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Kakashi sat on a branch partway up an old, gnarled oak tree. The sun had set hours ago, and it was time for him to wake someone else for the watch, but he didn’t move. To the untrained eye, it might almost have looked as if he were asleep. An owl called and his eye sprang open as he cocked his head in the direction of the sound. The owl called again, and he relaxed, convinced it was actually a bird and not a human signal.
Kakashi stared off into the distance, not seeing the trees. Behind one closed eyelid, figures struggled in desperate, close-quarters combat. One dropped, over and over again, the Sharingan providing a visual for the loop his mind was caught in. He drew a knee up to his chest and crossed his arms around it, shaking his head as if doing so might clear it. Muscles in his back protested when he moved, and he let out a long, low breath. Then he went back to staring out into the underbrush, seeing the wheeling dance of combat over and over again.
Kakashi looked up when something stumbled into a tree a few paces from the campsite, rustling a bush and snapping a number of twigs. There was no fire to alert wild animals, and not enough food for that to draw them. He glanced around the small clearing, down at the two sleeping forms below him.
Whatever — whoever — had stumbled muttered something that didn’t make it to Kakashi’s ears. Sai caught Kakashi’s eye without getting up from the ground, and gave him a tiny nod. If the surviving missing nin they’d faced that morning had tracked them this far and thought to find them exhausted and easy prey, with no medic to keep them alive, he was in for a nasty surprise.
Then Sakura stumbled into the clearing.
Sai froze. Kakashi had only half a moment to think before he was pinning the figure to a tree, his kunai a hair’s breadth from its neck. His hitae-ate was up, shoved out of the way on pure instinct as he’d darted across the clearing. He didn’t remember doing it: a bad sign.
“Kakashi-sensei?” She blinked at him, her eyes wide and very, very green. He stared at her in shock. She sounded like Sakura. But so would a White Zetsu.
Behind him, Sai got to his feet, moving carefully, brush and paper in hand.
“Kakashi-sempai?”
“There’s no visible henge on her,” Kakashi said, and he knew puzzlement was clear in his voice. That was another bad sign, but it had been a bad day.
“Of course there’s no visible henge on me,” she said, and irritation started to seep through the exhaustion in her voice. “Why would I waste chakra on a henge in the middle of the woods?” She tried halfheartedly to pull away from Kakashi and seemed only to notice the kunai in his hand when it nicked her throat. A thin red line appeared, blood welling up slowly.
“Kakashi-sensei,” she said, “what do you think you’re doing?” Sai hung back, out of close range, but his body language was all hesitation and uncertainty.
“Who are you?” Kakashi heard his voice shake. If this was going to be an interrogation, he was doing a terrible job of it so far. He wished he weren’t so tired. “What are you doing here?”
“Who am I?” She glared at him. “What the hell do you think I’m doing here?” Her voice rose as she yelled, and that was right, too. She looked at Kakashi like he was crazy. Behind Sai, Naruto stirred and sat up, his hair flat on one side of his head, sticking up on the other. His eyes were still red and puffy, and the bruises on his jaw looked even more spectacular now than they had when he’d gone to sleep.
“Kakashi-sensei,” he started, and then he seemed to realize what he was seeing.
“Sakura—“ Naruto said. He stared for half a heartbeat. Then he was beside her, having already shoved Kakashi aside, every bit as fast as Minato-sensei had been. “Sakura-chan—“ he grabbed her by the shoulders and stared at her, then pulled her into an enveloping hug. “Sakura-chan,” he repeated, and the tears were clear in his voice. Kakashi itched to drag Naruto away from her, but it was clear that Naruto wasn’t going to let go for anything. Kakashi settled for studying her, weapons in hand, knowing Sai was alert behind him. But she — Sakura — didn’t react, except for a sharp exhalation when Naruto pulled her close.
She stared at Kakashi over Naruto’s shoulder, and something in Kakashi’s face seemed to tell her what was going on. She blinked.
“You thought I was dead,” she said, and there was a little bit of wonder in her voice. Kakashi nodded, and Naruto mumbled something affirmative. Sai didn’t move. “Oh.” She looked a little lost, and very tired.
Kakashi checked her over once more with the Sharingan, but if this was a jutsu, it was one he’d never encountered before, and one that left no visible chakra residue. He felt the drain tug at him, and couldn’t stop the slight sway when he focused closely on her.
“Oh, for —“ Sakura pushed at Naruto’s arms ineffectively: she was obviously too tired to mould chakra to enhance her strength. “Kakashi-sensei, if you don’t close that eye right now, I’m telling Tsunade-shishou about the time you took us all to the bookstore and made us wait in line for hours to get those stupid posters—“
Kakashi let out a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, and slipped the hitae-ate back in place.
“Naruto,” he said, tugging gently at the shoulder Naruto hadn’t dislocated in that morning’s fight, “I think Sakura might want to sit down.” He turned back to gesture to Sai, and was surprised to see that Sai was already moving, pulling water and dried fruit out of his pack, and setting up a small camp lantern for light.
Naruto grudgingly allowed Sakura to move away, but hovered over her, obviously terrified that he’d blink, and she’d be gone again. Kakashi couldn’t blame him for that, either. Sakura moved slowly, attempting to conceal a limp. When they got into the light, she stared at all three of them.
“No,” Kakashi said, as she reached towards Naruto’s face.
“No, what?” she asked, distracted, and pushed Naruto to turn his head so she could see his jaw. She stretched her other hand toward him, and Kakashi grabbed it halfway there.
“No.” Kakashi said. “You’re not healing anyone tonight. You’re sitting down, eating something, and telling us what happened. Then you’re sleeping.” He was surprised that some of the sternness he’d used on them as children had crept into his voice, but it appeared to work.
Sakura nodded, and took the water bottle Sai held out to her, and as he watched her smile at Sai in thanks, Kakashi felt something begin to unclench in his chest.