TSSD Prequel : A new world, A new chance

by HecateTombe

Harriet Potter was done with the Magical world. Done with the whole world. When she learn that there is a possibility for a new life, in a new world, she takes it - and though she doesn't expect to find happiness, at least she will have freedom. KakashixFemHarry

7. Of Wounds and Nightmares

Hey everyone.

Now that I think of it, someone asked me how Hari could handle Hippogriffs since she can't bow to them. Well, before she became Master of Death she obviously could bow to them; as for now, don't we all have to bow down to Death in the end? Hippogriffs wouldn't mess with her. Animals feel Death in a way most humans can't.

Also, no, she won't have a familiar. Her only familiar was Hedwig, who died for her. She doesn't want another. I'm sentimental.

Also – NOT A MISTAKE! Christmas is celebrated in the night of the 24th. So when it's over it's the 25th. So Kakashi and Hari started celebrating Christmas on the 24th, and finished on the 25th with Kakashi going to the Hokage Tower to ask for a mission.

AND – I've read so many fanfics with them celebrating Christmas that I took it as matter of fact that it existed in the Elemental Nations. That may have been an oversight of mine? But it's not religious, since Christianism doesn't exist in the Naruto world. At least I don't think it does.

I usually don't answer to reviews, though I do read them all. I mean when I read them, I think "ah, I can answer that just before starting the chapter", but then I forget. This time was an exception ~

Right, I'm French. So I mix up the terms – Flumseck is Fawkes, Sombral is Thestral, things like that. They're underlined in red anyway in the doc, since they're not real words, so when I check them out I'm like "oh no it's okay, Word just doesn't recognize the word" and then go with it. Ah ah…

And now the chapter!

(Edit: I corrected some mistakes I couldn't ignore when re-reading my chapter, don't mind me)

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The high and dense trees appeared and disappeared at a dizzying speed as a group of four people used them as jumping support, seeming to fly from branch to branch, so fast were they running. Fire Country was, as its name did not indicate, famous for its trees – specifically, the ones the First Hokage created with his wood Chakra around Konoha so as to protect the Village (there was a lot more to it than that, but Kakashi managed to stop that thought from developing.)

As one could understand from the word 'protection', these trees were not just pretty plants – and indeed, their best point was not even their abnormally enormous size and Chakra-resistant properties, nor the fact that they sent back information to specially designed Chakra-sensing seals in real time. If someone somewhere stepped on them using Chakra, the Surveillance Squad would be made aware immediately. Then it was just a matter on checking whether the Chakra signature was registered as belonging to a Konoha Ninja, and that was it.

You could try to hide your Chakra, but it was rather impossible to change it. You could change how people perceived it, through a judicious and subtle application of Genjutsu; but try to apply Genjutsu on a tree to confuse it and see how that goes (well, he thought faintly, maybe some could work on these monsters in the garden of Hell. He would have to check.)

No, these trees' best point was that they grew so densely, and so close to each other that their branches entangled in a crisscross impossible to navigate if you were not trained for it. There was a special course for Jonin-level Ninjas that it was mandatory to take, teaching Konoha Ninjas how to Tree-Run in Konoha's forest. Truly, no Ninja in the Elemental Nation would ever dare proclaim themselves better at tree-walking that a Leaf Ninja, no matter how much they may despise the 'Tree-huggers' otherwise. Even the most vocal of their enemies did not have it in them to make so shameless and outrageous a claim.

But all of this, though very interesting from an historical point of view, was not relevant to Kakashi – though it still flitted in a corner of his brain. Brains were weird like that, sometimes. No, Kakashi had much more pressing matters to attend to. Matters that had nothing to do with History or Konoha's past, but rather the present. And even perhaps the very-near future.

He could smell blood.

That in itself wasn't alarming at all, especially not for a Ninja on a mission, but it was his blood – he had long engraved the smell in his memory – and there was a lot.

A rather big wound, then, or perhaps even more than one. Adrenaline had a way to mask the pain, sometimes, so it was his sense of smell that reminded him he had sustained some damage.

Looking down quickly, he realized that yes, there still was a hole in his shoulder. The left, which was for the best since he was using the right one to carry one of his teammates, whose shape was even worse than his.

At least, he was still conscious.

So he had a hole in his shoulder, and it was probably broken too, at that; as well as several cracked ribs – that feeling, now that he was halfheartedly looking for it, was unmistakable, but not unsurmountable, thankfully – and various small bleeding wounds on his torso, forearms and legs. Speaking of which, he was almost sure there was a kunai stuck in one of his legs, but he didn't actually look down to see if it was still there.

As long as he didn't see it, he could trick his brain into thinking everything was fine. That and the adrenaline, as well as the voice insisting in his head to go faster, need to go to the hospital, Hiru needs help, made it so that his wounds – as long as they were not life-threatening, or would not get in the way of accomplishing his mission – didn't really register. As long as he didn't let his body realize that he also needed help, then he could go on. Neat trick. Not very healthy though.

Yet he had to go on. He wasn't about to let one of his teammates die, and certainly not on the first mission he had been allowed to take in two months! He had had to practically plead with the Hokage to have it, since the man had been quite ready to make him wait a few more days before finally giving him his long-awaited mission.

He was a shinobi, not a baby-sitter – or, in Hari's case, something closer to a roommate, all around guide and friend. She certainly didn't need a bodyguard, though he was still hers for appearance's sake, and she had no need for someone following her ever hour of the day. In fact, she would probably become terribly unimpressed if she ever learned that protection duty was unofficially called baby-sitting amongst Ninjas of all ranks – except Genins, but Genins were not assigned protection missions of any real import. Also, Genins were the babies, in any scenario, with their Jonin Commanders being the long-suffering baby-sitters of both their team and their clients.

But Hari had more reason to fear plants than she had to fear enemy ninjas (and the monsters in the Greenhouses seemed to absolutely refuse to attack the small woman – even though they seemed to fear absolutely nothing – so the whole point was moot); as such, Kakashi was quite sure she didn't need anyone's protection.

Hari's Christmas present in hand – never before had he taken such care of a piece of paper – he had presented himself in front of his Hokage, to officially go back to his status as an active, allowed-to-go-on-missions Shinobi and ask whether his presence was needed for any upcoming mission. The Hokage had seemed nonplussed, and had let it be known that he had not expected Kakashi to come as soon as he had taken possession of the permission (an information that Kakashi found rather baffling.)

He had suggested Kakashi wait a few more days, so that he could arrange another Ninja to watch over Hari – but how could Kakashi wait tens of hours more when he could almost taste the adrenaline on his tongue?

With a few smooth words, he had nonetheless managed to secure his place in one mission that was to happen that very day.

(He did not remember ever being so glib, the Hime must have influenced him more than he had initially thought – in that she did not much care about rules and hierarchy, and he had started to look for loopholes where possible, so even though the correct procedure here was to follow the orders, or in this case suggestions, of his highest military superior, he decided that everything except an outright order gave him a bit of leeway.

The Hime may not be the best of influences for an order-abiding Ninja. She was also very good at saying smooth words to get her way, being aggressive in a very, very passive manner. Thankfully for him, she did not particularly enjoy it and thus did not use this method very often, or very long; but he had started to pick up that habit too, and had even proven to be better than her at it, though he had two mere months of practice.)

It had been an ANBU-level mission, quite obviously. Three ANBUs and their captain, a normal squad. They were to go to a specific place in a quiet part of Tea Country. The Daimyo of the Country was a friend of sort with their own Daimyo (as much as two Daimyo could become friends, what with the politics and scheming their world consisted of), and had asked for a team of Ninjas to take care of a group of missing-nins that seemed to be causing havoc in his Country, since Tea Country did not have their own Ninja Village. Also, hiring an ANBU Squad or Jonin-level Ninjas could be quite costly, even for the Daimyo of a relatively small and not politically-, militarily- or monetarily-strong Country; and asking a 'friend' for help could only help the Daimyo's treasury. And it made good publicity for the Fire Country Daimyo, so both parties were satisfied.

The team had been ready to leave with no problems, but it turned out that the ANBU team's captain had been wounded the day before the depart, during a training session. Nothing too severe, that sort of things happened all the time (if you did not bleed during your training, then you were doing something wrong), but still enough for him to not be cleared to go on the mission. The Hokage had been considering assigning the mission to another team, since it didn't require any special skill, but Kakashi had jumped on the opportunity.

With Hari's Christmas gift, smooth words and some attempts at puppy eye (he apparently was very good at that), he had managed to gain the Hokage's go-ahead. He had merrily gone on his way to meet his temporary team, after which he had realized that he knew none of the ANBUs in it, and that he would have to assert their skills on the way. It wasn't particularly problematic, but still a bit annoying. He hadn't realized that two months were enough for a few entirely new ANBU teams to be formed. Theoretically, he knew that, but seeing that happen loss after injuries was less obvious than leaving and coming back only to be faced with teams of people you didn't know at all. Completely new teams. Newbies ANBU.

He had gotten out of the loop – he would have to go back to hanging in the ANBU and Jonin lounges, or exchanging gossi- information with his contacts.

What had been a bit worse was the fact that it was a two-week-long mission, which meant that he wouldn't see Hari for that very same amount of time. He had been surprised to find that he quite disliked the idea, but rationalized by thinking that Hari was his closest, and some would be tempted to say 'first real' friend. (He did have some… acquaintances, that he could, if pushed, call friends – but they did not talk about their past, did not share memories, did not live together, prank each other, cook and eat and talk as easily and naturally as if they had always done it. So in the end, it was a different level of friendship. Moreover, friends were dangerous because you could lose them.)

The fact that he was charged with her security, no matter how much she didn't need it, also had made him wary of leaving for that long. What if something happened when he was gone? It wouldn't be the first time – he was always away, or too late, when it came to saving his friends and precious persons...

But the simple fact that he knew Hari and what she could do had managed to convince him that everything would be okay, and that he could take the mission with an easy conscience, before the Hokage thought better of allowing him to leave Konoha without having finished to prepare the Hime's replacement guard.

At least it hadn't been a suicide mission like he had been known to prefer, so that had also worked in his favor.

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Right now, as he was nearing the Village's walls, he found himself wondering if, maybe, the Tea Daimyo had some reasons to dislike Konoha or to act against them. He knew, from what the Hokage had said before giving him the mission, that the Tea Country Daimyo had personally requested Konoha Ninjas' help from the Fire Country's Daimyo, to help him with his little problem.

But then, why was the information he had given to them about the missing-nins so utterly wrong?!

It was supposed to be an easy mission – as easy as they could be in the ANBU. An A-rank mission at best. Nothing exceedingly difficult. ANBU were chosen because this was an assassination mission, the number of targets was too high for a single Jonin, and the Tea Daimyo required absolute discretion. Kakashi didn't really know why – the targets weren't particularly discreet in their own actions, and getting rid of them would prove to be good publicity for the Daimyo, he thought – but he guessed politics were at play.

He did not concern himself with that. Political repercussions were for the Hokage anticipate and deal with when accepting missions and giving them to his Ninjas, and if Sarutobi Hiruzen had not given him any special instruction beforehand, he would accept the orders as they were. The only reason he would ever take politics into account before acting was if he ever had to make decisions on the field, generally when a mission went FUBAR and he couldn't follow the initial directives. That happened from time to time, and it was then that he had to make his own choices while carefully making sure nothing he or his team did would end up hurting Konoha in any way.

This hadn't been the case for this mission, thankfully, no matter how different it had ended up being. Though the mission parameters had changed, the orders had not and were still humanly realizable, so Kakashi and his team had done what they did best and successfully completed the mission.

Originally, there had been seventeen missing-nins to take care of, because they were known to steal from, rape and kill innocent people. Their levels varied from C-rank to one A-rank, nothing insurmountable. No witnesses.

It was one of his favorite missions – killing people who really, really deserved it – and the information came straight from the Tea Country Daimyo, who had given it personally to their own Daimyo – so it was really improbable that one of those two persons had lied, or knowingly transmitted false information. The Fire Country Daimyo had a good relationship with Konoha, and wouldn't dig a pit for them.

But then, how was it possible that they had had the debatable luck of facing thirty-two missing-nins, with five A-ranks? What were the chances of someone being so very bad at counting?!

In the end there were only two options: either they had done something to piss the Tea Country Daimyo off, or the man himself had received false information that he then transmitted to the Fire country Daimyo, in which case he had a traitor in his entourage. (Kakashi knew enough about the Village's politics to not suspect his own Daimyo. The Hokage, at least, would have given him a notice had the relations between the Fire Court and Konoha been tense recently.)

In either case, someone had attempted to get some Konoha Ninjas killed.

He supposed that could have been worse. True, they were all in a relatively bad shape, but at least they were all alive. They would also all go back to active duty after the required healing time, provided they reached the hospital soon enough.

He didn't think he was being arrogant when thinking that the results would have been very different had he not been there.

The original Team Leader indisposed, another team would have been selected for the mission. Probably not his, even had he still been active in the ANBU, since his team had been more focused on high-level assassinations, tracking, and in general on S-ranked missions. Another team would have been sent – and they would have been decimated.

As it was, only Pakkun had prevented them from walking into a trap. He had smelled way too many scents for the missing-nins to be less than thirty, of that the Summon had been positive. Immediately constructing a new plan based on the assumption that they had been given false information had most certainly saved their lives. Misinformation was deadly for Ninjas, no matter their rank or their skills.

Following a different approach, they had managed to kill most of the enemies silently and discreetly: as soon as some of them left the camp, they struck, in perfect Ninja Spirit. After a few days, the numbers had been whittled down to sixteen enemies, who by then had realized what was happening.

The reason why they came to that realization five whole days after Kakashi's team had entered in action was because the groups they had disposed of were supposed to go on what passed as 'missions' for missing-nins. Stealing, raping, murdering, the happy life of criminals. The fact that all the A-ranked Ninjas were staying a few miles away – awaiting a Konoha's ANBU team and having trapped the whole area, which meant that they knew they were coming and the general direction they were coming from – had also helped take the other Missing-nins' attention away from the less important teams' situation.

But when the first group had been late to report back to camp for a day, quickly followed by a second group, they had realized something was off. Kakashi had rarely been that happy for Hari's habit of always knowing where people were around her and not really being able to pretend she didn't know, because he knew every ANBU, as well as himself, had been drastically training their stealth skills in the past few months, in order to avoid being detected by her.

Until now, they had been unsuccessful, but at least that had given them an advantaged for this mission, for they had managed to stay undiscovered while merrily eliminating their targets. One could say that their stealth skills had been recently maxed-out.

(To be fair to the Hime, it wasn't like she was purposefully looking around searching for any hidden Ninja around her. It was more like she knew, without trying or wanting to, that someone was close-by, and any distracted glance towards their positions was more out of vague curiosity than any real need to find with her eyes what her senses had told her. It still meant that ANBU and Ninja that had realized this had taken to train their stealth skills like mad in order to pass around her undetected. Until now it was a mere wishful dream, and Kakashi could tell them that it would stay as such, but it was beneficial to them as individuals and to the village as a whole, and so he kept his mouth closed. They did not give their position away out of any mistake on their part, not that they knew this, Kakashi himself didn't know how she did it – he hadn't asked either, yet – but more training was nothing bad.)

Of course, when the targets had realized that someone was out there killing them, the rest of the missing-nins had endeavored to not be caught alone, and the A-ranked ones had realized that the squad they had been waiting for had deviated from the rough plan they had started to sketch before leaving Konoha, so they had come back to the camp ready to flush the ANBU squad out and drag them into an open battle, for they at least still had numbers on their sides. It had worked, of course, Kakashi and his team could only stay hidden for so long now that the A-ranked Ninjas knew they were there and were now tracking them; and the fight had quickly started.

Not right from the start – Kakashi's team had made the best of their first days undetected to map the area and place a lot of traps, thus eliminating half of their opponents without direct battle – but at the end it had been eight-on-four fight.

Not exactly fair, but Kakashi liked to think Konoha Nins were worth two Nins from any other Village, whether major, minor or deserters; and that, if pushed, he himself was worth three. Especially after all that time training in the Hime's garden, free from constraints and worries and with plenty of rest, mental and physical; Kakashi was relatively certain he could now be fully considered a S-ranked Shinobi. Some may say it was pretty arrogant of him – but the proof was here.

All of his team was alive, and they had eliminated all thirty-two of their targets – no mean feat, even for an ANBU squad. They were made for quick and noiseless assassinations, after all, being unseen and unheard was their job. Not quite the same as an all-out fight against unknown Ninjas – but they had the skills, the training and the time to plan and place traps, and so they prevailed.

After seizing all the documents they had found at the camp or on the enemies' corpses, collecting anything of value and taking the heads of the ones with a bounty, they had quickly applied some basic first aid on their wounds and raced back towards Konoha.

They were now very close, but worryingly, Hiru had fainted a few hours ago, and they didn't have any more blood pills, nor chakra pills. They really needed to go to the hospital, as fast as possible.

Konoha's walls were now visible, but Kakashi didn't bother leading his team towards the gates. It wasn't good, in this climate, to show weaknesses. And an ANBU team, wounded, exhausted and showing themselves to the public, couldn't exactly serve as a good show of strength.

Nearing the wall, he sent the correct signal of chakra out, to let the ANBUs guarding the wall know they were coming, and that they weren't enemies – not that spies would have managed to get so close undetected, especially not with such a getup, but over-cautiousness was a virtue for Ninjas.

Then he sent a different signal via his ANBU seal, because over-cautiousness was a virtue but deception was better; and a spy could hypothetically manage to get a read on the code sent by chakra if they were a sensor, and thus know the code for however long it was valid – but that very same hypothetical spy could never get the code by sensing the chakra sent through the seal (it was all internal and secure), and so said spy would be useless as far as information-gathering went. (If the aforementioned spy, however, managed to get so close to the Wall, then Kakashi would acknowledge that they were a pretty damn good spy.) The only viable option would be to get inducted into Konoha's ANBU forces as a spy, but that was not happening any time soon.

Anyway, said ANBUs acted in accordance with the protocol and let them hop over the wall without reacting or showing themselves save for an answering pulse in the seal. It was the norm for wounded shinobis and kunoichis above Genin to just go over the walls and ignore the gates altogether. Not only they avoided being seen by anyone, which was always good for Konoha's business and reputation; but it was also the quickest way to the hospital.

Rushing through the forest inside the Village, Kakashi slipped softly, his own blood having dripped down his leg enough to make his sandal slippery. Staggering, he managed to regain his balance, but already their course had been halted. Cursing mentally, he was about to order resuming running when a voice broke the relative silence.

"Kakashi?"

Startled, all the Shinobis that weren't unconscious palmed their weapons, sending them flying viciously towards the potential threat. When you're just out of a fucked-up mission, and wounded at that, just about everything is a potential threat. Even if you've finally arrived in the Village, you don't stop being keyed-up quite so easily.

Before Kakashi had even finished instinctively positioning himself in an advantageous position for a battle, and thus laid eyes on the speaker; his brain had already recognized the voice. He didn't realize that his stance automatically relaxed. He breathed a slight sigh of relief upon seeing the thrown weapons had been stopped as neatly as always by the Hime's magical barrier.

"Hari-Hime", he greeted graciously, as if he wasn't covered in blood and wounds. It was enough to let his team know that she wasn't a threat. Unconsciously, his eye quickly scanned her from head to toes.

He was not surprised to realize that, despite the adrenaline-fueled and concentration-consuming days he had just experienced, he had really missed her, and was relieved to see she was alright. Not that he had doubted it, but a knot he hadn't noticed in the area of his torso relaxed slowly. He decided to think about that later – time was a luxury right now that he needed to go to the hospital as quickly as possible.

"We have to go", was all he said, but before they could run again, they were stopped by the suddenly annoyed and upset woman.

"Don't be stupid, you need help."

"What could possibly make you say that?", sarcastically snapped Kakashi, trying to swerve around her – not an easy task considering that he was half-supporting an unconscious teammate, who was also supported by another one of his teammates, and that Hari sometimes had this presence that made people stop and obey.

Not the easier way to move around obstacles. He would know. It wasn't the first time he tried to swerve around her. The circumstances were usually less tense, though.

"Why do you think I am presently trying to go to the hospital?" Kakashi would be the first to admit that he was a bit unsettled by his unconscious teammate right now. He did not want another death on his hands – not if the dead was a teammate, a subordinate, someone he could and should have helped more.

When you are always going from mission to mission, without taking the time to stop, to breathe, to think; the days and deaths melt together in a muted buzzing in the back of your head, and it makes it easier to not think about how the people you fight with change sometimes, either to follow the mission's requirements or because one member simply wouldn't come back. Now that he had come back from what was for all intent and purposes a two-month-long relaxing guarding duty, he was caught a bit wrong-footed.

"Don't you snap at me, Kakashi!", she snapped right back, twitching her fingers.

Hiru was suddenly floating in the air, on his back. Immediately, his other two teammates – Akira and Haru (Hiru's twin, both still alive and as such somewhat of a rarity, especially in the ANBU Corps) were ready to strike her, but he hurriedly and firmly stopped them through sharp hand signs. It was true that Hari's magic was incredible – could it also heal? Up to now, he had mainly learned about offensive or defensive magic – and pranks.

Damn pranks. But now was not the time to think about that.

"What are you doing!", ordered Haru, tense despite his leader's acceptance of the woman's actions.

"Healing him, what do you think I am doing?", she answered sarcastically without even looking up at him, and completely ignoring the small dose of killing intent directed her way.

Kakashi had to smirk at that, even though it really wasn't the moment. He had tested her several times in the course of their cohabitation, with mounting doses of killing intent. He had been curious about her lack of reaction to the killing intent that had been directed at her in rather high doses during the very first meeting in the Hokage's office, and had taken to see if she had ignored it or just not felt it. He had also wanted to see how much she could take.

Results were that she just didn't feel it. The strongest dose he could send (killing intent so overwhelming and sharp it could outright kill Genins and the weakest Chunins out there, making them so scared of their own death that they simply stopped breathing) she somewhat perceived, though it was apparently very faint for her; but anything under that didn't even register. The combined killing intent both Haru and Akira were presently sending her, at a relatively low dose directed at who they thought was a civilian woman, was nothing – she simply couldn't feel it.

Waving her hand over Hiru, she seemed to read something out of thin air. Kakashi opened his eyelid to look around with his Sharingan but saw nothing. Not even a fluctuation in the air. Whatever she saw, the Hime looked faintly relieved.

"Oh, good. It's just a broken leg, an open wound in the back, and a rather concerning blood loss", she clarified, hand going to the little pouch that was always hanging at her hips whenever she went out. Kakashi had long wondered what could be found inside beside money – had wondered ever since she first took out an umbrella that clearly wasn't supposed to fit inside. He hadn't asked, though.

He was also much too smart to just go and see inside the bag by himself, without asking.

"Only?", indignantly repeated Haru. "He needs to go to the hospital, now."

Obviously, none of his teammates had any faith in the Hime – not that he could admonish them for that fact, since he would have been the same had their positions been reversed, and he not been aware of what Hari was and what she could do.

"I'm more than able to heal something as superficial as that", she rolled her eyes, taking a small vial full of a clear liquid out of her pouch.

Without a word, she placed the vial's opening against the uncounscious man's mask (and how did she know the contents would pass? Kakashi certainly hadn't gone around revealing ANBU information or secrets, and she had sworn not to read minds when she could at all help it - he would have to ask her at a later date), and poured the liquid down Hiru's throat, gently massaging it to make him swallow. Both Haru and Akira tensed at that, but Kakashi wordlessly ordered them to stand down. They were clearly reticent to do so, but they followed his orders. They were too well-trained not to, and Kakashi had a reputation in the ANBU. He wouldn't do anything that would hurt a teammate, or the Village.

Whatever the liquid was didn't aggravate Hiru's state, but it did nothing visible either.

"What was that?", asked Kakashi, looking as Hari turned Hiru's body around, showing the bleeding, open wound on his back.

"Skelegro", distractedly answered Hari, placing her hand above the wound, and frowning in concentration. "It regrows bones, or heal them if they're broken or fractured. Since his broken leg bone is still correctly aligned, that's all that's needed. It will sting a bit, like pins and needles, but I expect his leg to be healed by tomorrow morning."

His teammates involuntarily twitched, clearly not believing that someone could be so ignorant (she wasn't even using chakra to heal, who was she trying to kid?), and even he could not help his eyebrows raising in disbelief, but he looked at her speculatively. He realized then that the wound under her hands had closed, skin knitting together quickly and neatly.

She then took another vial out of her pouch – and really, how much place was there in this tiny little pouch? He knew the umbrella was still inside. It was the Gold Trunk all over again! Though, if it so happened that someone could enter the pouch and walk around, then he would cry at the insanity his life had become.

Pouring the liquid from the new vial in her hand directly on Hiru's back, she slowly massaged the newly mended skin, rubbing softly over the still red, faint scar.

"The scar should have disappeared by tomorrow as well", she absently announced, turning Hiru's yet again on his back.

By then, both Haru and Akira were silent, not quite believing their own eyes, which were a bit too wide now according to ANBU's standards. Not that people would see. They had their masks on – a rabbit and an eagle.

"Hey, wake up", gently asked Hari, patting Hiru's cheek softly.

"Wait", interrupted Kakashi, quickly putting his good arm around Hari's waist and taking her away. "He will lash out if awakened now."

Looking up at him without trying to get away, Hari frowned.

"But I need him to take another potion".

"Well, you did make him swallow the first time even though he was unconscious, didn't you?", reasoned Kakashi, ignoring the term 'potion' for now.

"Yeah, but this one is particularly disgusting", explained Hari, looking pensively at the still unconscious man. "The first one was bad enough, but this one he won't swallow if he doesn't consciously force himself to. It's really awful."

Kakashi sighed, already knowing he would do as she wanted.

"What is it?"

"Blood-replenishing potion", grinned Hari, knowing she had won. "I saw on the examination screen that you had given him some stuff to stimulate his blood production, but it's apparently bad when used too much, and not very effective. Thankfully, the potion will repair the damage, so it's not too bad"

Kakashi made a mental face at hearing that blood pills (which had saved innumerable Ninja lives) were considered to be ineffective by Hari, and mentally noted the term 'examination screen' (what screen? Where? What did it do? What did it say?) but said nothing more about it and allowed his arm to leave her waist.

"Very well. Wait here."

Quickly gathering chakra, he sent a pulse into Hiru's body, waking him quickly. He ignored Hari's muttered 'I could have done that with an enervate, you know...', and concentrated on calming Hiru.

It wasn't easy, considering that the man was quite surprised to find himself floating in the air. And that he couldn't feel any chakra supporting him at all. Finally managing to gain his attention, Hiru calmed quickly upon seeing his leader. It did help that Kakashi was continuously sending a bit of his chakra – the few he had left in his reserves – to make it clear that he was, indeed, Hatake Kakashi, Jonin of Konoha, current ANBU Commander of the squad.

And not some improbable impersonator.

"Wha – ?"

"Don't ask", shrugged Kakashi, turning back towards the still – was she pouting? – towards the Hime. "You can do it, now."

Quickly taking a third vial out of the pouch and pushing away the other two that were still levitating in front of Hiru's own floating body, Hari smiled.

"I want you to drink this", she said, giving the vial to the unsure ANBU. "I warn you right now, though, it's disgusting. You will probably want to throw up. Don't."

Uncertain, Hiru looked towards his leader. Kakashi nodded, silently confirming that he trusted the unknown woman currently giving him a vial of something he didn't know and asking him to drink it.

Without knowing what it was. It bore repeating.

It went against almost all of his instincts!

But his first instinct, engraved in his mind through repeated training, was to follow his leader's orders (spoken or unspoken), so he dutifully put the vial at his lips, thankful for the Fuuinjutsu seal that allowed liquids to pass through when receiving a push from hs own chakra. ANBU mask were personal for more than just the animal painted on them that gave ANBU members their respective anonymous names.

Nose twisting at the foul odor, he took the time to look once more at his leader (it never hurt to confirm a few dozen times), before forcing himself to swallow the... repugnant thing that was in the glass recipient.

When remembering this moment, later, he would only say that he had only accepted to drink something he didn't know so easily, because he was too weak and disoriented by blood loss. If not, he would have showed much more reticence and opposition.

But he had to admit that, while the 'potion' was, indeed, a foul, foul thing; it was efficient. His head stopped throbbing, the worrying black spots disappeared, and his thoughts slowly but surely cleared.

"Last one", beamed Hari, taking yet another vial out of her pouch, and extending it towards Hiru.

"What is it?", he warily asked, looking strangely at the little vial, afraid to discover that he had to swallow something revolting yet again. He had almost thrown up the first time – and he had experience eating some not-so-savory things.

"Pepper-Up", she answered, as if that meant anything to him. "It's a booster, if you will. The taste's not great, but it has nothing on the blood replenisher. Be thankful that you were out for the Skelegro, it's worse than Pepper-Up."

That was utter nonsense for him, but he downed the stuff nevertheless, after a nod from Kakashi.

He was rightfully surprised and frightened to discover that smoke started pouring out of his ears! What the Hell was happening?! Even Kakashi-sempai blinked in shock!

"Is that normal?" calmly worried Kakashi, rather startled at seeing vapor expulsed out of Hiru's head but trying to be laidback about it.

"Quite", nonchalantly confirmed Hari, casting another examination spell, satisfied when it showed that she had taken care of everything. Blood levels were going back to satisfying levels, the man's exhaustion was countered by the Pepper-Up, and the broken bone was healing slowly. There was nothing more she could do.

She then waved her hand over the man's leg, a sleek black cast appearing out of nowhere to secure the leg and make sure the bones would not shift.

"There", she beamed. "How do you feel?"

She carefully lowered Hiru on the ground, watching as he automatically put his weight on his good leg, and critically examining him.

"... good?", tentatively announced Hiru, feeling more in shape than he had been when leaving Konoha, two weeks ago.

"Well, you will have to avoid putting weight on this leg", she advised seriously while pointing at his faintly tingling leg, every bit the Healer she was now. "And no strenuous activity. It should be entirely healed tomorrow, but if not, then come and see me again – though I very much doubt it will be needed. Also you feel hyped right now because of the Pepper-Up, which gives you a lot of energy; but your body still needs rest so you should go sleep."

"... thanks?", he hesitantly offered, unsure of what to do with the strange woman. He didn't know the procedure for cases like this. He didn't think there was one.

He had known, from what he had heard on the grapevine and what he himself had observed once (one day that the Hime was shopping in Konoha's streets and had happened to cross paths with him, not that she had noticed) that the noble woman was more or less strange, but hadn't realized it was to this extent. And what was it she had used? None of their medic-nins knew of these 'potions', he was certain of at least that, and they certainly didn't possess anything that was efficient enough to treat broken bones as quickly and thoroughly as the Hime had announced, as sad as such a truth was. He had also heard nothing about experimental medical treatments, and if anyone could create something like that it would have been Tsunade-Hime, but the Slug Sannin hadn't been in Konoha or actually worked for the Village in years.

He was at a loss.

"Thanks, Hari-Hime", beamed Kakashi. "We'll just report to the Hokage now, see you at home."

He glanced around, finally remembering that she was supposed to have an ANBU guard replacing him, but not sensing anyone nearby. He would have to ask the Hokage about that.

However, before he could take a step towards the Tower, he was yet again stopped by Hari.

"Are you kidding me? You're all wounded. Line up, now."

And Ninjas, no matter how tough or badass, had all learned to not disagree with any Iryo-nin. Ever. Because they had two ways to treat you: nice and mindful of your hurts, or as painfully as possible while still getting the job done. Obviously the easy way was the best. Ninja were trained to withstand torture, but it didn't mean they actually liked being in pain.

Though she was neither officially nor unofficially a medic-nin – she wasn't even a kunoichi – the Hime certainly did have that medic-like no-nonsense tone down pat. So it was that they all instinctually obeyed, guard lowered now that they were inside the Village and as safe as it could get outside of a few specific places and their own homes, bodies moving more or less gracefully. It certainly helped that Akira, Hiru and Haru were all mesmerized and astounded by the green-eyed, black-haired woman and her skills.

"Mmh, just a little blood loss and three broken ribs. Hold still, I will put them back in place. Must have been painful, running with that", she commented, while waving her hand above the emplacement of the aforementioned ribs.

Three almost inaudible snaps could be heard, for those with a very good hearing – which all Ninjas were, especially when they were actively listening for it. Haru, the first to pass her inspection, grimaced sharply, but didn't complain.

Kakashi would have been amused by his will to impress and look though, if he didn't find it so annoying. He didn't know why, and he didn't care. He guessed it was because he, himself, was in pain after months of no injuries; and that it was making him irritable.

"There", she continued, giving him two of the four vials calmly bobbing in the air at eye-level. The Hime's eye-level. "Drink those – don't spit it back. And don't throw up either."

Haru curiously looked at the full vials – he could have sworn they were empty just a few minutes before. He was certain Hiru had emptied them when swallowing them down...? – but swallowed obediently. He immediately had to put a hand over his mouth – it was...!

"Ugh! That's – Ugh..."

Hari, sadistic woman that she was, only laughed brightly.

"I know, right? But it's very efficient. Next", she said, having decided that he only needed Skelegro for his ribs, and Blood Replenisher to round it all up.

Pepper-Up was good, but she preferred not to give it to them that freely. It wasn't bad for the body, but it did energize it, masking the pain and fatigue signals sent to the brain. It was better to let them walk on their own if they could, so that they did not overtax their muscles. Hiru had been different, so close to exhaustion had he been – he had needed the power-up in order to get his bearing back and go back on his own to his bed.

Akira's examination was much the same, though he also had some torn muscles, and was given another potion – it, too, carelessly taken out of the little pouch – which he downed without complaint.

"Now it's your turn, bad boy", she teased, doing whatever she was doing when she waved her hand over them and looking at nothing.

"Ow, you've opened your shoulder pretty badly. Why didn't you tell me sooner? You need more help than they did!"

"Maa", he tried to placate her – he didn't fancy having to deal with an upset Hari. He had done so when finishing the dish she called a Treacle tart. In his defense, it had been the last part, and that last part was his first part. He had just wanted to taste the stuff – how was he supposed to know that it would be an inacceptable crime in Hari's eyes? How was he to know that she was crazy about it?! "I don't need that much help, it's nothing bad..."

Alas, that didn't seem to work too well. Granted, he had never been good at calming women – or with women at all, one-night stands notwithstanding. Not that he had had the time for a lot of these. His grief had made him take back-to-back missions in the ANBU, with little to no rest.

"If that's what you call nothing, then I don't want to know what you consider serious. Now shut up and don't move."

Well.

He could do that.

He grunted when she pushed his shoulder back in position – without even touching him, to the watching Shinobis' incomprehension – but obediently let her put her hand on his shoulder to mend the wound.

He noted that she was touching him instead of hovering over the wound, as she had done for Hiru; and wondered if it was because his wound was more complex than Hiru's had been, or something like that. He didn't ask – she had this frown that told him that he shouldn't annoy her right now.

He swallowed the potions without a word – which, really, was an exploit considering the taste. Who was the sadist who had created them! Couldn't he, at least, make it tasteless? He also cursed her (just a tiny bit) for having spoiled his taste buds so, only to let him down today. He was not used to foul tastes anymore. Still, he was grateful that he could pour them through his mask.

That was another thing he was relieved for. She never asked to look under his mask, and never tried to trick him in order to get a peek, not even under the pretext of assigning treatment. Many a medic-nin hadn't been so respectful.

"A kunai in the leg – and he didn't even take it out. Idiot", he heard her grumble.

"Hey!", he protested mildly. "I'm not an idiot. Leaving the kunai inside prevented the blood to flow out."

That wasn't the good answer, given her angry look.

"Yeah, so it would have done, if you haven't been running. As it is, it teared through flesh and muscles – you're lucky it hasn't sectioned the muscle altogether! See if you would have been running then."

Sheepishly shrugging but wisely not answering or remarking that he would have made do with chakra, Kakashi looked away. Yeah, well, he had been in a hurry. The medic-nins would have healed him. It would have taken some time, but he was in no hurry nowadays. And it would probably had left a weakness in his leg, but that he could compensate with chakra.

It was a small price to pay for a comrade's life.

"There", said Hari once she was satisfied with her work. "Nothing strenuous for the next two days, but then you should be okay. I reckon the scars will disappear in a few days' time, and there should be no damage left. Next time you're wounded, don't wait somewhere, come directly to me."

Kakashi nodded to show he understood, and allowed himself to completely relax. The mission was a success, though it hadn't been easy. He would have to report to the Hokage about the specifics – but he changed his mind and decided he could do that tomorrow.

After all, thanks to their rushing, they were one day early for their report. The original planning had been to leisurely take care of their targets, make sure there were no loose ends, then swing by one of the most well-hidden border stations to get their monthly reports and carry it back to Konoha. Of course, having had to deal with more targets and a higher threat-level than initially planned meant that they had used up more days than they had previously thought to dedicate to the assassination mission, and another ANBU team had been tasked with retrieving the station's report.

Free from that secondary task, and having had to rush back due to their injuries, the additional days spent on the assassinations evened out with the number of days allocated to both missions – as such, they were back one day earlier than planned, though they had not done their secondary task. It did not matter: missions ideally went as planned, but this happened so very rarely that most plans were taken with a handful of salt, and Ninjas Chunin-level and up were given liberty to plan on the field, as long as they didn't outright fail the mission or go against explicit orders.

Their mission was over. They didn't need to go to the hospital – they just needed calm and rest, thanks to Hari-Hime. He could do that at home – they all could.

And anyway, he was pretty sure the Hokage had witnessed all that just happened, since he had certainly been made aware of their rushed arrival by the ANBU teams guarding the wall. Kakashi had no doubts he had been watching everything through his crystal ball, and was now aware that everything was okay. He would give his actual report tomorrow.

"Ah, I almost forgot", added Hari pensively. "No heavy meal tonight, it would make you ill. A vegetable soup should do the trick, nothing heavier, okay? It would be counterproductive otherwise. Though I doubt you'll be all that hungry. Understood?"

They all nodded quickly – medic-nin tone, don't contradict – and she appeared satisfied. Kakashi decided that it was time to go. He wanted to bathe, thoroughly. He turned towards the teammates he had been assigned for the mission.

"What happened here today is to stay a secret until further orders from the Hokage", he ordered sternly, not having to say or do anything else to let them know that he wasn't joking in the slightest. It wasn't their first mission, for any of them. "Rest and don't do anything stupid. Report's tomorrow at ten. See you then!"

"Sempai!", interrupted Akira, still looking strangely at Hari.

The three of them were staring, really. He knew Hari was pretty amazing, and that what she could do was fascinating, but that didn't justify those fish-like stares.

"Hmm?"

"Who is she?"

Oh, well. The only thing they knew what that she was the new Hime, recently come to Konoha, but that was probably the first time they were seeing her up close, much less talked to her. Hari was rarely out of the protection of her wards, and then only to go to the market, or for a meeting with the Hokage. He was also usually always with her, and was known to be very protective of whoever he had to keep safe – even if they were just a client.

As such, today was a golden occasion to learn something about her. Ninjas were all about gathering information.

"Right. Guys, this lady here is Hari-Hime. Hari-Hime, those are guys. Ja ne!"

And with that, he shunshin-ed the both of them out of there, and towards their house.

.

(The fact that he knew what they were doing didn't mean he would help them. Let them wonder about who Hari Potta was. They didn't have to look at her like that.)

.

Opening the gates to the garden, he was surprised to feel a presence inside the house, before remembering yet again that another ANBU had replaced him for the duration of his mission. He kept forgetting about that, maybe because he had been feeling something about it, though he had no idea what and thus didn't think about it. It was easier this way.

So that was where the ANBU guard was. But why were they inside when the Hime was wandering outside, clearly back (from what Kakashi guessed from Hari's clothes as well as the direction she had been coming from when she had met him and his team) from her Zoo?

He ignored Hari's questioning stare – she was no doubt surprised by his attitude when ditching the other Shinobis, but then again, so was he – and walked in, feeling he was finally home.

It was a strange feeling. Usually, he felt it when being back in Konoha, as soon as he had passed the wall – a faint feeling of relaxation. Konoha was Home. But he had certainly never felt it when entering the small apartment he rented in a building full of Ninjas.

It was small, practical, and empty.

It wasn't Home – never had been, probably never would be, even if he still owned it, considering he would have to go back once the probation period was over.

But Hari's home... The house he had lived in for two months now... It had become Home. Strange, how things went? That feeling he had upon coming back to Konoha, he now felt it for the first time now since his return, stronger, more powerful. Almost like all the muscles in his body relaxed, an underlying tension he hadn't been made aware of dissipating slowly. Home sweet home.

And to think that he had initially thought that, for the duration of his mission, he would leave a shadow clone behind while he went to his apartment for a functional sleep whenever necessary. He certainly hadn't planned to live here. But Hari was a woman who knew what she wanted, and worse, who knew how to obtain it. He had learned better than to contradict her needlessly. Truth be told, he still wasn't quite sure how he had come to spend all his nights here. His closet had moved in quite on his own, though no magic had been involved.

He let Hari close the gates behind them, and they both walked slowly towards the house – slowly because of his bad leg. He knew that Hari wanted to make him float in the air, like she had made Hiru do when treating him. He could see it in her worried glance at his leg, her pursued lips.

Yet he also knew that Hari knew that he would obstinately refuse. And she knew better than to ask. They both knew a lot of things, and no one spoke. There was no need for it – they had an understanding developed through days of living together.

Opening the door, he found himself face to face with Bat. So it was her who had been chosen to replace him? He nodded approvingly to himself – she was a good choice, and the Hokage probably wanted the Hime to have more friends, which was why he introduced a woman, who was the first one to have been told about Hari – before raising an inquisitive eyebrow at the masked woman.

Hari had been alone, walking in Konoha. That wasn't how you shadowed someone. Bat knew better than that.

(And yet he knew better than to really blame her. Hari was one sneaky woman, and he had problems localizing her sometimes. He only succeeded because he had tuned his senses on her and had her scent memorized beside. It helped that he was almost half-sure she had never really tried to lose him. So he wasn't all that surprised to see she had gone out and left her bodyguard behind.)

(However, considering Hari was coming back from the Zoo, there was the new possibility that Bat had thought she was being sneaky by staying behind, avoiding what was possibly a new Hell on Earth. Kakashi still hadn't visited and didn't know what was inside; but he knew enough to think that Bat staying behind on purpose was a possibility. He knew, from reliable sources – the Hokage – that Jiraiya himself had left the Village fleeing after having been introduced to Hari's animals. For a Sannin to go running, that was saying enough.)

Bat had the decency to look a bit ashamed of herself, posture apologetic. He eye-smiled at her to let her know he wasn't planning on making a big deal out of it (honestly, the Hokage had probably explained the mission off-handedly enough to let it known that the surveillance was more for appearances' sake than real need) and was rewarded by her grateful bow.

"Maa, nice to see you, Bat", he greeted, walking past her and towards the stairs.

He felt strangely relieved upon seeing that a third room had been prepared for Bat, and that she hadn't slept in his room. It wouldn't have been strange – Ninjas on watching duty slept in the same place, much less the same cot when sharing guard duty with their comrades. But Bat had been given her own room.

He belatedly heard Hari happily teasing Bat, who was hurryingly trying to pack her stuff up. He smirked at that. Bat had always been too serious, much as he himself had been – before meeting Hari. Still, Hari appeared more outspoken and gleeful now than she was normally.

"Do you have your toothbrush? Oh, don't forget to brush your teeth after every meal, dear. And don't forget to eat correctly, too, you're much too pale!", happily babbled the green-eyed woman, choosing to ignore that there wasn't a lot of skin she could see.

"Yes", came the pained reply – and Kakashi was impressed.

ANBUs, as a rule, never really spoke during bodyguard missions, except to give instructions or to give reports. Hari was very skillful indeed, to manage to break that implicit rule. No doubt she had harassed Bat a lot before the ANBU yielded to the inevitable. Kakashi didn't doubt for one second that Hari had made a liberal use of magic in her quest to tease Bat.

Bat herself must have been sworn to secrecy before being given the job, and she was an ANBU whose loyalty Kakashi was sure of. He liked to think he was sure of all of them, but he was not naive enough to really believe that – especially with the incidence of the spy in the Hokage's office. That could never have happened without at least one ANBU's complicity.

But Danzo was cunning like that, placing spies in the ANBUs. No doubt a Ne agent. They still hadn't found the Root agents; and the Yamanakas hadn't managed to discover a lot from the plant's mind before his death. Well, it wasn't like he could do anything about it. At least, not without his Hokage's orders.

"Don't hesitate to call me anytime if you need help, Bat-woman", continued Hari, and he could swear that there was a strange undertone in her voice. As if she were laughing at her own joke – but which one that was, he couldn't tell.

Hari was strange like that, sometimes (often).

"Yes", repeated the woman, making a break towards the door.

"Come on, not even a kiss? Bat, you break my heart", tutted Hari, looking heartbroken for a moment, before beaming again the next.

Women and their mood swings. Kakashi shook his head – he would never understand. Though, he was almost half-sure Hari was faking it. Or at least healthily exaggerating it.

"I must go", muttered Bat, all but flying out of there, doubtlessly going to report to the Hokage.

"Don't forget to wash your hair, it's still a bit blue!", called loudly Hari, cackling. "I love you, Bat! Don't you ever forget this! Farewell!"

Then she calmly closed the door, and burst out laughing. Kakashi couldn't held back a snort, and Hari looked up to see him standing at the top of the staircase. He repressed a startle – for the life of him, he couldn't remember when he had come back there, or even why. He was sure he had been going to his room, yet he had somehow backtracked to the stairs.

"Did you see that? She ran like a bat out of hell!" The Hime looked very proud of herself – there was probably another joke somewhere only she could see.

He suddenly felt very warm and peaceful. Again, he thought Home. And how strange was that, that a pretty little house with a huge garden was home for him. Then, he realized something, and he inwardly corrected himself, stunned.

The house wasn't Home. It wasn't the walls, the furniture, or the garden. No, it was Hari. If Hari lived in another house, that house would feel like Home. Not because of the house itself, but because of Hari. Hari was Home.

He smiled hesitantly, feeling happy at having found such an important friend, before he pushed the thoughts back down. He didn't want to think about it anymore – he didn't want to discover what he would undoubtedly end up discovering. Not now.

Re-centering his attention, he realized that Hari was watching him patiently, waiting for him to stop being lost in thoughts, with an inquiringly raised eyebrow and still twitching lips. And Kami, how good was it to see this mischievous, happy, bright light in those greener-than-green eyes? Not bothering to answer – not really knowing what to say but not having to say anything, either – the silver-haired Jonin only shook his head in amusement, rolling his visible eye.

"I'm off to the shower."

Hari looked pensively at him, as if pondering whether it was worth it to wait for him to come clean with whatever was so obviously present in his thoughts, but appeared to decide to leave him to his own business, casting him a last glance that let him know he could always talk to her if he so wished. At that, he grinned again – Hari really was the best of friends.

The woman couldn't stop grinning, looking happier than he had ever seen her. Had she really hit it off with Bat? But then she would have been a bit down after the ANBU's departure, wouldn't she? What caused her to be so happy?

"Dinner was ready, but it was supposed to be sausages and potatoes. I'll have to make a soup for you – maybe use the potatoes? Yeah, that could work", she decided out loud, not actually asking him. "So take your time to soak in a hot bath. There's a green vial on the bathroom's shelves, it's a relaxant. It's written on the vial, but it's in English and I don't think you've somehow managed to learn the language on your own… Anyway, take it, it will soothe your muscles. Everything will be ready in an hour or so."

"Thanks", waved Kakashi, already walking towards the bathroom and its promises of paradise. "I won't take more than half-an-hour." He could always watch her cook if he was done before she finished, doing this often had the strange effect of soothing him.

"You better not take less, either", was Hari's muttered answer, and she disappeared in the kitchen, a book already in hand.

He allowed himself one last grin upon seeing that scene. The Hime was always with a book in hand, when she wasn't exercising, purchasing food, tending to her garden or animals, or putting up wards. Or meeting with the Hokage – but even then, she sometimes read while walking to the tower.

He had many a time had to gently steer her away from an obstacle in her path – when he did not, said obstacles had a tendency to either temporarily disappear or become suddenly immaterial, perfect for the Hime to walk through without being bothered. It was rather amusing in a helpless sort of way when that happened at home, especially since Hari didn't really realize she was doing it; but to have that happen in the street, in front of everyone present, wasn't the best way to keep her Magic a secret.

Well, today Hari is in a very good mood, he mused, closing the door behind him and opening the valve to let the delightfully hot water flow. He localized said vial, sent a quick prayer that it wasn't one of Hari's pranks (he wouldn't put it past her), and shrugged his clothes off.

Immersing himself in the – truly divine, after so many days away on a mission – hot water, he chuckled. Hari really was one mischievous little minx, he thought fondly. She had still been laughing over Bat upon entering the kitchen.

Once dried and clothed (and damn if that potion wasn't a wonder, he was perfectly relaxed even though he was just back from a hard, difficult, and almost-gone-south mission, his muscles so lax he felt a bit like melting on the floor – but, like, a good kind of melting), he joined Hari in the kitchen. A truly mouth-watering aroma was floating in the room, and his stomach chose this moment to remind him that, really, it had been a while since he had last eaten.

He sat down – bonelessly fell, in truth – in his seat, eyeing the bowl of yellowish, creamy soup in front of him. It sure smelled good, but it was potatoes and soup. How could it be that good?

He had expected something like chopped potatoes cooked in broth, but there was no actually visible piece of the vegetable. The soup was buttery, and too creamy not to have milk in it. Kakashi usually wasn't a fan of milk – he drank some, for the calcium, but that was all – yet after his first mouthful he found that it was really, truly delicious. He loved it, and was soon drinking from the bowl like it was some rare nectar. He was actually disappointed once the bowl was empty, as well as surprised that it had indeed filled his stomach nicely. As a Jonin, he usually ate a lot more than that.

Now the question was – to ask for more, or not? He was not really hungry anymore, but it was good, and he wasn't sure Hari would do that dish again anytime soon. She hadn't seemed overly fond of soups as a whole.

"I take it you liked it?", teased Hari, without looking up – and Kakashi loved her a bit for that. He hadn't been able to eat leisurely without his mask since forever, before her surprising arrival in Konoha. Even in his apartment, he had made 'gulping down your food in less than a second' into an art.

"Hmm", he didn't answer, but the sound was answer enough – that, and the fact that his bowl was already empty while she wasn't even half-way down hers.

He ended up taking a second bowl, and managed to finish it by the time Hari finished her first and only.

And now, he was feeling sleepy.

He tiredly put his face mask back on, his dark-grey eye half-closing against his will. The bath had soothed him and his aching muscles, his injuries didn't bother him anymore; and the soup had been wonderful and warm. Now he only wanted to sleep. But he didn't also want to move.

Decisions, decisions.

"Come on", ordered Hari, already out of her seat and taking his arm, making him stand too.

He followed her, absent-mindedly wondering where they were going, but knowing that it wouldn't be far and not really caring either way. He heard the telltale sound of the dishes washing themselves, and for a moment almost wanted to go back and look at the spectacle as he did sometimes – it was strangely fascinating to see and felt a bit like routine – but the hand on his arm was insistent, and it was easier to follow.

A few moments later, it appeared that he had been right – they hadn't gone far, since Hari quickly pushed him on his sofa and made him lie down. Once sure he was comfortable, she went to light a fire in the fireplace, magically accelerating its growth. Soon, warm orange and yellow lights played across the room's walls, and gave some light in the otherwise black room. Night had fallen.

It gave a sort of supernatural feeling, this black and silent room, with fire seemingly dancing across every one of its surfaces. And there was this warmth, typical of a fire, that enveloped everything. Kakashi felt his eye close a bit more.

He still managed to mindlessly follow Hari's moving across the room, watching as she took a cover from a carved wood chest, and went to put it on him. Then she took another one, and snuggled inside it herself, lying on her sofa, opposite his.

Ah. So that's what she intended to do. Some sort of sleepover, with the advantage of feeling the other's presence close-by. A bit of company not to be alone during the night.

(One could argue that they slept under the same roof anyway, so there was not much difference between sleeping in the living-room or in their own chambers; but the Hime's walls were remarkably soundproof and no sound came in or out of it as long as the door was closed. Needless to say, Kakashi had taken to sleeping with his door left the tiniest bit open, not being used to being in a perfectly silent room.

Of course, doing this did not allow him to hear inside Hari's room, her breathing or her moving around, because the woman slept with her door closed. But he could hear the clocks ticking away in the house, the wood working – the wooden stairs were rather new – the wind, if one of the windows had been left open downstairs… not that it often was, what with it being Winter, which made the temperatures rather cold even in the Fire Nation. Still, it gave him some sound to listen to and allowed him to sleep better.)

No matter.

Though it would be the first time they would sleep in the same room, since him being in the room while the Hime was napping during the day didn't exactly count, a sleepover was more than alright with him.

"Good night", she mumbled, already half-asleep – but he was too far gone to do something else than hum softly in answer.

Kakashi let his eye close completely and let himself go, uncaring of his face mask' presence – it would be far from the first time he slept with it on. He at least took his hitai-ate off, managing to extend his arm far enough to place it on the coffee table without having to move around too much. Between the warmth from the fire, the surreal comfort of the sofa, and Hari's close and quiet presence; sleep came easily for him.

.

---

.

Kakashi's eyes opened suddenly, a sharp black one and an intimidating black and red one. He stilled, unsure at first of what had woken him up, but it wasn't long before he heard the sound again. Upon listening a bit more closely, it wasn't the sound of someone trying not to be heard while tiptoeing inside someone else's house, with the despicable intention of robbing or even killing said house's owner in his sleep. Nor was it the carefully crafted absence of noise made by a Ninja sneaking around – sometimes, you could feel these things – for often the very same reasons. Or kidnapping.

No, it was a hurt whine, low and hushed. Already wide awake, for there was no awakening phase for Ninjas, he sat up quickly while his eyes zeroed on the sofa in front of his. The fire had been reduced to embers, yet it still projected more than enough light for him to see correctly.

Hari was still sound asleep, but her rest was currently disturbed by what could only be nightmares. Her face was scrunched up in pain and distress, her brow was sweaty, and her libs were twitching around on the limited surface of the sofa, as if she wanted to move but did not dare to. She had pushed the covers away, probably because it had become too hot for her, and another almost inaudible keening sound escaped her lips.

He didn't think much about the fact that she obviously had practice in staying silent and hiding her pain, even when sleeping – she had been through a war, where discretion had been the name of the game; and he already knew that her childhood hadn't been great. Her being particularly quiet while having nightmares made sense. He did not make noise either, when he had one.

Instead of pondering more on the matter, and having ascertained that there was no immediate danger in the house, he closed his Sharingan eye before standing up and approaching her slowly, not really doing anything yet.

He wasn't stupid enough to wake her up just like that, without being careful. She may not be a Kunoichi, but he would take as many precautions to wake her up as he would any other trained Ninja. She was a fighter, and for all that he was much, much faster than her, she still had her magic. And that was faster than him. And invisible. And unpredictable.

As a rule, avoiding something that couldn't be seen nor felt nor even predicted was really hard.

They had been living together for a bit more than two months already (two months and nine days now – not that he was really counting down to the day, ah ah, of course not, it was just for the mission reports that he did so), yet that was the first time he was witnessing his friend in such a situation. Not that he knew how her nights usually went, since her bedroom door had always stayed closed at night since their very first day in the house; but he did know how she was like during the day.

As he saw her during the day, she was always strong, witty, and fierce, calm at times, and smiling, however fake that smile sometimes was. At the beginning, these smiles often were fake, but nowadays they were honest and true, so he considered that a small victory of his. He did work hard to make her feel settled and happy.

Of course, while this was the first time he saw her having a nightmare, it was also the first time he was seeing her sleep, even if he had caught her dozing off on the couch sometimes. That tended to happen when she hadn't slept the night before, because she needed to tend to some exclusively nocturnal plants for example. How some plants hid the day and lived the night went over Kakashi's head – weren't all plants supposed to need the sun to live? He faintly felt that the Yamanakas in particular would have a lot to say about that; but he himself having almost been strangled by a plant once – a plant that had devised a rather clever plan to sneak up behind him while he was busy with its fellow plants' frontal attacks – he wasn't questioning anything anymore. If he one day learned about a speaking plant, he would not even be that surprised.

Chances were, he would strike a conversation with it. You never know what kind of insight it could have on life.

Still.

Another distressed sound escaped the Hime, and he knew he had to wake her up. He didn't like it, seeing her like that. He didn't know what the catalyst for the nightmare had been, didn't know if it was usual for her to have bad drams, didn't know what it was about. He only knew that she was hurting – and wasn't protecting her his mission? Maybe he was, in truth, a bodyguard in name only, because she didn't seem to need protection; but not all threats were physical, and he didn't want to see her suffer no matter what. Even if it was just in sleep.

"Hari!", he called, but apart from a frown and another low keen, he received no reply. Quickly gathering his chakra, he shook her awake rather rudely, and immediately shunshin-ed to the other side of the room.

Just in time, too, for as soon as he left, a wave of green magic burst out of Hari; and though it did absolutely nothing to the furniture around her, Kakashi didn't for one second doubt that it would have been rather painful for him.

Wide, startled green eyes darted across the room, panic abating in them when they landed on Kakashi. He slowly walked back to her, taking care to look as nonthreatening and normal-looking as possible, watching with relief as the green magic previously protectively hovering over the small woman seeped back into her skin. He gingerly sat down next to her, on the edge of the sofa, and patiently waited for her to do decide to do or say something.

He wasn't good with women – Hell, he wasn't good with people in general. As long as they were alive, that is. He just didn't know how to react to their emotions – and Kami, Hari's eyes were suspiciously watering now and what should he do?!

"Hime?" he asked softly, hoping to prevent tears – but it was unnecessary, for Hari swallowed back whatever sob could have been trying to escape, rubbed at her eyes roughly, and cleared her throat, trying to look as if she had just been sleeping.

And Kakashi should have figured that she wouldn't cry, or at least not in front of anyone. He may be her friend (he hoped she thought of him as a friend, as he did her), but that didn't mean she would allow herself to look weak in front of someone she hadn't even known for a year, no matter how much she liked them.

No matter that he couldn't possibly think her weak.

"Yes?", she looked at him, and her eyes were still bright with tears for all that her face looked composed, and he wasn't sure what to say. He was relieved that she wasn't crying, and upset that she felt the need to keep her tears at bay. In the end, he was caught between the two feelings.

Maybe he was still half-asleep? It would explain his sudden uncertainty. Ninjas were not prone to hesitation, so maybe he still had yet to completely wake up… Except, he knew perfectly well that this wasn't the case. He was a fan of lying to others, not so much of lying to himself.

"Are you okay?", he prodded quietly and carefully. He wanted to help, but didn't know how to deal with emotional situations. He wasn't sure he wanted to – he usually avoided them like he did Gai. And even then, he sort-of liked Gai. He really, really didn't like feelings.

They both were speaking in soft, whispered tones; as if speaking too loudly would break whatever was happening right know. Would break the peace that had settled over the living room, despite the underlying tension still present in the atmosphere.

"Yeah", she nodded, confidently, but she was betrayed by how she kept rubbing her hands together (as if washing blood from it, Kakashi was familiar with that subconscious action), how her eyes kept darting around the room (searching for any possible opponent or threat), before always, always coming back to him, clearing with relief upon realizing he was still here (still alive?).

"Just, you know... memories", she tried to shrug the whole thing away, but she was shivering slightly, so she clearly wasn't as unbothered by it as she tried to make it look. She had the best poker face ever (that face fully devoid of any hint of emotion, Kakashi was certain Danzo would be green with envy), yet still managed to be one of the worst liars he had ever seen.

"Want to talk about it?", he hesitantly offered, because he thought he remembered having read somewhere that it was the correct thing to ask in this kind of situation, even if he wasn't sure what he would do if she said yes. He half-hoped she wouldn't say yes.

But her face closed, this disturbing blank look she had when she put her feelings in little boxes – Legilimency – whenever they grew too strong or overwhelming for her, or whenever she wanted to hide them; yet as always her body language was selling her out. Still, it was obvious that she didn't want to speak about it, and she confirmed it by shaking her head and smiling thinly.

So he mentally told the 'How to Deal with Traumatized People''s advice to go to Hell, and asked the only real question that counted.

"Can I help?"

And he knew she understood that it meant 'in any way', as in 'I forget this ever happened', or 'I leave the room now', or, 'I will go get alcohol', or even 'I'm ready for some training'. He would even go as far as 'Do you want to test a spell on me?', but that was really if there were no other options.

You know. Survival. Instinct. This kind of stuff. Most civilians didn't know this, but being a Ninja did not equal to being a masochist (though some of them did appear to be… Thankfully for their reputation as infamous killers, more Ninjas tended to develop towards the Sadist part of the SM deal.)

She seemed to debate with herself for what, in this type of situation, seemed like a very long time, before shyly looking at him through long but wet eyelashes. With the emerald shining right under them, he already knew he was a goner. He could resist any honeypot attempt – found the women's and men's attempts very see-through and just plain fake (most Ninjas were not picky and so both sexes had been sent after him before it became known that he wouldn't fall for it, ever, after which they stopped coming – though he still was the target of some from time to time, mostly from civilians but also from one Ninja Village or the other just testing the waters).

Maybe it was because Hari wasn't pretending or trying for anything. That simple look made him reluctant to refuse anything she may ask of him, as long as it wasn't too unreasonable.

"Could you... come here for a bit?", she finally whispered, biting her lower lip anxiously.

He obliged, feeling out of place, and walked until he stood in front of her. She was still sitting on the sofa, and she gestured for him to crouch down in front of her. He did so, and froze when she proceeded to hug him.

Like, hug him.

As in, arms around his back, under his arms; head on his shoulder, and torso pressed against him.

That kind of hug.

The kind with actual, prolonged contact and intimacy.

The kind he had never really received, or maybe he had been too young to remember. The kind he certainly didn't know how to give, or receive, for that matter.

Thankfully, she didn't seem to be waiting for him to do something.

"Don't move, okay? It won't be long", she murmured, and he was okay with that, even if it was a bit awkward. He could stay still and sacrifice his personal space for a few minutes.

He finally proceeded to put his arms around her, pressing her softly against him, and hearing her heart slow down finally. The shivers receded, and she relaxed with a sigh. After a few minutes, she moved her head down, and Kakashi bit his question back when he realized what she was doing.

She had placed her head right over his heart, and was listening to his heartbeat. He suddenly understood what had triggered the nightmare, and a bit of guilt pooled in his belly.

It was him.

It was because he had been injured yesterday, because he had come back from the mission with wounds and blood on him, because she had been forced to recall no doubt painful memories (death and loss and pain, and gone friends) it was because of that that she had had a nightmare.

It had disturbed her put-away memories, weakened the latch of the boxes in which they had been neatly placed away, and they had slipped out and shown up in the Hime's sleep. And now she was making sure that he was alive, there, and that his heart was still beating strongly, pumping blood in his veins. He sighed, softly, accepting that he couldn't leave her like that – wouldn't – and made his decision.

He maneuvered the both of them until they were both lying on the sofa, her lying on top of him for practicality's sake. He had to stop her from moving away when she thought he wanted to separate them, and kept her securely tucked in his arms. Upon realizing he just wanted to change their positions, she let him do whatever he wanted, and never stopped listening to the 'ba-dump, ba-dump' sound of his heart.

He silently thanked her small stature, which was very helpful for his manhandling, and closed his eye.

She smelled of fire, books, earth, snakes, canines – that must have come from him, somehow, even if it wasn't quite his scent and he hadn't introduced her to his Summons yet – and a crispiness that had to be her magic. It was too otherworldly, too different from anything else to not be her magic.

She also smelled of comfort, strength, calm; of tea, pumpkin, spices and, whatever that meant, green.

It was so like her – warmth and comfort, steadiness and peacefulness; but also something between winter and spring – that he relaxed without even realizing it, and slipped back to sleep.

His last thought was that in addition to the canine scent, and though he had just come back after two weeks spent far away; she also still faintly smelled like him.

.

---

.

The both of them slept like that until the next morning, and though there was an awkward moment upon awakening, Hari's small, thankful smile made it worth it. They proceeded as usual, as if nothing had happened, but Kakashi did not feel like they were ignoring everything (something his psychiatric had been very adamant was an Absolute Mistake and Bad Thing). They just accepted it had happened, wordlessly acknowledged they felt a bit closer than before, but did not feel the need to make a big deal out of it.

They both had issues, but were relatively good at dealing with them (her more than him, admittedly) and as such they just let the night's events fade quietly, having taken whatever lesson or information they needed from it.

He glanced at the calendar – a Magical one, of course. Hari just told it things she needed to remember, and once the day had come, the calendar faithfully reminded her of any appointment, chore or task she had for the day. It hadn't told them anything yet today – it usually waited until they were done with their breakfast, and Kakashi did not even want to know how it knew they were done, what with it not having, you know, actual eyes; but then again it did speak without having a mouth… – however, the Jonin could see the red writings surrounded by a perfect circle under today's date. Meeting Hokage.

He had originally been supposed to come back from the mission today somewhere in the afternoon, after his debriefing, so Hari would have had to go to the Hokage Tower with Bat. But he had yet to give his report with his team, though he would do so as soon as he had written the damn thing. He would simply debrief with the ANBU Commander while Hari was with the Hokage, before coming back to get her and walking her home. An oral debriefing did not last long, provided that there were no deaths or big mess ups during the mission.

Afterwards, he would have to submit the written report to the ANBU's headquarters or directly to the Hokage, should it be needed. Writing the report would be a matter of minutes – he had much experience in that – and he would call his team together before going to see the Hokage with them. The mess with the information they had been given more than qualified his team for going directly to the highest-ranking Ninja in the village, as well as the one in charge of most of the international politics, since it had the potential to become a problem for Konoha

It went without saying that had the Hokage not known about it, he would have gone to report immediately upon entering Konoha, injuries be damned; but he had already sent back a warning about the situation with Pakkun during the very first days of the mission. Konoha had been particularly careful with any information they received from the Tea Country Daimyo or Tea Country in general ever since, and would remain so until everything was clarified.

"Should we get ready to head to the Hokage Tower?", he asked the Hime, watching fondly as she finished gulping her awful pumpkin juice.

"Is it time already?", she wondered out loud, waving her hand to start the cleaning of the dishes.

"Soon", the Jonin answered. "Plenty of time for showering and getting ready."

"Then let's", she nodded approvingly, leaving the kitchen and making her way upstairs, to her bedroom. "See you after."

He only eye-smiled (he had gotten into the habit of exaggerating his facial expressions so that she could read them, even with his mask always securely in place) with a small hum, going towards his own bedroom.

Considering he would undoubtedly finish getting ready long before her (he needed one minute max, she had to shower so she would need at least twenty minutes – rather fast for a civilian, a baffling amount of time for a kunoichi); he decided to get a head-start into the writing of his report. He would not finish it, but should be able to do at least half.

He wrote fast.

(Indeed, half of it was done by the time the Hime got out. The handwriting wasn't his best, but it was perfectly legible, and as such all that really mattered.)

He had to call his team together, finish writing and hand over his report, talk with the Hokage (he would probably do so right after the Hime was down speaking to the man herself),and go back home with the Hime to finish healing and take his body-guard duties back.

He had just come back from a difficult mission that, in other circumstances, could have ended up with a whole ANBU team's death, and there would be consequences from the misinformation.

And yet, despite all of this, as he exited the house and started walking next to the tiny woman on the sun-drenched home; had had rarely felt so content before.

.

...

.

---

I've been sitting on this for months so I hurried to post it in-between a 14-page-long English-to-French translation, because my brain decided that now was just the perfect time.

Only 15.000 words long, I don't even know if it's a lot or not, compared to the rest... Whatever.

I had planned to add more comments but I forgot what, sorry.

Not-so-interesting tidbit: my 'c' key doesn't work anymore, so I survive by doing 'ctrl+v' all the time. It's a pain and a half. Do you have any idea how often that letter is used? A lot, thats how often. Thank god it's not a 'e' or a 'a' though...

I honestly barely proofread this so if you find any mistake/problem/inconsistencies (I know you will), tell me!

Have a nice day/night/week.