Minato's Daughter

Epilogue

Kakashi

I walked into the dark room as quietly as I could. The only sound I heard was Miyuki's soft breathing. I peeled off my shirt, tossing it somewhere on the floor so that I could deal with it in the morning. I slipped into bed as slowly as I could, careful not to wake her. She had fought for hours with the doctors at the hospital about recovering from her injuries and resting at home. They had finally given up when they realized that she would probably escape out the window when no one was looking. I couldn't help but feel anger and guilt that I hadn't been able to protect her. Her upper body was covered in various bandages, the biggest being on her abdomen where, I later found out, she had been stabbed by Pain. I looked up at the ceiling, thinking about the conversation I had with my father. I wished there was more that I could ask him, more that we could have talked about but I was grateful that I had been brought back to life. I felt my eyes closing as the exhaustion hit me all at once and soon, I drifted off to sleep.

What the hell was this? I couldn't move as if my legs were frozen to the spot. This wasn't real, it couldn't be. She was facing me and blood was coming out of her mouth. Her eyes were wide with shock and betrayal.

"Ka...Ka...Shi..."

I was holding her shoulder and I felt myself let go. She fell forward into me, her blood staining my clothes.

"Why...?"

My mouth was glued shut. Even if I wanted to answer her, I couldn't. She made some kind of sound before she coughed and I felt more blood soak my shirt. My body seemed to move on its own and I felt myself push her gently so I could look at her face. However, before I could grab her again, she fell back, splashing the shallow water we were in. Her eyes became glassy and her shallow, gasping breaths stopped.

"You did this. You did this to her," a male voice snarled.

Who's voice was that? Why was it so familiar? I looked around but I couldn't see anyone else. I looked back at her and I watched as her blood stained the water dark red. No, please no...

"Kakashi!"

I woke up with a gasp, my body covered in sweat. Miyuki looked at me, still half asleep but confusion and concern written all over her face. I immediately sat up in the bed.

"What happened? Are you ok?"

I was breathing heavily, looking around the dark room. It was just a nightmare?

"Kakashi?" She whispered.

I slowly laid back down and looked at her. "I'm ok."

Miyuki didn't look convinced but she laid back down next to me. I put my arm down on top of her pillow and felt her shift so that she could lay on my arm instead. She continued to move closer to me, burying her face in my chest while her arms wrapped around my body.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked quietly as I felt her drifting back to sleep.

"No, it's ok. Go back to sleep," I replied, wrapping my arms around her bandaged body.

She let out a slow and small huff before I felt her breathing turn steady.

"Kakashi?" She whispered, her voice sleepy.

"Yeah?"

"Don't worry. It's just a bad dream."

END OF PART 1