"Sir I need you to go."

"That's my team, I'm not going anywhere." Kakashi half fights the medic as he pushes him out of the operating room. The fight with Gaara had really messed up his entire team, and he didn't even know the extent of Sakura's injuries after being pressed for so long…

"If you want the doctor to have the best chance of helping them, you need to go home and let him do his job." The medic finally gets the distraught sensei out of the operating room and puts his hand on the door. "There's nothing more you can do here."

And with that, the operating room door is closed in his face and Kakashi is standing outside with a worry knot in his stomach. God what now? He can't just go home with his team here and in intensive care…

"What am I going to do?"

Kakashi looks to his left to see Gai pacing in front of another operating room and muttering to himself. Kakashi wouldn't have thought anything of it if Gai wasn't covered in blood… He can relate to his grief, TenTen or Neji must have gotten hurt as well when the fighting broke out. Kakashi walks towards his friend, and when Gai looks up and notices him his face pales to a ghostly white. "Kakashi."

"Naruto and the others are in intensive care too," Kakashi says as he points his thumb over his shoulder. "Is it Neji or TenTen in there?"

"Kakashi…" Gai wrings his hands and is having a hard time looking Kakashi in the eyes. "I… I know I'm not her father but I didn't know what else to do and they said they needed to operate immediately."

"I'm sure TenTen's parents will understand." Kakashi reaches out and puts a hand on Gai's shoulder, and that's when Gai finally looks him in the eyes.

"TenTen is fine. Kakashi you need to listen to me. I found her in a pool of her own blood and carried her back here. I don't know how much she lost before I got to her but… But the doctors aren't sure if she's going to make it. I'm sorry."

"What… What are you saying?" Kakashi's eyes go wide, and the knot in his stomach tightens to the point of pain.

"Kakashi you need to calm down." Gai watches as Kakashi looks past him at the operating room, something wild in his eyes. "They're operating right now, you can't go in there."

"The hell I can't, that's my daughter in there!" Kakashi loses composure for a minute and tries to push past Gai, but the other ninja stops him. "Gai get out of my way."

"Kakashi what do you really think you can do?" Gai stands his ground, his tone becoming almost reprimanding. "You going in there as you are right now is only going to prevent the doctors from focusing on Mayuri, and she needs all of their focus. You can't stay here if you're going to be distraught like this. Go home."

"That's my daughter in there Gai, I'm not going anywhere until she's okay."

"And what if she's not?" Gai forces the words and one of his worst fears out of his mouth because he knows it's what will bring his friend to his senses. "Kakashi she lost a lot of blood, they don't know if she's going to pull through. How do you think Naruto is going to handle this when he wakes up and has to be told she didn't make it? Or Arianna? Those kids have been inseparable since they were little, and you need to pull yourself together for them. Go home."

Kakashi goes limp for a minute before taking a few steps back from his friend, and then promptly turns on his heel and walks briskly out of the hospital. Gai watches him go before looking back at the closed operating room. He hadn't wanted to say that, he didn't even want to think about Mayuri not pulling through, but he also has to be prepared for the worst. Someone has to tell Lee…

***
Outside the hospital Kakashi summons Pakkun. "Stay here and keep tabs on the team and Mayuri. Let me know if there are any changes." And without another word Kakashi just keeps walking, heading towards home.

He can't stay in the hospital, knowing the rough state his team is in and the potentially life threatening state of his daughter, he can't stand to be in a place so close to death itself. He'll just go home and do something to take his mind off it. To just forget about her.

When Kakashi enters his home, the silence is actually pretty comforting; it's normally pretty silent between his schedule and Mayuri's. He goes into the kitchen and is mildly surprised to see a box lunch made up for him already in the fridge. Mayuri almost always makes him a lunch when she's making her own for the day, but with her match he didn't think she'd remember to do it.

"Really dad it's fine," she'd said when he told her she didn't have to do all the cooking all the time. "I like to cook, and besides I'm making my own anyway it's no trouble at all to make you one. Plus if I don't make you one, you'll forget to eat. Now get out of the kitchen, you're in the way."

Suddenly he's not hungry anymore and he closes the refrigerator door with a little more force than normal before moving out into the living room to the bookshelf. He pulls out the first Makeout Paradise and opens to the first page before dropping onto the couch and attempting to lose himself in the familiar pages. After he reads the same sentence ten times he finally looks up and rubs his eyes, they naturally falling on the armchair near the window.

"Here Mayuri, try this one next." Kakashi hands his seven year old daughter a book he'd bought on recommendation from Kurenai when they happened to be in the bookstore together, he picking up the latest Makeout Paradise. Kakashi can't help the smile on his face as he watches his daughter excitedly climb into her favorite reading chair near the window, making herself comfortable before opening the book.

He snaps his book closed and leaves it on the couch before heading up the stairs towards his room, sleep being his best option for escape, when there's a knock at his door. He jumps down to the bottom of the stairs and rips the door open to see a soaked Arianna and Akiro standing on the porch out of the rain. Arianna's face is streaked with tears and she holds a bloody, dirty blue ribbon in her hand that looks strangely familiar. Kakashi looks up from the ribbon to Arianna's face. "Ari…"