Work Text:
“Sakura!”
Though it sounded far, far away - much further than Sakura knew he was - Sakura jolted at the raw sound of her sensei howling her name.
Sakura had heard him howl before, had even heard him howl for her before, but that one- that was a sound she had never heard before. It sparked worry in her mind - sensei was steady, and while he might fret over her in calm moments, he would never panic in battle.
The thought slipped away even as she clawed onto reason, struggling to make sense of the battlefield. She opened her eyes, only to close them again before she realised it.
There was just enough sense remaining around the edges of her wavering consciousness to realise that was not a good sign. A moment later she identified the searing heat spilling over her ribs, belly, and hips. Blood. Her blood, judging by how chilled her skin felt beneath that spilling heat.
Kakashi-sensei’s howl came back to her, faintly, and Sakura’s lips parted in a shallow gasp that was half realisation and half struggle to breathe. Oh. That was why he was howling like a creature trapped in a demon’s clutches.
For her.
Sakura whimpered as the pain hit her again, blanking out anything else.
“Sakura!” Kakashi-sensei’s voice sounded deadened and wavery, still very far away, even as she felt his hands on her. “Oh-” his voice broke, and Sakura whimpered out a little cry as he pressed at her belly. “Oh pup. I’ve got you, little one.”
Sakura couldn’t help another cry as Kakashi-sensei gathered her up in his arms. It hurt, but Kakashi-sensei’s embrace had been the safest place she knew for almost three years.
The world blurred around her when she tried to make out where they were, but she could feel the wind that came with racing through the forests of home, even if all she could smell was blood.
Sakura thought foggily that she lost time here and there; sometimes she heard snatches of Kakashi-sensei’s voice, and the pain came in waves as an icy feeling worked through her veins and curled achily in the pit of her stomach.
“Hold on, pup.” Kakashi-sensei said, voice unsteady - not from the running, Sakura realised, and wondered if she had imagined the hot splash against her cheek. Then thought slipped away again, everything slipped away except the agony slashed across her body.
“Wait a minute-”
Kakashi ignored the shout from the gate chuunin; he didn’t have time to go through even the emergency procedures on entering the village, and he was well aware that none of the chuunin who might be on duty had a hope of catching him.
His pup didn’t have time for him to fuck around answering questions and submitting to being identified.
Kakashi bolted across the village without breaking speed; speed he rarely used to his full abilities anywhere near the populated areas of Konoha. Sakura’s blood was hot over his arms and soaking into his shirt and there was far too much of it, and he hadn’t seen even a peek of her glazed green eyes beneath her heavy lids for far too long.
“Hold on, pup.” Kakashi said again, as he had so many times as he ran. He ordered, he pleaded, he coaxed, he soothed and promised, anything he could think of.
He crashed through the doors into the hospital and barked for iryou nin, now, and-
Kakashi released Sakura immediately when they came for her, but it hurt like bleeding himself to give her up. He answered what he could, but they were gone in a dozen breaths, Sakura whisked out of his arms and out of his sight.
He swallowed, wavering on his feet, and flexed his hands. Sakura’s blood stained them, dripping from his fingers and thick in the fabric of his gloves, making his shirt and flak vest cling to his skin.
“Jounin Hatake?”
Kakashi realised there was an iryou nin almost circling him warily - someone should tell the man that wasn’t a good way to approach a ninja he was so uncertain of, Kakashi thought distantly - trying to get his attention.
“What?” Kakashi asked, and it might have been a snap but Kakashi was barely paying any mind, feeling as though his heart had been ripped out and taken away behind the doors with his little pink pup.
He only half heard the iryou nin’s questions, but waved them off with a sharp gesture without need to listen any more closely. “I’m not hurt.” he said impatiently, then swallowed, thick and painful, as he looked down at his hands. “This- This is all hers.”
His voice dropped as he looked at the blood. Far too much of it, and it was all hers; he had moved too quickly to get any of their blood on him as he dispatched the enemy nin - the ones Sakura hadn’t taken down before one- one too many had come at her at once and Kakashi had been too far away and-
He had watched as the blade laid open Sakura’s belly, from her right hip up all the way until it had been stopped with the thump of hitting the base of her ribcage as she screamed.
Kakashi should have been closer, he thought painfully, he should have been able to stop it, before-
“Then I’ll take you to somewhere you can clean up, but you will need to do so.”
Kakashi lifted his head, turning, a little surprised the iryou nin was still there. “What?”
“You will need to clean up, or get out of the hospital.” the iryou nin said firmly, and Kakashi’s shoulders tensed as a snarl rose in his throat.
“I am not leaving.” Kakashi warned, and reached for the man’s throat as he stepped closer, reiterating his unacceptable demand.
“Kakashi!”
Kakashi twitched as a strong hand curled around his wrist and Gai pulled him away from the iryou nin.
“I will assist my Eternal Rival!” Gai said, and Kakashi snarled again. “Peace, Kakashi.” he said, voice lower. “You do not wish to be wearing her blood when you go to see your student, now do you?”
Kakashi looked down at himself and whined, throat locking.
“Come then, we will get you cleaned up and back to wait for her in no time!” Gai said confidently, and Kakashi allowed his best friend to haul him along the corridor. He didn’t even know why Gai was here, how he had known, but Kakashi was suddenly painfully grateful for him.
“Gai- I don’t know if she. . .” Kakashi couldn’t finish. There was so much blood, and Sakura had been so weak. . .
“You must not.” Gai said, face solemn, hands clasping Kakashi’s shoulders. “Your precious student will be well, and you will meet her when she wakes in a clean uniform and having displayed manly restraint!”
“You have never restrained an emotion in your life.” Kakashi said dully as he passively allowed Gai to drag him off to wash. The hospital kept spare uniforms, of course, and while the one Kakashi dragged on once he was clean was a poor fit - and lacking the cowled mask of his own; he pulled a spare one from his vest pocket before letting Gai take it away - it was clean.
Gai stayed by him as they went up to the trauma wing, even when he paced restlessly up and down the corridor. It smelled of blood and stringent cleaners and pain and fear. It was one reason Kakashi loathed the hospital. These smells were everywhere and they kept his hackles up and his nerves scraped raw.
He thought vaguely that Gai spoke to him at times, but grateful as he was for Gai’s presence, he rarely paid any mind to the wash of words in the comfortingly familiar deep voice.
As the time wore on Kakashi only just managed to restrain himself from forcing the doors to get inside. His pup, his pup was in there and-
Kakashi knew he would do no good if he were to force his way into the trauma ward, that he would only disrupt the iryou nin working to save his pup, to help her, but he ached with the lack of any word about her condition. He paced, pausing and lifting his hand to the doors that kept him away from Sakura, from even seeing. . .
Kakashi growled as he yanked his hand away, falling into a whine as he backed up, eye fixed on the doors. He felt the need to see his pup again like a physical pull, to know-
Gai’s hands slid over his back, then pulled him into a tight embrace - tight enough to ache a little itself, blocking out almost everything else.
Kakashi swallowed hard and allowed his best friend to pull him down to a chair, watching the doors. “I just want- I just need. . .” He swallowed.
“I know, my friend.” Gai said, and squeezed his forearm.
Kakashi took a hitching breath and wished again that he could have been fast enough to spare Sakura the wound that had laid her low - even to take it himself. Anything, just-
Gai squeezed his arm tighter and Kakashi turned a little towards him, shoulders bowing.
Kakashi didn’t stay there long before he couldn’t contain the restlessness inside himself any longer, up and prowling the confined space of the corridor, listening for any trace he could pick up beyond the doors, anything.
“Pup!”
Sakura opened her eyes just as the door swung open further. “Sensei!” she rasped, lifting a hand. Her arm shook and she gave up quickly, but Kakashi-sensei was at her bedside before her hand fell, catching it and leaning close. “Kakashi-sensei.” she smiled, tears welling in her eyes.
“My little one.” Kakashi-sensei said, his voice shaking. He went to his knees by Sakura’s bedside, bringing her hand up and nuzzling the back of it. Sakura squeezed his hand weakly, and he pressed his lips to her knuckles through his mask. “You’re all right.” he said, and it was raw and not quite steady, but somehow also very determined.
Sakura smiled slightly, fingers twitching against Kakashi-sensei’s cheek. “Thank you.” she said softly. She hurt, even with the medication they’d given her for the pain; her belly and chest hurt like fire under the bandages, and she was weak and dizzy from the blood she’d lost, but she was here, and safe, and Kakashi-sensei was here.
Kakashi-sensei lifted his head, eye shadowed, and Sakura stretched her arm just a little further. She was weak and exhausted, and her fingers slid through his hair instead of making contact properly with his face, but he only bowed a little closer, stroking her wrist as her arm dropped again.
“I’m all right because of you, Kakashi-sensei.” Sakura said, two fingers curling around the base of his thumb as she sagged a little lower against the pillows behind her. “You saved me, you-”
“The iryou nin saved you, little one.” Kakashi-sensei lifted his chin a little, and she could see his throat working.
“You brought me home.” Sakura said, then let out a weak sigh, exhausted, her eyelids drooping. She nearly whined as the sigh made the highest edges of her new wound spike from a powerful ache to a stabbing pain.
“I-” Kakashi-sensei made a low grumbling sound. “Rest, pup.” he said, rising and leaning over her, smoothing a palm over her hand as he lay it down at her side.
Sakura sighed again, closing her eyes and letting her head tip to one side. Kakashi-sensei adjusted the bed a little, then drew the blanket up over her without letting it drag over her belly. Kakashi-sensei’s hand cupped behind her head, supporting her neck as he shifted the pillow to let her lean it back comfortably.
“Thank you, sensei.” Sakura said softly.
Kakashi-sensei kissed her brow, a feathery brush of fabric and a soft puff of warm breath. “I’ll be watching over you, pup.” he said, and the last bit of tension in Sakura’s chest eased with the promise. Kakashi-sensei would be there with her. “Rest.”
Sakura nodded and Kakashi-sensei brushed his knuckles over her cheek. She let herself fall, the pain following her down into sleep - but so did the comforting feeling of Kakashi-sensei being near, the soft sound of his soothing rumble, the warmth of his thin hand beside her arm.
Sakura slept.