Genma waited until Kakashi was out of sight to follow him. Kakashi would probably do better being left to settle himself alone for a moment, away from too-perceptive lieutenants and their meddling. It gave Genma a chance to check one last time on Hisa-san and her parents—she was unmoving and unchanged; they were desperate with worry, but hiding it behind stoic efficiency as they cared for her. Taking his leave of them with a promise to come back the instant there was any change, Genma went out on the deck to find Raidou.

He squinted as his eyes adjusted to the sudden sun, scanning up and down the narrow strip of deck that skirted the cabins and connected prow to stern. Granny Kawase was up near the front of the boat, gesturing animatedly as she discussed some matter or other with two of her hulking sons-in-law. She turned and gave Genma a long, appraising look, then lifted her metal-shod walking stick—more a weapon than a mobility aid, Genma guessed—and pointed behind him towards the paddle wheel. He nodded his thanks and turned towards the back.

At the stern, near carefully stacked cargo that included the canvas-wrapped demon head, Genma found a tangle of black and white clad bodies: the rest of ANBU Team Six. Ryouma was sprawled long-limbed on a stack of wooly sheep hides, sheltered in a patch of shade beneath a canvas flap. Katsuko was tucked right against him, back to his side, curled protectively around her sling-bound arm and… a cat? Her head was pillowed on Raidou’s thigh. The captain was sitting up against the bulwark, with one arm stretched out along the railing, and one knee (the one Katsuko wasn’t sleeping on) raised casually in front of him. His head was thrown back as if he were studying the sky. Nearby, one of Katsuko’s clones lay lazily in a large coil of rope, cuddling another cat to its armored chest.

Kakashi was seated a little ways away from them, farther from the canvas-wrapped demon head and its unpleasant stench, but close enough to keep an eye on all his teammates. A lanky black cat wandered over and sniffed at his booted foot, then hopped up into Kakashi’s lap as if it had been invited. Kakashi flinched, stilled, and after a moment, raised a hand to nudge the cat off. The cat shifted grudgingly, planting itself mere inches from Kakashi’s ankle where it began to groom itself.

When Genma got to Raidou, he thought about how much standing up again from a crouch was likely to hurt, and decided to stay on his feet. “Captain. You awake?”

Raidou’s head jerked and dropped, then jerked up again. “What? Yes!” he said reflexively. then, as actual awakeness returned, “What?”

“Hi,” Genma said. He glanced at his sleeping teammates, then over at the clone, who waved, and Kakashi, who ignored him. “Think I can get a minute with you now?”

“Sure,” Raidou said through a jaw-cracking yawn. The mist-conjured mask was thinning enough at the edges that Genma could see the movement. “Many minutes as you want,” Raidou said. He gently dislodged Katsuko, who made a brief, protesting sound before she burrowed under the edge of one of the sheepskins.

Genma put out a hand to help Raidou to his feet.

“Where?” Raidou asked.

“Up there?” Genma suggested, pointing to the roof of the cabin. “Don’t think anyone will bother us much, and we won’t be seen if we tuck up between the smokestacks.”

“Figures you’d make me climb,” said Raidou as he chakra-walked his way up the side of the cabins.

“Says the man who routinely makes his entire team run until they drop at five in the morning,” Genma said. “We need the privacy, and I could use the fresh air.”

Raidou reached the roof’s edge first, reaching up to vault over the edge. He leaned down and offered Genma a hand up.