Title: I Found You
Author/Artist: theablackthorn
Rating: PG
Kakashi woke with a deep sense of lethargy, uncertain of his surroundings, when he opened his eye to cast about he found the shadowed holes of an ANBU mask looking back at him. He tried to move, to sit up – anything, but found his body unresponsive as his eye rolled back in his head as searing pain shot through his body. It warned him quiet succinctly that he was in deep trouble and shouldn't try to move.
He opened his eye to a thin slit, observing the ANBU once again through pale lashes All he could see in the fading moonlight was the traditional porcelain mask hovering over him, and he winced once again as pain registered in his cracked ribs and broken arm. The white mask bobbed once as though nodding his ascent of his waking, moving backwards enough so that he could get a clearer view of the mask.
Kakashi took in sharp pointed ears and red whiskers on the pale mask - a kitsune ANBU? As his mind started to become hazy once again he felt the soft brush of fingertips on his exposed cheek and a gentle voice that sounded so familiar, and yet as his mind became cloudy with pain and bone deep exhaustion he couldn't place it. The voice whispered to him, "I found you K… Hatake-san…at last." and his conscious left him to darkness.
Kakashi spent what felt like hours dipping in and out of consciousness. He had woken at one point to unimaginable pain as the ANBU had wrapped his badly bruised and broken ribs. He had promptly passed out once again with only a deep hiss in acknowledgement of the agony that had spread from his abused ribs.
When he awoke again, his eye remained closed as he assessed his injuries; his ribs had been neatly bound, aching rather than stabbing at his lungs. His arm was in a temporary cast which would need replacing once they reached the village. It was obvious to him that this ANBU was not a medic-nin, but also he was out here alone with no team to accompany him.
They were still a good three days run from Konoha, so what was he doing out here and how had he found him? The jounin mulled over these questions and began to wonder just how long he had been out.
When Kakashi focused his mind outwards he felt heat caressing his bandaged chest and there was something very warm propping him up from behind. He had the odd urge to curl back into that warmth finding it oddly comforting. When he opened one heavy-lidded eye he found lightly tanned limbs encircling his waist and assumed correctly that there was a person propping him up and keeping him warm.
Though the copy-nin was sorely tempted to turn in the impromptu embrace and discover what it was the other ninja thought he was doing to his person, he remained still in the other mans arms. He found that he didn't want to give up the warmth he felt coursing through him or the odd sense of familiarity that it caused. It had been so long since he had been held like this or at all, he had left behind everything he cared about two years ago after all.
As he stared lazily at the fire he tried to rebury the feelings that where rousing inside him at the presence of those warm, muscled arms holding him. He waited for the other male to wake, listening to the soft breaths that teased at his silvery hair just over his ear.
As he sat waiting, he thought back over his situation, absorbing the fragmented memories of how he had arrived here. The mission had gone sour fast, it had only required one man as it was only a scouting job to the next country over after hearing some rumours about uprisings in the area. It had fast turned into an ambush and he had been badly outnumbered by other ninja. But he had made it out with, in his mind, scrapes and bruises and he was lucky to have gotten away with just that.
When the ANBU woke he sat quietly feigning sleep, watching the side of the copy-nin's face it had been a good two years since he had seen that profile. He watched carefully so as not to get caught, though his mask still hid his open eyes he knew that if he wasn't quick in covering over his chest it would be fairly obvious just who he was.
His heart squeezed in his chest as he remained watching the famous jounin, enjoying the way he was comfortably sprawled against his now taller frame.
He had wondered about this for so long, the way the older man had left and how it had affected him. He had missed the ever late, porn reading copy-nin very much. He tried to reign in these straying thoughts, wanting nothing more than to keep the other ninja within his embrace knowing once released he would never get the chance again.
He sighed softly as he carefully released his arms from around Kakashi, wishing he could have a few more minutes, but knowing he needed to get the jounin back to the village promptly.
Kakashi felt the sudden gust of breath across the bare skin of his shoulder and shivered at the contrast of heated breath and cold skin. He knew the other man was awake now, but he would never get the chance to discover his identity. Not tonight anyway. He felt a hand rest at the nape of his neck and the warm spill of chakra that seeped into his body. His eye grew heavy and tried to stay awake as lethargy took his limbs and weighed them down.
"Sleep, now Hatake-san."
"What if I don't.., " The older man yawned and the ANBU chuckled softly, lightly jostling the fragile man.
"No choice, Kaka-sensei." Kakashi's eye shot open at that familiar title but more chakra spilled from calloused fingertips that gently massaged his nape and he felt so heavy, comfortable and for once in his life – safe.
"I'll find out, later."
"I'd expect nothing less from you sensei."
The Jounin chuckled genuinely for the first time in two years and then he slept.