I yawned and stretched as I woke for the day. I couldn't remember the last time I was able to sleep in. Amaya's always so early rising, and cheery. Ugh. I brushed my hair and got dressed in my normal attire. I heard a knock at my door and suddenly realized what day it was. I panicked just a tad, trying hard to compose myself. I answered my door as calmly as I could trying not to let my jaw drop when I saw Kakashi standing there.

"Hey Kakashi," I said greeting him shyly.

"Hi there," he said as he actually put away his book.

I didn't perceive this as a good thing. This meant that he would be able to pay more attention to me. More attention to me equaled me embarrassing myself way more.

"So, any ideas on where you'd like to go?" he asked.

"No. Not really. To tell you the truth, I didn't really give it much thought," I said as I bit my lip.

"Well, that's alright." he said with smiling eyes, "How about you just follow me?"

"Um… Alright." I said as we started off for who knows where.

I started walking a little slower. I didn't do it intentionally, it just sort of happened. When he noticed that I had fallen behind he slowed his steps so that I could catch up.

"Is everything alright, Rei?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I said a little too quickly. He didn't look convinced but he didn't press further either. I had to say that I was happy for that.

"Well, here we are." he said as we stood in front of a book store.

"A book store?" I asked, a little confused.

"Sure. I need to pick up the latest volume of 'Icha Icha Paradise'."

"Ah," I answered, "Is the book really all that interesting?" I asked innocently.

He chuckled, "How about I buy you the first volume so you can read it yourself?"

"Sounds good to me," I answered as he held the door for me to enter the shop.

He quickly went to where he knew he would find the books. It took maybe five minutes total in the book store. He handed me the bag that had my book in it. I guess it wouldn't hurt to read it. I had nothing better to read at home right now.

"How about we pick up some food and head back to your place?"

"Sounds really good. I haven't eaten anything yet today."

"You haven't?"

"No, I woke up just as you came to my door."

"Wow, the rumors about you not being a morning person really are true."

"Yeah, I guess they are." I said blushing slightly.

We picked up some food from a nearby restaurant and headed back for my place.

I finally started to not feel so anxious around him as we started to set up the food at my house. Then he started talking to me again.

"About the things that I had been meaning to talk to you about." he started. That one sentence made me extremely anxious again.

"Yeah," I asked almost questioning him

"Well, first off I wanted to ask you how Amaya's training with you has gone. Hokage must be impressed with what he sees or he would have never allowed her to take the chuunin exams. How did you get him to do it anyway?"

"Oh, that. He said that he would allow her to take the test under one condition. I have to accompany her on all of her missions outside of the exams. I am her new teammate since she doesn't work well with others her own age. I'm hoping to change that fact with time. She really does need to interact with ninja her own age."

"I agree. And I'm impressed that you agreed to take on such a huge responsibility with this girl."

"I see a lot of promise in her. She's talented, if she'd just put that talent in the areas that it belongs," I said giggling.

"Now, there's the other matter that I wanted to confront you about."

"Oh really?" I said a bit shyly.

"I was just wondering why you've never revealed to me how you feel about me. The whole village knows it. You'd have to be deaf and blind to miss it." He said with a sparkle in his eyes.

"That obvious, huh?" I asked biting my lip. Of course I had made it obvious. I turned into a shy teenage girl when I was around him. I knew it, I had just hoped that he had overlooked it all this time.

"Yeah… that obvious," he said chuckling.

"Well, if you knew all this time why didn't you say something?"

"I figured you'd come around in your own time."

I just stared at my food as I took a few bites. I could feel my face getting hot again. I didn't want to be embarrassed but I just couldn't help it.

"No need to be embarrassed," He said as his hand caressed my cheek. I jumped a little, not expecting him to do something like that. I looked up and gave him a tiny smile.

"That's better" he said with smiling eyes. I wished that I could see that smile but I was still too shy to ask him to remove the mask. I began to wonder if I'd ever be brave enough to ask him to do that. I wanted to pull away from him but I waited until he removed his hand.

We finished our food relatively quickly.

"How about we continue from here tomorrow? I could use a nap."

"That sounds great." I replied beaming up at him. It was nice to be able to spend time with him today but I could use the break. I didn't think my nerves could take any more today. I'd use this time to check and see how Amaya was doing with her exams. The first one would be over soon.

"Well then, see you tomorrow."

"Okay, see you tomorrow," I said as I watched him walk out the door.

I headed over to where the exams were being taken as quickly as I could. When I got there I found that the students had just finished their first exam. When Amaya saw me she darted toward me.

"Guess what, guess what, guess what?!" she squealed.

"What?" I asked her.

"I passed my first exam!" she said doing her happy dance.

"So I see." I said, a little amused with her.

"Soooo, how did your date go today?"

"That's none of your business," I said taunting her.

"Aww, you have to tell me....PLEASE?" she said giving me her best puppy dog face.

"That's not going to work today, Amaya. Now go get ready for the next exam," I said as I started walking off. I could see her pouting and stomping her foot out of the corner of my eye.