Warning! Lime ahead.

Chapter 6

She woke slowly, not wanting to fully awaken incase she was dreaming. She felt warm, at peace. Her left arm was numb from lying on it, and she tried to move but felt strong arms holding her. Slowly she opened her eyes. She looked and saw Kakashi lying next to her, holding her, no longer wearing his bandana, tired eyes gazing at her.

"Kakashi?" she whispered. She didn't use formalities with his name, like 'san' or 'senpai'. He was glad she didn't. He wanted her to be informal with him. He wanted her to be comfortable with him.

"You were tossing and turning. You needed to get some quality sleep so I held you to keep you still. You slept quietly for about four hours. It's three a.m. now."

"Gomen…" she said placing her forehead on his chest. She really was sorry. She didn't want to inconvenience him in any way. But if he felt that he was being inconvenienced…why was he still holding her so tight?

Slowly she looked up at him again. There was no change in his sweet, comforting, yet tired expression. She reached out with her right hand toward his face. She had never seen and eye like this before. Gently, she touched his face. She traced the scar over his eye with her fingers.

"…Why…is this eye red?" She asked innocently.

"It's Sharingan"

"Sharingan…" 'Sharingan…!' she repeated to herself. For the first time, realizing who he was, she asked: "You're the legendary Copy Ninja?"

"Ah"

'He's strong,' she thought again to herself. 'Really strong…and…he's right here next to me. But that's not enough. I have to go. I can't stay here.' She tried to get up, but Kakashi wouldn't release her.

"I have to go" she tried to get up again. Kakashi grabbed her wrists and pinned her to the bed underneath him.

"Where are you going to go? To run and hide again? Don't."

"Please let me go…" she said starting to cry.

"I won't let you go. I won't let you run away from this. Stay here, we can protect you." Kakashi was getting restless. He didn't want her to run away. He didn't like the idea of not being able to see her again. He wouldn't let her go.

"Please…"

"Why? Why do you run from him? Is he really that strong? I'm not weak, you know!"

"That…that's not it…"

"You're just going to run away and pretend we never met? You're going to pretend that nothing happened here? I won't accept that."

"You don't understand! I have to go! He's already here, I can feel it," she sobbed struggling against his hold. "If I don't go, he will start to hurt people…he'll kill people…he'll kill you! Don't you get it? I don't want him to hurt you…"

Realizing that Aki was struggling to leave the village not for her own safety, but for his and this village's safety, made his loosen his grip. She quickly jerked her wrists from him and turned onto her side, buried her face in her hands and sobbed. Kakashi was in shock. He couldn't think clearly. All he could do was watch the frightened woman lying beneath him cry and cry. She was shaking. She was angry…and afraid.

'She wants to run to protect everyone else, not herself,' he finally repeated in his mind. His expression softened from confusion and shock to love and protectiveness.

"Aki…" he said in a calmer voice. She continued to cry. He took hold of her shoulder and turned her so she was on her back looking up at him. "Aki…stay".

"I…can't," she said slowly shaking her head.

"Aki. Stay and help us fight him. People were hurt before because they didn't know how to fight him. Hayate didn't know how to fight him. You've seen what he has done and you probably know what he can do. It's not just the level of skill needed to fight against him, but the amount of knowledge we have. Please…tell us everything you can think of about this person. Help us."

"Kakashi…"

He needed to convince her to stay. He needed to do something. He was losing her. He was frantically searching his mind for the right words to help her understand.

"You…want me to be obvious, right? I'll say it bluntly then…stay with me. Don't leave. I couldn't stop thinking about you that night after I saw you in the hospital. I couldn't sleep."

"Kakashi" she said. Her crying had now stopped, though she was still shaking.

"I can't function properly when you're not close to me. I can't function properly when you are close to me. My thoughts always end up…back on you. And you're going to leave before I get a chance to find out everything about you? I've lost people very close and dear to me…I'm not going to let you just walk away from me!"

He reached up and pulled his mask from his face. Slowly, he lowered his face to hers. He kissed her. Slow at first, but it became more passionate. Aki tangled her fingers in his hair pulling his down closer. He put most of his weight down on her. His hand made its way from her shoulder down her side, and back up to her breast. Still kissing deeply, he fondled her breast causing her to moan and arch her back releasing the kiss.

He quickly undid the wrapping holding her Kimono and trailed his hand up her stomach back to her breast, fondling it more until it was erect. He took her nipple in his mouth and played with it, and flicked it with his tongue.

"Kakashi" she whimpered.

"Tell me you'll stay." Kakashi said moving on to the other breast. Aki was breathing fast. It was difficult for her to speak. Her heart was beating so fast. These feelings rushing through her body, not just from the physical pleasure Kakashi was giving her, but also from what Kakashi had said to her.

His kisses moved up her chest to her neck. He gently nibbled here and there before taking her mouth with his own again. He was starting to loose control of himself. He was hot…not just hot…burning. He wanted her, but now wasn't the right time. He had to stop. He had to stop it now. He forced the kiss to end. Slowly raising his head from her he gazed down at her. Her cheeks were flushed, she was breathing heavily, and her eyes were closed, hands gripping his shirt. She was still shaking.

This time he asked, afraid that he wasn't convincing enough. "Will you stay with me?" He would do every damn possible thing there was in the world to get her to stay, but he would never force her to stay.

Slowly, but surely, she nodded her head. "I…I'll stay"

Relieved, Kakashi lay back down next to her and cradled her in his arms until she stopped shaking altogether. And until he had regained all control over himself.

"Since I will stay…will you do…that…again?" she asked mischievously, yet still flustered

"Ah…and them some, if you let me." He let a few more minutes pass. Then he asked, "How are you feeling? Do you think you need to sleep more?"

"Do you have something else in mind?" she asked.

"Ah…come with me," he said getting up from the bed.

"Eh?" she questioned, watching him put on his vest and shoes. She just realized that her bare chest was still visible. She quickly got her red wrapping and wrapped it back around her Kimono. She too got up from the bed.

Kakashi quickly grabbed her and pulled her to him, holding her tightly again.

"Arigatou…" he said.

"Nani? I'm the one who should be saying that," she replied enjoying his warmth.

He smiled comically down at her, took her hand, grabbed his headband from the dresser and led her from his apartment.