Kakashi stared at the senbon jutting out from what looked like every damn inch of Sasuke’s skin. The kid was trying not to cry, but there was only so much he could do when there were needles stuck in your neck with no painkillers around.
“I’m sorry Sasuke.” Kakashi sighed. He had fucked up and broke his promise to Sasuke.
“I will not allow my comrades to die.”
He said it right as Sasuke turned his own kunai onto himself, something Kakashi planned on confronting the second this shit show mission ended. But then Haku came in and two of his genin had nearly been pricked to death. And only one had an advanced healing factor...
Sasuke suddenly let out a sniff, jolting Kakashi out of his stupor. “Hey, no, don’t cry. I’ll fix it- fix this. You’ll be fine.”
“Take them out-” Sasuke choked and Kakashi winced because talking had to have hurt-
“Ok, ok.” Kakashi said, steeling himself as he took in the tears brimming in the wide, black eyes that looked like it was on the verge of slipping into the newly awakened Sharingan.
He grabbed Sasuke’s hand, swiftly pulling out the senbon lodged into the appendage. He could already the medic-nin’s yelling at him for unprofessional medical treatment.
Kakashi shook the thoughts away, grabbed Sasuke’s other arm and tried not to feel like crap when Sasuke let out a muffled whimper.
The senbon in Sasuke’s legs seemed to like being lodged into the flesh and would not come out as silently as the ones from Sasuke’s arms. When a pile of senbon (and blood) had finally been collected, Kakashi directed his attention to Sasuke’s neck.
“Sasuke, are you-”
“Just take them out.” Sasuke hissed before Kakashi could finish. It was already humiliating enough that he seemed to be the only one injured out of the three genin of team 7, but he didn’t need Kakashi staring at him like he was a fragile package too.
“Sasuke-”
“You told me to trust you, remember…” Sasuke snapped, holding down wheezes when the senbon moved. Thankfully this seemed to shut Kakashi up because all the jounin could do was blink his one visible eye.
Kakashi’s hand moved before he could fully process and one of the three senbon sticking into Sasuke’s neck came out with a narrow spray of blood and a startled shriek. Kakashi moved onto the next one once Sasuke caught his breath and tugged it out fluidly.
A small hand latched on to Kakashi’s vest and the man shuddered at the tears spilling out of Sasuke’s red, spinning eyes before pulling the last one out with the same force it took for it to get in Sasuke’s neck.
“Thanks.” Sasuke grunted, moving to scrub his face with his wrist only to reconsider when he remembered the oozing holes. Kakashi watched the awkward display and wilted when he couldn’t think of anything to say that wouldn’t set Sasuke off.
“You can cry, you know.”
Sasuke shot him a vicious scowl and leaped up, to his credit he didn’t limp, “Shinobi don’t have emotion.”
Kakashi always thought that the shinobi rules were an extreme thing to be teaching to 6-7 year olds the moment they entered the academy, especially the 25th.
“If shinobi didn’t have emotions they would abandon their friends.” Kakashi eye-smiled, shoving Sasuke down with a hand and snatching the bandage roll out the med-kit Tsunami had provided them. “If you had followed rule 25 you wouldn’t be in this situation...but Naruto could be dead. Healing factor or not that senbon could have hit a vital spot.”
“Hn.”
“That’s not to say I’ll approve of you being a human shield for any future...accidents.” Kakashi said cheerfully, eye now narrowed lightly in a way that made Sasuke suppress a wince.
“Lecture me later, Kakashi...sensei.” Sasuke added on the title when the man's fingers twitched as though he would pull on the Uchiha’s ear in retribution for the disrespect.
“Go to sleep, brat.” Kakashi ordered, ruffling Sasuke’s hair much to his indignance, “You’re chakra exhausted.”