Dusk melted to gold, bathing Konoha's shopping street in warm orange. Ryo had just escaped the stifling air of the Hokage Tower and walked headlong into long-missed, everyday bustle.
"Ryo!" Kushina's voice went off like kindling catching flame, bursting over the market noise. Her hair, a blaze of red in the sunset, shone brilliantly. Her smile was bright as she waved hard. Mikoto stood beside her. A little farther back were Nawaki, fresh from the Senju residence, and Kaori, clinging nervously to the hem of his jacket.
"Group dinner. We have to have a group dinner." Kushina hopped over in two quick bounds, her blue eyes shining with the joy of reunion and the natural righteousness of her tone. "To celebrate you making it back safe, and to celebrate, to celebrate that I have new family." She snuck a quick glance at Kaori. The girl ducked her head even lower.
Nawaki grinned wide. "Perfect timing. Ryo, you haven't lost your touch, right? I'm about to hurl if I eat one more ration pill."
Mikoto stood half a step behind Kushina. The curve of her lips was just right as she chimed in softly, "Yes. It's been a while since we tasted Ryo's cooking."
Kaori said nothing, only scrunched Nawaki's coat hem tighter in her small hand. Ryo's gaze swept over them, and, thinking of his long-neglected, war-worn place, he made a quick decision.
"Let's go," Ryo nodded, intent clear. "Buy ingredients. We will cook at home."
Turning into a familiar lane, Ryo hesitated for the first time.
The house before him was a brand-new, three-story courtyard home, white walls and dark tiles, standing quiet in the twilight, nothing like the weathered, timeworn place in his memory. The faintest crease of confusion had just touched his brow when the little tomato beside him popped it like a bubble.
"Well? How is it?" Kushina hopped up the stone steps, hands on hips. Her red hair danced in the breeze. Excitement, plus a touch of credit due, was written all over her face. "That shabby little place of yours totally wronged me. How are we supposed to live there? I had the crew tear it all down and rebuild. From now on, this is our home." Her voice grew smaller as she spoke, a blush climbing her cheeks. She hurried to add, "The Senju compound is too big and too empty. It just makes me think of Grandma Mito. I'm not staying there alone."
"Living off her?" The phrase flickered through Ryo's mind, then washed away beneath something stronger.
"Not bad." The corner of Ryo's mouth ticked up, rare as sunrise. He pushed open the freshly lacquered door. Behind him came Nawaki's awed clucking and Kushina's triumphant hum. Mikoto's eyes touched the new lintel and slipped away at once, calm as a still pond. Only the fingers holding the grocery bag tightened, just a little.
In the brightly lit kitchen, Ryo was in his element. Steel flashed tame in his hands. Under precise, forceful cuts, ingredients surrendered into neat cubes and shreds. The spatula flew, flames licked the wok, and oil-smoke detonated into a domineering fragrance.
"Smells amazing." Nawaki plastered himself to the doorway, sniffed hard, and crowed, "Ryo, if you don't open a restaurant, it's a crime."
Kushina busied herself laying out bowls and chopsticks, movements a touch clumsier and sweeter than usual. She kept sneaking looks at the tall, focused silhouette in the kitchen, the corners of her mouth tipping up.
"Big sis…" Kaori sat at the table, still a little stiff. Kushina put her bowl down at once, sat beside her, slipped an arm around her shoulders, and started whispering little stories from the day's shopping, doing her best to let the girl relax. Nawaki poured tea with his usual, big-hearted clatter.
Mikoto sat on Kaori's other side, quietly helping arrange the tableware. Her motions were as elegant as ever, but her eyes were a shade unfocused. Whenever they skimmed across Kushina's cloudless smile, or that intent figure in the kitchen, they flicked away as though from heat. The lively air wrapped around her, yet felt separated by an invisible screen. Under the table, her hands rested on her knees, fingers faintly curled, never fully at ease.
Dishes stacked quickly, layer on layer. Warm light, good food, familiar young friends, and a brand-new, blood-related little red-haired sister. Laughter and Nawaki's clowning filled the new house. He brought up Minato's Flying Thunder God. Mikoto answered with a polite, fitting smile. Kushina never stopped piling food into Ryo's and Kaori's bowls, like a songbird who had finished her nest and was perfectly content. The smell of smoke and blood seemed chased clean away by this simple dinner.
But the warmth did not last to the end. When the table lay a battlefield of plates and night had deepened, Nawaki wiped his mouth and stood. "All right, Kaori, time for home and rest. Eat up, get strong, and next time we'll empty your Brother Ryo's pantry."
Kaori looked instinctively to Kushina, then anxiously to Ryo. Kushina's smile froze for a heartbeat, then she nodded hard. "Right. Go with Nawaki tonight. We will see each other tomorrow."
Ryo gave a small nod, acknowledging Konoha's unspoken rule. Newly found Uzumaki, for now, would live under Senju care and village protection rather than move in immediately.
Nawaki took Kaori's hand with an easy grin. "Don't worry, I've got her. See you, Ryo. I'll come by tomorrow." He swept out, Kaori looking back with every other step. The quiet click of the closing door seemed to draw off a layer of noise from the room.
Mikoto rose as well, her movements smooth, as if rehearsed a hundred times. "Kushina, Ryo-kun, it's getting late. I should be going." Her voice was gentle as always, her face showing the right measure of happiness for her friend and the little sister who had found a home. Only when she turned to Ryo, when their eyes touched, did the perfect smile ripple, like a pebble breaking a lake's surface. A heartbeat later, it was still again.
"Careful on the way, Mikoto." Kushina waved, oblivious, warm as ever.
"Thank you for the meal." Mikoto dipped her head. As she turned out the door, her spine seemed even straighter. Cool night wind flowed in. The door closed softly behind her with a click, sealing the last of the light within, and perhaps shutting out that tiny, magnified loss in her eyes. Moonlight spilled like quicksilver outside, cold as frost.
In the new-built house, only two remained. The space that had been merry a moment before now held the small sounds of breath and the hush beyond the window.
Kushina still wore her smile, but night had tinted it with a thin, transparent blush, spreading from her cheeks to the small curves of her ears. The heat that had pressed on her heart since his return, briefly buried by reunion, now surged like long-banked lava, bare and bright. Her hands and feet forgot themselves. The brisk housekeeper competence she had shown earlier had vanished without a trace.
"So, um…" Kushina cleared her dry throat, trying to summon her usual breeziness, only for her voice to sink, laced, without her noticing, with a soft, kittenish quiver. "The house, is it okay? I, uh, pushed them to finish fast…" She cut off suddenly.
Ryo stood a step behind her, silent. His broad, steady hand lifted without a word, carrying a warmth forged on the battlefield and a quiet, irresistible certainty, and came to rest lightly on her shoulder.
A shiver like lightning ran from that touch through her whole body. Kushina's spine tightened like a sprung trap. Her heartbeat thundered like drums.
The room's air turned thick and hot. On the fresh white walls, the light threw a single, gently swaying shadow, two figures, overlapping.
"Kushina."
Ryo's low voice brushed her ear, roughened like stone on sand, yet strangely hot. He leaned in a fraction. His scent, smoke and sweat braided with the evening's street-side life, rose like an invisible tide and drowned her all at once.
"I'm back.
"About that reward we talked about?"
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
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