Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Curative Career of Kaori the Ninja Nurse ❯ Encounter at the Hot Springs ( Chapter 21 )

 

Encounter at the Hot Springs

 

There was just one date left, and though Kaori wanted very badly for Kakashi to fulfill his promise, a part of her did not want that day to come. She instinctively felt that once his promise was fulfilled, she would not see him again. It was better to leave the promise unfulfilled so she could continue her fantasy. She had recently read in a magazine that women were happiest while engaged. The exhilarating feeling of an exciting future, of great expectations, of a profound promise - that was better than another bad date.

 

Kaori still felt guilty about forcing Kakashi to meet her family under abnormal circumstances. She wanted the man she loved to meet her family with the expectation of a future together. Unfortunately, he made little effort to make a positive impression nor did he seem to care. She was disappointed, but decided that even if there could be no romantic relationship, she would be positive during their third date, no matter what. She still wanted to impress him, though he had not done anything to impress her.

 

She really didn't understand him at all. She had told him about her family and herself, so even if he hadn't read her notes, he should have known what to say or do, and most of it was common sense. If seemed he went out of his way to annoy her and her family. But then it seemed he recovered and handled their questions quite well. After dinner, he made no romantic overture, but he was nice, and didn't seem at all annoyed that she had blackmailed him.

 

She was delighted, though surprised, that he wanted to fulfill his promise even when she offered to cancel the third date. He had said to her that night after dinner, “A promise is a promise and I am a man of my word.”

 

Was it just because he wanted to keep his promise or could there be something more? That small bit of hope was enough to carry Kaori through her day-to-day drudgery. She wanted to believe it was still possible for him to care for her. His ambiguity vexed her yet she did not have the courage to confront him directly. She was afraid he would clearly state he did not like her and that would ruin the fantasy permanently. But perhaps that would have been better than her present state of limbo where she could not move on to another man because of her persistent feelings for such an attainable one. Though she sensibly refused to throw her heart and soul into that possibility, she still held it tightly and decided to refuse all other dates until there was no hope at all.

 

There had not been any word from him since, but she was no longer surprised nor was she waiting on pins and needles. It seemed he was on a mission rotation cycle where he had off one day every couple of weeks, if there were no emergencies. As usual, she excused his lack of communication as his dedication to work - he was simply too busy.

 

Nearly two weeks later, toward the end of her shift, a messenger bird came zooming in, coming to a stop above her desk. The little brown hawk gently settled down and perched on her stack of reports to be reviewed. This was not uncommon for low security messages, so the nurse naturally assumed that there must have been an accident during a genin mission and the injured party would be brought in soon. Kaori quickly tore the note off the bird's leg. To her surprise, it was from Kakashi.

 

To: Kuchiki Kaori

From: Hatake Kakashi

Meet me at Hot Springs

Sunday night about 4pm.

 

`The hot springs! The hot springs! He asked me to the hot springs!' Kaori had not felt like this for a long, long time. That type of absolute excitement and anticipation of being with someone you liked. Hot springs were where couples and close friends went for fun. Not two people who barely knew each other. So maybe he did have special feelings for her. Why else would he ask her to the hot springs? It was an unexpected choice for a third date.

 

He would probably be on the way back from a mission. A bath right before dinner was a wonderfully romantic idea. She had not been to a hot springs for years despite there being one right in Konoha. Why would anyone want to share a bath with a group of complete strangers, even if they were all the same sex? This brought her to her next thought - there was no coed bathing in the Konoha hot springs, so how were they going to spend time together? Maybe it was just the meeting place and not what he really planned at all.

 

It was Friday and the date was Sunday. Luckily, Kaori had Sundays off. She was scheduled to work tomorrow, but decided to take Saturday off, too. As was her prerogative, Kaori scheduled Otoha as her replacement since Kaori had covered for her several times in the past.

 

So with the prospect of another date with Kakashi, and the satisfaction of witnessing Otoha's fury when she found out that she had to work on Saturday, Kaori was in a really good mood for once.

 

She spent Saturday running errands and cleaning her apartment, the activities she usually reserved for her regular day off. Sunday morning she went to a beauty salon for a full treatment: facial, body wrap, manicure, pedicure, hair cut and styled. But not at her mom's salon; Kaori guiltily patronized her rival across town. The owner recognized Kaori and asked why she wasn't at her mother's salon.

 

Kaori had to think of another lie. She could not tell the beautician the truth - that she did not want her family to know that she was preparing for a date. “My mom's book solid and today's my only day off and I don't have time to wait for an appointment.”

 

That seemed to satisfy the woman, but her good humor dropped drastically with the thought of her rival doing better business than herself. The overly made-up middle-aged woman couldn't help but take it out on poor Kaori. What was meant to be hours of pampering turned out to be more like torture as she roughly washed Kaori's hair and scrubbed her face. Kaori's body ached and her skin felt raw by the end of it.

 

Kaori spent Sunday afternoon fretting over her date and her clothes, again. She had no idea what she should wear. If Kakashi meant for them to bathe, she should wear a simple robe type dress which would make it easy to undress. But if that was not his intent, she should wear a nice, more formal dress. It was so unfair that all Kakashi wore was his shinobi uniform!

 

She finally dug out a dress which was a present from her horrible sister-in-law. Kaori suspected she had given it to her only because it was a gift from someone else. Kaori accepted the gift graciously, but never wore it as it reminded her of the bitch. The dress was a couple of years old, but looked new, with tags still attached. It was of a wrap around style where you did not have to put it on by pulling over your head. Instead, like a robe, you simply slipped it on and tied it with a decorative belt at the waist. It was beige with brown geometric designs. Not an ugly dress, but not the colors Kaori preferred to attract a man.

 

She decided not to wear any jewelry since she did not like the feel of jewelry in water. Still, in case they were not going to bathe, she had to wear someone more ornamental so she placed her hair in a twist held in place by an elaborately carved onyx hairpin. After dressing and doing her hair, she applied some makeup. Any makeup would probably come off during a bath, but Kaori applied some light touches anyway, just in case. Finally she was ready. She carried nothing to her date but a small purse with her keys and some money.

 

She arrived a bit early as was usual for her. She didn't mind waiting. She had not been at the hot springs for years so she walked around to enjoy the scenery and the wisps of white steam.

 

The appointment time came and went. Kaori stood around and waited, paced and waited, sat down and waited, and walked around and waited. It was now past six.

 

Kaori restlessly walked back to the front desk. To her jaw dropping surprise, Kaori saw what looked like her aggravating coworker Otoha with... Gai! What the hell was going on? Did the world tilt on its axis? To be sure, she discreetly walked over, and crouched behind the nearby rose bushes. It was definitely them! But Gai was not in his usual atrocious attire. He was wearing a simple dark brown robe. Otoha wore a bright red one embroidered with flowers. Her luxurious black hair was piled high on her head to show off her long flawless neck.

 

As they walked by the rose bushes, Gai plucked a flower and presented it to Otoha with a deep bow. "A flower such as this pales in comparison to your vibrant beauty, but please accept it as a symbol of my eternal devotion as your faithful servant."

 

Unreasonable rage swept over Kaori. `How fickle! One minute I'm his destined one, and now Otoha? How can that possibly be? Especially since I told him she's gay. And when did this happen? Otoha made no mention of Gai at all. Isn't she still involved with Kanpou?'

 

Kaori also thought how it was illegal of Gai to pick flowers without the owner's permission. But she knew the thoughts were just sour grapes. She wondered if Kakashi would bring her flowers, but realized sadly that would be very unlikely.

 

Kaori sat on the ground, too stunned to move. She didn't even notice when footsteps approached.

 

“Ah, isn't it Kaori-san. I almost didn't recognize you out of your stuffy starched uniform. I never imagined this would be a place you'd frequent. Here alone I see,” Otoha said in her snide way.

 

But Kaori was not one to be cowed, especially by a subordinate. "Didn't I see you here with Gai sensei? I didn't know you two were an item. I didn't think he was your type. You really should stop going after my rejects and find someone on your own."

 

To Kaori's surprise, Otoha seemed slightly embarrassed rather than angry. "Ah, well, it didn't really start out like this. Sort of an interesting story."

 

Kaori had to know how Gai had gotten to Otoha, so she pretended she wasn't interested, knowing that was more likely to get the gossipy girl to talk. She stood up and dusted herself off. "Well, whatever. See you at work tomorrow," she said disinterestedly.

 

As expected, Otoha continued her story. "It was strange. Yesterday he came in with Lee for his checkup. While Lee was in the examining room, I tried flirting with him since I was bored, but he totally ignored me. You know I'm not used to that type of treatment from a man. So I just had to rev it up a bit - you know what I mean. I didn't have a date last night since Kanpou was on duty and…anyway, we spent last night together. Boy, you don't know what you missed! His stamina is amazing! And the size of his…"

 

“That's great. I'm really happy for you,” Kaori said with a forced smile.

 

Gai walked over after getting the towels and bath supplies from the front desk. He greeted Kaori without any reservation. “Ah, my dear Kaori. I'd like to thank you for helping me find the true woman of my destiny.”

 

“Huh? I thought I was that woman.”

 

“You see, I had it all wrong. You were on my path of destiny, but now I have reached the true goal, the brightest jewel among all women - my exquisite Otoha!” He smiled at his new love. “I must have misunderstood you when you said you and Otoha were involved. You must have meant gay in the happy way. I'm glad the two of you are such good friends.”

 

Otoha gave the two of them a quizzical look and shrugged. She didn't understand half the things Gai said, but she didn't mind Gai's idiosyncrasies since he was so great in bed.

 

Kaori was still too stunned to know how she felt. Half of her felt relieved and wanted to celebrate, the other half was furious with jealousy that Gai could possibly prefer Otoha. Then she realized something. Gai did not quite look like his usual self. She squinted at him but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. He was wearing more normal clothes, that was part of it, but there was something else…his hair! His hair was not in the usual floppy bangs, bowl-cut style, but slicked back with hair gel, exposing a handsome broad forehead. And his eyebrows seemed to be a little less thick. He was still nowhere near as handsome as Kakashi, but he wasn't bad at all.

 

Otoha caught her looking at Gai and smiled. “It seems Gai sensei recently had a makeover. I must say, your mother does good work.”

 

“My mother?”

 

“Ah yes, she sent me a message yesterday morning indicating she needed my assistance. Luckily, I finished my mission early and was able to stop by her work place. After helping her change some light bulbs, she offered to trim my hair. Since the front was getting a bit long I agreed. I didn't realize she was going to style it into this.” Gai frowned and pointed at his hair. “Then I accompanied my dear Lee to the hospital for his checkup and ran into the curvaceous Otoha.”

 

`I see… my mother planned for Gai to run into me since I'm scheduled to work this Saturday. She thought that I would go for him once she gave him a makeover. Nice try mom, but Kakashi's the only one for me!' Kaori almost laughed at her mother's continual attempts to interfere with her love life, but remembered how she really didn't have one at all. “Well, have fun you two. I certainly wish you the best,” she said honestly. The relieved half of her finally won.

 

“So what are you doing here?” Otoha asked.

 

Kaori shrugged. “Just waiting for a friend. I'm not here for the hot springs,” she lied.

 

“Well, see you later,” Otoha said as she clung to Gai's arm.

 

Gai smiled and waved good-bye with his free hand. Then the two lovebirds walked off toward the baths.

 

Kaori was left alone to wait again.

 

The sun had set by 8PM and Kaori had been waiting for over four hours. Her stomach ached from hunger .She could not wait any longer or she would not have the strength to move from her spot. With a sigh, Kaori gave up. It seemed Kakashi was too busy with his mission. She wondered what could have happened and panic stuck her as she imagined him dead, impaled by a hundred kunai. She wanted to send out a messenger bird to find him, but that was only for emergencies, so instead she decided to leave a note with the front desk in case he showed up.

 

She made her way to one of her usual takeout places - Ichiraku. The food was consistently good and inexpensive. It had a balance of nutrients which included noodles for carbohydrates, meat for protein, and vegetables for fiber and vitamins. She could smell the miso stock wafting over the cool night air. Thinking of the hot springs, and water, and water creatures, she decided to get the seafood ramen.

 

The ramen stand was always open late. It was impressive how just the old man and his daughter were able to keep it open so many hours a day, seven days a week, but this time she noticed that the ramen girl was not there. After Kaori placed her order, to make casual conversation, she asked the old ramen chef, “So where's your daughter tonight? Not sick I hope.”

 

“Oh no, she's fine. She's out on a date with Naruto's sensei,” he said as he handed her the bag holding her takeout order.

 

Kaori nearly dropped the bag.

 

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