Well... I know it's kind of sudden, but, final chapter. Would you believe it took me three and a half months to actually write all of this? Well, thank you all for reviewing and hope you enjoy!

Gai was there when help finally did come. He was there to watch Kakashi open his eye and sit upright, half-lidded gaze barely aware and boneless form exhausted. The silver-haired jounin nodded numbly and whispered an apology, voice rough with disuse- and then Gai pulled the soon-to-be-Hokage away, because Kakashi wasn't the only one who needed her help.

When he returned, hours after listening to her disastrous prognosis for Lee and talking with his student after, Kakashi was gone. All that was left behind was a very irate nurse and an open window.

It wasn't very hard for Gai to think of where his rival was.

"Can't stay away, can you?"

"I could say the same to you, actually. You don't seem to have left my side."

Gai frowned and said nothing.

Kakashi sighed, then slowly turned from the memorial stone to look at him. "Well? What did Tsunade say about Lee?"

Gai's frown deepened, and Kakashi's covered features shifted almost imperceptibly. "I see. …I suppose that it couldn't have been avoided. Gaara-kun is a Jinchuuriki, after all, Gai. No amount of training, on your part, could have prepared Lee to face him."

"Your student won against Gaara."

Kakashi shrugged, turning back to look at the slab of names before him. "One Jincuuriki to another. Apparently, it was technically Gamabunta and a little of Kyuubi's Chakra that won. And that was hardly Gaara at that point; that was Shukaku. …Though I can't deny that Naruto has grown. He got through to Gaara, in the end."

Gai remained silent. He wanted to say that he didn't care how strong Gaara or Naruto was, that all he cared about was the fact that Lee wasn't going to get better. But the words stayed stuck in his throat and he found himself just staring at his rival's back, a vague sense of unease in the air. They stayed sill for another few moments, and then the silver haired jounin turned away, hands in his pockets. "I'm off to train. See you around, Gai."

"You've been practically comatose for a month. Shouldn't you at least take a day before-"

"Never thought I'd see the day when you advocate rest instead of training."

Gai shook his head slowly. Kakashi sometimes almost didn't seem worth the headaches he caused. "Rival…"

Still without turning around, the silver-haired jounin gestured vaguely back towards Konoha, then dropped his hand back into his pocket. "Things are happening, Gai. Oto is arming itself, Suna has lost a Kage and an invasion, and who knows what the other three great hidden villages are doing. And then there is the Akatsuki. …A war could happen again. I can't afford to waste time like I did in the past. I thought I wouldn't have to do this, but with Itachi after Naruto and probably Sasuke too… it can't be helped."

"What can't be helped?"

This time, Kakashi did turn to face him, albeit slowly. He paused, then reached up to tap the metal plate obscuring the Sharingan from view. "Itachi had- has- Mangekyou Sharingan. The eyes that Sasuke probably wants, now. …You get them from killing your best friend, Gai." His lone charcoal eye wondered over to the memorial stone before looking back to him.

It took Gai a moment to get it, but when he understood, it took a lot of effort to keep himself in control. "Rin?" he asked quietly, and Kakashi just nodded.

"…How long have you known?"

"That I had these eyes? I knew after it happened, Gai. It was a bit obvious, when I returned from the mission and the Uchiha clan head went even crazier than when I had first got the eye in the first place. I knew something had happened, and when Uchiha kept spontaneously being assigned to missions with me afterwards, it just got even more clear. I did some spying of my own. Uncovered a few secrets… discovered I had unlocked Mangekyou." Kakashi gave a morose shrug and fingered the edge of his headband, as if he wanted to pull it up. "Didn't matter; I never wanted to use it. The Uchiha didn't have to keep an eye on me; I wasn't planning on ever training with it. But I can't fight Itachi without it, and I'm not letting any one of you fight him for me. The only way to beat a Sharingan user is with a Sharingan, after all."

Kakashi didn't stand there and wait for Gai to reply. He simply pushed his hitai-ate up and walked away, moving at his usual slow, unhurried pace. Even so, he was almost out of earshot when Gai called out to him.

"What about teamwork, then? Ever thought of fighting him together?"

The words stopped Kakashi in his tracks. The jounin remained still, then spoke slow and coldly. "I thought I told you that wasn't going to happen."

"And I'm telling you now that I won't accept that."

Kakashi stiffened.

Gai continued on, allowing himself to get angry now. "Either I'm weak and would just be a liability, or Konoha needs me elsewhere. Those are the only two reasons for me to sit out of a fight. Neither are true! I'm not going to let you fight Itachi yourself just because you have this idea in your head that I'll get myself killed. I'm not weak and Itachi is not your responsibility alone. He's an enemy of Konoha and you're my fr- rival, Kakashi. If you're in this, we're both in this."

"..I already told you why I didn't want you fighting him. Don't make me repeat it again."

Gai just stared at him, daring and stubborn. If Kakashi wanted to fight him on this, then he was going to fight back. If there was one thing Gai was, he was loyal, and he was not going to let Kakashi do this alone. They were eternal rivals… for better or for worse.

Kakashi shifted awkwardly, voice clearly uncomfortable. "I already told you I'm being selfish about this, Gai! I know you're strong, I know you could help, but I don't want to take the risk. Itachi is just…" Kakashi shook his head and trailed off into silence.

"You don't want me there because you couldn't handle it if I died. I know, Kakashi. But I have to help you in this- for the same reason. You and my students… I could not handle it if you died. I won't let that happen, not while I'm still strong enough. Lee and Neji and Tenten will surpass me someday, but we are eternal rivals. As long as that is still true, then we can fight for each other. We can protect each other. That's what being friends means. You help each other. I can not let you go off alone and die, not when I can go with you and help you live. To let you die then would be the greatest shame, and I will not allow myself to experience it."

Kakashi tilted his head to the side, grey eye narrowing. "…You called me your friend. You've never said that before."

Gai's eyes widened in surprise. That's what being friends means.

Oh. So he had.

He cleared his throat and beamed. "Well, perhaps we can be both- rivals and friends."

Kakashi just stared at him.

It occurred to Gai faintly that Kakashi perhaps did not know what to say. He didn't have many friends, after all.

So Gai continued to smile and went on, gesturing broadly. "That means that I don't let you go off and do something by yourself when I can help you. I don't care if the fight is dangerous. I couldn't live with myself if you got killed when I could've been there to help. After all, we are shinobi- what is danger but a challenge to overcome?"

"…Aah, I suppose so…"

"Besides." Gai threw out a thumbs up, and Kakashi shielded his eyes a bit from the brilliance of his smile. "We are eternal rivals, Kakashi. For better or for worse."

The silver-haired jounin shuddered at that, but it was with an eye smile. "Don't say that, Gai. It makes it sound like we're married. The rumors are already bad enough; do you want them to get even worse?"

"Let people talk. They will say what they want to; what they think is not important."

Kakashi blinked, then just shook his head and turned away again. "Whatever. Ja ne-"

"I don't think so. We didn't come to an agreement, my eternal rival!"

"Maa, we didn't?" Kakashi tilted his head to the side, scratching the back of his neck. "I could've sworn…"

"No, we didn't, and I won't let you talk your way out of this."

The silver-haired jounin heaved a might sigh. "Stubborn. As always. Gai, Itachi's not here, so let's just not talk about this until it becomes relevant."

"Procrastination may suit you, rival, but it does not suit me. Whatever you say to me now, in any case; it won't change my intentions- I will not let you fight your battles alone. A rivalry is more than incessant challenges of supremacy and superiority, Kakashi. Besides… you, of all people, should understand why I want to fight for my friend. You're the one who would rather give or do anything before you betray your friends."

"…"

'How can you ask me to do something that you could never do yourself? If you would never do this to me, how can you expect me to do it to you? I won't, Kakashi-"

"Maa, Gai-"

"-I won't let you go off as usual and take on a fight this dangerous alone because you don't want to have anyone else get hurt. I don't want you to get hurt or killed, it's not just you who feels that way-"

"Gai, come on, now-"

"-and I'm not going to die! Forget about what Itachi said, forget about him entirely! No enemy has bested us when we're together yet, and that's not going to change anytime soon-"

"Gai!"

Kakashi finally yelling at him ended Gai's tirade. He stopped abruptly, almost surprised at how quickly this had escalated, then swallowed and took a few deep breaths. Getting angry wasn't going to solve anything.

Before Gai could talk again, Kakashi spoke up. His voice was slow and careful, eye darting to look anywhere but at him. "It's fine. I… understand that I won't be able to get you to do this. As much as I hate you for it… you're too stubborn and loyal for your own good."

The hurt and fear hidden in Kakashi's eye spoke volumes, though, no matter how much his steady voice and bland shrug tried to say otherwise.

Gai continued to stay silent, trying to think of how best to proceed. No matter how much he wished he could change it, he knew that Kakashi was always going to worry. All jounin did, all had the natural inclination to fear when their friends were sent on a dangerous mission that they weren't going to come back. It was only to be expected. But Kakashi had seen his friends die in the worst ways, watched them give their lives up for others and the village without a second thought. He had watched his father bleed out on the floor with a smile on his face. Kakashi had every reason to fear that one of the few he had left was going to leave one day and not come back, every reason to cling on and try to stop that from happening.

He distantly remembered Kakashi's challenge to him, almost over a month previously.

I challenge you to outlive me.

Gai still didn't want to challenge him on that. Didn't want to see their lives end up as nothing more than a measuring stick for a rivalry.

But Kakashi would not- could not- be content with how things were now.

Gai hated to compromise. It was all or nothing- usually all- but, for Kakashi, he thought he could make an exception. He seemed to make most of his exceptions for Kakashi, anyway.

"I accept," he said abruptly.

Kakashi frowned, confusion dull in his eye. "…Hmm?"

"I accept your challenge. To outlive me. I'll try to outlive you, and you'll try to outlive me. But only if you agree that you won't do any of this alone. Otherwise…" he trailed off and shrugged, watching as Kakashi's expression shifted in surprise.

The jounin just stood there, then seemed to understand. "I suppose… that this is the best I'm going to get?"

Gai's answering smile was so bright he could see it reflect off the metal of Kakashi's hitai-ate, and the man slowly curved his eye up in return.

"…I'll take what I can get, then."

They stood there for a moment, staring at each other, before Kakashi suddenly turned his back and waved over his shoulder. He cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable, and began to move away again. "Maa, I'll be going, then. Things to do, training to start…"

"And just what training are you going to do? Is there some sort of guideline on how to awaken the Mangekyou?"

Kakashi shrugged. "Nope. That's why I'm just going to wing it. See what happens."

"Well, then I am coming with you! If what you need is someone to guide your training, then I am here for you, Kakashi!"

"Maa, Gai, that is completely unnecessary-"

"Come, my rival! There is no time to waste!"

Kakashi sighed loudly, even as he allowed Gai to join him. "Sometimes, Gai, you are really annoying." But it was said through his trademark mask smile, and Gai decided not to let it bother him. After all, Kakashi may be greatly lacking in social skills, but they were still eternal rivals- as much as Kakashi vexed him, that was the truth, and Gai wasn't going to let anything change that. Not Itachi, not the threat of death, and not even Kakashi himself.