In which revelations are made and sugar cookies are baked.

A moment of complete and stifling disbelief blanketed the air.

The shock was so heavy she felt the tips of her hair stand on end. Naruto, who normally couldn't shut up, was open mouthed in shock and looked remarkably like a fish with his opening and closing mouth like a bad drawer hinge. The other two weren't faring well either.

It was the most expressive she had ever seen Sasuke, even including the bell test. His eyes popped and his jaw was locked in an effort to maintain his composure. Sakura had screamed in shock, before sputtering.

"SHE-SHE'S SO SMALL!"

Wow thanks. Her smile fell, seeing as the dumbfounded expressions had yet to soften. They were completely shell-shocked.

Then Naruto laughed and she couldn't help but sigh in relief, Kakashi's shoulders also rolling.

"Oh, I get it! You're playing with us again! You just bought a beat up doll!"

And she was going to kill him. Kakashi closed his hand around her and glared at Naruto. That orange eyesore called her a beat up doll?! She was fabulous! She punched his hand, the glove making it swelter. She considered biting his finger before reconsidering. She heard muffled yelling.

"...You mean she's real!...!?

Yeah she was! She scowled and sat on her knees, crossing her arms. Cracks of light appeared through his fingers and he slowly opened his hands, sensing she had cooled off.

She kneeled on his cup palm, blink at the three very close, very fascinated faces. She saw her reflection in three pairs of blue, green, and black eyes respectively. The doe eyes blinked in awe, and she felt Kakashi's amusement rolling off of him in waves.

"N-no way..." Sasuke for once appeared to be caught completely off guard.

"She's so cute!" Sakura's pupils had blown up wide as she looked Haruhi over, taking in her curly hair.

"Sorry for saying you weren't real, miss!" Naruto poked his hands sheepishly.

"So, you weren't joking when you said you had a tiny woman!"

"It was her." Sasuke finally decided to contribute. "You told me how to get free from the ground."

Sakura gasped.

"I thought I saw something by my face!"

"And I heard someone loosening the ropes!"

Well she wasn't nearly as 007 as she thought she was. Kakashi gave her the stink eye and she stuck out her tongue at him.

"Can I hold her?" Sakura said suddenly.

"You can do that!"

"Well, Kakashi-sensei is!"

"Hey! Don't I have a say in this?" She shouted up. She brushed her sweaty hands on her long shirt and every one sheepishly and stupidly focused on her. Out of all the kids, she actually trusted Sakura the most to hold her.

"Now now, children. You have to respect Haruhi's wishes. If she says-"

"It's fine, Sakura, just be careful." She cut Kakashi off. Said man gave her a glance downwards.

The girl cupped her comparably smaller hands upwards and she jumped from Kakashi's gloved one's to Sakura's slightly shaking ones. It was endearing to see how much the girl cared about this, but she'd be lying if she said she wasn't second guessing herself. When she landed in a crouch she was self conscious with the intense stares. Sakura's fingers twitched.

"You're really pretty..." Sakura whispered in awe. "And how do you have such nice clothes?"

Yeah, Sakura was her favorite. Even if she was annoying.

With a nod of her head, Sakura poked her hair and pulled a little bit on the hem of her mid-thigh length maroon overalls. She had worn a light grey crop top underneath.

Fashion was important to her, Okay?! It made her feel better about herself, especially with being so small!

Besides, the silver buttons matched. And she could always appreciated someone who complimented her style.

"I wanna hold her..." Naruto whined reaching forward with grabby hands.

In a move that had her freezing Sakura clenched her teeth and swung a fist right into Naruto's skull.

"Jeez!" Haruhi yelped. "Naruto's dumb enough without losing more brain cells!" Honestly, Haruhi would never understand this worlds obsession with violence.

Sasuke snorted with amusement and everyone turned to stare at him. Said boy flushed slightly at the attention but didn't have to worry about being in the spotlight too long. Three hungry adolescent stomachs rumbled in unison.

She turned and looked over her shoulder, exchanging an amused glance with Kakashi. Being in college beforehand and paranoid about not making it to classes, his lack of punctuality had grated on her initially.

Now it was just amusing.

They had taken their time again and had arrived with breakfast in bellies. While the pre-teens had eaten hours beforehand, waiting for them to arrive.

Kakashi clapped his hands.

"Well, we should all go out to eat!"

Everyone agreed, and they headed towards town.

It was exactly mid afternoon, and everyone's shadows looked like muffins. The same flowers from a couple days ago were in full bloom and the air in the downtown district was thick with fat bumblebee's and the smoke of cooking food. There weren't as many people as she thought there would be, as Kakashi had taken her back from Sakura as a precaution. It seemed most of them were either in a restaurant or busy at school or work.

Naruto was leading the way, dragging everyone behind him. Sakura had raised her fist when Naruto had said something stupid. Again. But with a glance at her sitting on Kakashi's shoulder (protected by some camouflage jutsu) she had lowered it, Naruto exhaling in relief.

But as they walked she was struck with the sense of familiarity.

She and Kakashi had taken this way for the grocery shopping and to the toy store. And if she just stood on her tippy toes...

-Yes! There was The Ramen Shop!

"YEAH!" Naruto cheered, and raced ahead with surprising speed. Sakura, Sasuke, and Kakashi all sighed in tandem. When they caught up moments later, a man in a chef's uniform stood in the back and a pretty young woman was serving Naruto.

"Hello!" She called. Haruhi stayed quiet, while everyone nodded their greetings. That chicken ramen looked hella good and she whispered her order into Kakashi's ear. Said man giggled at the feeling before clearing his throat.

When everyone had placed their order except Sasuke and the woman and her father had their backs turned, she spoke up.

"Aren't you gonna get anything?"

"Hn."

"So what are you gonna do then? Photosynthesis?" She snarked.

Sasuke then glared up at her, and she enjoyed her perch by turning up her nose, almost falling off from Kakashi's little twitch of amusement. Naruto laughed before stopping and scratching his head.

"Uh, What's photosintheis?"

Haruhi sighed and waited for Sakura to correct him. When she looked at her, just as confused as Naruto, Haruhi took a deep breath. Everything was so backwards here. Basic science like that escaped them.

"Uh, Haruhi-" Naruto began.

"Quiet Buttercup." She murmured, suddenly very tired.

All of them were shocked when Sasuke let out a short chuckle at Naruto's expense, but he quickly cut himself off. Naruto sat and steamed angrily, but quickly cheering up when the ramen arrived.

And by god did it arrive.

Giant steaming bowls she could do laps in, filled to the brim with noodles, vegetables, and meat. The sauce was heavenly and she jumped down from Kakashi's shoulders to get closer.

She could do this safely, as the jutsu affected the two behind the counter.

Plus, ever since she got here she noticed she had been more physically able. She had chalked it up to just her cunning, but she had never been this fit before. Moving something bigger than her or jumping from that far, surviving falls? She was just more hardy now, and she wasn't sure if her body was adjusting or not. She had her theories, though. The biggest land animal in the world was the elephant. They were huge, and more importantly incapable of jumping. Fleas on the other hand, were among the smallest and were capable of jumping over a hundred times their size. She reasoned the dramatic decrease in her overall mass led her body to become more efficient-like the fleas.

Or something.

She really didn't know.

All she knew for sure was that this Ramen was the best thing she ever ate. The preteens all were enjoying their meal-even Sasuke. At her jibe the boy had rectuntaly ordered something.

"This is the best thing I've ever eaten." She said between bites of spiced chicken.

"I'm wounded." Kakashi put his hand on his chest. She didn't bother gracing that with a response. Then she ran into a problem. How was she supposed to eat? She had grabbed a piece of chicken from Kakashi, but to actually reach into the bowl and fish out some noodles? The chopsticks were bigger than her!

Sensing her dilemma Kakashi helpfully added;

"What I make you, you can eat." He almost sulked.

"Here." Naruto broke the small tips off of the end of his chopsticks and made sure there were no slivers, shaving them off with the tip of a kunai. He handed her a pair the size of her forearm. Which, was entirely too large still, but got the job done.

Everyone stopped and stared at Naruto. Because wow, an actual good idea. While she knew Naruto was capable of them from time to time, it was different seeing it up close.

"Not bad. Buttercup." Said Sasuke. Sakura nodded her head, agreeing with her crush, and Naruto was torn between yelling back at Sasuke or being happy Sakura agreed with him.

Kids.

Kakashi shared her sentiments and without further ado they dug in.

Again, she firmly believed eating with others was a sacred thing. And just as the tenseness between her and Kakashi went away after the breaking of bread, the atmosphere relaxed too. The stupefied side glances stopped and a peaceful silence settled over them.

The genin seemed fascinated watching her struggle to eat a giant noodle. The ceramic white bowls were a challenge in and of themselves to get to the edge of, her resorting to dragging the napkin dispenser(with a little help from Kakashi) and sitting on top of that. She had given up on making shoes and just went everywhere barefoot. Kakashi carried her most of the time anyway, and she had thick, calluses on her feet from an entire childhood spent running around barefoot, so it's not like it mattered much.

Then there was the business of pulling out the noodle without making a mess. She pulled out one of the napkins from below, almost falling into the bowl before Kakashi caught her. She placed it under her to catch broth. And because the metal was really cold too.

She felt Sasuke sizing her up, probably not expecting her to be so resourceful. Maybe he shouldn't be so judgemental then.

"How did you get so small?" Naruto broke in with his usual amount of tact.

With a bite of noodle sticking out of her mouth, she signaled Kakashi to take this one.

"A jutsu accident. I've been assigned to watch her." He said simply.

The three exchanged glances before turning to her. She shrugged and took a bite of a bell pepper. She took the time to observe the kids. It had fallen to an argument between Sasuke and Naruto, and between bits of food, they traded insults. Sakura had sat between them, probably on purpose.

It was clear she was the mediating force. But between struggling not to laugh at some of Naruto's funnier insults, and defending her crush, she wasn't doing a very good job.

But what fascinated her most was how well they seemed to click. Their personalities seemed to compliment each other. Sasuke's pessimism, Naruto's optimism, and Sakura's realistic personality. Now if only they could listen to each other...

When she felt a breath ruffle the napkin slightly, she knew Kakashi was on the same trail of thought as her.

"They go well together." He murmured thoughtfully.

"They're all… so childish. I can't fault them for that, but from what I've seen so far, being a ninja means growing up before you're ready, and I'm not sure they can."

He hummed in agreement.

"Hey, why aren't you eating anything?" Haruhi asked Kakashi.

"They'd just clamor to get a good look at me without the mask. I'll eat when we get home."

Made sense.

"But like, aren't you like super stealthy?"

He didn't grace that with an answer. But he did order to go.

After finishing up, they went to see what their mission would be now. Naruto had blazed a trail ahead and screamed in frustration when they were assigned another D-rank. This time, it was pulling weeds. Her and Kakashi sat under the shade. He read his porn and she amused herself by reading along and watching the three get frustrated working under the sun. Judging by the way Kakashi read his porn and giggled when something even remotely sexual was mentioned, she hazarded a guess that he didn't have a lot of experience in that aspect. He was a ninja and that would be putting himself in a vulnerable position. Idly she played with her floss-cutter-turned-makeshift-knife. It comforted her and was very handy, for cutting oranges or holes in pockets.

They had just gotten to the part where the leading protagonist had thrown her lover onto the bed when they heard screaming.

Naruto, while weeding the garden, had pulled out the herbs as well, and the woman had come out and was currently nailing him over the head with a frying pan. The other two were rolling their eyes in the background. While trying to outdo Sasuke, he had destroyed her garden.

Looking up at Kakashi, she noticed the faraway look adorning his face, almost as if remembering something.

The woman went back inside.

"Nice one, Dobe."

"Teme!"

Naruto and Sasuke were facing off, and Sakura was in between, trying and failing to stop it.

"Argh! Why doesn't anybody ever listen to me!

Kakashi sighed, ready to step in.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

Everyone paused. Naruto's fist clutching Sasuke's shirt and vice versa.

"You say you're not children anymore, but then here you are! You're all supposed to be a team. Or did you forget what Kakashi's told you already?"

The fight rapidly dissipated.

It was rather uneventful after that. The mission was technically complete and they parted ways.

But instead of them heading back home, they took a turn downtown and headed down a familiar path. She had a feeling she knew where and when they opened the door to they toy store her guess was confirmed. She didn't know they were coming here and sent an inquiring look from her perch on his shoulder.

Smiling nervously, he rubbed the back of his head.

"I forgot to tell you, but Kasumi has your clothes ready." A jolt of excitement had her shoot to her feet and she almost fell off.

"Really?!" She jumped and in her excitement, then hugged and kissed Kakashi's cheek.

She jumped back, worrying she crossed a line.

Peeking between the curtain of her hair, she was gratified to see the blush on the quarter of his face and the obviously speechless expression. One of his hands was cupping his cheek, and his eye was trained on her.

Was it possible that Kakashi...no, she was imagining things.

She had toyed with the possibility beforehand, but with the whiplash from dimension hopping, the confusion, and her sudden adjustment in height, her head had been too crowded to entertain it. But is was silly anyway.

"A hmm." Someone cleared their throat.

Kasumi stood there with her arms crossed and an amused smirk gracing her aging face. She looked younger than before, frown lines less prominent. She seemed to have a healthy glow to her and her hair, which was slightly greasy last time, was shining and up in a braid.

"Kasumi! Looking good!"

Kasumi's smirk widened into a grin and her eyes twinkled.

"My favorite customer. Stuff's in the back."

The other employee was in the side of the shop and politely ignored them.

They made their way behind the heavy wooden door and into the back where she had been measured last time. It was cleaner than before, well dusted, and a curtain blocking a window she hadn't known was there was parted, sunlight on fabric. In the corner she noticed a package full of tiny clothes-perfect for her. Most of the dolls here weren't her size, and thus the clothes weren't either. She was stuck switching between 5 outfits.

Kakashi, who only really wore one thing (his ninja gear) was left out of the loop.

"I've never truly meet anyone like you. And not just because of your size. It's inspired me, and I wanted to show you something.."Kasumi said.

"What is it?" She asked, blinking in surprise; Kakashi's attention focused.

Kasumi, with the energy of someone much younger, went to a shelf and pulled out a box. Opening it, she lifted a doll, the exact same size as her and placed it in front of her on the wooden table. It was like looking into a mirror. The only differences between her and the doll was the coloration.

It has the same small almond eyes, upturned nose, prominent jawline, and high cheekbones. The differences was the lighter skin tone, and long dark hair. It looked more Japanese instead of African American.

She was speechless. The doll was clearly a masterpiece, but it felt like the bottom of her stomach turned over. But seeing Kasumi with so much life in her, she just couldn't tell her that.

"It's-It's amazing!" It was, really.

"The craftsmanship is top-notch." Kakashi observed from right next to her.

"I'm planning on creating a few more varied ones-nothing to big, and I just wanted you to know about it. We don't really have any realistic dolls in Konoha, so I used your measurements to create some to scale."

That was a smart idea, but Haruhi couldn't help but feel...violated, in some way.

"I've asked customers coming into the store, and all agreed it would be interesting to see this doll. I'll use the profits to keep making you clothes and other accessories."

Oh. Kasumi was asking her permission to do this, and sweetening the pot with the deal of future freebie's. Her mind flashed back to the first time they were here, and Kakashi not having to pay anything.

Haruhi may not like this, but she knew a good deal when she saw one.

"That's a great idea!" She grinned rather widely. Kakashi had grown from relaxed to serious in the background, but made no move.

They worked out the details of that, and Haruhi threw in a couple suggestions of what Kasumi could do. Delighted, Kasumi told her about her brother, who was a carpenter and occasionally helped building dollhouses. If she needed any specialized furniture to make life a bit easier, Kasumi said he could get it done without having to know about her. This time Haruhi smiled a but more genuinely.

Kakashi then finally piped in with a great idea.

"Could your brother make mini staircases?"

He said he would stop by with the measurements later. It would sure be easier than the string.

just as they turned to leave, inconspicuous black bag in hand, a call stopped them. Kasumi slipped the almost look-alike doll into the bag, then bid them farewell.

It was quiet on the way home.

Kakashi placed the bags down on the counter and gently took her from his shoulder, placing her carefully next to the fruit bowl-knowing it was her favorite. Had it always been like this? She guessed you didn't go through a breakdown then get comforted by someone to not like them. He rummaged through some of then shelves, the pulled out the cookie jar with the bees on it.

He turned and rubbed his head again, trying to explain.

"Since you aren't hungry, I figured instead of making dinner we could make dessert."

"Sound logic." She complemented.

He visibly brightened, and placed it to her left. While she inspected the bee design, he pulled out some flour he must have got from the store.

"What type do you want?" She asked. She didn't actually know what they could make.

"I was thinking whatever you wanted would be fine."

"Hm. How about sugar cookies? I like sweet things."

"I can do that." He murmured.

She entertained herself by tracing the slightly raised canary yellow bumblebee's on the jar. The background was a smooth paper creme color and felt just as smooth as it looked trailing her fingers over it.

He gathered all the ingredients around the table, setting them next to her so she could read the labels. He crossed over into the living room and he ran to the edge of the counter to see what he was doing. He slide the half door over to the other side, revealing a whole bunch of books she hadn't seen before. She was unable to make out the titles from here, but he pulled out a thicker one and slid the door back in place.

He blew dust from the book (unsuccessfully) and placed it in front of the fruit bowl. Opening it, he said;

"You like books, don't you?"

"Yep."

"Can you read the directions then while I mix?"

Uh oh.

Could she?

She noticed most of the texts she had seen weren't in English. Running over to the book and hopping on, she breathed a sigh of relief. It was written in English for most of it, and there were pictures detailing the rest. So she could help Kakashi after all. A rush of unexpected relief had her dizzy for a second.

He pulled the eggs out of the fridge and didn't notice the side was open. When he turned back towards her, one came loose.

In slow motion, the white egg fell.

SPLAT.

He looked like it was the end of the world. Point blank staring at the scattered egg in disbelief.

She lowered her voice.

"Hi, I'm Kay-kay-she, I'm a Talen-ted ninjay."

He whipped his head to her, fiery blush erupting from his face. He stuttered, trying to explain what just happened.

"Jeez Kay-kay-she, the only thing hotter than you right now is the oven."

She took pity on the man and leafed through the instructions while he sheepishly cleaned it up. His personality now and then from testing the kids deeply contrasted.

He brought over the remaining eggs, making a point of putting his hand over the corner. She laughed and he recovered enough to set the ingredients down. She murmured the instructions that Kakashi picked up easily enough with his hearing. He was contemplatively silent, humming to signify he heard her. He doled the batter onto the sheet, and she read aloud the cooking time.

After he placed the tray in the oven and closed it, a peaceful silence settled in the kitchen along with the smell of baking dough.

She pretended to be absorbed within the book. It wasn't hard, as a lot of the recipes were new to her, and she wanted to be able to help with future desserts. But if years of public education taught her anything at all, it was how to pay attention to two things at once. So while reading about cakes, she read Kakashi.

As an elite ninja, he didn't give much away. Or normally, he wouldn't, but now, he might as well have been a book. He had whipped out his own Icha Icha, but his eyes weren't moving with the text. He was relaxed against the counter, all except for the tense way he held the book. He had unpacked his ramen and with the book hiding his face, ate it.

He wanted to talk about something.

"Haruhi?"

"Hm?" She looked up.

He seemed to strengthen under her gaze.

"I wouldn't have minded."

Genuinely confused, she asked;

"What do you mean?"

"You were uncomfortable earlier with the doll. You didn't have to go along with it if it meant saving me some money." He said, completely serious.

She was speechless. He then smiled.

"Besides, it's as you said, I'm a talen-ted ninjay, I have money to spare and then some."

Her eyes softened.

"I know you're right. It's just that, being here is just..." She searched for words.

"...It make you feel..."

"...Small."

Haruhi didn't know where this was coming from, and neither did Kakashi, judging by the surprised look on her face. But Haruhi just couldn't seem to stop herself.

"There's a lot I can't do now, and I'd be lying if I said that didn't affect me. I'm just dependent on you, and I don't like the feeling of being virtually useless and bothering someone else. Before all this, I did everything on my own and was reliant completely on myself. I miss that. "

He had put down his ramen and book, pulling up his mask. Focused on her

"Don't get me wrong, all the people I've met so far have been nothing but great to me. Konoha is a beautiful place and I can see why you call it your home."

"It's just... it's just not my home."

It seemed the more she talked, the more her true feelings made themselves known. Not even she had known how she had felt until now.

"You've been taking care of me, and I'm grateful. It's just that you shouldn't have to. With the doll, it reminded me how out-of-place I am here. I thought I could be less of a burden that way. But I felt like a doll-something pretty to look at, but not a person. And I know that's not true, but since when have feelings ever cared about facts?"

She sat on the corner of the cookbook, looking down at her clasped hands. The tears welling up in her eyes blurred them.

There was a careful silence in the kitchen. Broken by the stove beeping.

He pulled on oven mitts and set the sheet down a foot away from her. She felt the heat on her side, but kept her head down, ashamed of crying. Suddenly a cookie, smaller than the rest (about the size of her chest), made specially for her-appeared in front of her now covered clasped hands.

"Cookie?"

She nodded and took it, but not a bite. They sat there silently for awhile.

"That cookie is smaller than the rest."

She looked up through a cloud of hair.

"That doesn't mean it won't be any less delicious than the others. It's still a cookie."

Oh. He was trying to comfort her. In his own socially awkward way.

She hiccoughed with a giggle. His face melted with relief.

"Are you comparing me to a cookie?"

"Why not? You're sweet like one."

She tossed her head back and laughed, dislodging the last tear.

"You really are a ninja. No one else would have been able to pull a smooth move like that!"

"You aren't useless. Look at how you helped me make the cookies. And earlier, when you got Naruto and Sasuke to stop fighting. Not just anyone can do that. And you take care of yourself. Clever things like figuring out how to open the cabinet and even rolling the onion across the table."

She sniffed and rubbed her face.

"Yeah, you're right."

He chuckled too, and she nibbled happily on the cookie.

"Hamster Haruhi."

The rest of the time went like that. They leafed through the book and talked about what they could make next. The same atmosphere from before surrounded them, relaxed peaceful, and...something else.

Sorry the uploads are so sparse! Tell me what you thought!