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Misaki drifted back to herself by degrees. First was the light behind her eyelids. Then the sound of a heart monitor close by. The feeling of thin cotton sheets, and a needle taped to the back of her left hand. Her whole body ached in a distant sort of way. She cracked open her eyes.
A head of wild silver hair was bent over her bedside. Kakashi had her right hand held tight between both of his, her knuckles pressed to his forehead. His clothes were clean but rumpled in a way that suggested a quick change and even quicker travel. Considering that he was covered in blood the last time she could remember seeing him, likely the hospital had refused him entry into her room until he’d gotten rid of the threat to their hygiene standards. She winced, both at the thought of him being kicked out when she’d been injured so badly, and the reminder of the outcome of that last mission.
It had been an unmitigated disaster. And that was before she’d blacked out.
Noticing the slight movement, Kakashi shot up and turned to her. “Hey,” she croaked with a crooked smile, squeezing his hand. Several emotions flashed through his eyes so fast it nearly made her dizzy trying to catch them all. When his expression did settle, it was into something she couldn’t fully decipher.
“I—” he said lowly. The sentence broke off without another word. Misaki blinked at him. He let go of her hand and cupped her jaw instead, leaning over to study her face with dark, intent eyes. The silence left her feeling strangely at a loss.
“You sure know how to make a girl blush, ‘Kashi,” she said at last, trying to maintain a light tone.
Instead of teasing back like he usually would, Kakashi closed his eyes—both of them, since his Sharingan had been open as well—and breathed out raggedly. Misaki lifted her arm so she could brush the hair from his face. The limb felt almost impossibly heavy, but she forced it to stay upright as she trailed her fingers down to his cheek.
“I really scared you, didn’t I?” she asked quietly. “I’m sorry.”
More silence. His hands were steady against her skin, but something about him still seemed shaky. He breathed slowly, in and out. Opened his eyes.
“Marry me,” he whispered.
Her eyes widened, and she almost hit herself in the face when her arm dropped from the surprise. Likely would have, if she hadn’t managed to latch onto his wrist at the last second. His pulse was surprisingly even beneath her fingers.
Of all the reactions she’d thought Kakashi might have to her near-death experience, Misaki had to admit that this one would be near the bottom of the list. She’d wondered if he would pretend it had never happened, avoiding difficult topics as he often did. She’d expected something along the lines of misplaced guilt. She’d feared that he would distance himself, or worse, leave entirely. She’d never realized he might cling tighter.
It was not an unwelcome surprise.
(It was probably the most welcome surprise she’d ever had in her life.)
A thousand different thoughts flew through her head, a thousand different ways of formulating her response. She could ask what brought this on, but that was a little obvious considering she was currently stuck in a hospital bed. She could tease him about the lack of a ring, but it would be cruel not to respond to his seriousness in kind. Despite the years of their relationship and further years of friendship, Misaki could not always predict or understand Kakashi’s thought processes—people changed and grew and there was always more to learn about them, even for their most loved ones—but she did understand that he was being genuine.
In the end, all she could say was, “Okay.”
“Okay?” he echoed.
“Okay,” she said again. “Yes, I’ll marry you.”
A beat, and then he snorted, letting his head fall forward to bump against hers. She huffed, half laugh and half indignation.
“Alright, so that didn’t come out quite as seriously as I meant it to,” she admitted. “I still mean it. I love you, and I’m not planning on going anywhere whether we make it legally binding or not.” She thought for a moment, then added, “No take-backs though. I already said yes.”
“Of course not,” he agreed solemnly. He squeezed her cheeks hard and then smiled at her for the first time since she woke up. “I’m a ninja of my word, after all.”
Misaki pinched viciously at the skin on the back of his hand in retaliation. “Because we ninja have so much honor,” she said. “Still, I suppose I’ll believe you this time. Pakkun likes me too much to let you run away at the altar anyway.”
“Oh, is Pakkun my boss now? I thought it was the other way around.”
“Mhm. Hopefully Pakkun never finds out that I let his secret slip.” She squeezed his wrist and then pushed him gently. “Anyway, we can keep bantering once you’ve sat up. A medic is gonna walk in on this and start in on you about back problems or something.”
“Somehow I think they’d be more worried about you at this point,” Kakashi said flatly, but sat back in his chair all the same. He threaded his fingers through hers with one hand and smoothed his palm over her hair with the other. Misaki hummed contentedly, feeling her eyelids start to droop already.
“Do they have me on the good stuff?” she asked sleepily. Kakashi chuckled, which was as good as a yes. She squinted sideways at him. “Don’t think that means I can’t see your Sharingan still uncovered. Put that away before the nurses put you in a bed of your own.”
“Maa, maa, that wouldn’t be necessary. We could share.”
A huff of laughter escaped her lips. “You just try telling them that and see where it gets you.” Her voice had taken on a breathy sort of quality that meant that sleep was imminent, whether she liked it or not. Fortunately for her, she felt pretty good about that. She was safe and healing and Kakashi was right here. He was staying.
“Love you, ‘Kashi,” she mumbled as her eyes slipped fully closed. She didn’t hear him respond, but she didn’t need to. The hand entwined with hers, grip gentle but unyielding, made his feelings clear enough.