Chapter 3 - Bonding time?
{oops sorry I died for so long. Anyways, enjoy?}
"I don't like being stared at," I announced loudly, staring straight at Taichou. He had an impassive look on his face and I wondered if that was just his normal face. My days in the hospital were passing slower and slower after the second week and we were approaching a whole month at this point. Throughout that duration, Dr. Haruma kept me under her wing. If it wasn't her head poking in, it would be Haruka or another nurse. Although I was healing still from the chakra burn given to me before, I was simultaneously being studied and asked question after question about how my body reacted to chakra. At this point the chakra burn was nothing so it did leave me a little confused on what was taking so long. Dr. Haruma always tried to keep everything as less stressful as possible but she had admitted to me that I was the first case they'd ever seen so severe. I was getting better though and even made friends with the receptionist and some of the nurses since the playroom was generally empty. Cartoons could only entertain me for so long so I got my kicks anywhere I could and with how quiet things were here, I'd taken advantage of any possible entertainment I could. If that meant listening to the drama around the hospital, I'd take it. Taichou had taken to coming in during his free periods, sometimes for half an hour, sometimes for 2. It all depended on the day and how we both felt. Today was a 2 hour period and he had come in scaring the nurses out like usual as they delivered lunch to me before spending the first 10 minutes just staring at me. He did that a lot. The staring. It felt like if I let him, he'd do it for an hour. You'd think he hadn't seen a kid before.
"You're staring at me," I said aloud, staring the obvious.
"You're staring at me," He told me dryly, arms crossed as he sat in the chair next to the door. His eyes now moved to the room, glancing around it before they returned again to me. Sometimes he'd look out the window, or to the door, but usually his attention was focused on me.
"Well, I'm a kid," I defended. "I don't know any better." Taichou's eye brow raised unimpressed. "You're being impetetant."
"Impetulant," Taichou corrected, leaning forward. "And be respectful," He added admonishingly, shooting me a look. He had discarded his trench coat when taking a seat and it was folded nicely and placed on the arm rest of his chair. I could see his humongous biceps stretch through the black fabric of his long sleeve button up shirt as he leaned forward. I looked at my own, squinting. Would mine grow to be so big?
"Kokoro," Taichou called my attention and I took the chance to correct him the same way he did to me, not genuinely caring too much about the different name. Some of the nurses had taken to calling me it and I didn't mind at all. I just wanted to give Taichou a taste of his own medicine.
"Youta."
"Kokoro," He repeated, ignoring me, "Where do you learn these words?" He looked at me with a thoughtful expression on his face.
"I hear the adults use em," I told him honestly. I usually collected them from whoever was around me, sneakily listening in to their conversations because I liked being nosy. I waited for him to ask another question, the one that usually came with his former but he remained silent. A feeling of confusion bloomed. "Y-You're not gonna ask me if I know what they mean?" Taichou looked at me, meeting my gaze and he shook his head.
"No, you comprehend them and understand how to utilize them. You just have an issue with remembering the correct pronounciation."
I gave him a stale look. "You mean I don't speak right." Taichou returned the stale look, somewhat mocking me.
"Yes," He concurred. " 'You dont speak right'." He repeated my words in amusement. I tried to channel the stoicism that Taichou carried on his face everyday but in the end just looked in pain which I suppose wasn't too far off from his usual norm. The rest of our time went by with the casual banter and I discarded the earlier conversation as unimportant which I guess really wasnt because the next time he showed up, he brought a couple of books with him.
And by a couple I mean like 10 and they were all introduced to me by being dropping unceremoniously onto my bed. I gaped in surprise.
"Read these. If you don't understand something, this is a dictionary," Taichou handed me a thick book. I blinked, wondering if this was a joke. He began showing me each individual book, ignoring my widening eyes.
"This is a book on weapons. What they do, how they work, the lethality, and more. This one is on the history of Konohagakure and our founders leading all the way up to the fourth. It's very important you are in touch with our history. This one is-" Taichou continued on and on and I just stared at him, letting him finish without saying a single word. By the sixth book he pulled out, I was left completely speechless because there was no way he could be serious. "You're oddly quiet." Taichou cocked an eyebrow and I tried to express my disbelief.
"Taichou, I'm 3." I reminded him. "Can't you be normal and bring me toys?" He pursed his lips.
"It's never too early to start learning," He reprimanded me, arms crossing. "And there's more than enough toys in that hospital playroom." He glanced at the clock before looking back at me. "I'll be very busy tomorrow so the next time you'll see me is maybe a day or two depending on how my mission goes. Read." He tapped a finger on the books before disappearing through the door frame of my hospital room without another word.
"But I don't know how to read?" I said out loud to nobody. I picked up the book that was supposed to be on the history of Konoha, flipping it open and stared at the squiggles on the page that I definitely didn't understand. "Taichou is crazy," I declared to myself. He must be, my thoughts insisted, if he assumed a three year old just automatically knew how to read. It wasn't as of being around the man was terrible but sometimes it felt like he forgot I wasn't an adult. I barely knew how to find my own way out of a tshirt. I gathered the books together in a pile, placing them on the bedside table before flopping back onto the extra soft pillow I had been snuck from one of the nurses. Taichou was crazy. I definitely couldnt and wasnt going to read his books.
Except I guess I was since only two hours later I was sitting on Miko-chan's lap as she pointed out words while reading to me.
- - -
"You've definitely got Onii-san's hair," I heard somebody say and I peered over at the doorway where a boy stood. It had been two days since Taichou had graced me with his presence just like he'd said and whilst I was expecting a tall man entering my doorway today, all I saw was a boy.
I stared at him. He kind of looked like my taichou but a lot more girly. Dark bangs swept across his equally dark eyes, and I squinted at him.
"Who are you?"
"I'm your Oji-san!" He told me, moving closer with his thumb poking out towards his chest and I blinked owlishly, sizing him up in slight confusion.
"No way," I scoffed. "Oji-san's are old. You're not even an adult!" I pointed a finger at him accusingly, letting him know that I had caught on. "Imposter!" I declared. He bristled in irritation.
"What did you say to me, brat?" He snarled, chest puffing out. "I am too youre Oji-san! Everybody else's nieces and nephews are cute, why'd I get stuck with a goblin?" He wondered aloud grumpily, crossing his arms. I squinted in annoyance.
"Maybe it's because you didn't introduce yourself," I heard Taichou's voice echo through the hallway and our gazes turned towards the door. Sure enough, my burly otou-san revealed himself, trench coat flared out with a couple books under his arm. His gaze was on the younger boy, completely unamused.
"Is he really my Oji-san?" I asked Taichou skeptically. There was a confirming nod.
"Yes, this is Idate, my younger brother." Taichou stared at Idate, lips pursed and I wondered whether he was mad or just simple observing.
"Sorry, Nii-san, I just got excited," Idate said bashfully, scratching at the back of his head before looking at me. His eyes studied me for a moment. "How old are you, Kokoro?" He questioned me. I blanched.
"Youre the worst Oji-san ever! You dont know how old I am? I'm 4," I held up my fingers to emphasize my age and Taichou shook his head.
"3," He corrected me and I scrunched my nose in distaste. "You can't just round up because you want to," He admonished and I puffed up my cheeks, annoyed at the interference.
"I'm almost 4," I told Taichou exasperatedly. The blank look that was returned to me showed just how much he did not care.
"Emphasis on almost, " Taichou replied dryly.
"You're small," Idate told me and I shot him a look of irritance.
"Youre small!" I shot back. He looked slightly disgruntled.
"You're both small," Taichou cut in, voice tilting towards irritated and I snapped my mouth closed as did he. "Don't test my patience. Today is a short visit and I will not stand to listen to any immature arguments."
"Hai, Nii-san," Idate nodded and I glared at him. What a suck up.
"Kokoro.." Taichou stared at me and I slumped down.
"Hai," I grumbled softly, pulling the covers up. Taichou set the books in his arms down by my bedside table and I wanted to groan but remained quiet. I hadn't even finished the books he had given me beforehand because Miko-chan didn't have the time to help me read them. There was only so much time she could dedicate to our read aloud sessions whilst simultaneously dealing with her daily duties.
"Did you finish the books I gave you?" Taichou asked, as if reading my thoughts. He had made himself comfortable in the usual chair by the door, only not taking off his coat this time. Part of me felt slightly miffed about the fact that Taichou wasn't going to spend too much time with me. It's not like I expected him to give me all the time in the world nor wanted him too but the least he could do was spend a little longer than a half hour with me. I hadn't seen the man for days. He searched for me for forever and now that he's got me just consistently ditches me.And when he does visit he brings me homework!
"I finished this one," I pulled the book with the green spine from beside me, offering it towards the man. His brows furrowed.
"Only this one?" Taichou seemed a bit confused. I shrugged.
"Miko-chan had other responsibilities to do," I told him. "So we only had the time to go through this." It was an interesting book. The history of Konoha was a whacky one but I liked the story of the two friends joining together to create it, even if it did end a little bitterly. Miko-chan was hesitant about reading that part to me when we got to it but I had insisted. Part of me wondered whether they had more books on other countries.
"Why would you need the aid of her?" He questioned, looking slightly puzzled at the sudden touch upon the receptionist.
"Taichou, I can't read," I told him, just as confused at his confusion. Was I right? Did he actually not know I couldn't read?
"Nii-san, she's 3," Idate added, staring at him and Taichou shot him a pointed glare, pointing towards the door.
"Out."
"I just got here!" Idate groaned but Taichou pointed at the door again and he grumbled but left nonetheless. It was quiet for a second after Idate had closed the door and I wondered whether I had made the man mad. Maybe I should have reminded him that I couldn't read yet. The thought made me a bit uncomfortable. Was he angry? I shifted my eyes to look at him but he was just looking back at me, something unreadable in his eyes.
"Okay, let's work on your reading," Taichou said suddenly and he moved towards me, grabbing the chair and bringing it with him to sit at the side of my bed. I grimaced but went with it, just appreciating the fact that he was there. It was the longest visit we'd had yet, considering the stopping point was when my dinner had been brought in. Taichou had gotten there a bit after lunch so it would have been 3-4 hours. Haruka blinked in surprise as she pushed the cart in, eyes bouncing between our two figures of me leaning over my bed into Taichou and him showing the open book towards me. She fumbled out a hello, bowing respectfully towards him and I could see behind her Dr. Haruma coming in as well.
"Oh, Morino-san," Dr. Haruma greeted in surprise as well but he didn't move to get up like I expected, something that felt a bit weird. Usually Taichou would have left by now, stating the next time he'd be back.
"Dr. Haruma." Taichou nodded in greeting and the woman shifted around a bit, a bit confused before turning back towards me. A smile graced across her face and my own brightened at the cheery attitude, now mirroring hers.
"How's my favorite patient feeling?" She asked and I gave her a thumbs up.
"I'm doing great!"
"That's great," She nodded satisfied, noting it down onto her clipboard before looking back up at me. "What are you two doing?"
"I'm learning to read," I told her and the surprise look that flitted across her face was so quick that I almost wouldn't have noticed it.
"Are you?" She hummed, eyes moving towards my father and the stack of books he had on top of the nightstand. "Did you learn a lot today?"
"I think I did," I told her before taking the paper I had been practicing writing my name on and walking across the to bed to show her it. Taichou clicked his tongue from behind me.
"Oi, be careful," he told me sternly but I ignored him in favor of showing my progress to Dr. Haruka. The surprise she had before was even more evident and then it turned into something softer as she glanced between the two of us.
"Already so much progress," Dr. Haruka quirked her lips. "You're a little prodigy, huh?"
"I suppose I am," I told her, puffing my chest but letting out a squawk as Taichou poked the back on my kneecap, making me fall onto the bed.
"Big heads take big falls," he told me and I huffed in annoyance, sitting back up. Dr. Haruka performed her checkup like usual, noting things down onto that little clipboard of hers as I attempted to eat throughout the prodding. Taichou watched from the side and remained still in his seat even after the 2 left. It felt out of place to be in his presence so long.
"Are you a workaholic?" I suddenly asked Taichou, before spooning some pudding into my mouth and he had frozen for a moment before his brows furrowed up.
"How did you come to that conclusion?"
"You always leave fast," I responded in turn.
"I-" Taichou seemed to struggle to find something to say. "I'm not a workaholic, I just have a lot of work. I run my department."
"Why?"
"Because I'm an idiot," Taichou answered dryly and I blinked, thrown back for a moment.
"You can't be an idiot if you're running a department," I explained to him and he seemed amused now.
"You'll find that sometimes that's how the world works," Taichou told me, ruffling my hair in bemusement and I swatted his hands away. "I don't like working that much but it's what needs to be done to make everything run smoothly. Besides, I've been having to prep everything at home for you as well which takes up time."
"I have a room?" I blinked owlishly at the man and he nodded. "Can it be green?"
"Green?" He asked, a bit put off and I nodded. "I guess we can do that. Is green your favorite color?"
"No, it just popped into my head."
He stared at me to which I stared back.
"It just...popped into your head?" He clarified and I nodded again, taking another scoop of pudding into my mouth. As I did so, I felt the spoon miss my mouth a bit but didn't pay too much attention to it. I was going to have a bath tonight anyways.
"Ith a goof cowor," I shrugged. Taichou looked at me pointedly.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," He told me, handing me a napkin and I took it, wiping at my face before looking at him again. He looked amused. Clicking his tongue, he grabbed the napkin and wiped at my face, careful not to touch my skin. After he pulled his arm pack, I rubbed my hands all over my face to make sure there was nothing left and stopped when I noticed the big burly man had gotten up. Taichou slipped his arms into his trench coat and I watched, wondering why there was I had such a strong feeling of disappointment at the realization of him leaving.
"You're going?" I asked, looking up at him and he nodded.
"I've got to finish some stuff up today and stayed longer than I planned. I'll be back tomorrow," he told me, touching my head again and ruffling my hair before he peered down for a closer look.
"What?"
"The silver really has grown," he told me as he moved my hair around and then ruffled it again before going to leave. I watched as he left.
