A little interlude before the final chapter. Enjoy!
Their hot spring visit was refreshing even though it was short. Mei felt lighter and Kakashi seemed happier too. Since they'd decided to run, they got back early. Kakashi could have an evening off before Shikamaru even realized they were home! The couple separated briefly to unpack.
Suddenly the smoke detectors shrieked. Kakashi shot out of his room and glanced around in alarm. He was shocked to see smoke pouring out of the cracks around the door to Mei's room! Kakashi kicked in the smoke-ringed door and entered the hazy room. The air was hot and moist but he couldn't see even a flicker of flame through the smoke. There should at least be an orange glow to indicate where the fire was! He coughed a few times despite his mask and squinted against the smoke.
"Mei?"
A yelp of surprise answered him and Kakashi moved toward the sound. The smoke was dissipating, surging into the hallway. Kakashi saw that one corner of Mei's room was coated in smoking, cooling igneous rock. Mei stood nearby in a battle-ready stance. Kakashi frowned at the steaming black formation disbelievingly. Lava should not be indoors; it was just wrong.
"Oh it's you," Mei said breathlessly when she noticed him.
"Did you use lava style?" Kakashi was flummoxed. Seeing his wife unhurt, Kakashi's heart started to slow down. He wondered what possessed her to let loose a lava flow in her own room.
Mei glanced at that corner nervously. "Well, um, yes, yes I did. And then I used a water jutsu when the walls caught on fire." She cleared her throat and waved some smoke away from her face. "Sorry."
"Why?" He couldn't help the question. No more than Mei could help answering truthfully.
She measured her words out, knowing how they sounded. "There was a spider."
Kakashi blinked at his wife and then at the smoldering remains of her lava technique. Her corner armchair suddenly collapsed under the igneous rock shell and the whole steaming mass crumbled in on itself. Silence hung between them along with the smoke and stray ash.
"The spider came down right in front of my face," Mei hastened to explain. "So I uh-" she gestured awkwardly at the corner. "It surprised me!" Mei was not pouting. Mizukage do not pout.
"Do you think you got it?" Kakashi asked, not at all serious.
"I don't know," Mei replied, completely serious. "If you can't find the body, it isn't dead."
Kakashi stared at his wife incredulously, then at the cooling lava, then back at his wife. Mei was one of the bravest, fiercest people Kakashi knew, but a spider had startled her to the point of setting her own reading chair on fire. Even after all this time, she could still surprise him. Mei was ignorant of Kakashi's fond smile. Her eyes remained fixed on the corner, frowning.
"Right," Kakashi drew the word out, then glanced over his shoulder. There were emergency personnel arriving. "I'd better go give the all clear. Would you like to stay in my room tonight?"