Note: Shout out to all my homies that are feeling left out of the excitement because they don't like Fallout 3 Also, only 2 or 3 chapters (Depending on how I space it out) until Itachi comes :D
Everything about Kana's body was sore – from the stiffness in her scalp to the blisters she knew were forming at the tips of her toes. She peered over at Neji, who looked even more exhausted than she was. He had decided he wanted to jump in on the training session the group had scheduled, and had his ass handed to him on the shiniest of silver platters.
"How's your butt, kid?" Izumo asked teasingly, referring to how his pulling a muscle in his rear is what benched him early. Neji only rolled his eyes and continued to pout.
Genma and Anko both laughed at the genin. "What, did you think we were going to go easy on you?" she asked with a fake look of incredulousness, "What kind of training would that be?"
"What is it with you jonin insisting that you went all out on me? I know you were pulling your punches," Neji grumbled, looking cranky and embarrassed. Kana reached her sweaty hand to take his dirt-covered one with a tired smile as they slowly made their way out of the training grounds and into the actual village streets, not caring to remind him that she was the only one in the group that was actually a jonin.
He had insisted on training with the group in what he called a test of his skills, but it had not gone unnoticed how Neji's behavior changed after her incident in the woods. The genin was glued to her side almost constantly, his eyes wary of nearly every movement she made, in a form of brotherly protectiveness. While Kana appreciated his concern, she was getting a little tired of his coddling by this point; her wounds were almost fully healed but it still seemed as if Neji was afraid to let her out of his sights.
"To be fair, you had Genma on his toes a couple of times – he may have held back a bit, but you did a pretty damn good job on putting him on the defensive," Raido said reassuringly.
Neji didn't respond, but Kana could see a sense of satisfaction in his face.
Kotetsu yawned and stretched, "So, Kana. Dinner."
She made a noise that was like a cross between a laugh and a snort as she rolled her eyes at the chunin. "The sun is down and my back hurts. I am not cooking – you can just eat the leftovers that are in the fridge. Or, here's a thought, learn to cook like a damn adult."
"I, uh…" Genma gave a somewhat guilty smile as he rolled his senbon between his teeth, "I may or may not have eaten the leftovers for breakfast… And lunch."
Raido groaned. Kana sighed. Anko laughed and Aoba said something about him being a fatass. Izumo scolded him for eating the leftovers from someone else's fridge without asking.
"You're getting us takeout, then," Kotetsu said accusingly, "I want ramen."
"Well aren't we the demanding prick? Why don't you ask what the others want?"
"I don't care. I want ramen."
Genma raised an eyebrow to the younger pair, who were practically leaning on each other for support by now. "Are you two cool with ramen?"
Neji twirled her braid listlessly with a disinterested hum. Over the last few months he had become comfortable around Kana's friends - and even looked disappointed when she said that she and Genma decided to not pursue a relationship - but he still appeared to be uncomfortable when it came to voicing his wants, so Kana smiled on his behalf.
"Ramen is food, and we're hungry, so ramen sounds great," she purred, "But I want to go to that sit down place instead of Ichiraku's so we can get dumplings."
Kotetsu flashed a tired yet triumphant grin as they changed course towards home. Kana was just thankful that the restaurant was relatively close to the Hyuga district, because her muscles continued to groan at her as they walked down the street. Anko used the Flicker Technique after saying some less than ladylike parting words, and Aoba and the chunin teleported back to their respective apartments.
The more they walked from the Hyuga compound, showered and redressed, the more Kana realized that Neji actually looked to be in genuine pain, so she stopped the teenager and pulled him to the side. "What's hurting?" she asked. The chunin didn't notice they had stopped, so they continued on.
"Uh…" his white eyes shifted around to look at their surroundings in a blatant move to not have to look Kana directly in the eyes, "My hamstrings and…"
'Oh for the love of god, Neji, it's called a butt. Just say it.' It took a conscious effort for Kana to not visibly roll her eyes at his embarrassment as she pulled him into the shadows before kneeling down. A green light completely defeated the purpose of her dragging Neji into a dark spot, she realized, as it completely illuminated the area. At least it was relatively out of sight.
She placed her hands on the back of his thigh and concentrated; there was minor swelling in the overexerted muscles that had been pulled earlier, but it was nothing serious. They were back on the road a few moments later once she eased his discomfort; it was a beautiful night and Kana was glad to see that some of the villagers had already begun prepping for the upcoming autumn festival.
"He's a good man," Neji said after a couple of minutes of a comfortable silence.
Kana raised an eyebrow and grinned, "Yeah? You like him?"
"Honestly the thought of you being someone's… Girlfriend," he said it as if the word was a curse, "Is… Strange." Neji sighed and placed a hand at the small of her back to pull her a little closer with a rare sheepish smile, "I think that's mostly due to not wanting to share."
A giggle escaped her lips, which earned her an embarrassed laugh from her childhood friend. "Don't worry, Neji, you'll always be my number one," she said happily, resting her head on Neji's shoulder as they walked, "Though I was a little worried you weren't going to like him in a nonprofessional setting, with him being laidback and you being an uptight little shit."
"Excuse me," he scoffed, "I am not uptight, I just don't wear my heart on my sleeve like Lee does." His face softened as they turned a corner, "I mean… I kind of expected to see you with someone like Aoba or Lee."
"Lee!?"
White eyes rolled at her surprised response, "I don't think you quite understand just how compatible you two would be – his energy is exhausting, but that naïve happiness would balance out perfectly with you. The same goes for Aoba and Genma. They're obstreperous; they would be complimented well by you."
Kana felt Neji's thumb rub idly as he spoke and she sighed with a small smile as they turned onto the street that would take them to the family restaurant. "You make us sound like flower arrangements… You've grown up, Neji."
"The last time you said that, you beat me to a pulp," said in a humored tone.
"Yeah well as long as you don't go off doing stupid shit anymore, you're safe."
He chuckled and cupped the small of her back, "Even so, I'm just glad to see you happy-"
"… Piece of ass, Raido!"
A drunken voice cut their chatter short as they watched Raido talking with a small group of jonin at a wall bar. Genma, who stood next to him, looked annoyed at the conversation but Kana couldn't see her boyfriend's face as they approached the establishment.
"I mean, really, with your reputation as an elite bodyguard you could have any tail you want in town and you go after that?" the jonin slurred, "Are you running out of options?"
The jonin next to him raised a cup of sake to his lips and shook his head. "Naw, man, look. You gotta look past all that muscle and shit. She's young, and I bet she's got a real tight-"
"I think you have had a bit too much to drink," Genma cut in, agitation heavy in his voice, "Maybe you should switch to coffee."
"Look, look, we're just looking out for you, man. You're basically fucking a child-"
Kana felt Neji twitch next to her. When she looked up, his expression was filled with nothing but rage; she took his hand in her own and began to lead him down the road towards their destination. "Raido doesn't have many friends, but he's still on somewhat good terms with a majority of the Leaf's shinobi," she explained, "As much gossip as the chunin spread, I kind of figured something like this would happen at some point so don't let it bother you too much."
Still, she was surprised that the news had spread so far in just a couple of weeks; something told her that Anko had something to do with it.
An angry sigh was emitted from the genin and Kana squeezed his hand reassuringly, "Neji, people have been saying all sorts of ridiculous things about me for years. My own clan thinks my powers come from a demon possession. Really, just let it go."
"How can you just sit back and let some loser talk about you like that? Why doesn't he say something?" he protested as they made their way into the restaurant, heading towards the bar area they regularly sat at.
"If we're totally honest, Neji, him defending me or getting angry wouldn't be solving anything," she said with a yawn, "Like you said, they're losers. But they're also shinobi, just like us. And when you make it to jonin, you don't usually stick with the same squad so you're always working with specially created teams for each mission. If Gen or Rai were to lose their cools, it could lead to tension in the field later on. That kind of tension can ruin teamwork. It's just not worth it."
Neji folded his arms and leaned against the edge of the bar, furrowing his brow, "I understand."
Kana gave him a guilty smile and nudged his shoulder, "Sorry, I'm not trying to patronize you... I seem to do that a lot."
"Since when are you the patronizing type?" Raido asked, cupping her jaw from behind to tip her head back. He leaned down for a soft, but tense kiss. He was upset.
"Kana, Neji, you are both out late!"
A familiar voice brought a grin to Kana's face as she spun around on the stool to see Lee hobbling up to them on a crutch with Guy in tow. She hopped off of the stool and rushed over to pull the boy into a gentle embrace, "Lee, they let you out of the hospital?"
He beamed at her happily, "I am well enough to leave for a few hours at a time on my own, but Guy-sensei insisted that we celebrate before going back in for the night." His large eyes peered over her shoulder curiously, eyes lighting up to the point of almost literally sparkling when they fell on a particular tokubetsu jonin. "Mister Namiashi!" he cried, bowing as best as he could, what with his injuries and all, "Thank you for teaching Kana the joys of youthful romance! I am forever grateful to anyone that can-"
Kana cupped both of the boy's cheeks, pressing her thumbs on his lips, and gave him a forced smile, hearing Neji sigh from behind.
"Lee," he said, "There's no need to shout. He's five feet in front of you."
"Oh, no, I'd love to hear all about this youthful romance," Genma teased, wiggling his senbon in time with his eyebrow.
"I'd prefer if he didn't elaborate," Kakashi said flatly as he and Asuma approached the bar, "It's far too late for that sort of thing."
As it turned out, Kakashi had decided to go out with Asuma for drinks after getting back from a relatively low ranked mission. Since they were all together, the group was able to convince the shop owners to let them push a few tables together and gather around. Kana munched away happily on her sushi, and some of Neji's dumplings, while everyone chatted away about whatever topics came up. Eventually, the chunin and Anko arrived with a tired-looking Aoba and joined the party with a round of drinks.
Guy challenged Kakashi to a game of rock paper scissors for the final piece of boiled eggplant, which Guy eventually won and left his rival looking incredibly dejected as he chowed down on one of his favorite foods.
Kana had to do a double take when she saw the two chunin steal a kiss when they thought no one was looking – Izumo caught her gaping and grinned timidly, though Kotetsu just flashed a boyish smile and kissed him again with a wink for effect.
Every now and then Raido would look down at Kana with a mischievous glint in his eye and place a chaste kiss on her lips, the subtle tang of his beer intermingling with his own natural taste; it wasn't until the third time that she realized he was stealing a piece of sushi off of her plate. When he leaned in for another kiss, Kana roughly jabbed her chopsticks into the top of his hand as it hovered over her plate. Raido yelped, but stole a piece anyways just to spite her; she only giggled while watching him stuff the unagi roll into his mouth.
Her eyes scanned the group, taking in everything that was happening; warmth spread through her chest as she observed every smile her friends flashed. Kana chuckled when Kotetsu and Izumo challenged Anko and Aoba to a drinking challenge, slamming their pints of beer on the dark lacquered table with triumphant cries and flailing their arms at the waitress for another round, cheeks flushed from the alcohol.
To her left, Asuma and Guy were telling a story about a mission where Kakashi had to pretend to be a callboy – a story that he clearly had no interest in having shared, especially not in front of Lee who looked as if his sides were going to split from laughter. On a whim, Kana reached around Raido to ruffle his bowl cut.
'I love you all so much,' she thought fondly to herself. Neji gave her a curious look, which she responded to by touching their heads together with a widening smile.
When Kakashi's hand darted over from across the table, Kana grabbed his wrist and used it as an anchor as she pulled herself up out of her chair; she leaned over the surface to snatch up one of his pork buns. Her triumphant laugh came when the jonin visibly pouted and pulled his empty thieving hand back.
His pout turned to an expression of shock when she bit into the fried bread. The rest of the group soon stopped their chatting to stare at her with varying levels of surprise and awe, leaving Kana feeling awkward.
"What?"
Lee's wide eyes left her face to stare at something on her head, "It is so pretty…"
"Kana," Neji said, his fingertips lightly brushing her bangs out of her face, "Your hair…"
She blinked, mouth still full of pork bun.
Tears welled up in Guy's eyes as he smiled, "It's been so long..."
'So long since what?'
"You know, it's actually kind of creepy how her hair and skin are basically the same shade," Anko chuckled before taking another sip of sake, "Get a damn tan, Shimi."
"Seriously, you're like fifty shades of Casper."
Asuma rolled his eyes and puffed away at a dwindling cigarette, "Real eloquent, Aoba."
Raido's hands cupped Kana's cheeks and pulled her head towards him before leaning down to seal their lips in a tender kiss. "Your hair is white, Kana," he said warmly, "It's beautiful."