"Yeah," Ryouma said, staring up at the ceiling. There was a yellowed water splotch on the dingy tiles, pockmarked around the edges where some previous occupant had amused himself trying to outline it with kunai or senbon hits. Good aim, for the most part. He squinted, trying to turn the splotch into a shape. "We're good. I don't really do relationships, anyway."

"You and the rest of ANBU," Raidou said dryly. "We're not really a relationshippy bunch. But you knew that already." A pause, as he sipped his coffee. "I was more thinking— Look, I don't expect to have issues. We haven't been, and I don't intend to make any. I just want to lay some fair groundwork. If you have a problem, I'll listen. And if you can't take it to me, there are other options."

Ryouma laughed softly. " 'Lieutenant Shiranui, I think the captain touched my butt when he was trying to break my neck today...' "

Raidou made a very ungentlemanly sound halfway between a laugh and a snort, and thumped the bedframe with his foot. Ryouma's coffee sloshed; he rescued it hastily before it stained the quilt any further. "You know what I mean, jackass," Raidou said.

"Yeah." Ryouma sighed, and sat up. "Sure. S'what I expected, anyway." Boundaries, like the captain and Katsuko's mantra. Raidou was a good captain, uncompromising but fair; he wouldn't let a six-month-old memory distract him, and he wanted to make sure Ryouma knew it.

It wasn't his fault Ryouma kept getting distracted. Three weeks and counting of enforced abstinence, maybe—Ryouma hadn't so much as kissed anyone since Ayane, before the Trials. He was recovering, his libido was returning, and it was only natural to shiver at a little slice of memory when he looked at Raidou's broad, scar-knuckled hands, or when Raidou shoved sweaty hair back from his forehead and grinned like a tiger at the end of a hard training session, blood beading on his split lip, light sparking in his eyes. Ryouma'd done pretty well so far at looking away, finding something to tease Katsuko about, a question to ask Genma. This morning was the first time he'd been awkward about it, and apparently Raidou hadn't even noticed.

He tapped his fingers against the smooth, warm curve of the coffee mug. "You— You'll let me know if I step out of bounds, too, won't you? I mean, I know you will." Possibly with a boot to the head, judging by his response to a slightly-too-dangerously-clever move Kakashi had pulled in training yesterday. "I just—"

I'm not used to being told not to lust after my captain, sure, that'd go over well.

He took a fortifying gulp of coffee, and backed up. "I don't intend to cause any issues, either."

Raidou didn't—quite—smile, but his eyes crinkled at the corners. "Just accidental ones. How is your leg, by the way?"

Ryouma scowled at him. "Bruised." Most of the damage was visibly purpling on his lower calf and shin, where Raidou's Doton jutsu had wrapped a shackle of earth around his leg before tossing him into the trees. His shoulders were probably pretty colorful by now, too. They were certainly sore. "Most normal captains just say 'Good morning,' y'know."

"Normal is boring," Raidou said with a shrug. "Ueno managed to dodge."

Ryouma bit his tongue on two unwise comments about Ueno. "What's it between you and her anyway?" he asked at last. "You were her captain last year, too?"

"Lieutenant," Raidou said easily. "This'll be my first year as a captain."

"Huh. I thought—" Ryouma shook his head. Probably best to avoid comments on command style, and Raidou's fluency with giving orders. "How're you finding it?"

The crinkles at the corners of Raidou's eyes deepened. His mouth curled, and broke into a full-fledged grin. "I got the forest fire girl, Sharingan no Kakashi, and the kid who melts faces. Not bad for a first-timer. And, in theory, one of you will eventually listen to me."

"I'm listening," Ryouma said, before he could stop himself.