"What's the point of having a sensei if he is always so late that we don't get proper time to train?!" Naruto exclaimed in a huff, throwing his arms up in the air.
Sakura sighed at her team mate's childish behavior but inside she was also rather irritated that Kakashi-sensei was once again over 2 hours late. This time he was supposed to be helping them with chakra control which was her favorite lesson and though she didn't need much assistance her team mates certainly did. The little pinket looked over to Sasuke; the Uchiha was standing against a tree with a bored expression across his face. A blush rose to her cheeks and she looked away, afraid he may see her red cheeks. Unbeknownst to her he had seen her blush out of the corner of his eye then rolled his eyes at her childishness.
"Maybe we should just start on our own?" Sakura commented.
"Umm, miss, would you like some help with those?" The stoutly store clerk asked, watching with held breath as La Kani seemed to be stumbling out of his shop with her many bags.
"No, no, I can handle this. I'm sure of it." She said with a bright smile. "My apartment isn't far from here." La Kani continued out of the store without any mishaps and headed in the direction of her home. She let out a sigh of relief that she had made it this far, stepping now with a bit of confidece until she was bumped into at both sides by two running youngsters. As she readied herself for the fall to the fall to the ground she instead landed in a pair of arms.
"Are you alright La Kani-san?" Asked the silver-haired jonin above her.
La Kani couldn't help the blush on her cheeks but ignored it, getting back to her footing with Kakashi's help. "I'm fine, thank you Kakashi-kun. All is well."
Kakashi chuckled at her comment. "Perhaps. Let me help you with these," he said ad took most of her bags. "This is far too much for you to carry on your own."
Once again La Kani could find no way to argue with this man and gave in to his assistance. "Thank you. It seems that whenever we meet you are always helping me."
"What are friends for?" He said with a closed eye smile. This brought a beautiful smile to La Kani's face that Kakashi admired out of the corner of his eye.
"So where were you headed before you rescued me?" She asked casually.
"To the training grounds to meet my students, I'm a bit late actually."
"Oh then you need to go! I shouldn't hold you up any longer!" La Kani stopped, trying to take the bags from Kakashi's hands. He shook his head and laughed.
"Don't worry, they are used to it by now."
"Used to it?" La Kani said and continued to walk. "That isn't very professional Kakashi-kun. If you are their sensei they rely on you, you should keep your word."
Kakashi was surprised by her sudden lecture and had to stop his smile from spreading to his eye. "I would never let them down in a serious situation, I swear to that."
"Good then, it's important that your team trusts you and you support that trust."
"Where did you learn this? Have you trained as a ninja with Jiraiya?" Kakashi questioned gently, trying to keep his tone calm and casual to keep her trust.
La Kani bit her lip. "Not really, Jiraiya-sama simply told me many things, that's all." She turned her gaze to him then. "Why?"
Kakashi was taken aback by who deep her eyes bore into him. "Simple curiosity, nothing more." Her eyes then left him and he was thankful for it.
"Oh, alright then." She looked up as then reached her apartment building. "Here we are, thank you again for you help Kakashi-kun."
She began to take the bags from his hands but he stopped her quickly. "If you start carrying these up those stairs you will most definitely fall, let me help you just a little further." With that he smoothly wrapped an arm around her waist and jumped up to the top floor with his ninja skills. La Kani couldn't breath from the moment her touched her to when then reached her door. "Did I frighten you La Kani-san?"
La Kani shook her head and looked to him. "Umm, no, it's fine, I was just surprised." She reached into her bag until she found her keys and, though with a little fumbling, unlocked her door and opened it for them. She was greatful that she had put away any works she had done of him just in case of situations like this.
Kakashi gestured her in first and followed soon after. He took a glance around the apartment, realizing that the front was mostly just her art studio cluttered with her supplied while there was a bit of a sitting area off to the right and the kitchen directly to their left. Further back he saw a hallway which he assumed lead to her bedroom and bathroom.
"Please just set those on the counter here," she said tapping on the counter where she had set most of her bags. "Excuse me, these go to my room."
Kakashi nodded her off and did as she said. He stuck his hands in his pockets casually and admired one of the paintings leaning against the wall. It was a scene looking down on Konoha, the detail was amazing and he wondered how she was able to see the city like this, with more color and beauty than he ever noticed and for a moment he wished he could look through her eyes to find what he would see.
"What do you think of it?" She asked from behind him, suprising him a bit at how he didn't notice. How was she so quiet?
He took a glance back at her the returned his gaze to the painting. "It's beautiful, you have an amazing talent."
La Kani nelt down in front of the painting and ran her fingers over a section of the city. "It's not me, it's the beauty of this city, I'm just grateful to have seen it to show it like this."
"Don't sell yourself short, your talent brought the city to life in this painting, that you should be proud of." He said softly and watched her smile spread as well as the red on her cheeks.
She put her head down a little, hiding from him as best she could but it was pointless. "Thank you... Kakashi-kun. No one has ever said something like that to me."
"I hope you know it is all true, not simple flattery." He said. She rose slowly and smiled up at him and nodded.
"I understand, thank you."
He gave a gentle smile that was anything but forced. "You're welcome."
La Kani found herself stuck in that moment then suddenly remembered that he was late for meeting his team and jumped up in a fuss. "Oh, your team! You need to go now before you're any more late! Your students have waited long enough!"
Kakashi chuckled, enjoying her outburst. "Alright, alright, I'm going."
She pushed him toward the door. "Yes, yes, go now, don't make them wait any longer."
He suddenly turned and took her hands to stop her from pushing anymore. "Would you like to come with me? You're proof that I wasn't completely late of my own accord. How about it? You could watch them; making them a little nervous will be good practice for the chunin exams soon."
"Oh, umm, sure. That sounds kind of fun."
"Good then, come with me." He took her by the waist once again and jumped from the top floor to the next building over, heading in the direction of the training grounds.
Meeting the team! Yay! To me that's almost like meeting the guy's kids lol in Kakashi's case that is. So anyway I hope you liked that, it was the most fun to write chapter yet. Review is you like :) I love it when you do. Until next time!
