—-07—-

Kakashi must have set the table earlier, because the scrolls and papers had been cleared away and replaced with several bowls and 3 pairs of chopsticks. There was a large candle lit in the middle of the table. Hanging from the ceiling were several criss-crossing lines of tiny lights. It filled the area with a subtle glow. Dusk was already starting to creep in. They both sat at the table and waited for Kakashi.

He came outside a few minutes later, baring a large tray. He put the tray in the center of the table and lifted the lid off of a pot of rice, a tureen of coconut curry, and a bamboo steamer filled with a dozen little vegetable stuffed dumplings.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said. "This looks so delicious!"

Kyla agreed. They began to fill their plates. Kakashi passed around small bowls of crispy fried tofu and fresh coriander.

"Put these on top of your curry, if you want." he said.

Both of them did.

Kyla looked down into her bowl. It was a beautiful shade of orange. She took a bite. Her mouth exploded with flavor. It was spicy yet subtlety sweet, and the textures of the perfectly cooked vegetables against the tofu, which was crispy on the outside but soft on the inside, bathed in a rich, creamy sauce, was incredible.

"I'm impressed, Kakashi," she said. "This is unbelievably good."

Kakashi beamed at her.

"Thank you," he said.

"It is," Sakura said, "and these dumplings are better than Ichimiru's!"

She popped another into her mouth happily.

Kyla grabbed one with her chopsticks, dipped it in soy sauce, and took a bite.

"They're perfect." she said.

Kakashi sat back in his chair, with his hands behind his head, happy with himself. He watched the two of them eat, and was surprised at the amount of pleasure he felt in seeing them enjoy something he made.

So this is what it feels like to not be alone, he thought.

He fell into a brief daydream; his mind superimposed an image of a young child on top of Sakura, with Kyla just as she was.

This could have been my future, he thought, with a pain in his chest.

Look what this woman does to me. Fantasizing about having children. Dammit.

Kyla noticed how his eyes had glazed.

"You okay?" she asked, poking him in the shoulder with her chopstick.

"Hm? Oh, yeah." he said, coming back to the present. He continued to eat his dinner.

A large rustling in the grass could be heard just outside. It sounded like a miniature stampede. A second later, nine dogs had rushed through a door cut into the patio screen that Kyla hadn't noticed before.

"H-hey! The gang's all here." Kakashi said, rubbing a pug behind the ears, who went to him immediately. The rest of the dogs went straight to their beds. They were sprawled out and breathing heavily. They seemed exhausted.

"Anything to report, Pakkun?" Kakashi asked the dog.

Kyla thought it was cute the way he conversed with it.

"Nah, just a normal day in the Leaf Village," the dog said.

Kyla spit out some of the water she was drinking onto her shirt.

"Unbelievable!" she said. "Do all of you speak? Or is it just you?" Kyla asked the dog.

"Just me, honey." the dog said. "Hey, Kakashi, who is this pretty woman? People don't usually address me directly. They're too scared or somethin'. I like her. " the dog said, getting up and walking over to Kyla. "And, she smells reeeeaal nice."

"Can I pet you? Or is that inappropriate?" Kyla asked.

"Depends on where you touch me." the dog said, smartly.

Kyla laughed. "Are you flirting with me?!"

"Behave yourself, Pakkun. She's a friend of mine." Kakashi said.

"You don't have friends that come over." the dog said. "Plus, I know you like her, I can smell it all over you."

"Thanks for calling me out," Kakashi said, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Eh, what can I say? And, from what I can smell, it's mutual, buddy. If this isn't a date, it should be one. I can walk Sakura home."

Both Kakashi and Sakura blushed.

Kyla cracked up. She loved this dog.

"See? She thinks I'm funny. I want to keep her. Isn't that what humans say about animals when they see something they like? And," Pakkun started kicking his back leg, "she went straaaaight for my sweeeeet spot."

Kyla was scratching him just below his right ear.

Kakashi gave the dog a look that apparently communicated something he understood.

"Alright, alright." Pakkun said, getting up and going inside the house.

"Sorry about him." Kakashi said, nervously. "Dogs don't have filters when they speak. It can be great, but it has it's consequences, obviously."

"It's fine." Kyla said. "I like him."

"Well, he likes you too. And he doesn't like anyone. He's a bit of a grouch." Kakashi said, surprised.

Sakura was glancing back and forth between Kakashi and Kyla. Now that she thought about it, he did seem very comfortable around her. She'd never seen Kakashi interact with anyone like this before.

Oh kakashi-sensei, she thought. Could it be true? She is very beautiful and kind. But she's married to the Avatar. How could it be mutual?

She felt like she was missing something.

"Kakashi, could you show me your bedroom?"

Sakura's eyes widened.

Kyla-san! So bold!

"Go ahead and take a look at it. It's the only room in the hallway besides the bathroom. I'm going to clean up here and feed the dogs." he said.

"Ok. I want you to come too, Sakura. That's where we will be treating him,"

Sakura let out a small laugh of relief. She forgot for a second that that's why they were there.

Kyla got up.

"Thank you for dinner, Kakashi. It was one of the best meals I've had in a long time," she said. "I mean it."

He smiled at her. "It was my pleasure."

Kyla went into the house. Sakura got up to follow her.

"Sakura-chan." Kakashi said. "would you help me clean up?"

—-

Kyla opened the door to his bedroom and was surprised to see that it wasn't bathed in darkness. The source of light was the moon, shining in from a large window cut into the ceiling. It lay directly over his bed. She plugged a tall standing paper lamp into the wall. His room was just as classy and clean as the rest of his house with not much in it, aside from a large potted palm tree, a couple more statues, another bookcase, an old record player, and a huge landscape painting of Mt. Fujiyama that hung on the wall opposite his bed.

The room was unique in that it had two levels inside it. His bed was pushed up against the edge of the second level. It wasn't very high, you only had to climb three steps. Behind his bed was a tall wooden divider, that was intricately craved with several Japanese cranes. It hid the contents of the second level from view.

Kyla climbed the steps to see what it contained. It was completely empty, except for a wardrobe on the left side, a few mats leaned up against the corner, and a rack of weights. It reminded her of a stage, with it's hard wood floors.

Curious, she thought. He must train here or something.

Sakura came into the room followed by Kakashi.

"Sakura, you and I can roll out our beds back here, and store any supplies we might need."

Kyla said, referring to the empty stage-like space.

"Kyla-san, if it's okay, I'd rather sleep in the sitting room." Sakura said, looking at her feet. Kyla assumed it had something to do with etiquette so she didn't disagree.

"Okay, if that's what you prefer." Kyla said, not wanting to put her through any more discomfort today.

Sakura nodded.

"Well, I guess we better get started." Kyla said.

"Tonight will be pretty straightforward. I'm going to brew you a quart of a strong blood purifying tea that you'll need to finish before retiring for the night. It will start pushing the poison out. You may wake up with a rash in the morning as part of a healing reaction, but we'll deal with that when it comes. You aren't bed ridden, until you need to be, which will be in two days most likely." she said to Kakashi.

"Kyla-san," Sakura began, "could I be permitted to run home? I don't live far from here and if I'm going to be staying for a while, there are some things I need."

"Sure. The hard work won't start until tomorrow evening at the earliest, so no need to run. Take your time. Will you be alright in the dark?" Kyla asked, glancing at Kakashi for reassurance.

"Take Pakkun with you." Kakashi said.

"Ok, sensei." Sakura said.

All three of them left the bedroom.

When Sakura had left, Kyla grabbed her bag off the hook near the door where she had hung it earlier and sat down on a woven rug in front of Kakashi in the sitting room. She started to unpack several small bottles and cloth bundles.

"Lucky for you, I have exactly what I need." she said. "I always carry around a mixture of some of my most basic and my most powerful medicines. That way, wherever I go, I'm prepared to treat anybody if they happen to fall ill while I'm passing through. The rest can usually be supplemented by what grows wild in the area."

"I'm really proud of you Kyla," Kakashi said. "You were always studying, and even back then you knew so much. I'm not surprised you've become such a sought after healer."

"Thank you." she said, genuinely touched.

"There's something I want to show you." he said, getting up from the couch suddenly.

He held out his hand to help her up from the floor. He overestimated the strength he needed to hoist her up, and brought her knocking into him. They lingered in their closeness for a moment before both of them turned away.

She followed him out onto the patio again, but this time he went through another door that led outside. They were headed into the forest. It was a full moon, so no other light was needed for them to see their way. Kakashi and Kyla walked in silence. He led her deeper into the forest, until they came upon the source of the water Kyla heard earlier. It was a small waterfall that poured into a wide circular pool. It was gorgeous.

That wasn't what Kakashi wanted to show her apparently, because he brought her over to a massive tree, whose roots had protruded above ground and grown tall, providing what looked like small walls. The leaves of the tree hung down on flexible vine-like branches. Kakashi pulled them aside and motioned for Kyla to pass through them. Within the root walls, tucked inside the leaves, was a shrine. It was built into a small hollow in the widest trunk Kyla had ever seen. At the center of the shrine sat a pitch black Buddha, holding a small elongated chunk of turquoise in his palm. There were dozens of candles and several ornamental plants and flowers surrounding the statue.

Kakashi lit a large lantern.

"It's magic, Kakashi!" she said. "I didn't know the people of the Hidden Leaf Village practiced Buddhism too."

"They don't." he said. "Nobody knows it's here, actually. This is mine, but I figured you might want to make use of the space while you're here. You're welcome to."

She spun around to look at him. He leaned back onto one of the massive roots, with his hands in his pockets.

"You've influenced me more than you can possibly know." Kakashi said.

He crossed over to the Buddha, and picked up the turquoise piece. He came over to Kyla and let it fall by turning over his palm, or so she thought, but It was attached to a thin gold chain.

"This belongs to you." he said, passing it over her head. It hung just below her breasts.

She picked up the stone from her chest. It was so beautiful, but she didn't recognize it.

"Kakashi, this isn't mine." she said, perplexed.

She had always wanted a piece like this. She had an affinity for turquoise, but it was incredibly expensive and she could never afford it. Maybe he had gotten it confused somehow.

"It is. I bought it for your 26th birthday. I meant to leave it near your pillow, but….it was still in my pocket when I left." he said, scuffing his shoe in the dirt.

She looked up at him, clutching the stone in her hand. He had left the day before her birthday. She remembered it all too well. She didn't know what to say, so she didn't say anything.

"Anyway," Kakashi said nervously, breaking the silence. "I just wanted you to know this place was here."

He started to walk back towards the direction they came. Kyla grabbed him by the arm as he passed.

"Thank you," she said, giving his arm a squeeze before she let go. She couldn't think of anything else to say. She tucked the necklace into her sweater. It was cold against her warm skin.

They walked on in silence for a while.

"These woods are gorgeous." she said. "They seem different from the other stretches I've seen."

"That's because they are. This is the oldest forest in the village. The other forests have been replanted or are new growth from after the village was built. But this… this is the original forest. It's all old growth. I remember you telling me once that the forest a village settles around, will always provide the medicine it needs, if it's kept intact. So, that's why I bought this land, thinking about the future of my people. Living on the outskirts is my way of protecting it," he said. He smiled at her. "If what you say is true, you'll probably find everything you need to heal me, right here in these woods."

Kyla stopped in her tracks. She was realizing now how deeply he must still love her. How deeply he's always loved her. His entire life was a testament to it. Tears started to spill from her eyes.

"Kyla…?" he began, confused.

"Dammit Kashi!" she cried, pushing him.

"W-what did I do?" he asked, surprised. "I thought it would make you happy to know that?"

"Why did you have to leave me?!" she yelled at him. "I wanted to spend my whole life with you and you ruined everything!"

She pushed him again, harder this time.

He looked at her, shocked and speechless. Her face was full of pain and rage.

"And now, here you are, right in front of me, and I can see how much you still love me. It's making me feel like I'm falling a part!"

She wrapped her arms around herself and turned away from him.

"I was so happy." she choked out.

"W-what do you mean?" Kakashi asked, not entirely following her.

She whipped back around to face him.

"How can I be happy now? Knowing you're here and alive and I still love you so goddamn much it makes my heart want to burst!" she cried hysterically. "How am I suppose to deal with losing you twice?! Once by your own doing and twice by circumstance!"

Kakashi was starting to put it together. He took a step closer to her.

"If I could go back to that day Kyla, as the man I am now, I would have done things differently. I wouldn't have left. I'd have never left you."

"Well, guess what? You can't go back. And you did leave me." she said spitefully. "I've moved on."

Kakashi could tell in the way that she said it, that she meant for it to hurt him, but he didn't believe her.

"Have you?" he asked, raising his voice. "You could have fooled me."

He felt his body heat up from challenging her. It was risk, he knew, but one he was willing to take.

"I've felt the way you respond when I'm near you. You want me as much as I want you."

"Desire is a separate animal. It doesn't have to be attached to anything else." she said, coldly.

Kakashi laughed. He wasn't dismayed by her attitude.

"No, it doesn't have to be, but I know that's not how it works for you, no matter how much you want to trick yourself into thinking otherwise. That's not how it was for us, either." he said. "Our desire was born from intense love, you know that as much as I do."

Not that we aren't wildly attracted to each other, but that goes without saying, he thought.

Thinking about it made Kakashi want her even more. To feel that energy they shared again. It went from a spark to lightening within a matter of seconds. He pushed memories of them devouring each other out of his mind.

"Be honest with yourself, Kyla."

"What?! I am being honest! There is more than one way to move on, Kakashi. As much as it felt like my life came to an end when you left, it kept moving and it brought me to many things, one of them being Aang."

"But now it brought you back to me." he said, strongly. "I know that's got to be cutting at your mind as much as it's cutting at mine."

This silenced her. Kakashi knew he hit the nail on the head. Neither of them had ever believed in coincidences.

"Do you love Aang?" he asked. He knew it was bold, but he didn't care.

"Don't ask me that, Kakashi." she said, shaking her head.

"Why not?" he said, taking another step closer to her. His heart was pounding.

"Because it's not fucking fair! That's why." she wiped her nose on her sleeve and ran a hand through her hair.

She took a deep breath.

"Yes. I love him. I didn't settle for him, or fall into his arms out of grief. He taught me that it's possible to fall in love again when I never thought I would. I love him very much. It's just.. different. Different than this." she said, motioning to the two of them.

They stared into each other's eyes for a moment. Kakashi knew exactly what she meant.

"I guess I haven't learned that." he said, breaking the stare. "I haven't felt even an inkling of what I feel for you, for someone else."

"Then you haven't met the right person." she said, flatly. "or you haven't let yourself try."

"No. Don't give me that." he said, annoyed.

She wasn't letting the depth of her emotions show and it was starting to bother him.

"I've met some incredible people but it just.. it.. it never compares, Kyla." he said, honestly.

She shook her head.

"It's not about comparison, Kakashi. You can't compare. It's impossible. No one else is ever going to be me. You can't look for a replacement. If I would have compared Aang to you…." she said, trailing off.

Kakashi could guess well enough what she was going to say.

He threw all caution to the wind.

"I don't need to look for a replacement. You're standing right in front of me, Kyla."

She was surprised at how straightforward he was.

"No. Don't even start. You have no right." she said, crying." If we EVER talk about that, it comes from me." she said, pointing a finger at her chest.

Kakashi felt himself getting irritated. As much as he wanted to respect her, he didn't want to be quiet either. Maybe he didn't have the right to provoke thoughts about leaving her husband or assume it was even an option after what he did to her, but he didn't care. The only thing he had to lose was her, and he was going to try his best not to let that happen again. He had lost too many people he loved in his life.

"You want to know why I wear that mask, Kyla? I've been wearing it since I was a kid, for my own reasons. It became part of my identity, but I took it off the years I was with you, because it was my mark. It could be recognized easily; my face could not. When I left the Mountain Under the Moon, I thought of just throwing it away, and changing who I was. But then I kept it because it served me in another way. As much as it makes me uncomfortable to say this," he winced, "there's no way around it. My looks are a distraction. Women tend to throw themselves at me and I'm just not interested. I tried, with a few. But I didn't like the way they looked at me, or touched me, or anything! My mind always went back to visions of you. It was unbearable. So, I don't bother. It depresses the fuck out of me. I gave up a long time ago." he said.

"In my mind, my face, is only for you. If you're not the one looking at me, I'd rather no one see me at all. That was my way of moving on. We just did it differently."

Kyla was dumbstruck. She didn't know what to think of this. She wanted to tell him that that was a stupid reason to hide his face, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was as much of a romantic as he was, and this touched her in a way she didn't expect. She felt her resolve crumbling.

"I hate to tell you this, Kakashi, but people can still tell you're sexy beneath that thing."

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders.

"It still helps."

She pulled at the elbows of her sweater. Her face softened. She didn't want to be arguing with him. She didn't really know what she wanted anymore, except to be near him, while she still could.

"Can we just… be content with the fact that we love each other? And not ask for anything else right now? Please?" she pleaded with him. "I can't think about this. Not with what we have a head of us."

He inhaled deeply through his nose.

"Yes. I can do that." he said.

He meant it. After all, he never believed he'd see her again and yet here she was. That itself was a miracle. He felt greedy for wanting more, but he couldn't help it.

"Shall we go back to the house?" she asked.

"Okay." he said.

When he began to walk again, Kyla came and hooked her arm in his. Kakashi smiled to himself. Their arguments were always like that. Even at their most explosive, it dissipated in a matter of minutes. They could never stay upset with each other for long.

They walked like that the rest of the way home. When the patio came into view, Kyla broke away from him and crouched down to pick a plant up from the ground.

"Plantain." she said, smiling. "It is exactly what I need."