safety [Kakashi Hatake x OC]

twenty-eight

Despite the fact that Team Seven's mission wasn't particularly stressful or dangerous, everyone was exhausted after they ate and went home for the night.

Both Kakashi and Eri released a heavy exhale as they shut the door behind them. Both were extremely relieved to be in the comfort of their home; or, at least, Kakashi's home. They were quiet and tired, and they didn't speak much to each other.

Eri bathed first, then nearly collapsed on the couch. The man had learned that if he didn't want to get teased by her after he bathed, he had better get dressed afterwards rather than just wearing a towel. So, upon the wisdom he gathered from living with her, he tiredly dressed in his clean underclothing before joining her in the living room.

He dried his notoriously thick hair with a towel and said, "If you're tired, you should go to bed."

"Aren't I supposed to wait for Pakkun?" She asked, lying down on the sofa and holding a pillow, visibly tired.

He took a moment to think, then responded, "I trust you. Just don't tell Tsunade-sama."

She smiled and hid the lower part of her face in the pillow. She was flattered that he trusted he so much; the inside of her stomach fluttered anxiously, but not in a bad way. "Thank you, Kakashi." 

"You don't need to thank me. You've just proved yourself trustworthy, not that I ever really didn't trust you." He assured. 

She grinned even brighter, "You're the best babysitter ever, Kakashi."

He ruffled the hair on the top of her head - which was becoming a habit for him - and gave his signature smile, characterized by his blissfully closed eye. "You're the best person I've ever had to babysit."

"I'm flattered." She chuckled.

"I mean, your competition is only Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke."

"You could have just let me be flattered."

"Oh, sorry."

Eri got up and prepared to go to the bedroom. "It's okay. I'll just keep telling myself that you like having me around."

Something caught her eye through the exterior window. It was dark outside, so the minuscule and short-lived glint of light caught her attention. She narrowed her gaze, focus completely torn from her conversation with her roommate.

"I really do like -"

She gasped sharply, and before Kakashi could finish his sentence, she interrupted with a shout, "Kakashi! Duck!"

Rather than letting him listen and make his own decisions, she pushed him down, falling just on top of him.

A kunai knife flew from the window and wedged itself into the wall on the opposite side of the apartment and shattering the glass of the window before sailing through the room.

Had the unsuspecting man not been pushed down to avoid the attack, it would have pierced his shoulder, directly above his heart, and he could have bled out. He cursed himself for not being more aware; for not noticing the slightest change in the environment outside of his home and protecting his roommate who he had developed such a deep compassion towards, but even more so, he cursed himself for allowing the girl to protect him.

 Eri lied on top of him, hovering just centimeters above his nose, feeling every rise and fall of her chest, pressed to his, with each breath. She must have been in some sort of pain, as shards of glass pierced the flesh of her back, acting as a shield to keep the man from getting hurt.

"Sorry." She muttered and forced herself to break from his surprised gaze and stand to her feet, shaking the glass from her clothes and skin.

Kakashi quickly followed and turned his attention to the broken window. What he really wanted to say was, 'I'm sorry for failing to protect you.' He couldn't bear to look at the blood that began to slowly drip down her arms and soak her clothes. But, there was no time for apologizes and emotions.

"It took a while, but I finally found you, Eri-san." An unfamiliar man climbed to the windowsill and crouched there with a peculiar grin. He was strikingly pale and had long, straight, dark hair. He had loose-fitting, natural-colored clothing, distinctive of Kirigakure culture.