Stupid Mooching Kittens

Don't Say Goodbye

The morning after, everyone had noticed a shift in Kakashi and Kim's relationship. After the two had returned from the beach they had been inseparable, even making Hana switch rooms with Kakashi so that she ended up with Itachi. It was a strange thing to see a more playful side of the white haired man. They could all see the way Kim glowed when he was around, and they could see her falling even further for the man.

After New Year's they stayed for a couple more days, revisiting the spa, water park, and the beach before leaving bright and early, Saturday morning at eight. They arrived back at the loft about ten minutes to midnight the next day. Everyone went straight to bed once they had managed to drag themselves from the van and up to their respective rooms. In the early morning, Ren had unloaded the forgotten bags from the back of the van and hauled them into the closed lobby before heading off to drop of the van at the rental place. Once the others were awake and fed, they resumed their daily schedules of work or school.

Kakashi stayed true to his word, and when he woke up the first morning back at the loft, he got straight to work on creating the jutsu that would take them all back to where they belonged. He never had any free time anymore, since he spent all of his time working on creating the jutsu. While he was working with the others, they figured that his Kamui was going to play a big part in their travel back to the Elemental Nations. Since it was a space-time Ninjutsu and could teleport things and people to a sub-dimension, all they really had to do was figure out a way to alter it to the point where it would be able to take them back home. Kakashi had also spent time with Itachi trying to strengthen his Kamui to the point where he could transport them all safely.

***

"You're not going to make this easy for me, are you," Kim asked in reference to the promise she made him just a few seconds before the start of the new year. She rolled over on her bed and laid on her stomach, watching Kakashi work at her desk. Every time she was around him, her heart would beat faster, her body began to feel warm, and she just couldn't stop smiling.

"Make what easy," he questioned confused, biting his pen as he read over his jutsu formulas. He had not been paying any attention to her at all. The ebony haired female sighed in frustration, and the white haired man crumbled up the piece of paper then continued to work out a formula on a new sheet. He had been doing that ever since they had returned to the loft.

"Kakashi," Kim tried, yet again, to get the man's attention. One thing she had noticed since they'd gotten back, was that Kakashi seemed to be distancing himself from her. When she asked him to train with her he always declined claiming that he needed to work on the jutsu or train with Itachi. She had asked him again if they could ever be together, and he gave her the same answer he had given her that night on the beach, only that time he said he had his reasons. She vowed that she would figure out his reasons and prove him wrong, although it was kind of hard to do that because whenever she tried to talk to him he was always busy and would ignore her until she went away. She briefly entertained the idea of striping naked, but thought otherwise.

Two months went by in the same fashion; Kakashi ignoring her to work on his jutsu and training. The man would spend all of his time working on the jutsu, and he even cleared up his schedule by sending a shadow clone into work for him. The others were beginning to become worried about him. He would skip out on meals and stay up all hours of the night. Everyone had forced him to take breaks every now and then, and on Ren and Konan's birthdays in January and February.

It was the beginning of March, when he had finally completed the jutsu. He had worked out all the hand seals that they would need to perform. It would be a collaboration jutsu with his Kamui. With the jutsu complete, he couldn't help but feel a little downhearted that they would be leaving the place that they had learned to call home along with the three people that had become a part of their lives, but... they needed to get back to their home dimension. As shinobi they had a duty to serve and protect their villages, and they couldn't do that while stuck in a different dimension; even if it meant leaving the people they had met behind no matter how attached they had become. There was also the matter of the three remaining Akatsuki members that were still running amok.