|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XII] ||
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They stood in front of Tsunade as she looked over a small scroll, selecting a mission for them to accomplish her eyes lazily drifting down the list of D-ranked missions, decided simply to assign one randomly, which turned out to be capturing a number of birds so that they could be tagged for research.
"Okay, so you need to capture seventeen birds," Tsunade spoke lazily, observing how equally lazy Kakashi and Oriko looked, guessing that it wouldn't take her long to complete, "Dismissed," Both shinobi in front of the Hokage nodded simultaneously and left quickly without saying anything, Tsunade was once again left in peace.
Oriko and Kakashi were quick to where Tsunade directed them and whilst Kakashi settled himself in a tree with his book, Oriko collected her thoughts and leapt into one of the trees preparing a number of traps as she began to dart around, scaring the birds out of hiding. They weren't too difficult to capture, and it didn't take her too long to finish, there was only really one bird which gave her trouble as it seemed to know exactly what was going on and did nearly everything possible to stay as far from her as it was able.
To the point where she had to use her wind chakra energy to direct the bird flight almost right into her net, unfortunately she nearly killed said bird by creating a wall of wind chakra which was far too solid; but the bird was stronger than it looked. Eventually, though, her mission was complete as was the morning, and she and Kakashi parted ways, herself going to find some lunch, again picking up a bento box but this time she'd go further away and find some genuine privacy, where nobody else could be watching or attempt to talk to her.
She hadn't spoken much to Kakashi, he didn't seem to have much interest in talking to her and she had nothing really worth asking, she was beginning to look at Genjutsu again and she was close to figuring it out, but without anyone to practice on, it was proving a little difficult. She was planning on practicing more after lunch and wanted to ask Kakashi to help – which was his reason for their getting to know one another, but his previous reaction to her questions about genjutsu were worrying her.
She imagined that he would simply try to fend her off again and divert her attempts to improve…not to mention the fact that whatever his reason for being so hesitant last time, it sure as hell wasn't going to be eased by questions over her allegiance to the Leaf. What if I ask Anko? Hmm, but then she might well be angry at me to attracting some of Kakashi's attention last night…I don't want to think she's that shallow but I don't know her well enough to gauge it… shit…some of the others maybe? Asuma? Kurenai?
Again, it might seem a little weird as I don't know any of them…she eventually found a seat on the grass in a secluded spot well away from anywhere it seemed and took a steady bite of rice, relishing the taste and satisfaction she took from it. She finished her lunch quickly as she continued to mull over the potential options to help her with her training.
She was sat on the grass underneath a tree in a quiet meditative state, something which she always liked to do before beginning a training session, she could feel the innate calm wash over her but couldn't tell how long she'd sat there for. Oriko slowly opened her eyes and was met with an immediate wide-set brown eyes, her sense of calm allowed her to not recoil back screaming, but rather to carefully observe the massive wide-set eyes, thick short brown hair and large, vertical ears and the grand crest of antlers were imposing to say the least…
The deer itself was beautiful and it seemed strange to have a deer so close, as though it was wondering if she were a part of the forest or not. A sudden idea stuck her as the deer moved it head back a little, it being roughly a meter or two away, she began to very slowly form hand seals carefully focusing her chakra as she lifted the final hand seal of the Rat (Ne) and cast the genjutsu, she paused for a moment, as the deer remained stock still, not moving, or even really blinking for at least a good five minutes. Oriko guessed that the animal was probably under a genjutsu and that a good idea would be to release it.
"Kai," She made a half-seal with one hand and released the jutsu, but it didn't quite go to plan, the deer's eyes seemed to widen and it suddenly bucked. Oriko found her feet and was some meters away in a flash; it began to paw at the ground, fixing Oriko with a stare which told her to instinctively run. She listened to her fear, and leapt up and back, landing far away, but the deer gave chase and she had no option but to increase her speed as much as possible but could almost feel how close the creature was behind her, this is definitely a good stamina test!
Oriko continued to run as fast as she could crunching many small twigs and branches as she ran, soon making it back to the main training grounds just outside of Konoha, beginning to panic slightly as she managed to spin around to face the deer which was still giving chase; it looked as wild and pissed off as ever, she stood in a defensive position, ready to physically fight the thing if necessary. She had absolutely no idea what to do about the deer that seemed to take no prisoners. What the hell am I supposed to do? I need Kakashi's help but I don't know where he is…I can't summon anything to go and find him, I can't make and keep a shadow-clone in this situation…shit…
She didn't want to use any ninjutsu for fear it might kill the animal…genjutsu brought this damn situation about… Taijutsu..? Punch a deer? Definitely a bad plan… Oriko had no idea what to do, but she had no more time to think as the deer charged, she crouched and as the deer got close enough before springing forward with all the momentum and force she could muster and kicked it in the neck.
It veered away from her, but one of the points of its antlers caught her on the shoulder and knocked her nearly to the ground, there's gonna be one hell of a bruise there later…she thought grimly as she watched the animal's pace slow a little as it circled for another attack, it seemed that her initial kick did something, just not enough. The deer stood in front of her again as it charged, much quicker than the last time she didn't have time to aim for a kick and instead had to duck, allowing it to leap cleanly over her.
"Oriko!" She span her head around to see Kakashi looked very confused, another guy, dressed in green spandex stood next to him looking as though the world was about end,
"Well help then! How do I get this damn deer off my tail?" Oriko snapped back after they were just starting rather than helping, Kakashi appeared at her side as the deer was again staring at Oriko,
"Gai! Distract it!" He called over, "What did you do to it?"
"What do you mean?"
"This is a Clan deer; they have trace amounts of chakra! They're exceptionally intelligent…for deer,"
"Uh, well, I cast a genjutsu on it…" Oriko explained suddenly feeling rather stupid as she observed Kakashi's unimpressed expression before he leaped away towards the deer and touched his hand to it quickly.
It visibly calmed down very quickly and circled the group once or twice before darting away back to the trees – looking far more normal for a deer.
"Phew," Oriko fell back onto a seat on the grass from a previously crouched position, breathing a sigh of relief, before looking back at Kakashi and his friend,
"Oriko!" Kakashi began walking back over to her, "Why did you put a genjutsu on a Nara Clan deer?"
"What is a Naraclandeer?" She asked, saying it all as one word, obviously not understanding him,
"A Nara Clan Deer, they're special deer protected by a clan in this village, they're superior to ordinary deer,"
"Oh…then how did you stop it freaking out?"
"Those deer have a little chakra of their own, only a tiny bit, but some nonetheless, and one way to break a genjutsu is by inserting some of your own chakra into them,"
"Ah ha…cool!" She exclaimed brightly, brushing some of the dust off of her trousers preparing to leave.
"W-wait, hold on, who are you?" The guy in green spandex suddenly shouted at her,
"Uh…I'm Oriko, who are you?"
"The Leaf's azure beast, Maito Gai!" Oriko, feeling absolutely unsure what to make of him, couldn't help but allow her face to fall, "Kakashi! Do you know this woman?"
"Hai, she's my student," Kakashi looked now much more bored,
"What!" Gai looked suddenly somewhat suspiciously between them, "How is her taijutsu?"
"Pretty good for someone who's been training for two months,"
"Ah! She'll never beat my Lee!" Kakashi merely rolled his eye,
"Wasn't it my turn to choose?"
"Yep! And If I lose I'll climb up the tallest tree in Konoha using only the backs of my hands…eighty times!" He grinned, a broad, cheerful smile with his thumbs up, to which Kakashi sighed heavily, but essentially ignored it, "And if I win…then your student must fight my Lee!"
"How about we play, Jan-Ken?" Gai looked at first a little disappointed, but nonetheless agreed and they took their respective positions,
"Jan-Ken-Po!" Gai's hand was balled into a fist, signifying a 'rock' and Kakashi's hand showed 'scissors' ,
"Yes! I win! Ahahahah," Gai nearly cracked up with glee, before turning to look at Oriko, who was fascinated, in a strange sort of way by the two men's antics, "You will fight my Lee! But you'll be no match for him!"
"W-wait, what?"
"You will fight my cute student Lee tomorrow," 'cute student with a…boy's name? What the hell? She was beginning to worry at what exactly Kakashi had trapped her into…yet again!
"Yea, yea, see you tomorrow, Gai," He grinned once more before literally disappearing – not even a small blur of movement, he just seemed to vanish. Kakashi turned to look at his student before taking a few steps closer,
"What was that about?" She asked, but he ignored it for now,
"Why did you test a genjutsu on an animal?"
"I-I've been reading up on genjutsus recently, and I needed to test how they work,"
"And you couldn't ask me, why?"
"You were already hesitant to help me before with genjutsu…and…with the whole thing about Raiga…I thought…I shouldn't ask again…" She sighed heavily, "And now you probably feel more suspicious and trust me even less than last…" Her hands were on her hips, as she avoided meeting his gaze, but could feel his eye on her.
"Hmm, well I can see why you'd think that, but I still trust you," The smile was obvious in his voice, but she still didn't meet his eye, "And I still think that you should put aside learning genjutsu for now…you've only been training for a few months, you can't learn it all at once," He spoke reassuringly, "But it seems that I can't stop you if you've already set your mind to it…and you've already seen only a taste of what can go wrong without someone to help you,"
"I know," She finally met his gaze but found it unreadable, it was unthreatening, but Kakashi wasn't showing her all there was, they continued to stare at each other for a few minutes, as though having a silent test of strength between them. Oriko could feel herself getting more uncomfortable under his gaze and felt, as it were, that one false move would spell disaster.
"I'm sorry,"
"Eh?"
"I'm sorry, again I've managed to force you into another fight with someone," The smile returned to his voice,
"Well, it's good for me to practice fighting others, to develop what I already know," She more muttered the last of the sentence but Kakashi heard it nonetheless and allowed a smile to creep to his lips, feeling slightly more reassured that she wasn't particularly angry with him or felt any dislike, more, probably, that she was frustrated with a situation she had relatively little control over. He kept his eye on her as she stretched her arms above her head, yawning slightly,
"What time will I need to fight Lee tomorrow?" Kakashi shrugged,
"We should just meet at 9 and train as usual until they show up," He trailed off, looking more bored by the second, Oriko nodded,
"Thanks for saving me from the deer," She commented, looking away to the perfect blue sky,
"No problem," She smiled, more to herself than to him as she rubbed a hand over her shoulder where the deer had struck, the dull ache was steadily getting worse, and then there's this spar tomorrow…shit, she tried to ignore it but it wasn't going well, that's for sure.
"Are you alright?" She flashed her eyes over to him, but nodded her head signifying a 'yes', feeling a little guilty for essentially just being told to trust him more, but she didn't see the necessity of telling him about her failure. He eyed her suspiciously for a moment, knowing she wasn't telling the truth, but chose to ignore it as he wasn't much looking forward to Gai's gloating tomorrow, although Oriko would be able to use ninjutsu where Lee was unable to, he had speed and strength which nowhere near matched hers.
