I climb the stairs to my small studio apartment. I'm up on the fifth and top-most floor, an unfortunate trek on tired days. Tonight, they seem especially long. Every step makes it feel like gravity is working against me somehow.

When I finally reach my door, I fumble the key into the lock and it releases with a satisfying click.

As I step inside my familiar space, I'm reminded why I chose the fifth floor upon seeing the gorgeous sunset over the village of Konoha through the balcony window. Beautiful oranges, reds, and pinks merge into blues, purples, and black as the sun passes slowly over the horizon.

Sunsets are bittersweet. They're captivatingly beautiful but end in darkness. They draw you in with their enticing comfort, only to slip away in a fraction of a second. The last eleven years of my life was a sunset, yes. Comfortable, perfect, and beautiful. But all good things must come to an end.

I run fingers through my long, brown hair and ruffle the knots out as I toss my bag on the ground and slide my shoes off. The single room apartment is just as I left it this morning: a dirty frying pan still on the stove, a cracking layer of egg in it waiting to be scraped off; the blankets on my bed tossed aside in a hurry; my half-drank cup of coffee still sitting on the kitchen table; the shower door inside the small bathroom open a crack with a used towel hung over the top; my assortment of ninja tools scattered on the coffee table by the couch.

I don't mind the mess. It's a sign of a comfortable, loved space. I've lived here since I moved out of Uncle Hiruzen's place at 18. I'd completed just enough missions to save money to purchase this small apartment. It broke my bank, considering I chose to buy it outright instead of putting a down-payment and paying monthly mortgage fees. I ate nothing but cup ramen and odd cheap snacks for six whole months until I swore I would never eat ramen again. I do, however, find myself at Ichiraku's on the rare occasion nowadays. I just can't resist.

I'm doing better for myself now, having made good money as an ANBU with no major expenses for over ten years. Some day, I hope to use that money to buy a cottage in the hills—once I have my life together, of course. I'm not ready to settle down just yet.

And, with this whole unexpected career change thing, a cottage in the hills is the least of my worries.

I almost yelp when I look at the clock. It's already 8:52 PM and I haven't even changed out of my ANBU uniform yet. I'm supposed to meet everyone at 9:00. Damn it, Ayame! Always losing track of time.

Luckily, I go into speed-mode and manage to change into a short skirt and haltered crop-top and do my hair and makeup in just eight minutes. As I run towards the door with only my small purse hanging at my side, I realize I completely forgot to eat dinner. There's no time, I tell myself. I'll order some food at the pub.

I quickly make sure I have my house key, some cash, and my chakra blades (I don't go anywhere without them) in my purse before shutting the lights off and locking the door behind me.

And then I run.

I'm in good shape—it's sort of expected that ANBU work out and stay in shape—so the run is easy. I don't even break a sweat. I'm checking my watch as I get to the pub and mentally cheering when I step in the doors at 9:01 exactly. That's only one minute late, an accomplishment for me.

Tenzo and the others are already here, minus Kakashi, and they wave me over to their large booth. I slide in next to Tenzo and across from Yugao, the two people I talk to most on Team Ro. Everyone around the table offers me warm smiles and I return them.

This, right here, is my family. I'm going to miss them all so much. There's that sadness pushing in my chest again.

"Couldn't manage to convince Cold-Kashi, huh?" I whisper to Tenzo. That's my nickname for Kakashi when he's not around. Tenzo doesn't like it when I call him that but he doesn't fight me on it tonight.

"No, he should be there..." Tenzo says, looking at his watch. "Maybe he's just running late."

"Later than me? Pfft, impossible," I puff, smirking. Tenzo raises an eyebrow and I laugh, shoving him playfully in the shoulder.

A pretty lady comes by and takes our drink orders. Before I can make my order, Tenzo mutters to me, "It's on me tonight, get whatever you want," and in a panic, I forget to order food. I would have paid for the food with my own money, but with the lady staring at me and Tenzo telling me to go ahead and order my drink of choice, I just forget. So I order a Bacardi and Cola mixer.

As if he'd planned it, Kakashi shows up right after the lady disappears with our orders.

"You're late, Kakashi. She already took our first round of drink orders," Tenzo lectures but with a joking undertone.

"Gomen, gomen," Kakashi says with a closed eye smile as he opens his palms in defense, "I had to help an elderly woman retrieve her cat from a tree..."

Everyone nods, murmuring things like 'Yeah, yeah' and 'whatever'. I narrow my eyes at the cold-hearted captain who, strangely enough, doesn't seem so cold-hearted tonight. His white hair falls over his face and he's in an eternal wink-like state with his left, scarred eye held closed. He's changed into a basic black shinobi undershirt that connects with his mask and has black cargo-style sweats.

Boy, nice choice of colour, I think.

Yugao shifts into the bench more, her long, purple hair glistening while she slides to make room for the captain. He smiles kindly and sits down.

The evening goes fast and before I know it, I've already downed three drinks. Conversation flows easily between us all and Kakashi sits back in a relaxed state, listening to the conversation.

"Drinks are on Tenzo tonight, Kakashi-Senpai," Yugao offers, finishing off her second drink. "You should order something."

Kakashi nods and says thank you but claims he's not in a drinking mood.

"You just don't wanna take that mask of yours off," someone claims across the table. People nod in agreement and burst out in giddy laughter, calling out their guesses for what he hides under his mask. Kakashi smirks beneath his mask and shakes his head in defense again. Even I laugh at this—though, the three drinks I've had might have been playing a factor.

After some more jokes and conversation, someone slaps their hand down on the table. We all jump in our seats and watch him intently, his eyes beaming wide and a large smile playing on his face.

"Let's take shots! You can do that, Kaka-Senpai! Just turn around and take the shot. Nobody'll ever see your face!"

He wrinkles his eyebrows together and shakes his head, mutterings excuses. Tenzo calls the waiter over and orders a round of shots.

"Come on, Kaka-Senpai! Don't be such a party pooper," people shout, pointing at him accusingly.

"Yeah, come on man! Lighten up!"

"This is your night, your goodbye celebration after ten years in the ANBU!"

Yugao pipes up, "And Ayame too, it's her goodbye party too!"

I smile kindly at Yugao who refuses to let me be forgotten. The shots come and Yugao stands, holding hers up.

"I'd like to propose a toast!" she shouts, and people hush.

"Can you even toast with a shot?" I remark satirically.

"Poo, whatever," Yugao pouts at me, raising her shot back up. "To our captain, Kakashi, for many years of great leadership, and to Ayame for her determination and lightening spirit!" I smile at her across the table as I hold my shot in hand.

However, behind the smile, even after three drinks of Bacardi and Cola, I feel a pang of sadness wash over me.

"To Kakashi and Ayame!" everyone echoes her, some attempting to mumble out her whole toast in repeat but failing miserably. They all laugh and exchange smiles as we clang the shot glasses together and down them.

I don't smile anymore as thoughts about the perfect past I am losing the unwanted future I'm being thrown into pound in my head like a horrible headache.

The tequila burns so good in my throat that I grab another two off a tray as a server walks by.

"To the end of something beautiful," I toast to myself because everyone else seems too caught up in their laughter and inside jokes to notice me downing two more shots sequentially.

Or so I thought. Across the table, through dizzying visions that are beginning to turn blurry, Kakashi catches my eye. At least I think he does. It's only for a brief moment before he quickly looks away and pretends he wasn't just staring at me. Maybe I imagined it, I don't really know at this point. I can't focus on someone long enough to notice if they're looking at me or at Tenzo beside me.

Someone shows up and taps Tenzo on the shoulder. I stand up so he can get out and have to hold onto the table to keep my balance. The room spins all around and my legs feel like spaghetti. I slump back down once Tenzo is gone and catch the white-haired ninja's glimpse again. This time, I'm sure I'm not imagining it. He doesn't look away when I look back at him.

"Do you heal the bottle?"  he asks over the chimes of laughter around us.

I narrow my eyes, shaking my head and trying to see him clearly, "What?" I murmur, unable to make sense of his words.

"I said do you need some water?" he repeats, getting out of his seat and sliding in beside me. His eyes fill with concern.

My head starts pounding to match my dizzy vision and I grab my head, clutching my hair between my fingers and resting my forehead in my palms.

When I look up again, Kakashi is pushing a bottle of water in front of me and after I fumble unsuccessfully with the cap for a few moments, he opens the bottle for me.

I take it gratefully and gulp back the water, spilling it all over myself in the process.

"I tthihink I ni-need tow-to goo home," I mutter, squeezing my eyes closed tight and opening them repeatedly to try and clear up my vision. No success. The room is spinning rapidly and my head thumps heavily with a sore ache. "Tenaazzho saiid he will to- takke me."

"What?" Kakashi leans in, trying to hear my muddled words over the noise. "Tenzo was supposed to take you?" I nod before throwing my head into my hands again. "Tenzo left a few minutes ago, he was summoned for some emergency." I lift my head slowly, jaw hanging open and feel confused and lost. For a brief moment, I forget where I am and what I'm doing until I spot the bar on the other side of the room.

My head thrums again and I put my hands on my temples. Feeling the water bottle on my lips again, I sheepishly drink more water and Kakashi makes sure I empty the whole bottle.

"Let's get you home, okay?" Kakashi says, putting a hand on my back and another out for me to grab and balance on. My head feels heavy and I can't even think, let alone walk in a straight line, so I take his hand willingly. He addresses Yugao who has stood and come to our side. She looks a little unsteady herself, using the table to balance.

"Leaving already? Awww," she makes a dramatic pouty face and flings herself around me which causes me to lose my balance, weak spaghetti legs collapsing below me. Strong arms catch me, one hand under my knees and the other supporting the small of my back.

"I'll make sure she gets home. Tenzo was supposed to take her but he had to leave," he says to the giddy, pink-faced Yugao as she shuffles back to her seat.

"Okay, Kaka-Senpai! Be good to her," she giggles, winking. I'm too zoned to react to it and push to my feet again.

"Yeah, yeah," Kakashi answers, a tinge of annoyance in his voice. He leads me out of the pub, offering his arm.

He keeps one hand flat on my back and the other I cling to for balance. The night air is cool and refreshing on my burning skin and I take in the fresh air greedily. It subdues my pounding headache and after just a couple minutes, I'm already seeing better. I still don't trust my balance so I keep clinging to his arm.

"Thanks," I mutter, my hot breath clouding the cold, night air.

"Yeah," he says quietly, pulling his jacket off and wrapping it around my shoulders. "No problem."

My legs still tingle and feel like jelly but I'm not stumbling anymore and I can see straight again. My brain is still slow to think though and my words come out slow and muddled.

"I live up there," I say, pointing with my free arm to the top apartment of the five-story building. Kakashi gapes at the many flights of stairs and echoes my words back to me in shock.

"All the way up there?"

I nod and let go of his arm, grabbing the railing of the stair as soon as I let go to give me something else to hold on to, "I can take it from here," I say as I pull my heavy leg up onto the first step. With a grunt, I force myself up and almost tumble back when my legs threaten to give out but I manage to grab onto the railing before I fall.

"Here," Kakashi grunts and sweeps me off my feet, literally. He picks me up bridal style and starts climbing the stairs.

He keeps his eyes straight ahead as he climbs with me in his arms. I just stare at him in a gaze of confusion. The words come out without any preliminary screening as if I'm hearing them for the first time when they escape my own lips, "You know, I always thought you were just this cold-hearted, miserable guy." He glances down at me with his single, opened eye. It's grey in color but seems softer tonight. The word vomit comes out again, "I always resented you because of the way you never smiled and killed mercilessly, but you're actually not all that bad. I don't know how it took me ten years to figure that out."

We reach the top floor and he sets me on my feet by my door, "This is you?"

"Yep," I reply, digging through my purse for the key. I feel the cool, jutting metal on my fingertips and fish it out. It takes a bit longer to fumble it into the lock than usual but I manage. Kakashi keeps a hand on the small of my back as I step inside and I keep hold of his arm as he leads me to my bed.

I go to flop down on my bed but in my drunken stupidity, I forget to let go of Kakashi's arm first. As I fall onto my bed, he tumbled too and lands directly on top of me. Our faces are inches apart, his eyes staring widely into mine and I do something without understanding why.

I press my lips against his, not even bothering with the mask. At first, he flinches and for a moment I wonder why I am doing this—less than three hours ago, I bad talked him and his cold-heart and impressive lateness to Tenzo—but something stirs inside of me when my lips are against his.

I close my eyes and allow myself to ride this feeling without questioning it. In just a moment, his hand is tenderly on my cheek and mine are in his hair. All the pain I felt, all the heartache about leaving the ANBU, is gone in this tender, vulnerable moment.

In a split second, he pulls back and our hot breath shares airspace. Both of his eyes are open, but his sharingan doesn't fill me with fear. His eyes are observant and soft, scanning my whole face and stopping again on my lips. His free hand pulls his mask down but our lips are dancing before I can see.

A few minutes of this feels too short after he pulls away, sliding his mask up—again, before I can see his face. Damn ninja.

I can't believe what I just did, but even harder for me to believe is that I actually enjoyed it. I push myself onto my elbows and look up at him, eyes wide, mind still struggling to understand why. He stands awkwardly for a moment, hands in his pockets like he doesn't know how to stand.

Finally, the silence breaks and he asks, "Uh—is there anything else you need?"

I feel my face redden deeper than it already is and shake my head wildly, "N-no, thanks. I'm okay, I think I'm just gonna sleep now..."

He nods before turning and walking to the door. It creaks open but he stands in the doorway looking out for a moment, as if considering something. He shakes his head and looks back at me, "Well, goodnight. I'll see you at the Jonin meeting tomorrow."

I nod hastily, "Goodnight, Kakashi."

After the door closes behind him, I slump into my mattress and stare wide-eyed at the cieling.

Oh god, what have I done?

* * *

Ba-dum! That's it for chapter two! I hope you liked it! Consider *shmacking* that star if you enjoyed and leave me a juicy ol' comment!

I don't even know what I'm saying anymore. I think my mind is mush right now too.

☆〜（ゝ。∂）

Goodnight. Or good day. Or goodbye.

Hah! See ya in the next one.

~R

ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=ε=┌(;￣◇￣)┘