Medicine

Chapter 1

Kakashi Hatake glared at the door in front of him, as though his one visible eye could burn a hole in it. Unfortunately, his efforts were fruitless and after a moment of languishing, he sighed, a raised a hand to knock on the door.

"Come in," a voice came from inside before he even knocked. Resignation burning within him, he obliged by opening the door and letting himself in.

The sight was not what he was expecting. The image of white rooms with padded walls may have been a bit of a dramatic overstretch, but what he saw was still surprising. It was a cozy office room with bookshelves lining the walls, a desk in front of them with tidy piles of paperwork. Across from the desk set up was a set of comfy and well-used looking couches around a coffee table. A tea tray was in the corner, and the décor was more appropriate for someone's living room than a doctor's office.

And speaking of the doctor…

Shiori Yamanaka was standing beside the window with her arms crossed over her hands clasped behind her back, half glancing back at him with inquisitive forest green eyes. She had long pale blonde hair in a high ponytail that trailed all the way down her back and tan skin, with some faint freckles on her nose and cheeks. She was wearing the standard Konoha blue uniform with the sleeves rolled up, though he didn't see her headband or flak jacket.

He had heard of her in passing, though they had never interacted. She was a prominent med-nin in the village, who took intel missions when she was on duty. She had a reputation for infiltration, and for being one of the only specialists on psychological health in the village.

She was studying him. The way her eyes seemed to pierce through him was evidence enough she was from her clan. Still, he held his ground until she nodded to him and gestured to the couches, unreadable expression unchanging.

"Hatake-san, a pleasure, let's sit down," she said pleasantly. Kakashi hesitantly moved to sit, but remained tense.

She crossed her arms and legs, returning to her appraisal of him. After a minute, her mouth turned down into a small frown and she gave him an unimpressed look.

"You don't want to be here," she stated lightly. Kakashi didn't think he was being obvious about it, but she was a Yamanaka, and they were experts on being able to read people so he rolled with it.

"Not at all, but the Hokage ordered it directly," he replied honestly.

"And you don't intend on telling me anything, and are tensing to prepare yourself against my mysterious Yamanaka mind games," she said again. The corner of her mouth twitched, but he ignored it.

"You're pretty good at this," he admitted. He hid his surprise well at how accurate she was after just shortly observing his body language. She rolled her eyes at him, completely relaxing her posture and slouching on the couch, grabbing a book from the arm and flipping it open. Right in front of him, she began to read.

Kakashi waited for a moment, before he finally asked, "… what are you doing?"

She rolled her eyes again, not even sparing him another glance, "I don't know what you've heard about me and my duties, but I'm very busy and have very little down time. I have no intention of fruitlessly wasting my time on you if you're not a willing participant in treatment."

Kakashi recoiled a little in shock. The Hokage sent him to her because she was supposed to be the best! He had been adamantly against it, and had been extremely embarrassed to be sent to a psychologist, but was still expecting to be subjected to hours of torture and having this woman try to get him to talk about his feelings.

But she seemed very uninterested. She gave him a lazy look briefly over her book.

"I'll be here if you ever have an emotional revelation and want to talk about your feelings and shit, but based on your history and well-known dislike for doctors, I won't hold my breath. Frankly, you have to keep coming as long as Hokage-sama makes you, and I get paid whether you get better or not," she finished with a shrug.

He blinked incredulously at her, unsure if her should be annoyed with her terrible attitude, or relieved that she wasn't going to interrogate him and tell him to let go of the past and it's not your fault.

He stayed tense and silent for a good three minutes, during which she completely ignored him, before he started to relax, and pulled his own.

It was actually kind of nice. The couch was comfortable, and it was quiet, where Gai couldn't burst out and challenge him to another ridiculous challenge. Shiori wasn't bad company, in the sense of she was completely silent and absorbed in her own time-killing. He had been dreading this since the Hokage ordered it, but maybe spending an hour a week unwinding wouldn't be so bad.

;

"So?"

Shiori frowned, crossing her arms over her chest, "He'll be a tough egg to crack, but I'll be able to do it. His reputation made him sound worse than he is, I think," she replied thoughtfully. The third Hokage sighed, nodding.

"He's always had a bad history of… not taking care of himself, and even though he can be quite reckless on missions, often refuses to go to the hospital," the Hokage said with a shake of the head. "I'm hoping you can find a way to take care of that with all of this and… remedy his willingness to seek treatment."

Shiori sighed, and nodded. Her mission was to do something she wasn't sure anyone had fully done before; she had to gain Kakashi Hatake's trust.