Chapter 20
Beta'd by Black Sparrow
Three weeks after her honeymoon Shiori hosted Genma for the first time in her own home, unfortunately the shinobi was in a pretty bad condition. The young wife had just started with making dinner when Kakashi walked through the door from his latest mission half carrying, half dragging a tired looking senbon user.
"Welcome home," Shiori said while she smiled at Kakashi.
The black haired civilian then let her eyes wander over their bodies and searched for visible signs of injuries. Her husband looked more or less fine, his comrade on the other hand looked worse for wear.
"Genma-san, are you alright?" she asked concerned while she came closer to where Kakashi had deposited Genma on the couch.
"Nothing life threatening, don't worry. I just broke him out of the hospital, he is staying for dinner if that's okay with you," Kakashi said somewhat nonchalantly, Shiori still picked up the silent question hidden in the statement.
"Of course!" Shiori agreed instantly before she tilted her head to the side and sighed while she took in Genma's form. "Chakra exhaustion, Genma-san?"
"Yes I fear so. Sorry for the intrusion," the last part was said slightly embarrassed.
"Don't be silly and you Kakashi?" she then continued.
"I'm just a bit tired and there are some scratches but no poison." Shiori sighed in relief and kissed him on his slightly scruffy cheek. He had removed his mask the moment he had entered the house, just like always.
After a scrutinizing look up and down his form Shiori sighed relaxed somewhat before she told her husband in a warm but stern voice, "Anata I hope you brought Genma-san's chakra supplements or you are going right back to the hospital to get them."
As an answer the silver haired Jounin sighed nearly soundlessly and pouted a bit before he moved back in direction of the front door. He knew that it wouldn't be worth it to argue with Shiori about this, now who had been Genma's doctor again?
Shiori heard the front door clicking and then was alone with her husband's comrade. The black haired civilian moved closer to the exhausted shinobi and helped him sit down more comfortably on the living room couch. She also put a blanket around his upper body; the black haired Hatake knew from experience with Kakashi that chakra exhaustion caused shinobi to freeze.
Genma had to control his blush at Shiori's actions but felt strangely at ease with Kakashi's wife. Since the wedding ceremony Genma and Gai had taken to visit Mariko's more often to get an idea of their former teammate and captain's wife's personality.
Shiori hadn't treated them in anyway different than her other customers and even her interaction with Kakashi was impeccable in public. There hadn't been even the slightest sign that they knew each other more familiarly, not to mention being married to each other.
Kakashi was right; Genma thought wryly, Shiori would have made a phenomenal infiltration specialist. She had a way with people and it was easy for her to get even the most paranoid ones to talk to her. Even more so Kakashi's wife was a genuinely kind and likeable person and in some way Genma was glad that she was a civilian and not a kunoichi. The muddy kind of work the intelligence squad did most of the time would have destroyed her or at least dampened some of her warmth and kindness.
That was probably also the main reason why Morino-san hadn't approached her to work for the T&I yet. After all Genma had heard of some instances where civilians who were especially suited for that kind of work were employed and trained to work as spies and informants for their Intelligence division and while approximately half of them survived their work, they always returned somewhat changed if not damaged beyond repair.
The senbon wielder was relatively sure that in Shiori's case it was unlikely to happen, Genma had seen how even the normally so controlled Morino Ibiki relaxed in Kakashi's wife's presence. The phrase, 'Don't shit where you eat' was probably the most appropriate in that situation. The T&I people wanted to preserve one of the few places where they could relax their guard even a little bit and so stayed clear from Shiori…well, with the exception of background checks and infiltrator checks of course.
Genma was pulled out of his thoughts when the black haired civilian started to rearrange the throw blanket over his body. She hadn't tried to remove his weapons or pouches to make him more comfortable like a normal civilian probably would have done, and while she did place the blanket around him she did it in such a casual way that it preserved at least some of his dignity than if she had made a big fuss over it. It was clear in that moment that Shiori was married to a shinobi and understood or at least accepted their paranoia and need for subtlety as well as their pride. This little fact endeared her even more to Genma who had made up his mind about her some time ago during his third visit of the tea house.
There was something about her that relaxed him and made the senbon wielder want to tell Shiori the real state of his body or mind, whatever it was it had the potential to be very dangerous for the exANBU operative. Genma had noticed that even or especially her husband was not immune to this power. When they had arrived in their home the silver haired Jounin had answered her questions about his body's state truthfully and hadn't used his typical 'I'm fine' that he under normal circumstances even used when he was a scant few seconds away from bleeding out and which regularly drove the Konoha medics up the wall.
Finishing with placing the blanket so that Genma could easily reach out of it and move his hand to the small side table beside the couch, Shiori returned to the kitchen to make him some hot green tea and took out some of his favorite dessert, a dark nutty chocolate cake. With quick movements she had cut the cake in artful little pieces so that Genma could pick them up easily with his fingers and returned with the snack to the sitting area, where she deposited it within his reach.
"Is there something I should be aware of Genma-san? Any allergies or food preferences?" the black haired woman asked politely.
"I am not picky and as far as I know I'm not allergic to anything," Kakashi's comrade answered honestly, already on his second cake cube.
Shiori nodded and returned to the kitchen where she doubled her ingredients, Genma would need as much calories as possible to speed up his recovery and Kakashi was probably on the low side too after spending the last few days on a mission. Her husband the twit, never ate right when something was bothering him or he was working on an important mission.
About fifteen minutes after Kakashi had left the silver haired Jounin walked through the front door once more and handed the chakra supplements over to his wife. Shiori kissed him affectionately as thanks before she sent him up to take a shower and clean up. A quick look on the label let Shiori remove three pills from the container and hand the prescribed dosage and a glass of water over to Genma. Said shinobi took the medicine after a short moment of hesitation and swallowed them without complaining. The pills would make him feel drowsy for the next hour or so and normally he didn't feel safe enough to take them not even in his own flat, but here with Kakashi on hand to take care of any threats he relented to Shiori's unspoken order.
"Genma-san, I hope I don't overstep any boundaries but is there somebody who will miss you if you don't return to your flat today?" the question broke through the first medicine induced tiredness.
"No worries, Shiori-san. No I live alone," Genma answered.
The Hokage's bodyguard was feeling disinclined to get worked up over the question about his personal life, he had a feeling that the small civilian wasn't just asking because of her own curiosity and need to gossip.
"Good, than you are staying with us until you have recovered," Shiori said with a final tone and a nod.
"Shiori-san that's really not…" Genma started to protest.
They were already hosting him for dinner he couldn't accept this additional offer, after all he was going to be a lot better after eating some real food and he really didn't feel comfortable being a burden, especially not to the kind woman in front of him.
An amused chuckle interrupted any further protests. "Give it up Genma, arguing with Shiori isn't going to work, she will just use your own words against you," Kakashi said lazily while sending a fond gaze at his wife.
The silver haired shinobi was leaning relaxed against the door frame and took in the scene in front of him; he was now wearing his normal long sleeved sweater but without his mask and Genma could see the amusement plainly on his face, the senbon wielder was still thrown off that Kakashi was running around without mask, even if this WAS his home.
"Still, I am thankful enough that you have busted me out of the hospital, I really shouldn't…" Genma tried to argue before he was interrupted once again.
"You are hurt. You are staying until you have recovered," Shiori said with a final tone, before she continued, "and if you think about sneaking out before your body is fit again I will be very put out with you Genma-san."
Genma looked helplessly at Kakashi who just grinned and signed 'told ya so', which received an eye roll and a 'fuck you' expression from Genma. Kakashi just chuckled before he sat down across from his former ANBU teammate and opened up his little orange book to read for a while and give Genma a chance to relax in his home and catch some sleep while the chakra pills did their work.
The proximity of a ninja the senbon wielder trusted let him relax back into the blankets and close his eyes, within a minute Genma could practically feel how his body became heavier and heavier before he started to doze off.
Shiori, who always liked to make sure that Kakashi was well fed, brought over his favorite green tea cake and a hot cup of tea. A quick glance at Genma revealed that the man was already half asleep and so Kakashi unhurriedly tugged Shiori closer and kissed her softly to convey his thanks and affection. The silver haired Jounin vowed to come up with something to thank his wife for what she was doing for him and Genma.