"Momo!"
Naoko woke suddenly, her body on full alert, startling the ginger cat that had been dozing by her head. With a quick scan around her room, she quickly concluded that she had drifted off to sleep at her desk and that her cat, Momo, was in no danger from enemy ninja.
"It was just a dream," she said with a smile of relief, beckoning the wary cat into her arms. "Just a dream."

It was nearing lunch time and Naoko Toba, instead of making the most of her day off and relaxing, had started sorting through the mountain of paperwork that had accumulated on her desk. She hadn't made it very far before the weeks of late nights and early mornings finally caught up to her and the paperwork soon became her pillow. Seeing her owner sleeping so peacefully, Momo the cat had snuggled beside her head to take her own little nap, never anticipating the rude awakening she was shortly to receive. Now, she was safely in her owner's arms and all was well in the world, except Naoko still had piles of paperwork to get through before the next morning and she had barely made a dent. "Looks like it's gonna be another late night, Momo-chan," she sighed, releasing the cat so she could make herself some lunch (instant ramen, of course) and a cup of tea to help her make it through the rest of the day. It goes without saying that this cup soon turned into five before evening rolled around and it was time to eat again (another course of instant ramen). Momo watched as her owner powered through into the early hours of the morning, moving from that chair only for tea and toilet breaks, before eventually calling it a night and curling up on the bed next to Naoko's pillow. Naoko glanced over her shoulder at the sleeping ball of fluff and smiled, sighing at how peaceful her furry friend looked. "Just a little more and then I can join her," she said to herself, rising for another cup of tea.

"You have got to be kidding me." Naoko stood holding an empty container in her hand, almost ready to cry when she realised that she had no tea left. She threw the container aside and started frantically searching through her apartment, emptying cupboards and drawers as she went. There had to be some hidden away somewhere, right? It couldn't all be gone. It was never all gone.

"It's all gone." Naoko collapsed onto her chair after turning her apartment inside out. There was no tea left. She glanced at the clock. It was nearing 4 o'clock in the morning. Could she really be bothered to nip to the convenience store just for some tea?

A few seconds later and Naoko was out the door, tapping her shoes onto her feet as she went, purse in hand. It was never 'just some tea'. There was no way she was making it through the rest of the night, or getting up in the morning for that matter, without knowing she had tea in her cupboard. So long as you have tea in your cupboard, nothing else matters. That was something her mother used to say when Naoko would ask her why the cupboards were always filled with teabags. 'Never underestimate the power of a cup of tea, Naoko.'
'Indeed,' Naoko thought. "If it can drag me out to the shops at this ungodly hour then it must be powerful stuff."

It wasn't long before Naoko was squinting from the bright lights of the convenience store and making a bee line for the tea. Unfortunately, due to the bright lights and Naoko's tunnel vision, she didn't see the person walk out in front of her before it was too late and she was thrown backwards from the impact. But before she could hit the floor she was pulled back to her feet, a strong hand holding onto her arm.
"Are you alright?" A voice asked.
Naoko looked up into the face of the person she had collided with, a little embarrassed that she hadn't seen him. "I am so sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going."
"Don't worry about it," the man replied. "No one was hurt. I am going to need to buy some more milk, though."
Naoko looked down and realised that the two of them were now standing in a white puddle, the small carton having split on impact with the floor. This stranger had dropped it to save her from falling to the ground. She felt touched, but also incredibly guilty. "I am so sorry. I'll go buy you another one."
He laughed. "Don't worry about it. It's only a carton of milk and you look like you're in a hurry anyway so…"
Naoko was in a hurry, but that didn't stop her feeling embarrassed. It was clear from this man's attire that he was a ninja, a protector of the village who risked his life on a daily basis. He was probably picking up some milk after returning home from a long, hard mission and here she was, after napping until noon, rushing to buy tea so she could finish her paperwork that should have been sorted days ago. Hardly urgent business, so as much as she would have liked to take him at his word and just buy her tea and go home, she couldn't. "It's no problem," she assured him. "I was going to that section anyway."

A few minutes later and Naoko was on her way home, a box of teabags in one hand and a carton of royal milk tea in the other. She hadn't wanted the royal milk tea, but since she had said she was going to the fridge section (a lie) she felt compelled to buy something anyway. But all was well; the ninja man had his milk and she had her tea. Now all that was left was that blasted paperwork.

"Naoko… Naoko…"
Naoko opened her eyes at the sound of her name to see kind blue eyes looking back at her, the wrinkles deepened from the smile on the old woman's face.
"Mrs Tanaka. I'm terribly sorry. Was I drifting off again?"
Mrs Tanaka was one of her regular customers. She always arrived, without fail, at 10 o'clock every Monday morning to buy a small slice of lemon cheesecake. Naoko always took her arrival as a sign that this was going to be a good week, even if it didn't always turn out that way.
"You were up all night again, weren't you?" She asked, already knowing the answer. Naoko had finally finished her paperwork at 6 o'clock that morning. "You should really get more sleep, Naoko. You look exhausted."
"I'll be sure to get a good night's sleep tonight, Mrs Tanaka. Please come again soon." This was a lie, of course. Naoko never got a good night's sleep. She was always up late either finishing paperwork off or preparing her cakes for the next day. But she never complained; this shop was her life and she didn't know what she'd do without it.
After Mrs Tanaka was off on her way, there was no one else in the store so Naoko took this opportunity to rest her eyes for a minute or two, just to take away some of the tired she was feeling.
"You do look exhausted. Perhaps you should be sleeping instead of buying tea at 4 o'clock in the morning."
Naoko recognised that voice. She opened her eyes to see the man from the convenience store standing in front of her, hands in pockets. "Milk man!" Where had he come from? Naoko could have sworn the shop was empty.
He laughed. "I suppose that makes you tea woman, then."
Naoko felt her cheeks grow hot, once again feeling embarrassed under the eye of this man; 'tea woman' probably fit her more than he realised. "Sorry," Naoko quickly apologised. Most people probably wouldn't take it too kindly if someone they had only met once suddenly started calling them 'milk man'. "Sometimes I just blurt things out before I think." Naoko suddenly felt nervous. She could feel her stomach fluttering and mountains of words bubbling towards the surface. This man didn't need to know her life story and he probably wouldn't care that she rambled when she was nervous, but he was about to find all this out within the next few seconds if he didn't quickly reply.
"No need to apologise. But for future reference, my name is Kakashi. Kakashi Hatake." Kakashi finished with a smile visible only from his right eye; his face was covered by a mask and his headband was lowered to cover his left eye. Definitely a man of mystery (something which always received a huge tick in Naoko's book), but not mysterious enough to enter her shop without purchasing one of her cakes. Putting her butterflies aside, she would just treat him like any other customer. After all, that's what he was, right? "So what can I get for you, Kakashi Hatake?" Naoko realised that she probably should have told him her name first, but she feared the word vomit that would follow so she stuck to the routine response to a customer's arrival. That was always a safe thing to do. Thankfully, he didn't push her for her name and played the perfect customer. "I'd like a slice of castella, please."

Naoko was completely aware of Kakashi's presence as he stood there watching her prepare his order. She could feel his eyes on her as she boxed up the cake, and he never looked away when she met his gaze to hand over his purchase. The whole exchange seemed to last hours, and Naoko was beginning to think it would never end.
"Thank you. Please come again soon." She smiled as he took his cake and finally left the shop. Once he was gone Naoko collapsed onto the chair she kept behind the counter, that one exchange seeming to have taken all of what little energy she had left. 'But what a coincidence,' she thought, him walking into her shop so soon after their encounter at the convenience store. It wasn't long before Naoko found herself wondering if she would ever meet this mysterious milk man again. A man who hid his face from the world. "Kakashi Hatake."