| [Apr. 8th, 2017|09:58 pm] |
"You realize these are exactly the same as ANBU pants," Kakashi said accusingly, coming out of the bathroom. "Except less sturdy. And riveted."
"I didn't realize the dancing was going to be a ranked mission," Hakone said, sounding amused. He saluted Ryouma with the beer bottle. "Are all your missions with him this hard?"
Ryouma gritted his teeth. Hakone's humor was often edged, but this time even Kakashi might catch the double entendre. And Ryouma'd scared Kakashi off once already. He didn't need to do it again.
He needed to show Kakashi how to have a good time with a drink and a dance floor and other people, and then he needed to find Ginta or someone else wicked and willing, and stop thinking about what he couldn't have.
He stared Hakone down, and said pointedly, "Thanks for the clothes. We'll try not to get blood on them."
Hakone smiled. "I trust you to clean them before you bring them back, if you do. The shirt needs hand-washing though. Don't throw it in the machine or I'll make you replace it."
Kakashi's gaze slid from Hakone to Ryouma. A faint furrow drew between his brows, under the plain black band of his eyepatch. The mask dimpled over a slow inhale, as if he were tasting the air, and the frown deepened. He said to Hakone, "If your shirts dissolve in the wash, I'm doing you a favor getting rid of one." To Ryouma, he added, "So this works?"
"It works," Ryouma said. "See you around, Hakone. Don't wait up."
Hakone snickered, and Ryouma herded Kakashi out before anything got worse.
They stopped at Kakashi's apartment to drop off his clothes and acquire his wallet, boots, and at least three knives. Ryouma stole another glance in the bathroom mirror, raked his hand through his hair, and decided he'd do. Ginta'd seemed to enjoy looking at him anyway, even in blues, and the dark jeans and slim-cut red shirt over a black mesh tank certainly fit him better.
Kakashi didn't look at him any differently. Ryouma reminded himself he didn't want him to.
They took the shortcut down to the village, straight off Nidaime's head. The sun was a distant memory below the horizon, but the night air was still warm, and the lights and laughter of Konoha's streets reached out to draw them in. Ryouma bought sticks of yakitori off a street vendor and handed one to Kakashi. "You'll want something in your stomach."
Kakashi did the food-vanishing trick. Ryouma was still trying to figure out how he'd managed it when they arrived at Embers.
The entrance was a small door tucked away up an alley in Konoha's entertainment district, between an all-night eatery and a massage parlor. The bouncer stared hard at Kakashi's mask and eye-band, but must've seen odder sights in a ninja village. He charged them the same cover as the curvy woman in stilettos in front of them.
Inside, a long, mirrored hallway opened onto a cavernous multilevel room. Strobe lights painted the place pink and green and blue, slicing over crowded knots of writhing men and women on the dance floor. Three-sided booths lined the walls, leading up to the long bar opposite the DJ's raised platform. A slim boy in a gold lamé shirt was dancing on a pole at another circular platform. Smoke blued the air, but Ryouma spotted a staircase across the dance floor, and another bar on the upper level.
He touched Kakashi's shoulder and pointed at the staircase. He had to shout to be heard over the pulsing music. "Drinks'll be better up there!" |
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