Chapter 21

Beta'd by Black Sparrow

Genma was awoken some time later by the delicious smell that had started to fill the whole room, looking around the shinobi registered sleepily that Kakashi must have left during the last few minutes or he would have awoken sooner.

Thanks to the chakra supplements and the calories Genma had received from Shiori's snack he already felt a lot better than an hour ago and inwardly debated the question if he was strong enough to start moving around. In the end he carefully started to stretch his muscles before he unwrapped himself from the blanket. The senbon wielder then slowly tested if his feet would carry him before he inwardly grimaced. At the moment they wouldn't give out on him but he still felt wobbly and had no apparent strength in them, if he forced himself to leave now he would just end up in the hospital again. Resigned of his body's weakness Genma moved his attention to the room he was in and his gaze landed on the state of art kitchen in which Shiori was working diligently.

Said black haired Hatake looked up from what she was stirring in the pot and addressed him, "Genma-san, please feel free to explore if you think your body can take it…but I would appreciate it if you would stay away from the master bedroom upstairs."

Genma nodded at this and started to wander around in the spacious living room that was nearly the size of his whole flat. The furniture was clearly pure Shiori; comfortable, warm and functional described every bit of it. A closer look at the way they were arranged clued him then in on Kakashi's involvement in their house, the furniture was placed in such a way that someone who knew his way around here could find enough places to find some coverage and prepare a counter attack. Genma was sure that his paranoid former captain had more than enough weapons hidden away around the house to counter an invasion, and he was somewhat morbidly curious if Shiori knew of this and what she thought about Kakashi's habit. In the end he decided against asking her he didn't want to be the cause of a fight between the newlyweds. Having completed the inspection of the room Genma made his way to the adjourning room behind the kitchen.

Before he could vanish into the next room Shiori said pleasantly, "Oh before I forget, if you follow the rooms in this direction you will find the guest room on the end. I have already changed the sheets and left some of Kakashi's clothes in there. Feel free to change and take a shower if you feel up to it. I will call when dinner is ready."

"Thanks," Genma said, unable to find anything else to say.

The senbon wielder then returned to his exploring, now that his chakra situation wasn't that dire his keen senses picked up on Kakashi's moving chakra signature outside the house, it seemed as if his comrade was performing a perimeter check.

Ignoring his friend for a time, Genma continued his way through the house. The library behind the kitchen made him smile, he knew of Kakashi's passion for good literature and stories that he concealed with his obvious habit of reading porn in public. The brown haired shinobi could easily imagine Kakashi spending hours on end in here, partially listening to Shiori moving around in the kitchen or doing something else. A quick scan of the book titles just confirmed his suspicion; there were books of every topic as well as what seemed like a freshly added shelf on the far side of the room.

With a slight smile on his lips Genma walked through the next door into, what looked like a storage/work room. His right eyebrow rose when his sense of smell picked up the scent of the tea mixtures that were pretty unique to Mariko's as soon as he walked between the shelves of the clearly defined work area. It seemed as if Shiori did more than just run a tea house and invent snacks, the unique blends were also of her creation. Furthermore it looked like she also made use of Fuinjutsu designs to stop the strong scents of the different ingredients stacked between the shelves from reaching the rest of the house, probably for Kakashi's benefit.

Genma poked around somewhat and glanced at the big and small containers filled with dried tea leaves before walking over to the desk that contained some handwritten pages. His eyebrow continued to rise when he saw the detailed and structured notes listing off the different effects of the plants used in the tea combinations. Genma picked up on the words relaxants, stimulants and increased speed of recovery and had to smile while he shook his head. No wonder her tea house was so popular with the medics and that they actively encouraged Konoha ninja to visit it. The second stack of papers contained what looked like failed trials and notations to them, Genma had to marvel over Kakashi's wife, she was smart and had an approach to things that interested her not unlike a Nara. Continuing his investigation Genma found spices on the small side tables that bordered on the work desk, they were probably used to either mask or enhance the different tea flavors. Having sated his curiosity about Shiori's work, Genma continued his way through the room. On the shelves close to the back door he found neatly stacked garden tools, and after a last searching gaze through the room Genma opened the next door in the house and promptly stopped.

It seemed as if he had found the guest room Shiori had been talking about. The room was just as relaxing as the rest of the house; the colors were muted and had an earthy tone to them. On the neatly done bed was a standard Jounin uniform and Genma was thanking the fact that he and Kakashi had approximately the same height and built. With some faster steps Genma moved into the bathroom, the nurses in the hospital had wiped away the worst of the grime that had stuck to him but Genma was glad to finally be able to take a proper shower.

After finishing with his shower and quickly changing into the borrowed clothes the senbon specialist returned to the other room and then followed his friend's signature into the back yard. Kakashi had just landed in the middle of the lawn and threw a last searching look around before he joined Genma on the bench right beside the backdoor.

The brunette shinobi felt his body ache slightly, the moving around had cost him some of the energy he had gained from his earlier nap. The two Jounin were silent while they took in the tranquil atmosphere of the advancing evening. Even in the rapidly increasing darkness Genma could discern the neat flower beds and landscaped hedges and bushes that were most likely Shiori's work. His eyes then followed the small creek that ran on the far side of the back yard, his eyes came to a halt on the small wooden bridge and traditional tea house that stood in the shadow of the woods belonging to the property. Suddenly feeling curious Genma sent out a minor chakra probe before he tilted his head slightly he had just confirmed his suspicions, he knew that residual chakra signature.

He frowned for a second before he more stated then asked, "That is Tenzo's Mokuton wood, isn't it?"

Kakashi just nodded, his little kohai had owed him a favor and after some truly hilarious expressions he had built him the tea house and bridge for Shiori's birthday. It had been a bitch to get the building sealed and then anchored in the backyard. Remembering the Mokuton user reminded Kakashi that he hadn't introduced Shiori to any of his other colleagues yet. He would have to take a closer look at them and decide which ones he could trust with her existence.

"Does he know about Shiori?" Genma wanted to know, he was curious if Kakashi had told anybody else of his wife.

"No, but he sure has his suspicions now," Kakashi answered amused.

Genma shook his head while he suppressed his laughter, Kakashi had always liked to tease the youngest member of his squad mercilessly. Poor Tenzo probably was going out of his mind with curiosity. Before either of the two men could say anything else, the window to the kitchen was opened and Shiori called softly, "Dinner."

There wasn't a lot of talk during dinner, both shinobi concentrated on savoring the delicious dishes while Shiori watched them contently.

Because of the tea house she and her staff had regular meetings with a civilian nutritionist of the Akimichi clan who advised them and helped them to balance the meals for their customers, be it from Academy students to Jounins or the occasional civilian that entered the tea house accidentally.

While the tea house itself didn't offer special made meals for recovering shinobi, the Akimichi nutritionist had talked about that topic after one of her staff asked for some tips. The woman in question had a chunin boyfriend and wanted to adjust her cooking in his favor. Shiori herself had taken notes that day and had started to implement the tips and now prepared especially heavy meals for Kakashi every time he returned from taxing missions. She had seen the improvement in his recovery rates and since then had started to experiment with increasing the nutrition content of his favorite dishes, which while quite healthy for a normal civilian were kind of unhealthy for an active shinobi.

Genma couldn't stop shoveling the food into his mouth; he hadn't had access to homemade food since his mother died. Well that was not quit true, there was the occasional bento that a civilian fangirl made for him, hey he wasn't going to refuse free food. Somewhat jealous Genma glanced at his friend; Kakashi was one hell of a lucky bastard he now had access to this heaven everyday for the rest of his life.

After his second helping Genma was finally able to concentrate back on his surroundings and then started to send a concerned looks at Shiori, since she had sat down she had eaten only a tiny fraction of what they were inhaling.

"Shiori-san, are you alright? Is this everything that you are eating?" asked Genma concerned, it may be rude of him to ask her about her eating habits but this couldn't be normal, could it?

Shiori smiled at the concerned voice, Kakashi had asked her the same thing after the first few times she had started to cook specifically to meet his body's needs.

"Don't worry Genma-san; these dishes are specially tailored to the needs of recovering shinobi, they have a very high calorie and nutrient count so I'm eating just the right amount for a civilian. Thank you for your concern though…can I offer you thirds?" Shiori explained while smiling at Genma.

Still not completely reassured but accepting her answer for now Genma scratched the back of his head before he grinned embarrassed. "Yes please."

With a delighted smiled Shiori stood up and went to refill the serving platters.

When she was far enough away Kakashi leaned over to his friend and said, "I know this sounds unbelievable but I have checked. Shiori really is eating the right amount for her age and bodyweight."

Genma just nodded; inwardly he was embarrassed that he didn't think about fact that Kakashi would probably already have done something about this if his wife's eating habits were in any kind unhealthy for her.

The silver haired Jounin on the other hand felt some kind of reassurance about the seemingly overbearing behavior of Genma. He had known his comrade for a long time now; the man was secretly a mother-hen and when he had decided that he liked someone those tendencies sprung up now and then, Kakashi couldn't remember how often the stubborn brunette had broken into his flat to check if he was still alive and needed something, especially during their first years as ANBU teammates the senbon wielder had been frustratingly overbearing.

And now it looked like Genma had decided that he liked Shiori and was beginning to relax around her which made Kakashi feel pretty content if he was honest. Konoha's teams, especially the ANBU ones were tight; they were most of the time much closer than even blood family, having fought and bled together. That Genma was accepting Shiori as more than a simple family member to a comrade so soon after being introduced to her, made Kakashi feel easier about introducing the rest of his former ANBU cell to her. After all it would have to happen sometime, preferably sometime soon because while they probably would understand his need to protect his wife, they would still be somewhat hurt about his apparent lack of trust in them, especially when they found out that both Genma and Gai were already in the know.