Shizune held Kakashi close to her chest, her body feeling every shuddering sob that he makes, her ears picking up every sharp intake of breath, can feel every drop of tears that fell from his eyes. Shizune said nothing and simply held him close to her, her hands running up and down his back in a soothing manner as she let him cry out his heart break.
She woke up to him in the middle of his torment with a nightmare: his skin glistening with sweat, the sheets gripped tightly between his fingers and his lips muttering the names of the people long dead. The moment that the cobwebs of sleep left her mind, she immediately took him in her arms, running her fingers through his hair and she mumbled soothing words in his ear, in the hopes of drawing him out of his misery. Shizune cradled him to her, his ear on her beating heart, and she felt hot tears drip on her chest. When he woke up and raised his head to look at her, he still had tears clinging to his eyelashes.
"Shizune," Kakashi whispered, his voice hoarse and his next words were so heart breaking that it made tears appear on her own eyes, "Will you judge me if I cry?"
She shook her head lightly and answered sincerely and with all her heart, "Never in a million years."
With those words, he buried his head against her neck, his arms going around her waist as he drew her closer to his body. He cried, his sobs wracking his body and his tears falling on her neck. She had seen this scenario many times before - him being drowned in his nightmares – and she always made sure that she was there, to remind him that she's always by his side to comfort him and to ride this storm with him, no matter what.
Shizune massaged his scalp with one hand and the other continued to run across his back in an attempt to soothe him. He was still crying but his tears had slowed and his sobs had decreased to hiccups. She knows that his nightmares would appear more vivid to him when he's under a lot of stress and, she assumes that, it must be brought about by the fact that the rogue group wasn't caught yet. Yamato's group was already exhausted trying to apprehend them, the ninjas that are returning from their missions would come home to the village with injuries inflicted by these criminals and there's a paranoia and anxiety among their shinobi regarding the village security. It had been a very stressful month, indeed.
She glanced at the man in her arms and was surprised to see that he had already fallen asleep, his eyes closed peacefully and his breaths coming in and out steadily. She was so absorbed in her musings that she didn't notice that he had already fallen to slumber. She ran her fingers through his hair one last time and closed her eyes.
"Shizune-san! This one's a victim of poison!" the pink-haired kunoichi exclaimed from the other bed, where she held down a struggling patient. Shizune put down the needle and thread that she was holding, nodding affirmatively at the younger woman and stood up, making her way to that patient.
"I'll take care of that one. Sakura, please stitch the wound of that one; I already cleaned up it up and it only needs to be stitched," she instructed once she's beside Sakura. Two medics held down the arms of the still writhing patient as Shizune conducted a quick examination and review as to what poison was used on the girl. Once she found out the poison used, she quickly made her way to create an antidote.
The sudden influx of patients had been a surprise to the hospital staff that they had to enlist the help of Shizune, who was supposed to be working at the Tower, Sakura, who was on a rest day, and Tsunade, who was supposed to be enjoying her retirement in her compound.
Shizune and Sakura were stationed in the Emergency Room, handling the treatment of minor injuries and poison victims while Tsunade took it upon herself to perform the more complex surgeries. The hospital was practically overflowing with patients, there's no available ICU rooms and they had to take care of minor injuries at the already cramped Emergency Room. Every available medic, doctors and surgeon are scrambling to treat the patients.
From what Shizune can gather, these ninjas came from various missions and were on their way back home when they were attacked by the rogue group with at least 10 members, turning their journey back home into an ambush. Strangely, even though they obviously had the upper hand due to their number, they would let the victims go with various injuries that they had limp back to the village. It occurred shortly to Shizune and Tsunade that these criminals are purposefully injuring these shinobi without killing them to send a warning, a strong threat to the Hokage and to the village. It's as if they're saying, 'Do you now see what we're capable of?'
Kakashi had already been notified of the situation and he had immediately ordered the addition of more shinobi to the search team assigned to hunt down these criminals. He also stationed more ninjas on every possible entrance of the village that could be used by any intruder and had them report any suspicious activity from beyond their walls to be reported, just in case it was diversion caused by those people.
She can only imagine the stress and anxiety that Kakashi is going through right now. Nobody expected that this problem would reach this scale and, the worst things is, they didn't know how to catch them because one (or maybe even more) of the shinobi from Yuki is suspected to be a traitor.
Shizune shook her head and went back to the task at hand of crushing these flowers. She can worry about everything else later; right now, she needs to deal with this.
Kakashi strolled the street where the night market is, searching for a particular shop. The villagers would respectfully bow and greet him, to which he would smile and nod in response. A few kids would run up to him and give him a high-five, some just wants to talk for a little while.
Since Shizune's working at the hospital due to the increase of patients, Kakashi had to eat his lunch alone at the Tower. Luckily, Shizune had prepared a bento box for him before they left her apartment that morning.
Kakashi fought down the blush of embarrassment when he remembered the way he broke down in front of Shizune last night. Though she was only worried and concerned for him, he still couldn't help but feel ashamed at how he acted that time. It should be the other way around; he should be the one to soothe her worries and take care of her concerns but Shizune had been the one to take care of him ever since he woke up in that hospital bed with amnesia.
At the same time, he admired the way she handled him last night. She had been so patient with him, keeping him cradled to her chest until the morning came, as if to keep him safe from his nightmares. She might be burning with curiosity as to what his nightmare is about but she never asked, knowing that he would come to her once he's comfortable enough.
His thoughts sobered up when he remembered the current state of their hospital and why it's practically overflowing now with patients. Even though he had tightened the security around the village and did every defense precaution that he could think of, he still can't shake the nagging feeling of something that is currently residing in his gut. Is it worry? Is it fear? Anxiety? He doesn't know what this uneasiness is about but he couldn't afford to let his guard down anytime.
Kakashi entered the modest shop, his eyes briefly taking in the displayed jewelries kept in a glass shelf. The man behind the counter, which Kakashi surmised as the owner, looked up from the paper that he was reading. His face lit up when he recognized Kakashi.
"Hokage-sama!" the man exclaimed and bowed deeply in front of him, "Welcome back! To what do I owe this pleasure?"
Kakashi thought for a moment. He doesn't know exactly what he's doing here. It's just that… he saw the box of ring again, kept hidden in his desk drawer, and he had the impulse decision of going to this jewelry store during his lunch break. He doesn't know what he's looking for but he just wants to quell his curiosity and take his mind off work for a little while.
"You… you customize jewelries, right?" Kakashi asked, trying not to appear unsure of himself.
The man nodded vigorously, "Of course, Hokage-sama! You already had one customized here, right?"
Kakashi blinked and then scratched his cheek nervously, "Oh, yeah right."
"I remember, Hokage-sama. That was an engagement ring for Shizune-san, am I correct? Is it not yet announced?" the man asked and then slapped a hand to his own mouth, as if regretting the words that left his mouth.
"Forgive me, Hokage-sama! I forgot my place, I -!"
Kakashi held up a hand, "Hey, hey. It's alright. Don't worry about it," he said, trying to placate the man's worry.
The man sighed in relief, "Thank you, Hokage-sama, and my apologies for trying to intrude. I know you wanted to keep it a secret until you make the official announcement but I was just wondering because it's been almost five months since you ordered the ring to be made but we hadn't heard any announcement yet."
Kakashi was confused for a moment. Does this man live under a rock not to know what happened to me, months ago? And then he remembered that Tsunade-sama never announced his condition to the villagers, only the fact that he had been in an accident.
"Yeah, it's just that… there's so many things that we need to do first before I ask her the question so I had to put on hold to that," he explained hastily with a chuckle, hoping that the man bought his excuse.
The man nodded, "You're right, Hokage-sama. But I would suggest that you do soon. I'm sure Shizune-san will be thrilled and will agree to your proposal."
Kakashi's not yet ready to pop the question to her but he still felt nervous about the prospect of even asking her to spend the rest of her life with him by being his wife. However, his ears perked up at the man's word.
"How do you know?" he asked.
The man chuckled, "I mean, have you seen the way Shizune-san looks at you, Hokage-sama? We all see it. Shizune-san is very much in love with you the way you are in love with her and I am certain that she will agree to be your wife."
Kakashi was silent for a moment, absorbing the man's words. He knows in himself that he loves Shizune and he wouldn't want to spend the rest of his life without her by his side. He's just unsure if she would want the same. But I'll never know unless I ask her, right?
He can already imagine it: Shizune being Mrs. Hakate Kakashi, to be the mother of his child, waking up to her beside him every single day. He couldn't stop the smile that came to his lips at the joyful thoughts.
"Hokage-sama?" the man inquired. Kakashi snapped out of his daze and noticed the confused expression on the man's face.
Kakashi cleared his throat, "Sorry about that. But I do have an order to make in your store…"
Yamato sighed in exhaustion as he leaned heavily against the tree. They've been following this particular trail for more than two hours now but it seemed they're nowhere near the lead. Beside him, Hoheto Hyūga was drinking water while Sai sat on the ground, arranging his brushes. Yamato observed the Yuki group discreetly while he rested, noticing the way the two Jounins huddled together, eating their packed food, while Miho stood off to the side, keeping watch in case anybody tried to attack.
With Kakashi's decree of increasing the members of the search party, they now have a team of 10 ninjas. However, even with the additional number, they're still facing difficulties in their search. They now have two Hyūgas and an Inuzuka among them, but it's still a challenging job to do.
Luckily, Hoheto and Miho had noticed a trail about a kilometer from the village walls, which they immediately followed. The trail led away from the village and, after two hours of following it, Yamato thinks that the trail might be getting cold now and they're already far away from the village. We should go back now.
"Everybody," he announced, "We'll rest for half an hour and then we should go back to the village. We're a too far now and we had to guard the village as well."
Everybody agreed. Yamato sat down beside Sai and he watched as the young man drew numerous lions to keep guard while they're resting.
"What do you think?" Yamato said lowly, making sure that Sai is the only one to hear.
"Miho's suspicious to me," Sai replied just as lowly.
Yamato nodded and drank his water. That's his thoughts, as well. After their only lead to these criminals had died, Yamato had been extra careful of the Yuki shinobi and always kept an eye on them discreetly. He was about to take out his food from his pack when Miho suddenly bolted, running towards the east, towards the denser part of the forest.
"Miho! Where are you going?! Wait!" the remaining Yuki ninjas called out.
"I think I saw something over there!" Miho yelled back, still running. Yamato gritted his teeth and glanced at Sai, who was already putting his scroll on his back.
"Ko! Let's go!" Yamato called out one of the Hyūgas and then the three of them took off after Miho. His phone, which he kept in his pant pocket, began to vibrate incessantly, an indication that someone's calling him. He ignored it and continued to pursue Miho. Sai readied his scrolls and Ko activated his Byakugan.
Ko suddenly gasped, "Yamato-taicho. Miho's talking to someone deep in the forest."
Yamato growled in annoyance and readied his hands, "We have to stop them. Miho may hold valuable information about this rogue group. Sai!"
"Yes, sir!" Sai answered and, in a flash, two huge lions made of ink appeared. They went ahead immediately ran towards the direction of the Jounin. A few moments later, Ko gasped again.
"They eliminated the beasts, Yamato-taicho! His companion is wearing blank mask and a white cloak! We have to hurry!" Ko exclaimed.
I know that! Yamato thought and he pumped his legs faster. Suddenly, a blinding white light spread across the forest. Yamato and his companions stopped and covered their eyes with their arms. Yamato couldn't do anything, couldn't weave signs to protect him and his comrades and he can only close his eyes as he felt the agonizing, burning pain on his forearms and the feel of his ears ringing from the resounding explosion no more than a few feet in front of them.
A/N: awww maaaaan! its 4 in the morning here and i just finished editing this chapter because my brain was not cooperating with me since yesterday so if there are spelling errors or gramatical errors, i am so sorry im just really tired hahaahahha XD
anyway! thank you very much to everyone who leaves reviews and votes for the story; i really really really appreciate it! :)