Blame It All on Me. Part 2

Chapter 2. A Change of Scenery

One day after lunch, when Arina brough Hiruzen some freshly-brewed tea, the latter suddenly addressed her:

"Do you ever get a feeling like you've overstayed here a bit?"

The girl looked at him somewhat warily, and the old man chuckled.

"There, there, no need to stare at me like a hunted doe. In a week's time, as you know, I'll be off to visit the Daimyo, and I was going to take you with me, if you don't mind.

Arina brightened up instantly: she really had stayed in one place for too long, and had already explored Konoha almost from top to bottom by then. However, she quickly slumped again:

"But... Hiruzen-sama, what use will be of me? Miyogi..."

"Miyogi, as you know, is pregnant, she shouldn't be leaving the village," Hiruzen interrupted her. "While I need a secretary. Miyogi will instruct you, besides, you know enough already, don't belittle yourself. There will be nothing complicated or unfamiliar, you'll just have to master a simple etiquette. You should consider it as an opportunity to change your scenery for a bit."

Arina sighed: how did this man manage to think about everyone at once?

The next moment Hiruzen smiled mischievously and added:

"And then, who knows, maybe we'll find you a fiancé, while we are at it?"

"Oh, Hiruzen-sama..." Arina drawled reproachfully, flaring up instantly: she was hearing such jokes from Hiruzen regularly, but she still couldn't get used to it. At the same time, this remark led her to a different thought:

"Who else is going to... accompany you?"

"Since it's going to be an informal visit this time, just a team of shinobi for the palanquin, and an Anbu squad. I still haven't decided, who exactly," understanding perfectly well what she was thinking about, Hiruzen answered, eyeing the girl searchingly. "I'll look at the circumstances... and the workload."

Arina nodded, averting her gaze sheepishly.

☙ ❦ ❧

The week to departure flew by swiftly. Miyogi, unlike Arina, never actually wanted to get out of the village, and she was only happy to be relieved of this responsibility, and instructed Arina readily. The role indeed was not hard at all – they were unlikely to even require her to take minutes.

Arina expected that she would be worrying about the trip – after all, she really, ever since she began living in Konoha, had never left it, not to mention visiting the residence of the Daimyo himself – the leader of the Land of Fire. But it appeared that she was much more concerned about who exactly of the Anbu would be accompanying them. She both wanted and did not want it to be Kakashi.

It had been two months already since their last night together – that uneasy night that not only brought no clarity to their relationship, but rather complicated it even more. Arina hardly saw Kakashi since then – and this time the girl had a feeling like it was him who was avoiding her.

There was, of course, still the possibility that he was so busy that he had no time left to loom in her sight at the Hokage's residence – like he used to do before.

Back then, at first, even Arina's colleagues were gossiping about his behaviour, since the Anbu usually had their own paths, and rarely openly roamed around the residence, unlike Kakashi, who seemed to have moved in there ever since Arina began working for Hiruzen.

The well-built striking warrior aroused serious interest among the female half of the personnel, regardless of the marital status: as Arina had already learned, the Anbu, despite the legends and speculations surrounding them hardly being even the slightest bit rosy (and most likely exactly because of that), were especially popular among the people here.