Atonement

Chapter 16

The first thing Kakashi saw when he opened his eyes was white.

It took him a moment to realize that he was in a hospital room, but as soon as he did, he abruptly sat up and got ready to leave. His fear and hatred for hospitals hadn't changed from his past life. They were still a symbol of loss for him and there was no way in hell that he would stay any longer than absolutely necessary in one. Not even Sakura had been able to keep him in a hospital for more than an hour and that was already considered as a miracle. 

His eyes travelled down to his hand where an IV-needle was stuck and without wasting more time, he pulled it out. The time traveler only spared a quick glance over his body to assess the extent of his injuries roughly. Most of his body was wrapped in bandages and his left arm was in a cast, meaning that whoever healed him was not as good as Tsunade or Sakura. He grimaced, annoyed when he remembered who caused all of this.

'Nobu Asagi.' 

Deciding to assess his injuries later on more closely, Kakashi walked towards the open window. He didn't care that he currently wore only a hospital gown, nobody would see him anyway, he just really needed to leave.

"Kakashi-kun!"

The sudden voice startled him and he almost fell out of the window when he lost his balance.

'Damn, I really let down my guard.'

Grimacing he turned around to greet Anko. 

"Hi, Anko."

Angrily the purple-haired girl put her hands on her hips and stomped with her foot.

"Don't you 'Hi' me, Kakashi-kun! You..."

Suddenly tears ran down her face and her knees buckled causing her to fall to the floor and cry into her hands. Kakashi was quick to pull her in a close hug and let her cry into his chest. Anko grabbed his shirt, holding tighter on to him. She just needed to make sure he was real and not just an illusion.

Unknowingly she pressed onto one of Kakashi's not fully healed burns and the time traveler couldn't hold in the pained sound. 

Immediately, Anko jumped away from him and stared at him scared and worried. 

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I hurt you, I'm so sorry..." she started to ramble in panic. 

"No you didn't. I'm fine," Kakashi said reassuringly and walked to her to hug her again. Even if it was only for a minute, he already missed Anko's warmth. 

This time, Anko just loosely wrapped her arms around his torso so she wouldn't hurt him again.

The two didn't need to speak, the silence they shared was enough. It was enough to just hold on to the other because both knew that it was exactly what they needed in this moment. Just hearing the heartbeat of the other to know they were together again.

Someone cleared his throat loudly causing the two children to jump away, surprised. 

 Minato together with Obito and Rin stood in the room and were witnesses of the private moment the two had shared.

It made the blonde Jounin very happy to see that Kakashi had people that cared about him other than his team and his father. Obito was mostly shocked that Kakashi gave hugs to other people astound at the two. It was still very weird to see Kakashi so emotional but the Uchiha was also very glad for his teammate.

The only one that didn't have positive thoughts about the scene they just walked into was Rin. The brunette hid her balled hands behind her back but she could hardly stop herself from glaring at the purple-haired girl.