~A/N: First of all, sorry about missing the update last week. As most of you know (but there are a few newbies) I like to update once a week on Monday nights, but unfortunately I couldn't last week. It was a mix of midterms, 4 interviews, apartment searching, and going out of town, so it was pretty crazy. I'm also going out of town again at the end of the week, so it's my early guess that I will not be able to update next Monday. But I should be back to normal again by 3/24. Sorry about that!

Also, on a side note, I'm loving this Kakashi ANBU arc in the anime right now, and LITTLE YAMATO IS SO CUTE I CAN'T TAKE IT. Ahhh they are just too adorable. But then there's the manga. Spoiler if you're not caught up—but I'm really worried about Gai :(

Anyway, happy reading!

Chapter 51: Seeking Solace

The second night was always the hardest. Kakashi knew that from personal experience. The first night, you were always too tired—both physically and mentally—to be able to stay awake once the adrenaline from the rescue wore off. Lost of times, that pure exhaustion would last—mercifully, he thought—into the next day.

And that was why the second night was always the hardest. That was when the nightmares came.

Kakashi couldn't say he was surprised when he heard the screams, and even though he had a feeling they were coming, it still didn't stop his heart from jumping in his chest.

He'd always been a bit of a light sleeper—blaming it on too many years of being in the field—but Kakashi was up and out of bed within seconds, pulling the mask pooled around his neck to his face and whipping his door open with enough force to wake up his neighbors. If he'd been in the mindset, he probably would have felt at least slightly guilty, but he was more worried about his pink-haired former student.

He burst into her room, completely mangling the door handle in the decision not to spend the time necessary to pick the lock properly. Sakura was lying in her bed, still asleep, but thrashing wildly.

"Sakura," Kakashi hissed, leaning down next to her ear. He didn't want to scare her by grabbing her—an action that he knew would also probably result in him getting his nose broken—but she was having a fit.

"Sakura wake up. Sakura!"

She was in a room. It seemed like glass, but she knew it had to be a one-way mirror, because she could see her friends, but they couldn't see her.

"Help," she whispered, desperately pleading for one of them to find her.

She hated the weakness in her voice, but she couldn't stop herself from crying out. It was like she wasn't in control of her own body anymore.

"Sorry, my dear," a familiar woman's voice said, "it looks like I've won."

She sat up with a gasp, surprised to find herself back in her own room. It really had been just a dream, she realized.

Slowly, Sakura began to regain her senses, and the first thing she realized was that there had been a hand on her shoulder before.

"Who's there?"

A lamp from beside her bed turned on. It was the lowest setting, but the sudden influx of light still hurt her eyes.

"Sorry," a voice said, switching it back off. "It's me."

"Kakashi?"

"Yeah."

Sakura smiled. She should have figured. He and Ino were the only ones that would burst into her room unannounced, and Ino was too heavy of a sleeper to have woken up if she'd been screaming.

"You can turn the light back on if you want," Sakura said, shifting slightly to the side to give Kakashi room to sit next to her.

He took the hint, and she felt the bed dip slightly before the light came on again. She let her eyes adjust for a few moments before turning back to him.

"Your eyes may be more sensitive to light than usual for a few days," Kakashi explained. "It was pretty dark in that…room."

Sakura nodded. She didn't really know what to say to him. He was her teacher-turned-teammate, captain, partner, friend, and the one who had rescued her, but she still didn't want him to think she was weak.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. The medic in her knew it would probably be good to talk about it, but she wasn't willing to risk Kakashi's image of her over a little therapy session. She would get over it eventually. Kakashi was proof enough of that.

Well, maybe he's not exactly the model of stability, but he does alright, and there are worse ninja I could turn out like.

"Sakura?"

"No, it's okay. I'm fine. Really. There are plenty of medical explanations for why I'm acting like this. Like—"

"Sakura. There's nothing wrong with having some PTSD. It's very common in shinobi, even at your age." His voice was firm enough to make her listen, but still gentle, and that only served to infuriate her. He really should have known better.

"I'm a medic Kakashi. I know what PTSD is," she snapped.

"I wasn't saying you didn't," he sighed, rising from her bed and turning off the lamp. The tone of her voice told him their conversation was over. "If you need anything, I'm just down the hall."

He knew better than to try to talk to her when she was so closed off. He'd been down that road, been in her position, and he knew pushing her now would only make it worse.

But, he vowed, he wouldn't let her turn out like him. He wouldn't let her be alone.

Sakura didn't speak about what happened the next morning. In fact, she didn't really speak much at all. Everyone had heard her, of course, but Kakashi was thankful for the fact that they all had the common sense to keep their mouths shut.

They fell into a sort of routine, with Sakura eating and making small talk with them before Ino spent a majority of the day working on healing her wounds. They weren't enough to cause Sakura too much pain anymore, but they would still prevent her from travelling. Once Sakura had recovered her chakra enough to help in the healing, it wouldn't be long before she and Kakashi could make the trip back to Konoha. Neither of them could wait to be back. It was the one thing lately they could agree on.

Kakashi's nightly visits became a routine as well, and even if Sakura pretended like they didn't matter, she was glad he was the one to wake her up from her nightmares. They didn't talk about it, and Kakashi never pushed her, but they both knew her dreams were getting progressively worse.

Finally, after the fourth night, Kakashi didn't leave after making sure she was okay, instead sitting down on the empty side of the bed and giving her a look that said she was about to get one of his rare lectures.

"What?" she said, trying to sound annoyed, but instead only succeeding in sounding tired.

"Look, I didn't want to push you, but you really should talk to someone about this Sakura. It doesn't have to be me. You can always talk to Ino or someone else. Tenzo maybe. I can't believe I'm saying this, but even Sasuke probably wouldn't be a bad choice."

Kakashi thought he heard her laugh softly, but she didn't say anything.

"I know it's hard," he said. "Trust me I know. But it's been getting worse, Sakura, and you need to let it out—at least a little."

Still, he got no response.

"You're doing the exact same thing I did the first time I was captured. Trust me, it's not healthy. It may not seem like it, but I'm trying to help."

She looked at him, and it seemed like his words finally got through to her.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"It's okay."

"How old were you? The first time."

Kakashi sighed, and glanced over at her with an unhappy eye. "Eight."

Her emerald eyes widened. "Eight?"

He nodded.

"What were they thinking? Sending a kid that young on a mission that could end up that bad?"

"That was the war, Sakura. That was why my generation was so adamant about not letting the genin fight in the last one."

She didn't know if it was her imagination, but it seemed like his gaze was a getting more intense.

"And that's why I'm not going to let you turn out like me."

"Why would that be so bad?"

He laughed, but it sounded dark, not like his usual soft chuckle. "Trust me, Sakura. You don't want to end up like this."

They sat in silence for a few moments, lost in their own thoughts, before Kakashi shifted. Sakura thought he was going to leave without saying anything, so she was a bit surprised when she felt him reach over and put his hand on her shoulder for a brief second before turning to go.

"Thank you," she whispered, but she knew he was already gone.

Kakashi wasn't all that surprised to see Ino standing in the hallway when he left Sakura's room. As much as she and Sakura pretended to be rivals, he knew Ino would die for her, and vice versa. She was probably very worried.

Gai had told him on numerous occasions that it was a rival's duty to worry endlessly about his rival's health and well-being. Of course, since it was Gai, there was probably something about youth in there, but Kakashi usually tuned that stuff out. He got gist of what his eternal rival meant, anyway.

"Hey Ino," he said, trying—and failing—to hide the exhaustion in his voice. Unlike Sakura, he wasn't able to go straight to sleep after her little incidents.

"How's she doing?" Ino asked. Kakashi noticed the bags under eyes and considered lying to her, if only to give the girl some peace of mind and the ability to sleep better. She had to be wearing herself out with the daily healings and the worrying.

But Ino was too good of a friend to Sakura to lie to, so he told the truth.

"I don't know. I honestly don't know. Physically she will be fine, but these are the sort of things some shinobi don't recover from."

"Oh. I see. But this is Forehead we're talking about, so I'm sure she'll be fine. I've been inside her head, she's tougher than she looks," Ino said with a smile.

Her optimism was contagious, and the mind jutsu user did have a point. If anyone could bounce back, it was Sakura.

"Yeah, I guess you're right, Ino," he said with a familiar eye smile that hadn't been seen in weeks.

"Thanks for taking care of her, Kakashi-sensei."

"Of course."

"And Kakashi-sensei?" she said, opening the door to go back to her room. "Sakura really will get better. So try to get some sleep, okay?"

So it seemed Ino had picked up on the sleepiness in his voice earlier.

He nodded, a grin spreading across his face, before turning back to his own room.

The next night Kakashi decided to take Ino up on her advice, and fell asleep the second his head hit the pillow. He didn't know if it was Ino's words or if the lack of sleep was just finally catching up to him, but he was out like a light.

It was much to his surprise, then, when he didn't immediately wake up at the sound of his door being pushed open and quietly shut. He was a ninja—and the strongest one there—so he hadn't bothered to lock his door, but years on the job had made him a light enough sleeper that he should have awoken.

He came to groggily, recognizing somewhere deep down that the person who'd quietly entered his room wasn't a threat. His right eye was foggy with sleep, so he turned on his side and opened his Sharingan, only half surprised to find that it was Sakura dragging a pillow and one of those obnoxiously fluffy hotel blankets. She'd already settled down on the floor before Kakashi had the mind to sit up.

"Sakura?"

Wide emerald eyes looked over at him, and he could tell she didn't realize he'd been awake.

"I'm sorry for waking you up," she said softly, her eyes flickering to the ground. "It's just that I couldn't sleep so I was wondering if I could maybe sleep here."

Kakashi sighed. So much for his good night's rest, but if it meant Sakura would sleep better, he'd gladly give it up.

"I'll just sleep on the floor!" she said hurriedly, when Kakashi didn't say anything and simply eased out of his comfortable bed and over to where she was curled up on the floor.

"What are you—" she started to ask, but her question died on her lips when she felt him lift her securely into his arms and gently place her in his bed.

"That's okay, Sakura. I'll take the floor."

"But it's your bed, and I'm the one who came in here and—" she protested as Kakashi pulled the covers up under her chin and silenced her with a kiss on the forehead.

"Goodnight."

Too surprised to respond, Sakura simply nodded.

The next day was normal, and the next night the same as the last. Only this time, when Kakashi moved to take the floor, Sakura made a split second decision, reaching out and taking his wrist and telling him, "Stay."