Chapter 9

"I don't know if I can do it, Monica."

"Oh, don't talk like that. Of course you can!" Monica's reassuring voice spoke through the receiver. "You deserve it."

Alysha rubbed her face with her free hand, careful to not let the ink from the pen she was holding mark her face. "There are a lot of things I deserve, but I'm not sure if this is one of them. Parties and I don't really get along that well." Her mind wandered back to highschool. Where she would consider herself a wallflower. Too shy to mingle with the crowd and eventually being left alone and forgotten by friends.

"This won't be anything like highschool, Aly. Teens suck. And this won't be like college either."

While the tone was comforting, Alysha's grip on her pen tightened. She wasn't even trying to think about her college days. They were a nightmare she tried to forget. "...yeah."

Based on the silence, Alysha could only assume Monica knew where her mind went. "How about this, what if I come along?"

A gasp of surprise left her lips, "You don't have to do that! That's a long drive for one night!"

"Don't be silly! I would stick around the day after too. It's been far too long since we've hung out. Not to mention…" Alysha could hear the teasing smile in her friend's voice, "I haven't gotten to meet Kakashi yet."

Her face heated at the thought. With all the teasing Monica liked to do in their text messages Alysha could only imagine how it would be in person. "Right, you haven't. You sure you want to?"

"Well, duh! Of course I do! He's the random mysterious stranger putting the moves on my best friend, how could I not want to meet him?"

Her blush deepened. "He hasn't done anything like that." Not intentionally, anyway. Her mind thought back to their outing together. When he had held her so close. Close enough to make Steven think they were together.

"Right, of course." Monica commented, amusement clear in her tone. "Regardless of that, I think this would be a good outing for you. You've told me you don't go out much, and I think it would be good for you to get to know your coworkers a bit better. You're kinda alone out there, Kakashi aside. And while I understand the reasoning, believe me I do, as your friend I can't sit back and not help when there is a clear opportunity for you!"

Alysha smiled at the speech, "Thanks, Monica, I do appreciate you. So much."

"Of course you do, I'm awesome!" Alysha could imagine the wide smile and peace sign accompanying it. "You're awesome too. You just have to remember that. Your coworkers, soon to be friends, will learn it on Friday night. I'll help them see how amazing you are, Aly."

The blush was for a completely different reason this time. "I think I've hit my quota for compliments today, if I'm honest," she said awkwardly.

"Alright, I understand. I've gotta go anyway. Gotta get my time off for Friday and all that. I'm so excited to come and visit!"

The two women shared a laugh and said their goodbyes. Alysha looked at the phone, the numbers flashing now that the line had disconnected. "36:16" Over half an hour on the phone with Monica and if only felt like half the time. It had been a while since the two had spoken on the phone for that long and it felt good to reconnect. Her heart sped in her chest at the thought of spending Friday night and some of Saturday with her.

As her mind wandered to other topics and how Friday night could go, she tried to focus on the picture she had started. She had decided to sketch the view outside her window. The trees surrounding the lake in the evening sunlight were beautiful. Alysha had done many paintings and watercolors of the scene, but today she decided to try a different style in pen. She would then try going over it in water color or markers.

When she looked up again from the page, she noticed that Kakashi had taken Jasper outside. He was wearing his new jacket and Alysha couldn't help but be distracted. He smiled at Jasper, waving the toy around before throwing it. He threw it far too, as if the toy was somehow an extension of his own body. The simple fluid motion was breathtaking.

Before she realized, her head rested in her hand, the pen paused on the paper. Even though all Kakashi was doing was playing fetch with her dog, she was entranced. She had never realized just how athletic he was. Kakashi ran at a leisurely pace around the yard and he hardly seemed out of breath. It seemed so easy to him. Most people she knew would at least be tired or breathing heavily.

She wanted to see more of him, she realized. They had been living under the same roof for a month now. During that time she had seen him shirtless several times, but she always did her best to look away. Because of that, she didn't have a clear picture of what his body looked like. She knew he was fit, but she found herself wishing to know just how toned those muscles were.

She bit her lip, undressing the man shamelessly with her eyes. She knew she shouldn't be thinking such thoughts, but she couldn't help herself. She lost herself in her own little world marveling at the man.

Until their eyes met.

A strange squawk filled the room and she turned to try and escape, catching herself on the chair and fumbling to the floor.

Kakashi watched as Alysha fell back and he couldn't help but chuckle. Just how long had she been watching him? Evidently, she either had not meant to or didn't want to get caught like she had. Making him wonder why she had been staring. Shrugging it off, he thought that Jasper had had enough outdoor time for now.

Besides, his evening coffee should be done by now. Alysha had told him at one point to watch how much he drank, as the caffeine content could mess with him if he went overboard. So, he tried to limit himself to a pot of coffee a day. Making half in the morning and half in the afternoon. More if Alysha wanted any. He had to wonder if it contained more caffeine than the teas back home.

Grabbing his favorite black mug and filling it with the brew, he returned to the dining room table where his papers sat. One of the things he had done in order to engage his mind was learning how to read and write english. He could already speak the language well even if some similes were hard to grasp at first. Unfortunately, his sharingan didn't help him as much in this endeavor.

Speaking the language had been a fun challenge, but the sharingan had made it easy to copy the mouth movements of Alysha. There were also the shows they had watched that helped him to work out the translations. Working out how the Japanese subtitles translated to the vocalized english. Now, he would do the opposite. The same process, but different enough to be more challenging.

Alysha had even been kind enough to order him some work material to help him learn how to write and learn the English alphabet. He tried not to look ungrateful when the materials arrived and the books looked like they were meant for young children.

It would all be worth it in the end. Afterall, he had read the one book he could understand so much that he could read the book in his mind from memory. It would be nice to read some other books from this world as well to help pass the time. Besides training and learning and reading, chores were the only other thing he could do. And there was only so much he could do on that front.

Another reason that he wanted to learn it was to try and get back home. He still found himself down by the lake at least once a day. Meditating, trying a different jutsu, anything he could think of to try and go back the way he had come. He had also tried several sealing jutsu he knew as well as seal breaking jutsu. While it was a long shot, he thought that perhaps this world worked a bit differently and trying those seals in English instead of Japanese could work.

He doubted it, but he had been there long enough he had exhausted every logical option he could think of.

As he began his practice, it wasn't long until Alysha descended the stairs and he greeted her with a small smile. One that made his visible eye crinkle.

Alysha could hardly look at him, "I got off the phone with Monica a bit ago. She's going to visit on Friday for karaoke."

Kakashi leaned forward in interest, "This is the friend who wanted you to call the cops on me, right?"

She nodded, averting her gaze, still embarrassed from her actions just ten minutes ago. "Yeah, she wants to come see me and hang out. She thought it would be good for me to get out. Um, would you want to go too?"

He leaned back and folded his arms, looking up in thought. Long enough to make Alysha believe he would say no. But, he answered. "I'll go. On one condition."

Her head tilted to the side, confused. "Condition?"

Motioning for her to sit across from him at the table, he ripped a small corner off from one of the papers in front of him. "I want you to do this." Placing the piece of paper on his forehead with a finger, he let go and the paper stayed in place.

Alysha was unimpressed. "An interesting party trick, Kakashi. You're all sweaty from running around outside so the paper is just sticking to you. That wouldn't be too hard if I just did some jumping jacks for five minutes."

Kakashi chuckled and the paper fell from his forehead, but he easily caught it midair without looking. "I understand why you don't think it is impressive. This exercise is usually done with leaves, but…" he cast a glance at the bare branches outside the window, "I don't think that will work for us."

"Exercise?" How was this considered exercise?

"I'll show it to you in a different, but more advanced way." Kakashi pushed the chair back and stood. Focusing his chakra in his right hand, he jumped and touched the flat of his palm to the ceiling. His hand stuck to the surface like glue.

Her mouth hung open in shock and she stammered, "How are you doing that?"

Releasing his chakra from his palm, he fell easily to the floor and sat back down. "Chakra. I know I've gone over it with you before."

"You're telling me chakra can make you turn into Spider Man?" She meant it to be a joke, but it sounded far too serious to her ears.

Kakashi wasn't familiar with Spider Man, so he ignored the comment. "Your phone translated it for me at the time. It was my first day here when I told you about it." She nodded, showing her understanding. "Chakra is created by combining two different energies within the body, physical energy, and spiritual energy." Kakashi continued on his explanation of chakra and its fundamentals. In a way, it was comforting to be lecturing again. He hadn't done so since he was still training Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto. And even then, only Naruto really needed the explanation. Both Sasuke and Sakura knew all the basics already.

Alysha sat and listened to his explanation. Thinking it all made for a complex and in depth magic system. Even though she knew it was real, it went against everything she knew about basic physics. Finally, when he was done, she shook her head and held up a hand, "Okay, so why do you want me to try this exercise?"

"There are two reasons. First, I am curious if you will be able to. I mentioned to you that you have a chakra network and I'm curious if you can use it. Second," he paused, watching her for a moment as his gaze softened, "I think it might help with some of your anxiety." He had noticed she was almost as nervous as when he had first arrived whenever this karaoke was brought up. He wanted to help if he could. It was the least he could do in his opinion.

"Why do you think that?"

He sighed, averting his eyes, "I've been through my fair share of trouble. Trouble that left me a nervous wreck. I'm not going to assume this will work for you like it did for me, but it might be worth a shot." Of course, he had been leaving out the fact that he had done much more intense training than this, but it was a start. "It can be calming. Almost therapeutic, to work with your own chakra. For you, someone who has never even known they had it, it might feel like you've discovered a side of yourself you never even knew existed."

He still didn't look at her, but Alysha was staring at him in surprise. Her heart grew warm as it thundered in her chest. He wanted to help her. Sure, part of it was his own curiosity, but he was helping her by sharing what he had done to overcome his own struggles.

While Alysha was lost for words, Kakashi turned back to her and met her gaze, "I'm not asking you to succeed. I only ask that you try."

Alysha smiled wide and nodded, "Alright."

~0~

The last car in the drive thru drove away from her window and she sighed. She couldn't stop thinking about the party, or how she was going to ask Steven if she could bring a friend. Yeah, he had invited Kakashi himself, but he hadn't said anything about Monica. She hoped it would be okay.

There was also the task Kakashi wanted her to try. And she had, but failed miserably. The papery kept falling no matter what she did. He had reassured her that it takes time to get it and only encouraged her to keep trying if she wanted to.

Lost in thought, she glanced at the receipt in her hand. The last car hadn't wanted it and she had yet to crumple it and put it in the trash. Forgetting where she was, she decided to give it a try and held the receipt up to her forehead. Trying to focus and make it stay.

"What are you doing?"

She jumped, terrified that she had been caught. She quickly crumpled the paper and threw it in the trash, turning as she said too forcefully, "Nothing!"

Molly, a girl just a few years younger than her, looked at her strangely. "Yeah, sure, whatever. Anyway, you know about the Karaoke get-together tomorrow night?"

Alysha nodded, taken aback by this line of questioning.

"Were you going?"

Feeling backed into a corner, she nodded again.

Molly nodded and turned to the front of the store with a thumbs up. Alysha turned to look where she was looking and noticed that Steven was leaning over the runner station, a wide smile plastered to his face.

She watched his hand reach for the headset to say to her, "Happy you'll be joining us, Alysha! Is Kakashi joining us as well?" She nodded and his smile faltered.

"The hell kind of a name is Kakashi?" Alysha heard Jake say over the headset from the kitchen. She couldn't help but laugh a little. It was an odd name compared to any of theirs. Definitely foreign.

"Just a friend of Alysha's that will be there tomorrow. But hey, the more the merrier!" Steven answered.

Alysha reached up and pushed the button to respond, "I hope you mean that, I have a friend I haven't seen in a while wanting to join. Is that okay?"

Molly, who had walked to the back to grab things for stocking the front chimed in on her headset, "I thought this was work people only?"

"Don't be a downer, Molly." Jake cut in, "We've all got one or two people coming too, so what's the harm with Alysha bringing two people? Not like we will be at someone's house, it's all public."

Molly couldn't argue with that logic, so she stayed silent.

"Regardless," Steven said, leaning over the runner station and looking toward the back of the store to make eye contact with Alysha. His smile wide and his eyes bright with an emotion she couldn't quite place. "I'm just happy you're coming along!"

AN - I'm sorry for the sudden Hiatus. This story is cross posted and I received some comments that really messed with my head over on Ao3 that killed my motivation for a while. I am back now, and hope that this story still resonates with people after 2 years. I hope that if you made it this far in the story, you are enjoying it. Thank you so much for reading it.

I'm excited to get back into this story, and excited for the next few chapters. Hopefully I will have them out soon!

Until next time~!

Posted - 7/14/2024