Raidou pulled a face. “That’s one advantage of staying in the barracks—always got a place to come home to. You have somewhere to stay?”

“I've been staying on my buddy Yamashiro Aoba's couch. Feeding his fish while he does missions. If I have to, I can always sleep at my dad's but…" Genma shrugged. “You know how it is. He's really civilian.”

And no mother in the picture.

“Yeah, one of my parents is a civilian,” Raidou said. “You’re welcome to hang out for a bit, if you want to keep working at your bowl of death there. Or you can head out if you want to crash. I think we’re pretty much done.”

“Thanks. I may as well finish this, if you're cool, since I'm pretty sure it will go to waste otherwise.” Genma forked down a few more bites, visibly struggling with the heat, but also apparently enjoying it, judging by the grin he gave Raidou. “I defeat death one mouthful at a time.”

“If you go into cardiac arrest over this, I’m going to keep all your stuff,” Raidou said.

“What stuff? I lost most of everything in the fire at my old apartment,” Genma said. “Did you get your taste for this from your ninja parent?”

“Civilian one, actually. She’s got a love for everything foreign. If she weren’t married to my step-mom, I’m pretty sure she’d have uprooted and moved to the edge of the map,” Raidou said, watching Genma.

“Lucky for Konoha that true love won out over wanderlust, then,” Genma said, without even blinking. “Is that them in the photos?” He nodded to Raidou’s bookshelf.

Ninja. It figured Genma had already noticed.

“That’s them,” Raidou said, smiling at the picture of two woman linking hands. Shun, his step-mother, wasn’t given overmuch to public affection, but Raidou could see the hidden happiness lurking at the corners of her mouth, and in her dark eyes. “Mom on the left, with the red hair. Step-mom on the right.”

“You look like your mom, but looks like you get your posture from your step-mom." Genma tilted his head. “What service is she in?”

“Academy teacher,” Raidou said. “They’re both teachers.”

Genma winced faintly. “Yikes. Two teachers? I thought I had it bad growing up with a baker. Your ninja mom wasn't your Academy sensei, was she?”

“For about a week,” Raidou said, amused. “And then never again. I think it was worse on her than on me, but that’s up for debate. She was a new-starter when I was in school.”

“I guess I never had her as a sensei,” Genma said, studying the photo thoughtfully. “You'd think I’d have recognized her, though.”

“You were a few years behind me, right?” Raidou said. “She got yanked for the war effort right before I graduated. You might have missed her.”

Genma’s eyes flickered down, but he didn’t comment on Shun’s metal leg. She wasn’t the first war-parent to come back with something missing. More unusual were the ones who’d made it back whole.

Like Raidou, if it came to that.

“Two years behind,” Genma said, and then, quietly: “Glad she made it back.”

“Me, too,” Raidou said with a crooked smile, which faded. “I’m sorry yours didn’t.”