Chapter 10

Aya lay staring at the wall to her right. She was curled in fetal position and was hugging a pillow to her chest to keep her shoulders from sagging inward. She could hear Kakashi's soft breathing from behind her.

"Kakashi?"

"Hai?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Hai."

"Then can you answer a question I have, please?" she asked meekly from her position on the bed.

"Just one?"

"Hai."

"What is it?"

"How did you get one Sharingan?"

"It was a gift," he mentioned soberly.

"A gift?" she asked trying to get more out of him.

"You said just one question," he quoted sternly but was holding back a smile underneath his mask.

"Gomen…"

Kakashi wanted desperately to show her that he trusted her but he was still unsure about his past becoming a topic of discussion.

"My best friend gave it to me when I graduated as a jounin at a young age…before he…before he got the chance to."

Ayaka turned in the bed to face him. "What was he like?"

"Good-doer, never serious, loved everyone…he was an Uchiha," he stated matter-of-factly.

"How was he able to give you his Sharingan?"

"Our third teammate, a medic ninja, had the power to take what he had and give it to me."

"That is amazing."

"Yes, she was…"

Ayaka's heart stopped for a moment and it hurt when it started up again. She couldn't stop her next question from coming out in a soft murmur, "Did you love her?"

When Kakashi looked up at Aya he noticed she wasn't looking at him but at her hands and she had the most solemn expression he had ever witnessed on her face. "Of course," he said and watched as she hid her features by turning back toward the wall, "she was the sister I never had." Aya stayed in that position as she asked her next question.

"Why are they not here anymore?" she questioned so softly that he didn't feel threatened. Her throat was full of emotion but she pushed it down with a hard swallow.

"Obito was killed and gave me the Sharingan before taking his last breath. Rin died of a broken heart soon after."

"I'm sorry that things happened that way, it must have hurt more than anything…"

"I've yet to feel something worse," he stated without hesitation.

"Thank you for telling me Kakashi," she said after a moment of silence, "…I now understand the pain you've been through. I appreciate why you keep that to yourself."

"No need to say thank you…I should have told you a while ago."

"Do you have any family?"

"My mother raised me for most of my childhood because my father was constantly on high risk A-rank missions. He was a popular request during the war."

"Oh? What was his name?"

"Most people knew him as Konoha's White Fang."

"Your father was Sakumo Hatake?" she asked turning her face as fast as she could manage to see his face. She knew that he had committed suicide in front of his son, 'Kakashi has the memory of watching his father kill himself?!'

"Even though his disgrace to the village led me to be very much by-the-book, I never blamed him. I just tried to learn from his mistakes…" he answered, sitting in the chair next to the bed.

"Kakashi," she whispered and laid her hand on his knee, "That's partially why I admire you." She had a somber expression until it sunk in what she said. Her smirk grew bigger but her hand didn't leave his knee.

"Partially?" he questioned searchingly.

"I admire you for many more reasons, but I'm not going to spell them out, just in case you get egotistical or something," she joked with him and she could tell he was smiling under the mask.

"I would never think too highly of myself, there isn't that much to brag about," he responded, patting her hand that was affecting him more than he let on.

Aya felt a little elevation in her heart but she simply smiled at his gloved palm being on her skin. "I think you have plenty to brag about, after all, you are one of the few jounin in Konoha…however, I will admit that I'm glad you don't," she affirmed with a grin.

"I could say the same for you," Kakashi spoke softly as he took her hand and put it on the bed. He wasn't about to acknowledge how much her laying there was making him think about scenes from all the books he had read. 'Those books will get me in trouble…if I try anything with her…' Shaking his head slightly to try and erase his thoughts made Ayaka look at him strangely and sit up slightly in the bed.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing," he said too quickly.

"Kakashi…" she muttered with warning in her voice.

"I'm going to the kitchen, do you want anything?"

"No, thank you," she answered and watched him leave the room. She heard the sink running and then a splash but she wasn't sure what he was doing. Wishing she could move around more only made her frustrated.

He was rummaging through the fridge one minute then the freezer the next. It sounded like he was looking for something in the cupboards, one by one, but wasn't taking anything out.

'He can be so strange sometimes,' she thought momentarily. Tired of sitting around doing nothing, Aya struggled painfully to get up and out of the bed. She minimized her grunts and was grabbing for the cane against the wall when her knee gave way to her weight. Knowing she was going to land on her hands didn't stop her from crying out.

Opening her eyes to the realization that she didn't hit the hard floor, she looked into the eye that she had well memorized by now.

"What are you doing?" he asked sternly.

"Falling?" she tried at a joke but he was not smiling.

"Are you trying to kill yourself?"

"I wanted to get up, dang it," she stated trying to shrug him off so she could stand on her own two feet.

"Let me help you."

"I don't want to need anyone's help," Aya replied as he cradled her in his arms. When he hesitated she looked up at him.

"Teamwork is the only way to accomplish things without hurting yourself more," Kakashi responded but still didn't put her down.

"I'm not used to this kind of teamwork," she said, realizing that she couldn't bring herself to breathe normally.

"Neither am I." His voice was low and masculine as he stared into her face.

"You can put me down now…" she murmured after a couple moments' pause.

"Can I trust that you won't try to get up again?"

"I realize I'm not able to get up on my own," she said lowering her head.

"You fought very bravely, and very well," he corrected seeing the pain that ran through her features, "I just hope you will be alright." Kakashi laid her back inside the cooled covers.

"I'll be fine…my injuries may take longer than most people but when they heal, they heal stronger than before." Her head was pounding and her body was sweating but she was really cold.

"That's good to know." Covering her once more made him realize how restricting it must be to be bed-ridden. "Maybe one of these days I will take you for an outing."

"Would you really?" Hope sprung to her eyes and she felt moisture around them. Kakashi was so stunned by her show of emotion he grazed his thumb under her eye to take away the tear that had escaped.

"Of course," he whispered.

"I…arigatou." Then Aya remembered what she wanted to inquire about earlier that day, "Have you found out any more information on Nyoko's captors?" She snuggled down into the covers to get the warmth around her.

"From what you were able to tell us, and from the bodies you so nicely boxed up for us, we have paired them with some criminals that have been in hiding while the Akatsuki was gathering the beasts and causing problems. They are now under the thumb of someone unknown. It's too soon to know enough," he supposed and brushed some of her hair out of her face.

Ayaka glanced up to see his expression and found him frowning upon her.

"What is it?"

"You have a fever."

"That would explain why my head is throbbing…"

"It's slight but I'm going to get some wet cloths," he stated as he got around the bed frame and went into the kitchen again.

Ayaka knew she had a fever but she didn't want to tell him…and his cool touch on her forehead made her forget about hiding it because it felt so good on her skin.

"You might have an infection, take these pills and I'm going to undo your leg bandage to check the injury," he said handing her three small pills.

"These won't knock me out will they?"

"No, but your headache will fade away."

"That's good…" She watched as he lifted the covers and paused at her black capri pajamas. "Uh, do you want me to…" but she was too embarrassed to finish her sentence.

He looked equally flustered but shook his head.

"Just relax," he replied, however, she wasn't sure whether he was talking to himself or to Aya. She rested her back against the stack of pillows and watched him take his time in moving her pajamas up her leg until it was past the medical dressing. Aya dismissed the feeling of a chill running up her spine at his tenderness. Everything he did was making her go slightly mad.

'I wonder if he knows how much he affects me…I wish he would remove his mask…even if it were to kiss him soundly on the lips.' Ayaka turned her head away quickly when he looked at her right when she thought that. 'Oh dear, please don't read my thoughts, I would die of humiliation!' Nevertheless, a small and foolish part of her wished he would know her notion and remove it to do exactly that.

"Tell me if I hurt you," he said before going back to his nursing.

"I will," she replied with more meaning than she thought he knew.

Her leg didn't look as bad as she thought it was going to and Kakashi didn't wince when he saw it. The skin was healing nicely and the scabbing was in natural colors. Kakashi cleaned the dried blood, put some ointment on it, and redressed the thigh. He took such extra care to be gentle that Aya didn't feel any pain.

"Arigatou," Aya stated calmly as he was pulling down her pajama leg. In contradiction to her calm response her inside senses were heightened. He was making her thoughts scatter in all directions.

"You're going to have something to remember that by," he stated, meaning a long scar across her thigh.

"I realize that," she replied pulling the covers up to her ribs. She could feel the effect of the meds fighting the fever but she was still cold on the inside.

"It doesn't bother you?"

"No, why should it? I'm fine with it and when I get my sister back it'll be an emblem of victory," she smiled at him but he seemed to be processing the concept with a blank look on his face.

"Emblem of victory…?" Kakashi whispered.

Ayaka leaned forward, took one of his hands and brought his face up to meet hers, "Kakashi, I'm not going to let this bother me and you shouldn't either."

Looking into her eyes so closely made his world seem to brighten into a hue he'd never seen before.

"You are braver than I," he replied without moving anything but his lips.

"No I'm not, I'm just more optimistic," Ayaka responded with her smirk to the side. She went to draw away but Kakashi stopped her with both of his hands.

"I should have been there to help you. You wouldn't have gotten hurt if I knew what was going on."

"I wished you were there throughout the whole thing…but, I don't blame you for not being there, so don't look into the past with such regret, ok?"

"Regardless…" he started to say more but she hushed him with her finger over his mouth.

"There was no way for me to get word to you or I would have," her firm reply came closer to his face than she had intended.

The two stared at each other meaningfully and Aya could have sworn that she could read his thoughts. His right eye, the one she always saw, was looking at her with such powerful feeling that her hand twitched in her lap.

"Do you…" she began but he shushed her this time.

"You should rest," was all he said and got out of the chair. He turned out the lights and left the room for the kitchen.

Feeling dejected by his abruptness made sleeping impossible.

'We were connecting so well, what happened? Do I have bad breath or something?' she scoffed at her stupidity and tried to get comfortable. Nothing was working.

By the time the clock ticked two minutes past three in the morning she knew she wasn't going to be getting the 'rest' she needed.

"Five hours since I was told to get some rest and I lay here staring at the ceiling…how joyful," she said quietly and sarcastically to the air above her. "Lord, please lead the boys to Nyoko and Takahiro and keep them safe until they are returned to me. I know she is in your graceful and tender hands. Thank you for always hearing my prayers and for always being there when those around me fail…and especially when I fail," she finished with an 'Amen' and breathed easier. Thankfully, shortly after that, she found light slumber but Kakashi was watching from the other room and had heard what she had prayed.

'I don't deserve her.'

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"Let me go!" Nyoko yelled at her captor's backs but they laughed and walked out of the room where she was strapped to a chair. Next to her was Takahiro in a cage. His fur had blood splatter on it but, thankfully, he wasn't hurt.

'I wonder whose blood that is…' Nyoko pondered and looked up.

Moonlight filtered into the room from a high, thin window. Nyoko could hear the crickets and an owl calling out into the darkness. Something in the hallway sounded like slithering scales crawling across the cobbles toward her door. She wasn't so much frightened as she was angry.

The slithering passed without so much of a pause at the door.

Trying to remember how she got there, Nyoko backed up to the moment she left Kiba's presence outside the woman's bath house.

Nyoko walked up to him and stretched out her hand to finally give up the badge.

Kiba looked down at it and snatched it from her. She slightly jumped at his reaction. Akamaru whined at his master's state and Kiba glared at him to be quiet.

"Kiba, are you alright?" Nyoko asked seeing some cuts in his jacket.

"I'm fine."

"But you might have gotten hurt," she said reaching for a scratch that had started bleeding. Kiba pulled away from her grasp and stuffed the forehead protector in his pocket.

"I said 'I'm fine'." Kiba didn't say goodbye before vanishing from the street and leaving Nyoko stunned at his departure.

She had sighed deeply and motioned for Takahiro to follow. Not knowing where anyone else was, she started looking for Sakura. Apparently Sakura and Ino were training with Tsunade that day and wouldn't be available. She had just met Hinata so she tried looking her up. Hinata's father answered the door and announced that Hinata wasn't there but when she did get back they were going to have dinner then train Hinata's younger sister.

Halfheartedly Nyoko turned down the offer to wait for her to search out someone who didn't have anything else to do. She knew her sister was with a new jounin that claimed to be Kakashi's rival, but Nyoko doubted that they would want her hanging around their work. Nyoko then thought of Ten-Ten but as she rounded a corner she had seen her enter a restaurant with Neji, Shino, and their families.

'Why is it I leave Kiba's side and now no one is free?' Nyoko laughed at the coincidence and decided she would go to the apartment to eat. There was a note that Kakashi was having dinner with Izumo, Kotetsu and Yamato.

"It looks like we're on our own tonight, Taka." Nyoko didn't mind too much it just felt like she was suddenly thrown into a new culture with no one there to translate what was going on. Before long, Nyoko got restless and decided that she should try to find Kiba and apologize. Since they were supposed to practice their genjitsu tonight on the training lot she headed there.

Unbeknownst to her, it was exactly what her enemy had wanted. She had waited fifteen minutes and was ready to go looking for Kiba when something pierced her and she blackened out almost immediately.

Sighing loudly, Nyoko looked back on those moments in exasperation. How could she have been oblivious to four or five ninjas? Was her mind really that cluttered with thoughts of Kiba or was she loosing her touch?

"Gomen, Taka…" she whispered through hot tears and her cat leaned out his head to lick her imprisoned hand.

The next day held little promise of finding out what she was kidnapped for. She was given food and bathroom breaks but the food tasted horrible and the breaks were brief. She kept demanding information but no one seemed to hear her. It felt like a horrible nightmare.

Trapped and alone Nyoko tried to keep her optimism higher by counting her many blessings...starting with having friends that, she knew, were on their way.