The days passed and turned to weeks. Tsunade had held her word and made arrangements with Inoichi so you could have all your memories back. It had been hard to deal with the memories of the torture, but you had managed it.

You were still doing gate duty and it was becoming exhausting for you. You had enough of it. It was so boring that you were completely downcast. But that wasn't the only reason you felt like that. You were avoiding Kotetsu, and Kakashi seemed to be avoiding you. You had seen him a couple of times and wanted to talk to him, but he would just haste away as soon as he saw you. You were hurt by his attitude and concluded that the night you spent together didn't mean a thing to him.

As you were walking home, your gaze fixed on the ground, someone suddenly grabbed you and lifted you up from the ground.

"It is really you! Look Ryo, it's (Y/N)."

As your feet touched the ground again you looked slightly up into a pair of golden eyes. You knew those eyes, but the face in front of you was slightly different from what you remembered. It had sharper edges, making it look more dangerous. But the hair looked the same. Long, blond, and caught in a braid.

"Edo? Damn, you have grown. I can't believe you are taller than me now."

You saw the chest of the young man swell up with your words. And next to the blond was an unchanged face you also remembered.

"Ryo, you bastard. You still look the same."

Your former colleague gave you a wink before hugging you.

"You look good too (Y/N). I couldn't believe it when I heard you were alive."

You scratched the back of your head while saying: "Yeah, I guess I'm hard to kill... What have you been up to? Still in the ANBU?

Edo was the first to answer. "Yes. It has been crazy since the new Hokage arrived. It's one mission after another. That's why we didn't have time to see you. I bet you are busy too, right?"

You looked at him with an expressionless face. "If you consider being on gate duty as busy, then I am."

"Gate duty?" Ryo was clearly surprised. "How can Lady Tsunade put you on Gate duty? You were an ANBU member... Okay, maybe you aren't so good as I am, but still."

You let out laughter. "Cocky as ever, aren't you?"

"Oh, that clearly bothers you." Edo could see that you weren't happy with your job right now. "I think Ryo is right. You shouldn't be doing gate duty. Why don't you go speak to Lady Tsunade?"

"Yeah, I should do that before going completely crazy."

Suddenly Ryo's expression changed. "Hey, have you eaten dinner yet?"

You shook your head 'no'.

"Great, then come with us. We are going to meet with Yoshio and Tenzo. They will surely be happy to see you too."

You didn't need to be convinced. You went between the two men and hooked your arms with them. The three of you made your way to the restaurant happily talking. Once there, the other former team members greeted you with enthusiasm. You enjoyed the meal with them while laughing and talking with them.

After dinner, Ryo exclaimed happily: "It's still early, let's go to the bar."

Yoshio declined quickly because of his wife and daughter. "I have been on so many missions that I barely have seen them."

Tenzo had a mission in the morning so preferred to go home to rest. Edo was tired and excused himself too. That left only you and Ryo. You were sad that the others wouldn't join

Kakashi enjoyed the company of his friends. It had been one mission after another, so this night he was just relaxing, at least until he saw you enter with Ryo. He had noticed that you tried to talk to him, but he had enough from being hurt by you. When you had asked him to stay with you and to kiss you he had hoped that maybe you felt something for him too, but then in the morning, the cold way you treated him made him understand that you only cared to fuck with him. That left him broken and so he decided he needed to forget about you or else he would only get more hurt.

But feelings aren't that easily forgotten, so his expression changed the moment he saw you enter the bar. He became tense and that didn't pass unnoticed by his friends. Following his gaze, they soon noticed what caused the change in his friend's attitude. Kurenai was the most curious, so she asked right away.

"What exactly is your story with (Y/N), Kakashi? The other day you two seemed to be quite friendly with one another and now you tense up only by seeing her?"

Kakashi didn't want to answer her question although he felt the curious gazes of all his friends on him.

"It isn't really your business."

He used an aggressive tone to try to dissuade them not to ask any further questions, but that made them only more curious. Now even Anko who usually respected the other's privacy was atypically interested.

"Did she hurt you? You were so happy when she came back and now you're so gloomy. If she hurted you, I'll give her a piece of my mind."

Anko stood up and was about to rush over to (Y/N) when Kakashi told her to stop. Although the purple-haired Kunoichi was his ex, their relationship changed a lot after your presumed death. Maybe it was the way Kakashi had been cold afterward, but Anko acted now like a protective sister towards him. It seemed he needed to give some explanations to his friends or else it could be that they would misunderstand the situation wrongly and act unfriendly towards you. He wanted to avoid that.

He let out a sign before saying. "It has been complicated between us since the beginning. We have slept with each other for some time before she was kidnapped. When I thought she died, I realized that I had feelings for her, unlike what I thought. The other night when I brought her home, I ended up spending the night with her. In the morning I realized it was a mistake because she doesn't feel the same for me. Since then I have tried to avoid her."

His friend gave him sad looks. Asuma awkwardly drank from his glass to avoid looking at him and Guy seemed to burst out in tears at any moment. Kurenai was again the first to find some words.

"I think we all know how much you care for her. I'm sorry she doesn't feel the same for you. We are here for you if you need any help."

Somehow Kakashi felt slightly better with that.

...

As you entered the bar you saw Kakashi and his friends right away, but you decided to ignore him just the way he ignored you. Since all tables seemed to be taken, you stood with Ryo by the bar. He was just the way you remembered him, cheerful and flirty. You soon forgot about Kakashi and enjoyed the night.

The next day you decide to go to Tsunade and ask for a mission even if you had to beg for it. You were willing to forget your pride to keep your sanity. In front of the Hokage's office, you greeted Shizune and asked for a meeting with Lady Tsunade.

"She is currently in a debriefing, as soon as she end's it I'll see if she has time to receive you."

You waited patiently on the outside of the office until the door opened. A big and muscular man came out. It was Asuma. As you recognized him you gave him a smile and lifted a hand to greet him.

"Hi Asuma, how have you been?"

Sarutobi was a social person, so despite knowing how his friend was avoiding you, he couldn't bring himself to be cold to you, or even ignore you.

"Hey (Y/N). I'm fine, and you?"

You were about to answer him when someone else came out of Tsunade's office. Your words were stuck in your throat when you recognized the gray-haired man. Your eyes met briefly and you could swear to see so many emotions running through his face before he controlled his expression. You needed longer to control your own emotions and when you turned to Asuma he looked curious to you.

"Fine as well." The words came out in a harsh way.

Kakashi passed you two without saying anything. Your mood changed and you became furious with his attitude. 'What a jerk. He is all friendly to me when he wants to fuck but afterward, he's just a bastard. I can't believe I actually thought I had feelings for him.'

"Hi for you too, Kakashi." You couldn't resist provoking him. But he kept his cool.

"Hi, sorry I didn't want to interrupt your conversation. Have a nice day (Y/N)."

You looked angry at Kakashi's disappearing form while Asuma studied your expression. 'Something doesn't add up. If (Y/N) doesn't have feelings for Kakashi then why does she react this way?' The son of the third Hokage was quite curious about you, but with Shizune's appearance, it was impossible to ask you anything further.

"(Y/N)? Lady Tsunade is now ready to receive you."

Asuma said goodbye to you and rushed outside of the Hokage's mansion. He saw his friend waiting for him. Lightning up a cigarette he said.

"That was mean of you to ignore (Y/N) like that."

The other man kept a neutral expression, his feelings well hidden.

"I told you yesterday that I want to forget about her."

"Yeah, I know. But I think you aren't completely indifferent to (Y/N) as you think."

That statement shook Kakashi's shell for a moment, but it was safer for him to ignore it. "Whatever. We need to prepare for our mission."

Meanwhile, you had entered the Hokage's office. You bowed to her to show your respect before explaining the motive of your presence.

"I see. I'm surprised it took you so long to come to ask for a mission."

The one surprised were you. The smile on the blonds lips caught you off guard. You thought you needed to beg for a mission but as it seemed Tsunade was already expecting you to ask for one.

"Does that mean you will give me one?"

"Yes. In fact, I was searching for someone to join this A-rank mission. Do you think you can handle such a difficult mission right now?"

You didn't need to think long. You have been training every day. You have surely increased your abilities since you left Konoha, so you didn't lose any time to respond: "I'm ready."

After giving you some information about the mission, Tsunade saw you leave her office. She stored away the mission files of the mission and looked at the files that were hidden underneath them. It was a report from the findings of one of Orochimaru's hideouts and your file. 'Her timing is rather interesting. I wonder, when she finds out there is maybe a possibility for her to go back to her world, will she choose to leave or to stay?'

Hi everyone, sorry for the long wait. This story is killing me. Till now, I had so many ups and downs with it. I had been out of ideas on how to continue this, so the time without writing helped. I got to read a web novel that is just amazing and maybe because of it I got inspired. I now know how to end this story. I still need to figure out how to write it, but now I'm enthusiastic to write again. It will probably be longer than what I told you in the last chapter...