Was she trying to kill him?

"Holy Buddha, woman," he groaned, clamping his hands over his ears, trying to squeeze the noise out of his skull. "Indoor voice."

Even worse, she was attracting attention. If the ninja dumped more sea water on them--

He wrenched his mind away from the thought, replaced it with the image of Tsume in a dress. Thought desperately of going home--no, not home, Konoha. Which was home, now. Konoha with its river and monument and heroes' stone; its leafy trees and back-ally nightclubs that he was actually old enough to get into now. With his new room and teammates on either side that he wanted to get to know, new ones and old not-quite-friends both.

Tsume bellowed again, crashing sound around inside his brain. Footsteps echoed above--the heavy tread of a man not bothering to be soundless, and the awkward gait of someone with a recent foot injury.

The whip-ninja. And Hibiki.

They were going to throw water--they were going to throw water--

"Bleeding hell, mutt, are you looking for another lashing?" The voice was muffled, just a little slurred, filled with sneering.

Asuma tried to push himself up. "No."