Author's Note: Hey guys! Whoot, I've had this chapter planned out for a while! (like all my other ending chapters.) It's not very mushy - IMO - so hopefully you all enjoy! And I made a mistake last chapter. I know that I said that I would post the 20th and final chapte in 2 weeks, but it will actually be in three. I forgot to take into account the fact that I am going on a trip next week. So sorry guys! Please enjoy this chapter though!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

"Where the hell are we going?" Kakashi demanded, while trying to free his arm.

"Like I said, we're going to fix this problem," Benjiro replied nonchalantly, still having a hold of Kakashi's arm.

"We don't have time," Kakashi protested exasperatedly, "We need to get to the border."

Benjiro ignored Kakashi's protests entirely, turning down another street rapidly.

Kakashi heaved a sigh. "Can you at least let me walk by myself?"

Again Benjiro gave no response, but released Kakashi's arm and continued walking. Seeing that there was no way Benjiro would ever let him leave for the border without making an apology, Kakashi trailed along darkly.

"You know," he said just out of spite to Benjiro, "the hospital is in the opposite direction."

At this, Benjiro turned around and grinned mischievously, and Kakashi could just see the gears in his mind turning furiously, plotting out ways to maximize the effect of the apology. "Who said we were going to the hospital? You're right. We don't have enough time for you to muster up some courage and actually verbally apologize, so me being the genius I am, have thought up a great alternative."

"And what great alternative is this, oh wonderful one?" Kakashi muttered sarcastically.

"It's this!" Benjiro exclaimed, pointing to a store Kakashi had never noticed before.

The exterior of the building looked like any storefront in Konoha, but the interior was another story. Pink hearts and red drapes adorned every window and ceiling. Flowers, rings, cards, and other random gifts were proudly placed on display, glitter surrounding their pedestals in the windows.

"I know," Benjiro grinned, "You love me, right?"

Kakashi, through half-lidded lazy eyes glanced from the store to Benjiro and back again, heaving a sigh in the process. "I should have just left you for dead."

"Oh, come on! This place is great! I mean everything you need to apologize with is in here! Now let's head inside! There isn't much time!"

Excitedly, Benjiro headed inside, while Kakashi trailed along reluctantly. This had to be the worst looking store he had ever gone in. Benjiro's idea had to be the worst he'd ever encountered. Speaking of the devil, where was he? Kakashi searched through the aisles of pink, glittery, flowery gifts and finally found Benjiro conversing with an old man by the card aisles.

"There you are!" Benjiro cried happily to Kakashi. "I was worried you'd gotten lost in here. Look at this," he held up a card and what appeared to be a little cassette, "this old man found it for me! I think it's exactly what we're looking for!"

"Forget it. We need to leave. Now."

"You see? This is your problem. You put your missions above your friends. No wonder that girl's pissed at you if you're always acting like such a jerk."

If it had been a normal day, and Kakashi had been with a normal person, he would have attacked them the minute they said such a thing, but for some reason – be it whether it was not a normal day or Benjiro was not a normal person – Kakashi ended up feeling guilty instead of offended.

"Fine," he sighed giving in, "what do you have in your hand?"

"Knew you'd come around! Well, since we don't have time to track her down and get you to apologize in person, here's a cassette tape where you can record your apology!"

"Fine. Hand it over."

Benjiro complied with the request, smiling all the while. This had to be the best idea he'd ever had! And it was the perfect day too! Shooing Kakashi away into a silent corner, he waited patiently for the younger ANBU to speak his apology into the tape. He was astonished, to say the least, when Kakashi walked back over to him mere seconds later.

"Done already?" Benjiro inquired.

Kakashi shook his head. "I messed up my apology. Get me a new tape."

Benjiro stared strangely at the boy, but went to back to the card rack and fetched Kakashi another tape. How was it possible to mess up an apology in such a short amount of time? Why, he couldn't have even said more than a few words! Bringing the tape back over, Kakashi took it from him thankfully and headed back over to his corner to continue with formulating his apology. Benjiro again waited patiently for him to finish.

He quickly found out that it would take longer than expected.

After the first fifteen times that Kakashi demanded a new tape be brought over, Benjiro began to get frustrated and insisted that he go along with Kakashi to help him think up the perfect apology. With no other option, Kakashi agreed and the two set to work.

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"Kakashi apology tape, take 28," Benjiro breathed, his eyes threatening to close. He had long since lost the excitement originally felt at the prospect of seeing Kakashi apologize, mainly because the Hatake boy had gone through 28 tapes and 2 hours worth of apologizing and he was still nowhere.

Kakashi shot a glare back at the tired boy and leaned back against the counter. "You brought this upon yourself, you know. You just had to insist I apologize before we leave."

"I didn't think you'd be so slow! I figured it would take you ten minutes to think up something decent, five to get the courage to do it, and about three to actually apologize. I didn't realize you'd be writing like your life's novel here!"

"I didn't write my life's novel. Now shut up." Unbeknownst to Kakashi, when he had leaned against the counter, he had accidentally hit the record button and all of the argument he was having, was now being recorded.

"You're right. You haven't even said more than a couple of sentences! That's even worse!"

The both of them fell silent for a few moments, glaring daggers at each other, until Kakashi turned around and took out a pad of paper on which he started writing the new apology. He never would have guessed that it would be this hard just to say 'sorry' to someone. Having never really apologized before – he'd said it, just never meant it – and not sure if he should be apologizing now – though he didn't want to be on bad terms with Rin – Kakashi discovered that apologizing was indeed quite a difficult task.

He scribbled down a few sentences every time an idea popped into his head, and after a few minutes had a rough draft.

"Okay, how does this sound?" He called Benjiro's attention back to him. "I'm sorry for arguing with you, but I had my reasons. Being ANBU and keeping my promises are important to me, and I hope you can understand and respect that."

Benjiro looked at Kakashi with a stoic expression. "That's probably the worst apology I've ever heard. You pretty much just said that you're sorry for being right."

"Well, let's hear you come up with one if you're so smart."

"I could, but it wouldn't be genuine from you then."

"Stop your complaining and suggest something already."

"How about this? I'm sorry Rin. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I understand that you're only looking out for me because you care. I'll try to take better care of myself. Thank you for being there for me. Sorry again."

Kakashi wrinkled his nose in disgust. "I'm saying an apology, not a marriage proposal."

"Oh don't be such a little kid Kakashi! You screwed up royally, so you have to make up royally for it. Now get on with it, or else the commander really will assign us an extra week of duty. You know, if it makes you feel any better, think about it this way: You could die at the border. This may be the last thing she hears you say. Make it good."

"You're not helping."

Kakashi turned around and set back to work. There was no way he would be defeated by a little apology letter. He didn't want to sound sappy – because he wasn't – but he didn't want to sound too impartial either. It was finding the balance between the two that stumped him. Scribbling a few other things down, he turned back around to relay them to Benjiro.

"Thanks for all your help. Sorry I yelled. Hope you're not mad."

Benjiro actually appeared mildly interested for the first time. "It took you that long to come up with that?! And they call you a genius! Geez Hatake."

"So is it good?"

"I think it's as good as it's going to get."

Kakashi nodded in understanding, secretly agreeing with Benjiro, and began to recite his apology.

"Come on," Benjiro said, "You're taking too long to rehearse."

"Shut the hell up, man. It was your idea to come here in the first place! Now you've got to accept the consequences of your actions."

"Never will I try to do something nice for someone again."

"Man, I said shut the hell up!"

A few more painful minutes passed – for Benjiro – and Kakashi finished rehearsing his apology letter of literally 12 words. He moved to press the tape recorder's button on, when he realized that it had been on for the past little while. "Uh…hi…" He started out, but found he couldn't continue. All the incessant blabbering that had gone on between the two boys for god only knows how long had been recorded! To someone like Kakashi, this was very disturbing.

"Go on, you can do it!" Benjiro falsely cheered from behind.

"No, I can't. It's been recording all this time. Who knows what's on that tape? We need to get a new one so we can start off fresh."

"Like hell we're getting a new one! I've waited here too long already!" Benjiro cried and pushed Kakashi aside, speaking into the tape recorder himself.

"Hi Rin, Benjiro here. You probably heard me and Kakashi's bickering at the beginning and while that doesn't really make a decent apology, we can't get a new tape. I think you'll just have to appreciate what he says. He's been creating this apology for around oh, three hours now, and I think he's used up all his brain cells. He's almost used up all his cash, that's for sure. There are 27 other tapes that we've gone through on which he hasn't been able to say anything. I really can't let him buy another tape because if he does, he won't have enough money to buy food for himself, and me being the responsible teen I am, can't let him go hungry. So perhaps you'll just have to appreciate what he says now."

"What are you doing?" Came Kakashi's voice, "You're wasting the tape!"

"Ah calm down, Kakashi!" A few crashing noises were heard and then Benjiro let out a yelp. "Fine! I'm going to get lunch! When I'm done, you'd better be done as well!"

The slamming of a door was recorded before a breathless Kakashi headed back over to the tape recorder. "Yo, it's me. I know you know who me is. Anyway, just wanted to say sorry for well, yelling at you I guess. You're just trying to help. Um, hopefully you're not mad. Well, anymore I mean."

Kakashi paused and looked around, only to find people staring at him strangely. "Oh, great. I think you should know: people are staring at me and most probably think that I've gone crazy because at the moment, it looks like I'm apologizing to a cassette player. Anyway, um yeah, sorry."

Another long pause before Kakashi was hit with the next idea. "This is going to sound weird, but sorry for being sort of hypocritical too. "I know that I said that one should never run away from a difficult situation. I still believe that, but there's a problem with what I've said. No matter where you go, you're running away from something. If you run towards something, you're just running away from something else. It can't be helped."

Spacing out for a few minutes, he thought about what he just said and realized the veracity of it all. In truth, everyone was running away. Her, sensei, Benjiro, even him. It just wasn't something that could be helped. When he finally snapped out of his reverie, more than five minutes had passed in which nothing but the background chatter of other customers in the store could be heard.

"So yeah, I guess that I just wanted to say sorry. Hopefully you'll forgive me." He ended his apology abruptly, but it had dragged on long enough. There were some stuff on it that he felt didn't sound like him, and some stuff he'd rather have omitted, but perhaps he'd get brownie points for saying that stuff.

It was a good thing he managed to finish then too, because only moments later, Benjiro walked back in, a pick sticking out between his teeth. "So you finally finished huh? Good job Hatake."

Kakashi nodded. "You done with your lunch? Can we go now?"

"Yup!" Benjiro chimed. "Unlike you, I have great time management skills. I have not only eaten lunch, but also ordered Rin's presents."

"Presents? You bought her a present? Why?"

"Oh, I didn't buy her a present." Benjiro answered flippantly. "Technically, you bought her a present."

"What?!"

"Oh calm down, jumpy! They're just flowers! Happy Valentine's Day, Kakashi!" He winked down at the younger boy.

"I hate you. You bought flowers? And on Valentine's? Why the hell would you buy flowers? I don't buy people flowers. That's just not me. Now you're going to go around making her think that I like her or something."

The look Kakashi received from his partner was one that clearly wondered, 'And you don't like her?'

"That's besides the point," Kakashi told him, but quickly tacked on as soon as he noticed Benjiro's devious, knowing smile, "but I don't! Not like that anyway."

"No, of course you don't. You can't possibly like her in that way. That's why you came here after all. On Valentine's. Postponing a mission. To tell her an apology. One that took you three hours to compose. No, you can't possibly like her, you're right. I must be delusional."

Kakashi sighed heavily and mumbled a, "Shut up," before walking to the cashier. To contest Benjiro on his suspicions would not only require much effort on his behalf, but also it would be pointless. Benjiro was one of those people who just took advantage of peoples' "denial" and used the point against them. To argue with Benjiro would be tiring and would get Kakashi nowhere.

Benjiro trailed behind him, snickering occasionally. Before Kakashi hit the cashier stand though, he pulled him over and directed him towards the card section. "Choose one," Benjiro commanded.

Kakashi sorted through the cards before he settled for a blank one with a picture of a sunflower on it. The card was plain, simple, and didn't give off any wrong hints. He attached the small cassette to the card and went up to pay for it. Benjiro simply stood beside him, silent for the most part; only speaking to tell the old man at the cash to deliver the card to Rin. Conveniently, the man knew of Rin and said that he would take the card to her.

The two ANBU members quitted the store shortly after, and Kakashi seemed to be dead set on brooding while in Benjiro's presence. Apparently the flower stunt hadn't gone over well with him. "Hey, cheer up buttercup," Benjiro teased, "I only got her one sunflower!"

Ok, so Benjiro hadn't said that he was joking about the flowers, but Kakashi still considered one sunflower infinitely better than say, a bouquet of roses or something equally as uncharacteristic. Hopefully, Rin wouldn't be tricked into thinking that he liked her when she received them.

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Rin was vacuuming her and her mother's living space when a loud knock on the door made her stop. She shut off the apparatus and slid open her door, only to be met with the rather annoyed looking face of a young female. The girl had tanned skin, dirty blonde hair and green-blue eyes; she didn't look a day over 13.

"Hello," Rin greeted politely.

"Are you Ryne?" The girl questioned.

"Excuse me?"

The younger girl huffed and repeated, "Are you Ryne? I have a package here for Ryne."

"Oh, you mean Rin! Yes, that would be me. Who is the package from?" Rin questioned. She really hadn't been expecting anything from anyone.

"Package for you from Haytaykee Kaykayshy."

"Sorry, from whom?"

"Haytaykee Kaykayshy."

"Oh!" She exclaimed, understanding whom it was from at once. "Yes, that must be for me then." Signing the sheet that the girl had given her saying that she received the package, Rin took the wrapped entity from the young girl's hands and shut the door calmly behind her.

Heading over to the couch, she set the package down. It was very plain and simple looking, but just the fact that it was for her – and it had come on Valentine's – made it a big deal. Rin's heart pounded in her chest, anticipation and excitement seeping into her every motion.

The first thing she noticed as she unwrapped her package was that there was a card attached. It had a very simple sunflower picture on it, and on the inside there was nothing written. There was simply a tape recorder with a small tape inside. She sat down, forgetting all about her cleaning duties, and hit play.

At first there was nothing, but slowly, she heard the distant voices of Kakashi and Benjiro bickering, more teasingly than seriously. She grew easily and steadily tired of hearing them curse and yell at one another, and was about to shut off the tape recorder angrily and get back to her chores, when she heard Kakashi begin to apologize. The apology sounded extremely strange coming from him and a few moments later, she heard Benjiro make the comment that he had no clue how to apologize to anyone.

The tape continued on in the same manner with some apologizing, some cursing, and some bickering. Then a crashing noise was heard and the slamming of a door was too; seconds later, Kakashi was the only voice that came through on the tape and he was saying the actual apology.

Rin listened to the entirety of the tape – for there was a lot of pausing – and found that by the end of it she was ready to forgive the whole incident. Even though she knew that Benjiro was probably the one who had pushed Kakashi into making the apology, she still appreciated it because he had actually agreed to do it – and according to Benjiro, had spent nearly all his free time and money doing it.

Putting the card and the tape aside – as well as ignoring the butterflies in her stomach – Rin opened the rest of the package and found within it one single sunflower. She just had to smile; sunflowers were her favourites. Gingerly, she removed the flower from its packaging and placed it in the vase by her windowsill.

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It was awkward the first time they met again after his week at the border. He had been heading over to the hospital to see if she'd received the card – and to get some minor healing done – while she'd been walking towards his apartment to see if he was back – and if he needed any healing. They'd met halfway in the middle of the street, and found that neither had anything to say.

The silence was awkward yet refreshing in a way and Rin finally broke it by asking, "Are you home for the week?"

He responded by nodding.

"Are you injured?"

Again another nod.

"Would you like me to heal your injury?"

He shrugged.

She just smiled. "Alright, we'll have to go back to your apartment then."

He turned around and walked alongside of her.

"I got the card and flowers by the way. They were lovely. Thank you."

It seemed to make him a little uncomfortable to hear about the gifts being talked about openly – this was defined by the way he stiffened at the mention of them. However, he gave a little smile and nodded, glad that she didn't think something different about them than was intended – or if she did, she didn't show it.

They reached the familiar apartment rather quickly and Rin instructed Kakashi to lie down. He did as he was told and she kneeled beside his mattress, using antiseptic, gauze, and chakra to heal his battle injuries.

Once she was done, Rin posed a few polite questions as to how his life was going, and the awkwardness surrounding them soon dissipated. Perhaps it was because they felt comfortable in the apartment they'd shared for the past few months, or perhaps it was because they weren't fighting anymore. Whatever the reason, both felt exponentially better by the end of the visit – which was ended due to Rin's hospital shift.

Kakashi offered to walk with her there, and so the two set back out onto the streets of Konoha. On the way there, Rin had a surprise encounter with her mother, who was currently bouncing up and down joyously.

"Mom! What are you doing here?"

"Oh Rin! It's great news! Hokage-sama reinstated me as a shinobi today!"

"Are you serious? Mom, that's great news!" Rin had long accepted the fact that her mother would always try to get back to being a shinobi, and the only thing she could really do was support her and offer any advice in medicine and training for missions.

"Yup, I know! He said that for now I'll only be given C and D-ranks because I've been off duty for a while, but I'm still so excited!"

"Oh mom! So am I! I'm so proud of you!" The two females shared a hug, leaving Kakashi to feel like a third wheel.

When Rin's mother pulled away, she noticed Kakashi's presence and decided to inquire about the boy. "And who might you be?" She asked him.

"I…"

"Mom, this is my friend, Hatake Kakashi," Rin introduced.

"Very nice to meet you!"

Kakashi gave a low bow.

"And you're so polite too! What a fine young man!"

"Mom…" Rin groaned in embarrassment.

"What? He is! Anyway Rinnie, I just came by to tell you that I'll be gone for training every other week. I thought that since I'll be gone for that time, you might want to stay with that friend you lived with before."

"Oh, um, yeah. I mean, I'd have to ask my friend, to make sure I'm not imposing or anything, but that's a good idea, mhm."

"Well, of course you'd have to ask, and you could always stay home, but I thought you might like to have company." Her mother agreed. "Well Rinnie, I've got to go back home and get ready! I start tomorrow! It'd be good to find your friend and talk to him/her soon! Oh, and it was nice meeting you Kakashi." With that said, Rin's mother took off towards her house.

"So, what are you going to do?" Kakashi asked.

"Huh?" Rin took a little while before cluing in. "Oh! Um, I don't know. It seems fairly convenient what with her being gone one week and you being gone the next. But if I'd be imposing…"

"As long as you don't make me buy another mattress again…" Although he had said this in a deadpan manner, Rin could tell that he was just joking.

"Fine. I'll haul mine back and forth."

"Then no, you wouldn't be imposing at all." Kakashi explained. He would never say it out loud, but it would be nice to have someone else living in the apartment again. Getting accustomed to living by himself after she left to go live with her mother had proven to be more difficult a task than originally imagined.

"Good," she grinned. "Now let's get to the hospital before they grill me for being late for my shift."

The two recommenced their walking, and Rin started talking again. "You know something?"

"I know many things."

"I didn't think I would, but I've really missed you Kakashi."

"Hm."

Author's Note: Thank you to all the readers! Hope that you have all enjoyed this thus far! Next chapter shall indeed be the last, so hopefully you're not all too sad! :P Thanks to all those who reviewed chapter 18: chibirain94, Konoha's White Fang, Piccylo, JoiZ. D, rileyonline, Frog Lady, Sasukekunlover, ninbunny alchemist, Hikari Minamoto, Sakra-chan, and catgirl9696. As always, I encourage all my readers to leave concrit reviews, as they are much appreciated.

Chapterly Challenge: Alright guys, time for another one! (Our second last) In the event of a tie after the final chapter, I will PM each of the tied people and we will have a sudden death round. As for last week's challenges, the English one was, "People in glass homes should throw no stones," and the Latin was, "Yield not to misfortunes, but advance all the more boldly against them".

Now, to see our standings:

Chibirain94 - 11

Catgirl9696 - 15

Sakra-chan - 15

Snappa - 24

Hikari Minamoto - 30

EndDragon - 15

Piccylo - 30

JoiZ. D - 20

Rileyonline - 30

Konoha's White Fang - 15

And now, the moment you have all been waiting for, this week's challenge(s)!

1) Surveillance should precede aviation.

2) Docendo discimus.