"Then we're back to the first point," Arina said with frustration, taking advantage of Kakashi's momentary lapse and pushing him away. She turned onto her side, hugging herself and staring ahead. "No past, no present... and no future. I'm just a nobody. I'm a stranger here... I'll never truly belong..." She shivered.
Kakashi looked at her, clenching his teeth in agony. Then, cautiously, he reached out and touched her shoulder. Arina flinched at his touch and raised herself on the elbow.
"I... I think I'll be going home," she said, sitting up and wiping her completely dry eyes. She looked devastated and lost. "Thank you... And... I'm sorry for everything..."
Instead of a response, Kakashi pulled her close to him. Arina, stunned for a moment, suddenly seemed to drop the remnants of her courage and burst into tears, curling up and becoming even smaller than she was.
"I'll never see them again..." Kakashi managed to discern amidst her sobs. He closed his eyes wistfully and held her tighter, feeling the familiar heavy sensation in his chest. He couldn't ease her pain, but he felt it with her.
They sat like that for quite a while. Kakashi pulled the girl onto his lap and held her in his arms, gently swaying her as if she were a child, pressing his face against the top of her head. He didn't even attempt to say anything anymore – it was pointless. Besides, what could he, someone who had spent most of his life without a family at all, say in this situation? If the obvious was out of the question. And this was what made a turmoil brew inside him: why did Arina persistently refuse to consider him when addressing her life here, especially after everything they had been through together? Even if only as a friend?
Arina gradually calmed down and finally wiped her eyes with the tissues provided foresightedly by Kakashi. For a while, she simply lay quietly in his arms, as if resigning herself to the fact that he wouldn't be letting her go.
Kakashi, at the same time, was unable to calm down and finally, against his better judgment, dared to ask:
"Arina, tell me, why don't you want to accept me?"
His direct question made the girl nervous again. She tried to free herself, but Kakashi held onto her firmly.
"Why should I necessarily have to 'accept' you?" she grumbled then. "I haven't even seen your face! How am I supposed to feel about someone who doesn't trust me enough to show their face?"
"Is that all? No problem!" Kakashi responded with unexpected readiness, removing the fabric from his face. However, at this point Arina instantly shut her eyes, turned away, and in addition put her hands in front of her.
"No, don't!" she protested in panic. She had actually expected that her argument would disarm him instead.
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For a moment Kakashi studied her fingers, frozen mere centimetres away from his face, as if contemplating something. Then suddenly, he leaned forward and touched them with his lips.
