What the Crows Left Behind | Kakashi x OC

Part X : Back in the Field

Sayomi leaned forward. "This a real mission, or a sympathy gig for the dead guy and his scary wife?"

"Bit of both," Naruto admitted. "But it'll get your blood moving."

Kakashi glanced at her. "Two-man team?"

"I wouldn't trust it to anyone else," Naruto said, smile fading into something quieter. "But seriously... you sure about this?"

Sayomi shrugged. "We've already survived worse."

There was a moment of stillness then — not uncertainty, just memory. The kind that lived between all three of them. War. Loss. Resurrection. Love.

"Alright," Naruto said finally. "Leave this afternoon if you can. Take what you need. I'll clear the request officially."

Kakashi gave him a light nod. Sayomi nodded once, and that was that.

No ceremony. No goodbyes. Just two shinobi walking side by side.

Sayomi adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder, eyes scanning the path ahead. "You sure you're not too rusty for this?"

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask. "Guess we'll find out."

She bumped her shoulder lightly against his. "Don't make me save your ass out there."

"You always do," he said, and there was something affectionate in the way he said it. Like he meant it in more ways than one.

Sayomi let herself smile, gaze fixed forward.

Back in the field. Back in motion. Together.

And this time, she thought, nothing was going to take him from her again.

The trees thickened by the hour.

They'd been walking since early morning, tracking the source of the chakra anomaly reported near the western edge of the Land of Fire. The path had long since disappeared, replaced by moss-covered roots and the thick scent of damp earth. It was familiar terrain — wild, yes, but not foreign. They moved together in sync, wordless for most of the day.

Kakashi's pace was steady, but Sayomi stayed half a step ahead.

She wasn't exactly watching him. But she heard every shift in his breath, noted the way he moved when he thought she wasn't paying attention. He was fast. Sharp. But he wasn't at full strength — not yet.

And Sayomi wasn't going to lose him a second time.

They paused near a ridge, crouching behind a wall of dense ferns. Kakashi knelt beside her, his fingers brushing the soil where faint scorch marks still lingered.

"Lightning-style," he murmured.

Sayomi nodded. "Recent."

He glanced at her. "Three chakra signatures. Possibly four. One of them flaring irregularly."

"Could be wounded."

"Could be unstable."

Sayomi adjusted the strap of her kunai pouch. "Either way, we neutralize."

Kakashi's voice was dry. "Romantic."

She glanced at him. "You always did love a good date in the woods."

He smirked.

They moved.

The ambush came faster than expected.

They'd barely crept into the clearing when the first attack struck — a burst of wind chakra laced with shrapnel, slicing through the underbrush with alarming precision. Sayomi dove to the left, already forming seals, while Kakashi blurred forward to intercept the attacker head-on.

Steel clashed. Chakra hissed. Smoke bloomed between trees.

The assailants weren't just rogue shinobi — they were trained, but reckless. Too much power, not enough control.

Sayomi caught movement in the periphery — another figure rushing toward Kakashi's exposed side — and moved before she could think.

"Kakashi—!"

She launched herself forward, intercepting the attacker with a palm strike that sent the enemy crashing back — but not before a blade grazed her shoulder. Not deep, but sharp enough to sting. She hissed through her teeth, barely registering the pain as she spun back around.

Kakashi was already on the other side, eyes narrowed. "You okay?"

"Fine," she snapped. "Focus."

He didn't argue.

Together, they pushed forward, weaving through the trees in perfect rhythm. Her jutsu cut clean. His was surgical. Minutes later, the final opponent fell unconscious beneath Sayomi's heel.

She exhaled hard, the rush of adrenaline beginning to fade.

That's when the ache in her arm hit.

They stopped near a stream, quiet and hidden beneath the canopy. The battle was over, but Sayomi's blood was still warm with it.

She dropped onto a boulder, peeling off her jacket and shirt in one motion. The gash on her shoulder was longer than she'd thought — crimson streaked down her arm, soaking into the waistband of her pants.

"I'm fine," she said, before he could speak.

Kakashi didn't respond. He knelt in front of her, already pulling out his medical kit with one hand while the other steadied her wrist.

She flinched slightly as the gauze touched her skin. "I said I'm fine."

"And I heard you," he murmured, voice calm. "I'm still cleaning it."

He worked in silence — precise, focused. Not just patching a wound, but tending to her, with that quiet reverence he never spoke aloud.

Sayomi's jaw tensed. "You always do this."

"Do what?"

"This." She gestured vaguely. "Act like I'm fragile."

His hands paused.

"You stepped in front of me," he said, eyes on her shoulder. "I watched you take that hit, and I couldn't do a damn thing."

Sayomi didn't respond.

"I'm not soft," he added, voice low. "I'm furious."

She looked at him then — really looked — and saw it: the tremble in his hands, the fury under his stillness.

"You're not allowed to leave me too," he added, quieter now.

He tied off the bandage. But his hands didn't move. One stayed on her arm. The other slid to her hip.

Her breath caught.

The silence between them shifted — charged now. Warm from the fight, and Kakashi... he was looking at her like she was fire and gravity all at once.

"Sayomi," he warned.

Too late.

Her fingers slipped into his hair — not to pull him in, not yet. Just to hold him there. Close enough to feel it.

She tilted her head, voice low and amused. "Why are you looking at me like that, Hatake?"

He didn't answer at first.

His hand moved to her back — slow, deliberate — cradling the base of her neck.

Then, hoarse: "Because I still can't believe you're mine."

She touched his face, thumb brushing the edge of his mask. "You never let me do this."

His eye closed. "I didn't think I deserved it. Until now."

She felt it. In her spine. In the thrum of chakra under her skin. In the way his grip deepened just slightly at her waist.

They weren't going to wait.

Not this time.