safety [Kakashi Hatake x OC]

thirty-five

About two weeks into Eri's daytime freedom to wander Konoha on her own, she went grocery shopping for her and Kakashi. What was nice about her independence was that she could help her roommate and compensate for her share of living space.

She struggled to reach a jar on the top shelf at the town's market. On weekends it was busier than usual with more pop-up stands and local and foreign traders. It was a charming aspect of the village, and she surely looked forward to just walking the streets whether she had a purpose to or not.

As she stood on her toes, sucking in a breath to see if she could reach the jar, she failed again. A long arm suddenly reached over her and effortlessly pulled it down, then as she turned to see who had helped, he asked, "Was this what you were trying to get?"

"Yeah, thank you." She muttered. This man was definitely a Konoha ninja, wearing the standard village shinobi vest and navy suit. He had dark, spiky hair and a similarly colored marking on his chin. Most noticeable was a white bandage stretched across the center of his face, and she had to stifle a laugh as she thought, 'At least he's not covering his entire face,' thinking of her strangely private roommate.

"No problem." The stranger muttered with a smirk. "I haven't seen you in the Village before. Are you just passing through?"

"I'm kinda new around here. But I think I'm going to stay for a long while." Eri smiled warmly as he handed her the jar, which she placed in her basket full of various other things to take home.

"Interesting. Then, I'm sure I'll be seeing more of you." His narrow, dark eyes caught hers as he committed to remember her.

"And you are...?" She trailed questioningly, raising a brow, asking for the respect of his name.

"Ah, how rude. Sorry, new girl. Kotetsu Hagane; I'm a shinobi here in Konoha."

"I'm Eri; Eri Zayaka. I'm not really a kunoichi or anything." She chuckled.

"Yo! Kotetsu!" A loud voice interrupted them. Another Konoha clothing-clad ninja walked up to them. "Of course this is where you run off to." The new stranger - with thick, brown hair covering half his face - rolled his lazy-looking eyes.

Kotetsu laughed nonchalantly, clearly not moved by his supposed friend's seriousness. "Sorry, Izumo."

"Stop stalling, we have to go." The brunette pushed, glancing uncertainly at Eri every few seconds. "Come on." He stated sternly, then turned his back and walked away, clearly expecting the dark-haired man to follow.

But before he left, he grabbed Eri's smaller hand between his and grinned cheekily. "Nice to meet you, Eri. I'll see you around."

----------

She did see Kotetsu around, and he made sure that she knew that he was around. He never failed to stop her and have a conversation with her. It was nice to her because she felt like she was starting to fit in.

He never asked about Eri's past or why she was in Konoha after he first ran into her, so that spared her the awkward anxiety of trying to figure out what to tell him and what to not tell him. He really just tried to make her laugh; it was light-hearted and friendly, and she didn't think much of it.

He wasn't the only friend that she was making, too, as she met up with Kurenai shortly after she was gifted relative freedom. She also ran into Sakura quite often, and seen as she had already developed some sort of a relationship with her during the mission, she did talk to her and spend some time with her whenever they saw each other. Although, she was a much younger and more immature girl, so there were only two things she would talk about: Sasuke and the woman's mysterious "relationship" with her teacher.

Nonetheless, Eri was beginning to find her place in the Leaf Village. Kakashi helped her a lot, and she was grateful for that, but there were certain things that she could only do of her own independent volition.