He stepped sideways, bumping his hip against the counter of the tiny kitchenette, and groped for the first appliance he'd set up, before he even got his weapons rig unpacked or his stereo hooked in. "Coffee?"

"Please." Raidou stepped inside and let the door swing shut as he stooped to unlace his boots. He glanced around the room, undoubtedly cataloguing the boxes still half-unpacked, the unmade bed, the training gear dumped haphazardly wherever Ryouma'd been standing when he stripped it off.

"Place looks like it's coming together," he said, lining up his boots neatly in front of the door. "How're you finding it?"

The barracks, or ANBU? Maybe both. The answer was the same, in any case. "Not bad." Ryouma dumped grounds into the filter, added water from the tap, and switched the machine on. "Bed's too short," he said, leaning back against the counter. His voice came out remarkably even. Even the promise of caffeine was a kick to the brain, apparently. He added more cheerfully, "Someday I'm gonna just sit in the shower and see if endless hot water really is endless. When's our next day off?"

"Day off?" Raidou repeated, with the polite blankness of a man presented with an intriguing notion and wondering how it worked.

"It's a thing," Ryouma said. "Some of us use it to do laundry. Visit the Old Shinobi Home. Get blind drunk and—"

Apparently coffee fumes weren't quite enough. He caught himself just in time. "And lose at pool. Or do science in the shower."

Raidou waited a second, as if to make sure he was quite done. "Sounds dangerous," he said at last. "Better not."

"Aww," Ryouma muttered. "You never let us have any fun."

Raidou's mouth quirked. "I brought news. That counts."

News. Right. He was here as captain, not as—anything else. Ryouma kicked up a bare heel against the lower cupboard. "I did say I like news. What is it? Swords at Sunset is getting a re-release? Kakashi pulled favors and got himself transferred off our team already? Somebody found out it was Katsuko set that tree on fire and now we're banned from the training fields forever?"

"Hokage-sama's downgrading the threat level," Raidou said. "Intel hasn't found one snake hair. If it holds, we'll be back to B in a week."