| [Oct. 19th, 2013|04:00 am] |
In his next life, Kakashi thought, maybe he’d herd cats for a living. It would probably be easier. “Will you survive?” he asked Ryouma dryly.
“From now on, I’m comin’ to Naruto-kun for all my medical needs,” Ryouma said, because he was a gigantic, shameless suck-up. He unfolded his legs and scrambled up, heading into the tiny kitchen area to forage through his two cabinets. “I’m afraid I can’t pay you till I get paid, but how’s snacks and juice instead?”
Naruto catapulted into the kitchen like a tiny, sweet-seeking missile, and clambered up onto the counter-top. “Prawn crisps? Ooh, pocky.”
There was limited furniture in Ryouma’s room, just a half-made bed and a weapons chest. If Kakashi sat on either, he probably wasn’t going to get up again any time soon. Even though they’d had the chance to sleep on the boat, constantly waking up to the sound of civilians hadn’t exactly been restful.
“Naruto-kun,” he said. “Tousaki-san has just had a long, hard mission and probably wants to sleep. Why don’t we leave him in peace?”
Naruto’s face fell.
“You weren’t saying that all the times you were kicking me awake,” Ryouma said, and handed Naruto a melon juicebox with a straw already stuck in. “Here, Naruto-kun.”
Naruto accepted the juice mournfully, and looked up at Ryouma with huge blue eyes, practically radiating please don’t kick me out, which, yeah, Kakashi should’ve expected that. Naruto would bond with a fence-post if it looked friendly enough.
Ryouma snorted a half-laugh and leaned hip-shot against the sink, a second box of lychee-flavored juice in hand. A quick flicker of eyes glanced Kakashi’s way.
“If you wanna go get cleaned up, I can look after him a little,” Ryouma said. “We’ll watch a movie or somethin’.”
“Ah—” Kakashi began, which was as far as he got before Naruto exploded into spasms of delight and grabbed Ryouma’s arm, demanding to know what movies he had. Kakashi frowned uncomfortably. “Are you sure? He can be kind of a handful.”
“I can always sit on him,” Ryouma said serenely. He swung Naruto off the counter, using his unbandaged arm; Naruto giggled and clung upside down, using the ANBU arm-guard for a handhold. Ryouma nodded at the pile of videocassettes scattered across the floor. “Go pick one out.”
The juice was already kicking in. Naruto gave a warrior-yell and dropped, flying across the room to grab the first tape that looked shiny. And then a second tape, when it looked shinier. Just deciding would probably keep him distracted for ten minutes.
Ryouma met Kakashi’s eye. “I can look after him for an hour, at least,” he said quietly. “Go take care of yourself.”
Kakashi hesitated, reluctant, but he didn’t really want to take Naruto into the ANBU showers with him, and Naruto left alone in Kakashi’s room was always an adventure that ended in disaster. And, often, explosions.
“I’ll be quick,” he said at last. “Find me if you need anything. Naruto-kun, Tousaki-san is your captain for a bit. Listen to him, okay? I’ll be right back.”
Naruto barely looked up.
Shinobi didn’t dither; they made choices and carried them through. Kakashi nodded at Ryouma, crushed the urge to hover on his doorstep, and left. |
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