Thinning Line Between

by Bethie82

Hound is a broken man who has a mission he can't refuse or fail. Harumi is a medic who can't say no to her siblings. What do these two have in common? A young blonde who needs to be kept safe from someone or something. AU where Kakashi becomes Naruto's guardian and his life is turned upside down by a medic and her family.

11. Chapter 11

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of the character, just Harumi and her family.

Two weeks later

"A simple mission to gather information, huh?" Itachi grunted, "Nothing can go wrong, right?"

"Well, it isn't like I was expecting to come across a bunch of S-rank missing-nin, Itachi!" Kakashi grumbled.

"Yes, well you are not the one who is carrying your sorry carcass back to Konoha, Taichou, so why are you complaining?"

Kakashi tried to laugh, only to start coughing, "I didn't ask you to carry me."

"Letting you bleed to death in enemy territory is not something that the Hokage will be pleased with."

Kakashi shook his head, "You could have called for help or something."

"Pakkun already did that, or did you forget that part?"

"He did?"

Itachi bent his knees and slowly lowered Kakashi to the ground, with his back against a tree, "Yes, Kakashi-taichou, he did. We should be near the meeting point for our help."

"I wonder…" whatever Kakashi was going to say was lost as another round of coughing wrecked Kakashi. Wiping his hand across his mouth, Kakashi saw blood, quickly putting his hand behind his back to hide the evidence from Itachi, no need to worry the kid more.

"Don't bother trying to hide it, I already know you are coughing up blood." Before Kakashi could ask how, Itachi took a bandage and started to wipe the blood off his arm where Kakashi's face had been resting.

Kakashi smiled weakly, "Yeah, sorry about that."

"Do not worry about it, at least you are not bleeding like a stuck pig anymore."

A twig snapping had Itachi jumping up to his feet standing between Kakashi and the noise, activating his Sharingan and pulling his sword.

"No need to stand on my account," a familiar voice called out, "after all I am just coming to your rescue, again."

Itachi relaxed a fraction, "Tenzō-san, what are you doing here?"

"Coming to save your collective asses, of course. Pakkun came and woke up the rest of Team Ro. Since I am the only one who was free to come, here I am," Tenzō shrugged. "Now what is the problem? Pakkun said that Kakashi-taichou was hurt?"

Itachi nodded, "I can't be sure, but I think he has a couple broken ribs and his lung or lungs are injured because he keeps coughing up blood."

"So to the hospital?"

"No," Kakashi coughed, "hospitals will leave records."

Tenzō knelt down to look Kakashi in the eye, "So where do you want to go?"

"To Shimizu-san's house, there is a medic there who will help."

Tenzō stood up and looked at Itachi, "Do you know where this Shinizu-san lives?"

Itachi nodded.

Tenzō picked Kakashi up, careful not to put pressure on his chest, "I will follow you then."

Itachi nodded again and shunshined to the outskirts of the village, not able to go any further. When Tenzo caught up, they walked the rest of the way.

A loud knocking on her bedroom door had Harumi sitting straight up in bed. Grabbing the robe she started keeping at the foot of her bed after the first night Naruto had a nightmare, she opened the door, only to be face to face with a masked ANBU.

"Come," came the order before he turned and walked down the stairs.

Not fully awake, Harumi followed the masked man into her kitchen, where she was stunned to find Kakashi bleeding all over her clean floor! "What happened?"

The ANBU shrugged, "Can you fix him?"

"Bring him over here," Harumi motioned to the laundry room, "Lay him down there," she pointed to the small cot in the corner. "What happened to him?"

The one with black long hair answered, "We were on a mission when we came across a group of missing-nin who decided we were easy targets. Kakashi was stabbed multiple times and is coughing up blood."

Harumi nodded, and quickly walked out of the room and got a pan full of water on the stove to boil. Walking back into the laundry room where Kakashi and the masked ANBU were in the middle of a conversation. Grabbing some towels and tossing them on a small table, also digging through her scrolls and pulling out five and placing them on the table also. Opening one of the scrolls, Harumi unsealed a pair of scissors and handed them to the man, "Get his shirt off, if he can't take it off over his head, cut it off." Nodding to the towels, "I'm going to get the water and you two," Harumi turned to look at the long haired man, "can get some of the blood off while I get the rest of my supplies ready."

Both men nodded, while Kakashi stared at Harumi, "Thank you Harumi-san."

Harumi looked at him, "Don't thank me, this is my job. Although why I am doing it instead of the hospital, is a mystery to me." Glaring at the one-eyed shinobi, "A mystery that I will get the answers too Kakashi-san!"

Harumi put away one scroll and quickly walked out to the kitchen with the other four. Unrolling the scrolls until she found the correct seals, Harumi quickly started to unseal the different pieces of equipment she would need, including antibiotics, needles and thread. However knowing that most of the healing would be done through chakra does not mean that one shouldn't also be prepared for using more traditional methods. Pouring half of the boiling water into a bowl and adding some cold water to bring the temperature down so it won't burn, Harumi checked the temperature. Finding it just warmer than comfortable, she added more cold water before standing up.

Walking into the laundry room, Harumi heard the ANBU said, "Yeah, I had to hear about it from Pakkun. You two dumb asses went off without me and look what happens!"

"What part of S-class mission did you miss?" Kakashi groaned.

"The part where we ever gave a fuck about that sort of thing. Retired or not, you are still part of our team. Hell you got Itachi-taichou involved, why not me?"

"Hokage's orders. Our missions just overlapped."

"Yeah, well you are still an ass."

Kakashi groaned as the masked man pushed on his shoulder.

"If you two can't behave, I will turn around and drag the two of you out of here. Or maybe I will string you up by your toes and use you as a punching bag and only heal you when you pass out!" Harumi growled at the two before they started to fight in earnest.

The masked man turned and fixed a hard stare at her, Harumi was thoroughly unimpressed. "Turn those eyes somewhere else, ANBU-san, I am in no mood to deal with the two of you bickering. I am tired. I have a house full of my precious people that I will not hesitate to protect! You are welcome to go to the hospital if you don't like my rules," she stormed out of the room after setting the bowl down with a thump.

Itachi's lips moved up slightly at the corner, "I think I could help her," he said as he dipped a corner of the towel into the water to start cleaning off some of the blood from Kakashi's chest.

"And you, how could you possibly think it was okay to go out just the two of you with no backup?"

"Tenzō, we were under orders. Besides, this was only to be a short and simple mission. Just to get some information from a retired shinobi. It is not our fault that we met with a problem on our way back," Itachi said as he continued to clean off Kakashi's chest, ignoring the grunts of pain. "Besides, nothing you say will change what has happened. All we can do now is get Kakashi-taichou healed by Shimizu-sensei. Then after that, you can yell at the two of us. But for now, you need to stop fighting with Kakashi-taichou."

"Fine," Tenzō said with a frown evident in his tone. "Heal first, then kicking your ass."

Harumi walked in with a small platter, on it were three cups of tea and the medical supplies she pulled from her scrolls. "Drink the tea, you two. I need to concentrate now."

Setting the platter on the table, next to the bowl of now bloody water. Then she knelt down on the floor next to Kakashi. Taking a deep breath, Harumi focused on sending her chakra to her hands, once they started to glow green, she slowly moved her hands over the wound on Kakashi's chest. The stab wounds would be fairly easy to mend, however it was the coughing up blood that was worrisome. Sending more chakra into Kakashi, she found the cause of the blood and quickly began to mend the lungs and blood vessels. While healing Harumi loses track of time, especially when it is an intense healing such as this one.

After taking one last check to ensure that Kakashi was otherwise healed, Harumi stopped the flow of chakra and leaned back on her heels. Turning her head, she saw she was the focus of the two other men in her laundry room.

The one with long hair looked at her and asked, "Is Kakashi- taichou healed?"

Nodding, "Yes, he had more damage than I expected, but he should be fine now. All he needs now is some sleep." Slowly she stood up and held a hand out to the one with long hair, "Are you in need of healing too?"

He shook his head, "I just have some bruises, nothing that requires your attention."

"If you are sure, I would suggest that you both go to your homes and rest, but I know enough to know about ANBU, that you will not. I can't offer either of you a bed, but I am told the couch is comfortable."

Placing the bowl of water, the bloody towels onto the tray with the medical supplies she didn't need, Harumi slowly walked into the kitchen. Putting the tea kettle on, she dumped the cold tea out of the cup, put a new tea bag in there, waiting for the water to heat for a fresh cup of tea. She then dumped the bloody water down the drain, she filled it up with cold water and proceeded to soak the bloody towels.

"Excuse me, Shimizu-sensei," came a soft voice from behind her.

Turning Harumi gave a tired smile at the long haired man, "Yes?"

"Is there a bathroom where I can wash some of the blood and dirt off?"

She nodded, "Of course, you are free to use the washroom down on this floor, or you could use my bathroom?"

"A shower would be most helpful."

"Follow me then, quietly please." Harumi walked up the stairs, but not before she stuck her head into the laundry to check on Kakashi and to grab a fresh towel. Slowly opening the door to her room, Harumi directed the man into the connected bathroom. "If you want I can get you a change of clothes, so you do not have to put the bloody things back on, but that is up to you."

"Thank you, but I have an extra set of clothes I can put on."

"Okay, then I will leave you to enjoy your shower." Once the door to the bathroom was closed, Harumi walked over to her wardrobe and pulled out a sleeveless black stomach baring top, a short sleeved purple hoodie with a black hood and a black skirt which she quickly put on before walking out into the hallway and softly closed the door. Stopping in front of the room Masahiro and Naruto shared, she listened for any hint of a nightmare or that they were awake. Not hearing anything Harumi continued down stairs and entered the kitchen to see the ANBU pouring water into her cup.

"Feel free to make yourself some as well, ANBU-san."

Turning, he gestured to the fresh cup of tea on the counter.

"Well okay then. Thank you for pouring my tea." Harumi quickly walked back to the sink, dumped the now bloody water out, put more cold water in and wrung out the towels before washing them out under cold water and placing them into the bowl of cold water again. Picking up her tea, she walked into the laundry room and placed a hand on Kakashi's chest, feeling the gentle rise and fall of his chest, Harumi placed her hand on his head, feeling him twitch, with the help of some chakra, she pushed him further into a healing sleep.

"He doesn't like being deep asleep," came the whisper from the doorway.

Turning she smiled, took a sip of her tea before walking over to the ANBU in her doorway, "He might not like it, but he needs it. Besides you are here, the other shinobi is here and I am perfectly capable of protecting people in my house. So there is no need for him to do anything other than sleep."

Sitting down at the table, Harumi slowly drank her tea, closing her eyes, trying to relax enough to meditate. Unfortunately the two men she didn't know were moving around and talking softly in the living room. Shaking her head, she walked over to the living room, "Would either of you like something to eat? I was thinking of making something small."

Both men shook their heads, so Harumi shrugged and walked over to the freezer and pulled out some frozen mochi and set it on a plate for her to eat after she rinsed the towels one more time to ensure the blood would not set. Once that was done she took her mochi and sat at the table where she could keep an eye on Kakashi.

What felt like minutes later, Harumi heard the familiar sound of Hideaki moving around in his room. Her eyes shot open and she sat up because at some point she laid her head on the table. The sky was just starting to lighten, meaning dawn was approaching and Hideaki would be leaving for some training soon. She took a second to remember why she was sleeping at the table when soft snores had her jumping to her feet. The two men that brought Kakashi in were sleeping on her couch, from the looks of things, they just passed out.

Standing across from the two shinobi on the couch, Harumi tossed a spare pillow into the small space between them. Both men jerked awake, kunai in hand. "My brother is awake and will be down here soon. So unless you want him to see you, you need to go, or hide. If you don't mind him seeing you then you need to get out of your ANBU uniforms."

Quickly walking away from the two men, Harumi quickly grabbed the wet, and still just a little bloody towels and quickly took them to the laundry room. Tossing the towels into the washer, she turned to check on Kakashi. Seeing that he was still sleeping soundly, but no longer the deep sleep of healing, she walked back into the living room, finding no one there, she took a blanket off of the couch and returned to cover Kakashi with it. Closing the laundry room door a fraction, she walked back into the kitchen to clean up any remnants of the late night medical call. To her surprise, she found that the tea cups were washed and put away and the tea kettle was on the stove, full and ready for use this morning.

Hideaki walked down into the kitchen to find Harumi making tea, "Good morning, Hide-kun. Do you have time for breakfast before you train?"

Hideaki shook his head, "Not this morning, but it should only be a quick training session, my team and I have a busy day ahead and wanted to get a quick training session in before our missions."

Harumi smiled, set her tea down and ruffled her brother's hair, "Then you will be hungry when you are done. Any requests?"

"Miso soup and salmon?"

Harumi smiled, "I can do that," with a shooing motion, "go, you don't want to be late."

"Nee-chan?"

"Hm?"

"Can I have my team come over for dinner tonight? It has been a while since we all had a meal together."

"Of course, you are all welcome any time. Are you sure you wouldn't rather go out though?"

Hideaki laughed, "Nah, besides Emi-chan misses your cooking."

Harumi grinned, "Invite them over then."

With a small wave, Hideaki walked out the front door off to meet his team mates. Harumi turned to get started on breakfast. Quickly adding rice and water to the rice cooker and turning that on, Harumi turns to the refrigerator to get the ingredients out for miso soup and taking some salmon out of the freezer to thaw before Hideaki comes back in an hour. However before she could do more than put everything she needed on the counter, Harumi heard her bedroom door open?!

Walking over to the stairs she was shocked to see the two men from last night walking out of her bedroom wearing new clothes. The one with long hair had changed into a black shirt and tan pants while the ANBU was maskless and wearing a standard shinobi uniform minus the patches, complete with green flack vest. Blinking twice to make sure she was really seeing this, Harumi turned and walked back to the counter to continue making breakfast. Knowing that it would be an hour or more before the rest of the family were up, she just finished making the base for the miso soup. She also took down two more tea cups and waved them at the two men.

After the soup was heating on the stove she turned to face the two men. "I guess this means you will be sticking around for a little while?"

Both men nodded.

"Then introductions are required, since I will more than likely have to introduce you to my family. I'm Shimizu Harumi."

The one with long hair gave her a small bow and said, "My name is Uchiha Itachi and this is Tenzō." Tenzō's head bowed a little.

"So I will introduce you as friends of Kakashi-san," Harumi said firmly.

"Kakashi- taichou doesn't have friends, Shimizu-sensei," Itachi replied.

Harumi rolled her eyes, "Well unless you have a better reason to be here watching over Kakashi-san, that is what we are going to say."

"Why do we need to say anything?" Tenzō asked.

"Because I have two shinobi siblings and two little boys who will be here for breakfast and they will want to know why you are here. One of those boys is Kakashi-san's ward, which means he is entitled to know why you are guarding his guardian. So unless you want to explain to a five year old, why Kakashi-san was hurt, it is easiest to go with friend."

"We could be teammates," Itachi offered.

"Same thing to Naruto-kun," Harumi muttered then a little louder, "Teammates it is. Now I am making breakfast, is there anything specific you would like me to make? Hide-kun has requested miso soup and salmon."

"Whatever you make Shimizu-sensei is fine with us."

Harumi frowned, "Harumi, please. I am just a simple medic-nin, no need for formality in this house."

Itachi bowed again, "As you wish Harumi-san. Please call us Itachi and Tenzō."

Saved from having to say anything else by Kakashi sitting up. "Where..?"

Hurrying into the laundry room, Harumi stopped in front of him, "Kakashi-san! How are you feeling this morning?" Placing her hand on his head, she performed a quick scan with her chakra to make sure his lungs were still healed and the cuts and stab wounds were fully healed.

"Mh, Harumi-san? Where am I?"

"My house, your friends brought you here last night and I healed you," Harumi smiled, satisfied that Kakashi had indeed been fully healed and was suffering no ill effects. "Can you sit up?"

Kakashi grimaced as he tried to sit up, frowning when Harumi's arm came behind him and helped. Watching as she placed some pillows behind his back to support his back and helped him lean against them. "What was wrong?"

"You had numerous stab wounds and cuts, which I just helped to finish closing. Your worst wound was the puncture in your lungs. That one I healed fully, but your ribs will be sore because some were bruised and fractured. So you will need to take it easy for a little while."

Itachi and Tenzō both laughed quietly, "The day Senpai takes it easy is the day the end of the world is coming," Tenzō said.

"Unfortunately that is a common problem. But because I didn't fully heal his ribs," Harumi looked at Kakashi in the eyes, "You will have to take it easier for a while, it will hurt if you don't."

"Maa, I will think about it," Kakashi replied.

"Now the boys will be awake in less than one hour, how did you want to meet Naruto?"

"What do you mean?"

"Did you want to pick him up after school? Or would you rather see him before breakfast?"

"Is there a better time to meet him?"

"I don't think it matters to him. The timing is all for you, I think it is easier to see them off to school, that way there is a time limit to how many questions they can ask."

Kakashi nodded, "Then I will meet him before breakfast."

Harumi nodded, "You will need to get cleaned up, you are still covered in dirt and blood. You will also want to get clean clothes on."

Kakashi looked down at himself, "I have a clean uniform in my pack."

Itachi handed Kakashi his pack and Kakashi nodded his thanks.

"Come with me then, you can use my shower and get cleaned up," Harumi stood up and stood back, ready to help if Kakashi needed it. Slowly Kakashi swung his legs over the side of the cot and turned. Once the light headed feeling passed, he slowly stood up. Taking short breaths to manage the pain, Kakashi slowly followed Harumi up the stairs.

"Here is my room," Harumi slid open the door to her room keeping her voice down. Walking into the direction of the other door in the room she continued, "I will pull out a couple towels for you to use, there is no hurry so take your time. If you need something, feel free to yell, I am sure one of your friends will be outside the door as soon as I leave," Harumi laughed softly. She held up her hand, "Would you like me to finish healing your ribs? I am rested now."

Kakashi shrugged, "It would be nice."

Harumi nodded and stood in front of Kakashi concentrating and slowly she finished knitting together his ribs fully. She nodded and took her hand away, "Just take it easy for a little while, you may be healed, but that does not mean that you are in any shape to go running around the village like a child. Is there anything special you would like for breakfast? Should I make you a lunch while I am making the kids' lunch?"

Kakashi just stood there and stared at her, after a few minutes of the show down, Harumi smiled, shrugged and quickly walked over to the bathroom and pulled some clean towels out of the cabinet there, took the dirty towel from Itachi and started to walk out of the room. As she turned to close the door, she heard Kakashi say.

"Anything for breakfast is fine, I like most foods, especially hot food right now."

"Okay, I will see you downstairs then." Closing the door, Harumi smiled when she spotted Tenzō at the top of the stairs. "If you think he needs help, don't hesitate to enter my room. I will deal with any fallout. As the medic on hand, my orders are law."

Tenzō smiled and nodded, "Arigato, Harumi-san."

Continuing down the stairs to the kitchen, Harumi quickly laid out the bento boxes, stacking the layers together. Walking over to the refrigerator she took out the leftover steamed vegetables, rice, beans and cucumbers from last night. Quickly dividing the vegetables and rice between the four bento boxes. Taking the beans and cucumbers, she quickly made a small salad to put into the fifth box. Tilting her head, she could hear the sounds of the sleeping kids waking up. Setting the bento boxes off to the side, she quickly seasoned the salmon and set it under the broiler. Then she turned on the tea kettle to make tea. Adding the prepared vegetables and tofu to the miso soup, including the eggplant that Naruto may or may not have said that was Kakashi's favorite. However, knowing Naruto's dislike of anything looking like a vegetable, she made sure to chop up all of the vegetables small.

"Is there anything I can do to help you, Harumi-san?" Itachi asked, standing on the other side of the oven.

Harumi looked up from the soup and grinned, "How are you at making onigiri?"

Itachi's lips twitched noticeably upwards, "I like to eat it, however oka-san says I am useless making them."

"Okay then, would you like me to make you some to take with you while you report to Lord Hokage?"

Itachi bowed, "If it isn't too much trouble."

Harumi waved her hand as if to wave his response away, "It is what I eat for lunch, one handed foods are always good so I can finish reports or eat while walking towards my next patient."

Opening the rice cooker, she quickly scooped out a portion of the freshly cooked rice and set it in a bowl. Taking out four sheets of seaweed and quickly cut them into four sheets each. Opening the refrigerator again, she pulled out some of the cooked seaweed and then quickly set about making the rice balls. Handing one of the finished ones to Itachi, she smiled as he took a bite.

"It is good," he said.

"I will ignore the slight surprise in your voice," Harumi smiled. "I will just pack yours up and leave it with the bento boxes."

Moving to the pantry, Harumi took out a small box of wafers and jar of azuki bean jam. She also grabbed a couple extra boxes to add to the growing pile of boxes on her counter. Smiling she remembered walking down the stairs to see kaa-san making breakfast and lunch and just as quickly the entire kitchen would be cleaned and ready for everyone to start eating. It was why Harumi took such great pains to ensure that all of her siblings had lunches and a healthy breakfast to start their day. While dinner was a little more relaxed, especially if she had a hard day at the hospital.

Working quickly, she took the salmon out of the oven, took half of what she cooked and set it on the cutting board to flake and put on top of the rice in the kids' bento boxes. Before she could finish, she heard Hideaki shout, "What are you doing in my sister's room? Are you wet!?"

AN: So this will probably by my last entry for the month of November. I had hoped to finish a few more chapters before NaNoWriMo started, but due to life, I wasn't able to get to it. Unless Harumi starts yelling at me again.

Thank you to all who offered an OC for me to play with, I have PM'ed those that I know I can use and will keep everyone else in mind, because who knows what will happen with Kakashi and Harumi really start going.

I hope you are enjoying this story and that this isn't getting too "every day life boring." Also that the medical stuff wasn't too "magical" I wanted to be able to strike a balance between Harumi being good at being a medic, but also knowing that she isn't Tsunade or even a powerhouse like Kakashi, Itachi, Naruto or Sasuke.

As always, let me know what you think, constructive criticism is always welcomed.