"Good morning, Kyori-chan." Inoichi Yamanaka sat at his desk quietly. His icy blue eyes observing the teenage girl that sat across from him, who gave him a small nod. "Water?" he asked, gesturing at the customary bottles placed between them.
Kyori shook her head full of medium burgundy kinks and leaned into her seat. He took it as a no, sighing when she looked down as he reviewed her weekly reports that he had assigned to both her and her parents. Not that she cared.
Then his blue eyes dropped to her fiddling with her hands, and he scribbled messily on his memo-pad. "Are you feeling nervous?" he asked and immediately the girl's vacant brown eyes snapped up to his as he seemingly pulled her out of her thoughts. "There's no need to be anxious… your parents say that your behavior has improved."
The girl stayed silent. It felt like it was the best thing to do with Inoichi in the room. He was the best at what he did, and he could find the littlest ticks and make something of it.
He always did.
These sessions were like a trail, her words and behavior would often betray her at some point. Kyori knew by now that the Yamanaka would use them against her later. No matter what, she remained quiet as he asked about her brothers, and the menial tasks that her parents made her do.
"Kyori, if you don't talk to me, I cannot help you." He stated, staring into unexpressive woodsy eyes. "I understand if you feel inclined to keep your personal thoughts to yourself, but I am solely here to guide you and support you."
"Tch." She kissed her teeth at the kind words, hardly believing them. The clock struck 3:15 pm and relief washed over her slowly. Kyori just had to endure a little more of his sweet nothings and meddlesome tactics, and then she could go home and await the next dreadful meeting.
The blonde sighed when the girl failed to respond properly, running a hand down his face as if it would wipe the stress away. Inoichi then pulled his chair back and began placing his notes into his files before closing them. "Your mother told me that you felt ready for school, I thought that would be a good change for you."
Hearing the disappointment in his words, the burgundy haired teen sat up with a raised brow. Kyori brought her chocolate eyes onto the ticking clock, huffing in defeat. The Yamanaka knew how to get her to talk, though it took him a while.
"I agree." Kyori murmured begrudgingly before cracking open a water.
"Is that so?" Inoichi raised a brow at the burgundy haired girl, nodding as she took a few sips. "Your father's worried that you will surround yourself with the wrong people? Should he have to worry, Kyori?"
"I don't think he trusts me all that much to make the right decisions." Kyori frowned a bit. "Not that I can blame him…" Feeling her anger and frustration bubble up at the question, her fist subconsciously balled as she did her best to shove it down. She honestly felt that her father would never trust her again.
"I understand," Inoichi gauged the tattle-tale signs of anger but had decided to not further her frustration by evaluating her in this fragile moment. Instead, he gave her a small encouraging smile when she showed hesitance.
"Be honest with me." Kyori looked up at the Yamanaka as hope and determination faintly gleamed in her brown eyes. "What do you think, Yamanaka-sama?"
"I think you have shown great progress and they have not shared any complaints since your recovery." Inoichi truthfully told the small teen, chuckling at the eye roll she gave him.
Kyori looked overly skeptical as she crossed her arms, taking in the kind words and scoffing at them. "Just because I'm on my best behavior doesn't mean they'll let up."
"Have patience. Your parents are just considering your safety and health."
Kyori was about to fix her mouth to make another impressionable comment, however his timer went off, concluding their session was over. The teen sighed, relieved to be saying her goodbyes for the week before she stood to walk out. Outside the office, her eyes landed on a brown skinned woman with caramel colored eyes and deep maroon kinks, flipping through a magazine.
Her mother stood quickly with a smile on her full lips as she was glad to ditch the fashion magazine. Hizume and her daughter exited the building in utter silence… that is until.
"Well, how was your talk with Inoichi?" the woman asked, hoping to start up a conversation once they were out of the building. This was the norm for the mother and daughter pair and so was the teen's reluctance to go over topics, she most likely, gave Inoichi a hard time on.
Kyori sighed, grating over her response as they walked over to the car. "It was fine." Crossing her arms over her chest, the teen looked ahead in her obvious attempt of avoiding her mother's slightly disapproving eyes. "We kind of talked about school."
"And?" the woman turned her identical brown eyes onto her daughter after they settled into the car. Kyori sat there mentally inflating since she knew her mother would have them sit and wait if she did not respond. Sometimes, her mother was more effective than the Yamanaka.
"He thinks I should go." She smiled. However, Kyori's smile fell as she remembered other aspect of their conversation. "Can't say the same for Papa."
"Oh Kyori," Hizume frowned slightly at the frustration and the hopelessness in her daughter's eyes before the girl turned away in her seat. "Your father's being the worry wart he's always been. You know how ex war heroes are… he's just – "
"Paranoid? Sounds like an overused excuse to me." Kyori swiftly snapped and the older woman started up her car as she no longer felt like talking about the subject.
Instead, they drove in silence. Kyori sighed and brought her eyes onto her lap as the guilt snapped her out of her angry bout. That crass tone of her daughter's voice had almost surprised Hizume, and it would have months ago.
But still, it pained her and Kyori had known once the chatty woman had grown silent. Sometimes, the two wondered if things will ever be better between them, wondered if they could communicate without inflicting pain, anger or shame. It all sounded so… so unreachable.
"I didn't mean to …" the teen murmured and in hopes of lightening the mood, she brought her hand to her mother's unoccupied one and interlocked their fingers. This was her way of alleviating the minuscule fall out as best as she could.
"It's okay sweetie, I know dealing with your stubborn father can be frustrating." Hizume gave her daughter a bright smile before bringing her attention back onto the road ahead. "Tonight, he should be coming home from a small meeting with his good friend, Hiruzen. We should talk it over after dinner."
"Thanks mom. It would mean a lot," Kyori flashed her mom an appreciative smile.
Hello everyone, Ochaaa here, placing in a disclaimer! I don't own naruto, but I happen to own the audacity to write a cliche story *wink wink* and I'm hoping to update and commit to sharing more with you. Until next time!