Apparently, there were engagements Kakashi didn't dare being late for. Was he afraid she would run if he didn't show up at the exact time? Sure, she was nervous, but she knew how to ignore or overcome that feeling, depending on the situation. The way she preferred was simply to keep busy, in a pertinent way if possible. She had discovered, when she had gone home as Team Eight had to go fulfil another mission, that Shikamaru had left a note on her desk. There, he had regularly noted the stocks of seals and gear for his own team as well as Hinata's, thus telling her what she needed to craft for them. After taking the time to put order in her own gear, she had gotten to work, and Kakashi found her in the middle of it.

"Are you ready?" the teacher asked in a surprisingly gentle tone.

The question took Hitomi by surprise. She didn't answer for a few seconds, staring at him silently. When she finally spoke, her voice wasn't any louder than a whisper. "I'm not sure."

"You'll be when you get there, Hitomi-chan, trust me." He watched as she put on her shoes, easily noticing the tremors going through her fingers stained with ink, as well as the way her knuckles went white when she tightened them too much on her tantō's guard. "Come on, follow me."

No one really noticed them in the streets, with the exception of a Chūnin who greeted Kakashi and stopped to exchange a few words with him as Hitomi waited politely, a few steps away. It didn't stop her from hearing every word they said; she smiled, almost tenderly, when she understood her teacher was firmly rejecting the other man. No, he didn't want to go get a drink to catch up, not now nor in the future, and he was busy, so… "You're more popular than I would have thought, sensei."

"What's making you say that?"

"Well, I'm old enough to understand that man was hitting on you, sensei, and it didn't seem to be the first time."

Kakashi answered her words with a low chuckle, his right hand patting her gently on the head. He usually kept that gesture for Naruto, or, more rarely, for Sasuke. They were, in their team, the most susceptible to say something surprising to their sensei. Hitomi was in no way predictable, but she didn't pry where she didn't belong, and her sensei's personal life was something she usually stayed away from. "Happened a few times since I became a sensei. Maybe they like the responsible ones? Who knows, thanks to you, I could perhaps find myself a nice ninja to take care of me!"

"Sensei!" she shrieked, blushing furiously. She wasn't exactly embarrassed by what he had just said, it was more the fact that Kakashi was telling her that, he who was so reserved he didn't even show his face. Her cheeks burning, she looked away, staring at her feet like they could take her far away from him.

"And that, my sweet Hitomi-chan, is a lesson you'd do well to remember: you don't toy with someone that can toy right back with you if you're not certain you can get the better of them."

With a false huff of anger and a pout, the teenage girl picked up the pace, trying to put some distance between them. He didn't let her, of course, with those stupidly long legs of his. She couldn't even run, because he would have started running too. Or he would have used the Shunshin to appear just in front of her and put dead leaves in her hair, perhaps. She never knew, with him.

"Come this way. And stop pouting, or Fukuda-sensei will think I'm being mean to you."

"Fukuda-sensei?"

"My therapist. Didn't I tell you her name? Hm, weird."

Hitomi shrugged but didn't answer. They both knew that, if he had told her, she wouldn't have been able to forget. They stayed silent until they arrived at a little house with a cute porch painted in spring green and invaded by so many flowers Hitomi thought, for a moment, that she was in front of a Yamanaka shop. Kakashi held the door as she stepped inside, then went to the secretary to explain the appointment was under his name but he wanted his student to take it, and wanted a new one for himself as well. Hitomi was surprised by how casual the whole affair was but, after all, someone who worked with ninjas had to be quite flexible with schedule and appointments.

"I'm gonna leave you here, Hitomi-chan. When the lady calls your name, you go through that door and you explain to Fukuda-sensei that I'm sending you here. You'll see, I'm sure it's gonna help you."

Her expression serious, the girl nodded and let him go. Suddenly, she felt nervous, thrown off-balance. She had learned more meditation exercises than she could count to enhance her chakra control, but none seemed to work now, as she tried to regain her internal balance. After a few minutes, she decided to give up and open a book. She hoped Jiraiya would finish his third novel sooner than in the canon: his stories always helped her relax. Since she couldn't read more from him right now, she settled for the poetry collection she had taken in one of her seals.

"Yūhi-san? It's your turn."

Her nervousness came back with a vengeance, unsettling and vicious, but she pushed it back like she'd just slammed the door in its face. She didn't want to play mind games with herself right now. She put her book away in one of her seals and walked the short distance between her chair and the door with the impression that she'd never manage to reach it. She put on a trembling smile for the secretary and walked through the entrance of the office.

The afternoon light poured inside the office. There was a walnut wood desk in the centre of the room, so clean and neat it could have been an exposition model in a shop front. In the pool of light were two shapeless poufs and a big sofa. Oh, to be a cat and lie there without a care for the rest of the world… A dark-haired woman in her thirties was sitting at the desk. When the woman looked up, Hitomi saw black eyes behind her red eyeglasses and a kind smile of her soft features.

"I'm sure I had an appointment with Hatake-san and he wouldn't be foolish enough to use a transformation jutsu again in this office. Who are you?"

"One of his students. We had problems during our last mission, and I was… I was more affected than my two teammates. He said you'd be able to help me." She could barely whisper the last sentence, with all the uncertainty Hitomi never dared to show. She lowered her head, anxious and ashamed at the same time.

"I see. Very well, come in and close the door. You can sit wherever you'd like."

Hitomi obeyed, choosing one of the poufs to sit. She had almost tender memories of the Previous World, of the hours spent reading sprawled on a similar thing, sometimes until she fell asleep in a position that wasn't exactly comfortable.

"Okay, young lady. Before I ask you to introduce yourself, I'm going to start, if it's okay with you." When Hitomi nodded, the woman continued. "I'm Fukuda Aemi. I'm from a family of doctors, but I decided to learn psychology rather than medicine. I'm bound by professional confidentiality, of course, but since we're in a Hidden Village, my oath goes further than that." Slowly, the woman rolled up her sleeves, exposing seals around her wrists that Hitomi recognised immediately. "I have one on my tongue, too. They stop me from repeating what my patients tell me, even by accident or under torture, in writing or speech. You're safe here. What you're going to tell me is not going to leave this office."

Hitomi nodded but didn't speak right away. She knew those seals could be broken. There was always a way. A determined enemy could also put listening devices in this office, there were so many possible hiding spots for a tiny bug… No, she couldn't tell her about everything. But maybe she could tell her enough to feel better afterwards. "I'm Yūhi Hitomi. I've been a Genin for two months and, a little over a month ago, my sensei was ordered to bring me along during a B-ranked mission, so I could watch. I think everything started to go wrong that night."

For more than an hour, the woman and teenager talked. It was a dialogue, really. The therapist didn't just ask questions or guide her in a specific direction, she spoke about herself too, in discreet little touches that helped Hitomi relax and open her heart. She spoke about her first kill, but not only that. With shy, hesitating words, she confided in the woman about her relationship with Hinata, and then about her brief fling with Haku in the Land of Waves. When the session was over, there were traces of tears on her cheeks, but the weariness washing over her was healthy, healthier than she would have thought, as if she could just fall asleep and in the morning all her problems would have disappeared.

"It's time to go, Hitomi-chan. So, do you want to see me again?"

She nodded without the slightest hesitation. She finally understood what Kakashi had tried to explain to her, and knew she needed this in her life if she wanted to stay stable enough to take the punches the future had in stock for her. She dried her cheeks with a firm hand and left the pouf she had sat on until then.

"Very well. In that case, you can come back next week, same time. Would it be okay with you?"

"Yes, sensei. Thanks a lot."

"Thank you for your trust. Take care of yourself until next week, alright?"

Still quite emotionally fragile, Hitomi left the house. The sounds and colours seemed slightly dulled to her, as if someone had put a filter over her senses. It was almost soothing. She took a few unsure steps, breathed in, then jumped on the roof of a shop. After all, she was allowed to travel above the ground, now. A few blocks away, she saw Morino Ibiki, walking towards the Torture and Intelligence building. Wasn't he done with work already? She knew he could tell she had cried, but she still waved to him. He replied with one of his weirdly cute smiles, so surprising on his scarred face, then continued walking without looking back. Hitomi decided it was the best thing to do and acted the same.

Sasuke was cooking when she arrived home. He greeted her with a nod and she did the same before heading to the office, where she could feel her mother's chakra. This time, she was alone, and Hitomi thanked the kami for this little blessing. She knocked and, when she got an answer, entered the room. Kurenai was sitting at her desk, bending over some paperwork, probably for her team, and fidgeting with a pen.

"Hitomi? Is everything alright, sweetheart?"

"Uh… Not really. But I'm working on it. Kakashi-sensei took me to see his therapist and… I mean, I'd like to continue seeing her until I get a bit better. C-can I?"

"Sweetheart, you're practically an adult in the eyes of the village. You know you don't need my permission."

"Yeah, I know, but… I dunno. I just wanted your approval."

"You have it. Of course you have it. Everything that can help you heal is a blessing to me."

A relieved smile appeared on Hitomi's lips; her mother smiled back with that tenderness only she could show. She gestured for her to approach and, when her daughter obeyed, she wrapped an arm around her thin waist.

"I really missed you. How are your wounds?"

"I'm probably gonna have a scar where Tsunami stitched me up. The Land of Waves doesn't have any medic nin so I was lucky she had medical skills, even civilian ones."

"Can I see the scar?"

Hitomi untied her obi without hesitation and folded it carefully before putting it on the desk. She did the same with her steel fishnet shirt, keeping only her sports bra. She didn't need to take it off for the scar to be visible, from her right shoulder then down in diagonal to her left hip. The thick skin was already turning white, the places where the stitches had been easy to spot. It wasn't pretty by any means, but scars rarely were, and ninjas weren't supposed to be vain.

"Looks like it hurt a lot," Kurenai whispered as she brushed her finger against her shoulder.

"Right then, not really. Adrenalin was pumping through my body, and I was focused on my plan. Smelling my blood made the cats furious, stronger and… maybe it allowed us to win. If it was the price to pay, I think I can accept it."

"Oh, sweetheart… You're far too young to think that way. Sometimes, I forget you take after your dad too… Take care of yourself when you're on a mission. If you're wounded, your teammates will be upset, and they could make a mistake that could be deadly to them because of it. You're as important as they are to your team. Do you understand?"

"I… Yeah, I think I do."

"I will only be at peace when you're sure you understand, but you still have time for that. You should go take a shower before dinner, if you don't want Sasuke to take all the hot water. See you downstairs?"

Hitomi nodded and, after kissing her mother's cheek, left the room. She put her latest advice to practice, locking herself in the bathroom for some time alone, and understood that Kurenai had been right once more. When her hair was clean and smelled of the flowery shampoo she only used when she didn't plan on leaving the village, when her skin was damp and warmed up by the shower, when her crimes and worries had all washed down the drain, she felt lighter, softer.

Hitomi had learned in the Academy that shinobi who left for missions longer than three days were granted a certain number of holidays directly after the end of the mission. Outside of wartime, they were even forced to take those holidays, because an exhausted shinobi would be useless for his village. It was when weariness reached the body and mind, when it impregnated every movement, every thought, that a ninja made mistakes that could mean death. When war happened, of course, villages couldn't afford such a luxury, but why go without when they had a choice?

After their month-long mission, Team Seven had to take four days off work; they couldn't go to the Mission Attribution Bureau without getting chased away by one of the paperwork Chūnin working there – and terrifying people with their nervous tics when someone handed them messy papers. Even Kakashi didn't dare challenge them, but Hitomi supposed that, as a member of the ANBU, he could still go to the ANBU Commander to keep busy.

However, he didn't have that option anymore, not with a Genin team to supervise. Every morning or afternoon, the team met on training ground number three and practiced old or new skills depending on what the teacher had in mind. Ensui, upon hearing about their return through the communicating notebook Hitomi had given him, went with them when his other obligations with Shikaku allowed him some free time, and was often very insightful to both teacher and students.

Hitomi continued working on her water jutsus. She was now very good with her whip and had started working on the Shield, the variant of that technique that could deflect most projectiles effortlessly. In parallel, she was still trying to bend the chakra blade to her will, dutifully following Zabuza's instructions. She had finally understood how to create both neutral and water chakra at the same time, but she was still working on making it an reflex.

Naruto and Sasuke had decided to focus on taijutsu. It was a field Naruto excelled in when he put his head to it: he had incredible strength and stamina, and his speed only needed a little work. As for Sasuke, he was taking advantage of his own speed, Sharingan activated to try to overcome his limits. Such an incredible eye was useless if he couldn't exploit it fully. Most times, Ensui was working with Naruto, and Kakashi with Sasuke. It was an obvious and easy way to organise their training. Sometimes, however, to throw the students off-balance, the two men switched places.

Hitomi hated the twinge of jealousy she felt some days when she saw her brothers receiving Ensui's attention. She was his apprentice, their pact still held and hadn't ended when she had become a Genin. She didn't doubt that, not at all. She would have just liked to spend time alone with him, like they had during their trip. However, she never voiced those feelings, because she knew it wasn't right. Neither Naruto nor Sasuke had gotten the total focus of an adult on them before Kurenai had adopted them into the family. They were craving it, she could see it, even if the young Uchiha hid it better than their blonde brother. She didn't have any right to envy them, she who had been loved unconditionally for as long as she could remember.

And, without her needing to ask, Ensui came back to her. It happened after a training session that had been maybe a tad too intense: Sasuke and Hitomi had sparred, less careful than usual. He hit harder, hard enough to cause bruises where he had managed to hit her, but she was more vicious as well, and the water of her whip had made his wrist bleed. They both had to go to the hospital to make sure that the damage was as superficial as it looked to be. Kakashi had taken Sasuke, but Ensui decided to ensure Hitomi went there himself, an arm around her shoulders.

He was still far taller than she was, and his smell was exactly as she remembered. As discreetly as she could, she turned her head and breathed in deeply, even closing her eyes with an expression that looked like melancholia. She quickly redirected her attention to the road in front of them before she could trip and make a fool of herself, but it was too late: Ensui hadn't missed anything of the emotions swirling inside her mind.

"I miss it too, Hitomi. You have no idea how much I miss it. My life was far easier when I only had you and the road in front of us to keep me company. But I don't regret coming home with you. Do you?"

"No, I don't either," she said with the faintest hint of hesitation.

Soon enough, they arrived at the hospital. The whole second floor was dedicated to short term healing for shinobi, and the third housed the ones who needed more attention than a quick fix-up. With a smile that was perhaps a bit charming, Ensui walked to the counter and asked the receptionist if she could direct them towards an examination room and send a doctor there for Hitomi. His charm didn't work on the woman, but she still did as she was asked.

"Sakura?" she called out in surprise when her childhood friend stepped in in her hospital uniform, her pink hair cut at shoulder-length. She looked sure of herself and her own skills, totally at ease in that environment; her whole face lighted up when she smiled.

"Hitomi! I'm so happy to see you. I heard you had returned from your mission in the Land of Waves a few days ago but I didn't want to come and be in the way of your training. How are the boys?"

"They're okay. It was hard, sometimes, during the mission, but we all came home in one piece."

"That's the important thing! So, why are you here?"

"I sparred with Sasuke and he didn't exactly go easy on me. Ensui-shishou is worried I could have more than bruises, especially to my ribs – I was injured there during our mission."

"I see. Nara-san, could you please step outside so I can examine Hitomi?"

The Jōnin nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him. Hitomi didn't doubt for a moment that he was on full alert and eavesdropping, even if he couldn't see them. She couldn't swear it, but she would have done exactly that in his place, using her meridians to make sure everything was alright on the other side of the door. They were often very much alike, even now that they didn't spend as much time together. Slowly, the girl untied her kimono then took off her steel fishnet. Sakura stayed impassive even as she stared at her scar and torso covered in bruises, but a crease finally appeared between her eyebrows, a sign that she did worry.

"It looks very painful… I'll take care of it, alright?"

"Thank you. Sasuke doesn't go easy on me, but it motivates me to dodge, at least, and I didn't exactly let him use me as a punching bag. I think we're getting stronger, and Naruto as well, of course."

"It means your training regime works. Say, I was wondering…"

"Yeah?"

"Do you know how to draw a weight seal?"

"Depends. What do you have in mind, exactly?"

"I'd like a seal that adds weight on my limbs and back, to build up muscle faster. Once I'm officially a doctor, I'd like to apply for the medic nin training course. The entrance examination doesn't only test our medical knowledge but our physical skills as well. The Academy is far behind me and it's gotten hard to train since I'm not part of a team or anything like that."

Hitomi didn't answer right away, rubbing her hands together as if to help her think. "I'd have several tests to run before giving you anything but, yes, I think I can. Can you come to my place tomorrow? I'll give you what I have then, if it works."

"It would be awesome, thanks! Okay, let me heal those bruises now. You'll be as good as new in a sec, I promise."

With a little hum of approval, Hitomi laid down on the examination table and let her friend tend to her wounds. The medical chakra, fresh and sweet, kind of reminded her of the taste and smell of mint. When Sakura was done, Hitomi felt as clean as after a long shower, her relaxed muscles rolling effortlessly under her skin.

"Avoid coming here every day, alright? I like having you around, but medical ninjutsu loses in efficiency when used too often in a short period of time on the same body part. You have to dodge in priority, and only if it's not possible you can think about parrying and taking the hits coming towards you. Got it?"

"Easier said than done when it's Sasuke, Naruto, or even worse both of them trying to hit you, trust me! But I'll do my best, I can promise this. See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, see you tomorrow. Thanks again, Hitomi!"

Ensui was waiting for her outside, pacing like a caged lion. She smiled when he looked at her and didn't wait for him to move before she started walking out, forcing him to catch up to her. "How did it go?" he asked, trying to hide his worry. Unfortunately, the crease between his eyebrows betrayed him, as clear as day.

"You already know how it went, shishou. And since what Sakura asked me to research and perhaps create is fūinjutsu work, I could use your help."

"Nothing would make me happier. Your place?"

"Yeah. Mom isn't home and Naruto is babysitting Konohamaru or something so we'll have the whole house to ourselves."

They worked late into the night, absorbed into that project that probably would be useful to more people than just Sakura. Perhaps Hitomi herself would use it if she needed a boost in her muscle-building training. She was right on track so far, but anything could happen and divert her from it. And who could refuse an efficient training device? When Sakura came to see her the following day after dinner, Hitomi handed her ten pieces of paper and explained how to sew them inside her clothes and how to activate them. She was happy she could be useful to one of her friends.

The next morning, Team Seven was finally allowed to take missions again. Naruto seemed to have missed it dearly: he was hopping up and down with excitement in front of Iruka's desk. He started pouting as soon as he heard their mission, though. Fixing the fence around one of the Yamanaka parks wasn't exciting at all but, at least, with all the clones the team could summon, they were done in less than two hours. When they left the Tower again, their money in diverse purses, the village was sunny and buzzing with activity.

And, several steps before them, his back to them, was someone Hitomi would have spotted even in the middle of a crowd.

Gaara.