Warnings: references to canon traumas, general PTSD exploration, guilt complexes

Kanna pulls the curtains closed around Sakura's bed, a minute before the kids arrive. Kakashi stays in that little imitation of privacy with Rin. One coma patient, two exhausted adults, an undead teenage girl, and a pug. The demon has decided to take a nap in a plane of reality that may not technically exist.

It's the setup to a very strange joke, Kakashi's sure, but he has no idea what that joke would look like.

They're eavesdropping, of course. It's not like anyone would expect this kind of meeting to go without some heavy surveillance. Jiraiya's even staying out in the open, standing to the side and scribbling something into a notebook. Shisui just sits on the hospital bed, legs kicking, and hums a little ditty.

He's a sweet kid.

Kakashi cocks his head to the side and closes his eye when voices reach the door. He probably doesn't need to try this hard, but he doesn't want to miss a moment. He can practically hear Shisui's nervous energy, though.

"—need to understand that the situation is entirely unprecedented. We cannot even begin to replicate it, and it nearly killed one of our shinobi. The fact that we ended up with the result we did is nothing short of a miracle, and I need you to understand that before we go in."

"Hai, Hokage-sama."

Sasuke manages to sound so very, very grumpy. Nominally polite, of course, because that's the Sandaime, but still. Grumpy little brat.

"Very well, then."

The door opens, and not a single person misses the sharp, slightly horrified gasp.

"Heya, kid," Shisui says. "I, uh… guess I'm the miracle?"

"Sh… Shisui?" Sasuke whispers.

Kakashi wants to see what's going on so damn bad.

"Aa, Uchiha-kun," the Hokage says. "It's really him. We've had a Yamanaka confirm that he's most likely not an enemy plant, and we're waiting on a specialist for the physical exam, but to the best of our knowledge: Uchiha Shisui has returned to life, hale and healthy."

A hesitant step. Another. A few rapid-fire and then a wail and a thump.

Kakashi doesn't need to be a prodigy to put together that Sasuke just flung himself into Shisui's arms, sobbing his eyes out.

"Oh," Rin whispers, her head falling sideways into Kakashi's ribcage.

Yeah.

Kakashi can relate.

It's not every day part of your family comes back from the dead.

"H-how did…"

"Ah, well, that's a whole bunch of S-rank stuff," Shisui says nervously. "Hokage-sama and Jiraiya-sama were both pretty adamant about that bit. If anyone asks you, though, just tell them I was really super annoying so the Shinigami kicked me out, okay? Just, like, I bothered him so much that he had to get rid of me."

"Nobody's going to b-b-believe that," Sasuke says, and yeah, the crying definitely isn't doing his diction any favors.

"I mean, what are they going to do? Demand S-rank secrets about zombies from the Hokage? Pfft. Yeah, right."

Sasuke makes a low, hiccupping whine of a noise, and then it's just crying and snuffling and fabric rustling.

"This is awkward," Rin whispers.

"Yeah," Kakashi mutters back. "I'm regretting it."

Kanna raises an eyebrow, unimpressed, and flashes into Konoha Sign Language. 'None of us were planning to leave this room anyway. If they wanted to [?] that we didn't hear, they'd have told those guys to move.'

Kakashi's pretty sure at least some of that was from Kusa, but the gist is there. Rin looks confused, and is mouthing words to herself as she tries to parse the sentence. Kakashi can't actually remember if Rin ever learned actual KSL or just field signs.

Actually. He turns to Kanna and starts signing back. 'I didn't know you knew sign.'

She shrugs. She doesn't actually answer.

She also rolls her eyes when he pouts at her, which is pretty much par for the course.

Kakashi can still here Sasuke asking questions and crying on the other side of the curtain, at least one of which is, "Why you?" in a way that sounds guilty and desperate, and rather a lot like Sasuke doesn't want to admit he'd have preferred someone else, because anyone at all is a miracle, but is fully aware that if he'd have been asked who to bring back, he'd have probably picked, say, his mother.

"Just got lucky, I guess," Shisui says. "Well, me and Nohara Rin-san. She's one of Kakashi's old teammates."

"Eh? It wasn't just you?"

Fucking hell, Shisui.

"Just the two of us. She died a few months before you were born, so the world changed way more for her than it did for me."

"O-oh… they… did they tell you a-about—"

"They did. Yeah. Um… didn't have to. Tell me, I mean. I kind of saw it from, you know, the afterlife. Didn't quite make it to—you know what? Let's just go back to hugs. Hugs are good. Depressing shit can wait."

Kanna whirls around, rips the curtain open, and snaps, "Language!"

Shisui, for his part, screams like a child and manages to make Sasuke fall off his lap as he jumps to get his back to a wall.

Good news: he brought Sasuke to the wall with him.

Bad news: Uh, everything else.

"That was so totally not cool," Shisui squeaks. "I'm going to have a heart attack! Holy shit! I just came back from the dead, man, don't send me back."

"Language," Kanna hisses.

Kakashi kind of wishes Sasuke wasn't here, because he's pretty sure Kanna would gut him if he pulled the porn out right now. Admittedly, Sasuke is why this situation is even happening, so. Like. Logic?

Sasuke is staring at Kanna in what Kakashi hopes isn't fear.

"Yo," Kakashi says. Rin waves a bit at Sasuke.

Sasuke keeps staring. His eyes drift down and to the side. "Is—is that Uzumaki Sakura?"

Kanna winces. "Um. Yeah. It is."

Sasuke stares for a second, and then his eyes widen in horror. "Hokage-sama said that s-someone almost died to b-bring Shisui back."

Kanna shudders. "Yeah."

A series of emotions fly across Sasuke's tiny face, and Kakashi can see the impending guilt complex.

"We've got a specialist coming," Kanna says, apparently noticing the exact same thing. She… definitely does know him better. Both this tiny version and what he would—could?—become. "Sakura is going to be fine. You can introduce her to your cousin once she wakes up."

And Sasuke is trembling.

Cool, cool, cool.

"There's ramen," Rin says. She's trying to be helpful. "Kanna decided we'd all need a whole bunch of food because of the stress."

"No," Kanna says. "Pretty sure that was Kakashi."

It was Kakashi.

"Right," Rin soldiers on. "And there's a ramen under a stasis seal with your name on it. I think they wanted you to finish your reunion before they had Anko-chan—or, um, Anko-san? She's older than me now… anyway! The other kids are going to be coming to see Uzumaki Sakura. So everyone's going to have ramen, because it's crazy right now and Kakashi-kun said that ramen is popular with the Uzumaki family, which makes sense since Ku—mmph."

Rin stops talking. She goes cross-eyed as she tries to see Kakashi's hand, which is over her mouth, and then looks up at him.

"We're gonna stop there," Kakashi says. He eye-smiles.

He can feel Hiruzen's eyes on him from across the room.

He is not going to let Rin accidentally spill an S-rank secret just because she's not used to it being a secret.

"There's ramen for you too, Hokage-sama," Kakashi says, pulling his hand away from Rin's mouth. "If you're interested?"

"I'm afraid I would likely have Naruto gunning for my head if I wasn't," Hiruzen jokes, and the tension flees Kakashi's spine. "You've already eaten, I assume?"

"Aa." Kakashi slouches. "Kanna needed to get her energy back up, you know."

Kanna rolls her eyes. Again.

"You know, if you keep doing that, your eyes are going to get stuck that way," Kakashi tells her.

"Good, then I won't have to deal with your ugly face."

"You've seen his face?" Sasuke demands. Shisui seems just as interested in the answer. He actually looks almost aggressively bug-eyed about it.

Kanna smirks. "On the day I met him, even."

Shisui's mouth drops open in horrified offense. "You never let me see your face! Not once!"

"You didn't earn it," Kakashi tells him.

Jiraiya snorts. When Shisui turns to look at him, the man shrugs. "What? I've seen his face too. Besides, Kanna's only seen it for medical reasons. Hokage-sama ordered him to take his mask off for that."

"Oh," Shisui says, seemingly thinking it over. "That's alright then."

"Yeah, because I totally needed a dead teenager's permission to see a guy's face," Kanna snarks.

"I mean, if you feel that—"

"Ahem!" Jiraiya interrupts. He smiles brightly. "Kanna, your brats are five seconds down the hallway."

"Yeah? And?"

Jiraiya shakes his head. "Just thought you ought to know."

"Bi—"

"Yes! I remember you're a sensor!" Jiraiya immediately interrupts. "But you were also incredibly distracted."

She glares at him.

"NEE-CHAN!"

Naruto barrels into the room, and is only barely prevented from bodily flinging herself onto the bed by Kanna grabbing the back of her shirt.

"Do not throw yourself onto the unconscious person," Kanna immediately says.

"But—but—"

Kanna gives Kakashi a tired look. "Can you…"

Kakashi holds out his hands, and she throws the blonde into his arms. He rearranges the kid, who is once again wearing a skirt and even a hair ribbon, and lets the hugging happen.

"Sakura is going to be fine," Kanna says, and Kakashi almost believes that she's as sure as she sounds. She turns to address the kids that have all crowded the doorway, and Anko behind them. "Shizune and Tsunade are going to be here soon. I know for a fact that you all know how good they are. Sakura is going to be in the hands of the best medic on the continent."

"Barring herself?" Kakashi asked.

Kanna turned to look at him over her shoulder. "Do you really want to ask Tsunade and Sakura which of them is the better medic? You want to pose that question?"

"Not really."

Kanna shakes her head. "There is ramen. We can hang out here for a bit, especially since Hokage-sama is here, but I'm only giving it an hour, okay? After that, everybody without a forehead protector goes home."

Shin perks up, and Kanna glares at him. "You know what, everyone under the age of fifteen."

Shin droops.

"Um," Kakashi says, and then gestures at Sasuke, who looks like he's about to have a breakdown about being separated from Shisui.

"…he ain't my kid," Kanna dismisses. "He can stay until Tsunade kicks him out."

"Aneki?" Sai grabs attention. "What happened?"

"A god got annoyed at us for messing around and did a thing. Brought back two dead people. Nearly killed Sakura. We're still not sure about the details. Definitely can't recreate everything to do it again even if we wanted to. The short girl behind me is Nohara Rin. Tall, pale, and gangly over there is Uchiha Shisui. Any more questions?"

"Is Tsunade-baa-chan really coming to Konoha?" Karin asks.

"Girl, do you remember what happened the last time you called her that to her face?" Kanna demands.

"Yeah, but this time I have Naruto."

Kanna tips her head back, just enough that Kakashi is sure she's looking at the ceiling. "Sage help me deal with the utter bull that is my little sister."

"The Sage can't help you now," Karin intones, and then walks over to the bed. She looks Kanna up and down, and then takes her chair.

"Wh—brat!"

"You stood up. Free real estate."

Kanna glares at her.

Kanna proceeds to pick Karin up by the armpits and take her chair back.

Kanna plops Karin down on her lap, crosses her arms, and traps the girl there.

Kakashi isn't sure what Karin was expecting.

"Y'all done?" Anko asks.

"Help yourself to some ramen," Kanna says, gesturing at the pile of preserved takeout. "Names should be on the lids, if Kakashi did his job right."

"Not exactly a job," Kakashi points out.

"You wanna go?"

Kakashi doesn't break eye contact, but he doesn't have to, because he can hear the Hokage's disappointed, weary sigh without a single problem.

"You know, there's a lot of children in this room," Rin says. "But somehow, the two of you are the most immature."

Kanna bares her teeth and hisses at Rin. The ears and tails pop out.

It would be intimidating if it wasn't so cute. Rin seems to agree. She's got her mouth covered to hide the smile, eyes wide with fear and shoulders shaking with laughter.

"What the fuck?" Shisui demands.

"SWEAR JAR!" Naruto yells, directly into Kakashi's ear.

Ow.

"There are," Anko says, already eating her own ramen, and watching Naruto hop down from Kakashi's hip with aplomb, "Way too many people in this room."

"You're one of the extras," Kakashi tells her. He rubs at an ear. Naruto doesn't even seem to realize what she's done. They'll have a conversation or something about it later.

"Bite me," Anko hisses at him.

He's like. Ninety percent sure she's flirting.

"No, I'd have to show you my face," he says, because he did not, in fact, ever grow out of his 'little shit' phase.

"Y'all, there is an unconscious body," Kanna says. "This is not a party."

"You're the one that isn't kicking people out," Kakashi points out.

"Fine," Kanna says. "You and Rin and Shisui and Jiraiya have all been here for a hot second. Get out."

Karin cranes her head to look at her sister-slash-older-self. "Can Pakkun stay?"

"Sure."

"I'm offended," Kakashi says, but he makes for the door anyway. She's not wrong, after all, and so long as Kakashi can keep Rin in his sights or general area, he thinks he'll be fine.

Unsurprisingly, Sasuke follows Shisui out, and the Hokage bows out as well. Ostensibly, it's to speak with Jiraiya, but nobody's fooled. They're absolutely leaving the room for family, and maybe Anko. Kanna just can't really order the Hokage to leave.

Tsunade probably can, but she isn't here yet.

"I'm going to run to the bathroom," Rin says, and wow Kakashi should not be panicking at the idea of her leaving his sight.

Especially not for a bathroom trip.

He ignores that and lets her go. He definitely hopes she didn't notice that sudden spike of anxiety.

"Oi, dumbass," Anko calls as she exits Sakura's room. "You've got some chakra sensing, right? Just keep an eye on her like that."

"That's stalking," Kakashi says. "Or at least creepy."

Anko raises an eyebrow. "That so."

"Yes, Anko."

She shrugs, and then… smirks. Oh no. "I could provide you with a distraction."

"If it's a venomous snake, the answer is no."

"No snakes."

"No kunai either. I need all my blood to stay in my body, where it's supposed to be."

Anko snorts. "I was going to suggest we go find an empty closet, Hatake."

"I kind of figured," he admits. "But I don't think my brain is anywhere near in the right state for, uh, anything like that right now."

"Mm."

"Besides, I thought you and Tenzō had shifted from benefits to actual…"

Anko makes a face. "I have… no idea. We're still talking it over. You are an explicit exception, though."

Kakashi considers that. There are lots of jokes he could make here. There are lots of jokes he wants to make here.

There's also an Academy student clinging to a dead teenage boy like two meters away, and Jiraiya another meter past that, and Kakashi's not stupid.

"I'll keep that in mind," he says instead. "For when I'm not a mess."

"Ah, that good old shinobi therapy," Anko says, kicking her legs up in the most unnecessarily dramatic way she can get around to crossing them. "Fuck am I not looking forward to explaining this shit to Ibiki."

"I mean. You can't."

She elbows him in the arm. "Dick. I meant he's going to get all concerned and ask me why I'm with the S-rank shrinks again. And he's going to be all understanding about me not being able to talk about it, and then it's just going to be super awkward, because none of us can do emotions that aren't scary."

"Yeah. That's what the therapy is for."

"We're seven stories up, Hatake," she reminded him. "I will use this fact against you."

"Only if you can catch me."

She smirks at him, and Kakashi decides that letting her catch him will not be a bad thing. Not today, obviously, but maybe in a week or two. He's got at least two heated, teenage ANBU make-out sessions with Tenzō burning a hole in his memory, and he's not opposed to a rerun on that. He doesn't have any of that kind of history with Anko, but he's flexible.

"I'm back," Rin calls, and jogs over to wriggle her way under Kakashi's arm. There isn't really enough room on the hospital bench for a third person, but nobody's going to call them out on it.

He can feel Anko's gaze on them. It's heavy. He's not sure he likes it.

"Hey. Chibi."

Rin leans around Kakashi to glare. "Don't call me that."

"Fine, Rin-chan, whatever," Anko dismisses. She pokes her chopsticks at Rin, which is hella rude, and says, "You need some help getting new threads?"

"I mean, I've been dead for ten years. I'm pretty sure I don't own anything other than whatever I was regenerated with, which is literally the clothes on my back. Are you… offering to take me shopping once I have spending money, or just hand-me downs?"

"We're going shopping," Anko clarifies. "Mostly because I don't trust Kakashi there to give you anything resembling accurate advice on how fashion for us ladies has changed in the past decade."

Rin hesitates. "I don't… really think that fashion is, um… I mean, I like wearing cute things, but I'm sure there's more important stuff to focus on."

"Kid," Anko says, leaning in across Kakashi's lap to get closer to Rin's face. "You're alive. So live a little."

Rin blinks. It's owlish.

Anko sits back up with a smirk. "Besides, Kakashi will absolutely spot you."

"I can't just ask him to cover for unnecessary—"

"Because I'll insist," Kakashi interrupts. He looks down at her, eyebrows furrowed. "Rin, I have plenty of savings. Don't worry about it."

She pouts up at him, and something in him suggests he either pat her head or pinch her cheeks. Possibly a noogie.

These are not productive thoughts.

"Listen, I—"

"You are family," Kakashi says, trying to go for the same kind of stern he's seen Kanna use with Naruto. "Technically legally, and also because I said so. So I'm going to treat you like it."

"But—"

"Ah! Nope! I'm your older brother now." Kakashi pulls her into his side and goes for that noogie. "Too late!"

She squeals and tries to squirm out. "Anko-chan! Help!"

Anko does not help, the glorious woman that she is. She just laughs at them.

#

The kids get shuffled off after Kanna's stated hour is up. Anko decides stick around the hospital, and lets Shin herd his siblings home instead. Kakashi catches his eye on the way out, and nods a quiet promise to send word when Sakura wakes up. The only real delay is that Karin drags Juugo over to introduce himself to Rin, and refuses to leave until they say 'hello.'

Kakashi raises an eyebrow at her.

She stares back, entirely unfazed.

"Oi, Hatake, are you letting the ten-year-old bully you again?"

"No."

"Liar."

"She's eleven."

"Oh, I'm sorry, are you letting the eleven-year-old bully you again?"

"I dunno. Maybe. If I feel like it."

Juugo looks like he's embarrassed to be associated with any of them.

Rin looks between them. "What do you mean again?"

The tiny, evil redhead smiles.

Kakashi looks pleadingly at Juugo, who is an absolute darling. He picks Karin up, swings her around to cling to his back like a spider monkey, and just… walks off. Oh, he gives a polite farewell, of course, but Karin's annoyed whining doesn't even give him pause. Juugo's great.

"Should we go back in, do you think?" Anko asks.

"Don't know," Kakashi says. "How far out do you think Tsunade and Shizune are?"

Anko shrugs, and pushes herself to her feet. "I'll go ask Kanna."

"Should you really—"

"Yeah," Anko says, waving a hand to brush him off. "Besides, I gotta yell at her to go to the bathroom or something. I'm pretty sure Shin's gonna come back with clothes and stuff, but the ramen was like an hour ago. She had three bowls. A vixen's gotta pee at some point, right?"

Wow, Kakashi isn't even going to touch that one.

"She's… changed," Rin says quietly. "But not much, I think."

"She grew up. Went through some shit. Grew up a bit more." Kakashi shrugs. "Happened to all of us."

"Yeah," Rin sighs. "It's going to be pretty weird."

Yep. There's not much he can do to fix that.

"Are you… sure you want me staying with you?" Rin asks, voice so low that Kakashi barely hears her.

He doesn't entirely believe he heard her.

"What?"

"I mean," she says, and looks up at him with wet eyes. Her hands are clutching at the front of her shirt, and she looks away with a shudder. "I-I made you ki-kill me."

Ice seeps through his core.

He checks to see who's close enough to listen in, but Shisui and Sasuke have drifted farther down the hall since he last saw, and Jiraiya is scribbling away in a notebook. The Hokage has long-since disappeared, doing an impromptu hospital inspection to while away the time until Tsunade appears. Kakashi expects he's planning defenses against whatever Tsunade decides to yell about. It's a solid plot, but probably not as solid as a larger budget during the first financial quarter would have been.

"Okay," Kakashi says, looking down at Rin again. "What the hell?"

Rin twitches. "Just… promise me you aren't doing this because you feel obligated."

Kakashi gapes at her.

She fidgets.

He takes her hands in his. "Look at me. No, no, just—look at me, Rin, please."

She does.

"You're family. You and Obito and Minato-sensei and Kushina-nee, you were what I had after my father died. I was a dumbass who didn't see it before it started falling apart on me, but me telling you to live with me isn't any different from Sasuke and Shisui. Okay? If you want to live somewhere else, I'm absolutely fine with it, because I did in fact kill you," he stresses. "But if you're okay with living with me, then I want you there. It's going to be weird, and we're both probably going to have nightmares from the depths of hell for a while, but if you're good with me being a weird older brother instead of a slightly younger teammate, I am more than happy to take that role."

He pauses. "Also, I've been ANBU for a decade and do actually have an inheritance. Don't worry about the money, seriously."

She sniffles, which is honestly panic-inducing, and then throws herself into a hug, burying her face into his chest and crying.

There is so, so much crying going on today.

What the fuck.

Anko exits the hospital room, looks at them, and then gestures. "I left for five minutes."

"I feel like we need electrolytes," Kakashi says, with a calm he doesn't feel. "This can't be good for our salt levels or whatever."

"I'm not buying you food," Anko says immediately.

"I'll pay you back," Kakashi wheedles.

"Like you do Tenzō?" Anko challenges.

Kakashi actually hides the money around Tenzō's apartment for him to find as a surprise whenever Tenzō treats him to lunch, but that's a whole thing that he doesn't feel like explaining.

"Yes," he says instead, entirely straight-faced.

Anko rolls her eyes. "Hey jackasses, I'm doing a snack run to the vending machines. Anyone want in?"

By the time Anko comes back, including a handful of electrolyte-heavy drinks she chucks at the undead teens and their limpets, Rin is no longer crying. This is a good thing. Kakashi thinks he's gotten a lot better at dealing with crying people in the past few years, but it's still not a comfortable situation to be in.

"Did you have to throw it at my head?" he asks.

Anko rolls her eyes. "Obviously."

Kakashi cracks open the drink instead of responding, because he is totally capable of being a mature adult.

It takes a few more minutes of quiet waiting before there's a bit of a scuffle from the hospital room, and then Kurama exits, with Kanna flung over his shoulder like a ragdoll.

He jabs a finger over his shoulder. "One a' you go look after sleeping beauty."

Kakashi blinks slowly, and tries to get a look at Kanna's face.

She glares at him, glasses askew.

"Are you bullying her into self-care?" he asks.

"Yes," Kurama says. "Because she's a moron."

"She's got an entire wing of the R&D department."

"Yeah? So? Did we already forget the 'weird, hairless babies' conversation? I think the entire species is idiots."

Kakashi eye-smiles at him. "Does that make Jiraiya and Hokage-sama toddlers?"

"I mean, basically." Kurama keeps going down the hall. "Seriously, though, someone be on guard in there. It's the only way I got her to agree to leave the room."

"I'm right here," Kanna snaps.

"Yeah, I know, I'm the one carrying you."

Anko rolls to her feet and strolls into the room. Kakashi follows, Rin at his heels. There's even a low huff and rustling fabric that heralds Jiraiya following them.

Shisui and Sasuke stay in the hallway, ostensibly for privacy. Kakashi anticipates they'll be joining the rest of the group in the hospital room soon enough. With Kakashi and Jiraiya gone, there's going to be a few more 'coincidental' passes by curious doctors and nurses, and neither Uchiha is going to be all that happy about it.

He's right, of course. He's always right.

#

Senju Tsunade bursts into the room with a wave of irritation to herald her. The Hokage follows behind, almost indulgent in his fondness, and Kakashi waves hello to Shizune and Tenzō. His precious little kohai looks more than a little overwhelmed.

"I thought you said you had it handled," Tsunade snaps by way of greeting.

"Yeah, well, we didn't account for a dead boyfriend to take command," Kanna snarls back.

Tsunade strides right up to Sakura and puts a hand on her forehead, already glowing green. "Give me a rundown."

"Not with the kid in the room," Kanna says, eyes darting over to where Sasuke is clinging to Shisui, as he has been for the last… what, two hours? Three? Kakashi isn't sure.

"I'm not leaving Shisui-nii," Sasuke insists.

Kanna looks ready to argue, because Shisui is their best source of info on the Sharingan if it comes up, but closes her mouth. She takes a deep breath. "Okay. Fine. We'll call you back in if we need you. Stay close."

They leave, and the second the door clicks, Kanna is slamming a privacy seal on the wall. "Okay. Basic rundown: reverse-summoned the team and the targets to a pre-warded location. Edo Tensei went off as intended. Began negotiations. Sakura had a migraine going in, and partway through conversation with the targets, Rinnegan activated without intention and performed a full resurrection on our Edo Tensei constructs. We heard the voice of the Sasuke from our timeline when she spoke and resurrected them. Best guess is that he left a chakra imprint in his eyes for some reason, and it only activated then because… Itachi was there, probably."

She bites her lip, and then says, "Everything seemed fine for a minute or two, and then the Shinigami showed up, Sakura started screaming, and then there was a seizure. I forced a bite because she was fading, extreme chakra drain and something twisting with what was left. Emergency reverse-summons by Jiraiya, brought her here, used the Hashirama cells to stabilize her. Unconscious since then, minimal flickers in chakra signature. No genjutsu, not a full coma. Possibly conversing with the chakra imprint, but I can't be clear on that."

"Complicating factors?" Tsunade asks.

"The warding scheme we used had both Sharingan-dampening elements and space-time barriers," Kanna says. "Which, if the Sasuke chakra imprint only woke upon seeing Itachi, he wouldn't have known to be careful of, so they might have had an impact on what would have otherwise just been a normal chakra-draining technique instead of…"

She trails off and looks at Sakura.

"Too many factors," Tsunade grumbles. She finishes whatever she was doing to Sakura's head, and then purses her lips. "Okay, I've got somewhere to start. We'll work on the ocular nerve first, then the brain stem, then the amygdala. Her chakra pathways are fried, but I don't want to drag any more people into this, so no Hyūga. Sensei, what are the chances of getting a Yamanaka to do a mind walk if the physiological doesn't turn anything up."

"Inoichi has already agreed to do it if necessary," the Hokage assures.

"Right," Tsunade says. She nods sharply. "Everybody out."

Kakashi stiffens. Just a bit. Might even be a smidgen.

"Kanna stays. Everyone else? Out. Shizune, I don't need an extra pair of hands yet. Run a full physical on the dead kids."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama."

"What are the chances you'll need a Sharingan?" Jiraiya asks, just as Tenzō's hand lands on the door handle. Kakashi tenses.

"High enough that I don't want you going more than a room away," Tsunade says. "Hatake, you're on point if it comes to that. We can readjust plans once Shizune's done checking him over."

"Are you sure?" Kakashi asks, and she looks at him with something that might be disdain. "I mean, mine is—"

"It's literally either you or the dead kid," Tsunade says. "Yes. I'm sure. Now leave."

He leaves.

#

It ultimately takes hours for Tsunade and Shizune to get Sakura awake again. They get shooed home before it reaches that point. Kakashi turns to head for his apartment, hyperaware of Rin next to him, and stops. He looks down at the hand that's on his shoulder, and then follows it to Shisui's face. Shisui flushes.

Sasuke's on his hip, knackered from the excitement of the day and lightly snoozing. It's kind of adorable.

"Yeah?" Kakashi prompts.

"Any chance I could stay with you and Nohara-san tonight?" Shisui asks, with a tight smile. "Because apparently my little cousin here has been staying in the literal ghost town that is the Uchiha District. For some reason."

Kakashi had nothing to do with that decision. He was probably off hunting Itachi at the time. He thinks whoever did make the decision was full of shit.

"I have a couch," he says, "But you'll have to let me ditch for a bit to grab enough toothbrushes and some pajamas. You'll fit into mine, but Rin and Sasuke would be swimming in them."

Shisui nods. "Yeah, definitely."

Kakashi's apartment is… not very far from the hospital, which is itself not very far from the ANBU headquarters. It's given him a bit of leeway to wheedle his way into an early release for some of his previous stays. It usually doesn't work for, say, infected stab wounds, but he can get out for chakra exhaustion if he points out that he's halfway better and hey, his apartment is just a few blocks away!

Granted, he usually has to confirm that someone will stay with him when he tries to pull that, but 'spends a week with Gai' is infinitely better than 'spends a week at the hospital.'

"This is very dusty, taichou."

Kakashi gives Shisui a dead-eyed glare. "I've spent the past week at the Uzumaki house dealing with the revelation that Obito is alive. Cut me some slack."

"I'm just sa—oof!"

Kakashi turns in the middle of his 'check the cupboards to see if there's even any human food' process to see that Rin has driven an elbow into Shisui's ribs. Given how much taller he is, this is something of an accomplishment.

She smiles innocently at him.

Kakashi points to the couch. "Everybody sit."

"But tai—"

"Sit."

Shisui sits.

How old even was he when he died? Sixteen? Seventeen?

Kakashi doesn't remember.

"Anyone want tea?" he asks, instead of dwelling on the truly appalling amount of trauma in this room.

Two affirmatives, and one tired snuffle. Sasuke's still asleep. It's probably for the best.

Kakashi gets them set up, arms basically every trap and seal on the house, and does the quickest supplies run he can. The cashier doesn't even blink at him, just drones out the total and takes his money. Kakashi almost asks if the man is okay, but… well. He's a late shift cashier at a conbini. The answer is usually 'no.'

Kakashi's apartment isn't on fire when he gets back. This is a good thing.

He distributes the sleeping yukata, which are made of a thin cotton that is more for modesty than actual warmth, and other such goodies. Everything for tonight is temporary. Real shopping can happen tomorrow.

"I have an air mattress, a couch, and a spare futon," Kakashi says. "Who wants what?"

"How big is the mattress?" Shisui asks.

"Bit bigger than a twin?" Kakashi estimates.

Shisui nods slowly, and then looks down at a rather drowsy Sasuke. The kid is eating a dinner of plain rice and seaweed, which isn't optimal, but is easier to force down while half asleep. Shisui seems to consider something, and then says, "Sasuke, are you going to be okay if I take the couch and put the air mattress right up against it for you?"

Sasuke tenses. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"In case you wanted more privacy?" Shisui tries. "Or if you're going to freak out like taichou did when Rin went to the bathroom, and would rather share the air mattress or something."

Kakashi can't say he likes being used as an example, but it's probably better to remind Sasuke that even grown adults are dealing poorly with the return of dead loved ones smacking into their PTSD.

Sasuke hesitates, and then nods. "That works for me."

He's trying to be professional. It's cute. Probably one of the many signs that he needs more therapy, but cute.

"Go brush your teeth," Kakashi sighs. "I think the Academy will be fine if you miss tomorrow, given the circumstances, so don't worry about getting up on time. Rin, you're okay with the futon? Or do you want the bed while I take the futon?"

"Futon's good," Rin says.

Kakashi gets everyone settled in and down, which mostly just amounts to answering questions about where things like blankets are, because Rin and Shisui are war-blooded shinobi and are absolutely capable of taking care of themselves. Sasuke's also been living alone for two years, and has Shisui besides. Kakashi doesn't need to hover.

He hovers anyway, but that's because he's had basically every single one of his traumas ground into his face in the last week.

"Rin?" He asks. "What are you doing?"

She pauses in his doorway and just looks at him. "…setting up the futon?"

"In my room?" Kakashi asks. "Um, I mean, what Kanna said about ages and how sharing space is weirder now and—"

"I'm sleeping on the futon and I'm going to do it on the floor of your room," Rin says. "That's final."

Kakashi feels like he's… technically supposed to object, probably. He doesn't want to. If he can hear Rin's breathing through the night, it's going to be a balm on his anxiety. "Okay, then."

He can make it through this.

They can all make it through this.

#

Sakura wakes up.

A/N: The plates. They're spinning.