During Naruto's nature training, Sakura brings him special food pills. They're unappealing from the start: round, mud-colored balls that, heaped together in the basket she leaves them in, look more like rat poop than treats. I warn Naruto against eating them, but he's so endeared by Sakura's gesture of kindness that he bites into them immediately—only to turn around and gag into the waterfall Yamato created.

"Sakura might be good at making potent antidotes," I say, examining the treats while Naruto washes his mouth out in the waterfall. "But she's useless when it comes to taste. After all, you can just inject potions into your bloodstream. But when you make a poison, the taste has to be more subtle, in case you need to sneak it into the enemy's food."

Naruto groans, whining, "B-but if Sakura-chan made those for me, I'll just suck it up and eat them! It's fine, Ren—"

I hold the basket out of Naruto's reach, saying, "Don't make yourself sick over them, Naruto. That's the last thing you need after training like this. I'll break them down without compromising any of it's beneficial properties and make them taste better for you."

Naruto sighs with relief before returning to his training. It takes me a few tries over a few hours, but I return with the basket and offer a treat to Naruto. He takes a pill from the top of the pile, scrutinizes it, and then takes the smallest bite possible. He chews slowly. And then he hums in delight, popping the whole pill into his mouth and reaching for more.

"It's like," he says as I push him off, "chocolate—but also salty, like ramen! Ren, just—one—more—"

"No," I say, holding the basket over my head and keeping him at bay with my free hand. "It's possible to take in too many nutrients at once, you know. Sakura made these for you to have one or two every hour."

"So—one—more!"

"First," I say, frowning at him, "say I'm a better medic than Sakura."

Naruto flinches like I've just threatened his life. He glances around the field, making sure I haven't set him up for something. "Ah, Ren, can't I just…do I have to? What I mean is," he amends when I scowl, "you're both really talented medics! I couldn't choose—"

"If you don't," I say, gesturing to the basket, "I'll throw these out and refuse to alter any future batches Sakura makes for you."

Naruto's expression falls, as he weighs his options. But seeing him take my ultimatum so seriously, I laugh and ruffle his hair. "I'm messing with you, Naruto. Even if I'm number one in your head, Sakura is number one in your heart. Here. But don't!" I say, pulling the basket away before he can take it from me. "Don't take more than the recommended dosage every hour, or else you'll make yourself sick, okay?"

"Fine," Naruto says and snatches the basket from me. "Thank you, Ren!" He holds the basket close to him and pops another treat in his mouth, humming with glee. He leaves the basket beside Yamato before rushing back to the waterfall to continue his training. I watch him, amused, keeping a hand braced on my hip.

"You should have some of those too, Yamato," I say. "They have a lot of regenerative properties that could help you maintain your strength after dealing with this idiot."

Yamato chuckles, says, "Thank you, Ren-chan. With the way Naruto trains, I'm not sure I'll have a moment to try one, but I appreciate the sentiment."

"Oy, someone has to look out for you," I say, clasping my hands behind my head. "All Kakashi does is take advantage of your kindness and laze around while you do all the hard work."

"I'm supervising," Kakashi says from the shade of a tree, where he reclines, a book in his hands, on a bench Yamato made him. "Anyway, you've been hanging around us more than usual lately. What happened to being busy with your own things?"

I purse my lips, craning my neck to stretch my bones. Glancing at the sky, I say, "Shikamaru's on a mission with Asuma."

Kakashi pauses and lowers his book. "Ah. They've been gone for a while now, haven't they?"

"A few days."

Kakashi closes his book, sitting up. He offers me a seat beside him, but I shake my head. "A few days is nothing to be worried about then," he says. "It's not usual for a mission to last up to a week."

"Yeah," I say. I sit beside Yamato, plucking one of Sakura's treats from the basket. Rolling it between my fingers, I say, "I just…have a bad feeling."

Yamato and Kakashi exchange looks that don't go without my notice. I toss Sakura's treat into my mouth, eating it slowly. It's sweet, then salty, just like Naruto says, although I don't particularly feel like it has the sharpness of the miso broth in ramen.

Standing, I say, "But you're right, Kakashi. I have been hanging around you guys too much. I'll see you later."

[+]

The apartment complex is dark and made no brighter by the concrete walls and flooring. Still, I find the apartment I'm looking for easily. I double check the number with the address I've pulled from the shinobi records, and then knock.

"Ah, Ren-chan?" Kurenai blinks at me and then looks over my shoulder. There's a spark of hope in her eyes that I recognize. We have it in common. "What are you doing here? Is…?"

"No," I say, offering a sheepish smile. "Sorry. I wanted to stop by because—I've been a bit anxious lately. And I thought, if I'm anxious, Kurenai-sensei must be much worse!" I hold up a goody basket I made before coming over. It's full of herbal teas, fruit, and flowers. "Even though you look like you're more calm than I am, I thought we could share this basket together."

Kurenai mirrors my expression and welcomes me in. She puts the flowers in a vase and place it on her dining table by the window. The flowers pale in comparison to the ones she grows on her windowsill garden.

We eat and talk until the day grows dark, and even then it's another few hours before I realize I've overstayed my welcome, although Kurenai says I haven't.

"It was nice getting to talk to you alone," she says, walking me to the door. "It seems we're never together unless—"

We both pause. This is the first time either of us has brought up the men who connect us in the first place. The men whose absence makes our hearts uneasy.

"To be honest," Kurenai says, looking over her shoulder at her windowsill garden, "I had a bad feeling earlier today, too. So I was glad for this break in the day to make me forget about it, if just for a while." Kurenai smiles, her face lighting up. "Thank you, Ren-chan. Shikamaru is lucky to have someone like you."

I laugh, rubbing the back of my neck. "We're both lucky," I say. "Anyway, it's like Kakashi said when I talked to him earlier: it's only been a few days. There's—there's probably nothing to worry about."

But even as I say it, I don't feel any reassurance. Kurenai, likewise, seems to have trouble believing my words. I wave to her as I leave, hoping, for both our sakes, that this troubled feeling goes away.

[+]

The news comes within the week.

A/N: Despite being a loyal reader to the manga series, I don't actually watch the anime too much. I'm finally getting around to it this summer, and I'm currently at the Hidan and Kakuzu arc. Needless to say, it's breaking my heart. TT^TT

This is one part of the series I wish I had watched before writing the chapters! There's so much more depth to it than what the manga provided. I definitely would have included a scene like the above. I don't know if I ever mentioned it in BOUND, but Asuma teased Shikamaru about his friendship with Ren a lot. He'd always (implicitly) use his relationship with Kurenai as a parallel for Shikamaru's relationship with Ren, and Shikamaru would just *eye roll*. You know, hahaha.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! See you next time.