|| [Hatake] : Fascination : [Kakashi] || [Part XXXVI] ||

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Oriko awoke early the next day, well in time for her agreed meeting at nine, she got up readied herself for the day, wondering if Kakashi was yet awake, she wanted him to follow along and keep an eye on the proceedings as well as the surroundings, but didn't really want to wake him up. She left her room, and paused for a moment, before decided that she couldn't exactly leave him in the dark over what was happening, and hence plucked up her courage and knocked on his door. He answered far quicker than she expected, he slid the door open, revealing Kakashi seemingly half dressed, although he was only without his flak jacket or haitai-ate,

"Ah, Oriko, what's happening?" He kept his left eye closed as his right looked as lazy as ever,

"I need to leave soon to meet the young man from yesterday and I thought you'd want to tag along…well, from a distance," Kakashi raised his eyebrow at her rather odd statement, and Oriko had to admit, his expression was far more effective when both his eyebrows were visible. He stepped aside,

"Come in for a moment," She hesitated for a split second but stepped into his room nonetheless, "What's your plan of action?" He slid the door closed and took a few steps away from it,

"Well Kyosuke told me of a small monument on the east side of the town, near the hot springs he's said had been a sight of the, err, 'demon' appearing; I assume he'll take me to the site. It seems best if you were to follow without Kyosuke's knowledge and see if anyone else is watching what's going on…" It struck Oriko that maybe her plan wasn't quite as good as she thought last night.

"I'd agree with you…if there is anyone behind these incidents, then we should already have attracted enough attention and they should see us as a threat; what time did you agree to meet him?"

"Nine, though I have no idea where this monument is, so I was planning on leaving in a few minutes, to allow time to, well either in case I get lost, or to scout the area and get my bearings," She averted her eyes in mild embarrassment at her own awareness of easily she could get lost, Kakashi allowed a smile to appear on his still mostly covered face. He picked up his jacket, sliding it over his shoulders and quickly tying his haitai-ate around his head before sitting to pull his zori on,

"I'll keep my eyes open for anything and you too; I recommend you don't get too friendly with this guy…if we need to take some serious action and if his idea of ninjutsu is synonymous with magic, it could become troublesome," Oriko's intuition told her there was something more to his words but she couldn't figure out what, Kakashi again rose to his feet and they wandered out of the door. The Jounin closed the door behind him before zipping up his flak jacket just as the owner of the inn they'd met at the front desk the night before came down the hall.

All three of them abruptly stopped as he eyed the two carefully, his expression turning from mild surprise to a sly smile as looked between the two and their mild shock; the grin didn't leave his face as he bowed politely to them and walked passed shooting Kakashi a look the Jounin didn't respond to – even if he knew how. They were down the hall and out of the inn in a matter of seconds, Kakashi immediately disappeared, or so it seemed to bystanders, as they made it seem as though they didn't know each other at all.

Oriko wandered slowly down the street, keeping her presence diminutive, she couldn't help but feel self-conscious at how the owner of the inn (who if course would have to be walking down the hall at precisely that moment) had caught them and thus assumed they'd spent the night together…damn it's going to be awkward…especially after the trouble we had the night before getting separate rooms, haaa…oh well, he's just the inn owner, his opinion is irrelevant.

She, after getting lost once, eventually made it to the monument – but there was no sign of Kyosuke. Accepting that he could simply be late, she wandered around a little, the monument itself was a tall statue with a few other smaller ones around its base, she looked over it carefully but didn't bother memorize every detail. She wandered further away around the small park it was set in, which also had a copse of trees, something doesn't feel right… she walked a little closer to the copse and discovered the reason for her anxiety – the rather mangled corpse of what closely resembled Kyosuke. Oriko sighed heavily as she averted her eyes for the sake of not attracting attention and turned to Kakashi, who'd just landed next to her,

"Well, I guess that's a pretty good indicator of how much attention we've attracted," He nodded, eyeing the corpse, "The next best bet, I was thinking would be this festival that's supposed to be happening here, with all the chatter not too many should notice us if the crowds are large, and someone's bound to open their mouth,"

Kakashi nodded in response as Oriko pulled out her haitai-ate from her pouch and began tying it to her head, grumbling to herself about how naked she'd felt without it. It suddenly occurred to Kakashi that Oriko wasn't acting at all like a subordinate, nor was he acting much like a Taichou; as though they were more on completely equal footing – but what seemed the most bizarre to the Copy Nin was that he didn't feel in the slightest undermined or threatened by it. They darted off to the far side of the town where most of the people were, hence it was so empty on the east side and Kyosuke's corpse had remained untouched and undiscovered.

"How about we reconvene in a couple of hours?" Kakashi began, his eye finding hers as she responded with an encouraging nod,

"Sure," She smiled once more before disappearing into the crowd; Kakashi paused a moment before doing the same, he wandered slowly around, his eye falling over the stalls and the people swarming around them. There were parents with their children, young men with their girlfriends…it was reminiscent of Konoha in a lonely sort of way, the sort of way which suggested there was something other than being a shinobi, but Kakashi it was barely a fleeting moment in his mind. He kept his ears open wandering slowly,

"Yes! Did you hear that Hitori had another plot of vegetables stolen, and the rest was burned," Kakashi stopped at the stall, and looked over some of the vegetables on offer, they were all healthy,

"Yes, I did hear, they seem to target Hitori most of all…poor man,"

"Well, that's what you get for not paying the taxes!" One of the elder women running the stall spoke with a tone of superiority,

"But they're so high! They've increase so much over the last few months…I have to pay back almost exactly what I earn!"

"Tell me about it! Ahh, my father's really struggling too, he hasn't be able to pay for the last two months, he went and pleaded with Gozorou but-"

"Shh! You know where' not supposed to talk about this, get back to work!" Another woman seemed to appear out of nowhere, she was young-ish, perhaps late twenties Kakashi supposed, and could feel one hell of a glare from her, "Can I help you, sir?" She queried, attracting his attention at last, as he turned with an embarrassed smile on his face,

"Ahahah, I hope so, I've been trying to remember how to cook this…is it better fried, boiled or steamed?" He questioned, holding up a random vegetable; her stern expression suddenly changed to a rather shocked expression, before it quickly changed to a sympathetic smile,

"Oh, of course my dear, those specific types of yams are best if first boiled in salt water before being fried and eaten with Inarizushi." Kakashi smiled back, an image of Oriko's gleeful smile popping into his head at the mention of what seemed to be her favourite food,

"Ah! Yes I remember now, thank you…all this talk of food has made me hungry, um, would you care to have lunch with me?" A strong blush came to her cheeks as she looked surprised at his offer, "Please? I would like to eat lunch with a woman as lovely as yourself," He inwardly cringed at how false his words sounded, but she seemed to accept them;

"I'd be delighted," She turned back to the other women at the stalls, "Stay here, I'll be back in an hour," She turned back to Kakashi, looping her arm around his, flashing a shy grin,

"So, what's your name?"

"Hmm? Oh, I am Hatake Kakashi,"

"Where are you from? Are you a shinobi?" She asked, not taking her eyes off him as she directed them into restaurant not far from where her stall was, but off the main parade,

"That's right, and I am from Konohagakure no sato," He was careful to sit her in a seat facing him, with his back to the majority of the restaurant; they chatted for a little while as Kakashi ignored all her attempts to flirt with him. The waitress appeared with the food they ordered immediately as they sat down; she flashed him a sincere, sweet smile,

"May I ask you something?"

"O-of course," He leaned a little closer to her a lowered his voice,

"Has something happened to the village recently? Everyone one looks frightened and wary, what's going on?" He observed her suddenly anxious look, "Ah, I accidentally overheard you saying that you weren't supposed to talk about it and I don't want to put you in any danger,"

"W-well…I don't know if…" Her eyes darted around, telling of how fearful she was, but they held a warm glow at his words, "Hmm, well I don't think we should talk about that… how long are you in Yugakure for?"

"As long I need to be," A twitch of a smile appeared on her face, as she took a small, seductive bite of her dango

"And that would be until when?" Kakashi internally rolled his eyes, while considering his answer,

"I need to meet up with an old friend of mine, but unfortunately, it's been so long that I'm not sure if I remember what he looks like," Kakashi scratched the back of his head in mock embarrassment,

"Well, that would make finding him tricky, now wouldn't it?"

"Hmm, maybe you should have heard of him, he always said that he loved the Hidden Hot Springs, and one day wanted to lead it…let's think he was called, uh, Gozu…Gozora…no, uh-"

"Gozoru? Love the village?" She exclaimed before catching herself, "Your friend was called Gozoru?"

"Yea, that was his name! What's he up to nowadays?" Kakashi asked in a rather carefree voice, ignoring his 'date's' tone,

"H-he…I – I can't tell you…" She shook her head, looking suddenly horrified,

"I-I'm sorry, are you alright?" She didn't meet his eyes, "Look, if my friend's done anything to hurt you..?"

"Hurt us!"

"How about you tell me where I can find him, and I'll set him straight…he always did need a moral compass check every now and then, perhaps the old boy's gotten too big for his boots," Kakashi spoke the last part more to himself, but observed her change in expression,

"C-can you do that? I- I mean I…" Kakashi gave her a warm smile,

"I take it he's not popular here?" She shook her head whilst staring at him slightly open mouthed, "Hehehe, tell me where I can find him, don't worry, I'll set him straight," She smiled again, seeming to trust him. She stood up and stepped around the table and leaning down to his ear,

"Sorry, Kakashi I don't know where he is, but go and take to a man named Hitori, he might be able to tell you something; he lives on Tsuda street…thank you for lunch," She planted a swift, little kiss on his cheek and walked quickly away, Kakashi feeling more surprised than he might have expected to;

"Wow, you're actually pretty popular with women!" Oriko's amused voice attracted his attention,

"Do you have to have to make it sound like such a surprise?" He sighed, as he was met with her smile which broke into an uncontrollable grin which itself spilled over into laughter,

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Sorry, I didn't quite mean it like that, ha-ha-ha!" She struggled to control her laughter as Kakashi placed a few notes on the table, hiding his smile at her words and rose to his feet, as did she,

"Come on, let's go find this 'Hitori'," He sighed as they wandered out of the small restaurant, glancing at each other once more before darting off to find the street Kakashi's 'date' mentioned.