20 Moving Along
Be Quiet and Listen, You Three
The door to the house Kotori had shared with her grandmother stood open when Takeshi and Naeko approached it, and an inviting smell of hot food wafted out on the evening breeze. Curiously the two announced their presence and entered, casting glances around to see who all was there. A light shining out under one of the bedroom doors told them that at least Kotori was present, and with wariness Takeshi peered into the kitchen to see who was responsible for the delicious scent they'd noticed previously.
A graceful figure stood at the stove, stirring the contents of a stew pot with a long ladle and humming under their breath as they worked. Long hair had been tied into a ponytail that fell to somewhere in the middle of the person's back. Takeshi traded puzzled looks with Naeko, who muttered, "Since when did Tori-chan hire a maid?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," was the equally quiet reply, the jounin carefully studying the mysterious cook to see if perhaps he knew them.
"If one of you wouldn't mind, could you get some bowls out? I think they're two cabinets over from the sink." This was said in a distinctly male voice, and both Takeshi and Naeko flinched as Taiki turned from his task at the stove to give them a curious stare. "Why the funny looks? I thought it might be helpful to get something ready for dinner so that none of you had to worry about it." He paused, thought a moment, then let out an almost effeminate giggle. "Oh, you thought I was a girl there for a moment..." In a conspiratorial tone, Taiki stage-whispered, "You aren't the only ones who've made that mistake." Dumbfounded expressions from both Takeshi and Naeko, and the boy grinned. "Now that we're clear on that, I'm going to drag Tori-chan out here and make sure she gets something to eat."
"Good luck on that," Naeko muttered, watching her teammate trot off and shaking her head with residual amazement from earlier. Retrieving the requested bowls from the indicated cabinet, Takeshi set them on the counter by the stove and then stood by the soup pot, stirring it occasionally to make sure that none of its contents burned while he cocked an ear to listen to events in other parts of the house.
"Oh Tori-chan!" Indistinct grumble. "Come on, time to get dinner." Silence. "Don't be a pill. I made this so that you or your uncle wouldn't have to." Another grumble. "You need to eat something, Kotori. You'll be no good to anyone if you're all sluggish and low-blood-sugar-cranky because you didn't eat..." Peevish comment. "I know you already have a mother and don't need me acting like her, but you bring this upon yourself. Don't make me come in there..."
Tiring of this exchange, Takeshi handed off stirring duties to Naeko for a moment and bellowed, "Get out here now, Kotori, and that's an order." There was another irritable retort, but at least this was accompanied by sounds of movement and the door slid open seconds later to reveal a disheveled and visibly displeased Kotori. "Thank you. Now if you'll find a spot at the table out there, the rest of us will be out there shortly. We'll see just what Taiki has cooked up for us here and then we'll have ourselves a nice chat, hm?"
Kotori refrained from answering but instead slouched out to the living room, where there was an audible thud as she sulkily lowered herself to the floor by the table. Her uncle shrugged in an uncaring whatever attitude and reached for one of the bowls to begin serving dinner.
"I'm amazed you were actually able to get something edible out of that kitchen," murmured Takeshi as he swallowed the first spoonful of the stew Taiki had prepared. "No slight to your cooking skills intended."
"None taken," Taiki replied with an affable smile that was nonetheless tinged with concern for the still-quiet Kotori who sat across from him, barely touching her food. "My... adoptive father... was not the best of cooks, so I learned how to take up the slack very quickly."
"I would agree," came a comment in a sullen mutter from the redhead. "Today would have been Grandmother's market day, and there'd be nothing useable in that kitchen until one of us went and got the groceries."
"Eh, there was enough. Although," Taiki leaned over to Takeshi and added in the stage-whisper of before, "I now know what Ren-san fed her for breakfast. I found a box of Grape-Nuts..." A wince from the jounin, sympathetically mirrored by his student. "I know, nasty. A bowl full of that stuff will clear your head first thing in the morning."
It did not take long for the group to finish their meal, not one of them having much of an appetite. Taiki collected the dishes and took them out to soak in the kitchen sink, then returned with a fresh round of tea for everyone. "So, sensei, what's the plan?"
Snapping out of whatever daze he'd fallen into in the past few minutes, Takeshi nodded in acknowledgement. "Right, the plan. Well..." A shadowed glance down at his hands on the table gave the only evidence of inner emotion, and this was quickly extinguished as he looked back up at his students. "This is more just for reference, but the service for my mother is tomorrow at sunrise. It won't be anything big or fancy, because we have other things to focus on." Takeshi reached into a pocket of his flak vest and pulled out three identical pieces of paper which he fanned out onto the table for the three genin to see. "I would have given these to you earlier, but – things happened."
He waited for each student to take one of the papers before continuing. "As you can see, those are applications for your chuunin exams. You'll need to have them completed and turned in to room 301 at the Academy by four in the afternoon the day after tomorrow. Is that clear?"
Naeko was the first to respond, raising her voice in protest. "But Takeshi-sensei, you're still making us do this? How do you even know if we're ready? I mean, look at Tori-chan there – she looks like a wreck and I'd imagine you aren't feeling much better. After all that's happened to us in the last few days, I don't think it's too smart of an idea for us to even attempt the exams. We have another six months until the next round, can't we wait until then - "
"Not another word from any of you." The shadowed cast had returned to Takeshi's eyes and this time he made no attempt to hide it as he fixed his gaze on the complaining girl. "Has it even once crossed your narrow mind, Naeko, that much of the path you take is not even your choice? Open your eyes and look around. Each person in this room has been shaped by the events in their lives and how they deal with them. Taiki didn't choose to come here to Konoha, but he's taking it as an opportunity to better himself and the relations between his village and ours. Am I right, Taiki?"
Closer than you know, the Cloud Village youth thought with an affirmative sound.
Takeshi then reached into his jacket once more and then withdrew a small, well-thumbed book. "Seen one of these before? This is my personal Bingo Book, in case you haven't. If Kotori hadn't returned here for whatever reason, odds are in the not too distant future that she would join the Mist's most notorious in these pages and she would be your enemy instead of your peer. Do you think she chose that, Naeko?" An uneasy glance over at Kotori gave the answer she'd suspected, but with a sinking feeling Naeko guessed that the jounin was far from finished with his thoughts. "Last of all, but certainly not least, I'd like to remind you of a bit of recent history that touches many people here quite personally, including my family." Takeshi replaced the book within his jacket and folded his hands in front of his face so that only his eyes were visible to the three. "I was as old as you are now the day that the Nine-Tailed Fox nearly wiped this village off the map. That's right, I was thirteen. The next time you go to the memorial, look for the members of Clan Yamataki that have died in the service of Konoha. One of them is my older brother – and Kotori's father – Katsuo. Do you think I chose to watch him die? If he hadn't, things would be very different. You'd probably have him sitting here lecturing you instead of me, and I'd still be a chuunin working proctor duty back at the Academy..."
A heavy sigh, then in a quieter tone, "My point is, you very rarely ever can choose what happens to you and when. The one choice you have one hundred percent of the time is how you deal with it, and in times like this the best choice is to simply move on. If you stop to try and sort out your emotions, it paralyzes you and you can't afford that." Lowering his hands, he risked a smile at the silent trio, adding, "And there's no harm in trying. If it makes you feel any better, the choice to have you enter the exams wasn't mine – it came from much higher hands. Be ready to go the day after tomorrow, I'll meet you on the way to wish you luck." Takeshi then stifled a yawn and rose from the table. "I need to go home and get some rest. It's gonna be an early morning tomorrow."
Giving the others a nervous look, Naeko also rose. "I – I also have things to work on. Please excuse me." Without waiting for a response, she made a hasty exit amidst puzzled looks from the others.