A shinobi is a high school student like another

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As I told Raidou in the morning, I went to make my report in the evening. The suspicions I had told him about had already snowballed: all the Info department was overworked, busy to examine again and in details every piece and tidbits of information we had in the light of this new lead.

I learned by Sensei that Haku and Zabuza hadn’t discovered much more than we already knew, just enough to confirm some burning leads on drug traffics networks and little dealers; our part of the job was done, the cops had just to do their now. There was a silence after he told me that, the kind of uncomfortable silence you try to avoid under normal circumstances. Sensei cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry to have send you yesterday. I should have…”

“You should have done what? Rub my face in? Remind me what day it was? You don’t have to be sorry. It’s my fault if I’ve forgot.”

I knew Sensei was feeling as guilty as me for Obito’s death. He didn’t have to add to that the guilt for my own sorry head. He looked me in the eyes – with the mask on, I can say that’s quite an achievement – looking at me with a sad but determined look. That’s Sensei for you. He nodded. Knowing me as he knew me, he knew he wouldn’t be able to make me change my mind.

“Zabuza and Haku are in one of the training room with the rest of the team.”

I nodded shortly as a salute before doing a sharp 180 and leaving his office.

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I found all of them in the second training room, which one was, fortunately for us, empty save for them.

Zabuza and Genma were face to face in combat stances in the middle of the room, sizing each other up, trying to spot the flaw in the stance, in the guard. They began to move. Encouragement and pieces of advice rose from the bench near the wall, where Haku and Raidou were sitting.

“Gen’, watch out for his legs!”

“Zabi, make him eat dust!”

I quietly made my way to rejoin the audience. The two currently fighting were putting a good show. I could see that Genma was beginning to get fed up of seeing all his attacks meeting naught but thin air, and Zabuza was seemingly enjoying himself; but I couldn’t say if he had this typical smirk he was sporting when having fun as he was wearing his mask.

I nodded to Haku and Raidou, their attention wrapped up in the friendly match.

“Aren’t you working on the weekend?”

Haku shook his head, his eyes locked on the show of his boyfriend, his mask pushed up on his head keeping his long dark locks from falling into his face.

“Free weekend. By the way, you’re eating with us at the apartment tonight.”

“Ma’am, aye aye ma’am” I made with a half salute.

Raidou, who had listened the short exchange while keeping track of the fight between his teammates in front of him, laughed at my reply. With the mask on his face, it was making some interesting sound, a bit as if Darth Vader was choking in his respirator. It was kinda scaring.

Genma managed to get Zabuza down with a move falling under the ‘Risky’ category.

“Well done old man, I wouldn’t have thought you could do it.” I succeeded in my enterprise of making Genma lost his temper. But I couldn’t say if I managed to get him to have this twitch in the eye he has when angry. Damn mask.
“You cocky brat! I’m only seven years older than you!”

He made there an unpardonable rookie mistake – to put it differently, an mistake leading often to the death of said rookie: he turned his back on his opponent, who used the opportunity to make a beautiful sweep, which resulted in a not beautiful landing of the Genma.

“9.8 for the sweep, 4 for the landing.”

“9.9 for the sweep.”

“3 for the landing. Gen’, you’re rusting.”

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The training became a kind of sparring tournament, one against one. It had been one of Obito and Genma’s idea at the beginning. How I had found them stupid then. Now, it was an unspoken tradition. And it helped a lot to better knew each other, in a combat situation as in the real life.

Genma had made of this sparring tournament a real institution. The day or the day after the anniversary of Obito’s death, he always managed to gather Raidou and me to have a round. This year, the presence of Zabuza and Haku was a nice change. And, if seen underneath the underneath, it was also a sign that they had been totally accepted in the ‘infernal team’. It was kinda weird to see Haku in a uniform… but, man, he knew how to fight. The saying ‘you should look beyond the façade’ had found a perfect illustration here.

When we get out of the lockers room, clad as any other teenager – okay, this doesn’t apply to Haku but that’s another story – and that we made our way toward the car parks, we made a slight detour by the Information department’s corridors. Just to see if there were some fresh news. I think most of the ‘administrative’ staff was there. And they all seemed very, very busy. We didn’t stay long. Ibiki was there too.

Ibiki Morino is the kind of guy that you don’t wish your worst enemy to meet, and that you’re very happy borderline ecstatic to have for friend. Ibiki is the guy that even civilians avoid unconsciously, and not just because of the scars, and that the cops sometimes call when they got confessions to be spitted out of some pig-headed individuals. Said individuals generally spit out everything the cops want to know after five minutes in the same room as Ibiki.

Ibiki at work on a job that is insulting his professional integrity ( but hey, who would have think to search for links between a king of the underworld and the guy who made of the fight against organized crime his hobby-horse, and not just as an election campaign argument?), you don’t stand in his way, and you don’t ever, ever bother him. Even me, I don’t stay around for too long in this case, though I do other things to him that would be receive a death warrant if it wasn’t me. Well, when you think that the guy changed your diapers and babysitted you, among other things, it helps to become immune to the frozen death glares that makes you wonder if hell is not warmer by chance.

We went quickly away. In the corridor, we crossed a stack of paper with legs – the mop of hair at the top seemed familiar. Oh, yeah, it was Kodia.

“Kakashi, what have you done this time? She doesn’t even have the time to throw me out!” Just a reminder, Kodia’s girl works for Ibiki.

“Get to work Kodia, Ibiki’s waiting.”

The vampire got as pale as a dead, and left us behind quickly.

Once at the car park, our little group stopped in front of two well-known cars. Genma unlocked his.

“ ‘Kay, who ride with me?”

Without another word, Zabuza, Haku and me, we went to hide behind Raidou.

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As soon as we entered Zabuza and Haku’s place, the later ran to the kitchen part of their small living, opened and went through most of the cupboard and went back with a list in his hands to Zabuza and Genma who had just stepped in. His boyfriend raised an eye-brow.

“It’s still early, so I got the time to cook a bit, I want to make sukiyaki but we don’t have any noodles, mushrooms and onions left, and we don’t have enough eggs and mirin. Can you go buy some?” he answered with a smile at the unspoken question, while shoving them both out of the apartment.

Before Zabuza and Genma had understand what exactly was going on, they were already out. Raidou half-smiled.
“I bet they’re going to forget the beer… I’m going too.”

Before I had understood half of what had happened, I was alone with Haku in the apartment.

“Gimme a hand?” He asked me with a bright grin.

I folded my jacket over the couch, and watched – from afar – the Haku tornado in the kitchen. He ended by quieting down some.

“It wasn’t a very subtle way to get them out…”

“But it worked, doesn’t it?”

I didn’t reply to that, contenting myself with getting closer from the battlefield, otherwise known as the kitchen.
“Kakashi… what happened yesterday?”

I certainly wasn’t expecting that; I unconsciously tensed. As say the French saying, an angel passed. At this rate, all the heavens crossed above us. Haku looked away, staring at the vegetables he had put on the counter.

“Sorry, I’m… it’s just that… well, Zabuza told me how you have been all week, and even if we don’t work together that much, I know you’re not the kind to stop a job for nothing… so, I guess it’s just concern. Zabuza was a bit worried about you too, even if he doesn’t show much.”

I breathed deep, then I smiled. It was hard to remember that Haku was a guy sometimes… like just now. He was making me think of Rin, Kami knew why.

“I’m gonna end up believing you’re a girl…”

Haku turned toward him, disbelief written all over his face.

“What?”

Oh merde, it wasn’t supposed to be said out loud…

“No, nothing, it’s nothing, forget it!” I said with a embarrassed grin. The smile fell quickly. “About yesterday… I’d rather not talk about it. Not now. Not yet.”

Haku nodded. I internally sighed with relief. He knew when to stop pressing, and this subject wasn’t one I was ready to be pressed on. I changed the topic of the talk quickly.

“Eh, by the way, where and how did you learn to cook?”

“… What that’s supposed to mean mister…?”

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It was a good evening, a quiet one between friends, around a good meal and good beers. A good evening, yeah.

Without the need of concerting, we drank a first and silent toast to all of those we knew who would not be able to ever have such evenings again. Then, I proposed another one, but this one was not silent. I raised my can of beer, swallowing with some difficulty the lump in my throat -this very lump which was threatening to choke me.

“To Obito.”

A muscle played on Raidou’s jaw, Genma’s eyes got slightly unfocused. They raised their beers too.

“To Obito.”

“…To Obito.”

Zabuza and Haku raised their beers too, in a silent support – I noticed Zabuza frowned briefly when hearing the name, but it wasn’t impossible that he had already heard Obito’s name in the HQ’s corridors; the chances he had already worked with him were close to none.

The rest to the evening went well, with mention to the fact that Genma had decided to told us every single fucking stupid thing he’d done in his life – and he did so until Raidou whispered something in his ear that made in shut up -, and that Haku, once comfortably tipsy – self-note: never let Haku get too close from alcohol in the future – harassed Zabuza and me to know more about the “so cute guy from yesterday, the one with the scar on the nose”. I would have been in Zabuza’s shoes, I think I would have get a bit worried. But apparently, it was the normal behavior of a a-bit-merry Haku. I don’t think I want to see ever Haku drunk… A good evening.

Raidou brought me back to my house – the ride had been silent, save for when he asked if I preferred to sleep at Rin’s. I would have loved to tease him a bit about this, but the short night more the training more the washed evening, I was thinking I had enough of a flat to sleep without troubles in my usual bed – well, the one even more usual that Rin’s one.

As I expected, as soon as I fell on my bed, I was dead to the world. The last thought which crossed my mind before I succumbed into Morpheus’ arms was “I forgot to ask his uncle restaurant’s name to Iruka”…

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