A/N: Finally putting out my drafts.

Chapter 2

Tsunade stood in front of her full-length mirror, scrutinising her appearance. Normally she wouldn't be thinking too much into her outfit but her inner-critic was banging in her consciousness. Her satin top felt too thin. Her maxi skirt felt too form-fitting. It wasn't like she didn't trust Kakashi - well, she still had reservations about that man, after all, she couldn't put a pin on that man.

Every second with him was polarising.

There was a soft knock at her door. Her head shot up and she hurried out of her room. Looking through the peephole, she saw Kakashi idly waiting for her to open up. It was as if he sensed her because he gazed up and made eyes with her through the peephole. Tsunade knew he couldn't see her but the shock still caused her to shriek and stumble back a couple of steps.

"Tsunade? Are you alright?"

She covered her mouth. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why did she shriek like a girl? This wasn't anything more than a casual dinner - and there's no way she would accept something more than a casual dinner.

"Tsunade?"

She cleared her throat and looked back at the door. "Yes…?"

"Dinner is ready."

"C-Coming. Let me just grab something." She said, rushing back to her bedroom to grab her shawl. She tied it loosely on her shoulders and looked at her reflection. Oddly enough, the thin piece of fabric made a big difference in her outfit; she felt more conservative and this added a sense of security to her mind.

After grabbing her vanilla ice cream from the freezer, she hurried out front to meet Kakashi, who was now without his leather jacket and jeans from before. Instead, he was donned in a simple black shirt that was tucked into brown loose slacks.

She watched him slowly raise his head until their eyes met again. Before he could say anything, she made the first move. "You clean up nice."

Kakashi chuckled. "Well, I didn't want to be upstaged by you. Are you feeling cold?" he asked, gesturing at her shawl. "I have heating in my apartment so you may feel too warm."

"It's fine, honestly," said Tsunade, albeit with more bite than she intended. Quickly, she back-pedalled and wrapped her arms around her body. "I'm just cold. Thank you for your concern."

He didn't say anything for a while before he sighed. "Maa, do you not trust me, Tsunade?" he asked before quickly saying, "I get it, honestly. Trust cannot be bought. However, I want you to feel comfortable at my home and in my presence. So, let me know if there's anything I can do."

"O-Oh…." Her surprise was well-expressed with her widened eyes and gaped mouth. "Thank you. It's not you, though. I'm just naturally wary."

"Ah. I understand." Kakashi said with sincerity in his voice and a matching soft smile that brought ease into Tsunade's mind. "I don't blame you. Although, I hope my cooking can change your perception of me." He opened his door for her and stepped to the side, allowing for her to enter first.

Tsunade deposited her sandals to the side before she fully entered his apartment. While the layout was close to identical to hers, his apartment felt very different from her barren one. It felt warm and cosy. Definitely lived in. Everything was intricately positioned together into a cohesive blend of muted tones. A pop of green from the plants he kept throughout the apartment definitely added life to his minimalist living.

She came across his oak bookshelf that was organised by colour and alphabet. He didn't seem like a studious type but his archive said otherwise. The genre ranged from autobiographies, mangas, romance, sci-fi, thrillers to crime. She bent down to get a closer look at the lone red book in his collection. Before she could reach for it, she felt his presence behind her and she jolted. Kakashi's reflexes were quick enough to grab her by her waist before she could stumble over his furniture.

She gushed at her stupidity. What the fuck, she internally screamed. Her body was never this uncoordinated before. She was walking fine this morning too. So why is her body rebelling against her now? She was looking like an idiot, wasn't she?

"Are you okay?"

Tsunade's head whipped at the sound of his voice and she awkwardly smiled. "Y-Yeah." She slowly moved away from his grip and regained distance.

"You're not drunk, are you?"

"W-What? No! Of course not. I don't drink…. often."

Scepticism plagued his eyes and he didn't hide it. After humming his agreement, his eyes trailed over to the book she took interest in. "Do you want to borrow it?" he asked.

"Borrow what?"

"The book you were staring at before my very existence scared you. I take offence to that, by the way, Tsunade. I'm not that bad to look at."

"N-No. You're not bad to look at. You look good - I mean, not in that way. Well, actually, it is in that way. But I don't mean it in that way."

Kakashi's eyebrows knitted into confusion as she continued rambling but she couldn't stop herself at the rate she was going. Somebody murder her. Put her out of her misery. "It's been a while since you had company over, huh…" he bluntly spoke, catching her off-guard.

He wasn't wrong but that was rude to blandly point out.

Tsunade's eyes tightened and she must have stared daggers into him because he was quick to backpedal on his words. "I-I mean, you're a lovely lady. A keeper. But, by your volition, you haven't had much company…. is what I was trying to say…"

They were both flushed red in each other's embarrassment at this point. Kakashi palmed his face and he sighed. Tsunade crossed her arms and tried to detach herself from the situation.

"Anyway….. the book," he quietly said, "you can borrow it if you'd like." He offered it to her before she could refuse.

She accepted his offer and observed the hardcover as she traced her finger along the black etching of the title. "Written in Blood," she read, gazing up at him. "This book sounds more ominous than I thought."

"It's about a boy who didn't have a choice from the beginning. From birth, because of the blood running through his veins, his life was chosen for him before he knew the concept of choice."

Tsunade flicked through the crisp pages. The smell of the book seemed fresh; it must have been bought recently. While she wasn't a keen reader, the premise of the story resonated within her. From the moment she bore the surname Senju, the options she had in life became limited, and she didn't even have any influence on the few choices she did have. As her mother and father would constantly reiterate, 'Family comes first'. She gripped the book, feeling somewhat attached to it already. "Thank you. I'll return it as soon as I can."

"Take your time. I won't be needing it any time soon."

"Thank you.

"Shall we eat? The food must be getting cold."

As he led her to the small dining table he had at the other side of the room, she couldn't help but take notice of his workstation in front of his full-length window. He had a typewriter on the centre of the table, sheaves of papers - drafts? - at the side, and a fountain pen resting on top of a small leather book. His image now contrasted the other forms of himself Tsunade had encountered early in the day. She interpreted him as an impulsive man, who revelled in the attention of women, but his environment said otherwise. He seemed like a solitary and simple man.

He pulled the chair out for her before he sat in his own chair adjacent to hers. Tsunade looked at the clean execution of Kakashi's meal presentation. On top of a sturdy wooden placement were a ceramic bowl of steamed rice beside a bowl of miso soup, steamed salmon decorated with a slice of lime and two bay leaves, with smaller side dishes to complement the main dish. Every dish was precisely spaced out and parallel to each other, creating a picturesque presentation she has only seen from professional chefs.

"Maa, I didn't have time to cook anything special. I hope it's fine."

After briefly giving thanks, Tsunade and Kakashi lifted their chopsticks and dug in, but Kakashi waited for her to take her first bite. Her eyes immediately lit up at the perfect melody of flavours.

"Is it good?" he asked, looking pleased with himself. "I went fishing a couple of days ago and got lucky."

"Y-You caught this yourself?" she gasped, almost choking on the nicest meal she has had since she moved out. "You're really full of surprises. I can't grasp you."

He quirked an eyebrow as he smirked in intrigue. "What is your impression of me?"

"Anything but a book lover and a fisherman. I thought you were a brawler, a typical biker who's a womaniser."

"I am those things. Well, I was. It was a long time ago but the past has its way of catching up with the present. Nowadays, I like living in peace and away from the ruckus. I don't normally associate myself with a lot of women anymore."

"What about the woman last night?" she probed.

"Ah, her. It's complicated. We're more friends than lovers. We have a mutual understanding of where we each stand in each other's lives."

"It's good to hear that you're not leading her on."

"I don't have the energy for it," he chuckled. "Enough about me. What about you? What are you really like?"

"Tell me your thoughts first if we're playing this game."

"I took you for an uptight woman when I first saw you this morning. Then, I took you for a gutsy uptight woman from this afternoon. But, as we walked home, I realised that the only reason why you seem like you're wound up so tight is because you have a lot on your mind. Now, I think you're quite misunderstood."

While his words comforted her, she couldn't help but place emphasis on a particular word he kept reiterating. "Uptight?" she quoted.

"I thought you were uptight. But now you have proved me wrong. You're not uptight, you're loose - wait, that sounds wrong. You're, you're…. untethered! No, that's not the word either."

Tsunade pointedly glared at the man when his inside voice became his outside voice as he outwardly contemplated on what word he was looking for. This was certainly not like the man who beat up five guys at once without breaking a sweat. Did he have a twin? That was a possibility she couldn't rule out.

"Free-spirited!"

"Free-spirited?" she repeated, smiling. "You could have just left it at 'I was wrong' and I would have been content with that."

Kakashi chuckled. "I didn't know that was an option. So, now will you reveal a bit of yourself to me?"

"I made every decision I thought was the right one when I was growing up. Only to realise that every decision I made wasn't mine; they were my parents'. I have been living a life they have meticulously planned, and I didn't realise it until recently."

"So, you packed your bags and moved into a part of the city that was the opposite of the lifestyle you knew."

"...Yeah."

"I guess I was right about one thing - you are gutsy. To be able to rebel like that is not an easy feat."

"Other people would have done it long before. I don't think guts had a factor in this. I was petrified of not having an identity. That was my catalyst."

"It doesn't matter when you decide to change your life. All that matters is that you did. Uprooting your life and leaving what you know is never easy."

"Ah… it means a lot to hear someone say that. As you may already know, you're the first person I have talked to since moving out here. So, thank you for being accommodating."

"It's my pleasure. We're are going to be neighbours from now on, so we might as well be good neighbours to each other."

Tsunade expressed a small but warm smile in appreciation of his promising words. He was pleasantly surprising her with each layer she managed to unravel. He was a sweeter man than he let on outside. Even if it was just an iota, she felt easement in his presence. But it was enough for her to finally heed her body that was screaming from the heat. She removed her shawl and collected her hair off to the side as she released a breath of relief.

"I told you it was warm here," Kakashi lightly said without offence. "How are you feeling?"

"Better."

"I'm glad. Hey, are you ready for dessert? I have fresh cookie dough."

That sounded like heaven to Tsunade's ears.

"Do you want to get the ice cream from your apartment?"

"What are you talking about? I brought it here."

"...But you never gave it to me…"

"Yeah, I did. I -" Sudden realisation dawned on Tsunade and she covered her mouth in shock.

"What's wrong?"

"I left it on your bookshelf. I mean, it wouldn't have melted yet, right?"

Kakashi hurriedly grabbed a cloth, removed the ice cream tub from his bookshelf and promptly removed the condensation from the wood before it left any marks. He looked inside the tub and sighed.

"It's melted."