The last couple of days had been like balancing on a knife edge, waiting for an attack that never materialized. It was almost a disappointment. Katsuko never wanted to be within striking distance of Orochimaru again, but if he had assaulted Konoha at least she would know where he was, instead of relying on vague reports about his appearances in Grass or Wave or Earth. She was tired of jumping at shadows.

Now, though, she was just bored. There were only so many times you could punch your teammates during training before it started getting old—

No, she needed a better example. Punching her teammates never got old.

“I generally find if I have to kill someone, it’s better not to think of them as a ‘who’,” Genma said mildly. “Go get cleaned up; we’ll meet in the office in fifteen minutes and go over the mission brief.” He flicked a glance at Raidou, who nodded.

Cleaning up meant changing meant more waiting before something interesting could happen, but it also wasn’t standard operating procedure to discuss classified missions out in an open field. Katsuko sighed.

Raidou gave her a look like he knew exactly what she was thinking. “The faster you go, the faster we leave.”

“We could clean up after the mission briefing,” Katsuko suggested hopefully.

Genma rolled his eyes. “Go.”

“You’re not my real mom,” she muttered.

He didn’t even blink. “Thank the merciful heavens.”

Ryouma swept in before Katsuko could open her mouth and commit further verbal insubordination. “C’mon, last one to the locker room digs the latrines!”

Kakashi, standing silently aloof as usual, blurred in place and vanished. Katsuko and Ryouma were a half-heartbeat behind.

The women’s locker rooms were almost empty this time of day, save for a few kunoichi coming in from training sessions. Katsuko stripped, showered, and changed in record time, grabbing her mask after she buckled into her armor. She slid her swords into their usual place on her belt as she shouldered out the locker room door.

She beat Ryouma to Team Six’s office by two seconds. As was her right as the victor, Katsuko paused with one hand on the doorknob to admire the way his still-wet hair shone under the hallway lights. “What, no hair-dryer?” she asked.

He ruffled his hands through his hair and raised his eyebrows at hers. “What, no brush?”

“Stylishly messy’s in this season,” she told him with a wink, opening the office door.

Ryouma followed her in. “I think stylishly’s the operative word there. You mind?” Before she could reply, he gave her hair a rough finger-combing.

“Hey,” Katsuko said, highly entertained, but didn’t bat his hands away. “I could like my hair the way it is, ever thought of that?”

Kakashi, of course, was already there, judging them both as he leaned against the wall in his ANBU uniform. His lion-dog mask dangled from his hand. “Thinking isn’t his strong suit.”

“Hatake, my rose petal!” Katsuko threw her arms up in delight and sauntered over to him. “Pearl of my heart, biscuit of my eye. You should let me put ribbons in your hair someday. That way if we tied you to the top of a pole, you could double as a flag and a lookout.”

“Did you drug up in the showers, too?” Ryouma asked, fascinated.

Kakashi’s visible eye widened in an extremely amusing way the closer she got. Katsuko stopped an inch before she breached his personal bubble and glanced over her shoulder at Ryouma, grinning. “We have a mission,” she said. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to get into the field again? Years. Centuries. Eons.”

When she looked back again, Kakashi had mysteriously managed to teleport to the other side of the room. Katsuko cackled.