A/N – Lore? In my fic that was supposed to be for smut? It's more likely than you think.

This chapter was just supposed to be Kakashi finally getting a date, I don't know why the scrolls are the way they are.

As Hinata walked to work that morning, she reconsidered all the plans she had made for today, fiddling with the strap of her backpack anxiously.

'Is it too late to call in sick?'

Yesterday, sitting in her living room with Hanabi, everything had seemed easier than ever. 'He likes you and you like him'. Simple. But now, in this moment, she was second guessing herself something fierce.

What exactly was she supposed to do? What should her next actions be? Business as usual? That didn't seem right. She was supposed to make her own interest known, but how does one go about doing that? She didn't think she could do what Kakashi did (it probably wouldn't work coming from her either).

What was the protocol for this!?

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. 'Jishin'

As she reached the Academy, she looked up and thought, 'I suppose I'll have to just wing it'.

The idea made her vaguely nauseous.

She went in, heart pounding, sure that everyone she came across could tell where her head and heart were, illogical as it was. She was the one who could tell what people were feeling, not the other way around.

Hinata reached the reception desk outside the Office, and greeted Genma and Raidō, who seemed to be on duty today.

'Jishin'

She knocked on the door, and receiving permission, entered.

"Good morning, Hinata-chan."

Hinata bowed, taking the excuse to not look at him just yet. She had no idea what she would find if she did.

But, she couldn't just stay like that all day.

"Good morning, K-Kakashi-sama." She stuttered a little, unsure how to address him after yesterday. As she rose up from her bow, she took him in (hopefully discreetly).

He seemed... normal.

She couldn't see anything that would indicate... what? Impatience regarding her answer? Avoidance because he was not serious?

He was just... working. Normally.

"Hinata-chan?"

Hinata snapped back to the present. "Yes, Kakashi-sama?"

"I asked if you would mind helping Shikamaru with the archives today?" He questioned, looking concerned at her absent-mindedness. "Some shelves seem to be miscategorised and there are some scrolls missing. Much as I would love to give this job to Itachi, I have a meeting with Iwa's delegation that he needs to be here for."

'Get it together, Hinata! You are at work!'

"Yes," Hinata quickly agreed, nodding (a tad aggressively). "Yes, of course. I'll join him right away."

'Later. I will deal with this later. I can do that! This is fine!'

As Hinata turned to leave, she heard a casual, almost absent, "Good girl."

She immediately froze in place, her hand gripping the doorknob like her life depended on it.

'Oh no...'

She could feel the blush climbing up her face, her body heating up.

She quickly left the room without looking back and went down the twisted corridors that led to the archives deep in the Hokage Mountain. She hoped no one asked her anything because her thoughts were not at all on her surroundings or other people. Once she reached the door, she entered, leaning against it as she caught her breath.

'Well...'

"Hey, Hinata. You okay?"

"Shikamaru-kun! Good morning." Hinata immediately stood up, ignoring his questioning look. "Kakashi-sama asked me to help you with the archives."

Shikamaru hummed, and said, curiously. "Didn't expect that."

Hinata was confused by that statement. "Why not?"

"Nevermind." Shikamaru fiddled with the cigarette in his fingers. Thankfully, it was not lit. He gestured for her to follow him. "Some of the older scrolls from the Sandaime's time seem to be in the wrong place. Some of them are missing, the Intelligence department has been informed about it and they're looking into it. Our job is to put everything back in its place and also see if something else seems to be missing."

Hinata frowned hearing this. It was quite alarming to think that someone could have infiltrated the archives and made off with important scrolls without anyone knowing. "When was this discovered?"

Shikamaru smirked. "Itachi was down here the other day, when you were getting your cat down from a tree."

Hinata's frown deepened, she hadn't summoned Isao-san or Katsumi-chan recently, and either way, they weren't in the habit of climbing trees. Then her frown quickly turned into a suppressed giggle when she remembered the incident he was referencing. Said giggle quickly choked in her throat as the memories of what happened directly afterwards hit her.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Shikamaru looked at her, eyebrow raised. He did seem concerned, in his own apathetic way. "It's not the Hyūga again, is it?"

"Oh, no, no." Hinata shook her head vehemently, waving the idea away with her hands. "Just, j-just, woke up on the wrong side of the bed." She smiled to hammer the point in. Shikamaru only hummed. She was sure he didn't believe her, but as long as he didn't ask, she would be fine.

"Anyway, at the time he thought it was a fluke, but when he was here again day before yesterday, he noticed more scrolls were misplaced and some were missing." Shikamaru continued. "It's our job to look through and figure out what else is missing. We'll go through the shelves from the Sandaime's time, latest first. Then, depending on what we find, we'll move to other shelves."

Hinata nodded in understanding.

After a few minutes of making their way through the many bookcases, Shikamaru stopped. "Here we are."

The bookcases they stopped at had a thick layer of dust over them, that immediately made them both sneeze when Hinata put her backpack down. She gave an apologetic look to Shikamaru, who just rubbed his nose and looked despairingly at the task ahead of him.

"This will take a while."

_

It was hour three of being in the archives, and Hinata stretched as she got up from where she was sorting the bottom shelves.

So far they had found 5 scrolls that were not supposed to be in the bookshelf they were found in, 3 that were supposed to be there but on different shelves, and 2 scrolls were missing entirely, in addition to the 4 that Itachi had already catalogued.

Shikamaru had gone to give Kakashi an update on how things were going, and to also take his smoke break.

Hinata wondered whether she should leave for a few minutes as well, to get some fresh air. It wouldn't be healthy, to inhale so much dust (she would like to think that the scrolls wouldn't go anywhere, but this whole undertaking was because they had, in fact, been going places).

She checked the notes she was making about the scrolls one more time, when she sensed Kakashi's chakra coming closer to her spot, oddly subdued. She clutched the notes, indecisive. She could hide, she supposed, pointless though it would be –

She felt arms reach around her, and did her best to seem unaffected as she turned around to face Kakashi. He grabbed her hand in his own, the other resting at her waist.

"Hello, Hinata-chan." He brought her hand up to his mouth, lips touching her knuckles through the mask. Hinata blushed, entirely sure she could feel a smile on her knuckles. "How are things going?"

"O-oh, ano," Hinata went to take a deep breath, remembered where she was, and quickly aborted mission, horrified at the thought of having a coughing fit now of all times. "It's going... well, I suppose. Didn't Shikamaru-kun tell you?"

"He did." Kakashi let go of her hand, bringing his own down to join its twin at her waist, playing with the fabric of her obi. "You can't fault me for wanting to hear it from my lovely assistant though, can you?"

Hinata, try as she might, could not stop her hands from flying up to her face to cover the furious blush taking over. "Kakashi-sama!"

'For heaven's sake, girl! That was not even anything lewd!'

"Hinata-chan!" A pout was recognisable in his voice. "So formal. I would've thought we could've dispensed with the honorifics after our spar." His voice went lower as he continued, caressing her ears and settling at the back of her head. "You certainly seemed to have something else in mind for me."

Hinata peeked through her fingers to glare at him, and he laughed out loud. "Forgive me, Hinata-chan. It's just too fun to tease."

Hinata wanted to be angry at him for the teasing, but his laugh settled in her chest and warmed her from the inside, and she just couldn't stay upset.

She decided to push him lightly, to hopefully hide the effect he was having on her. After a moment's deliberation, she decided to take the bull by the horns (or poke it from the side, really).

"Would you prefer something more informal, K-Kakashi-kun?"

Hinata refused to feel self-conscious. There was no need to be self-conscious. This was just normal flirting. People flirted all the time oh my god what if she was terrible and he realised what a bad idea this was –

Her spiral concerning her lack of flirtation skills was interrupted by Kakashi's hand under her chin, raising it to meet her eyes. "I would love nothing more, Hinata-chan."

"Right." Hinata nodded, more than a little speechless. "Right. Of course."

"Right." The eye-smile was back in full force.

"Right. Okay." Hinata cleared her throat, patted Kakashi's (well-muscled) chest, and moved back, ignoring Kakashi's puzzled look. "Well, currently I have to go get some fresh air. You should as well." Nevermind that he's wearing a mask and not at the risk of breathing in a lungful of vintage dust. "So much dust is not good for our lungs. We'll discuss the informality on our date. A picnic at a location of my choosing. Will Wednesday be okay?"

Hinata was proud to see that Kakashi was genuinely stunned. "Y-yes, yes! Wednesday is great."

Hinata nodded again. "Great."

Then she gave him a quick kiss to the cheek, and bolted out.

She needed to find a place secluded enough that no one would hear her squeal like a little girl.

As she left, she heard a bark of laughter from where Kakashi was still standing, and an involuntary giggle left her.

'I have a date!'

A/N – Aww. How adorable! The next chapter is the same day, but from Kakashi's POV.

Also,

Kakashi: I will get a kiss from Hinata if it kills me.

Hinata: *kisses him*

Kakashi: *surprised Pikachu face*

Meanwhile, Hinata, flirting with Kakashi: One must not feel fear, fear is the mind-killer -

What a bunch of idiots, I love them.

Katsumi is the summon she is bonded to, and Isao is the one who taught Hinata Senjutsu.