And so, this is the long awaited continuation. Haha!
Instead of resting, Hanare went out to the kitchen to help Granny Kagerō in cooking their lunch. Of course, the old woman opposed it.
"Lady Hanare! You shouldn't be here! You should be in your room resting."
"I'm fine," Hanare said. "And please, drop the lady. I'm… I don't deserve that title."
"But Lord Sixth told me to make sure that you get the rest that you need. He said that's what the doctor said."
"I'm feeling great, Granny. Please, just let me help you here."
Granny Kagerō looked at her, and seeing that she could not be persuaded, she just let her help in cooking.
"Okay, if you insist."
Hanare smiled. She's glad that it didn't took that much to convince the old woman to help her.
"How long have you been doing this, Granny Kagerō?"
"Oh, it won't take long. This recipe is easy," the old woman said.
"No. What I meant was how long have you been serving the Hokage?"
Granny Kagerō paused to think. "Well, I first served during the Third's time. Since then, it has been my purpose to serve the ruling Hokage."
"How about your family?"
"I lost my husband during the war. I have to raise my children myself, so I looked for something that I could do. Luckily, I found this job. For me, it was a noble job and I never stopped since then."
"I'm sorry to hear that," Hanare said.
"It's okay. It was not your fault," Granny Kagerō said. "Now, my kids are all grown up and they have their own families. But I still want to serve the Hokage, so even if they want me stop, I still go to work every day."
Granny Kagerō laughed at her wilfulness. It made Hanare smile, too.
"I'm sure Kakashi is thankful to have you around."
"Lord Sixth is the one that I want to serve the most."
Hanare frowned. Granny Kagerō explained herself.
"I don't know if you know the Hokage's past. He has suffered a lot. The pain of seeing your father die, and then your teacher, your friends. It's just too much."
Hanare knows everything all too well. She knows what happened to the White Fang of the Leaf. Sakumo Hatake was his master's comrade. And then, the Fourth Hokage. Her master also suffered a lot from those deaths.
But she's not very much familiar with Kakashi's friends. She suddenly became curious.
"What happened to his friends?"
"What I know is they were on a mission. Kakashi Hatake was the only one who survived."
Not so much to know, Hanare thought. But of course, Granny Kagerō is a civilian and does not know a lot about ninja affairs. Maybe she should just ask Kakashi herself. But then, she could not do that. Kakashi might not even want to talk about it. And she's very sure that he does not want to share anything to her, especially about his self.
"Poor kid," Granny Kagerō said. "It was fortunate that he was able to bring himself up and become the great ninja that he is right now. I'm sure his father would have been very proud. The Hokage has turned into a great shinobi, and person as well. But because of those loss, he is now alone in his life. I feel like I could be someone who could take care of him, as he is busy taking care of the whole village."
Hanare was touched at what Granny Kagerō said. She suddenly thought of Kakashi, and his efforts to make the village safe and peaceful. Isn't it the reason why he refused to just let her go? He's afraid that she might cause danger to the Hidden Leaf. It pisses her, but at the same time, makes her understand him more.
"What if I take his lunch to him?"
Granny Kagerō looked at her.
"You said earlier that he has been neglecting food. I just thought, maybe, as his assistant, I should go to his office and give him food. Like, I should make sure he does not starve himself or something."
"That is a good idea!" Granny Kagerō said. "Here, I'll pack lunch for the two of you so that you could eat together. Maybe he will eat better if someone will eat with him."
Hanare nodded. "Yeah, that's a good idea."
She's not very sure about eating with Kakashi. It feels so uncomfortable just by thinking about it. But since she lives in his house, and it's inevitable that they might eat together, she's thinking maybe she should learn to do it as early as possible.
It might be good to start learning it now.
The Hokage's Office is not that hard to look for. It's just below the penthouse, and Hanare immediately found the door leading to the office. It was not that far from the staircase leading to the penthouse.
Hanare knocked at the door. She immediately heard Kakashi's voice after three knocks.
"Come in."
She slowly opened the door, but suddenly stopped upon seeing two other people in the room with Kakashi. One is a woman in blue kimono, and the other one is a guy with flak jacket and the usual ninja attire. She suddenly wants to just close the door again and leave; but she just stood there, frozen, as she looked at the two other people in the room.
"What are you doing here?"
Hanare looked at Kakashi. It felt as if her mind froze, too. "Ahm…" She looked at the wrapped bento she's carrying. "I brought you lunch." She showed him the bento.
"Brought you lunch?" the woman in blue kimono asked. She was looking at Kakashi, quite intrigued.
"This is Hanare," Kakashi said to the two. "She's my new assistant. Hanare, this is Shizune. She's Lady Tsunade's assistant, and she's standing by to help me in the transition of the administration. And this is Shikamaru. He's my assistant, but he's training to be the next Hokage's adviser."
Hanare frowned. Next Hokage's advisor?
"You hired an assistant?" Shizune asked, still with that intrigued tone of her voice and look on her face. "I thought you do not want a lot of people following you around?"
"It… was… I just thought of it," Kakashi answered. It felt as if he struggled to find the answer to the question, and Hanare knows why.
He just could not tell them who I really am.
"I thought maybe I could use a hand with paper works and office matters." Kakashi avoided Shizune's suspicious look. He looked at Hanare instead, and gave her that you-should-not-be-here look.
Which made Hanare cringe. "Ah… Ha-ha! I just… thought, maybe… you need to eat." She winced as she put the bento on the table. "I'll go back to the penthouse now."
Hanare looked at the Shizune and Shikamaru. "Nice to meet you. I'll go now."
And without another word, she went out of the room, quite fast.
"Why on earth, Hanare?" she asked herself. "You shouldn't have gone there. How could you forget that other people might be in the room with him?"
She stopped. She's now taking the stairs leading to the penthouse.
"But... What's wrong with that? People will eventually know about me anyway… Uh, that look on his face… his eyes, rather. His face is covered so… Oh! He's mad."
She's suddenly worried that he's mad at her. She doesn't know why, but it suddenly made her worry.
"Of course I should worry! I'm living in his house!"
She continued on her way up on the stairs to Kakashi's penthouse.
Meanwhile, Kakashi was really caught off guard by Hanare's presence. He thought it might just be one of his staff that was knocking. He did not expect it to be that woman that she left in his apartment.
"When did you hire Hanare?"
He looked at Shizune. He doesn't know why, but he felt suddenly uncomfortable with her gaze. And that tone of her voice. It just makes him embarrass.
"Just yesterday."
"And she's staying with you?" Shizune asked again. "I concluded since she said she brought you lunch."
"For the meantime." There's no use in lying. People will find out about it anyway.
"Is she your assistant, or your girlfriend?"
Now, Kakashi is shocked. "Why would she be my girlfriend?"
"I don't know," Shizune said. "It just seems like that. What do you think, Shikamaru?"
Shikamaru was surprised at Shizune's sudden inquest.
"Well… It's okay for the Hokage to hire an assistant," Shikamaru said.
"That's not what I meant," Shizune said. "What do you think of Hanare? Is she an assistant, or the Sixth's girlfriend?"
"Why don't we just continue with our meeting," Kakashi burst out.
"Should we?" Shizune asked. "The lady just brought you lunch."
"It could wait," Kakashi said. "Let's continue with the meeting."
His tone was so formal that the two were compelled to continue with what they were doing before Hanare came in.