"Ginger or wasabi?"

"..."

"Come on, ginger or wasabi?"

"If this is some kind of secret signal, I don't understand."

"It's not. So ginger or wasabi?"

"Seriously Kakashi, I can't 'look underneath the underneath' right now. If you want me to do something you're going to have to spell it out and risk someone overhearing."

"Seriously Sakura, I'm just asking."

"Yah, yah, sure, sure." She rolled her eyes at him out of habit.

"..."

"... You haven't lost your mind, have you?"

"No, I have not. I was just wondering–"

"– Whether I prefer ginger or wasabi."

"Yes."

A peaceful silence filled their cell.

"You've gone bat-shit crazy."

There was no response. Water dripped off of stalactites and plopped as it dropped into puddles.

"Since we have the time, why the hell would you want to know that?"

"Because I don't know if you prefer ginger or wasabi."

"Oh."

"You sound disappointed?"

"Well, I was hoping that you know, since you've lost your mind and all, you would be funny-crazy person but you're more of a logical-crazy person."

"Ah. Well, sorry to disappoint."

"Hmm, yeah."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I prefer wasabi."

"Was that so hard?"

"It was."

Their silence echoed up and down the corridor, out of reach.

Sakura let out a long, heartfelt sigh.

"I don't understand you," she whispered into the dark, mostly to herself.

"Then ask me a question."

"... Ask you a question?"

"It's generally a good way to get to know someone better."

"I think that after nine years, there's not much else that you'd allow me to know that I don't already know."

"Allow?"

"Yeah."

He was silent.

"What do you look like under your mask? Why do you wear the mask? Do you miss Sasuke as much as Naruto and I have?" her voice grew louder, "Why have you never talked about your past teams? Nine years is a fricking long time, Kakashi, and you've never volunteered any information about yourself. I've had to kick and scream and dig to get to know you as much as I do, and yet sometimes I realise that I don't know you."

Sakura regretted her outburst more and more as his shocked silence stretched longer and longer.

"So ask a question." His voice was softer than she expected. She relaxed. He wasn't mad.

"I don't know what to ask," she admitted.

"You had plenty of questions a moment ago."

"Yeah but..."

"But?"

"Why are we doing this now?" The chakra-cuffs clinked as she held them up in the darkness, unable to see. He heard her. 'Was this the last opportunity?'

"We're here. We're alive. We don't have much else to do. Time passes faster when you have something to occupy your mind."

His own chains clinked as he shifted on the bare rock floor, several feet away.

"Do you know that from experience?"

"Yes, I do."

"Oh..." Silence reigned again. "Do you think they'll find us before... anything?"

"There's no one else in this world I would choose to track us down." He didn't answer her question. She decided not to ask again.

She reached out over the cold stone and crawled in the direction of his voice. She let out a tiny gasp as a sharp rock scraped over the deep scabs on her knee. They were probably well on their way to becoming infected.

Her fingertips found similarly scabbed knee. A warm hand reached out in the darkness and blindly wrapped around her forearm, steadying her as she scooted over, snug to his side.

They sat in a more companionable silence for many minutes.

Sakura closed her eyes. It didn't make any difference – there weren't any lights in their underground prison – but she felt more in-control when she chose darkness. Kakashi's body rose and fell slightly as he breathed. She relaxed and unconsciously leaned her head against his shoulder.

He was warm.

"So last time you were somewhere, without something else to do, where were you?" She was starting to get sleepy. The last forty-eight hours were catching up to her.

"Rock Country, I believe."

"Ah, so this is déjà vu for you then."

He chuckled. "Not quite; I didn't have my favourite medic to share the experience with."

"Hmm, I guess your company is beyond compare this time. I hope that your last company wasn't too dull in comparison.

"Actually I was by myself." His voice was weirdly soft again.

"... Oh." She tried to imagine being there without a friend pressed beside her. The darkness loomed in her mind. She opened her eyes to watch it.

She shivered.

"So the company sucked?"

This time he actually laughed.

"It sucked."

Time ticked by, measured only by the steady plop, plop of water droplets falling from the craggy roof.

An arm rested itself across her shoulders. She leaned into a near-embrace.

"Hey Kakashi?"

"Hmm?"

"Ginger or wasabi?"

Author's Notes:

1) Wooo-hooo! This, ladies and gentlemen, is the first story that I have even written from beginning to end in one sitting. I'm quite proud of that.

2) Reviews make my heart go all fuzzy.

Thanks for reading,

Love, KaKiara.