The Tortoise Hero
Words: 1,705
Au: Bookshop Worker Gai AU/Modern Au
For: @leaf-hurricane
Thursdays are Lee’s favorite day of the week.
Not because his mom takes him to the café in the morning to enjoy a nice warm hot chocolate while she does some work on her latest book. It’s not even the fact that she takes him to the biggest park in Konoha to run around until he’s too tired to walk on his own.
Lee loves those things, but the reason Thursdays are by far his favorite day is because it’s library day.
The day when his mom takes him to the bookstore, usually after letting run around in the playground, and lets him pick out one new book. The best part, though, is that after he picks out his book and his mom pays, the man who works there always offers to read it to him while his mom goes searching for a book of her own.
That man, Gai is what he told Lee to call him, always reads the stories with the best voices. Even his mom’s story reading voices can’t compare to Gai’s, though he loves when she reads him stories too. All week he listens to his mom’s story voices, but Thursdays were special.
Thursdays, Gai read to him and the stories sprung to life around him.
“This one!” he declared, holding up a book with a giant Tortoise on the cover.
“You want that one?” his mom stared at his choice with a skeptical look. “are you sure? I’m not sure if there’s any adventure in that one.”
“But it has a turtle!” he declared, pointing at the cover with that proud four-year-old smile that always won him an argument.
“Tortoise,” his mom corrected him with a fond chuckle. “it’s a tortoise, sweetie.”
Turning the book around in his hand he stared down at the picture. “Turtle,” he insisted, jamming his finger against the picture as if it would turn it into the beloved animal, he wanted it to be.
“What’s going on here?” looking up, he watched as Gai made his way around the counter and headed straight toward him. “Have you picked a book already?”
“Yes!” grinning, he held the book out in front of himself once more so Gai could see it. “turtle!”
Peering down at the book, Gai chuckled. “I see what your mom is saying. That is in fact a tortoise.”
Tightening his grip on the book, Lee jutted out his bottom lip and furrowed his brows. An expression that was quickly met with an exhausted sigh from his mom. “Turtle.”
“Lee, that’s not how it works,” his mom sighed while giving Gai an apologetic look. “it’s a tortoise. They’re like turtles, but-“
“You want to see one?” Lee’s eyes widened. “he’s not on sight, but if you just give me a second,” reaching into his jacket pocket, Gai pulled out a phone and opened it. While Lee stood there staring at him, excitement building up inside of his tiny body, he scrolled through his phone. “ah, here he is!”
Turning his phone around, Gai knelt down to Lee’s level and held the phone out so he could see the picture better. Intriqued, Lee stepped foreward and examined it carefully. On the screen was a large animal with reddish brown skin, a large red shell with some yellow around the edges, and a pair of orange leg warmers on its front two legs that reminded Lee of the one’s Gai was always wearing.
“tor-tus?” he tried to repeat the word his mom and Gai had said, but it came out funny.
Chuckling, Gai flipped to the next picture. This time he was in it, propped proudly against the large animal with a large smile on his face. “he’s my buddy. Had him since I was just a few years older than you, and he’ll probably survive long after I’m gone. Tortoises have a long-life span.”
“How long?” Lee asked, his arms wrapping tightly around the book he’d chosen. Protecting it from being dropped or taken away from him.
“Well, it depends on the tortoise,” falling backward with a grunt, Gai crossed his left leg overtop his right and patted the ground beside him. “It’s usually between eighty and a hundred-and-fifty-years.”
“Wow.”
“Wow is right,” he chuckled. “they’re amazing creatures, and they’re very similar to turtles. In fact, many people confuse the two. You want to know how I remember the difference?”
Unable to vocalize his excitement, Lee nodded with so much enthusiasm that he bonked his chin against the book. There was a sharp pain that followed the collision, but before he could even think about crying his mom had taken a seat at his side and wrapped her arms around him for a hug.
“Turtles have flipper-like legs. They help them swim in the water better. Tortoises-“ he turned the phone toward himself and tapped the screen a few times before turning back to Lee. This time instead of seeing the whole tortoise, the picture was focused on one of its legs. “They have legs that are better for walking on land. They still like the water, but they prefer to live on land.”
“With us?” Lee asked hopefully.”
“Kind of, yes,” placing his phone back into his pocket, Gai held out a hand and grinned. “You still want that book?”
“Yes!” he hugged the book a bit tighter, loving it even more than when he’d first picked it out. “I love Tor-tus!” releasing his grip on the book, he held it out to Gai. It was time for his favorite part of Thursdays.
Story time.
“Alright,” taking the book from his tiny hands, Gai turned it so that it was right side up for him and examined the title. “Tales of the Tortoise Hero,” his voice shifted from that kind tone Lee was used to, into a booming voice he liked to use for courageous hero’s. “From Hatchling to Hero.”
Not wanting to miss a second of the story, Lee wriggled out of his mother’s hold and crawled to Gai’s side. Once he was close enough to see the words he plopped himself down right there beside Gai and watched as he opened the front cover to reveal a beautiful picture of the Tortoise surrounded by all sorts of other animals.
“Dog!” he exclaimed while pointing at the animal right beside the Tortoise hero.
“It is,” Gai confirmed. “it’s the Tortoise hero’s best friend and most loyal supporter. And this,” he pointed at the animal on the Tortoise hero’s other side. “is a cat. she’s doesn’t always agree with what the Tortoise hero wants to do, but she’s willing to do anything to protect him and the others. Behind that,” his finger travelled upward to the large animal standing behind the tortoise. “Is a crane. She’s the Tortoise hero’s second oldest friend, and she’s always helping him and the others get out of trouble.”
A dog, a cat, a crane, and a tortoise.
It was the silliest combination of friends Lee had seen in any of his books, and he loved it.
“do they have names?”
“of course they do,” Gai grinned. “the Tortoise hero is called Gai.”
Lee’s head shot up, wide eyes staring up at Gai. “like you?”
“well, I would hope so,” he shut the book and pointed at the name on the front. “see that? That’s the Author.”
“Ka-ka-shi?” Lee read it out slowly, just like his mother had taught him.
“You’ve met Kakashi, remember?”
Thinking back, Lee recalled the silver haired man he sometimes saw hanging out in the bookshop chatting with Gai. He rarely ever said much to Lee or his mother, but when he did speak it was always with a kind voice.
The thing Lee remembered most about him, though, was the friendly dog that always stood by his side.
“The dog is named after him,” Gai continued to explain while opening the book back up so Lee could see the picture of the whole group again. “The cat’s name is ‘Tenzo’, and the crane is ‘genma’. They’re all people that the author knows.”
Thinking about what he was being told, Lee smiled. “Does the dog kiss the tortoise hero like Ka-ka-shi kisses you?”
He was certain that’s what his mother had said when he’d asked about what Gai was doing with the other man a few weeks ago. All he’d seen is Ka-ka-shi leaning over the counter so his face was right in front of Gai’s, and Gai looked even happier than usual when they said their goodbyes.
“I- where did you-” looking back up at Gai, Lee tilted his head. Gai’s eyes were darting around the room and his teeth were nibbling into his bottom lip. Lee wasn’t too sure what was going on. “I just…” stopping, Gai looked back down at Lee and sighed when he saw him staring up at him. “Sorry, I just wasn’t expecting such a question.”
“Is kissing bad?”
“No,” he shook his head, and then a moment later began to laugh. “No, kissing isn’t bad at all. It’s quite good.”
“So does he kiss the tortoise hero?” he repeated, pointing at the dog in the book.”
Getting his laughter under control, Gai reached up with one hand and wiped away some tears that had gathered in his eyes. “No, he doesn’t,” he finally answered, and Lee found himself feeling a little disappointed with that answer. “But,” nudging Lee with his arm, he grinned when he looked back up at him. “They go on lots of adventures together. You want to hear about them?”
“Yes!” throwing his hands up into the air, Lee giggled when one of his hands accidently slapped Gai in the face. “Sorry.”
Shaking it off, Gai answered his apology with a smile. “don’t worry about it, I know it was an accident,” he promised. “Now,” flipping through the next few pages, he stopped when he found the first story. “The Tortoise hero meets the determined crane.”
Leaning into Gai’s side, Lee tried his best to follow along with the words while Gai read. It wasn’t long before he gave up on that task and chose instead to close his eyes so he could see the story play out in his mind while Gai read.
