Keiko helped Kakashi pull together some things to take for lunch. While she finished wrapping it up, he made his way to a shelf at the far end of the living quarters where the rest of his ninja tools were displayed. He hadn't used a sword in some time, but he saw from Keiko's memories that she did. He shrugged and pulled it down. He may as well be prepared. Keiko was now eyeing him curiously as he went through his pouch again making sure he had everything he needed.

"Are we sparing or are you taking me out to the woods to kill me?" she asked. She had expected they would take blunt weapons at very least.

Kakashi laughed. "Hmm, well I suppose the correct answer is both." He could see tension return to her body. "What I mean to say is, unless you come at me as if I were the enemy, I'm not going to be able to get a good assessment of your skills."

She relaxed slightly. "Unless you actually want me to kill you, you aren't going to get that kind of assessment."

"Someone is confident. That's good."

"I can sense that you're skilled without even having to fight you. Your...chakra as you call it here... is pretty impressive. However, if we didn't limit ourselves to some degree, there's going to be pretty serious injury. If my aim is to kill, I'm going to fight differently. It can't be helped," she said.

"Hmm, we'll see about that. I suppose it would have made more sense to do this in the beginning when you didn't know me, but it would have been awfully hard to earn your trust after that. It's a double edged sword I suppose. Do you have what you need? Ready to go?" he asked cheerfully as he put his arm around her waist and led her toward the door.

Keiko continued to glare at him in disgust that he was taking this so lightly. She didn't really know what to expect. "I disagree with your sparring aesthetic, and your means of assessment," she said flatly.

"Perhaps this works in our favor. You still don't completely trust that I'm not going to hurt you," he said.

"It has nothing to do with you. I'm having a hard time with it in general. I've never put so much trust in anyone before and I'm used to taking care of myself. This domesticating dynamic shift has been a little unsettling. It's not meant to be a complaint, it's just different. Since the moment I saw into your eyes I wanted to stop fighting and put my trust in you, but I'm still having a hard time with it. I never would have shared my memories with anyone before now," she said.

"That wouldn't be because you thought I had come to take your soul, would it?"

Keiko blushed. She hadn't realized he heard her thoughts through that memory.

"We'll see how this goes. If it's not going well, maybe we can take a break and I can share my memories with you," he said encouragingly.

Kakashi took her to a clearing where no one was scheduled to be. He didn't sense anyone in the surrounding area. Out of habit it seemed, Keiko seemed to be making the same assessment. She cast her eyes around and sniffed the air almost unnoticeably.

"Ok, I think we should start with something physical," Kakashi said.

Keiko looked at him and raised her eyebrows. "That was sudden. No dinner and a movie first?"

"While I love your sense of humor, remember what I said about thinking of me as the enemy right now. Would you be more comfortable starting with weapons or hand to hand?"

"Weapons I think," she replied.

"So remember, limitations are weapons only. No other skills unless you can't otherwise block a mortal blow," Kakashi said. Barely after he had finished, he already had thrown a pair of shuriken in her direction.

She reached to her hip and seemingly from nowhere, Zenmai appeared. She kept it magically concealed when not in use so she could summon it anywhere. With a single movement, she drew and deflected the shuriken with ease as Kakashi watched in confusion. She hadn't made any hand signs or done a summoning that he was familiar with. If nothing else, it seemed this would be interesting.

Kakashi drew his own sword and appeared in front of her as their blades clashed. Keiko pushed back and pivoted as he made to attack again. She made to grab his wrist and he shadow stepped out of her range. He had to step back again as she moved to stab. He continued to come at her much the same, calculating her movements as she did his. Neither of them made any extra movements, but she constantly tried to push him off balance. He had kept his headband over his left eye, but part way through the fight, he exposed it attempting to get the upper hand. It seemed like hours of deflecting each other's sword attacks and the occasional shuriken or Kunai until they finally clashed with a sword to the other's neck.

Satisfied, Kakashi put his own sword away. "I don't see many fights like that anymore. Many swordsman fight offensively and with flashy moves. I kind of expected it because you can be so flighty."

"Flighty with people and feelings," she waived dismissively. "As for your swordsmen, they fight with disregard to their life. It's not unusual that my kind may fight like that when enraged, but one on one, the best offense is a good defense," she said.

Kakashi grinned appreciatively at her words. "Let's have lunch and then I'll show you my memories," he said.

They sat facing each other once again in the grass. Keiko had Kakashi sit against a tree in case it was too draining.

"This time memories are going to be flowing the other way. Hopefully it won't be as difficult. I'm not going to take or give you anything. Just think of whatever you want me to see and I'll see it," she said.

She leaned her forehead to his again and placed her hands on the sides of his face. This time Kakashi was nervous. He was going to have to bring up some pretty painful memories that weren't as long past as hers had been.

"I'm right here with you," she whispered to him. Warmth spread over him. He suspected that she gave him that through their connection to put him at ease.

Keiko felt his loss of his mother. He didn't show her anything and she wasn't sure if it's because he didn't remember or didn't want her to see. She then felt the loss of his father. This time images appeared. Hatake Sakumo had been disgraced for abandoning his mission to save his comrades. Unable to cope with the backlash of his choice, he ended his life. Young Kakashi found him dead. How anger and hurt burned in the young Kakashi. Shinobi who couldn't follow orders were scum, he thought.

The scene dissolved. Kakashi met Nohara Rin and Uchiha Obito. A rivalry was born between the two boys. Young Kakashi looked down on Obito for his contempt of the rules. Kakashi felt shame on his teammate's behalf, annoyance, and disdain. Kakashi showed Keiko several of their training sessions with their sensei.

The scene changed again, Rin was abducted by enemy shinobi. Kakashi was going to abandon her and he and Obito argued. In the end, they decided to rescue Rin together. Kakashi lost his eye that day, and Obito lost his life. She saw Kakashi gain the sharingan gifted to him with Obito's dying breath.

Moving forward, Kakashi showed her the death of Rin by his own hand, and the suffering he carried from her suicide. Something in him had changed by this point. His comrads had become more precious than rules, and it had silently been his undoing. He never got close to anyone again, but he would no longer let his teammates down.

He showed her his feelings when he met her and how they had grown, his confusion mixed with certainty about them, and then his resolve after she showed him her memories.

When he was finished, he shook slightly, but he wasn't so drained as the other day. Even though she had broken the connection, Keiko didn't move away immediately. Kakashi was right. They did have similarities in their past. They had experienced loss of family and betrayal. Wordlessly, she moved her face away from his and into the crook of his neck as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. He wrapped his tightly around her, not wanting to let go.

"You were worried I'd hate you. Do you hate me?" he asked after a long moment.

"Of course not. I'm glad you showed me. I felt the same way as you…I didn't quite understand everything until now. We've had a lot of secrets. I couldn't really explain why I cared about you, I just saw something in you that was familiar," she said.

He touched her cheek. Even now he was hesitant to say what he wanted to say. They were interrupted by voices approaching and they both stood.

"Come on, let's go home. We can continue this tomorrow," he said.