Blame It All on Me. Part 1

Chapter 7. It Must Be Silly

Besides, he didn't know her age – she didn't look older than eighteen, but what if she was even younger? Even six years was already a significant gap...

"And?" Arina asked.

"Hmm?"

"Well... is it silly?" she looked away, but almost immediately looked back at him.

"Not at all," Kakashi smiled with his eyes. Then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. "Everything is exactly as it should be."

Too well, in fact...

Arina shivered slightly.

"So, Fero or... Tekiro – did he tell the truth?.."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi frowned slightly. He couldn't help but remember the night he was treating her scrapes after that unsuccessful escape. And he still didn't want to admit that Tekiro could be right about anything.

"Well, when he said that you reserved me for yourself..."

"No, he was wrong. I never 'reserved' you. And, moreover, I would never do what he was trying to do. And if you hadn't told me... I don't think I would have forced things myself. I couldn't even guess..." Kakashi stroked her cheek with his knuckles, looking at her with undisguised tenderness.

The girl blushed, remembering her blunder. To confess her feelings to a man, first... even if by accident... Yes, she did 'well', no doubt!

☙ ❦ ❧

Without Tekiro and after mutual confession, the journey became, if not pure pleasure, but definitely much more enjoyable: it really began to seem more like a prolonged date.

And although Kakashi, with all his desire, could not have extended the journey longer than necessary, delays were inevitable, as when Arina finally begged that she needed to refresh her clothes somehow.

They stopped by a lake. Initially, Kakashi planned only a brief stop to have a snack, but after the girl's request, he decided to stay there for the night so that they would have the opportunity to dry things. Kakashi had a change of clothes with him, but it was already in use and he could not offer it to the girl, so instead he decided to wash it so that he could change clothes later without hindrance.

After finishing with washing, Kakashi was sitting on the shore and was reading "Icha-Icha", taking advantage of the fact that Arina was not around. Or rather, he was trying to read: the girl was splashing in the lake and he was constantly glancing in her direction. He himself had already managed to bathe: it took the girl much longer than him to wash up her clothes beforehand.

It was nearing to evening. During the day, the water in the lake heated up and it was lukewarm.

At some point, after taking a few short sharp breaths, Arina spread herself on the water surface and, before Kakashi could decently look away from the intriguingly exposed part of her body, she abruptly bent in her torso and submerged – only her feet flashed above the water.

Kakashi looked with renewed interest: apparently, the girl possessed quite extraordinary swimming skills. Where from, he wondered. And these were not ninja skills – those, as a rule, used brute force in situations like this – that were not related to basic skills. Effective, but not too elegant. In this case it was genuine mastery. She must have been born and raised somewhere on the coast.

Soon his interest turned to concern: the moment Arina plunged into the water, a countdown turned on in his head by itself – an old and, generally, quite useful habit. And now almost two minutes have passed, and the girl still had not appeared on the surface. Anxiety quickly turned to panic, Kakashi threw the book aside and rushed into the water, in the blink of an eye swimming to where she could theoretically be, taking into account her trajectory under water, and dived after her.

When he surfaced, he was already holding Arina firmly in his arms. The girl alternated coughing with convulsive gasps for air. However, when she cleared her throat and caught her breath, instead of thanking him, she nearly attacked him with her fists:

"What have you done? I almost drowned!"

"What I have done? I didn't let you drown!"

"Let me go! I dived while holding my breath! And you knocked me off and made me swallow water!"

"Well you should warn about such things!!" Kakashi finally lost his nerve. However, he did not let go of her.

"I... I didn't know myself that I could do this..." Arina was instantly confused, ending her struggle. "Somehow it happened on its own... I inhaled several times and set off..."

"Are you a pearl diver or something? Where did such skills come from?" Kakashi arched his eyebrows in confusion: nothing else just came to mind. At that moment, all his effort was directed on not looking below the level of her eyes: he had just realized again that the girl was not dressed.

"I don't know," Arina shook her head. "One thing I can say for sure: I can swim – and dive too..."

"I noticed that," Kakashi grimaced. "Right, I have to get out: can't breathe properly in this wet mask."

"Well, why don't you take it off then," Arina suggested casually, deciding that the situation was settled and it was time to go in a different direction. She put one hand on his shoulder seductively and pretended to reach out for the mask herself.

"I'll take it off, but later," Kakashi replied unexpectedly sharply.

Releasing the girl, he turned away hurriedly and swam to the shore, lowering the mask with relief. He got out of the water and disappeared into the woods.

Arina watched him leave with disappointment: was he offended or something?.. She then also moved towards the shore. She didn't feel like swimming anymore.

☙ ❦ ❧

Kakashi wasn't offended.

Wringing out his wet clothes, he began to reason why it bothered him so much. So he was mistaken – no big deal. Did not expect such skills from this, what's there to hide, seemingly completely helpless girl... Then he realized he was annoyed by his own reaction. The way he got utterly terrified.

It would be unfair to say that the very feeling of fear and concern for someone was unfamiliar to him, but he had practically no reason for such a reaction for a long time. And he was fine with that. And then there she was. By voicing his feelings for her, he took on more than her protection until they dealt with her situation. Was he ready to get attached to someone this much?.. After all, a long time ago he decided that he had had enough...

Besides, he couldn't help but wonder what would happen when – he had no doubt about it – she remembers everything and would want to reunite with her family. Did she have someone special? Given her possible affiliation with the Hofu temple, it is likely that she did not. But what will happen to them? Would she, theoretically, want to stay with him? Bind herself to a shinobi, whose lifetime could be very brief. He was considered lucky, but any luck had its limit.

Kakashi hit himself on the forehead: mere hours since they first kissed, and he had already predicted almost their entire future life. Still not knowing anything about the girl.

He began to doubt the appropriateness of his actions again. He shouldn't have answered her then. He should have pretended that he didn't understand. But no, he just couldn't restrain himself. And now there was no turning back. Or?..