Despite laughing along with Mei about his possible Yamato impersonation, Kakashi's face grew serious when she told him what the council members had wanted.

They sat together on Mei's bed. Her husband took her hand while she told the story and explained what the elders had expected to see when she'd arrived. Kakashi's grip on her hand tightened and his eyes narrowed. Mei saw the look on his face and realized her mistake. Well, it wasn't a mistake exactly, it was never a mistake to share her feelings with her husband. However, she might have told the story with a little more tact. Kakashi was her husband but he was also the Hokage.

"This cannot be allowed," he whispered. Mei almost hadn't heard it. Her heart clenched at the decidedness of his tone.

"Please don't ruin yourself politically on account of me," Mei asked. "They-" but she really had no defense for her council members. She'd wanted to crack some skulls together at the time but that had only been in defense of herself as a person so she didn't act. Kakashi was talking about their insolent attitude toward a kage's spouse in what amounted to a political meeting.

Kakashi took a deep breath and let it out slowly but his brows remained furrowed. "It would be a matter of not hurting you, Chojuro, or the Mist," he finally said.

Mei felt slightly relieved. Kakashi had the skills and resources to do the Mist elders great damage for this slight, but not without hurting the Mist as well, the Mist and Chojuro by extension. Kakashi would not do anything that could harm the new Mizukage. He knew how hard those first few years in office were.

Mei watched Kakashi's jaw work while he glared at the floor. "Kakashi?" She squeezed his hand and he released the pressure. "Don't worry about it, I'll handle them."

His glare turned to her, only just softening.

"Think of them as your in-laws," Mei suggested. "It isn't your responsibility to stand up to them, it's mine."

"This is a political insult, as well as a personal one," Kakashi countered. His voice was carefully controlled.

"Do you want to write a strongly worded letter?" Mei tried teasing. It didn't take. Then Mei saw something in Kakashi's eyes that was the most dangerous thing yet, a smile.

"How about a visit?" Kakashi purred.

000000

"Lady Mizukage, back so soon?"

"What's your Leaf bodyguard doing here," another asked as he sat down at the table.

Mei and the form of Yamato stood side by side in the council chamber. Yamato turned and looked at the Fifth Mizukage. He didn't face the elders when he said, "I am here to guarantee that Lord Hokage's wife is being treated with due respect." He swiveled his head back to face their shocked faces. "It's one thing for you to ask your retired Mizukage about her state of health, but to ask the Hokage's wife is another matter."

One elder waved Yamato's words away. "You have no authority here jonin. If we need you, we'll call you back in, how's that?"

The form of Yamato vanished in a poof of smoke to be replaced by a taller man with silver hair. The temperature in the room dropped several degrees and Mei felt rather than saw an angry energy fill the space as the smoke cleared. Kakashi's dark eyes glared at each elder in turn and there were several startled cries.

"Lord Hokage," one of the exclamations came out as a whimper.

"You will NEVER bother my wife about this again," the quiet words were electrifying. "The marriage contract that both your current and former Mizukage signed is clear: any offspring are to be raised and guided by their parents, no exceptions.

"There is absolutely no precedent for anyone asking a kage's spouse about their marital relations or if they will produce children. It is disgusting and grossly inappropriate conduct. If you dare to harass my wife about this again, I will take matters into my own hands." He let a wicked smile end the sentence. One of the elders flinched at that smile.

"I'll be honest," Mei chimed in, unable to help herself, "I let this slide for far too long. So I'm going to ask this only once: are you going to be bothering Chojuro about his relationships and possible family?"

All heads shook no.

"Good, then I think we're done here." Mei turned to the dangerous masked figure beside her. "Shall we go? Yamato?"

There was another poof of smoke and the ANBU in Leaf jonin dress reappeared for their departure. Yamato winked at the council members before turning and striding out behind the Mizukage, taking the position of a guard.

The council breathed a sigh of relief when the kage couple departed.

00000

Once they were outside the village gates and sprinting down the road to catch a return ship, Mei drew even with her escort. "Breathe Yamato, just breathe."

"I've never mouthed off to elders before," Yamato panted, his face a pale green color.

"You did great," Mei encouraged him with a smile.

"I feel sick," he responded.

"Do you want to stop?"

Yamato turned to look at his senpai's wife. "And let them catch me impersonating the Hokage?" He shook his head. "I'm pretty sure that's an international crime."

"It isn't actually," Mei countered. "We're ninja." She shrugged.

"Right," Yamato replied tightly.

"Just take a deep breath," Mei advised. "Kakashi and I really appreciate this."

Yamato grunted but his color was returning to normal. "If senpai had gone himself he would have-" he shook his head. Yamato knew better than most people what Kakashi was capable of. "It was a good thing he didn't come."

Mei smiled a little. On the contrary, she figured the trip would have cooled Kakashi down. "Maybe. But now the Mist elders can't lodge a complaint against Kakashi with the other members of the Allied Forces Compact. They'd have to prove he was in the Mist and you know how full his meeting schedule was today. Then they'd have to admit to everyone and themselves, that they let a Leaf jonin yell at them."

Yamato smiled a little as they raced for home. He almost pointed out that the other kage would have spoken up for her had a complaint been filed. Surely the Mizukage knew that?

0000000

Despite their triumph in the Mist Village, Mei still had moments where she felt low, as if nothing would ever be enough. During those times, even the memory of the elders' faces when they thought they were being confronted by the Hokage himself failed to cheer her up.

"I want a Team Seven," Mei confessed one evening when she and her husband were alone.

Kakashi showed his surprise with a single blink. "You want a genin squad?"

"No." Mei shook her head, trying to organize her thoughts. "I get annoyed with the Leaf having their precious teams, these close-knit little groups that keep you from being flexible and working with other people. In truth, I think I'm jealous."

Kakashi remained silent, waiting.

"You and Sakura and Naruto and Sasuke, you wouldn't just die for each other. You'd ruin your lives, your careers, do anything to help and protect each other. I don't think anyone has cared that much about me. And I know you have other bonds as well; I'm just using Team Seven as an example." Mei waved her hands, trying to finish her point. "But I've always been alone."

"I'll be honest," Kakashi began, "you talk about my bonds with people, but I couldn't tell you how they happened. I lost nearly everyone I cared about during my formative years, so I stopped trying to forge new bonds. I was so afraid that anyone close to me was bound to be hurt that I pushed away everyone who was left. Despite my best efforts, the bonds grew stronger and more kept appearing."

"That's your charisma at work," Mei offered with a grin.

Kakashi shook his head. "Naruto is charismatic. Guy is charismatic. I'm just famous and people expect great things from me."

There he went with that line again. Mei shook her head with a smile on her face. "Kakashi, not all charisma is screeching positive thoughts at the top of your lungs. I've watched you command the attention of the five kage with a quiet word."

"It helps when I'm one of the five," Kakashi offered, but it was both a weak joke and defense.

Mei went on, ignoring his comment. "And people expect great things from you because they've seen you do great things. You didn't become famous by accident."

Kakashi shrugged, not really letting her words sink in. The ideas flowed off of his back and continued on their way.

"Your fellow ANBU trust you, respect you. If you hadn't been made Hokage, I bet there would have been a riot."

"That actually happened you know," Kakashi interrupted. "I was not the obvious choice."

"That's not what Tsunade says," Mei smirked.

Kakashi muttered something about Tsunade being biased. Mei hadn't sat in on the Fifth and Sixth Hokage's meeting about Kakashi's father, but Kakashi had been distinctly happier after it. Tsunade seemed a little lighter too.

Mei continued on with her cheerleading. "Okay then, we can talk about that time Danzo was almost Hokage. None of us were sure about him when he showed up at the summit instead of Tsunade. And not only were you the first person Gaara thought to contact when Danzo's plot was revealed, but the other kage immediately accepted his choice; what about that?"

Kakashi shrugged but he didn't look so defeated as he once had. Mei took this as improvement on his part.

Mei waved away their ramblings. "We're getting away from the point. The point is that you have all these bonds and I've had very few." Mei sighed. "I guess what I'm saying is that I'm a new part of your life. I wish I was an older part, if that makes any sense."

Kakashi fixed his steady gaze on her. "Mei, how can I tell you what you mean to me?" He sounded almost hurt.

"You have, you do," Mei assured him. "I just don't, can't, feel it I guess. It doesn't seem to sink in." She smiled. "Kind of like when I try to give you compliments."

Kakashi ignored this last bit and carefully pulled her close, holding her the way she loved.

"This," Mei continued, her voice muffled by his embrace. Kakashi pulled back so he could hear her. "I want to feel this all the time, the way you make me feel when you're holding me." Mei didn't know when she'd started crying. She wiped the tears away, a jerky motion. "I want our love to be an ocean, deep and steady, but I feel like it's a tide pool instead, either overflowing or running empty."

Kakashi smiled at her. "It sounds like what we need is time. Time to heal and allow ourselves to feel that deeply again." Kakashi reached his hand forward and wiped a tear away, slowly, with the pad of his thumb. Mei leaned into his touch and his hand spread to cradle her cheek. "I'll be here for you, like this, for as long as you want me."

Mei was slowly, slowly, starting to believe that.

Author's Note: this chapter and the last one used to be all one, but I decided to separate them for clarity. Hope you enjoyed.