Sown

thirty-six

[Sorry this too me so long, I've been promoted at work and had to take some classes for my new manager position.]

-

"We should go out," Kakashi mentioned as soon as he entered the dorm. He leaned against the open door frame, watching as Hanae slowly dragged her attention from the list of her troops lying on the desk. She wore his shirt and nothing else, something that normally drove the jounin crazy (especially the glimpse he caught of her white panties peeking out behind the leg bent up to her chest). But wanting to make this night just a little more special, he kept his hands to himself.

"Go out?" she asked around the pen between her lips, "go out where?"

He shrugged, "around the village. We can get something to eat other than the slop they've been feeding us."

Hanae pondered for a moment ; he was right, the food served in the apartment style boarding house had been rather bland. Having not been outside for any reasons other than training and meetings, she hadn't seen much of what had been rebuilt in the village. Admittedly she had been afraid to look upon what used to be, not wanting to see if the reality matched the disparaging image she built in her mind. and that fear is part of what kept her inside focusing on her work. Plus, the waning tenants would probably appreciate a quiet night.

"Sure, let me change" the woman finally sang. She rose from the chair and reached for the bottom of her borrowed shirt, but stopped and glanced back at Kakashi. He arched a brow, then closed the still open door upon realization. Still her expression did not waver nor did her motion advance.

"Hmm?"

"I said let me change."

Kakashi chuckled, "Hanae, I've seen you naked at least twenty times this week. I've seen you more than naked. Don't start acting shy now."

-

The hard lines of architecture juxtaposed the softer lines of magenta-stained clouds drifting overhead. Distant oak trees outlined their shaggy heads against the sky, dancing every so often to the chilled breeze that blew over the village. Hanae and Kakashi made their way through the sparse crowd that marked the streets. A few greeted them, mostly separately, while most just smiled in passing. Kakashi had a feeling it was a contagious gesture brought on by the bright beam Hanae had adopted since leaving the boarding house.

Her anxiety had been quelled the further into the village they wandered. It wasn't the same Konoha she had immigrated to but that didn't make it any less her home. She would point every time a familiar place came into view, acting as if Kakashi hadn't known it even existed. Like he hadn't memorized nearly every location in his now thirty-one years of living there. Not everything had been rebuilt just yet. This fact was made especially evident by the empty lot they stopped in front of.

Marked off by a chain hanging between two wooden posts, the lot was surrounded on all sides by other buildings. This is where Gishi had stood, the home and shop reduced to a flat expanse of dirt. A large expanse of dirt, Kakashi noticed. Larger than he remembered, in fact.

"Did you buy more property?" He cast her a curious side glance. Expecting the same smile, the jounin was surprised to see the expression had adopted a somber undertone.

Hanae sighed lowly and wrung her hands. "The older man who owned the tea shop next to mine passed away while we were in the Land of Iron. We talked often when we caught each other outside. He was very sweet and had never married or had children. He would always say he would marry me if he were just a couple decades younger, that I would make such a good wife. You know how old men like to talk to younger women.