Note: Thank you to everyone who has been PM-ing me with words of encouragement and story ideas! I appreciate the support I've been receiving, but please understand that I'm already something like 80,000 words into the story so a lot of your suggestions and requests aren't really feasible , And I know a lot of you have been asking about who she gets shipped with but that's kind of a loaded question and I kind of want it to be a surprise. I mean we're supposed to be covering like... A ton of the story line and we haven't even gotten to the Konoha Crush yet XD

Though after the Konoha Crush there's going to be a couple of time skips, since I know a lot of you mentioned how the story is day-by-day. That's not going to last forever lol.

And as to whether or not her dojutsu has an advanced stage... Well that's a secret wink

The village was a finite area, but when Kana began to approach her three hundredth lap she felt as if it was a never-ending time loop. Guy was just ahead of her, a thick column of bouncing green and orange that was as pushy as ever to get her to run with him at the butt crack of dawn; her calves and thighs screamed at the rest of her body as her legs burned with each labored breath. Why did he insist on running so quickly? As far as she was aware this wasn't any sort of race, so why he practically was sprinting was beyond her. Still, every time she began to lag behind Kana made sure to push her legs harder to keep up with him. She was acutely aware of the fact that the doctor had informed her that she was to perform light exercise only until arm healed, but she wanted to get her mind off of the fact that her team was on a mission without her.

Despite having been the one to suggest Neji and, therefore, request pretty much all of her yearly time off, the Third had sent Team Tenpo out on a recon mission to the Village Hidden in the Mist with Yamato in her place and the thought bothered her. The last couple of weeks she had been doing nothing but relying on others; she needed to rely on her team to get her to the hospital, she had to rely on Kakashi to seal her curse mark, she had practically been using Kakashi as an emotional crutch lately… Staying back at home instead of being out in the field made her feel useless.

She grit her teeth and pumped her legs harder. Kana was a pathetic excuse for a Leaf jonin.

"Whoa, Kana, late for a date?" Guy joked as she sprinted past him. At first she didn't say anything, only focusing on the burn in her chest and the wind that rushed through her ears. She was tired of being the loser, watching the rest of her colleagues and friends advance while she only seemed to fall behind. It was bad enough that she had the kekkei genkai variant, but she was also following in the footsteps of Kakashi Hatake as some freakishly young Anbu member. And the entire village was waiting for her to snap like they thought Itachi did. 'No pressure, right?' she thought to herself facetiously.

She forced herself to push the negative thoughts aside before she made herself angry over something as ridiculous as this. Looking over her shoulder, Kana flashed her father figure a smile, "I have no idea what you're even talking about, I've hardly broken a sweat! Looks like you're just getting old, Guy!" Her response didn't completely extinguish the concern hiding in those dark eyes of his, but he matched her smile with his own mischievous one. Guy began catching up to her and Kana realized that she had just challenged him to a race. 'Ahhh dammiiiit,' she groaned inwardly as he halved the distance between them in just a few strides.

"Well in that case, how about we make a wager?" he practically purred the words out at her.

"Dad, no, come on it's five in the morning," she whined, "I have to train with Neji later, and I promised Kotetsu that I'd go shopping with him I mean god knows the man can't cook for himse-"

"No I'm afraid it's too late, Kana, I have decided that we are to race to the barbecue restaurant and the loser buys!"

Barbecue?

Kana sped up and ignored the triumphant look on her old teacher's face; she wasn't sure how it was possible but she somehow felt a new rush of energy that spurred her legs to push harder against the dirt path. Guy had gained on her and there was no way in hell she was going to let him win again. She turned and skidded onto the road that took them back into the village, feeling the dirt dust up and cling to her sweaty legs as she jumped over a cat that had jumped into the middle of the street.

"YEAH KANA! YOU GOT THIS!" What the hell was Kotetsu doing up so early? She risked a glance up in the direction his voice came from and saw him waving at her with Genma and Izumo by his side. "DO US PROUD, KANA!" Genma joined in with a grin. He spoke exceptionally well for someone that constantly held a needle in his mouth.

'Oh hell yeah. Guy isn't going to beat me with them watching.' She pumped her legs harder and felt the fire in her chest creep its way up her throat. Sprinting against the jonin wasn't something to sneeze at, but she knew she would appreciate the hard workout later. With her friends cheering her on in the growing distance, she saw Guy appear in the corner of her eye. Oh no, they were too close to the restaurant for him to finally catch the lead. Kana felt her adrenaline begin to wear off, though, so she used the last of her energy to kick off of the ground and latch onto the man's back.

A confused grunt escaped his lips between heavy pants, but his lips twisted up into a grin. "Giving up? Fine, I'll just carry you to the finish line!" His arms wrapped around his back and he clasped his ridiculously huge hands under her rear, locking her legs in. Crap. This was going to make things difficult, and she realized that Guy may have caught onto her plans as he pinned her legs to his body and sped up.

With the barbecue joint in sight, an idea struck Kana. "Hey, is that Kakashi?" she muttered in his ear, pointing to the left.

His grip lessened and his pace slowed, even if only very minutely so, as he looked in the direction of her finger. Kana yanked her legs out from between his arms and climbed up his body; in less than a second she was swinging around to his chest and kicking off of the mountainous man, propelling herself straight to the doorstep of the restaurant.

"Hahaaaa!" she wheezed, collapsing to her knees, "I did it!" As much as she wanted to cheer to the village that she had beaten Might Guy in a race, Kana was pretty sure she wasn't going to be able to catch enough of her breath to move for at least five minutes – assuming her arms and legs would stop trembling as if they were made of gelatin.

She closed her eyes and heard Guy walk up next to her, breathing almost as hard as she was. "Good job, baby, I expected nothing less from my former student burning with the spirit of youth!"

More like burning with the lungs of agonizing fire from challenging a madman to a race for free pork, but sure. She lifted her head up to see the trio jogging around the corner onto their street, most likely to see if she had won or not. Kana only threw a thumb up for a brief second before hanging her head back down as she tried to control her heaving chest. Why the hell does she always let Guy bribe her with food into nearly killing herself?

"Well , then… It appears that we were a little early, Kana," she heard Guy say as he tried the door.

Her eyes snapped open and her head whipped around. "Are you joking?!"

"Yeah we were wondering where you were running to so early in the morning," Izumo jumped in when they got close enough, "You know it's not even six in the morning, right? What the hell are you two doing out here so early?"

Was that even a question? Guy was notorious for getting a workout in before his workout before he trained.

"I bet he promised her free food if she won," Kotetsu responded with a smirk, "But hey, at least you won. That's pretty impressive in its own right."

Someone stepped behind Kana just before she felt two arms loop under her arms and around her shoulders, pulling her upwards. "Come on, lady, stand up." Despite her irritated groans and buckling knees, Genma continued to lift her up off of the ground, "Keep your hands behind your head and your lungs will have more space to huff all you want at me," he said in an amused tone.

Kana's legs wobbled and she struggled to keep herself upright but, he was right, her lung capacity immediately doubled; she took deep gulps of breath and allowed herself to lean back into Genma's chest as her attention moved from her gasping to the weakness in her legs. As if reading her mind, Genma wrapped around one of his strong arms around her waist to hold her upright. "Don't worry, I've got you," he assured her.

He smelled like musk and soap and Kana was suddenly acutely aware of how she was covered in sweat and dirt. She pulled away, embarrassed.

"Well sorry, Kana, it looks like you're going to have to wait until lunchtime," Guy boomed, clasping her shoulder and nearly causing her knees to give out. Christ almighty his hand was huge. The kunoichi narrowed her eyes in response and began to wonder if she'd be able to get Neji out of bed in time for her to get his training finished by noon, or if she could convince him to start later than they had planned.

'Man, I really need to sort out my priorities…' Kana felt a bead of sweat trickle down her cheek and wiped it away with her gloved wrist. "I told you I had training with Neji," she snapped, "And I was being serious about shopping for Kotetsu. He sucks at being an adult-"

"Hey! I'm right he-"

"A bottle of syrup is not breakfast, dammit! It's a condiment! It goes on your breakfast!"

Izumo cracked up next to his best friend, knowing full well that he was the sole cause for the borderline syrup addiction. "I can't tell if she sounds like your mom or your wife, man," he joked, "Seriously though that's not healthy." His laughter only increased when Kotetsu folded his arms and began to complain about being ganged up on.

Genma cracked a smile as well, clicking the senbon between his teeth and shooting a quick sideways glance at Kana. "Maybe it's a euphemism for something else that's thick and sticky."

She immediately picked up on the reference to the joke made in the hospital a couple of weeks back and had to cover her mouth to stifle a laugh. The result was a whimpering snort that shook through her throat, which immediately redirected the attention from Kotetsu to Kana.

"Jeeze, Kana, you really are like a mini Guy. You two even make the same weird noises," Genma joked.

Guy immediately rushed over to her side to wrap his massive arms around her head. "Of course she's like me, I practically raised her myself you know. I trained with her every day even when she was promoted to jonin and how do you think she developed such powerful youthful muscles and-"

"Smothering yet another student, Guy?"

Kakashi had silently approached the group, startling everyone but Kana and Genma who had watched him walk up; she relished the feeling of air against her skin as Guy removed the sweaty bicep that had been covering her nose and mouth to spin towards his oldest friend. "Ah, Kakashi, my rival. I'm afraid if you've come to challenge me I don't have the time as I must attend to other matters!" he declared proudly.

"Uh… Well that's nice to know and all but I'm really just here for Kotetsu and Izumo." He turned his head to the two, "You were supposed to open the mission room fifteen minutes ago," he scolded in a chilled tone.

It was strange to see the two chunin to revert to a quiet, respectful demeanor; they stood next to each other silently, backs straight and eyes looking down at their exposed toes. The change only reminded her how she really only acted as a mutual friend for the men. "Yes sir," Izumo responded, "We'll get going right away." They immediately crouched down and leaped out of sight.

"You're pretty tense, lady." Genma's voice pulled her out of the blank space her mind had been drifting in as they walked.

Some shop owners had started the process of opening as the sun rose higher in the sky, but other than them and the occasional shinobi, the roads were clear. When Kakashi and Guy went off to run their own errands, Kana and Genma had just begun strolling around in silence. It wasn't too uncommon for them to spend time this way. There was something extremely cathartic about their silent ritual; it was a pleasant change in pace from the energy from Kotetsu and Guy.

Kana realized that her arms were tightly folded across her chest with one hand furiously twirling the end of a dark grey braid. Annoyance sparked in her head as yet another person reminded her that she was unable to truly hide her emotions, though he was probably more fixated on Kana's body language.

She dropped her arms to her side and adjusted the hem of her bodysuit. "Am I a good shinobi, Genma?"

He clicked the senbon in response and out of the corner of her eye he saw him peer at her in confusion. "What the hell kind of question is that, coming from the person that made it into Anbu before she hit puberty?" The genuine curiosity in his voice made Kana realize that she was probably being ridiculous.

"I just… I feel like my entire life I've been walking in someone else's shadow," she admitted after a few moments of trying to organize her thoughts, "Sure, I advanced quickly when I was a kid but… I haven't advanced any further since then. Kakashi had been made Anbu team captain when he was younger than I am, but… I've only led a percentage of missions. I feel like I should have been promoted to Anbu captain by now, or… I don't know, I feel like something should have changed. Something to set myself apart, instead of people constantly seeing me as a mini-Kakashi that was trained by Guy. I'm always being compared to them as if I'm just an amalgamation of the two.

"But at the same time I don't know if I'd be worthy of making it any further. I allowed myself to be taken out by Orochimaru after making a bad call in the forest that caused someone dear to me to get hurt, I'm emotional and I have the weakest dojutsu out of them all. Sometimes…" she bit her lip, "Sometimes I wonder if I should even continue being in Anbu. Maybe I should just retire like Kakashi did and become a jonin-sensei."

Genma laughed next to her and patted the top of her head, "Oh, is that all? I was worried you were going to start ranting."

She leered at him, but his joke caused her to crack a smile.

"Look, I know what it's like to feel as if you're getting stagnant, and I can only imagine how amplified that restlessness is when you're as ambitious as you are…" He sighed and it was obvious to Kana that he was struggling to put his thoughts into words as they began to approach the jonin standby station. Even when relaxing they were thinking about work, apparently. "But you have to understand that you've pretty much already reached the top, Kana. The only way you can go any higher is if you were to succeed the Anbu Commander, and that guy creeps me out more than the rest of Anbu and I don't think he's leaving any time soon."

They stopped outside of the station and faced each other, though Kana was too embarrassed to meet Genma's gaze so she only stared at his chest. She seemed to be feeling embarrassed a lot, lately.

"And it's true you're more emotional than the others in Black Ops," he continued on as if he were reading her thoughts, "But that's only by Anbu standards. Do you know how hard I had to work to actually get to know you?" She looked up this time to meet his gaze at the question, though that mostly had to do with the fact that he had hooked a finger under her chin to lift her face up. Kana never realized how warm and brown his eyes were. It fit his casual personality really well. "I really have no idea how Izumo and Kotetsu managed to get on your good side, because you were as cold and distant as the rest of them when we met."

That's right, she never really spoke to anyone outside of the Uchihas and Hyugas until she was around fifteen. And after the incident with Itachi, Kana had cut off everyone that wasn't Kakashi, Neji or Guy. It wasn't until Guy expressed concern for her wellbeing that she began opening up to people again, though it was mostly jonin she spoke with.

"I don't either, honestly," Kana half-lied, "I was leading his team for a couple of months while their captain was recovering in the hospital. I guess I just liked how he made things… Brighter." Her answer brought a slight grin to Genma's face, though it was more of a twitch than anything else.

"Yeah he's someone I think anyone can appreciate," he admitted, "But my point is that even if you feel as if you're this raging ball of emotions, you have such a tight grip on yourself that sometimes I'm really glad you have hair that changes shade. It only feels wrong to you because those damn Anbu goons have brainwashed you into thinking you need to be some stoic robot in order to become a proper shinobi."

The harshness in his last sentence caught Kana off guard; she broke their eye contact and focused on his hair, though his finger still head her face up. It wasn't the first time she had heard something like that said about herself and her colleagues, but it sure as hell hurt more when it was coming from someone she was fond of and respected. Especially when it was someone that understood that the Anbu relied on their stoic and dark personalities to get them through missions that would horrify normal people – their work would destroy them otherwise.

Genma must have picked up on her sudden discomfort because he finally released her head with a sigh, clicking that damn senbon between his teeth. "I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I'm just trying to say that I don't think it's a bad thing that you finally started opening up, and I don't want to see you throw up that barrier again and shut yourself away from everyone that cares about you."

Kana's eyes flitted back to his for a brief moment; she bit her lip and felt herself squirm underneath the intensity of his gaze, well aware of the fact that she was the one responsible for him looking as concerned as he did. It had never occurred to her that he was even capable of looking anything other than confident, or thoughtful. It made her feel awful.

"Just promise me you won't run away. Please? I care about you too much to just watch you close back up."

Her body stiffened, torn between taking off to be alone or to embrace her friend who suddenly looked… Raw. She understood that he was opening himself up to her to make his point drive home, pleading to her so she recognized the meaning of his words.

Kana realized that she had spent so much of her life watching over Neji and Sasuke, or focusing on training and time spent with Kakashi and Guy, that she failed to notice how the people around her felt; it wasn't until she realized how desperately she had been craving for someone to do the same thing for her, that horror settled into her stomach.

Her entire life had been spent relying on herself, refusing to get close to teammates or fully depend on them. Having Guy as her sensei opened her up to the idea of friendship, sure, but those feelings really only ever extended to him, Kakashi and Itachi; once Itachi had left, she made sure to snap shut again and, afterwards, it seemed as if Lee was the only person that was able to get through to her. Kana had turned into a machine that only cared about the kids and defending her village.

When Guy insisted on her making friends, she honestly didn't listen to him at first. She didn't see the point of having anyone else in her life and didn't think it was necessary for her to open herself up. It wasn't until she learned that it was Guy who had gone to the Hokage to protest Kakashi furthering his career in Anbu, resulting in Kakashi's removal from the organization, that she took his words seriously. Even then, she only feigned being acquaintances with those around her; Kana began going to the jonin meetups at Anko's and hanging around Team Guy more often only to get him off of her back, but something somewhere changed.

Kana wasn't sure when it happened, but she suddenly realized that she genuinely cared about the few friendships she had forged in the last couple of years. They weren't as deep as what she had with Neji or Kakashi, but when she envisioned her life reverting back to the way it was… It felt... Bleak.

A disappointed sigh escaped Genma's lips for the third time since they began talking; he stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned back towards the entrance to the standby center. "Maybe you've already started to put that barrier up," he muttered, "What do I know?"

'No. Don't go.'

Kana practically lunged forward as he began walking, reaching out with one arm to grab the rolled up cuff of his shirt sleeve. He stopped and turned back to her, his expression reasonably skeptical, and took the senbon out of his mouth. "I need to hear you say it, Kana."

With one hand clutching the fabric of her flak jacket, her arm acting as a physical barrier, she could only bring herself to gape up at him. "I…" If she wasn't so intent on forcing herself to speak, Kana would have been astounded at her inability to properly convey her thoughts. She felt naked under his piercing gaze and it scrambled her thoughts – Kana wasn't used to this. She wasn't accustomed to being unable to function under pressure, and it was killing her.

"I don't... Want to run away," she finally breathed, "I promise. I… Genma. Please don't leave."

"Can I hold you?"

For the second time in the last week or so Kana found herself taken aback by the suddenness of his question, but this time she hesitated. Him touching her hand was one thing, and a palm on her cheek wasn't exactly mind-shattering physical contact – but there was something strangely intimate about hugs that always put her off to them. Still, Kana decided that if she was going to test herself, now might as well be the time to do it. "Yes."

She barely had time to register the relief on his face before she felt Genma take hold of her forearm and pull her against his body. Her arms snaked around him, grabbing fistfuls of the flak jacket he wore. As Kana noted how his body felt unfamiliar, she realized that this was the first time she had hugged someone in years that wasn't in her immediate circle - Kotetsu would try, but that was as far as it ever got as she would always push him away, or dodge his advances.

When Genma's arm looped around her waist, she realized that she had no desire to shove him away and, in fact, felt herself relax a small amount at the sensation. She stood on the tips of her toes so she could nuzzle her way around his collar and bury her face into the base of his neck. "You smell nice," she mumbled, "I'm all sweaty. Sorry."

Genma's head shook and his arms tightened. "Mm-mm. I actually can only smell your hair, for the most part. Is it weird that I'm surprised by the fact that you actually smell like a woman?" Kana narrowed her eyes and made an attempt to squirm away, but a laugh rumbled through Genma's chest and he pulled her back in. "No, no, no I'm sorry I'm joking."

"Asshat."

When it was clear she wasn't going to pull away again, his grip eased and she felt the back of one of his hands lazily slide down her body to gingerly rest on her hip. "You know I'm only playing when I say stuff like that right?" he asked, "I know I crack a lot of jokes at your expense, but you're really pretty."

"You're really pretty."

"I'm just… Appreciative."

Her body stiffened. Kana was well aware of Kotetsu's attraction towards her; it wasn't as if he was subtle about it, the man definitely made sure she knew that he wanted more of her than she was interested in providing. With Genma, though, the comment left her feeling blindsided.

She realized where this conversation was heading and she was promptly hyperaware of just how close they were. She could feel Genma's heartbeat against her cheek, his warm breath rustling her hair, the fingertips that lightly grazed the bare flesh of her hip - Kana opted into wearing the legless one piece and mesh leggings as to not have any fabric getting caught on something or causing discomfort in the field, but in this moment she only felt exposed. Vulnerable.

What worried her the most, was that the sense off vulnerability didn't want to break the embrace and leave - Kana wanted to press herself closer into his hold and allow the warmth of his body soothe and comfort her.

That made her want to push away.

Genma must have felt her muscles tense, because the hand on her hip quickly moved to a shoulder blade and Kana felt him pull back enough for his lips to hover next to her ear."Did I say something wrong? I'm sor-"

A small group of chunin exited the standby station, one of them whistling and another laughing about how they needed to get a room. Kana almost violently ripped herself from the embrace to face the squad; it was being led by Kokage, whose eyes widened when they saw who the two were jeering at. He began to apologize profusely with the rest of his team, but Kana only ignored their blathering as she pushed past them and started her way over to the training field.

It was about time for her to meet with Neji, anyways.