Mito was beginning to think that Hyuugas weren't meant for water.

Neji had been horribly, horribly seasick for a week. The poor boy felt so guilty and was trying his best to help her but at this point, Mito wanted to send him back, no matter how much he protested her doing so.

"Neji-kun, there is nothing to be ashamed of."

Neji, having never taken a hit to his pride as profound as this (what was the deal with these things happening at the brunt force of those Uzumaki-Namikazes anyway?) shook his head, grimacing. His headband was off and Mito-sensei was placing another cool rag there. Oh, the shame. "I will endeavor to ful– fulfill my assigned mission. I… assure you." Just keep the bucket close.

"I never thought that the Byakugan was the way to go about this, although it makes sense." Mito had probably said that or some form of the statement a hundred times now. "Sorry to repeat myself, sweetie."

Neji naturally chafed against being called a pet name, for Sage's sake, but by now he'd gotten used to the Jonin's oddities. And, he could admit, that he was glad that Mito-sensei seemed to have finally forgiven him for what he'd done to Hinata-sama at the Chunin Exams. Hinata-nee-sama.

She'd been asking him to call her that. "Nggggh." Please don't dry-heave again, please don't vomit, he chanted to himself as a mantra.

"Oh, you poor baby. Um. –Yeah. I know you're not a baby, Neji-kun."

"I– …I–"

"Ey, yai, yai: am I right?!"

Neji slightly nodded, wincing at the pain in his head. He knew it was mostly due to dehydration, although Mito-sensei was certainly trying to keep him fed and hydrated. "Fed" being a poor word choice for what she'd at first tried to serve him. He'd finally taken charge in the kitchen galley, not allowing the kunoichi to even stir a pot after seeing one explode when she last tried.

"My mother was such a wonderful cook but I'm cursed in the kitchen" she had said. Neji had been here long enough to believe the latter part of that statement.

"I caught a tuna this morning…"

Neji gagged and grabbed his new best friend, the bucket, emptying what little he'd managed to recently keep down into it. He caressed the bucket. My sincerest apologies, Old Friend.

"Oh, goodness," Mito grieved. "We could cook it if that would make it more palatable?" She felt terrible about this. For the last five days, she'd allowed him to take over kitchen duties while she hovered over him, using iryo-ninjutsu to assist the teen in standing (or sitting) on his own and in just… doing what she could to ease his suffering. "Neji-kun, tomorrow I'm going to weigh you on the fish scale…"

"Absolutely not!"

"Now you listen here, young man," Mito steamed, her finger doing that pointy-wagging thing she recalled her mother using with her when she was being particularly stubborn. She fisted it again and wasn't sure that was a better look. Her patience again had begun to run thin, so she put the offending hand behind her back. "I am your superior officer and even when you're also a Jonin, you WILL listen and take orders from med-nins when it comes to your health."

"I… apologize," Neji said stiffly before dry heaving.

Mito shook her head miserably and used her wind and water releases to recool another towel to apply to the back of his neck. Time passed as it had every day. Mindlessly, she eventually began stroking his long, sweaty hair, humming something her mother used to sing.

"What is that?" Neji quietly asked.

"Hmm? The song you mean?"

Neji nodded. He thought his mother might have sung the song to him but it had been so long. He thought he only remembered her from pictures. Maybe he was getting close to death? Was that why, if he couldn't see her, he could almost hear her now? He was very sick.

"I'm not sure," Mito replied, continuing to pet him until she realized what she was doing. She wiped her hand along her shorts (Neji couldn't deal with her being in swimsuits for fuck's sake) and scratched the back of her head, glad that he couldn't see her red face. "My mother used to sing the words but I only remember the general tune now." She hadn't thought about that song in years.

Mito needed people. Being out here on her own - or with her sick, mostly silent young charge - was trying her patience in the worst of ways. Some days were almost unbearable. Poor Neji was receiving her undivided attention. Normally she had patients and/or missions and/or Kakashi. Gods, she missed him. Being in love kinda sucked.

She missed everyone in Konoha, in Kiri, at the capitol. She missed… her mom.

"Are you alright?" Neji asked softly.

Mito gave him a wobbly smile and wiped at the tear that had almost fallen, surprising her. "I think I should be asking you that."

Neji truly did want to help. Perhaps, for now, he could distract her? "Did you weigh the tuna?"

Mito smiled. "I did! It's a whopper. He weighed in at 703.4 kg!"

Neji stared at her, frowning. "And you caught it with a fishing pole?"

"Hey we've got professional equipment on this boat," she argued, gesturing over her shoulder where the two captain's chairs sat out on deck. "I think whoever originally owned it was a sportsman. Er, I think that's what they call it. –A professional fishing guy?"

"A fisherman."

"Well, sure." But there was some other word for it, wasn't there? "Hm. Anyway, the poor little guy - well, big guy - did get tangled in my second line but… I kinda punched him in the face so I could get him on board."

Neji almost laughed. He tried and tried to bite back a smile. "Ridiculous."

"Yeah," Mito grinned, looking away. "It is."

Obviously, she had been watching Neji for a while now. And that seal on his forehead was killing her. It was only when he'd been in so much pain after repeatedly trying to use his dojutsu (even when she'd repeatedly asked him not to) that he'd forgone the hitai-ate and he wouldn't look at her that night or the next day. Mito guessed that they'd finally gotten past it buuuuuuuut, "May I ask you a question?"

Neji blinked at her, eventually giving the gravely concerned kunoichi a weak thumbs-up. Later he would think about it and feel further embarrassment (because Dear God that was Gai-sensei and Lee's thing, not his!) but right now, he didn't want to talk. –Didn't feel like he could talk!

"Does the seal hurt? When you looked at the barrier?"

It did. Neji paused, and internally swearing that he would get past this (again.) He gave her another thumbs up. He forced himself to speak. "I will persevere."

Mito closed her eyes and bit her lips as she thought about it. To her that explained a lot about that damn seal and maybe even the barrier as a whole. "You want me to take it off?"

Neji's eyes widened. "My… The seal?"

Mito nodded, knowing that there would be hell to pay for doing it, and she'd have to experiment, perhaps with clones - but was already committed.

"No," he firmly decided after thinking about it a while, surprising her. He didn't want to think of what the repercussions for her would be if she took it off, plus, "Hinata-sa… I will follow Hinata-nee-sama's plans. We will… We will change the clan," he said, weakly fisting his hand. "From the inside. I - or my generation - will be the last to live with this wretched thing. I swear it!"

Mito gently clasped his shoulders before helping him lay down again. She draped a clean, starched sheet over him. "I believe you, Neji. You and my Hinata… You're great kids."

Neji wanted to argue that he and Hinata were not children but couldn't keep his eyes open any longer. The humming he remembered began again, and his dreams turned to a beautiful, brown-haired woman with the palest of gray eyes, singing a song he couldn't quite recall as she brushed his hair.

Over a week later -

Mito grinned when Buddy came back. "Hinata-chan!" She grabbed her poor, barfing student and hoisted her up, spinning her around in a circle.

Which, okay. That wasn't a good idea. But Mito was so glad to see her! "Oh, goodness! I'm so sorry. Let's get you inside."

20 minutes later, Mito was making Hinata tea by brewing a cup in her hands since otherwise, she probably would've put a hole in the boat where the kitchen was again. Good thing she had a spare kitchen (and parts of another boat) in a seal. Plus there were emergency seals on board for just such an event which allowed time for repairs to be made. "Neji-kun made it home okay, I assume? –It's hot," she added, as she gave her student hot mitts that had a cute little "Kiss the Cook" motif with a 1950s-style pinup model who was looking back, winking, with her hand on her butt. Adorable. She gave her student the steaming cup of tea afterward, then went to get the honey and cream she knew Hinata liked.

"Yes," Hinata nodded, taking her eyes off the woman characterized on the hot mitts. "Neji-nii-san is out of the hospital."

"That poor boy," Mito sighed sincerely. "I wasn't surprised that he got sick when he arrived because teleporting with Buddy is no joke but then…" She shrugged, feeling sick about it. "The vomiting never stopped." Hinata lightly gasped, her big eyes looking faintly horrified so Mito amended what she meant. Hyuugas were weird. "I mean, he was able to sleep sometimes but otherwise I had to keep him in my jutsu if he wanted to do anything."

"He feels t-terrible that he wasn't able to fulfill his mission."

"He shouldn't," Mito said simply. "It's not his fault." She had never asked for a Hyuuga, although she was quite glad for Hinata's company. Her student only gazed out on the ocean but softly smiled.

"It's nice out here. –Quiet."

"It is," Mito agreed. They sat in silence, outside of the sounds of the ocean, watching the waves bloom and fall, the ship rocking gently with their energy. "And wait until you see what the stars look like out here at night." Mito had seen a comet a few weeks ago.

Hinata nodded, smiling. She could only imagine. "And you've got such a nice tan!"

"Ha," Mito huffed, grinning. She had managed to get a whole lot of sun since she'd been stranded out here. –Or when she was ship-hopping trying to get here. She'd had to henge as a barnacle one time, early on, and had gotten completely fried…

"Does it get lonely?"

Mito sighed and stared at her little cub. She'd been gone so long. Hinata's hair had grown out quite a bit. It was now nearly as long as Neji's, down below her shoulder blades. She was growing into a fine young woman. She was lovely and stuttering less and just… wonderful. With another sigh, Mito looked away; she'd been terribly lonely. "I've missed you."

Hinata smiled, reaching out for her teacher and grasping her hand. "I missed you, too, sensei." Her eyes went wide when Mito started balling. Like REALLY sobbing! "Sensei!"

"S-" Mito sobbed again, pulling tissues from one of the seals on her fingers. "S-s-s-orry, sorry," she sniffled, trying to get it together. "PMS." That was always a good excuse, right? It was definitely better than the truth. She'd gotten off her rocker drunk the night before and didn't remember what had happened, aside from a lot of crying and screaming.

A lot of fish died last night. Of that Mito was certain.

"Ah." Hinata understood PMS. Having heard horror stories from Neji that Mito couldn't use her kitchen, she stepped toward the galley, tugging her emotional sensei with her, smiling. "Such a nice kitchen, sensei."

Mito grabbed another tissue and bobbed her head, trying to dispel how lonely she was. Hinata was here now! Ah, if only the rest of her team had come, too. "Meh, it barely fits."

Hinata stepped in and out of it, feeling like the kitchen expanded or retracted with her steps. "Is this a seal?" Mito nodded. "Marvelous. –Absolutely marvelous."

Mito smiled. "I have so much to show you!"

The next morning -

"Byakugan! –OH!" Hinata only managed to stay standing because her sensei grabbed her. "S- s- sorry, S- sensei!"

"What happened?!"

"I just… Hm." That had been odd. It was like all her senses shut down and the weight of the waves and the movement of the ocean intensified greatly. Hinata belched, becoming mortified, and Mito grabbed a bucket she'd bet money Neji had made good use of (that first day back, he'd talked about it almost as if it was his lover, much to Hanabi's amusement. Her sister had laughed so hard that her uncle and father had scolded her - and even been forced to hide snickers) and thrust it out to her. "I -I - I'm alright. It was s-simply unexpected."

"If you say so." Without asking, Mito's hands lit up in the green hue of her jutsu. "Would you like to try again?" Maybe if she used a diagnostic she could figure out how the barrier was affecting the Hyuuga kids.

Determined, Hinata took a better stance and raised her hands. "Of course. BYAKUGAN!" She gasped, and gasped, and gasped, and "–Ah!"

Mito stood there holding her student who had fainted. She remembered a time Hinata would do that or something near it when she'd run into her little brother. Whaa. If only Naru was here!

–But that was neither here nor there. "Oh, Hinata. –What in the world?" She stared at (or through) the invisible border, wondering what tomorrow would bring. "Let's get you inside."

.

Later -

If Kakashi saw one more article showing his girlfriend parading/swimming around topless as a fucking mermaid he was going to scream. Not ONCE had he seen her succulent nipples or anything scandalous, but he wondered if that was because the trash newspapers and magazines he'd seen her in edited them out or if her mermaid henge covered them up. She hadn't henged her face or hair; crazy woman.

It was probably the latter of the two options, he assured himself: Mito's tailfin henge probably included some kind of skin tone top. He'd also told Minato that, which seemed to slightly settle the Hokage's nerves - although every time he heard someone laughing about those pics, the Hokage would rant, rave, pace, and usually settle on hiding somewhere so he could (probably) cry.

He sighed and walked over to the window with his book, his eyebrows shooting up at seeing Buddy at the hospital. "Maa, Have you heard from the Hyuuga heiress?"

Minato didn't look up from his paperwork when he told his student that he hadn't. Kakashi continued watching the panther lazily making his way to the tower. His stomach looked bloated.

"Yo," he greeted the summons. Minato stumbled out of his chair with the grace of a walrus and half-knocked him out of the way to the window.

"Buddy!"

Buddy rolled his eyes, wondering once again why he allowed Mito to call him that. "Hokage." He nodded at the hybrid canine man his summoner often smelled like. "I have delivered another Hyuuga to your hospital." The Hokage swore and began untying the scroll that was on his satchel.

Kakashi gave him an eye-smile. "Lookin' a little fat there, Panther-sama."

Buddy sighed. "And here I was, going to ask her father why he didn't simply send YOU when you're the one she asked for in the first place."

Minato cursed as he read Mito's note. "Genma, let Hiashi know that his daughter is in the hospital; that she'll be fine and it's something similar to what Neji-kun experienced. Without significant dehydration." Genma disappeared in a flash step. His blue eyes met the lone visible eye of his student - who, to him, looked pissed.

"Considering the issue she was having, I thought it best to send a Hyuuga," Minato explained - although he didn't have to. He guessed he could ask Hiashi; probably should've done so from the beginning.

Kakashi licked his masked lips, trying to refrain from throttling his village leader. He forced himself to unclench the fists in his pockets, and adjusted his stance, aiming for casualness but knew he wasn't pulling it off well. "But she asked for me."

Minato's eyes slightly narrowed on the panther who… actually was looking a little heavy. Make that a lot! "Are you alright, Buddy?"

"Mito can call me that. You… Don't get to," he belched. Both men stepped back. "Too much tuna." Why was he explaining himself to humans?! This is what happens when he spends too much time with them.

Kakashi stared after his former sensei. "Mito asked for me?" Minato walked to his desk and then whirled around, his coat flying out. Drama Queen.

"Tell me, Kakashi. Why did she ask for you?"

"IF she's on a mission, it's because she hopes my skills will help her achieve success," he reminded Minato, his masked upper lip pulling up repeatedly. Minato didn't react but he could be very good about that type of thing. "You should trust her judgment. –Plus, she's my partner." Shikaku audibly sucked in a slow breath; Kakashi's eye moved to him, but the Jonin Commander then only lazily looked at his cousin.

"Ensui?"

"Troublesome," Ensui sighed. "It's probably difficult to be partners when they have students and other, often conflicting assignments, but I admit to having planned to put them together for missions where strength was mandated. I DO plan to do that." Plus Hatake was constantly running out of chakra and fighting recklessly (as far as his body or chakra went) while Mito - a veritable chakra battery and med nin - would probably cause multiple international incidents without someone to reign her in.

Kakashi might have been trying to look like he was only passively interested in this whole thing because he was looking out for Konoha interests before, but he was glaring at Minato now. He was spitting mad. "Don't put her in danger."

How dare you. Minato took a breath to settle himself. They both had Mito's best interests at heart, right? And Kakashi-kun would most likely ultimately be his successor. He could explain that he was trying to keep her away from the Akatsuki. "Clear the room."

Minato was about to lay into Kakashi when he realized he had another set of eyes on him. "You're relieved. …Panther-sama."

Buddy narrowed his eyes on the village leader. In their many encounters under the sun, Mito said that he was wise and meant well and that in his younger years, Minato had often complained to his mate about how he had no idea of how to parent a girl-child. He and her mother had been very young when she was sired, although how that mattered was beyond him. Mito believed that her father was simply overprotective. But THIS did not sit right with him. He lept in through the window, condensing much of his chakra so that he appeared in a smaller form, his head coming up to around their chest height. Right at their hearts.

Minato took a step backward, Kakashi subtly moving in front of the panther although neither made a move against the cat. Somehow the panther looked even more menacing, not less, this way, as he stalked around the office, snarling to himself.

Buddy held his head high. "At a certain age, cats who possess enough courage, skill, and strength, are fit to leave the den," he said, his eyes in slits as he stared down Minato. "The summoner has long ago achieved such status."

Minato thought that was interesting, and that from any perspective, it made sense. "But my daughter is no cat."

Buddy lept on top of his desk so that he was looking down at both shinobis. "She is no NORMAL cat. She is a panther. A lioness. A tiger; a leopard; a lynx and more. She is of the Jungle. And THAT," he added, turning his head to Kakashi, "is a WOLF, not a dog." He lightly jumped off of the desk, stopping when he saw a bag of chips in a drawer to grab them with his teeth. He stopped in front of the Wolf and dropped the chips for a second. "Remember that, Wolf. –Check the satchel."

Kakashi opened the panther's now too-large satchel and opened Mito's letter to him and read it, wondering if parts of it were in some ancient language. Her handwriting also looked terrible which wasn't normal at all. "I don't understand." Although the end of it included a supply list.

"Where's the Monkey?" Buddy asked.

Minato sighed and sat down behind his desk which was largely as it was before. Mito's summons had more grace and was lighter-footed in stepping on things than the toads, that was certain. "Hideki's on assignment and Asuma's right outside."

With a POP, the panther teleported away again. While Kakashi and Minato began another stare-off, Asuma eventually knocked. He shut the door behind him and Buddy when he came back in, giving Kakashi a nod and looking anxious, his dark eyes piercing Kakashi. "Mito's freaking out." Both men were immediately beside him. "Her letter turned to ash but she's got serious, debilitating cabin fever, man."

"I'm going," Kakashi said firmly. He looked at the panther rather than Hokage. "I need to grab a bag that's already packed and we can go."

"And her supplies," Buddy reminded him. "Hold on tight."

Kakashi grabbed the satchel, pulled a face, and they disappeared with a pop.

Minato stared at where they'd been. Kushina always said she needed people; that being alone was never good for an Uzumaki. And Mito's notes had turned from amazingly upbeat to terse, then… had become erratic over the last few months. Sometimes she repeated herself and he knew that she didn't like to overwork her summons.

He thought things were better now that she'd finally gotten to the barrier and the end of her mission was in sight. "How bad is it?" he asked Asuma.

"It's… bad."

Unwilling to take the chance that Minato would come after him, trying to stop him, once they were back at his apartment, Kakashi told Buddy they'd be leaving the village immediately and they'd have to stop later for supplies, before teleporting to Mito.

Surely this showed how far he was willing to go for this woman. He panted, bent over, and leaned on a grocery store outer wall in Tanzaku Gai.

Kakashi had been Minato's apprentice since age 5. He hated side-teleporting but could handle it as well as almost anyone. What Buddy had just done, though, was akin to taking his atoms on a zipline through an inconceivably small straw. He turned to the cat who was smirking at him. He said nothing and, when he was finally able to breathe and hold himself upright, went in to buy the first bunch of supplies Mito requested, putting them in a scroll. One stop later for tools and he gave Buddy a nod. The cat went back to his full size.

"Hop on, and don't pull my fur."

Kakashi winced.

This time it was worse; far worse! The blood rushing in his ears gave him some hope that he hadn't died but minutes later (it felt like hours,) and Kakashi stumbled on the ocean. In the middle of nowhere; no land in sight. He fell to his knees.

"Mito?" Buddy called, looking around.

Once she'd flashed over, Mito looked at Kakashi curiously. "Hey." He raised a hand and then pulled down his mask just in time to hurl.

"Mito," Buddy tried again. "I have brought your mate."

Kakashi's eyes bugged out but he was too busy sweating, shivering, and trying to breathe through this and stay above water.

"You're not real," Mito muttered. She walked over and poked the cat with her finger - and then poked Kakashi.

Kakashi had never seen her like this before. Her beautiful eyes were dull and glazed. She smelled primarily like whiskey (and stress) on top of her normal bouquet, although the scent of sea salt and air was clinging to her. And tanning lotion. But she was otherwise clean.

He tried to catch her when she tripped on an enormous, rolling wave that made him feel even sicker. Then he realized what was behind her. "Holy shit. –Maa," he drawled, sorely impressed. "That's a big boat."

"Yeah," Mito said, looking toward the enormous yacht behind her. She decided to go along with the ruse her mind had given her, trying to enjoy it. "I accidentally blew the other one up earlier."

Buddy gave Kakashi a look. See what I mean?! "Call me when you're done. –He is real."

Mito blinked at the cat and a wave hit her smack in the face. Sputtering, she went still when she rose from the water in a merman's arms. "Thank you, handsome merman-san." The mermaid with Kakashi's face stared at her. He also wore a mask.

Kakashi sighed. "Let's get you inside."

.

The big boat had a little boat. A mini-boat to get to what? Other vessels?
Was that seriously a thing?

Kakashi walked around after tucking his "mate" into the first bed he came across. There were several on board and it looked like Mito hadn't spent any time here. He'd never seen anything like this vessel and began to walk around, snapping pictures. The yacht had the biggest kitchen he'd ever seen outside of an enormous restaurant outside of Iwa he once half-unintentionally, half-ransacked during the war. -Before he set it on fire in a later campaign. Choosing not to think about that, he began unsealing supplies.

Looking for a refrigerator, he first found a mini-fridge that was loaded with wine and sake - from Uzushio?! Holy shit. Who knows if it's good, though - and then stopped, shaking his head when he found a walk-in fridge. "Gods, Mi. Ready to live the high life, ne?"

In another room, Mito was just waking up again, wondering when and how she made it to bed. She rubbed her head, having forgotten for a second how scary it had been when the other ship blew up. She still wasn't sure how it happened.

Kakashi began looking through some cabinets and then realized that he was on board a vessel with his insanely strong woman (a teleporter) whom he guessed would have little to no recollection of him being here with her. Sighing, he tried to decide what to do. If Mito panicked and killed him, she'd be really upset. Footsteps from the hall had him ducking into a closet. When something behind him whirled to life, he pulled a kunai and then stared blankly at the label on the pristine white pipes and vats which were littered with seals.

UUT Water Filtration Desalination Processor
Uzuki-Umino-Terumi Enterprises

Learn something new every day, he guessed. He wondered if Mito knew - or if Yugao or Iruka did, for that matter.

Looking out the crack of the door, he grinned at seeing Mito's bare backside as she gulped down water on her way back toward the room he'd left her in. Her amazing ass was all white against her now-tanned skin. He'd gotten her something called a thongkini and the thing had been inside his knapsack for weeks.

He was determined to get her into those tiny scraps of fabric, to enjoy the view, and then get her right back out of them. As soon as she was better, of course.

"Oi," a man's voice said, startling him. His eye widened further when he realized (thank the gods) it was coming from a very small cat. "What gives with spyin' on Toots?"

"Toots?" Kakashi whispered, having lifted a finger to his masked lips. The furbag sounded like an old-time gangster.

"Yeah, Toots!" The cat looked over his shoulder to call his summoner. "YO…" Kakashi swept him up and clamped his tiny jaws shut.

Tenga went limp but he didn't like this, no. Not one bit! He would've already used his chakra to turn himself into what amounted to a gigantic fang to fuck this mark up but he did smell like the human Mito sometimes stank of. He lay there plotting to get the goods on him so he could nick all his earthly scratch until the rube let him go. Tenga trotted back outside the closet, the mark on his tail. "You a friend 'a the bearcat's?" he asked, a clever look on his tiny face. "What's yer name and social security number?"

Kakashi blinked. "I don't… think I have one? I have a shinobi registration number."

"I'll take it. That and ya mutha's maiden name'll suffice."

Kami, Mito's cats were weird. "I think I'll withhold that for now. I'm Kakashi."

"Ahhhhhh," the cat grinned, prowling around Kakashi in a circle. "They call me Tenga." The human nodded at him. The silent type, eh? He liked that. He especially liked showing the silent types who's boss. "So. Why ya hidin'?" Get intel first. Tenga was old hat at this. Hell, his great-grandcubs were old hat at this. He leaped up to sit on the counter, wondering what was underneath this shinobi's slanted hitai-ate. His tail twitching with a hypnotic genjutsu, he licked his paw to pretend to clean his face. The rube frowned but then took off his hitai-ate, as planned.

Shinobi ID numbers were listed on the underside of their hitai-ates. And he had a bad scar huh? Tenga liked scars.

He liked giving scars!

Kakashi scratched his head, listening for Mito, who seemed to be in the shower. "Maa, when I got here, Mito wasn't really herself."

"No Kiddin'," the cat said, his attitude and posture screaming that he understood exactly what Kakashi was talking about.

Kakashi tilted his head at the cat and then opened his Sharingan. He sighed, realizing the damn thing had put him in a genjutsu. Why? "Do I want to know?"

Color Tenga interested! "You nicked one of them eyes," he said in awe, whether "Kakashi" sputtered and denied it or not. "I had you all wrong, pal! You and me: we gonna be thick as thieves from here on out! Partners!"

Kakashi was glad for his mask because his mouth was agape. Tiny, cute, infinitely-pettable cat or not - oh, gods. He really got me good with that genjutsu - Kakashi did not want this shitty thing for a partner. "I'll think about it," he lied. "But I need to safely alert Mito to my presence."

The Rusty-Spotted jungle cat nodded. "No problemo. Leave it to Tenga." He gracefully lept from the counter and went toward where the water was running.

Minutes later, the shower had shut off and Kakashi could hear Mito running around, freaking out - and then there she was. Staring at him as if she'd never wanted anything more. He drew his fingers through his floppy bangs. "Hey."

"Ka– I can't believe you're here!" She ran forward, leaping into his arms, pulling his mask down, and kissing him senseless.