Author's Note: Still tired, a little irritated now and again (housemates are annoying. all of them. I don't care who you live with), but doing better every day. Thanks for the kind reviews and all of the recent favorites/follows. A little validation goes a long way, especially for a writer. I'm always hungry for reviews, so please keep them coming - I'm more likely to motivate myself to update that way. ┗(｀・ω・´)┛
No, really. Gimme the reviews.
Answer to last chapter's question: "I Was Here" by Beyonce.
Trigger warnings for this chapter: drinking alcohol, references to alcoholism, gambling, some harassment, and gross misogyny
Curiosity and the Copycat
...a Naruto fanfiction story...
Curiosity and the Copycat © Mx. Irony
Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto
Takara is a Bisexual Badass
chapter 12
The Bee's Sting
"The commonest mistake in history is underestimating your opponent; happens at the poker table all the time."
General David Shoup
Over the years, before and after hundreds of missions, Kakashi passed by Moto Inn on the main road leading to his village. It was a popular place for traveling workers and merchants, inhabited by the locals but getting most of its business from single travelers. Because of its proximity to the village, a Leaf ninja or two were sometimes sent to it in case of foreign or rogue shinobi took to Moto Inn. Others went for very different reasons. Sometimes, Moto Inn was a place for potential clients - ones who couldn't afford inns within Konoha itself - to stay at before hiring out the Leaf for missions. Mostly, though, it was convenient: drinks, dice games, and rooms for rent upstairs.
Customers could either stay the night or rent by the hour. Moto Inn was the region's unofficial love hotel.
Kakashi crouched behind the nearby bushes. Despite being a Thursday evening and still light out, Moto Inn was already active with locals getting off work. Rambunctious laughter and loud conversation could be heard from outside. Hand on chin, Kakashi's narrowed eye watched the farmhand walk Hinamori to the front doors where a couple men smoked cigarettes. Eyes trailed after the two, mostly lingering on Hinamori in leisurely once overs - starting at her bright hair and following all the way down where the braid ended. To Hinamori's credit, she hardly reacted to the outright stares; she walked past as if the strange men were glass.
The ninja considered how best to disguise himself. What form could he take that would avoid unwanted attention here but bring Hinamori's guard down? Eyeing the grizzly men outside, Kakashi understood that he would have to pick one or the other.
He closed his eye, quickly forming three hand signs. Dog, boar, ram.
"Henge!"
With a puff of smoke, Kakashi transformed. He stood a few inches shorter with a more petite build, thick black hair layering down his disguise's back. He smoothed down the skirt before approaching the inn.
Without a (apparently) masculine companion, the men outside the doors outright leered at him.
"Hey, good lookin'," a burly brunette said, already flushed from drinking. "What brings you out here?"
A low whistle.
"Want some company?"
Having chosen his role, Kakashi gave a tight-lipped smile but walked quickly. He didn't need to look behind him to know he was being watched. Given his ability to take on appearances of women, the Copy Nin had an idea what it was like to be one.
Now where did that boy drag Hinamori off to?
Takara learned exactly six new pick up lines from Ohtori by the time they sat down at the bar.
"Whatcha want to drink? My treat," Ohtori said. He was barely audible over the din of happily buzzed patrons. "Umetini? A cosmo? Heard some girls like those matcha hai drinks."
Placing her bag beneath her feet, Takara leaned against the counter and took in the bottles lining the back. She squinted slightly at the suggestions. Girls like what around here? Clearly, he'd never drunk with any Aomori girls.
"How about we keep it simple and get some warm saké?" she asked, trying to read the brand names. The few she saw would have disappointed her uncle. She almost pitied the Tachigi prefecture if this is what they had to drink.
"Warmed saké? What are you, an old man?"
"Only in spirit." Takara glanced at one bottle of spirits and was disappointed he didn't catch the pun.
"But not in body," Ohtori added, winking. Or at least that's what Takara guessed he was trying to do. It looked more like he had an infection in one eye when he did that.
She stared blankly at him until Ohtori coughed awkwardly into his hand. "Uh, alright. Let's get some saké then. Oi, bartender! Over here! Bartender!"
Takara pursed her lips.
Still in the middle of mixing another customer's drink, the grumpy-looking bartender leaned towards them. "What can I get for ya?"
"One warm bottle of saké, please," Takara cut in before Ohtori could order, making the boy blink. She smiled sympathetically at the bartender. "No rush, though."
"You got it."
"Thank you, sir."
She turned to Ohtori, smile less than sympathetic. "You know, it's funny. Back at home, the local bartender was treated with the same respect as a shrine priest." Or at least with some level of respect owed to any service people. If any prefecture, Aomori wasn't the one without manners.
Ohtori seemed to struggle to find a response. Finally: "I didn't think you'd be the type to go to a lot of bars."
"Not quite." She turned twenty just before leaving Aomori, so technically no. That's what under age people had bonfires in the open field for. "My uncle makes his own saké and sells to the local pubs back home, so sometimes I'd go with him before openings when he'd drop off orders."
"That's pretty cool. So, like, is it a family business? Any Hinamori booze here?" Saying that, Ohtori exaggerated scanning the bottles.
More like an Aomori-wide problem, Takara inwardly admitted.
"More of a Nobuo-ji-san business. And he doesn't really travel out of Aomori, so...no."
"You the only one then?"
Her brow crinkled. "The only what?"
"The only one that's left Aomori," Ohtori clarified, brown eyes intent. "Did anyone move to that village with you?"
"...no?"
"And you walk there and back every day? Does anyone even know that you come all the way out here?"
Crap. Takara did not like where this conversation was headed.
"Oh, for sure," she lied quickly. "In fact, it was my neighbor who suggested I find work outside Konoha and I remembered Tachibana-san from back when I was passing through."
Ohtori raised an eyebrow. "Your neighbor, huh?"
He was such a little creep, almost like a farmhand or two back at home. They never lasted long on the Hinamori farm, though. Takara learned early on different ways of taking care of them before any of her male relatives even caught wind of their nonsense.
"Mmhmm. He's this one ninja who lives next door. We usually see each other in the mornings but we occasionally run into each other when I'm getting back from work." Takara figured saying she had a shinobi neighbor who knew her schedule was more intimidating than making up a boyfriend waiting up for her at home. And hey, Hatake probably actually did know her new schedule. She was not ignorant of just how thin the walls were, having heard the man loaf around his apartment late at night, so it wasn't like it was complete lie.
Ohtori's face paled. "Oh...so he's a...uh, one of them. I didn't know you lived so close to any of them."
"Oh, yeah. A couple of 'them' actually. Me and this one retired kunoichi meet up at her apartment to play cards on weekends." True - although Takara mostly spent those weekends with Amano rather than Taniguchi.
"Oh…" Ohtori went silent after that.
"Here ya folks go." The bartender suddenly placed a ceramic flask between them and two choko cups.
If Takara were to believe in any god, she might have been convinced that the average bartender was indeed blessed by one. They had the best timing.
Just as her uncle taught her, Takara poured her drinking partner's glass and waited for him to return the favor. Ohtori briefly seemed to forget himself before suddenly remembering his part in the age old custom. They lifted their glasses and clinked them together. She made sure the rim of her cup was slightly above his - a fact that didn't go unnoticed, judging by Ohtori's narrowed eyes.
"Kanpai," he said dryly.
"Otsukaresama desu," Takara retorted. You worked hard today, as the saying went. Another lie. Taking a sip, she immediately wrinkled her nose at the taste. Almost...fruity? This isn't real saké, she thought, disgusted. It was too refined, too fragrant to be compared to the fuller, rough drink brewed in cedar casks back in Aomori. She might as well have ordered a cocktail if this is what she got! Folks up on Mount Shinseki would have declared this a "pussy's drink" and burned the bar down for serving it.
Ohtori smirked at her. "Too much for you, Hina-chan? I can still order you an umetini."
Automatically, she downed the rest of the drink with a practiced twist of her wrist.
Ohtori startled mid-sip and choked slightly.
"Too much?" she asked lightly.
He scowled between cough and then finished his as well. Before he could open that mouth again, Takara poured him another glass and he did the same. She didn't wait another second before drinking it all in one go.
Ohtori frowned. "You should slow down, Hina-chan."
"I can handle it," Takara said easily. Her eyelids lowered, challenging. Can you?
"Don't say I didn't warn you."
Oh, you poor thing, Takara thought without any genuine pity. He really had never drunk with anyone from Aomori.
They clinked glasses in another toast and drank again. Then refilled each other's glasses.
Drank.
Refilled.
Drank.
Refilled.
Repeat. Again and again.
Before Ohtori understood what was happening, another flask of saké was ordered for which he opened up a tab. Then another flask. Maybe there was another right after that; he forgot. He couldn't remember what all they talked about or if they really talked at all. Almost as soon as he poured Takara a new glass, she gulped it down like water. Not to be out drank by a woman, Ohtori matched her drink for drink. He lost track.
Brain foggy, he slurred, "You...you sure you should be drinking this much, Hinaaaa-chaaan? You still need to...to walk all that way."
Without a single word, Takara maintained eye contact while pouring more of the clear liquid into his cup. She nodded towards her own.
Ohtori gulped, Adam's apple bobbing. He obediently poured Takara another glass.
She lifted the glass for another toast, smiling. "Kanpai~."
His own smile wobbled in return. "K-kanpai?"
A sweat drop rolled down the side of Kakashi's head at what he witnessed. He knew there was more to his smiley civilian neighbor than defending orphans and perky morning greetings but this…this was ruthless. This was attempted alcohol poisoning!
The farm boy slouched into the bar counter, hardly earning even a concerned glance from Hinamori who maintained her excellent posture. She looked totally at ease on the barstool, almost like she spent every day after work there. The back pat she gave the kid was more condescending than kind or even remotely sympathetic. She carried on amiably with the bartender.
"I think it's about time we cut him off," Kakashi heard the man say.
"Yes, sir. I think about so. Some people just don't know when to quit, do they?"
"Tell me about it. You ready to close the tab?"
"Hmmm. What do you think, Ohtori-san?"
Her drinking companion's words were too low and likely slurred for Kakashi to hear.
"Oh, if you say, Ohtori-san. Ne, Bartender-san, I think I will try one of those umetinis. I heard that the girls here just love them."
Absolutely diabolical.
Sipping his own drink with his disguise's dainty fingers, Kakashi considered revising his previous opinion on whether Hinamori was a threat. Not necessarily to Konoha itself but to other young men who didn't know any better and their vulnerable bar tabs.
The boy himself slumped off the stool and stumbled to the men's room, likely where he to be sick. In his absence, Hinamori slipped back into her usual social butterfly persona as she made friendly conversation with the bartender. Halfway through his eavesdropping, Kakashi learned more about Nagase Ryouta (recently married, youngest after three sisters, owned a dog) than he did about Hinamori. It wasn't long into the conversation that she then started asking him questions about the Moto Inn and how the business ran.
Kakashi shook his head.
A sudden presence squeezed next to him in the tiny booth. The stocky brown-haired man from outside put an around his disguise's slender shoulders. "Heeeey, doll face. Been lookin' all over for ya." His breath smelled more like booze than the entire bar.
The pains of being a woman.
"Have you now?" A sardonic little smile appeared on the pretty, pale woman's face, visible eye curving into a crescent. Kakashi brought up a hand and pushed aside the bangs covering the other eye.
"Yeeeah. Been thinking all about you and those sexy legs. Whaddya think about walkin' 'em on upstairs to a room I rented for just the two of us?"
"Mmmm." Kakashi tapped his bottom lip as he pretended to think about it. "I don't think so."
"Oh, c'mon. Don't be a - what the fuck…"
The three tomoe of his Sharingan twirled around the pupil.
Appearing no different than the average drunk, the brown-haired man slumped into the table - providing the perfect block to hide Kakashi from other wandering eyes while he continued his surveillance. The ninja took another leisurely sip of his drink.
"Oh, yeah. You could totally use that as a tax credit if you wanted to," Hinamori continued to explain to her new friend Nagase. "Just make sure you have some forms that show you plan on adopting your step-daughter and that you've already provided for her financially. Then that'll come straight outta the amount you originally owed."
Nagase scoffed. "'I do way more than her deadbeat biological father ever did."
She bobbed her head sympathetically. "From what you told me about him, I bet. I'm glad your wife left him when she did."
"Trust me. So am I."
"The only thing you'll need to worry about is if he also claims her as a dependent. You said she's only lived with you and her mom?"
"Since before I even met Akina."
"Right, right. A good accountant should get that all straightened out. Are there any agencies here?"
"Eh." The bartender made a so-so gesture. "There are agencies but I don't know how many I'd actually call good."
Takara's green eyes lit up. "Really now?"
Nagase wiped down a couple glasses. "Oh, yeah. A lot of it gets fuddled in with the Hidden village's tax laws which are almost completely different from the Land of Fire proper."
"Oh, I know." Her brain started firing off a hundred ideas a minute.
"Yeah, I bet you do. But just wait until next spring. Then it gets really crazy. You ever seen a ninja with a tax return?" He rolled his eyes. "Unbelievable. They know any mission could be their lost, so most of 'em blow it all at once. I just hope they get good retirement, the lucky ones that is."
Interesting….
"Huh…" She blinked. "Thanks for sharing, Nagase-san."
Nagase smiled, seeming genuine. "Thank you, Hinamori-san. Best of luck at that village."
Coming back to the present, Takara's expression softened. "And you with your new family. Talk to me again when spring comes around. I'd be happy to help you file your taxes."
"Come back sooner. Without any stupid lightweights. It's nice to finally have some decent conversation around here that isn't about someone getting rejected or their mommy issues. And I'd be happy to invite you to dinner with my family in the future." Nagase offered a hand.
Grinning, Takara took it and shook. "I'd love that."
"Yo, bartender! When you're done flirting, I could use another drink!"
Nagase rolled his eyes. "If you'd excuse me, Hinamori-san, my audience awaits." He draped the towel over his shoulder with added flair.
"You ain't getting any, so why bother?"
"Shuddup, you piece of shit, or I'll kick you and your friends out of my bar!"
Takara shook her head, smiling slightly. She picked up her bag and unzipped it to dig through one of the inner pockets. Assuming Ohtori (wherever he was, probably puking his pitiful guts out) wouldn't be so generous as to tip the bartender in addition to all of their drinks, she mentally calculated and left twenty percent.
She swung the worn bag over her shoulder, heavy with extra produce from the Tachibanas, before making for the door. The girl hummed softly to herself, happily buzzed from the free alcohol. (Ohtori was right about the umetini.) Hopefully, it would not be too dark before she got back to Konoha.
"Hey, carrot top."
Takara stopped mid step, right eye twitching. She slowly turned with a frozen smile. "Hmm?"
A slightly older man waggled his eyebrows at her from where he sat with a group of men at a nearby table. She recognized a few them from the Tachibana farm. "Saw what you did to the greenhorn back there. Nice work."
There was some laughter around the table. She spied one in particular who spoke to her breasts rather than her when asking about some wiring. Another cursory look around the table showed stacks of chips and hanafuda cards lying around.
Well, the night was still young.
Takara giggled, purposefully girlish. "Ah guess ah got a liiiiiittle carried away."
"Guess someone did. Or they're about to," one man said, elbowing his neighbor suggestively. There were snickers around the poker table.
Ignoring Nagase's concerned look from behind the bar, Takara moved closer and clasped her hands behind her back. "Whatcha playing?"
The man who first spoke to her smirked around his cigar. "Go Fish."
"Really? Ah don't remember there being chips."
A balding man close to her scoffed. "You seriously never seen a of poker game before?"
"See, this is why she should've stayed at home," another said.
"Women."
More boorish laughter.
Eyes zeroing on the man who said that, Takara's smile tightened. "Looks like fun. Can ah play?"
"You got money?"
"We all got paid at the end of the day," Takara pointed out. It took effort to keep her tone light and sarcasm-free.
"Then by all means." He waved an arrogant hand. "Have a seat. Ken, deal girly in."
One of the younger, quieter men had enough manners to pull up a chair for her. Ken smoothly slid cards across the table.
Five cards for her, a decent hand. Six other players. Forty-eight cards per deck.
"Ah, sou…" She sheepishly looked to the person to her right. "I've never really played before. Can you teach me?"
A smug grin smeared across his face, Takara caught the greedy gleam in his eyes. "Sure, sweetheart."
Too easy.
Hinamori lost horribly the first round. Then the second. During the third, Kakashi grimaced as she did just slightly better - still bad but better. He noticed the bartender's heated glare between mixing drinks and honestly had similar feelings. More than disgusted with the drunk civvies, Kakashi was confused.
What is she doing? Given what he knew about Hinamori, this was unlike her. He expected cold politeness when one of the men first called out to her, not for her to engage with all six of them at once. Historically, she only challenged people on a one-on-one basis and usually under her breath so only they could hear her. Not entire groups of them or so openly. And to risk her hard earnings in stupid gambling? The woman was probably the first person he'd met who was cheaper than he was. She would never risk her money like that -
Unless...
It wasn't a risk at all.
Suddenly intrigued, Kakashi stood up from the table and sashayed passed the poker table towards the bar. From the corner of his eye, he saw Takara's hand - a fairly good one this time - and watched her exchange one of the higher suits for another card.
It was deliberate.
The same way she feigned naivety when invited to the bar, the same way she emphasized her accent to sound less intelligent, the same way she asked obvious questions between the more specific ones... All of it was an act to bring people's guards down.
Settling into a stool not far from Hinamori's original seat and crossing his ankles, Kakashi swigged his old-fashioned to cover his smile. As it turned out, Hinamori drinking the farm boy under the table was just the opening act. He was in for a good show tonight.
"Oh, wait, I think I get it now!" Takara exclaimed.
Across the table, Ken rolled his eyes. "Do you?"
The quiet man to her left her mumbled, "You should quit while you're ahead, honey."
"No, no, not yet! One more round! Please?"
"Suuuure," Big Mouth said. "Won't hurt nothing."
"Akimitsu..." said the quiet man.
"She's a big girl. She can make her own decisions."
Before this is over, Takara swore inwardly, I'm going to be the new owner of that watch. Just so I can wear it everyday and remember the look on her face. That and she needed a watch for when she started the kind of job she wanted. Hopefully soon. Eventually. Someday.
Another set of hands were passed around. Chips scattered into the pot, raising the stakes. It reminded her of games with the old guys back home before she was banned. Nobuo eventually stopped inviting her to his poker tournaments altogether unless there was someone new that he didn't like.
Smiling idly, Takara shifted one card to another place within her hand. There's some perks to this move after all.
Cards folded. Other flopped down to the table, including her winning hand.
It suddenly got very quiet.
Innocently, Takara looked around. "So...who wins that round?"
A couple of men exchanged looks. Big Mouth chewed at his cigar.
"Beginner's luck," he eventually decided.
Takara pressed her hands together. "Really? I won?"
A few reluctant grunts confirmed this.
"Yay! Let's go round five."
Her streak of luck continued for the next three, each one growing more tense. Takara's pile of chips continued to grow, a mountain next to the others' pitiful hills. They weren't laughing anymore.
Squinting at her, Big Mouth said, "Alright, kid. Your turn to deal."
"Sure!"
Grudgingly, someone passed her the deck. With one hand, Takara shuffled them before manipulating them into a fancy pivot cut. Spreading her arms, she did a complete card spring from one hand to another. Then she dealt them around.
No one picked up their cards, some opting to outright gape at her. Big Mouth's cigar hit the table.
"You..."
Face showing nothing but the same innocent smile, Takara picked up her set. "Start left from the dealer."
The quiet man humbly picked his cards without complaint, expression grim.
That night, Takara earned all the money she temporarily lost back, the tip she gave Nagase, enough to cover the drinks Ohtori bought, a little over half the rent she needed to earn, and a nice new watch. She wore it as a good luck charm from then on if only because every time she looked at it, she sincerely smiled.
Outside, Kakashi breathed in the cool night air and stared up at the sky. Stars winked from in between the open branches. Behind him, the bar was loud (now with cries of dismay from the poker table) but around him everything was so still, crickets chirping. The recognizable call of a horned owl sounded through the forest. Kakashi thought about all that he'd witness and what it taught him about Takara. His walking contradiction of neighbor, just full of surprises.
There was still more to learn about her, things irrelevant to the file waiting in the Hokage's office. Hinamori was not someone to underestimate as tonight clearly showed but Kakashi knew she was no threat to Konoha or to Naruto. She was a stubbornly kind person who saw a child being bullied and stood for him. Despite everything the village threw at her, she still stood by Naruto's side. In his final report to the Hokage, Kakashi would reconfirm what he told him when first asked about Hinamori: She was an annoying, persistent, too-curious-for-own-good, sly, underhanded, stubborn, over all pain in the ass and she was also kind. He would suggest occasional check ins and perhaps tabs whenever she left the village but no further action.
That decided, his surveillance mission was officially over. He was technically free to go home. However, Kakashi decided to wait a while longer until Hinamori finished her fun and started the long walk to the village. He would follow her until she made it safely to the Konoha gates. It wasn't safe for single young women at this time of night.
Or for ninja disguised as single young women apparently, given the rancid mouth-breather trying to sneak up behind him.
"What's a pretty young thing like you doing by your lonesome?"
Deadpanned, Kakashi looked over his shoulder. The man behind him was tall, taller than Kakashi's actual height, and definitely bigger. Enough that most civilians might have been intimidated but Kakashi regarded him boredly. Sometimes, he wondered if he made his feminine disguises a little too eye-catching but numerous experiments with appearances - pretty or plain, thin or fat, alluring or awkward - yielded the same results and he just had to accept that a lot of men were just assholes.
Now what to do about this one... He discreetly slipped a kunai into his left hand.
"Aika-chan! There you are!"
Of course Hinamori interfered, popping up right at the nick of time. It's like she had a sixth sense for people in need of help.
Kakashi feigned a surprised expression. "What - "
The orange-haired woman embraced him like an old friend. No longer pretending, Kakashi's eyes widened as a wave of lavender and mint underneath the sweat and alcohol hit him full force where his nose was awkwardly jammed against Hinamori's shoulder. Pressed close, he felt how surprisingly warm she was despite the nighttime chill.
Before he could process that thought, Hinamori pulled away but held onto his shoulders. Her expression was tight, a direct contrast to her upbeat tone. "I've been looking everywhere for you! Come on - everyone's waiting for us."
"Hey - "
Without wasting even a second, Hinamori grabbed Kakashi's hand and started pulling whom she thought was an innocent woman behind her. Only when they were in eyesight of other bar patrons did she stop. "Are you okay?"
Not missing a beat, Kakashi slipped seamlessly into his character.
"Yes - at least I am now. Thank you so much. I got a little worried there for a second."
Takara looked down at the other woman. She seemed close to her age if not a little older, standing a couple inches shorter than Takara. Her glossy black hair fell in waves past her shoulders, part of her fringe covering her left eye. The one visible to her right was dark, too dark to properly see the color in this lighting, but Takara could make out the shadows her sooty eyelashes cast over her high cheekbones. A single beauty mark dotted her chin.
In a word: cute.
She abruptly cleared her throat. "No need for thanks. Girls have to look out for each other, you know?"
Tilting her head, the woman smiled angelically in a way that made her eyes curve. "You're right. But still, I should say thank you..." Her voice quieted. "You really did save me."
A weird sense of deja vu hit Takara, causing her forehead to crinkle. She physically waved a hand as if to brush it aside. "Like I said, no need to thank me. Or anyone. Not just me. Not when it's the right thing to do."
She raised her eyebrows slightly.
Feeling heat rise in her face, Takara quickly introduced herself with a polite bow. "My name's Hinamori. Hinamori Takara. It's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you," she returned. "I'm Kihara Rin."
"Ah..." Takara floundered. "Just out of curiosity, Kihara-san, do you live close by? I don't know if you were planning on going home but if you'd like, I could walk with you."
Kihara's smile quirked. "Actually, I was. But it's a little far from here..."
"How far?" Takara immediately asked. She didn't care how far - it wouldn't feel right to leave this dainty person to walk by herself, especially after that creepy encounter.
"Ooh, a couple miles. I live all the way in the Hidden village."
"Oh, wow."
"I know."
"For real?"
"Yeah, so if you'd rather..."
"No, that's perfect! I live there, too!"
Kihara's visible eye widened, lighting up. "Do you really?"
"Just moved there not too long ago."
"What an amazing coincidence," Kihara said. "We can walk each other home."
Ogino Kameko rested her elbows on her desk and steepled her liver spotted hands together. Eyes on the calendar laid out before her, she eyed the circled red date: August 28th.
Today was the day. She waited weeks for this and now waited for the last business hour to wind to an end. A small, contented smile not unlike a cat's spread across her wrinkled face.
So, the snot-nosed Aomori brat couldn't make good on their little deal. Ogino was not remotely surprised but she could privately admit the slight disappointment she felt. She had wanted to see if the young woman could actually do it. At the least, Hinamori Takara was an interesting person to have around. If she could have pulled off a ludicrous deal like the one she herself offered, Ogino would have liked to have seen what else the Hinamori could do. Maybe some fresh ideas to this old village, still run by the same people two generations ago.
"Motegi," she called.
Her secretary poked his head into her private office. "Yes, Ogino-san?"
"Start up the paperwork. I want orders for an eviction sent to a Konohagakure court before morning."
"Yes, Ogino-san."
The sooner the eviction hearing, the better for everyone in the village. Then she could assure Mitotokado-sama and Utatane-sama personally that there was no need for the Council to concern itself with snooping outsiders.
Ogino gave a long sigh. Clicking a pen, she started to write the very last official notice. She silently promised to never lease to any foreign tenants again.
Just fifteen more minutes….
A sudden shriek: "Y-you! What are you doing here?"
"Good afternoon, Motegi-san! How have you been?"
The pen snapped in Ogino's hands. Black ink splattered everywhere, including her new shirt. She only vaguely noticed.
"W-we're - "
"Only fourteen and a half minutes to close! Perfect timing," sounded that voice - that sunny, upbeat, horrible voice - from just outside the door. No sooner than she said, Hinamori herself burst into her office like an unwanted weed.
"Hello, Ogino-san! It's so good to see you again. I love what you've done with your shirt. I know you're almost closed, so I'll make this super quick." With a flourish, Hinamori placed a slim stack of papers on her desk. It was an extra copy of the new lease with a check paper clipped to the front.
Face stark white, Ogino stared at the bright yellow check decorated with sunflower. Sunflowers. Likely to mock her, the words "Konagakure Bank" were branded at the top instead of the unknown Aomori bank like previous checks. The biggest slap in the face, however, were the numbers neatly written in blue ink.
"You...you actually did."
"I always keep my promises, Ogino-san!" Bending closer, Hinamori's face turned stoic and her voice lowered. "All of them. I'll be checking with my new bank tomorrow to make sure the check was deposited without any problems. Thankfully, if there is, there's a branch just across the street from your office. Isn't that convenient?"
Ogino's mouth opened and closed.
Straightening, Hinamori beamed. "Have a nice day, Ogino-san."
She brushed past a gaping Motegi on the way out, bumping against his shoulder. The front door closed behind her and there was glassy silence right after.
Afraid to break it, Motegi whispered, "Ogino-san...it can't - there's no way."
With shaking fingers, Ogino lifted the check directly in front of her eyes. She let it flutter back to the desk and then buried her face in her hands. Her thin shoulders quivered.
"Ogino-san…" Motegi hesitated.
"Ha….Hahaha…" The old woman threw her head back and cackled. "That girl - that stupid, brilliant girl! That little minx! She actually pulled it off! Ha!"
The secretary slowly took a step back. "I'll...I'll leave you to it, Ogino-san."
His employer didn't seem to hear him, consumed with laughter. Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. She laughed from disbelief and amazement; she laughed because she couldn't even be angry. The farmgirl got her! Ogino almost felt proud. She also laughed at the irony of it all.
Hinamori Takara would have been better off if she had not made the payment and been evicted. Now the poor, ignorant girl had no other choice but to reap the consequences of befriending the Demon Fox.
Author's Note: I spoil you people. I really, really do. But God, I've been waiting to share that poker scene for years now.
So, what's something you guys liked learning about Takara? Something you'd like to learn more about? Favorite part of this chapter? And no, I honestly don't know if Takara ever finds out that "Kihara" was actually Kakashi but I do know that she'd be forever paranoid about kind strangers being him if she ever did find out. That old lady who gives her candy? Kakashi. Dude that adds a little extra to her order? Kakashi. Cute girl flirting with her? Kakashi.
Question of the chapter: How old were you when you first watched Naruto?