Chapter Text
Usually speaking, a non-Uchiha getting implanted with a sharingan is equivalent to them contracting a life-long chronic illness, endlessly sucking on their chakra. With significant intervention and a whole lot of determination, a seasoned shinobi with a sizable chakra pool can live a normal-ish life. All of these things have been known for hundreds of years. There is a clearly established precedent…and then there's Kakashi Hatake.
The boy returns from a mission victorious — but he has lost a teammate and gained his eye. His chakra pool is middling at best and the sharingan certainly sucks at him but it's nowhere near as debilitating as it could be. The boy uses the thing well, all things considered.
When Fugaku summons the boy three weeks after he returns to the Village — and one week after the end of the war — the boy comes quietly, with his head held low and his shoulders hunched, going back and forth between humility and despair. Fugaku summons him to his office rather than holding a cruel spectacle in front of all the clan. In this private setting, Fugaku pours the boy some tea and says, "The eye was given, not taken." It's not a question but a statement, one Fugaku genuinely believes. The boy nods at him and Fugaku nods back, vindicated.
Then, he says, "You are not the first non-Uchiha to have a sharingan implanted, Hatake. This is an ancient, though rare, tradition that the Uchiha Clan has recognized for hundreds of years." He pauses. "That said, such transplants occurred due to very specific circumstances." Dread enters the boy's gaze, as if he's already anticipating the worst. Fugaku continues, "Generally speaking, the trading of eyes is a ritual between close family members — siblings, cousins, parent and child…the latter was the only way non-Uchiha would gain these eyes in the past, an Uchiah child giving their eye to their non-Uchiha parent. Obviously, none of these situations apply to you."
They say that, at the end of the day, everyone is related, no matter how distantly, but no one would mistake the boy for having Uchiha blood and he most certainly is not Obito's father. He allows this knowledge to settle. Then, when it's clear that the boy won't say anything, Fugaku continues, "However, in the past, there have been two instances where two very distantly related Uchiha have created an…acceptable level of closeness so that they could exchange eyes. This, I believe, is what can apply most directly to you."
Kakashi Hatake is smart. Fugaku is not surprised to see the dots connecting in the boy's head. He watches the boy turn pale with shock and dread. "But…" He looks at Fugaku imploringly, eyes begging him to contradict the final conclusion.
Fugaku can't, though, so he just says, "Marriage is acceptable to tradition."
"But Obito is dead!" Kakashi rasps.
"The practice exists all around the Continent —"
"For women! Lord Fugaku, I can't be a bride so I cannot be a ghost bride." Uncaring of his lack of propriety, the boy stands and begins pacing the room. "If I play pretend at his grave…he'll be so angry he'll never find peace!"
Fugaku allows him his jitters, then says, "It would not be playing pretend — you will actually be married."
"But I'm a boy!" Kakashi reiterates. "I can't be a ghost bride!"
Fugaku shrugs. "You can be a man and still be a bride, as far as I'm concerned. It's certainly odd, but I've seen odder arrangements than that."
Kakashi looks at him, a myriad of emotions flickering across his face. "And what if I don't do this?"
Fugaku says, "Then this situation will not be in accordance with tradition and so I will petition for your eye to be returned to the Uchiha Clan." Fugaku uses the phrase "your eye" because he already knows what the boy will choose. There's a fierce protectiveness, an almost desperation, on his face, the desire to cling to the wishes of a dead boy, fighting tooth and nail to see his will pull through. What else could a restless soul want from a bride?
So Fugaku is unsurprised when Kakashi gives in. A true ninja knows when to accept the lesser of two evils.
"Good," says Fugaku, pleased. "I will contact you when we are to meet the matchmaker to identify an auspicious day for the wedding. You may leave." And so the boy goes, visibly shaken but determined.
The meeting with the Uchiha Clan's matchmaker, an elderly woman by the name of Tsurashi, takes place three days later. Tsurashi seems shocked by the situation but dutifully offers her expertise all the same. A wedding date in one week's time is chosen. It's the earliest possible date.
Tsurashi tells Kakashi, "You may invite any family where your common ancestor was within the last three generations."
Kakashi's face remains flat and he says, "I have no such family left alive."
"Then no one will attend." And so the boy remains alone.
Over the course of the next week, the news about Kakashi is revealed to not only the rest of the Uchiha but also to the general population of Konoha. Thus, Fugaku isn't surprised that Minato tracks him down. The two of them were somewhat distant friends in the Academy (sharing the same bland camaraderie of being boys in the same class) but they'd grown closer since their wives are good friends. Thus, Fugaku has no qualms with speaking how he pleases to the man everyone knows will be Hokage before the year is out. Minato approaches him tactfully, dancing around any opinion that could cause offense with ease. Eventually, though, Fugaku gets the general gist of it. Minato is deeply upset that Fugaku had manipulated Kakashi into participating in an ancient, almost dead ritual. Fugaku lets the man speak his mind before responding, "In the Uchiha Clan, eyes are only traded between close family. This is the only way to make Kakashi Obito's close family. If the boy was still alive, the two of them could have attempted to perform an oath of brotherhood, but that cannot be performed when one of the parties is dead."
"But marriage can?" Minato demands.
Fugaku states, "Yes. Not to mention, this will appease the clan and I will not have to deal with requests to take the boy's eye."
"I could have protected him."
"Yes, but the ire of an entire clan lasts longer than any tenure in political office." It's the simple truth — Minato has the respect of the Village but he is still a mere man; the Uchiha Clan will last long past him, tarnishing Kakashi's life and reputation for generations to come.
Minato slumps, clearly acknowledging this. He says, "Why not just leave Kakashi be so that he can mourn? Why further chain him to someone who will always haunt him, anyway?" The accusation of cruelty is clear and Fugaku won't deny it.
Instead, he says, "This is how we will mourn. We will not disturb Kakashi following the wedding — he will be free to do as he pleases, as long as he doesn't marry someone else. He will be more than welcome to grieve on his own terms."
Clearly the explanation doesn't soothe Minato but he does finally leave it be, and suddenly they're both drinking in Fugaku's study. In a drunken stupor, the two of them ponder the end of war and wonder what it means to be at peace. They cannot imagine a world where there isn't the constant threat of conflict, though that's exactly what Minato endeavors to create.
"We haven't saved the next generation," Minato says, no doubt referring to his clusterfuck of a team — one dead, one betrothed, and one stubbornly uncompromising — "but maybe…the one after them…maybe our children…I think they could be saved."
Fugaku thinks of his own son, his Itachi, who is already so brilliant, even though he's young. It fills him with sorrow, the kind he would never feel while sober, and he says, "How could we save them? All we know is war and we'll never know when another one will start — don't we have a responsibility to raise them the way we were raised? Isn't that the only way to keep them safe?" Fugaku's own father had taken him to the battlefield when he was young, throwing him to the wolves during the First War. Obviously, Fugaku would never do that to Itachi, but seeing the battlefields — understanding what war is, what being a ninja means. That will help Itachi grow strong.
Minato shrugs and says, "If the founders thought that way, we'd still be fractured into clans and fighting each other. Or, well, you would be…I'd just be another orphan in a little village, hoping each day won't be my last. But now we have a chance for stability, Fugaku — it would be a waste if we didn't at least try to teach our children to cherish it."
Fugaku drinks some more as he ponders this.
The next morning, he doesn't remember much, but he does decide that he probably shouldn't take Itachi to a decaying battlefield, and that's that.
Attendance at Kakashi's wedding is pitiful, but predictable. It's already been established that Kakashi's family is nonexistent and thus cannot be in attendance but similar rules have been externed over Obito's side. In the end, only Fugaku and his family are able to attend as guests and witnesses. Kakashi's team — Minato and that stupid girl, Rin — are waiting outside the shrine, but Fugaku gets the impression that Kakashi is glad they aren't able to see him right now.
The boy is dressed…well, like a bride, the costumer and the makeup artist having done their best to make him look like a woman. Luckily, Kakashi is still young so, despite his height, he has yet to develop any masculine features. A delicate veil over his face gives the vague impression of a painted face underneath — the veil being something Kakashi refused to budge on, unwilling to share his face — and the draping of fabric makes it genuinely look like a grown woman is kneeling there instead of a twelve year old boy.
Kakashi's movement is fluid and obedient, following every order with precision.
Soon, the rights are completed, the sake sipped, and Kakashi is married. The aftermath is much less ceremonial than the lead-up, with Kakashi going to change into something more comfortable — he'll be spending the night at the shrine in a symbolic representation of a wedding night. The priest had tried to campaign for Kakashi to stay in his robes but the boy had downright refused.
Mikoto takes Itachi and leaves — she understands why the situation is necessary but also finds it uncomfortable and is eager to put it out of her mind. In the clan, the dead are fondly remembered but generally left undisturbed. Fugaku stays until the boy emerges from the back room, dressed in more comfortable clothes to sleep in.
"We have things to discuss now that the marriage is complete — responsibilities and the like."
Kakashi eyes him warily. "I thought I'd be left to my own devices now."
"You will be," Fugaku responds. "What I meant is that the clan has certain responsibilities to you."
"Oh," says Kakashi faintly.
Fugaku sits him down and walks him through it. Due to certain quirks of government laws, Kakashi is considered legally married but is not legally considered an Uchiha. However, as far as the clan is concerned, Kakashi is the widow of one of its warriors — thus, Kakashi is entitled to a stipend from the clan and a property on Uchiha land, both of which the boy refuses. He also receives all of Obito's property that was not explicitly given to someone else — which is most of it. Kakashi also attempts to refuse these but Fugaku tells him that he can't, though he has every right to ignore them or redistribute them or toss them as he pleases. Based on the look on the boy's face, Fugaku doubts most of Obito's possessions will see the light of day any time soon.
Finally, Fugaku beckons Kakashi to the back of the shrine, unearthing an ancient tome which contains the names of every known Uchiha and how they are related to each other. The boy's one open eye consumes all of the names intently. After Fugaku prints his name besides Obito's, indicating a spousal status, Kakashi says, "You were Obito's closest living relative?" There's something accusatory in his voice and Fugaku understands — despite being closely related to the Clan Head, Obito was not very well-liked by the clan. Fugaku himself hadn't cared for him much.
Carefully, he says, "Yes. Our mothers were sisters, making us first cousins. However, my aunt got pregnant out of wedlock and never told anyone who the father was, though she did admit he wasn't an Uchiha. She died in childbirth, leaving her mother — our grandmother — to raise Obito. She too passed away several months ago, however. I did check in on him to ensure that he was not lacking in money or supplies but that was the extent of my involvement."
In hindsight, it's clear to Fugaku that he should have done more — sure, the boy's personality had been unorthodox but the real reason for the clan's dismissal of him was the circumstances of his birth, which he had no control over. The few times Fugaku visited Obito and their grandmother, the boy referred to him formally as "Lord Fugaku," even when he spoke irreverently. Obito knew how closely related he and Fugaku were but he never felt a connection and thus never acted upon it. He was an orphan, yes, and he only had his grandmother, who also died in the end.
The death of Obito also signalled the end to Fugaku's mother's branch of the Uchiha Clan — the side to which Madara Uchiha belonged. The line had let go of power following Madara's defection and had slowly withered ever since. Both Fugaku and Mikoto had blood from the line, but only matrilineal — and the Uchiha trace their family lines through men, not women, except for in the case of unknown or non-Uchiha fathers. With all the Uchiha men of Madara's line dead…well, that's the end.
In some vague sense, Fugaku could see it as a blessing — finally, the Uchiha are free of the scion of a madman, but he struggles to see it that way.
Kakashi is no Uchiha but he is also a widow of the branch. Theoretically, he could carry on its traditions, but there will be no children to inherit them and, at any rate, Fugaku suspects that Kakashi will not care to carry on the bloodline of Madara Uchiha.
So the boy has no ties to the clan but an eye in his head and a dead husband who was treated poorly by it.
As much as Fugaku's apparent nonchalance angers the boy, Kakashi keeps his mouth shut and Fugaku leaves him be, waving the boy's teammates into the shrine as he exits. For now, Fugaku can put his new cousin-in-law out of his mind.
Kakashi always figured that he would never marry. Love is not a concept he ever believed in, not truly, and besides, who would ever marry someone as angry as him? So, of course, the spouse he gets is already dead. No need for love or personality to get involved.
The first week is…odd. Kakashi doesn't act any differently, doesn't so much as acknowledge his new marital status…but everyone else knows, and they simply will not stop talking about it. Whether it's to give him their condolences or to laugh in his face, everyone brings it up to him constantly. Even Rin, who has more tact…or, well, who used to have more tact. She's been much more erratic since Kannabi Bridge, seeking him out for conversation, but only ever seeming able to talk about Obito, about the marriage, about how awful it was. She'd kept bringing it up over the next week, to the point that Kakashi has started to avoid her. He can handle heckling from strangers…but not the disappointment of Rin.
She finally knocks on his door one night and Kakashi almost crawls out of his own window but something stops him. He's not sure what, exactly — maybe it's the cadence or the urgency or something, but Kakashi doesn't climb out the window. Instead, he opens the door.
The first thing he notices about Rin is that she's drunk. The law says anyone sixteen and over or ranked chunin and up can purchase alcohol — Rin is only thirteen but she is most certainly a chunin. Despite that, though, she's never struck him as the kind of person to drink. He stares at her, shocked, as she shoves past him and into his apartment, collapsing upon his sofa. He hovers around her, concerned because something is clearly wrong but also too scared to actually touch her.
"Rin?" he asks uncertainly.
Rin groans, creaking one of her eyes open to stare at him. Then, she rasps, "Obito would have hated this."
And suddenly, irritation bubbles up inside of him. "I know," he says, turning away. "You were the girl he wanted."
"Yes," agrees Rin, "but that's not what I meant. He would have hated hearing everyone say awful things about you. It was the oddest thing…he would insult you as much as he wanted but when someone else tried to join in, he'd get so mad. It was like he thought he was the only one allowed to talk badly about you — like his insults had standards." There's a pause, then Rin rasps, "I hate it when people insult you, too. You deserve better, Kakashi. Better than this. Better than me." And she begins to weep.
Kakashi stands there, guilty but unresponsive. He's known for a very long time that Rin has had a crush on him but he's always been more than content to ignore it, and he certainly hadn't been thinking about it over the past two weeks. He hadn't considered how jarring the situation must be for her — the boy she has a crush on marrying the dead boy who'd once had a crush on her.
Eventually, Rin calms down and rasps, "I'm sorry, I put you in an awkward position. That's not what I came here to do. What I meant to say is…Kakashi, Obito would hate being married to you, but more than that, he would hate the thought of you marrying him and then ignoring him. He'd be so pissed that his ghost bride never even visited him, you know?"
Kakashi considers this. He and Obito had never particularly gotten along — admittedly, Kakashi would often provoke him — but the one thing that had always provoked a true, profound rage in Obito was Kakashi simply ignoring him. If Obito is watching Kakashi from beyond the grave, the past week would have royally pissed him off.
"How can I not ignore it?" Kakashi demands. "What am I supposed to do, huh?"
"I don't know," Rin says dully. "You're the genius here."
Kakashi is anything but a genius when it comes to things like this.
He ends up letting Rin spend the night on his sofa, draping a blanket over her when she falls asleep. He stays awake late into the night, pondering what he should do. Or, rather, what Obito would want him to do. He's not sure he really knows Obito enough to come to the right conclusion.
The next time someone asks him if he's really a dead Uchiha's wife, a cruel tilt to their lip, Kakashi doesn't treat them to an icy silence. Instead, he just says, "Yes."
Being a widow is exhausting, Kakashi realizes. Everywhere he looks, the only thing people seem to want to talk about is his…his husband. And every mention feels like a kunai to the heart. The only good thing is that Kakashi's serious, affirmative responses have led to a decrease in teasing — before, it was just an off-color joke, but Kakashi's acknowledgement has turned it into a reality. Yes, he's a widow — yes, like a woman. No, it's not something Kakashi is embarrassed about. The off-color jokes wither away, replaced by vaguely confused but nonetheless sincere condolences.
Now, in the eyes of the public, Kakashi truly is a widow. And he is exhausted.
He wonders if this acknowledgement is enough to appease Obito, and the question stresses him out so much that he begins having a reoccuring nightmare of the boy, still pinned below a boulder, looking at him with disdain and demanding to know what kind of wife doesn't visit her husband's grave. Kakashi will try to scowl and say that he's a man but suddenly, that stupid wedding veil falls over his face, muffling his words, and the wedding robes drape over him, so heavy that he goes crashing to the ground. The dream ends with Kakashi struggling to push up from a prone position, the kimono tangling with his limbs to keep him down, hands slipping on the growing pool of Obito's blood while the boy continues to chastise him. Kakashi always wakes up crying.
He stops being able to sleep as much and his state is so bad that Minato-sensei makes him take some time off of active duty. Kakashi goes increasingly unhinged without anything to distract him and suddenly he's tossing a dinner plate at his far wall, trying and failing to strike a phantom Obito. He tugs on his hair so hard his scalp begins to burn and he throws himself out his window, running and running and running until —
Suddenly, he's in front of Fugaku Uchiha's house, midway through knocking upon his door. He freezes, confused and frightened, hoping that no one is there and he can go back home and clear up that damn plate that he broke —
The door opens and reveals Mikoto Uchiha. She stares at him with surprise and concern. "Kakashi?" she asks.
Kakashi doesn't know what to say, what to do, but his mouth takes over for his head. "Where is Obito's grave?" he rasps. Every Uchiha has one inside the district.
Mikoto's concern doesn't wane but something softens in her gaze. "Wait here a moment and I'll take you there." She briefly goes back into her home before emerging again, slipping on some shoes. Her hand grasps the hand of her son, Itachi, who is staring up at Kakashi with a curious gaze. Kakashi, too exhausted to do anything else, just stares back.
Eventually, Mikoto begins leading him along the streets of the district, eventually arriving at the Uchiha's graveyard, and later, Obito's grave.
It looks relatively new but there's still some dirt accumulated on top of it, which Kakashi immediately brushes off before finally collapsing into a sitting position before it.
Itachi, seeming to have come to a realization, says, "You're the pretty lady that married Cousin Obito."
Kakashi mutters, "Not a lady."
Itachi squints at Kakashi, then at Obito's grave. There's a startling level of intelligence in his gaze — he's four years old but already fully articulate. Sure, Kakashi was the same way when he was little, but seeing it on someone else is…unsettling. Itachi asks, "Are you sad that Cousin Obito is dead?"
Mikoto immediately chastises him…but Kakashi isn't upset, for once. Somehow, Itachi is the first person to ask and not assume. So, Kakashi simply says, "Yes."
Itachi, chagrined after his mother's scolding, nods but doesn't say another word. Eventually, Mikoto drags him away, the two of them returning to their home, but Kakashi remains. He sits there, face-to-face with Obito's grave, and says, "I didn't even bring flowers." And then he weeps.
He feels the chakras of several people come closer before hurrying away — curious about the huddled form in the cemetery, awkward upon realizing who the form is — but Kakashi ignores it all, continuing to cry his heart out at his own incompetence. He's such an awful wife — it makes sense, never in his wildest dreams did he think he would become one. Rin would know what to do in this situation — she'd be a lovely wife for Obito, who would be so happy in turn…but no, because she always turned him down. Obito would hate for Rin to marry him just because she has no other choice. Kakashi would, too — Rin is capable of love, dreams of romance. For her to forever be chained to a dead boy would be unimaginably cruel. It's better for Kakashi, who never cared for either love or romance, to be in this position. Obito would approve.
Eventually, Kakashi calms down and tells Obito, "I know you hate this, and I know I'm bad at this, but I'll still try. Please bear with me. One day, I'll get it right. I promise."
For now, though…he just makes a bouquet of wildflowers to put at his grave, and then he goes home and finally gets some proper sleep.
And he dreams of Obito, joyous.