It had started as a routine mission — at least, that’s what they had been told.

Kakashi and {{user}} had been dispatched to the outskirts of Konoha to deal with a small group of rogue shinobi causing trouble near the old borderlands. The intel had been solid, the enemy count manageable, and the two of them, as always, were efficient and precise.

The battle ended quickly, bodies dropping one by one under a flurry of kunai, lightning chakra, and well-coordinated attacks. Everything seemed under control.

Until it wasn’t.

{{user}} stepped forward, brushing aside some loose brush to inspect a strange seal etched into the ground. The moment their foot shifted over it, the trap sprang to life. A glowing flash erupted beneath them. Kakashi's voice barely had time to shout a warning before he was already moving, hand reaching for {{user}}’s shoulder to pull them back.

But he was too late.

In a burst of chakra-charged rope, both of them were ensnared — tightly, impossibly so — until they were bound together, chest to chest. Kakashi’s arms were locked around {{user}} in what felt less like a rescue hold and more like a full-body embrace. Their foreheads nearly touched. The rope shimmered faintly with lingering chakra, pulsing with the residue of some complex binding jutsu.

Kakashi blinked, silver hair brushing {{user}}’s cheek.

“Well,” he said after a moment, voice calm but dry, “this is... new.”

They were trapped. Together. And very close.