The retelling of the events was certainly enthusiastic. Anko got so into the story that Kakashi could have sworn he was actually there. He was so into her retelling, he didn't even realize that tea was suddenly in his hands. He also hadn't noticed that Miku and Hitatsu had returned as well. Glancing downwards at the tea, he shrugs and quickly takes a sip, replacing his mask just as quickly as the tea ended up in his hands. Kakashi wasn't entirely too sure why he still cared about his face being seen. Everyone in the room has seen his face.

Maybe the mask is his security blanket.

Once Anko was done they all ate dinner together and spoke about the treaty. Miku and Hitatsu decided to finish the preparations and all of the finalizations. Afterwards, Anko and Kakashi planned to leave the following afternoon for their trek back to Konoha. They almost wanted to stay, however, they wanted to get home and just sleep in their own beds. Soon, everyone retired to their rooms for some much needed rest.

Anko helps Kakashi to their room, taking slow steps. Despite being healed, he is still incredibly sore from his ordeal and sighs quietly once they enter the room and shut the door. He hisses softly and carefully takes off his outer shirt to sleep in his masked tank top.

Seeing him struggle a bit, Anko takes hold of the hem of the shirt and carefully lifts it up and away from him. Once it is off, she folds it and places it in his bag. She gives him a soft smile and gently takes his hand and leads him to the bed. Kakashi follows and once the blanket is moved, he sits down.

No words were exchanged. They sit in comfortable silence and things seem perfect. Nothing could go wrong right this very second.

After a brief moment, Anko leans forward. Their foreheads touch and a shaky breath leaves her lips. Still, no words.

Kakashi pulls away slightly. He notices her gaze. She looks slightly content yet despondent. A beat occurs and he carefully lifts a hand to caress her cheek. His thumb gently rubs where it rests. He silently told her that despite being a bit banged up, he is fine. Things were fine. The mission is finally over and they can go home.

However, things quickly returned to normal.

"You could have died, you asshole."

Kakashi quickly and carefully moves a bit away from her and chuckles. "Well, that didn't last long," he whispers and gives her a faint smile. "Listen, Anko, I'm still injured. You can't be mean to me."

The fiery kunoichi rolls her eyes and lightly hits his better arm. "Yeah, yeah. You better hope you're good enough to travel home tomorrow. I'm not carrying your ass all the way there."

He couldn't help but chuckle and nod. "Alright, alright. I suppose we should rest up then, mm?" Kakashi smiled at Anko's affirmative nod. He carefully shifts the blankets and lays down, sighing softly as he closes his eyes. "It'll be nice to finally be home," he mutters and drifts off to sleep.

xXx

Morning comes faster than expected. Kakashi and Anko both groan, however, Anko immediately looks to the man beside her. A sigh of relief escapes her lips.

"Okay, that wasn't a dream. You're actually awake."

Rubbing at his eyes, Kakashi yawns. Despite being in a coma for a few days, he still slept amazingly. "Of course I'm awake," he replies and chuckles. He goes silent for a brief moment and hums. "We're heading home today," he whispers.

Anko leans to look at him, nodding. Seeing him awake almost seems like a blessing now. "We should talk before we head home, Hatake. I need to tell you something."

Kakashi looks over towards her, brow raising. "Oh? Then, I'm all ears." He's definitely curious about what she wants to tell him. Was it about Orochimaru? The mission?

He didn't expect what she's about to tell him.

"I… about us."

Yeah, he definitely didn't expect this. He gets slightly nervous and nods. "What about us?"

Anko takes in a shaky breath and sits up, not looking at him. "I don't even know how to tell you this. I…"

Kakashi suddenly can't breathe. No air would fill his lungs. He just stares, silently, waiting for her to finish whatever it is she wants to say.

"Let me start by saying I've known about your feelings for me," she smiles faintly, still not looking at him. "It was pretty evident when you tried kissing me after our visit to Kurenai's for dinner." Anko goes silent again and finally gains the courage to look at Kakashi. "Seeing you injured like that… seeing how much you care about me that you risked your life, knowing that this was a mission?"

She turns her entire body to look at him fully. Kakashi just stays silent, still waiting for her to finish. But, he kind of has a feeling where this is going and his heart skips a beat.

"Seeing you in a coma… I couldn't imagine my world without you." She smiles sadly. "I somehow had to save you, after all."

He sits up to the best of his ability, placing his hand on hers. He squeezes gently, urging her to continue.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but… Hatake Kakashi? I truly and utterly need you in my life. I love—"

And in that brief moment, before Anko can finish, Kakashi pulls down his mask and presses his lips gently against Anko's. No more words had to be said. He knows exactly how she feels, so he decides to fully show how he feels.

It was a long time coming, but he's glad.

After a beat, Kakashi pulls back and rests his forehead against hers. "You obviously know how I feel… but hearing you say it? It makes my heart sore, Anko." He gives her a soft yet bright smile. "I love you, too."

Anko blushes hearing those words from him and lightly taps his shoulder. "Don't be a sap." Despite saying those words, it's a nice feeling to be loved by someone.

They spend the rest of their morning in each other's arms and in comfortable silence.

xXx

After some time, they finally decide to get ready to head home. Anko ends up doing most of the packing for the two of them, saying how since Kakashi's injured, he should probably rest some more for the trek home.

He secretly thinks she's just trying to be a good girlfriend at this very moment.

Girlfriend… that very word feels like it never would have left his mouth. He's so used to being alone. But over the past few years, he allows people in. A select few, but they manage to enter his huge stone walls.

He honestly isn't sure if they're official. But he'll take what he can get at this very moment.

Breaking from his thoughts, Kakashi notices Anko smiling at him and he smiles back.

"What?" He asks.

She shakes her head. "Just thinkin'. I just… it feels nice for feelings to be out in the open, rather than cooped up." Anko glances at the same blue kimono top she wore as Miku. She folds it then glances back to Kakashi. "It's almost like a breath of fresh air. Like we don't have to hide anymore."

They both know they still have a ways to go before they share everything. But, just their feelings for each other are good enough for now.

Kakashi stands up and goes over to Anko, wrapping an arm around her waist. He hides his face into her shoulder and sighs. "You have no idea how long I've waited for this. Didn't expect you to confess first, though."

Anko laughs and turns around to face him. "You sap. It's hard to actually confess first when both parties know of one's feelings, you love struck fool." She pats his cheek and moves away to finish packing. "Sorry it took you nearly dying for me to realize how important you are to me."

He shrugs and starts to help her pack.

Once they finish packing, they meet Hitatsu and Miku at the door to the manor. They lead the shinobi to the gates and bid farewell. After a beat, Kakashi and Anko leave Inaho-mura.

The village will be safe and everything is peaceful for the time being. Hopefully it lasts for a long time.

xXx

The trip back was just as boring as the trip to the Land of Bean Jam. The only difference is the amount of breaks they took for Kakashi to rest.

Despite Kakashi's efforts to speed up their trek home, Anko demanded that he rest up. It will be better in the long run after all and Kakashi knows that he shouldn't argue with her.

Eventually, the two shinobi reach Konoha. The extra breaks added an extra day to their way home, but they didn't mind. In fact, the two shinobi used this time to actually talk.

Kakashi didn't open up about his past traumas and neither did Anko. But they did discuss things like favorite foods and what to do in their spare time, not that the last one was a surprise from Kakashi. But, he did learn that she loves doing tea ceremonies. He'll have to make a mental note of that for later.

Immediately after their arrival, the two head to Tsunade's office to discuss the outcome of the mission. They debate on saying anything regarding Orochimaru, but Kakashi leaves that up to Anko. Deep down he knows it would be beneficial for her to know.

Once they reach the door, Anko lifts an arm to knock and glances up to her partner. "I'll tell her," she whispers and upon hearing their leader, she opens the door and they walk in and stand in front of Tsunade.

"My, my," Tsunade starts, "it's been too long. I take it the mission was successful?" She glances up from her paperwork and raises a brow. "I didn't get any complaints, so I'm assuming—"

Anko then cuts in. "This was apparently a whole ploy by Orochimaru to get me." Tsunade places the clipboard down to give her undivided attention and Anko continues, "He used a genjutsu on Hitatsu and made them specifically ask for us. Which is why they didn't seek out help from Iwa or Suna." She takes a breath then glances up to the other jonin. "We also met the rogue ninja known as Hajikano Aki."

Kakashi cuts in. "I went out as the bodyguard hired to save Anko who was captured at the time. Aki and I had an altercation which led to this." He motions to his injured and bandaged up body then looks to Anko. "Anko saved me then went back out to pretty much single handedly defend the village from the rogues. They've been disposed of and the village should, in theory, be safe."

Tsunade sits at her desk, elbows resting on the smooth surface, her face resting on her joined hands. "He left you behind though all those years ago. What could he want with you now?" She muses aloud. "We'll investigate this matter further. You've both done well. Rest up, you've earned it."

Kakashi almost groans at the idea of more rest. However, resting in his own bed sounds like heaven. He glances at his partner then nods towards the door so they can leave together. They smile towards one another and head home.

The lady hokage watches this silent exchange and raises a brow. "Interesting. Was wondering when that was going to happen," she ponders out loud and smiles faintly to herself.

They both deserve love after all.

xXx

Home has never felt this good. They both sigh loudly and collapse onto the sofa. Anko, however, leans over and rests against Kakashi. Her eyes close as she relishes in their normal environment. A faint smile pulls at her lips. "I want to stay like this forever," she states to the universe. She knows it can't be like this forever and in a few days time, she'll be back on missions while Kakashi finishes up his recovery.

He had opted out of going to the hospital and just wants to be at home with his lovely roommate. Kakashi did tell Tsunade that if anything bugs him he may come in to make sure everything is fine. No promises, he thinks to himself.

"I wish we can," he replies, eyes closing as well. "You never know what can happen... But with us by each other's sides we'll be okay."

Anko shifts to look at him and softly smiles and blushes. "I swear, you're going to make me a blushing machine with your sappiness. You better stop," she retorts.

Kakashi chuckles. "How can I when I have the most beautiful woman right in front of me?" He openly admits then blushes a bit himself. "I mean… this is fine, right? You're okay with this?"

She, once again, smacks his arm softly and narrows her eyes. "Would I have admitted my feelings to you if I weren't okay with all of this? If I didn't actually want to be with you, I wouldn't have done all of this admitting crap." Anko relaxes against him and grabs his hand, squeezing gently. "You're stuck with me, Hatake. Get used to it."

The silver haired jonin smiles and lowers his mask. This causes his partner to raise a brow. "What? You get special privileges now. I don't show my face to just anyone, after all. Besides… I didn't want it to get in the way of this," he whispers the last part and leans over to kiss Anko softly.

After a beat the snake kunoichi returns the kiss, smiling against it. "If I didn't know better," she breaks away to say then pecks his lips again, "I'd say this is the happiest day of my life."

"Can I say something then?" Kakashi asks.

Anko nods, waiting for his answer.

"The happiest day in my life was when I first saw you in the Academy." This causes Anko to blush even more and Kakashi smiles. "As soon as I saw you, I wanted to get to know you," he adds on.

Kakashi wants to say more about his past and wanting her, but with everything that happened, it just wasn't meant to be. He decides to just leave it at that, then sighs happily, his hand squeezes Anko's gently.

"I wish you did," Anko finally says something and rests against him. "Probably could have saved each other so much heartache and loneliness."

"Maybe, Anko… Maybe."

The newly developed couple end up falling asleep in each other's embrace right on the sofa. And when they eventually move to their bed, later on in the night, Anko glances to her room then to his.

"You can still sleep in there if you want. Do what makes you comfortable," he says quietly and enters his room.

After a beat, the kunoichi enters Kakashi's room. She takes off her coat and crawls into her. Smiling at him, she can't help but snicker. "Turn around," she whispers to which he complies. Immediately, her arms wrap around his waist and she sighs happily. "Little spoon."

He can't even argue with that. He smiles to himself and closes his eyes to sleep.

He'll gladly be the little spoon if it makes her happy in the end.