Kyoko had helped Tsunade clear seven shinobi through their annual assessments by the time her sensei called for a break before they headed to the training ground. She sat down on the rolling stool, accepting the water passed to her with a murmured thanks and staring at the eye exam chart on the opposite wall. Only one of their patients had failed his eye exam, and Tsunade had snapped at him when he had insisted Kyoko was messing up the test.

Now, Tsunade moved to stand in front of her, hands on her hips. "Tiny, look at me."

Kyoko looked up, straightening. "Yes, Shisho?"

Tsunade frowned at her. Then her expression softened. "Go ahead and go home. We'll pick up tomorrow."

Kyoko stood. "Did something happen? Why aren't we training today?"

"You're not all there right now." She flicked Kyoko in the forehead, and it was just firm enough to hurt. "You should probably get some rest with your family. I know today's hard."

Kyoko could practically feel the kid gloves she was being handled with. She was definitely familiar enough with them with how often Obito and Shisui used to use them on her. "I don't need to rest."

"It will help. Believe me."

"I don't need to rest," she insisted, gritting her teeth. "I need to train."

Tsunade lifted her chin, face neutral as she stared at her. Then she huffed. "Alright. Fine. Let's head to the training ground; I have something new to teach you."

"You're slower than normal," Kakashi said, bokken pointed at her throat as he stood over her.

"I'm sore," she groaned, knocking the practice sword aside with her own. "It's not my fault."

He offered a hand down to her and helped her to her feet. "What did you do?"

She swayed for just a moment and then rubbed her shoulder, rolling it as best she could. "Tsunade-shisho got me started on chakra-enhanced strength exercises."

He nodded, looking off to the side for a moment. "We can take a break, if you need. Or be done for today."

"No," she said firmly. "I can't go home yet. I'm up for another spar."

He looked at her in a way that she knew meant he was scrunching his nose. "Wait, why?"

She settled into a sparring stance. "Ready?"

He frowned at her. "Are you ignoring me?"

"No." She raised her bokken. "Are we sparring?"

He didn't react right away. But after a few beats, he lifted his own bokken and lunged.

It was after that spar—she won—and when she was panting heavily from the exertion that she burst out, "I'm a horrible person."

Kakashi looked up in alarm.

"There's something wrong with me," she followed up.

"Huh." He squinted at her for a long moment. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged, gathering up her things over having to look at him. "Today is one year after my mother died."

"Right. Minato-sensei mentioned that was why Obito was late today."

Kyoko stored her things away and gripped her bokken tightly She took a breath and, just for a moment, imagined that this was her captain waiting to hear from her. "I can't remember her. And I don't feel sad about that. Or her."

Now, he just looked confused. "So? I don't remember mine. And I don't feel sad about her." He slung his bokken through his tanto harness, wedging it between straps to keep it still. "Tea? And I got too much salmon yesterday. That way you don't have to go back for dinner."

She took a breath. "Thanks."

By the time Kyoko headed home, it was almost eleven. She and Kakashi had extended time by going over genjutsu notes. Then they'd dug out an old Hatake go board. Finally, Kakashi had mentioned that practicing at the Hatake Estate would reduce the chances of Obito harassing them during training. Apparently the only one on his team that knew where he lived was Minato, and it was unlikely that his sensei would hand that information out without good reason.

Kagami wasn't waiting outside the house. For a moment, she thought she wouldn't have to face him, but then she found him inside, kneeling at the coffee table as he poured over one of his ninjutsu theory books. He looked up as she slid the door aside. "Kyoko-chan," he greeted tiredly. "Busy day training?"

"Yes," she murmured, glancing between him and the hallway to her room. "You don't have to wait for me, you know." She started slowly edging in that direction.

He just hummed in response. "How was the hospital?"

"Good. Tsunade-shisho started teaching me how to enhance my strength with chakra. I'm not very good at it yet."

The expression that flickered over his face was brief, but she was too familiar with the look not to recognize it as concern. He smiled. "Of course not. It's not even been a day yet. Even you aren't that good." He straightened his notes and shut his book. He stood with a slight groan. "Need anything before you go to bed? I can heat some water."

She shook her head. "No. Thank you." She had made it to the hallway by that point. "Good night, Touchan." Then she fled to her room. Once in there, she leaned back against her wall and listened, head tilted towards the door. After a few minutes, she heard her father's near-silent steps to his own room and the quiet shut of his door.

Kyoko sighed. Anxiety leeching out of her veins, she retrieved the storage scroll she'd used for her theft at the hospital earlier that day. She didn't have any tape, but she did have a wood-framed print of a shobu on her wall. She took that down and unsealed the pilfered paper. After pushing the existing nail through so it would hang, she took a step back to look at it. It might even be the right size to hide under the print between uses.

With that done, she backed away until she was pressed up against the far wall. After taking a very long breath, she lifted a hand to cover one eye. With the other focused on the eye chart across her room, she started her exam.