Her entrance into the world of shinobi hadn't been a gentle one; then again, it wasn't a gentle world she was entering, so she probably should have expected as much. Still, despite all that, she had been told and all that she had heard while growing up, she found it a different thing entirely to suddenly find herself right in the middle of it.
It had been late at night, late enough that she should have been in bed, under the covers and she had been, for a while, until she had tossed and turned enough to give herself a proper case of bedhead without actually catching a wink of sleep. So she'd gotten up, made herself tea and curled up on her couch beneath a blanket, in the dark while sipping tea and was, for the nth time in her life, grateful that she was no longer living at home where her mother would've promptly chased her back to bed.
She'd been halfway through her cup when a swift and harsh knock on her door had jolted her from her thoughts. At first, she'd thought she'd simply imagined it, after all, it was much too late for visitors, but when the knock sounded again she put her cup down, slipped out from beneath her blanket and peeked through the peephole of her door.
Only to immediately shrink back as she gasped, one hand covering her mouth while the other rested on the door. Not just one, but three shinobi were at the door. He was in the middle, his head hanging and each of his arms hanging over the shoulder of one of the other shinobi. As she shook her head she wondered if he was drunk as she reached for the lock to unlock the door, prepared to glare at him for all she was worth if that was the case.
However, when she opened the door, and really truly saw them, she had to bite the insides of her cheeks to… She wasn't quite sure what it was helping to be honest, but it gave her mind something else to focus on besides reeling at the sight of the blood on the front of his chest, the ragged puffs that came out of his mouth and how he looked as though he'd clawed his way through mud.
For a moment she simply stared, then lifted her head to look at the shinobi who brought him there. They didn't look too worried; then again they weren't exactly an easy bunch to read. Still, she must have looked very worried or as though she was about to faint, because the one on the right shifted and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"He's alright," she heard the words and could only blink as she took in the sight of mud and blood again, "he's alright," the man repeated again and she stared at him before looking back as the man he was holding took another rasping breath.
"It isn't his," this time it was the other man and as she stared, their words finally seemed to take on some meaning and she blinked.
"Then why," she paused, unsure how to phrase it, "isn't he standing on his own?" she finally said as a compromise.
"Chakra exhaustion," the one on the right said, shifting the weight of the man he was holding up as he looked at her.
"And a few bruised ribs," the other said, sharing a look with his comrade. "Otherwise he should be fine though, they said so at the hospital," the word 'hospital' reassured her and she nodded, before frowning.
"But why is he here?" she asked, staring at the man between them in confusion, "I thought people normally stayed at the hospital if they exhausted their Chakra?" it was the most she'd spoken to them so far and it seemed to reassure them that she had calmed down because the hand on her shoulder disappeared.
"He didn't want to stay there," the one on the right said with a slight shrug, "refused to actually…" he paused and glanced over at the man on the left.
"He didn't want to go home either," the man on the left continued, "the only place he would let us take him was… here," he looked something between confused and apologetic, "could we?" he gestured with his hand at it took her a moment to realize they wanted to bring him into her apartment. With a blink and a shake of her head, she opened the door further and moved aside to let them in.
"Sure," she said softly, something in her chest relaxing when she saw him take steps of his own as the men helped him in.
"Naomi?" it came out as a rasp and her breathing stilled when he lifted his head to look at her.
"Hi Raidou," she said as softly as she could manage, trying to keep the tremors out of her voice.
"Home," he murmured softly and she smiled gently, earning her a smile back that sent butterflies flying in her stomach.
"Where do you want him?" one of the men said and she shook her head to clear it, making Raidou chuckle slightly.
"Bathroom," he rasped softly, nodding his head towards the door on the left, "I need to clean up," as he spoke he very carefully made himself stand straighter and though he looked about to collapse any second, he did seem to be able to stand well enough on his own.
"You can go now," he looked at her and smiled briefly, "I'm in good hands," the men glanced at her, at him and then at each other before nodding.
"Okay, take care," one murmured while the other gave her a smile and squeezed her shoulder as he walked past.
"Thanks and thanks for bringing me here," he said, getting a dismissing wave from them both before they exited her apartment and closed her door behind them.
A/N: So I've been wanting to do a drabble with a civilian/shinobi relationship where the civilian gets a sudden view of the shinobi world. This is just an extremely quick drabble, to explore that idea briefly. I wasn't even planning to write Raidou for a while yet.