Chapter Note: Kakashi's instincts are making themselves known and he starts to panic. Also, traps are scary. There also wasn't really a song that fit this chapter, sorry!

—

"Don't say a word." The warning was an outright threat with so much of that adorable fury behind it that he felt his resolve breaking.

"I haven't said anything."

"I can see the smile on your face through that mask, asshole." His smirk only grew.

"I still haven't said a word about it." Her glare only intensified.

"You just did." Her eyes were full of fury and embarrassment. He'd never been so attracted to her at that moment. She was so expressive.

"No, you brought it up first," he teased.

"Just put that down and help me clean this up." He did as she asked, setting the wood down on the floor. Walking over to his distressed teammate, he kept his hands in his pockets with a casual slouch of his shoulders.

"How in the world did you do that?" he asked. He could see why she was so embarrassed. During her search of the cabinets, it appeared that there had been several large sacks of flour precariously balanced in a very large, high shelf. She must have opened the cabinet and triggered the unintentional trap, bringing down hundreds of pounds of flour on top of her where it had exploded. Long story short, she was covered in flour, the floor was covered in flour, even Pakkun was covered in flour from where he'd been standing next to her, having apparently joined her in the kitchen after Kakashi had gone outside. Avurin huffed and Kakashi's amusement skyrocketed as flour flew into the air with her breath.

"I think you can see how it happened. Please tell me you know something that can clean this up? You're supposed to know a thousand jutsu, aren't you?" she whined. Kakashi chuckled.

"Unfortunately I don't have anything that'll help with this. We'll have to take care of this the old fashioned way." Pakkun sneezed as he shook himself off, grumbling as he wandered back into the living room and Kakashi felt a little sorry for the small pug. Avurin tilted her head down and the flour that was on her head fell to the floor in a puff. She stood and shook as much of the powdery substance off of herself as she could manage, glaring at the pile of flour on the floor as if it had personally offended her. A layer of the substance still dusted her hair and clothes and Kakashi knew they would have to figure out a bathing situation before they went to bed tonight. It couldn't be comfortable.

"Why don't you start on lunch and I'll find something to clean this up?" Kakashi suggested. He wouldn't admit it but he was quite hungry and didn't want her to waste much time focusing on cleaning when she already had everything ready to cook.

"Okay, but I'm cleaning up our bedroom later." Kakashi's attention focused on her for a moment, seeing the conflicting emotions on her face as she turned away from the mess to start cooking. Had he said something wrong? They didn't have to trade responsibilities when it came to cleaning. She didn't have to clean up the bedroom, he could clean it while she was sorting through everything in the office if it came down to it. He would clean the entire house if she wanted him to. He kept his thoughts to himself as he looked for a broom, finding one close to the back door. As he cleaned, Avurin quietly put the wood in the stove and used a fire release to start the oven. She prepared the vegetables quickly and had filled the pot she'd found with water, adding the vegetables and seasonings. At one point he saw her take some of the flour from one of the opened sacks, checking it to make sure it was safe, before adding it to the concoction in the pot.

His eye trailed to the sacks of flour that were laying on the floor and the pile in front of him. Yet again, something that should have been long spoiled or rotten was nearly perfect as if it had just been purchased and stored. If it was safe like the wood outside, he wouldn't stop her from using it. However, he knew Avurin was smart and that she had to have picked up on the odd situation where old flour looked and smelled like it was fresh. He would mention it later.

He finished cleaning what was on the floor, taking the sacks of flour that had busted outside so they wouldn't attract pests when they left the house to go back to Konoha. One of the hundred-pound sacks that hadn't busted was placed back in its original cabinet for the sake of possibly using it for future meals. The hundred-pound sacks were adorned with old logos of companies that had long since fallen to larger corporations and at this point he was coming to the conclusion that something was keeping certain parts of the house in a time stasis or something similar.

"Lunch is ready. Sorry if it's not great, I don't exactly have any other fresh ingredients with me." Avurin told him as she gave him a bowl of the food and a spoon, gesturing for him to follow her into the living room. Since they had been using it so often and Avurin was insistent about opening the window in that room when they were in there, it was starting to feel like they were simply visiting another person's house when they were in the room. Some areas were still dusty, but Avurin had been working hard to remove the dust from the areas they used frequently, like the table.

"I'm sure it will be great, Avie," Kakashi found himself saying as they took their places at the low coffee table, kneeling down on the cushions and setting their bowls in front of them. They both used their canteens for drinking and Kakashi was starting to get worried about their dwindling water supply. Avurin's canteen was looking particularly light as she took sips from it during their meal and Kakashi realized she had used her own water for their food. He pulled down his mask and started eating, surprised to find the vegetables and broth full of flavor and he couldn't stop himself from eating quickly, barely keeping himself under control as his stomach cramped from the lack of a home-cooked meal over the last four days. Ration bars and soldier pills would keep someone alive but the stomach would never be satisfied until a full meal was eaten either during or after the mission.

"If you throw that up, I'm going to make you clean it up and not feed you again until dinner," Avurin growled from across the table. He smiled at her as he took his last bite, flashing a fang over his bottom lip.

"I'm not my students, Avie. I'll be alright. The food you made was just so good that I couldn't help myself." He was teasing her and the red dusting her cheeks made him preen to himself in satisfaction.

"Just warning you. There's only so much food in my scrolls." she grumbled. He sighed, content as he leaned back to rest his hands on the floor. Breathing without the mask over his face was a rare luxury for him, especially after a meal, and he was taking full advantage of it.

"Mah, I was thinking, we should find a clean source of water soon. After we investigate the office, I want to see if there are any rivers nearby so we can collect some water for our stay here." Kakashi carefully started. He didn't want to imply that she needed a bath, but the flour that covered her was already spreading to every surface she touched and he could see her fidgeting as if she had an itch under her shirt that was making her uncomfortable. Fear flashed through her eyes as she looked at him but she nodded with only a little bit of hesitation.

"I can go look after we've checked the office," she told him. His eye narrowed at her and he felt a frown fall on his face.

"We can both go, I don't want to leave you alone while we're here," he countered. Her shoulders stiffened and she put her spoon in her almost empty bowl.

"I don't want to have to command you to come back through the gate. I'll go. I can come and go as I please if the gates lock behind me." A part of him screamed at him to fight her on it but her logic was sound. She was uncomfortable with their entry to this place and he could understand why, despite not having been harmed. If anything, he'd felt like he was sleep walking in a dream, just following the flow of the dream as he was directed. He trusted her not to hurt him with her jutsu, but it seemed that she still didn't trust herself. With the discovery of the journal, she'd been even more sensitive about the subject.

"Alright, but you're taking Pakkun with you. He can release himself before coming back onto the property." It was a compromise that he knew she'd accept. She liked Pakkun and he could tell Pakkun was already bonding with her, likely already seeing her as part of his pack. Pakkun would also be able to smell a river nearby and shorten the duration of the trip, bringing her back to Kakashi quicker than if she went out by herself.

"Okay. We can do that." Avurin agreed. He nodded in approval and pulled his mask back up, standing to stretch as he grabbed his bowl and spoon, taking them to the kitchen. He set them in the sink to clean later when they had water. Avurin followed him quietly, doing the same.

"Let's look at the office and get it out of the way. There's no telling what we'll find and if it's anything like the office upstairs, we could be there for a while." Kakashi told her as he walked towards the back of the house, already knowing that the dining room underneath the stairs led to the office in the far left corner of the house. Avurin followed, seemingly lost in thought. He didn't disturb her until they arrived in the office, seeing that it was as bare as he remembered from his first scouting of the house.

"Pakkun, where did you say the scent disappeared to?" he asked the pug who had followed them quietly, his feet padding across the hardwood floor with the clicking of tiny nails. Pakkun started sniffing the ground, following an invisible trail of scent until he reached a bookshelf on the wall.

"Right here, boss," Pakkun replied. Kakashi nodded and walked towards the bookshelf. Even if it was one of those intricate hidden doors where you pulled a book and it opened, they didn't have time to sit down and figure out the puzzle. He put his hands on both sides of the bookshelf and pulled gently, feeling the bookshelf move slightly on the left which meant it was hinged on the right. He pulled again but felt a click, indicating the door was locked. Huffing, he stepped back from the door.

"It's locked. We might be able to find a book or something that opens it from the outside." Kakashi told Avurin who nodded. They started pulling on books one by one, hoping to find the lucky book that would open the special door. It was such a classic trick that Kakashi almost doubted that the lock was engaged by a book by the time they had made it through half the shelf. Then again, this door may have been designed before the trick was well known. It was close to the bottom of the shelf that Avurin pulled a book with a blue cover and a click was heard. The bookshelf was easily pulled away from the wall and a wooden door sat behind it, engraved with the same symbol that had been engraved in the fence when they had approached the gates of the estate.

"I might be the only one able to get through this door," Avurin told him, sounding almost uncertain. Kakashi pulled his headband up and assessed the door before sighing and re-covering the Sharingan.

"I think you might be right. This one has more than one ward on it, there are four more on the corners of the door frame that might be part of a deterrent for anyone that isn't supposed to be in there. I'll wait for you here. If anything happens, shout and I'll find a way to get to you." Kakashi said as he crossed his arms, eye narrowed at the door. He didn't like this at all. If they were lucky, the door itself was the only catch and she would be able to assess everything inside without any backup, yet something in his gut told him something was wrong. He watched her put her hand on the engraving on the door, a familiar golden light emitting from the ward and filling the irises of her eyes. It was always disconcerting to see her eyes change from their soft evergreen color to a bright gold that glowed so intensely, however he'd started to come to expect it on this mission.

She looked to him expectantly as the door unlocked and opened on its own. He nodded and glanced at the narrow stairway behind the door. Another hidden room in the home with no indication of where that stairway led. He felt goosebumps form on his arms at how intense the darkness was behind the door. His instincts were screaming at him, yet he didn't have any arguments that would validate preventing her from going up there. She carried Okita blood, hopefully that would be enough for the seals in the hidden room not to reject her. Avurin cracked one of the glowsticks she kept with her and turned towards the stairs. He held his breath as she disappeared from sight.

…

Avurin slowly walked up the narrow staircase, the small hairs on the back of her neck standing at attention. She didn't like leaving Kakashi behind for this particular adventure. She understood that Kakashi likely would have been very seriously hurt by the seals, yet she felt vulnerable. It almost felt like there were eyes on her in the narrow confines of the stairway. She could protect herself, there was no denying that, but the instinct to have backup in a situation like this was impossible to ignore. She climbed each small step carefully, not seeing any seals on the walls or tripwires like what they had encountered in the stairway behind the pantry.

Shortly after she started climbing the steps, enough to be out of Kakashi's sight, the stairs she was following leveled into a very narrow hallway that took a sharp right turn. She fought to keep her breath steady, knowing she was currently in the walls of the home. Mentally, she had a general idea of where she was, yet she also knew that it would be impossible to convey her location to Kakashi if something happened. The supports of the walls and framework of the home made itself apparent as she accidentally brushed a stray wooden board laying against the wall. The pathway was littered with dust and a few spiderwebs, making the experience all the more terrifying. She hadn't expected so many creepy things to be hidden away in this house.

She stopped sharply as she almost ran into another door. This door had the same seal on it and she already knew to place her hand on the door, allowing the golden light to fill the area as the door unlocked and opened without a sound. She walked into the small room behind the door, now completely disoriented and wondering where this room was hidden in the floorplan of the home. She had to be on the second level or somewhere between levels, likely on the far left side of the house. They hadn't explored that side yet and she was uncertain of where she could possibly be if she needed to get out.

As she assessed the room she was in, she was surprised to find that the room was very similar to the room that had been above the kitchen. There wasn't a speck of dust in the tiny office, in fact, it almost looked like someone had been in there just the day before. There was only a small desk in the room adorned with an inkwell still full of fresh ink, a quill, some empty papers on the desk, and a chest to the right of the desk. There wasn't even a chair in the small space. She assessed the area and couldn't find any traps or wards so she started pulling out the drawers of the desk, irritated to find it completely empty. She turned to the chest and flipped open one of the clasps holding it shut.

Everything went to shit.

Avurin jumped back against the wall as the door to the room slammed shut and the sound of rushing water started above her. She ran to the door and was horrified to find that it didn't have a handle on the inside. She had checked the room for seals! There was no reason for a trap to be set off! She took in more details of the room, looking for any form of escape as the sound of the water grew louder. To her horror, she noticed that the walls appeared to be made of completely solid stone. This room had been designed to drown anyone that had tried to access that chest. The water suddenly started gushing down from a small cut-out portion of the ceiling. She grit her teeth and jumped on top of the desk. How was she going to tell Kakashi? He wouldn't be able to get in here and open the door from the other side! She had no way of communicating with him! She tried to calm her breathing as she held her glowstick above her, watching in horror as the water started filling the room.

…

Kakashi stood diligently by the open door. He had sent Pakkun upstairs to investigate the crawl space as their next objective out of boredom as he found himself just waiting patiently for Avurin to come out of the hidden room. He knew that if she had found something, she would likely either bring what she found out of the hidden area to assess with him or would quickly disregard what was in there if it wasn't significant.

He nearly jumped as the door next to him slammed shut, clicking to indicate it had locked itself. He immediately jumped into action, trying to pry the door open. He activated his Sharingan, watching the door for anything that would help him get the door open. Something had been triggered which meant Avurin was likely in danger. He would risk his life to get to her and he would not hesitate about it. He didn't know what the seals would do to him and, at this point, he didn't care. Unfortunately, the door wouldn't budge. He turned his head towards the door that led to the dining room as he heard the clicking of Pakkun's paws bolting in his direction.

"Boss! There are some serious rushing water sounds coming through the crawl space upstairs! Something was triggered and water is rushing somewhere in the house!" Pakkun reported quickly. Kakashi looked back at the door and back at Pakkun.

"It's Avurin! Lead me to the source of the water!" Kakashi ordered as he ran into the dining room, through the open door leading to the main room, and flew up the stairs. Pakkun caught up with him quickly and took the lead, running towards an open door that led to a bathroom on the left wing of the second floor.

"In here, boss! I can smell it through that cabinet there! There's a small crawl space through the cabinet but I haven't been down there yet. Be careful!" Pakkun warned as Kakashi immediately cracked a glowstick, pulling his mask down and putting the glowstick between his teeth as he got on his knees and started crawling into the hole in the wall through the cabinet. He knew keeping the mask over his face was a liability when water was involved and Avurin had already seen his face, so it didn't matter if he had it on at this point. He was internally scoffing at the Okita's incompetence at hiding some of their hidden rooms and spaces in such obvious places, yet he could commend them on their traps. This was another classic, yet very morbid and dangerous with multiple methods of execution. He was crawling through the dark, mold-ridden space with his Sharingan activated, looking for a seal he hoped was the source of the water. He just hoped he could deactivate it before it was too late.

…

Avurin watched the water rise quickly, already lapping at the top of the desk. The chest she'd tried to get into was already submerged and she mentally lamented the lost information that had likely been inside of it. She didn't have much time to think since she'd soon lose the ability to think at all, drowning in a hidden room without Kakashi even knowing for who knows how long. She didn't want to give up so quickly, however she was out of options. The room was dark and the water looked black as it crested over the desk she was standing on, causing the wood to start to float. It was unstable and quickly flipped, submerging her in the ice cold water. She gasped and shivered, feeling like she'd been dunked in an ice bath.

Not only was her own family going to drown her, they were going to make her freeze while they did. She didn't want anything to do with the Okita name at this point. They were psychotic and demented. She grit her teeth and stood in the water, still holding the glow stick above her to look for any possible escape routes. She couldn't find anything even though she felt a small bit of hope at seeing that the ceiling was made of wood. She just might be able to cut her way through the ceiling when the water level brought her close to it, but she didn't have a lot of time and certainly wouldn't have that time when she got high enough to reach the ceiling. The last thing she wanted to do was desecrate her family home, but again, she was out of options.

…

Kakashi dragged himself through the crawl space, wincing at the feeling of slimy mold sliding under his stomach and across the front of his clothes from where it was clinging to dense wooden planks. It was making his hands and knees slip as he tried to get to his destination quickly and the smell was overwhelming with his mask down. He was so limited on space that he wouldn't be able to even reach his other pockets if he needed to, being forced to keep his arms in front of him, pulling himself through the space. His Sharingan was constantly scanning the walls, looking for any seals or any indication that he was getting close to the source of the water. He could hear the rushing water growing louder and knew he was getting close, but as he got closer he was losing his grip on the wood under him, resorting to pulling on the occasional wood supports along the sides of the crawl space.

He started feeling the humidity seeping through his clothes as he was finally greeted with the sight of a T-shaped split in the crawl space, water spraying from a specific point on the wall on the left side of the T, rushing down a small but open drain on the right side of the T, backing up into the space he was crawling through. He could see that the side of the T that the drain was on was slightly extended and he hoped that there was some sort of trap door or other option for accessing the room from the top in the darkness of that side. He quickly found himself laying in an inch of water, struggling to get around the corner to get close to where the water was gushing. He prayed it was a seal, he couldn't tell through the pressure of the water spraying in front of him. He pulled the glow stick from his mouth, clipping it to the front of his vest with the small hook that it was designed with. It limited his vision but he had the Sharingan and he needed to be able to speak.

"Avurin!" his voice boomed, directed towards the drain, sounding more desperate than he meant for it to. He heard a gasp from down the drain.

"Kakashi!" she yelled back.

"How much time do you think we have?!" he shouted as he pushed himself further towards the rushing water, feeling stray droplets stinging his face. The pressure from the source was immense and his muscles burned as he fought the current.

"Not long! A minute at most! I'm getting close to the ceiling!" she shouted. He cursed. Wherever she was, it was sealed tight and there was nowhere else for the water to go.

"I think it's a seal! Hold on!" His voice wavered as he started pushing himself directly against the rush of water, propping his feet against the corner of the way he had come from. He was now in the top part of the T, laying between the gushing water and the drain. His hands met a solid wall at the source of the water and he wanted to yell in relief. A seal would be so much easier to fix than a mechanical trap. He felt around the wall, trying to map out the seal in his head as his fingers struggled to trace the lines carved into the wall. If he knew the seal, he may be able to directly deactivate it. The wall was made of stone on this particular side of the space and he had a feeling that it was an extension of the room Avurin was in if it was as sealed off as he thought it was.

"Hurry!" she screamed, sounding strained. He could hear scraping sounds from the wood on the other side of the drain and felt his blood run cold. She was trying to cut through the ceiling to get into the crawl space. There wasn't an exit there. From how cold the water was, he had a feeling she didn't have much energy left to even cast a jutsu to get herself out through the ceiling. She was probably using a kunai or her katana and she wouldn't be able to get enough force behind her strikes to cut through. He cursed and sent an overcharged wave of chakra through the seal, trying to overwhelm the seal. When it didn't immediately work, he continued to pour chakra into the seal. Panic started to set in as the scraping sounds stopped.

"Avurin!" he yelled. No response. He reached behind him to pull out a kunai, ignoring the tearing feeling in his shoulder at brute-forcing his own arm through the small space. He brought the kunai back up, feeling the water rising around him. It had completely filled the room she was in and was now flooding the crawl space. He slashed as hard as he could at the seal, feeling the kunai scrape hard into the wall. The water cut off abruptly, the seal destroyed. He hadn't wanted to destroy it in case they could investigate it later, but if it meant saving Avurin's life, they didn't need it.

Kakashi didn't allow himself a moment of relief, immediately maneuvering himself to back up into the part of the T where he had come from, turning around to go past the drain towards where he'd heard Avurin scraping the ceiling of the room she was trapped in. His shoulder was on fire and he suspected that it was dislocated or he'd torn something, yet he was starting to grow frantic as adrenaline took away most of the pain. He brought his hands together for a hand sign. Using the water in the crawl space to create a water shuriken, he quickly directed it towards the wood and watched it shred the wood to pieces, finally reaching the room Avurin was in. The water level didn't change at all. Once the hole was large enough, he dove in.

The room was completely black but he kept his Sharingan open. He could see the orange light of Avurin's glow stick slowly sinking further into the room. He swam towards it, his own glow stick still fixed to the front of his vest. His lungs already burned, the cold of the water seeping into his bones and stealing away the energy he had left after fighting against the current of the seal and keeping his Sharingan activated for so long. He pushed himself, diving after the orange glow. At the bottom of the room, he felt himself brush against her in the darkness. He grabbed her arm, pulling her close to him before using his feet to propel them from the bottom of the room towards where the opening was.

It was still only large enough for one person to go through and he pulled himself up first, twisting to turn around to face her in a way that made his hips stretch until there was an agonizing pop, all while keeping a bruising grip on her arm. He backed up into the tunnel, pulling her after him so that she was laying on her back. Her face finally reached the air and he listened intently for her to breathe. She didn't. He put his hands on the center of her chest, pushing hard in quick succession.

"No… No…" he muttered as he kept pushing, ignoring the shooting pain running down his arm stemming from his injured shoulder. He put his mouth to hers, pushing air into her lungs. This wasn't how he wanted to do this. There was hardly any space and they were still sitting in two or three inches of water. She was cold and clammy to the touch and he was hissing in pain with every push on her chest. He pushed more air into her lungs, continuing the compressions. "Please… don't do this to me…" he begged, his voice starting to shake and his eyes burning. He couldn't do this again. He'd lost so much already.

She coughed. He turned her head to the side, using his hand to prop her head up as she coughed again, water coming from her lungs. After a few seconds of him waiting with a bated breath, she retched, suddenly breaking out in violent coughing and kicking her legs out where they were still submerged in the gap in the ceiling of the room. He kept her head propped up, using his other arm to keep her from flailing.

"You're okay! Breathe!" he reassured her, waiting for her to calm down. She looked towards him with wild eyes before recognition started to fill her face. She went limp, taking gasping breaths while maintaining eye contact with him. She moved her mouth as if to speak and he shook his head. "Don't speak. Recover your strength. We're going to have to crawl back to the exit and I don't want you to pass out on the way." He knew he was being firm but he really didn't have the strength to drag her back to the exit. She would have to make the crawl with her own strength.

He felt his thoughts screech to a halt as a soft, cold hand met his exposed face. He took in her face as a soft smile spread across her face. He sighed and let himself relax, slumping down to press his forehead into her shoulder, tilting his head enough that he didn't put his face into the water. His arm was on fire, his left hip felt like he had torn something at the joint, and his head hurt from using the Sharingan. He wanted to sleep. He could feel Avurin's hand trail into his soaked hair, gently massaging the side of his head. He closed his eyes for a moment before forcing himself to pull away. He knew the risks of falling asleep cold and wet, especially in a space this small with a room underneath them that could easily drown them.

"Come on. Let's start making our way back. We can rest when we get out of here." he mumbled. She nodded and sighed, her breathing finally calmed after the near-death experience. He pushed himself up as much as he could, hissing at the strain on his hips. He backed up, putting himself in the part of the T that the seal had been in. Avurin slowly turned over on her stomach, crawling after him. "Go down that way. I'm right behind you. Pakkun will meet us at the exit." He was whispering, feeling the adrenaline rush falling from him, he knew he was crashing.

"O-Okay," she stuttered, her voice so hoarse his own throat hurt from hearing it. She pulled herself into the part of the T he had come from, starting the crawl down the long path ahead of them. He followed her as promised, barely managing to pull himself along. She was going slow, obviously just as exhausted as he was. It had to be at least twenty feet of just crawling with no space to actually move. Avurin was less broad so she had an easier time but he could tell there were times that she struggled to get a grip on the slimy floor. He wrinkled his nose at the mold. That trap was activated after so many other safeguards, it didn't make sense for it to be used frequently so there really shouldn't be so much mold. He wasn't going to investigate it now, though.

"Avurin! Boss!" Pakkun's voice chimed from the exit as Avurin pulled herself through the cabinet and collapsed on the floor in the bathroom. Kakashi quickly followed, wincing as he plopped down on the dusty floor. "Boss! You made it!" Pakkun yipped in his face and he growled, his head pounding. Pakkun didn't flinch but he took a step back, raising what could be considered one of his eyebrows at Kakashi. "Don't growl at me, pup. Let's get you two to a bedroom. You look like a couple of drowned cats." Kakashi just sighed, not moving from his spot on the ground. Avurin seemed to be doing better than him, sitting up and leaning against the lavish clawfoot bathtub in the bathroom.

"Give us a second, Pakkun. I'm pretty sure I was clinically dead for a minute before Kakashi saved me and it seems like he pulled some insane gymnastics to get us out of there. Frankly, I could sleep right here." Avurin muttered, her voice scratchy but already sounding better than it had. Pakkun nodded, moving towards the door.

"I'll give you guys a little bit to catch your breath. Call me if you need me, but please try to make it to the bedroom and get out of those clothes. The last thing you two need is to catch a cold when you're not even halfway through this mission." Kakashi just glared at the pug until he left the room, not even having the energy to argue.

They sat in silence for a while, Kakashi laying on his stomach in the middle of the bathroom just fighting sleep and feeling the pain in his body slowly make itself known as the adrenaline completely left his system. Avurin was leaning back against the tub, also just breathing and fighting to keep her eyes open. They were both soaked to the bone and sure enough, they had started shivering. Kakashi groaned and tried to push himself up, yelping as his shoulder finally gave out and he slammed into the floor, narrowly avoiding breaking his nose as his face came dangerously close to smashing into the floor.

"I would ask if you're okay but you're obviously not. I'm going to help you get to our room, just tell me which shoulder to avoid." Avurin muttered as she pulled herself to her feet. Kakashi glowered and avoided her eyes.

"Right arm and left hip," he mumbled. She clicked her tongue and put a hand on his left shoulder, gently pulling him up. His hips shifted and he hissed, but eventually he found himself in a sitting position with Avurin getting ready to pull him to his feet. He braced himself as she pulled him, bringing him to a standing position where he wavered. She quickly wedged herself under his right shoulder and pulled him towards her so he was leaning his weight into her. They made the slow walk to the bedroom they had used the previous night, Kakashi groaning low in his throat with each shift of his hips and hissing occasionally when his arm swung in the wrong direction.

When they reached the room, they were both shivering and Kakashi was feeling faint. He carefully sat down in the chair in the corner of the room, starting to unzip his vest. Avurin noticed what he was doing and quickly moved to kneel in front of him, a determined look in her eyes. She pulled the zipper of his vest down, carefully removing the heavy piece of clothing. She looked at him with hesitation, glancing at his shoulder.

"It looks dislocated," she told him. He nodded.

"Do it."

"I'm going to count down."

"Don't, you know that makes it so much worse." She gave him a sadistic grin and he found himself mock glaring at her.

"5… 4…" She suddenly popped his shoulder back into place, eliciting a sharp yelp from him. He brought his other hand up to his shoulder, instantly rubbing the sore joint to try to soothe the pain.

"That was rude," he mumbled. She just smiled at him, slowly unzipping her own vest and dropping it to the floor next to where she'd dropped his. He found himself taking in every inch of her, the soaked black shirt she was wearing left very little to the imagination. The way it clung to her waist and chest was so tempting, yet he was so tired. That thought brought a whole new kind of frustration. Of course he would finally get to see the most tantalizing view of her while he was in pain and exhausted. He sighed and leaned back in the chair as she untied her hair, wringing it out over the rug in the room. He rolled his eyes, letting his head roll back so he could stare at the ceiling as she went about trying to get the water out of her hair. The blatant disrespect to her family home was not lost on him.

*Surprise! This Chapter's Song: I GUESS I'M IN LOVE by Clinton Kane*

"You know, I think I'm done waiting," he heard her whisper. He raised an eyebrow as he picked his head back up, not quite sure where she was going with that comment. Lips were on his in less than a second, a hand coming around to cup the back of his head. Her lips were warm this time, not cold and on the brink of death. He groaned low in his chest, bringing his good arm around her shoulders so he could pull her as close as physically possible. It was as if the floodgates had opened, all of his emotions pouring into the kiss that was quickly turning frantic. He felt her lips pressing against his and wanted more. Using one of his fangs, he gently nipped at her bottom lip, making her gasp. Taking the opening, he pushed his tongue between her lips, quickly invading her mouth.

Another groan slipped from him as he tasted her, his hand clutching at the wet fabric of the back of her shirt. She gently settled her weight in his lap, carefully avoiding his left side. There was a dull ache as she settled on top of him but he didn't care. His hand let go of her shirt to wander, running along her side and pulling her hip against him in a bruising grip as he pushed further into her mouth. He opened both of his eyes as she broke away, panting as she tried to recover her breath. This moment with her was worth the slap he could earn for committing the memory through his Sharingan.

"I'm not waiting anymore. I want this." She spoke with certainty, not leaving any doubts. It made the wait worth it to know that she was fully committed to this, not a single insecurity or doubt showing on her face or betraying her in her voice. He nodded.

"I want this, too. I almost lost you today. Whether you were going to give me a chance or not, I realized I couldn't lose you." he admitted. Her eyes softened and she leaned forward, giving him a short and sweet peck on the lips.

"There is no one else I would trust with my life as much as I trust you, 'Kashi. Thank you." she whispered as she hugged him. He brought his arm around her, pulling her tightly against him. He leaned close to her ear.

"I guess this means we should be comfortable taking our clothes off in front of each other. I'm starting to freeze." he teased. He felt her tense before pushing against his chest, leaning back to glare at him.

"As much as you're right, I'll still punch you for that. Later. When you're not broken." The blush on her face was beautiful and he found himself cupping her cheek, his chest growing warm when she leaned into his touch. She sighed and pulled away, getting off of him as she looked towards the bed. "Let's get settled. I need a nap."

He found himself smiling at her, happier than he had been in years.

…

Author's Note: So, it begins. What do you think? Did your heart hammer in your chest like it did for me while I was frantically writing this? I have general outlines for these things but the best part of writing for me is watching the story play out without knowing the details until I write them. This scenario worked itself out in front of my eyes and I couldn't be more happy about it. Things are picking up and I can't wait to see how our lovely couple deals with their new feelings. It's safe to say this is NOT a real slowburn. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did!