Times like this made Asuka feel the most content.

When they were all settled up together with chakra sliding together and curious eyes watching them trustingly while they ate food that Kakashi had sliced in absent motions and Asuka herself had seasoned and stuck together in one of her old pots. She was pretty sure it was one of the ones she'd stolen from Imori after Anko had tried to cook when they were drunk that one time; Asuka was also mostly positive that the man had let her do it out of some kind of exasperated fondness.

She had still been drunk at the time, after all, so she hadn't exactly been stealthy about it. Hell, he may have even been home at the time, her memory was a bit foggy on that, or if it had been another time she'd drunkenly stumble into his home.

Her memory was generally pretty good though, so – ah let's not get a headache, shall we?

Shaking off thoughts of her and Anko's sordid past thievery, the woman smiled at their curious kids.

"A chakra scent is also something that is only held by the living, vanishing at the same moment that life is no longer held in the body, and cannot be transferred without consent. The spiritual aspect literally cannot be forced to migrate no matter what tortures or techniques used, and so the scent is never complete, even when someone is being forced to attempt to do so under duress," she found herself continuing, pulling attention away from the dark possessiveness in her jounin's eye. Yes, well, the way he was looking at them could be construed as… well… oddly, to say the least. "Being able to scent someone under our protection allows us to reaffirm the fact that you are unharmed and alive, even allows the gauging of emotional or physical wellbeing depending on the strength of the chakra scent – which is influenced by chakra capacity – or the strength of the one scenting's sense of smell."

"And Kaka-sensei has a really strong sense of smell since his senses are enhanced," Sakura stated matter of factly, even though her features were flushed and eyes bright with pleasure and remembered embarrassment. "So, it affects him more, right?"

The man in question shifted slightly in his seat, pressing his ankle more firmly against hers.

"Yes, though the same could arguably be said for the Inuzuka."

A soft snort from beside her had her shooting him the look that that interruption deserved.

"I did say arguably."

"Mm."

"Oh, hush."

"But um, what's it supposed to be like for kids?" the blonde asked with a little frown of consternation, interrupting her amused glowering at the jounin. "Is it always the same?"

"I know that I… I feel safe," pale cheeks flushed as jade eyes glanced down towards her nearly finished second helping. "Like I'm um…"

"Wanted," the Uchiha muttered softly, hands clenched on the edge of the table. "Like you belong. Like you... matter."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed just as softly. "Like you'll always be there. Like someone will always be there for you."

The chuunin couldn't help but close her eyes against the admission, her heart surrounded by a bittersweet ache of pressure as a vibration as if he were speaking ran through the silver haired man next to her, but she could hear no sound released from him. Opening her eyes, she glanced at him, taking in the darkened eye before looking across the table to see that their blonde boy had slightly flushed cheeks and was looking at his jounin sensei as if he had never actually seen the man before, like he was doing something spectacular. She had the strangest feeling that something important had just happened, but it didn't seem that answers would be immediately available, so she just shook her head slightly and nudged her ankle against the mans to catch his attention, rubbing at the strange tickling sensation in her ear, like she'd just had a bug fly near her face.

"We'll talk more on this later," she stated easily. "Now it's time to clean up dinner and then it's Couch Time."

"Hai!" the three drawled out at the familiar routine.

"I'm drying."

"What, no! You dried last time!"

"I'll put them away!"

"What?! Why do I always wash?"

"Dobe."

"Baka."

"Hey!"

With a fond roll of her eyes she watched the three children begin to clear the table of food and dirty dishes, putting away the leftovers in a familiar action, bickering as they always did about chores. For a few minutes she just sat still with her left leg flush from knee to foot pressed against the silver haired man's leg, their chakra a tangled mess that was going to ache like a bitch when they separated when he went home after Couch Time with the kids. A metaphysical ache that was going to echo the soft throbbing that ricocheted from within her chest with every beat of her heart as the man she sat beside stared so intently without seeing at the other three people that she could conceivably call the most important in his life. The soft frizzy curl of his chakra pressed against her skin made her want to hide him away until he could maintain his aloof asshole persona again to protect himself from the momentous upheaval, from the masses and the acts of emotional manipulation that would surely shudder out now that he was awake.

As with the discomfort of having that spiritual bruise coming in her future, the pain in her chest would eventually fade.

It had to.

Couch Time, as Sakura and Naruto had dubbed it, Sasuke dragged along unwillingly as usual, was when the kids sat on her admittedly rather ratty couch with scrolls and books to discuss them, or just asked questions in general. As of late, it had become more and more of a personal conversation time rather than simple jutsu business. The closer they got the more the children asked about the two adults in their lives, wanting to know more, and even learning more about each other, though everyone was careful with certain questions in accordance with the different childhoods they had all had. Out of them, it was the civilian raised girl who was the most open of books, and it was the boys that needed to be danced around.

As was the usual, of course. Because when could anything ever be easy when it came to their boys, right?

"'Kashi?" she asked distractedly after the kids had run off to fight over seating on the couch even though they always sat in the same places. Well, unless one of them was feeling down, anyway, and then they were shoved in the middle to be smothered or something similar. "You good?"

They were good kids.

Infuriating at times, but good kids.

She saw a muscle in his jaw flicker beneath the mask for a moment before he released a long breath that she had barely noticed he was holding, and gave a tiny nod, his fingers slowly relaxing from where they had been bunched in the material of his ninja grade pants. They stood together and made their way the few steps to the living room and plopped down on the floor together in the familiar action, routine taking place so that she was leaning against his side comfortably with her legs half under her and off to the side while he sat in lotus. Over the course of the Couch session they would adjust, and usually she would end up lying on her stomach facing the couch where the children were settled in varied states of entanglement, the jounin leaned sideways with his forearm propped up on her lower back or butt. Sometimes it was the man who propped himself up on pillows and laid on his back, hands hooked behind his head with long legs straight out, crossed at the ankle while he stared at the children on the couch with either bemusement or a certain extent of exasperation that was practically a requirement for being around the kids for more than ten minutes. Usually, when this was the case, she would lay with her head on his stomach whilst lying on her side, listening to his system thrum like caged lightning, his heart a steady, slow plod in his chest.

It was reassuring. A comfort, in a world that was unkind.

The rest of the time, she lay across the children and crushed them with a great deal of joy at their squirming and complaining, laughing more than she had in years until the entire thing ended because the man decided to join in and everyone had to work together to move the adults since the jounin would firmly sit on her, sometimes attaching himself to the floor and couch with chakra.

It certainly helped with their team cooperation, in any case.

"Neh, Nee-chan?"

"Hmm?" she hummed as she glanced idly over their arrangement for the night. "What?"

It looked like it was Uchiha in the middle for whatever reason – it was obvious, but no one was going to bring it up just yet – when usually it was the pink haired girl keeping the boys in line, and Sakura was already turned with her back towards the armrest and feet shoved under the thigh of her pale skinned teammate. The first time she'd done it he had literally jumped and almost hit the ceiling, causing shock throughout the room as he flushed a red so bright it was arguably more so than the tomatoes the boy so adored, and even though in hindsight it had been hilarious, his humiliation at the time had had them all very careful with him. After having been in the Academy with him for many years, the fact that the boy disliked physical contact wasn't a new realization for the other two children, but the easy atmosphere they had become accustomed to when together in the apartment had relaxed the civilian raised girl into forgetting who she was sitting next to. She had apologized profusely and sat so far on the other side of the couch that Naruto had had his first turn in the center of the couch, her features flushed with guilt and shame as awkwardness descended upon them for the first time whilst they were within the chuunin's home.

This had been early in the relationship between Team Seven and the chuunin, before it had been named Couch Time, but the Uchiha had slowly become accustomed to that contact, only grumbling a little that her feet were always cold or not reacting at all.

Naruto was up against the other armrest with his right arm propped up on it to keep him up straight and he had his legs tugged up onto the cushion with him, crossed in lotus position and his other arm tossed out behind his pale teammate who was squished in the middle. By far however, even though he seemed to be the most easily integrated into the touching other than Sakura, he had been the worst when he had been touched unexpectedly, if only because he didn't react as grandly as the Clan child did. The blonde boy had had the tendency to flinch ever-so slightly or sink into himself with hunched shoulders when bumped into too roughly during their downtime in Asuka's apartment, had never initiated contact first with his teammates, and had tried to clear as much space on the tiny ratty couch as he could, made himself small so that the others could have more room. So that they didn't have to touch him. This had received odd, curious and flabbergasted looks from the civilian raised girl, but there had been an obscure sort of comprehension, an understanding that made the chuunin want to tear something apart, in the dark eyes of the Uzumaki boy's male teammate.

The life that these two boys had lived… it almost made her glad that a Clan had been massacred, and that powerful ninja now stood between the jinchuuriki and the cruel coldness that pervaded his past.

If anyone ever came after Naruto… well, there was substantial proof that such a thing would not end well for their adversaries. Vindictive pleasure slid through Asuka at the thought of being able to stab Kisame in vengeance for her lost vacation, even as the confused horror of Itachi made her feel queasy and her head ache savagely.

The one who had apparently been decided needed the most sandwich time was leaning against the blonde slightly with his right leg tucked under his left, it wasn't unlikely that tiny genin feet were touching under that thigh, the girl trying to steal heat from the boy. While one pale hand was wrapped around the scroll that he'd left at the woman's place the last time he'd come over with Sakura during Naruto's time out with Jiraiya, the other was resting against his civilian raised teammates shin, right next to a bruise she'd gotten from falling out of a tree during stamina training.

In short, they were adorable.

"Um, I was just wondering…" it looked like it was going to be one of those nights, didn't it? "How did you get that scar on your stomach? It wasn't there before!"

"Oh!" she blinked and glanced down at her bared midriff, something that she rarely did around the kids, generally in full gear or civilian clothes. "I had forgotten you hadn't heard about that mission."

"Well?" eager jade eyes looked at her. "What happened, sensei? It looks bad! Something like that must have had you in the hospital for a while, right?"

"Ah, no," she smiled crookedly, still leaned against the jounin. "Although it did require some surgery. It was… hmm… just after break during the Exam, I think. Yes, I was on border patrol," she told them, soothing the sudden tension in steel bar muscles with a wash of chakra. It appeared that the man had tuned in again from wherever his mind had wandered, and he was displeased with the topic of conversation. "We ran into a patrol of what I was sure were Sound ninja – and I was right thank you very much – and because a few members of my squad were injured I sent them away to get backup with the able bodied along our medic. Before you even ask, most medics are not up to combat so the 'Why didn't the medic stay with you?!' is not needed," she forestalled dryly, enjoying the sheepish looks on their faces. "I managed to take a few down before they got what wits they had about them, they used some kind of sound based jutsu that knocked me off balance by messing with the fluids in my ears and I got hit."

"Stabbed," Kakashi drawled almost disappointedly, as if she knew better than to not use the correct terminology. "Impaled. Skewered."

"Okay, that is way too many synonyms," she rolled her eyes. "If you want to be dramatic, then yes, I was impaled. Anyway, there were three of them left, and because I was – ah – pinned down at the moment, I ended up using jutsu to take them out and this," she shifted up onto her knees and pointed to the ugly mark, putting her free hand on the man's shoulder even though she didn't need to balance herself. "Which to start wasn't any thicker than my thumb, expanded with the metal which reacted to my channeling chakra. When backup showed up, they helped me back to Konoha and then I was in surgery for a few hours, and then I went home for bed rest for a day. After that, I ran into you," blue eyes widened at the finger she pointed at him. "And Jiraiya at my training grounds."

"Ah, that's right! You said you were on medical leave!"

"Eh?! You knew? Naruto, you're supposed to tell us these things!"

"What? How was I supposed to? Teme was off with Kaka-sensei and you were hanging out with Ino. She's even louder than you are!"

"… What did you say?"

Before that could explode into a possible fistfight over the head of the resigned Uchiha boy, she cleared her throat pointedly, leaning her cheek against a firm shoulder as the two kids lowered their voices and then looked at her sheepishly.

"Sorry sensei…"

"Yeah, sorry…"

"Good," green eyes found the silent Uchiha boy, who looked like he was thinking about something. "Sasuke? Did you want to ask something?"

It was still something of a challenge to get them to ask certain questions on their own, without prompting, but it wasn't exactly a hardship to encourage their curiosity or genera interest. To cultivate young, inquisitive minds and build trust in one another at the same time.

Dark eyes flicked up from where he'd been staring at the floor and met her own briefly before they slid over towards his jounin sensei, his expression turning somewhat pensive. It was then that she remembered that when he had come to her in the early hours of the morning that one time she may have stepped over her boundaries and told him more than Kakashi would prefer about his life and endeavors.

Asuka had never been particularly chatty or gossipy, but she may have perhaps overstepped her bounds in this case.

"Is Hatake a Clan?"

Oh shit.

Even as lightning aligned chakra was spiking, she smothered it under her own, leaning herself further against the jounin who could have been a stone pillar for how much give he had, and before she could stop herself, she found that her hand was sliding over fingers clawed in the material of his pants in an echo of his position at the table. It only took a second for the man to take a steadying breath and lean back against her, fingers loosening their death grip on the fabric where the tension had made it so that she could feel his finger joints creaking under her own as he relaxed, getting some semblance of control over himself. Easing off the amount of chakra she was using to entrap his own, she glanced over at the children to see that blue eyes were wide, the arm the blonde boy had had idly on the back of the couch behind his paler teammate curled forward around the other boy's shoulder. Sakura looked shocked as well and had one of her hands reached out towards them as if she had been about to get up and head towards them, though jade eyes were mostly worried and confused more than anything else. The boy who had asked the question that had sparked the rather startling reaction had the kind of twisted hurt expression on his features that said he understood what that reaction meant, and his hand which had been resting against a shin was wrapped around an ankle, the other pinching orange fabric lightly.

"'Kashi," she breathed with throat tight and painful. "Want me to…"

A minute shake of the head and he sighed, dark eye locked tiredly, ruefully, on their students.

"Yes," he answered lowly, his voice vibrating through his abdomen to rumble against her side and cheek where they were pressed against him. "Hatake is a Clan. The smallest Clan in Konoha, actually. That's probably why you didn't learn about it in school. There's only one surviving member."

That, she filled in for herself with a lump in her throat. And it's technically still in disgrace from the White Fang, even after…

The following silence was painful, and Asuka's chest felt heavy and sharp, causing her hand to tighten briefly over limp, cold fingers.

"Oh," their girl was the first one to speak, and it was soft, choked and oh so quiet with sadness. "S-Sensei," jade eyes were a little shiny and she slid her feet off the couch, ankle out of pale hand. "Kaka-sensei."

It barely took a moment before the man was once again buried in genin, the chuunin shifting out of the way enough so that she didn't end up with an elbow to the face, and it took her even less time to notice that the pile which had dragged the man to the ground – blonde and pink – was missing a genin.

Oh Sasuke.

Because those dark eyes were despondent, because that bottom lip was tightly clenched between teeth as a chin trembled dangerously, because nails were dug into knees, because shoulders trembled slightly, she picked him up without any fanfare, no warning whatsoever, pressed a soft kiss to his hair, and then dropped him on top of the three who were laid out on the ground. The impact had genin squawking and a man grunting breathily, but the indignant cries of her name were better than sniffles and unhappiness, and when she yanked pillows from the couch and tossed them after the boy, followed by the blanket that Sakura's mother had gifted to them, the declaration of war was such sweet, sweet music.

It looked like Couch Time had been cut short, but that was okay.

When those tiny round faces were flushed and twisted with irritation, they were much cuter anyway.

If Kakashi was stepped on once or thrice, that just made it better, because his despondent discomfort was always the best.

Like a hiccup of surprise the jounin's chakra jumped underneath the wreath of her own in such an odd twist that Asuka actually twitched and nearly stumbled onto the squirming pile of Team Seven. Chakra smoke filtered through the air in her apartment and even as she was waving her hand in front of her face, she heard Naruto sneeze explosively and Sakura's offended grunt of disapproval even as Sasuke sighed in resignation.

Then.

"Asuka!"

Asuka could honestly say she had never felt her eyes go wider or more dazed than when she found herself being knocked back into the couch by a ten-pound pug who tucked his face into her neck as if it had been years since they'd seen one another. Even as her hand lifted to cradle him against her chest, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight of the seven other dogs that she had heard of in blabbered talk from genin mouths – usually complaining, even as she stewed in jealousy – but never actually had the chance to meet.

Squawking, the kids flailed under the added weight of six of those seven dogs, though a rather large – though not quite Inuzuka large – bulldog sat calmly to the side so that no one other than Kakashi was unnecessarily crushed.

"Hello Pakkun," fell out of her mouth faintly as she blinked at the adorable sight of the pack sniffing children and man while ignoring complaints and whining. "It's been a while."

He huffed at her in what she assumed was agreement even as he flicked a lick to the underside of her chin and she automatically scratched him behind the ear because there was only so much temptation she could withstand. And a wiggly little happy Pakkun in her lap was definitely not one of those things, so she'd just decided against trying to deny herself that his wiles were the strongest of all the dogs she'd met.

The pug groaned out a sigh in pleasure at the familiar action, which seemed to simultaneously draw the attention of all the other dogs.

Oh dear.

"Oof!"

I didn't know that there was a pleasant way to be crushed to death, she thought dazedly in the face of so many limbs and warm squirming furry babies. But what a way to go!

Wheezing, Asuka ignored the many barked and grumbled conversations of the dogs in their own animal language as she tried to fit her arms around as many of them as possible at a time to give them all pets and scritches like they all so obviously deserved. Oh, yes, they all needed her to love on them and pet all their ears and bellies!

Such good doggies!

"Me next Asuka!"

"Yeah, yeah, me too, Boss Lady!"

Pure.

Unadulterated.

BLISS.

"Maa, maa. Don't kill my chuunin, you lot."

Despite the way that she could suddenly inhale again outside of her rapture of puppy pile, the woman scowled up at the jounin as he picked up various dogs and tossed them on the sprawled children – who looked rather worn out all of a sudden – while ignoring their indignant barks and wriggling. Asuka had always wanted a Summon of some kind but the Nagisa had sworn it off a long time ago after a Summon attempt gone array had sent the Summoner somewhere that he really hadn't been expecting – or been prepared for – and then a line of Summon had been ended. This usually meant that the creatures in question had perished in war in their own dimension, having been decimated by enough numbers that they could no longer maintain a contract.

Blind Summoning just wasn't the Nagisa way and it didn't seem right to give her family's loyalty away to a group that hadn't chosen her in turn.

"Rude," she coughed out after a moment as Pakkun made himself comfortably on her shoulders like a scarf, snapping his teeth at the more eager members of his pack, who retreated sulkily. "That would've been the best way to go."

The man rolled his eye at her even as dogs and children alike gave a war cry and tackled him to the side in a way that clearly said he'd allowed it, but the brightness of his single dark eye as he wrestled their brats and his ninken into submission brought a smile to her face. This was what he needed. The Team, his Summons, safety. Trust. Dogs jumped randomly and sniffed about with waggling tails, barking and yipping in delight. With a lingering look at the way the Sakura was curled bodily around an arm to attempt to restrain it with a feral look, Naruto being held in the air easily with the other in wide eyed astonishment and Sasuke trapped under the jounin's knee with a bewildered yet delighted flush, Asuka turned to the gentle eyed giant in the spiked collar.

Oh, what a lovely droopy face.

"Hello," smiling easily, Asuka leaned forward to introduce herself to the bulldog. "I'm Asuka. What's your name?"

"That's Bull," the pug said in her ear in his mind bogglingly deep voice, a soothing vibration against her neck. "He doesn't like to talk much. He's the most intelligent of the bunch after me, even though Bisuke's generally the one who takes over when I have to work with the Boss."

"Oh, hello Bull," tilting her head Asuka lifted a hand in askance. "May I?"

Bull regarded her silently for a second before flicking a floppy ear and meandering forward to press his squishy, exquisite face into her callused palm, large fangs a firm pressure through his jowls. Bubbles built up in her chest and rolled up in a quiet, breathy giggle on wobbly lips while she unabashedly squished his face with both of her hands, delight sparkling in her green eyes.

Oh, oh, he was just a little darling, wasn't he?

A heavy tail thumped against the floor as the bulldog regarded her with his big, wet, sad droopy eyes warmly, licking his chops and incidentally her hands, prompting her to giggle quietly again and play with the wrinkles of his face in fascination. He rumbled lowly and she felt it in her hands even as she couldn't hear it, though she got that weird buzzing sensation in her ears again, which prickled her curiosity as to just what Kakashi had been doing earlier when she'd felt the sensation before. Really, it could only have been him, and considering the weird look from Naruto that had her thinking things that she probably didn't want to be thinking when there was already so much else going on in their lives.

"Told you," Pakkun said smugly, his own tail thumping lazily against her shoulder. "She's got good hands."

Another subvocal rumbled as he stepped closer to press his face against her stomach and she ran her hands indulgently over the loose skin of his head, rubbing under the edge of his spiked collar to check against any itches there. He was big and warm, and he made her want to cuddle so much she had to physically retrain herself from picking him up to do so, because while Pakkun had basically given her permission to do so whenever with him, Bull hadn't, and he was an intelligent individual who came up to her waist and deserved to be treated as such.

Still… so wrinkly…

"Yeah, Boss isn't completely unsalvageable. Might be able to get him to give in and do what he should."

Even as her brow furrowed in confusion both dogs turned their heads simultaneously – amusingly in Bull's case, pulling one side of his face tight where he was pressed into her stomach – before hunching slightly and grumbling in irritation.

Looking over at Kakashi and the kids, she found that the man was laying on all three of them with the dogs prancing around them and sneaking licks on whatever exposed skin that the genin had. It looked like Sasuke had given up and had simply buried his face in his hands and was laid face down, Sakura had managed to stick her hands to the floor and was slowly pulling herself out from underneath the jounin with a determined expression, and Naruto was flailing with grin as he tried to fend off – poorly, and with little else other than theatrics – the two dogs licking his face. They all looked very pleased with themselves and amused, the Summons did, as if licking children into submission was something that they enjoyed. Honestly, it wouldn't have surprised her if it was considering just how weird their Summoner was.

Kakashi was looking over at her, dark eye soft and warm and a little rueful in a way that spoke of the man who was buried beneath the pain and exhaustion of the past days since he'd awoken for them again.

Smiling almost helplessly back at him for a moment, Asuka turned away from the indulgent sight to rub her forehead against the top of Bull's silky skull and blink the sudden moisture from her eyes and ignore the heat in her cheeks. There were perfect moments in life, rare though they might be, and this wasn't one of them.

But it was close enough.

~*~ POV CHANGE

For the first time, the kids were having a sleep over at Asuka's place.

He didn't know exactly why, but he felt like this was a long time coming, and that it should have occurred much sooner than it did, but that would probably have involved a lot more emotions than they would have allowed themselves in the past. Adults and children. It was strangely comfortable, almost ridiculously normal and easy, like sliding into a routine that they'd fallen out of for lack of practice, foibles here and there aside. Just like everything that had seemed to come out of Team Seven being together since she had joined their number. Since the pack had started to come together instead of crumble before it could even begin, nothing like a foundation in place to hold them.

Spontaneously Summoning the pack on instinct at the comfortable feeling of his human pack, hadn't been in his plans, but, well, things rarely went according to plan since he'd been given Team Seven – he really did have the cursed creepy stalker genin, both in the stalking and being stalked – and rarely had he managed to salvage most missions with anything like dignity unless Asuka somehow mysteriously popped up.

It was good to see his ninken, though, even if Pakkun was a nosy, gossipy little shit and Ūhei had nearly given him a heart attack when he'd called her Boss Lady.

Because… oops.

Um. That. He hadn't… well, he might have been actively avoiding thinking about how the pack might regard Asuka because of the way that he regarded her and hearing his youngest ninken nearly drop the ball had been a shock. Kakashi just… he wasn't ready to think about stuff like that yet, despite knowing that she was important, that he… that he felt for her more than he had for anyone else in a very long time in ways that he hadn't even been sure he could.

So, no. That was a cat he was going to shove back into the bag for now and put in a box, and bury, until he could think straight without getting his attention caught by every shiny thing and the urge to hide his pack away from the world abated. At least a little.

That Asuka had done that starry eyed thing that she always did with Pakkun, if less restrained in the sight of so many of the ninken, with the rest of the pack hadn't been anything resembling a surprise, really, because he could admit that as well as being voracious beasts his pack was pretty friggin' cute, too. Every stinking one of them. Even Ūhei, the chatty little brat. Well, and she had a soft spot for cute things, like, a continent wide. Bull deciding that he liked her within moments of meeting her was a bit of a surprise, because despite appearances, he was the most nervous and wary of strangers of his Summons; Asuka being positively enamored of Bull, less of a surprise, because barring some cases she had pretty good taste.

Them talking about Kakashi picking well for Alpha Bitch – or in human terms, Boss Lady – and Hatake birthrights, however, was just not on, so he'd put a stop to that before that twisting glass in his stomach could resurface from where it had been buried beneath the pack and his puppies. He'd swallowed enough stomach acid and blood that the phantom sensation of it made his jaw clench and ache with every breath, and only the scent of the children and the feeling of pack around him was pasting him together, and he needed time to harden and smooth. Time to settle into this new shape that he wore and wore him in turn, before any more emotional, world tilting decisions or realizations were made in regard to his important people and their roles in his life.

Kakashi just couldn't deal with it yet.

Serious talk was definitely not on the table right now, and all the emotions that he really couldn't function with at the moment hitting him all at once when he normally could shove them to the side and taste only apathy and ash was… not good.

Irrational decisions that got people hurt were the ones made in haste and emotional turmoil and he was definitely out of practice with dealing with it. That. Feelings.

Ugh. Emotions.

Oddly enough, despite the fact that she was one of the few actual mature adults in his life with a mostly healthy mindset, he'd never seen her act her actual age, younger than him as she was. Still, the way that she'd just lit up with rosy cheeks, bright wide green eyes and a sweet little smile as she breathed out nearly swallowed giggles had been. Peaceful. Soothing. Simple. It was a pure, untainted kind of expression of joy that the laughter and her normal expressions of amusement or enjoyment didn't have to them, that touch jaded and perhaps weary as they were, abraded by reality. His ninken touched the parts of Asuka that weren't hurt and aged by bloodshed and loss, the pieces of the wide-eyed little girl in that picture that had yet to be burned on the edges of war, had managed to stay planted within this kunoichi.

He couldn't begrudge the pack for bringing that out in her when he was using her to keep himself human shaped, that lightness in her chakra, that sweetness, had been a pleasant shock to his depressed, abraded system.

His ninken were cheerful idiots a lot of the time, but they were his cheerful idiots.

Out of habit – one that they'd ingrained in the brats perhaps a little bit cruelly, if not entertainingly – they all had extra clothing on hand that could be used for sleeping purposes; Naruto's itching powder mixed with chilis had been a real teaching tool.

So the pink and black haired genin had done a quick kunai flip to see who got which room to change in, while Naruto just stripped down in the middle of the living room, much to the chuunin's exasperation. Compared to the blonde, a good portion of the ninja population was apparently shy, body conscious wilting flowers, because he'd even started to strip down on the training field a time or two, much to both his and Asuka's dumbfounded shock, as well as the horror of his much more civilized and proper teammates. Sasuke had looked like he was going to have an aneurism and Sakura had looked like she'd wanted to claw out her own eyes at the sight of so much of Naruto's naked skin.

Both of them had blushed pretty hard, though, and he and Asuka had had a pretty good laugh about it over drinks later at the sheer ridiculousness of the pups. Before lamenting at the inevitable puberty fallout that would happen when those kids became interested in things like sex over romance – or not at all, and that was a completely different can of angst – and anything of the sort. Superpowered teenagers were the worst, as they were well aware of just how awful that was; they'd both been them at one point and could look back on themselves and cringe at the emotional, fraught messes they had been. Asuka had had more issues with hormones that Kakashi had had, but he'd definitely had the most inconvenient smattering of crushes in his life that he'd never be able to live down if any of the people he'd had them on ever found out. Well most of them were dead, but, eh.

Apparently, Yugao and Asuka had always had a, uh, hm, tumultuous relationship.

And Hayate had gone along for the ride that poor, poor man.

Hmm, Kakashi wondered how he was doing, anyway. With Tsunade back in the village his chances of survival were much higher, but there was always the chance that the swordsman would pass away despite her. Tsunade was the best medic alive, but there were still things that even she couldn't heal, and people died.

Asuka would be devastated.

Pale brows furrowed at the thought, and Kakashi grimaced behind his mask, hooking a fang into a cheek idly as he wondered if he should perhaps go digging into his Clan scrolls for obscure iryō-jutsu that might be able to help. He'd get Tenzō to steal a copy of the man's medical chart for him when he got the chance.

Shiba shifted where he was leaned against the jounin's leg and Kakashi sighed noiselessly as he refocused himself on the situation at hand.

"Argh!" Sakura cried as she stepped out of the green-eyed woman's room, throwing her hands over her eyes, face burning red and teeth bared in a grimacing threat that she had most certainly learned from Asuka. Kakashi himself had been on the receiving end a time or two, and he could honestly say that it was disturbing how quickly their most intellectual pup was picking up on the chuunin's mannerisms. "Naruto! What did I tell you?!"

"Eh?" the boy looked over from where he had pulled faded blue cotton shorts on over his boxers, and then he seemed to realize that his teammate was in the room with him. "Ah! Sorry Sakura-chan!"

It took only a moment for the boy to slip on a slightly threadbare white t-shirt and then he folded his other clothing from the day surprisingly neatly and placed them in the amused woman's hand when she put it out for the dusty ninja gear. Their girl genin's face was still flushed red, but her glare was icy on her teammate as she walked passed him to hand over her own clothing. The pink haired girl was dressed in her impromptu pajamas of an overlong t-shirt that looked like it had once belonged to a man – there was no lingering scent on it, he was unashamed to say, which he'd learned from snooping a little – with a tank top beneath, as well as a small pair of shorts. To be quite honest, it was basically the same outfit that he'd seen on Asuka that morning, and a fond part of his mind that wasn't terribly numb or lulled into a hazy sense of compliance or stuffed back into a box of hard-earned control, was rather amused by the simple act of emulation from the younger kunoichi.

They were good for each other, Team Seven and Asuka.

Homicidal tendencies aside.

"Are you sure you don't mind washing our clothes, Asuka-sensei?" the girl asked with a little furrow to her brows, her hands clasped in front of her. "It seems a bother."

"Oh, it's fine, Sakura, dear," the woman said, standing close enough to him so that he could feel her heat where he sat straddling a kitchen chair. Another reminder that he was awake, that he could breathe again, the press of his ninken's scents and warm bodies a relief. "They'll be clean enough in the morning that you won't feel disturbed or gross when heading home in them, but it won't be like they were freshly machine washed."

As she was saying this, their last child made his way out of her room in a black t-shirt and long black cotton pants that trailed over his feet, silently adding his clothing to the pile in her hand and stepping back. With a smile she placed her other hand on top to stabilize the awkward bundle and then shifted away from the jounin towards the window at the halfway point between the kitchen and the living room joining, the sudden distance between them causing him to blink an eye that was too dry – how long had he had his eye open? – and turn to watch her. It took her a moment to disarm the trap on the window and then she slid it open.

The slide of her chakra where it was still within the haze of his own told him that she was going to perform a jutsu, but the way she was standing almost looked like she was going to toss the clothing out the window, so he took some amusement from the way that the genin suddenly looked nervous as well as confused.

In just seconds water slithered over the pile of clothing, engulfing it in slightly shimmery, almost glowing light blue that she made spin around on the inside of the rather sizable globe of water like he had seen the inside of washing machines do. He had discovered after a rather trying mission during his ANBU days that the act of washing one's clothing could be quite therapeutic and staring at the hypnotic constant swirling motion of the electrical appliance could be almost soothing, almost steadying when the mind had too much clutter within it. Funnily enough, his chuunin had the same effect, if on a much greater scale and with fewer awkward ANBU standing around together in the middle of the night. Hmm, she was a mind washer. She cleaned out all the refuse.

Why not? She seemed to make everything else better, seemed to fix everything else he could have broken with his ignorance and inexperience, like this team of bad luck. Why not his mind? Hell, he'd never even seen the woman falter.

But those were thoughts for another time.

After a moment of this churning of chakra and water, he saw little clouds of dirt drifting out into the perimeter of the chakra infused orb of water, meaning that she was washing out 'impurities' as she called them, as if the water were intelligent enough to know the difference between dye and dirt. She was so weird.

The whole process took maybe three quarters of a minute, and then she was chucking the dirtied water out the window and snapping it shut, perfectly dry if not perfectly clean clothing in her hands that belonged to their no longer nervous genin team.

The wide eyes were amusing, though.

"Alright kids!" she put the clothes on the kitchen table and clapped her hands together, making ears perk on napping dogs. "It's relaxing time, and then for the oh-so sweet experience of sleep!"

"Where are we sleeping, anyway?" Sakura asked, and the woman just raised a brow at her as if it were self-explanatory.

"In the bed, of course."

"Y-You mean…"

"Together, yes."

Ah, the way they choked together was even amusing.

Gods, he'd missed tormenting these children.

He'd missed family.

~*~ POV CHANGE

Sakura shrieked nicely when tossed.

If there was one part of that girl that the chuunin woman would never have to worry about it would be her lungs because damn she almost felt like she'd gone deaf for a second before the girl had impacted on the far side of the bed, instinctively clinging with chakra so that she didn't go until she bumped the wall. To be quite honest, she looked like a startled cat, eyes wide and hair mussed with her hands and feet splayed out for balance and to keep herself in place like she'd been taught.

It was kind of cute, really.

"Ah, no! Kaka-sensei! Put me down!"

"Let go of me! Don't you even think about –"

Well, she didn't have to worry about the boys' lungs either, she could tell that much, because that high-pitched yelp that Naruto released when he was thrown next to his female teammate, bumping into her slightly so that she steadied him, features still stunned into a smile the pink haired girl couldn't seem to control was quite loud. Naruto's features were delighted in his own shock, even as he grunted with the weight of the Uchiha bowling into his stomach, the pale boy's cry of outrage cut off on impact as the three equally shocked genin lay sprawled in a rather messy pile, staring up at them with varying levels of unhappiness, with varying levels of sincerity.

None of them particularly meant it, though, she could tell. How often did they simply get to play, anyway? How often did they wrestle and tussle, cuddle for the heck of it rather than just for comfort? When was the last time these kids had had physical affection, or even true affection at all, directed towards them? She remembered during off time, even during the war, how her boys would take her places to play, how there would be games of tag involving jutsu and shunshin, how they'd collapse together in a tangled, dirty pile of limbs feeling each other breath and the hum of chakra a soothing reassurance of life.

Was that not something that genin did anymore?

"Alright kids," she started easily, voice filled with warmth and mirth as dogs piled in and onto her bed, herding children where they wanted them. "You get yourselves situated, battle for positions, I don't care, but you'd better be settled in by the time we get back in here, you understand?"

"Hai…"

As she joined the jounin at the doorway the soft clearing of a throat brought her attention back to the children and the dogs they were letting shuffle them around with noses and absent licks.

"Kaka-sensei?" the pink haired girl said softly, glancing up from under her lashes at the bottom of the genin and ninken puppy pile.

"Mm?"

"I'm really happy that you're okay."

The man's breath caught behind her and she felt her heart clench as he fizzled softly where he stood, shocked and pleased and so very unsure of what to do with those words from the children in his charge. Kakashi before he'd been hurt was a man of mildness, of not quite enough but definitely not too much, but this Kakashi? The jounin who'd broken into her apartment and limped alongside her as his mind struggled for balance? This was a man of extremes that he just didn't have the experience wrangling to be able to handle with anything that might perhaps in another life resemble grace or adequacy.

Chakra bloomed out of her as she thought to give him something to steady himself and grasp if he was overwhelmed.

"Yeah," the blonde's voice stuck slightly, and he cleared it, absently pulling his hands in towards his stomach just above where a dark head rested before burying them in Shiba's ruff. "It's… we were really worried and… and it's better when you're here."

When she glanced back at masked features, she saw a surprisingly touched, soft expression in that visible eye, the warmth there to be seen covering any vulnerability that the kids might have perceived otherwise, his emotional control having recovered enough to withhold such things again.

"Don't…" softly, on a breath, their quietest child spoke, face turned away and consequently into the stomach of his male teammate, Bisuke curling up at the base of his spine. "Don't do that again… Please…"

"Well," the man stated after a quiet moment. "I'll have to do my best not to, then."

"Promise!" the blonde insisted with those earnest eyes of his, Shiba mirroring him with puppy dog eyes as he wrapped one of his hands around the girl's, the other clenched into dark expensive high-quality fabric. "You have to promise!"

"Asuka-sensei too!"

Quirking a soft smile, aching a little at the childish desire for absolutes, the green-eyed woman sighed.

"I promise to try."

"Mm," the jounin said after her, gaze unfathomable. "I promise."

After the children had gotten themselves situated for sleeping, receiving hugs and kisses that made them fussy and embarrassed from Asuka, with fond not-quite condescending pats and scenting from Kakashi, the two adults changed into something similar to mission sleepwear. Then they became bookends on either side of the kids and the dogs that had wiggled themselves into knots amongst the sleepy genin under and on top of her blankets in near uncomfortable looking positions except for Bull who was curled up at the foot of the bed.

Whatever, as long as everyone was content.

Pressed with her back against the wall and Sasuke pressed against her chest and his face buried in her pillow and a little hand with too many calluses wrapped around the end of a braid, Sakura curled up in a ball with her face pressed into Naruto's back, Naruto himself sleeping on his stomach as Kakashi caged him in on the other side. Reaching out a hand – petting a few dogs along the way and getting sleepy tail wags – she set it on Sakura's side, eyes half lidded as she regarded the jounin across from her while he took in the scene laid out before him. For a moment he twitched out his Sharingan – an achingly sweet action – to memorize it, before his own hand slowly reached out the slide over her wrist and loosely hook around her forearm with scarred, pale fingers that looked paler in the dark against her pink toned skin.

Even though she wanted to, she didn't twist her hand and encircle his own arm in turn, because she knew that he needed the freedom of movement and even seeming to be shackled might cause him anxiety as he slept. That even just the illusion of restraint might distress him in a way that the kids had managed to smooth out of him throughout the evening.

There eyes met across the bed, chakra heavily entwined like a gauzy, hazed curtain hanging over the room, quiet, slow breathes and soft snuffles soothing sounds in the dark, and the chuunin curled her lips softly as his dark eye glinted for a moment, before closing them.

This was a good way to end the night.

Well, in theory.

It wasn't so much that she jolted awake sometime later as she opened her eyes to a sudden lack in the room, Kakashi's chakra somewhere outside of her immediate vicinity, tugging in her hara that something was missing. Careful applications of chakra and familiarity with untangling herself from sleeping genin had Asuka easing out of the bed and Bull silently taking her place as Sasuke's source of cuddly warmth and protection.

At some point, the pile had shifted, and Sakura was spooned up behind Sasuke with her face buried in his hair while Naruto was halfway down the bed underneath the covers, absolutely covered in ninken like a living, squirmy blanket with twitchy paws.

Sliding on some fuzzy socks the woman muzzily stepped out into her living room, studiously ignoring the way that the jounin was standing staring out her window in the dark and simply lighting a couple candles. Turning on the lights would likely wake the kids from the light under the door, and she had a feeling that Kakashi didn't want them to see him when he was so jagged, his subconscious cutting at him even in the tranquility of their little unit.

When she stepped up next to him, she softly pulsed her chakra in query, still murky with sleep but concerned and fond. A dark eye flickered over towards her from a tired but not too tortured face, filled with familiar shadows, not the emptiness of absence, and so she simply quirked a brow and tilted her head towards the couch behind them.

He huffed a breath warm enough that it almost made her wonder if her thermostat was on the blink, but it was simply chakra buildup from some exercise or another that he'd been doing to keep himself occupied. Honestly, Asuka probably wouldn't have noticed that he'd slipped away since he wasn't in distress at the moment, if only they hadn't been so entangled throughout the night that it was like she had suddenly lost sensation in one of her limbs. As it was, he briefly dragged the tips of his fingers over the back of her hand where she'd raised it to touch his shoulder in familiar affection and concern because he was a dramatic bastard, and then he turned to do as she'd suggested.

As if feeling his strings being cut the jounin let himself fall back onto her slightly lumpy but still comfortable couch in an elegant sprawl over the cushions, pulling the blanket from the Haruno household over his stomach and closing his eye which for once looked more bruised than his Sharingan one did on his scarred side. For a moment she stood a scant foot away and watched him take long, deep, breathes from the scent of the children that remained on the piece of furniture, before she sighed softly and moved into the kitchen to putter around making sure that everything was in its place after the genin had blown through. Normally she wouldn't worry about it until the next morning – which, yes, it technically was, but it was still a few hours before sunrise – but it gave her something to do for a few moments while he rested, and she was present.

The kids were good at their routine clean, but sometimes things ended up in strange places. Like her whisk was somehow always in with the pots and pans, so much so that it was now the first place she looked for it even when they weren't over.

What was up with that?

"Sake?" she asked easily, feeling slow and warm with sleep, casting a glance towards the lanky man whose legs were flopped over the side of her couch, soft gold light paint flickering pictures over his pale face. "Yes, no?"

"Mm, sure."

"Warm?"

"Eh."

"Well, alright then."

A little more shuffling and she had two small dark blue unadorned sake cups balanced on top of a simple white tokkuri filled with a nice dry brew that had only the faintest of sweetness to it, the clean hum of it pleasant to both parties, she had found, despite Kakashi's dislike for sweets. Two cups of water were seated on the table because while she'd never had much in the way of dehydration after drinking a bit, she figured he should probably ingest something other than broth or alcohol.

"Budge up, would you?"

The man sighed heavily as she stood before the couch with raised brows and quirked mouth, but he slid his legs heavily over the side of the couch to sit up straight, rolling his head back against the back of the couch to give her a long, tired look with that single, deep dark eye. Green eyes crinkled at the corners as her lips filled out into a smile before she plopped down next to him, taking her sweet time to get comfortable and in no way leaving space between them so that the comforting heat that was generated by their touching limbs could sooth the tension before it even cemented itself on the jounin's form. In a manner that would have seemed too personal to other's who saw it, she hooked one of her knees over his and curled towards him in a position that should she have been less flexible would have been uncomfortable, so that her head was resting on his shoulder as she handed over the sake and cups.

Warmth that she had missed over the weeks was a comfort, and this wasn't awkward out of place flirting with a damaged man flinching from his own mind, this was clear, clean comfort and affection between two people who trusted each other.

"Deal it out then."

"Ah, of course."

With a sigh of her own she closed her eyes as she sipped, smiling tiredly, softly, as she heard metal clink softly against the side table only a moment after the porcelain tap of the tokkuri touching cheap, processed and compressed wood. She curled her right hand loosely around his left wrist from beneath as she held the small circular cup in her own left, aware that he usually used his left hand for drinking things, but also aware that he had settled the arm she was tucked against open just for that reason, so that she could hold it. Chakra curled languidly against each other, a seamless fit that ebbed and shifted with every breath, pulsing softly with each beat of their hearts, they sat and relaxed as much as the jounin's twitchiness would let him, her chakra pulse soothing him into a semblance of sanity as best she could.

"Kakashi."

"Mm?"

"I'm… sorry."

Little prickly sparks of surprise shivered through their entwined chakra as the chuunin assumed he glanced down at her curiously, unaware as to what it was that she was speaking of. Another factor of his lack of social graces at work, when it had to deal with personal matters, he lacked the ability to read between the lines and make the correct conclusions. To read signals.

Probably why they had been holding at this stage in their relationship for so long.

The intellectual part of his brain had no idea what was going on more often than not and he tended to just not with emotions.

Not that she didn't enjoy the way that they were, the easy comfort of it. Savored every second that they held on this beautiful, warm and endless knife's edge; in fact, the feeling could almost be euphoric. The perch on which they sat, the cliff's edge, it wasn't a precarious one, but it was one that she knew if they didn't either tip over it or step back, they would be stuck there forever and… and even though she shouldn't, even though it was selfish, she wanted them to tip over the edge.

To freefall, together.

Not just her.

"For?"

"I may have given Sasuke the bare bones facts about your past, in light of your convalescence at the hands of the man who scares him more than anyone else," she sipped her sake for some liquid comfort and curled her fingers tighter around his wrist. "It was a breach of trust that I shouldn't have –"

She wanted to fall with him, yes, but maybe not just yet.

"Asuka," he interrupted, causing her to slowly open her eyes as she closed her mouth, and then glanced up at him. "There's nothing to apologize for. If they had ever been remotely interested enough to go looking that stuff up, they could have asked anyone on the street for the Hatake Kakashi biography and gotten whatever it is that you told them anyway, and most likely in a much less flattering light," pale scar tissue on smooth white skin twitched slightly as he regarded her with a tired if fond dark eye, eye flickering golden in the candlelight. "His bringing up my Clan was… well, unfortunate. The timing could have been better, honestly."

She huffed softly and sat up to look at him more clearly, though she kept herself rather glued to his side.

"He was just so…" she grimaced a little, wiggling the elbow with her drink hand. "He must have been in a daze because he walked here without seeming to know where he'd ended up until I answered the door, and then he didn't really know what to do with himself. I managed to get him to sleep for a little while, but… when he woke up, he was just…"

"Lost, in pain, afraid," the man rumbled softly, a deep seeded understanding in that single eye beneath the shadow of silvery bangs that flopped onto his forehead without his hitai-ate to hold them back, scar a shadowy line on pale skin under golden light. "He needed something to ground him and talking about me seemed to do the trick."

"Sort of," she bit her lip before she polished off her sake. "He was mostly worried about what Itachi could do to the rest of us if he had managed to defeat you, and then, when I brought up the fact that if you hadn't have been dealing with making sure that Kurenai and Asuma didn't bite the dust, plus there was the whole Hoshigaki thing to think about, that you would have had a leg to stand on…"

There was no denial of this fact, and the shifting beneath dark fabric told her that he wasn't making a pleasant expression beneath his mask as he thought back on the skirmish.

"Yeah, that could have gone better," was his wry input. "But let me guess, that got him running in circles about how if I could have beaten him then, then when the Massacre happened…"

"Yeah," was her own reply, much more tired and a little sad. "Mostly though, I think he was hung up on the fact that you've nearly had your Sharingan longer than Itachi has even been alive. Well, that and the fact that you are pretty much the prodigy, so…"

"You didn't."

"Oh, I did."

"You… how cruel… playing the prodigy card…"

"Hey, I'll play any card I have in my hand if the odds are stacked against me! Just entering puberty emotionally distressed revenge obsessed Uchiha boy with potentially homicidal urges bordering on psychosis? Those are definitely odds against me. I've been there before, and if I've gotta cheat by throwing you under the cart, well, them's the breaks, my poor jounin."

"Rude," he said drolly, sliding his chakra against hers playfully. "So when did the kids scent each other?"

"Wait, what?"

Chuckling at her stunned gawping, he wiggled his elbow and sent a shock of chakra through the limb to jolt against her ribs, causing her to yelp and jump, glad in the back of her mind that she'd finished off her cup beforehand. She'd never get the smell of sake out of her ratty old couch, the almost detectable scent of blood bad enough. Trying to wriggle away from him and the way his chakra was playfully poking at her skin she squirmed and pulled at her arm, but he had it firmly trapped against his side between his own arm and his ribs as he attacked her.

Sweet merciful gods she hadn't known that chakra could tickle like this!

"Let go!" she choked out, snorting and giggling. "Brute! Fiend!"

Happiness and delight bloomed like a fire flower in her chest, sending tendrils of joy and relief spiraling out into every part of her body as she struggled against her jounin's hold on her, her chakra network poking and prodding at his own with the rush of affection that ran through her at his playful actions.

How long had it been since she really played? Kakashi?

"Hmm, betrayer," she could almost hear the grin in his low smooth voice, and it made her heart swell bittersweet in her chest. "Slave driver, ah, impalee."

"What? That doesn't even – ha ha –" snort. "– Make sense!"

"Meh, semantics."

"S-Stop it! Y-You – argh – stupid –!"

"Oh, yes, that'll work."

Flinging her empty cup away Asuka felt her eyes narrow as she resolved herself, enjoying the way his brows raised in something like challenge, a shadow of what he used to do when they picked on each other, but something. More than the ache of desperation it had been not that long ago.

It was enough.

"Oh! Be quiet, guys."

"Sakura-chan? What is –"

"Shh! Be quiet! Don't wake them up!"

"Wake who –"

"Shh!"

"O-Oh! Are they really –?"

"Dobe, be quiet."

It was kind of cute how they thought they were being subtle, but they really weren't built for being anything that was even related to sneaky or inconspicuous, so even though she kind of wished that they could keep their delusions she really didn't want them to propagate any ideas that they could bypass a High-chuunin and an Elite-jounin even when they were relaxed. Little dog claws clicked on the hardwood like the plinking of raindrops against a windowpane in a windstorm and weren't even trying to be subtle considering they were stealth trained ninken, which meant that the dogs knew they were already awake.

"Since you kids are up already," though her eyes were still closed, she could almost picture the unison jump that they all did. "You can get started on breakfast."

"Uh…"

"We were just…"

"What was that? Would I like an omelet? Why, yes, I would! How kind of you to offer. Don't forget Kakashi's as well. He'd like ham in his."

"Hai…"

"We'll take whatever meat she's got in the fridge, puppies."

"We – we aren't puppies, Pakkun!"

"Puppies, puppies!" yipped a couple of the Summons enthusiastically.

"Sure you are. Now cook."

From her spot curled up on the couch – the position an echo of when she'd been in his apartment – she had her arm draped half over the jounin who was leaned back against it with his head pillowed back against the cushions. Her fingers stretched for a moment as she woke up further, pressing against the sturdy fabric of the man's long-sleeved black shirt, incidentally, curling them back into sturdy, defined muscles as the pale haired man took in a deep breath and lazily swatted his chakra at her. For a man that was aligned with canines, he – on more occasions than she'd have thought – reminded her of a sleepy cat who didn't want to do anything that anyone else said, satisfied and lazy where it lay in its chosen spot in the sunny window seat no matter that someone wanted to sit there.

She could just imagine the offended look she'd get, from the man and his ninken both, should they ever come across her observations, and it was a hilarious picture.

"If they burn this place down," he murmured softly, causing her to crack an eye open to see his own warm, stormy dark gray blue one focused on her somewhat muzzily. "You'll never get that deposit you've been talking about back."

"Well," she returned with a soft smile, bringing up her hand without thought to tug at a disheveled silver lock of hair by his brow. "Sasuke's rich, right? I'll just dangle him upside down until enough bank statements fall off of him to pay for everything again. And I'm sure that Pakkun will keep them in line."

"You got it, Boss Lady," came from the kitchen.

He stayed out here with me all night instead of going in with the kids again or waking me so we could both go, something achingly fond sat heavy in her chest and she breathed passed it carefully. This much emotional depth in the morning is really the worst.

The snort she received had her failing to bite back a grin, and she mussed the man's soft, springy hair the same way that she did for the kids when she was messing around with them. Her nails scraped over his scalp firmly but softly, and the way that he rolled his head into the touch had her grin softening into a smile tinged with sleepy warmth, the easy heat of his body was comfortable, causing her eyes to fall shut once again. Just like Pakkun and Bull. She wondered if he'd learned it from them or he from them, or if maybe it was just a Hatake thing, all of these odd instincts that he had and that subvocal stuff from the night before that she'd never seen before.

Asuka barely knew any Clan stuff, and what she did was practically defunct anyway, considering the state of the Uchiha.

Only a few feet away in the kitchen she could hear the children whispering to each other furiously, and the picture in her mind of what they must look like together, arguing or fussing had her chakra swelling with deep seated affection for them.

Contentment. This was her Team Seven. A little family, slightly dysfunctional thought it may have been.

Naruto and Sakura were probably arguing over ingredients or where things were, who was going to cook, with blonde and pink hair a little messy with sleep. Sasuke was probably the one she could hear routing around in the fridge, and the hum of the door being held open told her he was probably contemplating the three whole tomatoes she had on the vine from the chiller box, his hair an absolute mess – because even though he barely moved when he slept he somehow always woke up like he'd been in a windstorm – as he stared down at it with squinty eyes, not completely awake yet. His eyes would be unattractively puffy and glassy, his cheeks red from sleep as he rubbed at his features ineffectually to try and wake himself more, to find something resembling coherence behind the fog.

It was funny, how their Clan child was the one that had the hardest time waking up in the morning, and he'd had the upbringing that made getting up early a regular fact. New was the sounds of dogs chuffing at each other and giving helpful – not really – hints about what would taste good and what spices they should use on what meat.

They may not have ever spent the night at her place, but there had been enough early mornings and camp outs that she could near perfectly build the picture in her mind of their convoluted team of genin and the pack of ninken.

Also, she was totally still in shock over the fact that they'd somehow scented each other so recently that she hadn't had the time to notice and she could only think it had happened in the time frame between Naruto finding her in the Hokage's office and going to find his teammates. There were several hours there where she didn't know what they had been doing or where, so there was every chance that they'd had some odd bonding moment about Kakashi being awake and then coming to dinner together. She could give herself a bit of leeway on not noticing, since she'd been more concerned with keeping the jounin in some semblance of sanity and cognitive function, but the man had been so hyper focused on the kids that she wasn't surprised that he'd noticed what she hadn't.

Well, that and he was better at spotting incremental changes in behavior than she was. Damned ANBU has been.

"Asuka."

"Hmm?"

She felt warm and comfortable, listening to the children fussing in the kitchen. With every clattering of whisk and skillet, the soft, slightly arrhythmic sounds of chopping and dicing, a pan sizzling with oil on the stovetop, rice cooker beeping, curled up with her jounin right before her, the world felt a little softer, a litter sweeter. Claws clicked closer before several sets of little paws jumped up onto the couch with her, turning in circles on her hips and at her feet as they made themselves comfortable. A quick glance told her it was Bisuke and Ūhei, Pakkun still ordering about the kids quietly, if amusedly perched on a stool.

The hand that had been stroking idly through thick, silvery hair slid back down over his shoulder against his chest, and without thought her fingers twined with those of the man's as he lifted the hand on the side she was facing and covered hers, squeezing lightly before they stayed intermingled on his chest. It was all so natural, so… simple, that all she could do was sigh, her eyes cracking open to look back into an intense dark eye. The deep blue and gray that swirled there as he gazed at her, brow smooth and unlined in a way it hadn't quite been since before she'd first laid eyes on him in that hospital bed, the fall of messy hair shading his scarred lid and dark lashes as he regarded her.

Asuka would miss this, when he went back to normal, but she would always know what it had felt like if they never got this again. Would hold these memories and feeling forever to keep herself whole in the time it would take for them to perhaps become a different shape of what they were.

"What?" quirking her lips, she bit the corner of her bottom one a little as she tried to hold back a grin, amused for no particular reason. "Kakashi."

For a few long seconds he just regarded her, and then the intensity of his gaze softened, even as something thudded in the kitchen, a canine yelp, and a quiet human "Oops…" resounded from the kitchen, features beneath black fabric shifting into what she translated into a smile from the curve of his eye.

"Good morning."

"Ah," breathe catching in her throat, she stared at him, shocked despite herself at how hard those two words hit her in the chest. "I…" her cheeks flushed for no reason she could fathom even as her smile melted helplessly with fondness. "Good morning."

A very good morning. One of the ones that she was sure she would never forget.

"Alright, everyone's eaten, I cleaned up the stain they somehow managed to get on the ceiling without having an anxiety attack or committing murder, wrestled Akino into the shower to wash off the batter, added eggs and tomatoes to my grocery list, and the kids are finally gone being chased by the dogs…," tapping a thoughtful fingertip on her chin and cocking a hip. "Hmm, well, looks like it's time to see the Hokage, Kakashi."

The man went very still and looked at her in complete and utter betrayal, as if he'd expected her to go against their new Hokage's wishes when she was brand new to her station and liable to send Asuka through several walls and make paste out of her internal organs. Okay, well, probably not that far, because the chuunin liked to think that she was at least a bit useful and good at her job, and she'd become a bit more confident in her skillset since training with Kakashi; Kisame aside, anyway. There was skill, and then there was being one of the Seven.

Man, she really needed to see if there was a way to arrange for her to train with Zabuza at some point, because she was going to run into that man again eventually since he'd been after Naruto, and she'd like to be able to do more than faint at chakra drain. Honestly.

"Eeeeeh? But Asuka –"

"Don't whine!"

"Buuuut –"

"We're not doing this again! H-Hey! Don't you run from me!"

"You'll never catch me!"

"I'm warning you!"

"See you la-urk!"

Crash.

Sigh.

"I warned you."

Ignoring the stares that she received as soon as she knocked on the window of the Hokage's office – and on her trip to the Tower in the first place – before letting herself in, she shifted her burden and placed it relatively gently on the ground, meaning that she didn't just let it drop heavily to the ground from shoulder height but from waist instead. The dull thud – a little bit of a satisfying splat in there as well – was the only sound in the room for several long seconds before Asuka took it upon herself to speak.

Kakashi should have known better than to think that she hadn't seeded his clothing with her chakra enough to be able to remotely use water jutsu on him. It was like he didn't even know her as a person and she hadn't done that to him, like, three times before. Had he forgotten the Water Dragon incident after he'd pushed Naruto when he'd been sneezing, and a glob of snot had landed on her? Because maybe she needed to teach him another lesson on her conventional motherfucking water jutsu.

Jerk.

"Forgive me if I'm late, Godaime-sama," she spoke plainly, brows still a little furrowed with irritation, a slight tick in her jaw, twisting the scar on her chin. "But it took me a little more work than I expected to complete my mission."

An elegant, pale blonde brow arched at her before looking almost incredulously down at the burden she'd set to the side by the woman's desk; though set was a bit of a misnomer. There was a bit of a puddle forming underneath him, actually, and Asuka decided to helpfully pull it up and drop it on Kakashi again, the man in question simply sighing where he was slumped and wrapped in ropes of water saturated with her chakra. Sure, he could brute force his way out of them, but he wasn't that desperate to avoid medical attention, mostly just wanted to irritate her into having to physically resort to capturing him to get him to do what she wanted him to for once in his miserable sadistic life.

Lazy bastard.

"You don't say," was the dry reply.

"If you'll excuse me," the chuunin continued on rather seriously, ignoring the twisting of the Toad Sage's features over on the couch as if he were trying to restrain laughter. "I have errands to run. Eggs to buy. Tomatoes to hide."

Accepting the errant wave of a hand as her dismissal, the green-eyed woman slid out the window again, closing it gently behind her as she went, keeping as much dignity in her straight spine as she could as she turned away.

That didn't stop her from hearing the Senju Princess speaking behind her, though it was muffled, and the words brought a grin to her face, letting the seriousness fade away in the face of a new day and brighter future.

"Oh, I like her."