safety [Kakashi Hatake x OC]

thirty-seven

Two more months passed and one early morning Kakashi received a sharp knock at his door. These were the moments that Eri chose to remember that it was not her apartment, but rather, it was Kakashi's. So, she slept as the edges of the sun's light creeped out from beneath the trees.

He left in a hurry, and the uncertainty of what was going on prevented the girl from going back to sleep for a decent amount of time. Eventually, she got up and made herself busy until her roommate came home.

Hours went by. The sun set and the moon was out for much longer than it usually was before they'd typically return home for the night. The girl was worried. Something must have happened for Kakashi to be summoned so early in the morning and gone so late in the evening without a single word mentioned to her about what was going on.

She heard heavy steps outside the apartment, earning her anxious attention as she anticipated her roommate's return.

The door flung open dramatically, and he stood there paler than ever, looking distressed, tired, and even sad.

"Kakashi..." Eri whispered. "What happened?" She knew him well enough to see that something was terribly wrong.

He couldn't bring himself to say anything. It was as if - as soon as he stepped into the comfort of his home - he broke. She had never seen him in the state that he was in. The girl got up and closed the door behind him, and then attempted to lead him to the couch so he could sit and relax. But, as soon as she gently grabbed his arm, he embraced her.

Her waist was trapped within his strong arms, but he felt so weak in that moment. He dropped his head on her slender shoulder in defeat.

She stiffened in shock, then placed a soothing hand on the back of his head and cooed, "Hey, it's okay," in an attempt to ease whatever suffering he was going through.

He held her very tightly, and she knew that something was very wrong. He'd tell her when he was ready, but he needed a moment.

"Eri..." He eventually sighed, nuzzling his nose into her neck.

She hummed, letting him know she was listening intently.

"It's Sasuke." He whispered, refusing to look at her. "He's gone."

"What do you mean?"

"He's a troubled kid. I was always worried about him." Eri knew how much Kakashi cared for his students. The more she got to know him, the more she realized that his students were really all he had. He never talked to her about it, but she never saw or heard of any family or close friends; it was only his students. He grabbed on to her as he seemed so scared and weak.

"I failed him." He confessed, his voice cracking with a deep, emotional pain.

"Kakashi..." She tried to show him as much empathy as possible as she rubbed his skull to comfort him. Witnessing him in such a dark moment made her hurt for him. She never thought she'd care so much.

He finally let go of her and showed her his sad, worrisome eye. He was letting her into his deepest insecurities and the darkest parts of his history, and she was not taking that for granted.

"Sasuke left the village in the middle of the night last night. We decided to stop searching for him because even if we brought him back, this would probably be inevitable." He sat on the couch, and the girl sat across from him, fully attentive. "As his teacher and his mentor... I failed him. I couldn't keep him from doing this."

"You did not fail him." She assured. "You said so yourself: this would be inevitable. You did everything you could, and you were the best teacher he could have possibly had."

He stared at her, unsure how to further come to terms with the situation. "Eri... I..."

She reached out and cupped his cheek so that it was impossible for him to look away. "There was nothing you could have done to change this outcome. You've told me about your concerns for him. You've told me the likelihood that this would happen. It is not your fault, Kakashi. His life and his circumstances failed him; You certainly did not."

The typically strong, reliable man was crumbling inside. This was him at his worst, and no one had ever seen it before. On the worst of the worst days, he went to a home by himself to fall apart without anyone's witness. But now that Eri was there, for the first time he felt that he was safe to be weak.