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 25

He had stirred awake in the early hours, habitual from his ritualistic visit to the cenotaph, and not wanting to wake Nina he braced himself against the bedhead and flicked the bedside light on so he could read. He cast his eye over her, she was still curled into the centre of the bed, her left hand clinching the pillow case near her face and her hair was enmeshed amongst her fingers. Resisting the urge to sweep the caught locks of hair out of her face, Kakashi refocussed on the book in his hands. What was with the sudden invocation of intrigue in her?

A whimper from her drew his immediate attention, with an eyebrow lifted in interest, he studied her.

"Kidneys, liver, shit…"

"He's unresponsive… nine… where?"

"Start compressions… I don't care…"

This had to be the incident involving the young boy; her eyes were cinched tight causing her forehead to furrow, the skin on her hand was pale from the force of her grip as her fingers gnarled at the pillow and her lips were pursed tight.

"Shut up!"

Her breathing accelerated and he watched the green glow emit from hands.

"I won't call it. Not yet… I can't…"

It was no longer acceptable to prolong her distress; he dropped his book and seized her wrists; her strength wasn't inadmissible.

Dragging in a rapid breath, her body surged upright; her lungs burning from the heaving breaths and battered from her hasty heart rate, her eyes set on her restrained wrists. Kakashi's hands were unyielding and she felt the dread wash over her; had she hurt him?

"I…I… did…I…" Swallowing was hard because her throat was dry. Closing her eyes, she tried to steady herself.

Under his fingertips he was able to sense her racing pulse and he kept his hold, awaiting her to settle further before loosening it.

Terrors were commonplace in the shinobi world; it was something that they all had to learn to accept and control. It was however, an oddity for Nina. She was well-adjusted to the harshness of death however, the recent occurrences had apparently penetrated her usually impervious front. She'd managed to repress the afflictions the other night for his birthday celebrations, barring her diminished tolerance for alcohol due to her exhaustion.

He observed her bid to calm herself; preferring not to hamper her efforts by initiating any further physical contact, he lowered their hands to the space between them, and kept his eyes on her face.

"No harm done."

Still reeling from the aftereffects she pulled her knees to her chest and rested her chin on top of them.

"People die all the time, but…" She squeezed her legs. "Five. I couldn't save any of them and I couldn't save another if…" She exhaled, gritting her teeth. "This mission. I know Tsunade-sama wants me to have a break but you know what Ibiki is like. I'm just wasting time."

So, she had known that the underlying reason for her selection. He was acquainted with Ibiki's impatience and doubted even their austere Hokage would sway him otherwise.

"You didn't object to being assigned?"

"No I didn't."

She released and swept her legs to one side of her body, and stretched up to the ceiling, giving a reassuring smile to Kakashi.

"Well, if you want to talk about it, I'm here." He returned her smile before turning to hang his legs over the side of the bed with his back facing her.

"Mhm. Thanks."

Jolting at the unexpected contact of her hands on his shoulder, one slithered under the seam of his undervest, before exuding the familiar warmth of her chakra. It was unlikely Nina would disclose anymore, like himself, she'd learned not to dwell on anything irrelevant to the current mission. Speaking of which, their destination was only a few hours walk from here and their attire needed to be discussed.

"Nina, have you given any thought to what you'll be wearing?"

When she selected her clothes last night she had wondered the same thing; deciding it was beneficial to remove any insignia that identified them as Leaf shinobi, whilst keeping it practical perchance they do encounter any enemies without causing anxiety amongst the locals. She stepped over to her pack and withdrew her selection to show him.

"So we're agreed on dropping Leaf insignia; that's good."

"I will stash a kunai on my upper thigh just in case but I will carry the rest in my pack. I don't want to alarm any of the locals."

"I'll keep one in my leg bag and forgo my flak jacket. Should make us less conspicuous without endangering us."

In addition to their own individual infamy, as a team, they had earned a notoriety that had been penned in most Bingo books. Their skill sets were complimentary and highly sought after for those more burdensome missions that required vigilance and flawlessness; specifically for Anbu.

Ordinarily, their communication when carrying out their duties was kept to a minimum or cryptic for tactical purposes; presently, the opposite was required and they were making great headway with this. Nina had found herself entrusting him with some of her innermost thoughts and feelings, unhesitatingly at that; something that she had so often kept aside until a chance catch up with Jiraiya.

Admittedly, she harboured a certain amount of curiosity about him, his personality and self were mainly incognito. The current junction in their relationship offered an excuse for her to traverse the uncharted inner-workings of Kakashi of the Sharingan. Like most, her knowledge of him was relatively minimal outside of the arbitrary shinobi and medical facts, nevertheless she felt there was never going to be a better opportunity, to satisfy some of her inquisitiveness.

After changing, they organised their packs and set out on foot to the little village on the outskirts of Amekugre.

She lobbed her finished apple core into the roadside foliage then meandered her way to his side to recollect his hand; she had come to be quite fond of it.

"You spoke of your aversion to public displays of affection; any particular reason why?"

"I suppose it's about retaining some of my privacy. I don't feel I need to share everything with everyone."

"Makes sense but you freely allow yourself to be approached?"

"I'm human, Nina. I have needs but it's probably not as often as you perceive."

"Tch."

"Think about it. Konoha doesn't have a great deal of available partners and missions aren't the time nor place for such antics."

"You didn't have a shortage the other night."

"Prospective perhaps; not necessarily ideal."

"And what is your ideal mate? Someone like Ayame?"

"Hmm, she was fun and respected the casualness of our night."

"So you've never had anything long-term?"

"No."

"Have you… would you go back more than once though? Would you go back to someone like Ayame?"

Briefly her fingers flexed against his and hypothesized other than a general air of curiosity, her last question contained a hint of jealousy.

"I have and I could with someone like her."

She reflected on Ayame's appearance; other than sharing the same workplace and similar hair colour they were very different. It prompted her to deduce she ticked very few boxes for him.

"Are you so detached from committing to a relationship further because of Rin?"

This time it was his fingers that flinched with the mention of her name; she appreciated this was a sensitive topic of conversation but she wanted to understand him a lot better.

"No. The life I have chosen to live makes me very unavailable; don't you think?"

That was still quite vague; unavailability due to missions or was he referring to allowing himself to devoting and sharing his life with another. The shinobi life was fraught with dangers and they were primed to lose their life at any time.

"You're afraid of the repercussions should you not return from a mission, if you had a significant other?"

Her voice was low but articulated.

"Amongst a great many other reasons, yes."

There was a long pause between them and he noted that their pace had slowed somewhat with the seriousness of their conversation. Peculiarly, her probing struck him as endearing.

"Why Guy?"

She smiled shaking her head back and forth.

"I was drunk and a game that got out of hand on account of… my human-ness."

Unable to fathom how his exuberant comrade had overcome Nina's mettle, his mind turned over several scenes.

"Truth or dare."

"Ah thanks, I was going to… Hang on that was the night-"

"Yes. I believe you went home with Anko."

Tossing his head back to survey the sky; he had all but forgotten that night and for good reason, alcohol had influenced a lot that night.

"Not ideal, before you ask. Sobriety wouldn't have changed the outcome; neither are well… you're well aware of Guy's plight."

"Yes, I seen you that day when he asked you to inspect his…" she burst into laughter, replaying the memory in her head. He was scratching his head and joined in with her laughter.

"What were you doing there any way?"

"Obviously looking for you for a mission."

"Huh. So size does matter to you?"

"What?"

"It's a perfectly appropriate question."

"Well, no… sort of, but only in part. Honestly… I wouldn't really know. I can't exactly surmise much from a few measly missions and two crummy experiences that actually led to sex. Genma tried and Raido…" her body shuddered in revolt. "He's lucky I didn't castrate him."

Strangely, her revelation pained him somewhat; he couldn't understand how she had gotten 31 years into life and this was the extent of her … wait… had she even been able to reach that point given her lustreless experiences? Surely she had.

The recognizable scent of rain filled his airways; it was to be expected for Rain Country however, he would like to at least get to the inn before it hit.

"We're going to have to pick up the pace a little."

"Why? Oh… of course, Rain country."

He increased his speed and Nina followed suit.