Kiya stretched her arms above her head as she followed Shizune out of the O.R. having gotten to watch her first surgery on a jounin who came back with severe damage to his chest cavity and was bleeding too much that they had to open him up and manually close the worst of the damage. Half of her hair was pulled up into a bun held by chopsticks while the rest of her uncontrollable curls reached the middle of her back. She wore navy blue scrubs while Shizune wore her usual black kimono.
"What did you think?"
"I definitely have a long way to go before I'll be able to what I watched in there," Kiya chuckled, "but it is definitely a useful skill if someone doesn't react to chakra healing."
"Is your hair usually this curly? I didn't ask earlier due to that emergency surgery, but its odd not seeing your braids," Shizune asked as they walked the halls.
"It's always uncontrollable," Kiya shrugged. "I had help pulling out the braids before that fundraiser last night. It was about time to take them out anyway otherwise I would have had a difficult time with the knots at my roots."
"Who was your date? I didn't recognize him."
"I don't know, I had been getting flowers since I returned from Suna and apparently he was from one of the nearby villages and saw me. He got some weird stalker crush and asked me to meet him at the fundraiser. I humored him before kicking him the curb. Probably was some kid practicing their transformation jutsu. I'm glad that it's over and I can get back to work now that Tsunade has taken me of light duty."
"Well, the nurses will definitely miss you. You had all the charts organized and everyone could find what they needed with ease."
"I would say that I could do bookwork once a week, but now that I'm being rotated onto the floor and learning from you as well, I think that it may be a little too much."
"Guess, they'll have to learn how to do their own jobs right," Shizune smiled. "Did you want to go get some lunch?"
"Is it already that time?" Kiya frowned as she glanced at her watch. "No wonder I was so stiff when we came out of that surgery."
"Kakashi, what are you doing here? Do you need a check-up?"
"I actually promised to take Kiya out to lunch, an apology to her for not showing up to the fundraiser. I'm not a very good friend," he chuckled as he scratched the back of his head. "I had lost track of time."
"And you're actually on time for her break?" Shizune asked surprised.
"I set my alarm for three hours earlier," he lied and Kiya tried not to laugh.
"Well, I guess I'll see you later Kiya. You'll report to Dr. Tsuya up on medical when you clock back in. I have to go take reports over to Lady Tsunade and will be working with her this afternoon. If you have any questions, stop by after your shift if Dr. Tsuya can't answer them."
"Thank you Shizune," Kiya smiled as the older woman started walking down towards the cafeteria. "How was your training session?"
"It went well. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke are all improving in their own techniques," Kakashi smiled as they walked out the main doors of the hospital and down the street. "Where would you like to go?"
"Take me to your favorite place as long as it isn't Ichiraku's," she hummed as she held her hands behind her back.
"And if I told you that Ichiraku's was my number one choice?" he teased.
"I might have to punch you. Naruto drags me there enough that I would rather something else," she laughed and he nodded as he led the way down a side street in the direction away from Ichiraku's. "Besides, every time you get dragged along too, you always have a small furrow in your brow."
"Is it that easy to tell?"
"I told you that I spent a lot of time watching people, you're just a little easier for me to read because most of your emotion is in your expressions."
"It's surprising how well you can read people but when their attention is directed your way, it seems you have a harder time reading them."
"I'm still learning how to read people in that context. You and the rest of Team Seven has been a lot of help but with some things, I'm still having a hard time reading and understanding," she spoke and saw him look at her from her peripherals.
"Give it time," Kakashi smiled before entering a small restaurant.
"Welcome back Kakashi," an older man came into view a white apron over his clothing. "Who's this beautiful woman?"
"This is Kiya. She's a friend of mine, still relatively new to the village. I thought I'd bring her here while she's on break. Kiya, this is Katsu, he is the owner."
"You get injured enough times that you became friends with a young nurse?" Katsu asked with a brow raised as he picked up two menus and led them to the back of the restaurant to a booth.
"She is a med-nin and jounin under the Hokage's tutelage," Kakashi smirked as they sat down.
"Good on you. What would you like to drink?"
"Green tea for me," Kiya smiled and Kakashi asked for the same before Katsu walked off. "This place is nice."
"They don't usually get too busy until after noon," Kakashi smirked. "I believe it is time to discuss the release of your prisoner."
"Hm, are you sure?" she teased and saw his eye narrow before she laughed and pulled out a small sealing scroll from her pocket. Unsealing the prisoner, she let the book fall to the table before putting the scroll back in her pocket. "You were on time."
"How long is your break?"
"An hour and a half," Kiya spoke as she opened her menu and started to look over it. "I've never had curry before."
"Ever?" Kakashi looked at her surprised and she shook her head. "You might want to stick with yellow curry, it is a mild spice and a lesser spice than the others."
"I'm sure I'll be fine. I've had spicy food before, just never curry spice."
"How adventurous are you feeling?" Katsu asked as he came back into view with a tray that held two tea cups, a pot of tea, cream, and sugar. "There is a few times that I have customers come in and just ask me to choose for them."
"That sounds good to me," Kiya smiled and closed her menu. "I'll trust Kakashi's judgement and put my faith in what you choose."
"Risky choice," Kakashi mused before wincing as he got smacked in the back of the head by the menu. "You know my favorite, Katsu. If I didn't like you, I wouldn't be here."
"Ungrateful brat," the older man muttered as he walked off and Kiya chuckled.
"When was the first time you came here?" Kiya asked as she pulled the chopsticks out of her hair and rubbed the sore spot from her hair being pulled back so tightly.
"My late father brought me here once when I was very young, you could describe me like how Naruto eats ramen when I first tried Katsu's curry."
"What happened? If you acted like Naruto around food as a kid, what changed between then and now?" She saw his expression harden at the question and wondered if she should have asked. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked…"
"No," Kakashi interrupted her as he pulled off his forehead protector and ran a hand through his gravity defying hair. "You shouldn't have to apologize for asking questions. I just…"
"Didn't expect me to ask about you?" She finished after he trailed off and he nodded silently. She reached over and covered his one hand on the table with hers and he looked at her. "How about this, when you feel up to talking about the past, no matter what time it is or what is going on, I'll be there to listen. Don't feel like I'm pressuring you to talk, I want you to want to talk about it, not because a question was asked."
"Thank you Kiya," he spoke quietly after a few minutes with a ghost of a smile visible through his mask.
"I'm your friend above everything else at this point and I hope that I always will be, no matter how things work out."
"What about the hospital and learning?"
"Unless I'm in the middle of saving a life, those I care about come first."
"That's a little selfish of you," he chuckled.
"Oh well," Kiya shrugged as she pulled her hand back as Katsu came back into view with a tray.
"Alright you lovebirds," Katsu teases as he set their plates in front of them. "Kakashi, put that explicit book away. You know what I think about you reading them."
"Sorry Katsu," Kakashi apologized as he put the book away, a light pink blush visible at the edge of Kakashi's mask. Kiya snorted, amused and he gave her a dark look. "You have no room to talk. A sixteen year old shouldn't even own them."
"At least I don't blush like a school girl when being confronted about them," Kiya mused as she twisted all her hair together into a low bun and put the hair chopsticks back into place to keep her hair out of the way.
"Sounds like she's giving you a run for your money, Kakashi," Katsu laughed before walking away as the front door chimes as someone entered.
"For someone who reads those books out in public, you get so easily embarrassed when someone says something about them."
"Most people avoid the series or don't publicly show it. If I read them in public, less people try to approach me," Kakashi spoke as he pulled his mask down and started eating.
"You're that confident that no one will come over?"
"Katsu won't sit anyone back here if the front still has room. That's the best part of coming here at the time I do. I don't have to worry about nosy people and can eat in peace."
"And yet Ayame always has stars in her eyes when you eat at Ichiraku's," Kiya chuckles as she broke her chopsticks and mixed the orange curry sauce that was dressed over the rice noodles. She noticed chicken in the curry as well as many herbs. "It's still amazing that your team has not seen your face in all the times you have eaten with them."
"Genjutsu shields work efficiently."
"Of course," Kiya giggled and shook her head at the thought. "You really are childish sometimes."
"Have you heard them conspire about what's under the mask?"
"All ridiculous thoughts. They are more childish than you."
"You wound me," Kakashi mocked and Kiya rolled her eyes at him before taking a bite of her lunch. "What do you think?"
"So many flavors, now shut up and eat," Kiya smiled before focusing on her food.