"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Do you want to talk about yours?"

…

Kakashi went back to bed. He had one, maybe two if he was in luck, hours that his body would sleep before it was hopeless. He saw the girl off to bed, still noticeably shaken.

Emi gave it about an hour. She was not trying to go back to sleep, but she didn't want Kakashi to know that. She let the pug sleep on her stomach and she stared at the ceiling. She could smell the morning coming. She scooped up the pug in her arms, he barely moved with her motion so fluid. She opened the window and jumped to the roof. This time she faced the opposite direction and waited for the sun to rise.

…

Kakashi nearly had a heart attack. His ninken were asleep. The door to Emi's room was open. There was no Emi. He sent out his chakra to see if he could locate her. A wave of relief swept over him. She was on the roof, watching a sunrise he had seen too many times to count. He decided to work on fixing breakfast instead.

He threw a treat to each of his ninken and dispelled them.

It had been almost an hour since he woke up and she was still up there. The sun had already risen, was she going to watch its movements all day? He slid open the window and hopped to the roof. There she was, sitting there. Engulfed in sunlight, absent-mindedly stroking the pug who was curled up in her lap. The morning air was crisp and warm. The village had started its morning routine, and Emi watched it like she was in a trance.

Kakashi cleared his throat, which earned a small jump from the people watcher. She had been so focused, she had forgotten about him entirely. "I made breakfast a bit ago. Might not be hot anymore but…"

"Oh." She knew it was a stupid question but since everyone is different, "Um, just wondering, how many meals do you usually eat a day?"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow and slowly lowered it. He remembered those bastards only fed her once every couple of days. How she was still alive was beyond him. He stared at her face and noticed how sunken it was. Her arms and legs too. She could definitely use more meat on her bones. But he didn't want to overwhelm her.

"Usually we eat three meals a day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Dinner is the biggest meal."

"Oh."

"Listen I, I know you weren't exactly fed much but…"

"It's ok Kakashi. I'm fine, really. This whole thing is just a huge adjustment. Part of me wishes I was still in that room oblivious to everything. Ignorance is bliss, right? But the fact of the matter is that I'm not there and I remember. I remember what life is supposed to be like, but it was so long ago. I'm just, not sure if I'm ready for that yet."

"Well, maybe we can try a meal once a day and move it up?"

She gave a slight smile and nodded her head in appreciation.

"Pakkun." The little dog plopped out of her lap. "deliver this and dispel yourself." The pug trotted off towards the Hokage's office.

Kakashi went back inside and ate the breakfast he prepared. He got ready for the day when he remembered something. He walked the walls up to the roof where Emi sat in the same position as before. "Oi, Emi. We should go to the hospital. We'll have a medic nin fix your hand."

Emi looked down at the bandage. She almost forgot it was there. "Yeah, sure."

…

When they got to the hospital, Emi's hand was healed quickly. Kakashi had managed to steal several IV bags without anyone noticing. If she wasn't going to stomach more than one meal, Kakashi would infuse the vitamins and minerals she needed.

…

They walked around the town nonchalantly. Kakashi reading his book, Emi taking in the world around her. There were more people around during the day than there had been that night. Emi was excited there were so many people, but soon the excitement turned into anxiety. Some people hurried through the streets, and bumped into an Emi that was caught off guard. Then children ran in front of her feet, so close she almost fell over when she stopped in her tracks as they laughed chasing each other. People were everywhere. And as much as she enjoyed life and its prosperity, it was starting to get a bit much.

Kakashi had noticed a change in her posture. A little tenser, a little more reserved. She walked slower and more carefully. When he saw the side of her face he saw a moment of terror hid by a smile. He wondered how long she would keep the façade up. Or maybe he should just remove her before things got ugly.

He pondered his options when his eyes slipped down to find her hand. It slowly turned into a fist with nails digging into the skin. It started to tremble lightly, and he pushed chakra into his ear to hear her breathing sounded distressed. Without a moment's notice, he appeared next to a surprised Emi and body flickered her away to a less populated street. She nodded in appreciation, her throat still dry.

The two crossed a bridge, and Emi stopped in the middle to watch the water flow. She watched as leaves dropped to the surface and gently swirled around with the currents. She let her head fall to her hand as she leaned against the rail. The wind was gentle and quiet. The sun was warm on her back.

Kakashi kept walking, almost forgetting Emi was there. He had brought them to training ground 14, the one with the memorial stone. He walked to the stone without thinking and stood there blankly reading the names over and over again. Rin. Obito. Minato-sensei. Kushina. There were other fallen comrades who had been lost in the war, but those were the ones closest to him. He dragged in a long sigh. Old memories flooded through his head and he lost track of time.

Emi blinked back into awareness as a rougher wind had blown her hair around her face. She looked around but Kakashi was gone. She shrugged, maybe she didn't need an escort after all. But it had barely been 24hrs on her own, and she doubt that the Hokage had trusted her enough. She breathed in and felt the presence of three figures watching her. She guessed it was the masked people she had seen with that old man. She walked towards the training ground until she could feel a familiar presence. She jumped up to a branch to get a better view of her roommate. He looked so sad and sullen. So lost to the world and to himself. She frowned and wrinkled her eyebrows. She felt rude for interrupting, so she closed her eyes and took a meditative stance. She focused on her breathing and the world around her. Still. So still. The world slipped away, and yet became hers to feel at the same time. Her mind blank, and yet filled with the energy of every living creature. She felt like the only person in the universe, and yet she felt, everything. Her body soaked up nature energy. It felt so pure and white. It mixed easily with her own chakra, the two fitting like long lost puzzles pieces. The feeling was warm and tranquil.

Kakashi sat on the branch, one leg leaning lazily off to the side. He was reading his book but finding it hard to keep track of the words on the page. The sun was warm and inviting. The day was peaceful. He looked up at the girl across from him, unmoving and brilliant. Warm like a fire in the middle of winter. He didn't notice when his book hit his chest. He didn't notice when his breathing slowed. He didn't notice when his eye became heavy. He didn't notice…

He breathed deeply as if life was coming back into him. The sun was low in the sky. How long had he been out? It had been a dreamless sleep. So peaceful and refreshing. He was still a little drowsy when he looked over at the target of his mission. Her legs hung over the branch as she faced the direction of where the sun would set. Her eyes were bright, and her face was filled with anticipation. So different from the girl he had coaxed out of bed to wash a bleeding hand. Maybe he should just be grateful she wasn't worse. The things Inoichi told him- no. he shook his head. It wasn't fair to make assumptions. Everyone fought their battles differently.

She heard him wake up. She didn't move though. She didn't want to end the silence. It was nice. Nature was never really silent. Always a heart beat or a trickle of water or a rustle of leaves to be heard. She felt warm and safe. She just wanted him to feel that, too. A little bit of her peaceful chakra slipped from her body.

Kakashi felt it like a wave of heat in summertime. So warm she was… and safe it was ok to…

Emi glanced over to see Kakashi nod off once again. She smiled sweetly to herself. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty for his fatigue. She had woken him up in the middle of the night. She looked at the empty training ground. It almost felt familiar. It had been so routine to train. It might feel…normal.

She hadn't really thought of making earth bending quiet before but, she really didn't want to wake Kakashi. A firm but silent foot to the ground. Her hands cut sharply down, she squatted and pushed up. A huge piece of earth rose from the ground. She got down into a pushup position, her one arm holding the boulder looming above her body. The other went up and down as many times as she could before it started shaking violently. She switched arms and repeated.

Sweat streaked down her face. It felt good to have the wind kiss it dry. She stood up and brought the boulder right onto her shoulders. She kept her arms up, bending the rock in position so that it would not crush her, but allowing the weight to sink in. She began to squat over and over again until the boulder almost crushed her. She gingerly bended it to the ground, eyeing the sleeping Kakashi all the while. She walked towards the stream under the bridge. She could still feel the heat from her followers in the trees. She bended some water from the stream and walked back to her boulder. She molded the water into the rock. Breaking it apart slowly and mixing the consistencies together. Sludge. Yum. She twisted her new creation in the sky before letting it settle into the hole that was still in the ground from the boulder. In a quick motion she slapped rock around her forearms and calves, wrapping around as weights. She jumped into her sludge and sprinted back and forth until she physically could not take another step and actually fell into her own swamp…

Kakashi woke up from a rather pleasant dream and looked to the branch where Emi had last been sitting. The girl was no longer there. He jolted awake as his heart pounded slightly faster. He looked below to the new training ground to find Emi sprinting back and forth, chest deep in heavy mud. It looked like she had been at it for a while when the spark in her eye faded and she slipped under the mud. Kakashi body flickered to the edge of the mud to the spot he had sworn he saw her fall. He was debating between an earth release wall and just jumping in when suddenly the mud split in half like Moses had parted the sea. The mud hardened on the sides of the trench in an instant, jagged and morphed. Kakashi looked down to see a panting Emi with weights still wrapped around her extremities. The weights cracked and fell to the ground. Kakashi jumped down in front of the exhausted girl.

"What were you doing?"

"Oh, you know…"

"Are you ok?"

"Oh, yeah I'm fine. Just been longer than I thought I guess." Kakashi nodded and extended his hand for the girl. She looked at it and bit her lip. She used the wall to help her to her feet. She was fine. She jumped out of the trench and waited for Kakashi to do the same. With quick motions of her wrists, the trenched was closed and the training ground looked like it had never been touched. She started to walk away towards the bridge when suddenly the world went sideways. Black spots formed on the side of her vision and she fought them away with no use.

Kakashi had watched Emi sway a little as she walked until one step, she froze. Instinctively he rushed in front of the girl, catching her as she landed gently on his shoulder. Her face seemed so peaceful, her breathing calm but shallow. He scooped her gently onto his back, trying not to jostle her awake. He took off quickly towards their apartment, jumping from roof to roof to save time. He couldn't hold back his smile when he heard her little breaths in his ear.

…