"I'm making up for your lack of manners," Natsumi said frigidly. "I take it you've met before?"

"We are old friends," the abbot said comfortably. His wrinkles creased in silent amusement. "Have you known each other long, Natsumi-san?"

It felt like forever. Only three days, she realized with sudden shock. How could half a week feel like a lifetime? Well, she was sore enough to have a good guess at what arthritis would feel like, in fifty years...

Asuma had given her a chance to see the next fifty years. They'd traded futures back and forth like children with a handful of bright copper coins, and she still wasn't sure she'd ever felt more alive than that moment on the pebbled riverbank when he'd caught her arm and stole her breath.

"We met three days ago," she said. She knelt very carefully on the cushion next to Asuma, without looking at him. It was more than enough to feel his solid warmth against her shoulder, almost close enough to touch. Too close, perhaps. She didn't move. "It's been a very long three days."

The abbot laughed softly as he settled down at his own place. "I hope your return journey will be less eventful. You are welcome, of course, to stay here as long as you need. Young Hideyoshi tells me you will need at least another night's rest before you set off again. I defer to him in all matters of health; I would suggest you do the same."

'Young Hideyoshi,' Natsumi remembered, was a portly retired medic-nin already edging out of middle age. Tired as he was when he'd come to see her, he'd sealed the cuts in her feet with only a brief touch of chakra-warmed hands. Medical advice like that was hard to reject. "We'd be grateful for your hospitality, kanchou-sama." And very grateful for another chance at hot baths and warm beds.

Warm beds set a little too close together. Natsumi caught herself chewing on her scabbed lip, and hurriedly reached for her chopsticks instead.