Chant d'Automne

Chapter Three: Decisions in the Name of Action

Walking in on Kakashi half-dressed or naked seemed to become something of a habit for Hinata during her first week living in his apartment. Tuesday morning he had come out in low-slung sweatpants, shirtless and yawning. Wednesday he had slept in later than usual, so she had gone to wake him up, only to find him nude save for a thin sheet bunched over his hips and legs. Thursday, shirtless again- was he trying to provoke her? Friday, nothing, thankfully. Of course, he wasn’t a unpleasant sight, but she was beginning to fear leaving her little room, as it presented a constant risk of awkwardness, mostly from her side. Additionally, though he hadn’t made a big deal of it, she was always surprised when she saw him moving around the small dwelling without his mask. She wasn’t complaining about this either, and after trying to attach some sort of underlying meaning to it, concluded that he simply didn’t like to wear a mask all the time, and certainly not in his own house. Her presence had nothing to do with it.

The lack of events that day, though, had lulled her into a false sense of security. On Saturday Hinata had heard nothing from the bathroom and the door was slightly ajar. She opened it to see- who else? Kakashi. He was shaving, and wearing only a small white towel wrapped around his waist.

‘I didn’t realize he shaved,’ she thought to herself as she apologized profusely and backed out. The next day, she would have to broach the subject of privacy with him, she decided. She was constantly intruding and always felt like she was getting in his way. It had never been a problem with Kurenai, for some reason. They had been close friends, though; she was only just getting to know Kakashi.

It was time to see how her teacher—her friend—was doing.

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“Hinata! I hadn’t expected to see you!”

“Yeah… I, um.” She had never felt so awkward around Kurenai, not even the first day of training with Team 8, when she had been terrified to meet anyone.

The older woman motioned her over to sit next to the bed.

“You must have so many questions to ask me and-” She broke off, coughing. “And I want you to know, I’ll answer all of them as best as I can. Hinata.” She reached up gently to turn her surrogate daughter’s face towards her. “I’m sorry.”

Hinata sniffed. There was no way she couldn’t forgive her. She should have done more to help her, a struggling mother with no support, trying to take care of two children.

“Thanks. And I’m sorry too. I should have paid more attention.”

“No. That wasn’t your job.” Kurenai laughed and looked away.

“What?”

“It’s just- we both don’t know how to ask for help when we most need it. Kind of stupid, huh?”

“It is. But that’s probably the only thing we do the same. How are you feeling?”

She made a face. “The doctors think I’m a little bit loony.”

“Bet you’re not helping to dispel that notion.”

“Not when I tell them that I grow special plants. Or used to, I guess. How’d you get in here, by the way?”

“I, um…” Hinata looked uneasy.

“You didn’t flirt with the guard out there, did you?”

“No! Definitely not. Actually sort of the opposite. I just told him I’d hit the chakra points in his groin if he didn’t let me through.”

Kurenai giggled. “Was he the one with brown hair and really pointy teeth? Did he try to come on to you too? He tried with me on my first day here. Want some cookies?”

“Thanks. So what did you do when he hit on you?”

“Oh, nothing drastic. I told him that if he kept bothering me I’d get my S-rank boyfriend to beat him up.” She nibbled a cookie for a minute, then asked, “How’s it going, living with Kakashi?”

“Um, well, fine. I actually wanted to talk to you about that.”

“What’s wrong?” Kurenai said immediately.

“It’s not exactly wrong. I mean, it sort of is. He just… doesn’t have a sense of modesty. Or privacy, I guess.”

“You don’t like seeing him without his mask? Well, that’s beside the point. You can’t really say anything to him, can you?”

“Yeah. If I say something… he’s already doing me a huge favor. I can’t go to him and ask him to change the way he lives to accommodate me.”

“What exactly is he doing?” Kurenai narrowed her eyes.

“I keep walking in on him.”

“Like when he’s going to the bathroom?”

“And…other times.”

Her former sensei snorted lightly and pulled the hospital covers around her tighter.

“What’s so funny?” Hinata queried, helping her get warmer.

“He really has no idea. I’ve know Kakashi for a long time- not as long as Asuma did, but still… Anyway, I’ve know him long enough to know he would walk around naked in public if he knew he wouldn’t be accosted by randy females. Asuma and I used to forget he did that when we would drop by his place to invite him to poker night. I always had to reassure Asuma of his manliness so he wouldn’t get jealous. But don’t you go getting any ideas.”

“I won’t,” Hinata said quickly, blushing at the implications.

“And if you do get ideas, remember what I told you about how babies are created, when men and women-“

“Kurenai! I won’t!”

Kurenai smiled. “I know. But you’re almost old enough that it would be okay if you did…”

“Please, Kurenai. The sex lecture was embarrassing the first time, when I didn’t even know what you were talking about. I think it would sort of be worse now.”

“Okay.” She yawned widely. “The tyrannical nurse will probably be here in a few minutes to kick you out. You wanted to know what you could do about Kakashi?”

Hinata shook her head. “Something like that.”

“Well, I don’t think there’s much you can do, other than enjoy the free-”

“Kurenai!”

“Okay, okay. Here’s the answer you don’t want to hear: if you need to have time on your own, or live on your own terms, the most direct way to do that is get your own place.”

“Right.”

“I’ll help you from here as much as I can, but I don’t know when I’ll get out.”

“Thank you. I’ll come see you as often as I can.” She leaned over and hugged her. Her body felt fragile, too light for a woman her size.

“If Kakashi gives you any trouble, come tell me and I’ll take care of it, okay?”

“Okay.”

“Now go. I’ll be out of here in no time.”

Hinata smiled weakly, and left just as the nurse entered.

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That night, she kept herself awake, fretting over what exactly she would say to him. The last thing she wanted to do was come across as ungrateful.

“Kakashi-san, we need to talk.” –too forceful?

“There is an urgent matter that warrants frank discussion between you and me.” --whoa. Way too formal. There was something else she wanted to ask too, but this would be hard enough as it was. The other thing would have to wait.

Unable to sleep, she got up and went to the kitchen. The whole house was dark except for the moonlight coming in through the windows and glancing softly off other people’s rooftops. She poured herself a glass of water and leaned against the counter, not bothering to turn on the lights.

“Can’t sleep?” Came a voice from the living room.

“Aaaah!” Hinata jumped and sloshed water on herself. “Damn! Kakashi! Is that you? Where’s the light switch?”

Suddenly the lights flicked on. Kakashi was standing in the archway of the kitchen, tousle-haired and shirtless, but wearing dark blue sweatpants which rode low on his hips.

“It’s over here,” he said, pointing to a white rectangle on the wall.

“You-um-okay.” Hinata stuttered as she took in the gorgeous view once again. His skin was surprisingly tan for someone who was always covered while outside. At least, whenever she had seen him.

Her father, Hiashi, would be infuriated to know she was currently living with a grown man who walked around half-dressed in front of young women, but at this point she didn’t really care.

If anyone knew what she was thinking as her eyes roved over the magnificent form in front of her… if he knew…the thought of how embarrassing it would be to live with him if he found out exactly what she was thinking. He’d probably suspect she kept walking in on him on purpose (although this time, he had been the one who walked in.) This frightening thought was enough to make her wrench her eyes away from him, down to the floor, where she had the spilled most of her water. There was some on the front of her pajama top and the leg of her pants as well. Belatedly, she realized that the pattern was embarrassingly childish: yellow ducks on a light bubbly purple background.

Great. If she had ever even had any chance of convincing Kakashi that she was mature, these pajamas had definitely ruined that for her. He must think she looked ridiculously childish.

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Kakashi pretended not to notice Hinata’s perusal of him there in the kitchen. In fact, he had pretended not to notice all week. He knew she didn’t mean to keep stumbling in to these situations, but it kept happening and he couldn’t help being somewhat flattered. He enjoyed the blush that came to her delicate pale skin, not in a sadistic way, just that it made her look cuter than she already was.

And now those pajamas she was wearing… She had a natural dignity and elegance, he had noticed, when she wasn’t worrying what others thought of her. Contrasting that with the rubber-ducky PJ’s made him at once want to laugh and rip them off so he could take her there on the kitchen table…

No, he admonished himself. That would be inappropriate. The age difference combined with their current living arrangements would definitely have people outraged. Not to mention the girl’s infamous crush on Naruto. Now that was inexplicable. If Hinata knew his former student half as well as he did, she would realize that the boy would never give up on Sakura.

Too bad, he mused as he looked surreptitiously at the wet spot on her pajama top. The wetness was right over her left breast, and made the material cling to her skin. He could see the outline of her nipple, perked from the cold, a top a generous round breast.

Whoa. Where had those come from? Her normal clothes, an oversized, long-sleeved jacket, barely hinted at anything underneath, but there it was, right in front of him. Granted, she didn’t exactly live up to the standards of Icha Icha Paradaisu, but who really could? Kakashi had a strong suspicion that most of the women in Jiraiya’s phenomenal novels were based on Tsunade, the old pervert’s busty and unrequited love interest.

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“Um, Kakashi-san?”

“Hm?”

“Where are the paper towels?”

“Oh!” He went over to where she was standing and reached around her to open a cabinet. Hinata froze up, realizing how close he was.

How long, he wondered would this unacknowledged attraction continue?

For a few minutes in silence, they cleaned up the water on the floor. Kakashi broke the ice.

“So, you couldn’t sleep?”

“No…” She stood up and put some soiled towels in the trash, then asked hesitantly, “What about you?”

He shrugged and stood up too. “I’m usually up late.” He went over and opened the fridge. “Want something?”

“Um, no thanks.” He took a carton of milk from the fridge and sniffed it.

“Phew! Don’t drink that.” He put it by the sink, then turned back to the fridge.

Hinata watched him take out some juice, pour himself a tall glass, and lean comfortably against the counter. She sat tentatively at the table.

“Kakashi-san, th-there’s something I think we need to talk about.”

He had been zoning out at the ceiling and looked down at her with mild surprise.

“What is it?’

“Well, I, uh…keep, um…sort of… intruding…” She broke off and looked down at the table.

There was short pause.

“I think I know what you’re trying to say.” He took another gulp of juice. “You shouldn’t worry about it. It’s inevitable, unless we both went around wearing full kimono all the time. We just need to get used to each other’s schedules, accommodate each other.”

Hinata felt somewhat more light-hearted.

“I’m not trying to scare you away. Besides, I really don’t mind.”

This declaration made her sit up and take notice. There was no longer any doubt: Kakashi was a major pervert. He probably walked around his apartment naked normally, but was polite enough to put something on while she was around.

“Actually,” she said, “I wanted to talk to you about that too. I can’t stay here forever- although I’m very grateful. I don’t really know what’s going on with Kurenai, and soon I’ll have to be independent…” She trailed off. How should she say this? It wasn’t something she had thought much about until this week.

“Would you- would you help me train?” Hinata blurted out. Seeing the look on Kakashi’s face she added, “I would do something for you too.”

“Such as…?” He prompted, trying to banish several highly inappropriate thoughts from his mind.

“I could- I think I could help you re-forge your father’s sword.”

Kakashi looked suspicious. “How do you know about that?”

“My father. He insisted that my sister and I know more history than they taught us at the Academy. He had this idea that Hyuuga’s had to be superior in every possible way.”

“And he taught you how to smith swords as well?”

“Well, no, but he did tell me about how that particular sword worked- it combined the metal of the sword with the user’s chakra. To withstand this, the blade had to be forged so it contained a certain amount of chakra from the beginning, to be absorbent.” Once she started talking about something she knew, something factual and unrelated to her emotions or personality, she felt a lot more confident.

“Right.” Kakashi was a little taken aback by Hinata’s zeal. She was usually so quiet and passive.

“Let me go get something,” she said, getting up. Within a minute she returned from her room carrying thick stacks of paper as well as several fat scrolls. She put it all on the table and sat back down again.

“After I lost the use of Byakugan, no one could figure out why or how. The research team was top-secret, at the request-well, order- of my father, but even they couldn’t find anything. So I started doing research on my own. This is most of what I’ve found.”

“Hmm,” Kakashi murmured, surveying the piles of paper on his kitchen table. “This is, uh, a lot of work.”

Hinata ran a loving hand over the stacks. “It isn’t as much as it looks, and it still hasn’t helped with what I originally intended, but I think it would work on your father’s sword, make it stronger, maybe even more effective. You see…”

Hinata embarked on a long, detailed, and highly technical explanation of her research and all it entailed.

Kakashi made a mental note not to get Hinata talking about her work this late at night. Although it was interesting, he just couldn’t stay awake for much longer, while she animatedly discussed the properties of anions used in combining physical and spiritual energy.

“…the one thing I still can’t figure out though, is why some people, the majority of people, can’t combine physical and spiritual energy at will. There’s something missing…Any ideas?”

He shook his head apologetically and drained his glass. “No. But I’ll help you train.”

“Really?! Thanks!” Her face lit up with a smile, of which she then became self-conscious. She blushed and looked down, still smiling.

He pulled out the chair next to her and sat down. “You’ll have to work hard if you want to improve. We’ll start early tomorrow morning.”

“I, um, guess I’ll try to get some sleep, then.” She stood up and gathered all the papers on the table haphazardly in her arms. “Thanks again.”

“No problem,” he responded, smiling. “See you in the morning.”

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Author’s Notes: Thanks again for reading, everyone!