Kagome stared at the barrier in front of her, hand poised to knock before it lowered slightly. Her brain whirled with thoughts from the day, leaving her mentally drained and standing nervously outside of Kakashi's door. He had always acted weird to her, but for a man that suddenly seemed emotionally distant when he was more comfortable teasing her sent warning bells off.

Her hand fell before she realized, glancing up and down the hall as she debated the best way to escape before the door opened and she returned her head forward with a smile, she could pretend nothing was wrong. She had done it for years after all… "hi. I'm not too early am I?"

Kakashi pulled her inside, shutting the door behind her and pressing her back against the door and claiming her lips in a heated kiss. Kagome gasped, arms lifting automatically to grip his shoulders at the intensity behind the greeting, early worried thoughts disappearing with ease as he pulled back to press look at her. "I've been wanting to do that all day."

"You have?"

Kakashi looked offended at her question, his face void of all his usual barriers his mask and forehead protector, looking more at ease in his apartment than he'd allowed anyone to ever see. "I've done some thinking over these last two weeks."

"Oh," Kagome's eyes darted from his, keeping her face relaxed as though his next sentence wasn't going to bother her. 'Here we go,' she'd be lying if she said she hadn't prepared for this, she had at least six different scenarios for how this could play out and allow them to go back to their co-existence in the village where they'd meet up once or twice a month to talk about whatever they found fascinating that day. What she hadn't anticipated was the nervous flip in her stomach or her sweaty palms…

"You didn't want to tell people because of my reputation you said." Kakashi braced his hands beside her head, keeping her trapped against the door and giving himself a mental pat on the back at the nervous pull of her mouth down. 'I will never get tired of teasing you…' he'd pay for it later when he finally gave her the rest of his gathered thoughts, he was sure, "and you're right, we shouldn't."

"What?" her eyes widened as they turned back to him, he agreed?

"Well, if something happened to you because of me I'd never forgive myself." The recognition flashed over her face, opening her mouth to say something before he placed a finger over her lips to silence her, "you're highly capable of taking care of yourself but I'm trying to prevent unnecessary situations."

Shaking her head to dislodge his finger she frowned and allowed the back of her head to melt against the door, "so, behind closed door's we're… and out in public we—"

"Are the same we've been for the last year, is that okay with you? It might help ease Naruto and Sasuke into it too, if we don't flaunt it."

Kagome swallowed hard and nodded, he cared about how they felt about the situation? "That's really sweet actually. With how you were acting this afternoon I thought you wanted to… break… uh—" she bit her lip, if she said break up it was a full acknowledgement that they were in a committed relationship, "I thought… the charm had finally worn off and you were…"

"Charm?"

"The one I bought off the old lady last year, I burned it before we left the Land of Ice."

Kakashi dropped his head to her shoulder as he laughed, she didn't believe in that. "I've waited years trying to figure out how to get in your good graces, I'm not going to ruin it now." Sliding his hand across the door to her shoulder, he tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, feeling the gentle shudder as his fingertips brushed against the shell of her ear. "You don't believe in that anyway."

Kagome's mind replayed her mother's conversation and the serious look in the Tashiō brother's eyes, the jewel burning against her skin as if reminding her it was contradicting everything, "right."

Kakashi placed a kiss under her ears, feeling her heart flutter at the movement before forcing himself to step back. He asked her here for dinner, nothing else beyond that, she wasn't that type of girl and as far as he knew she had never been in a relationship. "Make yourself at home," he leaned in to kiss her forehead and turned for the small kitchen, "it'll be a little later than I thought."

Kagome released a shaking breath, sagging against the door as he turned from her, her hands shaking against the door before shoving herself straight. She turned from his back and padded around the living room, a familiar orange book on his shelf drawing her attention before plucking it free and flipping the cover open.

"Kagome, what do you think of Sasuke?"

Brown eyes flicked up in surprise, turning to where the jōnin was busying himself in the kitchen. She shrugged and tilted her head, "he reminds me of you; well, of how you used to be."

The movement in his arm stopped, turning his head slightly as if to look at her before nodding in agreement, "that's what I thought too…"

Kagome's mouth twisted, he sounded sad with his response. Making a note to ask him about it over dinner she turned back to the book and flipped through the pages, eyes grazing the words before stopping and arching a brow. 'What the…' "You read this in public?" she snapped it shut and held it aloft, hating the burn over her face at what she had just read.

"That's not," Kakashi dropped the knife to the counter and made for the book, "it's purely romance it's not—"

"It's porn." She laughed at his embarrassment, there was no way he could play it off as anything other than that.

"It's not porn it's a piece of art written by Master Jiraya, about finding love and—"

Kagome scoffed and flipped to the abandoned page, backing away from him as she held the book aloft, "a light nip against her lips made her whimper, soothing words of comfort sending shudders through her body with every gentle caress of her lover's body." A squeal of surprise left her as she fell over the arm of the couch, scrambling to her feet before Kakashi could grab her, knowing that if he were to really try he'd have no issues reclaiming his prized novel from her hands.

"It's their first time, for your information." He pointed out, "it's supposed to be sweet."

Kagome giggled and shook her head, closing the book and jumping back, leaning against the wall and holding it out for him to take. "No one's first time is like that, at least mine wasn't."

Kakashi froze at the information, fingers grazing the covers and tilting his head, "your first time…?"

"I was almost 16, fully healed and had just read on my chart that I couldn't have kids… I didn't hear it from my doctor or my mother, I read it myself, so I was mad. There's a guy that lives down the road from us, we've known each other since we were babies and he'd always had a crush on me so I went to visit him and we ended up in his bed." She shrugged and scrunched her nose, "it wasn't good, I remember that, we didn't know what we were doing."

"Well, that's because he was a boy." Kakashi cleared his throat and tried to wrap his head around the information, she wasn't as inexperienced as he thought, "you should have found me instead."

"You didn't like me back then."

"Oh," he tossed the book over his shoulder and stalked forward, his hand pressing against her chest to hold her to the wall, "you naïve girl, I've liked you since I was 17, you just never got it."

"I told you to stop saying that."

His eye darkened as he dipped his head, "Kagome Higurashi what exactly did you think I wanted my prize to be from our sparring match?"

She sputtered and lifted her eyes to the ceiling, acting as though she couldn't remember that far back as he turning his head into her neck and kissed it lightly. "You wanted…"

"A kiss," Kakashi was going to savor this moment he decided as he pressed a trail of kisses higher. He knew he needed to step back and put space between them, but when she tilted her head to give him better access, he shoved that thought from his head.

"Was this your plan?" Kagome's eyes screwed shut as she arched slightly, "get me to your place under the guise of dinner and get me in bed instead?"

"Oh no," he laughed against her skin and pulled back, "when I do finally take you into my bed it's going to be when you feel the same way for me as I do for you."

He pressed a final kiss to her neck and pulled back, placing one on her lips gently with a smile. "I'm going to finish cooking now." Turning from her, he allowed his face to fall as he released a calming breath, that was easily one of the hardest things he had done in a long while, but he wasn't going to push her; he could wait until she was ready.

"What do we do?"

He bounced the knife lightly in his hand at her question, "about?"

"Sasuke."

Kakashi saw the worry creeping into her face as the young Uchiha's name slipped free, moving beside him to lean against the counter. Her face was flushed, hair slightly mused and he was more than wishing she'd resume they pick up where he left off, "we'll just have to keep our eyes on him, that kind of anger he's got can lead to bad things if left unchecked."

"Yours was unchecked."

"I had my team, I had Minato-sensei and Gai…" 'I had you even though I pushed you away more often than not,' he stiffened slightly as her hand cupped his left cheek, turning into her palm slightly.

Kagome's finger traced the length of his scar, she hadn't seen it in its entirety before. Kakashi considered opening the eye, showing off the Sharingan that gave him his name before thinking better of it, "you dropped off food after Obito and Rin."

"I left it on your doorstep," her hand lifted from his face and fell to her side, "I couldn't have another face-to-face."

"I don't blame you for that."

"Do you need help?" she turned to the counter and gestured to the food.

"I won't turn it down."

"You're sweet." She grabbed a knife from the block in front of her and grabbed a carrot, ignoring his glance as it swiveled to her.

"Am I?"

She nodded, the care he was showing for his Genin alone was enough to see that. "You are."

Kakashi's eye drooped lazily, that was the first time sweet had ever been associated with him. 'This is nice,' he allowed a small smile to grace his face as he turned back to the task at hand, he hoped she'd want to do this more often.