Kei placed the glass of water slowly and carefully in front of Rose, who was sitting at the end of the bar writing furiously and quickly all over her work papers. It had been a week since she last saw Kakashi, and she was still feeling as angry and upset as she had that day. Kei was careful to not speak about it, because the last time she did Rose started going on a rant about how stupid he was which led to a rant on how men typically are, which led to several rants about issues with society and Kei was not here for that. Not again. Ever.

"How's it looking? We make any good money this month?"

Rose paused her writing and looked over her papers quietly for a moment. "You guys did really great this month. The revenue was nearly twice than last month's revenue, it mostly came from the increase in traffic. It must've been a busy month."

"It definitely was, the weather is getting a little cooler, so people actually want to go out now."

"Hm."

The door to the bar opened, Kei straightened up to shoo the customer out as it was still a few hours before the store opened its doors. Rose reached for her glass of water as the customer spoke,

"Hey, how are you Kei! Is that Rose?"

Rose flinched at the voice, which caused her to knock over her water. She gasped and shoved her seat back. Kei grabbed the glass and Rose grabbed a bunch of paper towels. In a few moments the mess was gone, but something else was a mess. Rose's brain, her heart, her thoughts. She turned around and saw him. She could recognize his voice anytime. No matter that it had been a year and a half since she last heard it.

"Rose!"

"Yuuto.."

Rose smiled at the man, who she had not seen. Kei was stuck in her spot behind the counter, and at that moment Reo, everyone's favorite flirty bartender, strolled out from the back. He had been looking down at a memo when he spoke, not realizing who had just entered.

"Hey guys I forgot to tell you I got a call from Yu- oh…" Reo smiled awkwardly and turned right back around and sped away to hide. Kei thanked the Gods of the world that she was behind the counter. She turned around and sped right after Reo.

There was a beat of silence where Rose stared down at the floor unsure how to proceed. When she glanced up Yuuto was putting his bags atop the counter, but his gaze never left Rose. When they made eye contact Yuuko grinned. There was another awkward beat and then Rose began putting away her documents. She would tell him she has work to do, she'll tell him that hopefully she'll see him around. She will then completely avoid him at all costs.

"How have you been?"

Rose tucked some loose strands of hair behind her ears and shrugged. "Good. I work for the Hokage now."

"That's amazing!" Yuuto's voice was brimming with happiness for her, and Rose had to pinch herself because her hands had started to shake at the sound of it.

"Th-thanks. And you? How has business been?"

Yuuto had left to open a second bar in Suna. Gaara, the leader of Suna, had come to him personally. He wanted to create places where everyone could gather, as there were very few places in Suna where people could come together and have a nice time if it wasn't a park or restaurant. Rose hadn't wanted to follow him, but she was prepared to have a long-distance relationship. Yuuto had broken up with her the day before he left.

If Rose was perfectly honest, she knew he had taken the opportunity of going to Suna to finally break up with her. The last few weeks of their relationship hadn't been the best, he was less talkative, and they had started spending less time together. A few times Rose would catch him speaking to some of the female customers whenever she would visit him at this bar. And it wasn't the kind of talking that she would have been okay with. He was clearly flirting and acting like he wasn't in a relationship. Rose didn't want to suspect him of cheating on her, but if she found out he did she wouldn't be surprised.

It still angered her that everything happened so abruptly.

He had left a letter for her, saying he wanted to break up, but hadn't explained why. He had left the letter with Reo, and Rose remembered trying so hard not to cry at how impersonal he made his leaving to be. Like they hadn't spent a year together, or moved to Konoha together with his dream of starting a business after receiving her offer to come to Konoha to work for Tsunade. Yuuto had been lucky to receive this bar from some retiring old man, and in six short months he made it successful. The success seemed to have gotten into his head, and Rose was sure he would remember who was there for him from the beginning.

"Great! Business is booming. Not surprised as it is the only bar in Suna. I'm thinking about opening a new bar. Maybe on the other side, so some of my regular customers don't have to commute so far."

Rose slipped her bag onto her shoulders, "That's thoughtful of you."

Yuuto smiled at the compliment. He shrugged like it was no big deal.

Rose gave him a quick once over glance. His brown hair had grown past his ears, and his skin had tanned. He seemed to have gained some weight, whether it be muscle or fat she didn't know as he had a sweater over his body. But he seemed to fill his clothes better. He was handsome, but he had returned having replaced his boyish charm with a new wave of manly attractiveness.

Yuuto caught her glance and smirked. "I look different, right? I had to do a lot of hands on work in building the bar, but now I work on my body regularly." Yuuto's smile changed into a softer one, "I see you did, too." Rose watched his gaze travel the length of her body. Rose wanted to hide behind something. His gaze lingered everywhere. Her face, waist, hips, legs, breasts. "You cut your hair!"

Rose smiled tightly, "Mhmm. I did."

"You seem older with your haircut." His gaze slipped down to her breasts again and then he turned to rummage into his bag. "You've gotten very beautiful. You were pretty before!" Yuuto said, hastily. Rose smiled and nodded.

"Thanks." Rose had been heavier during her relationship with Yuuto. She was always a heavy girl, she had been classified as overweight by her doctors. It was after Yuuto's leaving that Rose had gone down a path of self-hate. She remembered only thinking about how Yuuto would flirt with the prettiest and smallest of girls at the bar.

Rose spent six months mistreating her body and trying to eat as little as possible only to eat as much as possible a few days after. It was a constant back and forth between those two diets. Until she met Sakura and Kakashi. In the first month of knowing them Sakura helped her find confidence by rejecting the opinions of others. Kakashi may have called her pretty when they first met, but he had reminded her that she was beautiful whether she was thinner one day or thicker the next. The most beautiful thing was a healthy body in any shape, size or form.

Rose remembered how angry Kakashi had been when Rose refused to eat the rest of her meal because she had already "-had breakfast." Kakashi's anger was intense but quiet. He told her Sakura had once also suffered extremely low self-esteem issues. He didn't want someone he cared about to become sick in their attempt to become beautiful. Kakashi taught Rose how to take care of the body that functioned and did amazing things for her every day, like fighting off germs and waking her up every day. It didn't matter how it looked, it mattered you took care of it, so it could continue to do those amazing things.

It was one of the first moments Rose saw a glimpse of who Kakashi really was under his cool facade. It was also the first time Kakashi had come to interrupt her meal and join her. Rose had a small suspicious he only kept doing so afterwards to make sure she always finished her meal before paying. And eventually he just started doing it for the sake of sitting with a friend. It became a thing quickly to always jump into whatever activity the other was doing whether it be eating or reading or strolling. Rose remembered the last time Kakashi tried to join her during one of meals and she completely brushed him and all but ran from him.

"I'm heading out. I have work elsewhere. It was really nice to catch up. I'll see you around." Rose began making her way out of the bar, but Yuuto yanked something out of his bag and then followed her.

Rose pushed the bar doors open but Yuuko trapped her against the door by placing a hand against it in front of her. Rose pressed herself against the door, blinking against the sunlight as Yuuto moved to stand in front of her. He kept his hand against the door, and Rose was uncomfortable with the distance between them. She wanted more space in-between.

"Wait. I want to hand out. I was a real dick about leaving last year. Kei practically verbally assaulted me when she managed to make a call to me. I handled everything so wrong." Rose avoided making eye contact with Yuuto, with this proximity it would feel too intimate. "I hoped you were still here because I brought an apology."

Yuuto finally straightened, and Rose relaxed at finally having her little bubble of space back. Yuuto held up a hand and presented a wooden rose to her. Rose's heart squeezed at the sentiment. "I made tens of these and finally made one that didn't look like a pile of shit." Rose chuckled. She accepted the gift, gently picking it up from his open palm.

"Thanks, I appreciate the gift."

"I'm sorry, Rosie. I did love you. But I think it wasn't our time. Maybe-"

Rose placed a hand on Yuuto's shoulder, cutting off his sentence at the sudden touch. "Thanks so much for the rose. It's adorable. I really must get going. I'll see you around, Yuuto."

~ O ~ O ~ O ~ O ~ O ~O ~

Rose stared at the wooden rose. Yuuto was crazy. What in the world was he about to say? Rose didn't even want to think about. Maybe he just wanted to be friends. Rose could do that. She could be friends with him, again. It would be like old times.

Rose approached Ichiraku Ramen, noticing four familiar pairs of legs. Rose's smile was automatic.

"Hey guys!" Rose watched all of team 7 look at her. Sasuke sat the farthest from Rose, Naruto besides him, Sakura next, and Sai, who was the closest to Rose, stood up abruptly and proceeded to hug her. Rose grinned and hugged him back.

"Rose San, it's been a while. Last I saw you, you were dressed in a very provocative dress-"

"Sai, shut up!" Sakura groaned.

"Dumbass," Sasuke had muttered, although it was loud enough that Sai turned around to stare at him dead in the eyes. Rose looked to Sakura and Naruto, but it was like they weren't seeing the hate transmitting between Sai and Sasuke. Rose pushed Sai down back into his seat by the shoulders.

Rose waved at the everyone else. Sakura got up and approached her while Naruto waved back enthusiastically and Sasuke nodded. Rose was about to sit but Sakura slipped her arms around Rose's shoulders and dragged her out of the booth and around the side of it away from all the ears. The pink hair Kunoichi crossed her arms and stared at Rose, expectantly. Rose knew Sakura wanted an update on just about everything having to do with Kakashi, but she smiled and looked at Sakura with feigned curiosity. Sakura didn't budge.

"So… how have you been? I haven't seen you since-"

"I practically dragged Kakashi away from you? I have never seen you look so panicked in front of him. What happened?"

Rose frowned and shrugged. "Nothing. There's nothing there."

"Wait, so, you guys didn't talk about?"

"We did… a week ago. It was bad. I yelled."

"Kakashi Sensei yelled at you?"

"No, he was calm. Like always." Rose held her wooden gift tighter in her hands. "It's whatever, between us."

"You guys were like best friends." Sakura pouted. She wrapped her arms around Rose's shoulders and pressed her against her body. Due to the height difference Rose had to bend down a little, but she appreciated Sakura going out of her comfort zone to comfort her and returned the hug.

Rose sighed when they pulled away from each other. "I just want to eat something, go home and rest. I have work tomorrow and it's about that time of the month where Tsunade's goes a little nuts on her spending."

"That lady needs to appreciate you." Sakura said, and Rose smiled. It was a tired smile, but Sakura took what she could get.

"Come on, lets order you some ramen. With shrimp!"

"You're after my heart, Sakura." Rose joked. The pinkette laughed. The two entered the booth again, but this time the seat next to Sai was occupied. Rose stopped so abruptly that her shoes made a loud cuffing sound against the floor.

Kakashi turned around. There was a beat of silence of everyone just staring at Rose and Kakashi staring at each other. Until the staring became glaring and suddenly there was an angry and tense vibe in the air. Rose wanted to turn around and run the fuck away. Instead she moved so there was a seat in-between them and placed her order, making sure they knew it was a to-go order.

"Is something wrong?" Sai asked. Sasuke rolled his eyes, and Naruto watched interestingly at the two. Sakura worried her bottom lip and watched the two interact.

"Nothing." Rose said.

"Nope." Kakashi said.

The two glared at the each other, offended that they had spoken at the same time. Kakashi noticed the piece of wood in Rose's hand. He stared at it and noticed writing on the bottom. Was that a drawn heart? Without warning Kakashi plucked the item out of Rose's hands and only had a few moments with it before Rose's snatched it back.

"Excuse you." She snapped.

Kakashi had enough time to read the written words on the bottom.

-to Rosie im sorry -Yuuto

Yuuto. Yuuto.. Yuuto…

Yuuto!?

Kakashi's glare was suddenly a thousand times more intense and he went to grab the wooden gift in hopes of burning it up, but Rose shoved it into her bag and moved away from the copy nin. "Yuuto? Isn't that the idiot who-"Kakashi cut himself off, aware of the prying eyes and ears of his teammates, Teuchi, and Ayame. But Sakura caught the name and she ogled Rose's bag where she hid the gift."Sorry? And you forgave him? After what he did? You-"

"I never told him I forgave him. I accepted the gift, is all."

"Accepting it is like accepting his forgiveness. You shouldn't have done that."

"Then let him believe that. I don't care."

"That's a stupid thing to do. I can't believe that idiot is here-"

"Don't judge my decisions. I do what I want."

Rose received her order, she paid Ayame but hadn't bothered to stick around for the change and stormed off. But not without telling Kakashi he was an idiot.

Team 7 gawked at the whole exchange.

love yourself, unconditionally

love others the same way

Happy Birthday Naruto ❤ 10/10

"I never go back on my word, that's my ninja way."