Chant d'Automne

Chapter Four: A Room with a View or, A Slow Start

Hinata woke with the quiet-colored light of dawn, and the gold-shadowed blossoms it tossed on the wall by her bed.

Today, her training with Kakashi would start. Kakashi-sensei, she corrected herself. It was back to that. She wasn’t that old, but still hadn’t referred to an adult that way in a long time.

After she had gotten dressed, packed her bags, and made breakfast, the sun was up, and Kakashi hadn’t come out yet. She had just apologized last night for constantly barging in on him; he probably wouldn’t appreciate if she did it again so soon. Concluding that a walk would calm her nerves, she slipped out the front door before she could change her mind, or Kakashi got up.

-------------------

-------------------

When she got back, Kakashi was awake. He sat at the small round table in his boxers, eating a steaming bowl of rice and reading something.

He heard her come in and looked over.

“You’re ready to go?”

“Yeah,” she replied. “I was waiting for you.”

“I’ll be ready soon. Would you like some tea?”

Hinata accepted a cup and sat down across from him. “Thanks.” Her eyes wandered to the book he held protectively. “What are you reading?”

“Nothing, nothing!” He said airily. “Just some reports. About your training… are you sure you want to do it? I should tell you something before we get started: I’m not going to take it easy on you.”

“I-I didn’t expect you to,” she said quickly. “My only chance of becoming a jounin is to train well. That’s why I asked you.”

Kakashi inclined his head toward her. “Then if you’re sure, let’s get going.”

--------------------

--------------------

Late summer reigned over Konohagakure. They made their way slowly through the crowded streets filled with mingling smells of fried food and flower pollen. The sun was just beginning to rule the day, and seemed to capture the dust in the air and mold it into fantastic, thick tan clouds. Once on the outskirts of the village, the air got fuller and sweeter, the trees looked less choked than the ones in the streets, and the pollen didn’t make Hinata’s nose run as much. There were flowers vibrant against the faded summer grasses. The purples and yellows reminded Hinata of her old hobby, flower-pressing. She had given it up when Aiko had started to need more attention, which was pretty much from the moment she was born. Flowers needed to be freshly picked for the best colors, and finding time to even press them properly had been impossible.

“Keep up!” Kakashi called back at her. They were moving faster now, and the dirt path had gotten narrower. At times, they bounded up through the trees, sending alarmed birds fluttering.

“Where are we going, Kakashi-sensei?” She asked during one lull as they walked along the path.

“Taking a short trip. We’ll train on the way there.”

“A trip?”

“Yup.”

“What for?”

He looked back at her with a glance that seemed meant to quell her curiosity. “To find a swordsmith. I hope you brought your research.”

Hinata held herself back from rolling her eyes.

---------------------

---------------------

Forty-five minutes later, they set out anew from the Leaf Village. Hinata’s pack was considerably heavier, now full of her research and a few more pairs of socks and underwear.

As they followed the deserted path that ran alongside the river in the village, two high-pitched giggling voices drifted from around the bend.

“Hinata! Kakashi-sensei!” Two young women jogged into sight. One was dressed in a dark two-piece eggplant purple outfit over white linen wrappings and fishnet leggings. The other wore a short sleeveless cherry-red dress with a zipper up the front.

“Ino? Sakura?” Both the blonde and pink haired girl came to a stop in front of the mismatched teacher-student pair.

“Hi, Hinata! What are you two doing here?” Ino, loud and confident as ever, tossed her blonde ponytail while Sakura sipped from a water bottle.

Hinata glanced at Kakashi, hoping he would step in and offer a response. However, he hung back, avoided her eye, and said nothing.

“Uh…we, uh… actually just ran in to each other here…”

“Oh.” Ino smirked and looked over at Sakura. “So what have you been up to lately? Any good missions?”

“All missions are ‘good’ missions, Ino.” Kakashi spoke in his teacher voice. “As long as the mission benefits Konoha. That’s the whole purpose of going on missions.”

Ino grinned, blindingly, and tossed her hair some more. “Well, if there’s anything else you want to teach us, Kakashi-sensei…”

Kakashi’s visible eye narrowed, and he replied, unconvincingly, “I’ll let you know.”

“Um… so…” Hinata shifted uneasily. “How are you guys?”

Sakura shrugged. “Tsunade-sama assigned me to help heal Sasuke with the medical team.”

Ino jumped in. “Isn’t she lucky?”

“Uh…”

“She doesn’t realize how lucky she is. If I were there-“

“You’d jump him instead of treating him,” Sakura interrupted sarcastically.

Ino rolled her eyes. “That is so not true! Hey, Hinata, I heard Naruto is single again…”

“Oh…um. I hadn’t seen him in a while. How is he?”

“Well, single. And getting more ass than Sasuke and Kiba put together.”

Hinata choked. “Doesn’t he still like Sakura?”

“He still thinks he has a chance with me,” Sakura sighed.

“Sort of like that creeper Jiraiya- thinks he’ll get into Tsunade-sama’s pants one of these days.”

Kakashi cleared his throat.

Sakura poked her head around Hinata. “How are you doing, Kakashi-sensei?”

“I’m well, Sakura, how are you?”

Instead of responding, Sakura nudged Ino with her elbow and they both giggled.

Kakashi caught Hinata’s eye and gave her a look that practically begged her to tactfully extricate them from the situation. Hinata repressed a groan. Compared to her, Kakashi was a wimp when it came to social interactions.

-------------------

-------------------

When they finally made their escape, Kakashi set a quick pace, and they mostly eschewed the road in favor of tree-hopping.

“Keep up, Hinata! We have to double our pace in order to make time!”

Panting, Hinata called up, “We wouldn’t have to if you had told me to bring my research in the first place!”

“Is that any way to speak to your teacher? And it was your friends who delayed us.” His tone was chiding, but she could hear him laughing behind it. “Anyway, you’ll be glad you brought a few extra pairs of underwear once we’ve been on the road for a few weeks.”

“Sorry, Kakashi-sensei.”

Mid-afternoon, Kakashi glanced back at Hinata. Her steps were lagging slightly but she gave no other indication that she might be tired. He suggested that they stop for a break and then do some training exercises.

Ten minutes late Hinata was performing the familiar movement patterns that comprised warm-ups for basic training.

“You have to do these, “ he intoned, leaning lazily against a huge oak. “The basics are the most important. If you don’t have these, you won’t improve at all.”

“Got it,” Hinata replied, segwaying into more complex strings of kicks, punches, and blocks. The movements felt foreign at first, but there was something instinctual, and they came easier when she thought about them less.

She was beginning to feel a little tired but didn’t want Kakashi to think she was weak, so didn’t say anything. Finally he closed the orange book he was reading and called to her to stop.

She dropped her stance and looked over.

He looked so…cool, standing nonchalantly with one hand in his pocket and a rather jaded look in his gray eye. She had never really understood what Sakura meant when she described Kakashi as ‘hot, in a sort of ‘hot? Me? That’s-nice-but-get-on-with-your-exercises’ way. But now, Hinata could understand and agree with her. Maybe he wasn’t a great choice for a teacher. If she wasn’t able to keep her mind off of him, and focus on the lesson…

“I assume you can’t mold chakra at all?” He asked, slipping the book into his kunai pouch.

“None.”

He crossed his arms. “Then it’s taijutsu only, and you have a lot of practice to do.”

--------------------

--------------------

Author’s Notes: Yeah, yeah, short chapter, and sorry for the wait. The next chapter is much longer.

--------------------