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He could have bashed himself in the head.

'How could I have forgotten to tell her where to meet me?!' Kakashi thought, running his hands through his already messy hair as he slogged his way towards the Memorial Stone with his usual offering of flowers for Obito and Rin. The Jonin looked everywhere for the illusive holder of his affections; the hospital, the small clinic her family ran, the bar that she usually went to when she hung out with her friends. Hell, he'd even stopped by her house to inquire to her whereabouts.

He couldn't find Kagome.

It had been several hours since he'd finished with his kids, and he hadn't seen hide nor hair of the black-haired medic. The sun was nearly set and twilight was approaching.

"This first day was a disaster," he muttered, honestly angry with himself for such an academy mistake. He'd been beside himself with joy over just the fact that he would get the chance to spend time with Kagome that he'd misstepped on the simplest of things. Turning the corner, he froze when he noted someone else leaning against the memorial. The setting sun ignited the area and he resisted the urge to rub his eyes, thinking he was dreaming.

Because right there was Kagome, the woman he'd been looking for all this time.

"Kagome-chan?" Her attention shot to him and she straightened up, pulling at the hem of her shirt in an unconscious nervous habit.

"... Hello Hatake-san. I was actually expecting to see you much sooner."

"What are you doing here? I've been looking everywhere for you!" the silver-haired male sighed, absently kneeling down before the stone and laying out the flowers. He noted that there was another fresh bouquet and quickly dredged up the memory that Kagome's father had died in action. Against the Kyuubi. And that, once again, made him wonder how the Higurashi family had been able to take in Naruto without blaming him for the death of their patriarch.

"I've been here. I found out you frequent the Memorial to pray for your teammates and firgured you'd show up eventually since you didn't really say where we should meet up," the medic shrugged, pointedly avoiding his gaze. She wasn't going to tell him that she'd also decided to stop by and visit her dad. "Looks like someone else had that in mind too." She gestured to the other flowers.

Kakashi decided not to mention that he knew it was her. Instead, he nodded once he'd paid his respects and leaned back on his heels to contemplate something. "When you first picked up Naruto, did you know who he was?"

"Yeah. I did."

"And you still did it."

"Yep."

"... That takes a lot of guts; especially considering what happened in your family with the Kyuubi-!" He was stopped when she suddenly grabbed his hair and yanked his head up to meet her fiercely burning blue eyes. Oh, he wasn't expecting that.

"Naruto did not kill my father! That monster that was forced inside him did! Don't you dare assume you understand why I did what I did!" Despite the fact that she was hurting him with her grip, he remained perfectly calm. Because what he honestly wanted to do was pull Kagome down onto the ground and pin her beneath him.

"I know that. Naruto is not the Kyuubi, and he never will be."

"Then why-!"

"Because I wasn't sure about your reason. You never told anyone; you just took him home," the Jonin countered blandly, sighing inwardly when she let go of his hair. The Higurashi girl shook her head and growled under her breath as she knelt on the ground next to him.

"It's not like I didn't hear what people said. But he didn't deserve that kind of life."

"No, he didn't. It was part of the reason there were ANBU assigned to watch over him. He had a lot of threats on his life, even back then."

"... That's terrible. He's just a child," the woman murmured, leaning away from the Copy Nin as she assimilated what she'd just done to him. She was feeling foolish; she'd let her emotions get the better of her. She was in a bit of a daze over her fit so she didn't see the way her companion studied her out of the corner of his visible eye.

Straightening up again, Kakashi held out a hand to the woman; she blinked up at him, seemingly confused. "Come on. You've probably been here for a while. Let's go get something to eat and we can... talk."

The kunoichi wanted to say no, but she'd agreed to spend time with him, so instead she let him pull her to her feet and start to lead her away. Glancing one last time at the Memorial Stone, Kagome sent out a prayer.

'Tou-san, please help!'

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A/N: So I'm slowing updates on this simply because I've now posted everything I've pre-done already. Now, I get to scramble around and figure out what's next. Haha! Anyways, stay patient guys! I'm getting my act together, I promise!