| [Aug. 29th, 2017|03:29 am] |
Ryouma said, “I was thinking maybe we all died of paint fumes in Genma’s place and this is ninja heaven.”
Kicking him was a lot of effort. Kakashi settled for bouncing a cherry pit off Ryouma’s forehead.
“Ow,” Ryouma said lazily. Then, “Hey, do you still have cherries?”
“Not anymore,” Kakashi said, with complete honesty, and threw another pit. Ryouma deflected this one effortlessly into the pond. Kakashi licked the last flecks of cherry juice off his teeth and settled back, letting his legs dangle off the porch.
Firefly light danced over the pond, occasionally winking out when a fish leapt accurately.
“So… Kurenai,” Ryouma said, briefly making Kakashi wonder if Kurenai had given him permission to use her given name, or if he’d just gone and appropriated it like he did with everyone else. “If this is our reward, are we her punishment detail?”
“You’d think she was punished enough already on our last mission,” Genma said.
“She likes sake,” Kakashi said.
Ryouma considered this. “Reward for everyone...?” He rolled onto his stomach, bracing his chin on stacked fists. “You two seem to be getting along better.”
Of course he’d noticed. He’d gotten an introduction to Kurenai at her most acidic. Kakashi vaguely remembered explaining something like, Yuuhi dislikes me. I hurt her friend. There’d been bigger issues to focus on.
Like the captain, who was doing his second mission with a pair of outside eyes watching.
Kakashi tucked that thought away like a splinter, and drawled, “You say that like I’m not charming and sociable to everyone we meet.”
“I saw you showing that kid how to catch fireflies and let ‘em go,” Ryouma said, with a smile turned soft at the edges.
“That was cute,” Raidou said aside to Genma.
“I’d say he was trying to make nice for Yuuhi, but I’m not sure she noticed,” Genma said, like he was being subtle.
Raidou considered this. “I think I might have missed some context.”
Genma murmured back, “You and me both. Hatake’s like a pumice stone, though. I suspect he rubbed Yuuhi wrong sometime before the last mission.”
“The pumice stone can hear you,” Kakashi said, too comfortable to bother being annoyed.
Raidou made an amused sound. “Did you rub her the wrong way?”
Kakashi folded an arm under his head, looking up at the weathered porch timbers overhead, and considered how truthful he wanted to be. It was old history, and only part of it belonged to him.
Granted, the part that had fractured and torn everyone bloody.
“We used to be friends when we were kids,” he said at last. “I hurt someone she cared about, and we stopped. No one died.” |
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