"You're late."
"I'm sorry! I got caught up at the dojo."
"Again? Woman, you're going to burn yourself out."
"Shut up, Mom."

It was a beautiful day. The sun was high and warm, and a cool breeze made it impossible for anyone to overheat. The summer flowers around the main street were giving off the most wonderful aroma and the rustling of leaves in the wind filled the air with a most soothing sound.

Kai and Akira had met up at their bench that morning, a new ritual they were doing every Wednesday morning to break up their week. A new restaurant had opened a few weeks prior, and the two friends had made it their mission to be the owners' favourite regulars by the end of the month. So far, the majority of the workers there would recognise them as soon as they walked in and one of them was getting close to knowing Akira's order by heart.

"Jasmine tea, a little honey. Steamed rice and... no—let me figure it out! Miso soup with... with... oh, it's a vegetable of some kind. I give up."
"Do I even know?" Kai asked with a chuckle.
"It's kabocha," Akira said with a slight smile.
"Damn, that's right!" the waiter sighed. "And you're getting the same tea, no honey. With rice and... mackerel?"
"You got it."
"Awesome, I'll be back soon with the tea!"

As the waiter left, he smiled at Akira who smiled back a little incredulously. When he was out of range, Kai burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Akira asked, her eyebrows furrowed.
"He's into you," Kai snorted. "Isn't it obvious?"
"What—have you lost your mind, Kai? He's is not—"

The waiter had come back with the tea and unlike with the other tables, with it came a miniature vase with a branch of jasmine flowers. He smiled at Akira again before returning to his work. Her eyes went wide as she turned to look at Kai who was trying his hardest not to laugh.

"Stop it, Kai! It's not funny."
"You've got an admirer, you've got an admirer."
"Shut it! Don't make it weird."
"Oh, come on, you're no fun!"

Kai served himself and Akira some tea while she shook her head at him. The waiter came back with the food a few moments later and he lingered a little too long for Akira's taste.

"Okay, how are you supposed to react when someone has a thing for you?" Akira asked as soon as he left.
"Well, it depends on whether you have a thing for him too."
"Kai! He serves me food! I don't even know his name!"
"Have you not looked at his name tag?" Kai said with a laugh.
"What—no! I'm usually too busy staring at the food," Akira said after taking a sip of tea.
"Typical. Well, you know what that means."
"No?" Akira dropped her spoon. "What does that mean?"
"Means if you reject him you'll have to live with the awkwardness every time you walk in here."

Akira blinked a few times, her brain trying to process what Kai had just said.

"Kai... We're never going to be able to come back here."
"Oh, don't be so dramatic," Kai said with a laugh. "If he never asks you out, then you'll never have to reject him."
"But the flower?"
"Yeah, it's not looking good."

Akira groaned and stuffed a spoonful of rice into her mouth. The rest of the friends' breakfast went without any further interactions from the waiter, and Akira made a point to pay and leave before he could make it out of the kitchens.

"You're such a scaredy-cat!" Kai said, roaring with laughter.
"I am not! I just—I like the food! I don't want to be parted with it."

Kai bent himself over with laughter and Akira nearly dragged him over to the old Academy training grounds where they'd planned to train for an hour or two. When they arrived, several students rushed over to watch them train.

Even though Akira and Kai had grown accustomed to their moves and techniques, they would occasionally withhold some of their expertise to showcase it in a right sparring match for the children at the Academy. Iruka-sensei, and other teachers, found it beneficial for them to see upperclassmen spar together and try to analyse what was going on. Honestly, Akira and Kai just did it for fun, and it was nice to go up against some of Kai's new moves.

They sparred for just about an hour and the Academy students watched in awe as Akira and Kai exchanged blows, kunai and several new jutsu that neither of them had seen before. The two friends were having fun, but Kai seemed worried, which cost him the match in the end. It was Akira's concentration that concerned him. She was far too intense in the sparring match for him not to be concerned.

Kai and Akira made use of the Academy locker rooms to clean themselves up, then headed to the swing just outside the front doors. There was once a time when she and Kai could both sit on it at the same time, but no longer. Kai always gave up the seat to Akira.

"Hey, are you all right?"
"What? Yeah, I am. Why?"
"You were... unusually intense during training today," Kai noted. "I mean, you're usually pretty intense but..."
"Yeah, sorry," Akira said with a sigh. "I've been... distracted lately. Training's really the only thing that keeps my mind off of it."
"Does it have anything to do with your mission to the Land of Waves? You never told me what happened. Even Naruto wouldn't tell me anything."
"You asked Naruto?" Akira chuckled. "Wow, you must've been desperate."
"I was! You never told me, and last time I asked you didn't seem like you wanted to talk about it at all."

Akira sighed. She kicked off the ground a little and began to swing.

"I've got to be honest with you, Kai. I still don't want to talk about it," Akira said. "But... I suppose that hiding this for the past few weeks is enough."
"You don't have to tell me," Kai said.
"No, it's all right. I've found that talking about it... helps, I suppose." Akira sighed. "Kai, during my last mission, everything—and I mean everything—went to hell. The client wasn't who he said he was, the mission rank was not as it seemed, my team and I nearly died on numerous occasions. Kakashi-sensei and I... made the decision to take our enemy's life. He didn't want me to, Kakashi-sensei, I mean, but I was quite angry and considering my past experience with, well, death, I figured it would be fine. It would have been fine. But something went wrong... Our opponent's partner, he—he came between Kakashi-sensei and me and our opponent... He died instead. I was... not prepared."
"Oh, Akira," Kai said sadly.

He sighed and stood up, beckoning Akira off the swing. She came to a stop and stood, then let Kai sit down on the swing. He waved her over and Akira frowned, but Kai tugged on her arm until she caved and sat on his lap. It took a few moments of hesitation, but Akira relaxed and slumped into Kai's side. She dropped her head onto his and sighed.

"I'll be all right. It's just going to take time."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"I'm here for you if you need me, okay?"
"I know. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."
"Hey, hey, hey—don't you be apologising to me," Kai said. "You went in to do something that was already horrible and then to have something unexpected and far more horrible happened. It's a shock, Akira. Mind and body. Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't already snapped."
"Yeah, well, I've got a few friends that have made things a little bit more bearable."