Kana gritted her teeth and stared hard at the floor. As noble as she made her current job to be, she was very aware of the reason why she was asked to leave the ANBU in the first place. Even though she was highly skilled and very wanted in every squad, the last mistake she made had been incredibly fatal and severe – she had been captured by the enemy and the information regarding the sealed scroll of Konoha had been extracted from her mind. Furthermore, when she clearly could have prevented it, she let one of her teammates take a devastating hit which claimed his right arm.

Of course, there had been reasons why those events even transpired.

Akashi bent down and gently put his hand on Kana's left knee. Glancing upwards, he asked, "Does it still hurt?" Kana shook her head. "Not now, but when I do get my episodes the pain is out of this world." Akashi stood up so that he would be level with Kana. "And here?" He questioned as he pointed to her heart.

Kana closed her eyes and forced a smile, "Always." Akashi's eyes softened at the answer and placed his hand on her head. "You'll be okay." There was a pause as Kana's doubtful eyes met Akashi's. He put his hand down by his side and shrugged, indicating that he was taking off.

"Akashi."

Kana looked on as Akashi's retreating figure stopped, waiting for him to answer what she had been waiting to know.

"Those who know about the matter are still livid and they can't wait to use you as a kunai training board for practice." Akashi chuckled and began to turn his head to Kana. "But, I don't hate you. You know I've already forgiven you." Smiling, he raised his left hand, his only hand, to say goodbye and he took off to the roofs.

Kakashi glanced at the clock as he left the Hokage's room. The mission had gone well and he was given a day off to rest. Having been gone for a couple of nights he had started to miss home which was strange – he never really cared about where he stayed. Despite not interacting much with Kana due to their clashing schedules, her presence was still oddly felt. Maybe it was the way the living room was always tidied when he got back or the cooking disaster they went through together nights before; something about her presence made it worth coming home for.

He still had a couple of hours before she was due to get off work, maybe they could fix something up or he could grab an okonomiyaki for her.

He wondered if this was what it was like to have a sibling in the house; he never got to experience having a housemate of sorts before. After all, he had lived on his own since he was six, and due to his spiteful personality - not that he was able to admit it back then - there weren't people queuing up to live with him. But it was nice, nice to know that there was someone at home to go to and just be in the presence of and rest.

He had no reason really when he asked her to come to live with him. At that time, it just felt like the right thing to do. It wasn't that he felt any particular sense of attachment to her per se – they had their fair share of working together during their ANBU days but that was it, there weren't any incidents that made him think of her in a special way. The only thing he recalled from those days was her major sense of ability to detect the incoming enemy from miles away. She was always an asset to whichever team she was placed in.

Kana's ability to sense the incoming enemy was impeccable. It always felt a bit like she was able to see the future just by sensing the movements of her enemy. Her prowess came from her capability of piecing a map in her head - the location of her enemies and her allies all in one and then predicting the course of action her enemy would take based on the map. Her quick sense of judgment and intellect were usually on point so when she called her teammates to move, they always did and she was always right.

For the life of him, Kakashi could never figure out why Kana left the ANBU. It must have been something traumatising otherwise someone of her caliber would not be transferred. This was also why it was amusing when he saw her getting lost in the streets the other day. For someone who could sense her enemies from miles away, it was daft that she couldn't remember where she was going.

Placing the okonomiyaki on the dining table, Kakashi headed to his room to get some shut-eye before Kana returned.

"You got me okonomiyaki."

"I got you okonomiyaki."

Kana stared at Kakashi and his disheveled hair from his nap. "I have enough money to support myself, Kakashi. You don't have to do that." She told him as she removed her shinobi vest and hung it on the rack.

"I know. It's just okonomiyaki, if you're not having it then I'm going to dig in." Kakashi shrugged and made his way to the kitchen. He tossed the okonomiyaki in the pan and heated it up so it won't be all soggy and cold.

"Are you kidding? It's okonomiyaki. I'm having some." She gave him a small smile and went to get the plates for dinner. Honestly, it had been such a trying day she couldn't think of a better way to end the day than to have some of her favorite food. She wasn't lying when she told Genma that she never had alcohol her whole life and though she didn't know what it tasted like, it sounded like a great idea at the moment given what she'd been through today.

"You're weird, Kakashi."

"Not as weird as someone who sleeps with eight pillows." He replied dryly. Kana's eyes widened and she chuckled, "Hey now, the only reason I do that is because it feels like a hug from the back..." Her face now red from revealing an embarrassing fact about herself.

It was an enjoyable dinner and it took her mind off whatever happened that day. It didn't change the fact that Mako sliced his wrists or that Akashi still had a missing limb but her chest felt just a little bit lighter. She liked Kakashi's dry humor and it was incredibly nice to be having dinner at home with an actual person, not just herself.

I could get used to this.

Sorry for disappearing again! I'll be hopefully posting more regularly now due to me being stuck at home and being unable to go to work. Hope you enjoyed it!