'No.'

The answer came very quickly. Kaiya didn't need to think about it much when the question came. If the same question would've been put to her a day or two ago, things might've been different, but she has been thinking over the topic for some time now. Ever since her brother's refusal, things have changed in her perspective.

'Why not?' Kouta asked, wide-eyed. He didn't see this coming. He was so sure that the answer would be positive, this outcome felt surreal. 'I'm-'

'Please come with me for a moment.' Kaiya said, as she took Kouta away, in a more quiet area of the basecamp, where people were at a good distance from them. She lowered her voice, careful for it not to reach anyone's ears except for Kouta's. 'Look, kid. You're not ready yet. You think I'd hold back when fighting you because I'm your sister, don't you? You think I'll give my post as an Alpha away easily just because I didn't want it in the first place.'

Kouta looked at her hesitantly. She did want to do that... didn't she? From where did the change of perspective come? How?

'I admit I wanted to do that but then someone told me: If I just give the post out so easily, how sure would I be that the next Alpha would be a good one? Would I be able to live with that on consciousness? The answers are zero per cent due to blind guessing and trusting, and no. You would definitely not stand a chance against Taka, I know that for sure. I had a hard time with him, but I won. If you can't stand against him, how are you supposed to stand against me?'

Kouta said nothing, looking down at his feet instead, embarrassment flowing through red waves on his face.

'I could let you become my assistant without much fuss, that, yes. However, if you want to be the next Alpha, please come at me when you can transform into a wolf.'

Kouta raised his head and looked at his sister dead in the eyes.

'Since when do you care so much about the clan?' He asked.

'Ever since I realized that it's also my responsibility, no matter how much I try to deny and ignore it. If I manage to do this to an end, I might as well have paid my debt to the clan for the rest of my life.'

Kouta let out a light sigh.

'Make me your assistant. I'll lead this clan with the price of my life and, when you'll come back, I'll prove myself worthy as your opponent and successor.'

Kaiya smiled lightly. It was nothing surprising, not if the boy was determined. And as far as Kaiya could see, Kouta was now more than determined to become Alpha. That was a particularly good trait to have as an Alpha.

'Good.' She said. 'You do have the capabilities to be an assistant.'

Kouta's face enlightened. He didn't become Alpha, but it was temporary, he knew that. If he managed to become an assistant and hold on to Kaiya's place while she was gone, he was just as good as an Alpha, and he could gain some useful knowledge and skill on how to rule.

The process of naming an assistant is very similar to the one of naming an Alpha. The current Alpha would call the entire clan to come together, explain that there will be chosen as a new assistant. Then, the Alpha would proceed to name the maternal heritage of both themselves and the assistant, before 'crowning' the person they chose with the title of assistant.

On the matter of the tents, while the Alpha was forced by law to live inside the big tent, an assistant could choose for a normal tent, or a tent of a size that's larger than a normal tent, but not as big as the Alpha den.

Nobody was displeased with Kouta becoming the Alpha's assistant, though. They were much more accustomed to him and many people who venerated Ichika as the Alpha now learned that they had to just let it flow. There was no way Ichika would reign again, and they knew that. They all knew, Ichika supporters or not.

The afternoon passed quietly by, allowing the evening to settle in without any major incidents. Late in the evening, sometime after supper, Kaiya found herself talking with four individuals in her den about things of more importance she planned to.

'So what are you going to do now?' Kouta asked Kaiya as he analyzed Lee and Guy, who were sitting by Kaiya's side and then Kiba, who was sitting somewhere between him and the trio facing him. 'Since I became the assistant? You're not obliged to sit here anymore if you don't want to.'

Kaiya shrugged. 'I'll return to Konoha. I've been- I mean, we've been absent for a week now, and when I left, my situation wasn't the best.'

'What do you mean?' Kouta squinted his eyes.

'I've been in the ANBU, the special corps, for a while now, maybe a month or so, I'm not sure. But right before I came, I left the ANBU.'

'You left the ANBU?' Lee asked, surprised.

'Oh, it was about time, man!' Kiba said. 'I couldn't stand it!'

'Please elaborate, Kiba-kun.' Kouta said, turning his attention to his cousin.ț

'She wasn't herself.' Kiba said in full honesty. 'She was always so tense like someone would jump at her neck to kill her at any given moment, so secretive all the time, blabbering all about assassinations on three nations away, and acting like she's better than me. It's stupid.'

'I didn't act like I'm better than you!' Kaiya retored, pissed by the boy's remarks. 'And of course, I'm secretive! The ANBU doesn't want me to talk about-'

'Then don't talk about it!' Kiba snapped. 'It's not that hard. Why did you even leave the ANBU? Was it too hard-'

'Oh wow, at least I've got skills that were recognized by Lady Hokage, unlike some of us-'

'You begged-'

'I didn't, you-'

'Then why did you leave? Sure as hell you didn't just decide to go out that door one morning and never go back.'

Within a millisecond, Kaiya's faced relaxed, leaving any kind of emotion behind. Her cheek twitched. She didn't tell anyone about her leave from the Anbu until then. Kiba's reaction wasn't necessarily reassuring, but it reminded her in a way that she wasn't in such a special position as she would sometimes think. Even so, talking about her choice to leave the ANBU was still odd. She didn't tell anyone about her leaving the Anbu. Not Lee, not her mother, no one. It meant that she would have to go in more depth and explain how Danzo asked her to join the Root, and then, after her refusal, he forced her then-boyfriend to kill her. Which led to a failed assassination and, after the usual pressure of being a Hatake, it eventually make her snap and leave the post vacant. Everything happened very quickly. She managed to process everything better ever since she came back to the Kobayashi basecamp, but she didn't know if she wanted to talk about it yet. Still, the people around her needed... no, they didn't need it. They wanted more information. It was odd, but what would she have to lose? She could trust them with this, Kaiya thought. Maybe this was a good option.

Guy sighed, lightly. He and Kakashi have known each other from a young age- they practically grew up together, and he had seen what Kakashi was like when he was in the ANBU. He was more closed off than Kaiya was, but it was understandable from an analyzing point of view. After his father's death and the people's remarks and expectations, Kakashi lost his trust in people. He confined his emotions and turned himself into an emotionless killing machine that wouldn't do anything but what the shinobi code asked to. He was scared of any relationships with people for the fear of losing them, it wasn't rocket science for Guy to understand nowadays. Kakashi lost people again and again and again, proving his point repeatedly. That part of his life, not only his childhood but the ANBU, it's always been a more sensitive subject for Kakashi, no matter how he tried to play it off. The ANBU had nothing but bad memories to offer. How different could it be for Kaiya?

'How did it happen?' He asked, careful.

Kaiya looked at Guy and made an attempt to leave some of her tensity behind but to no use. Her cheek twitched, before looking back at her brother.

'Well, it all started a day or so before I came back here. One of the Konoha elders made an attempt to assassinate me.'

'They- they what?' Kouta chocked on his words, as he tensed along with everyone in the room.

'They wanted to kill you?' Kiba frowned. 'Like, kill-kill you? What did you even do?'

'Don't tell mom or dad about this. Or anyone. Please.' Kaiya added, quickly.

'Why?' Kouta asked.

'They'd come to Konoha and make a scene. It's not necessary. It would cause me more trouble than I need.'

'But-'

'No. I already have enough problems.'

Kouta frowned, as he leaned back a little as he mumbled something about the assassination and not a joke, Kaiya.

'Who wanted to kill you, Kaiya?' Guy asked.

'Danzo-sama. He requested one of my teammates in the ANBU-'

'Your boyfriend.' Kiba corrected.

Kaiya pursed her lips. Was that commentary really necessary? Sometimes, she felt like she could kill Kiba with her bare hands and she'd have no regrets for doing it. At least then he'd shut up.

'My then-boyfriend was commanded to kill me. Danzo said that I could die by either my ex's hand or by his own hand. My ex-boyfriend decided that this could happen by his hand if it was inevitable. He couldn't do it, I made a reclamation to Lady Hokage who was ready to throw hands with Danzo, but she didn't. Then there was a meeting where this dude was attacking me verbally and later physically about Sakumo-san, I got pissed and quit my post in the ANBU, and then I saw Kakashi-san who was dead on the ground, yadda yadda, and I came. Then Taka started bugging me with his bullshit of marrying him, and y'all know the story from there.'

Nobody said nothing for a few moments. Those were plenty of events in... in how much time did they all take place, actually?

'And all that happened in the span of...?' Kiba questioned.

'Approximately twenty-four hours. A day.'

Kouta pursed his lips. His sister got two death threats, before having to put herself on the verge of death again. 'Kaiya, are you alright?'

'Hm? Oh, yeah, I guess so.'

Kouta looked at Kaiya disapprovingly. 'You're not fine. I see it on you. Why are you lying to me? I care about you. I want to help you any way I can. I'm not mum or dad, you know that.'

Kaiya felt how she began tearing up on the inside. She didn't know why, but she couldn't take reassurings like that with a straight face. It didn't take long before it began obviously to the others. Her eyes stung and her face burned like never before. She closed her eyes and took some deep breaths in, but to no use.

'Are- Oh, look what you did!' Kiba exclaimed. 'Good job, Kouta, she's crying.'

'I'm fine.' Kaiya insisted as she opened her eyes up wide, trying to cool them off by creating a bit of a breeze with her hands. Her voice was shaking. Great.

'People who are fine don't cry.' Lee said. 'You've been through a lot and it's okay to feel overwhelmed sometimes. If you want to talk about it, we're all here for you. No matter what.'

Kaiya wiped down the tears that began falling from her eyes.

'It's just that,' she gulped, 'even though no one says it, there are many expectations put on me from everyone, even people whom I've never met, ever since it was revealed that Kakashi-san is my biological father. I don't even have anything against or towards him. I've hardly even talked to him, and people are like, 'Wow, you're really like your father.', like I'm supposed to know how that is.

Kaiya paused for a moment to wheeze slightly at the thought.

'Then, things got even worse when people began to see Sakumo-san in me.'

'Who?' Kouta raised an eyebrow.

'Kakashi-san's father. He was an elite like dad, that committed suicide after breaking a shinobi rule by cancelling a mission and saving his colleagues' lives.'

'So the shinobi rules say that you have to put the mission over someone's life? That's really stupid.'

'And a little hypocritical too, taking how much they talk about the value of teamwork and friends if you think about it. With his quite tragic backstory and amazing skills, there were even more expectations of me, and quite some gossip, especially in the ANBU. There were comments coming at me, comments like 'Don't be like your grandfather.', or 'Do you know what your grandfather did?'. Some of them would even have the audacity to come and ask how I happen to be born and how I was conceived like they don't know already from the rumours. Tch.'

'They said all that to you?' Guy asked, shocked. 'That's so rude!'

'I know! Like, what's even so hard to understand? My biological father met my mother when he was fourteen and my mum was thirteen, stuff happened and bing-bada-bonk I appeared. And then my biological father left and proceeded to never come back. Wow. My adoptive father, or simply, my father, if I may, was very kind to my mother and me and he was very supportive when my mother was pregnant with me and later when I was born, he and my mum fell in love, they got married and had my little brothers. What an equation, isn't it?' Kaiya asked, sarcastically.

She found it odd how relieving it was to feel so reassured by someone and have them listen to something that's been bothering you for some time. It made her relax and put her thoughts in order. Kouta snorted.

'Never heard an equation like this before, no sir.' he joked.

It seemed like the joke had a positive effect, as it brought a chuckle from both Kaiya and Kiba.

'Say, Kaiya, um, I have a really odd question right now. While we're on the topic.' Lee said.

'How bad can it be? Shoot.'

'So, um, when you were little... did you... y'know, did you know that your father is your adoptive father?'

Kaiya laughed, taking Lee by surprise. She seemed genuinely amused. It was pretty confusing for Lee- she couldn't be laughing at something other than his question and, thing was, he couldn't find his question funny in any shape or form.

'Of course! I always knew. It wasn't some sort of secret. No, we can't let Kaiya know she's a half-blood in any way. ' Kaiya limited a man's voice, only to laugh once again for a few moments before calming down enough to keep a straight face. 'My mum had my brothers with the man I call my father and had me with someone else, but my brothers' dad was my dad, too. There was never any difference between me and my siblings based on who our fathers were. None that I felt, anyway. I had a mum and a dad, so it was fine for me.'

'But some people commented sometimes.' Kouta said.

'Yeah, they did. Nobody can help it, though. It's natural to happen.'

'So you were never curious about who your real father was?' Guy asked.

'A little bit, sometimes, but my mother always pushed the subject away so I never insisted. I didn't return to that subject until after I left. For all I knew, he lived in Konoha, wherever that might be.'

'So you wanted to look for him.' Guy stated. 'Why?'

'I became curious about the ancestry I have that's beyond the Kobayashi, and which places I might belong to. I thought that my mother couldn't stop me then.'

'Well, she didn't.' Kiba said. 'You did it. You found your father. Did you plan to leave after you found him?'

'I don't know what I planned to do after. I don't think I had any plans. I'd look for my father and then... with God ahead of us we go. But while I was in Konoha, I guess I got attached and... I didn't want to leave that place regardless if I found my father or not.'

'We got attached, too.' Lee said.

'Hm?' Kaiya hummed. Just as they began to return to their normal temperature, her cheeks pulled out the Uno reverse card and they began heating back up. She heard what the boy said very well, but she wanted to hear it one more time as if to confirm what he said.

'Nothing.' Lee shook his head. His own comment made him insecure enough not to repeat it.

All of a sudden, a deep, loud yawn escaped Kiba.

'Man, I should really be going to bed. I'm exhausted.' He said, getting up on his feet. 'I wonder what time it is. Like, eleven pm?'

'Something like that.' Kaiya confirmed, nodding.

'It was nice talking to ya. I would've stayed more, really, but I feel my eyes shutting off. Bye.'

'Bye.'

As the topic was closed and nothing else important was left to look upon, the small group moved onto talking about nothing and everything, jumping from one topic to the other until Kouta and Guy eventually left as well, leaving Kaiya and Lee alone. Kaiya lay down on her back on the thick layers of furs that served her as bed. For a while, neither of them said anything- as Kaiya stared off into space, Lee rummaged absently the tent with his eyes.

'Are you sleeping?' Lee asked.

'No. Why?'

'You're my girlfriend, right?'

This question couldn't do anything but make Kaiya feel a little cautious.

'Yeah.'

'And I'm your boyfriend.'

Kaiya frowned a little as she analysed Lee's face. He wasn't looking at her but at the ground, his face fairly emotionless, with tints of expectancy.

'Yeah, you're my boyfriend, and I'm your girlfriend. What's with this all of a sudden?'

Lee took a deep breath in as he moved his eyes from the ground to the ceiling.

'It's just that... I always imagined that when I'll have a girlfriend, we'd do things together. It doesn't have to be particularly romantic or anything, but just, do something. But ever since, you know, we became a couple, we've hardly talked. We didn't talk so little even before we came here. Did I do something wrong?'

Kaiya's face softened as she felt her heart drop. Instinctively, she got up in a sitting position and grabbed his hand, taking the boy by surprise, making him turn his head and look at her.

'This was a very messy and confusing week for me, that's it. You did nothing wrong. We'll go back to Konoha. Tomorrow. Once we're back, we can do things together, okay?'

A shy smile appeared on Lee's face. 'Thank you.'

Kaiya puffed in amusement as she pulled Lee into a hug, his head resting on her shoulder. 'Don't thank me. We're in this together.'

She didn't think much of being in a relationship until recently, and somehow, she still didn't know what to expect for sure. Even if she had a relationship in the past, it wasn't until that particular moment that it hit her how much of a two-sided thing that it was. Both sides needed to care and put a little effort every now and then during tough moments to get things right. Without that, a relationship would never work well.

It could feel tough for someone who grew up to be solitary, but Kaiya didn't want to give up on it. She felt happy in that relationship- the boy loved her, and she wanted to love him back, and no one else.

A/N

Hello, everyone!

How's everyone doing?

So. For those of you guys who checked out my profile page the other day, y'all might as well know why this chapter is delayed. For those of you guys who don't, then here's why.

I'm in the middle of my exams period before the Christmas holidays and the last 7 days had me like

So yeah. And I thought 'Dude I have exams on Monday and Tuesday, I'll probs won't be able to update until after the exams.' But I haven't written in over a week (I usually write every day or every other day) and it hurt me and I carved so much to write that I literally sat my ass down last evening and wrote a few hundred words between 11 PM and 12:30 AM. I eventually finished this chapter this morning with another pack of like 500-ish words and here we are.

What did you guys think of this chapter?

It's low key long AF with 3.5K words, but it's become the norm for me to write this many words per chapter in this book tbh.

Oh yeah, btw, if you guys are interested in various updates about my books, in writing and studying tips and if you guys want to get more in contact with me, check out my Instagram account! My username there is Averyloves2write, just like here.

As usual, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you in the next one!

-Avery