Ryouma’s familiar voice cut above the music. “Lieutenant!” He sounded pleased and relieved to have found Genma. His tall figure cut the crowd, but when he got closer and saw Ginta and Kurenai, he pulled up short, with a complicated look on his face.

Kakashi leaned around Ryouma, looking dishevelled and sweaty, and surprisingly relaxed. His shirt hung open, and his hair fell damply over his covered eye. “We brought more drinks.”

“How many have you already had??” The thought flew straight from brain to lips before Genma could stop it. What was in that blue drink?

“Four,” Kakashi said readily. “Tousaki’s had six. You don’t want one? Yuuhi can have it, I guess.” Kakashi held two stemmed glasses in each hand. Brightly colored liquor formed strata in one glass, while another held a milky light green drink garnished with a melon ball.

“Oooh, is that a Midori Sky?” Ginta reached for the green drink, and Kakashi smoothly pulled it out of his reach.

Ginta looked genuinely surprised, then a little put out. “Still not friends, Hatake?”

Kakashi hesitated, glancing at Ryouma first, then Genma. What was he looking for? He huffed an aggrieved sigh and pressed the Midori Sky and the stratified drink into Genma’s and Kurenai’s hands, then snapped his fingers over the remaining, shimmery violet drink. A tiny spark of chakra lept from Kakashi’s hands to the glass. Indigo flames flared and danced. He sighed again, and handed the drink to Ginta.

Ginta’s eyes brightened. “Apology accepted,” he said. He waited for the flames to die down before he took a sip, but if it was any reminder of his recent burns, he didn’t show it. “I didn’t realize the Midori Sky was for Genma.”

Genma looked down at the glass in his hand, then back at Kakashi, unexpectedly touched. “Thanks, Hatake. I’ve never actually tried one of these.” He’d decided to stop drinking and let the alcohol already in his system metabolize a little, but the drink looked interesting, and if Kakashi had brought it especially for him…

It was fruity and complex, and mild in a way that promised it had a hidden kick. One of those drinks you could down four or five of without feeling a thing, but on the sixth, you were on your face. He grinned and clinked his glass against Kurenai’s stripey drink, then turned to share the toast with his teammates. Ryouma had another of the layered drinks in one hand, and something ruby red in the other, while Kakashi held a pale pink, effervescent drink with little golden flakes swirling in its depths.

“Taichou ought to be back soon, if one of those is for him,” Genma said. He hoped.

Ryouma scanned the crowd. With ill-concealed relief, he said, “He’s comin’ this way.” He raised his voice, “Taichou!”

Genma smiled when he caught sight of Raidou, pushing away thoughts about that almost-kiss. “Look,” he said, raising his glass, “Hatake and Tousaki bought us drinks.”