"Son, I want to hear your opinion. What is worse: Guilt or death?"

Kakashi chewed his food very slowly to buy himself some time, keeping his eyes on a bit of sauce that was sluggishly snaking its way down from the elevated parts of his plate towards the middle section. He very much wanted to impress his father with a clever answer, but was at a loss for how to accomplish that.

Wasn't it all too obvious that the reply was 'death'?

Kakashi picked up another dumpling and put it into his mouth. His father hadn't touched his plate at all, he realized with a sinking feeling, was the food he had prepared for dinner not to his liking? Was the dough too chewy? Was the filling too salty? And the shapes… he needed to practice heaps more to be able to wrap the gyoza more prettily.

He looked into his father's somber face for clues and felt a rush of affection when the dark, tired eyes crinkled into a smile. After dinner and doing the dishes, he would climb up onto his lap, cuddle himself to his chest and listen to his his favorite shinobi stories, his father's heartbeat at his ear.

"Tō-san," Kakashi said, "how can guilt even be compared to death? There are small guilts and big guilts, but they can all be overcome, no? But death…. death is final and it takes away everything, even the opportunity to forgive and be forgiven."

His father contemplated his answer, then nodded slowly. But he didn't look impressed. Nor convinced.

"But I know that we need to overcome fear of death," Kakashi added quickly, "a good Shinobi fears nothing and will not hesitate to sacrifice his life for his village. So, maybe… death means nothing…?"

His father's nod slowed down and stopped entirely.

"Kakashi," Sakumo said with a sad smile. "You make me proud every single day. You're such a smart, talented boy."

Kakashi's heart swelled happily.

"Tō-san," he said eagerly to prove his father right, "I can throw 93 shuriken in one minute!"

"Oho!" Sakumo laughed, "93?"

"I dropped the 94th," Kakashi admitted. "But tomorrow, I will make it to 100, I promise!"

"93 is perfect," Sakumo smiled. "It's divisible by three, my favorite number."

That was true, Kakashi confirmed by running quickly through the row of three in his head. "Three? Why three, father?"

"It's the number of genins in a squad. The very foundation on which every Shinobi stands."

"Ahh!" Kakashi's head bobbed up and down in excitement.

To finally be a genin! He was confident he'd graduate soon, but he had not told his dad about it, it would be such a surprise for him! - and for weeks, he had been curious to know who his teammates were gonna be. He couldn't wait to go on missions! And who would be his Sensei? He hoped for a very, very strong one.

"Death…," his father interrupted his thoughts, "is the much easier choice than guilt."

How… how was death easier?! Nonplussed, Kakashi stared at his parent. Was this the Shinobi mindset he tried so hard to acquire himself? Wasn't death the thing that stifled laughter in the village, that drew lines onto the faces of the adults, that made them plunge into endless silences when you asked them certain questions?

Death and war… it was one and the same to him. He knew nothing else, but he wanted something very different, something he didn't know what to call but yearned for very much.

"We should never choose the easy path, unless we absolutely have to," his father added and looked somewhere into the distance pensively. "But do not ever underestimate guilt, son. It can weigh so heavy on your soul that death is the only release."

"I have guilt," Kakashi blurted out. "I hit Might Guy much harder than I needed to when we spared at school yesterday. He cried behind a bush afterwards when he thought nobody could see him."

"Ah," Sakumo said. "I see. You are a very talented kid, go a little easy on others who have to work harder than you."

"Yes," Kakashi said contritely. He knew that, but sometimes, he forgot or rather… sometimes, something inside of him snapped and it took him quite an effort to hold back after that. It was like there was a dark side of him that wanted to test how far he would go.

"Should I let him beat me tomorrow? So that he can feel better?" he suggested after a bit of reflection. He actually liked Might Guy and he didn't want him to be sad. He felt very sorry.

Sakumo smiled again. "Would that help with your guilt?"

Kakashi thought about it briefly. "I think so? But I think the others might laugh…"

"Then laugh with them," Sakumo said. "You'll be the winner anyway, don't you think so?"

"Yes!" Kakashi beamed at him. He understood! And he would make it very dramatic so that the girls would gasp in shock!

The next day, he made his guilt disappear so easily he completely forgot about the question his father had posed him that night - until the day that he found his parent lying dead on the floor.

Guilt had broken Sakumo, one of the strongest, one of the best.

Kakashi realized then that his father had tried to tell him that guilt was in fact far worse than death for the one that had to live with it. Only - he had failed to understand him. Worse… he had failed to see that the weight his father was carrying for failing a crucial mission was crushing his will to live, a little more every day.

It was like a curse. Guilt became his strongest enemy too, not long after. Friend-killer Kakashi. Cold-blooded Kakashi. A shadow of death above his head and guilt making his heart heavy like a stone.

The answer was: neither death nor guilt were worse. They were equal, dark companions that would stay with him his entire life, always out to end him.

"Hokage-sama?" a gentle voice said and someone touched his arm, lightly.

Kakashi lifted his head and blinked. His dream faded, leaving him with a bitter aftertaste and a strange yearning. The light was dim, but he recognized a nurse in white bending over him. She looked familiar. Very familiar in fact… ah, because it was Kaeru's sister, Ichika!

"Yes," he said and sat up straight. He felt slightly dizzy and disoriented, but it was obvious he was at the hospital. Only this time, Sakura was in the bed before him not the other way round. Her head was thickly bandaged, her skin was pale, her body in the hospital gown was frail and bruised, her fingers were bloody, with several of her fingernails missing … and she still showed no signs of waking up.

"You shouldn't sit here," Ichika whispered, "Hokage-sama, please go back to your room. You need proper rest."

He didn't remember walking to Sakura's room. It had to be sleepwalking again, that's how they had explained it to him the first time. He accepted this theory because his dreams were haunting and terrifying and only someone with much more willpower than him wouldn't try to get away from them any way he could.

"Do you want me to ready a bed in this room?" Ichika asked cautiously when he didn't budge. "I probably shouldn't do this, but seeing how you…"

… keep coming here at night like the biggest fool, you have pity? Kakashi completed the sentence in his head.

"Could you?" he asked, quite hopeful.

"My brother scolded me yesterday," Ichika sighed, "he said we nurses are not doing enough for you."

"Your brother is always scolding someone," Kakashi chuckled tiredly, "be assured you're all doing a marvellous job."

Kaeru visited him daily with boxes full of paperwork to read and sign, standing next to his bed sullen and moody and most decidedly displeased about everything.

"It could have been much worse," Kakashi had tried to lighten the mood once at the very beginning with a hopeful side-glance at Shizune who had also carried paperwork to the hospital. It had resulted in Kearu launching into a stern lecture about how a Hokage should never make his people worry like this etc. etc. and he was entirely sick of Kakashi not behaving like some boring, elderly ruler who only sat on his fat ass and did nothing but eat and order people around. Shizune had said nothing in his defence, but she looked liked she hadn't slept in weeks and was too worried to even eat.

It wasn't exactly like he didn't want to sit on his ass and do nothing. But the world just didn't let him. Could he really be faulted for it?

"Is Sarada doing alright?" Kakashi asked Ichika, watching how she busied herself with putting new sheets on the second bed in the room, carefully flattening the linen with her hands until it was wrinkle-free.

"She is a very good and very brave girl," Ichika smiled quietly, "but she says she misses her Auntie and Uncle. I said she could visit soon."

Kaeru and Ichika had taken Sarada in for the time being. One less thing to worry about though Kaeru complained daily that their apartment was much too small for an extra inhabitant and nowhere in his job description did it say babysitter - right before launching into a detailed recount of all the things Sarada had said and done, his eyes shining and his smile broad like he couldn't imagine anything more precious.

Ichika stood next to Kakashi when he got up from his chair, maybe to lend him a hand in case he needed help. He didn't. His burns, they still hurt. His head, it felt like it was filled with cotton. But apart from that, he was... miraculously fine.

Though nothing about it was a miracle. That much he understood now. He wished he didn't.

Kakashi climbed into the new bed, but quickly realized that it was way too far away from Sakura's to serve his needs. He climbed out again and pushed it right next to hers, the metal legs screeching horribly on the floor and probably waking up everyone in their vicinity. Ichika turned her head away, but Kakashi caught her knowing smile. She was much more pleasant than her brother, that much was clear. He would have loved to ask her how things were going between her and Micha, but that would have been overstepping too many boundaries and… he was just too tired, really.

Kakashi climbed into bed again and reached for Sakura's limp hand. When he held it, he could sleep. When he didn't, he had horrible nightmares in which she died the most horrible deaths.

Ichika left on tiptoes and Kakashi just lay there, watching Sakura's pale, tranquil face in the dim halflight. At least she didn't seem to be in pain anymore. The multiple fractures, Rin had healed proficiently, quite the routine procedure, she had assured him several times. The head injury though… that could take a while even though she was certain there was no lasting damage.

"You must wake up soon," Kakashi whispered. "Sakura, please. I really need to talk to you."

He thought that of all people in Konoha, she might be the one to understand. If she didn't… well... he didn't want to think about that until he had to.

Sakura stirred and whimpered faintly.

His heart making a hopeful jump, Kakashi lifted his head. There was a slight frown visible between her brows and her eyelids fluttered. Quickly, he slid over into her bed. It was too narrow but he didn't care. This way he could hold her and comfort her. And himself.

"It's alright," he whispered into her ear, wedging his arm under her head very carefully, "just wake up and I'll take you home."

Her body felt too cold so he wrapped himself around her until her body temperature resembled his.

"I told you to leave and close the door," he scolded her. "Yet you came back. You should follow orders, Sakura, especially if they come from me!"

He had more to say, but Kakashi hesitated all of a sudden. He felt like whining on because ultimately, he felt very sorry for himself… but at the same time, he was sick of exactly that, he realized. He was thoroughly fed up with the same emotional patterns he fell into over and over, the guilt that so viciously attacked him, the self-loathing, the depressing thoughts.

Maybe he should just not go there this time? he mused.

Yes, he felt acutely sorry that this wonderful woman had developed feelings for him. He was thinking she should have kept away from him and he should have insisted on keeping the relationship strictly teacher-student, but that he had been utterly selfish instead, letting her close, maybe closer than anyone before her, even though he had known how that would end.

He was no psychologist, but he was intelligent enough to understand why his life experience compelled him to think like that. It was the damn guilt again, his family's curse.

And yes, he should feel guilty for what he had done, for decisions taken in a time when he had been so thoroughly lost he would have grasped at anything that promised salvation. But who said you had to simply let guilt eat away at you until nothing was left? He had fought all his life, why not fight this too? With Sakura by his side… he thought he could find forgiveness.

She stirred. He held her a little more tightly. She took a deep, labored breath and he let go. She really was waking up? She was waking up!

"Am I holding you too tightly?" he whispered, his voice shaking a little. She stirred even more, her hands feeling their way up his chest to his face.

"K- kakashi!" a whimper escaped her mouth, "I thought… I thought…"

She grabbed the top of his pajamas and buried her face into the fabric, inhaling deeply.

"... I dreamed you died, oh god, I was… how… you're not dead!"

"No," Kakashi soothed her, gently stroking her bandaged head. "I'm not dead, not even close, actually. I'm doing very well."

"Where are we… is this the hospital? Are you… in my bed at the hospital?"

"Yes," he said proudly at her astonishment. "I'm the Hokage, I can do such things. Nobody approves but nobody dares to tell me to my face."

He was rewarded by a tired giggle. But she was back to sounding somber and apprehensive right away.

"What about Micha?"

"He's fine. A little bruised, but that's it."

"S… Sasuke…?" so much fear in her voice.

"He lives," Kakashi said stiffly. "He's currently detained in the Anbu high security hospital."

"Karin?"

"Yup, she's fine." Depending on the definition of fine, of course.

"... and… Kabuto! He walked out on me… oh god...," she took a couple of rapid breaths and grabbed onto him more strongly, "he found out that you know about the Noharas being Ōtsutsukis because I let it slip out, I am so sorry, I know how hard you worked to keep this secret, I am so, so…"

"Shhhh," he calmed her down, "it's alright. Kabuto left Konoha, at least we assume so: nobody knows where he is. And the Noharas haven't budged, so maybe… maybe he didn't get to talk to them."

"He's in love with Rin!"

"Huh? Did he tell you so? Hmmm… not sure what to think about that…," but he remembered something Rin had said about Kabuto once, had it been in the cave? It wasn't out of the possible. "Hm, if that's true, then I think I know where he went..."

Where he would have to go eventually too.

"Let's go there and beat him to a pulp," Sakura said tiredly, "I hate him."

Kakashi chuckled, his mind conjuring up pictures of an infuriated Sakura beating up the medic and rather liking it. "Fine, I'll leave him to you."

"Kakashi," Sakura tried to sit up, "what happened? What happened?!"

"Well…," Kakashi hesitated briefly before pushing himself up. "Let me…"

"No, don't get up," she said and grabbed his shirt again. "Stay close to me."

"It's… a little uncomfortable…," there was some metal cutting into his back and his arm was going to sleep. Besides, he hated hospitals. So much.

"Then take me home," she said.

"Yes," he agreed immediately, happy to get out of here, but then he realized he had no clue what she considered home. Her little room at the hospital downstairs? Her old room at her parents'? He helped her into a sitting position. She had lost weight. He would cook delicious things for her. Everything she liked. And things she didn't even know she liked yet.

"Is this wise though… if your head hurts too much…"

She looked at him sternly. "I should know as a doctor, don't you think? But you! If you are as fine as you claimed, then why are you still at the hospital?"

"Uh, well… because they don't believe me?" And because he had wanted to stay close to her.

"Pffft," she huffed, but he saw the smile, "how could I forget you are Konoha's worst patient."

"No, I really am fine!" he assured her. "It's because… because… you saw that the curse mark activated, didn't you?"

Sakura shook her head at him, suddenly looking crushed and defeated. Should he tell her they did not believe him because he had not told Rin about the curse mark? He just wasn't sure...

"I saw that I'm a complete failure, yup. Whatever happened to you and Sasuke after we injected the serum was a nightmare. You don't need to be nice to me. I messed up so badly."

"Yeah… well…," Kakashi cleared his throat. "Not exactly? First of all, I used the Mangekyo and there was no memory loss."

She frowned at him.

"Your serum seem to work. Second… I… kinda… well, I healed much faster than usual afterwards… a bit like Naruto?"

This was very hard. He cleared his throat again. Sakura, I need to tell you where it all began. After I lost the Sharingan...

"Is Rin the doctor who treated you? And me?"

"Mhm," Kakashi agreed, "she is acting Head as long as you are not fit for duty. I'm sorry, I would have asked you but…"

"Pffft," Sakura said again, "that's fully okay. But I'll fight her to get my job back."

"No!" Kakashi said appalled, "that's not necessary. She simply stepped in but she has no aspiration to take anything away from you, I assure you!"

Sakura looked at him with her tired eyes and his heart swelled in his chest. "Will you come to the Tower with me? Now?"

"Yes, didn't I say so?"

His heart jumped happily. That was home to her?

"Shall we a leave a note?"

"Hm, yes?" she replied. "We don't want anyone to freak out. What will you write?"

"Uhm… what about… 'I had to take the Head of the Hospital to an urgent meeting at the Tower. Please do not disturb for a few days'?"

She laughed.

"Perfect."

It really could be, couldn't it? He just had to believe it.

###

Sakura couldn't believe it and almost pinched herself but… Kakashi was fine. He really was fine! He was not sharing certain things she knew would most likely end her elation, but she didn't want to care about it. For now. That he was healthy and in one piece was everything that mattered and she forced herself to focus on that and that alone. She would not think about the lab she had destroyed, nor what the disaster with the cure really meant.

After wrapping her up warmly in coats and beanies and mittens and shawls so that only the tip of her nose remained visible, Kakashi offered to carry her on his back and she agreed, she was admittedly too weak to walk and her head hurt with dull, nauseating persistence. A concussion, she realized, a severe one that could have resulted in something much worse.

But it hadn't.

They were both alive. Against all odds. And so were Sasuke and Micha and Karin and … Kabuto. As they left the hospital, she assumed Kakashi would have told her if half of Konoha had burnt down - and as they skipped over the rooftops, she saw no damage whatsoever, all the lights were burning and there didn't seem to be a state of emergency, putting her even further at ease. Nurun's end… it was a shame, maybe the guilt would hit her later, but for the moment she only felt relief that there were no other casualties.

The Anbu guards saluted when their Commander appeared on the roof of the Hokage Tower, their masks hiding their surprise if they felt any at the sight of him. Kakashi put her down and conversed briefly with one of the masked soldiers in a low voice.

Once done, he took her by the hand and let her down to his apartment where he helped her out of her many layers of clothes. Whose wardrobes had he plundered for this?

"Are you hungry?" he asked her after draping all of it over the sofa.

She shook her head. She was only tired, immensely so. Oh no, did he have other expectations?

"Do you want to take a bath together?" he asked, removing his mask to smile at her.

That meant getting naked together. Which meant… she took a deep breath. How to tell him she was probably simply too exhausted to make love?

"I'm… well… I'm a little..."

"Oh, no, no," he even had the decency to blush as he guessed what her dilemma was, "I mean just a bath. To be honest, Sakura… I know I promised I would never leave you unsatisfied, but tonight… I'm… damn tired, I haven't properly slept in forever."

She laughed. "Just a bath seems like something I want very much."

He walked to the bathroom briskly and began to run a bath. Slowly, she began to unwrap the bandages around her head, then gingerly touched the tender spots on her scalp one by one. She had bled, but the wounds were well healed.

She would be fine.

Sakura walked to the bathroom and watched Kakashi sit at the rim and leisurely run a hand through the steaming water to check the temperature. Seeing him here like this evoked the strangest feeling. It was like they had only just parted, happy and in love and yet…

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" she asked him and began to undress, which earned her a sharp intake of breath from him. She lifted her eyebrows and he pressed his lips together, a roguish expression on his face.

"Yes," he said and straightened himself, "I need to. It's just…"

"You do not need to go easy on me," she said, though she wasn't quite sure why he was so reluctant. Should she be afraid? Was it way worse than she thought?

"No," he said. "This is about me, not you. But come."

He beckoned with his hand and she stepped forward, thinking that there was a time for everything and she would wait until he was ready to say what needed to be said. His roaming gaze showed worry and she realized why when she looked down: there were countless bruises on her body in all shades of blue and yellow.

"It doesn't hurt," she said bravely, but as soon as she stepped into the hot bath and lowered herself, it did. Seeing her tense up, Kakashi took a bottle from the shelf and added something to the water, it smelled pungently yet pleasantly of pine trees and yuzu.

"Against the aches," he explained. "Anbu secret recipe."

"Will you join me?" she asked him, feeling how the heat began to relax her.

"Hm," he frowned, "I'm kinda thinking maybe I was wrong about how tired I am?"

"But I'd like you to hold me," she said.

Her plea removed all reluctance on his part and he stripped quickly. Sakura was a little unsure whether to ogle him outright or observe him through her half-lowered eyelids, going for something in between. Not oblivious to her eye-lusting, he winked at her and she blushed a little, moving forward so that he could sit behind her.

"Ahhhh," he sighed, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her against his chest, "is there anything better than a hot bath with a sexy woman after fleeing the hospital in this cursed ice cold weather?"

She nestled against his body and snickered. "Behave," she said.

"Yes, trying very hard to ignore that you're naked and gorgeous," he said and shifted a little behind her, "don't mind me."

They must have fallen asleep because she woke up an undefined time later shivering a little in the cold water, her skin completely shriveled.

"Kakashi," she said, turning her face around to him, thinking he looked very cute with his eyes closed and his face so relaxed. "Kakashi, wake up! We need to go to bed."

"Shit," he said and scrambled up. "I guess I was tired after all."

They didn't bother putting on pajamas after getting dry but simply snuggled underneath the blankets, holding each other tight until they were thoroughly warm.

She had forgotten how blissful sleep could be. When was the last time she had slept deeply and without being troubled by strange dreams or subconscious worries?

Nobody came to disturb them in the morning, it was like a miracle. Still half asleep, Kakashi let his hands wander over her body until her breathing was quickened and her core on fire.

"Does it hurt or can I make love to you?" he asked, sounding a little urgent.

It did hurt a little, she was sore all over, but he was ultra gentle and careful, which touched her so much she couldn't speak for a while because she feared she would start bawling if she did.

She loved him so much she didn't quite know what to do with these feelings.

They cuddled once more under the warm blankets and promptly fell asleep again. After waking up a second time, they kissed and touched each other for what seemed like hours before making love a second time. She could get used to this, she thought. Maybe she preferred these very slow, gentle sessions to their more urgent counterparts? Ah, but no. She liked both of them.

"I should have bought more, I'm such an idiot," Kakashi said ruefully, shaking the box that contained only six condoms.

"We cannot stay here all day, can we?" she asked surprised.

"I threatened everyone with the severest consequences should they dare disturb us," he said, looking very content, "so yes, we can. Or until that box is empty. It won't last half a day, dammit."

"You are scandalous!" Sakura giggled while tracing the muscles on his stomach with a finger. Strangely, his recent scar was barely visible now. She bent down a little, thinking it might be the dim light, but no… it was almost gone. What had he said before? 'Healing a bit like Naruto'? Hm. Time to talk.

"Kakashi… how did I survive?"

There was a tiny sigh from Kakashi, a minuscule tightening of his body. But yes, it was time and she was ready to hear what needed to be heard. She would pull it out of his nose if necessary.

"It was Sasuke. He teleported you outside."

"He… what? Since when does he have this ability?" Sakura lifted herself up on an elbow to look at Kakashi's face.

"Hm," Kakashi said, keeping his eyes closed as he spoke, "that's the rub, I... don't know. I will need you to translate what Micha has to say, but it seems Kabuto injected him with something else, not your serum."

"He… WHAT?"

"Yes, Micha picked up the syringe that Kabuto used and… I'm not quite sure I understood him correctly, but I think he tested it and realized that…"

"But the lab is destroyed, no?" Sakura interrupted Kakashi. Testing the contents of that syringe how? Ah, Micha had probably used the facilities at the hospital, Sakura concluded. Okay. She was getting excited. She really hadn't messed up?

"That lab is completely incinerated," Kakashi shrugged, unmoved, no, satisfied, even. "Good riddance, it was a horrible place and now we can build something new and better without the memories of what was done to people down there."

"You're saying… my serum… it didn't do this to Sasuke."

"Nope, not your fault."

"But how did you get away?"

"Sasuke shielded both of us against the blast of the explosion."

"Oh, like that time… during the Infinite Tsukuyomi? And then?"

"... we continued our fight once the building had collapsed around us. He was weakened and I was able to vanquish him. The fire was stopped by the blast."

He stopped. And?! This was supposed to be an explanation?

"Kakashi…," Sakura said with a frown, "this doesn't make sense. Why would he attack you one minute and save your life the next?"

"He… he wasn't attacking, he was defending," Kakashi said quietly.

"Defending… against what?"

"Me."

There was another silence.

"You say my serum worked," she said slowly, "you had no memory loss after you used the Mangekyo? But… what happened to you exactly? You were… quite red."

Kakashi sighed again, in a defeated kind of way she didn't like at all. "Your serum activated something I knew I had since that day I fought Rin in that cave with the God Tree," he turned his head to look at his arm. "It's a Curse Mark. And she urged me to 'switch it on and remember'. At the time, I resisted as hard as I could because I was certain it was a trap."

"My serum activated your seal, which isn't a blood seal but a Curse Mark? I don't understand."

"The Uchiha illness… it's a defensive mechanism though with rather bad side-effects."

"A defensive mechanism against whom?"

"The Otsutsukis. The blood is tainted so it cannot be used. Your serum removes that defensive mechanism because it removes the 'illness'. It turned me into what they… what they intended me to be all along. A perfect weapon."

A weapon…? Who…

"Against the Uchihas, Sakura," Kakashi said softly. "And not only that. Also a weapon against the Uzumakis. Against the descendants of Asura and Indra. Those descendants are the only people who can stop the Otsutsuki Clan."

Sakura suddenly felt a little lightheaded. Well, she had hit her head rather forcefully.

"That's why Sarada is so important to them, Sakura," Kakashi continued. "She is quite naturally what I was engineered over years to be."

"Stop," Sakura blurted out.

Kakashi pressed his lips together and closed his eyes.

"Did they do that to Sasuke?" she demanded to know. "Turn him into a monster?"

Kakashi nodded.

"How?"

"That time…," Kakashi spoke so softly she could barely hear him. "That time he came after me when we fought the Susanoos and we were lost together. That time they gave him a Curse Mark too."

How… how did he…

"How do you know all this?" she asked.

"Ah," Kakashi sighed and opened his eyes. "Because your serum worked. Because I remember, Sakura. I remember all the things they made me forget and I really wish I didn't."

Don't say it, Sakura wished, feeling cold all over, don't say what I fear you'll say. Please. Look at us. Look at what we finally have together.

"I wasn't forced into this," Kakashi continued and it was clear it cost him a lot to say it. "I knew exactly what I got myself into. I knew exactly what they wanted me to be. But I still agreed to be their test subject. Because I couldn't imagine a life without the Sharingan."

Sakura scrambled away from him to the edge of the bed in horror. He looked at her with eyes full of guilt and pain and her heart clenched. No. Please, no.

"You… you betrayed the village?" she pressed out.

"It looks like it," Kakashi said, his voice taking on a slight coldness.

It was unfathomable. Impossible. Kakashi… Kakashi would never! No.

"I don't believe it," Sakura said and moved closer again. "No, Kakashi."

It looked like he was going to start crying any minute when she put her hand on his arm. He turned and hugged her very tightly.

"Sakura, it's a lot to ask. But please… please help me?" he whispered into her hair.

"Yes," she whispered back, tightening her arms around him, "yes, Kakashi. You are not alone. We will get to the bottom of this. And we will make sure all the Otsutsuki and Noharas go back where they came from. I will kick them to the moon if necessary."