Micha turned his head when he heard the door and as soon as Sakura saw his friendly face with the shaggy blond beard, she started to cry so hard she even surprised herself.

"Engelchen," Micha got up and rushed towards her like a concerned mama bear, "are you okay?"

"No," she sobbed, "no, I'm not okay. I'm just so done with everything, why can't we catch a break?"

"Shhh," Micha soothed her, his broad hands rubbing her shoulders in circles, "this is why we don't want people to leave the hospital too early, Sakura. They need to be observed until body and mind are ready to go back to normal life. You shouldn't have let the bad man kidnap you."

That got a miserable chuckle out of her. Everybody knew. The entire village was talking about Kakashi and her. And it wasn't only nice things she heard... Given the lack of confirmed information about the massive explosion that had woken up every single person in Konoha, rumors were flying. That the Hokage had snatched the half-dead Head of the Hospital away from that very hospital and had locked himself in his Tower with her was considered swoon-worthy by some and highly contemptible by others. Some had turned the whole affair into a fight between love rivals. Sasuke got massive sympathy since wife-stealing wasn't viewed favorably. (Apparently, that he had fathered a child with another woman was all but forgotten?) In some of those stories, Sakura was the problem because everybody knew the Hokage was to marry the Nohara heir come spring, so how dare she interfere? Others were convinced it was an act of sabotage by Kirigakure and they were going to war next. Other scenarios had poor Micha as the evil mastermind in a convoluted plot to create a killer gas, some others assumed an underhanded scheme by Kabuto who wanted to turn everyone into a private army of reanimated corpses.

"It is so unfair," Sakura bawled, trying to get control over the ache in her heart, "he is trying so hard all the time but he has the worst, rotten luck."

"Which of your multiple men are you talking about?" Micha asked with a lopsided smile once her emotional outburst subsided a little.

Sakura had never seen Kakashi in as much despair. She was seriously afraid for him. The mere recollection of the pain she had seen in his eyes, the way he tried to hide the depth of it from her, tried to be brave and appear strong, unconcerned … new sobs began to constrict her throat.

"I'm talking about Kakashi," she said, almost choking on her new tears. If she couldn't help him… what then?

"Hmmmm," Micha said and beckoned her to step to the microscope. "I have something to show you."

"Micha, how are you? You didn't have to stay at the hospital for long, right?" Sakura wiped her eyes and her nose. She saw ugly bruises on his arms since he had rolled up his sleeves. He looked more unkempt than usual and slightly sleep-deprived. Otherwise, he seemed to be fine and moved without pain.

Micha made a dismissive gesture. "You made me wait outside where it was safe, didn't you. There was a lot of debris falling from the sky it was … goddamn scary, but I hid halfway underneath a massive boulder. You are the one who got hurt the most. Your men seem to have many lives though, you chose wisely."

"For someone who doesn't speak our language, you're surprisingly well informed," Sakura remarked drily.

A happy grin spread on his features. "Ichika told me. We can converse quite well now, she can say things like 'Guten Tag, wie geht es Dir' and 'ich finde Dich süß'. Not sure she knows what that means but I make her say it a lot."

"Ah!" Sakura exclaimed with a nervous giggle. "You are not heeding my warning and keep courting her? Her brother will have your head when he finds out!"

"Hehe," Micha chuckled, "you obviously underestimate how clever I am. You know, that librarian who is teaching me your language?"

"Akane? What about her."

"Weeeeeell," Micha smiled whimsically, "they share an enthusiasm for the Hokage. I got them to talk the other day. They completely forgot the time."

Despite her sordid mood, Sakura had to laugh. Kaeru and Akane? That would never work. They had nothing in common. Besides, the Okami Clan was one of the most traditional in Konoha, they would never let one of their daughters freely choose a partner for herself, especially not an orphan. Akane would most certainly be matched before her twenty second birthday if there wasn't a husband lined up already.

"Never!" she said with emphasis.

"I'm willing to bet on it," Micha shrugged. "They'll be dating before the winter ends."

"Okay, it's a bet!" Sakura agreed resolutely and sat down on the hard stool.

"For money?"

"Greedy, are we? Okay, for money. You're gonna lose, big man, start saving."

Sakura wiped her eyes again, feeling marginally better, and looked through the microscope.

"What… am I seeing?" she asked confused after studying the battle in front of her for a while.

"I wonder," Micha said, "what does it look like to you?"

"It's a toxin?" Sakura guessed with a frown. "Quite aggressive."

"Yup," Micha said. "A toxin."

"And…?" she frowned up at him.

"It's from someone's skin," Micha said smugly, obviously enjoying her cluelessness.

Sakura shook her head. She didn't understand.

"Let me tell you what I witnessed, mein Püppchen," Micha said. Whenever he used terms of endearment she was either in trouble or he was in a massively good mood. Which often amounted to the same outcome for her. Massive teasing. "And then let me give you something that will most likely help one or even both your men. You won't even have to decide which one you favor."

"Stop teasing me," Sakura complained.

"I'll see whether I can hold back," he chuckled. "But you'll get much worse from the village, that much is clear. Now tell me what you know about the night of the explosion after you passed out."

Sakura told Micha what Kakashi had told her, without giving away any of the details that pointed to Kakashi's involvement or guilt, or without mentioning Curse Marks or Seals.

Micha nodded solemnly. "So the entire building exploded, but those two continued fighting like it could end only one way, with blood flying in all directions, it was gruesome. Neither one had an advantage over the other. There was one moment though… Kakashi already held Sasuke's head between his hands as if he meant to snap his neck."

Sakura sucked in her breath. She felt nauseous. Kakashi would never hurt Sasuke, would he? The way he had always defended him even when everybody else had given up on the Uchiha...

"But he didn't. He let go abruptly and kind of froze, which put him at a disadvantage. The next moment, Sasuke knocked him out with a brutal blow to the head and was already swinging his talons to cut his throat."

Sakura was still holding her breath.

"He didn't get to do it though because of Karin," Micha continued.

"Karin?!" Sakura jumped up and almost upended the samples on the table.

"Yeah, I had completely forgotten about her at that time," Micha admitted grudgingly, "she had freed herself and jumped right in between."

"Shit!" Sakura exclaimed. Hadn't Kakashi said Karin was fine?

"Sasuke hesitated. Karin took the opportunity to bite him. Very hard. He roared and… bit back. To… to the bone."

Sakura realized her mouth stood open.

"After that, Sasuke transformed back into a human being and… well, collapsed, right before a whole platoon of masked soldiers appeared in a rush and found their bleeding leader lying unconscious in the snow next to Sasuke, a wailing Karin providing additional drama."

That partially explained why Sasuke was in custody at the Anbu high security hospital.

And then something else clicked.

"Am I looking at… is this toxin from Karin?"

"You are very smart, my Püppchen," Micha grinned, "indeed so."

"All I knew was that Karin has special healing powers, which makes sense, given her Uzumaki heritage," Sakura said and looked into the microscope again with a new appreciation for what she had been presented with. "I thought it was a mere chakra transfer technique… but… when Sasuke bit her, he returned to normal you say?"

Micha nodded excitedly.

"Kakashi said Kabuto injected Sasuke with something else than our serum, can you confirm that?"

"Yes!" Micha exclaimed and whisked out a sheet of paper from the small desk, "I picked up the syringe and broke down the ingredients. I was able to identify one."

Sakura had to smile. This was Micha for you! He would continue working even with the world crumbling around him. She squinted at the paper.

"I can't read your handwriting," she sighed, "seriously, who writes like this?"

"Pah!," he huffed. "It's the trait of a good doctor, didn't you know?"

"What is it you identified?" she urged him after a pronounced eyeroll.

"What you are looking at."

"Huh? This substance from Karin? Kabuto injected him with this?"

"Yes," Micha confirmed, "which led me to look at your husband's blood a little more carefully."

"We already looked at it plenty when we researched the serum," Sakura sighed. She had dreamt of sequencing Uchiha blood, for weeks. Most of those dreams had been nightmares.

"True, true," her friend nodded, "but we never looked for this particular toxin, since we didn't know about it. You want to have a look too and see whether you can confirm something?"

Sakura tried to contain her excitement as she watched Micha take a new sample from the fridge. What was going on here?

"Maybe you want to add a bit of the toxin to the sample in front of you? It's Uchiha blood. Sasuke's blood."

Sakura put her hair into a ponytail, put on gloves and arranged the equipment in front of her. With a pipette, she put a tiny droplet of the substance from Karin's skin into the petri dish...

… which reacted eagerly, almost excitedly, engulfing the droplet and… swallowing it up, until not a trace was left. Sakura frowned. Sasuke's blood could absorb toxins? Or…

"Addiction," she said, her voice brittle and high. "This is addiction."

"Yes!" Micha nodded, "the blood reacts so eagerly because it is addicted to this stuff from Karin. I wonder what the side effects are."

"He must have been exposed to it many times," Sakura said and even though she had thought she had come to peace with Sasuke's infidelity, she felt a wave of bitterness. Why did Sasuke have to lie about his intimacy with Karin? Not that she had needed any, but this was the proof. Only with a lot of biting and licking would this intensity of a reaction be explicable.

"The dose in the syringe was very strong, maybe that's the reason he transformed?" Micha mused. "I'm assuming the serum did its job, you are too good for it to have gone wrong, so it did something to the problem but at the same time, it opened the door for Kabuto to meddle some more."

"How did Kabuto even find out about this?" Sakura pressed her lips together. That damn traitor was just too good. He must have acted on a hunch. To what end though?

The serum she had created removed those markers from the Uchiha blood that she had identified as abnormalities, those that she was certain created the Uchiha madness.

"I see you are puzzled. Maybe this can help?"

Micha grabbed for a bundle of documents from the table that looked like they had been dumped into water, then chewed on by a sheep. She didn't understand right away, but when she did, a chill spread inside of her and creeped slowly down her spine.

"Oh wow…" she breathed.

Kabuto's notes about his experiments.

###

Tenzo and Shikamaru looked uncomfortable and tense, Kaeru like he was going to intervene physically any time soon and Shizune's bottom lip was quivering like she was both outraged and close to tears at the same time. Granted, a furious Naruto was something scary to behold, his face glowing red, his blue eyes shooting daggers, his hair standing on end, the power of a beast palpable right under the surface - but Kakashi was simply too exhausted to let it bother him much.

Exhausted in a way he had never experienced before, not even during chakra depletion. Even just opening his eyes in the morning took all his will and energy. He knew he needed to break out of this inertia, but how? He expected he would soon reach the point when he would not be able to move at all. It was the end of the road, the end of his journey.

The most frightening thing about it was that part of him seemed ready, almost eager for it.

When Naruto was drawing a shaking breath to gather enough oxygen for the next phase of his rant, Kakashi lifted his hand to cut him off.

"Thanks, that's enough, I get it," he said.

"Don't say another word," Tenzo hissed at Naruto. Naruto cowered under his scary signature stare but his anger had not subsided in the least.

"Fine," Naturo murmured sullenly, throwing Kakashi a dirty look, "I won't speak to you anymore, Sensei. Ever. I'm really, really disappointed."

Sakura and his relationship was the news of the day. The whole village was tittling and tattling and gossiping their heads off, like there were no bigger problems in the world. And Naruto had burst into their strategy meeting not ten minutes ago to shout at Kakashi for betraying Sasuke. Whom Naruto believed to be in prison, unjustly, because Kakashi had locked up his love rival due to no other reason than petty spite.

Truth was, Kakashi had nothing to do with Sasuke's current whereabouts. But truth was also that he didn't mind that the Uchiha was recuperating in the Anbu high security facility, quite the opposite. It was of the safest places in all of Konoha just because getting in was as hard as getting out.

And there could be no doubt, Sasuke was in danger.

From him, no less. From him and from the Otsutsuki Clan who saw the descendants of Asura and Indra as a deadly threat to their interests first and as sources of power for themselves second.

Apprehensively, Kakashi squinted at Naruto, a descendant of Asura. Should he warn him? He would be a likely target too. But what should he say to him?

Kakashi wasn't stupid but this wasn't the first time he wished he were so that he wouldn't have to understand in detail what he had done. His guilt went to the very core of him and at the same time, he felt betrayed and manipulated, duped and humiliated. To remember meant to understand the full extent of this convoluted scheme, that his desperation after the war had made him the perfect pawn for a plan that had been hundreds of years in the making.

Kakashi became aware of the silence in the room and blinked. Everybody was staring at him.

"Yes," he said, "exactly like you just said."

That was the wrong answer because now, everybody looked even more puzzled.

"You won't even defend yourself!" Naruto said full of contempt.

"No, Naruto," Kakashi said, "I can't help whom I fall in love with even though I admit I never expected this to happen. It feels like it was only yesterday when you were barely out of diapers…"

Naruto pulled a disgusted, outraged face and Kakashi shrugged at the memory of Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto as children, the most annoying brats he had ever seen. Even if guilt was eating away at him, it was not for falling in love with someone who had once been a silly girl but had since turned into a courageous, talented, headstrong, beautiful woman. There was nothing wrong with that.

The faces of the people in the room made him realize that the word love in his sentence just now further escalated this scandal to a new level and at the same time ended an uncertainty that was partially to blame for the rampant gossip.

"If anything, this is something Sasuke and I need to finally sort out," Kakashi added, "I appreciate your concern for him, Naruto, but you can help in much better ways."

"Hmph, I'm not speaking to you, you perverted old man!" Naruto pouted.

"Suit yourself," Kakashi said. And to the others: "As soon as I have spoken to to the Mizukage and depending on her answer, we decide on next steps."

"What if she refuses?" Tenzo asked.

"She won't," Shikamaru crossed his arms. "My plan is too good."

"She's a reasonable woman," Kakashi remarked. "Well, mostly. Sometimes."

"Women are never reasonable," Shikamaru whined, "but my plan is too good to refuse."

"Your fault if you try to tame sandy whirlwinds, you have such bad taste in women!" Naruto grinned before he remembered he was angry and his face turned gloomy again.

"I want to see Sasuke," he demanded.

"Normal Shinobi have no access to Anbu facilities," Tenzo informed him.

"What bullshit is that! He needs a friend right now!"

"Karin is with him, that's plenty of company," Tenzo remarked drily, even if his tone made it clear what kind of company he considered it to be.

"But she's like a leech! Not a friend!" Naruto shouted.

"Have a little respect," Kakashi reprimanded him.

"You do not lecture me about respect," Naruto said viciously.

"I lecture whomever I want, wherever I want and for how long I want," Kakashi retorted. "And you know what? People are required to do what I tell them, you squirt. Obey!"

The Anbu members and Shikamaru snapped to attention. Kakashi sighed and waved at them to stand at ease. Oh well. There were things about his current title he'd never get used to.

"Shizune, will you join us at the hospital?" Kakashi asked his aide in an attempt to change the subject.

"Of course, Kakashi-san," she nodded. "I'm ready for my part of the plan. And if I could please join one of the teams once we head out..."

Kakashi considered her request. She was a very capable medical-nin with combat experience. There weren't many like her. On the other hand, she was also his aide with knowledge nobody else had about Konoha and its management. And Tsunade's darling. If anything happened to her…

"I beg you, Hokage-sama," she added when his answer didn't come, "I want to help."

Kakashi nodded.

"Thank you, Kakashi-san," Shizune beamed, "thank you so much!"

It would always surprise him just how eager some people in this village were to risk their lives voluntarily. But should it be a surprise? Of course not. He was no different. There was a restlessness in him that could not be quenched any other way than by going out into the field and fight for the peace they all desired.

It was funny, he thought. As a boy, he had instinctively known there was something out there that he craved, something he was even ready to die for. It had taken years for him to understand that this something was called peace. He was still craving for it today even though he had never had the chance to actually experience it for any length of time. He probably wouldn't ever.

"Let's go," he said, grabbing his winter coat but deciding not to put on a hat nor a scarf. He was so fed up with this cold weather, he decided to simply ignore it as an expression of his disdain.

"It's raining," Kaeru said with wonderment and Kakashi turned his head towards the large windows.

Little rivulets of water were gliding down the glass. It was true, it was really raining.

"Wow, does this mean winter is over?" Shikamaru chuckled and stroked his beard like an old man.

"What a good omen, Kakashi Sensei!" Kaeru smiled. "The talk with the Mizukage will go very well!"

A good omen? Kakashi tried to smile, but it was a half-hearted attempt at best. But no need to dampen the enthusiasm that swept the room like a gentle wave, Kakashi thought. No need to let these people feel any of the despair he was feeling.

No need for them to know what he had done yet.

Because he had vowed to himself that he would set it right, even if that meant removing himself from the picture entirely .

###

"Fuck you, Kakashi," Keiki said with emphasis, but her voice was brittle and her features pale and worn. The dark rain clouds outside didn't help to make the hospital room any less depressing and Kakashi had to suppress a shudder as memories of his own sejourns in this place surfaced.

Any single time... any single time a part of him had wished he hadn't woken up. This place was situated between the realm of the dead and the realm of the living and the transition from one to the other was always so very difficult.

"Welcome back," Kakashi said, sounding way more cheerful than he felt, "that was one long recuperation time, are you getting old?"

"You're such an asshole," she grumbled, putting her head back into her pillow. "I hate that you saved my life. I hate to have another life debt."

"It wasn't me this time," he shook his head, "it was the Head of the Hospital, you know her already. And you'll meet her again soon."

Very soon, he hoped. One of his ears was attuned to every little sound from the corridors, in expectation of Sakura making a visit soon. He himself had been told to keep his at the Mizukage's bedside short - she had only just woken up and still needed a lot of rest.

Keiki fixated on Kaeru: "I see that the little murderer is here too. One of your most trusted?"

Kakashi shot Kaeru a look, knowing his temper, but the young ex-Anbu seemed unusually chill these days. After the tragedy with his sister, it had taken him some time to find his footing again, but Kakashi felt like he was doing okay, he hadn't spoken about leaving Konoha in a long time. And Ichika was receiving what Sakura called "therapy", a way to help her cope and mend her ability to trust people, especially men. With someone as gentle as Mi-cha courting her, it would not take long, Kakashi hoped.

"What do you remember?" Kakashi asked the Mizukage. Not much, she admitted, she had been hit from out of nowhere, without even getting a single glimpse of the enemy.

"I'm going to have their heads," Keiki gritted her teeth.

Kakashi nodded.

"Who's that?" Keiki's eyes glided over Shizune, who was waiting patiently in the background.

"Part of our plan," Kakashi said, feeling a bit proud that he had made the right prediction about who was Keiki's type. "Ao is suspicious. We had to lie to him since we weren't quite sure when you'd wake up and when he'd take matters into his own hands. We spread a rumor that you… came here to be with Shizune."

"What bullshit," Keiki laughed.

"He hasn't moved against us, so I guess he doesn't consider it out of the possible?"

"He hasn't moved because he's waiting for instructions from me," Keiki's face showed pain and her hand went to her midriff where her wound had been. "He knows I wouldn't abandon the village."

"I didn't know whether he was informed about our meetups. We thought it better to keep it a secret. After all, something like this could cost you your position."

"He knows close to nothing and this is a nice cover story," Keiki nodded, looking at Shizune again. "I mean to tell him what really happened to me as soon as we meet and I plan to mobilize my troops and go obliterate whoever did this to me. Do you know how awful I feel?"

She grimaced. Well, Kakashi could imagine how she felt. The bullet that had hit her had shattered her chakra pathway system near the solar plexus, it would take her a long time to recover her powers. That he had not suffered the same fate… well done, a taunting mean little voice chuckled in his head, traitors live longer. Perfect weapons heal faster than normal bodies do. And you even got two eyes instead of just one.

"Are you here to tell me what's going on?" Keiki demanded, still eyeing Shizune with interest. "Or can I leave the hospital and move in with my beautiful cover story before Ao gets here?"

"You can't leave," Kakashi said with a frown, "in fact, the doctors told me…"

Steps outside! He turned his head expecting to see Sakura, the only thing in this world who could bring him joy today, but the woman who stepped through the door had brown hair and seeing her had an entirely different effect on him.

And on Keiki.

"Grrrrgllllah," the Mizukage exclaimed and it looked like she was going to faint on the spot.

"Hi!" Rin said and smiled at her, "it's my pleasure to finally meet you. We were quite worried for a while. My name is Rin. Rin Nohara."

"I… I… know who you are," Keiki gargled.

Yeah, shit. It confirmed something Kakashi had hoped wasn't true, despite the crushing evidence he had gathered.

"She isn't the one you know," he intervened, seeing with unease how Rin's face started to show a depth of confusion that would lead to questions that he didn't want to answer.

Keiki blinked rapidly.

"The one you've met is someone else," Kakashi added, signalling her with his eyes, hoping Keiki was alert enough to understand and to stop insisting.

"There must be someone who looks like me?" Rin looked at Kakashi for help.

"Definitely," he soothed her. "Nothing to worry about."

Understatement of the century.

Keiki kept her silence as long as Rin was in the room. The medical-nin checked her pulse, her eyes, her tongue, prodded her here and there. Finally she proclaimed her happiness about Keiki's improving health and flashed Kakashi a smile as she left to continue her rounds.

"Fuck," Keiki exhaled. "What is going on here. This woman is the most ruthless and psychotic killer I've ever met. Did you brainwash her?"

"No," Kakashi said. "It's a different… woman."

"She looks identical," Keiki frowned. "How is that possible?"

It was hard for Kakashi to say the word. It was like it would rob Rin of her right to exist. It felt like betrayal. Like… killing her again.

"She's a clone," he finally managed closing his eyes so that he wouldn't have to see the reaction from the other people in this room, though their gasps told him enough. "The original Rin is dead."

"A… clone?" Keiki said quietly. "One of… how many?"

Ah, but that was the question, wasn't it. How many?

"You're not Rin," he had told her in that cave.

"I am and I am not," she had answered. "Sweetie, don't even try. You won't remember. I made sure of it."

A Mangekyo with the power to wipe particular memories. It was that easy.

"We need to find a system of caves in the mountains between our two countries," Kakashi said, opening his eyes to look at Keiki. "You need to help me. There's a special kind of shield around it, my men haven't been able to locate it. It's where we will find answers. And the people who tried to kill you."

"Is the other one there?" Keiki asked and shuddered.

"Yes," Kakashi nodded. "I think so."

"Fuck," Keiki said. "I'm tired. Let me sleep and I will give you an answer tomorrow."

Kakashi nodded. It was as much as he could expect today.

"Shizune, do you want to stay to hold my hand?" Keiki asked. "Good dreams might make it easier for me to accept an alliance with my enemies."

"Sure," Shizun said, "I can even sing you lullabies if that eases your dreams."

"Maybe tomorrow," Keiki grinned.

###

It wasn't that far from the hospital to the Hokage Tower, but Sakura was drenched to the skin when she got to the gates.

"Maybe I prefer snow?" she said to the dripping Anbu guards who let her through. One of them laughed and nodded. Oh good, not everyone hated her.

She climbed the stairs quickly, wrinkling her nose at the wet trail she left behind her and burst into the Hokage's office without a knock. Such behavior was allowed at this late hour, she decided.

"Sakura," Kakashi said surprised, looking at her with bloodshot, tired eyes.

"Closing time," she grinned though her heart contracted painfully upon seeing the sorry state of him.

His eyes flitted to the backpack she was lugging and the plastic bag she was carrying.

"These are my possessions," she shrugged, "at least most of them. I'm moving in with you. Unless you object?"

"You… what?"

"Look at you. You're so tired you don't even understand the most simple sentences. I. Am. Moving. In. With. You. Into. Your. Grand. Apartment!"

"Did you… did you just say you'd move in with me?" he shook his head like he doubted it functioned properly.

"For goodness sake," she said and shook her head in turn. "Come, I bet you're hungry."

"Okay?" he said doubtfully but got up with a last glance at the documents on his desk.

"Be glad nobody else can see you in your current state," she murmured as she watched him shamble up the stairs like it cost him the last of his energy.

"I'm just tired," he claimed, "that's all."

"Hardly," she said sternly, ushering him into his place. "But we'll discuss this tomorrow. Now, you eat. I went to visit my parents today and my mother packed delicious food for you."

"For… me?" He blinked at her.

"Come on, you know she's totally smitten with you," Sakura said as she deposited her coat on a hook at the entrance and took off her boots. She walked into the kitchen to unpack the food. There also was a bottle of Sake from her father that she put into the fridge.

Kakashi followed her, looking a little like he wasn't quite sure whether he was awake or dreaming.

"They're not… judging?" he asked haltingly.

"No, why should they?" she replied. "Sit down."

"People are talking…"

"Tell me about it," she chuckled, "the imagination!"

"Naruto came by to yell at me."

"Ha!" Sakura put her hands on her hips. "He didn't dare confront me, the coward! I hope you told him to shut his loud mouth and mind his own friggin business?"

"Well…," Kakashi sighed. "Something like it. I'm… sorry I made you a target for gossip, Sakura."

"Nonsense," Sakura replied dismissively.

She carefully heated the packaged dishes in the microwave, set them out in front of him and pressed chopsticks into his hands.

"Eat."

He did after removing his mask, throwing her furtive glances as he wolfed down food like he hadn't eaten all day. Which was exactly what had happened, Sakura suspected.

"Did you say… you would move in with me?" he asked after not even a crumb was left.

"I did. Is it that hard to believe?" She handed him a large glass of water.

"Yes," he said quietly. "I thought… I thought you wouldn't come back."

"Are you trying to offend me?" Sakura grimaced. "You know me! I am very, very persistent. I don't just abandon people as soon as it gets a little difficult."

"A little difficult…," Kakashi laughed bitterly. "That's not what this is. I told you last night what I did."

"And I told you I'd help you get to the bottom of this," she retorted. "And I did. There's something I am going to show you. Tomorrow. Now, you're going to brush your teeth, put on your pyjamas and go to sleep straight away."

"Can I hold your hand?"

"You dummy," she said and bent forward to ruffle his hair, "you won't get rid of me anymore, Mister. You can hold my hand every single night from now on."

"I will ask you again tomorrow," he murmured sleepily after she had tucked him in and had interlaced her fingers with his. "I fear I might have misunderstood. It can't be true. I don't deserve this."

"Stop doubting you deserve good things," she whispered, running her free hand through his hair. "Can you?"

"Or maybe Kearu was right," Kakashi murmured, pressing her hand tightly, "maybe it really was a good omen."

But before she could ask him what he meant, he had already fallen asleep.