It looked like Ryouma, breathless, shower-damp, and dressed for battle, had been far more rattled by the meeting summons than Katsuko had. Rookie vs veteran, Genma supposed. He seemed braced for terrible news, which wasn’t unexpected. Until Genma’d met with Raidou that morning, he’d been waiting for something awful, too.

“Not yet,” he said, waving Ryouma in. “But he will be. I’ll give you the details when we get to the Palace. We’re meeting Hatake there.”

Ryouma took a deep, trembly breath, and leaned against the doorframe like his legs had gone unsteady. “Good thing I showered, I guess,” he said. “Is Taichou meeting us there, too?” Apprehension flickered across his face. “Are we meeting the Hokage?”

Katsuko was Ryouma’s complete opposite in demeanour, leaning over with a wide, open smile to punch Ryouma in the side with her good hand in a show of pugilistic affection. “Who cares?” she crowed. “We're getting taichou back.”

Ryouma hissed a sharp breath at the punch — and then another, locking eyes with Genma, looking for confirmation. It wasn’t one-hundred percent certain that Raidou would be back, but right now the team needed hope. Especially Ryouma. Genma nodded; he’d clarify when they were with Kakashi. “If everything continues to go well—” he started.

Ryouma tipped his head back against the doorframe with his eyes closed, breathing again, then snapped straight, grabbed Katsuko in a hug, and planted an exuberant kiss at her hairline.

Katsuko, laughing delightedly and levitated on her toes, craning her neck to kiss Ryouma back. She missed his cheek and landed on his chin, but it seemed to satisfy them both.

So much for boundaries. But maybe, just for today, Raidou’s rules could relax a little.

Genma cleared his throat, snapping their attention back to him. “We’re not going to see Taichou, and we’re not meeting with the Hokage.” Disappointment and relief warred on both Ryouma’s and Katsuko’s faces.

“We’re meeting in a conference room at the Palace to save Hatake the trip up here, since he’s still recuperating and he’s less mobile than we are.” Which, actually was only somewhat true. Genma gave his crutches a rueful look and patted the bottle of fat, white painkillers in his pocket. At least he was getting a good triceps workout with all this crutching up and down from HQ to the village and back. That rickshaw Asuma’d summoned for the morning ride to the hospital seemed a lot less like a luxury as the day wore on.

Which the day was wearing on. Genma looked up at the clock. He’d told Hatake quarter past the hour; given Ryouma’s late arrival, that was probably not going to happen. Nor was stopping at his dad’s bakery to supplement Kakashi’s “snacks” with day-old daifuku.

But he could give Ryouma time to dress down. Genma was in civvies, after all, and so was Katsuko, in tight black jeans and blue t-shirt embroidered with kissing lizards at the neckline. “You want to change to civvies, too, Tousaki?” Genma asked. “Or are you good staying in uniform? You can ditch the armor at least, we’re not going out on any missions for a while yet.”

Ryouma’s eyes flicked from Genma to Katsuko and back, giving their relaxed wardrobes a once-over as a red flush crept over his cheeks and ears. “Guess I'll change,” he mumbled, edging past Katsuko to pull a freshly laundered, neatly folded t-shirt and jeans from hs locker.

“I should have specified in my note that civvies were fine, since we’re all still on leave,” Genma said. “Next time I’ll be more clear.” He watched as Ryouma skimmed out of his uniform, appraising fading bruises under tattooed skin. In black trunks and little else, Ryouma was distractingly attractive. Genma looked down at his desk, doodling the character for ‘boundary’ on a scrap of paper. When he looked up again, Ryouma was just tugging the hem of his shirt down.

Katsuko raised an eyebrow, and her gaze fell pointedly on his doodled kanji, before she looked right at him, grinning like a fiend.

There was nothing for it but to raise an eyebrow right back at her, but the bubbly delight at the prospect of having Raidou back was infecting everyone, and Genma couldn’t help the smile that twitched at his lips.

“If everyone is ready,” he said, and reached for his crutches. “We’re taking the elevator down.”