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Kakashi is twenty years old when he dies and wakes up in a world that isn't his own.

It's immediately evident that the Konoha he comes to in isn't the same one he fell protecting. Things are different here, from the style of the buildings, to the extra faces dotting the mountainside. Even the chakra seems calmer, not polluted by the strife and bloodshed of war as Kakashi has always known it to be.

Everything is a haze, his vision blurred and his ears ringing. Flickering memories of a seal lighting up the ground— swallowing him whole in a pit of fiery magma— flit behind his eyelids every time he blinks. He can still feel it scalding against his skin, the burnt orange glow stained into the edges of his vision.

At first, he thinks he must've died. It's the only explanation that makes sense at the time. The clean air, the peaceful atmosphere, and... and him.

The blonde man.

It's not Minato-sensei, because Kakashi has known him his entire life and never once has he felt like this. His hair is a shade off from his teacher's, a near perfect gold that reflects the sun like glitter. Blue eyes peer down at him, raging whirlpools a mixture of so many hues he could never hope to piece them apart.

He looks like the embodiment of summer, the solstice in all its highest glory. His chakra laps at him like the soothing waves at an ocean's sandy shore, easing the lingering scald of whatever seal picked him apart and then put him back together again.

Kakashi reaches for it, he's quite sure. He can't see much, can hear even less, but he knows with certainty that those fingers laced with his, if only for a moment. That when he reached his hand out, for the first time in his life, somebody reached back. Somebody pulled him up.

Kakashi sees his father's masked face from the corner of his eye. His knees give, and that hand slips away to catch him by the arm. When Kakashi blearily turns his head, all he sees is gold. A golden coast and the bluest waters. Somehow, Kakashi has made it into heaven.

Blessedly, he's been touched by an angel.

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His name is Naruto Uzumaki, and he's the most wonderful thing Kakashi has ever seen.

He smells like tangerines and something spiced, and his beauty is beyond what Kakashi thought possible. He's so kind, so warm and overwhelming good that he wants to bury himself in him and never come back out.

Kakashi is used to wanting. Wanting for safety, for food, for even the briefest of breaks. There's was no time for kindness in the world he came from. To be gentle was to be a liability, and no good came from coddling one another.

It was best to detach yourself, because with attachment only came pain. Kakashi doesn't remember the last time anyone smiled at him, and never has anyone done it so brightly. Naruto is enthusiastic and joyful, this radiating ball of positivity that Kakashi leans into like a flower to the sun.

He's beautiful. A representation of all the best ways this universe varies from Kakashi's own, and God, Kakashi wants. He always, always wants, but this time it's with a hunger. With itching teeth and aching hands and the urge to grab on and never let go, lest he lose the gem he's found.

Because Naruto— Naruto loves him. He cares, and Kakashi knows that's just because his sensei is an older, far more lax version of himself, but he doesn't care. Greedily, he wants whatever he can get, whatever Naruto will give him.

"Okay! I think this'll totally work for us, believe it!" Naruto's hand was in his again, their palms slotted like puzzle pieces. "I know my place isn't the biggest or nicest, but I think we can make it work! If you're seriously okay with bunking with me. I know I can be like, a lot."

"Of course I'm okay with it." Kakashi intoned, voice devoid of any inflection that may give him away. He gazed down at Naruto, committing his expression to memory. "Thank you for allowing me into your home."

"Any Kakashi-sensei is a Kakashi-sensei I'll lay my life down for." Naruto proclaimed. "Or in this case, my sheets. I hope you weren't lying about being used to sharing, because I don't own a futon and my couch has a hole burned through the middle of it right now. Long story."

Kakashi didn't quite smile. He wasn't sure how to yet. At this rate, he was certain it wouldn't be long until he found out.

Notes:

-A 20 year old Kakashi from a war-torn world gets plopped in canon shortly after the Pein attack and meets a 19 year old Naruto who is so overwhelmingly positive it's blinding.

-Kakashi immediately wants him with a blinding hunger that makes him sick. Naruto is so kind to him, reaching out to touch him, to talk to him, to smile at him. Naruto is so used to his Sensei version of Kakashi that treating this one familiarly comes easy as water through a river bed.

-This Konoha just rebuilt and recovered from the Pein attack. Naruto is adored by the entire village at this point and there's this weird pocket of peace and settling now that the disaster has passed. Kakashi barely knows what to do with himself— he's never been in a situation where he can be off edge.

-Kakashi is a very quiet and bleak person. He doesn't ask for anything. If he doesn't like something, he doesn't say. He came from a world that was almost completely devoid of warmth, because that kind of affection was a liability. It would get you killed.

-So here he comes, this depressed, touch starved man, and here Naruto is, opening his doors to him, loving him, feeding him, and somehow knowing his likes and dislikes without him ever having to say.

-Naruto is so bright. His universe was all smoggy skies and death, but Naruto practically glows. Kakashi wants to possess him more than anything, wants to run his hands all over him, taste him, give him everything

-He's also afraid he'll taint him. That he's dirty and will ruin Naruto somehow, but he's not strong enough to resist the pull either.

-Naruto says his bed enough is big enough for them to share without ever touching. Technically, he's correct. Except at night he's a magnet and immediately attaches himself to Kakashi

-Kakashi does not mind

-Pathetic dog Kakashi who would do anything Naruto says and wants him with a writhing desperation. Follows him quietly everywhere. Has little interest in much else. Always wants to hold hands or be in contact with him, and Naruto is the touchiest person ever, so it works.

-Hokage Kakashi is kinda concerned but almost views this other him as a sort of younger brother in a way. He understands intimately how he ended up like this, because he'd almost ended up this way himself.

-Naruto never existed in Kakashi's universe. Kushina died long before Kakashi could meet her.

-Sakura is kind of freaked out because this Kakashi is scary as hell. He's covered in scars, his expression never changes, he moves without making a sound. He answers with nods and shakes of the head. Naruto doesn't seem spooked by him at all, but he's just unnerving

-Anyone who meets him agrees. Naruto is like this fluffy little golden retriever next to this ex pit fighter dog. Kakashi is fucking scary. Something is wrong with him, and everyone can tell. He seems benign until provoked, and then he looks like a literal psycho, zero to sixty.

-Naruto kind of just gets him, though. He sees past whatever walls he's got up and simply understands. He treats him like any other person, not realizing that Kakashi has never really had that before. He's always been a tool, but now someone looks at him and sees a man.

-Kakashi wants him ravenously. He grew up in a world where if you find a good thing, you take it. Because if you don't, somebody else will.

-Naruto yaps, Kakashi listens. Naruto goes, Kakashi goes. Naruto showers, Kakashi sits outside on the floor with his back against the door, envisioning licking water off every inch of his skin.

-Naruto just absentmindedly does stuff in front of Kakashi, like change clothes or stretch before training, and Kakashi wants that cookie. He's constantly reaching out to touch and sniff and even lick. And Naruto doesn't see anything wrong with it, so he just lets it happen.

-Why are you straddling Kakashi, Naruto? Because he was sitting on the couch and silently pulled you down on top of him with no explanation? Okay, makes sense. Why didn't you move? Oh, because he put his hands on your thighs and held you there? Makes sense, continue comparing ramen flavors and playing with his hair.

-Kakashi is the most down bad ever but he's also insanely dangerous. Anything that gets in his way is getting eviscerated, and heaven help anyone that threatens Naruto specifically.

-Kakashi is a machine. He's terrifyingly intense, the direct opposite of Naruto and his absentmindedness, but somehow they work. Naruto is like the sweet to his sour.

-Naruto is like a clueless, fearless white woman that goes "AWWW! Look, a puppy! It's so cute!" and then brings home a literal wolf thinking it's a stray dog.

-Kakashi is the wolf that's so blindsided that he lets himself get domesticated.

-When they finally kiss Kakashi is going to quite literally eat him alive. That bed frame is going to break. Give him a taste he's gonna take the platter.