She gave an un lady like snort and gave him a 'yeah right' look. "Sure you have Kashi." She said sarcastically and he flinched as if he had just been slapped. He couldn't help it. He knew that he hadn't been the greatest sensei in the world, or even the most attentive when it came to Naru, but that had only been because he was afraid that any attention and affection that he gave her would in some way weaken her.

Like the way his attention and affection had weakened Sauske, who had become a traitor to the leaf village.

And the way his attention and affection had weakened Sakura who had refused to grow as a shinobi until everyone had stopped coddling her and she had started training under Lady Tsunade.

With Naru it had been different. She had been different. Unlike Sauske and Sakura, who had both been emotionally unstable and needy on some level or another. Naru-

Hadn't needed anything from him other than basic instructions on how to do jutsu. She hadn't ever asked him for anything aside from that. No pat on the head. No words of praise when she did well. No advice on love or politics between clans. Nothing.

She simply hadn't needed him. She simply hadn't seemed to need anyone.

That was why he hadn't shown her the same attention and affection. It was because she literally hadn't needed it. She had been the strongest, most confident and even minded and the less needy of his three genin.

"I'm sorry...god I'm so sorry to have made you feel like that all this time. But I didn't treat you the same as Sauske and Sakura because out of my genin, you were the one who didn't seem to need anything from me. You were good at everything. Not perfect. Not weak. Just really good at standing on your own. It's one of the many things that I've always admired about you." Kakashi murmured the half truth. To be perfectly honest, he had been jealous of her ability to stand on her own.

She just had a way of making everything look so damn easy.

It wasn't until the incident at the Valley of Ends that he had realised that she paid a very heavy price for trying to stand on her own. The incident had left her very deeply wounded, bloody and barely alive.

Naru looked at him, her ruby eyes probing the depths of his soul. She didn't know how to respond to his words. Any of them. But she knew one thing. He was being totally honest with her. He meant what he said. Every word.

She sighed. A girl would be hard pressed to get a better arrangement from a man willing to marry her, despite her many, many character flaws. And on top of that she knew that Kakashi was trying really hard to be romantic for her.

She hung her head and thought everything over. Three years was a small enough thing to ask for. After all, she was young. So the time shouldn't really matter. And she did want children. As many of them as she could stand. She lifted her head a little bit and studied Kakashi from under her bangs.

Kakashi would make excellent baby making material. He was a sinfully beautiful man with a lot of desirable traits. He was fierce, loyal, strong-

Fidelity would mean everything to him. So would her happiness and well being.

"Before I give you my answer Kakashi-sensei. Tell me what our life together would be like, and keep in mind not to make any promises that you can't keep."

Kakashi grinned at her. "Every morning when you wake up-"

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"What have you done with Sauske, my lady?" Neji asked curiously.

Tsunade sighed and crossed her arms over her ample breasts. "I currently have him detained. And I've managed to push back the meeting that the counicl called with Naru off for a few more hours. But after that- I can't garentee anything. Sauske has done a lot of damage with those fake pictures. As it is, Naru may lose her right to the title Hokage in favor of someone else with a better reputation."

"There isn't anyone in the village with a better reputation than Naru." Shinao said quietly. Tsunade smiled at the young man.

"You're right of course. But thanks to Sauske's petty jealousy and the steady deteriation of his mind, Naru's sterling reputation as a good girl is all but ruined. A pity really since she would have made a wonderful Hokage. But whatever. One door closes and another opens. Right?"