Hatake Kakashi: Fascination

Hatake Kakashi: Fascination: Part X

“Oriko, I’ll see you for training as usual tomorrow, 9 o’clock,”

“Hai, see you tomorrow,” She waved gently, as she turned to walk away from them, glad to get back to her own house and her own space.   As she eventually made it inside, kicking off her zori she fell onto the sofa with a soft thump, welcoming the peace.

She woke up a short time later, guessing that she must have fallen asleep, the natural light was a lot lower than when she first sat down, but it wasn’t completely dark; she found her feet and decide that a quick shower before going to find something to eat would be the best option. 

As she left her small apartment, her mind couldn’t help but drift back to Raiga and why he wanted to kidnap her; she wasn’t as strong as the other shinobi in the village, so that made her an obvious target – but surely that would also mean that she was less valuable to capture….

 That too, however, meant that her thoughts drifted back to her considerations of defecting.  Her eyes drifted around the scenes in front of her – the peaceful ambiance of the village, the (mostly) friendly people and the sense of contentment that Konoha seemed to give her, she wouldn’t easily be able to say good bye to.

What would there really be for me to defect? I wouldn’t have easy access to libraries and information to learn new jutsus and other general shinobi know-how…There really is very little I could possible gain from leaving…I at least need to get to a higher level, to the point where Konoha holds nothing for me other than these peaceful streets… that’s when leaving will mean something to me.  

Oriko still wasn’t sure what part of her wanted to leave, or why, but she couldn’t deny that it was there…she also wondered why Kakashi hadn’t said anything to Tsunade about their conversation over it, whatever the reason, she knew that it would take some serious work to rebuild whatever trust Kakashi placed in her, if only to convince him that she wasn’t about to defect.

Sighing gently to herself, she passed by a small ramen shop by the name of Ichiraku’s, and decided that she may as well try some,

“Hello,”

“Ah, hello there, what can I get for you?” The old man smiled politely at her, as she took a seat,

“Uh…a miso ramen please,” He smiled and turned his back to begin making the noodles,

“I don’t believe we’ve met before, I don’t recognize, you, my name is Teuchi,” he smiled over his shoulder, which Oriko matched,

“Nice to meet you, Teuchi-san, my name is Oriko,”

“Are you a shinobi?” He questioned, remembering seeing the shuriken pouches on her legs,

“Uh, yes actually, though I’ve only been training for a short time,”

“Hmm,” He nodded in understanding, “Who is your sensei?”

“Kakashi,”

“Oh ho, he is a very skilled shinobi,” Although Oriko couldn’t see, she could hear the smile in his voice.

“Yeah…” They remained in silence for a little while, with the occasional noise of Teuchi making her meal, but eventually set in down in front of her, she ate quickly and although ramen wasn’t her favourite meal, she surprised herself at how much she enjoyed it.  “Thank you Teuchi-san,”

She bowed politely as she set the money on the table and turned to leave his small shop, lifted the half-curtains out of the way.  The moon was full and it smiled gently down on Konoha, with clouds following it closely, the brilliant while of half the clouds and the moon contrasted perfectly with the dark shadows of them as well as the inky-black sky; with the occasional beacons of light showing the positions of the stars.