| [Feb. 21st, 2015|03:53 am] |
“Hakone seems nice,” Katsuko remarked neutrally, when the man was out of earshot. “How long have you known him?”
"Two years, thereabouts. We've run a handful of team missions together, plus two partnered ones. He's an all-rounder, like me. Good man on-mission and off." Ryouma hesitated. "But I saw him last night, already, so if you want—"
On a normal day Katsuko could have put on a face for a stranger. People sensed her wildfire chakra and assumed she had the personality to go with it. Usually she enjoyed living up to her reputation; showing people what they expected meant they didn’t look too closely, didn’t ask too many questions.
Hakone seemed like a man who liked asking questions and not resting until he got the answers—the truthful answers, not the ones buried under layers of misdirection and masks. His eyes were shrewd and his gaze perceptive, for all that his greeting had seemed genuine.
But Ryouma trusted him, and Ryouma wasn’t the type of person to make close friends easily. And… she didn’t like worrying him, not over something as petty as her inability to deal with an unexpected lunch guest.
“Hey, everything’s good.” She grinned and reached up to pat him on the cheek. “As long as Hakone’s not expecting comedy hour from me, we’re all set.”
His dark eyes clouded a little; before she could draw her hand back, he caught it in his own. "You sure? I mean, he is a good guy. If you don't want comedy hour he can read the mood, but I can also kick him off to eat on his own. He won't mind much. Or he can tell you the story of Bungobashi Province and you can see how red my ears get."
“You know, I actually do want to hear about Bungobashi,” Katsuko said, gleeful. She let Ryouma keep her hand for now; his grip was warm, and it felt nice. “Did you embarrass yourself in front of a superior officer? Did your shirt come off? Inquiring minds want to know.”
"There was shirtlessness involved,” Ryouma evaded. “Hakone tells the story better, though." He released her hand to dig a packet of warm egg rolls out of the bag in his lap. "You waited for me?"
“Yes.” Katsuko imbued every ounce of the agony she’d suffered into her voice. “You took forever and my stomach started digesting itself. You owe me one of your egg rolls.”
"Konoha is grateful for your service," he said gravely, and stuck an egg roll in her mouth.
Katsuko squawked, bit the egg roll in half, and chewed vengefully. “Insubordination,” she muttered.
He blinked innocently at her. "Just following orders, senpai."
She pulled a hideous face at him and rummaged in the takeout bag for her first bowl of katsudon. “‘Following orders’, my foot. The only time you follow orders is to undermine my authority.”
"Sometimes I try to undermine other peoples'." He handed her a paper packet of chopsticks. "I'm being good today, though. I ran the lieutenant's errands and took Kakashi his paperwork and picked up both their gear. And started their laundry." He took a bite of his own egg roll. "Figured I'd start inventorying damaged gear this afternoon. You up for note-taking, when you're done with your paperwork?"
“Sure,” Katsuko said, through a mouthful of rice. “If you give me a bite from your katsudon bowl.”
He stared at her. "You bought yourself two."
“Yeah. So?” |
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