| [Oct. 19th, 2015|12:02 am] |
Irreverence had served Katsuko well for years, but only because she never admitted she used it to deflect scrutiny. It was such an ingrained habit that even after acknowledging it was a mask she still had to stop herself from making a joke to paper over the quiet stillness that followed Kakashi’s declaration.
“I don’t distrust you either,” she said at last, gazing out at the river.
Emotions made her teeth itch. They made everything itch. She wanted to go back to sword shopping and dragging Kakashi around while he made complaining noises. It was so much easier to show friendship rather than talk about it. Maybe she could actually push Kakashi in the river and pretend they’d never had this conversation about teammates and the cost of command and why he trusted her more than he trusted Raidou.
Instead, she let out a short breath and reached over with her good arm to give Kakashi a companionable punch to the shoulder. It was light enough he didn’t even rock with the force of the blow.
He still flicked her a dry sideways glance and drawled, “Ow.”
“You,” she declared, with enormous effort. “You are an acceptable teammate. I’m… glad you’re on the team.”
He was looking at her properly now, amusement rising to the surface. “And you’re a slightly-above-mediocre senpai.”
That gave her warm, pleased glow that cut through the embarrassment. She laughed, feeling some of the tension that had knotted between her shoulderblades dissipate, and started to clamber up to her feet. “It’s nice to know we’re both above-average. Come on, let’s go find Ryouma for food before you melt into the grass.”
Kakashi sighed and flopped back down. "Do we need to compliment him too? I think I've met my quota for the day."
“ANBU is about pushing your limits,” Katsuko informed him, and held her good hand out for him to take. “Get up, lazybones, if you put down roots here I’m calling a gardener.”
“Slavedriver,” he muttered, but grabbed his swords and let her haul him up.
The walk to the Akimichi barbeque was considerably slower than the pace they’d set while sword shopping, but Katsuko was happy to amble along at Kakashi’s speed. There was no pressing urge to fill the companionable silence between them. Instead she enjoyed the sights and smells of Konoha around her and thought about all the yakitori she was going to order.
They were only a few blocks away from the restaurant when Kakashi turned to look at her and said, “What was your good news?”
Had it really been several hours since the team meeting? It felt shorter. They were, Katsuko realized guiltily, so late for dinner with Ryouma. “Officer prep course,” Katsuko said, putting a little speed into her walk. “Taichou and fukuchou recommended I audit it to see if I wanted to go command track.”
After a small pause, Kakashi nodded and said, simply, “Good.” |
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