Tenzou felt himself flooded with an unexpected warmth of feeling at the smile and the words it accompanied. It was an expression he'd almost given up on seeing again, given their separate paths and it struck him then, just how much the depth of Kakashi's understanding meant.

There was no one else that knew how he had battled with the change in environments then and no one but his former captain could quite grasp his current distress now. He wanted nothing more than to fulfil the Hokage's wishes, but his first request had felt like an almost insurmountable task, until now.

Tenzou found himself suddenly very grateful for running into Kakashi after all..

He tried valiantly to suppress the feeling from showing in his face, but his cheeks flushed lightly all the same and Tenzou ducked his head to the task of saving his meal, a helpless chuckle bubbling in his throat.

"Ah, stop making sense, Senpai! You're putting me to shame.."

He couldn't meet the other man's eye yet and fussed with the selection of vegetables before replying in a softer tone.

"I do though, I want that very much.."