Notes:

Once again, please make sure you've read the previous chapter (chapter 19)!

Hope you'll enjoy this one! :)

Chapter 20: Safe

Hermione should've known it wasn't a smart idea to apparate while holding a child and not being able to properly stand. She also knew that she didn't have much of a choice. What she did have a choice in, was where she was going to appear. When she envisioned the location, she decided on the hallway in the Hokage Tower. She didn't want to appear in the Hokage's office while he was in a meeting or something. After all, most of the people of Konoha weren't supposed to know what she was able to do. If only she had known who she would run into in that hallway.

As she appeared, she stumbled and immediately had to reach out for a wall, but met a window instead. Standing on one leg was one thing. Apparating was a whole different thing. She leaned against the wall as she settled Teddy on her hip. It was only about twenty feet to the door of the leaders office, all she had to do was hop straight ahead. Easy, right?

Wrong. Oh, how wrong she was. Holding Teddy with one arm and leaning with her other against the wall, she was unable to defend herself for any attack. Not that she had expected one here. She didn't think that man would have the audacity show up here. Again, she was proven wrong. She didn't hear him coming closer. Teddy babbling and her own hopping was loud enough to not hear anything over it. Which meant she was completely caught off guard when she tripped as her good leg was pulled to the side by a long stick.

Hermione let out a shriek as she went down, lowering her free hand to the floor in order to break her fall. On instinct she rolled to her side, so that Teddy wouldn't be squashed under her. As she landed on the floor with a thud, however, Teddy was torn from her grip.

"Ah! Wait!" She called out. She hoped she said it correctly, she really couldn't risk making mistakes now.

The fall had definitely hurt her wrist, she could barely lean on it. Damn it. She could definitely do without getting hurt all the damn time.

"I suggest you stop moving. Or I'll order him to drop the boy."

That voice. She would never forget that voice. Looking up from the ground, she found what had tripped her. A cane. Attached to that cane was a hand, which belonged to none other than Danzo. Shit.

Hermione looked up at the man that was responsible for making her life a living hell these past couple of.. Hell, she didn't even know how long she had been there. It didn't matter. He didn't matter. She was tired, hurt and so done with this shit. She then glanced to her right, towards the window where a man was holding Teddy by his shirt, dangling out of the window. Oh no, no way. They were not getting away with this. No way. She looked back at Danzo and glared at him.

She wasn't sure what was happening, she just knew she felt a tingling sensation all over her body. Not quite like the sensation she had when she touched Kakashi, but the way it spread through her body was similar. She felt energised as the sensation settled under her skin. Grabbing the wall, she sat up.

"I told you not to move, little girl." He warned.

"Or what?" She challenged him. "You're going to hurt him like you hurt me?"

"I never hurt you."

"You had me tortured!"

The man chuckled at her outburst. Was this funny to him? "I did, yes. I should've done it myself. Obviously that man was all talk, or you wouldn't be here. But my previous warning still counts. You shouldn't move."

"Right," Hermione scoffed and pointed at Teddy. "Because you're going to have him thrown out the window, huh? I dare you to do something that stupid."

Danzo cocked his eyebrow at her and smirked. "No, you're stupid for challenging me. You also shouldn't have escaped. I had great plans for you but you just had to ruin it, didn't you." He said, before turning to the man holding Teddy. "Do it."

"No!" She shouted and the second the man let Teddy go, she pointed her wand out of the window, to the ground and called out " Molliare! " She watched as Teddy hit the ground and bounced a couple of times, before settling on the cushioned ground. Hermione then turned to Danzo.

He looked at her with a smirk and… wonder? Oh, she would give him something to wonder about. She cast a quick " Flipendo" at the man who stood next to the window, watching him get knocked backwards, crashing into the wall, hard. Hermione then turned her wand on Danzo who was still smirking at her. What? Did he really think she wouldn't do anything to him? People should really stop underestimating her. She threw the Stunning Spell at him, which he dodged. Damn it.

"My turn, little girl," he said as he took out a knife and threw it at her.

He was extremely fast for an old man, she thought, as she narrowly deflected the weapon. She didn't want to drag this out, since Teddy was still outside. Time to get it over with. " Petrificus totalus," she called out, followed by a quick, " Stupefy! " She wasn't taking any chances with this man. This would have to be enough to at least slow him down.

"I think that's quite enough, Hermione-san."

Hermione whirled around, steadying herself once again, pointing her wand at the person who appeared behind her and she felt like she could cry as she saw the Hokage stand there, with little Teddy in his arms.

"Oh, thank Merlin. Hokage-sama, I'm sorry, I-"

The Hokage held up his free hand, stopping her rambling. "Please, child. Don't be sorry." He then turned to his Anbu. "You know what to do. Make sure he's properly detained," he said with a serious look on his face. It was clear he wasn't at all pleased with the scene in front of him.

Hermione sagged against the window and slid to the floor, making sure not to injure her leg any further as she kept it stretched in front of her. She closed her eyes and let her head rest against the wall under the window. She heard someone move towards her and softly touch her shoulder. Opening her eyes, she looked at one of the masked men that accompanied their leader.

"I think it's best to go to my office for now, don't you agree, Hermione-san?" Said leader spoke from his spot. "He will help you up, he won't hurt you."

Honestly, she was too tired to fight it as she was lifted from the ground and carried into the office. The man gently lowered her into a chair as the Hokage spoke to him in their own language. Hermione only had eyes for Teddy at the time, who was given back to her. He was absolutely fine, of course. She almost let out a laugh of disbelief at how lucky the boy was to come out of this unscathed.

"I'll arrange for a medic to check you out. With the current situation, I think it's better to let you stay here, under my watchful eye, hm?"

"Thank you. Hokage-sama." Hermione said softly.

"Don't worry about it, child. Rest, you're safe now."

Apparently it was easy to distract someone if you appeared out of nowhere. Kakashi smirked behind his mask as the Root operatives were all over the place in confusion. Shisui was a master in confusing the enemy with his Body Flicker-jutsu. He was literally all over the place, provoking all of the nin at the same time. Him being the fastest in this case, gave the rest a clear path to get away.

Kakashi knew they were leading them towards the village, but that was alright. They had created bunshins and changed them into Hermione and Teddy, carrying them around in order to make their chasers think they were trying to get them to the village. His team did need to get within the village walls as soon as possible though. While the Root organisation was something of Konoha, they wouldn't hesitate to kill a Leaf-nin. This also was one of the reasons he was no longer with this organisation.

He was glad that they weren't that far from the village, making this short run exactly that. Short. Running through the forest, he flew past the trees left and right, making sudden stops and changing direction to dodge any kunai thrown at him. He deflected another kunai thrown at him with one of his own, throwing it back in the process.

An explosion tag went off to his left, causing Kakashi to throw his arms up in defence. A moment later, through the smoke, the nin who had thrown it came at him. He ducked to avoid a punch and retaliated with a punch of his own, knocking the guy back. They kept throwing punches back and forth, while still moving towards the village. It seemed that the Root nins wanted to avoid that, however, as Kakashi was suddenly fighting four of them at the same time.

Quickly glancing around, he noticed his entire team was dealing with this. He kicked one of the nin back, using the momentum to dodge another attack. Making a back flip, he landed a few yards away and paused, deciding on his options. Letting out a whistle, he alerted the rest of his team. The distraction had taken long enough, he figured. And really, he knew when he was outnumbered.

Changing the tone of the whistle, his team was changing tactics immediately. They were close enough to the village to make a quick escape but chances were they were going to get chased anyway. He whirled around, throwing kunai and shuriken at the men surrounding him and then bolted away, towards the gates.

As he ran, he sensed his team right behind him. They ran as fast as they could with Root chasing them. He hopped from rooftop to rooftop, making his way to the Hokage Tower. Looking at the tower from a distance he desperately hoped Hermione had made it there okay. With the amount of nin they were dealing with, it would seem Danzo was quite desperate in getting a hold of Hermione.

Suddenly, his team was surrounded, boxing them in. It wasn't Root that had them surrounded though. These were on their side. The Hokage's guard with several other Anbu operatives.

"By order of the Hokage, the entirety of the Root organisation is under arrest. I suggest you don't resist, you're not going to like what happens to you if you do," one of Anbu drawled lazily.

Kakashi caught his breath as he looked at the group that had gathered behind them. It was a lot more than he had initially thought. Glancing to his right, he recognised some of the Anbu he had worked with before. The man turned to him and nodded his head towards the tower.

"The Hokage is expecting you, Hatake-san. Best not make him wait."

He nodded in response and signalled his team to move, making their way to the Hokage, as requested. It only took a short minute for them to arrive at the office. Now, out of any danger for the time being, he lowered his headband over his left eye. He felt the drain the Sharingan caused, it slowed him down considerably. That combined with not getting rest after his last mission, wasn't favourable.

Glancing around in the hallway, he noticed some dents in the walls that weren't there before. As he walked up to the door Kakashi hesitated for a second, not sure if he should take his entire team with him this time around. It was standard procedure that they did come inside, but this was a delicate situation. What was he thinking? He trusted his team, with his life and with Hermione's and Teddy's. It would be fine.

Knocking on the door, he dutifully waited to be called in, which only took a second. He opened the door and was greeted by the Hokage who was holding the boy and Hermione who was sitting on a chair to the side, with a medic healing her leg. Relief flooded his body at the sight. She had made it. Good. And she didn't seem any worse

"Hokage-sama," he greeted, kneeling down. Behind him, his team did the same.

"Kakashi, good to see you and your team back here in one piece."

"Yes sir."

Suddenly a loud squeal was heard, followed by childish laughter. " Shi! " The boy clapped in his hands happily at the sight of Kakashi, pointing at him with his tiny fingers. " Mai! Shi! Shi!"

Behind him, Kakashi could hear Shisui pout as he whined, "Aww, man! I thought he really liked me !" And then added in a low grumble, "and not grumpy pants over here."

Kakashi snorted at that as he stood back up, the team following his example. The boy moved impatiently in the Hokage's hold, trying to get him to let go. He cocked his head at that, switching his gaze to Hermione who looked at the group and Teddy, following the exchange with interest. He knew she didn't get what was being said, but no doubt she noticed their demeanour, Shisui's more than his.

"Are you almost done, Akio?" The Hokage addressed the medic.

"Ah, yes, I am, I'm sorry, Hokage-sama, could you translate once again?"

The Hokage chuckled at the nervousness of the medic. His actions being watched by an entire team as well as the Hokage, probably didn't help the guy. "Of course, Akio," he said. "Go ahead."

"Could you tell her I'm done with her leg for now. The bone's almost completely mended. The rest will need to heal on its own in order to stimulate her body, but she will definitely need some physical therapy. She will also need to come in about a week or so, to see if everything is healing properly."

The Hokage relayed the message to Hermione and Kakashi watched her reaction to the news. It wasn't bad news per se, but physical therapy was never fun. Not in his experience at least. He hated people touching him unnecessarily. He didn't like people touching him in general. Listening to Hermione's answer he had to stop himself from smirking. She was like him, then.

"Physical therapy? And that's absolutely necessary?" If Kakashi didn't know any better, he'd think she was pouting. He couldn't see her face, the medic was blocking his view. It did sound like she was pouting though.

The Hokage let out another chuckle. He was finding this all too amusing. "I'm afraid so, yes. I trust the medic's professional opinion, Hermione-san. It's best you do too."

"Well, if I must." She reluctantly said. "But he's done for now?"

"That he is, yes."

With a relieved sigh, she smiled in thanks at the man who had healed her, Akio and leaned back in the chair. "Um, thank you." She said with a heavy accent to the medic, to which he nodded. Ah, quick study indeed, Kakashi thought. She would need to work on her pronunciation, but this wasn't a bad start at all.

"Thank you, Akio, that'll be all for now. Dismissed."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Good day."

It stayed quiet in the room as the medic left the room, closing the door behind him. The Hokage stood up and walked towards Hermione, handing the boy back to her. He then turned and sat back at his desk, looking Kakashi in the eye.

"Alright, Kakashi. Report."

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

And so Kakashi explained all his findings to his leader. From the evidence found in his home, to the location where Hermione had been held captive. At some point he reached back and produced the scroll from his pouch to which he had sealed the dead body of the other wizard. He didn't mention his loss of control when he took the wizard's life, nor the change of appearance of the boy. The abilities of the boy would have to be discussed later. Now it was extremely important that Danzo was taken care of.

"If you don't mind me asking, Hokage-sama, what has happened with Danzo? He wasn't at the building where we found her."

"Ah, yes. Danzo has been arrested."

"Are you sure that's a smart idea, sir?"

"There's no need to worry, Kakashi. I have more than enough ground to arrest him. Don't think I've been idle while you were rescuing our young friend.

Kakashi winced at the implication, "no, Hokage-sama, I-" Shit. He definitely handled that wrong. That wasn't what he had meant to say.

"Enough, Kakashi. It's fine. Now, I'll get working on making a solid case against Danzo, you and your team get some rest. You will be called on, no doubt. So be prepared for that."

"Yes sir."

"Kakashi, you wait a moment longer. The rest of you are dismissed."

"The medic is on his way to check your injuries, Hermione-san." The Hokage explained to her as she stared out of the window while the Hokage had been speaking in his own language, giving orders here and there.

"In the meantime, I would like you to tell me what has happened?"

Hermione stayed silent for a moment longer, keeping her eyes on the windows as she thought about what had happened these past couple of days. The man patiently waited for her to gather her thoughts. She shakily let out a breath as she did so, shifting through all the events.

"I-" She started. She didn't really know how to continue. Her mind was a mess.

"Take your time, child." He said in a kind manner. "There's no rush."

Taking a deep breath, Hermione started talking about what had happened. About being taken from the house and spending several days in a cell. She vaguely explained how she had gotten information from the guard. If the Hokage wanted to know more about it, he'd ask, no doubt. But she knew he was becoming increasingly aware of the different kinds of abilities she possessed so didn't feel the need to explain further at this point.

She then spoke about how she had gotten out but was almost immediately recaptured after hiding Teddy. As she started telling about waking up strapped to a chair, a knock was heard on the door.

"That would be the medic," he explained to Hermione who looked towards the door, wide-eyed. The Hokage then switched to his own language. "Come in!"

Hermione could only understand snippets of what was being said, but she definitely understood when they talked about her. She hated this. She wanted to understand what was being said and was determined to learn the language. The medic came closer and spoke to her, but was met with a blank look as she didn't understand what was being said.

"Ah, he wants to know if he has permission to check you over, Hermione-san. Perhaps it's best I take young Teddy while he checks your injuries." The Hokage said as he stood up and gathered the boy in his arms.

She looked from the Hokage back to the medic and gave him a small nod, giving him permission to proceed. He gently took her injured leg and inspected the wound. While it wasn't an open wound, it was clear there were broken bones. Through the Hokage, the medic asked questions regarding the nature of the wound, where it hurt and even if he could tear her jeans up to her thigh in order to properly heal the wound.

Momentarily mourning the loss of the only pair of jeans she had from back home, she watched as the man took great care in inspecting everything as he healed. She would just have to mend the jeans once he was done. After watching the purple-haired woman heal her other wounds in the woods, she was familiar with the green light emitting from his hands. Come to think that before she had gotten here, a green light like this meant death, not life.

It was a weird sensation, but she could almost feel her bones knitting back together under her skin. While she felt that, there was also a warmth that was spreading through her, numbing the pain. It was very interesting to see and feel the man work in a meticulous manner. She was so engrossed in watching the medic, that she completely missed the knock on the door. It wasn't until the Hokage addressed Kakashi that she looked up and watched him and his team enter the office. They looked tired, but all in one piece.

The relief coursing through her was almost an alien feeling. Not that she wasn't relieved to see that they were alright after sending her off, but it wasn't her feeling. Was this what Kakashi had meant before? That she affected what he was feeling, was it now him that affected her? After everything the two of them had been through, this last piece of information solidified her previous assumption. She had been in contact with plenty of people to know for sure.

She had to stop herself from scoffing. It was true, then. They were bonded. How that was possible, she didn't know. What Hermione did know was that bonds like these were unbreakable. She also knew that fighting the bond would be utterly useless. The only problem now was trust. Did she trust him? She wasn't sure she could, not now. While she knew that most of the things that were shown to her weren't real, as he had explained before, that didn't count for everything she had seen.

Of course, there was no way Dolohov could've known most of the things he had shown her. He must've gathered the information from the men that had taken her. How else could he have known some of the things he did? Had he really killed his friend? That thought scared her the most. If he was capable of killing his friend, then there was no way he wouldn't do the same to her if it came down to it. No, it would definitely take a long while before she would be able to trust him enough to let him in someday, if ever. After all, how could she trust a man she didn't know?