Disclaimer: Again, I don't own anything except Tomoko, her family, and Nagareboshi Cafe. For this chapter, I would recommend SheNoob087's Synthesia piano cover of RWBY's From Shadows. And as a small note, for the work kimono Tomoko's mom, Hikari, wears in this chapter, please refer to Kome of the Pokemon Kimono Sisters from the Johto saga of the anime as reference. Please enjoy!
Chapter 7: D-Ranks & Getting to Know One Another
The next time I saw Kakashi was during a D-Rank mission. Now you're probably wondering: "How did I get into a D-Rank mission when I'm not a ninja?"
Well, to put it lightly, the whole thing happened because of a 'slight' accident in the kitchen at Nagareboshi. Apparently, while Dad was in there helping prep bentos for Mom to serve to some of our regulars, a new staff member ended up tripping on something (that which I don't know, since Mom and Dad didn't disclose much) and ended up spilling all the bentos Dad was working on and breaking some of the kitchen piping — making the kitchen a complete mess. And I mean mess since food, hot water, and broken pieces of tile and piping were scattered everywhere.
Now if I was still in my old life, I would have closed the entire scene with 'anime physics' — but that didn't change the fact that some of Nagareboshi's kitchen pipes and tiling were completely destroyed. By the time Mom and I had ran in to check on the picture, Dad was completely livid and cursing out the staff member in question. It was the first time I had actually seen Dad angry, and since it was so uncharacteristic of the cheerful Dad I always knew, I kinda had to run out of the picture and let Mom handle the mess.
…You're free to call me a coward, but I'm just saying - I don't like it when Mom and Dad are angry, whether in this life or in my previous one! My old dad's yelling was scary enough, but Dad here could've been a towering devil if I didn't know any better (his old ninja career probably helped with that though…)!
Honestly, this was all I heard of the rant that staff member got before I ran out:
"You asshole! That was more than a few thousand ryo you freaking messed up there! Do you even know how much — ?!"
Since this was in the middle of the day, we ended up having to close to the cafe early with a sour note since that staff member was immediately fired. I honestly felt bad for that person since it was apparently only their first week, but by the dawn of evening, unfortunately, Dad had apparently caught a fever as a result of the whole mess and I didn't have time to worry. It wasn't too hot of a fever, but it was enough to make Dad bedridden for most of the evening leading into the next morning, and with the mess still in the kitchen, Mom decided to make a D-Rank mission out of it. Dad was almost always the person to go to when this kind of stuff happened in the cafe due to his 'retired ninja' status, but with his sick status, Mom had decided to go to Lord Hokage and request other ninja help.
Since it was still early morning when Mom put out the request, I was just dressed in the Sylveon kimono dress, pink lace and all, stocking the bar and relocating some food into the storage room when I saw them.
Initially, from the bright sunlight filling the doorway, I only got a glimpse of two silhouettes, one the height of an adult and the other about a centimeter taller than me. I didn't think much on it, brushing the two off as customers coming into the cafe early to see what was going on until I heard the voices.
"Hikari-san, are you here? We're the ninja that came for your D-Rank mission?" I blinked, walking around the counter to stand near the doorway.
Is that who I think it is?
Spiky blond hair greeted me first. "M-Minato-san? And—" The soft silver spikes were a huge giveaway and I couldn't help but grin and run up to the pair, waving happily. "Kakashi-kun! Hey!" The 5-year old Genin blinked back at me, bored face changing into that of surprise and recognition.
"…Tomoko? The D-Rank mission was from you?" Kakashi apparently seemed to be in disbelief while Minato-san smiled gently, hand lightly landing on my head to ruffle my hair as a greeting.
I just grinned again. He used my name — hooray! "Well, yeah! My mom was the one who asked though…" Kakashi blinked before taking his hands out of his pant pockets, apparently looking a little uncomfortable with the warm smile I was giving him.
At this point, Mom took the chance to walk out from the back with a graceful smile, bowing a little towards our new guests. For once, she looked more like a business owner than my mom, tucking her black hair into a bun and wearing a professional blue kimono patterned with bubbles, complemented with a red and orange obi. "Hello, shinobi-san. Thanks for taking my request." Straightening her back, her smile turned a little sheepish. "Lord Hokage should have already told you what you would be doing, right?"
Minato-san simply shrugged. "Hokage-sama said it would be construction work and fixing the pipes, but I'm guessing it's a bit more than that, huh?" Mom visibly grimaced at his words, motioning to us to follow her with a hand.
Once we got into the kitchen, I could easily see Minato-san and Kakashi wince.
"I-I'm sorry about this…" I added in meekly. Despite the efforts Mom and I both put in trying to clean up the place, the mess from yesterday was simply far too much. Scraps of broken piping were still lying around on the floor with some pipes still leaking water, ruining some of the clean tiles and making the whole kitchen look like a tornado went through it.
"I was hoping you two could help with reinstalling the pipes and cleaning up the tiles so we could redo them…" Mom trailed off, easily noticing the two ninja's concerned looks.
Minato just sighed lightly before smiling sheepishly at Mom, a hand rubbing the back of his head. "We'll do our best, ma'am. In the meantime, could you show me where the piping first breaks off?" At that moment, he turned to Kakashi, the Genin standing a little straighter than usual next to me. "While I'm doing that, Kakashi, go along with Tomoko-chan to help her set up around here."
"Alright, sensei," he put in firmly. I couldn't help but smile cheerfully.
Mom turned to me with a concerned gaze for a moment. "Tomoko-chan, don't trouble Kakashi-kun too much, okay?" Inwardly, I giggled. No matter what life I was in, Moms were always Moms in worrying about their kids. It felt nice being tended to like this for a bit. It reminded me of my old mom.
'Be Vy, be careful out there!' would be something Mom back then would say, huh?
"Don't worry, Mom~! Kakashi-kun and I will be fine, right?" The Genin next to me simply blinked before turning away somewhat and nodding quietly. I could physically feel my shoulders deflate while I pouted a little.
…Does he just not like me or something? Or does he just not want to talk?
A soft hand patted my head, and I couldn't help but look up and into Mom's brilliant blue eyes. "Alright, Tomoko-chan, just be safe, okay?"
"Okay." I murmured a bit more quietly. Mom smiled gently before pulling me into a warm hug. I kinda wish it could last a bit longer, but she pulled away after just a few seconds before lightly pushing me towards Kakashi's direction. Apparently in the heat of the family moment, he was already at the kitchen doorway, looking back at me in slight impatience.
He just really wants to get this done, doesn't he? With a shrug, I ended up walking up to the ninja's side again before lightly grabbing his hand. Hopefully he doesn't mind this little bit of physical contact. If Kakashi minded it or not, it didn't really show through his masked face and I ended up having to pull him through the hallway to walk back into the cafe center. It kinda made a weird image - I mean, a civilian girl physically pulling a ninja around by the hand? I know Rin in the old canon did this, but she was a ninja and Kakashi's teammate…
Anyway.
"So what do you need me to do?" Kakashi asked me, glancing at me slightly. I blinked, mentally tallying my usual routine in my head while letting go of his hand for a moment to think.
I counted off my fingers. "Well, normally there's cleaning the tables, setting up the bar over there with any shot glasses or wine cups, washing dishes, sweeping the front yard, restocking drinks, napkins, and snacks from the storage room, setting up the display case in the front of the store, um…" My voice cracked a little from trailing off.
God darn it, cat got my thought.
Kakashi visibly sweatdropped, voice dry. "You don't have to list everything, Tomoko. Just tell me one thing to do and I'll do it."
I just glanced at him, sheepish.
"I-I'm just used to cleaning the piano and helping out Mom and Dad, so this is my first time having to allocate tasks to someone else…" My shoulders dropped a little. "I'm sorry, Kakashi-kun…" He just shrugged, looking around the cafe really quickly.
"It's fine, but where is your Dad by the way?" Kakashi asked.
Ugh, that's another thing to worry about. I'm honestly just surprised Kakashi-kun isn't treating this whole thing as a nuisance. Then again, didn't he see almost everyone as annoyances? So then why is he apparently so nice to me?
I just tossed the thoughts away before responding. "…Sick with a fever. He's actually upstairs, resting up." I honestly felt really bad about the whole thing - Dad was just doing his work like usual, and yet someone had to mess it up and get him sick to boot. If not for Mom having donned her professional uniform to talk to Minato-san, I suspected that she would have been by his side all day.
I wanted to help him too…!
Oh well. We had work to do. I sighed before looking at Kakashi with a sheepish smile. "Is it okay if you could help me with cleaning the front of Nagareboshi then?" He just shrugged his shoulders, looking towards the side before nodding. I just handed him a duster.
"Alright then — lead the way." Soon enough, we got into a working pace, where I was sweeping away any dust and litter sitting at the front of the cafe while Kakashi was crouching on top of a ladder, lightly dusting off the large 'Nagareboshi Cafe' sign with one hand. It was quiet between the two of us with the occasional 'fwish' of the broom before I decided to talk.
"So, Kakashi-kun?" He glanced down at me from the top of the ladder, grunting a little in acknowledgement. "Do you need any help up there?"
"Don't worry about me — I'm fine." He turned back to the sign in front of him, giving it one last look over before standing up and jumping off the ladder to land in front of me, still holding the duster I gave him. "Is there anything else you need me to do?"
I thought about it for a moment, hand on my chin. Nothing really came to mind since Mom handled some of the small tasks already before the ninja came. All that really was left was…
"I think I have something. Think you could check over the grand piano with me?" The silver-haired ninja blinked for a moment in slight surprise before nodding. After we had put away the ladder and other cleaning supplies, Kakashi had gently sat down in the chair next to me while I pushed away the piano cover to check over the keys.
"So, what exactly are we checking the piano for?" At Kakashi's dry tone, I couldn't help but look at him with a sheepish smile.
"Well, I was actually hoping to play a new song for you and get your opinion on it, Kakashi-kun." For some reason, my heart was beating a little faster than normal while I met his gray eyes. "B-By chance, is that okay?"
He blinked again before shrugging, mouth set in a thin line through his mask. "I don't mind. Go ahead."
Permission granted! Tomoko has now leveled up to Acquaintance Level!
I couldn't help but beam at him from my position at the piano bench. "Thank you Kakashi-kun."
One new song coming up!
I don't know if it was because I was happy at playing the piano again for him or just because Kakashi was being apparently nice to me, but my hands seemed to just fly at the black and white keys, playing the melody of a cat-eared girl fighting off robots and racism. Honestly, it was my first time playing this piece, and I hoped Kakashi was at least enjoying it and that I was doing the original song justice.
From Shadows, huh? Seems to really fit a ninja.
Once the final key was pressed and over with, I turned in my seat a little to look at him. Again, the small spark of awe from before was in Kakashi's silver eyes, and a small, almost unnoticeable smile was on his face.
"Neh, Kakashi-kun?" Immediately, the ninja seemed to break out of whatever trance he was in to properly face me with a neutral gaze. "You're always welcome here at Nagareboshi Cafe, okay? If you want a song to be played, I'll always be here to play it for you because you're my friend, alright?"
It needed to be said at least. The next few years would be really difficult, and honestly, I was hoping to be close enough to him to provide some kind of comfort.
Being a ninja meant dedicating everything to the village — even if it meant death.
I just wanted to let Kakashi know that someone was here for him when everyone else didn't notice. Hopefully, my piano playing could provide some form of comfort to him during those times.
Hopefully no one dies this time.
Kakashi seemed to be in shock at my words though, silver eyes wide, and with his prolonged silence, I couldn't help but stammer. "I-I mean, I always thought we were friends after you came in that one time with your dad andsinceyoucameandhelpedoutatNagareboshi, Ithought-"
"Tomoko," I clammed up at the sound of my name. To my surprise, Kakashi looked to the side blushing a little. "It's fine. I'll take you up on that offer sometime."
I blinked. "S-So wait — we're friends?" Kakashi continued to look away, a small frown now present to match the light pink on his face.
"Y-yeah." A huge grin adorned my face.
Level Up! Tomoko is now at Friendship Level!
"Kakashi-kun, can I hug you right now?" Immediately, the silver-haired Genin turned to look at me with a growing look of horror.
"W-What?! W-Wait a second—" I didn't even wait for a response, jumping a bit from the piano bench to wrap my arms around his neck. "H-Hey, Tomoko! Get off, please!" I ended up giggling quite a bit, hugging the twitching Hatake a bit tighter.
I finally made a friend. And knowing me, he had to get used to my hugs at one point!