Impossible to Forget

Chapter 14: The Lunch from Hell

I spent the whole morning stressing out about the upcoming lunch. I looked up at the clock on the wall and watched as it ticked away the seconds leading up to one like it was heralding my doom. Like each tick of the second hand called my metaphorical executioner closer.

Wow, I've been awfully dramatic recently. Must be a result of living with Anzu; that girl has quite the imagination and a real flare for melodrama if I've ever seen one. Must be rubbing off on me.

I yelped as the door to my office was flung open.

"Kakashi! Knock for heaven's sake! Were you raised in a barn?! Have you no sense of propriety?"

He scratched the back of his neck, "Uh, sorry? What's got you all worked up? That was quite the overreaction, even for you."

"What do you mean by that?"

He seemed to rethink where he was going with this conversation, "Never mind. I was wondering if you wanted to go and grab a bite to eat since it's lunch time."

I sighed and let my forehead drop onto the scroll laden surface of my desk, "I'm sorry, but I already have plans. You see, Anzu's new sensei and the father of one of her teammates were my genin teammates, and we're getting together for a sort of reunion lunch."

"Oh, I see."

I looked up at him through the dark hair draped over the desk in front of me, "Save me, please. Make something come up. Give me some time consuming order as the Hokage. Anything. Just get me out of this lunch from hell." My face dropped back to the desk with a clink from my forehead protector, "I don't wanna go!"

"No, I really think that you should go."

I snapped up straight in my chair and sent him my most murderous glare, "What?! Why?"

He put both of his hands out in front of him in a placating gesture, "No really. Look at us. You never wanted to see me again, I was too afraid to ever confront you agin, but now here we are. I think that it's a good thing that you're confronting more people from your past that you have held grudges against. Letting go of that hate is good for you."

"So are you saying that seeing my mother again was a good thing too?"

"Hell no. But she's a special case. Just go and try to be nice; you might be surprised by how it goes."

I groaned and buried my face in my hands, "I hate you right now." I glanced up at the clock, "I'd better go now if I don't want to be late. If I die because of this, I'm haunting you, Hatake."

"Now you're just being a drama queen. You're not going to die. Just suck it up and deal with a single lunch because I'm sure that's within your power."

I stood up and stuck my tongue out him as I flounced out of the room. As soon as I stepped out into the hallway, I blushed as I realized that had just stuck my tongue out at someone, that someone being my boss. Well done, me. Very mature.

I walked into the tea shop and strode over to where I could see Sadao already sitting down. I sat down across from him and tried not to look his way too much, figuring that it was better to just avoid conversation and social interaction all together.

"So, Kaiyo, it's been a long time."

Damn it Sadao, I was trying to enjoy the last vestiges of silence before the lunch actually started and I would be required to talk to people.

"Yep."

He smiled, he actually smiled at me (I guess that miracles can happen or maybe he's just changed a lot in the last twenty years), "So what have you been up to lately?"