The Music Peddler...continued
He hadn’t expected her to come back anytime soon so he spent his time playing with the other techniques he’d learned to see if there was something else he could create to tempt Sakura with. When she showed up only two days after their initial meeting, though, it made him wonder what she sought in a peddler that she wasn’t getting elsewhere. Was he a way for her to feel better about herself? Or simply someone with no expectations?
However she simply walked right up and sat down against his tree, not saying a word but trusting his senses to pick up her identity. He let her have her quiet for a few moments, quietly reveling in his victory, when he broached the subject.
“You think you can answer my question now?”
She didn’t respond right away but he was content to occupy himself while waiting for her answer. He knew she was mulling over her options of which way to respond to it. He was sure she had more than one reason for getting her back up about it.
After a few minutes, she finally said, “Everybody wants something for nothing.”
He nodded slowly. “True enough. Though if we’re going off the current example, of trading your skills for mine, does that mean you think my musical items worth nothing?”
“Of course not, but even the time you put into them is nothing compared to the time I’d have to put into healing your eyes. There would be research, treatments, therapies, and that’s only if it’s a basic problem. Anything more intricate would require even more energy. People just seem to think that I just snap my fingers, push some healing chakra into you for a few minutes, and suddenly you’ll be healed of whatever malady ails you. Then on top of it maybe I could also heal your sister, your grandma, and even your dog. It shouldn’t take long, right?
“Besides, I’m sure you know how it is. It’s not like you’d just give away your wares, either.”
Kakashi smiled. “Well, I did just agree to trade one away for a couple kisses.”
“So does that mean you’d consider my kiss to be the ‘nothing’ in the equation?” She spoke in a severe tone, but from the corner of his eye he could see her lips twitching into the first semblance of a smile he’d seen her wear since his return.
He couldn’t help it. He laughed alongside her.
“My turn now.”
“Ah, another trade is it?” he joked.
“Of course. Nothing’s for free, remember?”
“Even as a medic?”
Her eyes shuttered. “Especially as a medic.”
Well, they’d have to come to that eventually, but Kakashi knew better than to push right then. “I see. Well then, ask away.”
She relaxed again, her shoulders dropping. “Since I’m not allowed to know the secret to how you make these things musical, tell me how you learned.”
So he told her all about how his travels through Bird Country, how he’d been a wanderer until he’d found himself settling in a particular village that had seemingly adopted him. Their industries were based on the surrounding environment and that’s where they got most of their designs and songs. He learned a little bit from the many artisans around, but seeing as he didn’t live in town permanently, it was slow going.
He left the silence hanging, hoping she would show some kind of interest for something outside of her little sphere of safety and influence. Just when she’d given up hope she spoke. It wasn’t quite what he’d been angling for, but he could still make it work.
“These are amazing though. If this is one of the main industries in the country, then why haven’t I seen them before?”
“Bird Country is small and nestled between two super-powers, so there was no way it could hope to compete in the shinobi world. Instead it took a different path, with most of its economy based on its hunters and artisans. The hunters sell their skills to clients, the same way shinobi do, or at least can sell their game for a profit. The artisans are the ones who stay in the village permanently so they’re the backbone of daily life. When things go sour, they’re the ones who have to put aside their craft in order to step up where things are needed.”
“The war?” Sakura asked tentatively.
“Yes, the war. Even before that things had been hard. Merchants rarely came through since the locals didn’t have enough funds to buy what they were selling, so they consequently also had little opportunity to distribute their own creations. But since the war things are far worse. The economy took a hard hit in even the big countries, as they were funding most of the fighting, but the little countries caught between took the brunt of the damage. Now they hunt just to feed themselves and the other industries have dwindled tremendously. After all, even if they had the time to invest in making their musical products, they’re novelties. Who would buy them when most every economy is suffering, even still after five years of rebuilding, when they’re really nothing more than an extravagance?”
“I would,” she said softly.
“Yes, well I suspect that, with your position and power, you’re much better off than most people around.”
She bristled at that, even if it was true. “And what’s wrong with that? I work hard for what I have, to get to where I’m at. It hasn’t been easy, not in the slightest, and it’s not like I’m loitering around and being negligent with it. Every day I make advances toward goals never achieved by anyone else.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that,” he said congenially, almost patronizingly to her ears.
“Obviously you’re of a different mind, so tell me.”
“Are you sure you want me to?” he hedged. He hadn’t expected her to be quite that open to the idea.
“Believe me, it won’t be anything I haven’t heard before, so you may as well tell me so I can know what you really think of me.”
He mulled that over a moment. “It’s that I can’t help wonder why you still insist on keeping your talent locked up in that research tower of yours. Yes, you gave me one answer about why you were uncomfortable with sharing your healing abilities, but I sincerely doubt that’s all there is to it. It’s such a wonderful talent, something few people share at the skill level you’re capable of, yet you still funnel it all into researching poisons and toxins instead of curing people of their problems.
“It just seems something of a waste to me. In Bird Country we’re having an epidemic and the infant mortality rate has just shot up to about 20%. None of our healers have any idea what is causing it and someone with even a portion of your talent would be indispensible there. So it just makes me wonder why you feel more comfortable doing the one rather than the other.”
She sighed heavily. “For what it’s worth I’m sorry. About the epidemic,” she elaborated when she sensed his confusion. “And it’s not like I don’t help with things like that. Researching toxins and poisons helps reveal those agents that will work against them, as well, and those are turned into new medicines to improve things far beyond the scope of battle.”
“But you still don’t leave your lab,” Kakashi pointed out.
She huffed irritably. “Because you know what happens when I do? Everybody wants something. Everybody. Just recently I even had an old friend come to visit.”
Kakashi suddenly felt uncomfortable.
“He didn’t ask anything about me, about how I’d been or what I’d been doing in the years since we’d seen each other, he just asked for his favor and left.”
Yup, definitely uncomfortable. It’s not like that had been his intention though; he’d just wanted to get business out of the way first and then they’d be able to catch up later. After all, if she’d agreed to his request they’d have plenty of time on the journey back to Bird Country. Then after the way she’d reacted he’d thought she wished him gone. He never would’ve guessed she’d wished for him to show his concern.
“It’s always like that, anyhow. I’m the sum of my skills, and if I do something free for one person then everyone else expects the same treatment, and then I’m run over with angry complaints when I don’t fulfill their every demand.”
He sympathized; how could he not. Perhaps he shouldn’t have put business first. But still, it hadn’t always been like that with her and he couldn’t see how her circumstances would’ve changed to where she had trouble telling people yes and no and doing what she could for those she had it in her power to help. Now, with the icy wall she’d built up around herself it was hard to think she could care about what anyone thought of her, and he wouldn’t have believed it if it had come from anyone but her directly. So while he sympathized, he couldn’t pity her for a trap of her own making.
He studied her carefully. “Is that why you’re telling me all this?”
She looked up at him, startled. “What do you mean?”
“Is it because I had no interest in your healing abilities, or because you know I’ll be leaving soon and whatever you say goes with me?”
Standing with a muffled scream, she brushed herself off as she mumbled, “I don’t know why I even bother.”
“You’re upset by my honesty?” he asked. “Weren’t you the one who said I couldn’t have anything to say you hadn’t heard before? Or is it that you’re protected from certain truths by hiding yourself away as well?”
She glared at him, fire in her gaze. “You know what, we’re done here.”
She stomped away, leaving Kakashi wondering whether he’d done the right thing. She’d become proud and withdrawn and just seemed so unhappy. He didn’t even care about whether he could bring her around to considering his proposition - well he still cared about it but it wasn’t his primary objective. He was concerned, wondering why she’d let herself become that way, and could only hope his unwillingness to tiptoe around her or pamper her sensitivities would come to help her in the end. Because otherwise he very well might just be making a bastard out of himself.
~ ~ ~
He didn’t see her again for more than a week and became concerned that he’d offended her to the point where she wasn’t going to bother with the novelty of her little peddler friend anymore. She was certainly busy enough, he knew.
Deciding some reconnaissance was in order, he waited until late at night when he was sure she’d be home, and snuck off to see what he could discover from her movements. He shook his head when he realized her apartments were even connected to the hospital - she really didn’t have to deal with anybody from the outside world if she didn’t want to.
Creeping his way along one of the many trees planted outside the hospital to give it a more ‘homey’ feeling, he planted himself outside her bedroom window, which was open to let in the crisp night air. He stopped dead when he caught sight of her.
She was lying on the floor, playing with stopping and starting the music in the pot, a strange, wistful smile pulling at her features.
Slowly, so as not to disturb the swaying of the tree and the rustling of its leaves, he crept backward and slipped away.
(Part 3)