They managed to keep Sasuke in the hospital for a week. Sakura worried that he wasn't recovered enough yet to leave, but Kakashi knew from the moment he stepped into Sasuke's room that morning that there was no chance for anyone to talk to boy into staying any longer. They didn't talk about Sasuke's desire to leave Konoha until he'd been out of the hospital for a close to a month. Out with Kakashi for some exercise and fresh air, Sasuke had stiffened, going pale at the sight of a single ANBU walking across their path some distance away. Kakashi was suspicious of the man walking so openly with no clear reason for being out in the open. Rather than give in to the desire to threaten the man, he'd turned Sasuke around and took him back to their apartment. They talked for a while then about Sasuke's desire to leave. Kakashi could only manage to get Sasuke to agree again to think about his desire to leave as he had in the hospital when Sasuke had first told him he wanted to leave.

It wasn't long after that encounter that Kakashi was informed that he was going to be sent on missions again. He resisted the idea only momentarily, and only in his own mind. He didn't want to leave Sasuke alone, but he knew there was no way he could defy the hokage and give up his duty as a ninja. Though it was difficult, Kakashi managed to arrange for Tenzou to keep an eye on Sasuke while he was on his missions, making sure his friend understood that if Sasuke found out he were being followed it would be disastrous. He never once doubted Tenzou's ability to watch Sasuke without the boy knowing, but still the risk made him nervous each time he left.

They set up a routine shortly after Kakashi started leaving regularly on missions. Before he'd leave, Sasuke would always promise to not leave the village until Kakashi returned. As soon as Kakashi would return from his missions, he'd ask Sasuke if he'd come to a decision, and each time Sasuke would inform him that he hadn't really had time to think about it. They both knew that there was nothing keeping Sasuke busy, but Kakashi let the boy have the lie as it seemed to make him comfortable. Eventually, Sasuke did find something to keep himself busy while he was away. Kakashi returned from a mission late one afternoon to find their apartment empty. It was a short search to find Sasuke at the training grounds with Naruto and Sakura. Kakashi never said a word to him about it, letting Sasuke have his secret.

The Akatsuki began to increase the frequency of their forays into the Land of Fire shortly after that, seeking to capture Naruto. Diligence in protecting Naruto was increased with each attempt, and the tighter the reigns on him grew, the louder the boy got. The louder Naruto got, the more Sasuke seemed to draw into himself, funneling whatever he wasn't speaking into the physical exertion of training, honing his skills to a razor sharpness that impressed even the least impressionable jounin. Through it all, Kakashi never failed to notice the guilt that Sasuke was dealing with and attempting to hide. He considered talking to the boy about his guilt once, wanting to help allay that pain, but he knew he couldn't. Anything he could say to Sasuke would only make the boy draw deeper into his silence. The fact that the elders were watching Sasuke with angry eyes made Kakashi loathe to ever leave Sasuke's side. It seemed to him that Sasuke had failed to notice the looks, and that helped ease his conscience each time he had to leave the village.

Weeks bled into months, and before he was ready for it, Sasuke's seventeenth birthday was approaching. He'd been granted a brief break from missions, giving the reason that he wanted to help Sasuke move and settle in to his own apartment. Kakashi didn't want Sasuke to leave, but he could never find the words to express that. The closer it came to his birthday, the more distant Sasuke seemed to grow. Figuring that his reluctant roommate was looking forward to moving out on his own once more, but was trying to keep from hurting his feelings by admitting it out loud, Kakashi left the boy alone as often as he could, not pressing him about anything. The week leading up to Sasuke's birthday was particularly tense. It seemed to Kakashi that he only had to look at the boy to upset him. It was frustration with this unbearable living experience that finally drove Kakashi away from their apartment, seeking solace from his friend.

"You look like someone stole your books, Senpai."

"My books?" Kakashi asked curiously, looking over at Tenzou.

"Well, yes. I know they're the most important thing in your life. Aside from your duty to the village, of course."

Kakashi smiled and uttered a brittle laugh as he shook his head. "Perhaps at one time they were. So much has changed though."

Tenzou was quiet for several long minutes, then sighed. Kakashi glanced over at his friend, taking in the blank look that was being directed at him. He knew Tenzou was hiding something from him, but before he could even consider trying to pry this information from him, he spoke. "Have you told him yet, Senpai?"

Kakashi blinked in confusion and shook his head slowly. "Told who, what?"

"Have you told Sasuke that you don't want him to leave. Have you told him that you've grown to love him in the past year?"

Kakashi could only stare at Tenzou as the words slowly sank in. Looking away, Kakashi chuckled and lifted a hand to rub at the back of his head. "Is it that obvious?"

"It has been for a long time, Senpai. I've been watching it happen," Tenzou informed him bluntly.

"Why do I have a feeling you knew what was happening long before I did?"

"Probably because I did. You had more important things to worry about. It's when we least expect it that love finds its way into our lives, Senpai."

"Maybe so, but he's just a kid." Kakashi stopped himself, frowning as he considered what he'd said, then shook his head. "No, he's not a kid. That's what attracted me. I watched him become a man. I guess to some small part of me, he'll always be that twelve-year-old genin that looked at me with such aloof indifference five years ago."

"So, have you told him that?"

Kakashi leaned back against the couch and sighed, staring across the room at nothing in particular as he chose his words carefully. "I've told him more than once that I'm proud of the man he's become. I've never failed to praise him when he earned it in the past year. It was an effort to remind myself that it was the gentle prod that Sasuke needed to stay on the correct path."

"Have you told him that you've grown to love him though?"

Kakashi frowned at the insistence in Tenzou's voice and glanced over at the man. "No, I haven't. I don't think I was even acknowledging it until you pointed it out to me. That's the last thing Sasuke needs to hear right now."

"Why?"

Kakashi frowned and jumped to his feet, beginning to pace the room, hands clasped behind his back. "I told you about Sasuke's decision to leave Konoha when he was still in the hospital. I told you how I talked him out of it. What I never told you is that Sasuke never made a decision whether he was going to stay forever or leave. I ask him every time I come back from a mission, but he always tells me the same thing. 'I don't know. I'll think about it.' What if I tell him I want him to stay with me, that I've grown to love him as more than just my protégé, and that's the factor that finally makes him leave the village?"

"What if it's the one thing he needs to hear to make the decision to stay? What if he's been waiting all this time for you to tell him that you want him to stay? You never told him what you wanted. He may think that you don't want him around."

Kakashi stopped pacing and turned to look at Tenzou. So many possibilities swirled in his mind that he began to grow dizzy. Shaking his head and forcing his thoughts to calm, Kakashi frowned at Tenzou. "What if he doesn't want the same thing?"

Tenzou smiled, but there was something missing from that gesture, some aching emptiness that Kakashi couldn't quite understand. "Then you will go on as you always have, but at least Sasuke will be able to make his decision knowing everything that he needs to know."

Pushing to his feet, Tenzou closed the distance between them and smiled more fully at Kakashi before he continued. "Besides, I've seen the way he looks at you; the way he acts. I think he'd be more susceptible to what you have to say than you think."

Kakashi looked skeptically at his friend, remembering all the fighting he and Sasuke had been doing in the past few months. Pushing his skepticism aside, Kakashi thought about Sasuke's usual manner of dealing with something that bothered him and his propensity to get angry and it began to make sense. Looking sharply at Tenzou, Kakashi began to realize that his friend may indeed be correct in his assumption that Sasuke shared Kakashi's feelings to some degree. He spared a moment to think how a relationship with Sasuke might go over with the general public, but knew in an instant that he didn't really care what anyone else thought. Sasuke's happiness, and to a lesser degree his own, was all that mattered to him.

A sudden thought popped into Kakashi's head and immediately spilled out into cold laughter that was laced with genuine amusement. At Tenzou's questioning look, Kakashi forced his laughter back and explained, "When Sasuke was in the hospital, the elders told me that they wanted to keep me separated from Sasuke. They were going to move him in with Naruto because they didn't like the effect I was having on him. They're really going to be displeased if Sasuke and I stay together, because I've got a feeling they were just waiting for him to move into his own apartment before they went after him again."

Tenzou nodded, then moved back to sit in his chair once more. "That may be. So, what are you going to do, Senpai?"

Kakashi noted the subject change, but let it go. He wasn't going to put his friend in a position where he had to choose between secrecy he was supposed to keep and his desire to be a friend to him. "I guess I'm going to go home and wait for Sasuke to come back from his training with Naruto. No doubt he'll be in a pleasant mood and susceptible to overtures of affection," he added sarcastically.

"Tomorrow is his birthday isn't it? They'll be moving him into his new apartment."

Kakashi nodded and walked over to Tenzou, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Thank you for always being there for me. And thank you for helping me to see what I need to do. I'm not letting him leave, I don't care what it takes."

"Good luck, Senpai."

Kakashi gave the man one last look, noticing the hints of a deeply hidden, paid-shrouded secret had left him. Tenzou looked content and happy in a manner that Kakashi rarely saw from the other man. Still, as he left the apartment and moved through the village, he couldn't help but think in all the months he'd been coming to Tenzou with his problems involving Sasuke, he'd been missing something and putting his friend in an uncomfortable position. He made a mental note to settle things with his friend as soon as he'd settled things with Sasuke.

AN: Sorry I'm so late getting this up today. I totally forgot it was Tuesday! lol

I don't have much to say about this chapter. I feel like I missed something somewhere, but I can't quite but my finger on it. I'll figure it out eventually if it's important and correct the issue before the end of the story. Speaking of the end, it's now official. I've got the rest of the story worked out in great detail. There are 2 more chapters left. Yes, folks, the end is in sight! (Hopefully my sanity will hold out until then. lol)

Oh, i am the night angel, the scene you've been waiting for is finally upon us! You get it in the next chapter. Now you have something to look forward to Thursday. Chuuuuuu~! ;)