A/N: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. Slow-burn romance.

BEEP BEEP BEEP.

She wakes to the rhythmic beat of her own heart. Wires extend from her chest and arms to a heart rate monitor beside her. Her eyes so very slowly blink open, adjusting to the soft morning light of dawn that is still too harsh for her swollen eyes. She can tell it's hardly past 6 am.

How long have I been out?

There's a dull ache in the back of her head, but nothing unreasonable. As her senses return, she notices a bandage around her neck and a warmth in her palm. She wriggles her fingers only to find the movement blocked by something - or someone rather.

Glancing down, she sees unruly black tufts of hair leaning against her hospital bed. Shisui's hand nestled in her own.

"Yumi?" His sleepy voice calls.

Upon realizing that he's not in a dream, his head bolts up - "Yumi!"

Shisui looks at her with a mixture of relief and disbelief. There are distinct bags under his eyes and his hair is mussed in all directions.

"Shisui? What are you doing here?" She's surprised by the sore croak of her voice.

She pulls her hand from his as she scoots to an upward sitting position. He doesn't miss a beat, grabbing her shoulder to help her then handing her a fresh glass of water. "Don't push yourself, please."

He bites his lip in uncharacteristic shyness.

"How long?"

"Three days." So long. Must be the chakra exertion.

"Do you know what happened? I remember losing air and then... " Her voice trails off distantly as she tries to replay the fuzzy memories from that night. Two Men. Sharingan. Fighting. Suffocating. And...and then what? In the state that she was in, she couldn't be sure.

Shisui's fists clench at his side. His entire form is rigid. "Two jonin from my clan suspected you of espionage. They acted outside of orders and attacked you."

With a very pointed meaning, he looks her unflinchingly in the eye. Then deeply and formally bows.

"I APOLOGIZE ON BEHALF OF THE CLAN." Shisui holds his bow as they sit in silence. "I won't let them get away with what they did. I swear they won't hurt you again. On my life."

And she knows he means it.

The morning light shifts color and tone around them as dawn turns to sunrise. And with its tranquility, her own thoughts shift as well. A small chuckle leaves her, building into a full laugh.

He blushes and lifts his head to see Yumi so openly blithe.

"Eh?"

She tries to calm her laughter, barely managing them into suppressed giggles. He's never seen her so child-like - and he certainly didn't anticipated the reaction considering the circumstance.

"Why are you apologizing? I'm fine anyway." And she is. She cracks her neck to both sides. A bit sore, but nothing a bit of rest won't fix.

"You don't... hate me?" He mumbles the last part.

She blinks at his genuine concern. I've underestimated him. In so many ways.

"Can't get rid of me that easily." She throws back at him (A/N: ch11).

He throws himself onto her in a full hug that knocks the air out of her. "Uwaaa I was so worried!"

She had thought to put some distance between herself and the Uchiha. He seemed like just another loose acquaintance that she wasn't sure she could keep... everyone around her was at that age of change and growth and learning to be who they really are. And as they become the person they're supposed to be, there's no place left for me. Drifting apart.

And besides, as an Uchiha trouble was never far behind.

I was wrong.

Shisui, she could so clearly see, was a friend worth keeping. And so she would.

She was actually thankful for the two idiots who attacked her. A reminder that she didn't care about such things. She had always done what she wanted regardless of what others might say or normal governances. Was I really so mopy I started deferring to what was easiest?

She prided herself on being uncomplicated - deciding to do something and doing it. And so she would befriend Shisui so thoroughly that she would never again think of him as the Uchiha boy she practiced with, but SHISUI. Just Shisui.

"You're heavy."

He jumps off and scratches the back of his head."Gomen, gomen."

She thrusts her hand out. "Where's my get-well gift?"

"Ah...um, you've been asleep for three days so I had to eat it, haha." He avoids her eyes, finding something just so interesting out the window.

She feigns intense disappointment. "After all I've been through... not even gyuhi mochi, zaru soba, or beef sukiyaki here for me..."

He sweatdrops. "How oddly specific." Nonetheless, he bolts up with the zeal of a ninja on a mission. "BUT it just so happens I was on my way to pick that up from -"

"Tsuchi's Restaurant" She grins up at him cheekily.

He smiles. "Tsuchi's. Exactly."

She waves as he dashes out the room. She waits until his chakra signal reads from outside the hospital, then tugs out all the wiring.

As she stands, a small wave of nausea overcomes her with the sudden rush of blood to her head. She slowly shuffles to the window and slides it open.

Instantaneous calm hits her. Wind.

She hears its voice whispering in her ear.

It wants to take her far away.

I want to soar.

Would she still love me if I hadn't been in the hospital that day? Would I mean as much to her as I do now?

He looks up at Konoha Hospital - from five blocks away. With Yumi's sensor abilities he knows she can pin-point him all too easily, so he weighs his choice from a distance.

News of what happened had only spread to a select few. The Uchiha were all too quick to hush it up - a disgrace on their record as leaders in the village. Minato was of course given notice to his...moment of instability. And from Minato came Rin.

Rin's advice echoes in his mind.

"Kakashi-kun... I won't force you to go see her. But whatever's going on, she deserves to know, right? At least tell her why you've been avoiding her - and yes, I have noticed. I know she's not very 'typical' for her age, but there are still many things she won't understand. Don't let her misunderstand you."

She was right, of course. Rin was nothing short of compassionate. She could so easily see things from everyone's point-of-view - always searching for the reason on the other side, never looking to judge.

His eyes bore into the building even more intensely, but his feet stay planted on the ground.

Why am I always afraid when it comes to her?

And before his mind is fully made up, he takes a step forward. It's not Rin's wise words or his own reasoning that ultimately decide. It's pure instinct. Something within his entire being that needs him to move.

And with each step he feels the breeze walk beside him.

Before he knows it, he stands just outside her door, hand raised to knock -

"Come in." She calls from the other side, because of course she knows.

He slides open the door to see Yumi perched in the window sill, dangling her legs from over four stories high. He sees the cut on her cheek, the bruising on her neck, and a red fury burns at his chest. The wind swirls around him - as if reacting to his mood - and he forces those feelings down.

Everyone who saw them together wondered what their relationship really was. He was older, but not at all close to being a father figure. They were so much more than simple friends that such a label fell short of truth. Kakashi himself didn't truly know how to describe it, but he also didn't care to try. Besides, it wasn't for anyone else beside himself and Yumi.

"Yumi-chan." He forces a monotone statement. Inside, he's so very afraid.

But her arms lift openly toward him and he doesn't miss a beat. He blurs in front of her, scooping her into a hug. Her tiny limbs tremble in his hold. Or is it me?

"Were you scared?"

She shakes her head 'no' and buries her face into his chest.

He smiles. Still so fearless.

"I didn't think you'd come." It stings to hear, but that had been his intention.

"Me neither." He answers honestly.

"Come again." She doesn't mean the hospital. And in Yumi fashion, she doesn't ask.

"Yeah." She lifts her gaze to look at him. His heart flutters at her intensity. He swallows and - "You know my father was a world-renowned ninja." He never talks of his family to anyone, but Yumi is always the exception. "The White Fang." The name sounds foreign across his tongue.

"Since I could crawl, I trained to be a ninja. I held a kunai before a brush. It's in my blood. And I'll commit my life to this village." Their eyes never leave the others'. Flecks of a beautiful gold glimmer in her eyes. Have they gotten lighter?

She frowns - even so she's mesmerizing.

"I'm on a path that's moving so differently from yours." It's true. In his mind, he imagines the lines of their lives splitting - his not only angling off, but also speeding away. At the time, he couldn't fathom how those lines could split and twist and turn and overlap as life does in funny, unpredictable ways.

Her mouth presses into a line, but she stays silent.

"You can be anything you choose to be, but I am and always will be, a ninja." There was no doubt in anyone's mind.

As horrible as it was, a small, ugly piece of him envied her. She started on a blank slate and she knew herself so immensely as a child. Even before he was born, he had his father's legends to shadow behind.

"I hurt, I manipulate, I kill. I can't - I'm not...I'm not good for you to be around." If she knew what I've done, what I'm capable of doing, she'd hate me.

"Tch. You are." Her face scrunches in frustration. He ruffles her hair fondly.

"I was wrong to avoid you." He blushes. His senses are on high alert for eaves-droppers, but it still embarrasses him to admit out loud and while still holding her so closely. "But I need to focus on getting stronger. Protecting you and the village as my duty."

She loathes what he's saying, but how can she refute it? He was on the only path he believed existed for him. And SHE was the one who chose another, wasn't she? She thinks of Danzo. His offer. And the thought wouldn't leave her.

She doesn't have anything to argue against him with, so she relies on the one thing she's always had with him. Her hand lifts to his cheek and he leans into it, closing his eyes. She feels his confliction and turmoil and all she can do is hope that her equanimity can ground him.

"No matter what happens, just come home." To her.

And in the end of it all - though all the convoluted detours of life he had yet to face; All the mistakes, the victories, the pain, the joy - he would.

A/N: Wow this was such a talk-about-our-feelings sort of chapter. What do you think Yumi looks like? Would love to see links! I have a few pictures from the interweb I may link to. She's quite young now though and a lot of chapters down the line there will be a large time-skip! No one can stay young forever. Sadly...