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.
They were both mentally exhausted, so cooking was out of the question. Kakashi took Aiko to the BBQ shop nearby. They were both too tired to talk anymore. So, they sat on the same side of a booth with Kakashi's arm around Aiko's shoulders, and she was resting her head on his shoulder waiting on their food.
Naruto was walking home from Ichiraku Ramen Shop when he spotted them. Kakashi and Aiko sitting in a booth together wrapped around one another. Naruto didn't know what to do with himself. He didn't know if he should run up to them or go in search of Sakura so she could see too.
Naruto decided that he wanted to approach them, maybe make Master Kakashi blush a little in front of his new girlfriend. As Naruto was walking into the BBQ shop a strong arm pulled him down into a booth and held him there.
"Hey what's the big idea!" Naruto growled at his surprise attacker.
Lady Tsunade chuckled a little bit, still pinning Naruto down by his arm. "You wouldn't be planning on going over there and interrupting their date now would you Naruto?"
Naruto's face quickly reddened, "Um…no, no of course not Grandma Tsunade." Naruto said shaking his head back and forth.
"Good," Tsunade said seriously. "Don't you bother them Naruto, I mean it. Leave the two of them alone, and let them get to know each other again. Got it?"
"Well….yeah, I got it. But Grandma Tsunade, can I ask why?" Naruto said with complete sincerity. "What happened between the two of them, and why is she back now?"
"Well Naruto," Lady Tsunade said almost somberly. "You're no stranger to loss. A shinobi's life is filled with it." Naruto nodded at her to signify his understanding.
Lady Tsunade sighed and continued, "Aiko's father was a shinobi and her mother was a civilian. He was a cruel and abusive man, and he beat her mother so badly that she killed herself with three-year-old Aiko in the room." Tsunade took a long sip of sake. "He took the little girl and kept her in a closet only feeding her enough food and water to keep her alive. If she even made a sound, he would beat her until she blacked out. Once when he was out on a mission and forgot to lock the closet door she was able to make it out into the street. When she was found she was immediately brought to the hospital, Aiko was malnourished and badly beaten. I cared for her myself, and when she was able to speak again Aiko told me who had done this to her. When her father returned from his mission the Third Hokage sent him to prison, and when Aiko was old enough, she was put into the academy."
Naruto slammed his fist onto the table. "How could someone do that to a woman and a child!" Tsunade quickly covered his mouth with her hand and grabbed his fist. "Quiet, you knucklehead. They'll hear you."
Lady Tsunade let go of Naruto and let out a sigh. "When she graduated from the academy, her sensei was a man named Daichi. Daichi had a secret hatred of kunoichi and women in general, and this was his first genin team that he was in charge of. The other two members on the team were both males, so Daichi had decided early on to try and do away with Aiko. When they would train, he wouldn't allow her any food or water, if she made a mistake she was physically punished to an extreme. Aiko had lived through this before, so it was harder for Daichi to break her then he had originally thought."
"But why did no one stop him, why was it allowed." Naruto said from between gritted teeth.
Tsunade was shaking her head back and forth. "We didn't know Naruto. We were in the midst of the Third Great Ninja War; our forces had all but been depleted. No one was paying attention to the genin's training. When Daichi's team was finally sent out on an A-rank mission it was to gather intel. Aiko has grown strong now, but back then her main talent was a camouflage justo that not even sensory types could detect. The plan was for Daichi and her two male peers to set up a perimeter around the enemy base, and Aiko would go in to retrieve the scrolls. Apparently when Aiko was on her way out of the building Daichi "accidentally" let his location be known." Tsunade was becoming angry and a piece of table broke off in her hand. Tsunade took a deep breath and exhaled before continuing.
"Aiko was running to get out of the building, but the mission had taken longer than she originally planned and her jutsu was beginning to fail her. One of the guards noticed her flicker into sight as she made her way out of the building, and they descended upon her. Daichi was able to get to her to grab the scrolls but left her behind promising to come back with reinforcements. When Daichi returned to the Hidden Leaf he lied to the Third Hokage, telling him that he had seen Aiko die in battle but could not recover the body. Daichi convinced the two male genins on his team to corroborate the lie." Tsunade sounded depressed as she spoke, and continued to take large sips of sake.
Naruto was perplexed, "Why would he lie? How did she escape?"
"Well Naruto," Lady Tsunade said while holding her head up with one hand. "I don't know why he hated women so much, but the Hidden Leaf managed to rescue her after she sent a message with a summons. Aiko had been unmercifully tortured while she was there. Burned, deprived of food, water, air, and she was psychologically tortured as well. The enemy knew she was only a genin, so they didn't expect her to have a summons."
"That giant bird?" Naruto questioned.
"Well yes, and other smaller birds as well," Tsunade said. "Since they didn't think that she was capable of much besides becoming invisible they stopped chaining her up. She was so weak anyway they didn't think they'd have a problem handling her, but she was able to summon one of her smaller birds and gave it a message for the Third Hokage. She asked why no one had come for her, and she asked for Daichi not to be sent. I went myself with Jiraiya, we had been fighting close by, and since I already had a relationship with her it made sense. By the time we got there she was almost dead. I killed Daichi myself." Tsunade was shaking with anger.
"Naruto, it took years but Aiko allowed another man into her life. Man is a strong word for what he was back then, her and Kakashi were only slightly older than you are now, but they were in love." At this Tsunade smiled and sighed. "But Kakashi had lost a lot in life too, and could be a cold person at times. When he was faced with having to care for Aiko the way she cared for him he broke. He couldn't handle it, and he pushed her away, but he did it rather cruelly. That's when Aiko requested to leave the village to travel, train, and complete espionage work on behalf of the village from afar. I requested that Aiko return home, because Kakashi is struggling with taking on the role of Hokage, and I thought that if he could rebuild his relationship with Aiko it would make him feel more confident." Lady Tsunade turned to look at Naruto, "Well, did I answer all of your questions?"
Naruto looked Tsunade in the eyes, "Yes, but do you think Master Kakashi can handle it this time? I've never known him to be a cold man, and I don't want him to get hurt. I also don't want him to hurt her with everything you've told me about her life, what if she can't handle being hurt again. If I were her, I don't think I could handle it."
Tsunade tilted her head up to stare at the ceiling. "I have hope Naruto, I think they both need love in their lives, and I believe that those two belong together."
Naruto nodded in understanding. "I hope you're right Grandma Tsunade."
As Naruto said this, Aiko and Kakashi walked past them, Kakashi's arm a permanent fixture on Aiko's shoulder. Aiko turned and gave Lady Tsunade a small smile, Tsunade smiled back her happily. The babies will be cute. She thought to herself again happily.
Tsunade let Naruto eat with her, and when they were done Naruto ran off to tell Sakura all of the new information, he had about Master Kakashi's new girlfriend.
It was a little late when Naruto arrived at Sakura's, but she was so happy to get the latest gossip on her old sensei that she didn't mind. When Naruto was done retelling the story that Lady Tsunade had told him earlier that night Sakura just sat there silently.
"That's horrible, her life has been horrible." Sakura said deflated.
Naruto nodded his head in understanding, "I know, so it makes you think about what Master Kakashi did to make her leave for such a long time."
"Well whatever it was we need to make sure that he doesn't do it again," Sakura looked at Naruto with determined eyes, "Master Kakashi has had a difficult life too, but we need to make sure that he doesn't freak out again and drive her away."
"Okay, but how do we go about doing that?" Naruto asked tilting his head to one side.
"I'm not sure, we need to keep a close eye on him though, and make sure we support him when we can," Sakura said, still sounding a bit depressed from the story she just heard.
Naruto and Sakura sat a while longer on her couch discussing different ideas on how to support their old sensei's new relationship.