Note: I started writing a handful of timeskips where I am in the story, and I feel like it rushes things a bit... I mean I know it doesn't from a reader's standpoint, but I'm one of those people that enjoys cramming as much as they possibly can into their writing.

But if it takes you 90,000 words just to get through the first third of your story... You're taking too much time lol.

"He's just around the corner, are you ready?"

Sasuke's round eyes gleamed up at hers in anticipation and nodded, a determined grin stretched across his face.

"Then go, go! I'm right behind you!" Kana whispered, waving her hand at him.

The five year old jumped up from his crouched position and ran around the corner of the building they had been hiding behind, Kana following a few paces back with a sheet of paper and a pot of red ink in her hands, a silent giggle escaping her lips as she watched him throw a kunai at the rope he had tied to a kunai jammed into the ground. A log dropped down from its suspended state and knocked his target onto its side, dazed.

With an excited shout Sasuke threw himself on top of the large cat, which was about the same size as the child, and started tying three of its paws together with the rope his brother had lent him. "The ink! Hurry give me the ink!" he squealed, bouncing on the feline's side. Kana stifled another giggle but quickly rushed to his side to hand over the pot of ink, placing the paper on the ground next to the miserable animal's free paw. Sasuke quickly unscrewed the metal cap and set it aside before using both hands to dip the paw into the bright red ink.

Kana watched the boy carefully bring the inked paw to hover over the sheet, his glee hidden behind a look of absolute concentration as he slowly took the cat's print, extra care being taken to not smudge the ink when he was finished. He walked over to the kunai that was plunged into the dirt and pulled it up, turning back to the restrained cat before kneeling by its side and slowly cutting the rope that kept it bound.

When he was finished, the cat yowled and bolted down the road, leaving little red paw prints in its path; Sasuke didn't seem to care, he only held up the paper and beamed proudly, "Look! Big sister look!"

"Yes, Sasuke, I see it," Kana responded warmly, "Itachi's going to be really happy, this is the biggest one you've caught, isn't it?"

Sasuke only giggled in response, scurrying over to her with his arms outstretched; Kana crouched down to pick up the paint before wrapping her arms around the boy and lifting him up. She wasn't much bigger than Sasuke, but she was sure to hold him tightly as he wrapped his arms and legs around her body. His baby-soft cheek gently bounced against her own as they walked back towards Granny Cat's home, and a thought popped into Kana's head. "You know, I think there's one more print we need to get before we all head home…"

Itachi turned from Granny Cat when the pair walked through the door with a fond smile, "That took less time than I thought it would. Sasuke, did you have Kana do this for you?"

His little brother dropped down from Kana's waist with a huff, "No, I did it on my own! Look, see?!" he said indignantly, holding out the paper for Itachi to observe, who handed it to the old cat lady perched on a large pillow.

"It's true," Kana confirmed, "All I did was hold the ink pot, just like he told me to. But…" She smirked, and Sasuke looked as if he was about to jump out of his shorts in anticipation, "I'm going to need his help getting a print."

Before Itachi had a chance to react, she lunged forward and threw her body on top of his, using her weight and hands to pin him to the floor. "Sasuke! Go, go, go!" she half-laughed half-shouted as the older brother realized what was happening and began to wiggle his body in a show at struggling. Sasuke rushed up to the two and sat on his brother's upper arm before neatly placing down a piece of paper and unscrewing the pot of ink.

"Make a paw!"

"What?"

Sasuke shook his brother's hand and tried pushing his fingers, "You need to make a paw!" he shrieked happily.

Itachi stifled a laugh and Kana could see the look of adoration and amusement on his face as he curled his hand into the fist his brother demanded, "Okay, okay, Sasuke. Here," he said in mock-resignment. With the same level of concentration he displayed earlier, Sasuke carefully dipped his brother's closed fist into the red ink, making sure the excess properly dripped back into the pot before moving the hand over the paper and slowly setting it down next to his own print.

With the print taken to his satisfaction, Sasuke got off of Itachi's arm and turned to the girl with his hand out, "Now you," he said demandingly.

"What? No, Sasuke, I told you that this is for your mom – she isn't going to want my handprint…"

When he opened his mouth to protest, Itachi reached out and poked him on the forehead with a gentle smile, "Sasuke, we'll have plenty of opportunities for this later. Let's just leave it alone for now, okay? It's time for us to go home."

Someone was touching her hair. Kana could feel familiar fingers weaving through the tresses in a methodical pattern, folding different locks over each other. She opened her eyes and immediately knew that she was lying in her bed with the covers pulled up to her chest; Neji was sitting next to her head looking down at her, dark circles ringing around his white eyes.

His face visibly softened when he saw her peering up at him. "You're awake," he said softly, pulling her bangs back from her face to weave it into the rest of her braid, "I was getting a little tired of you mumbling about Sasuke."

It took her a few moments to remember how to use her voice, only being able to emit a small noise when her lips parted; Neji knew how she had trouble speaking after sleeping for too long, so he began to run down the list of what could be on her mind. "You've been asleep for about twenty hours. Genma found me after the attack and let me know that Kakashi-sensei had brought you home. Our people are all okay, except… The proctor from the preliminary rounds was found dead, and your friend with the scarred face is in the hospital. I was told he's going to be fine."

Proctor from the preliminary round? That must have been… 'Hayate… Oh, no…' She wasn't particularly close to the jonin, as she never had much incentive to get to know him, but Kana knew that both Genma and Raido regarded him as a close friend. Izumo and Kotetsu were fond of him, as well. Her heart went out to them.

"Genma came over a couple of times to check in, and Tenten stopped by once with food, but right now the entire village is busy with fixing things up," Neji continued, "Lord Hokage… Lord Hokage was killed by Orochimaru during the invasion." He shifted towards the edge of the bed to allow Kana more room as she propped herself up on her elbows experimentally – her body was stiff from being asleep for so long but, other than a throbbing ache in her thigh from where she had been cut by the shuriken, and her arm where Neji had stabbed her, there was no discomfort when she moved.

"Water?" she croaked when she was sitting upright, the coolness of the wall seeping through the thin material of her t-shirt. Neji nodded and slid off of the bed to leave the room without a moment's hesitation.

When he left the room Kana looked down to stare at her hands, remembering how she had been practically coated in blood before; her fighting style practically ensured that she would leave a bloodied mess due to her literally ripping her opponents open with her hands, but it never really bothered her. It was the feeling of their insides – that sickly soft, squishy, hot and warm sensation of their bodies that really got to her. She remembered the strange rough texture of the shinobi whose throat she stabbed shortly before…

'Captain, I am so sorry,' she prayed, recalling the way Koh collapsed on the roof.

Neji returned just a minute later with a glass full of water, handing it to her with a concerned look on his face as he crawled onto the bed. "Are you okay?"

At first, Kana didn't respond – she silently took the glass of water and lifted it to her lips while he sat next to her against the wall. The cool liquid almost immediately relieved the dry soreness and helped her throat open up, and she downed half of it before reaching back to set it on the dresser. Then, she turned back and her eyes locked onto his grimly, "Neji, I need to tell you something. Please don't interrupt me, just listen."

He nodded silently, worry etched into his already tired face.

"Anbu… We're sort of viewed as these killing machines – like untouchable variants of normal shinobi. A lot of people think that because we're handpicked by the Hokage we're indestructible, or all-powerful…"

Talking was easy with Neji, and getting her thoughts across to him wasn't something she normally struggled with, but this particular subject was almost too painful for Kana to put her thoughts in order.

"But the truth is, what we do is almost incomprehensibly dangerous,Neji. Most of us don't make it through our thirties, and even fewer make it to retirement... That's why we're trained to work better on our own instead of as a team, and why we're discouraged from establishing any sense of closeness with each other... This is also why we're not allowed to marry while still in the service."

She paused when Neji reached over to place a hand on her knee; it was probably meant to be a comforting gesture, but the slight tremble in his fingers only added to the heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Kana reached up and curled her own fingers around his, her eyes still holding his pained gaze, "Since becoming a shinobi, I've always fought as hard as I could to make sure that I come home safe, but I've had my fair share of close calls… And there is always that chance of my skills not being enough to save me. I've already been in Anbu for nearly ten years already. I'm beginning to really push my luck with chance by this point, and… Neji, there's… There's a very good chance that I'm going to leave for a mission one day and not come back. When – if," she corrected herself, seeing Neji's eyes begin to water, "If that happens, I… I just want you to know that I love you, more than anyone in this world, and I did everything I possibly could to come back to you."

Neji's eyes glittered with unshed tears, his lips pressed into a tight line. "I… I understand," he whispered before using his free arm to wrap around her shoulders and pull their bodies together; he buried his face into the nape of Kana's neck, and she could feel the wetness of his tears on her skin as he kissed the base of her skull. "I love you, too. So much. I'm… I'm so glad to have you by my side."

They stayed like that for what felt like hours until the boy finally fell asleep. Kana gently laid him down and pulled the covers up, shutting the door behind her so he could rest.

Kana thumbed another page of Icha Icha over when there was a soft knock at the door; she flashed her kekkei genkai to see that it was Kakashi, who was only knocking as a formality as she knew he had a key to her apartment. For a brief second she considered just calling for him to come in, but she remembered that Neji was still slumbering in the other room so Kana sighed and dog-eared the page she was on before pushing herself off of the sofa.

"Neji's in bed," she said softly when she opened the door, limping out of the way to allow Kakashi in. There were dark circles on top of dark circles under his exposed eye, and Kana could see the visible slump in his shoulders as he sluggishly made his way through her tiny kitchen to the "Living room" which was barely large enough to accompany a sofa, an easy chair, a small coffee table and a skinny bookcase. He sagged into the seat cushions of the sofa with a long sigh, and Kana realized that while she had been snoozing away in her comfy bed, her friend had been running himself ragged with the rest of the uninjured shinobi trying to get the village back in order.

With her uninjured leg underneath her, she sat on the neighboring sofa cushion and gave him a few moments to himself as he stared blankly up at the ceiling.

"The Hokage's funeral is in a couple of days," he mumbled after a couple of minutes, "Asuma and I are in charge of preparations. He's looking pretty rough but is holding himself together."

'That's right, Asuma was the Third's son…' This entire situation was just miserable for everyone.

Kakashi's exposed eye gave her a once over, and he made a humming noise before lolling his head to the side to face her. "I haven't seen you wear those in a while," he said, one hand lazily reaching out to pinch the loose pajama pants she wore. "I was going to change you myself, but Neji insisted he be the one to clean you up," he continued with a sigh, "It still surprises me just how protective he is."

She glanced down and pulled her other leg up so she was curling against the back of the sofa, gingerly brushing the back of his exposed fingers with the tips of her own. "You're one to talk," she said softly.

He hummed again, but didn't say anything else. Kana couldn't tell if he was exhausted, tense or still angry with her. Maybe it was a combination of all three. Either way, the heavy silence between them was deafening, nothing like the comfortable silence they normally shared while reading or watching television together; it was really beginning to unsettle her, so after a few minutes of just watching him lounge on her couch she decided to speak up.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi," she said softly, "About the curse mark. Even if I didn't know how bad it was, I knew it was dangerous. Please forgive me."

A resigned sigh escaped his lips, muffled by his mask, and Kakashi pushed up his forehead protector to rub at his eyes. "Sometimes it's just hard to remember that you're not a student anymore, even after all these years – after everything we've been through together… I shouldn't have treated you as if you were anything less than my equal..."

When he removed his hand, his mismatched eyes looked sad and emotionally worn. "Look... If you use the mark, it will begin to eat away at your mind until you're completely at Orochimaru's bidding," he explained, "I've lost a fair share of friends in my lifetime, but… I'd rather see you die a shinobi's death in battle than become someone else's mindless pawn."

'Oh.' It wasn't that he had been angry with her, like she initially believed; Kakashi was only worried for her wellbeing. Kana wasn't sure if that made her feel any better, or if she felt worse for invoking that level of concern in him.

He sluggishly reached out to nudge at her legs, telling her to reposition herself without bothering to open his mouth. When she had adjusted so that she sat properly on the sofa, Kakashi pulled his own legs up and laid down so that his head rested in Kana's lap; his eyes slid shut and, for a moment, she wished she could pull back his mask. The man always looked so young and peaceful when he slept in a safe place.

"Anyways, I actually came here to tell you that your apartment building is being condemned tomorrow morning."

So much for him being in a safe place.

"I would take you in at my place, but it was basically obliterated by a giant snake so I'm staying at Iruka's."

She smirked to cover up the twinge of disappointment over not having a home starting tomorrow. "It's about time you two moved in together," Kana joked, smirk widening when pink tinted the small amount of his exposed cheeks, "Seriously, Kashi, even if it's only been a year, you practically live there anyways so you might as well."

On eye opened up lazily, "Those are some bold words coming from the person that's been skirting around her feelings for a certain tokubetsu jonin for the last couple of months."

"Hey, don't you try to turn this on me! I'm not the one that's been blatantly disregarding hints-"

"Aren't you?"

Kana's eyes slanted down at him. "It's different.

"Is it?"

"Dammit, Kakashi." Can't she just have one pleasant conversation anymore? Half of their village was trashed, and this was the moment he deemed appropriate for a talk about her situation with Genma? 'This is what I get for trying to make a fucking joke in a bad situation.'The man gave her a sheepish look that served as a reminder of how he was still a young man, despite having been treated as an adult since childhood; Kakashi lifted her free hand to his covered cheek and nuzzled into it apologetically.

She half expected the jonin to get up off of her lap, but he instead just reached for the end of her untied braid. "Well, first off, Iruka and I actually broke things off a couple of weeks ago," Kakashi gave her a sharp look to shut her up when she opened her mouth to ask questions, "Let me tell you a story. Look, back when I was still in Anbu there was a woman I met while on a mission. She was a shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Stars, and I guess you could say we fell for each other after a few months of keeping in touch. This was back when relationships between shinobi from different villages were strictly forbidden, so we never actively pursued it even if we pretended to entertain the thought."

Kakashi's fingers began to separate the loose braid, though his eyes still remained on Kana's. "Eventually we saw less and less of each other, but I still hung on to the notion that things would change and we'd be able to be together one day."

"This story sucks, Kashi."

"Shut up, I'm almost done," he chuckled half-heartedly, "I spent a handful of years sleeping around when I wasn't sulking - which was when Iruka came along."

It was Kana's turn to sigh as a weight settled in her chest; she bit her lip, focusing her eyes on the hand that was reaching up her head. "You didn't… Feel like you were betraying her?" she asked softly, projecting her own worries.

With a sad, understanding smile Kakashi gave a subtle nod. "There was some guilt, at first. I felt as if I owed her something, though I didn't know what. It wasn't until I realized that I wouldn't want her torturing herself like that over me, and that she would have felt the same way, that it became easier to move on. Besides…" his hand shook out the last of her braid, causing Kana's bangs to fall in front of her face as they came loose, "I came to understand that I was in love with her memory by that point, not her. And even if was on and off for a few years, and things didn't work out, being with Iruka helped me come to terms with that."

A small, choked noise escaped Kana's lips as the harsh realization of what his words meant set in – her hand twisted from his cheek to lace their fingers together, "But that… The memory is all I've had for so long," she whispered.

"So are you hesitating because you're afraid of becoming attached to Genma, or because you're afraid of what will happen when you let go of Itachi?"

Neji's voice startled both of the jonin – Kakashi was sitting upright in less than a second, despite being so clearly exhausted, and Kana nearly gave herself whiplash when she looked over her shoulder to the narrow hallway. The teenager had his arms folded over his chest, hair hanging loosely around his solemn-looking face while he leaned against the wall.

"Neji…How long have you been awake?" she asked, as if it mattered, "Are you hungry? There are still some leftovers-"

He pushed himself off of the wall when Kana stood from the couch, crossing the dozen or so feet that separated them before wrapping his arms around her small shoulders for the second time that day.

Every time Neji held her, she was dimly aware of how unique his hugs felt – he was never just content with normal hugs, where you'd wrap your arms around the person but typically were only pressing your chests together. It was almost as if he was trying to ensure there was no space between the two of them by pressing their entire bodies together; Kana could feel his heartbeat through the thin fabric of her t-shirt, and the warmth of his thighs against hers.

"Will you please just let yourself be happy, for once?" he murmured into her hair.

She could hear Kakashi lift himself off of the sofa and walk over to the childhood friends, sandals making light tapping noise against the wood flooring. His hand touched the small of Kana's back before he kissed her head. "You have people around you that are ready to help if you get hurt, Kana. It's time you quit clinging to a fraying safety blanket."

Kana could only nod in acceptance.

"Also, I am way too exhausted to make it to Iruka's so would you mind terribly if I crashed here for the night?"

She snorted.