"Yeah, me too. No type twos for me, even if Grandmother thinks they're all that way. The mission I got so messed up on just now, that wasn't even a solo, but..." Ginta's eyes twitched away from his companion's face, back to the slender fish darting in and out of shadows. "Any mission can go to hell, I guess. I was pretty sure I wasn't coming back from it, at one point, but not because I didn't want to. I was just... You know how it goes, right? It's not like it's in Konoha's best interests to let agents go down, though, even if the mission fails. But you're far from HQ and everything happens so fast. By the time they even realize you need backup, half the time it's too late..."

That wasn't where he wanted to go. He'd been trying hard not to think about the what-ifs since he got back. Trying hard not to think about the feeling that had come over him as he'd fallen towards an inferno: that feeling of serenity. He lifted his chin and smiled at Hiro, leaping for another subject with an acrobatic grace he didn't feel.

"You haven't been there, huh?" He could feel Hiro's eyes on him, seeing too much, knowing too much. Ginta's voice rose, his smile tightened. "It's nice up in the north east. There's a border town on our side of the line that has a really sweet onsen. We should try for an easy double sometime -- the kind where no one needs any rescues -- and I'll show you around."

It wasn't like he'd been particularly cryptic, but Hiro's reference to 'up there' made it plain Hiro knew more than Ginta had told him. It kindled a strange mixture of curiosity, apprehension, annoyance and... warmth? Yes, warmth. How strange.

"How many of my mission reports have you read, anyway? It's not any fun if I don't have any stories to tell you that you haven't already heard."