By the time Kakashi returned, the early morning light had been replaced by the dim onset of dusk.
Completely forgetting Harata was there, the tired jonin promptly removed his gear, and sat down on a small futon bed in his living room.
"Well today was quite interesting." he said to himself as he immediately reached for the treasures he picked up on his way back home.
"But at least I got my hands on the newest issue." he finished with a hint of excitement in his voice.
"I can't wait to read it!" he went on, gushing over his beloved novel, until he felt his stomach growl.
Putting a finger to his face in a thinking manner, he tried to recall if he'd actually eaten anything that day at all.
"Now that I think about it. I never did eat before I left." he eventually said as he got up to walk over to his kitchen, but to his surprise, the little bit of food he cooked for himself was gone.
"Wait...or did I eat it?" he thought aloud, getting a bit confused as he sighed in defeat.
"Guess I should've grabbed more groceries while I was out- " he broke off upon opening his refrigerator and seeing some cooked sashimi and miso soup, with rice sitting inside.
"Now where did this come from? I'm sure all I made was salmon." he questioned, growing even more suspicious.
"Hmm..." was all he said as he quietly pulled out his kunai, and walked to his room.
Upon entering, he noticed his bed was neatly made up, and lowered his kunai releasing a sigh of relief this time.
"I should probably start getting more sleep. I think I'm becoming a bit sleep deprived." he scolded himself, as he walked over to his bed and sat down on the edge.
Just as he was about to lay back across his bed, he noticed a golden gleam coming from his side table.
What's that? he wondered as he reached over to pick it up, realizing it was a necklace with a small, heart shaped locket attached to it.
"A necklace?" he said curiously, as he inspected the strange jewelry.
Eventually noticing a small clasp on the top of the locket, he unhooked and opened it, only to see two pictures framed inside.
The first one displaying two young girls standing together, and making goofy faces. The shorter of the two girls lovingly holding what looked to be a baby chick.
The second one was the two same girls smiling happily, and giving the peace sign, except there was a handsome young boy standing behind both of them patting their heads. All of them dressed in what looked like school uniforms.
The more he studied the two pictures however, it began to dawn on him that he actually recognized one of the girls.
"Isn't that...? Wait a minute..." he said in a moment of realization; but the sound of his shower turning off interrupted his thoughts.
Soon the bathroom door opened, as Harata came strolling out with a towel on, her hair wrapped up in another one.
Pulling the towel off of her head, she shifted some of her wet locks out of her face, and was ready to undo the towel around her body, until she noticed Kakashi sitting on his bed, causing her to jump back out of surprise, and fall over.
"Oh...I forgot you were here." he said casually, as he stood up, offering her his hand.
Still in a bit of shock, the frightened young woman merely took his hand, as he pulled her to her feet.
"I'm guessing you made that extra food then." he said as Harata attempted to slow her heartbeat and breathing enough to finally respond.
"Y-yeah...that was...me..." she managed through labored breaths.
"I see. And what about the food I cooked earlier?" he questioned, giving her an interrogative look.
"A-ate it...I...was really hungry...when I woke up again..." she replied, still holding her chest as her breathing began to return to normal.
"Oh. Good. So long as it didn't go to waste, that's fine with me." he said, easing up finally.
"N-no...it didn't. Don't worry...it was really good too. Thank you." she added, finally calming down.
"I had planned on eating that when I came back..." he mumbled quietly, thinking Harata didn't catch what he said.
"I figured as much. That's why I made more. I realized you didn't eat any yourself." she retorted, taking a seat on the opposite end of his bed.
"Oh? Paying that much attention to what I do?" he teased.
"Wh-what?! Hold on! I'm not paying any special attention to you!!" she shouted defensively, standing up quickly, and turning around to face him in a flustered manner.
"If you say so- " he stopped abruptly after turning his head to face her.
"Ahem...I'll...let you get dressed then." he merely said before turning his head away.
Confused by his sudden reaction, she failed to realize her towel had fallen off.
"Huh? What's with that reaction?" she asked as she reached for the towel around her body, but felt nothing there.
Wanting to reassure herself that she was still covered, she looked down at her exposed body, as a mortified expression formed on her face.
"That's why..." he said, already on his way out of his room, then returning a second later and tossing his long sleeved shirt over to her.
"Here. Just put this on for now." he said calmly before sliding his door shut.
"Oh...th-thank you..." she stammered, feeling like a complete idiot.
He'll let me go back to the inn for sure now right? she thought to herself as she slid his shirt on, feeling like she just put a nightgown on.
Geez, I never realized how much taller than me he was before... she continued to let her mind wander, until she smelled the food she cooked earlier wafting into the room.
Becoming curious, she walked over to the bedroom doorway, and peeked out into the kitchen.
"Is he really gonna eat it?" she whispered to herself, as she walked out with a determined look, and watched him observantly.
She took note of Kakashi reheating the food with one hand, as he casually read his book with the other, making her eyes go wide with amazement.
"...amazing..." she unknowingly said out loud, practically gawking at how good he was at multi-tasking.
"What this? It's nothing really." he finally said, not shifting his gaze from his book.
Coming back to reality after spacing out, she realized what she said, and felt her face go red.
"Please...just forget I said anything..." she squeaked out meekly as she stood with her head down.
"Oh? Why?" he asked suddenly as he turned around, only for Harata to notice he was wearing an apron.
Unable to believe what she was seeing at first, she blinked a couple times to make sure she wasn't just seeing things.
"U-um...Hatake San..." she started, unsure of how to go about bringing up his kitchen attire of choice.
"Yes?" he answered nonchalantly with a blank look on his face, as if daring her to even think of insulting his apron.
This however was only how Harata perceived his expression.
"...Well...um...how to put this...your... that..." she trailed off, starting to tremble in fear a bit.
"Did you need something?" he tried again, confused as to what she was so afraid of.
Becoming too nervous to speak anymore, Harata simply went silent, hanging her head in defeat.
"Guess not." he said to himself, turning his attention back to his book, but couldn't help but notice how big his shirt was on her himself.
"Goodness, she's practically drowning in it. Maybe she'll grow more with time...Probably not...she's doomed to be short her whole life.." he thought, desperately trying to resist the urge to laugh.
Too lost in her own thoughts, Harata failed to notice Kakashi on the verge of laughing.
All she could think of was how the last thing she expected from a hardened assassin, was him to have such a delicate looking apron.
Did...did somebody tell him that was for a guy? Who would be crazy enough to-- Naruto...? I don't know but it suits him for some reason! It totally seems like something he'd buy on his own!! she argued back and forth in her head.
While she was having a mental crisis over the origins of Kakashi's apron, he had finished reheating the food, and sat down ready to eat.
Feeling too hungry to worry about revealing his face, he reached up to pull his mask down, but was met with staunch opposition from Harata once she noticed.
At a loss for words by this strange young woman literally diving onto the futon beside him, and grabbing his arm, he stopped and looked at her in amusement.
"Did you remember what you wanted to say finally?" he joked innocently.
Harata just stared up at him with a pure face of determined obliviousness.
"You can't show your face to anyone cause you're an assassin!" she said with eyes full of admiration.
"Oh? Is that so?" he played along, as Harata nodded her head yes vigorously.
"Hmmm...not even to someone I trust?" he prodded.
Seeming to not expect that answer, she nodded her head yes again, only a bit slower this time.
"Not even to someone I felt I could trust with my life?" he tried again, as Harata froze this time, but eventually started to loosen her grip on his arm.
"You shouldn't trust someone you don't really know." she scolded, as she pushed herself up into a sitting position.
Baffled by her serious tone, Kakashi put his book down, and calmly countered her statement.
"I shouldn't? If I recall correctly...you trusted me on many different occasions without knowing what kind of person I was."
Looking as if she wanted to refute what he said, Harata opened her mouth, but said nothing.
"And if you're thinking you did something wrong, you didn't. You've given me no reason not to trust you. Don't be so hard on yourself." he continued, instinctively patting her head, much to her surprise.
She wanted to recoil from it at first, but it was too comforting for some reason. Unbeknownst to her however, tears had started to fall from her eyes.
"Wait...is she crying? Why?" he subconsciously worried, about to pull his hand away, afraid that might be upsetting her. But was taken aback when she grabbed his hand and held it gently on her head.
"...your heart is very kind..." was all she said, before releasing his hand, and moving to stand up, but was pulled into a warm embrace instead.
"So is yours...that's why I can trust you..." Kakashi replied, as he held her tight.
"Don't even think of fussing about this either. It's alright to cry sometimes...that's a sign of strength..." he went on, as she just allowed him to hold her, not attempting to struggle at all.
Hearing Kakashi's stomach growl after awhile, Harata felt bad, and looked up at him with an apologetic smile.
"Sorry...you should eat now." she said, getting extremely flustered as he reached up to dry her tears with his finger.
"Wha-what was that for?!" she jumped back in embarrassment.
"You were crying. I'm not so cold as to watch a woman cry and do nothing about it." he replied, knowing that response would calm her down.
"...true...you're a swee- " she broke off, preventing herself from finishing her statement.
Catching on to what she did, and being a bit curious, he tried coaxing her to reveal what she was going to say.
"Hmmmm...I'm a what?" he teased, as she hopped off of the futon, bowed, and moved across the room.
"Please enjoy your meal. Pretend I'm not even here." she said, turning to face the corner.
Chuckling to himself, Kakashi finally resigned to the fact that he wouldn't get an answer out of her, and focused his attention back to the food in front of him, and his book.
"She's still just too fun to tease..." he thought as he silently ate, and resumed reading his beloved novel.