Chapter 10 - A Trip Home
It was a dark rainy night in Kiri. An elderly couple were sitting at their dining table having dinner when they heard a knock on their door, they looked at each other perplexed.
"Are you expecting anyone?" The woman asked. Her husband shook his head. "No, are you?"
The woman shook her head and stood up when there was another knock, her husband followed closely behind her. She opened the door and gasped.
"Mizuki?" She asked in disbelief. Her husband peered over his wife to see their beloved granddaughter standing in front of them, completely drenched.
"Ojiisan! Obaasan! I missed you two so much!" Mizuki exclaimed. Tears gathered in her grandma's eyes who choked back a sob. She wrapped her bony fingers around her granddaughter and pulled her into their home. Without hesitation they both pulled Mizuki into a hug, not caring that they got soaked in the process.
"We missed you too, dear." She cried into Mizuki's shoulder. "What are you doing here though?"
"Baasan! I told you I was home for a month because Lady Tsunade and I are here to run a training program for that new jutsu."
Her grandmother laughed through her tears. "Yes, yes. I remember now. Where is she anyways?"
"She's staying at the hotel with the rest of the team. She said she'd stop by when things are settled."
"That's wonderful, it's been a while since I've seen that old hag."
Mizuki gasped. "Baasan, you can't call her that! Besides, aren't you older than her?"
"Oh hush, I can call her whatever I want. Now come, let's dry off and you can tell us all about your new home."
"They're learning very quickly, wouldn't you say?" Mizuki asked.
"They are, I'm impressed."
Mizuki chuckled. "Really? You're never impressed, Tsuna."
Tsunade rolled her eyes. "That's not true, you impressed me didn't you?"
"Well, I guess that's true." Mizuki said as she unlocked the door to her old home.
"Ojiisan! Obaasan! I'm home, and I have a guest with me!" Mizuki yelled.
"A guest? Who?" She heard her grandma's reply coming from the kitchen. Mizuki and a smirking Tsunade walked into the kitchen.
"You!" Her grandma shouted while roughly slamming down the metal bowl she was holding. "I thought you'd be dead by now." Mizuki gasped. "Obaasan! You can't say that!"
"I could say the same for you, Chiyo. You're older than I am!" Tsunade retorted back, still with the same smirk on her lips.
"Tsuna! Why can't you two ever get along?" Mizuki's complaints went unheard by the two boisterous women.
"Keh, it's been a while since I've seen your fake face. Are you still shit at gambling?" Chiyo sneered.
Mizuki watched in horror as a vein popped on Tsunade's forehead. "Shit? I'll gamble your whole damn fortune away from you. You cheated that last fucking time because you know you can't win otherwise!"
"We'll see about that, you old hag!" Retorted Mizuki's grandma. She slammed her hands on the table aggressively and glared at Tsunade. After an intense stare off they stormed into the living room. Mizuki heard crude names being thrown around and the sound of a wooden table being unfolded. Mizuki looked helplessly at her grandpa who had come downstairs after hearing the commotion from the two stubborn women.
"Why do they always do this, ojiisan?" Mizuki pouted.
Her grandma and Tsunade had an interesting relationship, to say the least. From the moment the two met they had never been on the same page. It certainly didn't help that they had met each other one night at the Kiri casino where her grandma stole a good sum of money from Tsunade. Ever since then, whenever they were in the same room as each other they had to have a game of pai gow. Her grandma used to be an incredibly strong kunoichi, and for a lady her age she could still pack a punch just like Lady Tsunade. Their games would always take a violent turn which would end with broken chairs and overturned tables. Her and her grandpa had decided that it was best to just evacuate the house whenever the two got into one of their fights; tonight would be no different.
"Come on, sweetheart, let's go get dinner." Her grandpa said, patting her on the head. Mizuki sighed in defeat and grabbed her wallet. They walked out of the house completely unnoticed by the two women. They entered a cosy little ramen restaurant and quickly placed their order for some steaming bowls of noodle, perfect for the cold nights of Kiri.
"How was your day, Mizuki?" Her grandpa asked, sipping on his tea.
"Good...very good." She smiled. "The medics are learning a lot faster than we anticipated and it's so wonderful! With a couple more months of practice they should be able to do it perfectly."
Her grandpa smiled at her enthusiasm. He gently grabbed a hold of her hands in his and smiled softly at her. "You know, your baasan and I are very proud of you and we know your parents would be too. You're so incredibly talented, my dear, and we're very glad that you're so happy."
Mizuki teared up at hearing the sweet words from her grandpa. "Ah I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry."
Mizuki chuckled at that. "How do you expect me to not cry when you're all these nice things, ojiisan?"
Her grandpa laughed and let go of her hands when the server returned with their food. When the server left, they quietly dug into their food before her grandpa spoke again.
"Have you made many friends in Konoha?"
Mizuki nodded. "Yeah! They're all really nice too, most of them are also my co-workers and they really helped me get settled in on my first day."
"That's good to hear." He said taking a bite of his food. "Any...boys?" He cautiously asked.
Mizuki choked on the soup she had just spooned into her mouth. A series of harsh coughs escaped her mouth drawing the attention of several concerned patrons. Her grandpa hurriedly stood up and patted her on the back, profusely apologizing the whole time.
Mizuki waved her hand and patted her chest to ease the coughs. "I-I'm okay ojiisan."
"I'm sorry, that was very unexpected." Mizuki couldn't agree more. "Your baasan wanted me to ask you when I got the chance."
'Ah, of course.' She thought. Her grandma had always, not so subtly, hinted that she should find herself a nice man to settle down with. She even went as far as setting her up on some blind dates. The guys she chose for her weren't bad or anything, they just just so...stale. All of them tried way too hard to impress her, it had felt so disingenuous that she didn't enjoy the dates.
When she was in Konoha, she had been so focused on her job that she didn't have any time to even consider dating. Also she was never interested in any of the single males that her friends had introduced her to and she was sure they were interested in her either.
'But…' She blushed.
"Are you okay, Mizuki, your face looks a bit flushed. You haven't been overworking yourself, have you?"
Mizuki was a little flustered. "N-no, I'm fine...it's just the...the noodles are hot." She fanned her face for the added effect to hopefully make her lame excuse seem a little more real.
She snuck a peek at her grandpa and was worried when she saw the unimpressed look on his face. "You're still a terrible liar, sweetheart. Does that mean there is someone?"
Mizuki stammered. "N-no there isn't...w-well...maybe. I don't know."
He smiled warmly at her and gently patted her hand. "It's okay. I'll tell her there's no one at the moment but promise me that if things get serious you introduce him to us, you hear?"
Mizuki nodded hesitantly. She mentally cursed herself, they've only ran into each other a handful of times and he pops into her head when asked about potential boyfriends? To be fair, the last few times they had ran into each other were pretty nice. The unexpected dinner with him after a long day was very relaxing. He was a very good conversationalist and talking with him had gotten much easier compared to how awkward she was when she first met him. Best of all, she couldn't stop thinking about the cavern he took her to the day before she left! It was honestly the best thing she's ever seen. He had been so patient with her too, she had spent an absurd amount of time on each sculpture committing it to memory and he had let her do so to her heart's content. After she had impulsively hugged him, she ran away as fast as she could. She had gone back to the waterfall to have lunch before taking a swim to help cool off her hot cheeks. The whole time, she had berated herself for acting so foolishly and hoped he wasn't angry at her.
She also had to admit...he was hot. She knew she was one of the lucky few who saw him without his mask on. It felt nice knowing that he was okay with that so she made sure to act normal. She didn't want to make a big deal out of it and annoy him with her reaction. Sometimes she wished he didn't wear the mask but it did add an enticing air of mystery to him.
Mizuki blinked slowly; she could feel her hands start to clam up and her heart beat painfully against her chest as a startling realization sank in.
She was deeply attracted to Kakashi in more ways than one.