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|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XIX] ||
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Oriko stood leaning outside the small shop where Kiyoshi was buying some gauze and medical tape to sort out his wound, Oriko had offered to buy it for him but he wouldn’t hear of it. Hence, she was stood outside waiting for him; eventually he appeared with a patch over his cheek and a smile on his face,
“Obaa-chan offered to bandage it for me,” Oriko matched his grin and stood up a little, staring half-expectantly at her new found friend, wondering what they were supposed to do now,
“What do you want to do now?”
“Hmm, have you eaten lunch yet?”
“Yep,”
“Ah…well I really should go back to my stall; Sochiro can’t look after it all day…” He paused again looking a little thoughtful, “Where are you off to now?”
“Probably off to go and train,” Although she’d already done it, Oriko was looking forward to practicing with her new weapon, Kiyoshi looked as though he was about to say something as he opened his mouth, but another man’s voice spoke instead,
“O-Oriko?” She span around to see a somewhat flustered looking Iruka as he stepped towards them,
“Oh! Hi there, how are you?” Oriko asked, as he stepped up next to the kuniochi and the man she was with,
“Well, thank you, Oriko; h-hello there, I don’t believe we’ve met,” He turned to the man next to him, “I’m Umino Iruka,”
“Ah, I’m Shishohei Kiyoshi, nice to meet you, Iruka-san,” The villager bowed lightly, his friendly and unthreatening smile never leaving his face, Iruka forced a smile but his uncertainly was obvious as he too bowed slightly, as he shifted to stand in front of Oriko slightly, in a protective fashion,
“What were you two doing?”
“Oh, nothing unsavory, Iruka-san, I was just saying going to say goodbye to Oriko,” Oriko resisted a smile at how easily Kiyoshi saw through Iruka’s false pretence, the Chuunin frowned slightly, “Goodbye, Oriko, I hope we can meet up again soon, I have a stall at the weekly market, but hopefully I’ll see you around,” Oriko nodded, a broad smile on her face,
“Yes, I hope so too, thank you for the goods and sorry again about the face,”
“No problem, see you soon; goodbye Iruka-san,” He bowed politely once more before turning and walking away, both she and Iruka watching until he was out of sight,
“Who was he?” Oriko raised an eyebrow at Iruka’s demanding question,
“A villager I met at the little fair over in that direction, I accidentally injured him and so walked him to a small shop to get a bandage,
“What was he trying to do?”
“Nothing, Iruka, not that it’s any of your business one way or another; anyway, I need to get going,” She felt a stab of irritation at Iruka’s demanding and frankly nosy questions. She turned to walk away but could sense Iruka catch up to her pace,
“I-err, sorry, Oriko, I didn’t mean to be nosy, I just wanted to make sure he wasn’t being nasty to you,” Iruka gave his signature half-apologetic smile as he rubbed a finger over his nose.
Oriko didn’t answer at first, feeling that if she accepted the apology, it would be validating to Iruka’s bad behavior – and not stop him from doing it again. But at the same time, she knew that she couldn’t not forgive him, not to mention that he wasn’t trying to be an asshole – just rather oblivious to his own actions;
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Hatake Kakashi: Fascination
FanfictionKakashi thinks he's in for a nice break, free from students, after Naruto's recent departure with Jiraiya, but he hadn't counted on a beautiful stranger turning up in Konoha whom Tsunade thinks would become a powerful asset were she to be trained as...
