Kakashi had known who his genin had faced in the forest the moment he saw Sakura slung over Sasuke's shoulder, wreathed in a dark mist.

There was fear in Sasuke's scent, and an unidentifiable hint of mustiness, of dark underground places, laced the currents of air. Anko had been on edge for days, rubbing at her neck when she thought no one was looking; she'd thrown herself into her exam antics with more gusto than usual, trying to drown the uneasiness. The darkening splotches on Sakura's shoulder, visible through the tear in her tunic, clinched it. Kakashi had seen Anko drunk many times, and naked not quite as many, though more than a few times both at once. He could recognize a cursed seal when he saw one. The pieces snapped together like the lines of intent when the sharingan opened. Orochimaru was here.

He'd informed the captain of the ANBU squad in quick field sign before sending them into the Forest, his tracking and retrieval pack picking up the warning and responding with soft growls. His immediate duty to the protection of the village dispensed, he could focus on his own priority: not letting his genin die.

Now, in the operating room, two nurses hooked Sakura up to an array of monitors. Her heartbeat appeared on a screen, inhumanly fast. Temperature and blood pressure rose quickly, settled on disturbingly high numbers. Deft hands sliced off her red tunic, baring overheated skin and the rapid flutter of shallow breaths. Green lights pulsed as diagnostic jutsu swept up and down her body. With another set of probes and wires clipped to fingertips and stuck to her ribs, oxygen saturation and chakra levels flickered up in orange light on another screen. Someone asked him for her name and rank.

The double doors of the operating room opened again; a doctor strode in, the chaotic patterns of activity shifting to accommodate him. One of the nurses attached himself to the doctor's elbow. "Twelve-year-old genin, malignant seal array, Fukuhara-sensei. Tachyarrythmia, fluctuating chakra production exceeding nine units; we're seeing fever, blistering, and venting of contaminated chakra." The nurse's steady voice faltered at the last, and his eyes flickered towards the rising ribbons of purple haze coming from Sakura's body.

Fukuhara opened Sakura's eyelids, reaching fearlessly through the malevolent light, and glanced over all the monitors. "Get Hiramitsu-sensei and Hyuuga Nobuo," he ordered. The nurse hurried away. Fukuhara swept his eyes over the rest of the people in the room. "Bring her temperature down," he told one of the medics. To another, "Get two units of synthetic chakra prepped. Do not administer. ANBU-san, you are free to leave at your discretion. Sharingan Kakashi," he said, turning to the only person not in white. "If you could assist me until Hyuuga-sensei arrives."

Kakashi stepped forward, lifting his headband. The heat of Sakura's body washed across him as he got near, like stepping into the way of an industrial exhaust vent. His skin prickled and tightened. On the other side of the table, nurses were bracketing her with ice packs. "Doctor," Kakashi acknowledged, voice dead steady.

"What can you tell me about the activity of the seal? Is there danger to my staff?"

He turned his stolen eye to his student. The lines running through her body, which should have been blue and smooth, were fragmenting, darkness leaching from the seal on her shoulder, swept around her coils by an accelerated flow of chakra. He couldn't see the tenketsu that were ineffectually trying to purge the contamination, but the streams rose from above her heart, solar plexus, and stomach; all sites of Gates. He said as much to the doctor, along with his opinion that it was a reaction by her body, not an action of the seal. Also, "The seal is rerouting the pathways that run to her heart and brain." The fragmenting was more than the overloading of coils meant for much lower pressures.

Fukuhara frowned. "Are there any choke points?"

Kakashi shook his head. "I cannot determine that much detail." The more he looked, the more the seal seemed familiar to him. More familiar than Anko's bitter, alcohol-soaked confessions would merit. Rerouting pathways, filtering chakra… His hand rose to rub the ANBU tattoo hidden beneath long sleeves.

These red spirals were an improvement on an older, more primitive seal the cadre had relied upon for decades. Packed into the tattoo's simple curves were layers upon layers of seal arrays. Seals to allow basic communication and homing between agents, to mark their chakra for identification, to burn their bodies when they died. The tattooing was a day long process, likened by some agents to torture, by others to childbirth. They were Minato's design; Minato, who had been Jiraiya's student, a seal master who had trained and fought alongside Orochimaru in their youth.

Two more doctors arrived in the room, and Kakashi stepped back, shaken. The Hyuuga engaged his bloodline limit; the second doctor circled around to observe the seal. Then they were talking rapid-fire in terms Kakashi only partially followed, green light was mixing with the purple, and Kakashi had to close his sharingan with its blue glow to keep from being sick.

Fukuhara stopped in front of him. "You're her sensei?" Kakashi nodded. "The seal is draining her chakra faster than she can replace it. We need to give her supplements before there's brain damage, while we work on isolating and stabilizing the seal. Her files list no bleeding disorders or history of clotting problems."

"No."

"No known reactions to synthetic chakra?"

"No."

"She's not taking soldier pills or methamphetamines?"

"Not to my knowledge."

The doctor nodded sharply. "Start a drip," he ordered a nurse. "One unit synthetic chakra."

A nurse wheeled an IV stand near; a needle slid easily into Sakura's limp arm. A tube filled slowly with pale liquid; droplets began to fall methodically into a cache, before sliding down the line towards Sakura's vein. On her other side, Hyuuga and Hiramatsu were bending over her shoulder, painting seals onto the skin around the curse mark with tiny brushes. Fukuhara held a palmful of green chakra over her forehead, watching the monitors.

The explosion knocked them all to the floor, pots of medical ink shattering against the walls. Metal trays crashed to the floor; someone screamed. Kakashi ducked a whip of dark chakra that burned a stripe across the white wall. He shut his own eye and snapped Obito's open, the world slowing down around him as the sharingan began to spin. Sakura arched on the table, eyes wide and blind, the center a maelstrom of furious energy. The sharingan found and tracked the tendrils of the seal that were sucking at the new energy source, taking it and twisting it into violence.

He ducked another thrashing streamer and lunged towards Sakura. Fukuhara was picking himself up off the floor, smeared with black ink. Kakashi held Sakura down as she began to scream; in moments, Fukuhara had the synthetic chakra feed disconnected, one hand pressed above her heart and the other pointed at the wall. "Keep her still," he said, voice steady, firm enough to be heard over the thunder of wild chakra and Sakura's gasping screams.

Kakashi braced his shoulder against her head and pressed down on her arms, keeping both eyes on Fukuhara. Dark chakra condensed around the fingers on Sakura's chest, wrapping around Fukuhara's white-clad arms and shooting off into the air from his outstretched hand. Hyuuga and Hiramitsu shook off debris and arranged themselves at the table again. The two nurses still in the room were frozen by the walls, the pressure of the tainted chakra as potent as killing intent.

"We need to isolate her cerebral paths," Fukuhara said calmly, ignoring the chakra blasting between his hands.

"We decided that was too risky," Hiramitsu said. His eyes were wide, voice raspy. An internal voice informed Kakashi that as a sealing specialist, Hiramitsu would likely have been inclined towards research and hospital work. He had probably never worked in the field, rarely faced down real killing intent. That he was even standing right now showed great willpower.

"Our other options have failed," the Hyuuga reminded his colleague. His clan training gave him a veneer of control, but Kakashi could smell the fear on him. "If we proceed, who will provide the feed?"

"Hatake?" Fukuhara asked.

He wasn't entirely sure what they were asking him to do, but that hardly mattered. "Whatever you need, sensei."

Hiramitsu salvaged a pot of ink and a brush, and began painting a line of seals across Sakura's throat and a semicircle curving in towards the curse seal. Hyuuga waited until he was finished, watching the flow of chakra with pale eyes. "Hatake," Fukuhara explained as they worked, "Once the barriers go up, I need you to start a chakra feed into her vertebral path. You're familiar with a civilian execution dose?"

Kakashi nodded. Fukuhara continued, "Give her half the power at ten percent the current. The seals will smooth it out, but they've got limited tolerances, so do your best to keep it steady."

Kakashi did the calculations in his head. To kill someone by pulsing chakra directly through the spinal coils was simple, and failsafe. No one could survive their brain being fried. The method was taught and practiced for assassinations; it was quiet, and if done at the lowest effective dose, left very little evidence. The dose varied for ninja and civilian; since a developed chakra network had more flexibility, it could absorb excess chakra, to a point. Kakashi was well-practiced in the technique; however he'd never used the method not to kill. He did the calculations again, roughing out the motions in his mind.

The intensity of the chakra Fukuhara was routing away was diminishing, and Kakashi began to smell the distinctive charred odor of burning meat. He glanced at Fukuhara's hands, then away. The gloves were gone; so was most of the skin on his palms.

"Do it soon," Fukuhara said, as the purple light flickered. The chakra monitor had been smashed away, but Kakashi didn't need to see it to know Sakura's life was draining away with the sick energy.

Hiramitsu nodded at the Hyuuga. "Are you ready, Hatake?" Hyuuga Nobuo asked, hands poised above the major chakra paths. "As soon as I block these, you establish your feed. Chakra deprivation starts to damage the brain within fifteen seconds."

Kakashi released Sakura's shoulders, and formed the ram seal. Taking a deep breath, he settled his mind and chakra. He'd held the lives of his teammates in his hands many times before. This would be no different, he told himself. Releasing the seal, he nodded. Hiramitsu guided Kakashi's fingers to two sets of seals on Sakura's neck, and stepped back.

Hyuuga Nobuo jammed the coils. Chakra swirled against the blockage, distending pathways with nowhere to go. Then Hiramitsu's larger seal array flared, bridging the gap in the proximal cycle. The separate seals under Kakashi's fingers tugged at his chakra, encouraging him to complete the distal cycle. Exhaling slowly, he fed chakra into Sakura's brain.

They let out a collective sigh of relief when nothing happened. Fukuhara pried his hand off of Sakura's chest, the raw flesh making a quiet squelch. The purple chakra settled into a faint haze around her body, pulsing with her heartbeat. The terrible pressure faded away.

Orderlies began to clean up the room, reattaching monitoring systems and replacing what was broken. Again, a screen mirrored Sakura's heartbeat; orange numbers informed them that her chakra levels were dangerously low. Another medic raised a glowing green sphere of light around Fukuhara's hands. Kakashi ignored it all, focused on the flow of chakra to Sakura's brain.

They worked steadily: Hyuuga severing the filaments of the curse seal one by one, Hiramitsu placing his own seals to prevent the tendrils from reestablishing connections to Sakura. When the last seal was placed, three hours later, the first was already fading. They turned Sakura on her side, and Hiramitsu added a final array to her right shoulderblade. A circle surrounding a delicate pattern of charactes with an empty center in the shape of a splayed hand. He connected the circle to the smaller ring imprisoning the curse seal with a single line. "Fukuhara?"

The doctor placed his newly-healed palm in the center of the array. With a pulse of his own chakra into the network of ink, the seals around the evil mark darkened again. "Well done."

Hiramitsu wiped a hand across his forehead, smearing sweat and ink into a dripping mess. "It still needs to be set after she wakes up."

"Take a break," Fukuhara told him. "I'll send someone for you once her cerebral coils are reconnected and we're ready for the next step."

The next part was full of green light and Hyuuga Nobuo's quiet voice guiding Fukuhara's jutsu. Kakashi closed his eyes and sank into a light meditation, focusing on the flow of energy from his hands. Then a warm sponge was wiping at his fingers, washing away seal ink. He blinked and looked over at Fukuhara. "You can release it now."

A fresh bag of synthetic chakra was dripping into Sakura's arm, but this time the curse seal had no access to the new energy. Sakura's stats on the monitors started to turn green.

Fukuhara took Kakashi's arm and led him into the hall. Heavy exhaustion pulled at Kakashi's limbs; all his muscles ached like he'd run for days then fallen down all the stairs of the Hokage Tower. The doctor pressed a paper cup of coffee into his hands. "Drink it. Chakra transfer is rough, even if you're trained."

"What happens now?" Kakashi asked, sipping obediently at the coffee through his mask. He didn't usually drink the stuff; the smell was revolting, and it left him twitchy and distracted. But Fukuhara had proven he knew what he was doing, and caffeine was probably better than soldier pills right now.

"We leave her alone for a few hours, and make sure everything is stable. Ideally, we get another specialist to review the arrays before they're finalized. Then we wake her up, make the seals permanent, take her off the synthetic chakra before it burns out her coils even more, and put her on suicide watch." At Kakashi's sharp look, he clarified. "That curse seal is potent. Even with the restrictions built into Hiramitsu's array, it's going to be influencing her in ways we can't yet tell. Murder-suicide watch is probably more accurate."

Kakashi hummed his understanding. They stood in silence for a moment.

"That curse seal was designed for someone with much higher chakra reserves than that girl has," Fukuhara mused. "It was meant to burn through enough to make the coils malleable, then reroute them. For a person with enough stamina and resilient enough coils, it probably would have induced a temporary coma, then left them little worse for wear. Excluding, of course, the seal's long-term effects. The girl's lucky to be alive, though. She's got a low capacity, even for a genin. But she got here in time, and you gave her enough extra to make it."

Kakashi had already surmised as much. Orochimaru had been going for Sasuke. "Who's going to review the arrays?" he asked, going back to the important part.

Fukuhara shrugged. "I'll put out a request, but I don't think anyone's available. Nishino is on leave; she's not due back to the village until next week. The spooks disappeared with Yaginuma yesterday."

Kakashi filed that away. If he had to, he'd go to ANBU's commander himself to find where they'd sent the medic. "What about Jiraiya?"

"The great Jiraiya-sama?" A skeptical little laugh broke from Fukuhara's lips. "There's as much hope of seeing him in a hospital as Tsunade-sama. Is he even in Fire Country?"

He should be. The Exams were a prime time for spying; all those important people gathered together in one place. "When would you need the second opinion by?"

Fukuhara glanced at the wall clock. It was nearing two in the morning. "I want to give her at least three hours with nothing going wrong. Hiramitsu needs at least four hours of sleep if he's going to be presiding. But the temporary seals will need to be renewed every hour, and the longer we wait, the more risk there is of something burning out." He thought for a moment. "We'll start at six, barring unforseen events. If you can produce Jiraiya from your pocket by then, I'll welcome him with open arms." It was obvious he thought that was about as likely as Iwa offering to give up its outposts in Kusa.

Kakashi saluted him. "I will be back at six."

First, he found Sasuke. The boy was tucked in a bed on the third floor, in a semi-private room. Both he and the chuunin in the bed next to him were asleep. A special jounin with a leg hung up in a sling nodded to him from the other side of the room, then went back to reading a book in the golden glow of a small lamp. Kakashi stood for a moment, looking down at the pale face made paler by the splay of dark hair on the pillow. "Watch over him," he said to the ANBU sitting on the windowsill, almost invisible in the darkness. The masked face inclined once.

Uhei met Kakashi in the lobby, uncurling from under a hard plastic chair with a quiet yip. He led Kakashi to a barred room in the basement. Kakashi's third student was also unconscious, but the guards outside his room were tense. "There is evidence his seal may have been tampered with," one said. "The Hokage has ordered his confinement."

Kakashi left quickly. Another reason to find Jiraiya.

Sarutobi was in his office. Kakashi entered without challenge, silencing the reporting chuunin with a flicker of generalized intent. Sarutobi frowned at him. "What is it, Kakashi?"

"My students. Where is Jiraiya?"

Sarutobi nodded at the chuunin, who let himself out of the office with a bow and a poorly concealed glance of frustration at Kakashi. "The report from the hospital says that all your students are stable," Sarutobi countered, when they were alone. "I have recently seen Naruto myself, and Jiraiya has been informed of his situation. As your team is indisposed, you should report to ANBU headquarters. We are searching for Orochimaru, as you must know." The old man looked tired, and the name fell heavily from his lips. "Your skills would be useful."

"As you yourself informed me, when I was forced to test a team, my genin take precedence over my ANBU duties. As my genin are currently in danger of death, I find efforts to ensure their safety taking that precedence. Orochimaru is long gone. If Chisato can't find him, I will be no help."

"Why do you reference Chisato in particular?" Sarutobi asked, leaning forward over the desk, gaze suddenly sharp.

Because Chisato was fucking Anko, and sentimental about it. Anko would be looking, so Chisato would be too. "As Chisato is the best of ANBU's trackers, I assume she has already requested assignment to this search."

The Hokage sighed. "You have too much information for your own good, Kakashi. Jiraiya will be here soon. Be patient."

"I could hurry him along."

Sarutobi shut him down. "You will not. He is coming as fast as possible. Any attempt to contact Jiraiya on your part will only attract attention neither he nor Naruto needs." He reached for humor. "The two of you would probably burn down a city block."

"Sakura needs him, too," Kakashi said quietly. "She took the curse seal meant for Sasuke."

"I know. And I'll tell him to check on her after he verifies the Fox's seal."

"That could take hours. Days."

"And if the seal is weakened, everyone in this village could die," Sarutobi said flatly. "There will be no argument on this, Kakashi. Now send my messenger back in."

According to ANBU's resident medic, the seal specialist Yaginuma was deployed. That was as much information as Kakashi was getting, and he didn't linger too long, in case someone press-ganged him into a mission. He made a half-hearted effort to find Asuma or Kurenai, and a slightly more involved attempt to locate Gai, but they were likely asleep or at the Forest tower, waiting for their teams. The second test was nearly over.

Naruto would not be allowed to wake until Jiraiya had inspected his seal, so Kakashi left a clone in the basement hallway to let him know when the sage arrived. It flipped open a book and stared insolently at the guards, who pretended to ignore it. Kakashi himself climbed the stairs back to the third floor, and sat by Sasuke's bedside, watching the night turn slowly to dawn.

Sasuke woke when the sky started to turn grey. "Naruto? Sakura?" When he spoke, his voice was raspy.

"Here," Kakashi told him. "They're being taken care of."

"Is she…"

"It seems that she will survive," Kakashi said carefully. Sasuke stared at the empty bed across from him, not meeting his eyes. "Will you tell me what happened?"

Sasuke had already given his story to a grey-uniformed intelligence officer, while the medics were treating his wounds and shock and chakra crash. Now, rested, in control of his thoughts and body, as dawn began to pick out details in the room and on Kakashi's jounin uniform, it was harder to repeat. This wasn't a debriefing; this was Kakashi asking in an almost tender voice for Sasuke to share his story. This was Kakashi sitting in a chair while he slept, here to reassure him when he woke, like his mother had sat by his bedside when he was fevered and sick.

Sasuke let icy water sweep those thoughts away, reaching for the ever present anger smoldering in his heart. He had a duty to report to his commanding officer. Nothing more.

Kakashi listened silently, making no judgments on his actions. "Did they tell you who he was?" he asked, when Sasuke had finished.

"No." His hands tightened into fists on the sheets. "Just that he's a missing-nin, and they are searching for him."

"Orochimaru," Kakashi said. "One of the Sannin. He fled Konoha about a decade ago, after he was discovered conducting human experimentation on kidnapped children. When he bit Sakura, he transferred a seal to her that was meant for you. A seal that ties the victim to Orochimaru."

"He infiltrated the exam to get to me?"

"So it appears."

Sasuke's fist left a crack in the wall behind him. "Why did she get in the way?" he snarled.

"You will have to ask her," Kakashi said, unperturbed. His eye unfocused, before he blinked and stood up. "I need to go."

Sasuke turned away. There was no sound for a moment, and Sasuke stayed tense, unsure if Kakashi were still waiting, or had silently disappeared. After three long breaths, soft footsteps headed towards the door. It slid open, and shut, and Sasuke squeezed his eyes shut.

The alteration to the Fox's seal was subtle, but easily reversed. The attack had been more malicious than strategic, as far as Jiraiya could tell, though with Orochimaru, it did not do to be too certain. Jiraiya spent an extra half an hour running every diagnostic he could think of on the seal, but he found no further damage. The boy slept through the whole process, snoring loudly. Jiraiya chuckled as he wiped ink off his fingers and packed up his scrolls and brushes. The boy's mother had snored like that, as Minato had frequently complained.

The real Kakashi was waiting in the hallway when he exited. "He's stable," Jiraiya told the guards. "Inform the Hokage, and move the boy to a real room. No need for him to wake up in a cell. Kakashi - a pleasure, as always."

"Jiraiya."

Jiraiya refused to admit to himself that he'd been hoping for something other than Kakashi's carefully polite tone and formal salute. Their relationship had been defined years ago; absence and failures did little to change its character. "You have another student I should look at?" He bit back a jibe about what a good teacher Kakashi must be.

He followed Kakashi up the stairs, forcing tired, creaking legs to keep up with Kakashi's urgent stride. Wasn't it time he stopped running from crisis to crisis, found a cozy cottage with a nice, busty girl or two to massage his aching joints?

Kakashi heard his grumpy muttering. "Only two?"

"You little punk."

The genin lay propped on her side in a bed in the recovery ward. When Jiraiya twitched back the sheets to examine the seals, a measure of tension drained from Kakashi's stance. Jiraiya smothered a smug smile, and bent over the ink work on the girl's shoulder and neck.

Orochimaru's curse seal formed the centerpoint, drawing the eye like a spider in its web. "He's improved." The containment array around it looked like Hiramitsu's work, if Jiraiya remembered correctly. Hiramitsu had gotten better, too, but in a more traditional way, lacking the vicious creativity Orochimaru had cultivated.

Jiraiya took mental notes as he inspected the seals. When Fukuhara and Hiramitsu arrived, he started talking. There were only a few modifications he wanted made; Hiramitsu had done a good job. However, the linking between the filter and the cache was inherently unstable and an entire section of the rate limiter in the chakra shunt on her back was redundant.

"The shunt is only a temporary measure," Hiramitsu said. "Her chakra wasn't regenerating fast enough after the operation to maintain the seals. I was going to wipe the whole input system before we finalized the containment."

Jiraiya considered that. On any other case, that would be the obvious and reasonable action. Leaving a direct connection into someone's chakra system, conveniently outlined with explanatory seals in the shape of a handprint, was inviting misuse. "Kakashi, what's her chakra like?"

Kakashi's explanation did not sound promising. Low reserves, slow recuperation. The lower her chakra fell, the more influence the curse seal would be able to exert through its cage. "Leave it. But we'll have to add some safeguards. Kakashi, you can go away." But he wasn't surprised when Kakashi ignored the suggestion.

It was pleasurable to collaborate again with skilled colleagues. Fukuhara and Hiramitsu were both sharp young men, and they refused to be overawed by his reputation. The input array, when they finished, was a work of art. Kakashi had slid into light, fitful sleep in a hard plastic chair in the corner. Jiraiya kicked the chair. "Wake up, kiddo."

Kakashi's eye snapped open, but not a single other muscle tensed. Jiraiya squashed a pang of memory, the flash of murderous grey eyes blinking open in Sakumo's sleep-slack face.

Jiraiya stretched, popping the joints in his back. His hair billowed out around him. "Your student will want you awake for this."

The genin woke up slowly, blinking hazy green eyes at the bright light of the ward. "Kakashi-sensei?" she whispered, voice hoarse and cracking. Kakashi reached tentatively for her forehead, brushing back the pink hair, still matted with dirt and sweat. Jiraiya and the other doctors stepped to the side while teacher and student spoke.

"Will you stay for the finalization?" Hiramitsu asked Jiraiya. "We'd be honored to have you, but it's not necessary."

He had no urgent matters to attend to - or no more urgent than Orochimaru's reappearance. The thought settled heavy and dark in his chest. Orochimaru. He wouldn't have infiltrated Konoha just to put a seal on a single boy, would he? Though that boy was the last Uchiha - maybe the allure of the sharingan was enough. He should meet with Sarutobi. He should help organize the search. "No." He glanced briefly at Kakashi, sitting hunched beside his student. "I'll leave the screaming and crying to you."

Hiramitsu cracked a smile. "Thanks." More sincerely, he added, "It was a pleasure to work with you, Jiraiya-sama." Jiraiya nodded to both doctors, then strode out of the ward.

Kakashi had offered his hand, but some perverse pride had made Sakura shake her head in refusal. Now she lay on her stomach, head turned away from the small cluster of men, hands fisted in the sheets beneath her, back bare to the waist.

"On the count of three, Sakura," the one with the deeper voice said. Fukuhara-sensei, she thought. The other had laid a cold hand on her shoulder. She shivered, as the doctor began to count down.

It came in a white thunder, every nerve and muscle clenching.

But unlike when Orochimaru had sealed her, the pain faded, and she was still awake, still aware. Sakura swallowed against the sobs, breathing heavily. When her vision started to come back, so did wider awareness. She flushed with shame, feeling wetness soaking the mattress under her hips.

"The seals have set," the other doctor was saying. Sakura closed her eyes and buried her face in the pillow, wishing they would all leave.

"We'll hold her for a couple days, and then I want weekly checkups for the first month," Fukuhara stated. "Hatake, as her sensei, you'll need to monitor the seal in the interim. If there are any unusual side effects, bring her in immediately. Is there anyone else who needs to be notified?"

Kakashi's smooth voice answered promptly. "Her guardian, Yamada Shizuka."

"Ninja? I'll have the desk send a bird. Anything else before I go?"

"No, doctor. Thank you."

"An orderly will be by soon to clean up. Until later, Hatake." Footsteps shushed across the floor; a door slid shut.

The bed shifted as Kakashi sat down. "They're gone, Sakura."

Sakura curled deeper into the bed. "I'm sorry," she whispered into the pillow.

"For what?" How did he manage to sound so unruffled, when she was a hairsbreadth from sobbing? Why did she always seem to end up here, falling apart and apologizing to Kakashi?

At least Sasuke and Naruto were okay. When she'd woken, dazed and lost, to Kakashi's face and his hand on her forehead, he'd told her without her needing to ask. They're both alright. Resting. Everyone's going to be okay, Sakura. Even you. That split-second decision in the forest hadn't killed them all.

The tears started. She let them soak into the pillow, feeling her shoulders shake and shame return.

"Sakura?"

"Can I be alone, Kakashi-sensei? Please?"

He stood up. Sakura stared into the darkness of her closed eyelids, imagining the disappointment on his hidden face. "We'll talk when you've rested."

The tears ran themselves out after awhile, leaving Sakura with a deep lethargy in her body and mind. The woman who came by to change the sheets found her half-dozing, her face pressed into the damp pillow. "Sorry to wake you, dear. Let's get you cleaned up, hmm?"

She wiped the salt from Sakura's cheeks with a damp cloth, sponging the excess ink from the newly set seals, sunk into her skin like tattoos. "How do you feel?"

She felt like her insides had been scraped out and replaced with mud, like she was one of that sand-nin's puppets whose strings had been cut. "Tired," Sakura whispered.

"Let me get these sheets changed, then all you have to do is sleep."