Rose untied her hair and with her fingers combed through it. She ignored the pain in her chest that felt like someone was squeezing and stretching out her heart. She could barely take in a full breath, they were coming out in short puffs. But once she had retied her hair into a ponytail, she pinched herself to keep her tears from falling and took deep breaths.

She was going to keep busy all day long and stuff all of these emotions away.

She didn't want to think about how everything had been too good to be true, how for a moment there she felt so lucky that the man she had a gargantuan crush on had reciprocated her feelings. She regretted not speaking up about how hurt she felt, and not inquiring on why he felt the way what they did was a mistake. But then… he said clearly he didn't want to commit to anything. And Rose wanted to commit to him.

Rose would take their shared night and every moment from when they spoke at the bar up until they both fell asleep close to her heart. Even those moments right before he said those crushing words.

Rose did not want to make a fool of herself by trying to figure out if there was a way they could be together. It was better that she had left like that. Or else she would have cried, right there in front of him- and then she would have really been angry at herself.

Rose pulled down her dress as far as it could go without showing the world her breasts and started making her way down his apartment complex.

"Rose?"

Rose stumbled down the last step of the second-floor staircase at the sound of her name. She looked up and saw Sakura, and behind her two of the three men she called her closest friends. Naruto was a blue-eyed storm that could be heard miles away because of his loud way of speaking. Sai was a quiet man who was still learning the ropes of how to genuinely express himself. There was another raven-haired man, Sasuke, but it seemed whenever Sasuke was present Sai was not and vice versa. Rose got the feeling the two men did not like each other. After all one could say they were each other's replacement. Sakura and Naruto seemed oblivious to their animosity for each other.

"Sakura!" Rose was stuck between a feeling of pleasantness of seeing her good friend, and nervousness that she was coming down from the third floor where Kakashi's apartment was located. Sakura knew the two of them were friendly. She also had a good idea of how Rose felt about Kakashi.

"Rose San." Sai greeted politely.

"Hey Rose!" Naruto moved to throw an arm around her shoulders. He never had a sense of personal space from the moment Rose met him, but she never minded the physical affection. Rose had grown up with the same habit, as her family's way of showing friendliness was the same as Naruto's. She welcomed the gesture and slipped her arm around his waist, giving it a squeeze to show her affection for him. "Hi Naruto."

When Naruto let go, it was Sai's turn to slip an arm around her. Sai had found Rose to be weird, as he had said as much. He had never encountered a second person who enjoyed physical touch like Naruto. Rose had explained to him that there were many different ways people interacted with each other and showed their friendliness. Sai took to learning how to show his friendliness in the same way Rose did, with quick hugs or pats on the back. "Hey Sai."

Rose leaned her head on his shoulder for a moment before he slipped away.

Lastly Sakura came up, who preferred a fist bump to hugging. Since the moment they became friends when Rose started working for the Hokage she had only managed to receive one hug from Sakura. And that was because Sakura was drunk.

"Were you visiting Kakashi Sensei?"

Rose bit her bottom lip. She didn't want to admit anything, hoping her friend would let it go. She moved her purse to cover some of her exposed thighs. Sakura had always teased Rose that Kakashi liked her after he had complimented her- Rose always pretended to be annoyed.

Sakura looked at the girl closely. Rose never wore makeup, but she had on a dress that was clearly not meant to be worn on a regular day. And Rose never wore dresses, plus she had seen Sakura yesterday before her pathetic date... "Didn't I see you in this dress yesterday night?"

A moment later Sakura's mouth fell open, and Rose knew she put the pieces together. There weren't many anyway and with Sakura being as intelligent as she was of course she would figure it out. Rose quickly pressed her fingers under Sakura's chin to close it, pressing a finger softly against her lips. "You're dress is wrinkled..." Sakura said, her tone somewhere between disbelief and amazement. "Did you...?"

Rose crossed her arms over herself and stayed shut.

"What what what!?" Naruto asked impatiently. Sai stared at the exchange.

"Rose San is embarrassed." Sai explained.

"That tells me nothing, Sai." Naruto complained.

Rose pouted. "I should get going. I have things I need to do." This was a lie, today was her day off from work. Sakura knew this.

O ~ O ~ O ~ O ~ O ~ O

Sakura had shoved Naruto and Sai towards Kakashi's place, and like the great friend she was had forced Naruto's sweater off him and draped it over Rose's shoulder. Rose was closer to Naruto's height than Sakura's, so his sweater basically fit her the same way it fit Naruto. But it was nice to have something cover most of her anyways. The sweater smelled a lot like grass and ramen. The most oddest combination of scents.

"I can't believe you and Sensei..." Sakura shook her head. "And all those times I teased you about him, I was right all along! You like the old man!"

Rose shrugged. She never was one who enjoyed spending time on the topic of men. Whenever Sakura and Ino spoke about the boys they've dated and all the wrong and right they do, Rose always fell quiet. That and she only ever had one real relationship, which she hated talking about.

"He's not so old..." Rose had the urge to say.

Sakura placed her hands on her hips. "Hm. He's in his early thirties. And you're older than Sasuke by only a month. I say that's a pretty nice gap."

Rose frowned.

"I'm not judging Rose!" Sakura was quick to say. She smiled when Rose pouted some more. "To you he is pretty young, because you're a civilian. But to us ninja, Kakashi is very fortunate to even make it to his age. He's old by shinobi standards. My point is I'm happy he's found someone."

What Sakura was saying was only making Rose feel more terrible. She was right, civilians lived well over seventy years old. The average life span of shinobi was fifty. Forty if you went back a few years to when the world was pretty much falling apart. So why was he pushing her away? If Kakashi wasn't ready for commitment at this point would that mean he would forever be alone? Shouldn't he learn to truly appreciate the small things because of how short a shinobi's life was? Couldn't he push past whatever was stopping him so that he could at least experience what life had to offer before... his life was gone? Or did he just not want Rose? Did he really feel last night was a mistake? He didn't like her. That's probably what it was. Rose sighed heavily, feeling her throat start to close and her eyes start to sting.

"But... Rose you seem off. Usually you're all smiley. Did Kakashi do something wrong?" Sakura quickly fisted her left hand and glared. In a quick second she went from her calm friend to a fierce protector. "Just tell me I'll pummel him!" Sakura slammed her fist into her right hand. She looked about ready to tear the building down.

"No no! I'm actually just tired, Sakura." And Rose was. She didn't think her heart could take any more heartache. Rose took Sakura's fist and uncurled it. She rubbed her palm over the back of Sakura's hand. "I'll see you around. Thank you for Naruto's sweater." She said with a quick chuckle, but it was clear she wasn't in a chuckling mood.

Sakura nodded, seeming to understand that this was all she was going to get out of Rose. Rose bid her goodbye and started her walk home.