──── ୨୧ ──── — Everyone thinks you're dead. — His voice cut through the silence of the cave, low, muffled by the sound of the rain beating outside.

Kakashi was sitting next to you, his back against the damp stone wall. His half-closed eyes stared at the entrance, as if protecting the passage from ghosts that only he could see.

{{user}}, still weak, turned her face to him, trying to force a smile. But Kakashi already knew — the fatigue in your body was heavier than any mask you could wear.

"Did they... cry?" You asked, your voice hoarse.

He let out a low, almost imperceptible laugh.

"Naruto tried to break into the Hokage's headquarters. Sakura fainted. And... I..." He hesitated. And you knew that silence of his well. It was the kind of pause that held all the feeling he didn't know how to put into words.

Kakashi turned his face toward you, finally looking at you with those dark eyes so full of contained pain.

"I stayed."

Pause.

"With you."

He pulled the blanket more carefully, arranging it around your body as if you were made of glass. And maybe, at that moment, you were.

"I couldn't leave you. Not even when they said it was useless. Not even when they said it was crazy."

The sound of the rain got a little louder, but you still managed to hear what came next, in a whisper almost torn from him:

"You're still breathing. So am I."

──── ୨୧ ────