Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ The Curative Career of Kaori the Ninja Nurse ❯ Mischief ( Chapter 24 )

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

Mischief

The special exhibit section of the Konoha Shinobi Museum consisted of two large rooms. One contained four large glass exhibit cases in the center of the room and numerous stone and clay sculptures lining the walls. The other room housed stands of mannequins wearing ancient shinobi uniforms and ceremonial attire, while scowling faces peered out from paintings hung around them. The group of three shinobi and a nurse had made their way around the ancient apparel and portraits and were now in the other room, where shinobi weapons were displayed.

“These weapons from Hidden Sand Village date back to the first Kazekage. You can tell by this motif that was most popular at the time,” Raidou explain to Kaori, pointing at a design that looked like a geometric interpretation of a dragon.

Kaori nodded and said in her most impressed voice, “I see. You really know a lot about foreign shinobi weapons.” She looked down with genuine interest at the various painted gourds and fans housed in the glass exhibit case. They looked just like regular household items. Maybe they were. Maybe the Sand curators were just fooling Konoha into thinking these were actually weapons. They looked more like decorative items to her without any hint of lethality.

As if reading her thoughts, Raidou continued, “Hidden in the folds of these fans are poison senbon. With chakra, they can be propelled with lethal force at over a hundred feet, able to pierce shinobi flak jackets and light armor. And these decorative gourds actually contain an assortment of poisons and anti-poisons…”

Suddenly, the two heard a familiar lazy lulling voice behind them. “Actually, these items date back a couple of hundred years before the first Kazekage. These designs originated back then and their popularity was revived during the first Kazekage's reign. You can tell by the coarse detail that these are older. And these fans are actually used by courtesan assassins. They usually contain small thin daggers, not senbon.”

Kaori could physically feel Raidou's rage and embarrassment. His usual dour demeanor dipped several levels lower to abysmal. “I didn't realize you're an expert on ancient Sand weaponry,” he said coldly.

Kakashi shrugged and nonchalantly replied, “I have lots of hobbies.”

Raidou glared at him while taking Kaori by the arm. He steered her to the next exhibit case. To his great consternation, the annoying third wheel followed. “These are some examples of canopic jars or funerary urns, used to keep the viscera of mummified corpses…” he began to say.

“Actually, these are more recent crematory jars used to hold ashes that are sometimes used as medicinal ingredients,” Kakashi interrupted. He boldly looked Raidou in the eye as if challenging him to disagree.

What Raidou and the others didn't know was that Kakashi had made up his historical facts. Raidou was right about everything, but he did not have the confidence to argue against the great Sharingan no Kakashi, who by reputation was the most intelligent jounin in Konoha. Kakashi had to be right.

After a moment of tense silence, Kaori suggested, “Umm, I think it's time we go to dinner.” She thought it was quite rude of Kakashi to correct Raidou in front of her, though she was very impressed at his apparently superior intelligence.

“It's dinner time already?” Kakashi said flippantly.

“You weren't invited,” growled Raidou. His entire face was now as red as the scar tissue on the left side of his face. He moved to stand protectively in front of Kaori.

Genma and Shizune, who were looking at the clay sculptures, heard the interchange. Genma knew his friend had a quick temper and walked over to diffuse the awkward situation.

“Don't you still have guard duty, Kakashi?” Genma asked calmly while rolling the senbon in his mouth from corner to corner.

“We'll be happy to have you join us next time,” Shizune offered in her diplomatic way.

“Let's go,” Genma said as he patted Raidou on the back, placing himself between Raidou and Kakashi. He escorted his best friend and Kaori out of the room.

Shizune quickly bowed to Kakashi and then followed the others.

Kaori looked behind her to see if Shizune was following them. For a second, her eyes met Kakashi's. She immediately turned her head and looked away, refusing to be taken in again.

Kakashi stood in the room alone, outwardly looking like he had not a care in the world. If Kaori had looked a little deeper, she would have seen the same look that was reflected in the mirror when she was alone and thinking of him - a sad pensive look resigned to a life of eternal solitude.

-…-…-…-

The group of four made their way to Omiya's Sushi-Go-Round where sushi, sashimi, and other assorted bite size dishes rotated around on a conveyor belt. It was a relatively new restaurant in Konoha frequented by couples because of the atmosphere and reasonable prices. The food was all self serve except for the drinks. Patrons selected dishes from the conveyor belt and at the end of the meal, the bill was calculated based on the number of dishes which were color coded for price. It was an interesting way to conduct business and was often the topic of conversation. The large selection of dishes and fun way to order was perfect for first dates as couples struggled to get to know each other.

They found a booth, good for four people, fairly close to the food. Genma sat next to Shizune while Raidou sat next to Kaori and across from Genma. A pretty young girl in a frilly white apron over a candy striped uniform came by to take their drink orders. Genma ordered a large bottle of their finest sake, expecting to share with everyone, but Shizune and Kaori ordered a pot of green tea. They knew unexpected things, often bad, could happen with too much sake. After settling down, they took turns getting food or holding their seats. It was exciting just watching the sumptuous food of different shapes and colors slowly roll by. Kaori took just two dishes to start while the others took many more, somehow balancing them all on their outstretched arms.

After the initial small talk about the restaurant décor and the assortment of appealing dishes, conversation drifted to what happened at the museum. At first it was just a rehash of what they saw and what they found interesting, but the three shinobi were all dying to know what was up with Kakashi. The Kakashi they knew avoided company. He did not normally insinuate himself into other people's affairs or rudely interrupt conversations. He had nothing against Raidou, that they knew of, so they all concluded that the pretty little nurse must have been his target.

Raidou gave his friend a look with a raised eyebrow from across the table. Genma gently prodded Shizune with his elbow, indicating that she should ask Kaori. Since Shizune was a girl, and Kaori's friend, it would be less awkward for her to ask, the two men reasoned.

Shizune did not like to pry into other people's lives, but she was also overwhelmed with curiosity since Kaori had never mentioned Kakashi in all this time. “So, umm, Kaori-san, were you and Kakashi-san somehow involved?” she asked hesitantly.

“Involved? Well, only in a professional sense. I looked after him while he was in a coma,” Kaori replied, not wanting to admit she had stalked him for a while.

“Well, he seems interested in you,” Raidou said bluntly. “Of course I'd completely understand if you prefer to be with him. I know his face is perfectly fine even though he wears a mask. I considered that, but the way my face is damaged, it'd be hard to cover just the left side. I don't want to cover my left eye. That ruins your depth perception.”

“You don't need to hide behind a mask. I think you look fine.” Kaori smiled, trying her hardest to be nice, but all the while thinking of Kakashi's fine smooth skin rather than Raidou's ragged scars. But she did mean it. Sitting on Raidou's right side, the view wasn't so bad at all.

She decided to examine the conveyor belt for desserts and excused herself as the three shinobi continued to work on their other dishes. There was a decent assortment of colorful sweets: mochi with red bean paste, or sesame paste, or strawberry flavored filling or orange flavored filling; little custard tarts; tiny taiyaki cakes filled with either red bean paste or custard; skewered dango of various colors…

“Those look good, don't they,” said a lovely lush voice right by her left ear.

Kaori turned her head slightly and found Kakashi leaning over her shoulder - way too close to be appropriate.

“I…er…” Kaori stammered in her surprise. He was so close she could feel his breath on her ear. It tickled. There was just something about this man which simultaneously aggravated her and attracted her. But before she could organize her thoughts or feelings, Raidou appeared protectively by her side.

“I thought you had guard duty, Kakashi-san,” Raidou said dangerously.

Kakashi shrugged and replied, “I left a kage bunshin there. No one will notice. Thought I'd skip out to grab a meal.”

“Right, at the same restaurant.”

Kakashi shrugged again. “Konoha's pretty small you know.”

Before Raidou could respond again, Kaori grabbed his arm and pulled him back toward the table.

She was confused. What was Kakashi doing here? Was he really here to pick up dinner or was he stalking her? And why would he stalk her when he was the one who clearly wasn't interested in the first place?

“What's going on over there?” Genma asked when the two returned.

“Kakashi's being his usual pain-in-the-ass-self,” muttered his friend.

“That's not a nice thing to say,” said a lovely lush lulling voice with a hint of laziness.

All four heads turned in the direction of the voice which came from behind Raidou and Kaori. The sharingan user had hypnotized the couple sitting in the booth behind them into leaving. Kakashi now occupied it alone except for his dish of octopus balls and a skewer of dango. But he wasn't eating. He still had his mask on and was obviously eavesdropping on their conversation.

“That's it! I think we need to talk, Kakashi-san.” Kaori stood up and angrily walked over to the other table. “Stop following me. I'm not interested. Get that through your thick head. If you can't, maybe a haircut will help.”

He shrugged as if he had no clue what she was talking about. Then he motioned for a waitress. “I think I'll take these to go,” he said coolly, as if her words had not hurt him at all.

Raidou stood up as Kaori returned and waited like a perfect gentleman for her to sit down again. He gave her one of his very rare smiles, though it was more of a half smile. Since he rarely smiled or laughed at all, the muscles just couldn't go any further due to atrophy.

It was not everyday, or ever, that a woman would choose to be with him, Namiashi Raidou with the ravaged face, over Konoha's perfect prodigy, Hatake Kakashi. He had not wanted to go on another double date with his friend Genma. It always ended in heartbreak for him. In the past he would get his hopes up, but they were soon dashed and ground into the dirt by high-heeled sandals, usually after one date.

For a while he thought it was because they couldn't help but compare him to his handsome friend. But even when he went on solo dates, the results were the same. If anything, the dates were worse. He was innately taciturn and found small talk tedious and meaningless, so he struggled to find common ground with his dates. But with Genma, he felt more relaxed, just knowing his friend was there to help him out.

But each time, he could see the revulsion and disappointment in their eyes, even in the nice ones who didn't want to hurt his feelings. Some of them didn't bother to try to hide it, like that other nurse Otoha, who practically laughed at him when he paid her a compliment.

After so many negative experiences, he no longer had any expectations of love or finding someone special.

But maybe Kaori was someone special.

-…-…-…-…-