Kotori woke up feeling great.

She let out a content little sigh as she stretched, not quite wanting to open her eyes just yet. Her mind hovered on the brink of consciousness. It was her day off and she was going to enjoy this lazy morning. She felt well rested. And cozy. And safe. All things were a rarity for someone in her profession. She could feel the warmth from the morning sun, shining through her window. There was a breeze moving across her bare skin so she reached to pull up the covers. Only to find that she was being lightly restrained.

She was less frightened than she should have been.

She blearily blinked open her eyes. A pair of strong arms were wrapped around her, keeping her in place. They were pale and the hair was so light it was scarcely noticeable. Almost silver in colour. That's right, Kakashi had found her at the bar and then they had -

Oh shit.

Her eyes widened and she was suddenly very awake. Her face felt horribly hot as she recalled the events from the night before. She had gotten them both drunk at a bar. She invited him into her apartment. She had, quite literally, thrown herself at him. She wanted to hide under the covers. She wanted to escape through the window. Both seemed impossible at the moment because Kakashi was surprisingly clingy in his sleep.

She could feel him stirring behind her. Instead of pulling away, he seemed content pull her in tighter and snuggle. He buried his face into the back of her neck.

"You think too loudly," he complained into her hair. She privately congratulated herself on controlling the shiver that threatened to run down her spine. That deep timbre so close to her ear reminded her of the way he whispered into her ear as she came undone.

"Kakashi, about last night - " She could feel him go still behind her. She licked her lips as she nervously pressed on. "What are we going to do now?"

He was quiet for a moment and Kotori knew he was carefully planning his response. Her heart pounded in her chest as she prepared for the lecture. It was just a one time thing. It shouldn't happen again. Maybe this would have been easier if he had just disappeared out the window before she woke up. They could have ignored it ever happened. They could have pretended it was just a drunken one night stand.

She knew it wasn't. Not for him. Not for her either. Alcohol may have lowered their inhibitions, but there had been a spark long before. How could they possibly go back to being just friends? Or even worse, just teammates?

"Ah, I was thinking we could start with breakfast."

"Breakfast?"

"Mhmm."

"You want to get breakfast?" She could hear the disbelief in her own voice.

"We could also make breakfast. We don't have to go anywhere today."

Kotori could already feel her brain spinning, trying to make sense of his line of thinking. She wouldn't put it past Kakashi to try and deflect this conversation. She just wasn't expecting him to carry on like waking up in her bed was a normal, every day occurrence. She steeled herself. He was not getting out of it that easily.

"You're naked in my bed. We should probably talk about that first."

His arms loosened around her as he retreated, if only by centimetres. She could still feel the warmth of his body behind hers, but they were no longer touching. Kotori found herself disappointed in that.

His voice sounded guarded when he spoke. "Do you regret anything that happened last night?"

As much as she worried about the consequences, she couldn't say she regretted having sex with him. She just hoped it didn't ruin things between them.

"Well, no - "

"I don't either. So if you're open to it, we could just see how this plays out?"

That wasn't a rejection nor was it denial. Kotori could feel the tension lift from her shoulders. She tilted her head to properly look at him. He had propped himself up, resting his chin on his hand. His hand was splayed out, hiding the lower half of his face in lieu of his usual mask. The sharingan was closed, but his normal eye was carefully watching her reaction. He seemed almost nervous and she realized she hadn't answered him yet.

"I - I'd like that."

"Good." He settled in, dragging her back into his arms. If it wasn't for the faint patterns he was idly tracing into her skin she would have assumed he went back to sleep. "I meant it when I said you were someone important to me."

Someone important. She could hear the weight of what those words meant to him. Even if they were loosely defined. As much as she wanted to push for a more definite answer, she was afraid to push too much for fear it would only push him away. He was here. They would figure this out together. She trusted him, perhaps a lot more than she should. Not just to lead her or have her back on missions. Kakashi was a shinobi who valued his comrades more than anything. She could trust that he wouldn't carelessly use her or play with her heart.

She turned so that she was fully facing him. The fact that he was still not wearing his mask made the moment more intimate than either of their nudity.

There was an unreadable expression on his face, his normal eye half lidded as he stared into her eyes. His kiss was chaste, almost as if he was asking permission. Permission she eagerly gave as she thread her fingers through his hair. Kakashi was surprisingly delicate with her as he explored her body in the morning light. Almost as if he was afraid she would break under his touch. It was ironic, considering he was the complete opposite of delicate when they sparred against each other.

Something she gleefully reminded him of as she flipped them both over so that she was on top. There was a spark of challenge in his eyes, however he seemed content to let her ride him. Kotori had a feeling she would pay later for her teasing and couldn't wait to see how.

She tucked herself into his side after she came down from her high. Kakashi's eyes were both closed and he looked utterly peaceful. She couldn't help but stare at him a little, still in disbelief that he had taken the mask off. It seemed he had been using his true face on all those undercover missions.

"That was amazing," she happily sighed. She propped herself up so that she was now hovering over him. "Especially last night, it's like you knew exactly -"

His left eye lazily winked open at her, the red of the sharingan staring at her. "Precognition has other uses."

"You -!" Her heartbeat sped up as she stared transfixed at the red iris and three black tomoe. Her words died on her lips. She could see Sayuri's eyes, wide and fearful, the exact same shade of red and the three tomoe.

How could she get so caught up in herself? What was she doing? Her best friend's ashes were still fresh and she was just moving on like nothing had ever happened.

"Kotori?" The eye blinked shut as the world returned around her. Kakashi was reaching for his forehead protector somewhere on the ground.

Breathe, she reminded herself. "I'm sorry, I - "

"Ah, no worries, I don't like it either."

"It's part of you - " she weakly protested. She should love every part of him. She shouldn't have such a negative reaction.

"Technically, it's on loan from a friend." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "One I wouldn't mind visiting today. You don't have to come if you don't want."

She hadn't been to the cemetery since the funeral service. It had been even longer since she had visited her family's gravestone. "Yeah, I should probably go."

"Only if you want."

She was already standing up, wrapping her arms around herself. She felt naked and exposed. The thought of Kakashi seeing her so weak when he was always so strong.

"I just need to get ready first."

Kotori let herself stand under the hot water in her shower for longer than necessary. She stepped out, grabbing a towel to dry herself off and entering her now empty bedroom. The window was wide open and a note was tucked underneath one of her flower pots. Be right back was scrawled with a henohenomoheji. Kotori smiled gently to herself.

Most times, practicality won over her own vanity, but today was the rare day she could put more effort into her appearance and it wouldn't be wasted. She scrunched up her hair and added a little bit of product before drying it with a light wind jutsu. It fell in soft waves, the tips just touching her shoulders. She pulled on a simple light green blouse over her mesh shirt. The blouse wrapped at the waist and flared over the top of her black pants. Her belt was hidden underneath, concealing a few weapon holders. Even while off-duty, shinobi were never truly off.

She found Kakashi in her kitchenette. He must have gone home and come back. His hair was damp and hanging low over his head. He was dressed in the standard issued Konoha uniform, however had left the green vest off. The mask was back in place, although she supposed it was out of habit.

Kotori paused uncertainly in the doorway. This was still so new and completely bizarre to her. She kept expecting him to disappear or to wake up from a dream.

Part of her wanted to exist in this little bubble for as long as possible. She didn't want to begin to think of all the ways the outside world could burst it. There were so many uncertainties. Ensui was right in his warnings about dating within teams. Kakashi was in a position of direction authority over her. Would the Commander require her to be moved to a different team? Or would he turn a blind eye because it was Hatake Kakashi? Would Kakashi treat her differently? Would she act differently? What would their teammates think? She couldn't say for sure. She didn't like the idea of starting with a new team and definitely did not want to end up on Ox's after her talk with Tenzo.

She wrapped her arms around his middle from behind. His muscles stiffened before relaxing into her touch. She supposed they were both going to have to get used to this. She let go and poked her head around to seen what he was doing. He had rice simmering in a pot while he was grilling fish.

"Damn prodigies. Are you good at everything?"

"Not everything. I just read a lot."

"I didn't think you read anything other than Icha Icha."

"No one reads cookbooks in public, Kotori."

No one reads porn in public either, but she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of going down that rabbit hole. She gave him a sharp poke in the side before setting the table.

After breakfast, Kakashi disappeared back to his apartment with the plan to meet her at the cemetery. He didn't want to give the impression that he had spent the night at her apartment. They had agreed to keep things to themselves for now.

She stopped at the Yamanaka flower shop to pick up two bundles of calla lilies as offerings. Inoichi's daughter was watching the shop and gave her a sympathetic smile. The Yamanakas were a tight knit community and many were familiar with her and Sayuri as they spent a great amount of time at Aimi's house.

With a heavy heart, Kotori realized she had not spent nearly as much time in the Uchiha district as she had the Yamanaka or Nara. Sayuri always seemed to prefer getting away from her family. Her father had put a lot of pressure on her to live up to the Uchiha name and she found refuge with her teammates.

"- hope you understand. I tried to stop it. If I wasn't so weak and useless, Itachi - "

Kotori, Ensui and Inoichi had listened to Sayuri's final words over and over the next morning. The simplest answer was that Sayuri had tried to stop Itachi and could not. It fit with the village narrative that Itachi had snapped from the intense pressure and killed his clan. Inoichi suggested that some of his peers may have seen it coming, especially since it followed Shisui's suicide. Ensui had crossed his arms and frowned. Kotori had bitten her tongue until she could taste the metallic tang of blood. Inoichi had been unreadable as he wrote the report for the Hokage.

It felt wrong.

There was something rotten about this entire situation and Kotori couldn't help but feel that they were all complicit in a coverup. They were all experienced and paranoid shinobi and yet they were all willing to take things at face value.

A hand squeezed her shoulder as she stood in the cemetery, interrupting her from her thoughts. "Kotori, what a pleasant surprise."

She gave Kakashi a watery smile. "Indeed. I'll catch up with you later?" She needed to be alone for this.

Kotori went through the process of cleaning her family's gravestone. The children at the academy regularly came as part of their duties and the site was well maintained. It had been ages since she had last come here. She had been in the village on her mother's birthday and came with flowers. She bowed her head, although she didn't have much to say. There were only so many times she could apologize for her lengthy absences. It was harder and harder to imagine her family's responses to the events in her life. Would they be proud? Worried? Disappointed? Her mother had been a civilian and worried over her and her brothers constantly. Kotori had learned early on not to mention too much of the shinobi life to her mom. Her mother had hated the idea of her only daughter on the frontlines of a war, so Kotori had lied and said she was helping rebuild villages that had been destroyed in the fighting. If her mother was watching over her, well, she could see everything now.

Don't worry about me, Mom, she thought.

She tried to think of her brother's year at the academy. Tried to remember if there had been a silver haired boy with a mask. Kakashi had graduated early, but she wasn't sure how early. Hibari had always whined and pushed her away at the playground, claiming she was a baby and his friends didn't want to play with her. That was probably why Hayato had been her favourite brother.

Did you know Kakashi? She asked Hibari. He's your age. I can't remember if you ever mentioned him. You would like him, Hayato.

The Uchiha family gravestone was pristine. She was sure there had been many mourners visiting in the last few weeks. She placed the second bundle of calla lilies in front of it. She found Sayuri's name among the more recent subscriptions. Her fingers traced over it.

She was silent for a long time, staring at the gravestone in regret. All of those people, an entire clan, just gone in the course of one night. Kotori suddenly remembered that the Uchiha had a survivor. Sasuke was just a little kid and hadn't woken up yet, but maybe she could do something for him. Didn't she know what it was like to be the last of a clan? She could do something useful for Sayuri by looking out for her kin.

Kotori's eye was drawn to one of the older names on the gravestone. Uchiha Obito.

"I'll take care of him," she promised. "If you could keep Sayuri-chan company for me?"

AN:I thought I would just say that getting together isn't the hardest part. I still have about two-thirds of the story to go and hope to keep it interesting. Kakashi is a mess of commitment issues and unresolved trauma. Kotori is too tolerant and needs to be more assertive. They're both ANBU in a rather brutal world…

Thank you everyone for your ongoing support :)