Chapter 13.
As soon as he left the building, dragged out of there by Hinata, Kakashi immediately took notice of a certain someone standing near his co-workers, who didn't actually belong there. Now, the art teacher wouldn't say that they were great friends with each other, but there was a certain level of camaraderie and respect between him and his colleagues at KL. Which wasn not true in the case of the person who currently stood among his colleagues.
"Itachi," the art teacher nodded to the person that wasn't part of their group. It was clear that the newly arrived man was waiting for him.
"Mr. Hatake," said man greeted in response, extending his hand for a handshake. All the while he eyed Hinata with an unreadable expression, before offering her the same courtesy. As soon as greetings were over, Itachi went straight to business. "I was hoping we could talk about Sasuke's studies."
Kakashi raised a brow. "The conference is over."
"I realize that, and I apologize for being a distraction in your… free time," Itachi's gaze shifted momentarily to Hinata beside Kakashi, no doubt he noticed them holding hands when they left the school building. "For that reason, I offered to treat you and your colleagues to a dinner. I will pay for everything – you can stay there for as long as you want after I leave. I won't take too much of your time."
Kakashi was about to tell Itachi that he didn't need anything from him when the younger man spoke up once again. "Your colleagues have already agreed," he said, likely anticipating Kakashi's refusal. Asuma, Kurenai, Shizune, Anko and even Gai gave him pleading looks from behind the Uchiha.
Kakashi sighed. "Let's go then."
Everyone cheered, and Itachi brought them to his limousine, where his chauffeur was already waiting, inviting them in by opening the door.
"Limo… Slick."
Everyone else seemed to agree with Anko's statement as they happily boarded the luxury vehicle.
When their car stirred, Itachi offered his guests refreshments and allowed them to distract themselves with his limo's classy interior and expensive champagne. He personally poured a glass for Hinata and she accepted with a polite smile, all the while feeling awkward inside.
Long ago, her and Itachi's parents wanted to set them up in hopes of uniting the two families, but it never came to be. Once upon a time they were good friends, but it all changed after Itachi's parents' tragic death. Despite her best efforts, their relationship rapidly deteriorated, and soon they wouldn't even be able to call each other friends. Itachi buried himself with work, trying to build back up the family name and add upon their legacy. With his efforts, their company's fortune multiplied and from a relatively small family company it turned into a huge multinational conglomerate.
"Where are we going, by the way?" Asuma asked, just now realizing that in their haste to accept the Uhicha's lucrative offer they forgot to clarify just where they were supposed to dine.
"It's a place called Yakiniku Q," the Uchiha head replied, surprising everyone with his choice. While not a bad place by any means, Yakiniku was not a high-end restaurant. Certainly not a place one would expect Itachi Uchiha to frequent. "Some of you may have already visited this place. I was hoping it would be ideal for a night out. But it's alright if you want to go somewhere else."
"Not at all!" Gai reassured, his normal exuberance being a little tampered by the unfamiliar setting and a rich person's company. "Yakiniku Q is a perfect place for us young people to hang out."
Shizune seemed to get the most second-hand embarrassment from the buoyant man sitting beside her. Others just laughed it off good-naturedly, making Gai grin and keep joking around with everyone, his shyness evaporating by the minute thanks to his friends' encouragements.
Upon arrival the group sans Hinata was surprised to see that the owner of the place seemed to recognize Itachi, further indicating that the Uchiha actually liked to visit the place and wasn't being stingy by choosing a relatively cheap restaurant.
"I reserved all the tables around ours, so we should be able to eat comfortably," their host informed them as they took their seats.
"So you made half of the restaurant unavailable just to have a meal for yourself?" Kakashi grumbled, unimpressed.
Hinata rolled her eyes. This was the man who sat on occupied benches and forced previous occupants out just to have the bench all to himself, and he was criticizing someone else for virtually the same thing?
"Hypocrisy much?" she asked him with a teasing smile, to which Kakashi only raised a brow as if not understanding what she was talking about.
Itachi decided to ignore the older man's jab and let everyone have fun. After a little bit of small talk, he finally seemed to have decided to pluck Kakashi and, surprisingly, Gai, out of the group to have a talk with them in private.
Excusing themselves, the three men left to the restaurant's terrace to discuss Sasuke's schooling. Hinata followed them with her eyes, before returning to the conversation at the table. Sometime during the conversation, the subject turned to their mysterious host.
"He is hot, isn't he?" Anko said suggestively, making all the women present smirk, except Hinata. She found these kinds of topics uncomfortable, especially when it was about her friend.
"You know, he seemed like he knew you," Hinata heard Kurenai say, and immediately understood that the older woman was talking to her.
"Yeah," the Hyuga replied, swirling the contents of her glass, "our parents knew each other, so…"
Sensing that there was more to what the health assistant said, Kurenai decided to drop the subject, and soon they were happily chatting about other trivial things. Just as Hinata was about to let a sigh of relief for being spared from awkward topics, they went to talk about Kakashi. And boy was she mistaken.
When she just arrived at Konoha, everyone seemed to be under the impression that Kakashi would hate her the most and drive her out. When it turned out to be the exact opposite, they naturally came to a conclusion that their asshole co-worker developed feelings for her.
"I'm telling you, he is not as bad as you think," Hinata said for the umpteenth time, not knowing how else make them realize that Kakashi never was a horrible person they painted him out as. Tsunade saw it, Gai saw it, even she saw it, and she knows Kakashi the shortest out of all of them!
"Are you telling us that he is not bullheaded?" Kurenai asked with a smirk.
"Or rude?" Iruka added.
"Come on, it's obvious that they like each other," Anko snickered.
Why else would she defend him, and why else would he cling to her every waking moment, their expressions seemed to tell her? She just covered her rapidly reddening face in an attempt to escape her colleagues' teasing remarks and knowing glances.
"Why don't you ask him out?" Kurenai questioned her, making all the other girls giggle. Iruka and Asuma pretended that they weren't interested in women's gossip but the way they stilled after the accountant's question told Hinata that they wanted to hear her answer too.
"Eh? What are you talking about?" Hinata asked in horror. "He wouldn't…"
"You hear that, guys?" Anko said, a little too loud. "She actually wants to!"
"No! Who said I–" Hinata's attempts to refute the biology teacher's statement were futile, as everyone, spurred by the alcohol, went into 'helpful' suggestions about how to capture the art teacher's heart. Of course, most of the advice was just a joke. For example, when Shizune suggested Hinata to start wearing a mask too, or when Anko promised to share her 'secret tricks' with a wink. Hinata shuddered just imagining what kind of special things Anko would teach her if she were to accept.
Their teasing was thankfully cut short by Kakashi and other two men's arrival.
"What did I miss?" Gai asked as he took his seat back, ever the life of the party, making everyone snicker conspiratorily. "Come on, guys, you can tell me!"
While their colleagues were having fun with their new target, Kakashi leaned in with a whisper.
"They didn't make fun of you, did they?" he asked narrowing his eyes at their co-workers, and Hinata tensed up immediately.
Her colleagues, who were currently happily conversing with Itachi and Gai, were blissfully unaware of how much their teasing minutes prior was affecting her. She found herself noticing Kakashi's presence much more acutely since his arrival, their words clearly getting in her head. It also didn't help that he hit the mark with his question. After a few seconds her mind needed to scramble for a response, she finally turned to reassure Kakashi, and that was when she saw his expression. He looked positively outraged, eyeing their colleagues with muted anger, likely thinking they were doing something untoward to her. She felt a fluttery sensation in her stomach, unable to hold a smile from stretching on her face.
"It's not like what you think," she whispered back, nudging his side for a good measure. When he turned to her with a questioning look, she shook her head, hoping he didn't notice her blushing. "Just some friendly teasing."
"Well, make sure they don't go overboard," he grunted, taking a sip from his beer, still watching their colleagues like a hawk, as if something in their behavior will give away their supposed untoward actions.
Hinata shook her head, that warm sensation still overflowing in her chest, when she caught Kurenai's gaze. The older woman gave her a knowing smirk, likely witnessing the two of them whispering to each other and Hinata's face breaking into a goofy smile afterwards. Kurenai winked at her, returning to her drink.
So much for not letting them get to her.
The rest of the evening went smoothly enough. Even though some of them were a little too inebriated, they didn't get wasted. They knew better than to make fools out of themselves in front of one of the school's respected patrons.
Once everyone was safely sent home, Itachi thanked Kakashi once again and offered him a ride, which Hinata knew the older man would refuse. Kakashi would never let an outsider know that he lived in school, especially considering that Itachi was no ordinary man. Thankfully, the Uchiha head didn't insist, letting Hinata and Kakashi go by themselves instead, but not without one last curious glance at the woman.
"He seemed interested in you," Kakashi spoke when they got far enough from prying ears.
"Are you jealous?" Hinata tried to joke and immediately regretted it because the man beside her looked away without a response. "Itachi is my friend. Well, at least I consider him as one," she added after an awkward pause with more seriousness.
And so their conversation went about Hinata and Itachi's friendship when they were kids. Of course, Hinata omitted sensitive information, such as Itachi's parents' death, but even with gaps in her narration Kakashi was able to decipher that there was a divide between the two childhood friends.
"So, have you tried to talk about it with him?" he naturally asked, absently noting how the outside was becoming more and more chill.
Hinata could only weakly shake her head in shame. "I didn't bring up the subject with him, but I'm constantly trying to talk to him about other things," she waved her hand, "you know, like the normal friends' stuff. He rarely accepts my invitations and even when he does, he is usually all business." In her lament, the woman didn't notice that it began to rain.
"I think you should bring it up directly. He doesn't seem like a person that would make the first move," Kakashi commented, and a treacherous voice in the back of his head added, 'neither are you.' Shaking his head from unnecessary thoughts, Kakashi continued, "He asked about you, you know. After torturing me and Gai with his questions and demands about Sasuke, he slipped one comment about you."
Hinata seemed surprised at that, in a hopeful kind of way. "What did he say?" she asked, desperate for a clue for how to repair her broken friendship.
Kakashi seemed uncomfortable, but nevertheless answered her honestly, as always. "He asked if you and I are dating."
A pregnant pause hung in the air between the two as they kept walking. The silence was disturbed only by the pitter-patter of a growing rain, as well as an occasional car that passed by.
"Oh…" Hinata finally forced a reaction out of herself, tightening the scarf around her neck. "That's… understandable."
If she looked at Kakashi at that moment she would've seen him gathering his thoughts and turning to her. She only heard him start talking but couldn't quite get what it is that he was saying.
'Do you want it to be true?' he was going to ask her, but a sudden clap of thunder cut him off, letting Hinata hear only the first part of his question. Thunder clapped a few more times, as if telling everyone that the weather wasn't playing around this time.
Kakashi looked around, trying to spot through the downpour a tree or a lean-to for the two of them to get under, but there was nothing. Just as luck would have it, the two of them wandered into an area completely devoid of any decent cover. Muttering profanities under his nose, Kakashi urged the woman to pick up her pace.
Hinata followed her companion with an excited smile, a little amused by his reactions. She could sense his hand on her back, gently pushing her to walk faster. She didn't worry about herself, she liked rain. But seeing how lightly Kakashi was dressed, she gladly began to run with him for cover. And while the two ran desperately searching for a place to hide from the raging rainstorm, same thoughts swirled in their mind.
Hinata kept returning to the tidbit of information Kakashi had shared with her about his conversation with Itachi. The awkwardness aside, it was a good sign for Hinata. If Itachi was asking such things that had to mean that he still cared enough about her. She didn't even want to think about the other implication behind Itachi's question. The one that gave her equal amounts of dread and joy – that she and Kakashi looked like a couple to others.
Her companion was thinking along the same lines. He noted the thoughtful expression on Hinata's face and took it as a good sign. She wasn't outright rejecting the possibility, and it was enough for Kakashi. Heck, he himself wasn't entirely ready to commit, but at least he'd been actively thinking about it. Kakashi blamed Tsunade for it – if it wasn't for her constant nagging and teasing, the affection for the health assistant would've passed him by. Instead, it hit him like a truck, and he was left to pick up the pieces of the crash. When he finally managed to put together enough of the pieces to see the overall picture, he wasn't even surprised anymore. Too much shit has happened to Kakashi since the kind Hyuga woman's arrival to the school for him to react with anything but relieved acceptance. Nevertheless, his realization still shook him to the core and scared the hell out of him. Perhaps he should be thankful for the rain for its timely interruption. Who knows what would Hinata's reaction be if she actually heard his proposition?
Meanwhile, the rain was getting heavier and heavier with each passing second. The water was pooling in indentations in the street, trickling down the road and making the pair jump and go around the puddles. They ran as fast as possible given the limited vision and obstacles, reaching a small river along the way. Kakashi would've kept running, through the bridge and beyond to the unknown, had Hinata not stopped them.
"There is a way to the waterfront, we can take cover there!" she shouted, tugging on his hand that sometime during their mad dash had managed to find itself tightly wrapped around hers.
Without further delay, the two turned towards the waterfront. It turned out to be their savior, as the pair quickly found a suitable hiding spot. As soon as they got under the cover of a short but sizeable balcony, they took a look at each other.
Panting from all the exertion, Hinata noticed how drenched Kakashi was, certain that he could say the same about her. Unlike her, however, all he had on him aside from a thin shirt was a battered overcoat. All her attempts to give him her scarf were met with fierce resistance from the man.
"Damn it, Kakashi, this is not the time for your manly pride!" she yelled, practically shoving the cloth into his hands. "Unlike you I am dressed appropriately, so don't worry about me, it's just a scarf!"
Her argument won out in the end, and Kakashi begrudgingly accepted her scarf, throwing it on his shoulders haphazardly with a grumble. Apparently, being cooperative was not one of the art teacher's strong points. Clicking her tongue, Hinata took the matter into her own hands, quite literally so, by taking the scarf and wrapping it snugly around the stubborn man's neck, making sure to get that dirty mouth of his in as well as he cursed.
"I'm calling Iroha," she informed him when she was sure he wouldn't do anything to undo her work. His response was a disinterested scoff. Dialing her chauffeur's number, Hinata couldn't help but let a chuckle out. Maybe it was the way Kakashi childishly crossed his arms under his chest in obvious affront, or perhaps it was their situation in general, but the woman found the current moment quite funny.
Ten more minutes of waiting and light bickering, and Iroha was already expecting them by the bridge.
Ten more seconds and a few curses from Kakashi, and they were already sitting in the back of Iroha's black Mercedes, trying their best to warm themselves.
"Here," the chauffeur said, handing Hinata a steaming cup. "I figured you'd need something to warm up after spending an hour in the rain."
Smiling gratefully at the man she considered part of her family, Hinata took the offering, pleasantly noting that it was her favorite tea. She then turned to Kakashi with a thoughtful expression.
"Don't even think about giving your tea to me," he said, taking off her scarf and returning it to her.
"Well, it's your loss," she happily agreed, getting her first sip of the hot drink.
Iroha eyed the two with a quizzical expression.
"What were the two of you doing there, by the way?" he asked. "That area is a residential area, there is nothing there aside from houses."
As the driver said that, Kakashi and Hinata turned to look at each other.
"I don't know," they both said in unison, their eyes widening in realization.
"I thought you knew were we were going?" Kakashi said.
"I was following you…" Hinata pointed at him.
The two of them exchanged bewildered looks, before Hinata let a small laughter. Almost immediately it turned into a fit of giggles. Soon Kakashi joined her, when the absurdity of their situation had finally dawned on him.
Iroha looked in the rearview mirror at the two, shaking his head at their crazy shenanigans with a chuckle of his own. Since Miss Hinata joined Konoha Lyceum she had become much livelier, and dare he say, happier. The loyal chauffeur didn't know how big of a role the man sitting beside his boss's daughter played in it, but he was certain that it was pretty big.
"Let's get you guys home, Miss Hinata."
So, here is the infamous 'stuck in the rain' cliche. Sorry but I couldn't help it.
As always, read and review, and thanks to everyone who made time to do so already!
