One day after lunch, when Arina brough Hiruzen some freshly-brewed tea, the latter suddenly addressed her:

"Do you ever get a feeling like you've overstayed here a bit?"

The girl looked at him somewhat warily, and the old man chuckled.

"There, there, no need to stare at me like a hunted doe. In a week's time, as you know, I'll be off to visit the Daimyo, and I was going to take you with me, if you don't mind.

Arina brightened up instantly: she really had stayed in one place for too long, and had already explored Konoha almost from top to bottom by then. However, she quickly slumped again:

"But... Hiruzen-sama, what use will be of me? Miyogi..."

"Miyogi, as you know, is pregnant, she shouldn't be leaving the village," Hiruzen interrupted her. "While I need a secretary. Miyogi will instruct you, besides, you know enough already, don't belittle yourself. There will be nothing complicated or unfamiliar, you'll just have to master a simple etiquette. You should consider it as an opportunity to change your scenery for a bit."

Arina sighed: how did this man manage to think about everyone at once?

The next moment Hiruzen smiled mischievously and added:

"And then, who knows, maybe we'll find you a fiancé, while we are at it?"

"Oh, Hiruzen-sama..." Arina drawled reproachfully, flaring up instantly: she was hearing such jokes from Hiruzen regularly, but she still couldn't get used to it. At the same time, this remark led her to a different thought:

"Who else is going to... accompany you?"

"Since it's going to be an informal visit this time, just a team of shinobi for the palanquin, and an Anbu squad. I still haven't decided, who exactly," understanding perfectly well what she was thinking about, Hiruzen answered, eyeing the girl searchingly. "I'll look at the circumstances... and the workload."

Arina nodded, averting her gaze sheepishly.

☙ ❦ ❧

The week to departure flew by swiftly. Miyogi, unlike Arina, never actually wanted to get out of the village, and she was only happy to be relieved of this responsibility, and instructed Arina readily. The role indeed was not hard at all – they were unlikely to even require her to take minutes.

Arina expected that she would be worrying about the trip – after all, she really, ever since she began living in Konoha, had never left it, not to mention visiting the residence of the Daimyo himself – the leader of the Land of Fire. But it appeared that she was much more concerned about who exactly of the Anbu would be accompanying them. She both wanted and did not want it to be Kakashi.

It had been two months already since their last night together – that uneasy night that not only brought no clarity to their relationship, but rather complicated it even more. Arina hardly saw Kakashi since then – and this time the girl had a feeling like it was him who was avoiding her.

There was, of course, still the possibility that he was so busy that he had no time left to loom in her sight at the Hokage's residence – like he used to do before.

Back then, at first, even Arina's colleagues were gossiping about his behaviour, since the Anbu usually had their own paths, and rarely openly roamed around the residence, unlike Kakashi, who seemed to have moved in there ever since Arina began working for Hiruzen.

The well-built striking warrior aroused serious interest among the female half of the personnel, regardless of the marital status: as Arina had already learned, the Anbu, despite the legends and speculations surrounding them hardly being even the slightest bit rosy (and most likely exactly because of that), were especially popular among the people here.

A fair share of gossiping was devoted to Arina herself: everyone knew that he had brought her to Konoha, as well as the fact that later something went wrong between them, only confirmed by her shying away from him. This caused her special indignation: it was enough for her that Kakashi was regularly within her sight, and the colleagues almost squealed like some fangirls every time he appeared, and then there were those meaningful glances and whispering behind her back, or even attempts to find out something about the mysterious hottie, since she herself was clearly not interested. At the same time, Kakashi pointedly did not interact with her, so she had nothing to confront him with.

On top of everything else, Arina also acquired an extra feeling of guilt because she almost dragged him to the afterlife with her. His bandaged hand did not escape her – the girl remembered perfectly well that when they met by the Hokage's office on that vindictive day, despite the presence of other injuries, his hands were alright.

Therefore she rather welcomed this change.

☙ ❦ ❧

On the day they were supposed to set off, Arina approached the Hokage's residence with a sinking heart – he seemed to be deliberately teasing her, no more returning to the subject of the Anbu accompanying them. However, there was still hope that, since Anbu-class ninja usually did not show their presence outside of Konoha unless absolutely necessary, she might never even find out who exactly was watching over them.

A two-seater palanquin was already standing in the courtyard and its bearers, clearly bored, were waiting nearby. Like Hiruzen said, they were not civilians, but also shinobi, already familiar to Arina. Lately, apparently, his age was beginning to tell, and Hiruzen was increasingly resorting to their assistance. Although this time Arina had a suspicion that her company also played a role in choosing this method of traveling: for a fully-proficient ninja, even at Hiruzen's age, the road to the capital was not that difficult. Arina, on the other hand, was just beginning to explore this skill, and due to the peculiarities of her chakra flows, she was still experiencing some difficulties.

After greeting and exchanging a few words with the shinobi, the girl left her bag in the palanquin and went to report herself to the Hokage. She then went out into the courtyard again to wait for him to join them.

Hiruzen came out a little later, and not alone. Seeing his companion, Arina, although she expected this, still almost shuddered – it was Kakashi himself. He was telling something softly to Hiruzen, who was listening to him thoughtfully, folding his hands behind his back and looking ahead.

Over the time Arina didn't see much of Kakashi, he appeared to have grown even taller and more mature, broadening in the shoulders some more. Although, perhaps, it was just the contrast with the relatively short and slender Hokage.

Kakashi was holding the fox mask in his hand, and when he finally acknowledged Arina's presence briefly, though without saying a word to her, she held her breath, barely recognizing in the rigorous restrained warrior with a steely gaze the Kakashi as she remembered him – even when she asked him for the last time to stay away from her. It was as if he was radiating frost.

The next moment, Kakashi put the mask on his face, approached the rest of his group (Arina didn't even notice when they appeared), and all of them, bowing to the Hokage, disappeared from sight at once.

Arina caught a glimpse of the distinctive purple hair of one of the squad members, and although she knew that the girl had nothing to do with Kakashi, she still noticed a slight prick in her chest, which did not please her at all.

She suppressed a sigh with great effort, realizing that even if she could not see him, it did not mean that he did not see her, and therefore it was necessary to remain unperturbed, no matter how his aloof gaze hurt her. And what was it that she'd expected anyway?

Hiruzen, meanwhile, got into the palanquin and pointed Arina to the second seat. The girl asked, clearly embarrassed:

"Would you mind if I walk a little?.."

One of the bearer-shinobi laughed placably:

"What, are you afraid that we will be overloaded? Come on, Rina, you're like a piece of fluff to us. Besides, there are four of us here!

His comrades unanimously agreed with him.

"No, no, I really just want to take a walk," the girl waved her hands. "If I get tired or we are in a hurry, then, of course, I will sit down..."

The man looked at the Hokage questioningly.

"I wasn't going to rush us, so I don't see any reason to refuse you in your desire to... go for a walk..."

And so the bearers took up their positions, lifted the palanquin, and the little procession finally set off.

Almost immediately, Hiruzen gestured to Arina, and she walked beside him.

"I don't want you to worry but there is a high probability that we might be attacked at some point of the journey," he said matter-of-factly.

Arina shivered involuntarily and glanced around cautiously – although they were still in the heart of the village.

She had, in fact, already heard about it from Miyogi, – apparently any shift in the Hokage's location provoked increased attention from ill-wishers, that Hiruzen, due to his status, had plenty of. It was unclear only how this information was leaking, and what the enemies were counting on, meddling with one of the strongest ninjas of Konoha. Most likely they were deceived by his puny appearance, which instilled excessive confidence in their own abilities. But Hiruzen never actually travelled alone...

"I really don't know what they keep trying to achieve," Hiruzen grumbled, "but just be aware, and if anything happens, stay close."

Arina nodded and winced in embarrassment: why did he take her with him? She really wouldn't be able to help in any way, but rather the opposite! Unlike her, Miyogi was a full-fledged kunoichi, although she did not practice as often as before. Arina not only could not help, but currently could be nothing but a hindrance.

☙ ❦ ❧

Although no-one would ever have suspected this, looking at the seemingly completely unperturbed silver-haired shinobi, in fact Kakashi was barely restraining his annoyance.

Why did Hiruzen, of all his people, have to take Arina with him? For over two months, Kakashi diligently avoided all contact with the girl, so as not to torment neither her nor himself, and now here you go – he should be relentlessly following her for at least four days. Well, rather, of course, Hiruzen-sama, but she was there too...

And also this possible attack... He was uneasy at the thought that he was not only involuntarily thinking about Arina ahead of everything, but also that he worried about her much more than he should be... in every way. It turned out that all his efforts were in vain again.

The day when he almost lost her – or rather, that night – the girl once again made it clear that it was unbearable for her to be with him. The next morning she assured him that she would not commit any more foolish acts – only on such conditions did he agree to let her go and not pursue her anymore.

Back then Kakashi was so devastated by everything that had happened that he completely sank into despair and could not think of anything better than mentally shackling himself in a kind of armour – so as not to let emotions get the better of him anymore. It worked, though not one hundred percent. But it still worked. Until this day. Thanks to Hiruzen-sama...

He kept repeating it like a mantra: it's alright, four, at most five, days, and it will be over. He had to be patient. He had to endure much more before, after all.

Only it did not help a lot, and a familiar flame kept flaring up in his chest every now and then, making it hard to breathe.

☙ ❦ ❧

At the same time, Kakashi did not even suspect that his squad, on the contrary, was finally able to take a breath. In his desire to oust from his universe everything that could even remotely remind him of Arina, Kakashi focused on the only thing he had left – work, and, without even noticing it, mercilessly drove his team along, be it missions or even simple workouts, so the latter almost wailed in despair. And in order to bring an Anbu class ninja to such a state, one had to try pretty hard. Actually, this was the decisive factor in Hiruzen's choice of escort – when they could not reason with Kakashi, his subordinates came directly to the Hokage for support.

It wasn't that Kakashi suddenly got a desire to take his own life – something much more serious was needed for this, considering what he had already been through. It was just that he didn't really care anymore what would happen to him. However, his excessive zeal in professional activity somewhat increased the risk of such an outcome.

He had been in the hospital bed more than once in the recent months, but so far luck was still on his side. And the only thing that kept him from the inevitable wrath of the Hokage was that he still strictly followed his principles, and no matter how much he risked himself, under no circumstances did he ever endanger the lives of his squad, even with all the severity of his command. In fact, this was the reason why he was the one ending up at the hospital. However, a reckless leader still bode nothing well for his team... and something had to be done before it was too late.