|| [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.
She shifted uncomfortably, moving the bento box to the grass beside her and replacing the lid with the chopsticks inside; Iruka fixed his eyes on her carefully,
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“N-No,” Not anymore, anyway, she wasn’t entirely sure why Iruka was making her feel so uncomfortable, she didn’t think him nasty or dodgy in anyway, but there was something about his friendliness which seemed as though he was trying too hard to make her acquaintance.
Why? What did he really want? She wasn’t naïve about life, people or men, but she’d barely spoken three full sentences to Iruka, how could he possibly have seen anything in her he thought was worth pursuing? Not that she could think of what he might find even in he’d known her for years.
“May I ask you something, Oriko?”
“Sure,”
“Why did you say last night that you think you don’t have the ‘heart’ for teaching children?”
“U-uh…why are you asking?” Oriko suddenly felt quite unsure of herself.
“Well, you might make a great teacher,”
“No…I just…really don’t like children… I find it difficult to connect with them, so I can’t get them to listen to me or obey me,” She answered truthfully and easily; her thoughts found their way to Kakashi.
“You know, they’re not too troublesome when they’re on your side, it’s just that they’re not always on your side,” He chuckled, making it obvious he hadn’t really listened. Oriko realised that she missed his quiet, unassuming and un-stressful presence…
Iruka seemed a little more pushy and demanding, something which Oriko really didn’t like; it appeared to her that is wasn’t so much that she disliked Iruka himself, but rather that he liked conversations and asking questions she didn’t like either to discuss or answer.
It made her realize, in a fashion, how lucky she was to have been assigned Kakashi to teach her, and that if she’d been paired with anyone else, she wouldn’t have made such progress.
No doubt as a result of their asking uncomfortable questions or demanding information out of her she didn’t want to give. Her mind already on Kakashi, it made her think of the mission he’d mentioned for them tomorrow. This in turn reminded her that she needed to go to the library – itself a good excuse to leave an uncomfortable situation.
“Oriko?” Iruka politely questioned, his sheepish smile derailing her thought train,
“Oh, sorry, Iruka, but I’ve just remembered that I need to go to the library,”
“Haven’t you worked enough for today?”
“Unfortunately not,” Iruka frowned – in a questioningly thoughtful way – at her response,
“Then would you like to meet at the bar for a drink later, I can try to find Asuma and Anko too,” He smiled again as they both found their feet, why didn’t he mention Kakashi?
“Sorry, no again, I have a mission tomorrow so I’ll need an early night,”
“Oh,” The disappointment was strong in his voice; Oriko turned to pick up her lunch, thinking she could maybe find another quiet spot and finish it before she went to the library, “Then may I walk you to the library?” No, obviously not! Oriko thought with irritation although careful to hide it.
“Uh…”
“It’s on my route, anyway,” He spoke again, beginning to walk, almost forcing her to follow him, which she reluctantly did, feeling there was no other option. They walked in an uneasy silence soon leaving the training grounds behind, and finding their way to the narrow streets, where it was all too soon that Iruka had another question,
“Do you know what book you need to find?”
“No specifically, I need to read up on the principles of genjutsu, something I’ll be turning my attention too soon as I’ve got the basics of both nin and taijutsu so I need the third and final part,” She commented, keeping her head low but still looking forward,
“Oh, wow…genjutsu is very difficult to grasp, and requires high intelligence usually…but you’ll have no trouble, I’m sure, if you keep up your standard of progress,” He grinned again at her, she returned one to him albeit a small and nervous one,
“Perhaps,” They were nearly halfway to the centre of the town, library being the far side of Konoha, when Oriko thought that she could feel a familiar presence, as well as a bolt of something…funny. As if on perfect cue, he, along with his unmistakable features turned the street corner in front of Oriko and Iruka,
“Kakashi,” The Chuunin began, surprised to see him, “What a pleasant surprise,” The falsity was evident in his words, although she couldn’t figure out whether it was a joke or a lie.
“Iruka… Oriko,” He commented acknowledged them over the top if his book, eyeing them both carefully, but finding only one pair meeting his own,
“Ahaha, are you off to the training grounds, Kakashi-san?” Iruka asked, a strange politeness taking over his tone,
“Hmm? No, I wasn’t planning on it,”
“That’s where Oriko and I have just come from,”
“Really? Were you training together?” His tone sounding a little odd, Oriko eventually raising her gaze to his face, as she answered for Iruka,
“No, he appeared out of nowhere as I was finishing,” Kakashi raised an eyebrow as he turned his attention to his student,
“Iruka, you shouldn’t spy on those who’re training, it can be quite off putting,” Kakashi suddenly sounding like he was scolding a disobedient Iruka; although Oriko disliked the superiority in his tone and thought it unnecessary, she couldn’t help but feel a bolt of thankfulness for making Iruka feel a little guilty for his actions and maybe stop him from doing it again.
“I wasn’t spying, I was going to train when I spotted Oriko and paused to observe,” He shrugged, shooting a glance at her, as she averted her eyes to look at the watch on her wrist,
“I-I’m sorry, but I really have to go, goodbye Iruka, Kakashi,” She bowed her head a fraction of an inch and took a step forward, but the Jounin halted her progress,
“I’ll see you, Oriko; don’t forget that we’re meeting tomorrow outside the Hokage’s office at half nine,”
“I remembered,” She smiled a tiny smile, meant for reassurance,
“Uh, bye Oriko, I hope I’ll see you again soon,” He grinned, bowing low in respect, why couldn’t he show the same respect to my personal space or even my damn lunch? She internally sighed, but returned a goodbye again,
“Bye, Iruka,” The kuniochi turned and walked away, feeling glad to be free of Iruka.
As she walked quickly the last of the distance to the library and was soon inside and sat at a small private table; but between the awkward run-in with Kakashi and Iruka’s intrusion, she couldn’t collect her thoughts well enough and was now thoroughly not in the mood to sit and read anything.
Stupid coincidence.