"Kohaku. I think he would be dead by now." The confusion in Kakashi's voice was clear, and Kohaku really couldn't blame him for it. After all, he did have a point.
"Yes, well, I'm very much certain that he's dead now. The man who attacked me the other night proves that." Kohaku heaved a sigh, rubbing at his badly bruised throat. "He did a good job hiding his chakra signature from us the few times we came up against him before, but...something caught him off guard that night, and he let it slip just enough for me to recognize it before I...lost consciousness."
"Who was it?" Kakashi asked, pulling Kohaku's hand away from his throat, not wanting him to aggravate the injury.
"...he should also be dead." Kohaku heaved another sigh and shut his eyes. "Minato-sensei needs to be present when I say who it is, as it also concerns him."
Kohaku could see Kakashi frowning beneath, and wished he could just spit it out. But he knew it would be better if he told him when Minato was there as well.
"Anyway, Madara took me in. For the first few months, I was in no state to be functioning, and I hardly left the corner I had wedged myself into." It was a difficult thing for Kohaku to admit. He hated that he had been so weak, and that he had let something like that get to him in such a way.
"And what happened next?"
"After I had recovered enough to focus on something other than survival, Madara began to teach me things. I...learned how to turn my fear into a weapon, and many other things." Kohaku frowned and glanced down at his lap. "I stayed with him for about a year and half before he finally told me what his plan was, and what he could give me in exchange for my help."
"What was he going to give you?" Kakashi asked hesitantly, taking note of the way that Kohaku looked away to hide his expression.
"He told me he could give me my family back." Kohaku replied quietly, frowning. "It wasn't a compelling offer. My family never wanted me in the first place, otherwise, I wouldn't have been dropped off on a doorstep."
Kakashi was surprised to hear the resentment in Kohaku's voice; he'd never thought that he would feel that way about this, as he'd always been so silent in whatever he had been suffering. Then again, he knew very little about what Kohaku had gone through before they met. He'd never asked, and Kohaku had never offered the information up.
"I told him I'd think about his offer, and then I snuck out when he went to sleep and disappeared." Kohaku sighed and leaned into Kakashi. "I was picked up by the previous owner of that tea shop, and he passed it off to me after a few years, and went into retirement. I sent a letter to Minato-sensei the moment that I was settled in at the tea shop. He...thought it would be good if I could use my status, being legally dead and all, to gather information."
Kohaku shut his eyes and hugged Kakashi without thinking about it. He was mentally exhausted after talking so much, especially about things that had happened to him.
"I owe you an apology." Kohaku mumbled, keeping his eyes shut so that he didn't have to see Kakashi's expression. "I should have sent you a letter to tell you I was alright. I'm sorry for the hurt that I've caused you."
"Hey." Kakashi frowned, tilting Kohaku's chin up to look at him, careful not to cause any pain to his sore neck. "Open your eyes. Look at me." He waited until Kohaku complied, studying his mismatched eyes, before continuing. "I'm just glad you're safe, and that you're here with me. I...have lost a lot of people, so I'm just glad that I didn't lose you completely."
Kohaku studied Kakashi closely, frowning just a little. He looked like he wanted to say something more, but Kohaku didn't press him to speak his mind. He'd never been one to make someone talk when they hesitated, or didn't want to.
"Just...promise me you'll be careful. Don't take unnecessary risks. You don't have to protect me." Kakashi watched him with a frown, his hands on Kohaku's cheeks gently. His gaze shifted to the scar on Kohaku's cheek and his frown grew worse. "I don't want you getting hurt protecting me again."
"Kakashi, I'll always try to protect you if I can." Kohaku reached up and placed his hands over Kakashi's gently, offering him a small smile. "You are one of the few people I have in this world, and I will stop at nothing to make sure you are safe and happy."
"Kohaku! I'm serious." Kakashi almost sounded angry. "I don't want to lose you a second time. Please, just be careful."
"I'm always careful, Kakashi. You won't lose me." A sad, sort of broken smile crossed Kohaku's face for just a second. "I'm rather difficult to kill, so I'll always be here for you. I promise you that."
Kakashi frowned, seeming to realize that there was nothing he could say to convince Kohaku to be more careful. It seemed that he would just have to keep a closer eye on him, if he wasn't going to properly take care of himself. With a soft sigh, he pulled Kohaku closer again, resting his chin on Kohaku's head for a moment.
"Will you brush my hair again?" Kohaku asked hesitantly. "I like it when you brush my hair. It feels nice."
"Sure. Where's your brush?" Kakashi asked softly, unable to keep from smiling a little beneath his mask at Kohaku's request.
"Bathroom." Kohaku replied, curling up on the couch when Kakashi got up to go retrieve it. He watched him with half-closed eyes, gaze never leaving him until he rounded the corner into the bathroom.
Kohaku let out a soft sigh. He couldn't remember the last time he had been so relaxed, and it was nice. He was comfortable here, especially with Kakashi close.
He wasn't sure what, if anything, had suddenly changed between him and Kakashi, but he found that more and more often, he was wanting to see him, or be close to him. There was a strange feeling that he got whenever Kakashi came close; it wasn't a bad feeling, but it was something that he had never quite experienced before.
Glancing up when Kakashi came back, Kohaku put the thought out of his mind. He sat up and shifted so that he was facing away from Kakashi.
Kakashi undid the tie that kept Kohaku's hair up and began to run the brush through his long hair. "Why is your hair so wild?" He couldn't help but laugh a little.
"I could ask the same thing of you. At least mine doesn't stick straight up." Kohaku teased, a touch of mischief sneaking into his voice. "It's always been like this. I just never had it this long before."
Kakashi snorted, his hands pausing for just a moment. "Are you teasing me?"
"Perhaps." Kohaku smiled a little, glancing back at him. "I do have a sense of humor. But don't worry. I like your hair a lot. It's...fluffy. Soft."
"I think your hair has mine beat in the fluffy department." Kakashi commented, continuing to try to wrangle Kohaku's wild hair. "I don't know how you manage to tie it all up every day. There's just...so much."
"It takes dedication." Kohaku paused for a moment, contemplating. "And creativity. I used to use elastic bands to tie my hair up, but they kept snapping, so I swapped over to ribbons and cloth ties. They work better."
Kakashi smiled a little, having not expected a real answer from him. "I see." He said softly, noticing the way Kohaku relaxed, the tension in his shoulders vanishing.
It was nice to relax like this, Kohaku decided, shutting his eyes. He hoped that he would be able to enjoy many more moments like this in the future.
