#in the timeline where the owls got a full season three and it got breathing room to develop i might be singing a different tune

[lostpompkin]

Agreed mango shpango

idk if ive ever said this but i. dont like huntlow

[luna-orlha]

Title: The Rain Stops Fandom: Naruto Genre: Hurt/comfort, Romance Ship: Kakashi/Yamato Characters: Hatake Kakashi, Yamato Tenzou Word count:  2,663 Triggers(s):--  Rating: T Additional Tags: Mentions of experimentation, younger angsty Kakashi, fem!Tenzou Summary: Stuck with moody shinobi that didn’t seem to like her, Tenzou comes to term with her living situation now. Notes: The timeline of this fic ignores canon’s.

Ao3

---- 

Tenzou stared out of the window. The rain pattered against the glass, the dark clouds rumbled overhead. It was an out-of-season rain for Konoha. Outside, Tenzou knew that the farmers would be fretting for their crops, the anbus would be doubling their patrols to make sure no enemy-nin would use this rain as an opportunity to sneak in.

Rain always made her stomach curdled in spite of the good memories. She snorted at her thoughts and sipped her tea. Remembering the day she got brought out from the cage was hardly a good memory.

The earth was wet and gooey between her toes, she remembered. The rain was wet and cold like how autumn rains were. A red haired kunoichi had picked her up and carried her on her hip all the way back to Konoha. She had no name back then, just a series of numbers. The red haired kunoichi named her Tenzou not knowing that that name would be lost to her for many years to come.

Tenzou closes her eyes, feeling the heat of her mug seeping into her cold fingers. The never-ending pain in the cage, watching her fellow cage mates scream and pass out, and never wake.

Danzo called her special, Sandaime called her special, but really, Tenzou didn’t think she was special. Just lucky. Lucky Tenzou. Where lucky meant she survived all the hundreds of babies, where lucky meant she hadn’t died from experimentation. Lucky Tenzou.

Her fingers trembled and he fists her hands, forcing the curl of chakra down from where it had attempted to leap out of her skin. Being emotional always did that.

She couldn’t even just watch the rain without remembering.

Some days, she would think that she would have been better if she had followed her cage mates. Why had she survived when they had failed? She had questions that she knew no one could answer or would bother to. She was alive, why would anything else matter?

Her chakra shivered and another chakra signature brushed against hers, questioning.

“Tenzou?” Kakashi called out from behind her. His steps were intentionally loud as he walked towards her, stopping just outside the kitchen.

“I’m fine,” she replied dully and emptied the still full cup into the sink.

He hesitated and ducked through noren. Without looking, Tenzou could imagine the look of stricken fear and awkwardness as he tried to figure what to say to her. Kakashi had always been terrible at feelings and so was she. What a pair they made, Kurenai often said, both handler and charge equally inept at communicating.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

She soaped the cup, scrubbing it hard, trying to find words that didn’t sound bitter and angry.

She had despised Kakashi once upon a time. A very long time ago, when Danzo had kidnapped her during the Kyuubi Attack. Kakashi was protected unlike her who had to learn to walk in the shadows. And when he mourned, he had parents, friends, family that she never had. He was everything she was not, had everything she didn’t have yet still he acted like no one could understand him. It made her bitter.

“I’m sure.”

Kakashi looked relieved at her words. Though he was certain it was because it meant he didn’t need to force her to talk, she hoped it was because she was okay. He scratched the back of his neck, his chakra twisting towards her as though seeking comfort.

“If you’re sure...” he said.

It was different then, she was different then. He was different then. Tenzou turned, catching the sight of Kakashi leaning against the fridge, his silver hair almost fey from the dim living room lights through the noren.

Smile. She remembered the red haired kunoichi tell her, using her calloused fingers to pull her lips up. This is a smile. And when you’re happy, when your chest feels full and light, you smile.

Her heart surged at the sight of him, his shoulders hunched, hands tucked in his pockets.

Tenzou tugged her lips up, eyes crinkling in merriment. “I am.”

----

People were always so hypocritical. Telling her that life is good and living is good. No one told Kakashi that, so she watched him just like he watched her.

Tenzou could see the moment that Kakashi faltered and accepted that death wasn’t so bad. His hands stilled and she moved.

Leaping forward, pushing him out of the way. She threw up a wall of wood just in time to block the fireball. It wasn’t perfect, but her wood was the only thing that leapt up fast enough. She could feel the heat sear through the wood as she ran through hand seals to sink into the ground.

“Owl!”

She coughed, splattering blood into the missing-nin’s face. The shinobi had somehow punched through the wood and into her.

Had her wood been too thin?

Her body shuddered. There was a metallic taste in her mouth. Internal bleeding, she mentally filed.

There was a loud keening and the arm that was sticking through her chest was ripped away, feeling a hollow, fluttery feeling.

She sunk to her knees, hands clutching the hole. No, definitely not just internal bleeding. Her fingers lit up a feeble green as she struggled to mend it. Her throat clenched for air, her vision blurry. Tenzou struggled to stay awake, knowing that with injuries like this, falling asleep might mean she would never wake.

“Owl!” A desperate cry on her right, hands covering hers. “Cat! Cat!”

Another hand covered hers, a warmth seeping into her but her limbs felt so cold now. She blinked her eyes, staring at the silver hair and white mask leaning over her.

“Stay with us,” Hound commanded. His voice was ragged and raw, and Tenzou squeezed the hand in hers, attempting to follow her captain’s order. Her mouth opened and closed in wet gasps. Hound was saying something to her but she couldn’t hear his voice over the pounding in her ears.

There was a crack of thunder, fat drops of water sliding down their masks. His silver hair is flattened against his head.

Haven’t they been in this scenario before? That day when she tried to kill Kakashi had been raining too. Except it was Kakashi with a sword through his gut lying on the ground.

She wheezed, the irony not lost on her. Her body shivered and she gasped. Her numb fingers trying to tighten around his hand. That’s right, the missing-nin managed to get her lungs. There’s no saving this. Kakashi should have known that.

He lost everyone he let in, Kurenai told her. As his friends, we can only strive to stay alive. If he loses another…

What about me? Tenzou wanted to scream then. Incapable of voicing the doubt and fear in her but armed because she was with a perfect mask of normality, no one bothered digging beneath.

“...ashi…”

She was losing time now. They had removed her mask without her noticing it and Kakashi’s hand on her cheek, slapping her every time she closed her eyes.

Am I your friend or your charge? She wanted to ask.

So it seemed that the question Tenzou never voiced was doomed never to be answered. She struggled for another breath, hand gripping tightly on the hand in hers and blinked.

----

Her blink appeared to have transported her elsewhere or her blink had lasted longer than she thought it did. The white walls that surrounded her and the lack of bandages around her chest indicated the latter.

There wasn’t anyone sitting by her chair. There wasn’t anyone that would anyway. Tenzou was aware of her status among the anbu and Kakashi’s friends - the little tagalong or Yamato. She hated the nickname and title, just like she hated Kinoe. They were names and titles she didn’t pick.

Sitting up, she took shallow breaths then deeper ones to test her injuries. There was no pain and she was hardly surprised. Cat was a good medic but she wasn’t capable of regrowing an entire lung by herself. Therefore Team Ro must have had managed to bring her back to Konoha and the medics must have healed her up perfectly.

Tenzou stood up, itemizing the room. There was no gear she needed to pick up and running a quick check on the medical chart at the foot of her bed, also had no indication that she needed to pick up medication.

She swung out of the window, leaping onto the roof. Her chakra responding sluggishly to her demands. The village was peaceful as it always was. Bathed in the late afternoon sun, it was hard to imagine all the fighting that was outside the village walls.

As she made it to her building, her grip on the side of the building sagged and she fumbled, crashing hard on her balcony ledge. The curtains are jerked aside. A hard dark grey eye stared at her.

“Tenzou,” Kakashi said tersely, sliding the window open. His hair looked more dishevelled than usual and his eye bags were darker. “You’re supposed to be in the hospital.”

“Pot meets kettle,” she mumbled. Tenzou pulled herself upright and stumbled past Kakashi, feeling like she could sleep for days.

Even in Root, she hadn’t received an injury like this. She brushed the thought away, not wanting to remember those days. The blank white masks and equally blank faces. Three years after she escaped Root, she still no idea how to feel emotions. Barely human, she heard Aoba say to someone when he thought she couldn’t hear. Seeing the look in Kakashi’s eye reminded her of how dissociated she was from her emotions.

Kakashi yanked her back. “You almost died.”

She lurched back, falling into his chest. His hands gripped her arms. “You almost died,” he repeated.

That’s life, Tenzou wanted to say. Somehow she felt that those words wouldn’t have flown well and held her tongue instead.

“You’re not allowed to die,” Kakashi said. Like she could stop death itself and it was hypocritical of him to begin with. After all, he had landed in the hospital so many times that it was impossible to count with her fingers and toes.

“I’m a shinobi,” Tenzou pointed out.

“What you did was suicidal,” he told her.

She tugged herself out of his hands and pushed him away, her lips thinning in displeasure. “Suicidal?” she scoffed. “I’m not the one who landed in hospital the last four missions.”

Kakashi seemed to glare at her, but it was very hard to tell in the dark room. The afternoon sun was now dipping down on the other side of the apartment, drawing long shadows across the floor.

“I’m not the one who tried to take an attack for someone else.”

“No, you’re not.” She smiled coldly at him. “You’re the one who did that multiple times.”

Tenzou could hear his leather glove creak in the silence. “I am capable of defending myself!” he yelled. He ran a weary hand through his hair, hand pressing against his forehead. “I’m capable...”

He sank into the couch. His hand palmed across his face. “Don’t do that Tenzou…” he whispered.

“I’m a shinobi, Kakashi.” It seemed strange that it was her comforting him, wasn’t she the one who nearly died?

“I know-” He reached out and clasped his hand around her wrist, fingers pressed against her veins. “I just… I can’t go through that again...”

----

Genma took the seat beside her, motioning to the bartender for a beer. “So I heard Kakashi and you had a fallout.”

Tenzou shook her head. Fallout wouldn’t be the right word. Fallout would indicate an argument or loss of tempers according to Kurenai. None of which had occurred between Kakashi and her.

“That’s not the word I’d use.” She thought of how Kakashi seemed to be avoiding her now.

“So…” Genma’s arm slithered across her shoulders, giving her that devilish smile that Anko frequently swore she would never fall for again. “Why don’t we add you and me, subtract the clothes, divide the legs…” He leant in and she shivered. “...and multiply…”

“Tenzou.”

They jerked upright, turning their heads to the voice. Kakashi was standing behind there, his killer intent growing. Outside the rain drummed against the metal rooftop.

He stalked towards, uncaring that he had left the door open. “It’s time to go home, Tenzou.”

Genma smirked, pulling her closer to him. “Sorry, Tenzou’s mine for tonight.”

Kakashi reached over, jerking her away.  

“Why are you even angry?” Genma asked. He stood, stepping towards them. “You don’t even like her.”

With the way Kakashi was avoiding her and the fact that they shared an apartment and she hadn’t even seen him in weeks made Tenzou unsurprised at Genma’s words. That still didn’t dampen the ache in her chest.

“That’s not the point Genma, and you know that.” Kakashi pushed her back behind him as thought she couldn’t defend herself. Why did he even bother if he didn’t like her? Tenzou took a step further back, uncomfortable with the stares from the rest of the bar. She had only come because Kurenai bullied her into doing so.

“Then what’s the point? You aren’t even asking what she wants.” Genma motioned to her, his eyes catching hers with an apologetic look.

Kakashi raised his head, staring evenly back at him. “What I do know that she’s not going to be just another notch on your bedpost.”

Tenzou couldn’t understand why Kakashi was so upset. Sex wasn’t special. She didn’t care for it, and… and… it wasn’t even like Kakashi wanted her.

She spun around and through the open door, sliding the door shut with a clatter. Her heart throbbing painfully. The rain was beating down heavily on her, her hair plastered to the sides of her head.

“...zou! Tenzou!” Kakashi yelled, his hand gripping on her elbow.

She turned, her shoulders tensing. There was a rise of feelings in her. Anger, she clinically catalogue. This must be anger.

“Don’t touch me!” She tried to pull her elbow away, but Kakashi shunshin them into their apartment. The water pooled at their feet and Tenzou found she didn’t care. “I don’t understand you. What do you want from me?”

Kakashi hesitated. “I don’t know,” he finally said.

The thunder roared followed closely by a streak of lightning, blinding them momentarily.

She could feel the tiny crescents digging into the palm of her hand. “What am I?” she asked, dipping her head. “Am I your friend or your charge?“ What answer would he give? Tenzou wasn’t sure she actually wanted the answer. She had grown attached to the way Kakashi had used to look at her even though she had tried not to.

“No.”

“No to what?”

Kakashi took a deep breath. “No, you’re none of the above.”

She turned away, her breath was coming in stuttering gasps. She knew. Why had she asked? She could have let herself enjoy it a little longer. Her eyes were hot, a hot liquid gliding down her cheek and she reached up to touch it.

Kakashi smacked himself on the head and stretched out to her. “Tenzou, Tenzou.” He cupped her cheeks, tilting her face up. “You’re none of the above because you’re the girl I like.”

She stares at him flabbergasted. The beads of her tears still clinging on her eyelash. He bends, thumb caressing her cheek, one hand pulling his mask down. She had never seen him without his mask on. There wasn’t a scar like Anko theorised or a deformity. Just smooth skin. His eye softened, pressing their foreheads together.

“Can I kiss you?”

She nods, and he slants his lips over hers. Her eyes fluttered close, his hands shifting up to thread through her hair. Her hands gripping the edge of her vest, pulling him closer. She can feel his heat against her, his hips pressed against hers.

Outside the rain slows and finally peters off.