You should feel lucky. I chose updating over memorizing my drama script. You should feel very lucky indeed. XD;;

The hospital.

God, just thinking about it made me nervous.

Kakashi and I had struck up a deal, he would take Team 7 down to the Hokage's office, and I would go to the hospital, then go drop off Alice and Yuki.

So I was leading the way through Konoha's familiar streets, buried too deep in thought to really notice any conversation floating around me. I kept up the naïve hope that my uncle would be alive, waiting. But, the more sane part of me was waging an epic battle against my remaining hope. It was currently unapparent who would emerge victorious. I seemed I wasn't going to give up that futile hope; I wasn't going to give up either. I was too afraid of being alone again. He had been my father figure, and I wasn't sure I could handle losing two fathers.

So riddled by my thoughts, I didn't happened to notice Alice gently poking my arm, eyes curious.

"Hm?" I managed, snapping out of my reverie.

"What's your uncles name?" Alice inquired.

I had to think for a moment. I never refered to him by his name, so it took some time for me to fully recall it. "Ren…." I murmured, "Ren…Kugimiya. His name is Ren Kugimiya."

Alice's sun-tanned face paled slightly, and she nudged Yuki with her elbow before bending to whisper something in his ear. I raised an eyebrow. What would've caused that reaction. I waited in puzzled silence as Alice conferred with her brother.

Alice turned to me. "That was our father's name."

"Oh." Then it clicked. Her dead father?

Wouldn't that mean-

Shit.

I felt the blood drain from my face as that last little bit of wilted. I broke out in a frantic run, denial kicking in as that delusional form of hope kicked in. The kind of hope where you find yourself believing the impossible, no matter how much it'll hurt when it comes crashing down.

The hospital was soon looming above me. It was strange that the building the offered the promise of safety to others, offered the inevitable promise of my worst fear to me.

I burst through the doors, not even pausing as the smell of medicine, bleach, and soap wafted around me. I sprinted towards the nurse's station; a round desk situated in the center of the waiting room. The nurse sitting there was a woman of the plump variety, scanning absently over a sheet of pristine paper, blatantly ignoring the coughing and wheezing of the sick patients waiting in chairs.

"Room number" I paused, to catch my breath, "Of Ren Kugimiya."

The nurse, startled by my appearance, had a rather flustered method of shuffling through the papers scattered about on the desk. Finally she seemed to find what she was searching for. Eyes slowly scanning over the paper, her lips twisted into a sympathetic frown. "Oh my. I'm terrible sorry but-"

The delusional wall of hope came crashing down, harsh as a tidal wave. I didn't give her a chance to finish as I took off, running back through the doors and straight past Alice and Yuki. I paid them no notice as I ran.

I sprinted without a destination, just wherever my legs would carry me. I ran faster, trying harder to run past everything, to just run away from reality. It worked for a time, and I barely noticed the hot tears sliding down my cheeks. Eventually, I slowed to a halt, stopping in a patch of trees just on the edge of Konoha. I felt drained and shaky. I placed a hand against the rough bark of a nearby tree in hopes of steadying myself.

"Akiko? What are you doing?"

I wiped away my tears hastily with my arm, not bothering to ask the question if Kakashi had followed me. I turned around slowly, flashing a feeble smile. "Looking for wild strawberries" I lied.

"They don't grow around here" Kakashi pointed out, walking towards me tentatively, like I was about to have a mental breakdown any second. A possibility not far from the truth.

"Oh, that explains a lot" I chuckled lamely. I wasn't in the mood for conversations or witty comebacks. I was, however, in the mood to just sit and bawl.

"Are you okay?"

Kakashi wasn't asking in regards to my current, puffy-eyed state, he was asking in regards to the fate of my uncle. It was a mystery how he knew, but I left it alone.

"Yeah" I lied again, but my voice cracked and I was soon in tears again. "I didn't get to say goodbye" I muttered softly. This fact, only occurring to me now, released such a wave of emotion that I took a few shaky steps towards Kakashi and drove my fist into his chest.

There was no force behind the blow, and my hand bounced off harmlessly. "It's all your damn fault" I snapped, tone accusing, "You…you talked me into going..and…and" I trailed off, repeatedly driving my fists haphazardly into Kakashi's chest. I continued to repeat the same sentence over and over, not able to continue past "It's all your fault". It felt good to push all my pent-up self-angered on someone. Really good. After repeating the same phrase over and over a couple more times I finally worked up the nerve to finish. "My uncle's dead, and I didn't get to say goodbye and it's all your damn fault!"

A violent sob racked my body, my shoulder's shuddering. Kakashi chose that moment to wrap his arms around me and pull me into his chest, pinning my arms in between our bodies.

"Shhh.." Kakashi soothed, smoothing my hair against my neck.

I sobbed and shuddered against him, feeling numb. I grasped Kakashi's vest, my fists clutching the fabric tightly like a lifeline. Kakashi continued to whisper unintelligible comfort into my ear.

"I'm sorry."

As Kakashi whispered this, I felt terribly terribly guilty. There was no basis behind my accusations and there he was apologizing. And as my sobbing increased, Kakashi seemed confused as to what to say to stop the tears. He settled with nothing and just continued to stroke my hair as I cried.

Eventually my tears seemed to run out, and I pulled away from Kakashi's chest.

Instead of thanking him, or apologizing myself, I stated a fact: "Alice and Yuki are my cousins." It was an odd thing to say, and what made it odder was that the thought had just occurred to me then.

Kakashi nodded, "I know."

I blinked, too emotionally drained to be surprised.

"I thought you figured it out too" Kakashi continued.

I said nothing and continued to stare at him.

"Well, I'll walk you to your place" Kakashi offered.

It was an immediate thought that I didn't think I could stay there, alone, with the fresh pain and old memories to haunt me. I grabbed Kakashi's sleeve, staring up at him with pleading eyes. "Can I stay at your place? Please? I don't want to be alone."

Kakashi thought for a moment, and my gaze never strayed. I hated seeming so needy in front of him, but I couldn't bear the thought of being alone. "Of course." He decided.

I let out a tiny breath of relief. Thank god. I felt another lump in my throat; it seemed that I was going to be crying off and on for a while. Kakashi took my hand, gently leading me back through the streets.

By the time we reached his place Kakashi had the entire sleeping arrangement figured out. Due to the fact I had ditched Alice and Yuki, Kakashi had offered them the upstairs bedroom I had slept in, which left the bedroom and the couch.

Kakashi led me into his bedroom, closing the door behind him in habit.

Had I been thinking clearly, I would've immediately frowned upon the state of his room. The bed sheets were a tangled mess, laundry was thrown about in every corner and crevice, there was a plate on the floor, and presumably much more junk buried under the laundry. But all this meant little to me at the time.

"I'll sleep on the couch; you're welcome to the bed." And with that offering Kakashi turned towards the door. In a fleeting moment of panic at being alone again, all sane rational thoughts fled my mind. I grabbed Kakashi's arm, pulling him back round to face me. The question was clear in his eye. I stepped closer, pushing my chest against his, while pulling down his mask with my hands. Keeping a firm grip on the mask, I pulled Kakashi's head down, lips crashing into mine.

Kakashi stiffened up like a board. I frowned, not liking that at all. I nipped playfully at his lower lip, trying to coax him into it. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my tongue slowly tracing the curves of his lips. Kakashiseemed to give in, opening his mouth a crack and pushing my backwards, further into the room. "Akiko" Kakashi said, voice breathless and husky, as I pulled away for some needed air.

I cut him off, kissing him again. I wasn't in the mood to listen to him talking. I was operating off of sheer instinct and want at the moment, and his logic wouldn't have worked well with me.

I took a step back, pulling Kakashi with me. My foot landed on a sock, and my balance was lost. The tumble sent my falling backwards, hauling Kakashi along with me. Conviently, I landed with my back on the bed.

I giggled, delighted, at the shock of the fall. Kakashi stared at me for a moment before removing my arms from his neck and pinning them beside my head, this time pressing his lips against mine.

I grinned, my toes furling and unfurling with pleasure.

That was more like it.

O_O Yes, that just happened. And, oddly enough, it was planned. No phantom keyboard syndrome to blame this time.

Well, what'd you think? Super-special awesome? To melodramatic?

I found a valentine card from two or three years ago, that I never actually gave my friend. So I did the wordsearch on it, and, I found proof of my stupidity/awesome-ness, when I read the word"Lacigam" instead of "Magical" on the answer key. Granted, it was one of those annoying backwards words, but still.

Time for me to hit the hay! Gotta busy day full of math, old people, and building to look forward too.

R&R

-Y.A.O.G

P.S Thanks to those that added this fic to their favorites between this and the previous update. It kinda got my ass in gear. Haha. TOODLES.