Genma drained the last of his first beer and took a long swallow of the second before he spoke again. “Her chakra is insane, and not in the ‘future Hokage’ kind of way. The night I met her at the park, she was egging on a civilian fight that was about to turn really ugly when I intervened. She had trauma written all over her on the wall the other day, but she clearly adores you, and from what I can tell, she was keeping an admirable lid on whatever panic attack was clawing its way up her throat because you were there.” He looked at Raidou calmly. “What gigantic thing am I missing here?”

Silence stretched out long and deep while Raidou chose his words. His fingertips drummed rhythmically against the edge of the label on his bottle, sending tiny shivers through the condensation beaded on the glass. “Katsuko,” he said eventually, and paused. “Katsuko doesn’t have middle gears. Her chakra’s part of it. I don't have the full story, but I know she landed on the wrong side of an enemy medic-nin, and not recently, either. My guess is torture. She has that look, y'know?” The words spooled out, then halted.

“I know,” Genma said. He’d seen the look, too. She wasn’t any older than he was. Torture, not recent, could only mean she’d been young when it happened.

“I don't know what happened at the wall,” Raidou continued. “I've seen her stumble before, but never like that.”

“Do you know if she grew up in Konoha? Maybe she was in one of the outlying towns that was besieged during the war,” Genma suggested. It didn’t feel quite right, but it was the best guess he had at the moment.

Raidou shrugged and took another pull on his beer. “We haven't shared much about family. I'm pretty sure she's Konoha born and bred. I know her dad's a jounin. Mom's a civilian. Little brother's an artist. That’s it.”

“I guess her dad being a shinobi explains her staying in the service after whatever happened to her,” Genma said. He matched Raidou’s rate on his second beer, feeling the alcohol starting to work on his mostly empty stomach. Maybe another piece of fruit would be a good idea. There was a ripe-looking mango in the bowl; Genma pulled it free and flipped a kunai into his hand to start peeling it, then hesitated. “Want me to do this over a plate?”

Raidou leaned back in his chair, grabbed a small cutting board from a hook on the closest cabinet, and slid it silently across the table.

“The boundaries thing you mentioned with her—I’m guessing that’s related, too?” Genma said. He didn’t like the next thought that came to mind, but he had to ask. “Rape?”

Raidou frowned. “Not that she's ever told me.” He seemed to think for a moment longer, then shook his head. “I don't think so, no. The boundaries thing is something else. She's not great at— I don't know how you'd say it. Self-limiting?”

Genma nodded understanding.

“She's fantastic on missions, don't get me wrong,” continued Raidou. “Whip-smart, always on point, lethal as a hurricane. But back home, with other people... Sometimes she doesn't know when to stop. She needs her teammates to let her know where the lines are.”

“That ought to play beautifully with Hatake ‘Always Wears A Mask’ Kakashi,” Genma said.

Raidou evidently had a pretty big soft-spot for Katsuko, but the man had been her lieutenant for a year. And if she was as good on missions as Raidou said, and was the fun-loving woman Genma’d spent an evening blossom viewing with a week ago at least some of the time, that wasn’t surprising.

Raidou grinned. “She's going to think Hatake is a present designed purely for her to annoy. I'll bet you that ten-spot that she and Tousaki create an unholy alliance from hell.”

“Nooot a bet I want to take,” Genma said, mimicking Raidou’s inflection from before. Raidou had a tiny gap between his front teeth, a really nice smile... Genma rolled his eyes at himself and ate a slice of the mango.

Focus, Shiranui. Also, from now on, no drinking on an empty stomach around good-looking superiors. Ever.