In the following two or three weeks, Kaiya remained on a tight schedule that mainly consisted of missions and training. She felt tired, but to be fair with herself, all those Chūunin missions and the strict training with Asura paid off well.

She managed to save some money and her results were paying off quite well. Last mission she went with her normal team, not too long ago, they were all surprised by her evolution (especially the Katon and the Air Bullets).

Even so, though, she did feel in need of a break and she hardly talked with her team or anyone else except for Asura. It drained her off pretty well. Yet, she couldn't really allow herself a break. She'll take a break when she'll become Jonin.

Kaiya walked down the streets in a late, warm afternoon of September with a few bags in her hands. She just returned from a few days long mission, and she dropped by a nearby shop to do some quick groceries. Suddenly, something touched her right hand and the bags in that hand were lifted to the point where they weren't in her hand anymore.

'Let me help you with that.' A posh voice said.

Kaiya looked up in surprise, only for her to smile in recognition.

'Oh, hi Lee.' She greeted. 'How are you?'

'I'm great! Well, almost great. I twisted my ankle today while training, but I'm still fine.'

Kaiya looked down at his feet. He was, indeed, stepping a little funny with one of his legs. She puffed in amusement.

'I have something for twisted ankles at home. If you want, I could give some to you.'

Lee smiled. 'Thank you, Kaiya-san. I appreciate it.'

After they returned from their mission of saving the Kazekage, Lee approached Guy, in hope that he'd get some answers about his feelings. He explained the best he could and, much to his surprise, Guy seemed excited about it. To be fair, it wasn't every day that one of his students -or anyone, to be honest- came to him for advice on the matter.

After a long talk, Lee eventually understood exactly what Guy suggested to do- be kind to her, listen to her, be there for her. Guy said that it was alright if she doesn't respond to his feelings in the same way. Maybe it wasn't meant to be. But, it was always worth a try.

'I haven't seen you in a while.' He stated nonchalantly. 'What have you been up to?'

'Missions, training... that would be it. It's honestly draining me, but I would really like to promote to jonin, y'know? Plenty of work, sweat and tears is the only way.'

Lee thought for a bit as they entered Kaiya's block, and in a few moments, her apartment. While he thought, they went into unpacking the stuff that's been in her bags and began sorting it out.

'It is true what you say, Kaiya-san, but you still need to catch your breath sometimes.'

'What are you suggesting? A break?'

'Yes, a short break. I'm sure it won't hurt anyone.'

Kaiya sighed in consideration as she put some cans in one of the closets. While she did that, Lee came next to her in order to place something in the closet as well and it was then that Kaiya noticed that he was a little bit taller than her, with maybe a finger or two. If he wasn't convincing, she didn't know what the boy was.

'Maybe I won't go on as many missions for a bit.' She said, eventually. 'You might be right.'

'So is that a yes?' Lee asked, as he locked eyes with Kaiya.

'I guess it is. Wait- don't put that in the fridge.' Kaiya urged, taking hold of Lee's hand as he wanted to put some pork meat in the fridge. 'I'll make some ramen later.'

Lee looked down at Kaiya's hand, that was now placed over his in an attempt to stop him. Well, it worked., he thought. The blood rosed up a little in his cheeks. Noticing it, Kaiya let go of his hand.

'Really?' He asked, calmly.

'Yeah. Do you want a bowl?'

'That would be nice.' Lee accepted as he regained his composure, after a few moments of silence. 'Thank you, Kaiya-san.'

Kaiya cracked a smile. 'No problem, Lee.'

'Itadakimasu,' Lee said ready to eat while putting his hands together, 'Thank you for the meal.'

Kaiya repeated the gesture and they began eating.

'This Ramen is really good!' Lee complimented, after the first bite. 'What kind of Ramen is it?'

'I don't know, to be honest.' Kaiya said, cracking a smile. The compliment made her day better than she'd like to admit. 'It's my own invention.'

'It's a good invention.' Lee said, with a mouthful of noodles.

'Thanks.'

For the next few moments, both of them remained still, enjoying the ramen.

'So tell me, what are Chūunin missions like?' Lee asked.

'Well, more difficult than the genin missions, but that's obvious.' Kaiya laughed. 'Well, about the actual content in them, though, I can say they're more interesting. I did various patrols, a few scroll deliveries, most of them with traps or attacks, I think- oh yeah! Also a few guarding missions and escorts. The mission from which I returned today was an escort, actually. I needed to escort some old lady to some small village nearby. Turns out she was a pretty powerful person with quite a few enemies in her village, so she's pretty paranoid nowadays.'

Lee nodded as he slurped on his noodles. 'Understandable. Are all the missions as crazy as the exams for the Chūunin exams?'

Kaiya snorted. 'Depends. They're all pretty risky, but the chance of death isn't so big, though. But let me tell you something- dangerous or not, sometimes the requests sound so stupid that they are just hilarious!'

Lee smiled at the girl's amusement. 'Tell me more.'

The late afternoon soon turned into evening, that eventually turned into night. Anyhow, it was a good end of day for both Kaiya and Lee. Turns out that Kaiya's gel for twisted ankles was quite helpful as, just in an hour or two, the pain lessened considerably. As the two talked at the table with their bowls long since empty, an audible series of thuds could be heard coming from one of the windows.

Kaiya excused herself and, just as she expected, a message pigeon was waiting at her window. She took the piece of paper attached to its leg and let the pigeon go.

'Sorry 'bout that. A message pigeon came with something from Lady Hokage.' Kaiya said absently as she returned to her seat.

'Hm? May I ask, what does it say?' Lee asked, curious.

'Eh... let me read it out loud.'

Dear Kaiya Kobayashi,

You have proven great improvement and completed many missions very skillfully. Because of that, your instructor, Tonkawa Asura, recommended you to take place in the
Jonin exams, next Monday. Good luck!

The fifth Hokage,
Tsunade Senju

As she finished reading, Kaiya stopped in her tracks in order to suck in the information.

'Can I see the letter?' Lee said.

Kaiya shrugged absently as she handed it to the boy. 'Sure.'

'Become jonin? But that's amazing!' Lee exclaimed with the largest grin on his face. 'Have you even seen what she said? You completed many missions skillfully! Isn't that... eh... Kaiya, what's wrong?'

It was then that Lee noticed that Kaiya didn't look so happy or excited about it. For a fact, her face didn't show any emotion.

'Well,' Kaiya chocked on her own words, 'I just became Chūunin about a month ago. Is it normal for me to advance to jonin already? It's going too fast. Do you really think I'd be able to keep up and be as good as the other jonins?'

Lee bit his lip as he analysed. After about a few minutes of silence, he placed his hand over Kaiya's, forcing her to look at him straight in the eyes.

'You won't be as good as the other jonins. Not at first. But with practice and time, you'll do amazing.'

Kaiya puffed as she repeatedly opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out but a smile. She didn't know what to say. Her heart warmed up as she felt kilograms of gratitude build up in her, sending a butterfly-like feeling in her stomach. There were a thousand and one feelings building up inside of her, triggered by just a few words.

She turned her hand around and let her thumb massage the back of Lee's hand, still thinking of what to say. On the other hand, Lee couldn't help but feel joy from her reaction.

'Thank you, Lee.' Kaiya said, eventually, with a smile. 'I appreciate it.'

Lee sighed lightly as he tightened his grip one more time on Kaiya's hand before letting go while getting up.

'It's getting late.' he said, 'I better head home.'

Kaiya nodded. Her hand remained for a moment in the position it sat while holding Lee's hand, before following the rest of its body as it got up. Kaiya walked with Lee to the door, before he turned around to her once more.

'Good night, Kaiya-san.' Lee said.

'Good night, Lee-kun. Thank you again for your support.'

Their eyes held contact for another moment before Kaiya closed the door. She walked back in her apartment, taking the bowls to the sink, until a thought stopped in her tracks. Is she insane? She referred to him with -kun! What a joke, he must be laughing right now.

For the first time that evening, the presence appeared in the room as Kaiya washed the bowls. Kaiya turned to where she thought the spirit to be, somewhere to her left.

'I referred to him with -kun, didn't I?' Kaiya asked it. 'Please tell me I'm not going insane.'

The presence's above body shook a bit.

'Hopefully, that's no. He's probably laughing right now.'

But he wasn't laughing. On the other side of the door, Lee's eyes lingered for a bit on Kaiya's door. ...-kun? She referred to him as Lee-kun!

He felt so happy that a wave of energy hit him, making him want to dance. He couldn't wait to tell this to Guy-sensei! But... how would he adress this? So, sensei, I had dinner at Kaiya-san's... No. I had dinner with Kaiya-san... Gah! It sounded like a date either way. He was pretty sure that that wasn't a date... was it?

He might as well not hurry in telling Guy-sensei. It was getting late, and he was growing tired after the day. For all he knew, what he needed to do now was to get home.