Of Senbons and Shinobi

Summary: Sasuke is being healed by Kakashi after being hurt by Haku in the Land of Waves. My own personal spin-off. KakaSasu father/son relationship. Not intended to be Yaoi but you can squint if you want.

A/N - GUESS WHO'S BACK!? I know, I know… it's been forever. But I am FINALLY back! And I'm older! Wiser! Awesomer! Annoying...er.

Anyways, enjoy the show!

"Sasuke! Sasuke!" He heard the familiar high pitched voice crying his name, and he fought to open his eyes. His entire body burned, and he strained to remember why. The last thing he remembered was lunging towards Haku as he went in for the kill at his comrade.

'Where am I…' he thought to himself, forcing his eyes to open. Bright light immediately stung and he squeezed them shut again and let out a moan of pain. His whole body ached and he found himself weakly trembling.

"Sasuke?" The voice now seemed hopeful, and he felt a weight lifted off of him. He slowly opened his eyes again, this time seeing blurs of pink and red. He connected the colors and voice to his teammate.

"Sakura?" He tested his voice carefully, instantly regretting how soft and helpless he sounded. At the same time, however, he felt almost too relieved to care.

"Sasuke! You're okay!" Sakura cried happily, diving into a hug, her thin arms wrapping around his neck a little too tightly. Sasuke immediately let out a small cry of pain.

"Sakura, that hurts!" She let go of him, more gentle than before, and wiped a tear from her cheek.

"I'm glad you're okay! I was so worried!" With the help of his teammate, he eases himself into a sitting position, checking himself out. Senbon were everywhere, sticking out everywhere in his body. He looked as if he had just fought with a metal porcupine. Looking at the wounds seemed to cause more issues, however, as he began panting heavily from the pain.

"Where is the masked man…" He managed through gritted teeth, attempting to stand. He immediately regretted it as he fell back down with a hiss of pain.

"Don't try to move!" Sakura immediately chirps. "The boy… is dead. I'm not too sure on the details, but I know he died trying to save Zabuza."

Sasuke seemed lost in thought, until a painful lurch in his stomach made him cry out and clench his body. 'Where is… Naruto and Kakashi?' He thought to himself, straining to breathe.

"Are you alright, Sasuke?" Sakura immediately panicked. She had no idea what to do in this situation. "Sasuke?" Her voice raises in volume as she sees him buckle to the ground, moaning in pain.

"Kakashi-sensei!" She screams, successfully getting both her teacher's and blonde teammate's attention away from the bodies of their former enemies. They hurry over to the injured Uchiha and Kakashi kneels down beside him.

"Naruto informed me of what happened." He says simply, watching in pity as Sasuke lets out another cry of pain, and falls to his side, clenching the fabric of his shirt at his chest. His entire body in trembling. Kakashi reaches for his student and puts a hand reassuringly on his shoulder, being careful of all of the senbon jutting out around it, and uses his other to gently pry away one of Sasuke's arms towards him. He holds him by the wrist and takes a pulse while watching his student cry and tremble on the ground beside him. 'I failed as a teacher… I failed to protect him...'

"Kakashi-sensei… Sasuke is gonna be alright, isn't he?" Naruto asks him worriedly. He can't bear to watch his teammate in all of this agony, especially since he was in this condition because of him. He bites his lip. 'I'm sorry, Sasuke…'

"He'll be fine. Although it doesn't look like it, his injuries are not too severe. Senbon rarely kill, and the boy was not trying to kill him. He is in a lot of pain, but he will definitely make it."

Sakura breaths a sigh of relief at her sensei's words. "What do we do now?" She looks at her vulnerable teammate. "He needs medical attention."

"Ahh, don't you worry about that Sakura." Kakashi smiles at her through his mask. "Once we get back to Tazuna's house I can heal him up there."

Another heart wrenching cry breaks the conversation as Sasuke attempts to roll on his back, but stops halfway and screams in even more agony as senbon needles pierce through his skin even deeper. The team panics at the scene.

"Sensei he is going to harm himself further if we don't do something!" Sakura cries in worry. Kakashi wastes no time, he scoops Sasuke up in his arms and brings himself back up on his feet. Although he is extremely gentle, the injured boy continues to cry out. He attempts to trash in his sensei's arms, no longer connected with the world.

"Sasuke, can you hear me?" Kakashi asks the boy. When nothing changes in the boy's behavior, he sighs sadly. "Naruto, Sakura, help me out here. Pool your chakras into him." Naruto and Sakura immediately follow the order, both of them coming up beside their sensei. Naruto and Sakura reach through the flailing limbs and rest a hand on his chest, sending small amounts of their own chakra into their teammate. Kakashi does the same, through his student's back that he is already supporting.

Sasuke finally relaxes, his body stilling in his teacher's arms, becoming heavy with dead weight. He moans quietly, the pain of the injuries fighting with the gentle waves of his friend's chakra in his body, but makes no movement.

"We're gonna get you fixed up, Sasuke. Just hold on, we're going back to Tazuna's house now." Kakashi whispers to his student, who starts to tremble slightly in his sensei's hands. Kakashi brings a gloved hand to his student's forehead, and through his headband, sends a special wave of chakra to his student to send his student to sleep. As he feels his student's body sink deeper into him, he finally can release the breath he'd been holding.

"Come on guys, lets get him to Tazuna's house." Naruto and Sakura simply nod and the three walk over to where their client is standing. He stares at them patiently as they near him.

"You don't need to say a word, Kakashi. Let me guide you to my home."

The walk home was quiet, the silence weighing deeply in the air. No one said a word to each other, making the ten minute walk feel like they finally arrived, everyone simply slipped off their shoes in silence.

"Tazuna, do you have a place where I can tend to his wounds?" Kakashi asks.

"Yes, I do. Take our guest bedroom, no one uses it." He gestures to where the bedroom is. His daughter, Tsunami enters the room with little Inari in tow, and upon seeing Sasuke unconscious in Kakashi's arms, she immediately hands the basket of towels she's holding to her son.

"I'll go get the medical supplies." She says quickly. "Inari! Put those towels on the table and come help me!" Inari wastes no time following his mother to their medicine closet.

Kakashi sighs in relief, knowing everything is going to be alright after all. "Naruto, Sakura, you stay here with Mr. Tazuna."

"But sensei-" Sakura begins to object, but Naruto immediately puts an arm out across her to silence her. She looks at him expectantly, but he says nothing, except stares at his fallen teammate with an unreadable look.

"We will be back." Kakashi states, before making his way to the bedroom with his student still limp in his arms. When he gets there, he is surprised to find Tsunami and Inari already there, holding baskets filled with things he would need.

"Thank you, you two. Would you mind laying one of those towels out on the ground for me?" Kakashi asks politely, knowing they would understand his hands were full. Tsunami sets her basket down and takes a white towel from Inari's basket, laying it out on the floor. Kakashi wastes no time setting his student down on it, noting the blood that was all over his clothes and now the towel. "I apologize for this. I will leave you some money to get some new towels. You'll need it after this."

"Oh no, it's no problem. It's nothing compared to what you have done for us." She smiles. "Let us know if there is anything else we can grab for you." She brings her basket down beside Kakashi and Inari does the same. They bow respectfully before they take their leave, closing the door behind them.

Kakashi wastes no time, taking out the numbing ointment he finds in the smaller basket Inari had brought. Although he was unfamiliar with the Land Of Waves treatments, the ingredients were similar to the ointments their own village uses. He rubs it around all of the senbon needles, taking note of how swollen and tender the skin is. After it's thoroughly smeared around all of the piercings, Kakashi slowly begins doing the dirty work. He slides each one out gently but firmly, making sure he doesn't further injure his student. Once a few are out, he takes some ragged hand towels and dabs them to the wounds, soaking up the fresh blood that begins to pour. After the bleeding reduces to a minimum, he sprays the stab wounds with antibiotic spray, and wraps them up with bandages.

He is about halfway done when he hears a small moan. He immediately stiffens, waiting to see how his student would react upon awakening. First, there is nothing. Then, after what seems like forever to the worried sensei, Sasuke's eyes finally flutter. Another groan escapes passed his lips, and he flops his head to the side groggily. Kakashi is thankful he has already taken out the needles that had pierced through his neck, as Sasuke lifts a hand to the bandaged area and rubs his tender skin.

"Where am I..?" He whispers, his voice hoarse and unsure. His vision is blurry, his ears only hearing a soft ring. His mind is foggy and he feels disoriented. Suddenly, he feels a heavy weight collapse onto his chest and long, muscular arms wrap around his neck as he's pulled into a hug. Sasuke takes in a deep breath, and immediately recognizes his sensei by the scent of dog hair, old ramen, and dried blood. The strange combination relaxes him as he knows he is in safe hands. As he strains to look at his sensei, all he can see is a blur of white hair.

"Sensei..?"

Kakashi's body begins to tremble. "I… I was so worried about you, Sasuke…" He stutters into Sasuke's chest. "As your sensei, I was supposed to be there for you, and I wasn't. I couldn't protect you. I'm sorry…" He softly cries into his student's chest. "I'm so sorry…"

Sasuke says nothing, laying silently as his sensei releases his emotions to him. "I… I love you Sasuke. You and Naruto and Sakura. I couldn't imagine what would happen if anything happened to any of you. And looking at you know, in the condition you're in…"

"Sensei…" Sasuke whispers weakly, raising a hand to his teacher's back, he weakly holds him against his own body in an attempt to return the hug. "I'm sorry I wasn't good enough for you…"

"Don't say that Sasuke!" Kakashi whips up in surprise. "You are just fine the way you are. Don't let anyone tell you differently, including yourself." Sasuke's vision starts to improve, and he focuses on Kakashi's face, noticing the blood stains on the mask and by his eyes. He blinks slowly and heavily, and reaches up almost helplessly at his teacher. Kakashi takes his hand in his own and squeezes.

"I've got about half of the needles out already. I numbed them with some ointment. Let's finish this up so you can get some rest." Sasuke nods, and with his teacher's help, manages to get into a sitting position. His entire body aches from head to toe with every little movement, and he winces in pain. Kakashi pats his bandaged shoulder and moves to his student's legs. "Are you ready?"

Sasuke can only nod and brace himself as his teacher firmly grasps the senbon needle, tearing it out from muscle and flesh as painlessly as he can. He can't help but cry out at the searing hot pain as blood comes rushing out of the wound.

"You're doing good Sasuke." Kakashi praises as he presses a bloody cloth to the area. "I know it hurts. Hang in there." He continues, comforting his student after every cry of pain. By the time he'd finally finished, Sasuke was nearly in tears. He pants heavily, his vision fogging again from blood loss and pain. He begins to zone off into his own world. Kakashi watches with worry, but says nothing. He pulls the dazed Uchiha into a hug, holding him tightly.

"I'm sorry Sasuke…" He finally whispers quietly into the boy's ear, keeping his voice low so no one but Sasuke could hear. "I promise… you'll never go through something like that again. I promise I'll protect you. You're like a son to me, Sasuke. And I love you."

He doesn't have to see the boy's face to know that his star student is crying.

It takes a good fifteen minutes, but Sasuke finally cries himself to sleep in Kakashi's arms. Kakashi feels his body weight shift his breathing even out, and he carefully brings his student to the small bed in the corner of the room. After making sure his student is still asleep, he gently lowers him to the bed and tucks him into the blankets securely.

Sasuke gives a soft, content sigh and snuggles deeper into the warmth of the bed. Kakashi can't help but smile to himself knowing that his prized student is safe and sound. He leans forward until he is nearly touching noses with the Uchiha. He pulls down his mask just long enough to give his student a warm, gentle kiss on the forehead. Before pulling away, he whispers softly into the boy's ear:

"I do mean it Sasuke. You're like a son to me. And I love you."

A/N - Awww! The KakaSasu father/son fluff! I hope you enjoyed! I really just wanted to make a small spin-off of what happened after the Land of Waves stuff.

This is a one-shot and nothing more, so please do not ask to make a sequel :)

I hope you enjoyed! There will be more Naruto stories to come!

~SasukeUchihasGuardian