A couple of days had gone by since the attack on the Hidden Leaf Village. Things have settled down after the funeral of the Third Hokage and other Leaf shinobi that had fallen during the war. Team 7 is meeting each other for the first time since the Chūnin Exams at their training grounds.

Lauren sighed and laid back down on her back from her sitting position on the grass, “Things are bad now, sure, but you gotta smile through the hard times because everything will get better. The city will be rebuilt, and things will go back to normal. Sure, we lost some great people but as long as we keep them in our minds and hearts, and don’t disrespect their memory, everything will be alright.”

“Lauren’s right,” Kakashi said. “Life moves on no matter what and living in the past won’t do anyone any good.”

“My life lays in the past.” Sasuke practically hissed.

This caused Lauren to sit up and slap Sasuke across the face. “If you live in the past you have no future. You’re going to get yourself killed if you talk like that. You’re dishonoring your clan’s memory. Do you want the world to see the Uchiha as vengeful people? As the only one left, right now they’re going to think of you before your brother which means you determine the name of Uchiha. Get your head out of your ass and look around you. Naruto, Sakura and Kakashi, they’re your family now. You should want to get stronger to protect them, not to kill your brother for the sake of your clan. It won’t bring them back.”

“You shouldn’t be lecturing Sasuke like that!” Sakura said. “He saved me! Besides, didn’t you say you want to kill your uncle? Isn’t that getting revenge for something he did?”

Lauren turned to face the pink-haired girl and give her a closed eye smile, “My uncle killed everyone I’ve ever considered family, twice. Not just once, twice. I technically should be dead. He didn’t leave me alive because he wanted me alive, he just forgot to kill me. My brother distracted him the best he could while I ran away. He was ten, I was seven.” Opening her eyes, she could see Sakura’s shocked expression, “Besides, being able to kill him for revenge honestly, is just the icing on the cake, it’s not the reason I’m going to kill him.”

“Then what’s–"

“So, Kakashi, why did you call us out here?” Lauren asked, cutting Sakura off.

“It goes without saying that training is going to need to be put on hold until everything returns to normal when the village is repaired and the threat of possible invasions during this time is over. It’d be nice if you all helped in any way that you could. Naruto, you and Master Jiraiya are going out to bring the next Hokage back to the village. Sakura, once she’s returned and settled in, I believe it’d be in your best interest to become her apprentice. She’s the world-renowned medical ninja. Sasuke, you and I are going to be doing some intense training on the side as well once everything goes back to normal.”

“Alright! Maybe I can get the Pervy Sage to train me!” Naruto said excitedly.

“What about Lauren?” Sasuke asked.

“Hm, what about Lauren?”

“Don’t worry, Sasuke. I’m going to get permission from the Hokage to leave the village. There are other things I need to do, and I can’t do it in the village. I’ll be back one day though.” Lauren said, looking to the sky. She knew she was lying through her teeth as she wouldn’t be coming back, but there was nothing she could do. She was finally going home.

Later that night, Lauren found herself without her necklace on sitting on the couch in Kakashi’s apartment sitting next to the masked Jōnin.  This isn’t the first time she was at the masked man’s apartment, but she knew it was one of the last, if not the last. She had to start distancing herself from the others. She got too close to everyone, and she knew it.

“Kakashi, what’s really on your mind? I can see something's bothering you even with that stupid mask.” Lauren said, sighing.

“It’s nothing. I just don’t want you to leave and honestly, it seems like the others don’t want you to either.”

“I can’t stay forever. My family needs me. I was able to talk to Macco from the guild last night…He’s the guild master now...” Lauren sighed. “It’s not good, Kakashi. They were forced out of the guildhall and are using a practically run-down building as the base of operations. Jobs stopped coming in which means, we aren’t making money…I need to go back. If I knew everything was okay, I’d wait longer and slowly pull myself away from everyone until you guys wouldn’t realize too much that I was gone. I will come back though, or at least I want to. Sasuke might come and find me himself if I didn’t.”

“That kid likes you way too much.”

“Yeah, it’s kinda creepy knowing that I’m ten years older than he is. Hey, wait, wait, Kakashi…” The ice blue-haired girl couldn’t help but laugh. “Are you jealous of a thirteen-year-old?”

“He doesn’t know that you’re so much older than he is. And no, I’m not jealous.” Kakashi said while moving his one visible eye to look at the window above the couch instead of Lauren as he previously was.

“Oh shit, Kakashi, you’re totally jealous.” Lauren said laughing.

“How do jobs work at guilds? Also, what do you mean by guildhall?” Kakashi asked in an attempt to change the topic.

“Oh no,” Lauren laughed. “You’re not changing the topic. You can’t get out of this as easily as you did when I questioned your virginity.”

Lauren moved so that she was straddling his lap, holding his arms above his head so he couldn't try and push her off. She noticed that a blush immediately spread across his face – even with the mask on. Her eyes widened momentarily realizing that this meant the silver-haired ninja at least had a crush on her. Never being one for words – having been raised by dragons most of her life that didn’t exactly improve her ‘talking and interacting with other humans’ skills – she did the first thing she could think of. Freezing his hands together ever so slightly so she could hold them both in one, she moved in one swift motion and pulled his mask down, kissing Kakashi.

Kakashi was shocked to say the least but he couldn’t help but kiss her back. The kiss was sweet, innocent, and full of love. He knew this was wrong knowing the two of them would be hurt, yet he didn’t care at this very moment. The feeling of Lauren’s lips on his own was overpowering. It numbed all other senses as he focused on never wanting that moment to end.

Feeling Kakashi kiss her back, Lauren let the ice disappear as she wrapped her arms around his neck. The second she let go of his hands, his arms were around Lauren’s waist pulling her closer to him, to which Lauren responded by tangling her fingers in his hair – not before disregarding his headband and placing it on the couch next to them. She didn’t want anything blocking his face.

Unfortunately for the two, they needed to pull away for much-needed oxygen. Both breathing heavily as they looked into each other’s eyes.

“We shouldn’t,” Lauren said but made no attempt to move. “It’s only gonna hurt more when I leave.”

“I don’t care. Let it hurt. I know I’ll never have the regret of telling you that a fucking thirteen-year-old makes me jealous, and that I want to be more than friends with you. You’re beautiful, smart, mysterious, and so much more.”

“Kakashi…Let me be selfish at the moment by saying that I want to be the only one to ever see this much of your face. You’re very handsome. Not to mention one of the most sane people around, as well as cunning, and clever.”

Kakashi smiled as he listened to Lauren’s words. One thing he knew for sure at that moment was he doesn’t want to let her go. When she leaves, it’s going to be the hardest thing in the world. He leaned up to kiss her again, holding her as tightly as he could without hurting her.

Lauren melted at the sight of his smile. Sure, he smiles all the time, but with his mask obstructing the view of his face, she had never actually seen him smile. It was a sight she wouldn’t soon forget. Leaving him will be the worst thing about leaving to go back home. She didn’t dare think about that, she just wanted to enjoy the moment as she responded to Kakashi’s kiss.

Time was short for Team Seven and they decided that they’d spend every chance they had together – Sasuke told himself he only did this for Lauren, but in reality, he was thankful for it. They all knew this would be the last time they would all be together as a team. As per Naruto’s wish, Jiraiya is going to train him, and he would be taking Naruto out of the village for an extensive three-year training session. Leaving Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi the only members of Team 7 in the village, although Kakashi had a feeling he would be away on missions most of the time. Sakura would start training to be a medical ninja in the hospital, but even though Tsunade agreed to teach her, she needed time to adjust to being Hokage first. Sakura agreed, giving her free time with her team. They’re all going to miss each other’s company. That’s something not even Lauren could deny.

“When do you think you’ll be back, Lauren?” Sasuke asked. All of Team 7 and Jiraiya are at the main gate to the Hidden Leaf saying their goodbyes.

“I don’t know. I’ll try and come back by the time Naruto gets back.” Lauren answered.

“You better be here when I get back. I want to fight you and Sasuke, so I can show you how much stronger I will be then you two!”

“Even after three years of training, you, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi still won’t be able to beat me in a fight. That’s a promise.”

“Don’t drag me into this. You still got a long way to go.” Kakashi said. He knew that Lauren was right. There was no beating her. She’s killed dragons. Dragons!

“Yeah, I don’t know if I want to get into your fights either.” Sakura said.

“I want you to be stronger than these two idiots in the three years, Sakura.”

“I’m going to try.”

With one last goodbye, Lauren, Naruto, and Master Jiraiya left the village. Lauren gave Naruto a hug before parting ways with him. They were some ways away from the village at that point, and once she knew she was completely alone, she broke her necklace. Within minutes Dornbolt was by her side to take her back to the magic council. She was finally going home.