Maya - a Naruto Fanfic

55. Grown Up Problems

"It's rare to see you in a bar." Someone calls, and Kakashi looks up.

"I'm not drinking." Is his response, raising his mug as evidence.

"Who comes to a bar and drinks green tea?" Asuma drops himself down onto the empty stool next to him, calling the bartender over with a wave of his hand. Kakashi silently takes another sip of tea.

"Well, I guess you just being here makes it clear enough that something's wrong. Those kids giving you trouble?" He asks, and Kakashi's face closes up. Right on the money.

"They're all nothing but trouble." Kakashi mutters into his cup, and Asuma snorts.

"Gotta agree with you there. Maya's starting to get used to Ino's pace, and I'm pretty sure that's gonna cause no end of trouble for me later." He knocks back the sake in his dish in one gulp, and sets it on the counter with a loud clack.

"She really is a magnet for trouble." Kakashi sighs and slumps forwards over his tea, looking nothing less than utterly exhausted.

"You're talking about that incident on your last major mission, right?" He asks as he pours himself his second dish.

"She died, Asuma." Kakashi's eyes are lowered, fixed on the green tea sloshing in his mug.

"Not for long, I hear." It's never really felt real to Asuma, that Maya was gone for a bit, her little light extinguished. She looks so fine now.

"Still." Kakashi's fingers flex around his mug, and Asuma watches the muscles work under his skin.

"Sasuke died too." He reminds him.

"He's not Maya." Kakashi's mouth draws into a thin line and he throws back his tea, finishing it in one go. Asuma wonders if he wishes it were alcohol.

"What's the difference?" He asks.

"I don't know yet." Kakashi flags down the barman and orders another tea.

"Don't tell me you've gotten attached to the girl. She's going to have to go home at some point." And isn't that a strange feeling. When she goes, they'll probably never see her again, her visit to their world a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. Yoko's going to cry her eyes out.

"We haven't been doing very good damage control with that, have we? Naruto and Sakura and your team, they're going to kick up a fuss when they realise she's left." Kakashi laughs, but there's no humour behind it.

"Yeah, that's going to be a real pain. No avoiding it now though." He shrugs and takes a small sip of sake, savouring it this time.

For a moment, they drink in silence. At least, Asuma drinks. Kakashi stares down at his tea like it holds the secrets of the universe. Occasionally, Asuma hears him draw in a soft breath, as if readying himself to say something, but it's always just let out in a little sigh, his frown deepening every time. This isn't like him.

"She's so defenceless." He says finally, his grip on his mug so tight Asuma fears it might break.

"Didn't she summon fire?" He arches an eyebrow and tries not to smirk. The kids aren't the only ones who're going to miss Maya, it seems.

"But she can't protect herself. She's vulnerable. And yet she almost has as many walls up as Sasuke. It's... Disconcerting." Kakashi pulls a face and takes a long gulp of tea. Now Asuma's sure he wishes it were alcohol.

"You're worried about her." Is all he says.

"I'm not."

"You are. You worry about her because she doesn't have the emotional security to help herself but she also won't let anyone in. She's a tough kid, Kakashi."

"That's the problem. She doesn't want to be seen as weak. I don't know if it's being here, or if she's always like this, but either way it isn't doing her any good." Kakashi rakes his fingers through his hair. This might just be the most visibly frustrated Asuma's ever seen him.

"... I think you need to step back." He says finally.

"What?" Kakashi's eye snap to focus on him, his body going completely still.

"Take a step back from her. You're no good at handling kids like her - just look at Sakura. The Hokage wants her away from missions anyway, considering how the last one went." There's no gentle way of explaining it, so Asuma just cuts right to it.

"You think I should leave her alone." There's no need to clarify, but Kakashi does anyway.

"She won't be alone. Haven't you noticed? She's already carved a little place for herself here, and it hasn't even been 3 months. Just step back."

Kakashi stares down at his mug. Tea leaves swirl at the bottom, a miniature hurricane.

"I suppose it's worth a try." He says.

A/N: writing is hard.