| [Jul. 25th, 2013|05:32 am] |
“Come on, taichou,” Katsuko wheedled, following Raidou and Genma up the stairs. “Not even a hint?”
Raidou sounded like he was rolling his eyes behind his mask. “If that didn’t work the last thirty times, why would it work now?”
“Hope springs eternal,” Katsuko said. “Like my curiosity.”
"I think I remember some kind of cautionary tale about curiosity and cats,” Genma said helpfully. “Or is that rats?" They pushed through the door and started down the hall towards the Hokage’s office and antechamber.
“I’ll cat your rat,” Katsuko muttered underneath her breath, readjusting her mask. Then, louder, she added, “I’m starting to think our rookies are either really weird or really special, taichou, if you’re going this far not to tell me. Does one of them have a tail?”
“If he does, you’re not allowed to chase it.”
“So one of them’s a guy?” Katsuko sighed. “Well, maybe the other one can be a girl. It’s lonely, being the only paragon of femininity on this team.”
Genma looked at her, then at Raidou. “Paragon? Really?”
"Femininity’s a complex concept," Raidou said calmly. His crescent-moon mask, like the rest of him, offered no further clues. He was infuriating.
“Mrrgh,” Katsuko said, which at least was better than ‘Sometimes I want to set your hair on fire’.
Fortunately for Katsuko’s rather tenuous grasp on her patience, they reached the antechamber thirty seconds later. She refrained from trying to crane around Genma’s shoulders to catch a glimpse as Raidou opened the door; she wasn’t actually twelve anymore, no matter what Raidou might say. Still, she couldn’t help hoping. Raidou hadn’t outright said the second candidate wasn’t a girl. It’d be too much to expect the new kenjutsu user, Fukui, but she’d heard about the kunoichi whose genjutsu nearly fooled Raidou.
When she filed into the room after Raidou and Genma and saw who was waiting for them, though, she understood immediately why Raidou had been so closemouthed. The new recruit getting to his feet was wearing his mask—a lion-dog, done in streaks of black and scarlet—but nobody else in Konoha had hair that white and gravity-defying.
Katsuko studied Hatake Kakashi, hands propped on her hips, and grinned in delight. It wasn’t every day a girl got a living legend on her squad. “Pretty cool,” she decided. “I love presents. Don’t you, taichou?”
The Copy-nin had been staring at Raidou and Genma, but now the lion-dog mask turned to take her in, too. If she had to hazard a guess, she’d say the expression under that painted face would be stark disbelief. Unless he was wearing his normal cloth mask underneath the ANBU one, in which case it’d be a covered mouth and skeptical brows.
After a moment’s silence, Raidou said, “Less than two seconds to cross a boundary, Ueno. New record.”
“I do my best to surpass expectations, captain,” Katsuko said gravely.
“And you’re done talking,” Raidou said, stepping in front of her. “Hatake, welcome to Team Six. I’m Namiashi Raidou, captain. That’s Shiranui Genma, lieutenant. And Ueno Katsuko, problem."
Kakashi looked at each of them in turn, nodding slightly at Genma and Raidou before turning his focus on Katsuko. “What’s going on with your chakra?”
She’d been asked that before, frequently, but never in the first five minutes of meeting someone. Katsuko blinked. “Enemy medic-nin with way too much time and creativity on his hands. What’s going on with your hair?”
“Genetics.”
“Neat,” Katsuko said. “Welcome to the team.”
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