I don't own anybody, thank you ahead of time for reading. Its set after Sasuke kills Itachi, quite a few years actually. Hope you like it!

Chapter One

Sakura nearly fell out of bed when the rough banging on her door woke her up. Who could be here at this ungodly hour? Someone had better be dead. She thought to herself as she stumbled towards the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" She ripped open the door. "WHO the…." Her words trailed off at the sight before her. A man she hadn't seen in almost half a year, and entirely by his choice. He was too pale, his clothes looked wet, and he was leaning heavily on the doorframe.

"Hey Sakura." Kakashi managed before lurching towards her. Sakura yelped and tried to catch him, only succeeding in slowing his descent towards the floor. He grunted as she laid him out, wiping the dampness from his clothes on her silk pajama shorts.

"Kakashi, what is…" Again a realization cut her short; it wasn't water she had wiped on her shorts, it was blood. "Kakashi! Wake up! Stay awake!"

"Ummmphnnn." He mumbled as she forced him upright and helped him limp to her bed, letting out a piteous moan as he lay down. Sakura wasted no time in tearing off the remnants of his shirt to assess the wounds. There were many but only a few were deep. They'd need to be cleansed and bandaged and a few of them required stitches.

"Kakashi, don't fall asleep. I'm going into the other room to get some things. Keep talking to me, okay?" Sakura gave him a gentle shake. "What time is it?" And with that she headed to grab her supplies from the bathroom, and a bottle of vodka from the freezer.

"Its late… Why are you awake so late, Sakura-chan?" He mumbled some other things that she couldn't quite make out, but it didn't matter as long as he was talking and he was awake.

"This is going to sting a bit, don't squirm!" She prepared him as she poured some of the vodka on his chest. He grunted but stayed still. "Good, you're doing great."

She began work on the more serious wounds, stitching them closed and spreading a cream on them to help them heal. Turning her attention to the less serious scratches, she pressed some herbs for healing against them and dressed all of them.

"I'm going to need you to roll over, I'll help you." She found an unscathed area on his shoulder and heaved as he rolled, making another rather unhappy sound. She repeated the process for the wounds on his back. By now he reminded her of a stuffed animal that had gotten so old that the patches out numbered the sections of original fur. Kakashi rolled over onto his back and grabbed the bottle of vodka off the nightstand, downing the remains and relaxing a tad.

"Hey, don't pass out on me yet. Are those all the injuries? Are there any wounds on your legs?" She spoke clearly and loudly, afraid he'd be too out of it to respond.

"No." He grunted and closed his eyes.

Great, just great. Sakura thought as she assessed the damage he had done. His shirt was in a damp pile on the floor, her sheets were splashed with his blood, which was also on a fair amount of her and her med kit was in disarray on the nightstand. He would show up, make a mess and leave me to clean it up. Typical!

But she couldn't help noticing that he looked sweet all sprawled out and asleep. Minus the blood and bandages of course. But he's still wearing that silly mask, I wonder if I could just get a peek… Her hand reached out slowly, her eyes watching the steady rise and fall of his chest. Fingertips curled around the edge of it, and she almost pulled it down but stopped. Its wrong, if he wanted me to see then he'd show me. Damn curiosity trying to get the better of me!

She let go and was taking back her hand when Kakashi snatched it, fingers forming an iron grip on her wrist. She yelped involuntarily.

"Stay, please?" He asked and tugged on her arm. With a soft smile Sakura let him lead her into the bed to curl up with her head on his chest. He made no sound to indicate if it hurt or not, just wrapped his arm tightly around her and resumed his slow steady breathing. Over the blood and sweat she could smell his scent, and it soothed her as she drifted to sleep next to him.