Arc Four, Pre-Tourney Fillers; Chapter Five, The Arrogant Tree
"I'll forgive you, but under one condition," Tetsuko said sternly, waving around a forkful of steak. Kentsu had already broken, shoveling greasy vegetables into his mouth. Temari was still pretty irritated, and was poring over Mokuren's essay and letter of apology.
It had been difficult to convince Nezuko to let her leave the Land of the Rats, and without telling the counsel, but Nezu-Ou had approved it and promised to cover for her. Mokuren had appeared in their closet at half past four, barely leaving the boys' room in time for them to enter the hotel following training. She had been glad that they were together, as that had made apologizing a less personalized affair. Kentsu almost hit her, although he settled down soon enough. Mokuren refused to reveal how her injury came about, and told them little of the sort of training she had been doing. Temari claimed to be willing to train her if given an essay, and Mokuren turned it over promptly.
Rather than standing awkwardly in the hallway indefinitely, Mokuren suggested they shower and have dinner, with her paying as an additional apology. She was having a hard time telling if Kentsu was angry or not, but he wasn't past the point of persuasion with food. Tetsuko seemed to have already forgiven her, but wanted to milk it for all he could.
"What's your condition?" She asked, resigned to accepting it.
Tetsuko's grin was a little disarming. "You have to explain... with full honesty..." Okay, maybe she would refuse. Mokuren wasn't ready to talk about the rats yet. "... why you give everyone nicknames."
"Oh." She said, blinking; the poker face that had started to form faded away. "Ahahaha, guess I can't pretend I don't give out nicknames, this time..." that had been fun, though.
"I knew you were pretending!" Tetsuko snorted.
"Yeah, yeah. Hmm... I don't really know what to say? It was a habit I picked up from Tano-sensei."
"Who?"
Mokuren took a moment to think back, debating what she could say. "I used to be really frustrated with the Academy's pace, so I went out looking for a ninja teacher back when I was... eight, maybe?" She'd been a lot closer to five, probably. Just a little lie. "He mostly taught me tricks; how to act, how to read people better..."
Kentsu had slowed his eating to stare at her, but Mokuren couldn't quite tell why.
"What's the point of the nicknames, though?" Tetsuko pressed. She'd been hoping he would allow it as some weird hobby.
"Mmm, well..." Ah, this was going to upset the boys a bit, she guessed. Mokuren would have to phrase it carefully. "Tano didn't actually give nicknames, per say, it was more like... with me, even though he was teaching me, he would always call me by the wrong name. He said that mine wasn't worth remembering yet, sort of. I asked him further about it once, and he said that he wouldn't remember my name properly until I earned his respect. That's sort of what my nickname system is based on... although I have other reasons?"
Kentsu swallowed harshly, clearing his mouth to snap something. Tetsuko beat him to the punch. "So you don't respect us?"
"Mmm... well, I..." Temari was frowning at her too, and that was definitely irking Mokuren. "With you two, at this point... a lot of it is about irritating you." No, that was too frank. Much too frank. She shouldn't have said so. "That sounded bad. I should have said... the nicknames are about expectations. If I give someone a nickname, it usually means that I want them to impress me, become more than I expected?"
"You're so arrogant!" Kentsu yelled, but he didn't seem too upset. Maybe her haltering tone was doing some damage control, as much as she hated sounding unsure. Temari still looked annoyed, and Tetsuko seemed crestfallen. She wondered what he had expected the reason to be.
Rather than press any more, Tetsuko had changed the subject, putting on false cheer to show that all was forgiven. There was still an air of unease around them, but the three genin grouped together in the boys' room for cooldown stretches, as much as Mokuren could do with her injury, and a little more talk. Tetsuko tried to get out of her what she had been up to lately, but all Mokuren would admit was that she had been training. They finally thought to tell her about the potential match-ups, and she found Kentsu's irritation regarding the potential of his training giving him an unfair advantage hilarious. Actually, it was almost sad; maybe Mokuren was arrogant, but she couldn't see herself losing to Kentsu. He seemed to pick up on that, unfortunately, chewing her out again.
Maitsu and Kujaku's fight was more worrisome; Mokuren wondered if Maitsu would take offense to some advice. Probably, but she would still try and offer it.
