"Kakashi." I poke his cheek as he continues to sleep in his bed. At this rate, he's going to be late for work. "Kakashi!" I poke his cheek again. I knew this was going to happen. 

Training all night was a bad idea. With our sort of training, it almost destroyed the training grounds. We didn't get home until 2 in the morning. Kakashi has to go to the office soon. So, only one way to wake him up. I lean down to his ear and whisper, 

"At the end of chapter 43, the main characters sleeps with-" 

"I'm up!" Kakashi bolts out of bed and covers his ears. "You need to come up with a better way for waking me up. You know I'm not done with the book yet." 

"It was that or do something I'll regret. Get dressed. You're going to be late for work." I get off his bed, already dressed, and head into the kitchen. 

Kakashi is quick to get out of bed and get dressed. He was well groomed. But, he didn't have time for breakfast. "Well, I'm off. I'll grab something on the way to the Tower. Will you be all right? You know you can always come with me to the office. Nobody is telling you to stay home all day." Kakashi says while putting on the Hokage cloak. 

"I'll stop by later on today." 

"Okay. See you later, Akina." 

"You too, Kakashi." I nod my head and Kakashi leaves the apartment. After a few minutes, I grabbed Obito's orange mask and head to the KIA Stone. 

When I got there, I set the mask on the stone and placed my sword down beside me. I read Obito's name on the stone and frown. 

"Hi, Obito... It's Akina... Wherever you are, I hope you're doing well... I wish I could have brought something else to talk to you with. But all I have is your mask." I hold up his mask and sadly smile as I put it down. "I repaired it for you after the war... I'm doing fine by the way... I'm training with Ritsu and Kakashi is the Hokage. And, I'm finally human. Permanently this time because of the medicine that Itachi made... But I have a lot of catching up to do. I have to do my jutsu's with hand signs now, my speed hasn't changed..." 

The more I talk, the more I could feel myself breaking down. I clenched my fist tightly on my knees as unwanted tears begin to form in my eyes. Soon, they fell onto my knuckles. 

"It hurts, Obito... It hurts that you're not here... I miss you...! I want you back!... I wanted us both to start over... I want to hold your hand again just like before...! I miss being beside you when it was just the two of us fighting this world together... Please... Obito...! Come back to me!" 

I cry as I hold clench my chest tightly. My tears were pouring down my cheeks like a waterfall. My cries seemed endless when it came to emotional things such as this. But, I could never forget about Obito. 

I couldn't spend as much time as I wanted at the KIA Stone today because I told Kakashi I would come by his office. "Hey." I look ahead of me and see Ritsu. "Morning." He waves. 

"Morning, Ritsu." I walk over to him, and him and I start to walk down the street together. "Shouldn't you be at the office helping Kakashi?" 

"I am. But, I wanted to check on you first." 

"Acting more and more like a sibling." I mutter. 

"Yeah, yeah. So, where are you headed off to? I thought you would still be asleep or near the stone again." 

"I'm heading to the Hokage Tower to check with Kakashi. And it's almost the afternoon. I had to get Kakashi up or else he was going to be late." 

"That sounds just like him." Ritsu sighs. "Listen, after I'm done with work, I need to train you again. It's been a week since our last session." 

"I know. What are we going to be working on this time?" 

"Your Dark Styles. We need to make a list of which techniques you know, then I will teach you the hand signs. And, it's about time we get you using your sword more often. I've seen you use it a few times and most of the time it's around your waist." 

"So, we'll also be dueling today?" 

"That's right." 

"Fine." When we make it into the tower, Ritsu and I walked upstairs to the office, there, we ran into Sakura. "Sakura?" I blink. I haven't seen her in a year. What is she doing here? 

"Akina?" She blinks when sees me. Right on the spot, Ritsu is glaring at her as he took a step in front of me and to the side in a protective manner. "I've heard you finally became human last year after the war. Congratulations." 

"Thank you." I nod my head. She's forcing herself. I can tell as she's biting her lower lip. "Are you still-" 

"I am." She glares, then frowns. "I don't have my headband still, and Lady Tsunade says I'm not qualified to be a Shinobi yet. I was just leaving. I was here to see what I can do to earn my place back. But, my punishment is still going on." 

"Sakura-" 

"Forget it." Sakura frowns again and walks pass Ritsu and I. 

"Don't listen to her. She's just holding a grudge." Ritsu scoffs and enters into the office. 

"There are you, Ritsu." Kakashi says and he looks at me. "Akina! I thought you said you were coming by later. I didn't expect to see you early."

"It's almost the afternoon, Kakashi. You're out of it." I sweat-drop. He's not much a morning person, I know. 

"Did Ritsu bring you?" 

"I ran into him on the way here. When he's done helping you, him and I are going to train a bit more." 

"I won't keep her too long." Ritsu adds. 

"It's not like you two are dating or anything." Kakashi mutters as he sweat-drops. "But, all right. Just don't overdo it."

"I won't. I'm the only one who knows her limits." 

"That's enough, Ritsu." I look back at Kakashi. "By the way, we saw Sakura on her way here. Did she mention to you about getting her position back?" 

"She did." Kakashi nods his head and leans forward on his desk. "And I've decided that she is not yet qualified to be a shinobi or be back on the team. While I was talking to her, she sounded like she still holds a grudge against you because of what you did in the past. I told her that it was best to let go because you have changed a lot, Akina. But, she hasn't accepted that yet." 

"I figured as much..." I frown a bit. 

"You're not the one at fault, Akina. It's Sakura's. If she can't overcome the past and move forward, then she has no right to be on squad 7 or a shinobi if she's going to harass you about it." 

"Don't you think that's a bit harsh? It's been a year." 

"And she hasn't gotten over the events that happened between you and her. You shouldn't feel sorry for her mistakes, Akina." 

"I'm not." I shake my head. Even though Sakura seems upset, I can tell that she still holds a grudge. I don't think she's ever going to let this go. 

After catching a glimpse of what work Kakashi does during the day, I leave the Hokage Tower and head straight to the training grounds to do some training of my own. 

Training is a lot different than it use to be. It takes up so much time and I'm learning everything by the book and basics. I wonder how everyone else dealt with this sort of training. 

"Blade Wind!" I draw my sword and the wind of it slices down a few trees. But, to me, it wasn't powerful enough. I have to make it stronger. I can keep this up until Ritsu comes and get me. He has a few hours left. "One more time." I tell myself. 

I draw my sword again and channel my chakra into the blade. Just like what Ritsu taught me... Steady my breathing and concentrate. 

I inhale deeply and perform it again. "Blade Wind!" I draw my sword and the wind cuts off down 4 trees this time, than usually 2. "Getting better!" I blink in surprise. I didn't know it would become that stronger. 

"Wind Strike!" I hear Ritsu's voice and feel a heavy wind brush pass me. I quickly turn around and shout back, 

"Wind Clash!" I use my sword to clash with the wind from hitting me. 

"Nice encounter." Ritsu hops down from a tree and walks over to me. 

"You're already done with helping Kakashi?" 

"I'm on break. Thought I'd spend it training you. You're practicing your wind strokes. They're getting better." 

"I left an hour ago." How can he be on break now? "You need to stop spying on me." I sulk. "Don't you have anything better to do than to spy on me?" 

"Training you." 

"That's not the answer I was looking for." 

"Let's pick up where we left off from last time. I only have 15 minutes before I have to go back to Kakashi." 

"You make it sound like you're working over time, but fine." Ritsu trained me with a new technique. Dark Style: Shadow Wave. You throw up black water, but the water is sticky and it traps anybody who touches it. It takes up a lot of chakra. It almost reminds me of the Water Shark Bomb Jutsu. 

"The water reaches out a few kilometers. It's your job to make it last long enough to reach your opponent when they're trying to get away." Ritsu instructs. 

"So there's a limit to this?" I question. 

"Yes. The more chakra you build up, the longer the jutsu lasts. Now, focus. Focus the dark energy into one center of your body like chakra. Once you have it focused, that's when you perform the jutsu. Follow my hand movements." 

I copy the hand movements that Ritsu shows me and I concentrate the energy to my lungs to inhale deeply so that I am able to throw up a large amount of the Shadow Wave. "Dark Style:" I inhale, "Shadow Wave!" 

Ritsu moves out of the way and waves the black sticky water stretch throughout the forest. "The water is too shallow. It needs to be up to at least 15ft." 

"15 ft?" 

"You want to capture your opponent, don't you?" 

"Right." 

"Release the jutsu by clapping your hands together. It cancels out the flow of the chakra and jutsu. Almost like a genjutsu." 

"Right." I nod and clap my hands together, following his instructions. "Release!" The water sinks into the ground after I release the jutsu. 

"Focus more on the hand signs. That way, you don't have to look at your hands when you're performing." 

"All of this is still new to me." 

"You'll catch up." Ritsu places a hand on my head, like he always does, and ruffles my hair. "Do it again." 

"Right." After 15 minutes, Ritsu left and went back to the Hokage Tower. He was going to be back to train me again when finished his work. 

I took breaks when I was almost out of chakra. Sometime in the evening, I left the training grounds and went back to the village. 

As the day went by, Ritsu and I trained again up in the mountains until he was night time. He walked me home again and told me goodnight. Kakashi had already arrived home before I did and he was asleep on the couch with a cup of ramen on the coffee table. He was waiting for me. 

I smile at him and place a blanket over his sleeping figure and take the cup of ramen into my room. I get dressed in my sleeveless nightgown and take the tie off my hair, letting my hair fall down to my ankles. 

I placed Obito's orange mask back on the wall with the white one. Before I knew it, I found myself frowning... Every time I look at those masks, I think of Obito... "I'm not going to be sleeping tonight..." I tell myself and walk over to my closet. 

The Akatsuki cloak that Obito would draped around me many times on restless nights hung in my closet. I grab it and walk over to the body size mirror that hung next to the balcony window. 

I drape the cloak over my shoulders and stare at myself in the mirror. I can almost see him. Obito standing right behind me. With his belongings, I feel like he's still here with me... I always feel like he's right beside me, smiling at me with his hands on my shoulders... 

I cross my hands to my chest and sadly smile as I begin to tear up with my eyes closed. "Goodnight... Obito..." 

I wish there was more I could learn about you. 

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Quick question for those who are reading the fanfic, because this is a boruto fanfic, (somewhat) should the characters stay the same? As in Boruto and Himawari being the children of Naruto and Akina? Mitsuki, Sarada, etc. Pls give me your thoughts before the next few upcoming chapters. And yes, there will be a time skip eventrually.