The slap stung Kakashi. He pulled away reflexively, letting go of Arina, resulting in her falling over backwards.

"Arina... wha... why?.." He managed, pressing his palm to his cheek, as if in disbelief that this had really happened.

"Get away from here!" Arina attempted to snap, but her throat still didn't obey her properly, and, as a result, she only managed a broken loud whisper. Trying not to lose the blanket, she crawled away, pressing against the wall and grasping herself convulsively with trembling hands.

"But..."

"Get out!" Arina interrupted him. There was fury in her gaze, and tears welled up in her eyes.

"Arina..."

"Leave me alone!" the girl cried out in despair. She slid along the wall and lay down, curling up in a ball. "Leave me alone, all of you! What did I do to you? Why, why can't I just live in peace if I'm so "lucky" to be stuck here?! And it's always either him or you! I should have just perished back then!"

She clutched her head and burst into tears, burying her face in the bedsheets.

Kakashi stared at her with a mixture of incomprehension and concern.

"But I only... Hey..." He stretched out his hand to her, touched where her shoulder was under the blanket, but immediately pulled his hand back again: at his touch, the girl shuddered visibly and fell silent. Then she slowly turned her tear-stained face towards him.

"If you don't leave right now, I'm going to get the whole dorm up," she muttered with striking calmness and clarity. "I said, get out. I don't want to see you. Pervert!!"

Kakashi almost jumped at the last word.

Arina hid her face in the bedsheets again.

Kakashi was so startled that he couldn't think of anything to say, and chose to leave so as to not unnerve her any further. Besides, Tekiro was in the yard, knocked out, – it was necessary to deal with him, now that he'd made sure the girl was alright (at least relatively speaking).

☙ ❦ ❧

Arina could not cry anymore, so she ended up just lying idly with her face tucked in her forearms. She wanted to fall asleep, disconnect, forget about everything more than ever, but her nervous system, strained to the limit, made it impossible.

There was suddenly a light knock from the direction of the window. The girl flinched and opened her eyes.

"Arina..." she heard, "I'm sorry, it's me again..."

Arina turned her face in the direction the voice and looked over her arm at the young man. Kakashi slipped into the room and sat down on the edge of her bed with some caution.

"I see my window is like an open door for you. I think I warned you," Arina said, propping herself up on the elbow.

Kakashi belatedly realized that he indeed should have used the door. He held out his hands hastily in front of him:

"Wait! Please let me speak..."

But the girl interrupted him, her irritation rising again:

"What do you want from me? That's what you came for, too, isn't it? I will never believe that you were just 'coincidentally' strolling right under my window! I know where your block is, and where mine is! Thought you'd make a hero out of yourself? That I'll immediately fall into your arms if you save me? Oh, to hell with it! Really!" Arina laughed theatrically, sat up and abruptly pulled off the blanket, exposing herself. Kakashi's eyes widened slightly for a moment. "One has already groped me all over – really, can be none the worse... After all, I owe you one!" She announced with exaggerated vigour.

Kakashi stared into her eyes, not moving from his spot, and it was unclear what he was thinking. He didn't even try to interrupt her rebuke, delivered almost in one breath. At the same time, his own outward calmness only seemed to irritate her more.

"Is this what you want? Is it? Go ahead, then! Come on!" Her tirade finally faded, and the girl fell silent, breathing impetuously, with an effort, and staring at Kakashi. The latter read outright hysteria in her gaze.

And then Kakashi sighed, moved closer and reached out to Arina, instantly making her numb, as if it wasn't she herself who was just offering him exactly that. He stretched out his arms as if to hug her, but instead he just picked up the blanket and put it back over her shoulders, wrapping it diligently around her.

"So that's your opinion of me, huh?" he asked softly and somewhat wistfully, moving away again.

Arina involuntarily averted her gaze at his tone, although she was still full of righteous indignation.

"What do you expect me to think?" she muttered, clutching the blanket, and suddenly looked intently into his eyes again. "Tell me, how often were you on that tree?"

Kakashi froze: she spotted him after all? Now that's some observation skills – he had underestimated her. None of the civilians could have managed that... Well, the slap too, for that matter...

"Please, just listen to me," he pulled himself together nevertheless. "And... if you don't believe me, then tomorrow... well, that is, today, probably... you can ask Hiruzen-sama yourself. Well, either that or demand appropriate punishment for me.

The girl looked at him wearily:

"Ask about what?"

"About this. I know what it looked like. But me being here was no coincidence."

Arina snorted, indignant and ironic at the same time.

"I did not mean it like that!" Kakashi flared up. Why was he always talking some kind of awkward, ambiguous nonsense in front of her, especially at such crucial moments? "Hear me out... Hiruzen saw you talking with Tekiro. You did not exactly improve your understanding back then, did you?"

Arina was a little embarrassed for a moment, remembering exactly what they were talking about.

"Sort of," she agreed reluctantly.

"Well, you may know that an internal investigation was conducted in relation to his behaviour... Back then. But it did not bring any results – after you appeared in Konoha, he was clearly being cautious, very convincingly stated that the recent mission had a bad impact on him, he was on vacation, got some therapy... But... you don't know... he was stalking you occasionally..."

"Like you?" Arina did not miss the opportunity to taunt him despite a wave of nausea at the mere thought.

"I... that's different..." Kakashi grimaced.

"Is that so?" The girl snorted. "In my opinion, that's exactly the same thing. How much time would it have taken before it's you who'd appear in my room uninvited?"

"Arina, please..."

"Oh, wait. Here you are now!"

"I would never do anything like what he did!.." Kakashi almost roared in despair, stubbornly driving away the memories of that night in Tachi-no-Sato.

"Come on, tell me honestly." There was no stopping Arina. "Was that part of the plan? Let Tekiro come to me and then nobly save me? But where did you lose your cape? It would be more striking that way."

"What cape?" Kakashi blinked in confusion.

"Black. With red lining," Arina snapped.

Kakashi shook his head in puzzlement, and opened his mouth, but the undisguised challenge in the girl's gaze hinted that she intended to continue confronting him.

"Arina, please, just let me finish..." He begged.

"Fine, go on..." Arina muttered through gritted teeth.

"So..." Kakashi almost breathed a sigh of relief, "let's omit the fact that I warned this bastard multiple times to stay away from you, to which he responded that he had the right to go wherever he wanted, and since you happened to be around, that was not his problem... I found out about your recent interaction with Tekiro when Hiruzen-sama visited me at the hospital... to discuss... something... with me... He mentioned that they were keeping an eye on him after that and have detected him in close proximity to you again. So, I got alarmed immediately, although Hiruzen-sama rather sharply asked me to stay out of it..." Kakashi fell silent mid-sentence and felt chill up his spine, finally realizing that the Hokage's harshness could have been due to Arina complaining about him... "But I... ran off from the hospital... And yes, I really was by your place today, despite Hiruzen-sama's orders." Kakashi grimaced guiltily. "But I was there because of that scumbag Tekiro. This is the truth, believe me... it would never have occurred to me to harm you in any way..."

As the meaning of his words began to sink in to Arina, her sceptical look rapidly changed first to mild confusion, and then to sheer panic.

Meanwhile, Kakashi went on:

"To my shame, I lost sight of him... Have to take into consideration the fact that he was in the Anbu for a reason... And so I really did end up heading to your block, just in case, but everything was calm. Or it seemed so... And if it hadn't been for your attempt to escape... and even then, it took me a moment to figure out what was going on. I heard a scream, and when I turned around, only a shadow flashed in the window. I even thought it was just my imagination.... But then I finally detected the barrier, and all doubts vanished..."

Kakashi closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the rage rising inside him again. What he felt when he saw Arina – helpless, stripped naked, gasping for air... and Tekiro on top of her – with his trousers down... What it took him to restrain himself and to not Chidori off the bastard's junk right there on the spot...

Arina was already hiding her face in her hands by that time, burning with shame, right to the tips of her ears.

"I'm sorry..." she moaned. "Shit..."

"Ah... it's nothing..." Kakashi squinted peaceably. "It was well-deserved... but trust me... that tree... I just wanted to know that you were okay, nothing more... I was... worried... And when you moved here, I stopped... how should I put it... keeping an eye on you... Until this moment..."

Arina nodded, still hiding her face in her hands. She really actually only spotted him once – just before she moved to the new dormitory building, and jokingly told Hiruzen about it, to which he rather grumpily remarked that there would be no trees nearby in the new place. In fact, it was then that she vowed to herself not to bother Hiruzen about Kakashi ever again.

"I shouldn't have done that... with no proper evidence..." She gave the young man a guilty look. "But after what had happened... I just lost it..."

"It's alright, really," Kakashi assured her hastily. He, in turn, was also overcome by a wave of shame, and he thought that he would probably never admit to her that he had actually once been to her room uninvited... "It's my fault. And I'm sorry about that..."

Arina, meanwhile, moved closer to him, almost making him recoil – just for the sake of it. Hesitating a little, she held the blanket in place with one hand, and timidly placed the palm of her other hand on Kakashi's cheek – that very cheek.

"Does it hurt?" she asked apologetically.

Kakashi shook his head slightly, squinting his eyes in a smile. And what was this fleeting pain compared to the other, much longer and deeper?

"It's long gone. And I think you must be in more pain." He nodded with concern in the direction of her neck, where unambiguous marks had appeared. Her voice also still left much to be desired.

"It's alright, it will pass... Please forgive me... and..." Arina faltered, "thank you... for the umpteenth time."

"No need..." Kakashi murmured, and then, just like that one time, he turned his head, pressing his lips to her palm, gently holding her hand in place.

Arina shuddered, barely resisting the urge to immediately pull her palm out of his hand. Why, oh why, was it so hard for her to be with him again?.. She wanted to hug him so much. Hold him tight and never let go again... However, it was as if something inside her was restraining her again. Against all common sense.

She delicately withdrew her hand after all, and asked cautiously:

"What about... Tekiro?"

"Nothing good," Kakashi said gloomily, either from the reminder of Tekiro, or just upset by her reaction.

"Did you... kill him?" Arina shivered slightly. However, she was no longer sure that she would blame him for that.

"No. Although he deserved it. But I think he's going to have a hard time anyway. A rapist's fate is nothing to envy. We should have put him on trial back then..." Kakashi shook his head. How much more suffering will be caused by such indulgences? "By the way," Kakashi suddenly cheered up, squinting his eyes a little, "his leg – did you do that?"

"Uh-huh," the girl muttered, not exactly sharing his amusement, and shivered again, remembering this feeling. She couldn't even manage medical injections, but here... she never thought she'd have to stick a cold weapon into living flesh. She glanced at the brown stains – right, she still had to change the bedsheets and wash the floor...

"Good job." It was obvious that Kakashi was smiling contentedly. "Why, turns out you are a fierce little thing, aren't you? Beat me pretty well too..."

"Kakashi," Arina hid her face in her hands again.

Kakashi laughed softly and casually tried pulling her to him, but Arina immediately tensed and slithered herself free.

"Don't, please..." she muttered, pulling the blanket closer around herself.

Kakashi nodded, immediately embarrassed. He glanced at the blood stains and offered tentatively:

"I can help... with that?.."

"Thank you, I'll manage..." The girl shook her head.

"Ettō... you should see the medics..." Kakashi coughed.

"I will, tomorrow..." Arina replied.

Kakashi wanted to object but realized that it was useless and decided to change the subject:

"Speaking of medics... thank you for your care... especially those cookies. Very unusual and delicious... coconut?.."

He spoke absolutely sincerely: although he did not particularly fancy sweets – which Arina did not know about, – to his own surprise he rather enjoyed eating the cookies.

However, his words, despite his desire to somewhat lighten the atmosphere, had the opposite effect on the girl, who once again remembered why he had to thank her under such circumstances.

"Yes," she managed to squeeze out, looking away, "I'm glad you liked it." Secretly, she was begging him not to ask why she no longer visited him...

However, Kakashi seemed to understand himself that it was not worth bringing up the subject again.

"Can you tell me where I could get some more?" he inquired innocently instead.

Arina blushed. She baked them herself – in the kitchen of the hotel, where during her stay she had practically become one of their own. Missing the usual food, she occasionally cooked something, and even taught the staff working there a few simple recipes that could be implemented in this world. However, this casual compliment only made her more embarrassed.

"I will... get some more... for you..." she muttered.

Kakashi frowned in puzzlement, unsure of what to do next. However, even a fool could see that his presence brought her no joy. After a little hesitation, he said:

"Th-thanks, that would be great..." and, after a short pause, he added: "Well... I'll be going then?

"Uh-huh..." the girl replied.

"You sure you don't need any help?"

"I'm okay..."

There was nothing left to do.

"I'm sorry for barging in like that, but I realized that I wouldn't fall asleep without first explaining everything..." Kakashi finally repented.

Arina merely nodded silently in response, still avoiding his gaze, almost buried up to the nose in the blanket. However, as soon as he took a step towards the window, she called out softly to him:

"Kakashi..."

He turned to her eagerly, even leaning slightly in her direction, as if he had just been waiting for this:

"Arina?.."

But she only said:

"I'm sorry... and thank you..."

"Ah... No worries," Kakashi replied, turning away hastily to hide his disappointment, and slipped out the window.

Arina hid her face in her hands and moaned below her breath. How much longer would she be paying with cruelty for his kindness?.. She looked up and stared wistfully out the window for a while, then sighed, freed herself from the blanket, got up and headed towards the closet.