Kotori found a note tucked between the leaves of her aloe vera when she returned from patrol.

Friday at noon? It asked with a henohenomoheji. She was not a stranger to notes from Kakashi. They usually had a date and time for training or mission and were often slipped under her window or door. Since Friday was their only day off this week, she knew it wasn't work related. Or at least, she hoped it wasn't work related. She doodled a picture of a happy bird in acknowledgment, this time adding a scarecrow's hat and some straw. She rolled it up into a tiny scroll and gave it to a chakra bird to deliver.

Kotori was excited to see him again. They had only seen each other briefly when they received their assignment for the week. ANBU were taking over the patrol that the Uchiha used to do as the police force. Team Ro was scheduled for the next two weeks and then would resume taking their regular missions. It seemed that the new normal would involve two week rotations in the village for patrols from now on.

Kakashi tended to default to the same partners unless a mission required a particular skillset. It meant everyone knew their partner as well as themselves. It worked on missions; they knew how their partner would react in any scenerio and could respond accordingly.

Unfortunately, it meant that her partner knew her moods a little too well. Genma had been giving her strange looks throughout the week. His brow pulled as if there was a mystery he was trying to solve. She knew her moods had been erratic with everything that had been going on. She was giddy at times and depressed at others. Her temper was closer to the surface these days and she was having a harder time filtering her sarcasm. She had sassed Llama in the locker room before covering it up with an awkward apology and excuse about not sleeping well the night before.

Genma and Kotori lounged on one of the rooftops as they watched the villagers down below. Kotori had her birds scattered throughout the district they were to patrol. Every so often they would do a lap to remind the general public of their presence. She could hear the clicking noise as Genma thoughtfully chewed the end of the senbon. They had forgone the ANBU uniform and masks to blend in.

Kotori stretched back on the tiles, trying to make conversation. Being on patrol during the day was boring. The village was quiet, there wasn't a lot of crime with active duty shinobi lingering everywhere. The one time someone had tried to steal an old woman's bag, he was pinned to the wall by two eager chunin within seconds. "I'm glad we have tomorrow off."

"Why? Have a hot date planned?"

She controlled her reaction, not wanting Genma to know how close he came to the truth. She let out a little laugh as she rolled her eyes. "What? No, I mean this whole patrol thing is boring."

Genma gave a little chuckle. "You're a very convincing liar. Too bad I know you so well."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Your fingers twitch, you always want to cross them when you're lying," Genma smugly replied. "You thought you broke that habit, didn't you? So you do have a date."

She needed to get ahead of this, especially before he started listing off names.

"Fine," she slowly agreed. "I am seeing someone, but it's not who you would expect."

"Who is it?" Genma curiously asked. He seemed entirely too pleased with himself. Better to give him a half-truth and get him off her back. Genma would be insufferable if he knew the full truth.

"It's so new," Kotori replied. She allowed as much honesty as she could while keeping it vague. "We want to keep this to ourselves until we figure things out. I don't even know if it'll work out with our schedules."

"That sounds more serious than I thought," Genma said. "Oh fine, keep your secrets."

"Really?"

"You're being all cute and blushing," Genma pointed out. "You deserve to find someone who makes you that happy."

Chika dee dee dee

"There seems to be a disturbance in sector twelve," Kotori said, grateful for the distraction.

The two of them flickered to the edge of the crowd. A boy with yellow-blond hair and big blue eyes had been caught - literally redhanded - painting an unflattering portrait of one of the merchants on the side of the building. The bucket of paint was at his feet and he was covered in paint splotches.

Kotori mentally groaned. She had managed so far to avoid having to chase down Uzumaki Naruto. It seemed that her luck had finally run out.

"Why you little brat!" The merchant in question took a step towards the kid.

Genma immediately intervened, gaining control of the crowd. Kotori flickered, reappearing between the merchant and Naruto. She blocked the blow that was aimed for him, catching the man's wrist.

"Now then, why don't we sort this out with our words instead of our hands?" Kotori asked.

Naruto stood behind her, clutching her pant leg. He wasn't helping the situation by making a face and sticking out his tongue. Kotori sighed. He could have at least looked fearful or remorseful or something. She could have worked with that to calm down the irate merchant. She would have to deescalate the situation some other way.

"I'll be reporting you to the Hokage! Touching a civilian - "

Her temper flared. He was the one about to smack a child. "Oh please do, I'm sure the Hokage would love to hear how a grown man was about to hit a child."

"That's no ordinary - "

"I would watch my words very carefully if I were you."

The man would get in a lot more trouble than she would if he decided to announce Naruto's status as a jinchuriki. The merchant seemed to understand that as he deflated.

"Naruto-kun is sorry for the prank and will be cleaning it," Kotori said in a bored tone, mostly to annoy the merchant. She dropped a hand on the boy's head and ruffled his hair. Naruto looked up at her with suspicious eyes. "Isn't that right?"

Naruto crossed his arms and pouted. "No, I'm not. He's mean!"

"Leave this to me," Genma said. He guided Naruto so that he was just out of hearing range of the merchant and the remains of the crowd. Kotori frowned as she crossed her arms. The people were quick to gather and watch when Naruto was in trouble, but not one of them stepped in. She even spied a few lower ranked shinobi in the crowd.

Ever since she had made ANBU, her birds had joined the protection outside of Naruto's apartment. They silently kept watch. The few times she checked on them, she couldn't help but notice that Naruto painstakingly cared for her birds. He had placed a bowl as a makeshift bird bath on his balcony and would bring home worms and leave them out. He would chat with them, talking about his day. He could be a sweet kid. At least, when he wasn't being an absolute little menace.

Kotori knew the villagers' dislike of the boy was less from his pranks and more from the demon that lived inside. She had heard the rumours for years, even after the law had silenced most of them. The more vicious was that Naruto wasthe demon fox and the more benign that he was merely a vessel. It didn't help that the boy was a trickster, a trait that played into many's belief that he was the demon fox in a child's body. Others seemed to resent him for existing, looking for an outlet of their grief and anger over those who had been lost.

While she struggled with her own conflicted feelings around Naruto and the nine tails fox, she could at least treat him like any other child.

"Move along," she warned the villagers. "Don't you all have someplace else to be?"

The crowd thinned out and Kotori listened to Genma and Naruto talking off to the side. Genma had crouched down so he was on Naruto's level.

"Naruto-kun, you need to apologize."

"I'm not sorry and you can't make me!"

"Fine, but you need to understand your actions have consequences. People aren't going to like a boy who is rude and damages property."

"Doesn't matter, no one likes me anyway."

Her heart constricted at the soft way he said those words. His big blue eyes were watery as Naruto scrunched up his face and rapidly blinked a few times. Genma was not immune either. He quickly glanced at her as if asking what he should do. It was one of the rare times that Genma looked alarmed and she had to fight back a snicker. All it took was a kid on the verge of tears for Genma to lose his cool.

"I'm sure that's not true," Genma said. "How about if you clean it up, we'll take you out for ramen?"

That seemed to get Naruto's attention. Naruto was already bouncing towards the merchant, telling him how very sorry he was for the graffiti and offering to have it cleaned right away. Naruto happily chatted to her and Genma as he washed the paint off, telling them about his plans to get the attention of a girl in his class named Sakura. He was planning on catching a frog and putting it down her shirt.

Genma smirked, crossing his arms and leaning his shoulder against the wall. "That will get you noticed, but not in the way you want. Kotori, help him out. You're a girl, what do you think?"

"Naruto-kun, how would you feel if someone slipped a frog down the back of your shirt?" Kotori gently asked him.

Naruto closed his eyes as he thought about it. "I'd think that was awesome, you know?"

"I don't think Sakura-chan is going to like it very much," Kotori tried a more direct route. "Why don't you try picking her flowers instead?"

Naruto seemed less enthused about picking flowers than capturing frogs. "No way, flowers are boring!"

Once all traces of vandalism were removed from the wall, the trio ventured over to Ichiraku's for lunch. Naruto peppered them with questions about jutsu and missions. He seemed excited once he realized that a pair of shinobi were willing to pay attention to him. Genma obliged the boy with a story of their daring rescue of the Hokage's son. He made it sound much more dramatic than the real thing. It wasn't until Naruto was two bowls deep into lunch that Kotori had a sudden realization.

"Hey kid, shouldn't you be in school?"

Naruto gave her a wide smile. "We have the day off."

It was, as they quickly discovered, a complete lie. A young man with brown hair and a scar across the bridge of his nose approached them. His arms were crossed and Kotori could see the vein that was threatening to burst in his forehead.

"Uzumaki Naruto! Where on earth have you been? I have been looking for you all morning."

"Oh good, a responsible adult!" Genma said. "Does this one belong to you?"

"I - ah, " the man - teenager, really - glanced between them. A blush crept across his face as he realized there were witnesses to his outburst. He bowed his head. "I'm sorry. I'm Umino Iruka, Naruto's academy teacher. I hope he wasn't too much trouble."

"Not at all," Genma said.

Iruka affectionately ruffled Naruto's hair. "You behaved yourself for these two shinobi?"

"Yes, Iruka-sensei," Naruto said with an eye roll.

Iruka ended up joining them for lunch as he had missed it searching the village for Naruto. It turned out that Iruka knew both Kotori and Genma, at least, through reputation. He had started picking up shifts at the mission desk now that he was staying in the village more often. As a result, he had become close friends with Kotetsu and Izumo. They had also handed in some of the reports of their regular B-Ranks to him.

"Kotori-san, your specialization is intel gathering isn't it?" Iruka asked. "I'm starting a unit on it in a few weeks. The kids always love a guest lecturer with stories. It's not often I can convince a jonin to come visit. Especially a kunoichi, it's hard to motivate some of the girls. I don't suppose - if you wouldn't mind - ?"

Naruto enthusiastically agreed. "Yeah, yeah! I bet you've fought loads of bad guys!"

Kotori fell victim to their flattery and agreed to it. She agreed to let Iruka know her availability in a few weeks time. Genma cackled that she fell for it. Apparently now that the teachers had a contact, they would all be asking her to come in. It was for the children, she justified. They were the future of Konoha. The Will of Fire and all that.

Plus she could always disappear on a month long ANBU mission.

Kotori quickly ran her errands the next morning before returning to her apartment for eleven. As the lock clicked and she opened the door, she could hear something - or someone - moving around in her apartment. Who was stupid enough to break into another shinobi's apartment?

She grabbed her kunai from her belt as she silently slipped inside.

Only to find Kakashi fiddling with something on her living room window. He gave her a jaunty little wave, his eye creasing into a smile.

"Ah, what are you doing here?" Kotori asked, lowering her weapon.

Her traps were the standard ANBU grade ones with a little personalization. Kakashi would have easily been able to slip through the usual traps. She supposed her chakra birds didn't register Kakashi as a threat. That was interesting to know. She knew they had some amount of sentience, but it wasn't like she had a clan elder around to ask specifics. Her clan techniques had never been written down either so she only had her early training and years of experimentation to rely on.

"I was testing your traps," he vaguely replied. "I added a few of my own."

That turned out to be an understatement. Kotori was certain her apartment was about as secure as the Hokage's residence after Kakashi's meddling. It was almost to the point of excessive, however he managed to do it in a way that was surprisingly subtle. No one would assume the person living here was anyone important or powerful. Just another paranoid shinobi.

Kotori rearranged the bird feeder and plants on her balcony afterwards to make it more aesthetically pleasing. She also added her chakra signature so the traps did not accidentally spring on her.

"Thank you."

He looked pleased with himself.

"I just have to get ready and then I'm yours for the day," Kotori told him. "You're early. Is this a first for you?"

She didn't think he would be purposely late or make her wait long, but punctual Kakashi was not. He could be anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours late, depending on how seriously he took the commitment. Apparently being on time for a date was rated higher than showing up to the Hokage's summons.

He was dressed in the standard Konoha uniform so it was hard to gather his intentions. Not a formal date, although she had expected that based on the timing. She supposed she still shouldn't rule out training because she now realized he hadn't actually used the word date. He had simply given her a date and time and offered to meet her at her apartment.

Before she could think too much into it, he said, "I've packed us a lunch, I thought we could go somewhere."

"Anywhere in particular?" She racked her brains for nice, but private, picnic spots in the village. Senju Park was a popular date spot, but they would surely be spotted by someone they knew. The Hokage Monument Lookout was another busy spot. They could rent one of the nicer training fields or there was plenty of secluded spots along the Naka River.

"It's a place I like to go to, sometimes," Kakashi responded. "It's about a two hour hike out of the village. Sensei used to bring us to train."

Kotori got the impression it was someplace important to him.

She finished getting ready, deciding to wear her fatigue pants along with a light blue kimono style shirt. It was one of her favourites and had her clan crest on the back, the three spirals that formed a cloud. She tied her forehead protector around her waist like a belt. There was always the chance they could ruin into bandits and this way it would look like they were on a mission together.

They set off from the village gates, waving at the chunin on duty. Kakashi was content to travel at a normal pace and didn't seem to be in any particular rush to get there. Once there were about twenty minutes past the village walls, he summoned his ninken. Kotori had met all of them over the years, although she didn't see them often enough to know them all by name. She had a soft spot for Shiba who had stayed with her for a week during her recovery. He happily bounded alongside her.

"Do you usually take your ninken with you?" she asked.

"Well, team bonding is an essential part of training."

"Hmm, now you're just copying my saying."

Kakashi gave her a sly look. "That's not the only thing I've copied from you."

His hands quickly formed the seals for her technique and moulded his chakra into a grey bird. It tweeted at her before fluttering it's wings and taking off into the trees.

"Cheeky." She stared off into the distance, long after the bird was out of sight. In truth, it was bittersweet to see another chakra bird. The Sorano compound had been alive with various brightly coloured birds in her childhood. All had died with her relatives. "That's a stolen technique, you know."

"Oh, am I in trouble?"

Kotori crossed her arms and tilted her chin up. "I'll have to find a suitable punishment for your crime."

He shoved his hands into his pockets and gave a casual shrug. "I'm sure I can find a way to make amends."

When they arrived, Kotori could see why Kakashi had wanted to come here. The scenery was gorgeous. A giant weeping cherry tree sat on the riverbank, its branches overhanging the water. The area around it was a clear grassy field with some trees scattered around.

"It's nicer in the spring," Kakashi admitted. She could only imagine how beautiful it was when it was in bloom. However the curtains of green leaves was still pretty, and she quite liked the idea of them sitting under the tree in their own little world for the afternoon.

"We could always come back," she shyly suggested.

He reached out and brushed his thumb against her cheek. "We could."

Just then, Shiba barrelled into the back of Kakashi's legs, forcefully knocking him into her. Kakashi's arms automatically reached out and caught her before she could fall down. They were a tangle of limbs and his forehead bumped against hers as they caught their balance. Kotori wasn't sure if a dog could wink, but if they could, then Shiba definitely just winked at her as he ran by.

"My dogs are such brats," Kakashi gave a plaintive whine.

He didn't move back though. Her eyes flickered from his eyes down to the mask. He seemed to get the hint as he tugged the mask down around his neck and caught her lips in a kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck as his arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer. When they finally broke apart, he still held her close, resting his forehead against hers. There was a peaceful expression on his face as he stared at her.

She couldn't help the wicked smile that stretched across her face. "And here I thought you just wanted a training partner."

Kakashi's eye widened in horror. "I'm sorry, I should have - "

"No, it's okay, I was just teasing you." She covered her face as she giggled.

He closed his eye and mockingly told her, "I mean, if you really want - "

"I'm perfectly happy with a picnic date."

"I wouldn't want to disappoint you."

Kakashi produced a storage scroll from one of his pockets and unsealed it. He set out the blanket and picnic basket that he had packed. He laid it out under the tree overlooking the river. There was also a frisbee, although the ninken confiscated that after they finished their lunch. They happily barked as they chased after each other, tossing the frisbee over each others heads. Occasionally they would bring it to Kakashi or Kotori to throw it.

Pakkun snoozed on top of Bull's head next to them, both dogs content to sit the game out. Kotori rested her head in Kakashi's lap while he leaned back against the tree. A peaceful silence stretched over them. His fingers absentmindedly played with her hair as he read. To her surprise, it was not Icha Icha, but a different romantic thriller. She let her mind drift as she watched the clouds.

"What changed?" She eventually asked.

"Hm?" He lowered the book, his thumb keeping it in place.

"I thought, well I mean, you were avoiding me for months."

"Oh, I - " Personal confessions did not seem to come naturally to Kakashi; he always took a little longer to respond. As if he was mulling over how to explain himself.

A deep breath left him before he spoke again. "I pushed away anyone who ever mattered to me. I wasn't a good friend to Obito. I couldn't be what Rin wanted. Even Minato-sensei and Kushina - Now they're gone. I regret it every day. It took me a long time to realize that I should cherish those I still have before it's too late."

Her heart squeezed painfully at his confession. He was afraid she would die. She couldn't really make promises that she wouldn't. He would know they were empty anyway. Every shinobi accepts that they would one day die. All she could do was give whatever she had of herself until that day came.

So she sat up so that they were facing each other. She pressed her forehead against his. His hand lightly caressed her face.

"I'm glad you changed your mind."

"Me too."