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Harry scribbled in the last of the
information and closed the log with a sigh of relief. As he stretched
out the kinks in his back, Harry marvelled at the darkening evening
sky that shone through the greenhouse roof.
Though he was finished with his own
work, Harry waited with bated breath. If the routine of the past few
days held firm, the blonde girl, Ino would show up with a smug look
of challenge as she gave him a bunch of time-consuming tasks to
complete by the end of the day.
Her smug look always taunted him to
just say no.
And because Harry didn't want to lose
to her, he stayed in the greenhouse until the late hours of the night
completing those inane tasks. He only made it back to his apartment
to sleep for a few hours and sometimes have a quick mirror
conversation, before returning back to work at the greenhouse. He hadn't had any time to search Konoha for any
Uzumaki.
But today seemed different.
Maybe she had finally tired of her game
and Harry was free to go home early.
With the cautious look around to make
sure that she wasn't going to pop out and surprise him with more
work, Harry made tentative plans for his free time as he cleaned his
tools and work surface. After a final check of the greenhouse, making
sure that all the windows and panels were secured, Harry locked the
main door with genuine delight.
He had an entire free evening to
himself.
Rushing past the other closed
greenhouses with a new sense of joy, Harry caught a glimpse of long
blonde hair in the corner of his vision. A glance showed a purple
outfit, confirming Harry's suspicion. Ino was still around and by the
looks of it, she was working in the only lit greenhouse.
Not wanting to lose his free evening,
Harry slowed his footsteps and even used a spell to ensure that he
wouldn't make a sound as he passed by her greenhouse.
Badly muffled sniffles from her
greenhouse made Harry pause. He was tempted to walk away because this
didn't concern him, but he could just imagine Hermione's disapproval.
Harry turned back to Ino's greenhouse
and knocked on the glass door. When she didn't react, he cleared his
throat and took a deep breath. "Is everything all right
Yamanaka-san?"
Ino turned around with a gasp, a faint
glimmer of tears in her blue eye. But the moment she saw him and
realized who he was, she straightened. "Everything's alright.
Did you need something?"
She obviously did not need his
help. "Okay then. Good night," he bit out and turned away.
“Wait,” she called out.
Harry cringed. He should have gone with
his instincts and left instead of checking up on her.
“I probably won't be around later,”
Ino said. “So you'll have a new supervisor.”
“You're leaving?” Harry asked with
surprise, trying to hide his relief. He didn't hide it well enough.
“I deserve that.” There was a
self-depreciating tone in her voice. “All this is karma for what
I've been doing.”
“Karma?”
“One of the doors had a loose panel
that I didn't notice it in my daily checks. Beetles got in overnight
and ruined a whole batch of...” Ino paused, unable to continue and
looked away with weariness. “I haven't told Shizune-san yet. But
the plants are vital, especially with flu season around the corner.”
“Nothing can be salvaged?”
“I've done what I can. But months
worth of growth had been destroyed,” Ino said.
Work at the greenhouse would be much
easier if Ino wasn't there to boss him around. Harry stepped into the
greenhouse. “Let me have a look. Maybe there's a way to help.”
Instead of arguing with him, like she
was prone to do when he suggesting something, Ino stepped aside and
motioned to a batch of plants that looked like seedlings because they
had a handful of leaves on them.
Grabbing a pair of gloves, Harry set to
work. Having learnt a few new spells from Hermione through his
mirror, Harry enriched the soil with magic. Though the plant didn't
show any visible change, Harry knew that the spelled soil would
create thicker growth in a few days.
“Why are you helping me?” Ino
asked. “I've been horrible to you since you joined.”
“It's not for you,” Harry said as
he grabbed a lamp and arranged it so that it lit the ravaged plants.
“If the hospital will need those plants soon, then every little bit
of growth will be useful.” Harry shrugged. “And anyway, aren't
all bosses meant to be horrible?”
“No. They're not all horrible.” Ino
said. “I'm sorry for making your life difficult.”
“You haven't done...”
“I have,” Ino interrupted. “I've
been piling on the extra work so you'd be stuck in the greenhouse
without any free time outside of work. I was hoping that you'd get
frustrated and quit.”
Harry blinked, stunned at the
confession.
Ino looked away. “The rumours about
me were right. I'm not he right person to oversee the greenhouses. I
tried to drive you out when you show the most promise with the
plants.”
Harry swallowed back angry words and
said, “I never heard any rumours about you.”
Ino didn't believe him. “You'd have
to be deaf not to hear everyone talking.”
“Well, I have been stuck in the
greenhouse for hours on end for the past few days,” Harry reminded
her with a sharp tone. “Not like I could actually hear anything,
let alone rumours.”
Ino cringed back.
Harry sighed. “Even if there are
rumours, the only way to deal with them is to ignore them and
continue doing what you do.”
“I've never been concerned with
people's trash talk before. But, I had a hard time convincing the
clan that I could take this job while my father is away. And now,
I've failed.”
“You haven't failed,” Harry said.
“The plants aren't completely destroyed. They'll grow back
eventually. And surely this isn't the only greenhouse that had these
specific plants.”
“No, but...”
“But nothing,” Harry insisted.
“I've seen what some of the nutrient tonics can do to the plants.
I'm sure with enough work, you can deal with this. So stop moping,
it's weird to see you like this.”
“Thank you,” Ino whispered.
“You being nice to me is even
weirder,” Harry said as he walked out of the greenhouse. “See you
tomorrow, boss.”
-x-x-x-x-x-
The damaged plants hadn't changed at
all, the masked watcher noted with frown. After that first day, the teen
hadn't shown any signs of directly influencing a plant's growth. Just
what was going on?
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Yeah, what's going on here? Who knew this AU could have such drama?
Polar
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