Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Curative Career of Kaori the Ninja Nurse ❯ Kakashi's Side of the Story ( Chapter 22 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Kakashi's Side of the Story

`Hurry, hurry! If we're late, we won't get lucky!' said the Obito voice in Kakashi's head.

Kakashi was late again. He really had meant to be on time to meet Kaori at Hot Springs Village after his mission, but the client took longer than usual to settle his account. A-class missions were very expensive and the client did not have the full amount at hand. Kakashi finally had to lean on him with subtle threats before the man agreed to pay the full commission by borrowing from several friends and relatives. Debt collection was the worst part of his missions. Most regular clients already had accounts set up, but some paid by the mission and gave only a small deposit up front. Kakashi did not like to dirty his hands with petty monetary matters (although blood was okay), but if he didn't, the money would come out of his pocket. Tsunade-sama was obsessive about collecting debts, despite having been on the opposite end for years.

After arguing with Obito all week, Kakashi finally decided to take a chance on the pretty little nurse despite his initial misgivings. Of course, it was a very bold invitation and he was curious to see how she would react. Would she agree to a private bath with just the two of them, or insist on separate bath areas for men and women? Maybe she'd even be bold enough for the public mixed gender bath. Then afterwards, they'd have a nice dinner together and then who knows. The inns there also rented rooms by the hour. And if she had to be at work the next day, the village was close enough to Konoha that he could carry her on his back if they missed the late wagon that ran between the villages in the area.

It was off peak season, so he expected the resort to be fairly empty and they would have some privacy. He was now looking forward to a nice long soak in the mineral rich waters at Hot Springs Village.

When he arrived at the main desk, Kaori was nowhere to be seen. He worried that maybe she got tired of waiting and left. He quickly scouted the area, hoping she had wandered off to look around, but there was no sign of her. The man at the front desk did not see anyone matching Kaori's description, but he had just started his shift. Kakashi waited for another hour before he resigned himself to the fact that he had been stood up.

But wasn't he the one being presumptuous? Yes he had sent her an invitation to the hot springs, but she didn't actually reply back - he just assumed that she would say yes. Maybe she had given up on him after what happened at dinner. He knew he had behaved badly, but for some reason he couldn't help it. It was as though the Obito part of him took over and he had to act like an inconsiderate jerk. Maybe he didn't want them to like him. Maybe he didn't want her to have feelings for him. It was something he often did to keep people at bay, so no one could get close. But whenever he thought back to that time, watching her squabbling siblings, he felt what he had been missing all his life - the closeness and warmth of a family.

Yet despite his behavior, she didn't seem to be upset. In fact she had apologized to him for putting him through the scrutiny of her family and allowed him to break his promise. Deep down, he wanted another date with her, but his conscious self reasoned that it was because he owed Kaori another date, and because he felt guilty about not following her instructions. So he had decided to make it up to her with a romantic date at the Hot Springs.

But it seemed he was too late.

Kakashi decided to head home to Konoha, foregoing a soak in the hot springs. He was no longer in the mood. A hot shower would have to do instead. And instead of a nice warm body to spend his night with, the Icha Icha books would have to do again.

“You blew it! A girl's more important than money. Tsunade could've sent a debt collector later,” griped the Obito voice. “You did this on purpose! You always do this!”

“I don't think she showed up,” Kakashi replied calmly.

“Of course she did. I'm telling you she still wants us. But only a complete idiot would wait for more than two hours...” The Obito voice continued to berate Kakashi all the way home.

-…-…-…-

The next morning, since Kakashi still owed Kaori an apology for pissing off her family, and maybe another apology for being late, he headed over to the hospital. He found Kaori sitting at the front desk looking as perfectly coifed as usual, though her eyes seemed rather red and very tired.

"I'm sorry..." he was about to say when Kaori cut him off.

"There's no need to apologize. I took care of you while you were here because it was my job. I might have gotten too personally involved, but that was my mistake. You are no longer under any obligation to me," she said coldly. She thought he was there to apologize for missing their date and for two-timing her with the ramen girl.

Her icy tone and the anger in her eyes surprised Kakashi. She must have waited for him, he surmised, since she didn't seem that upset the last time he saw her, but then again maybe something happened with her family. Instead of helping her out with her family problems, all he did was make more trouble for her. He tried again to apologize, "I'm sorry about yesterday, I..."

"I'm fine with it. Like I said, you're under no obligation. I'm not going to bother you again and Gai sensei won't be either, so you can go back to your life as it was. Please leave now - I'm very busy." Kaori then turned her back on him and began to shuffle papers around.

"Right then, well, I'll see you around," he said to her back. He hesitated a bit before finally leaving. As he walked away he could hear her sniffle and blow her nose. `She either has a cold, allergies, or is crying,' he thought in his detached analytical way. Was she that upset just because he was a couple of hours late? Was that really so bad? She had waited an hour or more during the other dates and didn't complain at all. Like any stubborn bachelor, he did not want to change for a woman. He wanted someone who would accept him as he was, flaws and all. No one had ever passed the test.

Now it was time to head over to the administration building for another assignment. In some ways keeping himself occupied with dangerous missions was better than sitting around reading fantasy books, which would never come true for him, or sitting around thinking of the life he missed out on when he chose, or rather inherited, the life of a shinobi. As the son of the great White Fang, who taught him shinobi tactics from the time he could crawl, he had no choice. Maybe it would have been better if he had not been born a genius. But then he'd probably be dead. But if he were really, really lucky, he'd have his own family by now.

It was unlike Kakashi to have these thoughts of having his own family. It was just that seeing the pretty nurse with her family made him feel that profound ache and need to belong to someone. But family life was just not for him, so he pushed those thoughts out of his mind. It was a waste of time to dwell on such fantasies when he could easily be dead the next mission. His life was as it was and there was little he could do to change it.

So he was back to his so-called life. Mission after mission. It was nearly non-stop these days. Not even the luxury of easy missions with his team. His genin were deemed advanced enough to be on their own now, without a chuunin or jounin leader. They had been away for days on a mission involving a shrine race. `That would have been a fun mission,' he thought enviously.

But the confrontation with Kaori puzzled him all day as he completed his mission, a short and relatively easy one involving the recovery of some ancient artifacts stolen from the Konoha museum. There was something not quite right, but he couldn't place his finger on it. Something tugged at the back of his mind even as he caught and tied up the perpetrators.

Back home, he took out the special messenger scroll that all chuunin and jounin carried, and summoned his assigned messenger bird which had carried his note to Kaori. The little brown hawk waited for Kakashi to tie another note to its leg, but instead Kakashi asked, "Do you remember a couple of days ago I asked you to carry a message to a pretty nurse at the hospital?"

"Yes, of course, quite pretty and nice. In fact, she gave me some of her lunch - said she wasn't hungry."

"Describe her."

"Hmm, rather small for an adult human female. Reddish brown feathers, I mean hair, almost like my feathers. Light brown eyes..."

"How did she react after reading the message?"

"Ecstatic! That's why she offered me her lunch."

"Was there anything unusual about her or anything else that day?"

"Why all the questions? Did something happen?"

"Nothing...she didn't show up at the hot springs."

"Which hot springs?"

"At Hot Springs Village, of course."

"Oh..."

"Oh?"

"Well...she tore the note off my leg since it was a bit stuck, so a little piece of it remained. I took it off myself later on. There was something written on it. I think it was the word village."

"You mean she met me at some other hot springs?" He gave the poor little bird a dangerous look.

"I…I…I don't know. It's not m…m…my fault. I did my job. You can't blame me..." the bird stammered.

"I see...she probably waited for me somewhere else. Probably the Konoha hot springs." He had opted for Hot Springs Village because it was farther away, had private baths for rent, and they would be away from the prying eyes and gossip of the Konoha villagers.

"Look, if you don't have a task for me, I'm off.” The little hawk wanted out of the situation as soon as possible, afraid that Kakashi would place a black mark on his record and he would be given more dangerous routes to fly next time.

"Fine, but next time, make sure the whole message gets delivered!" Kakashi said to the puff of smoke which marked the disappearance of a summoned animal.

To confirm his suspicions, Kakashi checked the Konoha hot springs. The middle-aged woman at the front desk, who managed the springs, confirmed that Kaori had been there waiting for him, for hours, until quite late, and had even left a note for him. She added that Kaori was very worried and had expressed concern that something had happened during his mission. She handed the note to him.

To: Kakashi sensei

I hope your mission was successful and you are well. I waited as long as I could, but I need to get dinner now. Maybe I'll see you when you get back.

Kaori

That was even stranger. If Kaori had been worried about him, and wanted to see him, why would she act so coldly now? He could have let it go, but his curiosity would not, so he followed the only clue he had to recreate the hours between the time she wrote him the note and when he saw her that morning.

She had left the hot springs to get dinner. Knowing Kaori, who apparently was a lazy cook, she probably picked up takeout. Since it was already late, and she had to work the next day, it had to be on her way home from the hot springs. There were only a few places on the way and of these, Ichiraku was the most likely, so he headed there directly.

Kakashi saw the Ichiraku ramen waitress in her off-white uniform, busily wiping down the counters in preparation for the dinner rush. She looked up when she heard someone approach.

"Hello," Kakashi said pleasantly.

Ayame smiled back. "Welcome Kakashi-sensei. What can I get you?"

"Well, actually, I'm not here for dinner. I'd just like to ask if you saw nurse Kuchiki Kaori yesterday night. Umm, reddish brown hair, about so tall…"

"I wasn't here last night but you can ask my dad." She turned her head and yelled out, "Hey dad, Kakashi-sensei wants to know if you saw that nurse last night! You know, the pretty one you like!"

Her father quickly came out, red in the face. He gave his daughter a look of annoyance before addressing Kakashi. "Yeah, she was here. Had the seafood ramen. Looked kind of down. You do something?" he glared at Kakashi suspiciously.

Kakashi shrugged and asked, "Did she say something?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary. She placed her order and while waiting she asked about Ayame and I told her she was out on a date with Iruka-sensei."

Ayame blushed. She really wanted Kakashi, but had to settle for Iruka, whom she found nice enough, though the ponytail just had to go.

"Is Kaori-san all right?" Ayame asked when she saw Kakashi not acting like his usual cool indifferent self.

"She's fine. It's nothing. Sorry I bothered you. I better get going before Naruto shows up expecting me to treat him." He quickly disappeared before they could ask him any more personal questions.

Kakashi contemplated what the old ramen chef had told him and it did not seem like anything that would send Kaori over the edge. Unless it was because Ayame had a nice steady boyfriend while Kaori's love interest was unreliable. Iruka had a relatively easy teaching position with regular hours, though recently he too was being sent out on missions. Iruka was obviously the type to settle down and have a family.

Maybe Kaori finally realized that he was not the man for her. Kakashi sighed.

-…-…-…-…-

Author's Notes: Those of you who have read my ramen girl series should have expected that Ayame was out with Iruka ;) I like to make Kakashi out to be a bit of a bastard in my stories, but not that much.