"A day of worry is more exhausting than a weeks work."
- John Lubbock

~ ҉ ~

A shower was a great idea, Kaiya thought to herself as the hot water ran against her skin. Mulling things over in the heat and steam always helped, most things easily fixed by scalding her flesh; that and letting anything else on her mind flow off her and get sucked up by the drain.

However, today's problem wasn't going to go away like the water.

Today's issue had her stuck, and she hated it.

After half an hour of thinking, panicking and pacing her hospital room after Naruto left, she had managed to calm herself down enough to come to a few conclusions.

First, she wasn't going to be home anytime soon. She didn't know how to, and doubted she would be able to get home without some serious meddling, and that brought her to her second conclusion. Timeline wise, it was post chapter 699, but nowhere near 700, and that she was sure of. How far past she wasn't sure, but the bandaged arm Naruto had given that away.

He didn't look much older than he did in the anime so it couldn't have been more than a few months, giving her a 15 year period in which she had little to no knowledge about; and that could be a blessing or a curse. The little she did know she couldn't meddle with, not without drastically changing everything. On the other hand, having little knowledge of current events would make her less noticeable. All she had to do was not mention the past and she could keep her anonymity; but that brought her to a final conclusion that she still had yet to figure out.

Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto…

Kaiya sighed audibly as she turned off the shower. Steam rose from her reddened skin, the cold now prickling at her with the loss of the heat source.

Wringing her hair out she pulled back the shower curtain, making slow, steady movements to avoid slipping. Feeling the cold tiles under her feet stung a bit, but was easy to ignore as she grabbed a nearby towel and began to dry herself. Perhaps a warm shower would have been better. Everything was raw, and while the towel felt soft to the touch, the opposite was proving to be the case as each individual fibre within it scraped and pulled with the motions.

Again, it was easily ignored.

Once dry, she reached behind her for the hospital gown she had taken off. Feeling around she grasped the clothes and found that what she had was not the gown she took off. Confused, she turned, discovering that not only was the scrubs she had previously worn were missing but that they were now replaced with roughly folded clothing. Lifting the first item, she examined it suspiciously before relaxing into a soft smile.

The idiot is a ninja…

Naruto had snuck in and left clothes for her without her even noticing. A rational person would be annoyed by the blatant lack of respect of boundaries and scream to high heaven about perversion, but she wasn't. The possibility of the jinchuuriki seeing her naked did briefly cross her mind but the thought was quickly dispelled. The curtains were thick enough that he wouldn't have seen much, and even if he did catch a glimpse, she doubted it would mean anything. This was real, much to her dismay, and only in her dreams did boys pay her any attention. Well… any of the good kind of attention…

She shuddered abruptly, shaking off what she'd rather not think of, and started dressing herself. He had brought her what she could only assume was an outfit from his own wardrobe, a navy blue cotton t-shirt with a bold crimson Uzumaki swirl on the front and back, as well as some basic tan cargo shorts; which only fit her thanks to her hips being slightly wider than his. She drowned in the shirt that was at least two-three sizes too big, but it was comfortable. Not much time had passed since he left them it seemed, it was still warm, and had a lingering earthy scent which suited him; along with a subtle undertone which she recognised as miso ramen. It was Naruto after all.

Now that she was dressed and dry, she left the bathroom and back into her hospital room, where he was waiting for her.

Naruto was glad he didn't raid Sakura's house for clothes. He did stop by briefly for shoes, there was no way his would fit this girls dainty feet, but after seeing her when she stepped out with her damp hair and his clothes covering her soft, pinked skin... even the kyuubi inside him was sighing, but also screaming for him to take her right where she stood.

He was thankful while dropping off the clothes he didn't give in to his latent perverted nature by peeking. If he had, it wouldn't have been just Kurama wanting her all to himself.

Thoughts like this plagued him as they walked through Konoha, but as much as she tormented his inner beast, he was a stranger to her. Just some random ninja who happened upon her in a venerable state. He needed to not be weird about this and freak her out before they were even friends. So he kept things casual and polite, with a small joke uttering past his lips every now and then.

He watched her take in the village landscape with each step, her eyes lighting up at the various markets that littered the streets and visibly sighing contently as a faint breeze echoed with the smells of the restaurant district up ahead.

He wasn't a mind reader, but he could tell that since they had left the hospital the promise of food stood out as the main topic on her mind even without voicing it.

That and the light rumbling sound she made five minutes ago that she pretended didn't happen.

"You have a beautiful village," she uttered lightly, breaking the short silence that had occurred. Naruto chuckled.

"It is, isn't it?" He regarded warmly, "All things considered, Konoha is recovering well."

She nodded in understanding, "I would have loved to see it at its prime."

"That won't take long, just last year this whole place was a crater, by this time next year it will be like it never happened," he beamed turning to face her once more.

It was a few moments before he let the words leave his mouth.

"What's your village like?"

Although Kaiya's face remained calm, her eyes filled with conflicting emotions, ranging from sadness to frustration, then pain, and a few he didn't recognise. Obviously home was a touchy subject.

"Not anything like here," she slowly worded out.

Naruto didn't press her any further. As much as he wanted to know everything about her, he didn't want her upset, which definitely would have been the case.

So far he had managed to avoid asking her about her injuries. The little information she had given him while delirious and the hesitancy she was giving today was worrying him.

He had to know what happened and why.

This pride as a ninja and as a man demanded it, and surprisingly the kyuubi was equally curious. He wasn't sure if that was out of affection or bloodlust.

Despite that he needed to keep his head. Trust was earned, not freely given, and he had yet to prove himself. Her walls were thicker than steel, and there was no way he was going to get anywhere with her until he at least got past one.

One wall.

Just enough to get under her skin and past this detached civility.

He needed to change his tactics.

All thoughts ceased as he saw Ichiraku up ahead and picked up the pace.

Kaiya watched Naruto with equal amounts of disgust and fascination as he finished his fourth bowl of ramen, with no sign that he was going to be finished anytime soon.

Of course she knew that this what he was like. She knew everything about the strange ninja treating her to… breakfast? Lunch? She wasn't sure, and at this point she couldn't care less. But knowing as apposed to seeing it take place was something else.

In the time it had taken her to be halfway through the bowl she had ordered, Naruto was now almost finished his fifth.

"Where does it all go?" she asked, eyes narrowed.

Naruto beamed mid slurp as if complemented.

This irritated Kaiya further.

"You're going to make yourself sick," she stated simply.

He chuckled lightly raising a brow in her direction, "Says the one fresh out of hospital."

"If my health was still in trouble they wouldn't have let me leave," she said dryly, "so your concern is not needed."

"Needed or not, it is my 'concern'," Naruto eye rolled, "or did you forget my promise?" he teased.

"I forgot nothing," she assured.

"Then let me do my job…" he mumbled.

Just another mission huh…

Kaiya sighed and continued eating; she wasn't going to argue any more than she needed to. All she wanted was to sit and enjoy his company so she would do just that.

She would not engage in trying to make her fantasies real for that was all they were.

She would not let any anxiety show.

She would not act suspicious in any way.

She would be respectful and well-mannered.

"…and don't get your panties in a twist."

Kaiya choked.

Naruto was in hysterics.

Once composed she glared at him darkly, the corners of her mouth pulling into a hard sneer. "And what makes you think you have any effect on my panties?"

Finishing the last dregs of bowl number six, he calmly placed his empty bowl in the pile with the rest and set down his chopsticks. Naruto then turned to her with an impish grin and said two little words that made her seethe.

"That did."

His grin only got wider as her eyebrow twitched, all her self-control passing from her quickly. She wanted to yell and scream but her pride wouldn't let her. He was playing with her and it was working in his favour. Goading her to break her passive façade, and she let herself slip. He was riling her up on purpose… and he did it with one sentence.

What the hell is he doing to me…?

"Not so cool-headed now are we?" he pestered.

'Not so cool headed now are we?'

'Oh look she does feel…'

'You're so naïve.'

'Freak!'

'Pft, she's not even worth the effort."

'Just kill yourself Kaiya.'

'Kaiya!'

"Kaiya…?!"

Eyes widened, she refocused on the worried face of the shinobi holding her face. Her skin was cold, but Naruto's hands against her cheeks were warming her, breaking her out of her disarray. His eyes were fixed on hers as her breathing slowed, gradually becoming regular and matching with his every exhale. Kaiya held him tightly just below his wrists, her forefingers digging into him and her thumb nail curling and drawing blood.

A single tear fell and he brushed it away with his thumb. "Are you okay?" he asked calmly.

Kaiya blinked twice and let her eyes close. With a steady breath she released her grip, gently bringing her hands up to his and freeing her face. Opening her eyes on the second breath, she placed her hands in her lap, fully collected and in control.

At least on the outside anyway.

The only proof anything went wrong was her wet cheek and Naruto's unwavering stare.

"I'm fine, Naruto," she said calmly, bringing her attention back to her now cold noodles.

Glass shattered as the cup he was holding was destroyed.

"Like hell you are," he hissed back.

Before Kaiya could react properly, a wolf-masked ANBU appeared at their sides.

"Uzumaki-san, Thomas-san, the Hokage will see you now."

~ ҉ ~