Chapter 20: I Lied Too
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Kakashi escorted Kohana back to the apartment building before leaving to train with his team. Apparently, he was much too late and the blond Jinchuriki had taken the responsibility of dragging his sensei away from Kohana. She didn't mind, though. She had her own errands to run anyway. For example, cleaning her house was number one on her to do list. She groaned as she thought about the clutter she made last week and pondered on which room to tidy first.
But, her worries were unnecessary. Kohana's living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and the floors were spotless. Lying comfortably on her beanbag was none other than Pakkun, who opened his eye at the sound of her footsteps.
"Pakkun! What are you doing here?"
"Hi, lady. You're back."
Kohana stared at him momentarily, and then addressed him again, "Did you clean my apartment?"
Pakkun nodded lazily, "Kakashi's orders. You made a mess. Took me ages to put everything right."
Kohana answered, slightly annoyed, "You ransacked my closet."
"Fair enough. Only reason I agreed to do the job. Do you have any food?"
"You mean dog snacks?"
This irritated Pakkun. He huffed, "I'm not a dog. I'm a ninken, and I eat human food."
Kohana crossed the tiled floor to her pantry, and searched for edible snacks. She pulled out a bag of popcorn and heated it in the microwave. Meanwhile, Pakkun had already pulled out two bowls. Kohana poured the fresh popcorn into both dishes and pushed one towards Pakkun.
She chewed and looked around the rest of her house. "I'm sorry you had to do all this."
"Like I said, lady, Kakashi's orders."
"I have a name, Pakkun."
Pakkun ignored this and munched loudly. Kohana sighed, and grumbled, "Clearly, Kakashi didn't teach you any manners. I guess he has to order you to call me by my name, huh?"
Pakkun barked, "Bingo, lady."
Kohana giggled softly, "I'll have to remind him, then."
Pakkun belched, and Kohana gave him some water. He bid her a quick goodbye and vanished with a poof. Kohana smiled warmly at the spot where Pakkun disappeared; she would have to thank Kakashi once more.
Over the next few days, Kohana's health was starting to suffer again. It had been a month since her fever, and though her temperature remained stable, she felt her stamina fluctuate at odd times. Recently, when she had accompanied Kurenai on a short shopping trip, she had fainted. Thankfully, Kurenai caught her before she cracked her head on the floor of a women's clothing store. Kohana regained consciousness shortly after, and ever since then, she had been taking vitamins prescribed by Sakura. While the pink haired kuniochi ensured her nothing was wrong, Kohana noticed how she averted her eyes. Moreover, her spinning spells returned whenever she forgot to take her tablets (Kohana was not a consistent person. She often popped the pills at random times, whenever she remembered.) She couldn't help but feel that her health issues had started ever since she was rescued from Kabuto. She informed Sakura of her doubt, but the teenage girl kindly dismissed it, saying that Kohana was only feeling the after effects of Kabuto's poison. However, Kohana was not naïve and was slightly hurt that no one trusted her with the truth.
While Kohana was preoccupied with her own well-being, it didn't stop her from noticing Kakashi's increased absences from the village. She barely saw the copy-nin, except in the hallway where they would occasionally run into each other. Most of time, Kakashi looked so deadbeat that Kohana barely received more than a hello from him. Thus, she was briefly surprised when he knocked on her door on a Saturday evening.
"Hello!" she greeted cheerfully.
Kakashi handed her a brown bag, "Sakura asked me to give this to you. Your vitamins."
"Arigatou."
Kakashi nodded, and sighed deeply.
Kohana peered at him closely; she remarked, "You look exhausted. Did you just get back from a mission?"
"Hai."
"Come in, I'll make you some tea. You'll feel better."
He stepped over her threshold and plopped himself down on her mahogany sofa, and closed his eyes. Kohana pulled out her teapot and started grinding ginger. She called out to him as she worked, "Why are you going on so many missions? Is something wrong?"
She heard a muffled response, "Usual load. Nothing to worry about." She didn't believe him. She recalled how serious Kurenai and he had looked a week ago in her apartment.
"Really?", she asked loudly.
"Hai", said a voice close to her ear.
Kohana jumped. Kakashi was right behind her, watching her brew ginger tea.
She spluttered, "How? When…. never mind!"
Kakashi chuckled, and leaned across the island, and observed her clean interiors. "I see Pakkun did a good job."
Kohana handed him a cup of steaming tea, "Yeah. I've been meaning to invite you for dinner as a thank you, but you're so busy."
"Hmm...", he said thoughtfully, "No need to thank me. But, how about tonight? I'll help."
Kohana smiled broadly, "No, tonight's perfect. Just go read your book. I'll call you when dinner's ready."
Kakashi nodded and slowly walked back to his spot on the couch. Kohana observed him worriedly; he seemed more tired than usual. An hour later, Kohana had prepared over four dishes, each bowl housing authentic Japanese cuisine. She made tempura, Udon noodles, grilled chicken and fried rice. For dessert, she whipped up mango ice-cream and sweet dango, both of which were currently hidden in the fridge.
She walked to her living room, and saw that Kakashi had dozed off. His hand lay protectively on top of his orange book, and his chest rose with each breath. Kohana debated whether to wake him and then decided it would be best to make him eat before he fell into a deep slumber. She reached her hand out to pat his vest, when he suddenly grabbed her wrist. She let out an audible gasp and toppled onto him. He immediately steadied her shoulders, breaking her fall.
Kohana pulled herself from his grasp and stood up massaging her wrist.
"What did you do that for?" she exclaimed.
"Ah, it's you", he said vaguely.
"Of course, it's me. Who else would it be?" she retorted.
"Did I hurt you?"
"No", she said defiantly. She examined her wrist; it looked a little red. She brushed it off, and continued, "Dinner's ready. I was going to wake you up. You fell asleep."
Kakashi yawned and followed her to the dining table, which was decorated with plates and entrees.
"I'm surprised, Kohana. You made all this…in a span of two hours?"
"I also made dessert. But, have these first." She passed him a small bowl of soup and a plate of rice and tempura. They ate in silence, sometimes talking about Kakashi's team. Kohana learned about Sasuke and Naruto's rivalry and inwardly marveled at Kakashi's fate; Sasuke and Naruto were not unlike Obito and Kakashi.
She asked, "Do you think he'll do it? Bring Sasuke back?"
Kakashi answered, "I think he has the capacity to do so. I think that Naruto is the only match for Sasuke."
After a few minutes, they moved onto dessert and the conversation took a different turn. She had been meaning to ask Kakashi about Kabuto, and the topic of Sasuke's curse mark had brought her question to the front of her mind.
"Kakashi, is there something wrong with me? I've been ill lately, and I've never felt this way before. Sakura and Tsunade-sama say I'm fine but…I don't think they're telling me the truth."
Kakashi regarded her carefully. He knew this would happen sooner or later; Kohana was perceptive. But, he was under strict orders to not reveal anything to Kohana. And he privately agreed with the Hokage that the less she knew about her chakra, the better.
He spooned some mango ice-cream, and kept his tone light, "Kohana, Tsunade-sama is the 5th Hokage and a Legendary Sannin known for her medical ninjutsu. What reason would she have to lie to you?"
Kohana bit her lip, " I haven't been getting any straightforward answers either. Sakura told me I'm still undergoing the aftereffects of Kabuto's poison, but that can't be right. It's been over two months and my body should have flushed it out by now."
Kakashi raised his eyebrow, "Are you a medic?"
She flushed, "No, but…"
He cut her off, "Kohana, you were kept captive under Orochimaru, a former Leaf shinobi shunned for his illegal experiments. We have few records of his work. Moreover, what happened to you could have happened to anyone. You were at the wrong place at the wrong time."
"I guess so", she sighed, "Maybe, I am overthinking it." She glanced at the vitamin package forlornly. "I hate taking these. They make me nauseous."
Kakashi watched her swallow the pills. He wondered how long it would be before she realized that he had lied too.