Showing real feelings

After they finally returned to the city of Rinde, they separated, the nobles and merchants who recovered their children and relatives went to their homes, to give the good news to their families, while Beau and the guards went to report the events, Beau went directly to the Baron while the guards went to place the prisoners in the dungeon, and reported to the second highest authority of the guards, who was the sub-lieutenant.

As it was a small city and far from the capital of the Kingdom, the nobles considered their family as something important, and not as a simple financial and political exchange currency, arranged marriages were still very common in the city, but most of the city's nobles they maintained true emotional ties with their families.

The nobles wanted to go and check whether the words of the boy who reported that there were no more criminals other than those who were captured were true, but they decided that it was better to go back and leave the children in a safe place, they could go and check the hideout of the bandits later, that wasn't their priority at the moment, instead they decided they should split into two groups, most would return to the city.

While a group of five people, three guards and two mercenaries, headed to the hideout, to check if the boy's words were true, if they didn't find anyone they would look for clues to know the exact number of criminals, and to which location the rest of the group went because they did not believe that such a small group of bandits would have the courage to kidnap so many children from important families in the city.

The group separated, dividing in this way, Kakashi on the other hand was not very interested in what would happen next at that moment he was very tired, and he needed an urgent shower to clean himself and release the fatigue that had accumulated in his muscles.

Kakashi and Yennefer went to her room, neither of them were interested in what they would gain in the post battle, they wanted to relax soon and have the conversation that awaited them.

Beau saw the opportunity to gain even more relevance and political influence in that city, at the same time that it would give him more power in Novigrad, as someone who climbed the scale of influence with his own hands, Beau understood that he had to take risks to take advantage of every little opportunity that arose, as these chances to increase his power were rare.

Yennefer didn't want to get involved in politics at that moment, her goal was to get to her room as quickly as possible so she could help Kakashi clean himself up and treat his injuries and then they would have a serious talk, she wanted to know what the reasons were for Kakashi, to put himself in danger like that and she wouldn't accept any excuse he gave her, Kakashi would have to have a good reason for making that choice.

After the two arrived at Beau's house, Yennefer ordered the maids to prepare a bath in his room, when the maids saw how Kakashi was, they were scared, he was covered in dried blood giving him a scary appearance, the maids knew as Yennefer's temper was, they didn't delay, and went to get the wooden bathtub and took it to her room.

Then they went to prepare herbs and products that they could use in Kakashi's bath, while they heated the water since that was how Yennefer liked to take a bath, with hot and scented water they had already done this a few times before so they knew the procedures and prepared the bath quickly.

When they finally prepared everything for Yennefer, they were ready to leave when Yennefer interrupted them, "I don't want to be interrupted by anyone, let anyone who comes looking for us know that we are not available today and let me know when lunch is ready."

"Understood ma'am", they then left the room without making any additional noise, the maids were very afraid of Yennefer, they grew up listening to stories about how the sorceresses were cruel and heartless, so even though Yennefer never did anything to them, the maids still they feared her.

Yennefer then turned to Kakashi who was preparing to take off his clothes and get into the bathtub, she interrupted him "Let me help you undress", approaching him, she took off his clothes as carefully as possible, not wanting to hurt your little body even more.

She noticed that some parts of his body were stained with blood, and it wasn't fresh blood, she realized that the blood didn't belong to the criminals either, it seemed to belong to Kakashi the blood came from his open wounds, now that they were in a safe place, she could check his body better, but the blood, mixed with sweat and dirt hindered her clearer view of the injuries.

Deciding to clean his body before doing any type of treatment, she let him get into the bathtub to clean himself, the cleaning took longer than expected as it was quite difficult to get the blood out of his hair, Yennefer helped him clean himself by rubbing his back and parts that are harder to reach alone.

Kakashi took advantage of her gentle touch while she cleaned his body, he was relaxing his body and mind, these last few days have been very stressful for him, in these two weeks that have passed he has had more new experiences than in his entire life in Konoha.

He faced monsters and men who were completely abnormal for him, Kakashi had the experience of living for almost 8 decades in another world in Yennefer's mind, he met new people and found a very important person for him, someone he didn't expect to meet Even with the serious problems she had in her personality and way of acting, she was one of the people Kakashi cared about most in his life.

When Kakashi was completely clean, and was just using the bath to relax, she realized that she also needed to ease her body and feelings.

Using a spell she exchanged the blood stained water for new water, she took off her clothes and got into the wooden bathtub on the opposite side of Kakashi, she had to relax a little this day had been very emotionally draining for her, Yennefer was in good mood in the morning and I didn't expect a day so full of strong emotions.

The only news that relieved her stress was finding out that Kakashi was well and healthy, he wasn't in any kind of danger, but even though she was healthy she wasn't happy with him, Kakashi manipulated her for a whole day to put himself in danger, to help people he didn't even know, it irritated her, she didn't like how Kakashi put himself in danger for stupid reasons.

Yennefer was by no means a bad or insensitive person, but she grew up with other values, Kakashi and she had a very difficult life, but unlike Yennefer Kakashi had good people in his path, who helped him to be a good person so he he helped those who needed it, he tried to make up for something, only by helping others could he feel a little relief from his guilt and suffering.

Kakashi, even though he had overcome the events, he still blamed himself for what happened and like his entire team, his delay in taking the right action was what cost Obito his life and Rin was killed due to his lack of skill, this guilt that growing up with her was very difficult to overcome, so he tries to make up for it for himself by saving other people.

She helped some people, especially children when she had the opportunity, but Yennefer wouldn't put herself in danger to try to save complete strangers for her, and especially she didn't like that Kakashi did that since he was the only person important to her.

Even though they were looking forward to this conversation, they decided to do it only afterwards.

They spent this moment to relax their bodies and their minds a little, they thought about what they were going to say and how they were going to say it, they didn't want the argument to escalate, and become something that would drive them apart, Kakashi and Yennefer were thinking about what they were going to say and do, to show their positions without offending the other side too much.

After the bath Yennefer was able to see his injuries better, and they were more insignificant than she thought, his injuries were not a big deal, he could be treated easily and would recover quickly, after the treatment he would return to the same physical state as yesterday.

Chanting her spell Yennefer began to treat his wounds, and after a short time he was already in a physical state very similar to before he had gone adventuring alone, she helped him get dressed in the clothes she had previously prepared.

Yennefer was avoiding him as much as possible from any physical effort for fear that he would open the wounds again, so she helped him throughout the dressing process, after finishing everything she called the maids once again, she ordered them to remove the bathtub and asked if his lunch was ready.

The maids informed them that lunch was already ready, but they didn't want to disturb the shower, so they didn't have the courage to interrupt them, the maid asked if she should set the table for the two to eat.

"No need to set the table, you can bring our food to my room, enjoy and bring the best bottle of wine we have to accompany lunch", the maids made a small bow showing that they intended, they went to do as they were ordered as fast as they could.

They took out all the things that were used in the bath, then prepared a small table for the two of them and brought their lunch along with a bottle of wine and two glasses.

Kakashi and Yennefer ate in complete silence, they didn't say a single word, Kakashi didn't really like alcohol, but he drank a glass of wine while Yennefer almost finished the bottle alone, she was stressed with everything that happened that day so she needed to drink, Yennefer barely touched her food, she just bit the meat and ate some of the side dish, leaving most of it on her plate.

Kakashi on the other hand was hungry, a child is constantly hungry even more so after that extensive physical exercise he did, he felt even more hungry, so he cleaned his plate, he knew there was no point in being stressed about something that was going to happen anyway. .

After the meal they looked at each other for a while Yennefer called a maid to collect everything, and then sat down facing Kakashi, she had already mentally prepared herself for the conversation the two would have.

After they collected their lunch items and when they were ready to say goodbye, Yennefer caught their attention once again, "I'm not receiving anyone today, even Beau will have to wait until tomorrow to talk, let him know I have something important thing to do," they nodded and left Yennefer's room.

Yennefer returned her gaze to observe Kakashi who was in front of her, "Now that we are alone, could you explain to me why you put yourself in danger again?", realizing that he would finally have to talk to her, Kakashi knew that the best way to deal with the situation would be to impose himself, while he told the truth, Kakashi knew he couldn't let Yennefer have all the control in the discussion.

"I could say I did it to help you clear your name of the kidnapping charges, but that wouldn't be the complete truth," he then looked straight into her eyes and showed that he wouldn't deceive her, "I'm sorry, Yen, but I actually did this for my own satisfaction, I wouldn't let a bunch of kids suffer if I could do something to help them, you can call me an idiot for risking my life for other people I don't know, but that's how I am."

Kakashi was a sarcastic, funny and lonely guy, but he was a person who helped people who needed his help, even when he didn't gain anything from it he did these stupid acts of kindness in many of his missions, he did with Tazuna, even when he tricked his Konoha by hiring a simple escort service, instead of hiring the protection service most Jonin would refuse to put themselves in danger against a powerful ninja like Zabuza, to protect people he doesn't know.

Yennefer knew what Kakashi was like, he always showed that he had a big heart, he was kind and gentle, he always helped people when he could, if it wasn't for his kindness and gentleness she probably wouldn't be here, as for most other people , he would leave her behind and try to save his own life instead of trying to help a complete stranger, but even knowing that, it didn't lessen his anger.

"And shall I congratulate you on that?" Kakashi simply slumped his shoulders at Yennefer's blatant sarcasm, "I didn't do it to gain your recognition."

Kakashi knew she was upset, that's why Yennefer was acting the way she did, "Yen, I don't know what to tell you, you're defensive, so everything I say you'll disregard and think I'm lying, so are you left me in a difficult position here," his words had little impact on Yennefer's troubled feelings.

"How about you start by telling me why you tricked me", Yennefer was more aggressive than usual with Kakashi, she rarely got mad at him, and every time it happened it was for the same reason, which was when he risked his life to save others people, she tried to change this way several times, but always failed, he always gave her that comforting smile and joked that she was worrying too much.

Yennefer didn't have much to continue the discussion since Kakashi was never seriously injured so her words didn't have much weight, but this time was different he had been seriously injured a short time ago and hadn't been able to fully recover, but even without being cured, he put himself in danger again and that was the last straw for his frustration in this matter.

Observing her reactions, Kakashi knew he couldn't leave this discussion without telling the truth without hiding anything, he would have to tell Yennefer what he was feeling, "Do you know why I didn't warn you about this matter, it was because I know you would do anything to stop me from trying to save these boys", his response infuriated her a little, he was trying to blame her for his lie.

"Of course I would have stopped you, Kakashi, you almost died in my hands the day before, you know how desperate I was when I saw the state of your health at that moment, I was very afraid of losing and being alone again, and before If you could recover, you risked yourself once again for people you don't even know!", said Yennefer, increasing her tone of voice, she was letting her feelings show.

She was very emotional when she remembered that scene when she regained consciousness, Kakashi, the only person important to her, was injured and bleeding everywhere, the possibility of her losing him that day was very real, she had never felt that feeling, it was something so bad that she didn't even know how to explain it properly.

Looking at her, Kakashi noticed her emotional state, "Yen, you are treating me like a child, I made this decision aware of its possible consequences, I knew that nothing bad would happen to me", he then made a small pause and his expression and voice softened.

Enraged by his actions, Yennefer couldn't help herself, "You don't want me to treat you like a child, but you're acting exactly like a child" she shouted angrily at him.

Realizing what she did, she took a deep breath and calmed down a little, "Kakashi, you didn't think properly about the consequences of your actions, it wouldn't be just you who would suffer from his death and wouldn't know what to do, I spent my life looking for someone special to me and when I meet him I spend less than two days with him, and that person dies, how do you think I would feel without you in this world?", she said the last part in the tone a little lower than the normal, but Kakashi heard his voice well.

Yennefer tried to contain her feelings but she failed so standing up angrily she glared at him, "Kakashi tell me what I would have done if you had died or been seriously injured?", she shouted her speech at the same time as small Drops of tears formed in her eyes.

Trying once again to calm down so that the argument wouldn't escalate even further, but doing so was difficult, her feelings were out of control, she had been through a lot in the last two days, Yennefer knew that if she lost her rationality it would be more difficult for her to care and make him change his mind, so she tried to calm down.

Sighing softly she continued "Kakashi I know you don't like that I'm being overprotective of you, but you have to understand that I only have you", she then raised her head and looked at him with eyes full of tenderness, some tears were flowing for your face.

"When I woke up from the world of illusion, and my memories started to come back to me, I changed completely, I had a very long life without knowing what it was like to have someone who truly loved you, someone who valued me above others, a person who didn't would betray me and would stay by my side even if I became deformed again and lost my powers", she paused for a moment to reorganize her emotions.

Yennefer took it in her hands "I know that this is an innocent desire, that it is almost impossible for a person to find someone who loves them for who they are, and who is not exclusively interested in their appearance, money or power."

She continued her little speech showing more and more feelings "That's why you are so precious to me, you were the only one who loved me and stayed with me even when I was a freak and had nothing, you were the only one who saw something in me of value, Kakashi you saw something that I didn't see in myself" more tears escaped from her eyes without her noticing.

Wiping the tears from her eyes, Kakashi then lifted her face so she could look into his eyes, then giving a small smile.

"Yen, I know I'm wrong for deceiving you, but we both know that you would never have agreed to me letting myself be kidnapped, and I didn't have time to convince you that this would be the best path to take", he felt guilty for putting her in tears.

Kakashi shook her hands passing his warmth and caress to her, "You were always an incredible person, few people would have endured what you endured, even after suffering so much you still had hope of finding a precious person, that hopeful attitude of yours shows how special you are and I'm glad I met you", he said looking at her.

Giving Yennefer a reassuring smile he continued, "Yen, you are a very valuable person, underneath that authoritative and sarcastic way of yours, you are the most caring person I know, few people would be willing to do what you do for the precious people of your life"

Yennefer recovered and spoke again, "You showed me how good life can be when shared with someone important, and I don't know what I would do if I lost that, when I'm with you I feel like a better person, when we're together I feel like nothing It's impossible, I wouldn't know what to do if I lost you."

Kakashi felt even more guilty and it showed on his face, "I'm sorry Yen, I won't deceive you anymore, when a matter like this comes up again I'll let you know, I won't act alone again."

"You know, Kakashi, the worst part was that you didn't tell me anything and put yourself in danger by hiding the truth from me, it made me feel like you didn't really trust me", Yennefer showed her true feelings and it could be that the alcohol was speaking louder, but she felt like venting about everything.

Realizing that the argument was finally coming to an end, Kakashi spoke, "Yes, I know I made a mistake and I won't do it again."

Yennefer also wanted to end this discussion, in fact she was embarrassed, she didn't know why but she cried like a child for the first time in many years, and this made her embarrassed so she wanted to end the matter as quickly as possible.

"It's okay Kakashi, I overreacted. I also know that I have to trust you more, but even though it's difficult I will try to do everything possible, so that you no longer have to hold back around me and can be honest about everything", Yennefer, was even more willing to set up her plan of action with the Djin, she would connect her destiny with his to always find out if he was okay, so that she could always know where he would be.

Since Kakashi deceived her, Yennefer also felt free to deceive him once, even if she felt guilty about it, his choice to always put himself in danger made her take these drastic actions.

They talked a little more about the subject and ended the discussion, then she sat on the bed and asked him to lie down next to her.

"It looks like I'll have to update you on what happened yesterday, the other one you told me more about your past, I hope you don't mind", she said wanting to talk about something else with him.

"I already know about this, when my clone disappears I recover most of the memory and information he obtained", he spoke a little more about his abilities with her, revealing even more information to her.

They talked a little, they became even closer and more open than ever, their conversation was going very well, Kakashi was already planning how he would help Yennefer overcome her traumas and difficulties he would make her open up to him, so that he could help her recover from her traumas.

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The five men finally arrived at the bandits' hiding place, and when they managed to see what happened they were horrified by the scene, the youngest of the group, who had never seen so many deaths, almost vomited what he had eaten that day, but he managed to recover.

The place was covered with decapitated bodies, the men's faces showed confusion and horror they died without being able to defend themselves, they searched the place and counted the number of dead, they noticed the cave and decided that two of them would have to go and check if there was something in the cave.

After some time of investigation, the two returned with the exact number of victims, and reported that there was no longer any sign of life in the place, they looked for precious objects in the place and in the bodies of the bandits, they were unable to find much since the valuable objects and money have already been collected by Kakashi.

They only found some coins and some objects on the bodies of the bandits that Kakashi did not search, they also collected the weapons and kept them and went towards the city of Rinde to report the events.

When they returned to the Baron's house to report what they discovered, they saw Ambassador Beau with him, "Sir, we have just arrived and checked the kidnappers' hideout."

The Baron turned his gaze to them, "Why did you all come back? I would only need one of you to report the events, the others should have stayed in place, guarding the prisoners and looking for the criminals who escaped", he asked with a look sternly at them.

"Sir, there is nothing to investigate in that place, there was no criminal to be arrested, and from what we found, no criminal managed to escape from that place", the guard reported respectfully, he knew there was no one in that place.

Confused by the information he received, the Baron asked them to report what they saw, "Sir, we found real carnage at the scene, most of the corpses at the scene were decapitated, some others showed clear signs of torture, from the evidence we discovered this was done with the aim of punishing criminals."

"How many bodies were there?" Beau asked, interrupting the two.

When they saw that scene at the place they were scared, they counted all the corpses and had to take the severed parts of their bodies, the guards also took what was valuable from their bodies and then put them in the small hut, they didn't want to attract monsters and beasts to the place, as they would have to return when the Baron decided, and it would be better to avoid possible unnecessary fights.

"Sir, there were more than 15, almost 20 criminals in total", the Baron was startled by the number of criminals.

However, he was more focused on knowing what had happened in that place, "How many of those dead were criminals?"

"All the dead were criminals, sir."

"What do you mean they were all criminals? Does this mean that the group that rescued the children had no casualties?", the Baron did not believe that a single child would have managed to kill so many men, that was scary to think about even in this time of violence and atrocities, so he preferred to believe that he had help from adults.

The leader of the five could understand the horror that the Baron was feeling, it was the same as he felt when he discovered that there was no fight, the criminals were simply killed like animals going to slaughter, they didn't have the slightest chance of escaping or defending themselves, combining that with the blood-covered boy they found earlier who could have done this, was really scary.

"Sir, there was no group that fought against the bandits, they were simply killed without being able to resist, there was no battle or anything like that, they were simply slaughtered like animals, and the five of us believe that it was just by one person, we suspect that whoever did it that was the boy who was covered in blood that we found halfway", those present still didn't want to believe it, even though they had the evidence in front of them.

Beau remained silent, not knowing what he could say in this situation, his situation wasn't very good either since that boy was in his house, and he could even be accused of bringing something dangerous to the city, this situation could end his life and plans, he then began to think of a way out of his situation.

After thinking about a possibility, the Baron, who was already a man a little advanced in age and experienced, asked: "Were the criminals killed while they slept?" This was the only possibility he considered possible for a boy to have killed so many men adults, but to their surprise this possibility was denied by the guards.

"We believe that the first ones would have been taken by surprise, but the majority were already with weapons drawn and ready for battle when they died, we don't know how this was possible, but they died without being able to react, the place showed no signs of a recent battle , showed only signs of deaths all over the place," he paused briefly.

"And besides the footprints of the bandits and the children, we only found the footprints of the women, but they only passed by the place after everything was over," the room was silent for a while, they didn't know how to solve this problem at the same time as everyone feared the boy, and also thanked him for protecting and saving all those who were kidnapped.

The fear was overwhelming, so they wanted to find anything that would lead them to believe that it wasn't just a boy who had done all this, he then remembered the women they found, and the Baron's own grandchildren who were rescued.

Sending for them, the Baron wanted to know more information about who was really there, when they arrived they reported everything they had experienced and how they were rescued from the place.

After listening to the children, they calmed down a little, they realized that the boy's main objective was to save the captives, he didn't do anything for pleasure or satisfaction, the boy did what he thought was necessary to save the victims from the kidnappers, which left them a little less apprehensive about the situation.

Baron still wanted to know more about the boy, even if he was doing something good, someone with these abilities was very dangerous and could put the lives of the city's residents at risk, so he turned to Beau for more answers.

"Beau, my good friend, could you tell me more about that boy who is residing in your house?", Beau also didn't know what to talk about, he didn't know what to say about the boy since he didn't know him.

Turning his gaze to the Baron, Beau he said, "I'm sorry, Albert, but I don't know the boy, he was brought by my guest Yennefer a little while ago, so I haven't had time to meet him yet."

Baron didn't want to believe this, so he became suspicious of Beau, "So I ask you, my old friend, to find out more about the boy and then report to me what you discovered."

Beau nodded in confirmation, "I'll do my best to find out more about him, you can rest assured Albert."

They talked a little more then said goodbye, the Baron would observe the residents of Beau's house more closely looking for any dangerous situation, while Beau prepared to have a conversation with Kakashi and Yennefer.