Dedicated to Frog-kun for the 700th review on Every Day is a Holiday.
Prompt: A fic with Inoue and Shiba. (Note: This is the first time I've ever written them! :O I think that makes all of the original anime cast but the American team!)
A/N: This one was shorter than I would have liked, so I'm sorry about that. I'm fairly happy with the way it worked out, though. Second of the ten zillion request fics I have to do (three of which I think are for Frog?) but at least I'm getting somewhere. Anyway: read and review!
"Seeing you give someone praise is rare."
–Shiba to Inoue, about Nanjiroh
"Shiba," Inoue Mamoru called from behind her. Despite the fact that it was late out, she was still sitting at her desk and filtering through photos for the next few articles, picking out captions and matching them to photographs.
"Ah, Inoue-senpai," she said, looking up surprised: she was used to being the only one left here late at night, and she certainly hadn't expected her mentor of all people to still be here.
"You're working late," he said, surprised as well. She shrugged.
"I had some things to finish up," she told him. "Did you need something senpai?"
"I actually just had to stop by and pick up some paperwork, but since you're here I just wanted to commend you on the work you put into the last article. It came out really well, and I think it's one of the best yet," he told her, something inside of him proud that the aspiring photographer and reporter had steadily improved under his guidance. Still, he definitely couldn't take all the credit – she had really done it all herself, aside from his occasion side comments and pointers he gave.
She nodded, her lips curving upwards into a slight smile. "Thank you senpai."
"You deserve it," he told her, before turning to his desk and grabbing what he had come back for. "Don't stay too late, now – we're checking in on Seigaku again tomorrow." He gave a small wink, and then he was off.
As he walked away, words that she had spoken to him months before echoed through her head: "Seeing you give someone praise is rare."
Rare it may be, but she also had to admit that it was incredibly fulfilling as well.