When Aiko arrived, she quickly realized that nothing had been touched in ten years, and this was evident from the inches of dust that had accumulated on every single item in the place. Aiko spent hours cleaning the place from top to bottom, and washing her very old bedsheets and blankets, so she'd have somewhere comfortable to sleep that night. As much as she didn't want to admit it, Aiko realized that she was happy to be back in the old apartment. It did in fact feel like home. By the time Aiko was done it was late and she was ravenous. She hadn't eaten since lunchtime the day before, but there was nothing edible in the apartment. She would have to venture out but needed to shower and change first. A shower, a real shower felt good. Not a lake or river somewhere, but a real honest to goodness show felt amazing. Afterward, she went rummaging through her old closet to find something to wear. She felt a pinch of sadness rifling through her old belongings, but found a floor-length black skirt with a little slit up the side, and a dark blue silk camisole she had once loved so much. She looked at herself in the still dusty mirror, and she liked the way she looked. She didn't look like a shinobi, she looked like a woman again. With this thought in her head, she decided to go to find Kurenai and hopefully some food. She was trying to avoid aimlessly wandering around the village, afraid to run into a certain someone.

She found Kurenai's place easily enough, and Aiko was glad her old friend was happy to see her. She met the baby, and Kurenai and she talked over dinner. They filled each other in on their lives, their adventures, their loves, and their losses until it was the wee hours of the morning. Aiko felt good, relieved even. As if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, Aiko hadn't had anyone to share within so long she didn't realize how lonely and closed off she had become. Kurenai offered her the couch for the night, but Aiko was excited to sleep in her own bed and figured it was late enough that no one would be out on the streets for her to run into.

Kakashi had been laying in the woods for a while now. He had avoided answering any prying questions by simply staying away from everyone, but it was late enough now to walk home in peace. Kakashi was about halfway home when he spotted her. She was unmistakable with that skirt on that had a slit all the way up the side, and tiny blue camisole he loved her in so much. Kakashi stopped dead in his tracks, not wanting to be seen. He tempered his chakra, so she wouldn't sense him and just enjoyed looking at her again. He enjoyed looking at her long hair, the sway of her hips, and the bounce of her bosom as she walked. He could not believe he had allowed himself to push her away. Kakashi was slapped in the face with immediate regret, and even though he knew it was a bad idea, an idea unbecoming of the sixth Hokage, he followed her home.

Kakashi watched her walk all the way home and hid across the street on a rooftop so he could peer through her window. It wasn't until he was watching her do ordinary things that he realized how much he had truly missed her. After about an hour of watching her longingly, Kakashi decided that it was time to go home himself.

Aiko sighed with relief when out of the corner of her eye she saw Kakashi jumping out of his hiding spot across the street and running in the opposite direction of her home. She could finally get undressed and ready for bed in peace. She was aware that he'd followed her home and had been watching her from afar. She now knew that avoiding him for the two weeks was going to prove quite difficult.

They both laid in their own beds that night thinking of nothing but each other.

When morning came Aiko was awakened not by sing birds, but by a screaming Might Guy. Aiko's apartment was unfortunately very close to Guy's, and as a result she would be stuck with him for the duration of her stay. Aiko sleepily walked over to the door to let Guy in "What is it Guy? I was sleeping." Aiko managed to get out in between yawns.

"I was wondering if you'd like to run laps with me this morning around the village, say 500 to start?" Guy gave her a wide smile.

"Guy you have one leg, you can't run 500 laps around the village. You shouldn't be doing that with two legs." Aiko grumbled at him, regretting not getting any groceries for breakfast the day before.

"You can push me in my wheelchair, and I can motivate you!" Guy said as he gave her a thumbs up and a wink.

At this Aiko laughed, "How about I get changed and I'll run you 10 laps around, but then you have to come grocery shopping with me?"

Guy took the compromise, but not without some very loud complaints, and a full ten-minute speech about the power of youth.

After their run Aiko rolled Guy over to the markets, so she could do her shopping. She picked something up, he put it back when she wasn't paying attention. He picked something up and waved it in her face and she threw it at him. Just like old times.

It took Aiko twice as long to do her shopping with Guy in tow, but honestly, it was more fun this way. They were about to head back home when Kakashi came walking towards them.

Aiko avoided eye contact, and tried to maneuver Guy in a way that he wouldn't see Kakashi, but she failed.

"My rival! Are you ready for another challenge?" Guy was yelling at Kakashi waving one of his hands in the air.

Kakashi ignored Guy's question, "Hi." He said, with one hand scratching the back of his head.

"Hello Kakashi," Aiko retorted, clearly irritated.

"I know you're angry, but I mean no harm. Can we talk later? When you two are done with whatever it is, you're doing." He eyed them skeptically, both wearing work out gear, but caring bags of groceries.

"I got Aiko here to take me on a run this morning. She's not up to my regular 500, but we'll get her there." Guy said enthusiastically.

"Then we came shopping." Aiko said flatly, "And if you'll excuse us, I really need to be getting home."

"You didn't answer my question. Can we talk later?" Kakashi asked becoming slightly disgruntled. She was the only woman in the world who could throw him off like this.

"You answered your own question when you followed me home last night." Aiko glared at Kakashi as she pushed by him using Guy's wheelchair.

Guy was flustered by this and for the first time in his life speechless.

Kakashi's eyes fell to the ground, he knew following her last night was a horrible idea, but he just couldn't take his eyes off of her.

When Aiko got Guy to his front door, Guy looked up at her for the first time since they'd run into Kakashi.

"Listen Aiko, it may not be my place to say, but Kakashi has always loved you and I think you know that. He's changed a lot in the years you've been gone, he's not the cold-hearted Kakashi we knew all that time ago." Guy said this in an uncharacteristically calm manner.

This time when Guy brought his eyes back to Aiko's face there were tears running down it. "You weren't there Guy, you don't know what he said to me, how he spoke to me. I have had my share of experiences with unnecessarily cruel men, but Kakashi was never supposed to be one of them. There was no need for him to turn on me the way he did. If he couldn't handle being with me then that was his right, but he came at me with a vengeance, and for the life of me I haven't been able to figure out why."

Guy reached up to wipe the tears from Aiko's face, she had had it so hard since birth and Guy always had a soft spot for her. "I can't tell you what to do, but if you want answers the only place to get them is from the man himself. Just think about it, for your own sake." Guy smiled at her and went inside.

Aiko was still upset when she got to her door and was running through what Guy had said to her over and over again in her head. Who knew that underneath that overbearing façade Guy puts on were actual nuggets of wisdom? Aiko smiled at herself and opened her door, "Well if you want to talk so badly let's talk." Kakashi appeared almost out of nowhere and followed Aiko into her apartment.

Aiko hopped up onto her countertop, looking at Kakashi with bloodshot eyes. He'd gotten taller, his gray hair still stood straight up, and he still covered most of his face with that damned mask. All of her emotions could be easily read from her face, but she couldn't read him at all.

Aiko let out a long sigh, "What is it Kakashi?" she said weakly.

Kakashi looked at the woman sitting in front of him, she was as beautiful as ever, but she had been crying. Some of her hair was getting stuck to her face and her cheeks were red and blotchy. He had been eavesdropping on her conversation with Guy, and Kakashi made a mental note that he owed Guy a thank you. She would have never agreed to talk to him otherwise.

"I know it's not enough, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry I attacked you the way I did. There's no excuse that I can give you that'll make what I did better or make sense." He took a few steps closer to her, trying to close the gap between them.

"We were laying in bed together and you were running your hand through my hair the way you liked to do. You kissed me, and laid your head on my chest and told me you loved me. You told me that no matter how I felt about myself I was a good man and that you hadn't known many good men. You kissed me, and told me that you felt safe in my arms." Kakashi said shifting back and forth on his feet, trying to close the gap between them more.

"Well," Aiko said, "You say stupid things when you're young and in love Kakashi." Tears were running down Aiko's face, she had given up trying to control them.

"I turned on you that night, and I did it to selfishly protect myself." Kakashi covered his eyes with one hand, wiping away tears that had formed. "I didn't want the responsibly of protecting you when I hadn't been able to protect anyone close to me up to that point. I knew I had to make you hate me, and so I did." While he was talking, Kakashi had closed the gap between them, and was pushing the hair that was stuck to her face behind her ears."

"You didn't just make me hate you Kakashi, you made me hate myself. You told me that I was a problem you didn't need and that you understood why my father had beaten me as a child. You broke me Kakashi, you were the only person I trusted, the only person I loved and you attacked every weakness I had to tare me down." Aiko was sobbing by the time she was done speaking.

Kakashi had remembered that night, they had agreed to meet at her favorite lake and take a late-night walk.

Ten Years Ago

Kakashi was watching the girl he loved from the trees trying to muster up the courage he needed to complete his plan. When she saw him, Aiko ran to him and jumped into his arms. Kakashi pushed her away hard. Aiko hadn't been expecting it, so she almost fell over backward. Kakashi looked her in the eyes, took a deep breath, and said the most horrible things he could think of.

"Aiko, this isn't going to work anymore," Kakashi said coldly. "I don't love you the way you love me. I don't love you at all, I was curious about what it would feel like to be with a woman and you answered that question for me." Kakashi had to hold himself back from crying. "You are just another problem that I don't need in my life. Dealing with you every day has been hell, and I can almost understand what your father must have felt like having someone as pathetic and needy as you for a daughter." Kakashi was breaking on the inside, but he couldn't let his face show it. "Not even your own sensei cared about your wellbeing or thought you showed any promise. How could you think that I could care about someone so weak that their own sensei gave up on them? You've always been disposable to me, and now I'm just disposing of you."

At this point, Aiko slapped him. "Why are you saying these things Kakashi, what's wrong with you?" Aiko had grabbed Kakashi's shirt with both hands and was shaking him ferociously. "You don't mean that, I know you don't mean that. Why are you saying these things to me Kakashi!" Kakashi put one hand on Aiko's head and pushed her out of his way.

"Just leave me be now," Kakashi said with his back to Aiko. Since she couldn't see his face, he allowed a single tear to fall. As Kakashi went to leave, Aiko grabbed the back of his shirt to try to stop him from leaving. In an attempt to try to understand what had happened between that morning and now.

"Kakashi please." She said with a broken voice.

Kakashi's head was down, and he lifted one hand to pull down his mask a little, and Aiko felt a twinge of hope at seeing his mask come down. In an instant, that twinge of hope turned into fear.

Blue lighting was coming from Kakashi's hand. "Let go of me Aiko," Kakashi said cruelly.

Aiko dropped her hand from the back of Kakashi's shirt and took a few steps backward, falling on her back in the process.

Did he hate her so much that he would threaten her with the lightning blade?

Kakashi left her there sobbing and screaming at him.

Present Day

"It doesn't mean anything now, but my words had no meaning then. I was the pathetic one Aiko. I was afraid of my feelings for you, I knew that I couldn't handle it if I were to lose you like I'd lost everyone else." Kakashi was leaning his forehead against Aiko's now, and he was shocked that she hadn't pushed him away yet. "I knew I could make you hate me, and I knew if you hated me, I could push you to the back of my mind. I lost you in a way, but at the same time you weren't dead, so it was preferable."

Aiko was leaning into Kakashi, she hadn't let herself feel these emotions in years, but she had missed him terribly. She had missed his strong arms around her, she had missed the way he smelled of the trees around the village, and she had missed the way he felt pressed up against her. Still, though, she wasn't sure if she could trust him again.

"How do you expect me to trust you again Kakashi?" Aiko said in a whisper. "What if this is just you wanting to sleep with me again." Aiko could barely get the words out. "That's all I was good for last time anyway."

With those words, Kakashi's heart broke in his chest. "I should have never said that to you Aiko." He was placing small kisses all around her face through his mask. "You meant so much me, being with you meant the world to me. I was a weak boy who had been broken by life. I can be there for you now, and I won't let you down again." Kakashi picked up her right hand and pressed it to his lips. Aiko was still sobbing.

Kakashi wiped the tears from her face and kissed her forehead gently. I'm sorry for Aiko, I was hoping for forgiveness I don't deserve. I'll go now, and I won't bother you again." With this, Kakashi turned to leave.

Without thinking Aiko reached and grabbed Kakashi's sleeve pulling him back to her. "Don't leave Kakashi" She pulled him close and rested her head against his chest. "Don't hurt me again, I won't be able to take it."

Kakashi pulled back just a bit and used his right hand to lift her chin up, so her eyes would meet his. "For as long as I live, I will never hurt you again." Kakashi pulled down his mask with his other hand and placed a chaste kiss on Aiko's lips. He picked her up cradling her in his arms and carried her to the bed. There he wrapped his arms around her until she could stop crying.

When Aiko gained back control of herself Kakashi got her a glass of water and played with her hair. They laid like that, talking about their lives for a long time. They told each other everything that had happened since they'd last seen each other until Aiko's stomach rumbled and they went in search of food.