Disclaimer. The Naruto universe is property of Masashi Kishimoto. I'm just playing with it.
Prelude. Hospital.
The waiting room of Konoha Hospital was hollowly empty compared to the direct aftermath of the attack. Civilians and most of the uninjured shinobi had filed out some time ago in favor of biting their nails for their loved ones at home. Any remaining shinobi were trained in field aid, doing any little bit they could to help the chakra-exhausted med-nins.
It didn't take long for the patients to become stabilized and the bodies to be properly disposed of (either burned or given to scavengers, ninja were never buried). Around then, those who could still stand were put on clean-up and rounds.
Somewhere around then, Hatake Kakashi had collapsed on the waiting room floor with his aching head pressed against the cold tile. Honestly, these kids were going to be the death of him: first he had to spend most of his chakra healing a half-crushed Sakura and then he'd spent any remaining energy trying to keep Sasuke and Naruto in bed because, damnit, they had nearly killed themselves with chakra depletion and were they trying to give him a heart attack?
Sadly, that lecture had been most ineffective. And, he had to wonder if they were really listening to him anyway.
Cold, strong fingers carefully pulled him into a sitting position and peeled his mask down. He focused his lone eye on an index finger and thumb that carefully pressed some painkillers between his half-parted lips. After a moment, a cup of water was pressed to his lips and there was a whispered "Swallow" somewhere near his ear.
It took him a few minutes to realize that someone (probably another elite jounin) had snuck up on Kakashi without him noticing and that he was leaning up against a very feminine chest. That left it at either Anko or Kurenai, and he guessed Kurenai since Anko's skin was never as cold as the fingers that were currently readjusting his mask. Not to mention Kurenai tended to be just a little bit gentler than Anko, though not by much.
"You should get some rest," that was definitely Kurenai's voice – it was too intensely calm and quite to be confused for anyone else. It was something that had been beaten into her long before her ninja training, because not even eighteen years as a shinobi could keep someone perfectly calm during the worst crisis to hit Konoha in twelve years. "The council is expecting a huge influx of missions to prove that the village still retains its military power."
It figured. Kakashi was willing to bet anything that the council still expected them to train the genin too. Because life in a soon-to-be war zone didn't suck enough as it was.
Frowning, he managed to pull away from Kurenai, stand, and stumble over to one row of waiting room chairs. Curling up on the uncomfortable seat of one of them, Kakashi forced himself to relax and let sleep take him. After all, there was more than enough elite jounin, ANBU, and various other ninja milling around that he shouldn't be in any danger. And he was exhausted – not that he'd admit it, but his students took much more out of him than they should have.
He felt, rather than saw, Kurenai throw one of the hospital blankets over him before she disappeared from the waiting room.
-
Uchiha Sasuke scowled and buried his face in the orange jacket, as if it was the jacket's fault that Naruto was giving him nightmares. Because it was Naruto's fault that he was having nightmares. If the moron hadn't been such a moron and nearly gotten himself killed, Sasuke would be able to just sleep without seeing the deaths of every person he'd ever cared about replaying over and over and over…
Somewhere along the line, Naruto's could have been, would have been, should have been death had been added, forcing Sasuke to cling desperately to the moron to know that the blonde was in fact still alive and well.
Naruto didn't seem to mind Sasuke's desperate need for closeness, surprisingly. It was somewhat comforting, the way Naruto rubbed soothing circles against his back. The moron kept whispering too – something about how it was alright to have nightmares or some other nonsense – but Sasuke had chosen to ignore that.
Instead, the last Uchiha had opted to listen to Naruto's heartbeat overtop the noises of people running around the hospital and keeping it in working order. It was weird to know that everything just kept going even though the Hokage was dead and they were probably at war with at least Oto, if not Suna too. And who knew how long it would be before the other villages were pulled into the war? At the very least the five great villages would have to hold true to the alliances.
Scowling even more, Sasuke buried his face further in Naruto's jacket and tried to push all thoughts of war and death out of his head. He was a shinobi and an Uchiha, after all, he should be able to control his thoughts.
The moron finally gave up on talking and moved to stroke Sasuke's hair back, slowly lulling him back to sleep for the hundredth time that night.
-
The hallways were virtually silent as Umino Iruka walked through him, slowly rocking a sobbing Konohamaru as if the boy was a child much younger than his eight years. He didn't blame the boy, truthfully: Sandaime Hokage had basically raised the boy since the death of Konohamaru's father four years ago. And now the Hokage was dead and Konohamaru was left with just his uncle for family.
And Asuma could barely take care of himself – much less an eight-year-old.
No, Iruka didn't blame Konohamaru for crying so much. Or Asuma for not being there to take care of the problem. He just wished it had all happened at a more reasonable hour – say, eight in the morning instead of one.
A few people passed him as he made his way through the halls, hurrying off for some reason or another. Though Anko had been the only one so far to stop and talk to him, taking Konohamaru for a few minutes to give Iruka's arms a break. But other than that, he'd been mainly undisturbed.
He didn't mind it though, since most of the other shinobi wandering the halls outranked him and he was never quite comfortable dealing with them. Even if most of them were around his age and he'd known them forever.
Frowning, Iruka pulled his sleeve down over his hand and wiped the tears of Konohamaru's face. Now wasn't the time to think about how to treat people of higher ranks. He still had to worry about getting the boy calmed down.
Konohamaru seemed to actually be calming down, resting his head on Iruka's shoulder and hiccupping softly as the sobs died away. The boy's eyes dropped slightly as he sniffled and looked up at Iruka, silently questioning what was going to happen next.
"It's going to be alright…" Iruka added the 'eventually' in his head as he slowed to a stop in the waiting room. He could see someone sleeping on the other side of the room, back to Iruka (though he'd guess it was Kakashi by the silver hair). Sitting down on the nearest seat, he settled Konohamaru so that the boy would be able to sleep comfortably.