A/N – A little timeskip, that's fun!

It had been a few days into her new life, and Hinata was... adjusting.

Not to say things were bad, they were just... unexpected, in some ways.

A lot had happened, since their first day at the office.

Both Hinata and Kakashi had settled well into their duties, although occasionally there were things that needed to be referred to the Hokage or her assistants (unsurprisingly, the import of sake into Konoha was one of those things. The decreased duty the merchants were getting was, Hinata believed, not entirely worth Tsunade 'quality testing' all the sake coming into Konoha).

Two days in, Kiba and Shino (and Akamaru) had burst into their office, full of questions, and dragged her with them to an empty room to get the answers to them.

Apparently, they had gone to the Hyūga Estate to ask her if she wanted to come spar with them, and had been told that she did not live there anymore.

Shino's stoic worry and Kiba's suspicious looks (and verbal abuses hurled at her father that he did not deserve), were enough for Hinata to explain her living arrangement with Kakashi.

Surely she could trust her team with this, right?

"You're sure, Hinata-chan?" Kiba had whispered to her, giving her a questioning look as he tried to get himself comfortable on the tiny desk he had decided to sit on (which was, unfortunately, still worlds better than the chairs).

Both Kiba and Shino (as well as Kurenai and Akamaru) were aware of her ill-advised (their words) crush on Kakashi, and, unfortunately, she could not in good conscience say that everything would be fine and that she would be able to keep it to herself (the entire plan, after all, was to eventually not have to keep doing that).

Regardless, that had been neither the time, nor the place for that discussion.

She had just assured them that everything was fine, without going into it.

Kiba got too excited and she did not want to know how he would take her decision to make Kakashi fall in love with her (and Kami forbid he try to help her. She still couldn't remember the 15th of July without a full-body cringe).

She would tell them about her decision to do things differently some other time.

"If you say so, Hinata-chan." Kiba had acquiesced, grinning lecherously. Then he had winked at her (it kind of looked like he had something in his eye), and tapped his nose. "Just be careful about it, yeah?"

Hinata had just stared at him in confusion. How was Kiba's nose involved?

"Kakashi-san has a very sensitive nose as well." Shino had explained, throwing a disgruntled look at Kiba and ignoring the pallor her skin had suffered at the revelation they had forced upon her.

She had been abruptly yanked into the memory of being incredibly turned on and trying to remind herself that touching herself in his bed would be an exceedingly creepy thing for her to do.

Does that - could he smell that she was...?

'Oh Kami, I am going to faint!'

How could she have forgotten about that!?

She had pinched herself viciously to keep herself conscious and had sent them off with a request to not tell anyone about what had happened (the living situation, that is. Much as they teased her, they would not reveal the other secret).

Which, of course, meant that the entire Konoha 12 knew by sundown. Not that it was their fault.

Shikamaru and Neji had known already (and herself, of course), and Kiba and Shino had found out that day. But from there apparently, Tenten had heard Neji's grumbling and found out (Lee found out through Gai-sensei, of all people. Kakashi had just face-palmed upon learning about that), Lee burst into a monologue of Youth in front of Chōji, who asked Shikamaru for confirmation. Unfortunately this was in front of Ino, who dispersed the information to everyone else (which was just Team 7 at that point).

"We should have just put Ino in charge of the investigation, she would've figured out who it was by tomorrow." Kakashi had joked, squinting at a paper, and humming in interest before summarily rejecting it.

Thankfully, the information only stayed within the Konoha 12, and Ino had helped in selling the ruse (Kakashi had been almost hilariously offended when he found out that people readily believed that Hinata was just living with him to ensure he got to work on time).

Hinata was fiddling with the copier in the corner of the room (it almost looked diseased, where did Shizune find this...?) when she felt warmth press against her back.

"Everything okay, Hinata-chan?"

A blush rose up to her face, and she nodded, trying to counteract it by staring at the blank white sheets.

They were not nearly as attractive as the man behind her, but needs must.

"Y-Yes, Kakashi-san, I just, the copier..." Hinata trailed off when the warmth pressed impossibly closer.

"This thing used to be like this in the Sandaime's time too." Kakashi quipped, hitting the copier once, making Hinata jump in surprise and bump into him. She was pretty sure the flash of his hand striking the copier made her whimper.

Kami, she hoped she did not whimper out loud.

"Just hit it once or twice and it'll be good as new." He advised, still remaining where he was.

"I-I," Hinata cleared her throat and tried to joke to hide her flustered state. "Despite my knowledge of the passage of time, I find it hard to believe this thing was ever new, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi laughed out loud, the sound travelling through her back and into her bones, before moving away.

This had happened multiple times throughout the days as well, and Hinata was unsure what to make of it, exactly.

Kakashi was always the consummate gentleman. He had given her his bedroom and taken the couch for himself. He insisted on making breakfast every morning, claiming that it was no hardship, and she could make dinner instead (they threw together whatever they could find for work bentos, which made for some truly bizarre combinations). He had offered to do the laundry, but had sensed how scandalised she had felt and decided that they would do it separately instead.

But then there were these moments. Moments when he would be too close. Brushing past her when they were at home, having her sit near him at work, thighs nearly touching, claiming that talking across the room was too tedious.

He was just... around all the time, and all she could do was bask in his presence.

The sound of the copier regurgitating paper was what pulled her back to reality, and she took a deep breath to recentre herself. The warmth at her back had dissipated, and she knew that Kakashi was back at his seat, as if nothing had happened.

While the forms were being copied, Hinata thought back on what she knew and what she had accomplished so far.

Hinata knew that he was fond of boiled saury and eggplant miso soup, and hated tempura and sweet foods. She knew that he used the same shampoo he used for his dogs (and that Sakura also used, apparently? She wondered if it was a Team 7 thing) because it was the only one that did not irritate his scalp. He was so used to wearing his gloves that he occasionally forgot to take them off at home (she knew this because she had spent a truly shameful amount of time staring at his hands with their lovely fingers and broad palms and – ). He spent a lot of time at the Memorial Stone (which was why he was late so much), but preferred to make unbelievable excuses rather than let anyone know. He did read Icha Icha a lot, but occasionally when he was bored he would put on a dust jacket henged to look like Icha Icha on other books.

The Byakugan was useful for quite a lot, although she was certain her father would go catatonic if he learned that this was how she chose to use it.

As for what she had accomplished, it was... not much. She didn't know what he found attractive (though not for the lack of trying), and thus she didn't know what techniques would be effective. This had left her mostly just trying to be around him in her nightgown, trying to look appealing, but natural.

It was not that she was bad at seduction (the classes being with Anko meant that you either became good or dead), she was just hampered by not wanting to make it very obvious so early on (the very idea of walking out of the shower in a towel gave her horrified goosebumps. What would he think of her!?).

She wanted him to think of her as a woman, not a weirdo.

Hinata sighed mentally, thinking back to her interactions with Kakashi.

It was probably nothing. It could not be. Surely she would know if his behaviour was a sign of affection.

Right?

Right.

A/N – Hinata's just running herself into confused circles here. Poor girl, feel for her.

Kakashi's POV draws ever closer ~