Impossible to Forget

Chapter 43: Two Days Late

I was fumbling around with a scroll that I needed to finish reading. With my right hand still in a cast, I was having a hard time holding the dumb thing open with just one working hand.

There was a large stack of reports off to my left, balanced precariously on a small table that Sakura had fetched for me. I was still technically on medical leave, but I was trying to get a head start on all the work that I'd need to catch up on.

There was a cough from my right, and I glanced over at the slowly blinking, grey eyes.

"Good morning. You know, you were supposed to wake up two days ago, but I guess that we should have known that you'd be late."

I smiled at the confused look that he was giving me.

"Water?"

Kakashi nodded so I set down the scroll before handing him a glass of water and propping him up.

After draining the glass, he looked up at me strangely, and I couldn't help but appreciate the fact that he now seemed perfectly comfortable being without his mask while around me.

"What happened after I passed out? All of the details, I have to know."

I sat back down with a sigh, and began retelling everything for a second time. His eyes grew wide while I recounted the details of my fight with Nori, and I couldn't help but feel a little proud.

"And then after three days, I woke up. You've been asleep for almost two weeks now, and that brings us to the present."

"Who's been in charge of the village?"

"Naruto and Tsunade have been acting as co-Hokages while you've been recovering. Also," I grabbed a stack of books from the floor near my chair, "I grabbed these for you since you'll probably be cooped for a bit while you finish recovering."

His fingers skated over the three well-worn books before smiling up at me, "Thank you, Kai."

"No problem."

"Have you been reading mission reports while waiting for me to wake up this entire time?"

My face immediately began to heat up, "Y-yes." I cleared my throat and tried again, "After everything that happened, I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."

The air in the room suddenly began to feel extremely stifling, and I needed to get out of there before I suffocated or turned more red.

I stood up quickly and shoved all of my reports into the bag that I had brought them in.

"Well, I'm glad that you're doing just fine. I've got to... go home and, uh, get some things for Anzu now. I'll let one of the nurses know that you're awake on my way out."

I was out of the room before Kakashi could say a single word, and as I flagged down one of the nurses to let them know that he was doing fine, I wondered about why the hell I had run away.

With a sigh, I headed off to get some groceries so that then, at least, I wouldn't have been completely lying to Kakashi.