|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part III] ||
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Oriko had just stepped out of the shower and felt much fresher, it was still early evening and had been about an hour since she said good bye to Kakashi and was preparing to eat dinner. She felt like sticky rice, fried beef and dumplings– a weird combination but her taste-buds were competitive things and they were all as complex as each other.
As she began to steam the rice and the dumplings, she placed the beef medallions on the hot pan (which were bought frozen) and also put on a pot of green tea, mulling over how she would spend her night. Kakashi’s kind words on her performance and her slight pride at not loosing as badly as she did last time, she wondered if she could spend a night not studying. Although she knew that some work would have to be done, she reckoned that she could afford a beer or two at the local bar.
There would be no age restriction on her and staying in every evening was beginning to get a little boring. She’d been on a few missions and although they didn’t pay handsomely, she could afford one night out. Her dinner finished cooking and she sat lightly on the edge of her sofa woofing down her meal, realizing just how hungry she was, not noticing that it had been almost seven hours since she ate last.
Eventually, after a great deal of procrastination as her apprehension about going to a bar alone in a town of people who were ostensibly strangers to her, having not really made friends with anyone other than Izumi and Kakashi, almost got the better of her. Izumi was too young to drink and Kakashi really didn’t look like the bar frequenting socialite she’d find drinking a beer after a hard days reading. But then, she assumed he’d be the type of man to be something of a surprise when he felt like it and whatever that surprise might be he would have perfect timing.
As she wandered down the street with an easy gait, in her baggy-ish thin trousers and a light, well-fitting three-quarter length sleeved shirt dark purple with a semi-floral pattern and a plain, almost diminutive waistcoat over the top. The evening air was warm and the walk pleasant as it wasn’t quite dark yet, but another half hour and it probably would be. She eventually made it to the bar and wandered in, it wasn’t too busy, which Oriko was grateful for and she made her way over to the bar, having spotted a number of quiet tables which she could choose to sit at.
“Hi there, what can I get you?” The barman asked kindly,
“A bottle of Asahi, please,” He nodded and turned to fetch a bottle as she pulled out the appropriate money,
“There you go,” They exchanged a ‘good’ for money and she walked away with a beer in hand, feeling a touch more relaxed as she lowered herself into a seat in the corner taking a swig of beer, surprised at her pleasure from looking over the room at random shinobi and civilians all sat drinking, laughing and looking at ease. It didn’t take long for her to feel comfortable enough to pull out a pencil, rubber and small notebook that she carried around with her and set the sharp nib of the pencil down and allowed it to move as whatever seemed most natural.
She wasn’t paying any attention to her surroundings, enjoying her little corner of privacy in a crowded room her pencil tracing lightly the shapes of the images in her head as she occasionally reached out to take a swig from the bottle. Her drawing was nearly complete, as it spanned two pages, she reached out for the bottle, finally lifting her eyes from the page and tilting the bottle back, her disappointment evident as she found it to be empty.
“F-damn,” She half-swore quietly, rolling her eyes at the bottle, while gearing herself up to go and get another drink when one appeared in front of her, accompanied by a gloved hand. “W-Kakashi? What?” She muttered in mild surprise, unsure of his actions,
“You looked as though you were all out,”
“Uh, yea, I was just about to go and buy another one… why are you here?” She asked, not quite meaning to pose the question as awkwardly as Kakashi’s one viable eye showed – with a droop of exasperation,
“I’m not a hermit, Oriko,” He stated, his voice mirroring his eye but with an undertone of slight amusement, pushing the small bottle of Asahi towards her, “I do come here occasionally for a drink-”
“So this is your new protégé, Kakashi, where you been hidin’ her?” A voice from the gloom behind them took them both by surprise as a man, who looked to be roughly Kakashi’s age appeared, with an obvious scar across his nose.
“Uh...w-” She began to stutter, protégé? What was that supposed to mean?
“Iruka, you’re here, as well?” Kakashi began, ignoring both Iruka’s comment and Oriko’s stuttering, “Iruka, this is Oriko, my student,” Kakashi’s bored revere immediately returned,
“Very glad to meet you,” Iruka addressed her, flashing a warm smile in her direction and bowing gently out of respect; Oriko, suddenly feeling uncomfortable and unsure of how to react to being treated in such a fashion, semi-rose to her feet and half bowed to Iruka. Unable to resist shooting a look at Kakashi – whose eye seemed to hold a small twinkle of amusement, she could help but frown slightly at him.
“Would you like to join us for a drink, Oriko?” Iruka asked, surprising her a little,
“Uh…wel-I dunno,” She replied weakly, looking between Kakashi and Iruka, unsure of how to respond,
“Come on,” Iruka stated, grabbing her bottle of beer and walking away a few steps before turning back with an encouraging smile, she fully rose to her feet and stuffed her notebook, pencil and rubber back into her pouch before following Iruka, momentarily ignoring Kakashi, who followed soon after. Iruka walked up to a small table with two other shinobi sat at the table looking at the three walking up to them,
“Iruka, you’ve picked someone up already?” The woman at the table called, eliciting a small blush from Iruka, who looked over at Oriko apologetically,
“No, Anko, I haven’t ‘picked her up’, this is Kakashi’s new student,” He explained again in his polite, diminutive tone,
“Oh, right…that’s what you were doing over there,” She guessed, as Iruka placed the bottle of beer on the table and he pulled over a stood for Oriko to sit on, “Nice to meet you, I’m Mitarashi Anko,” She grinned happily,
“Nice to meet you too, I’m Oriko,” She smiled back, feebly, bobbing her head in politeness, feeling a little unsure of herself as she took a seat, the trainee-kuniochi felt suddenly very little; literally and proverbially. Both in being sat next to Kakashi and being sat at a table with her sensei and his ‘mates’; it was a rather surreal feeling.
“No family name?” Anko pushed,
“T-that is my family name,” From the looks on the faces around her, that took everyone by surprise, she hadn’t really wanted to tell anyone that fact but she couldn’t help but wonder what the reaction would be;
“Then what is your given name?” Kakashi interrupted Anko as Oriko turned to face him, eyeing him carefully not wanting to tell him her name, she kept silent; her intentions to keep it to herself was written all over her face and body language, Kakashi stared back, determined to find out.
“I’m Sarutobi Asuma,” The final member of the group spoke and in doing so disrupted the silent conversation between Oriko and Kakashi, something he did with a friendly smile on his face and a fag between his lips,
“Oh yea,” Kakashi began tearing his attention from the woman beside him, not giving her a chance to respond to his greeting, “Where’s Kurenai?”
“Hmm? Oh she’s on a mission with her genin,” He replied, pouring out sake into each of the three cups on the table, Iruka being the other beer drinker of the group.
Oriko sat quietly between Kakashi and Iruka, feeling a touch uncomfortable, Iruka, Anko, Kakashi and Asuma were all engaged in their own conversations respectively, although it was vaguely amusing from Oriko’s point of view, for Anko and Iruka’s conversation was fluid and lively, whereas Asuma seemed to have to put in quite some effort to drag answers out of Kakashi. Oriko took a sheepish sip of her beer, as Asuma turned his attention to her,
“So, I hear that you nearly kicked Kakashi’s ass today,” He grinned, teasing his friend, who gave no obvious response,
“Uh… well, I still lost and it was really a near win…” She offered, a little quietly, stealing a glance at Kakashi, “But I lost less badly that I did last,” She joked, a small smile making its way to her lips, which Asuma easily returned,
“But think about it, you been training as a shinobi for a month and a half, without the benefit of the academy… so, I’ll drink to your health and success,” He jovially rejoined, raising his cup of sake to his lips, and Oriko matched with taking another swig of beer.
“Ah yes, Oriko, how are you settling into a shinobi lifestyle? I trust Kakashi is teaching you well,” Iruka interrupted, drawing her attention away from Asuma and towards himself,
“Uh…well, yea, I suppose so,” She could help but stutter back, not really wanting to suggest that Kakashi didn’t really teach her much at all;
“Why don’t you look so sure?” Anko teased, flashing her own eyes to Kakashi, presumably hoping to elicit a response out of him, but to little avail,
“Uh, well, I think shinobi skills and techniques are primarily things which need to be learned yourself,” She offered, hoping to have nicely covered the issue, but a sudden laughter from Anko and Asuma, as well a cheeky smile from Iruka told her all she needed to know,
“I assume that means Kakashi just sits and reads his book, eh? Ha-ha-ha!” Anko continued, causing a mild blush to creep to Oriko’s cheeks in shame, she didn’t quite mean to show Kakashi up like that.
“Uh, I’m going to get another drink, would anyone like one?” Oriko questioned, changing the subject politely, while she tried to find her feet,
“I’ll get it,” The kind voice of Iruka interrupted, “Would you like another Asahi?”
“…N-nah, it’s alright,” She responded, “I’m happy to get them,” Iruka grabbed her wrist, halting her movement,
“Please, you are our guest,” His innocent smile taking her attention, as he found his feet, “I insist! Another bottle of Asahi?”
“Yea, please,” She gave in, “Would you like some help?” He nodded
“Three more little bottles of Sake?” He questioned, his eyes falling over the three Jounin surrounding him, all three of whom nodding in response. Iruka and Oriko walked away towards the bar, the room a little busier than it had been before,
“Three bottles of sake and two bottle of Asahi, please,” Iruka asked the barman, before turning to Oriko while pulling his wallet out of his pouch, “Do you know what your plans are for the future? Would you like to be a teacher? ANBU? Normal Jounin? Medic nin?” He questioned, his attention now fully focused on her,
“Hmm, I’m not sure yet… probably a Jounin or ANBU; I don’t have the heart for medicine – or children!” She quipped quickly, semi-shuddering at the thought, earning a breath of laughter from him;
“Well, it’s good to have an idea of what you want - oh, can you carry the beers, please?”
“Sure,” She easily accepted the two beers as Iruka paid and they made their way back to the table,
As they arrived back at the group to find that Anko had moved next to Kakashi; Oriko, being the first back to the table, felt obliged to take Anko’s old seat so that Iruka could re-join them. Oriko set the drinks down and shuffled into the seat as Iruka set the bottles of sake on the table,
“Took you long enough,” Anko remarked playfully at Iruka whilst Oriko sat into the seat, noticing that she was almost directly opposite Kakashi and that Anko was sat surprisingly close to him, maybe he really is more social than I thought,
“Thanks, Iruka,” Asuma spoke as he made a grab for a bottle and began to pour himself a cupful, something Anko and Kakashi both mirrored; as Asuma and Anko took a gulp of sake, Oriko noted that Kakashi turned himself away slightly and clearly took a drink in a flash. Oriko herself prepared to take a gulp of beer before Iruka lifted his bottle, catching her attention,
“Cheers,” He said with a kind smile, which Oriko matched, chinking their bottles together and taking a swig each; as Oriko reset her bottle on the table, she couldn’t help but look over to Kakashi, instantly meeting his gaze. Not in the least expecting to find his gaze so quickly, her thoughts were immediately scattered as though someone had thrown them onto a stone floor and the best she could think to do was take another drink.
“Kakashi,” Asuma’s friendly, but deep voice cut across the prickly silence, “When was the last time you went on a date with anybody?”
“Hmm..?” His eye drifted off Asuma and seemingly into space, making it clear he was thinking,
“I don’t remember,” He responded weakly, both Oriko and Anko showed great amusement, but where Anko produced a laugh which was loud and hysterical, Oriko merely bit down rather forcefully on her lip, in attempt to control her smile.
“Ya know, you really need a more…active social life,” Asuma continued after another cup of Sake,
“Asuma, not that talking about my social life isn’t enthralling, but it’s not a topic of conversation that I feel like having right now,” He sighed, pouring out another cupful of rice wine and quickly turned to gulp it down,
“Kakashi, you can go out with me, ya know,” Anko grinned, the expression on her face making it obvious that she was joking – as Oriko saw.
“Anko!”
“Haha, suit yourself, then,” She descended into laughter, leaning her head on Kakashi’s shoulder, who looked decidedly disgruntled, again meeting his student’s eyes and he could easily see the amusement in them;
“Is this really that humorous to you?” He asked, both his voice and his eye covering up his mood and replacing it expertly with tempered vexation;
“Hmm, it’s more your dower expression and Anko’s hysterical laughter,” She couldn’t stop the playful smile tugging at her thin lips, “All you need now are the spiders,” Although she couldn’t see it, a diminutive but playful smile also found its way to Kakashi’s lips; he was about to open his mouth again, but Iruka cut across him,
“Spiders?”
“It’s a long story, never mind,” Iruka nodded and took another sip of beer, before changing the subject;
“Are you guys training tomorrow?”
“It’s technically a ‘day off’, but I’ll probably train as usual,”
“Ah, then you really did make the right choice to come drinking tonight,” Iruka grinned, shooting a look at Kakashi, “You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry,”
“Iruka, it’s not polite to tease her,” Kakashi butted in, clearly now bored with the situation,
“I thought they were teasing you,” Oriko re-joined, unable to keep the mischievous smirk off her face;
Although Kakashi could feel a slight stab of irritation at being mocked by his student, he could also feel that the hazy tension around the table of his friends’ cheeky words had been dissipated. Oriko lifted her beer and finished the last of it in a few swift gulps, placing it back on the table; she prepared the sentence in her head, flicking her eyes over the table,
“Well, I think it’s time I headed off,” All eyes directed themselves to her form as she rose from her seat, Iruka stood allowing her to leave,
“Would you like me to walk you home?” Iruka questioned,
“Nah, I’ll be fine, it’s not far,”
“Are you sure?”
“Yea…goodbye, it was nice to meet you all,” She stated, bowing politely as Asuma, Anko and Iruka, the last of whom bowed lightly back, “See ya, Kakashi,” He nodded back to her and she turned to leave the bar; as she stepped out into the cool air, she hadn’t been aware of just how warm the room inside was.
“I think I’ll leave, too,” Kakashi stated, a few seconds after she’d left,
“Nothing here left to interest you?” Anko stated, knowing it would get under his skin,
“Just tired,” He retorted, rising to his feet and stepping away from the stool and his friends’ telling smiles,
“Bye, guys,” The Copy Nin stated simply before turning and walking from the bar, he looked both ways down the street, just catching a glimpse of Oriko’s form as she disappeared around a corner.
As he turned to walk in the opposite direction, he thought how grateful he was to be ‘teaching’ an older student, one whom he didn’t have to take by the hand and whom he could share a joke with – and who was mature enough to know what she wanted to accomplish without silly personal politics interfering.
Essentially, despite his initial reservations, he was now being paid well enough to do very little due to her talent but something that was also hugely less stressful…about eighty miles less than team 7.