Notes:

New day, new chapters! Chapter 13 is up too, check that one out first! :D

Enjoy~~!

Chapter 14: Learning

Hermione was anxiously waiting in the hallway of the Hokage Tower. Should she have just told the Hokage that Kakashi had treated her like crap? That he'd been a complete arsehole? Then again, what would that have solved? At the end of the day, she would probably have to go back with him and she didn't want to make it even worse than it already was. She just wondered if he would tell the village leader about her having a wand.

She didn't know how much time had passed when the door opened again. She looked up to see Kakashi stepping out of the room and shifted her gaze back to Teddy, who was looking at Kakashi in wonder. Wait, was that? Shit . This was bad. Really bad . She didn't think the glamour would be failing this soon.

"Hermione-san," he called out, getting her attention. "The Hokage is ready for you now."

Calm down, Hermione, she told herself. Calm down. If you just stay calm, it'll be fine. If you freak out, they'll notice. As she stood, she lifted Teddy up, holding him in a way that there weren't any silver strands visible. As she approached Kakashi, he stepped out of her way.

"I'll come collect you once you're done."

"Oh, uh. Right. Yeah, okay," she managed to say. She didn't dare look up at him, he'd definitely realise something was up.

"Alright. See you later." He said to her in a soft voice.

Before she could turn around to reply he had already disappeared from the hallway, leaving her in the door opening of the Hokage's office.

"Please close the door, Hermione-san. We've got some things to discuss." The Hokage started, while pointing at the chairs across from him.

Hermione made her way to the desk he was sitting at, placing herself in the same chair she had sat in before.

"So, how are you, really? Kakashi isn't here, so there's no need to hold anything back."

She looked at him in surprise, what was she supposed to do? Tell the village leader she thought Kakashi was a rude bastard? She didn't think that was a smart move. "Really, Hokage-sama, I'm quite alright. Like I've said before, we've had some issues with getting used to all of this, but it could've been worse, I suppose."

He hummed at her explanation, almost as if he expected her to stick with her previous answer. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing, though. "Very well," he started. "Anything you want to share with me?"

He knew she had a wand, didn't he? Of course he did. There was no way Kakashi would lie to his leader, was there? He didn't seem to be that kind of guy. So it would probably be best to fess up.

"Well-" was she really doing this? If she came clean about having a wand, there was a good possibility she'd be put in jail or something, or worse. Then again, if her assumption was correct, he already knew, so it didn't really matter.

"Yes?"

"There is… There's one thing I probably should've mentioned before…"

"I'm all ears," he said, signalling for her to continue, waiting patiently for her answer.

"I'm- No, wait. Um, when I went to say goodbye to Remus, my friend, they gave me his personal effects. And his wand was one of the things I received."

As she said that, she saw the man's eyebrows rise in surprise. So, he hadn't known, then? Fuck . She was screwed now. Stupid, stupid! She should've just kept quiet.

"It's- I know I should've said something right away. I know that." She started explaining, "it's just that… His personal effects are the only things I have of him, now. And well, it's the only thing Teddy has now, too."

Hermione looked at the boy on her lap, freezing when she saw another silver strand appearing. Shitshitshit.

"A-and, um, s-since I don't know how long we'll be here, I really wanted to keep these items with me." She stuttered.

"What's wrong?"

"W-what? No, nothing's wrong!" She flinched at the squeaky tone that came out of her.

"Mhm, if you say so." He said, clearly not believing her, "so you've had this wand for the duration of your stay at Kakashi's home?"

"Yes, I have."

"Okay, I'll be blunt, Hermione-san. Why haven't you attempted to attack us, or attempted to leave? I was under the impression that you needed a wand to do so. Was I wrong?"

She should've expected this question, but it still caught her by surprise. He had a point though, why hadn't she left? Honestly, that was easily answered. Same as the question why she hadn't attacked them. She didn't know where to go and she had no reason to attack them. And from what she had learned so far, there was no easy way to go home. So should she really risk the protection this village offered? And she didn't speak the language. There was a good chance no one outside of this village spoke her language.

"And where would I go, Hokage-sama?" She asked him in return.

He chuckled in response. "Fair enough. It would be safer for you here, yes. However," he began. And that made Hermione's heart beat faster. What was he going to decide? "While I understand your reasoning, lying to me isn't the smartest thing you could do."

Hermione looked at her lap once more, holding Teddy just a bit tighter. Her mind whirled with different outcomes, quickly deciding what to do. Her bag was pretty much packed, so with Remus' wand on her, she would easily be able to go to Kakashi's house and grab it before running. It would be easy enough, simple in and out.

" But , I am pleasantly surprised that while you had every opportunity to leave or attack us, you haven't. And because of that, I'm willing to give you another chance."

"What?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. They weren't going to do anything?

"I'm giving you another chance. We will continue as discussed before. Same rules pretty much apply. However, I'll let you keep this wand for now. Don't make me regret it. Furthermore, Kakashi will start teaching you, for real this time. I expect you to abide by these rules and will not do anything to betray my trust in you, am I clear?"

"Y-yes. Sir. Crystal clear. I promise I won't let you down."

"Good. Now that that's taken care of, I assume you have been using this wand, yes?"

Hermione slowly nodded at him. She couldn't believe what had happened. She did not expect the conversation to go like this. She really thought she would have to run.

"Can you tell me something about what you've used it for? I must admit, I am quite curious what you can do with it."

"Oh! Well, honestly, I've only used it to help with the cleaning of Kakashi's home. And sometimes with cooking. It makes it quite easier to do so," and so she started explaining, without giving away too much, what she had done with her wand. She wasn't going to say anything about the glamour, however. Even though it seemed to be failing. She'd have to look into that. It would be extremely troublesome if the glamour fully disappeared when someone else was nearby.

The hour Kakashi had to wait went by in a blink of an eye. After showing Gai out and reminiscing about the past, Kakashi devised a plan on how to figure out what was up with the kid's hair. Looking at the clock, he decided that the Hokage should be done by now, flickering to the tower. He ignored the Hokage's secretary as he arrived in the hallway of the tower, knocking on the door.

Hearing an "enter", he opened the door and noticed the relaxed atmosphere in the room. The conversation went alright then, he assumed. "Hokage-sama" he greeted as he walked in. They did seem to be still conversing, however, "do you want me to come back later?"

The Hokage gave him a look and replied in English, "no, we're done. Thank you, Kakashi." His leader then turned to Hermione. "Remember what we've discussed. I'll see the both of you again next week. Dismissed."

Kakashi nodded and watched Hermione stand up, giving a small bow as she was restricted by Teddy. She then walked up to him, but he kept his eye on Teddy at first. He didn't see a strand of silver now. How odd. Shifting his gaze to her, he asked if she was ready to go.

"Yes, ready when you are," she said

He slowly reached out to her and put his hand on her shoulder, a moment later they were back in the living room of his home. He glanced to the side and saw Hermione looking around.

"Where's your friend? Or, well, I'm assuming he's your friend?"

Kakashi turned to her in surprise, who was she talking abou- Oh, right. "You're talking about the guy in the green jumpsuit?" He asked to clarify.

"Yep, that's the one. Peculiar fella, isn't he?" She replied in a joking matter, which made him raise an eyebrow. Was she seriously trying to joke with him? Well, she wasn't wrong.

Kakashi snorted, "that's putting it mildly. The guy is an idiot. But to answer your question, I sent him home."

"Ah right. Well, anyways. I should go feed Teddy, since it's lunchtime. Do you-,"

she stopped herself. "Um, do you want to join us for lunch?"

"Lunch?"

"Ah, yeah, I got some groceries at the market this morning. I could easily make you something as well, if you want? I'll just have to change Teddy's diaper and feed him, but if you don't mind waiting?"

Kakashi stayed silent for a while, carefully thinking about what decision to make. Normally he would've said "no" right away, but not now. After all, he wanted to find out more about whatever it was that was happening to Teddy. In order to do that, he'd have to spend more time with him and in order to do that, he'd have to interact with Hermione in a more civil manner. "How about I make lunch while you take care of him?" He offered, no doubt shocking Hermione by offering this option.

"Oh, yeah, sure. I'll, uh- I'll be right back then. I won't be long."

"Take your time, Hermione-san."

He said as he headed up to the kitchen. Kakashi checked the items in the fridge and what was on the counter, selecting a few vegetables for lunch. He washed them and then grabbed a cutting board and a knife. Hermione appeared in the kitchen as he was slicing the last bit into thin slices. Grabbing a frying pan, he put it on the stove. Throwing in the veggies, he looked at her over his shoulder. "I hope you don't mind eating stir fried vegetables?"

"That's fine," she said as she walked into the kitchen and put Teddy in his seat. She moved around in the kitchen as he kept his focus on their lunch, carefully moving the frying pan around.

"Okay, bud, open up for me," he heard her coach the boy.

"Na, na!" The boy cried out. Guess someone didn't feel like eating, Kakashi thought.

"Come on, Teddy, don't be like this. Just a few bites."

"Na!"

Kakashi glanced over his shoulder and saw the child looking at him. He blinked a few times, before-

"Dada!" Oh no. Not this again. He didn't look like his father at all, so why would he think Kakashi was his father? On the other hand, he couldn't really blame the kid. It's not like it's his fault. He probably doesn't even realise what's been happening, he's still so young.

"No, Teddy. Not 'dada'. Kakashi," he heard her explain. "His name is Kakashi."

"Dadaa!"

Kakashi turned the stove off and put the food on two plates. As he turned around, he watched Hermione sag in her chair, lowering her hand. She looked completely worn out. It actually made his heart clench.

"Dada. DADA!"

Kakashi swiftly moved towards her and carefully took the spoon out of her hands, lowering himself in front of Teddy. He ignored Hermione staring at him, keeping his focus on the boy. He knew the kid had to eat, but whatever she was doing obviously wasn't working at the moment.

"Open up," he softly ordered, putting the spoon to Teddy's lips. A pair of eyes looked at him in surprise and wonder. His lips then slowly parted, as he kept his eyes on Kakashi, allowing Kakashi to put the spoon in his mouth. "There you go. Here's another one." He repeated the process several times, until the bowl was almost empty and Teddy started shaking his head, indicating he was full.

He got up and put the bowl in the sink, grabbing the plates for himself and Hermione. Putting one plate in front of her, he took a seat across from her and started eating. She looked up at him for a second, before also starting on her plate. He appreciated her keeping her eyes down or on Teddy, giving him the opportunity to eat. And while he could care less what the kid saw, he quickly finished his meal as he would when surrounded by his team.

Once they were done, Hermione took Teddy to her room for a nap and he started on the dishes. He figured they might as well get started on the lessons, thinking of the best way to teach her. It was probably best to let her decide on what to learn first, before diving in all the way.

"Oh, I was going to do that, since you made lunch." He heard from behind him.

"That's alright. I figured now would be a good place to start on those language lessons, so it saved us time if I did it." He pointed at the table for her to sit down. "I'll grab some paper for you. Have a seat. I'll be right back."

He moved past her towards the room at the back of the house. As he heard her grab a chair to sit down, he quietly made his way towards her bedroom, slowly opening the door as not to scare the child. He was still awake, gazing up at Kakashi. Looking at his hair, it was brown. But as he kept looking, however, he noticed a few hairs turn lighter, it was barely noticeable and honestly he wasn't even sure what he saw was real. One's hair colour didn't just change like that, did it?

This only fuelled his determination to find out what was going on. But with a subtle change like this, he couldn't confront Hermione with it just yet. He lifted a finger to his lips, telling the boy to stay quiet, as he made his way outside again. He couldn't stay away too long, otherwise she'll become suspicious, no doubt. With a pen and paper collected from his room, he made his way into the kitchen.

Hermione refrained from pinching herself, to check if she was actually dreaming. What the hell was going on here? She stayed silent as Kakashi went back to the counter, where their food was already plated up and picked up both plates and put one in front of her. Keeping her eyes on Teddy, she watched the boy keep his eyes on Kakashi. Honestly, this could get quite problematic. If he took a liking into Kakashi, there was a chance he would want to spend more time with him, but now, with the glamour not working properly. Damn. She would have to think of a different way to go about this.

Half an hour later, they had both eaten. Hermione had respectfully kept her eyes on her plate or Teddy, so that Kakashi could eat as well. She noticed Teddy watching Kakashi though, making her wonder if he was bothered by that. Probably not, otherwise he would have eaten in another room, no doubt. After they had finished, she had taken Teddy to bed and returned to the kitchen, fully intending to clean up, but the silver-haired man had already done so.

"Oh, I was going to do that, since you made lunch."

"That's alright. I figured now would be a good place to start on those language lessons, so it saved us time if I did it." He stated, gesturing to the table for her to sit down. "I'll grab some paper for you. Have a seat. I'll be right back."

She didn't even get a say in it, huh? But again, what was up with him? This was a complete one-eighty from last week. She supposed she shouldn't complain, he would finally be teaching her their language, which would make it so much easier to communicate with everyone in the village. Moving to the table, she pulled out a chair and sat down, waiting for Kakashi to come back. Surprisingly, he took his time before he appeared in the kitchen.

"Alright, so, to start off, is there anything specific you want to learn?" He asked as he placed some paper on the table, along with a pen and shoved it towards her.

"Um, well, I guess I would start with the greetings and sentences that would help me at the market? I'm guessing I won't be doing any interaction besides that for the time being. Oh! And maybe also how to say 'I'm sorry, I don't understand?' or something like that?"

Kakashi hummed in thought and nodded, "yeah, that's a good place to start. We'll start with the greetings. I'll explain how to say it, maybe it's a good idea to write it down phonetically?"

"Yep," she said, picking up the pen and placing the paper in front of her, ready to write it down. "Alright. I'm ready."

The next two hours they spend with Kakashi teaching Hermione the basics of his language. Focusing on the things she wanted to learn first. At the end of their session, she was able to properly greet someone and know some of the numbers, for when she went shopping. She was actually happy to have learned this much in such a short amount of time, even Kakashi seemed surprised at her progress after just one lesson.

"Not bad, I didn't expect you to actually get this far." She figured he usually didn't praise anyone, so she'd take what she could get.

"Thanks, I appreciate it," she smiled. "Well, I should go wake Teddy up, otherwise he won't sleep tonight."

"Right. I'll leave you be, then."

Kakashi got up from the table and gave her a nod, disappearing to the back of the house. She wondered what was back there. Kakashi had, not so kindly, made it clear that she wasn't allowed back there, but she couldn't help but be curious about what it was that he was hiding.

She stood up, gathering her notes and made her way to the bedroom. Teddy had already woken up and was babbling at nothing, waving his arms around, making Hermione laugh.

"Aren't you a bundle of energy? Let's get you out of bed so you can play some more. It'll give Auntie Hermione time to do some more reading."

"Mai-mai!"

"Oh? Trying to say my name, huh? I think it's a bit difficult for you, bud. But, I suppose trying to say "'Mione" is better than nothing." She chuckled softly.

"Mai!"

"Yeah, yeah, come on."

Hermione sighed as she closed the book she was reading. She should've known. Remus' wand wasn't as compatible with her as her own was. So naturally, the spells she would cast, wouldn't be as effective. This did explain why the glamour she put on Teddy wasn't sticking as it should. That did make things a lot more difficult for Hermione. It would mean she would have to cast the glamour regularly in order to keep Teddy's abilities hidden from the shinobi. And she'd have to do it without anyone noticing.

She shifted her gaze towards the clock and noticed it was almost dinner time. She should get started on dinner, she thought as she stood up. Teddy seemed to be entertaining himself for the time being, so she quickly dropped the book off, hiding it in her bag and thus keeping it out of Kakashi's sight. Thinking of the teen, she debated whether or not she should ask him if he wanted to have dinner as well.

Going with the positive flow of the day, she decided she would. Asking couldn't hurt right? Making her way to the back of the house, she wasn't sure which door to knock on at first. All of them were shut tight. The one at the far end seemed to be the one he was at, as a dim light was seen from under the door. Softly knocking, she called out, "Kakashi?"

Hearing no response she knocked again, only this time a bit harder. Still no response. Again, she tried calling out to him but after waiting for a few minutes, still nothing. What should she do now? Leave it be and don't ask him, or should she open the door? Making her decision she took a nervous breath in and turned the handle and slowly opened the door, only to reveal… nothing. There wasn't anyone in here.

Looking around, there wasn't much here to begin with. Hermione noticed a few picture frames and scrolls lying around. Glancing at the floor, she noticed a spot that was a bit darker than the surrounding area, making her wonder what caused it. Stepping further into the room she noticed that everything in the room looked quite old. She had thought this before but she didn't think Kakashi had actually lived here before, for a really long time at least.

Suddenly the door to the room was shut, making her jump up in shock. Hermione whirled around, an apology on her lips. However, while she expected to see Kakashi, it wasn't him. Her eyes locked on an animal mask, one she hadn't seen before. She didn't keep her eyes on the mask for long, however, because in his arms was Teddy, crying.

"What are you doing? Let him go!" She yelled, as she reached out for him. She didn't get far as her world suddenly turned fuzzy before she started to black out. The last sensation she felt was falling after they had successfully hit the back of her neck to knock her out.