Yo, this chapter has a bit of bad language in, so if you're sensitive to it, please be warned!
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I Still Remember:
Chapter : [11] : The Next Two Drinks Free, If You Leave Now :
Atsuko and Kakashi had been sat chatting for quite a while, he was relieved that she seemed much more comfortable with him that earlier in the day, having seen her smile more often in the past few hours. They were interrupted by a knock at the door, Kakashi looked at the clock which said it was exactly six, even the second hand was on the dot,
"Was Kurenai being sarcastic when she said 'six-ish?'" Kakashi asked looking at Atsuko who laughed as Kakashi stood to answer the door,
"Well, she has a bit of a thing about time,"
"You're not kidding," he replied as he opened the door and let Kurenai in,
"Kakashi you're still here?" she asked a little surprised, as the slightly as she walked in through the door and set the bag she was carrying on the small table.
"Well, yea," he responded, taking a seat on the sofa and getting comfortable,
"What are you doing?" Kurenai asked, surprised at his actions,
"I'm sitting here," he responded with a hint of amusement in his voice, knowing he was annoying Kurenai,
"Kakashi, I don't mean to be rude, but I was hoping that I could talk with Atsuko, alone," Kurenai looked hard at him, as though trying to not-so-subtly-to fuck off, which Kakashi was either ignoring or blind to,
"I know and that's fine, the doctor told me to keep an eye on her,"
"Well, I'm here; I can keep an eye on her."
"Why are you so eager for me to leave? Are you going to talk about me?" he was clearly struggling to hide his amusement,
"No, actually, I've got a few questions to ask her on Daisuke's behalf," Kakashi's expression seemed suspiciously unwavering,
"Really? Like What?" Kurenai just smiled in response, and turned to Atsuko,
"Are you hungry now, or would you rather wait until a little later?"
"Uh, in a bit, could you put it on the side for me?" Kurenai stood up and shot a look at Kakashi, as he followed her into the kitchen, she kept her head turned so Atsuko had no idea what they were saying,
"If you leave now, you can have your fist two drinks next time at the bar for free," Kakashi pondered it a little, "Just go for a walk and come back in a few hours, what's your problem?"
"Just curious," Kakashi returned, "Fine, but I damn well better get those drinks!"
"Ahaha, of course you will," Kakashi turned back to Atsuko,
"Well, it looked like Kurenai has more persuasive power than I gave her credit for; I'll see you a bit later, sure you'll be ok?"
"Yea, yea, we'll be fine," Atsuko replied giving a slight roll of her eyes to tell Kakashi he was fussing,
"Oh, well, I'll see you guys later," he turned and walked out of the door, leaving the two Kuniochi alone.
"What did you say to get him to leave?"
"I'd by him a drink or two next time we went out," Atsuko couldn't help but laughed at how well that one worked,
"Might have to remember that one," she grinned back at her long haired friend.
"Hey, were you serious about what you said about Daisuke?" Atsuko couldn't resist asking, as Kurenai returned with a bottle of Asahi in her hand,
"Fancy a glass?" she asked as Atsuko nodded, "And no, but I have some questions about Daisuke to ask you… and Kakashi." She busied herself pouring out two small cups of Asahi, and handed one to Atsuko,
"Geeze, do we have to?"
"Yep, because I think I can figure out your thinking about these two," she sat back in the chair a little, "But they sure as hell can't," Atsuko couldn't help but sigh in frustration,
"I don't see why I just can't be friends with both of them,"
"Are you serious?" Kurenai stared at her friend, "They're not fighting for you to be their friend, what do you think we are? Children? Atsuko, they both like you; which is why they don't like each other."
"So basically I have to choose between challenging Kakashi or one-touch Daisuke if there's ever going to be any peace?" Kurenai could help but burst into laughter louder than Atsuko had ever heard from her,
"One-touch Daisuke eh? Never though of him like that though it seems to fit,"
"I am curious though, do you like Daisuke? As in do think anything could happen between you?"
"No, I don't to be honest, I mean he's a nice guy and I don't really see much wrong with him but I just don't like him like that," Kurenai nodded in slight approval, but Atsuko couldn't be bothered to ask what was on her mind. Eventually they ate and Atsuko had to admit, the other stuff that Kurenai bought (besides the shitake mushrooms and the udon she requested) was delicious –
"Here, I brought you some panda biscuits and some dango, it will help with the energy replenishment," Kurenai left two packets of the sweets for Atsuko to keep on the table,
"Thank you, and that was actually really good,"
"Hey, don't say it like I've got no taste!" Atsuko couldn't help but laugh.
"We should go for a drink again soon, it's been so busy lately and a lot's happened, I think everyone could do with cheering up. I was thinking the day after tomorrow or so, but it depends on if you're feeling well enough," Atsuko nodded,
"Yea, that would be really nice, I'd like to go for a drink soon, and that sounds absolutely fine I should be better by then as I feel ok now, it's just the moving around I find a little difficult,"
"Don't worry, we might not be able to make that day either, but we can see when Kakashi and Asuma are free. That is, assuming Daisuke doesn't show up and annoy Kakashi, who I'm guessing that you do like," Kurenai had a funny glint in her eye, Atsuko hesitated, not fully prepared to admit it,
"Well, yea… I guess I do but I highly doubt that he likes me that much,"
"He clearly likes enough to take this good care of you, and you're clearly very important to him so… where's the harm in… clarifying a few things?"
"I see your point… but I'm not prepared to risk anything, I've only just made friends with the guy again, I don't want to risk screwing that up for the sake of something I'm not even sure I really feel," Kurenai nodded showing she understood what Atsuko had said,
"That's fair enough, but how long will you be happy with just that?"
"Hey! Don't say such weird things! Saying stuff like that really freaks me out… geeze, how far ahead have you planned Kakashi and I out?"
"Ahah, sorry I didn't mean it quite like that,"
Atsuko rolled her eyes, suddenly feeling very on edge, she took a deep breath feeling the stabbing pain in her ribs which had been the case since she left hospital, but the pain didn't go away like it should normally do, instead it kept getting worse,
"Ah…ow…" Atsuko hunched over in pain,
"Shit, what's wrong?"
"Ribs… medicine on… side," Kurenai stood and rushed over to fetch the little bottle, as she reappeared at her friend's side, she uncorked the bottle and handed it to Atsuko, who with some effort, took a huge glug and handed it back to Kurenai, nearly spilling it in the process. Eventually it worked its magic and Atsuko could breath more normally, although she looked exhausted.
"Any better?"
"Yea… damn I suddenly feel really tired,"
"Can you get up?" Atsuko shook her head as it drooped down to her chest, signify she was asleep;
"Damn, she can go to sleep fast," Kurenai muttered to herself, knowing that she probably couldn't lift Atsuko's dead weight (especially not after a few drinks) she have to wait for Kakashi to get back. In the mean time she cleared up all of the rubbish and crockery from their meal, washing up most of the items, but she didn't get very far before there was a knock at the door.
"Ah! Good, you can move Atsuko,"
"Eh?" Kakashi responded a little blankly as Kurenai moved allowing him to walk through the door, but he understood when he set eyes on Atsuko's sleeping form, "Oh, how come she didn't go to bed?"
"Her ribs stared acting up, but when she took the medicine she almost instantly fell asleep, and I can't move her," Kakashi nodded in response, immediate walking over to her and picking her up with great ease before disappearing into her bedroom to return a few seconds later.
"Anything else happen?"
"Nah, just had a good laugh,"
"Hope you weren't laughing at me,"
"Yea, yea you wish," Kurenai responded, slipping on her shoes, "hey I'd better go as I've got to get up early, but are you free for a drink in a day or so when Atsuko's well enough?" Kakashi nodded as an affirmative,
"Sure, a night out with you lot and two free drinks, sounds like a good night to me," Kurenai smiled ruefully,
"I'm sure," Kakashi merely laughed at her response as she walked out of the door,
Kakashi closed the door, wondering what he was supposed to do as he was expecting Atsuko to still be awake to entertain him, his eyes came to rest on the little target stuck to the wall, feeling a little tempted, he dragged out a little shuriken and threw it at the target, which hit perfectly. It was surprisingly entertaining (when there was nothing else to do) to be sat on a sofa doing target practice; eventually though, he couldn't be bothered any more feeling that he'd rather read, he went to go and collect his shuriken, the target was a little higher than it seemed.
He couldn't find a chair and not wanting to make too much noise he created a shadow clone which appeared on his own shoulders, it successfully retrieved all of the shuriken and was down to the last one, which was stuck in a little deeper than the others, the clone had to put in more force but when it eventually came free, his arm swung back and smacked into the cabinet by his side. This caused a small vase on the top of the cabinet to wobble and fall, before he could undo the Jutsu, it smashed onto the ground with a not so quiet noise.
"Shit," he caught the shuriken his clone had dropped in disappearing and knelt to try and deal with the smashed vase.
"Typical," he muttered quietly to himself as he looked at the vase which had smashed in what looked like a million pieces. Hearing no other noise he guessed that he hadn't woken Atsuko up, much to his relief; as he scooped up the remains of the vase. It was little, probably not much bigger than his spread hand – but it wasn't his vase… He placed the little bits on the table, highly doubting that he'd be able to put it back together again, and even if he could it probably wouldn't look too much like a vase anymore.
Construction (or reconstruction as was the case here) really wasn't his sort of thing, what should I do? Leave it here and tell Atsuko in the morning? Throw it away? Attempt to put it back together? Damn, none of those sound like good options. He sat on the edge of the sofa with his head in his hand for a while, thinking about what he should do, he was feeling quite tired and couldn't really be all that bothered with thinking much further, but before he knew it, his eye closed and he fell straight to sleep.
"Kakashi?" He heard his name, but ignored it a little, "Kakashi!" he felt a hand on his shoulder shaking him a little, "Wake up," he cracked an eye open to see Atsuko staring at him like he was crazy – for whatever unfathomable reason. Waking up a little more, he realized that he was lying on the floor, on his side in a very uncomfortable fashion, sitting up he looked around and saw that the bits of smashed vase were still there, telling him he hadn't had some crazy dream.
"Why were you on the floor? There was a sofa, ya know," Atsuko grinned a little at him from where she was stood in front of him,
"I know… and I thought I went to sleep on it," he stood up and saw her eyeing the bits of vase, "err, I'm sorry, I was doing some target practice and one got stuck, when I yanked it out I knocked into the cabinet and it fell and smashed… uh, I guess I fell asleep thinking about what to do with the remnants." He looked at her expression which changed suddenly into a highly amused grin,
"Don't worry," the laughter was evident in her voice, "I did that once before, though luckily for me it only split in two, and I was able to salvage it, haha, it was a stupid place to put it," she laughed at the pathetic pile of porcelain,
"Uh… are you sure? I'm happy to buy you a new one if you like, to replace it,"
"Nah, don't worry, I never had a use for it anyway. Would you like some tea?" Kakashi nodded, feeling relieved that he hadn't smashed an heirloom or something.
Kakashi had just finished repacking all his kunai and shuriken into his pouches and turned toward the door,
"Well, you seem fine enough, sure you'll be ok on your own?"
"Yea, no worries,"
"Good, and… I'm really sorry about the vase, I guess I was a little clumsier than I thought," he scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed smile,
"Hey, I said 'forget it', ok? There's no problem, and I'll see you in a few days for a drink?" she waved a little as he walked off nodding once,
"See you," she closed the door and turned to look at the smashed porcelain, thinking how funny the look on his face must have been when he smashed it.