Chapter 42 - Adjusting
Hitori was currently heading to the Mizukage Tower with Chojuro, and they headed straight into her office when they arrived. Chojuro took his normal place at the Mizukage's side as Hitori bowed low on entry and approached her desk.
"Good afternoon." Hitori gave her a nod in greeting and she smiled in return.
"Good afternoon, Hitori. It seemed everyone was having a good time earlier at the training grounds." Her voice was calm and held no hint of what she was thinking so Hitori just ran with it.
"Yes, that was the idea. To blow off some steam and to develop bonds and improve teamwork. I've assigned them to work at the hospital next week, so I wanted them to make sure they could work together first." She smiled as she spoke, hoping that she wasn't in trouble.
"It was good to see them enjoying themselves. I think you are a better teacher than you initially expected." The Mizukage's response encouraged her to answer and Hitori considered it for a moment before she replied.
"I think so. I feel that I've developed enough of a rapport with them to get through to them, and they have been respectful and hard-working so far." The Mizukage nodded at her answer.
"Good to hear. However, I do have one concern." Hitori felt herself panic, but kept her outward appearance as calm as possible. "You are working too hard. I've heard that as soon as you finish teaching, you help out around the hospital, and you've been there your days off and on weekends as well." Her tone changed to concern, and Hitori relaxed, glad to know that it was about her directly, not her program.
"Thank you for your concern…" She trailed off and took a breath before she continued. "I don't really know anyone here, and normally I would spend my time off with friends at home. Since I don't have that here, I figure that I may as well keep busy. You brought me here to help, so..." she shrugged as she trailed off.
"I understand. I am going to order you to rest at your lodgings for this weekend though. If you keep going like this, you'll work yourself to death in a month. I've informed Kizaru to keep you out of the hospital all weekend." The Mizukage leant forward as she spoke, showing that she was serious. The glint in her eyes suggested she was trying to look after her though.
"Of course. I will follow your orders." Hitori nodded and gave a brief bow to show her obeisance.
"Alright then. Go and rest." The Mizukage's expression changed from serious to pleased and Hitori bowed low before she left.
Before she headed back to her apartment, she needed to get some groceries and swung by the market for some fresh produce and the store for a few extras. When she arrived back, Ganzo offered to help her carry her groceries upstairs, but she declined with a polite thank you. He was clearly used to dealing with civilians, or shinobi who were much older and not in as good shape as she was. Opening the door with her foot, she headed inside and unpacked everything. It was late enough for her to cook something for dinner, and she decided to make some rice, meat and veggies.
As she began to cut veggies, everything that she was trying to avoid started to hit her. She had felt terribly lonely since she had arrived, and had subconsciously stayed away from her empty room as it reminded her of how alone she felt. She had figured that she was just bored, but that void in her chest confirmed her fears. Since she had arrived, she had written to confirm her safe arrival, and had also sent a separate letter to Itachi that had gone out with the normal mail service. It would have arrived in Konoha by now, but she hadn't received a reply yet. Itachi would more than likely have done the same thing she had; burying himself in his work to avoid being alone in his apartment.
Surely Sakura would be dragging him out a bit, and Sasuke being in Konoha would be good too since they could spend some time together and rekindle their relationship. Kakashi was probably too busy to train much with him to keep him busy, but she just hoped he hadn't holed himself up in his ancient armchair with the big stack of books she left him. Hopefully they were giving him some form of comfort while she was gone. If they were at least keeping him busy, or at least helping him forget that she would be gone for approximately 2 years.
She sat down and ate quietly while she watched the TV playing local shows that were slowly becoming more familiar. The humidity was becoming a normality as well. Almost always she ended up putting the fancy air-conditioner on the dry mode to help her feel like she was in Fire Country. Despite the fact that the humidity at home was higher than other places, this was just crazy to get used to. It was at least 70-80% each day, and it was warm as well. The cool breeze that came off the water was always nice though, but only when it was going in the right direction.
By now, the sun would be going down in Konoha. They had an extra hour or so of sunlight in Kiri, but she didn't really care too much about it. Once she had finished being at the hospital, or finished teaching for the day, it was almost like she stopped existing. She just came home to eat, shower, and sleep and then repeated the process. Having such a routine was very odd for a field based shinobi, and she knew that going back to active field duty would throw her for a loop. She was still getting used to sleeping and eating so regularly. She'd have to skip sleeping regularly and train a hell of a lot more before going back to fieldwork. Itachi would definitely get her back in shape. Hopefully in a more intimate way, and not just a shinobi-training way.
"UGH!" She exclaimed loudly before she headed to the bathroom and got undressed.
Standing under the torrent of lukewarm water, she made the effort to wash her hair and took her time doing it. She didn't have to get up early tomorrow, and planned to sleep the day away as much as possible. That way she wouldn't have to try and figure out what to do with herself all day. Her body clock had adjusted to her new schedule quickly, and she doubted she would be able to sleep as much as she wanted to. Thankfully, she had been able to purchase some new books at the library, and was excited to get the chance to read them. Maybe she would take herself out for a nice lunch and spend some time near the water reading. She hadn't given herself much of a chance to fully explore the village yet, and it would be nice to spend some time outside. By the time she got back to Konoha, she would end up being translucently pale from lack of exposure to sunshine. There was some lesson plans that she needed to finish, but there wasn't any rush for that since she had the next few weeks sorted out. Maybe she could find some of her students hanging around the training grounds and spar with them to get some exercise in. She knew that they had agreed to meet on the weekends to train since they weren't doing any field missions currently. They would also get a chance to heal each other to, and any practice was good practice.
As she rinsed herself off, she stepped out and dried herself down with the huge and fluffy bath towel. Her hair would dry quickly without any help, but towel dried it as best she could. It was growing since she hadn't bothered to get it trimmed since she got here. Before she headed into her bedroom, she put the kettle on, then got some clean pyjamas on. Returning to the kitchen, she stared into space before the kettle began to whistle and pulled her from her reverie. She got out her favourite tea from the cupboard and spaced out again while the tea steeped for a few minutes.
She sat back in front of the TV again until she had finished her tea, then she headed to bed. It was still early but she just wasn't bothered to try and entertain herself for any longer. Instead of laying down, she sat on the edge of the bed and meditated lightly concentrating on relaxing her body and her mind so she could try and get a good night's sleep.
Not knowing how long she had spent meditating, she came back to reality when her bladder informed her of it's being at capacity. She quickly relieved herself and came back to tuck herself into bed.
After at least an hour of staring at the ceiling and listening to the sounds of the evening in Kiri, Hitori finally fell asleep…
It was the early afternoon, but Hitori had denied reality and only got up a short time ago. She yawned as she walked towards the training grounds, hearing the sounds of weapons clashing, and feeling the chakra signatures rising and falling. The Kiri training grounds were vast, and were also right near the hospital, and near a lot of their apartment buildings. Everything was close by, and it seemed that their had been some renovations done on the grounds in the last few years. She could hear the voices of her students from training ground five, and she made her way toward the path in between each area.
She turned right and casually strolled to one side. There was about 7 of them there, and she watched a pair of them as they worked through some taijutsu combinations. The others were discussing something medically related and she waited silently until one of them noticed she was there. It was Kizan who spotted her first, and his eyes went wide before he gave a slightly surprised smile before he gave her a wave. Kizan was the class clown, and she actually didn't mind him. He tried hard and listened well, but any other time he opened his mouth he was making a joke. She wouldn't admit it, but he funnier than she let on.
"Hi Sensei!" Kizan shouted and waved her over. The others turned and looked at her too.
"Hey guys. How's your weekend going?" She asked and they moved so that she could stand in their circle with them.
"Getting some training done. You know, the usual." Kizan gave her his usual cheeky smile.
He reminded her of Haruko, and she remembered that she should be receiving a reply letter from him in a couple of days. They hadn't seen much of each other since she'd gone into ANBU and started hanging out with Itachi more, but he had also been getting sent on long term jobs for a few months at a time. She would make a point of hanging out with him more when she got back. Thankfully, they were great at keeping in contact through letters, and that didn't change over the years. She did miss him quite a lot, and hoped he was doing okay.
"You joining us today?" Aido asked her with a curious glint in his eye and she smirked darkly at him.
"Why do you ask?"
"I want to figure out that freaky jutsu of yours." He responded with the same smirk she had.
"You might regret having the chance." The look in his eyes glinted with mirth and curiosity before he realised that she wasn't quite joking. His eyes widened for a split second before she nodded to one side to indicate them moving away from the group to spar.
"Hand to hand?" Aido asked as he rolled his shoulders to warm up.
She nodded, as she closed her eyes and took a breath, tilting her head from side to side. It had been quite a while since she had been able to let loose, and she would need to be careful since she was used to fighting Itachi. The damn Uchiha was so fast, and smart enough to predict her moves before she'd even thought of them herself. Aido wasn't too bad from what she had seen, but she wasn't planning to go too easy on him. After she felt ready, she opened her eyes again and stared straight into Aido's. Her expression must have surprised him as he flinched almost imperceptibly before he signalled that he was ready.
With absolutely no desire to go first, Hitori simply waited until he started. She knew that it was better to wait and watch, since she hadn't fought him before. He was a few months older than her, and he had always done well during missions according to reports, so she shouldn't underestimate him. Neither of them moved for a few seconds before Aido took the initiative. Both of them were going easy on each other, testing the waters before they upped the intensity. Hits came harder and faster, and blocking simply wasn't going to be enough. They eventually had to try their best to dodge as if they didn't, it was going to be damaging anyway.
Despite her initial thought to not underestimate him from their similar experience levels, she realised that although she was rusty, she was handling him fine. He seemed to be going as fast as he could without actually trying to kill her. It seemed that Itachi had really taught her more than she realised. Aido kept up as best he could, but she was quite easily able to go faster than him, and she barely needed any chakra flow to be stronger than him. After another few minutes of exchanging combinations, techniques, and trying not to get hit, Hitori used some of the grappling techniques she'd worked on with Itachi.
Aido swung a right hook at her head, which she easily ducked under and slipped an arm across his throat, with her chest against his back into a rear choke. The force of his swing practically let him fall onto her forearm, making it much less comfortable for Aido. He coughed from the impact and Hitori lightly choked him until he tapped on her arm to signal his forfeit. She grinned as she let him go and he stepped away from her, shaking his head before he turned to face her.
He smiled when he saw her expression, and broke into a laugh after a moment of holding her gaze. There was a flash of something on his face, but it wasn't there long enough for her to identify it. She pushed it from her mind as he opened his mouth to speak.
"You didn't use your jutsu, did you? Or are you just that fast?" Aido asked as he rubbed at his throat, still smiling but he hadn't dropped his guard yet.
"You said hand to hand. I didn't use any jutsu." She answered with a half-hearted shrug.
Aido scoffed with a laugh before Kizan hip bumped him a few steps to the right abruptly.
"I'm next to spar with our Konoha Sensei." Kizan's smile fell when Aido began to laugh loudly.
"She said to me that I might regret the chance to spar with her. I can say now that she was right." Aido said whilst chuckling softly and moving away to give them space.
Kizan looked over to Hitori with a boyish smirk but she wasn't entirely convinced that Aido hadn't actually scared him off for a brief moment. They moved so they had some more space and Kizan was polite enough to give her a small bow. Hitori returned it with her own, appreciating the respect he gave, despite his joker personality. Since he waited for her to make the first move, she obliged, but did not hold back at all. She pulled up a punch just a few inches from his face and frowned at him.
"Weren't you ready for that?" She smirked to make sure he did know what he was in for, and to his credit he barely flinched. It seemed that he hadn't expected to be able to keep up with her.
Backing up, Kizan chuckled softly and nodded before making his move. Hitori found no problem keeping up with him, but she did have to make adjustments for his reach. Kizan was so lanky that his reach almost allowed him to land a hit, but she had managed to block it. His legs were so long, and he was great at trying to keep her in the best fighting range for him, but Hitori was too fast. She blocked a straight punch on the outside of her left arm, grabbed the collar of his shirt and simultaneously front kicked him in the joint of his hip, forcing him to bend in half. Now that she had him off balance and slightly stunned, using his long legs against him, she stepped around so that she was toe to toe with him, stopping him from getting out of her hold. Her back foot came around so that his chest was basically against her back, and she simply turned her hips, and bent her knee, sending him over to the ground. He landed easily, and safely, but for good measure she kept hold of his arm, moving it so it sat across her bent leg, locking him in an armbar. Kizan looked up at her with a smile, and with the hand that had grabbed his shirt, she made a fist and gently nudged his cheek with it.
Letting his arm go, she held a hand out and helped him up to his feet. He lifted his shirt to show bruised ribs where she had landed a solid roundhouse kick, and she shrugged in a show of apology. She quickly ran some chakra through her hand and ran it over his skin, healing the damage underneath. Her kick hadn't been hard enough to break or crack any ribs, or to cause any internal bleeding, since Kizan had blocked the brunt of it, but just not enough to stop it in its tracks.
They were interrupted by someone else coming over, who was laughing loudly at Kizan. It was Yumiko, who was another one of the more gifted students. Her physical abilities weren't as good as Hitori had read in her files, but she was a good medic. Yumiko patted Kizan on the shoulder, and smiled at Hitori.
"Hey, we're going to all go get a drink. Wanna come?" Yumiko asked her, and Haruko popped in her mind, telling her to go and have some fun.
"Sure, I'll come."
"Let's go!" Kizan grabbed Yumiko around the shoulders, but clearly wasn't game enough to do the same to Hitori, and let her walk beside him as they met up with the rest of the group, and headed towards the centre of town.
Most of them frequented an izakaya style bar near the hospital and Hitori knew that a lot of them met their for dinner and drinks after class some nights. It was owned by a middle aged lady named Noriko who was a retired medic. The group was chatting and laughing as they walked inside, and took a seat at one of the larger tables so there was enough room for all of them. Hitori sat at the end of the table next to Aido, not really planning to stay too long. She was happy to be friendly and approachable to her students, but she still had to remain professional.
"First round is on me guys." Hitori went up to the bar and paid for the first round of drinks. Aido came up and was ready to help her bring them all back over to the table and waited while they were prepared.
"Thanks for coming to spar with us today. It was good to see you in action." Aido offered politely, leaning his right arm on the bar so that he was facing directly towards her.
"Thanks for having me. You've got to work on your speed though." Hitori replied with a chuckle.
"I'll definitely be doing that, don't you worry." His laughter died off and his expression fell as if he needed to say something serious. "Uhh, are you...is there anyone waiting back home for you in Konoha?" He asked quietly, and the look that she had almost recognised earlier that day returned. Someone else she knew well had the same look in his eyes when he looked at her, and she realised that Aido was interested in her and was asking if she was single.
"Uhh, I-I do, actually." She replied somewhat awkwardly.
"I see. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised." Aido nodded slowly, and looked down at the floor for a moment. He scratched the back of his neck, showing that he felt awkward.
"Oh, I'm surprised. It certainly wasn't something I expected when I first met him." Hitori was stunned from Aido's question, but wanted to make sure that she let him down easy. If she wasn't with Itachi, she probably would have gone out with him. He was good-looking, smart and funny. But luckily for her, she did have someone waiting at home for her.
"May I ask if I would have heard of him? Is he a shinobi?" Aido was polite, and did seem genuinely interested, so she figured it wouldn't hurt to answer his question.
"Yeah, you would have heard of him. He's a shinobi." She nodded but he stayed quiet and waited for her to elaborate. "His name is Itachi."
Aido nodded, but then it seemed to hit him and his eyes went wide for a moment and he stared in blatant surprise. He had obviously put two and two together, and although it wasn't Hitori's attempt to seem like she was trying to boast, which was why she didn't give his last name. Aido had figured it out anyway, so there wasn't any point in hiding it.
"Wait, you mean Uchiha? Uchiha Itachi?" He asked in a hushed whisper, and Hitori nodded in answer. "Well...that explains why you're so fast and strong. You must train with him."
"Yeah, he's quite a good teacher." Hitori responded with a smile, and she noticed that Aido was staring at her but he snapped out of it when she spoke. "Thank you though. I'm appreciative and flattered."
"It's okay. Probably easier for us to be with someone closer to home anyway." He gave her an innocent smile, which she returned.
The bartender finished pouring their drinks only a moment later and handed it over to the two of them after Hitori had given her the money. She and Aido carried them over to the table and sat back down. Everyone was talking, laughing and having a good time and were really kind and involved Hitori as best they could. She was enjoying herself and joining in on the jokes and conversation, but it still didn't feel right. It just didn't have the warm, fuzzy feeling she was used to getting spending time with Itachi at home.
Although the void was there, she still had a good time. After the third round, she went home, and drew herself a bath, intending to wash her hair and do a skincare routine to distract herself from the empty feeling within her. She turned the TV on and turned the volume up loud enough for her to hear from the bathroom, just to have some background noise in the apartment. Slowly and deliberately, she laid out all the products she would use. Some of them were the ones given to her by the Mizukage, and she huffed softly at the memory. The note that had come with the gift basket was still on her fridge, and had quite literally become part of the furniture. Hitori didn't make a habit of reading it frequently, but just seeing it there on the fridge was enough to make her smile.
After the bath was ready, she hopped in and got comfortable before closing her eyes. While she was there, she slowly scanned her body with chakra to check her for any damage from the sparring session. There was barely anything except for a couple of scrapes and bruises and she healed them up whilst relaxing. Although she hadn't worked too hard, the humidity was high enough to make her sweat.
She had no idea how long she stayed in the bath, but was fairly certain that she dozed off for a while, and the sound of a theme song for a show she frequently watched brought her around. Her skin was pruned as she looked down at her hands, and took a slow breath as she realised that the water was cold as well. It didn't matter since it was still quite warm out and she wrapped a towel around her hair, and her body and then sat down at the small table and chairs.
As she let her skin dry naturally, she took the time to write a few letters, and also wrote her report to the Hokage. It was a couple of days early, but she didn't want to have nothing to focus on while she sat there. After she had finished, she hopped up and grabbed envelopes out from the cupboard and sealed the letter inside and addressed them. She would take them to the post office the next day. There was one for Sakura, Haruko, and another one for Itachi.
Since she had the full weekend off, she also made a list of things to get done tomorrow before she would be back to teaching next week. There were a few lesson plans that she needed to write, and she wanted to design a template for writing medical reports for field work that they could use, based on what she normally did. She also had some essays to mark, and that would occupy her for several hours.
When she could no longer think of anything else to write down, she got up and dressed in her pyjamas and began to dry her hair. Once she was satisfied, she laid down on the couch on her side and zoned out whilst staring at the TV. Her brain had already clocked out for the day, and she didn't mind since she was mostly just waiting until she felt tired enough to go back to bed.
Her eyes got sick of staring at the TV, so turned it off as well as all the lights in the apartment and hopped into bed with her book. After reading a couple of chapters, she replaced her bookmark and put it on the bedside table before getting under the covers and got comfortable.
Eventually she fell asleep, and thankfully she stayed that way until late morning the next day...