all, Naruto was never shy to ask for help when he really needed it.

He joined him with a tray that had a bowl of sliced honeydew, -which he guessed Iruka bought since their son was crazy for them-, two curry plates and two glasses of juice.
"That looks good" Naruto smiled. "Thank you"

"My pleasure" Kakashi sat down next to him.

"So where did the mountains of food go?" Naruto chuckled.

"To work. It was a hustle trying to fit everything in the car. But he left a few things," they enjoyed the meal together quietly. Kakashi cleared up the table, happy his son finished up his food. He did the dishes before coming back.

Naruto seemed to be thinking, the smile that was on his face moments ago had suddenly left.
"Is Kaasan okay, Tou-san?"

"Yeah, it was a bit of a rude awakening but we needed it.."

"I'm sorry, dattebayo?"

"Don't be. It's a scary thing. Hearing a doctor talk about how your youngest son, the brightest happiest sunshine, might have numbered days...isn't exactly something we were looking forward to hear. I mean we always knew you were sick, we learned to live with it. Some days are better than others but...still, it's not easy. I don't think it ever will be easy. Thing is, you always said it didn't bother you. We didn't know you were just putting up a face"