A/N: Wow, it's taken me forever to get anything done on this one! Sorry for the delay here guys! Anyway, this isn't my greatest chapter but I decided that I needed to have Jiraiya and Reyna have a bit of a conversation and give a little more insight into their relationship since it will come up again very, very soon and I won't have Jiraiya to use in my story for much longer. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and I'm sorry Jerri but I just haven't been able to work in that lemon for you again yet…hopefully the next chapter will make it easier since she'll find Kakashi. So enjoy and hopefully the next chapter won't be so long in coming!

NARUTO: Wait!

REYNA: What?

NARUTO: Well, this is supposed to be MY show right? So why am I hardly in it lately? I mean, I love Reyna-Sensei and Kakashi-Sensei, but what about me?

REYNA: Well do the disclaimer for me now and then in the next couple of chapters I'll have you and Sakura in it quite a bit again, okay? And you are in Colliding Worlds all the time…

NARUTO: Okay! Reyna only owns herself and the plotline. Everything else is property of Masashi Kishimoto! Oh and if you like this…go and check out her other stories and maybe she'll come up with another one! Now, I'm off to buy Reyna-Sensei some ramen, so read and enjoy everybody!

I'M ALREADY PROUD OF YOU

By the time Reyna and Kakashi reached his apartment, she was barely able to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Exhaustion weighed her down and despite his own tired and beaten state, Kakashi steadied her on her feet each time her balance failed. Somehow they both managed to make it up the stairs and through the door but as soon as Kakashi closed the door behind him, she leaned back against him.

"Good thing I was expecting that," he muttered in her ear even as he wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her more firmly against him.

"Sorry…" was her yawned reply before she let him steer her into the bedroom. "If it's any consolation I'm not even going to bother with fuzzy pants tonight."

He managed a small laugh at that and shook his head as she collapsed on her side of the bed, "You must be tired then."

She nodded around another yawn and when it didn't look like he was planning on joining her any time soon she wiggled back onto the other side of the bed even as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him down beside her, "Screw changing; it takes way too much effort and I need my pillow. Although out of curiosity where the hell are the rest of your clothes?"

He shook his head but stretched out beside her anyway, "If you find them let me know."

True to her word the instant he was settled on the bed beside her she slide in against his side and nuzzled into his shoulder, "Much better."

"At least you didn't replace me when you were in the Sand."

"No…Kankuro wouldn't cooperate," she muttered already nearly asleep though she was grinning a little at that comment.

He eyed her up and grinned when he realized she was joking, "Right…Kankuro. Get some sleep, Reyna."

He hadn't even finished speaking before she was doing just that with her head buried against his neck and shoulder and one hand resting on his chest. He sighed and used his free hand to pull his mask off before letting his fingers trail through her hair and over her shoulder briefly before he too fell into sleep.

Reyna was the first awake the next morning and found that she was lying on her right side with Kakashi behind her. He had one arm under her head acting as her pillow and the other wrapped tightly around her waist pulling her flush against his chest. She couldn't help but grin a little at that before she nestled a little more securely against him and entwined her fingers with his where they were resting on her ribs.

She remained as she was, curled in against Kakashi for a few more hours before she finally moved and rolled out of the bed. Kakashi followed soon after since her movement had awakened him as well. After she had an extremely hot, though fairly brief shower, the two shared a quick breakfast after which Kakashi decided that he should finally report to Tsunade. After he left, Reyna wandered through the apartment for a few minutes before heading out into the village. She didn't really know where she was going but after stopping for her usual coffee, she found that she was heading for the graveyard. She didn't even realize that Jiraiya was following her.

He stayed back as Reyna approached Asuma's grave and gave her a few long minutes before he finally approached her worried about the pained expression on her face. Even though he had been the first one to initially break through her defenses when she had been his student, he had never known her to stand perfectly still with her head down; she was the one that he expected to DO something. Shaking his head, he approached slowly.

"Hey, Kid, how'd the training go in the Sand?"

"I'm royally fucked," she muttered, not even raising her gaze to glance over at him.

Jiraiya raised a brow, "That doesn't sound like your usual attitude of run head first into a situation and worry about the consequences later."

"What do you want from me?" she snapped not in the mood to be lectured.

Jiraiya sighed, "I don't expect you to just lie down and give up like this. The Reyna I know and trained would fight no matter what the odds are."

"This is different," she muttered, wishing he'd just go away and leave her alone.

"No, it's not!" he finally snapped and she finally looked up at him. "I may not have wanted you to be as reckless as you were when you were under my care but the fact that you never backed away from any kind of challenge is what I loved about training you. No matter what the situation was or how badly you were outnumbered or outclassed, you found a way and never gave up! So what the hell has changed you into such a bloody coward now?"

"I'm not a kid anymore!" she snarled but after years of training her and working with her on various missions he recognized the snarl as a defense. "I died remember? That changes things!"

"Reyna," he laid a hand on her shoulder and softened as he spoke, "you can't dwell on the past and what's happened. You can't change anything that's happened in the past, no matter how badly you want to. Some things that happen you can do nothing to prevent or remedy no matter how hard you try at the time. People die; it doesn't matter if they were your friend or enemy; teacher or lover; it happens. It's a part of life and it's a fact of being a ninja but you're still here. You have to remember that! If you're still around and able to kick some ass, you're still needed."

"Why are you so concerned about me all of a sudden?" she asked with a sigh, automatically dropping the defenses she had started to erect at the sudden softening of Jiraiya's tone and the gentle pressure of his hand on her shoulder.

"It isn't all of a sudden, Kid. Whether you realized it or not, I've always worried about you. When you left your training with me, I kept up with your missions and your life. I was the one who recommended you for that mission with the ANBU, you know, because I knew you'd draw their attention and get the recognition you needed. I probably even knew that you and Kakashi would end up together long before you even realized that you might LIKE him. You're not as hard to read as you seem to think you are, at least not for me. I know you, Reyna and in a lot of ways you're like the daughter I never had. Huh, and I think of Naruto like a grandson. Now that's one scary and demented though that I never realized before."

Reyna shook her head and grinned a little at that, "I just don't think I'll ever be strong enough to face down Zeke's men."

"You are stronger than you realize, Reyna. You survived that blade through your chest by more than just Sakura and Kayha's healing abilities. Trust in yourself and trust me when I tell you that you have more allies than you know and when you really and truly need them, they'll appear."

"How can they even know that I'm in that kind of a situation if I don't know who they are and can't call them?"

"They'll know. They're always with you; watching and waiting until you truly need them. You're mother wasn't the only friend of Kalil's and when you became my student, he sought me out. There was more to you mom than even your father realized, but Kalil knew and told me so I'd be aware of it in case something happened during your training or a mission. Now before you even start in on me about telling you; I won't. This is something that you have to learn for yourself."

"Unlike any of your other training?" she muttered, though it was good naturedly.

"Hey, I had some very important work to do that did not involve babysitting a self-involved wolf. Now that I've got you fixed again, I should check in on that other knuckled-headed student of mine. Hmm, now I need to figure out another pep talk for him."

Reyna walked out of the graveyard with him, thinking over everything he had just told her and knowing that she wouldn't get any more information on what Kalil had told Jiraiya, "You really think of me like a daughter?"

Jiraiya glanced over at her as they continued down the street side by side, "Yeah, why do you think I was always so hard on you and whatnot?"

She grinned at him, "Well, I'll try to make you proud of me. See you around, Dad. I need to find Kakashi and in some hard core training if I'm going to be good enough to face Zeke. Either that or we could always get some research of our own in."

Jiraiya laughed and shook his head as she headed off down a side street in search of Kakashi and he continued on to the hospital to talk with Naruto, "I'm already proud of you, Girl."

A/N: Well, there you go! Another chapter done! I had to have a different relationship between Jiraiya and Reyna than he had with Naruto so I hope I kept Jiraiya somewhat in character! Let me know what you thought because my muse lives on reviews and I think she's been starving lately!