It really was a day trip. The couple left in the morning and ran for an hour to a small town built around several natural hot springs. After checking into their room, the couple separated and went to their respective bathing pools.

The day was perfect, the hot springs relaxing. Mei always felt fresh and new after soaking in the hot mineral water. After she'd dried and wrapped up in a robe, she headed back to their room.

Kakashi was already there, reading and dressed in a similar robe. The sight made Mei flush. Was he wearing as little as she was? She wondered if Kakashi was up for some…practicing. That hadn't been her intention but she did feel extremely relaxed after the hot springs.

Mei walked over to Kakashi and touched his arm. Kakashi smiled at the contact, put a finger down to mark his place, and looked up. "Did you enjoy yourself?"

"I did. You?"

Kakashi hummed in affirmation. He was about to turn back to his book when he noticed his wife's lingering gaze. His eyebrows rose in question. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Mei said, running her fingers along his arm. "I was just-" she trailed off, feeling foolish. She didn't want to use any pickup lines she'd learned for missions. They were all ridiculous anyway. Still, she couldn't think of anything to say that wasn't some practiced line. She'd resolved to never use any seduction training on her husband, it felt wrong.

Kakashi frowned. "What is it?"

"I wondered if you wouldn't be interested in some practicing?"

Kakashi's confused scowl morphed into a look of surprise. "Right now?" His eyes darted to the closet, the futons were still rolled up but that could change, and back to her. "Are you sure?"

Mei smiled. The robe was complimentary, right?

In answer, Mei weaved her hands together and, using boil style through her pores, sent acid billowing into her bathrobe. The material disintegrated and fell off of her in acid-eaten clumps. Mei took a moment to neutralize the pH. Her little trick had taken effort but the look on Kakashi's face was worth it.

000000

Their marital relations were not yet a seamless exercise but they were comfortable with how things were coming along. They both knew how to be patient and take it one step at a time.

Afterward, in that blissful state of contentment, Mei swallowed and suggested, "pass time?"

"Pass time?" Kakashi turned to look at her, cuddled up against him. He tucked the blanket around her. Pulling out the futons in the heat of the moment had been an irritating exercise in delayed gratification but, Kakashi reasoned, it was worth it. Cuddling wouldn't have been nearly as comfortable on the floor.

"If you agree," Mei began, "I'll answer a question you asked but that I passed on, but I'd like you to answer one that you passed on as well."

Kakashi squinted at her. "That doesn't seem fair, I've only passed on one question that I can think of."

"But," Mei countered, "you get to choose which question I answer."

"What are your goals?" Kakashi asked after only a moment.

Mei was surprised. "You don't want to hear about my past boyfriends?"

"I do," he allowed, "but I'd rather hear about your goals."

"Well I'm still working on that," Mei replied. "I'll probably be working on that all my life. But I think it boils down to my bonds. I want stronger bonds with those people I already have."

"Like the other kage?" Kakashi offered.

"Who told you that?" Mei demanded.

"Several people actually," Kakashi muttered. Then he continued it a stronger, surer voice. "It seems to be heavy on your mind. I can't pretend I know how hard you had to work to build back respect for your village, but Mei, we, the other kage and I, we've always respected you. You are not the Mist and you are more than just the Mizukage. I hope you know that."

Mei was struck dumb. She was not the Mist, she knew that, but as Mizukage she'd so intwined her identity with her village that it was easy for her to take criticism of the Mist onto herself. What sweet relief to know that these people, she'd like to call her friends, respected her just as she was and not necessarily as the Mizukage.

After a time she spoke. "I feel like you just gave me an answer rather than the other way around." Mei tilted her head to look at her husband. "I could kiss you."

"I'd allow it," Kakashi replied playfully.

When they parted Mei said, "why don't you go again?"

"Well, I'd still like to hear about any past boyfriends of note." Kakashi couldn't help himself.

"Getting jealous are we?" Mei asked with a flirtatious smile.

"You were the one who brought it up." Kakashi's look remained placid. "I'm less jealous and more curious." He waited.

Mei nodded, signaling her agreement. "There were only four, that I know about."

"That you know about?"

"As it turns out, if you flirt with a lot of people, there's bound to be someone who thinks they're in a relationship with you without your knowledge." Mei cleared her throat. "The first one I've mentioned," Mei let that statement hang.

Kakashi growled at the memory of that conversation. Mei's first boyfriend, the one who had threatened to take, by force, what Mei wouldn't willingly give. Mei had come a long way since then, but that threat had haunted her for years. The idea left Kakashi angry.

Mei kept her tone light as she elaborated. "He was a typical first boyfriend. Neither of us really knew what we were doing. We talked a lot but not about anything that mattered. He dumped me when, I suppose, he realized I was too much trouble.

"The second didn't talk much at all. He was older than me, usually tired from missions when he was in the village, so we just sat around together. He was rather boring."

"Then why did you date him?" Kakashi interjected.

Mei shrugged. "I thought he was exactly my type," she rolled her eyes. "Whatever that was."

"And that was?"

"Handsome and silent," Mei admitted with a laugh. She'd been so young then. She quieted. "The next was rather loud and obnoxious. In retrospect we didn't get along that well. We were either laughing our heads off or arguing, there was no in-between. It was very uncomfortable." She shook her head. "And the last-" Mei trailed off and there was silence for a time. "The last I killed."

Kakashi's eyebrows shot up. The silence thickened. "Killed?"

"He went rogue," Mei sighed out, dragging the memories up like trash in a river. "It was my duty as a Hunter, you see. We both wanted the same things for the Mist but went about it in very different ways. I was ordered to bring him back. He wouldn't come. I killed him." The words were like a slammed door, final and echoing. There was nothing more to say, or so Mei thought.

"Did you love him?" Kakashi asked. If Mei hadn't properly processed her reaction to her first boyfriend, it was possible she hadn't worked out how to deal with the last either.

Mei took another deep breath. "I don't know, maybe. We never got a chance to find out." She shook herself, curling in closer to her husband. "It doesn't matter, I chose the village over him. I'm still not sure I was right. I said I cared about him and then I-"

Kakashi waited patiently for his wife to work through her thoughts.

"Anyway," Mei continued after a minute. "I said I wasn't going to let even that choice happen again, regardless of what I wanted. Then you walked into my life with your dancing eyes and jokes and fancy hair."

Kakashi blinked in confusion. "Fancy?"

Mei continued on like she hadn't heard him. "That relationship was nothing like what we have, it couldn't be. I mourned him, like I have so many others. But I killed him. The bill to be paid will always rest at my door. Tsunade's lucky that way, there's a dollar amount to her debt, a distinct end goal."

Kakashi was surprised that Tsunade had told Mei about her gambling debt, but he let it go. Mei had more to say.

Mei shook her head. "Nothing will ever be enough. I still don't know if I'm okay with what I'm doing, here, with you. I don't deserve it. I should be in the Mist, paying my debts, not luxuriating in a soft bed with my incredible husband."

"I'm sorry you feel that way," Kakashi whispered. He wasn't sure what to say. Finally he said, "and I'm sorry that this isn't something I can help you with."

"I know, I'm just glad you're still here."

"Still?"

"We just had one of our more successful 'practices' and I followed it up with pillow talk about how I killed my previous boyfriend."

"I did ask, maybe I should be the one apologizing," Kakashi pointed out.

"It's not the same as you and Rin," Mei suddenly blurted out.

"I know," Kakashi replied calmly. He curled his arm around her, pulling her in tight and then releasing her again, a side hug. "If it matters, I'm glad you're here and I think you deserve some peace. I will admit I'm biased in this matter."

"Extremely," Mei agreed, but his words made her smile just the same. All of the guilt and pain that Mei carried with her, Kakashi had a way of lightening the load. She hoped she did the same for him.

"Do I still get my question answered?" Mei asked lightly.

"What I'm learning is that I should be passing on more questions," Kakashi stated. He nodded his go-ahead.

"Why do you keep your face covered?"

He'd known what question it would be, the only one he'd passed on. It still took him a moment. Kakashi pulled in a deep breath through his nose and released it from his mouth in a rushing sigh. He turned his head to face the ceiling. He spoke to the rafters.

"One day my father and I were out at the market. A couple of elderly ladies were cooing about something. I'd assumed a baby was nearby. Then they stopped my father to tell him how cute I was," Kakashi shuddered at the memory. "My father could tell something was wrong, so when we got home, he asked what had upset me. I told him I didn't want to be cute, I wanted to be a fierce shinobi, like him. I see, now, how that must have pained him. I was probably three or four at the time. But then he smiled and after we put the groceries away, we went back out to a store my father frequented. He bought me my first mask. I wore it everywhere. He told me that as long as I had my mask on, I'd be a fierce shinobi." Kakashi ended his story with an epilogue of silence.

A/N: I have no idea if anyone's had a scene where Mei boils her own clothes off but considering her skills I'd be surprised if no one's thought to do it before. I came up with it independently after having her de-wrinkle her dress at the beginning of this story. When I worked at a dry-cleaners we had a mannequin that emitted steam and we'd put wedding or formal dresses on that to get the wrinkles out. But if Mei can change the pH at will then, why not?
Thanks for reading!