Wall-Walking
An hour or two later and they had an entire table covered with notes and a bowl full of half-eaten snap peas. Hunter winced at the mess, pausing for a moment to shuffle the pages together into more organized stacks while wondering if Kakashi had a binder hidden anywhere. He stretched out his fingers as she did so, before regarding the page sitting on top of the pile.
“Hold on a second.” He said, pulling it away to regard the note thoughtfully. Hunter paused, glancing up at him with curiosity.
”Hm,” he pulled out a pen and started scribbling another footnote. “I know we’re planning to have then do missions at the end of the week, but I think it’d be a good idea to get an early start on chakra control while we’re at it.” He explained.
Hunter nodded slowly, raising an eyebrow to see where he was going. Chakra was still a rather vague concept for as much as she understood about it, and she felt asking Kakashi for details would lead to a dead-end.
“How do you intend to do so?” She asked with stale neutrally, wondering if this was also ‘something to not worry about’.
Instead of answering, he stood up. She watched curiously as he approached the nearest wall and tapped it with his foot—thankfully not scuffing up the paint. He cheerfully glanced in her direction, as if he was in on a big reveal before lifting his leg to firmly center his foot against the wall.
”Well, for starters I was thinking of something like this.”
Before her very eyes he lifted his other foot off the ground, firmly planting it alongside the one on the wall without slipping or falling over. He placed his hands in both pockets, grinning as he stood parallel to the floor, as if the wall was merely the adjacent hallway. Hunter’s mouth fell open as he started to walk, casually defying physics as he approached the ceiling.
“How on earth—“ Hunter jumped out of her seat, staring as he transferred his feet to the ceiling and continued to walk until they were eye-to-eye.
“Yo.” He gave a casual salute as his hair brushed against her forehead.
Hunter snorted before she could help it. Her hand clamped over her mouth in embarrassment, but then when Kakashi tilted his head owlishly she couldn’t contain the laughter that followed. Her shoulders shook as she backed away, the hysterical laughter growing worse as he kept pace with her.
“What’s up?” He continued, enjoying himself as she gasped at the audacity to use such a terrible pun.
“You are horrible!” She laughed. He smiled, chuckling a little before gravity finally returned to its senses.
He landed gracefully, barely a sound coming from his feet as they landed atop the floorboards. He looked very pleased with himself, almost smug, as Hunter started at him. Her laughter had died down by now but she was still amazed, rubbing at her eyes with a bewildered grin.
“You…how?”
“Why, with chakra control of course.” He tapped his foot against the floor. “It’s a necessary skill for ninja, it allows us to move freely and unhindered by terrain and vital for any form of jutsu*.”
“Is that so?” Hunter’s mirth diminished somewhat, reminding herself that this wasn’t purely for spectacle and magic tricks.
Ninja were soldiers, after all. She never gave it much consideration, but now that she was face-to-face with a taste of what chakra could do, defying the very laws of nature…she tried not to speculate how it was very likely weaponized.
“Well then, I can see why they need to get started right away.” She said diplomatically—there wasn’t anything else she could say without potential consequences.
Somewhat sobered she sat down and once more regarded the notes. Now that she had seen a taste of what chakra could do upclose, the lessons involving it in their planner contained far more clarity than it had when she simply scribbled them onto the paper. She hummed a little, passively wondering about
“Alright, so after refreshing katas they begin chakra control. Will they still have to go on missions though? They seem awfully unprepared for them.” She said, glancing up to try and read his expression.
Although Kakashi had explained they’d be nothing more than simple chores around the village she was still doubtful. After all, Naruto and Sasuke were constantly at each other’s throats, and Sakura was too ever eager to bend-over for Sasuke’s approval whilst simultaneously pummeling Naruto in the same breath. Pulling weeds or babysitting seemed easy enough on paper, but with their current dynamic it would be like pulling teeth.
“Let’s just hope they grow closer together via ‘trial by fire’.” Kakashi said, his own voice sharing Hunter’s doubtfulness. She hummed softly, sipping her now lukewarm mug before regarding him.
“Would it be alright if I assist?” She asked. “I mean—if it isn’t any trouble. I…” she hated to admit it, but she was growing rather guilty for leaching off Kakashi’s kindness—assignment or not. Her thoughts trailed back to the hairpins he gifted her, allowing her to wander outside, even providing her with meals when she was tired, and that guilt only grew.
“I know you’re ordered to keep an eye on me, but you’re already doing so much more than that and I,” she cleared her throat, “I want to repay your kindness, somehow. Even if it means pulling up weeds, if that does not interfere with your lesson plans, that is.”
Kakashi stared at her. The silence wasn’t helping her nerves, nor was the confusion clearly written on his face. His expression morphed into something unreadable before smoothing over, and he muttered something under his breath she couldn’t catch before he faced her fully.
“You know, you really don’t have to. You’re not obligated at all to pay me back.” He said stiltedly.
“I-I know that,” she said, beginning to fidget with her disfigured hands, “I just, I want to help you in the way you’re helping me, if that makes any sense.” She chuckled emptily, finding the statement entirely ridiculous now that she said it aloud. Even if he was acting out of the kindness of his heart, it was extremely presumptuous on her part to assume it was. Insisting that she needed to repay him was even moreso. She felt ridiculous.
“Well,” Kakashi leaned back into the couch, visible features carefully molded to hide his internal feelings, “I won’t stop you if you really want to help out.” He quickly smiled sarcastically. “Though try not to overdo it—the entire point is to make them do chores after all.”
“Eheh, that’s fair.” Hunter’s ears warmed at the minor jab. It was hardly her fault she couldn’t stand living in a house with eight inches of dust everywhere. She even grimaced somewhat, feeling even more foolish now with hindsight. Kakashi's demeanor shifted again, growing serious.
“Hey.” He said suddenly. She glanced over, realizing his demeanor shifted again and grew serious.
“Are you feeling any better from our conversation earlier? I know I can’t answer everything, but I’m here to talk if you ever want to.” He said with surprising sincerity.
Hunter blinked, a little surprised that he pursued the topic with this level of concern. It wasn’t out of indifference towards the man on her part, she was simply surprised he was willingly sharing something akin to friendship. She had hoped he considered her a friend at this point, though she always kept that thought buried with reminders that this was an assignment and nothing more. Still, she allowed herself to believe the concern meant something and cleared her throat.
“Alright—I mean, yes. I do feel better, thank you.” She flushed at her grammatical blunder. “I appreciate the offer, really.”
She smiled at this which seemed to please him oddly enough. His demeanor relaxed again, and the two returned to organizing their respective notes.