Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or anything other than my OCs.

There were a handful of people Saizo Kai could count on to pull him through a tough time, not that he would ever tell those people. He was currently heading for the second possible person on that list. His father was the first and only person he had hoped to talk to about his heavily burdened heart and shame but his father had not given him an answer that cleared his mind of guilt.

Kai had a lump of questions to be asked and answered. He had realized asking his father had only confused him more. What exactly was he looking for? He was not used to asking things of people and he was not used to feeling this way so when it came time to ask for help, he had no idea how to even go about it. Clueless.

On his way to see the second potential helper, Kai met the one person he was not ready to see. Kirishima Touga.

Touga looked him up and down in an almost bored fashion, "You look like you're doing just fine."

Kai hesitated, wondering why this man had initiated a conversation. Touga could have easily pretended he hadn't seen Kai and life would have just continued but he had started conversation. For what purpose?

For Kai, this was a chance to ask someone who had been at the scene the questions he wanted answers to. But what questions should he ask? Was it even worth asking this man? Would Touga give him an honest answer?

"You look like you have something to say. Speak up." Touga prompted him sharply, "I am not a mind reader so you'll have to speak."

Would he regret asking?

"If you have nothing to say, I'll be continuing on my way." Touga grumbled, pushing past the jonin in the midday crowd of villagers.

Kai snagged the man's arm on reflex, surprising himself more than anyone, "Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did but I suppose that's not what you mean. One more wouldn't hurt." The older male shrugged, "Speak now or forever hold your peace."

"In my position, what would you have done? What would you do now?"

"I already showed you what I would have done at that very time and place. I stayed out of her way and I did not overstretch. I knew my limits and I knew their limits." Touga snorted as if the question was barely worth asking, "But I suppose the real question is the second one? If I were you, I would learn my place."

"Wh-What?"

"Your team has no medical ability. You personally have no specific worth. You are a ninja just like any other and it would benefit you to remember it." Touga said firmly, "Ninjas are tools for battle, nothing more and nothing less. You are expendable. You don't even have any hidden skills worth protecting. The original Team Asahina had clear positions. The two of you were obviously supposed to be sacrificial pieces or tools to be used by Asahina to protect the Hyuga's Byakugan."

The words rang in Kai's ears over and over. It sank down to the depths of his heart. All he could do was stare at the older shinobi. Speechless.

Touga didn't stop there. He continued relentlessly, unknowingly driving the stake deep into the blonde's heart, "It is Asahina's kindness that failed to teach you three your rightful places but I am not so kind so let me tell you now. Strong ninjas are valuable tools. Special ninjas are valuable tools. Strong ninjas like me and Asahina have every right to use average ninjas like you as we please. Special ninjas like Hyuga Kori also have that right but you are average. There are millions of shinobi that share your skill level and your particular moveset. Therefore, you have no rights. You are just one of many tools to be discarded once you are deemed unworthy by the strong and the special."

Kai stared blankly at the ANBU officer that simply stared right back as if he had just told Kai a common fact. Touga spoke nothing but the truth. An average ninja is just worth much less than a stronger ninja. That is a fact. People are more likely to hire and use strong ninjas in comparison to weak ones.

"Do you understand?" Touga asked surprisingly softly.

"Yes." He croaked pitifully, his mouth felt dry and there was a bitter taste on his tongue but he understood perfectly, "So, do I deserve forgiveness?"

The ash-haired shinobi let the silence stretch before finally answering with a decisive, "No. If I was in your place, I would remember I don't deserve forgiveness."

"But you are not in my place." Kai said bitterly, "I get it."

"No." Touga said and continued on his way as if that conversation had never happened.

The blonde stared after the older ninja with utter confusion. No? No what? "No" as in he was in the same position? "No" as in Kai did not get it? No what? Touga was not the person he should have asked. Kai's confusion was only doubled by speaking to the older man so with hunched shoulders, Kai continued to his destination without paying much attention to the people who passed him by or the people that called out to him in the streets. He only had eyes for the small apartment that was often where he could find both Asahina and Kakashi. He didn't want to talk to them separately. He would have to explain it twice if he caught Kakashi alone in his apartment so he desperately hoped that his old teacher would be there as well.

Kai bitterly thought he had used up all his luck when he knocked on the door and Asahina was the one to open it. He didn't know whether he should be happy or angry his wish had come true.

Asahina blinked down at her student in surprise and invited him in immediately. She sat her student down at the table and went to pull Kakashi from the inner room upon seeing her student's expression. Kai let out a big sigh when Kakashi came to join them.

"So?" Kakashi said lazily and in a light tone, "I doubt you came here just to see my face so let's get right to it."

"I don't have the heart to see her." Kai blurted out his true feelings. The questions and the farce he had put up in front of both his father and Kirishima Touga was long gone in the face of these two trusted and wise ninjas. His feelings were now so clear to him, "I feel terrible and I hate it."

"Kai. We know what happened." Asahina said softly, "But avoiding her is not going to make it any better. She's going to be released from the hospital soon. Kakashi and I have already gone to see her a few times."

"And?" Kai blurted hastily, "Is she really okay? No permanent damage."

"That's something you should go and confirm with your own eyes, Kai." She advised, "She's waiting for you."

"Is she really?" He asked bitterly, "I doubt it."

"No, you don't." Kakashi said sternly after his short period of silence, "You just want to doubt it for your own sake. Not seeing her at this point is selfish. You're running away because you don't want to see the aftermath of your own mistake, aren't you?"

"Kakashi!" Asahina hissed at her lover's insensitive honesty.

"It's true." Kai admitted, "That must be the truth because I know she'll forgive me and I know she won't be angry with me but I still can't bring myself to go and tell her I'm sorry."

"If you know that, why are you standing here?" Kakashi asked, his tone low and condescending, "The forgiveness you want to earn can only be given to you by the person you've hurt. So don't just stand there."

Kai was immediately on his feet, hurrying out and into the street once more.

Asahina stared after her student in awe, "I would have never expected such an attitude from our arrogant Kai."

Kakashi shrugged, "Doesn't matter how arrogant or proud a man is, when it comes down to the person he loves he's just the same as everyone else."

"Hah." She snorted at him, "Well, Kakashi, I hope you don't think I'm letting you off the hook just cause you gave Kai a good talking to. You still need to think of a name for our child. It's a boy."

"..."

"Kakashi?"

"Did you hear that?" The copy ninja laughed awkwardly, squirming and shifting suspiciously in the direction of the door.

"No."

"I think I heard Naruto calling for me. I'll be right back." He made for the door fast and he didn't look back.

"Kakashi, get back here!" She shrieked in frustration, "You can't run away forever!"

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

Kai had run out of Kakashi's apartment with resolve but the minute he was outside the hospital he had run out of courage. He ended up turning and running the opposite way with gusto. Unable to go it alone, he decided he would take the loser's way out and fold his pride for just long enough to ask Toshizo to go with him. But he got an unexpected response from his teammate when he found him heading towards the village gate.

"Toshi?"

"Kai-san!" Toshizo grinned widely upon seeing his blond companion, "Thank god I found you! I wanted to tell you to take care of yourself while I'm away!"

"What? A mission or something?" Kai grumbled. He knew he had used up all his luck when he found Asahina and Kakashi together. Now who was going to see Kori with him?

"Something like that." The aspiring puppeteer grinned sheepishly, "More like a personal mission though. In this last fight I was basically useless so I've been thinking for a while and I thought I would need to train more."

"So what?" The blond narrowed his eyes on the chunin's baggage, "You're going away to train?"

"Yeah." The dark haired ninja smiled softly, "I think you and I have been thinking the same thing. It's our fault Kori-san ended up like this and yet if we go to see her in the hospital immediately, she would have just told us it's not our fault and forgive us. That's just her nature. So I thought I would earn her forgiveness."

"And you thought of a solution already?!"

"Yeah. That's why I'm leaving the village to train. I'm sorry but I can't remain the same forever. I've written a letter to Kankuro-san in Sunagakure. I've asked him to train me properly." The chunin's eyes were glowing with excitement, "By promising to be strong enough not to weigh her down in the next fight, I think I've taken the first step to properly earning Kori-san's forgiveness. You're already strong so I think you can earn her forgiveness just by being by her side now but I'm not like that so I've already received permission to go to Suna. I won't be back for a while so I hope you'll stay well until I come back."

"... I understand." Kai glanced back at the gate and stepped aside for his comrade to pass, "Good luck, man."

"Thank you. And good luck to you too."

Kai stared after his friend as he left the village without looking back even once. Toshizo was going to overtake him if he wasn't careful. The blonde turned back and sprinted towards the hospital. He had no time to waste with this uncertainty. Toshizo's resolve had given him the last push he needed to move on and Kai was not about to waste it.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O

"WHY?!" Kori shrieked in dismay, grasping her best friend's shoulders in a frustrated vicegrip, "Inuzuka Kiba, you liar!"

"Why would I lie to you?! I went to your house and I asked your brother! He said no letters have been delivered!" Kiba's head shook back and forth from the force of his friend's violent shaking, "Don't be an idiot!"

She huffed and sat right back in her bed in a rather childish manner, "Seriously?"

"Seriously." He grumbled, glaring at Akamaru who thought it was just so funny, "Jeez. I never expected you to go through the whole girl-in-love stage but I guess being a jonin doesn't make you any more mature when it comes to this stuff, huh?"

"Oh shut up." She sighed, giving him a side-eyed, pathetic glare, "You don't understand… I practically confessed… Is the lack of response meant to be a rejection?"

Kiba stared at her in wide-eyed stupor. Time paused as he processed her words and then he was a sputtering mess, "Wh-What?! You confessed to Suna's Kazekage?!"

His panic had triggered her panic. She waved her arms clumsily and blurted, "I-I th-thought he wanted me to! He sent me a message saying he felt our relationship had changed over the years so I thought he already knew that I…"

"That you're in love with him." He finished for her, crossing his arms over his chest to snort, "Didn't Toshizo just leave for Sunagakure? Did you tell him to ask for you?"

"... Yes." She admitted, blushing when her friend began to howl with laughter, "I mean what else could I do?! I don't have permission to leave the hospital yet and he isn't responding to my letters! It's been more than a month since the last letter came!"

"I would just give it up." Kiba grinned, "There's plenty of nice guys in Konoha too."

"Pft. Like who?"

"Oh I don't know." The dog loving ninja grinned playfully, "Maybe Kai?"

"I told you I don't like Saizo that way." She muttered, "Enough of that."

"Well I don't see why not. All the other girls in this village seem to think he's the best looking guy around." He scoffed, "But then again, you are a Hyuga. You have better eyes than them I suppose…. Or so I would say but you like Gaara."

"What's wrong with the way he looks?"

"He doesn't look like me!" Kiba said, only half joking, "I mean look at me! Aren't I great?"

Akamaru wheezed out and rolled onto his back in laughter.

"Even your partner thinks you're just too much." She snorted at him, "Cut it out."

"Jeez. Hyuga's and their terrible tastes in men. I mean, look at Hinata." Kiba grunted, nudging his canine companion with his toes, "Stop laughing!"

"Well… Hinata-sama is Hinata-sama."

A soft knock at the door interrupted Kiba's response but the person behind the door was not so patient that he would wait for a response. He slid the door open and stood there awkwardly, glaring at Kiba as if the chunin would move without being told to do so.

"Saizo!" The Hyuga grinned an unchanged smile, "I'm glad you're alright! You didn't come to see me so I thought you might be seriously hurt!"

"Out." Kai grasped Kiba by the back of his jacket and nearly tossed him out.

"I'm going! Jeez." The dark-haired ninja grumbled and stepped out surprisingly obedient for one with such a fiery temper, Akamaru following closely behind him.

Kori stared after her friend in confusion, "Something wrong? Are you hurt after all?"

"No. I'm glad you're alright." He muttered, suddenly wishing he hadn't kicked Kiba out.

She was quiet for a moment and then she gave her shocking response, "I'm sorry."

The guilt stabbed deep into his chest and through gritted teeth he asked, "Why would you be sorry? The one that's sorry is me. Unlike you, I have nothing to help me in that sort of situation. I'm not as skilled as you. I'm-!"

"What skill, Saizo? Is it really skill if I'm just making use of something I was born with?" She smiled when he looked her in the eyes finally, "The one with skill is you. I'm just making use of what was given to me."

"..." He was silenced by her modesty and kindness as usual. He had already known that he was the odd one out of his team. Both Toshizo and Kori exhibited extreme kindness and modesty but he did not share that trait. Perhaps that was the crucial factor in this particular situation. Was it his pride and arrogance that had nearly cost this kunoichi her life?

Kai had never met with such mental uncertainty in his life and he could not figure out what he should do to earn his forgiveness now that she had expressed no malice towards him for his mistake.

"Saizo?" She called him out of his mental pit, "Can I ask you for a small favor?"

"Anything." He blurted, jumping at the chance she had given him, "I'll do anything."

She smiled at him shyly, "Do you think you could find out if Gaara-sama has replied to my letter yet?"

As painful as it was to think that she was thinking of Gaara at a time like this, he had already declared that he would do anything and he wasn't about to go back on his word, "Yeah. Where do I go?"

"Well apparently Neji said there was nothing delivered to our house so maybe… could you check the aviary?"

"Yeah." He grumbled, "I'll be right back then."

"Thank you!" She called after him as he left the room to comply with her request.