Orochimama

Hatake Kakashi stared up at the stars in silence. He was an hour late for meeting up with his team, so he'd need to wrap up his introspection in the next hour or so. Ordinarily, he'd have spent the time staring at the Memorial Stone. The activity didn't evoke the same feeling it used to. Seeing Obito's name on the stone now just sent his mind spiraling in questions. It made him antsy, made him feel like he had to move, to act, to prepare. Defeated the whole point of staring at the Memorial and feeling sorry for himself. He'd had to find other things to do with life. He actually FOLDED his laundry instead of having just a bin of clean laundry and a bin of dirty. It was vexing.

So, he'd starting finding new things to stare at to ponder his dark thoughts. So far, the stars were working pretty well. It could also be done from almost anywhere, so people would have a harder time tracking him down. Though clearly, he'd remained in place for too long.

"Hatake." Anko greeted as the woman came up from behind him and, without asking, settled down on the roof next to him.

"Congratulations." Kakashi responded, not turning to look at the woman and instead opted to continue to stare at the stars.

"Thanks." She said and Kakashi almost did a double take. Just thanks? No cursing? No telling him to fuck off? No insinuation of what he could do instead of thank her?

The woman had clearly gone through something by getting the seal removed.

"Pain?" He asked.

"None since it was removed. Though that hurt like a bitch." Anko responded.

Kakashi hummed, and let things lapse into silence. Anko pulled one leg up so her foot rested flat on the roof and leaned her head on her knee, but otherwise remained silent. Another unusual thing from Anko. It was why he usually avoided the woman; she was a perfectly fine ninja, but he found her to not be someone he would actively seek the company of.