He held the most precious treasure in his arms.

Her head was in his lap. She looked like she was asleep, though her cool cheeks, against which he pressed his hands, indicated something else.

Kakashi would never have thought that there would come a day like this, far worse than the one when Rin died, or his former teacher... or the moment when he lost his friend twice. And here he was, in one cell with the only person in the world for whom he cared so much. Until now, he had admired how she blossomed only to be smothered by his own ego... he wanted to erase that day from his mind and make her forget what they had done then. He ignored her of his own sick lust to punish her for being able to seduce him and sleep with him as part of the challenge, though he was well aware that Ino might have been lying. He didn't know, however, what would be the purpose of it. He avoided the woman of his dreams in every possible way, taking the most exhausting missions, so that when he returned, he wouldn't have too much time for anything else but sleeping and eating, and not to read that damn book, which only reminded him of everything.

At that point, it all ceased to matter to him, and he was even furious with himself that he had decided to give her such a hell that ended here in this cold dungeon, and she...

"Sakura..." Kakashi began, but his voice broke and he couldn't even apologize to her for his childish behaviour. He tried to excuse himself with the fact that he didn't want to be pointed by other people again. It hurt enough to hear the same thing day after day.

Hey! Look! This is the one whose father didn't know how to properly fulfil the mission and then killed himself!

At least until the day he graduated from Genin Academy at the age of five with honours, only then did he begin to be admired. Although, in fact, all those who until recently mocked him tried to get into his favours. This time he would be accused of having a relationship with an ex-student and subordinate... although he honestly didn't care! He could be condemned for his feelings towards her, they could mock him for not being able to help himself or anything else they would think of. None of these things made sense to him at this point. All that mattered was that she survived.

So, there were no words that could describe the pain and anguish that Hatake felt right now. If only he had been given an opportunity to rectify his mistakes, he would have used it in the blink of an eye.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine," said a man.

Kakashi twitched, raising his sharingan's gaze to the only opening in the door, resembling a small window, but he didn't notice anyone there.

"How can you know that?" he asked the stranger.

In response, he heard a short laugh.

"It's not the first time since you've come here. Whenever they finish with her, she comes back unconscious, then rises up and becomes useful."

At first, Kakashi didn't know how to comment on the man's words, so he just ignored him. He bent over his companion's beautiful face and brushed back the stray strands of pink hair, revealing a crystal in the centre of her forehead. Then his hands rested on her cool cheeks.

"She left herself open to tortures instead of you."

These words in turn caught Hatake's attention.

"They wanted to start the interrogation with you, but she insisted that you were too weakened by the poison and agreed to be interrogated in your place," the stranger explained, though Kakashi could have sworn he had heard that voice before.

"Why did she do that?" The shinobi was surprised.

There was another laugh on the other side.

"Probably for the same reason she was trying to feed you all this time and care for you while you were unconscious." When the man didn't get an answer, he decided to continue. "And probably for the same reason that you hold her in your arms now."

The Copy Ninja hated people with Byakugan because they saw way too much, and they looked for more meaning in what wasn't said.

"I tell you, she will be fine. She will recover in any moment," said the user of byakugan.

"You'd better be right..."

"She wouldn't let go of a moment like this, she kept saying she had something important to tell you."

Then there was a bang, followed by a thud and a groan.

"No conversations!" one of the guards growled.

~ * ~

Kakashi had no idea how long he had been on the ground with his unconscious companion on his lap, mentally cursing himself for his stupidity, and quietly hoping that the byakugan user was right and he would soon see that fierce green eyes look.

Then Sakura jumped to her feet so suddenly that Kakashi literally at the last moment moved beyond the reach of her head, which was approaching his jaw dangerously fast.

When the pink-haired kunoichi hurried to the bed on which her former teacher had rested until recently, the latter sat speechless in the same place and didn't move. He had only just thought he had lost her and was slowly losing faith in the words of the man across the hall. Besides, just a moment ago he had held her on his lap, contemplating the fragility of life, and now... he was staring at her as she dug something out of the straw.

Haruno, on the other hand, had to take care of herself. Only then will she find the courage to talk to Kakashi and see if he still hates her. But first, first of all, she had to heal her wounds, and since she was drugged, the flow of her chakra wasn't going as it should, and the girl couldn't use her powers. But she had a way for it, because Sakura was always ready for anything... well, almost.

Kakashi, in turn, was still sitting speechless on the ground, staring at the small female figure bustling in the small space. One moment his whole life lost its meaning, and the next he saw her as alive as possible, despite the numerous minor wounds on her body, from which blood oozed, adding to the gruesomeness of the whole appearance, making him moment by moment convinced that he had lost her irretrievably.

The shinobi, still too stunned to move, stared at his companion. He was practically prepared for her death, and then he was juxtaposed with the brutal reality, and at that moment the words of the torturers who threw her here didn't seem to deviate too much from the truth. In fact, she was a tough cookie.

­"You... are you alive?" he finally gasped out.

Haruno gave Kakashi a fleeting glance, although in this darkness it was impossible to notice anything. And she was curious about his reaction. After all, despite his assurances, he could still try to ignore her.

She was finally kneeling down on the bedding, her hands rummaging through the straw under the blanket, sharp blades digging into her wounded hands as she searched for one of her pouches, which she managed to hide, and from which she drew a special chakra emergency ointment. She glanced at her companion once more before rubbing it into her wounded calves.

"I'm alive and well," Sakura replied. "Well... at least I will be in a moment."

"Can't you use your power?" Hatake was surprised, although his mind analysed everything anyway and he was almost sure that the torturers made sure that she wouldn't be able to use her medical abilities any time soon.

"I have problems with the flow of chakra because they gave me some drugs," she replied, straightening up after finishing working with her legs, then began to rub the ointment into her hands and arms. "They spared me anyway, because they said they couldn't disfigure my face..."

"Just let them try!" Hatake growled.

A delicate smile decorated Sakura's lips in response to her companion's reaction.

­"Moreover, they couldn't interfere with the intimate zone, because they're no rapists, they only want to destroy the alliance between our countries..."

"Ah, so that's why they kidnapped you."

"Yes, they're looking for the weakest link of the alliance, but they have no idea that they won't find it. Not after what we experienced together during the war," she admitted, then took another batch of healing potion, which she began to rub into her upper back. "Kaka-sensei, could you help me? They hurt my whole back, and I don't reach everywhere."

The mentioned one sluggishly nodded, then got up from the ground and walked over to her. Thanks to his sharingan, he could move as in daylight in this impenetrable darkness, where the only source of light in the dungeon where they were kept was a streak seeping through a small window-shaped opening in the door.

Hatake held out his hand, on which he felt a cool, sticky goo, which he began to smear over the wounds on his companion's back. Thanks to his sharingan, he could see everything clearly, he knew the location of each incision, and he could see from which the most blood had escaped.

"There's also something I would like to talk to you about," Sakura began hesitantly, feeling that if she didn't tell him about it now, he would never get it, and there was an opportunity for it, because they were alone, and he was finally conscious.

"Hm?" Kakashi muttered, busy finding more wounds.

"I thought that I would somehow deceive them, but... I only got the antidote when we were thrown into the dungeon, so I didn't have much to plan our escape to get back to Konoha in time and... kuso... I guess ... what I'm trying to tell you is..." Haruno bit her lower lip, feeling the blush on her cheeks as the man behind her came down with his hands just above her buttocks. "We didn't protect ourselves then... and I didn't get back to Konoha in time... it's been a few days since our intercourse, and I think..." His hands froze. "It's too late for any medications Tsunade taught me in case of unplanned pregnancy..."

There was an awkward silence and Sakura wasn't sure if Kakashi was still standing there behind her. Had it not been for his hands frozen on her back, she would have suspected that he had passed out or had a heart attack after the news.

"Kakashi-sensei? Are you there?" she wanted to make sure, but he was still silent. "Considering your state of poisoning and how much blood you lost, it must have been a few days... besides, I was counting the meals we were given, and I think it's been five days, if not more, since our fight with them." When Kakashi was still silent, she continued, "And I thought we'd go back to the village that day and that I would take the pills on time..."

That's when she heard it — Copy Ninja swallowed loudly.

"And yet you're not familiar with the subject either," Haruno said, and a mischievous smile danced on her lips, which was actually a cover for how she felt in reality.

Kakashi's hands slowly moved towards the next wound as her own began to make its way through the wounded stomach. The incisions on the parts of her body weren't deep, because they were meant to inflict as much pain as possible, which would make her talk. However, Haruno Sakura was enduring the pain, after all she had training under the tutelage of the strictest teachers — Hatake Kakashi and Senju Tsunade.

Kakashi swallowed again, then made his usual noise, as if he was thinking about something and wanted to say something at the same time before actually speaking, "Were all kunoichi not required to use contraception?" It was a question, but it didn't sound like it.

Haruno was so shocked that instead of saying something more, her companion asked just about it. Especially when it was too late for all of this.

"This order was removed after the war, '' she replied cautiously, as if she was afraid of his reaction, but when he said nothing, she decided to add, "Besides, Tsunade decided that it was a violation of moral principles against women, such as imposing rules on them about their own bodies.

"But you didn't get pregnant before," said Hatake.

"Because I was still using it then... I was partying a lot and drinking a lot of alcohol to forget the war landscape, so I decided to protect myself, but after you rejected me, I stopped using them. There was no need. I didn't party anymore and focused on missions."

Her explanation lightened a little in his head.

"Do you... feel any different?"

Sakura bit her lower lip as her hands slid down to the lower parts of her stomach.

"A bit. It feels like my chakra is building up at a certain point." She took a deep breath, then continued, "But I'm not sure if it's the side effects of drugs and sedatives."

It's true that Sakura had a serum that could free her from the influence of both sera, but it was in a different pouch. The one that couldn't be smuggled into the dungeon.

Hatake gritted his teeth.

"They didn't do anything... worse to you?" His voice was low, but it hid the darkness and fear in itself.

She glanced over her shoulder at him, and though she barely saw the flash of red, she smiled at him.

"No. They only care about destroying the alliance, not my body. They're not degenerates, but ordinary deserters and rebels who don't like the new order."

"And yet they damaged it," Kakashi muttered dissatisfied. "Your body" he added after a while, when Haruno was still silent.

Sakura felt his hands smear the ointment on her back once more, then disappeared, and with them this pleasant warmth.

"They torture me to get information out of me, but it's not something I can't deal with. I'm more concerned about what would happen if they actually found a target that would help them destroy the alliance." Sakura bit her thumbnail, just like Tsunade, when she was thinking about something, and then she turned to face her companion and looked him in the eyes with a worried expression. "And they can do it..."

"If they capture..." Kakashi trailed off as he realized they might be overheard.

Sakura nodded her head as a sign that she understood what he meant.

What they both hid was the fact that if the rebels managed to capture Naruto, the alliance would hang in the balance. Or rather, another war would break out in order to catch the perpetrator. Then the rebels would have to reveal which village they belong to, and this would threaten eternal peace between the five nations.

"They'll never succeed," he assured, placing a hand on his former apprentice's shoulder.

"I know," she replied, because she was well aware that their opponents would have to face Naruto first, and it wouldn't be so easy to defeat the Fourth Hokage's son and apprentice of the great Copy Ninja. (And that nasty pervert whose books she read and one of the characters resembled her too much, which Sakura still didn't forgive him because he made her into a monster and Jiraiya still avoided meeting Haruno to this day.)

The young kunoichi smiled as she recalled their first training with Kakashi.

"We have to come up with an escape plan," Hatake announced after a moment.

"Relax, everything's taken care of," she said.

Kakashi frowned.

"But how?"

"I mean, we just have to wait for them to find us, but I sent Pakkun for backup and Shiba stayed on the battlefield with Naruto and Sai. They will surely find us soon. We just need to be patient, Kaka-sensei." This time she was the one who narrowed eyes in a smile.

The man shook his head negatively.

"Patience won't do us any good here," muttered Hatake, giving his companion the hard look, she had endured, not for the first time. "We have to get you out of here as soon as possible. You're my priority."

Hatake repeatedly managed to startle her and make her speechless, but this time Sakura opened her mouth in astonishment.

"Don't look at me like that," the disgruntled man muttered.

"Sorry, you just surprised me..."

"If it's true that you're pregnant and you have my baby inside you, you advance even more in the hierarchy of people important to me."

"And I thought I was already in the first place anyway," she said tartly.

"Because you have always been, but now you're doubly important to me."