A couple months had passed and Kakashi was finally staring at the most heart-stopping piece of paperwork to ever sit on his desk.

Sakura was due to return from her mission almost three months ago and still no one had seen a hair of her. Kakashi had sent out search teams for her; the ninken and Naruto joining whoever went every time. But no good news had made its way back to him. Just pitiful stares and hopeless expressions.

Kakashi had felt like he was quickly falling apart at the seams with each passing day. His mind had been flooded with worry and fear, every other thought drowning in his head. He had barely been sleeping. Every time he closed his eyes, he was only welcomed with a different nightmare. Possibilities that he didn't want to consider and would continue to deny until his voice was hoarse.

She wasn't gone.

She couldn't be. This was his Sakura. She was a more than capable shinobi, better than him and Tsunade. She didn't fail her missions or show up weeks late. After all he'd seen her live through, there was no way she'd be taken out so easily. She wasn't gone. She couldn't be.

Then, where was she?

Kakashi's eyes fell back to the paper, thick letters screaming back at him.

M.I.A.

K.I.A.

Rogue.

How simple flicks of ink could cause such pain to twist inside of him like blades in his lungs, he'd never know. But they did, and he couldn't take it. He couldn't breathe.

He didn't know how long he'd stared at the paper, but soon his eyes began to sting, and he closed them tightly. He tried to think of something, anything, that could make the situation less heartbreaking.

"She'll come home, Kakashi-sensei. Believe in her." Naruto's words spoke through a thick and stubborn voice floated through his mind and he held on to them like a lifeline.

Kakashi ran a hand through his hair, repeating the words to himself before shoving the paper aside. She will.

Shizune had been the one to bring the paper back out a week later. The only thing that stopped him from snapping at her was the fact that she was torn apart about it too.

Kakashi swallowed thickly before reaching out for his pen with shaky fingers. The pen hovered above daunting letters for only a few seconds, before it clattered to the desk and Kakashi had his head in his hands.

He couldn't…

"Kashi, are you crying?" The voice interrupted the painful silence of his office and he almost didn't want to look up in case he was dreaming.

But he did, and she was there like she had never left, standing beside his desk caked in dirt and more than a few cuts. But she was there.

Kakashi was on his feet before he could think any further and pulled her into his arms. He could feel himself shaking in her arms and was aware that tears were escaping his eyes to stain at her clothes. He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt both so broken and fixed. He knew she'd never seen him like this, but she didn't comment and only tightened her hold on him.

She whispered soothing words into his hair and kissed reassurances into his skin.

"I'm here, Kakashi."

"I'm alive."

"We're okay."

"I love you."

"I'm not going anywhere."