Ikigai

Chapter 10: Embrace for Impact

The wind had started to pick up ruffling the tree he had been sitting in, stray leaves brushing up against his flap jacket as he sat reading from one of the tree's many limbs. 

"The weather's quite nice, although the sun's awfully bright today, eh."

Had he been anyone else, he probably would have fallen out of the tree from the surprise.

He had been hiding a few miles near the village's main entry gate, away from anyone's view for the past hour, or so he had thought. 

It was now clear Kintsugi had also found his hiding spot. Her eyes were glossy and unblinking as she stared at him from where she sat in the adjacent tree, the leaves only moving with the wind and the slight breath she produced as she spoke.

It had been the sixth time Kakashi had seen her that day. 

He knew it was no coincidence the moment he saw her "helping" out at each of the food stalls he had visited throughout the day.

First the stolen bowl of cereal in the morning. Now, his peace of mind. 

He was busy enough helping the village elders function while the village was without a Hokage, he wasn't about to start taking care of someone else. Jiraiya had yet to return with Naruto from his search for Lady Tsunade. 

It didn't help to have the added pressure of having another person like Guy, stalk him around town.

"What's the first thing you notice when someone approaches you?" Kintsugi continued as she tilted her head.

"The audacity."

He jumped to the ground and started to walk away, sighing as he heard her footsteps mimic his own as he walked back to the entry gates. She carried no memorable or recognizable scent, her footsteps only an echo to her presence next to him.

Walking side by side, he recalled the note she had left him. 

Thanks for the cereal.

She'd left an empty bowl and dirty spoon in his kitchen sink that morning, he supposed, to let him know she had been there. He wasn't sure if he should take it as a threat that she had been able to break into his house without his knowledge or her way of saying she had ways of getting what she wanted and she would get what she wanted eventually whether he liked it or not. 

Though, he thought, someone willing to leave a thank you note after having sedated him the first time they met and then proceeded to commit blatant breaking and entry, thievery even, the second time didn't seem like a very threatening person. 

Maybe. 

Putting his book in his back pocket, he lifted his arms, hands stretching to rest behind his head as they walked.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing more than what I already told you," she spoke tonelessly, her cloak hiding her right hand as she instinctively gripped the handle of her long blade anxiously waiting for his response.

Ignorant of her action, he raised a brow in her direction, his nose crinkled in thought.

"Surety, huh?"

"Good for the economy," she hummed back.

More stray leaves seemed to blow across their path, Kakashi expertly dodging those that headed towards his face aware that in contrast, Kintsugi seemed to let them roughly brush against her face. 

She would have swatted at them if he had not been standing next to her, but she feigned nonchalance. 

"Well, this is where we part," she said suddenly, lifting two fingers in salute as she seemed to speedwalk past Izumo and Kotetsu towards the village square, placing the mask she had instantly created over her face.