Chapter 5: Messy Hair

Summary:

In episode 197, before Kawaki and Boruto spar, on the way between Uzumaki's place and the training camp, Naruto, Himawari, Boruto and Kawaki walk by the river bank and meet our favorite purple-haired character.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

At the beginning of episode 197, Kawaki was fixing the broken vase and Himawari was observing him, Boruto then approached and told Kawaki he would help him to learn more about Karma, Kawaki questioned his change of heart and Boruto replied he wouldn't like to be controlled by Karma so he needed to use it a little better. Kawaki proposed to show what he knew about Karma, then Naruto take them and Himawari to a training field, Kawaki and Boruto fought using the Karma while Kashin Koji was observing it through his frog, at the end of this episode, Delta appeared. The battle between Delta and Naruto is shown in episodes 198 and 199, in episode 198 is when Kawaki sacrificed his right forearm to save Himawari and Naruto.

Let's come back to episode 197 before the training field scene. Imagine Naruto, Himawari, Boruto and Kawaki left the house about 2:30 p.m., on their way to the training field they were passing by the river bank where Kawaki had been sat seeing the sunset at episode 194.

Naruto was going ahead alongside Himawari, Boruto was right behind them and Kawaki was some steps behind Boruto. Himawari then saw a little girl running after a puppy forty feet ahead and she ran after the puppy to prevent it to fall in the river, Naruto and Boruto rushed the pace to check on her and both kept standing up from sixteen feet observing Himawari giving back the puppy to the little girl and talking to her. Kawaki was a little further because he hadn't run like Boruto and Naruto, he was walking to reach out Boruto and Naruto's spot but suddenly Kawaki felt something falling on his head.

_Oi! What is this thing?!_ Kawaki bent his body mostly due to his surprise than because of the impact. He could feel it was something moving its four feet.

_Nue! Come back here!_Sumire was running in Kawaki's direction as exclaiming it.

What happened was that Sumire was passing on the bridge with Nue on her right shoulder when he suddenly jumped off and she jumped immediately after him, with her ninja's skills it was no problem to do it. Kawaki was fifteen feet ahead of the spot under the bridge at the moment Nue saw him and aimed right to his head. Naruto and Boruto were about twenty feet distant from Kawaki.

_I guess he won't bite me this time, right?_ Kawaki said realizing the thing on his head was some old acquaintance of his

Nue was comfortable standing with his back feet in Kawaki's top head while Kawaki had turned his eyes up as he could be able to see it. Sumire was standing in front of Kawaki and Nue jumped to her left shoulder. She replied relived:

_Don't worry, Nue has just assumed your head was a good landing spot. Forgive me about your hair though..._ Nue had made a little fuss in Kawaki's hair, Sumire moved her right hand towards Kawaki's head_ May I?

_What are you doing?_Kawaki grabbed Sumire's right hand and stopped her move. He was holding partially her wrist and partially her palm, he did it suddenly but not with violence.

_Sorry, I was just trying to fix the mess Nue did to your hair..._Sumire answered looking at Kawaki's eyes while her hand was still being held. She thought: "Have I done something wrong here?"

Kawaki was looking at Sumire's eyes not bothering about Nue on her shoulder. He wasn't being aggressive after all. He thought: "What is up with this girl that is always trying to touch me?" He remembered the day she lifted his sleeve to check his wound even after he asked her to don't touch him at Ryutan Village.

He thought: "What is up with this girl that is always trying to touch me?" He remembered the day she lifted his sleeve to check his wound even after he asked her to don't touch him at Ryutan Village

_Don't bother about it, Class Rep. His hair is always all messed up, it wouldn't make much difference._ Boruto had approached the duo, as he was speaking Kawaki let Sumire's hand go.

_Boruto!_ Sumire replied reprehending Boruto's teasing comment

Boruto continued his joking speech:

_I could even lend him a comb but...

Kawaki interrupted Boruto's speech looking at him angrily:

_Shut up! Your hair is the odd one here! It looks like banana peels!

Sumire thought: "I like Boruto's yellow hair."

Boruto took the offense and replied:

_My hair is great! Yours looks like a bird's nest!

Sumire thought: "Bird's nest seems so cozy".

Kawaki clenched his teeth and puffed. At that moment Naruto was walking towards them, he had listened to what they were talking about from the moment Boruto approached Kawaki. Actually, he thought it was funny the "banana peel" and the "bird nest hairs", but he noticed the boys were in an uneasy spot again and he wanted to prevent things to get worse. He thought: "Oh mine, those two should get rid of this stressful behavior in the training field. Anyway, I guess it is not a bad idea to take the boys for a hair trim later."

_Boruto-kun! Kawaki-kun! Please don't fight._Sumire spoke out loud immediately after Boruto's last sentence.

Kawaki's angry face quickly changed as he got stunned for three seconds: "She called me Kawaki-kun too... she hasn't called me Kawaki-kun before" He was looking at Sumire eyes and she was looking back at his eyes, she was thinking: "I guess he has calmed down now. I wouldn't stand seeing him being aggressive again."

_It is not my fault that Kawaki can't take a joke, ya know?_Boruto replied in a joking mood bringing the attention to him.

Kawaki got annoyed with Boruto blaming him for something Boruto was the one who had started, he looked at Boruto and said:

_It's your fault to be so annoying. I am done with this._ Kawaki looked at Sumire _And what are you doing here anyway? Are you stalking me or something?

Sumire:

_What? I was just at my afternoon break, I use to come here with Nue so he can have some contact with nature.

Kawaki raising his right eyebrow:

_Aren't you able to control "it" yet?_ referring to Nue with disdain.

Sumire answered a little sad:

_Uhu? It is not like that, "he" meant no harm_ emphasis on "he"_ I don't know why he jumped on your head so suddenly. He never did that before, I mean, not with someone besides me.

Boruto looking at Sumire:

_Oh yeah, Nue likes to land on your head sometimes, doesn't he, Class rep?

Sumire looking at Boruto:

_Uhum._ She petted Nue on her shoulder.

Kawaki was intrigued by Sumire's reaction he was staring at her since she seemed sad.

Himawari, that had recently approached the others, looked at Nue and asked Sumire:

_Ow! He is so cute! Can a pet him?

Boruto:

_Hima, he is not a puppy, you know?

Kawaki with sarcasm spoke to Himawari looking at Sumire with the corner of his eyes:

_Uhu, if you are not careful it may take your arm off...

Himawari:

_What?!

Sumire was staring at Kawaki with a questioning look, he got embarrassed and looked away. Boruto disliked what Kawaki said, he didn't understand the reference anyway.

Sumire looked to Himawari:

_Don't worry, Hima, Nue never attacks good girls like you.

Boruto looked at Kawaki:

_Yeah, just some jerks that hurt his mom.

Kawaki clenched his teeth as he felt guilty. He walked some steps away and stopped by ten feet of distance. Naruto reached him and started a low-volume dialogue (so the others didn't listen to them):

_Hey, is there something bothering you?

Kawaki looking away:

_Tsc. Never mind.

Naruto:

_Things going uneasy between you and Sumire and Boruto?

Kawaki tried to pretend disdain:

_I don't give a shit about these two.

Naruto googled his eyes:

_Hey, language! Why are you saying this? I know it is not true. Weren't we talking about you getting along with Boruto this very morning and weren't you worried about making him mad because of Sumire?

Kawaki thought: "That's exactly why I must be away from her. I just do bad to her."

Kawaki frowning:

_ Tsc. Forget about it. Shouldn't we keep going to the training field anyway?

Naruto teasing:

_Yes right, you should be happy Boruto finally has accepted to help you with the Karma. Be sure the "bird's nest" and the "banana head" settle things up at the spar.

Kawaki put his hands in his pockets and mumbled:

_Uhu, it's banana peels. I guess something other than birds mistook my hair as a nest...

Himawari looking at Sumire:

_Uhu, are you his mom then?

Sumire leaned down to be at Himawari height:

_Hehe, something like that, he is my family in a way. Here, you can rub his chin.

Himawari rubbed Nue's chin and smiled:

_Does he have a name?

Nue answered:

_Nue!

Sumire and Boruto laughed.

Naruto looking at them:

_Boruto, Himawari, we must keep going!

Himawari:_Yes, daddy. Bye Nue, Bye, Nue's mom!

Boruto looked at Himawari that was already walking towards Naruto and Kawaki:

_Hima, her name is Sumire._Boruto looked at Sumire:_Bye, Class Rep!

Sumire waved her right hand:

_Bye Boruto-kun, bye Hima, bye Lord Seventh, bye Kawaki-kun!

Naruto, Boruto and Himawari waved back. Naruto said:

_ Goodbye, Sumire, it is always a pleasure to see you._ he blinked at Kawaki.

Kawaki looked at Sumire and nodded with a half-smile. But soon he thought: "Damn it, why did I agree with what Lord Seventh said?" and he looked away. They left toward the way to the Ninja Training Field.

Sumire took the opposite direction going on her way back to work. She was thinking: "Good grief, this time meeting Kawaki didn't work so well either, could he be angry at Nue? could he be upset with me? This morning he looked at me while he was leaving and he was kinda trying to say sorry with his eyes, now he gave me a half-smile, it wasn't a sarcastic one, is that possible he liked to see me? But he walked away from me when Boruto said "Nue attacks jerks who hurts me", oh mine, Nue wasn't attacking Kawaki when he jumped on his head, I don't know why he did that... but it was a coincidence that I was thinking about Kawaki in that very moment Nue jumped off, I was trying to figure out what I would say to him the next time we meet, what Sarada told me earlier made me even more worried about him... I should have talked more with him at the sunrise, instead, I got speechless, and then the girls appeared and all got messed up... now Boruto was the one approaching and accusing Kawaki. Oh, Boruto, you haven't forgiven Kawaki about Ryutan, have you? Do I need to talk to Boruto and tell him everything that happened between me and Kawaki in Rytuan the same way I did to the girls? Oh, why my friends don't understand Kawaki won't hurt me anymore? When he stopped me from reaching his hair today he chose to hold my hand instead of pushing my arm away as he did in Ryutan, he didn't even squeeze it, he was not aggressive. That's progress, but I guess I should wait for him to consent verbally the next time I will touch him, I can't be hasty. Hey, I mean, it is not like I am planning to keep touching him for no reason, hehe. I am sorry for him to be leaving with his hair dirty, Nue's paws were covered with grass, he even dirt my blouse..." Sumire sighed and said:

_Nue, come back to the Facility. Reverse Summoning Jutsu.

Nue vanished leaving a smoke little cloud behind. Sumire only walked with Nue on her shoulder and let him freely in open field places when there were few people around, so she liked to go to the river bank that was five minutes far from the Scientific Facility. After she loses Gozu Tenno, Nue wasn't able to access his dimension anymore, so he stayed in the training room in the Scientific Department and at Sumire's place. Sumire had an afternoon break between 2:00 p.m and 3:00 p.m., in addition to thirty minutes for a lunch break from 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., but she lunches at the Facility's refectory. The first time she met Kawaki and Naruto at the Honoha she was just leaving for the afternoon break going to the river bank, in this last meeting with Nue jumping on Kawaki's hair she was coming back to the Facility.

Notes:

This story has an immediate continuation in chapter 6.