ReadingnerdOtaku- it's really been a while. Hope that you like it.

(****************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Kakashi walked into his dark little cabin later that night, hungry and cold and dropped down in the chair over by the fireplace and sighed. It was maybe four in the morning by his estimation and his companion had been resting for a while. So he had felt no need to stay where he wasn't needed.

Or wanted.

Listening in on her conversation with the he/she earlier had been a painful reminder to him of just why he was still alone. He knew that he came on rather strong when it came to females but he couldn't help it. He'd been isolated ever since his father had died. And had long since outgrown any semblance of grace or social skills.

He just got so strangely happy whenever someone came up to the mountain that if there was anyone worth making contact with, he did so. It never really occurred to him that he may frighten that person- after all, there was much worse things than him to fear.

There were bears, posionous snakes, mountain lions... Granted that he often hunted and killed these things just to live, but that was nothing more than survival of the fittest. But that was neither here nor there.

And had nothing to do with his current problem, So why was he even thinking about it?

Wiping at some of the moisture that had gathered on his lashes, he looked around his home for the past fourteen years and not for the first time; he thought of destroying it and starting over from scratch. Leaving the mountain, and rejoining the world.

The only problem with that is if he did he'd still be a shut in. After all the only skills he had were partial military/hunter/tracker. What the hell sort of job could he get? He had no school education aside from what his father had taught him before he'd died.

And he couldn't even recall what it was equivalent too. Did kids stop school in the tenth grade? Or was it the eleventh?

But then Kakashi's father had home schooled him in college level stuff too. It didn't mean that it would help him restart his life if he decided to leave his home, but it helped him better grasp certain concepts.

But again, that was neither here nor there.

He needed to stop getting side tracked by the past and think of what he was going to do about his companion. She was scared of him. It ashamed him to have knowledge of her fear. To know that it stemmed from his actions... But he didn't know what to do.

He could back off a bit and give her some space and time to adjust, but if he did so too much- she'd leave the mountain and he would be alone again. And that simply wasn't acceptable to him as a man. He liked Naru.

She was...odd yeah, but she was also many other things. Entertaining, bristly, funny, kind, sweet- If he could just alieveate her fear of him, she would be a wonderful mate to him. But how?

How? He kept asking himself until the first rays of sunlight filtered through the cabin windows and he finally managed to doze off for a bit.

When he woke up again- his morning was business as usual. He got out of the chair, went out and caught a couple of rabbits. Skinned and gutted them and then started cooking them in the fire place while he went out looking for some bird eggs to eat with them.

All in all his egg hunt didn't last long. No more than fifteen minutes since there were birds nesting outside around the cabin. Once he had what he needed he headed back to the cabin and set the eggs in a pot of clean water on a rock in the fireplace to boil then built a fire and went to go bathe.

He wasn't sure why he bothered since he was only going to get dirty again anyways, but he found the water against his skin as comforting as it was relaxing. So he suppossed that's why he bothered.

Grabbing the hand made soap that he'd made out of yucca, he spread the white cream like substance across his skin. Starting with his face then working his way down to the soles of his feet before using a bit more to wash his hair, then rinsed himself off really well using the buckets of water he kept in his home for various uses.

Once that was done and the water ran clear, he set to drying himself off as quickly as he could since his sharp sense of smell was picking up on his food being charred.

Wrapping a towel around his hips and grabbing another for his hair, he made his way out of the bathroom with two of the buckets in hand and set them down next to the fireplace and made a mental note to go out and collect more later as he sank down into the same chair he'd sat in last night and looked at his food.

He was still no closer to an answer about what to do about Naru than he had been last night. It was vexing really. Very much so. But he wasn't going to kill himself over it.

At least not yet anyways.