Two days later...

You were to meet Kakashi deep into the middle of the forest outside the village. From there he would lead you to his favorite place for chakra activation and pooling. The instructions stated to bring a change of clothes and avoid skirts or anything that can throw you off balance...or his. That had you wondering where exactly he was taking you and what you were doing.

Deep into the forest you find the clearing with hidden leaf markings carved into the trees. You pick out a nice fluffy patch of moss to sit down on and wait for your aloof sensei to arrive. You had brought another book with you just in case he decided to follow his annoying path of life again and show up four hours late. You open it to the first chapter but don't get farther than the last paragraph on the first page. A lovely scent breezes into the clearing and you know exactly who carries it.

"Good morning, Kakashi sensei." You say as you close your book.

"Good morning, Hana. Did you get any sleep last night?"

You spring to your feet to greet him and smile with pride.
"Not a wink."

His eyes soften at the beat in your step and he can't help but smile.
"Oh good, so you're ready."

"Yup! Full to the brim with caffeine! Let's do this!"
He chuckles.
"Alright, this way. We have another half hour before we get there. What's your tree scaling abilities like?"

You look up at the tall trunks and branches swaying in the breeze.
"Ahhh...I'm not sure. We don't have trees like this where I come from. Buildings...but not trees."

"Well then, this will be a good learning experience for chakra development."

Unsure of how this could relate to chakra development you reply skeptically.
"Oh yeah..."

"Hear me out."

Kakashi runs through the same exercise he used to practice with his previous students. A grounding technique by focusing chakra energy to the bottom of your feet and using it to climb trees or create more stability.

"Ok, give it a try."

You place your hands together in a prayer and focus on pulling energy from around you. It took quite some time to feel anything, but Kakashi waited patiently without any sarcastic remarks or criticism this time.

Finally after an hour you feel a small trickle of chakra energy pulling into your body. Then more...and even more until you felt as if you were vibrating in place.

"It feels weird!" You complain.

He laugh.
"Sometimes it does, if you're not used to it. Now, envision the energy pushing down to the bottoms of your feet."

Picturing it exactly, you feel the energy slowly working its way down your throat, chest, stomach, pelvis, legs and into your feet.

"Ready?" He asks.

You nod with determination.

He waves a hand for you to proceed up the tree to your right. You march forward meeting the trunk of the tree. You plant a foot on a flat area and to your surprise it doesn't slide off. The next step was just the same and the next and the next. You have lift off!

You are high above Kakashi looking upside down at him hanging from a thick tree limb.

"First try hey?"

And with a puff of smoke, the ninja disappears and reappears above you on the tree branch you are sticking to.

"Good job, Hana."

"Will you teach me that next?"

"What's that?"

"That puffy cloud thing where you appear in different places?"

"That is a terrible analogy. Your five year old brain is showing." He winks at you.

You laugh.
"Shut it! But can you teach me?"

"Well...it's a little above your education level right now. Maybe one day."

"Oh ok...We should get on it soon though, you're getting close to the four wheel walker and dentures age.."

His eyes grow as wide as quarters at that remark and he bursts out laughing.
"You know, Hana..." and he stops himself from finishing his sentence. "...never mind. You're doing great, keep that energy going."

You are filled with excitement and pride. Especially when getting praise from your sensei.

"Ready for some tree jumping?"

"Yes!" He holds out a hand to you and pulls you up onto the branch he is crouched down on.

"Hold that chakra ok? We are going fast."

You nod.

"Ready...set...go!"

You both take off into the forest leaping and tumbling from limb to limb. This was nothing like the parkour you used to do around the dusty buildings of your hometown. This is way better and far more challenging. No landing was perfect, there were no flat surfaces to stabilize on. What you noticed helped the most was not only the sticky chakra on your feet but moving quickly. The quicker you are the more stable your leaps become. The less buoyancy you make the better.

You were keeping up with Kakashi just fine and with your acrobatic skills you were easily maneuvering between smaller spaces or farther jumps.

"Almost there!" Kakashi calls back to you.

Finally you come to a clearing and Kakashi jumps down off the trees. You follow suit and land beside him looking out over the landscape. You drop your bag to the ground. Then something terrifying takes over you as your eyes run along its crest. Your eyes lay upon a colossal sized lake surrounded by wilderness. And strung up from the trees is a small rope that floats in the air from one side to the other.

You freeze completely.

"Alright we are here. And I've set up another exercise as you can see."

"Kakashi..I..." You begin and he interrupts you.

"If you can get from one side of the lake to the other without falling into the water, using your chakra of course, I will take you out for dinner tonight."

Both of those endeavors were shocking.

"Dinner?"

"That's right, there is a new restaurant that has just opened that I want to try. I thought maybe you'd like to have someone else cook for once. Give you a break."

He sure is being sweet today. Still a little salty in his sarcasm but his compliments were pouring from him today. You wonder what has gotten into him.

"Dinner sounds great but I'm not sure about this next exercise..." You reply.

"I have confidence that you will complete this exercise with no problems based on what I've just seen." He crosses his arms.

You start to shake as you picture yourself hovering over the lake.
"I..."

"Come on! Don't tell me you're afraid of heights." He says sarcastically.

"No I'm not. But..."

"Good! Now let's go. I'd like to get this done soon, I have a few things I need to do before dinner...I'd hate to be eating alone tonight.."

You can hear a small amount of impatience in his voice which is forcing you to proceed despite your fears.

"Draw your chakra." He says.

You do exactly as he says and begin to climb the tree. With each step your nerves start to take over. Occasionally you lose your footing but Kakashi pushes you on.

"Come on! You were far faster than this up in those trees."

Too scared to say any words you whimper and inch your way to the rope tied off on a tree branch. As you approach the branch it dips down and you cry out as quietly as possible in hopes he doesn't hear you.

"Hana, you got this. Keep going." He encourages.

You wince at each cautious step trying desperately to hold onto the chakra so you don't fall. By now you have made it onto the rope and a quarter of the way over the lake.

Just don't look down...just don't look down...maintain the chakra... you repeat in your head.

And stupidly you lower your eyes to the water as a breeze picks up swaying the rope with you on it. You shriek at the feeling and the look of the deep depth of water you could plunge into. Instinctively you l reach for the rope with your hands. However another gust of wind whips the rope and you miss the grab falling into the water.

Once you felt the cold prickling of liquid swarming over your skin absorbing you into its oxygenless pit you screamed. You know this feeling, you know there isn't anyone who can hear you scream right now. You thrash at the water trying to find your way back to the surface. But it is to no use. You sink lower and lower to the lake floor until you feel it at your feet. You thought the first time this had happened was going to be your last day on earth but someone had saved you.
You are drowning...will you be saved this time?

Minutes go by as you stare up at the glistening sunlight reflecting on the surface you are begging to return to. Slowly your vision blurs. Your lungs begin to fill and your body starts to choke. You close your eyes not able to watch this part then suddenly you are jerked from the lake bottom by strong arms.

Your eyes try to open to see if your sensei has come to your rescue but you are losing consciousness. You feel yourself break the surface and float towards shore. You feel the ground again, the dirt underneath your back and pressure on your chest.

Then suddenly his voice wakes you.
"Hana!"

Your eyes snap open and you turn to spew the water pooled in your lungs.

"Oh thank god." He says and scoops you up into his arms. He cradles your head against his bare chest and pats your back helping you cough out the rest of the water.

You groan loudly and cuddle around his warm body straddling his lap. You hang onto him tightly heaving for breath.

"Hana, I'm so sorry, I didn't know."

He cups the back of your head and rubs your back.
"It's ok." You croak.

"God you're shaking." He rubs your arms and back vigorously to gain friction in hopes to heat you up. But you aren't shaking from the cold. You are shaking for yet another near death experience. An experience you have already been through once before. You swore to stay away from any large bodies of water thereafter. You have never learned to swim, and deep in the desert where would you? You were too poor to travel as a child and the closest lake above your knees was hours away on foot. It just wasn't in your path to learn.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asks, pressing his cheek against your forehead.

"I...didn't want to disappoint you, sensei. Dinner sounds really nice."

He breathes out into the nape of your neck sending a small shiver down your spine.
"This won't happen again I promise."

Little does he know this isn't the first time...At that comment you could no longer hold in your emotions and you cried some solid tears into his shoulder. He held you closely, running his hands down your wet hair and rubbing your back for comfort. He would randomly curse himself out loud or apologize to you but you brushed it off and continued to tell him it wasn't his fault. Until finally you stopped shaking and your mind was able to cope with what just happened bringing you to a more calmer state.

You rise off him and look up into his eyes which are pain stricken and sad. You take his cheeks in both hands and press your forehead to his.

"It's ok."

He shakes his head.
"No it's not."

It was then you noticed he was still wearing his mask.

"How did you get your shirt off without taking that mask with it? Don't tell me you stopped saving me to put it back on!" You scold.

"Ahhh...I'm not sure how I did it. But here we are."

The both of you start to smile. You pull away from him still seated in his lap.
"Can we cut class a little short?"

"Of course." He removes you off his lap and you both stand brushing off the sand and dirt now stuck to your clothes.

"You should get changed. I brought you a towel." He picks up a bag you hadn't noticed, situated close to a tree and pulls two towels from it.

"Were you planning on going for a swim too?" You ask as you take the towel and wrap yourself in it.

"I thought maybe we could... after your exercise." He shyly scratches the back of his head. "But that didn't go as planned."

You can't help but smile as your heart flutters over how much effort he has put into your day. If you weren't student and teacher, the entire day would be similar to a date, minus the whole drowning part.

You laugh sweetly at him causing his cheeks to rose even more.

"I'll let you get changed. I'll be over here. Don't go throwing yourself in the water or anything. I'm not saving you again."

And you two are back to the banter in no time.
"Psshhh...because I did it on purpose and all..." You reply sarcastically.

When he got a fair distance away you unwrap yourself from his towel and shamelessly bundle it up then bring it to your nose. You breathe his scent in. The towel is saturated in that smell you are becoming addicted to. Why does he have to smell so good?

Once you have your fill of him you change into your spare clothes and start to feel normal again. Although still shaken up even standing beside the lake, your nerves aren't as bad as long as you stay away from the water's edge.

"Ready?" Kakashi hollers.

"Yeah, I'm ready."

And both you gather the rest of your things and leap into the trees heading home.

————————————-

On the way home you had asked Kakashi if he was still up for dinner at that new restaurant. He was hesitant at first considering what had happened but you gave him your best doe eyes and he caved right away. He told you it was a fancier restaurant so you should dress for the occasion. You questioned it as it was really starting to sound like a date. But he brushed it off as just a friendly gesture he partakes with his students. Apparently he used to do this a lot with his other teams.

Now you stand in front of your floor length mirror in your new home trying to figure out what to wear. Definitely something eye-catching. Who knows who will be there. You have set out three styles of clothes. One a shorter tight dress, an a-line flared dress, and a longer pencil skirt dress. You decide on the flared dress as you can dress it up and down depending on the restaurant ambience. Throw a cropped Jean jacket over top and some thigh high boots and you are dressed.

You straighten your hair and sweep it to the side, pinning the other side in place with a silver pin. With your entire body dolled up you spray some perfume on your chest and in your hair then head downstairs to get your boots on. Just as you pull your boots on, Kakashi knocks on your door.

And for some reason you feel nervous about your looks.

He is your sensei...that's all nothing more...you repeat to yourself.

You open the door to him and his scent flows around you....yum...then you notice five other shinobi with him. Sakura, Naruto, Hinata, Konohamaru, and Sasuke. Five ninja you have gotten to know a bit more over the last week. It was nice to get to know people around the village, but you half wanted to spend some time with Kakashi by himself. He is still such a mystery to you and he is second on your list of things to discover.

You suck it up and take a deep breath in. Then in your sweetest voice. You say hello to everyone and begin to pump yourself up for a fun evening with friends.