"Kakashi...you're not serious are you?"

Kurenei was wondering if the secretive ninja finally lost it. He had just come into the bar, walked straight up to them to ask her and Asuma for help.

Asuma raised an eyebrow, clearly suspicious as well, "Aren't you supposed to be the one to supervise Sasuke? Did the Hokage say you can push it off to someone?"

"Lady Hokage said as long as he is being watch by jounin and higher, It's fine for a short term period of time. Look, it's only one night okay? I really really need this night off."

To say she was perplexed was one thing, she was downright sure something was wrong. She had never seen Kakashi so impatient before.

"Why do you need this night specifically? Is something the matter?"

"I need to make right with someone and if I don't do it now, I don't think I can stand being near that person till it's done."

Asuma sighs heavily, Kakashi never asked for help unless it was dire. It was odd, that he was asking for assistance and it's not like the task was hard anyway.

"Ok Kakashi, we will help babysit Sasuke for you."

Rina was doing vertical push ups when she noticed that her wards was trying one of the new exercises she had shown them. She moved back into a normal standing on her feet position and turned to see her wards already in a supported shoulder stand stance.

Naruto was lying on the floor with both arms extended over his shoulders, his feet elevated, and knees bent for his partner, Karin to hold on to with her hands tightly holding onto just below his knees and her upper traps and shoulders in Naruto's hands. Karin's objective in this exercise was to lift herself fully in inversion but supported only by Naruto's knees and hands.

The shoulder stand position sounds complicated but it wasn't really. It was all about communication and working as a team. Both parties must use their entire bodies in distinct ways to pull this off properly which in turn helped to build up their strength.

"Karin, focus more on your core. You need the strength of your core to properly lift your hips over Naruto's shoulders in order to get your legs in position."

"H-hai"

"Naruto, how you doing down there?"

"G-good!" Naruto replied with sweat beading his brow.

Rina couldn't help but smile, "It would be better if you keep your elbows locked, and press away from your chest like you are locking out a push-up. Understand?"

"Hai!"

The doorbell rang and Rina immediately left the room to see who it was but she was completely immersed in her own thoughts as she absent mindedly made her way to the door.

Naruto...

She was slowly but steadily training her wards to be a steady duo by making them partner each other in exercises, joint taijutsu battles against her and of course house chores. But aside from that, she had personally made sure to tend to their own special needs.

She focused heavily on ensuring Naruto had a healthy, well-balanced diet alongside a solid foundation of his Academy studies. Naruto had grown up on eating practically the same dish since he was four so it was only natural that Rina would push for him to eat other foods of other varied flavors and genre. He was stubborn at first but eventually the blonde grew to really enjoy eating other foods and had taken an interest in cooking along with his cousin. As for Karin also, she had mostly just ate porridge or simple rice dishes for as long as she can remember so being served delicious looking foods made her very grateful too.

However, taking the reigns of looking after Naruto was harder than she thought; he had major learning difficulties. He found it hard to read certain letters and she finally understood why only after the physicals she made her wards go through; Naruto had dyslexia.

In other words, the blonde had a disability towards reading. Contrary to popular belief, Naruto was smart; quick to adapt, extremely creative yet fairly analytical only if and when he was able to properly be calm and able to practically think hence why Naruto had somehow survived and passed the Academy with his at the time, undiagnosed dyslexia. As much as she adored Naruto, teaching him was a challenge especially since at first, he could only comprehend small words like a, an, me and hi. However, it was a pleasant surprise for her to find that if things are properly explained to him and he can understand it; he has fairly good memory of the matter. She was also grateful to Karin who had also been helping to tutor Naruto in his studies if Rina was not around. Rina adored Naruto and she always made sure to tell the blonde that his dyslexia was not a liability unless he lets it so he works very hard with her to make sure he could read as effectively as possible at the least.

For Karin, Rina did not have to prepare anything super extensive. She just had to spend time with redhead. However, she wanted both of her wards to feel that they were equally attended to so whatever she was doing that they could observe or contribute to; she would ensure they were there to experience everything whether it was cooking or gardening or exercising or even shopping.

Karin's only problem was that she grown up without real care and attention so Rina ensured to take time out of her day to visit the red-haired girl in her room to just talk about whatever; whether she wanted help with her medical studies or just getting to know each other regarding anything. Sometimes, Rina would pull out games for them to play like sudoku or wordsearch or hell even shogi. Heck, there were even times Karin surprised her by asking about skincare and hairstyling. It was immensely fun and Karin even though she was the most awkward one at first in the early dynamics for the family, she grew to love her new sister and brother dearly which warmed her heart.

The knocking got louder, Rina finally reached it and opened the door only to frown in confusion seeing who it was.

"Kakashi? Why are you here?"

"Honestly?"

The green-haired young adult sighed before folding her arms, "Obviously."

"I-I missed you, I missed us..."

"You mean the sex" Rina pointed out bluntly despite the obvious sincerity the jounin had in his voice.

"Fuck sake, that's not what I want..."

Rina eyed Kakashi carefully, wondering what was his game, "Where's Sasuke?"

"He's under the supervision of my dog summons."

"You can't do that forever Kashi."

"I know and I will go back but only if you answer one question."

"Oh?"

Kakashi bit his lip under his mask, his uncertainty of what her answer will be giving him major anxiety, "W-would you please go on a date with me?"

Rina legitimately froze, wondering if she heard right and also wondering whether the usual stoic man was drunk or on something.

"Irina..." Kakashi began, trying to find the right words to convince her. "I am sorry that I was not able to see you after we came back. After all, that time-"

"I was put into an arranged engagement to your captain I know."

Kakashi immediately stiffened at the memory. Nobody knew about the infiltration mission they shared in Kumo; that very mission where they fell in love. But as soon as they got back and were ready to begin properly dating as Kakashi and Rina; she was forced into a marriage arrangement by the council. Kakashi at the time, couldn't even approach her because she was forced on leave to prepare for the wedding.

The memories of that time clouded his mind and Kakashi rubbed a hand over his face in displeasure. He looks at Rina again to see a downcast look on her face now, of course he couldn't blame her she was engaged to Itachi after all. After what he did, Irina was back on ANBU duty and immediately promoted to ANBU Head but she was under severe scrutiny for what happened too for a good period of time because many Black Ops agents blamed her for not seeing anything beforehand and it made her more aloof than usual making her difficult to approach. But Kakashi was not going to think about that now. Past is past. Now he needed to focus on his present.

"So you want to lock me down? Is that it?"

The voice sounded cold and calculating as expected of a former Head of ANBU but Kakashi got perplexed by it. He was ridden with nerves ans here she was doubting his intentions, "Oh for-! I like you Irina! It's not about the sex for me!"

"Is it?"

Kakashi gulped instantly, he knew that look. She was staring at him as if he was an enemy trying to subtly getting information from her. She was actively calculating what she would do to him if he really rubbed her the wrong way.

"Then let's make a bet. If you can survive without touching me for tonight's date all the way till midnight, you have yourself a deal."

Kakakshi seriously wondered if Irina was a sadist. She now had a mischievous grin on her face, she knew damn well that due to their previous moments with each other, Kakashi wouldn't be able to take long without touching her.

"T-thats cruel and unusual..."

"My terms. Take it or leave it."

She looks up at him, smug until she felt his lips on hers. Rina's first instinct was to push him so she moved both her hands to his chest, ready to push him off her porch but Kakashi had already hugged her with his strong arms and slid his tongue into her mouth making the idea of resistance a lost cause. She lets out a small squeal in his mouth when he lifts her up suddenly with his arms, she wraps her legs around him caught up in his passion and he presses her back against the wall next to her front door as he kisses her neck.

"Do not make a sound or you will alert the kids Rina."

This, he could do. No words needed to be shared for this. He could look as hungry and as needy as he wanted. He could shamelessly love her and she couldn't scrutinize any of it because she would get caught up in him too, leaving her unhinged and vulnerable for his taking.

For that short while, she didn't but she had no idea that a certain ward of hers could hear everything.

Karin looked at Naruto, wondering what was wrong with him. He was doing sit ups but his eyes were squeezed shut.

She drank from her water bottle, still watching him. It was then she got an idea on what could be going on because Naruto's face was as red a tomato.

"You can hear them huh?"

Naruto nodded bashfully and Karin couldn't help but laugh.

"You really are too cute Naru!"

"Don't call me cute Rin! I'm a boy!"

"But boys can be cute too!" she giggles causing Naruto to lose focus and start laughing with her too.

"I hope Onee-sama comes back soon. There's more exercises I wanna try."

"Let's do the wheel barrow ones first. They're easier." says Naruto as he wipes the sweat off his forehead.

Karin readily agrees moving into position with her cousin in the hopes Naruto could properly ignore what was going on outside. Naru was her cousin who was also incredibly naive and innocent which was honestly absolutely adorable to her. She hoped to actively enjoy that for a good long while, she had personally been through enough to know what humans could be like but Naruto wasn't like any of that.

He is always kind and honest to everyone and it made her happy that Naru was such a good guy. She felt safe with him, she thanked the heavens above everyday for blessing her with the presence of her Onee-sama and Naruto, a family she could call her own.

Truly, thank you.