Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. They belong to Masashi Kishimoto. This story is purely a work of fanfiction.

Chapter 20

Nina allowed herself to be led by Kakashi a short distance into a clearing, which was still shielded from the view of anyone passing by. The uneasiness of their connection hadn't taken long to abate and their hold had hung haphazardly between them, lifting only as they needed to turn a page. Nina had stashed her book away and was looking up to Kakashi for instruction.

"I think that'll do us for today. We are still well within the safety of Konoha so we needn't have night watch shifts."

"Agreed. Did you want me to get the tent out or are you happy to rough it for the night?"

Nina got her answer when their hold broke and he undid his bed roll from the top of his pack.

She opened and closed her hand a couple of times, familiarising herself with her freshly freed hand before following suit and laying out her bed roll.

"I'll go source some wood for a fire, be back soon."

She nodded and continued to set up camp, making a clearing for the fire and sliding their bed rolls outwards so they wouldn't be too close to the flames or each other.

He'd only been gone for a few minutes but having held his hand for the last few hours she was staring at her now empty palm. Their travels had been mostly silent except for the few times he had asked if she was okay; a knee-jerk reaction to her squeezing his hand absentmindedly whilst reading. She'd never held hands like that or for that long with someone and although she had fought his initial request, in the end it had felt almost-. She was not going to entertain her idle thoughts and looked around the clearing to see if she could spot some rocks that she could use to create a boundary for the fire.

While Nina took the opportunity to freshen up at the nearby river after eating, he was able to enjoy his dinner without having to inhale it. He finished up and tossed the sticks into the fire, removed his flak jacket and gloves and laid down on his bed roll to stargaze. It was tempting to rearrange the positions of their bed rolls but he decided against it, abiding to Tsunade's request and he had made some progress with her.

He tugged at the knot and removed his hitai-ate, laying it out over his jacket beside him and kept his covered eye closed.

"Do you want me to have a look at it?" Nina had managed to sneak into camp without him even realising and had knelt along his side; her hair was still drying and the ringlets cascaded over her shoulders and her back.

"Kakashi?"

"Hmm"

A few droplets splashed onto his face when she shook her head. "And I thought I was the one who was meant to be exhausted. "Is your Sharingan bothering you?"

"No, not really but knock yourself out." She wiggled a bit closer and held her right palm against his left temple and ran her thumb over his right cheek causing his normal eye to close.

"Sorry I got you a bit wet." His eyes shot open fixed on Nina, who took a moment to realise what she had actually said.

"Oomph." Nina had pushed down on his chest in retaliation.

"Pervert!"

"You said it."

"You thought it, I plead innocence." He rolled his eye. "Stay still some of your optic nerves are inflamed."

He felt the warmth of her chakra behind his sharingan and the thrumming that had persisted for a few days, dissipated.

She was confident she had reduced the swelling when he closed his sharigan and so she ceased the channel of chakra. It was something she had done several times for Kakashi, who had a tendency to over excerpt himself on all his missions. The sharingan wasn't biologically his but rather a gift from his deceased comrade and team member Obito, during a mission where he had spared Kakashi's life for his own. Not being from the Uchiha blood line, it placed substantial strain on his chakra reserves and was prone to inflammation hence he kept it covered. The task was intricate and he only allowed Tsunade or her to tend to it medically. Her body let out a very long yawn and she stretched her arms above her head.

Judging by her yawn, he didn't think she had much more to give before her mind gave out to exhaustion but was grateful for the medical intervention. "Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'm going to call it a night. Goodnight Kakashi." He sat up on his elbows watching her fingers nimbly snake her long tresses into a plait before climbing into her bed roll.

"Goodnight Nina. I'm glad to see you didn't burst into flames because you held hands with a boy." He rolled over to his side to face the fire and so he had view of her for the night. She rolled over to face the fire too but with her eyes closed, and clumsily reached a hand out in his direction smacking him on the head.

"I think you… you mean…man." She managed to muffle out before she dozed off.

Her hand was still on the edge of his pillow and he adjusted his head back a little to gain a better view of it. He could tell she was already in a deep slumber and picked it up to return it to her body. As Kakashi withdrew his hand she stirred, interlocking her fingers into his and pulled their hands towards her. She let out a shallow hum, which temporarily paralysed him. This was certainly unexpected but not breaking their hold, he repositioned himself leading to their heads almost meeting, and drifted off to sleep too.