Ruminant

xxiii

23.

The young Nara heiress smiled at Kakashi gently, her dimples showing as she blocked his way to Kushina-san's house.

"Herbivore," She warned in a tender voice. "Stop running away from me."

"I'm not running away," Kakashi insisted calmly, his eyes curving into crescents as he tried to keep his cool. He tried to convince himself that it wasn't creepy at all, no, how the Nara heiress managed to find him every time despite Kakashi covering his own tracks as best as he could.

(He was jounin-level for Kami's sake. She shouldn't have been able to get even an inkling of his practically nonexistent tracks - let alone find him every single time she deigned him worthy of her time.)

(Don't tell him she's getting lessons from Gai because if she was, he was going to beat him up, that traitor.)

"Don't be ridiculous, Shikari-chan."

Shikari's eyes narrowed. "Spar with me then."

"But I have to deliver this to a pregnant lady," Kakashi gestured to the Kushina's regular ramen package he got from Ichirakus - trying his best to channel Jiraiya as he affected an air of exaggerated sorrow. "I have too much work." He shook his head regretfully. "I can't just drop it all off to fight you, Shikari-chan."

"Disgusting," Shikari muttered bluntly as she looked at him in disdain.

Kakashi gasped - getting really into it now as he tried to be as dramatic as possible. "Don't be like that hime, this baby's heart would hurt if you continue."

Shikari surveyed him up and down, before shaking her head - apparently finding him utterly contemptible.

...

Kakashi felt that. He knew he hadn't been able to practice much, but still-

The kid should still have the decency to give him A for effort.

Weeks after Kakashi got roped into the dubious friendship-association-that-advocates-for-peace, Kakashi tried his hardest to lose the single-minded interest the Nara heiress had for him. From his observation and covert interviews to other chibis that were in Shikari's social circle, he concluded that going for this route would yield the best results.

(Shikari disliked people who hide behind dramatic, exaggerated facades.)

(That's why she greatly disliked with Jiraiya actually, yet accepted Gai and the Inuzuka heiress well enough when they were just as dramatic and boisterous.)

(Shikari valued sincerity and Jiraiya who hides behind a loud, perverted mask made her teeth itch. As much as she liked beating the old man up, his personality was enough to deter her from fighting again and again - letting the other chibis in their organization to handle the old man instead.)

Let it be known that desperation had pushed him toward this path.

Kakashi didn't know how to hold back in a fight and he wasn't eager to put his head on the line in the case that he wasn't able to manage his strength when fighting against the kid.

He'll do it once she was older maybe, or once he acquired enough experience to get enough handle on how much he could dish out and not get his head loped off by the Nara clan head and all the backers this little kid had.

Kakashi let none of his dissatisfaction show on his face, his eyes glistening now as he used genjutsu to up the stakes. "I'm always like this." He insisted earnestly.

Shikari eyed him, her whole countenance still judging.

Kakashi held up a hand to his heart. "I'm showing you my true self, Shikari-chan," He said in a sentimental manner, looking away as if he got struck from the cold shoulder he was getting. "I-"