It had been a couple months since Seiri's encounter with Vagaun, and she would be allowed to leave the hospital soon. Much to her delight. Even still, she was told she needed to rest up as much as possible. The doctors wanted her to do nothing that would put any sort of physical strain on her body, which ruled out practically everything. She groaned at the thought of doing absolutely nothing for the coming months. She wanted to train, she needed to keep her senses sharp. But, resigned, she obeyed the doctor's orders.

When Seiri was released from the hospital, Kakashi was there to escort her out and take her home. It made her happy to have someone in her life who truly cared so much about her. And it made her more happy that she could reciprocate those feelings back towards him. Maybe it was all the peril she had been in that really just gave her the shove she needed.

Kakashi's house looked like heaven in her eyes. She was sick of all the white walls the hospital had. Plus, even off in the Snow Village during the ANBU's mission, all she had seen was white. The Temple's exterior was even crafted out of white marble! She hated that color now, and Kakashi's house was nearly, blissfully, devoid of it.

The silver haired ninja helped Seiri over to the couch; she slumped into it gratefully. Most of her broken bones had healed, much faster than they should have but no one was complaining. From the report Seiri had given the Hokage, Lady Tsunade, about their mission, accelerated healing was practically the most normal thing that was happening to the red head right now. Her ribs still ached, however. No where near the excruciating pain they had been causing her, but it still felt slightly uncomfortable if she took too deep of breaths.

Kakashi tended to Seiri the rest of the day. Bringing her food when she was hungry, water when she was parched. One of the more embarrassing moments, though she didn't actually mind that much, was when Kakashi helped bathe her. He had had to carry her into his bathroom and set her into the bathtub, then sponge her clean. Seiri blushed the entire time, as red as a tomato. She couldn't have done it herself, even raising her arms above her head pulled at muscles that were still healing.

Kakashi didn't complain.

When the aches and bruises had subsided, and Seiri found she could move about about freely without pain, she decided to go to the training grounds. It had been much too long since she had done anything and she knew she wasn't as strong as she needed to be. She wasn't upset about that, but it needed to be remedied. She wanted to be at her best. Only, this time, she trained slowly, at a safe pace, and never pushed herself too much.

She tested the weight of her sword in her hands, the smaller one-not the one with the inscriptions. It felt odd as she turned it, slicing at the empty air. Months without training had erased a bit of her muscle memory. Though, it still felt good to hold the blade once again.

She stacked short, thin logs on the ground for practice. Standing before them, she clutched the long blade in front of her. Then, raising it up, she swung it down in aslant, carving a clean, vertical line through the stumps. Her side protested in its soreness at the movement but Seiri didn't mind. It wasn't anything serious. She inspected her work, nodding. It wasn't as clean a cut as it could have been but that was just her being picky.

She practiced with her weapon for several dozen more minutes before she heard running and turned around to see one of Kakashi's students. "Seiri! Someone just came through Konoha's gates asking for you!" The boy was blond and energetic, lines like whiskers on his face and brilliantly blue eyes. Naruto, she remembered.

The red head stood up straight and dropped her sword to her side, still holding the hilt, "What? Who?"

He stopped once he reached her, placing his hands behind his head, not even winded from running, "I dunno, but he was wearing a big green hat and was dressed all in black."

Seiri's golden eyes narrowed. "And he was carrying weapons?"

Naruto nodded, "Yeah, he had two katanas crossed on his back and some weird, curved daggers at his belt."

Her eyes widened, "Isamu…"