Sakura is alive, Kakashi reminds himself.
Alive and well and walking out of the hospital on her own two feet.
Kakashi is waiting for her on the other side of the street, and she immediately smiles as she spots him. With no trace of hesitation she runs up to him, and envelops him in a hug, which he endures stoically. After holding her limp body in his arms for several days during the journey back to Konoha, this walking, talking, hugging Sakura is a great improvement.
"I was afraid you wouldn't come back," she tells him, her voice muffled from having her face pressed into his vest.
"Of course I came back." Awkwardly, he pets her on the head. "Sensei just had to take care of a couple of things."
"Don't leave me like that again. Please? At least … tell me first."
Her voice is tight and small, the plea clear as a day, and guilt grabs onto Kakashi. Yeah, leaving her alone like that while in the field was a bad idea. Especially in a place like Okami Island.
"Never," he promises, some deep, primal part of him rousing to attention. "I won't leave you like that again."
Just saying the words feel right. Sakura almost died, because of him, but she's here and she's alive and Kakashi will make sure that she stays that way.
He hasn't been able to bring himself to stray far from her side even now, despite being back in Konoha and knowing, logically, that she's safe. Suddenly, all he can think about is the many, many different ways she could be harmed or even killed. And unfortunately, Kakashi knows a great many ways in which people can die.
And Sakura has already been attacked once while supposedly safe within Konoha's walls, when Usui Masaru went after her. Luckily, Kakashi had been able to intervene that time, but there's still the issue of Tsushima Kazemi, the missing nin from Kiri who may or may not be after Sakura.
Not to mention the issue with her clan.
Or the fact that she was apparently attacked by a fellow genin while living with the Genin Corps. If Kakashi had known about that fact earlier, and if Kichiro hadn't already taken the boy's headband as punishment … well, Kakashi isn't sure what he would have done. Certainly nothing nice, though.
As it is, Kakashi is more than happy to keep Sakura close. That way, at least he knows that she's safe.
"Hey you two!" Gina exits the hospital, shortly after Sakura, waving to the two of them. "How 'bout dinner at Ichiraku's? Your treat, Kakashi?"
And since Kakashi's been feeling uncharacteristically non-antagonistic towards her lately, and since he technically does owe her for saving his and Sakura's lives … well, they end up at Ichiraku's, Kakashi paying the bill.
Since Sakura is still rather out of the loop about what's happened, Kakashi and Gina fill her in. Then Sakura fills them in on her parts; about first being buried in an avalanche and then attacked by some monstrously large and angry bear.
By wordless agreement, they head to Kakashi's apartment afterwards. He's not certain that he could just let Sakura go back to the Genin Corps even if she wanted to, and so he's quietly grateful that she opts to join him for the evening instead.
As they near the apartment, he's greeted by neighbours complaining about "that howling dog of yours". Kakashi apologises and promises that it won't happen again, giving the now perfectly innocent-looking cub a glare.
"We should get new weights and harnesses tomorrow," Sakura comments as he makes them some warm tea. "I think I lost the old ones."
According to Gina, Sakura had practically torn her clothes to shreds in an attempt to strip herself of the extra weights as she was drowning. The thought makes cold dread run up Kakashi's spine.
He exchanges a brief glance with Gina and neither of them points this fact out to Sakura. Sakura is too busy cuddling with the wolf cub to notice their looks.
"Not tomorrow. You need to recover for a couple of days before we start back up with training."
And Kakashi needs to decide if he wants her to keep wearing those weights or not. Maybe he should consult with Gai. What if she gets in a similar situation again, and is unable to free herself of the weights?
What if she dies because Kakashi is making her wear those stupid weights?
"I'm fine, sensei. Tsunade-sama said I'll be a bit weakened, but I want to get back to training again as soon as possible."
"Still. The medics said you need to take it easy for the first few days at least. You should listen to them."
"Who are you and what have you done to my cousin?" Gina exclaims, slapping her palm into Kakashi's living room table. "Hatake Kakashi, listening to what a medic has to say? I've never heard anything so absurd!"
Beneath the mask, Kakashi struggles to contain a smile. Alright, so point to Gina.
"Careful. I might put something in your tea." He gives her a hard look but keeps his voice more friendly than dangerous, and her eyes sparkle with mirth as she accepts the cup of tea he offers her.
"Well, good thing I'm a medic then, isn't it?"
The wolf cub snaps after Kakashi's hand as he hands Sakura her tea, but Kakashi has raised enough pups to be able to easily evade the surprisingly sharp teeth.
"What do you plan to do with the cub?" Gina asks casually.
Kakashi leans back in his chair and sighs, even allowing himself to put his feet up.
"Well, pet care is what apprentices are for, I'm told."
The statement startles Sakura, and she quickly looks up from the wolf cub in her arms to him.
"I'm supposed to take care of him?"
"Well, he's too young to be of any use to me on missions yet, so someone will have to take care of him while I'm away on missions."
The thought of leaving on a mission doesn't sit quite right with him yet, though he knows it must happen, sooner or later. Lady Tsunade has promised to give him a day or two to get settled back in Konoha, but she'd been meaning to send him on a mission already before this impromptu journey to Okami Island.
"Please tell me I'm in charge at least?"
"Of course," Kakashi agrees easily. "He's too young yet. Though come to think of it, perhaps I should leave Pakkun here to supervise things."
Gina laughs and Sakura blushes, looking down at the wolf cub again. Kakashi considers his words. He'd been teasing her, mostly, but something about the words have a nice ring to it. If he can't be here to make sure Sakura is safe, then maybe his dogs will.
Then again, they've both learned already how quickly the protection of the dogs can disappear.
"Have you decided on a name for him, by the way?" Sakura asks, changing topics abruptly.
Kakashi decides to allow it.
"Okami?" he suggests playfully.
Gina throws a pillow at him with deadly accuracy.
"No!" she tells him firmly. "Bad cousin!"
Sakura chokes on her tea, and for a moment Kakashi is cursing himself for giving her that tea. He should have been more careful, what was he thinking, he should have-
"Yeah, that's a bad name," Sakura agrees, grinning at Gina.
Kakashi has to remind himself to breathe again.
"Kabu?" he suggests, his voice still slightly breathless.
"Isn't it rude to literally just name him Cub?"
Kakashi heaves a put upon sigh and stares at the ceiling, finger tapping lightly against his thigh as he thinks.
"Kiba?"
"Fang is certainly better than just Wolf or Cub, but I'm not sure the Inuzuka matriarch would appreciate you naming your wolf after her son," Gina points out.
Kakashi hums in acknowledgement.
"Gin!" he decides at last.
This time it is Gina who chokes on her tea, which Kakashi thinks is much better than Sakura doing so.
A brief glance tells him that Sakura has in fact finished her tea and is now playing with the cub again. Good. She's had dinner and tea and she's as safe as she can currently be.
That's good. Isn't it? Or is there something else that he's missing, or -
"No! You're not naming him that!" Gina points a threatening finger at him.
"Why not? It makes more sense than Chairo."
"Yeah, he's not even brown," Sakura agrees. "Silver suits his fur much better."
Kakashi raises a teasing eyebrow at Gina.
"Gin it is then" he states.
Gina just groans.
Much to Kakashi's relief, Sakura does not leave when Gina does. She just glances questioningly at him, and Kakashi wordlessly retrieves an extra pillow and a blanket for her. As he starts to make the couch up for her, he gestures for her to go take a shower. She returns to the main room a bit later, an old shirt of his serving as nightdress, and quietly nestles down on his couch, asleep in no time.
Kakashi quietly cleans the empty cups of tea before showering and going to bed himself, pausing by the couch just to reassure himself once again that Sakura is indeed safe.
She's breathing evenly.
Her skin has a healthy colour.
She's too thin and frail looking but …
She's safe and sound and … here. Alive.
He leaves the door to his bedroom ajar, and falls asleep listening to her even breathing.
And then he's startled awake some time later as she cries out in terror, and in a second he's standing over her at the couch, kunai in hand and ready to battle whatever demons dare to threaten his apprentice.
Except, there's nobody there.
Just a nightmare, he realises, as she whines in her sleep.
Slowly, he puts the kunai away and kneels beside her, gently shaking her awake.
"Sorry," she says once he's explained that she was having a nightmare. "I didn't mean to wake you."
"No problem."
He hesitates. He's been dealing with his own nightmares for a long time now, but …
"Do you want to talk about it?" he offers.
Minato-sensei had offered to talk about his nightmares, sometimes. Kakashi had never really felt the urge to take him up on the offer, but it had still felt nice knowing that Minato-sensei was there if he ever wanted to.
Though Kakashi can think of few people less suitable for comfort than him.
Either way, Sakura shrugs quietly. She's sitting up, hugging her knees close to her chest. Her gaze is lowered, not meeting his.
"I was drowning," she finally says.
Not sure of what to say, Kakashi just makes a vague sound of acknowledgement.
"The bear was there and he was tearing into my back, and I couldn't breathe and … I was so cold, sensei." She shivers and pulls the blanket closer around herself.
Kakashi hums. He wishes he could chase the nightmares away somehow; protect her from these terrors. Instead, he vows that he'll do everything in his power to protect her from future terrors.
"It gets better," he tells her at last. "The nightmares, I mean. They can be bad at first but … eventually they go away." Or are exchanged for new nightmares, in his case. "They won't come as often and … you'll learn to deal with your fears."
He's startled awake by her nightmares four more times that night, leaving them both bleary eyed and exhausted in the morning.
Which makes it all that much worse when he's called away on a mission already that day.
She's alone.
Kakashi-sensei is gone. Again. Leaving her alone with his wolf cub.
Gin, she corrects herself. She's alone, in Kakashi-sensei's apartment, with Gin.
And contrary to what he'd threatened, he hasn't actually left Pakkun or any of the dogs to supervise her while he's gone.
He's only going to be gone for a couple of hours, but for the time being …
It's just her.
And Gin.
Alone.
She sits on the couch, staring into the wall, trying to decide what this means to her.
She doesn't like being left behind, again, but then this isn't like him leaving her on Okami Island. She's safe in Konoha.
Isn't she?
Except, there'd been that merchant who'd come after her. Or, he hadn't really been a merchant. He'd been a missing nin from Kiri. And there's potentially more of them out there, out for her or revenge for their comrade.
She's not scared, she's just … lowkey expecting an avalanche to happen at any moment.
Or, you know, for a bear to come after her, or …
Kakashi-sensei is going to come back, isn't he?
A vague sound and the smell of ammonia pulls her out of her reverie.
"No, Gin, stop! Bad dog!"
The wolf looks at her, clearly confused rather than chastised.
Sakura sighs, and retrieves paper towels to wipe away the urine.
"I suppose you don't know any better yet, but you're supposed to pee outside," she grumbles.
Once she's wiped the pee up as best as she can, she throws the paper towels in the trash. It still smells of ammonia, and so she might just take the trash out while she's at it. And maybe show Gin a better place to relieve himself in the process.
Yeah, that sounds like a good start for a plan.
"Come on Gin," she says, slipping into her sandals. "Let's go out."
He happily skips along, eagerly pressing past her through the door and hurrying down the stairs.
"Hold up Gin! Wait for me!"
But the wolf ignores her call, having spotted a cat on the other side of the street and immediately setting off after it.
"Gin!"
Hastily, Sakura throws the trash in the nearest bin before hurrying after Gin. He's already out of sight, but easy enough to follow thanks to the grumbling civilians. Unfortunately, from what Sakura can tell, he's heading straight for the marketplace.
"Sorry!" Sakura says, dodging around an angry looking man. She presses through a group of teenagers, a couple of years older than her. "Sorry, I'm in a hurry. Gin, get back here!"
If he hears her, he still ignores her.
Resigned, Sakura heads for the rooftops. Clearly, Gin has the advantage of speed and agility down on the street, but she might be able to keep up with him on the roofs.
"Gin! Where are you?"
People look up at her as she passes by, but Sakura ignores them. What will Kakashi-sensei even do if she manages to lose Gin within hours of him leaving Gin in her care?
"Look out!"
"Is that a wolf?"
"Watch where you're going, you useless critter!"
"Poor kitty!"
Sakura follows the stream of exclamations.
"Gin! Come here!"
In the busy streets it's next to impossible to spot him, especially as he swerves left and right, continuing the chase through alleyways and passages she's too high up to even spot.
"I swear the Inuzuka have less and less control over their dogs every day-"
"Aw, it's just a puppy! He probably just escaped from his owner and-"
"Stay out of here, mutt!"
"Did you see those teeth?"
"Did you see those eyes? Something's wrong with that dog, I'm telling you-"
Stupid wolf, Sakura thinks. And stupid Kakashi-sensei, for leaving her to take care of the wolf in the first place! What does she know about taking care of wolves anyway? She doesn't know how to take care of a dog, much less a wolf!
"Is that-?"
"Sakura? You're back in Konoha!"
She almost misses the fact that someone is actually talking to her, until Aimi suddenly appears in front of her, forcing Sakura into a halt. A moment later, she's enveloped in a hug.
"You're back, Sakura! We were so worried when you just disappeared like that-"
"-until we discovered you were on a mission with your sensei," Takeshi continues Aimi's exclamation, appearing next to them. He doesn't join the hug, but is visibly happy to see her anyway.
"Y'know, it's common courtesy to at least leave a note for your roommates," Tomomi says, from somewhere behind Sakura.
"Yeah, I could've sworn that was, like, genin lesson number 1," Hajime adds. "Didn't we teach her that, Tomomi? Are we bad teachers?"
Laughter escapes Sakura, and finally Aimi lets her go.
"I'm sorry. Sensei kind of pulled me away in a hurry, and I guess I just kind of forgot."
She looks from Aimi to Takeshi to Hajime and Tomomi. They look … just the same. Not that she really would have expected much to change, given that it's barely been two weeks since she last saw them, but still. She doesn't feel the same she did when she left, so it's almost strange to find them the same.
"What are you in such a hurry for?" Aimi finally asks.
Which abruptly reminds Sakura of what she's doing.
"Oh, I'm looking for Kakashi-sensei's wolf cub! He wet the floor, and when I went to throw out the trash-"
"Did you say wolf?"
"Your sensei has a wolf?"
"-he got away and now he's chasing after a cat, I think, and I have to find him or Kakashi-sensei will probably kill me. Or maybe not, but he'll be really mad, because he fought a demon or something to get him and-"
"Demon?!"
"As in, a demon-demon?"
"Sakura, I really think you're missing a couple of steps in this explanation of yours, because-"
"-apparently Gin is a part of some sort of really important Hatake coming-of-age-thingy-"
"Who's Gin?"
"-you're really not making much sense, I'm afraid."
"-and I can't lose him on the first day of looking after him!"
Sakura looks at Aimi and Takeshi, and then Hajime and Tomomi, only finding confusion and worry in their eyes.
"Sakura ..," Tomomi says slowly, her voice carefully soft, "are you … alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine! I've just got these scars on my back from when the bear got to me-"
A gasp escapes Aimi, and Tomomi frowns worriedly.
"-but Tsunade-sama said I'm in the clear, so long as I take it easy for the next couple of days, so don't worry!"
None of them look even remotely relieved at her assurance.
"Anyway, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but Gin is getting away, so I really must get going!"
With those words she shoots off again, continuing her chase for the wayward wolf. He's gotten much further ahead while she's been held up, so he's more difficult to follow now.
"Hold on, Sakura-"
"I really don't think-"
"Sakura!"
"Sorry!" Sakura shouts the word over her shoulder, promising herself to give them all a proper explanation as soon as possible.
Keeping careful watch over the streets below her, Sakura follows what she hopes is the trace of Gin.
An old man picking up his dropped groceries, grumbling over "that damned dog".
A child crying, as their parent tries to comfort them. "The kitty will be alright, I promise."
"Sometimes you really miss the Uchiha Police force. At least they kept those shinobi and their pets decently under control, y'know."
"I can't believe the Inuzuka are allowing this-"
A loud shriek, somewhere further ahead, catches Sakura's attention, and she hurries on. That cannot possibly be good.
"Get this beast away from me!"
"Aw, come on! Not on my day off! This is so troublesome …"
"Stop complaining, you lazy-"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever."
Finally Sakura comes to a halt again, surveying the scene before her. She has now reached the market place, and a cat is perched perilously on top of a half-toppled-over stand, currently only supported by the poor owner of the stand and … a shadow?
"Gin!" she exclaims when she spots the wolf cub, apparently caught mid-jump by the same shadow that's currently supporting the stand.
"Sakura?!"
As she lands on the ground, Sakura turns towards the exclamation, finding Ino staring at her. Ino, Choji and Shikamaru.
Which explains the strange shadows.
"Ah, hi Ino. Choji. Shikamaru."
Ino and Choji both nod in greeting, looking surprised to see her.
Shikamaru just grunts. "So, are you going to deal with this or not?"
"Sorry!" She hurries over, carefully catching Gin.
The moment Shikamaru releases the wolf from his jutsu, she's got an armful of wrestling wolf cub, desperate to get free and continue the chase of the cat.
"Ino, Choji, would you?"
At Shikamaru's calm urging, the two move to help the owner of the stand push it back upright, before Shikamaru finally releases that part of the jutsu as well. Ino somehow manages to convince the cat to come down to her, and holds it protectively against her chest even as Gin barks like … well, a wild animal.
"Haven't you caused enough trouble already?" Sakura scolds. "Calm down already!"
More people join Choji in helping the stand's owner to pick up his wares, and Sakura startles when she realises that it's Aimi and the others.
"So there really is a wolf," Hajime states, stepping up to help Sakura calm Gin down.
"Of course there is! I told you so, didn't I?"
Tomomi snorts, and Sakura briefly glares at her, before Gin's struggles force her attention back to him.
"Hold on a sec." Hajime heads over to a nearby stand, drops a couple of coins for the vendor and returns with a rope. Swiftly, he ties it into a loop, just big enough to fit over Gin's head, fastening it a bit further as soon as it's in place around his neck. "There, try to let him go now."
Exhausted, and relieved, Sakura hesitantly lets Gin go, almost expecting him to somehow escape the makeshift leash. However, as he charges towards Ino and the cat, he comes to an abrupt halt as the rope tightens.
"There," Hajime says, "much better."
He hands her the rope, and she wraps it around her hands a couple of times in order to ensure that she won't accidentally drop it anyway. Given his size, Gin is surprisingly strong!
"Now, Sakura, I think you owe us all an explanation," Tomomi says, returning the last of the dropped wares to the stand, then turning to look at Sakura and Gin. "Don't you think?"
Finally able to somewhat relax, now that Gin is at least on a leash, Sakura realises that she's got the attention of a whole lot of people. Tomomi, Aimi, Takeshi and Hajime, as well as Ino, Choji and Shikamaru. Not to mention some annoyed looking civilians, still glaring daggers at both her and Gin.
"Yeah, I guess so," she agrees sheepishly. "It's just … kind of a long story."
"How about you tell it over dinner?" Shikamaru suggests. "We were just on our way to Yakiniku Q."
"Sure! That sounds good. Just, uh …" she glances down at Gin, who's finally stopped barking but is still pulling on the leash. "Just let me leave Gin at home, and I'll meet you all there, alright? My treat?"
It's the least she can do, for all the trouble Gin has caused.
Or rather, paying for dinner is the least Kakashi-sensei can do for all the trouble Gin has caused. And conveniently, thanks to packing away his things when she had to leave his old apartment, she's got a pretty good idea of where he keeps a decently large amount of emergency cash.
Twenty minutes later Sakura joins the others at Yakiniku Q, still sweaty and embarrassed from chasing Gin.
"So, Sakura, tell us everything," Ino says.
And Sakura does.
After dinner they all part ways; team 10 heading back towards their respective compounds, and Tomomi, Hajime, Aimi and Takeshi heading for the Genin Corps' dormitories.
"Aren't you coming, Sakura?" Aimi asks, when she realises Sakura isn't following them.
"Sorry. I've got to look after Gin, and I don't think he'd do too well in the dormitories."
"Right. Well, see you later then?"
"Yeah, see you guys later!"
She heads back towards Kakashi-sensei's apartment. On the way, she stops by a convenience store to buy a large bag of dog food. The store doesn't have proper leashes or collars, but the cashier suggests a nearby pet shop. It's closed, but will open again tomorrow morning, so Sakura makes a mental note to go there.
When she arrives back home, she finds the apartment in disarray.
She's been gone maybe an hour, but in that time Gin has somehow managed to destroy all of the pillows of the couch, including the blanket she'd been using, chewed up an impressively large part of the carpet, pissed on the floor and, judging from the scent, pooped somewhere as well. Further exploration shows that there's a number of kunai and shuriken strewn around both the kitchen and the living room, and somehow the stovetop is on. The only reason nothing has been set on fire is probably because Gin hasn't been able to reach something far up enough to fall onto the stove top.
Sakura hastens to turn the stove top off, grateful that she won't have to tell Kakashi-sensei that she's burned down his apartment again.
"Come on," she sighs. "Let's get you another walk."
She walks him around the block, careful to keep him on the makeshift leash, but he doesn't do anything other than stop to sniff every couple of steps.
When they return to the apartment she pours a decent amount of the dog food - dry kibbles that, according to the packaging, contain all the vitamins a growing puppy needs - into one of Kakashi-sensei's two soup bowls. She fills the other one with water, and puts them both on the floor for Gin.
He sniffs the bowls, hesitant at first. He drinks from the water, and then moves on to the kibble. Sakura isn't sure whether kibble is the right food for a wolf pup, but she figures it's as close as she can get. It's not as if the convenience store had an isle for wolf food, after all.
Maybe the pet store will, though Sakura doubts it.
Then again, perhaps it would be better to just feed him meat? She'll do that if he doesn't like the kibble, she decides.
Luckily, it seems like she won't have to worry about that, because after a hesitant taste Gin proceeds to practically inhale every single kibble in the bowl.
While Gin is busy with the food, she begins the process of cleaning up. She starts by collecting the weapons, putting them in piles on the counter top where Gin won't be able to reach them. Then she sweeps the floors, collecting the ruined pillows, the stuffing and the remains of the chewed up carpet. It makes several large trash bags, and she's careful to lock the door behind her as she takes the trash out.
"There you are. Good. The Boss wasn't sure where you'd be."
The voice, coming from somewhere behind her in the darkness, startles Sakura badly enough that she hurls the last of the trash bags in the general direction of the voice.
Pakkun dodges it easily, giving her a vaguely offended look from atop Bull.
"Sorry," she sighs, retrieving the trash and throwing it away. "You just startled me."
"You need to become more aware of your surroundings. And your reflexes are horrible."
She suppresses the urge to apologise for that too.
"Is Kakashi-sensei coming back home soon?"
"Tomorrow, probably. He'd hoped to be back tonight already, but things are taking a bit longer than he'd hoped."
"Oh."
They follow her up the stairs as she heads back to the apartment.
"He's worried," Pakkun says. "How're you doing?"
"Fine, I guess. It's just … been a long day."
"Anything we can do to help?"
She unlocks the door but doesn't open it, turning instead to look at Pakkun.
"Any chance that you could talk to Gin? Tell him to do his business outside and don't chew on everything?"
"Sorry, I don't talk wolf."
Sakura sighs dejectedly. There went any hope of an easy solution to her problems.
She opens the door to let the dogs in, careful not to let Gin out.
"I thought dogs and wolves were related?" she grumbles, more to herself than to Pakkun or Bull.
"Distantly. We're like … cousins," Pakkun explains anyway. "From different countries. Kind of understand each other a little bit, but not much."
"Okay. That makes sense, I guess. Any chance that you know anything about how to take care of a puppy? Or … wolf puppy, I guess?"
Pakkun gets a strange gleam in his eyes, levelling Sakura with a serious look.
"See, now we're talking. Boss has eight dogs in total, but I was his first. I've been there to help raise the others. Right, Bull?"
The large dog nods his head sagely, seemingly wholly unbothered by the weight of Pakkun on top of it.
"I think we'll be able to give you a tip here and there on how to handle the wolf. And speaking of," Pakkun stands, walking until he's standing just by Bull's short tail, where Gin is sniffing curiously, "SHOW SOME MANNERS YOU MUTT!"
The last part is shouted loudly enough that Gin jumps backwards in pure surprise, and followed by a strict growl from Pakkun.
Gin folds his ears down, tail between his legs, and sits down.
"There. That's better." Pakkun sits again, calmly turning his attention back to Sakura. "Now, what have you done so far?"
It's a good thing he'd seent Bull and Pakkun back to look after Sakura, Kakashi decides as he returns home in the wee hours of the morning.
He's greeted at the door by an eager Gin, jumping at him and demanding attention. Bull and Pakkun are more reserved in their greetings, neither of them bothering to get up from the couch.
A glance around the room confirms what his nose has already told him. The tatami mats have already been chewed to pieces, the stuffing on the couch appears to be more or less gone, and there's an unmistakable scent of ammonia and cleaning detergents.
"Had an accident, did we?" he mutters to Gin, burying his face in the soft fur.
"Not much of an accident, if you ask me." Pakkuns voice is quiet but derisive, the glare he sends Gin speaking by itself.
Gin appears wholly unbothered, peppering Kakashi's face with eager licks.
"Where's Sakura?"
"Sleeping." Pakkun tilts his head in the direction of Kakashi's bedroom, indicating where. "Poor thing looked like she needed it, so Bull and I agreed to babysit for the night."
Bulls sighs and puts his head down on his paws again, clearly indicating that the babysitting was more Pakkuns idea than his.
"I see."
Standing, Kakashi walks over to the door to his bedroom, opening it just enough to peek inside. As Pakkun had said, Sakura is asleep. In his bed. His kunai-patterned covers pulled all the way up to her chin.
Well, considering the state of the main room he cannot really blame her for taking the bed. Even if it means that he himself won't be getting much sleep tonight.
Quietly, he closes the door again.
Since Bull and Pakkun take up the majority of the couch, Kakashi opts instead to sit on the floor. Immediately, Gin is in his lap, demanding attention again.
"This won't work, Boss." Pakkun's voice is just as quiet as before, his gaze now more serious than derisive.
Kakashi sighs, feeling his shoulders slump tiredly. "I know."
"Pups need space. Especially when you've got two of them."
Closing his eyes, Kakashi steels himself against the wave of resignation crashing over him.
"I know," he repeats.
Kakashi is used to raising puppies. He's got eight dogs, after all, even if they're summons. They've all spent a considerable amount of time with him, over the years, as both he and them have grown up.
This is different.
This is …
He pulls his fingers away, as Gin starts chewing on them, gently correcting the pup's unwanted behaviour. Opening his eyes, he looks down on the wolf pup. Wolves and dogs are not the same, and raising a wolf pup full time will be an entirely different experience than raising eight dog summons over the course of a decade.
Unlike Pakkun and the others, Gin won't be able to return to the dog-realm whenever he gets bored or isn't needed anymore. It'll be a year until Gin is old enough to actually train for real, and two until he's reached adulthood. Until then, he'll need basic training, food and water, regular walks, somewhere to sleep, somewhere where he'll be able to run around properly …
Living in an apartment really isn't ideal for a wolf pup.
And it's not just that. As Pakkun has pointed out, Kakashi doesn't just have one pup. He has two.
Sakura will need accommodations too. Sure, he could send her back to the Genin Corps' Dormitories, but that would still leave him with the problem of what to make out of Gin when he has to go on missions. Gin would not fit in at the Genin Corps' Dormitories, at least not until he's been properly trained.
Pups need space, as Pakkun had put it.
The problem is, space is difficult to come by these days.
Apartments are still in high demand from the invasion, and getting his hands on a house with some land to it would be next to impossible. It's not that there aren't such places, just that those places that would work already belong to the clans. And it's not as if any of the clans would let Kakashi move in on their land. The Hyuga dislike him on principle, on account of his sharingan, the Nara are notoriously protective of their forest, the Yamanaka vehemently protective of their jutsu and unwilling to let strangers into their compound. The Akimichi might be more friendly than most, but even they would hesitate given that Kakashi does not come alone but with a wolf in tow.
In other words, there's only one place Kakashi can reasonably expect to find a house with a suitable amount of land, ready for him to move in on short notice.
No, he thinks. Absolutely not. And yet … The Hatake lands are literally made for raising wolves. Gin would be able to run around freely there, and Kakashi would only have to worry about the other Hatake clan members, neither of whom would dare to hurt the wolf.
He'd be able to have his own house. It'd be large enough for Sakura to get her own bedroom, so she wouldn't have to sleep in the dormitories any more.
But there'd be other people there too.
She would be there. Kakashi does not want Hatake Sarana anywhere near either of his pups.
He flops backwards, until his back hits the floor, and stares up at the ceiling. When did he start thinking about Sakura as pack? As his pup? Was it before or after the stupid journey to Okami Island? He can't remember.
Gin sniffs him curiously, before deciding that Kakashi is clearly just playing. Eagerly, he bites on to Kakashi's sleeve and starts tugging.
"Fuck me," he says to no one in particular. "I don't have a choice, do I?"