Chapter Text
The world came back to the man in chunks. He heard faint yelling that got louder and louder by the second.
“Kakashi!”
Someone was shaking him.
“Kakashi!”
One lone dark eye barely opened.
“Oh, thank god, Kakashi!”
That was Inoichi Yamanaka. The blond was standing over him with a worried look on his face. The younger man was pulled up from the table, ‘When had he been untied?’, and had his arm slung around the older jonin. Kakashi couldn’t really feel his body at that moment, but he definitely felt when his body failed to take a step. The silver-haired man stumbled and would have fallen to the floor if the other man hadn’t been there. Kakashi yelled in frustration. Or he would have if his voice hadn’t been reduced to a weak croak. Kakashi stayed staring at the floor while Inoichi stated they would check the young man over once they were out of the building.
The walk outside was slow. Kakashi couldn’t get his body to move the way he was used to and he kept tripping over his own feet or stumbling trying to keep up with the other ninja’s slow pace. Inoichi, to his credit, didn’t comment and merely kept Kakashi on his feet. Soon enough, the sun hit Kakashi’s face as he heard a voice he feared he would never hear again.
“Kakashi-sensei!”
The man in question raised his head, ready to call out to the young jinchuriki. However, instead of his “teacher voice” the kids had dubbed it, a rough croak sounding nothing like Naruto’s name came out instead. At Naruto’s side, Kakashi noted Sasuke and Sakura glance at each other before curling in on themselves. He filed that reaction away to bring up at a later date. Shikaku and Choza stood protectively, ready to jump into action if the kids needed them. Inoichi found a place to set Kakashi down and started triaging the young man. Kakashi’s body wasn’t pretty and the older jonin didn’t expect him to walk away unharmed, but it was still a lot.
The blond glanced up at Kakashi in the middle of wrapping a nasty burn, “Are you alright, Kakashi?”
Mismatched eyes stared into Inoichi’s own and Kakashi opened his mouth. The blond knew enough about the silver-haired jonin to expect a brush off answer. What he didn’t expect was a croaky exhale followed by Kakashi’s eyes widening in shock before revelation and acceptice replaced it.
“Can you talk, Kakashi?” Inoichi asked apprehensively.
Kakashi cocked his head and smiled in a ‘What can you do’ way which did not soothe Inoichi’s nerves at all. Before the blond man could outwardly express his feelings, Sakura’s tentative voice quietly rang out.
“Umm… Mr. Yamanaka, we could hear Kakashi-sensei from across the hall. It didn’t-” the girl cut herself off as Inoichi watched her body curl into itself defensively.
Inoichi looked back to Kakashi, trying to block out all the conjured mental images of the young jonin, “Nothing can be done then.”
With nothing more to be done, Inoichi signaled Shikaku and Choza. With answering nods, the three men gathered Team 7. With barely a warning, the forest disappeared and was replaced with the familiar and welcome site of the Konoha gate. The Ino-Shika-Cho trio brushed off the dizzying sensation like it was nothing. Naruto immediately fell on his butt while his two teammates stood still, staring off into the distance. Kakashi was held firmly against Inoichi’s side, but all the adults could tell it put a lot of strain on the injured man’s body.
Once the kids were walking ahead, Kakashi tapped Inoichi's side. Once the blond glanced at him, Kakashi tapped the side of his silver hair and did the ANBU sign for "injured". As if Inoichi's blood pressure hadn't sky-rocketed enough today… Parental instinct flared as the Yamanaka head questioned Kakashi with rapid-fire speed.
"Did you hit your head? Did your head get hit? Do I need to check you for a concussion?"
The bland cut himself off before starting up again, this time talking to himself.
"I know I checked for head injuries. It's field medicine 101. The ceilings weren't that low."
Kakashi stopped his rambling with a hard on an arm. With both men's free hands next to each other, the young jonin slowly wrote Kanji into the older man's hand.
Inoichi laughed in relief, "A headache?!"
At Kakashi's pained smirk, the clan head sobered, "Let's get you to the hospital."
He didn't warn Kakashi before they both underwent another Body Flicker Jutsu. The landing this time was Kakashi's last straw. Once the world cleared, he pushed away from Inoichi. The blond watched as the silver-haired man stumbled a few steps before collapsing on his knees. The clan head heard the familiar sounding of retching and was thankful he had chosen to not put the Hatake in new jonin blues.
Luckily or unluckily depending on how one looked at it, Inoichi had teleported them directly inside the hospital. Two medic-nins rushed to Kakashi's side. As the only young shinobi with silver hair, the hospital knew him quite well, So Inoichi knew he was in safe hands. As soon as the doors closed, the clan head's body relaxed.
Another medic came to his side, "Do you need medical attention, sir?"
Inoichi straightened his posture, "I'm alright. Post-mission, you know."
The med-nin looked him up and down before nodding, "Make sure you go home and rest, sir."
Inoichi smiled, "Of course."
With that, the clan head took his leave. It had taken a few days to find Kakashi and he missed his daughter. The hokage could wait a day for the report. Soon enough, the man returned home. The first thing he saw was his wife sitting at the table. She stood up and walked over to her husband once she saw him.
"Successful mission?" she asked, wrapping the blond in a hug.
"It was," he answered, lowering his head to her neck, "Where's Ino?"
"She said she had something with her team. We have the house to ourselves tonight."
Inoichi chuckled. He would have been down if fatigue wasn't trying to pull him down. After a few more exchanges, the blond made his way to the bathroom. He needed a shower then sleep. Tomorrow, he would deliver his report to the Hokage and then check in on Kakashi. Then he would go buy liquor and go find Shikaku for some drinking. The blond had never been happier to be a village-bound shinobi; he forgot how stressful it was to be otherwise. His mind briefly flashed to Kakashi's genin. They had all looked shaken, but the blond had faith they would bounce back once their teacher was back on his feet.