100Hayami felt groggy when she awoke, stumbling up from bed on shaking legs. She groaned, knowing how much her calves had ached yesterday and hating herself for not stretching out, not distributing the acid build up before sleeping. She bet she'd cramped in her sleep and had been so dead to the world the sharp pain hadnt even woken her up. Gently slapping her cheek to wake herself, she slowly stepped forwards- trying to ignore the spinning of the room and focus instead on getting to the shower. The sweet, life restoring shower. It was no wonder the meeting with the council and Hokage yesterday had been short, smelling herself now had her grimacing at the smell. They probably couldnt wait to get her out of the office.
Rubbing her eyes as she made it into the bathroom, she felt like she'd downed a bottle of sake before bed; head pounding and eyes hurting just to open them. Her pants tangled as she dropped them to step into the hot spray but she caught herself, regaining balance. "Well, at least there's a kunoichi in here somewhere" she muttered, glaring at her own reflection in the small, rapidly fogging mirror.
The water made her feel human again at least, stripping the grime she hadnt bothered to wash off last night and making her sigh with enjoyment. She let the water wash over her frame as she sat on the small shower stool, rubbing her slowly unknotting muscles- tired from being in one position for 2 days, then forced to run for 3; a punishment for anyone. Hunger gnawed at her as she scrubbed the grime from her hair, the flowery scent of the shampoo awakening her now ravenous appetite. She knew that the half ramen she'd almost knocked onto the floor upon waking wasn't the most nutritious tea, but she still should have finished it. Her body must have been crying out for calories; she'd grab breakfast on the way to the Hokage's office, possibly rice porridge with pickled plum…
But first, she had to get up.
At which point everything went very wrong. The sudden movement from sitting to standing made her head spin, and everything went incredibly, suddenly black.
"Oooh" she groaned, moving so the heel of her hand was against her forehead. The water wasn't hitting her on the face, surely it should still be running...Hayami tried not to think of her water bill, instead focusing on sitting up.
"Sensei she's awake!"
Now that was unexpected. Her eyes shot open, then immediately closed again as the bright bathroom light only exacerbated her horrendous headache. Gently this time, she opened one eye, and then the other-only to come face to face with a small version of her neighbor, and a pretty girl with buns
"Shut up Lee, not so loud" the girl reprimanded with a harsh whisper, slapping the small doppleganger on the back of the head. "Go get sensei"
Three things at that moment became apparent, as her ninja training kicked into overdrive and instincts took over.
There were children in her house
Her neighbor was in her house
She had likely been seen completely naked by both of the above
Oh god. Surely there were rules about exposing oneself to children? Could she be arrested? Surely not, she hadn't chosen for the children to come in and see her prone naked body…
Her train of thought was broken by the girl smiling in her vision. "I covered you with your robe, don't worry. Do you think you can sit up?"
"I...thank you. I think I can, but my ankle feels pretty twisted"
"It's alright. The boys can be pretty oblivious, well not Neji, he's very observant, but even they noticed that maybe I should come in and cover you before we moved you out of the shower-they stormed in and then back out again so quickly, I swear they were beet red!"
He had seen her naked. Oh God. Normally when the object of your affections sees you naked it's intentional...she'd hoped for candles, an attractive neglige, for him to actually know her name. Instead she got crumpled heap in what felt like a pile of her own shampoo, with sopping hair and unshaved...well...everywhere. Glamorous
Onto more pressing matters than her own destroyed possibilities of romance, "how did you find me?"
"We were grabbing some weights for today's training from Gai-Sensei's, and heard the crash through the wall-you'd knocked over your shower caddy as you fell and the metal crashed against the dividing wall. We heard it all the way downstairs!"
"Oh...thank you for coming over-i'm sorry, I have three locks, they must have been terribly annoying to pick"
"About that...Gai will replace your door"
She groaned, lying back down. Her door. He'd kicked through her door. Knowing the training sessions she'd seen him doing in the garden when definitely not peeking on him through the bathroom window she knew he probably kicked through it like soft mochi. A small price to pay for being found though-at least it was only a sprained ankle. She couldnt imagine the embarrasement if she'd have faced the worst possibility; drowning the small inch of water that collected at the bottom of the shower.
She threw herself upright again as the aforementioned man came in through the bathroom door, and heaved as the action made the room spin. The unnamed girl saw the intent and tightened the robe covering the woman's modesty, that had previously begun sliding open again. "Good morning! We heard the crash and came straight over, do you need to be taken to the hospital? I will carry you there immediately or run 1000 laps of Konoha!"
What? She couldnt tell if it was the man's exhuberant personality; or possibly a concussion.
"I don't think I need the hospital, but if you could help me up it would be appreciated, I don't think I can use my left hand and I know my right foot is out of the game"
She'd expected him to grasp her left hand and help her hobble to the bed whilst she controlled her blushes and shame then bid him on his way; took a couple of pain-killers from her bedside table and strapped her foot and hand. Then gave up being a kunoichi entirely out of shame. What she got was an unexpected full princess lift that set her pulse racing. He gently deposited her on the bed, and lifted her foot gingerly, propping it on pillows as if it were made of slightly soggy glass.
"Th...thank you" she stammered, trying to ignore the way his hands were gently resting on her calf. He pulled back, grinning, eye in a wink and thumb pointed towards himself as he explained "It was the neighborly thing to do, the green beast of Konoha cant leave his dearest neighbor in pain like that can he?"
The girl, currently drying the floor of her bathroom groaned, then laughed. "Gai-sensei don't be lame!"
Hayami laughed gently-definitely the man, not the possible concussion. "It's not lame, it's very heroic" she said softly, smiling at the man who had returned to her foot, swiftly wrapping it in bandages. Meeting his eyes for the first time since he'd moved in a year ago, she couldn't help but feel this was the most awkward, horrific, embarrassing...and beautiful morning of her life.