Kakashi stared at the man standing before her, wondering exactly where she'd gone wrong.
No, that's a lie. She knew exactly what her mistake was. It was deciding she needed to get out of the Hatake estate.
"Yeah, why not? It's not like we dealt the cards out yet," one of the gamblers said carelessly, pulling out a chair for Senju Hashirama.
Hashirama sat down and turned to look at the person beside him, only to be surprised. It was a kunoichi!
How rare!
While Hashirama had gambled against plenty of women, he didn't think any of them had ever been a kunoichi. And from the big stack of money in front of her, she was good at it, too.
A sliver of her hair tickled the back of his mind, but he couldn't put his finger on why. He chalked it up to it reminding him too much of his little brother, Tobirama. He, too, had such light-colored hair.
Despite her sharp, narrow eyes and most of her face being covered, she was still impressively expressive. Hashirama could tell he had startled her by sitting next to her.
Hashirama wondered briefly if he had sat down a little too close. Some ladies find it quite inappropriate to sit too close to strange men, but…
She is literally the only woman at this table, so that couldn't be right. That should be a clear sign she didn't care, so what exactly was…
Oh well, there was no use in worrying about it. He just had to show her he wasn't all that threatening.
He smiled brightly at her. "You wouldn't mind me joining, right?"
Kakashi had seen countless statues and paintings of Hashirama over the years, but none of them had properly conveyed just how large the man actually was. He cut an intimidating figure sitting down like this.
Kakashi's knees went a little weak. Why was he looking at her so closely?
She silently cursed the guy who had pulled out a chair for him next to her. Kakashi hoped he would choke every time he took a sip of sake.
"Maa," Kakashi said with a slight shrug, trying to sound nonchalant. "I don't see why not."
Why not?!
Maybe it was that she had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do or say while sitting next to a man titled the literal God of Shinobi.
Could she just leave?
Calm down!
Kakashi needs to calm down.
This was not the first Hokage. This was still Hashirama of the Senju clan. Not even the clan head yet, because his old man was still alive. He was just some guy who wanted to play a game of cards at a random tavern.
And it wasn't like Kakashi had never met people more powerful than she was before. She had spent decades dealing with S-rank criminals, temperamental Kages, and Naruto's complete inability to behave like a normal human being. So this was just another weird interaction she would have to push her way through.
"So," Hashirama said, leaning slightly toward the table. "What are we playing?"
The gambler across from Kakashi rattled off the name of the game. "You know the rules?"
"Of course!" Hashirama's enthusiasm was immediate.
Kakashi watched the cards being shuffled. She picked them up and glanced at her hand.
She had finally regained her composure. She decided to play as normal. Whether she won or lost didn't matter. Just finish this game, thank the people for letting her join in, and then get up and go sit with Itsuki and Shū.
As the game went on, having witnessed the disaster unfolding before her eyes, Kakashi finally understood something.
It was genetic.
Tsunade-sama's terrible luck was genetic.
A tragic affliction passed down through generations.
Hashirama stared at his cards with the kind of devastated expression Kakashi had last seen Tsunade-sama wear whenever her gambling addiction humbled her for the day.
She really must have inherited that terrible luck from him.
He wasn't even particularly good at bluffing. Every time he had a good card, his face lit up like a child who had just been given a new toy. Every time he had a bad one, his shoulders slumped so dramatically that Kakashi half expected him to start crying.
Meanwhile, Kakashi ended up taking nearly all the money on the table. This surprised her because she hadn't been trying all that hard to win.
"Oh, I lost!" Hashirama laughed, already scratching the back of his head over his loss.
He had lost so much money to her just now that she could feed the entire Hatake clan and still have money to spare. It was ridiculous!
And he was still smiling!
How?!
Was he stupid?
Kakashi slowly turned her head toward the other gamblers.
They looked like they were attending a funeral.
One man was staring at the table as if he'd just witnessed the death of his entire life's savings. Another had buried his face in his hands. The burly fellow who had called Kakashi a pretty lady earlier was looking between his empty purse and Kakashi with an expression of profound despair.
See! This is how people are supposed to react to losing! Not whatever Hashirama was doing.
"Well, I think that's enough for me." One of the men abruptly stood up, pushing his chair back with a loud scrape.
"I've suddenly remembered that I have something very important to do."
"Right, right! Me too!" another gambler immediately agreed.
"My wife is waiting for me."
Kakashi watched one after the other as the other players got up and left, leaving only her and Hashirama behind.
Kakashi wanted to pull at her hair. Those bastards had enacted her getaway plan before she could!
"Ah, are you leaving too?" Hashirama turned to her and asked, looking genuinely disappointed.
Kakashi didn't want to be trapped at a table with Senju Hashirama for the rest of the evening, but…
The sad look on his face made her feel really bad.
It wouldn't hurt to play with him just a little longer, until the food she ordered arrived anyway.
It shouldn't be any longer than another fifteen minutes, and then surely Itsuki or Shū would call her over to eat, and she could make a getaway.
"Maa, I guess another round wouldn't hurt."