"I need to tell you something..."

Mito took a deep breath and tried to smile. "You sound so serious."

Kakashi closed his eyes and pulled her to his chest, holding her close. His voice was soft. "Do you remember when you - maa, I hate to bring this up, but want to fully explain…"

Mito looked up at him, frowning. Kakashi seemed more troubled, and dare she think it, discombobulated than she'd probably previously seen him. "It's okay, Kakashi. I'm listening."

Kakashi blew out a stream of air, hoping she wouldn't be super pissed. "Do you remember what happened after you teleported the building over? You were… understandably upset, maybe in shock, after your clones in Uzushio dispelled." Mito let out a tiny noise that, accompanied by the twist and dip of her chakra along with the shudder of her body, broke his heart. "Maa, Tenzo wasn't sure what to do, or know what had happened, so he got me." Not that he knew what was going on, either. "And I happened to be with Minato."

"Oh, right," Mito breathed. "You both… comforted me." She leaned up on her elbow and gave him a sweet kiss before laying her head on his beefy chest again, waiting for the shoe to drop. "Thank you. –I did thank you before, right?"

"Right." Kakashi's voice was a little strangled. He and Mito had never really fought before outside of spars. They rarely argued and when they did, it was playful for the most part. "Sensei was with me, Mito. He took us back to his place and… Maa, I think it was pretty obvious to him that we were together."

Mito's eyebrows slowly climbed her forehead. "Ohhhh."

"'Oh' is right," Kakashi sighed. "And then you were gone on clan business and I… I talked with him."

Mito pulled a face, thinking of how awkward that would've been for him. "I'm sorry."

Kakashi frowned. See this is why they rarely fought. Mito was just weird. "Why are you sorry?"

"Because I put you in an awful position! With him!"

"Mito," Kakashi griped, "I told him we were together."

"Ohhhh," Mito said after several seconds, finally getting it and her heart speeding up. "Oh."

Kakashi's lips pulled down as he looked down at her head of wild red and blonde hair, wondering what she was thinking. "Are you mad?"

"No." Mito wasn't mad at anyone but herself for being such an emotional lightweight/dimwit, maybe. And Kakashi was alive and seemed unhurt so that was good. "Um. What did he say?"

"He," Kakashi began, swallowing hard. "He wants you to be happy. Of course."

"Of course," Mito whispered, flashes of memories running through her mind where her father had proven otherwise. "I'll… don't leave," she whispered before getting up and grabbing her old yukata. She stopped short before leaving the room, feeling like something cold was being poured on her. "Don't leave," she repeated more seriously. "Hang on just a second."

She went into the bathroom and Kakashi could only wonder what she was thinking.

It took Mito a hot minute to begin considering why she was twitching.

He wants me to be happy - and I know Tou-san loves Kakashi like a son. Or as his "precious student," anyway.

That was something often said to her growing up: that Kakashi was her father's "precious student." Mito couldn't have fully understood it back then, no matter how much she treasured Tsunade and Jiraiya and all they taught her. No, it wasn't until she had her own cubs, her kawaii former Genins, her Team 8, that she understood. And Kakashi was assigned to her father from when he was 5: when he was… just past being a toddler, really. They were together for years - during a war.

Mito barely knew her father back then. Thoughtlessly, she rubbed at the protective tape over her new tattoo - the number 8 - wrapped around two of her knuckles on her right hand.

But… When she was a kid, she never felt all that precious to her father. Not like she always heard that Kakashi was.

And Tou-san was always manipulating things so that I was alone, as far as friends went.

She had lots of friends now, Mito assured herself.

Naruto didn't even know I existed after I was sent away…

Mito stared down at her bathtub, feeling sick and thinking that she should be biting back tears or feeling something aside from blank confusion. Kakashi had certainly expected her to somehow react. She let out a bitter chuckle, deciding to feel guilty. Just recently, she and her father had finally begun treating each other as family, but as adults and almost like equals. Or as equal as one can get to a military dictator and living legend. For a little while there, she'd felt like his daughter: a real daughter.

It was like I finally had a real father and not just the myth of one.

Mito shook her head. It wasn't right, how she was thinking. She shouldn't be remembering all those shitty old grievances. They were stupid and childish, right?

Her father had been The Yellow Flash since around the time she was born. He was needed in the war effort, as was her mother, although with her it was only when the war got really bad that she was sent out. Her mother had other missions, of course, but they were generally at the barrier division, or in intel, or advising the Jonin Commander(s) on sealing strategies and such. There were probably all kinds of other things she did too - things that Mito didn't know about.

Still, her mother was around. She made time for her. Mito smiled in a watery way, just thinking about it; about her Kaa-chan: Uzumaki Kushina. When Mito was with the Sannins, her mother would show up out of the blue often, until the war ended, anyway. Mito was off with her mentor by then, though, for years, until she came home for those few precious weeks.

Back in Konoha, she'd first found Gai - but of course, her father didn't like that. Asuma was gone, off on missions because of course, he was until… Obito.

Mito bit her lips as she recalled her mother telling her about Obito being crushed under those rocks; of how he'd given Kakashi his Sharingan as a final gift. She had cried; horrified at what happened to him - not knowing the truth, of course. She shakily wiped a tear from her cheek, her feet having made their way into the empty tub. She sat on the edge of it, remembering wondering why her father, the fastest shinobi in the world - why he hadn't gotten his team out of there. Or how he couldn't have gotten back to them.

And then Rin… Of course, when her mother came and told her about the older med nin, a girl Mito had spoken with Tsunade about training after she saw how talented she was during their time at the Chunin Exams together…

Mito had been pissed. And it had been the first time she REALLY felt for Kakashi.

"Why… How the FUCK wasn't Tou-san with or able to get to them AGAIN?!"

" Mito," her mother had gasped, almost scolding her, looking horrified. The beautiful redhead sucked in a shaky breath, and Mito saw that her mother was trying not to cry but Mito was trembling with rage. "Don't say something like that! Your father's DEVASTATED!" Several seconds went by before her mother dragged her hand through her red hair. "And poor Kakashi-kun."

"Well Tou-san shoulda been with them, shouldn't he have? Or gotten to them." Mito stepped away quickly, knowing that she had gone too far but goddammit, it's how she felt. "And Kakashi… God, I can't imagine," she laughed caustically. Her mother let Mito pace for a while but she was so angry, and the more she considered it, the madder she got. "Rin's a medic. We know how to kill OURSELVES just fine, thank you! –How could she do that to her teammate?!"

"Mito! Please don't… say that," her mother painfully whispered.

Her mother had tears running down her cheeks -and it was clear that she hadn't been sleeping, Mito remembered.

Mito sucked her anger up, shaking her head and going back to Tsunade.

Why in the world was she thinking of that again?

"Nope." There were more pressing issues. "I finally came home, and couldn't have Gai as a friend. No, no. Because he was a boy. …Tou-san was pissed about Orochimaru and thus Anko-chan." Tou-san didn't approve of us. It was "too dangerous."

She'd decided to be Anko's friend no matter what by the time her father found out, but with Gai… Well, she'd been okay with giving up that budding friendship at the time, hoping to renew it later since she'd be living in the Leaf full-time. Her father wouldn't be able to watch her all the time - I was a fucking Chunin by then - so she'd find him again, maybe even without the mask she used to always wear.

Naruto would come and Mito had been so excited to have a baby brother. She'd thought that she'd be busy helping her parents with the baby.

"And then he sent me away again." Or allowed me to be sent away.

Kakashi knocked on the door and Mito jolted. Shit.

She didn't want to let Kakashi go. If it was up to her, she might even run away with him. No, you wouldn't; you dork. Stop being stupid. But if her father ordered him to stay away from her, Kakashi probably would. Wouldn't he?

It hadn't been fair of her to make Kakashi lie about their relationship. A lie of omission. He and her father were close: they were friends or more like family. Her father valued Kakashi's advice and she was sure that went both ways, although Kakashi was so dang private…

She opened the door and plastered on a smile. Then she untied her yukata, letting it drop and intending to make him want to stay.

Hours later, Mito's dreams became tense.

Hiding under a table, she found herself gazing up at a cat clock. The hanging clock was something that used to scare her as a toddler - that and the house it was in: it was one of Jiraiya's old safe houses which meant they were in danger.

Why was she here?

Her mother was a little superstitious and her best friend, Mikoto, summoned cats. Many of Mikoto's summons were black, and thinking her fears were funny, Mikoto had gifted Kushina one of those tuxedo cat clocks whose eyes moved back and forth rather loudly each second, its tiny, curled tail moving in the opposite direction. Before she gave it to her, Mikoto had painted the whole thing black, aside from the hands and the numbers around the clock, which she'd painted a luminescent white. She'd also done something to its eyes that made them softly glow. And the effect in the dark was haunting.

For some reason, that clock had unnerved a chibi Mito.

Her mother looked under the table, sighing with a smile on her tired face. "There you are, baby girl." She crawled under the table, too. Her long red hair was in a loose ponytail, hanging over her shoulder. "Hiding?"

Mito pressed her thumb into her mouth. Why was she so small? "Bad kitty," she whispered, pointing toward the clock.

Suddenly she was in the home that was destroyed when her mother was murdered; when Kurama rampaged. Her heartbeat sped up.

The cat clock had been there, too, hadn't it? In the kitchen, on the back wall. –Mito had forgotten. By the time she returned from that last training trip with Tsunade, she guessed she had gotten used to the thing enough that she all but ignored it.

"Tou-to?" she asked, oddly, that thumb was still in her little mouth even though her tiny self (again?) was in the wrong house.

"Ah. Your father's training his students…"

His studentS? Mito's heart thundered in her chest; she wanted to scream but she was too small. Her younger self didn't know!

OBITO'S GOING TO KILL YOU!

She shuffled a small step back and Mito was older, a young Chunin, she remembered; her heart was still thudding oddly in her chest. For some reason, she was glaring at the ground rather than reading the thick book in her hands. How did she get here?

I have to be dreaming.

A younger, but still bitter and slightly raspy voice came from her mouth. "Tou-san's training his um, HIM, huh? …I see." Her mother hummed an old song she used to sing a lot but Mito could feel her eyes repeatedly dart over to her.

She was hard to look at, yet Mito didn't want to take her eyes off of her. Why wouldn't her younger self look at her mother more? How foolish was she? She was right there.

Kaa-chan sighed. "You know you can talk to me, sweetie."

Mito looked around the rest of the room, anxiety filling her as she knew she'd never see it again. This place would soon be gone, just as her wonderful mother would be. Her mouth turned to ash when she saw silver hair sticking up over the back of the tall couch.

He always chose you instead of me.

"Don't be gloomy, my little ocean!"

MOM!

She was jostled and jerked away, ready to swing at whoever was trying to grab her - Kakashi wasn't even moving from where he was reading on the couch - when the shaking increased. She was alone…

No, she was at the hospital - and the rumbling and roaring; the screaming outside was accompanied by so much malice and hate that it seeped through the air in red waves and made her want to vomit…

Kurama?!

NO!

Jiraiya was bleeding out, her mother was going to die or was already dead, and Orochimaru was standing there in his Konoha Jonin uniform, his hand out to her, waiting expectantly as she stood.

Running outside of the hospital, Kakashi, Gai, and Asuma were in a barrier and…
Gasping, she woke up to concerned mismatched eyes.

"Mi?" Kakashi asked in a low, groggy voice. "You okay? You were shaking and calling for me." Mito stared at him, hand over her pounding heart.

"Sorry," she panted. "I- I had a… weird dream. Ha, a weird nightmare," she muttered truthfully, forcing her head back down into the pillows and smoothing her hands over her sweaty face. It's not like she hadn't had nightmares like this before but coupled with everything going on… "Ugh." She rolled to her other side, away from Kakashi, trying to calm down. "Sorry I bothered you."

Kakashi kissed her shoulder. "You don't bother me." Mito swallowed and bit her trembling lips, although she thought he was being sweet, not wanting to disturb her. "Except for when you do."

Mito's lips twitched, backing up into him and getting a quiet growl in return. She pretended to try to sleep while Kakashi was trying to leave her alone and arrange them so that he wasn't grinding into her. Minutes later, she wound up softly smiling, pushing the nightmare aside, and concentrated on the warmth she felt from being wanted.

"What a long, strange trip it's been, ne?" she asked, parts of the nightmare still seeping into her thoughts.

"Hm?"

"Nothing. …Used to be so jealous of you, ya know?" She felt Kakashi's eyes on her but didn't say anything more about that. The less said, the better, she guessed. His arm circled back around her waist, caressing her. When it was clear that he wasn't going back to sleep yet, she finally brought up the other thing. He'd been implying a lot of things lately about them being a permanent thing, whatever that was.

She involuntarily let out a breathy scoff. If her father tried to fuck things up for her… No. She was perfectly capable of fucking up things, herself, but she'd be damned if he "disallowed" this.

Kakashi was kissing her back and shoulders, moving her hair.

Mito was afraid to hope for whatever it was that Kakashi had been teasing her about. Plus was she even truly ready for something like that? She'd like to think that she was young and she certainly hadn't had any other experience with this kind of thing. At all; just Kakashi: that's all she knew. But you never know what day is your last.

She wondered if he'd leave her for another big ol' reason they never, ever talked about - unless she was seething about something, of course.

Might as well get it over with, she thought almost morbidly.

If she'd been in a better frame of mind; if she hadn't had that nightmare, she probably would've never brought it up. "Do you hate me for killing Obito? –Or being hell-bent on killing him if he's still alive?" Kakashi didn't say anything for a long time and she started to get restless. Worried.

Never should've said anything, she scolded herself. You fuck everything up. She closed her eyes tightly as an image of Asuma's father lay on the ground next to her: dead because of her actions, the Shinigami hanging over them… Her mother dying and talking to Naruto - who hadn't even been put in a diaper yet.

Kakashi hummed, trying not to scoff at her question. Obito was a sore subject but he knew where she came from. He was only alive and had his head screwed on straight thanks to Obito BUT… "I think… My teammate and friend, Obito, died that day under the rocks, Mi."

"Yeah," Mito breathed several seconds later. She was both relieved and for the first time in an extremely long time, pained at the reminder of what she thought Obito had been like when they did the Chunin Exams together. "I guess THAT Obito did die there, huh?" I wish he would've - and had then left Kaa-chan alone.

She swallowed hard, suddenly feeling like in any way remembering the "Other Obito:" (Yeah right) with any warmth… Well, it made her hate herself.

Traitor. Mito hated Obito even more because he'd been an important part of both her family's and Kakashi's lives. He'd… How could he have turned so vile and evil? She shuddered and turned around, wrapping her arms and a leg around Kakashi. After several long seconds, she reached down, palm almost flat against his erection at first, her lips turning up a little at the way he hissed and growled at her, going for her earlobe. She wrapped her hands around him, softly pumping him. "Already so hard, huh?"

"Waking up next to you, I always feel like I could pound nails," he gritted against her ear, rolling her nipple before pinching it. Mito sucked in a breath and pulled back, pouting at him, but he knew she liked it. And he fucking loved it. She threw her head back when he rolled his calloused palm over it again, giving him better access to her neck.

"Heh," Mito grinned playfully. "Why would you want to pound nails when you could pound me?!" She whined when he moved his hand away - but then he just jumped ahead and began circling her clit with his thumb. "Fuck, Ka~ash." She hitched her leg up even more, pressing his cock against her folds. He grabbed it from her and began working her over. "Baby." Snarling quietly, Kakashi bit her lip and pulled it back before moving down to attack her breasts.

"When you have to be at work?" he mumbled into her breasts before sucking a pretty nipple between his lips and flicking his tongue over it - then he grazed her with his teeth. His gums were already aching. On a whim, he decided to flick the characters of his given name over each of them. Mito pulled him in closer.

"Fuck," she whispered, grinding down harder against him. "Don't have to. …Gotta meet up abt… museum…1700."

"Good," Kakashi grunted, grabbing her ass and moving on top of her. "Gonna have you all day." Mito grinned at him, then gasped as he teased her.

"Promise?"

"I do." He moved up for a sloppy kiss and Mito pushed him back, grinning but hiding her mouth.

"Mm. I've got morning breath!"

Kakashi dragged his cock up and down her cunt, growling. "No. You've got 'my tongue's been in your mouth all night breath.'" He kissed her cheek, moving toward her ear. "Tsk. Patience," he scolded when she tried to pull him in. "So fucking wet…"

"I brushed my teeth after," she reminded him between mewls.

"Then you sucked my dick this morning." He grinned as she tried to push his face away, scolding him for his cheek and giggling. Her big mouth gave him room to shove his tongue in.

"Didn't want you to leave," she admitted when he moved down her body, her eyes tearing up. She turned her head to hide it. "And I brushed my teeth after that, too," she reminded him between mewls as he licked and bit at her skin. "You crazy– …Ohhhh," she breathed as he changed the way he was fondling her. Now he had two fingers on each side of her clit, rubbing and pushing against it in tight but slow circles. She sucked in a loud whine when he stopped, turning to get something on the other side of the bed. "What?" she asked stupidly, having been on quite the high. She groaned and pressed her face into the pillow, one of her red brows quirking up when she heard him open her nightstand drawer. She looked up in interest as he did something with her lube - "gimme." Kakashi smirked at her, looking unfairly handsome like that, but duly handed the bottle over. Mito poured it into her hands and rubbed them together, expelling chakra to heat it (which made that smirk of his fade into something darker,) and moved back to pumping his erection. Kakashi hissed and growled at her, moving to do something else. She stopped for a second when she heard a buzzing sound over everything else.

Kakashi grinned at her, holding his hand up to show her the little rubber vibrating rings he'd pushed down to the knuckle on his ring and middle finger, wiggling them at her. Then he almost theatrically lubed them up. He got to work, though, using them first on her reddened nipples and trailing down her body as he sucked a breathless kiss from her lips.

Mito had one of those little buzzy things but rings on either side of her clit was almost too much. But she cried out, mindlessly begging him for more as she struggled to keep her hands on him because he was on the move again.

Kakashi sat up to better see what he was doing. He watched Mito coming undone on his long, vibrating, dextrous fingers, pumping those on his other hand inside of her, her own hands now engaged in further abusing her very pretty ripened nipples. "So beautiful for me."

"Kakashi, I'm…" Mito threw her head back and forth, gritting her teeth. "No that's… Too much!"

Right. And that's why you've pulled up and opened your knees for me, giving me a full-access pass. "Come for me, baby," he demanded.

Boy did she, squirting - which meant he went flying down to lap it up and suck it, right over his buzzing fingers. He quickly snatched his other arm around her opposite leg and grabbed her hips when she did try to get away, desperately nipping, biting, tonguing, and trying to suck her dry. He switched hands while he worked at carving the kanji of his last name here with his tongue, his buzzing digits never stopping their onslaught of her clit, but now from the inside of her clenching, plush, hot, fleshy walls. Not until she pushed his head away forcefully did he stop. "You're my favorite fucking meal." He flipped her over, pulling her hips up. He laughed when she nearly fell over as he positioned himself.

Mito continued to sob and whine into the mattress as he slid inside of her, the lube and her own slick making it easy to do but no less tight and thrilling. As soon as she came up from what had clearly been an earth-shattering orgasm, he put his vibrating fingers back to work, sending her over the cliff again. His balls drew up even as they smacked against her clit, nearly his full weight resting against her.

He didn't care that he came quickly, not this time when Mito was insentient and begging him not to leave her. He kissed all over his back and shoulders, promising her that he would stay.

He did. In fact, Kakashi fell asleep inside of her, then. And sure enough, was hard again when he woke up. Sleepily, he thrust in and out of her a few times before he came to full awareness, but feeling Mito's chains creeping up his legs, he let himself relax into it.

She wanted him. And God, did he want her.

"Hey, Mi," Kakashi asked quietly as his girlfriend got ready for her meeting with the designer who had quickly been making his way around Konoha's excuse for high society. She was limping which, good. "Maybe after you finish up with this Yuko-san guy, do you… want to go out?"

"Sure," Mito replied happily as she put in an earring, wondering why Kakashi was blushing; the tips of his ears were red. "Where do you want to meet?" Kakashi shrugged his shoulders, still looking at the ground. Then it dawned on her, a beaming, cat-like grin growing on her face even as it surely heated up. Was he feeling shy? "Kakashi. Are you asking me out on a date?"

Kakashi looked up at her, pulling up his mask, and then lazily pushing his hands in his Jonin pants pockets. The apples of Mito's cheeks were red so that was probably a positive thing, although that smile was distracting. "If I am?"

"Well if you are, I'd say yes!"

"Maa, we'll have to see about asking you out sometime, then." Mito clicked her tongue, then laughed and threw a pillow at him. "I'll walk you to the building."

Mito winced as she nodded and turned away. That building was so… haunting now that she'd found the remains of her people below it. Half of the island had sunk into the ocean after she moved it. The beaches she'd loved were just gone. "I'd like that. Thank you."

The next day -

Face stuck in a book, Kakashi thought about how his date went as he sat with Asuma and a few newly-minted Chunins, waiting for intel on missions. A hawk had arrived from Suna and Minato had sent for him and a few others. Mito had had a promising meeting with the designer and had chatted his ears off about the ideas for as well as the limitations of the building she'd transported.

She'd been very excited, though, and said she had enough money saved up to begin the whole project. That excitement had carried over into their lovemaking.

The door to the Hokage's office opened, taking him out of his spinning, kinky recollections, and Minato immediately called for him.

"We've received word from Suna that the Akatsuki has finally made a big move." Kakashi frowned, waiting for the shoe to drop. "The Kazekage, Gaara, has been kidnapped. Temari-hime left the village no more than four hours ago. I want you to take a team that includes a med nin to get to Suna to evaluate and assist, and probably track down and fight for our missing ally. If you see Temari-hime on the way, I'm sure she'll want to know what's happening."

"Right away."

"I've sent a toad to intercept Gai's team; they should be able to assist you..."

Kakashi stepped out after he had read the Suna intel and request for assistance, and was dismissed. He grimaced, knowing that Asuma needed to speak with Minato about something else. He had his own missions and problems. "Sakura, Sai, Kiba; you're with me…"

…

The next day, he and the others were still making their way as quickly as possible to Suna when they ran into Jiraiya, Sora, and Naruto. Naruto came running up full of boundless energy but immediately caught on to the fact that things were very serious. Kakashi signaled to Jiraiya who wasn't fast enough in getting Naruto out of there. Temari and Sakura had told him of their mission.

"Gaara's my friend. I'm coming, too."

Jiraiya rolled his eyes and clasped Naruto's shoulders, whispering into his ear. "Look kid, the Akatsuki are looking for you."

"I don't care!"

"C'mon, Naruto," Jiraiya pleaded half-heartedly. He knew Naruto well enough to know that the kid was going to either go with Kakashi's team or by himself - which couldn't be allowed to happen. "I HAVE to see Minato."

"Well then, go!" Jiraiiya pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm strong," Naruto reminded him petulantly. "You said what I needed more than anything was battle experience. …We were going back to Konoha anyway!"

"Fine. But Sora stays with me." His grandson looked like he would argue but was much more reasonable and level-headed than his godson. He silenced Sora's protests with only a look. "Listen to Kakashi, Naruto: you obey his orders, and Don't. Use. That. Power."

Naruto beamed at him. "Thank you, Ero-sennin!"

Yeah. Thanks a lot, Jiraiya, Kakashi thought sarcastically. "Let's go." Naruto took off and was much faster than he used to be, at least. "Stay in formation!"

A week later -

Kakashi woke up to the beautiful but narrowed eyes of a furious med nin. "Mi– hime-sama," he groaned, having smelled that Naruto was also in the hospital room.

"You total idiot. I am so pissed off at you." Mito turned to glare at Naruto when he snickered, which shut him right up. That was nice. Kakashi should keep her around, he thought jokingly, just for that reason: shutting the loudmouth up. "Why the FUCK didn't you take me on your mission?!"

Because it was the Akatsuki and they're after you, he didn't say - but probably didn't need to. She looked over at Naruto and looked right back at him, seeming to silently scream at him, "You didn't take me but you took him?!"

That wasn't my fault; blame Jiraiya!

"Why would he take you, Ane?" Naruto asked curiously.

Mito glared at him. "You said Kankuro needed a med nin."

"And we had Sakura," Naruto chirped. "She's awesome." Mito rolled her eyes. Naruto became incensed; Kakashi wasn't too happy about that eye roll, himself. "What the hell does that mean?!"

"It MEANS that no matter how well Sakura's doing in the program, I'd LIKE to think that my experience and training is better than hers." She thought about that for a second and was about to add "or more thorough" because Tsunade used to be quite fucked up in the day…

"Maybe it's not," Naruto muttered more to himself than to Mito. Kakashi had the feeling that his sister wasn't supposed to hear that. Naruto did shit like that a lot. Kakashi's eye widened slightly as the window's panes began frosting over. Ah, now you've done it, Naruto. Mito, on the other hand, looked calm and even smug.

"How would you feel, Naru, if you'd trained four to five times longer in your field than some newbie? Whether she's exceptional or not? –But she was chosen for a mission over you?" She poked Kakashi hard between the ribs. "That hurt? Good. –And then your brother - or sister - implied that the newbie was more qualified?"

"That's uhh… not what I said, ya know," Naruto replied, scratching the back of his head. Then he gave her a beaming grin. Kakashi wanted to slap him. Naruto was so damn sunny he was giving him a headache. Or maybe that was the Chakra Exhaustion. "But you shoulda seen Sakura-chan, Ane! She was awesome! She beat this Sasori guy."

"She shouldn't have had to," Mito said - quiet and angry, throwing a vicious look at him. And she was right. "But that's very impressive."

"Yeah!"

"Fucking idiots," Mito murmured as she drew characters on Kakashi's chest. When she finished, she looked at her little brother. "I'm so glad you're back but I need you to leave."

"No way. I'm staying until that lazy bas– sensei of mine is up to doing the training he told me about!"

"Leave, or with a hurt arm or not, I'll throw you out the window."

"Gahhhhh," Naruto drawled out, the portrait of insolence. "You're so harsh!" Mito shrugged, fighting a grin. "Fine. But I'm coming right back!"

"That's good," Mito grinned, raising her pretty eyebrows at Kakashi. "I'll bring in a couple more beds for you, Gai, and Lee."

"No, no," Kakashi said, panicking. Surely she wasn't serious. He couldn't get away!

"Wha? I just saw them! -Are they okay?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, but I talked to Gai about you guys having a sleepover once Kakashi woke up."

"Awesome!" Naruto grinned even more mischievously, bouncing over to Kakashi's bed. "You turned him green!"

"Hm. Just from the neck down."

Kakashi looked down and growled. "Dammit, woman, get this shit off me; I thought you were healing me!"

"I am," Mito grinned. "I don't know what happened," she said innocently with a shrug. Then she left, dragging Naruto out with him. And took his book!

"You're gonna make Gai cry," Kakashi hollered out the door using what felt like the last of his strength. Hell, without his books, he was going to cry.

His skin wound up being green for a week.