Never say Never (Kakashi x OC)

The Truth

The procedure Tsunade-sama carried out in order to fix Hajita's wounded body took 6 hours in total. 6 hours of Kakashi waiting in front of the door. 6 hours of not sleeping, not eating, not even moving. All he could think about was that he had failed. Not only the mission, but also his promise to protect her. When the doors of the operation theatre finally opened, he didn't even let Tsunade catch her breath and started to interrogate her right away.

"How did the surgery go? Did it work? Is she ok?" he asked the Godaime who took a deep breath.

"I did what I could. But the treatment may have been initiated too late for her to be able to recover completely. I'm afraid she might suffer some kind of long-term effects." She admitted and lowered her eyes "Sorry, Kakashi."

When Tsunade visited her former apprentice the following day at the hospital, she noticed that to her great surprise Kakashi still hadn't left Hajita's side.

"I didn't know you felt so strongly about her" the Godaime said. He looked so lost and worried she suddenly felt the urge to comfort him. "You see, I've known her for a long time. Hajita is strong. Just like her brother Naruto. All Uzumaki's are gifted with an exceptionally long lifespan and a remarkable chakra recovery. She will be alright in the end." She said as she left the room.

Despite having the fast-healing-genes of the Uzumaki clan, Hajita didn't regain consciousness for another two days. Thus she wasn't aware of Kakashi not leaving her bedside once nor of Naruto coming back from his journey with Jiraiya. She wasn't aware of Gai bringing her new flowers every day nor of Minari crying at Daisuke's shoulder about what had happened. She did not open her eyes again until Naruto yelled at his former sensei during his visit, tears of anger flowing down his face.

"You promised!" he cried as he hit Kakashi straight in the face. Hajita was shocked to see that Kakashi didn't even make the slightest effort to defend himself at all.

"Stop it, you two" she said in a weak voice. Both of them froze instantly and looked at her.

"Look at you, Ototo. You've grown so much." She said and warmly smiled at her little brother. At that, Naruto lost it. Crying like a baby, he threw himself onto her holding her tight.

"How long have you been awake?" Kakashi wanted to know.

"I just woke up to the sound of my dear little brother screaming at you" she replied and was about to nudge Naruto when she noticed the heavy bandages on her hands. She looked at them questioningly and then back at Kakashi again, who sighed and began to tell her how Team Yosochimu's latest mission had ended. Ever since he had brought her to the hospital, Kakashi had prepared himself mentally for that talk. He had decided to not leave out any details because he knew that she needed to know the truth.

When Kakashi had finished, Hajita looked down at her hands and a wave of emotions rolled over her. She was ashamed that she got fooled by some stupid genjutsu, angry at herself that she had let down her team, hurt from the injuries and sad about the possibility that some scars would remain. She felt so overwhelmed by all those feelings, she needed some time to herself to process everything. Hoping to get some space, she told her visitors that she was tired. Despite not being known for his all-too-sensitive nature, Naruto immediately understood and jumped up.

"Good idea. You really look like you should get some more rest, ya know. Besides, Iruka sensei promised me he would treat me to some ramen tonight, so I'll better get going. I'll be back tomorrow, Onechan." Naruto smiled at his big sister and hurried towards his free meal.

To her surprise, Kakashi hadn't moved an inch.

"I'm tired" she said once again and looked at Kakashi who still showed no intentions on leaving.

"Then I recommend going to sleep" he suggested pretending not to notice her confused expression while sitting down on the chair beside her bed. He simply got out his book and started to read.

Too weak to argue, she decided not to question his presence any further. Hearing about her mistakes and thinking about all the consequences that had derived from her actions had exhausted her. As a medic ninja, she knew too well what the possible aftermath could look like. Yet, she tried not to worry about her recovery and the eventual long-term damage too much and made it her mantra to take one day at a time. She tried to relax and found that with Kakashi watching over her, it was not as difficult to calm down as she had feared. His presence soothed her like it always did. She closed her eyes and drifted off to a restless dream of bloody hands and ugly scars.

The next time she woke, Kakashi still hadn't left her side. He had fallen asleep on the chair next to her bed; his head resting on his arms beside her legs. What is up with him lately? Hajita wondered. Why isn't he mad at me for failing the mission? Why is he still here? Why does he care? She had so many questions she wanted to ask him, but deep down she feared she might never get any answers from this ever-so-quiet man. She looked at his partly masked face and noticed the dark circles under his eye. She decided it was her turn to watch over him and help him get some rest. She carefully stroked his soft hair with the two remaining intact fingers peaking out from the otherwise heavily bandaged hand and watched him sleep for the next hours. When he finally woke, he blinked at her and noticed that the usual warm smile on her face was missing. On the contrary, she looked pretty serious. Kakashi rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and prepared himself for whatever was to come.

"Why are you still here?" Hajita wanted to know.

"Why not?" Kakashi countered.

Hajita angrily squinted her eyes together. "Fine, don't tell me. I knew you would evade my questions, just like you evaded me ever since that night after the cemetery visit. But that's ok. I've got a lot more questions. I'll just keep asking until I get answers. What promise was my little brother talking about?" she asked getting angry at the man who seemed to shy away from being honest with her.

"You can tell me, you know." Her voice cracked and Kakashi noticed her eye colour change ever so slightly to a more greenish tint like it always did when she was upset. "I'm sick of you not telling me. I know that you keep something from me, and I hate that feeling. So please, would you tell me why my little brother punched you in the face and you look as guilty as can be right now?"

Here we go, Kakashi thought. Her ability to sense emotions can for sure be uncomfortable sometimes. It wasn't that she could read his mind (like he had feared when they first met as kids) but somehow Hajita always knew exactly when he was keeping something from her. But it slowly dawned on him that she needed the truth about her injuries as much as she needed the truth about his feelings. At the thought he gulped.

"Right before he left" Kakashi started to talk "your brother made me promise to protect you not matter what. You see, he was worried about leaving you alone and wanted to make sure you were safe. That's why I had the Godaime put us in a team together so that I could have an eye on you. But he was right yesterday. I failed. Not only the mission, but to protect you."

Hajita was about to cut him off when she sensed the change in his chakra to a almost painful mixture of guilt, sadness and despair. Touched by his feelings, she looked at him and could tell that there was more he wanted to say, but that he didn't find the right words. Since she knew him not to be the most articulate of all people, she forced herself to be patient and remained silent until he was ready to continue.

"At first, being around you merely was part of this arrangement. But as we spent more time together at training, I got to know you. I watched you train as hard as your little brother, and saw how disciplined and strong-willed you are. How you smile even when you hurt inside. How deeply you love this city and how much protecting your teammates means to you." Kakashi took a deep breath before he dared to say the next words out loud. "And then, everything changed the night we met at the cemetery. Because I realised that you and I are not so different. We share the same mindset, we have experienced the same tragedy, and we have suffered the same pain." And all of a sudden, the next words came out easily.

"I realised we both went through hell, but you came out an angel."