Ryouma was in the shower when Kakashi got back from the Heroes’ Stone. Gym clothes scattered around the bathroom door suggested he’d been exercising. An empty coffee mug and plate in the sink, along with a discarded packet of one of Akimichi Masaru’s muscle-rebuilding powders on the counter, suggested he’d even managed to eat breakfast like a sensible human being, instead of just injecting caffeine directly into a vein.

Kakashi’s mouth twitched. He shucked his sandals, unwound the scarf that was almost unnecessary now the sun was squarely up, and was midway through tidying up when someone knocked on the door.

Odds were somewhere between a missions summons—which was unlikely, given that Kakashi was still working only in-village and Ryouma wasn’t certified mission-fit—or yet another person who’d finally caught the news that Ryouma was alive and wanted to see it for themselves.

He answered the door with soapy coffee mug in hand, and blinked.

It was Katsuko, wearing her own clothes.

She looked exactly like she had six months ago: dark-haired, androgynous, standing hipshot in combat boots and dark jeans, wearing the bare edge of a smile. Her creased tee-shirt had a bright yellow smiling face on it, with Xs for eyes. This time she smelled of nothing but herself, and a lot like exhaustion.

“Hello,” said Kakashi, after a long moment.

Katsuko raised one dark eyebrow, a little spike of wariness cutting through her scent. She lifted a hand, shifting the brightly wrapped package tucked into her arm. “‘Sup. Ryouma in? You both need to be here for this.”

That was faintly ominous.

“He’s in the shower,” Kakashi said, which sounded much more claim-staking than he’d actually meant it to, but he didn’t take it back. “Wait here.”

He shut the door on her.

The shower turned itself off before he got to the bathroom door, and Ryouma stepped out with a towel wrapped around his hips, his hair still damply spiked and water beading on his shoulders. Even with only a week to train, he was already building up new muscle. “Hey,” he said, smiling. “You’re back—”

“Katsuko’s here,” Kakashi said, which made Ryouma’s smile do something extremely complicated. “She says she has something for both of us.” A thought struck him. “If she’s pregnant, you’re officially a walking soap opera.”