Shanan woke up the next day with a serious headache. She was really hungover. But all the guys were still there and Neji had made coffee. She was about halfway through her cup when she remembered that Kakashi was back and decided she'd probably try to find him later in the day as she didn't think they'd had the opportunity to catch up very much. After her third shot, she didn't remember much, only dancing and fun. And maybe Shikamaru with a cigarette in his mouth.
The guys spent a few hours hanging out and trying to get rid of their hangovers, but Shikamaru eventually decided that he should report in to work and asked Shanan if she wanted to come along since that was probably where Kakashi was going to be. She would've liked to have stayed home all day, but she could leave for Kakashi.
Shanan had taken to wearing her Anbu top and gloves with her regular Ninja clothes, but she only put the mask up when she went on a mission. She thought she'd put it up today, though, to tease Kakashi about the fact that she'd borrowed his look.
"Were you smoking last night?" Shanan asked Shikamaru as they walked.
"I might've tried it out a little," he said coolly.
"I brushed my teeth, but I can still taste it," she said as she made a face.
"I don't remember kissing you at all," he said as he laughed, a bit surprised.
"I think I remember us making out in a different booth for a while." She laughed too.
In fact, they had spent some time making out in a different booth.
A song had come on as Shanan was dancing with Lee and Shikamaru had cut in. They almost immediately started kissing on the dance floor as he pushed her back to a dark booth in the corner of the bar. Shanan straddled him on his lap while he kept his arms around her waist and they made out and groped each other.
"Should we stop them?" Kurenai asked.
"No, they always get like this when they're drinking. They never seem to realize that anyone can see them. They'll tire themselves out," Neji told her.
"I'm gonna have to have a talk with him…" Asuma said quietly as he rubbed his eyebrow.
They did eventually tire themselves out, before they made their way over to the group and passed out.
When they got to the Office of the Hokage, of course, Shikamaru made Shanan wait outside of Tsunade's office while he checked in first. But after a few minutes he popped his head back out.
"Well, it's perfect timing. She wanted to see you anyway and Kakashi is here too. Come on," he said.
She walked in and stood next to Kakashi who hadn't looked back at all when she entered.
"Oh great, now I can't see either of your faces," Tsunade said half jokingly and half impatiently.
Kakashi seemed confused until he looked down at Shanan and chuckled.
"Is that one of my old ones?" he asked her, amused.
"Yep, but it's mine now," she said teasingly.
Tsunade read some notes in front of her and looked up at the two of them.
"Right, now that you're back, Kakashi, it's time to train Shanan on her Sharingan. She still hasn't unlocked any other techniques and I'm ready to see what these bad boys are capable of as they've already been quite useful to the village."
"I'm standing right here..." Shanan sang, a bit annoyed as Shikamaru nudged her gently to be nice.
"I can see that..." Tsunade sang back in the same tone. She looked back at Kakashi. "So teach her how to unlock something. This is your top priority, any other missions will be on hold until you guys have something new to present. Best of luck," she said as she shot Shanan a look.
Kakashi bowed slightly to her and turned to leave.
Shanan considered saying something to Tsunade about her being more than just her Sharingan, but decided to let it go and turned to walk next to Kakashi.
"I'll see you in a bit," she said to Shikamaru.
"See ya," he yelled after her.
Kakashi had seemed a bit awkward for some reason, but Shanan figured he was just adjusting to being home again.
"So how was your undercover mission?" Shanan asked him.
"A lot of listening and hiding. Undercover missions are usually pretty uneventful."
"Yeah, I can see how that would be the case," she said as she pulled her mask down and folded it into a turtleneck.
"I did wanna show you something I discovered while I was away, though," he said, already seeming less awkward as he, too, pulled his mask down.
"Ooh, what?"
"Wait til we get to the training spot," he said patiently.
They walked and talked the whole way to their usual place. Shanan did seem different, but still the same too. And she clearly didn't remember anything about having kissed him or the fact that he hadn't stopped her.
They made it to the edge of the field and Shanan couldn't contain herself any longer.
"Ok we're here, now show me!" she said excitedly.
Kakashi casually walked to an open space and stopped to look at Shanan and then vaporized.
She was confused and alarmed at first, having never seen anyone else do it, as she ran towards where he'd been, but then she saw the cloud forming above her and she realized what had happened. She did her own jutsu and went up to sit on top of his cloud where he was now kneeling as he charged it with Chidori. She was so impressed, she couldn't stop smiling.
"How can you do this?" she asked him curiously.
"Let's get down first," he said as he grabbed her arm and took her back down with him.
"Well, I've never had someone else do that to me," she said as she stumbled a bit and shivered.
"Bit unsettling?" He chuckled.
"A bit. How?" she asked him as she smiled again.
"The same way you have Sharingan... and Chidori," he paused for effect.
"Wait, Chidori? I've had that for years, though."
He raised an eyebrow at her. "And? You've known me for years. No doubt you've always been able to absorb and cycle chakra."
Shanan thought about it for a moment. "That's... kind of amazing," she said as she laughed. "Do you wanna learn no-handed jutsu?" she asked.
"We're supposed to start working on your Sharingan, you know?"
Shanan shrugged. "I don't really feel like it today. Besides, what's the rush?"
She always enjoyed her time with Kakashi and it always felt like she learned so much from him in the short amount of time that they ever got to spend together. So she wanted to stretch it out as much as possible this time.
Kakashi considered it for a minute. He had wanted to learn how to do it since the boys had joined his team. "Alright, show me," he decided.
They spent the rest of the day going over the basics and practicing visualization techniques until it got dark.
Usually they would go eat after training, but Kakashi had started to feel a bit awkward again.
"Maybe we should skip the meal this time, it is pretty late," he tried to convince her.
Shanan laughed as she took her hair down and shook it loose. "Uh... pass. I'm actually really hungry. I barely ate before leaving today because I still felt kinda sick from last night."
"Oh, right... Come to think of it, I haven't eaten anything today either," he said nervously.
"Oh yeah? Did you get pretty drunk too?" she asked as she laughed again.
Kakashi blushed a little as he chuckled. "I don't drink much."
They didn't really talk much on the way to the restaurant.
Shanan was remembering the last time they were there together and the look on his face before she had turned to leave, knowing she wouldn't see him for a long time.
And Kakashi couldn't stop thinking about last night and how beautiful he'd thought she was when she walked in before he'd even recognized her.
He was really trying to actively push that thought out of his mind, but then her kissing him would just take its place. Even though he knew that she probably didn't even realize what she was doing, as he barely even knew what was happening. But, he still remembered it clearly.
They sat down at their usual table and ordered their food. Shanan tried not to be, but she was completely overcome with guilt and wore it all over her face. She didn't want to bring it up and bring the mood down, so she sat quietly.
Kakashi knew exactly what she was thinking about though, he knew her well enough now. "Don't worry about it. I know you feel bad, but I was fine. Really."
Shanan looked at him and sighed. "You actually can't lie to me, you know?" she said as she fought back tears.
"Oh, that's right..." he remembered. He took a minute and then sat up straight and looked her in the eyes. "Well, I knew why you had said what you said. And it did hurt my feelings for a bit, but I also understood. So don't feel bad about it anymore," he said honestly.
Shanan could tell that he was being sincere so she nodded and changed the subject.
"Thank you for submitting me for Anbu. And for painting my mask, it's perfect," she said appreciatively.
"You're welcome. I heard that your transition took longer than anticipated, but that's alright. How's Tenzo doing at training you?"
"He's good! We've become such great friends. He reminds me a lot of you, actually. Stoic and cool," she said as she laughed teasingly.
He chuckled nervously. "Stoic and cool? Oh brother... I'm guessing he doesn't talk about his past much, either?"
"Nah, but that's ok, I'm used to it. I told him if he ever wanted me to use Kurushimi on him then I'd be happy to do it, but he hasn't taken me up on my offer yet."
"I can't imagine why," he said sarcastically. "Showing you his darkest and saddest moments, I can't imagine a lot of people would take you up on that." He chuckled.
Shanan smiled thoughtfully at him, she knew he'd think that way. "It can actually be really therapeutic, I've learned. Most people don't give me information because I'm torturing them or anything. Just to have someone walk with you through your darkest times and then talk with you about them afterwards and offer understanding and sympathy." She was tearing up again. "That's why they give up information to me. They feel acknowledged. I didn't understand that at first and it was hard seeing so much sadness. But now I see it as a way to help people. Which, despite my own sadness, is still a dream of mine," she told him as tears fell silently down her cheeks.
Kakashi hadn't expected that her Sharingan was capable of doing that for anyone. He knew Sharingan to be weapons, but hers seemed really special.