“It disoriented you, didn’t it?” Katsuko waited until Kakashi slapped a bandage over her calf before she reclaimed her foot and tugged her pants leg down. “You were the guy who knifed me in the leg. Have you been to the ANBU infirmary yet?”

“No.”

“Awesome,” Katsuko said. “Then you can deal with Toushiro-sensei. He’s the head medic there.” She staggered upright and went to go look for Kakashi’s tanto.

A glint on the ground caught her eye; as she reached for it, Kakashi’s hand appeared out of the corner of her eye and snatched the tanto up. He sheathed it at his back in one smooth motion and gave her a look like he was daring her to comment on it.

She shrugged. “Fair enough. You ready to go?”

Kakashi’s kodachi lay a few feet away. He scooped it up and nodded, falling into step with her as she retrieved her jounin vest and started the trudge down to HQ. Several quiet minutes passed before he spoke up again. "What did you do just before you landed on my sword? It's like you changed the timing of your jump mid-air."

“Oh, that?” Katsuko inspected her nails. “I just jumped really, really high.”

“Mm.” Kakashi gave her the side-eye. “Next time I’ll beat you.”

She smirked. “It’s nice to have goals.”

"Then we’ll spar with ninjutsu.”

“No one likes a sore loser.”

HQ’s main building loomed overhead. The lobby was empty, which meant there was no one to gawk at their sliced-up, bloody clothes or the trail of dirt they left behind when they took the elevator down to the infirmary. As the elevator car creaked downwards, she said, “Figure out how I changed the timing of my jump, and I’ll teach you how to do it.”

Kakashi gave her an attempt at a dry look, but there was a spark in the back of his eye. "If I figure it out, I won't need you to teach me. How about you show me something else instead?"

Katsuko’s eyebrows rose. “I’m guessing you have something specific in mind.”

"The training kata for the sword style you use," he said. "I want to learn them, if you'll let me."

Whatever Katsuko had been expecting, it certainly wasn’t that. She stared at him as the elevator car jolted to a stop with a soft chime. “Nobody’s asked me before,” she said at last, stepping out into the hall. “Let me think about it.”

Toushiro-sensei’s door opened before Kakashi could reply. The red-haired medic stuck his head out, saw Katsuko, and scowled. “What have you and Namiashi broken now?”

“No Namiashi this time, sensei,” Katsuko said, and pointed at Kakashi. “But this guy stabbed me.”