"You called, Tsunade-sama?"
A few jounins were summoned into her office after sending the four 'protectors' of Konoha off for some refreshments. They seated themselves as they await instructions from the Hokage herself, who was at this stage, busily flipping through the pile of never-changing stacks of documents on the desk.
She ought to hire a secretary, thought Kakashi as his eyes rolled over the mess.
"Ah yes, some of you will have new roommates."
"Ano, Tsunade-sama...."
"No buts from any of you. We have some temporary shortage in terms of lodgings, so don't fight with me and just take in a roommate."
She then (miraclously) finds a blank piece of paper from the pile of endless rubble on the table and begins to scribble and tear it into bits. After she was done crushing them roughly, she had it dumped into a cup and had each jounin draw one each.
"Those who have drawn slips with names written on them would have to take into the mentioned one as a roommate."
The apprehensive jounins then systematically opened the drawn lot. A sneaky feeling overcame a few of them. Kakashi unrolled his lot only to see Kei scribbled upon it.
My, I ought to try my hand at lottery one of these days. At this rate I'm going, I'm sure to strike some cash.
"Ne, Tsunade-sama, having a single girl and a guy living together isn't exactly too good."
"It's ok. It would be even better if you can reveal some charm and get her to fall in love with you. Then we are sure to be able to have her for good."
"Nani?"
Sweats drops were forming on everyone's head. It wasn't too funny coming from Tsunade, especially to hear that she is attempting to do some match-making. Ne. Absolutely not funny.
"They seem like nice people, and no harm if either of you would like to settle down. The lot of you are of the appropriate age."
This so not funny at all. The jounins were starting to be really uncomfortable.
"Ne, Tsunade-sama, you can keep them for yourself. We are enjoying singlehood right now. Besides, why are you still keeping the lot of them? You do remember that they nearly destroyed the village this morning?"
"Yeah, they may have destroyed a few acres of the forest, tore down part of the wall protecting the village, endangered numerous innocent lives and etc etc. But, they did save the village from being flattened, somewhat."
She then went off to the side to pour herself a cup of hot tea. Inhaling its rich aroma, she looked out at the intact village and the people who still went about their lives.
"Trust and respect share a commonality in that, both need to be mutually earned. They kept their word and that is enough to tell me that these people are worthy of respect. I will admit that I do not trust them all that throughly since they did tell lies about their plight but still, limited trust is there."
She went off into her thoughts of the better times, when peace prevailed and when certain individuals were still around and happiness was in the air. Tsunade snapped out of it only when she realised that the jounins were starting at her too intently and therefore, had them sent off to go collect their roommates from the waiting room.
Kurenai, Gai, Genma and Kakashi made their way to the waiting room (yes, Asuma was pleased to be not sharing his space with anyone but quickly assured the disappointed Gai that Ken was rather good company). With good wishes and many more laughs accompanying them down the hallways, the four could only feel more uneasy at the need to adjust to the living arrangements. They reached the waiting room and proceeded to let themselves into the room.
They walked in to find that Ken, Ishida and Maiko busy playing cards at the coffeetable, while Kei just perched on the window still staring into nothingness.
"Hokage-sama has arranged for you guys to be our roommates and so if you are ready, we can be on our way.", Kakashi said to them.
They packed up quietly without question and followed the jounins. The awkward silence in the air was enough to suffocate any person, but somehow any attempts to strike up conversations were futile. The masked ones were in no mood to talk except to obliged some polite reply to the jounins' questions.
Reaching the apartment block, they split off and went forth to their respective apartments. Kakashi walked in front of Kei to travel down to their apartment. After letting the both of them in, he looked at the state of his apartment.
Sigh. I better clean up now that she's staying here. Never knew that a place could get this messy. Looking at her, he wondered why she was so silent. There hung in the air an element of uncertainty and sadness?? Ne, I am thinking too much.
She walked into the apartment and looked around. Without minding the mess, she made her way into the living room where the couch was and dumped her belongings on it.
"Kakashi-san."
She speaks!
"Hmmm?" he said as he attempted to pack up some the dirty laundry from the floor.
"I don't wish to banish you to the couch like last night, so I will sleep here from now on."
"Ano, Keishinn-san....."
"It's all right. And no more formalities all right? Call me Kei and no arguing with me over sleeping arrangements. Unless, you are really that uncomfortable, then I could pay Hokage-sama a visit in the morning to request to stay elsewhere."
"Ahh, that is not necessary Kei-san", he said as he thought of the consequences should the Hokage received any complaints.
She looked at him with a raised brow.
"I mean Kei."
Her smile reached her eyes.
It was going to be fine.
Not.
Just the next morning, kakashi had promptly turned off his alarm. Stretching out in a lazy cat-like fashion, he then sleepily made his way to the bathroom to wash up. Obliviousnly he walked in on Kei, who had just showered and was wrapped up in only a towel.
"Ah!!! Gomenasai!!!"
He retreated out red-faced. One hundred percent very awake.
Darn it. I've to remember that I don't live alone anymore.
He inspected himself and affirmed that he was decently attired in pair of black shorts. And that his hand was held to his face at point of meeting, therefore preserving his physical identity. He then roughly pull on a shirt and his mask for after a few minutes, she soon stepped out fully clothed but with no hint of embarassment.
"Gomen, I wanted to lock the door but there wasn't any lock."
Mental note 1: remember that you've a roommate.
Mental note 2: get a lock for the bathroom.
Somehow, the second meeting is proving to be difficult as the visual image of having seen her earlier got stuck in his brain; of her without her mask and only clad in a white towel. He was having trouble looking at her in the eye.
Ah! Mental note 3: stop having wanton thoughts of your roommate!.
"Ja, it's my fault. I have been on my own for a long time so I never bothered with a lock. Gomen. I'll have one fixed up soon."
"Not your fault. And oh, I hope you don't mind but I borrowed a towel."
"Not a problem."
"But I'll go get some necessities today so will not be needing to borrow anymore stuff."
She was sitting on the neat couch to put on the rest of her gear. He noticed that her attire was similar to an Anbu's uniorm, only a much darker and sleeker version. It consisted of an inner skin-tight sleeveless top that allowed her to pull up some of the material from the neck to mask her facewith,fitted black pants and matching shoes. An outer kimono-like top that was three-quartered sleeved was donned (which prevented further flow of imaginationfrom the glimpse of her figure earlier), to which, she bandages her arms from elbow down to her palms. Followed by arm and shin guards. Her hair, as usual, was pulled into a informal bun at the back of her head.
Once done, she walked to the door and let herself out.
"Ja, I'll be off now."
With her back turned as she strolled out, left some parting words,
"And don't get too bothered about walking in on me after my shower, it's not the first time it has happened anyway."
And she left him standing, all puzzled and late for his meeting with the Hokage.
Author's note:
Hi everyone,
I hope that you have enjoyed the story so far. I do ask for a small request in that, I hope you guys could help by letting me know if the story is developing well or not. Till then, I'll get moving on the next part.
Cheers!
Arte
