The Case-Book of Kakashi Hatake

The Hound of the Uchiha {Part 6}

The next morning, before I was able to force Uchiha to take me to the homes of his remaining neighbors, they came to me.

Apparently word spreads quickly in such a tiny community. And they were all curious to meet the mysterious doctor from golden-boy Itachi's past.

First arrived Dr. Miyamoto shortly after breakfast.

I was waiting in the drawing room for Uchiha to stop skulking about--I suspected that he was hiding from me to avoid being dragged to any more neighborly confrontations--when I heard Jugo greet someone at the door and guide him to me.

The guest was a rather portly middle aged man with thin reddish hair, ruddy cheeks, and watery blue eyes beneath half-moon spectacles. Without a doubt, his most spectacular feature was a finely groomed, thick mustache the color of rust which made a crescent shape around his upper lip.

He clasped his hands together when he saw me, "Ah! You must be the friend of Itachi's that I have heard so much about. A pleasure to meet you, I am Dr. James Miyamoto."

"Likewise." I reached out to shake his hand, "Dr. Jin Watanabe."

He grasped my outstretched fingers and began to bring them up as if he intended to kiss the back of my hand. Startled, and a bit offended, I tightened my fingers on his, gave them one firm shake, and then clasped my hands behind my back with a strained smile.

An awkward quiet dampened the room for several long seconds until I gestured to the plush chairs around the drawing room fire. "Would you like to take a seat? I am sure that Uchiha will join us shortly." With that, I sent a pointed look over Miyamoto's shoulder at Jugo in the hopes that the butler would go and fetch the young man quickly. I could already tell that talking to the country doctor was going to feel like a chore; I had met his type before.

The good doctor, in a show of gentlemanly manners gestured that I take a seat before settling into a large armchair himself with a little sigh.

I know that it is unfair, as there are many medical and hereditary factors which can affect weight, but I always find myself judging colleagues of mine who are out of shape rather harshly. I felt that, as a doctor, Miyamoto should know better than to put on weight like that. Granted, my gaunt frame could well be argued to be even unhealthier, but that did not stop me from making several rather scathing assumptions about his skill in the medical field immediately.

Sadly, the first subject which he embarked upon did nothing to disabuse me of my hasty assessment.

"Are you familiar with the study of phrenology, madam?"

I hesitantly nodded, "The, uh, idea that the shape of a person's skull might have some bearing on their intelligence? Yes, I read about it some during my education. Why do you ask?"

"Well, you are a doctor from the city, and I was wondering if you had any notion as to why the Royal Konoha College of Doctors have so turned against the field of study."

I almost sputtered in shock at his tone, his apparent concern over the pseudoscience's fate, "Well I am certainly glad that they did! It is a completely ludicrous idea based solely on biased research, and I am glad that College finally managed to stop treating it seriously." It was one of Dr. Kato's greater accomplishments since she had come to be the College's chairwoman.

Miyamoto's eyes widened in shock, "By goodness, you really think so?"

"Of course. Don't you find it a bit too much a coincidence, Doctor, that the cranial dimensions most linked to intelligence have been those shapes which the researchers have themselves? Or that the people against whom they hold prejudice just so happen to have skulls indicating stupidity and 'primitive savagery'?"