It wasn't until he found himself getting a face full of skull fragments and brain matter that he even realized he was being rescued. He couldn't help the sick feeling in his gut as he watched the graphic death unfold before his eyes.
It was one thing, really, to watch Sakura create a small earthquake in the training ground; but another entirely to see her shatter an enemy nin's skull with her bare hands.
The blood rained down over his head and he raised a weak arm in a poor attempt to block it from his face. Sakura stood over him, a calm green radiating from her palms in stark contrast to the chunks of flesh and gore slick against her fingers. The headless body of the missing nin, kunai still in hand, crumpled to the ground.
"Kakashi-sensei, can you move?"
Her hands were already on him; the healing chakra smoothing over him to search for the worst of the damage. Kakashi knew his ribs were broken; his leg shattered. There was an odd ringing in his left ear and he was sure he shouldn't be seeing double; and the rusty chains they had used to hold him had rubbed his wrists raw.
"Genma, I need gauze and tape from the medical pack. I don't want to heal anything too drastic in here in case there's a poison I haven't noticed. Anko, grab what you can that looks relevant. We took out the load bearing wall when we busted in here, who knows when it's going to come down."
As if on cue, the walls around them began to crack, showering them in white plaster and grime.
She wasn't team leader, but they followed her orders. Sakura had forgone the use of their ANBU codenames, which didn't bode well for his injuries. Kakashi reached out for Sakura's wrist, ignoring the squelch of blood against blood.
"Sakura- my eye-"
Blood found its way up and out of his chest, burning the entire way. He coughed and gagged, spitting blood into his filthy mask; hearing Sakura's voice become distant as everything sank into darkness.
"I'm not sure what they were trying to achieve by kidnapping Kakashi-sensei; but there doesn't seem to be any damage to the eye itself. Extensive damage to his body, and Shizune located a foreign toxin I didn't notice during my initial assessment. Luckily we got him back here in time. I've looked over the scrolls Anko found at the hideout. The working assumption is that they were attempting to get hold of his Sharingan, but didn't know how to remove it without damaging the kekkei genkai. I'll have my mission report on your desk by end of week, Hokage-sama, I've just been busy with-"
Kakashi grunted, and the hushed voices outside his door stopped.
"Sensei?"
He could see pink.
"Skra?"
The mangled word felt like razors tearing at his throat. He felt a gentle tug at the elastic of his hospital mask before something cold and wet pressed to his lips. He blinked, letting the ice chip melt against his tongue as he surveyed the hospital room. Sakura was beside him, her fingers at his pulse and another ice chip in hand. Ugly sage curtains fluttered in the gentle breeze as the mid morning light spilled over the varnished floors.
There was no bustle of energy; no lingering scent of sterilizing chemicals and antiseptic. He wasn't in hospital.
Tsunade slid the door closed behind her as she entered, clicking her tongue at his medical chart and folding her arms.
"Welcome back, Hatake. We've been waiting,"
"Where-?"
Sakura pushed another ice chip to his mouth and shushed him, "You're at a civilian clinic in the North District. Mandatory annual physicals are taking up too much bedspace at the hospital. It's been two weeks since the mission to Iwa, and nine days since you were kidnapped. We've removed the toxins from your chakra stream and healed all of your injuries. Any remaining pain you have is the result of the procedures we had to do to make sure you stayed alive. We put you in an induced coma for four days to try and stimulate your chakra to replenish faster, which seems to have worked. For now though, I would recommend you try not move too much. Genma and Anko are fine; and as far as we can tell all of the enemy nin who ambushed you in the clearing are dead. We have a few ideas why you were targeted, but nothing concrete. When Tsunade-sama is happy with your chakra levels and vitals, you'll be free to go. Have another ice chip,"
The cool water on his cracked lips made him sigh, but the knowledge that his team had made it out alive allowed him to sink back into the pillows and turn his head to the Godaime.
"Mission failure," he muttered, tipping his open palm outwards in lieu of a shrug.
She raised an eyebrow, "You were ambushed in a no violence zone by five missing nin; beaten within an inch of your life; almost lost your eye to an enemy with a kunai and nearly died four times in my hospital and you're concerned about mission failure? Despite your gross lack of punctuality and somewhat... unorthodox teaching methods, you are one of the most valuable assets to this village. The mission has been retasked and will be completed. Sakura, go and inform Shizune that Hatake has woken up; she knows who to summon so we can start working on who ordered this attack and why. Then go home, get some rest. And tell Naruto that he's awake, I'm sick of him knocking on my door every morning for an update."
Sakura offered Kakashi another ice chip before reaching for his free hand.
"I'm glad you're back, Kakashi-sensei," she said with a smile, "Naruto and Sai will be happy to hear about it as well. Get some rest,"
With a final squeeze, she left the room, bowing politely to Tsunade before disappearing down the halls. Kakashi locked eye with Tsunade, who raised a single finger. The silence stretched out between them for a long time before the Godaime lowered her hand and settled into the chair beside his bed.
"You never know when she'll spring back into a room without warning," she supplied, "She's caught me with my sake more than once,"
Tsunade pulled an ornate hair pin from the sleeve of her robes and formed the release seal, bringing the materialized bottle of sake to her mouth.
"So... I'm going to need to know what you know,"
Kakashi turned his head and sighed. The memories from before the mission were clear in his mind, but they grew hazier as he came closer to the day of his kidnapping. Then darkness. Then Sakura. Then darkness again.
"We left the village at dawn, we were scheduled to leave shortly after midnight but we were delayed."
He pointedly ignored Tsunade's quiet snort and muttered typical, "The mission plan was to arrive in Iwa and meet with the informant. We passed a small village and heard rumors of missing nin presence, so I sent Anko to scout the general area in case they were interested in us. She didn't find any indication that there were any unknown ninja, but we decided to make a detour in case we had any tails. We stopped for the night by the river, and I took first watch. And then-" he furrowed his brow to stave of the deep ache that shot through his head. His memories sank into a murky darkness from that moment; jumping to the agony of a kunai slicing through his under eye.
"They wanted the Sharingan,"
Tsunade pressed the bottle to her lips again, "As Sakura said, we found no structural damage to your eye. I have all ears to the ground to find out if this was a planned attack. Regardless, I've removed you from active duty for the time being; and you will have a team posted outside your home when you're discharged."
He began to protest, but Tsunade reached for the drip connected to his arm and pushed the small white button several times. Kakashi felt a rush of warmth overcome him; his aching body sinking into a soft embrace. He vaguely heard the sound of a chair scraping, and a door being opened.
"You are the last living host of the Sharingan, Kakashi. I'm not taking any chances."
A/N- added September 7, 2018.
A super kind reviewer made me realize I didn't give as much context to this story as I probably should have! There are contextual clues for where this takes place, and a lot of things are briefly touched on in dialogue or text as to who is alive/what is happening/what I cherry picked from canon but overall it is an AU. Sakura is 21 in this fic, there was no Fourth Great Ninja War, and everything related to Madara and Obito isn't going to be touched on as a main plot point. If you have any questions, shoot me a message and I will clarify. Also, since has a poor/non existent tagging system, if you have a trigger or squick you would like to know about appearing, I'm happy to answer in PM. I hope you enjoy!