Asuma nodded, glancing Genma’s way briefly before he stared out across the courtyard again. A light breeze rustled the geraniums in the pots next to them, tossing bright petals gaily in the sun. After a moment, his internal gyroscope seemed to find a new balance point. He ashed his cigarette, took another drag, and nudged Genma’s arm. “Tell me about the rest of your team?”

That was one of the things Genma had really missed about Asuma—his ability to find the surface of even the most storm-tossed sea.

“They’re— wow, where do I even start?” He took in a lungful of smoke and let it drift back out on a lazy sigh. “So there’s Hatake—Yondaime-sama’s own, right? He started out about as arrogant and awkward as everyone always says he is, but I’m kind of warming up to him. There’s something—” He drew circles in the air with the cigarette, watching blue smoke swirl, groping for a word. “He’s as lethal as they come. And seriously, seriously prickly. But I get the impression that underneath it all, he’s actually a kind of tender-hearted kid.”

Asuma grinned. “I have a hard time imagining him as lethal but tender,” he said with a chuckle. “That sounds like a kitten.”

Genma snorted. “Maybe not ‘tender’. But there’s something there. Although gods know, I might be blowing smoke here.” He tried to puff out a smoke ring to illustrate his point, but it didn’t hold together well. “Kakashi’s convinced he’s smarter, faster, more skilled, and just all around better than anyone else. The whole ‘working as a team’ thing practically fractures his teeth. But just when you think you have him pegged as a condescending loner, he’ll do something like turn up at your doorstep at ten at night to tell you your best friend you’ve been mourning for half a week isn‘t actually dead.”

“Well, to be fair, he probably—” Asuma started, and stopped to stare as Genma’s words clicked into place. “What? I think I missed a step back there. Who said I was dead?”

Genma glanced to the side. “Everyone. No-one officially, but everyone who knew anything about the situation in Hikouto said the same thing: there’d been a coup attempt; some or all of the Guardian Twelve rebelled against the Daimyou; and all of them, along with most of the palace guard and a good number of civilians, were dead.” He didn’t want to see the shadow steal back into Asuma’s eyes so soon, but he wasn’t going to lie to his friend.

“I spent the week telling everyone who would listen that they were full of shit if they thought you’d turned traitor. And burning incense for you.”