| Killing Time Between My Sins | [Oct. 18th, 2015|07:12 pm] |
[Takes place May 15, Yondaime Year 5, immediately after Break It Down by the Numbers]
The door slid shut behind Ryouma and left silence in his wake. Katsuko flicked her kunai back into its holster, eying the tension in Kakashi’s stance. She knew by now that the shuttered opacity of his gaze meant something was troubling him.
Katsuko hadn’t told Ryouma about the officer prep courses. She wanted to hold the knowledge close for now, to take out and examine later when she was alone. She’d felt guilty, then. Now she was just glad; if she’d told Ryouma, she’d have had to tell Kakashi, too, and even she knew it was tactless to answer someone’s bad news with news of your own personal fortune. But could it really be counted as fortune if she had to do homework?
Leaving Kakashi alone with his cloud of dark thoughts to go back to her apartment felt… wrong. Besides, she’d missed him and Ryouma. She was already used to seeing them several hours a day for training. Two days on her own felt odd.
“Hey,” she said at last. Kakashi’s eye flicked towards her; one grey eyebrow raised in silent inquiry. “I’m going to go do stuff before we meet for food. You should come with.”
That, quite rightly, earned her a look of pure suspicion. “What kind of stuff?”
“Things,” Katsuko temporized, and then hit upon inspiration. “I have to get my kodachi repaired. The ANBU-issue one isn’t cutting it.” She winced at her accidental pun and forged on. “And we need to buy you practice swords for your first lesson.”
That got Kakashi’s attention. Sharpening interest overtook impending brooding; he leaned toward her slightly and said, “My tanto needs a new sheath, too. Do you have a sword-smith?”
“One of the best. She specializes in chakra blades, like you and I have. Come along and I’ll introduce you to her.”
He flicked a last glance at the door and nodded. “I need to get my tanto.”
They spared a minute for a quick side-trip to the Hokage’s quarters. Katsuko stayed respectfully outside the threshold until Kakashi appeared again, holding his wrapped tanto. He was also in a sensible jacket that confused her for a moment, before she remembered that chakra shortage meant it was harder for the body to retain heat on its own. It had been a long time since she’d had to worry about that.
As they left the palace and headed towards her apartment to pick up her kodachi, Kakashi said, “So, the lieutenant suggested I work on chakra drills with you.”
His casual tone wouldn’t have fooled an infant.
“Oh?” Katsuko asked, curiously. She kept her eyes on the road ahead. “Why’s that?”
Kakashi made an admirable attempt to sound neutral, but the bitterness leaking from his aura was still almost palpable. "Apparently my control could use a little polishing.”
“Ah.” If she turned her head to look at him, would he dissolve into a dark cloud of annoyance and self-recrimination? Best to keep her eyes forward, just in case. “Our chakra… situations... are a little different, but the drills are the same no matter your levels. Buy me lunch and I’ll show you a few new chakra exercises a Hyuuga taught me.”
Even though her gaze was on Konoha’s busy streets, she still felt the supremely irritated look Kakashi shot at her. “I’m not paying for everything in food. I’ll trade you the exercises I know.”
“Deal,” Katsuko agreed happily.
She managed to draw him into further conversation during the trek toward her apartment. He’d never studied a structured form of kenjutsu before; his fighting style was a mix of moves and jutsu chosen for their efficient brutality. Even without the Sharingan she knew he was a quick study, but the sheer amount of martial disciplines he’d learned and copied from was impressive.
“We’ll incorporate chakra drills into lessons, too,” she decided, as her apartment building loomed overhead. “You already know how to channel chakra through your tanto, but it will be different with two longer blades. Good for practicing control.”
The prickly spikes of Kakashi’s irritation had faded as they’d talked details. He reminded Katsuko of a hedgehog uncurling from its angry ball. “Possibly not,” he admitted dryly. "I have a cheat — my channeling comes from a bloodline. It's easier for me." There was a pause. "Though harder on blades, unless I get them special-made."
There was something she’d meant to tell Kakashi when they started to make the five flight climb up to her room, but she immediately forgot it in the face of this new discovery. “Does that mean you can channel energy through any blade, not just the chakra ones?”
"Exactly. But regular steel melts after a few minutes, or weakens too much to be useful." Thoughtfully, he added, "I lost a few kunai against Iebara that way."
Not for the first time, Katsuko wished she’d been present at that fight.
“I’ll want a demonstration soon,” she said, as they climbed up the last steps. “Preferably when your life isn’t being threatened by one of the Bingo Book’s most wanted.”
Kakashi’s voice was as dry as the desert. “I’ll try to make room in my schedule.”
“And that—” Katsuko began, but was interrupted by an offended yowl just as they turned into her hallway. A ball of fur and anger bristled at them from her doorstep. Beside her, Kakashi paused mid step to stare.
Right. The cat. That was what she’d forgotten to tell him about. |
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