He woke up with a start. What was that noise outside?
He stepped out of bed, ran towards the front door, stepped into his shoes and ran outside.
The entire village seemed to be on fire! Explosions, screaming, panic; there was noise all around him. How could he have slept through all this?
He sprinted in the opposite direction where people were fleeing to. Further ahead, he spotted a Jounin who was saving two small children from a burning house.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Kakashi," said the Jounin, handing the children to their parents. "The Silver Ring Group. They're attacking Konoha!"
"Where are they?" asked Kakashi.
"Follow me," said the Jounin. Both of them ran towards the source of even more explosions.
"Why are they doing this?" grunted Kakashi.
"They're after her," replied the Jounin.
"After who?" asked Kakashi.
"Senpai!" he heard from behind him. Two other Jounin joined them. "Good, you found Kakashi. We are ordered to find the Silver Ring and capture them."
Kakashi nodded.
"Kakashi-niichan!" a high voice called to him from a distance. He glanced towards the source and found a little blonde girl.
Kaede, he thought.
"Go on ahead, I'll be right there," he said.
He leapt towards Kaede and crouched before her.
"What are you doing here?" he asked urgently. "You should go with the other children."
"I'm sorry," said the four-year-old, tears streaming down her face.
"For what?" asked Kakashi. "Look, I'll take you to—"
"They came for me," sobbed Kaede.
"What? No, they didn't come for you," said Kakashi.
"Yes, they did," said Kaede. "Because I killed their leader!"
"… You what?" asked Kakashi. What on earth was this girl thinking?
"They're coming to kill me," continued Kaede. "I'm sorry, Kakashi-niichan! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"Kaede, you don't know what you're saying," said Kakashi. He lifted her up and carried her with one arm. "Come on, I'll take you somewhere safe."
"You're abandoning me again?" asked the girl quietly.
"Again?" repeated Kakashi. "I'd never abandon you, you hear me?"
"Don't leave me, Kakashi-niichan," begged Kaede. "Please…"
"I'm just gonna drop you off with the other children," said Kakashi. "You'll be taken somewhere safe."
"Don't leave me," said the girl again.
"It's only temporary," said Kakashi, getting desperate as Kaede was clinging on to his shirt.
"Please," cried Kaede. "Mother and Father are gone… I don't want to lose you, too."
What did she say? Minato-sensei and Kushina-san… No, they couldn't be… Kushina-san was about to have a baby and Minato-sensei was most likely out there fighting the men who did this.
But…
The baby was already born. It was a boy.
Naruto…
"Don't leave me," Kaede kept begging him. "Stay with me…" Was it him, or was her voice changing? It sounded more… womanly. Soft. Warm, but desperate.
"What is going on here…?" asked Kakashi himself out loud.
"Please…" the begging continued.
"Please stay with me, Kakashi," he heard more clearly now.
He was somewhere completely else now. He was in an unfamiliar room and two people were beside him. One of them was close. Very close. Golden hair and ocean blue eyes – what amazing colours she had.
"What would I do without you?" she cried.
Kakashi slowly lifted his arm up. It hurt so much to do so, but he didn't want Kaede to cry. He was here. He wasn't going anywhere.
Kaede gasped quietly when she saw his arm move. She immediately looked at him with wide eyes.
Kakashi's hand finally reached her face, and slowly, he dried the tears under her left eye with his thumb.
"Sensei!" he heard on his other side.
"Kakashi!" exclaimed Kaede. She broke into more tears and embraced him.
Kakashi let out a groan in pain.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" said Kaede, who sat back up immediately. "I'm sorry! You're in pain! I'll ask the doctors if they have any medicine—"
"I'm ok," Kakashi interrupted her rambling. Even though he was in pain, her awkward clumsiness still amused him. He slowly cocked his head to look at Naruto.
"Where… are we?" he asked.
"We're in Iwa," said Naruto. "Do you remember anything?"
"Iwa…" repeated Kakashi. The Hidden Rock Village.
Then it hit him.
"The Silver Ring!" he remembered out loud. Newfound rage made him sit straight up without thinking. "Where is he?"
"Kakashi, no!" Kaede grabbed his shoulders. "You can't sit up yet!"
Kakashi allowed her to gently push him back down.
"They've captured him," she then answered his question.
"Who?" asked Kakashi.
"The local ANBU," replied Naruto. "He's locked up now. He can't harm anyone anymore."
Kakashi swore softly. "I should have killed him right away."
"No," said Kaede firmly. She looked straight into his eye. "It's a good thing you didn't kill him," she said. "Now he can atone for his crimes. Besides…" Some of that hardness in her eyes faded. "You'd have killed him out of vengeance. Just like my other self always did." She paused for a minute. "Killing for vengeance isn't right, Kakashi. It's a burden. A heavy burden you'll carry for the rest of your life. I don't want you to carry that burden."
Truthfully, the only times Kakashi had ever been in a rage were when he thought Kaede was murdered and when he learned what that Silver Ring almost did to her. Just at those two times, he'd felt so furious he could kill someone for the wrong reasons. But he had never killed for any other reason than for the sake of innocent people and for his missions.
Not only that…
He never noticed that Kaede felt so troubled about crimes she really hadn't committed. She'd seemed to grow more carefree lately, and yes, she was easily scared and sometimes really sad, but guilty?
Before Kakashi could speak up, someone opened the door to the room.
"Pardon my intrusion," said a medic-nin. He entered the room with a shinobi behind him. He looked at Kakashi. "I see you have awakened," he said. "That's good. Your arm was severely injured, but it was nothing our medical ninjas couldn't fix. Keep the bandages on for a week and you'll be fine. What we were worried about was your chakra level. It was very low; it's a miracle you survived."
Now he remembered. When he'd found out he was trapped between all those exploding tags, he'd found one small open spot and a tree branch sticking out. He'd used the Replacement Technique, but was still too close to survive the impact of the explosion. He'd used the Mangekyo Sharingan to send the parts that were flying at him to another dimension. The explosion, however, had been so big he was forced to use almost all of his Chakra to keep himself safe. He'd lost consciousness when he was sure he was safe, and hoped that Naruto and Kaede could handle the man on their own.
"You shouldn't move too much for the next three days," continued the medic-nin. "After that, you can try and walk for a bit, and in about a week, you should be able to carry on with your mission."
"A week?" asked Naruto. He looked at Kaede.
"That's why I'm here," said the shinobi who'd followed the medic into the room. "Uzumaki Naruto can stay in the hospital's guest dorm. I will escort Uzumaki Kaede to her cell."
"Her cell?" repeated Naruto and Kakashi simultaneously.
"Regarding Uzumaki-san's past, we can't take any risks," said the shinobi, looking at Kaede with pity. "Technically, you are a criminal. Besides, the villagers wouldn't feel safe with you walking around freely. We need to protect the peace in this village."
"What the hell?" shouted Naruto. "Nee-chan wouldn't harm a fly! She's never harmed any innocent people!"
"Naruto," Kaede interrupted him. "It's ok. I understand. I want everyone here to feel safe. The villagers here would lose their faith in the Tsuchikage and the government if they let me wander outside, knowing the crimes I've committed… I know that wasn't really me, but they don't understand that, Naruto."
"But still—"
"Let her stay here," said Kakashi.
Everyone looked at him.
"I have full responsibility over Uzumaki Kaede," he explained. "If I'm going to be stuck here for a week, I might as well take my responsibilities back and keep my eye on her. As long as she is not provoked, she will not shift personalities. And here, nothing could possibly provoke her. You have my word."
Kaede looked at him with a hint of suspicion. He had to admit to himself that part of him just wanted her to stay close to him.
The medic-nin looked from Kakashi to Kaede and back to Kakashi.
"And there is no… personal relationship between the two of you, Hatake-san?" he asked suspiciously.
"I am simply following my orders," Kakashi lied. "If she stays here, no other prisoners can provoke her. And she knows she's safe with Naruto and me."
The medic shared looks with the other shinobi, the latter of whom nodded.
"Alright then," he said. "Are you alright with this, Uzumaki-san?"
"Yes," said Kaede.
"Then I'll see to it that an extra bed gets brought in here," said the medic-nin. "You are not to leave this room without the supervision of our local shinobi. Starting right now."
"That's fine," said Kaede.
"I'm going to have to discuss this with the Tsuchikage," said the other shinobi. "If he disagrees, I'll still have to put you in a cell."
Kaede nodded. "I understand."
"Very well, then," said the medic. "Hatake-san, if you are absolutely sure you wish to take responsibility over Uzumaki-san even in your current state…"
"I'm positive," said Kakashi. "She'll be no trouble for anyone."
"Alright," said the medic-nin. "I'll make the arrangements as soon as our Tsuchikage has agreed to this."
As the medic and the other shinobi left the room, both Naruto and Kaede looked at Kakashi.
"Are you sure about this?" asked Kaede. "You need to rest."
"I will," said Kakashi. "And you can be my private nurse until I recover," he added with a smile in his open eye.
Kaede stared at him for a moment. "Is… that why you insist on keeping me here?" she asked.
Kakashi chuckled. "No," he said. "I meant what I said just now. Besides, if we're going to take an extra week to get to the institution, we might as well enjoy it."
Naruto made a face. "You… you don't mean…"
"Hm?" hummed Kakashi and Kaede simultaneously.
"I really don't wanna know about stuff like that between you two," said Naruto, shivering briefly.
It took a moment for Kakashi to figure out what Naruto meant.
"No, it's not that," he said. "We're just going to talk; catch up on old times. Right, Kaede?"
"Right!" said Kaede in a too high-pitched voice. "I can't believe you're even thinking about that kind of stuff, Naruto!"
How come Naruto always misunderstands me? Kakashi wondered. Well, at least this time it isn't about me supposedly liking him in a wrong way…
No, he wasn't planning to do anything like that with Kaede. Even if he wanted to, he was still unable to move. But as much as he was in pain, with Kaede by his side for a full week, he'd endure it for the rest of his life if he had to.
A/N: What do you think: should I add an extra fluff chapter or just wrap it up? Either way, it won't take another 2 months, I promise. xD
Again, thank you for your patience and see you next chapter~! ^^