Chapter Text
It was a lovely day in Konoha. The spring sun shone brightly in the sky, slowly disappearing behind the buildings with only a few clouds to be seen and warming up the cold atmosphere the winter had left behind. A soft breeze made the cherry blossom leaves twirl and dance around, gently landing in people’s faces. With the advent of spring, the dull and cold atmosphere of winter left and the people’s hearts thawed with the sun. Through the glass front of your studio, you could watch the people on the street running errands or taking a walk. It had been a rather quiet day with no appointments in the morning and only one in the afternoon, Karui, who you were currently working on.
“Hey.” She cleared her throat. “Would you mind a short break? I know, it’s probably not much left to do, but a bit of walking would be nice, I think.”
Over the past few months, you had turned her naked arm into a full sleeve after she had initially only asked for a pair of butterfly wings on the inside of her upper arm. As soon as the wings had healed, she had been standing in front of your desk again, asking for more, obsessed with getting more ink on her.
Under the mask you wore while tattooing, you smiled at her. “Sure thing. You’re doing great and I admit, I expected you to ask for one sooner. But you’re used to everything by now, right?”
Karui laughed. “Yeah, by now I could probably fall asleep while you’re working on my arm. It’s just my legs and my back need a stretch after sitting in that chair for so long.”
While she walked around through your studio, you pulled down your mask to take a sip from your water bottle. “Would you like something to drink?”
Karui shook her head and sat down in the chair again. Pulling your mask back on, you got back to putting the finishing touches to the colors when the bell above your front door rang and Genma’s voice sounded through the room. Sparing him only a glance, you continued focusing on the work before you, still listening with half an ear.
“You can ask, but she won’t do it. Believe me.” He smirked, his senbon bobbing between his lips as he spoke. “She’s a little peculiar in this regard.”
With a sigh, you paused tattooing and looked at Genma with a raised eyebrow, giving him a provoking glare. “You’re not talking about me, are you?”, you asked, daring him to say anything else. “Or do you want your next tattoo to be a giant dick? The next one you wanted was a chest piece, right? I bet your next hook-up will love it!”
He chuckled. “Baby, I’d take every piece of art you make.”
“Alright then, do you have a selfie for reference?”
His hand grabbed his chest over his heart and his face twisted in feigned pain. “Ouch, baby. That hurt. But I’m not the one with business. My friend here”, he threw his arm around the other man’s shoulders, “is the one with an issue.”
“Lord Sixth!”, Karui greeted with a bow of her head.
Only then did you look at Kakashi Hatake, who was accompanying Genma. “I’ll finish this and then we can talk about your business.” His eyes were full of surprise, but you couldn’t tell if it was because of your informality or something else.
Soon enough, you put your machine down and blew some air over the brand-new tattoo, before wrapping Karui’s forearm in plastic foil to protect it. “You already know, how to take care of this now, do you?”, you asked her with a smile that was only visible through your eyes.
“Yes!”, she answered enthusiastically. “Thank you for your time and creativity, I really appreciate it!” She slid the necessary bills and a hefty tip over the counter and left your studio with a wave and a happy grin. It always warmed your heart when a client left your studio in such good spirits.
Clapping your hands together, you turned to Genma and his companion. “Okay, so what’s up?”
Kakashi took a deep breath. Even with half of his face still covered, his awkwardness was obvious. “Do you do cover-ups?”
“Yeah, if it’s possible and nothing pitch black, I can do it. Where and what is it? Do you mind showing me?”
This is where he became very hesitant. His heart was racing like crazy and he couldn’t remember a time he had been more nervous – not even during the Fourth Shinobi War. He threw a glance at Genma asking for help, who just raised his hands defensively and took a step back. He sighed and took of his flak vest, before pulling his left arm from his long-sleeved, hands shaking. His gaze fixed on you he turned his naked arm to you. “This one.”
The whole arm was naked except for the bright red flame marking Konoha’s Anbu.
“Nope. Absolutely not”, you said firmly while shaking your head. “Not happening. First off, I’m not allowed to cover these tattoos since Anbu members need to be labelled as such. And second, even if I was allowed, I’d rather not cover up my dad’s work.”
The frustration on his face was evident. His eyebrows furrowed and it seemed he started brooding over it. “You could ask him...”
You shook your head again. “Then we would be back at problem one. Even with my dad’s permission it’s still an Anbu flame. I’m sorry.”
His shoulders dropped and the disappointment in his eyes broke your heart. “There is no way, you’d ever make an exception, right? Not even for the Hok–”
“Sorry”, you interrupted him. “I’d have to make a huge exception. And if I make an exception once, other people will ask me to make one for them too and if I don’t budge, I’m losing authenticity. Look, I know who you are outside of these walls, but in this studio, you are just a regular customer like Karui, like Genma, like everyone else.” You sighed again. “Besides, I’m really not allowed to cover up an Anbu mark and not even a Kage can change that.”
“Right, right” He nodded slowly, putting his arm back into its sleeve. His nails dug into the palm of his hand as he desperately tried to keep himself together and not fall apart right there in your studio. There was no one to blame beside himself. Genma had warned him and he had ignored it. “I get that. Sorry for bothering you.” With his head hanging low, he left through the front door. The happy jingle of the bells rang in sharp contrast to the distressed mood Kakashi had left behind.
Not once in the over fifteen years since you had started tattooing here, had a client left the studio in such a sorrowful way and it stung. Absent-mindedly you stared through the glass front onto the lively streets, the sudden silence ringing in your ears. You wanted to run after him so bad, apologize for being so cold and rejecting and call him back in to tell him you would do it. But no matter how bad you felt, you couldn’t.
Genma clicked his tongue and shrugged. “I told him you wouldn’t do it.”
His voice caused you to snap out of it. “It’s fine”, you answered after a moment. “You never know for sure until you ask, so it’s better he asked. I just don’t like people leaving my studio like this – or anything else than happy in general.”
“Has anyone ever left your studio anything else than happy?”
This time, you nodded. “Yeah. But I can count them on one hand.”
“Do you have any appointments left or are you up to talk about my chest piece?”
As much as you appreciated Genma’s enthusiasm to get your ink all over his body – thereby helping you pay rent – right now he was a little too hasty for your liking. “Genma, I haven’t finished your rib tattoo yet. How about waiting until that one’s done and healed and then we can talk seriously about the next one. Sakura’s gonna kill you if you ask her again to heal you. She’s probably fed up with it already.”
“I thought about a tiger... Do you need a look at these muscles to determine if you can do on them or not?”, he asked, his eyebrows twitching teasingly and a smirk on his lips.
Tease had to be his middle name. Ever since you had finished his first tattoo, he came back and always tried to flirt with you. That was just him. You never lived in the illusion you were the only one he treated like this and it never bothered you. You had no interest in pursuing a romantic relationship with him, so your flirting was always more of a friendly banter. And right now, it helped you get your mind off Kakashi, even if it was just for a little while.
“Oh, really?” Cocking an eyebrow, you returned the smirk. “I thought we set on a giant dick earlier. Don’t you like my idea anymore? Besides, a tiger on the chest is such a cliché. Don’t you want something more creative? More special?”
Genma started laughing, the senbon bopping in his mouth. “We talk about a creative motive and you propose a dick? Oh, the irony. Sweetie, a dick is the most uncreative thing you can draw on a person – good luck next time.”
A moment of silence passed between you, the only sound being the radio playing softly in the background.
“By the way, you’re closing soon, right?”, he changed the topic. “Are you up for some drinks?”
The crack of your back when you stretched your body echoed through the room. Karui’s tattoo session hadn’t been the longest you had ever done but sitting on the stool and focusing on your work before your for so long had taken a toll on your muscles and joints. Today hadn’t been the most stressful day you had ever experienced and still you were exhausted.
“Sorry, Gen, not today”, you declined, suppressing a yawn. “I know it’s been a while since the two of us had a drink but I don’t feel like it. Maybe next time, alright?”
His eyebrows furrowed as he eyed you up and down. “You’re not overworking yourself, are you?”
Doing nothing to hide the rolling of your eyes, you walked over to your desk to finish today’s paperwork. “Rich coming from the shinobi who’s on a new mission every week on average.”
For a moment only the quiet hum of the air conditioning was heard as Genma continued watching you.
“I swear I’m not overworking myself. Karui was my only appointment today. I’m just mentally drained and not in the mood for people.”
The receipt for Karui’s payment got filed in the appropriate folder and next week’s schedule found its way under your transparent desk mat. Grabbing your keys, you walked to your front door, shooing Genma before you out of the studio, and after promising him again you weren’t overworking yourself, you watched him disappear in the crowd of people. You locked up the door and put up the single sealing jutsu you knew as an additional safety measure before leaving the studio behind.
However, instead of on your own front door, you found yourself standing on the porch of the one person you wanted to see. Your safe harbor, one might say.
Your dad was pleasantly surprised to see you on his doorstep. Usually, you came by once a week and your last visit had been only a few days ago, so he wasn’t expecting you.
“Hey, Little Fox. What are you doing here? Bad day at work?” He took a step back to let you in. Usually, when you stopped by outside of your weekly visits, it was because you had trouble at work and needed advice from someone with several decades more experience.
“All in all, it wasn’t that bad but someone left in a sour mood.” You let yourself flop on the couch in the living room. “They wanted a cover-up I can’t do.”
As if it knew you were coming by, your dad’s kettle piped, signaling the water was boiling. Without asking, your dad got two mugs from his cupboard and made your favorite tea for you.
“You can’t make everyone happy, dear”, he said with a little grunt as he took a seat next to you, prompting you to lie your head on his shoulders. “That’s life, we can’t do everything and there will aways be people leaving unsatisfied.”
Neither of you said anything as the two of you got lost in your thoughts, drinking tea and enjoying each other’s company in the warm light of the setting sun.
“You know”, your dad spoke up after a while, “I, too, had a customer wanting a cover-up I couldn’t do come to me years ago. He approached me when I was out, travelling. I was forbidden to cover it, but he had a very good reason and it was really hard to decline his request, like I had sleepless nights over it, seriously contemplating to do it anyway. Despite him saying he understood, I could tell it bothered him. He was a young man, not even eighteen, whose village had failed him.” His tone was rapt, his mind back in that day. “It’s been years but I haven’t forgotten about him. And I never will.”
“Sounds auspicious”, you murmured.
Your dad let out a hearty laugh. “I didn’t tell you this to cheer you up – it’s too tragic for that. I told you, so you know things like this happen. I believe everyone will meet at least one person in their life who they crave to help but can’t. It’s a lesson to grow on and to learn from. You’ll never be able to help everyone and sometimes we have to accept failure, whether we want to or not. However, that does not mean we as a person are a failure.”
“Thanks, dad.”