Waking feeling rejuvenated for once, Kakashi rolled over in his bed only to see the shirt he let Harata wear, freshly washed, folded, and placed nicely on the small nightstand beside him.
"When did she put this here?" he mumbled sleepily, as he propped himself up on one arm.
Eventually pulling his covers off and sitting up, he stared at the neatly pressed shirt for a moment.
"She really didn't need to wash it. I have extra shirts...but I'll keep that a secret for now." he thought, a mischievous smirk forming on his rarely exposed face.
As he stood up, it suddenly occured to him that it was surprisingly quiet.
A bit too quiet, considering how loud Harata usually was.
Growing suspicious, Kakashi gave one final yawn, and walked into the living room only to find it empty.
"Odd, she's not in here. Where'd she go? I explicitly remember telling her not to go anywhere. Goodness, she's a stubborn person..." he said with a sigh, as he rubbed the side of his head.
Upon second glance, he noticed the living room was put back in order, after Harata's rampage of looking for her necklace the previous day.
"Oh, she actually straightened it up. Good. Otherwise I'd be forced to resort to extreme tactics." he said with a hint of malice in his voice, as he headed toward the bathroom to start preparing for the day.
Dawned in her regular attire once more, Harata poked around the village looking for a market to buy groceries at.
"I should definitely get more salmon. It's clear that he likes that a good bit. Oooo and more dango!" Harata mentally noted, as she strolled along calmly.
Unbeknownst to Kakashi, the spunky young woman had left very early in the morning, and found her way into town to go grocery shopping.
She was praying he wouldn't be too upset about her leaving, so as reassurance, she cleaned up his place, even though she was the cause of the mess to begin with, and washed his shirt.
"That should be enough of a peace offering right? Maybe making breakfast will help also. At least I hope s- " she stopped upon seeing Naruto waiting at Ichiraku ramen.
"Oh maybe I can just ask him." she thought as she casually approached the young shinobi.
"Yo, sup lil man." she called out, making him look up at her.
"ohhh hey! Long time no see!" he yelled happily with his trademark grin.
Harata could only smile warmly and pat Naruto's head gently. His friendliness was just infectious to her.
"Haha, yeah it has been. I trust you all have been good." she said, removing her hand from his head, and folding her arms instead.
"yeah I've been great! Kakashi sensei just taught us a really cool new technique too!" Naruto shouted excitedly.
"Oh yeah? You'll have to show me sometime! I'd love to see it!" Harata replied with just as much enthusiasm.
She was genuinely curious to see what Kakashi taught them all. She figured it must've been when he was out yesterday.
"really?! Awesome! Maybe you can come with us today! Since you're feelin better an all!" he countered, throwing Harata off.
"Feeling better? Does he know what happened two nights ago?" she panicked slightly in her head, but shook that thought away, once Naruto continued.
"I know ya got hurt kinda bad back at that fishing village. We were all curious, and asked Kakashi sensei if he could check on ya after we got back!" he finished happily, brushing his nose proudly.
"he better not have forgot! Or I'll knock him one! It's only natural to make sure girls are okay!" he added with a big kind grin.
Overcome with an immense amount of appreciation, Harata bent down to Naruto's eye level, and gave him a hug, much to the young boy's surprise.
"Awww thank you guys. Seriously. I'm really grateful for your kindness. And, heh heh no he didn't forget. He came the next day to see me." she assured, patting his head again.
Naruto suddenly paused and looked at Harata with a confused expression, making her curious as to what he was going to say.
"What's up?" she tried, getting a bit worried.
"mmm...I dunno...just...we asked him after we all got back that same day. Kakashi sensei said he'd try but he might forget cause he was so busy." Naruto confessed, piquing Harata's interest, though she played it cool.
"Oh really? Too busy? Did he mention what he'd be busy with?" she inquired further.
"nah, just that he'd be busy. But I guess he found some time out of his schedule to see ya! So it worked out don't ya think?!" Naruto shouted excitedly, completely oblivious to the fact that he just blew up his teacher's spot.
"Ohhh I see now. Yeah you're right! It did work out just fine!" she laughed with him, fully intent on interrogating Kakashi about that later.
"yeah!" Naruto agreed eagerly, then turned his attention elsewhere upon hearing his name called.
Attempting to locate the person who greeted the young boy, Harata's eyes came to rest on a man emerging from the crowd.
"Wait a minute. He looks familiar. I swear I've seen him before..." she thought, focusing intently on the man Naruto was happily speaking to now, until the man noticed her and gave a bright smile and waved.
"Funny running into you here. Kakashi's not with you?" the man asked, as she bore a baffled expression on her face.
"Hatake San? No, he's at-- uh- um no...dunno where he is at the moment. And excuse me, but haven't we met before?" she asked, in an unsure tone.
The ever inquisitive Naruto tuned in immediately to the conversation at hand, hearing that the two encountered each other in the past.
"wait you guys know each other... Iruka sensei? Hmmmm?" Naruto asked, with a smug grin on his face.
Due to years of dealing with the blonde genin's antics, the man had fine tuned his intuition, quickly shutting his former pupil's wild imagination down.
"Yes Naruto. And whatever is running through that head of yours is wrong." Iruka thwarted, as Naruto huffed in disappointment.
"awww man..." the mischievous boy whined, as Iruka addressed Harata.
"I'm flattered you remember me at all. But yes, we did. Briefly, at the Hokage's residence. Iruka. Nice seeing you again." he said in a friendly manner.
"Iruka?" she questioned, recalling her first and only visit to where Tsunade resided.
"Oh yeah! You're that nice guy who talked to me before I went inside!" she continued, thinking back to the conversation they had.
"Hah, yeah that was me." Iruka replied calmly, rubbing the back of his head nervously.
"I heard you were injured in the last mission you accompanied squad seven on. Are you alright now?" he inquired.
"I'm guessing a lot of people know about that incident..." she momentarily harped over internally.
"Oh yeah, I'm fine now. Thank you so much for asking. I was actually treated in the fishing village before we came back here." Harata explained.
"That's good. I'm glad you're okay. Kakashi's squad, including this one here, were all pretty worried about you." the friendly instructor said, playfully ruffling Naruto's hair.
"ahhh hey!" Naruto laughed, unable to stay annoyed for long around Iruka.
"Lil man was just telling me the same thing. Thank you for the kind words. I'm much obliged sir." she replied respectfully, with a deep bow.
"Of course. And please, just call me Iruka." he said calmly, as Harata stood up, and smiled warmly.
Stopping for a second, the awkward young woman nodded in agreement.
"As you wish, Iruka San it is from now on." she complied, making Iruka chuckle.
"That's good enough for now. We'll work on it more once we get better acquainted." he teased, making Harata get flustered.
"But it's disrespectful to refer so familiarly to someone who doesn't know me!" she protested fervently, as Iruka chuckled at her reaction.
"Fair enough I guess." he relented, as Naruto's stomach growled loudly, causing both Iruka and Harata to look at the young shinobi in disbelief.
"eh heh heh...sorry..." Naruto squeaked out nervously, scratching the back of his head.
"I'll see you around then." Iruka said to Harata, as he turned his attention to Naruto, who was urging him forward to the food stall.
"Oh, right! See you lat- wait! I almost forgot! Do you know where I can buy fresh groceries around here?" she quickly added.
"Groceries? Oh, just a little further down this way. You'll find what you're looking for there." Iruka called back, practically being dragged inside the ramen shop now.
"Thank you!" she shouted in response, waving at Naruto also, as they both waved back to her.
"Just a little further down this way huh? Alright then." she thought as she continued on her way.
Approaching what appeared to be her goal, Harata breathed a sigh of relief that she hadn't gotten lost.
Gazing upon the various selection of fresh vegetables, spices, and fruit, she soon came across one special ingredient she was hoping to buy.
"Sweet! I didn't think they'd have it honestly!" Harata said excitedly, but froze once she saw someone's hand grabbing the same spice she was reaching for.
Looking over, she saw a beautiful, black haired woman standing beside her, who gave her a friendly smile.
"Go ahead. It's all yours." was all the woman said as she pulled her hand away.
Startled by the woman's sudden presence, Harata bowed respectfully, and moved her hand away too.
"No, please...you take it. I can get another one." Harata conceded, making the woman smile gently.
"Well if you insist, then thank you." the woman replied, taking the ginger root, and placing it in a basket.
"Of course, it's no problem at all." Harata immediately countered, observing the beautiful woman silently.
"Geez she's pretty...definitely has model looks. Wonder who she is..." she thought curiously, watching the woman carefully hand pick certain items.
"Ahhh Kurenai, good morning. How are you today?" came an old man's voice, catching Harata's attention.
The woman referred to as Kurenai looked up from what she was doing, and gave a bright smile to the elderly man.
"Good morning. I'm well, how about you?" she asked the old man, who returned her kind gesture with a warm smile of his own.
"Oh you know. Getting by. But that's good to hear you're doing well." he finished, then turned toward Harata.
"Good morning young lady. Are you a friend of Kurenai's?" he questioned endearingly.
"Oh- well actually, I just- " Harata was interrupted.
"Yes she is. Well now, I think I'm about done. I'll just take these for today." Kurenai said, gently putting the money in the elderly man's hand.
"Of course. It's always a pleasure. Please come again tomorrow." the old man kindly offered, making Harata smile softly at him.
"Oh, just let me know when you're finished young lady. I'll ring you up alright?" the frail grocer instructed, Harata nodding her head in compliance, as Kurenai watched her interact with the senior citizen.
"I should hurry up...I can't keep this sweet old man waiting." Harata scolded herself mentally, feeling guilty as she quickly picked out the rest of what she needed, and sat them on the counter.
"Oh nice choice little Missy! You've got an eye for fine produce!" he praised cheerfully.
"Tha-thank you kindly Sir. I learned from the best." she retorted, slightly nervous from receiving the small compliment.
"And I'm sure you cook just as well. Here you are." the kind-hearted grocer replied, sliding Harata's groceries in a bag, as she slid some money onto the counter.
"Thank you very much for your patronage. Please come again as well." he finished, waving goodbye to both of the women with a heartwarming smile.
"That man...he's gone senile. So I apologize for saying we were friends. That's the only way he can remember new faces. He has to associate them with people he already knows." Kurenai explained as she walked off with the young warrior.
"Senile? I see..." Harata trailed off, feeling sorry for the frail man.
"Yeah, it's pretty heartbreaking. He can barely recall his own son's face now. His wife reminds him by showing the last picture of their son to him daily..." the raven haired beauty continued.
"Not even his son? That is heartbreaki- " Harata broke off, noticing the context in which Kurenai spoke of the old grocer's son.
"His son...how old was he when he passed?" Harata inquired solemnly.
Kurenai went silent for a minute, then took a deep breath before responding.
"Seventeen...he was killed during a mission...poor kid." she finally replied, leaving Harata speechless.
This hit a bit hard for the stalwart warrior. She was certainly used to being around death by now, however, hearing Kurenai speak of this young man, reopened a deep wound for her.
"He was...so young..." Harata unconsciously mumbled.
"Yes he was. Gone far too soon. But he lives on through his mother at least." Kurenai reassured.
"That's true." was all Harata could manage without getting choked up thinking of her late loved one, who passed around the same age.
"Oh, by the way. Have you adjusted well to living here so far?" Kurenai questioned, wrenching Harata from her thoughts.
"Adjusted to living here? Wait...what do you mean? I'm just passing through." Harata corrected.
"Just passing through huh? Not the way I see it." Kurenai countered, giving a sly smirk, as if she knew something Harata didn't.
What that something was exactly, Harata had no idea...