Hatake Kakashi: Fascination

Hatake Kakashi: Fascination: Part IV

|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part IV] ||

--

Oriko awoke early, and feeling surprisingly well, although she didn’t drink much, her system wasn’t used to alcohol, having not drunken any for well over a month.  As she got out of bed and readied herself for the day, she noted the time to be half-past ten – not too bad for a day off. 

Oriko decided, having already left her apartment, that it would be better for her to physically exercise her body in the morning, then allow it time to rest whilst she exercised her mind… although she could feel a sense of laziness, and wondered if she could take the afternoon off. 

As she walked through the village, deciding to take an alternate route, seeing no need to rush, she meandered through the narrow streets passing many shops and stalls.  Coming across a small stall selling fresh bento boxes she picked one up in preparation for later (as well as a can of her favourite peach juice) and continued on her walk – an indirect route to the training grounds.  Eventually making it to her destination and in finding a quiet spot, she set down her bento box and allowed herself a few moments of quiet meditation to clear her mind before she began training.

After more than two and a half hours, she’d practiced her taijutsu, chakra control and moulding, stamina tests and shuriken and kunai throwing.  She was exhausted, lying on the ground while taking deep breaths tying to ignore the fatigue in her muscles, I guess my stamina’s not up to much, then…she thought, suddenly feeling somewhat disappointed in herself, thinking that she should not be so tired out, yet. 

After what she guessed was about fifteen minutes, she again felt almost back to normal, her breathing was easier and her muscles and joints were no longer screaming, as she rose to her feet.  Walking a few paces, to make sure that her feet were up to the task, she began to from hand seals and mould her chakra, running through the long list of jutsus which she knew, before eventually turning to practice with her own jutsu. 

Again, a few hours had passed and she was not as tired physically as before, but she was beset by a deep fatigue, which told her that it was definitely now time to stop her physical exercise.  She turned to walk back over to the tree where her lunch was located and sat back down; even after the short walk, her body was already gratified by the restful feeling of being off her feet.  She picked up her lunchbox slowly, thinking that she would indeed go to the library and begin reading up on genjutsu – after lunch and a decent rest, of course.

Oriko opened her bento box and was about to snap apart the chopsticks included when a small clapping sound reached her ears – in looking up, she spotted a familiar form with a goofy grin on his face.

“Well done, Oriko, I see Kakashi isn’t exaggerating in his high praise of you,” Iruka spoke as he walked forward towards her, eliciting a small blush and an expression of nervousness from the kuniochi.

“Uh… w-well, I don’t know about that,” She responded weakly, resenting Iruka’s words – taking them to mean something nasty, or mocking… even though she wasn’t quite sure how that could quite be the case.

“Of course you are, you have some serious talent,” He commented again, now stood right in front of her, “Do you mind if I sit down?”

“N-no go for it,” Oriko replied, suddenly feeling put-off her lunch,

“Was that last jutsu you used your own? I didn’t recognize it,” Although she could have answered in monotone, she felt the need to ask him something and in the process ignored his question,

“What are you doing here?”

“I came to do some training myself, but spotted you,” The tiniest hint of a blush of his own finding its way to his cheeks as his smile returned, she looked over to him, her reservations clearly evident on her face.