The next evening, when Tsumari had gone to get takeout, Kakashi decided it was a great idea to come home. I mean, it probably was, people would have worried if he'd stayed out on that mission forever.
He strolled in through the door like he owned the place, and I was annoyed with him before he even said anything.
"Hey."
"Hey," I replied simply. "How'd the mission go?"
Kakashi shrugged. "Like normal."
"So you aced it?" I guessed slyly.
"It went without a hitch, if that's what you mean."
"So you aced it," I confirmed. Kakashi never liked to sound big headed, but I knew that secretly, he was nursing an ego the size of a small house.
"Well... yeah," Kakashi admitted sheepishly. "Although it did take a couple of days to track down the guy I was supposed to kill. And I got a little sidetracked by a couple of guys in the bingo book, I thought I'd take them out just for a little bonus."
"You're not the type to do extra work for extra money." I narrowed my eyes. "What's the occasion?"
"Nothing."
"Have a grudge against one of them?"
"No."
"...liar."
"I'm not lying!" Kakashi insisted. "I just took out some Leaf enemies out of the kindness of my heart."
"Come on, you're almost as bad at lying as I am." I scoffed.
"So I'm better than you?" Kakashi teased.
"Well-" I began huffily, but was cut off by the door opening to admit Tsumari, who was now carrying a plastic bag of takeout.
"Hey, Kakashi," she said, not seeming surprised that he was there. "I heard you came back, so I got food for you."
"Oh! Uh..." Kakashi faltered. "That really... wasn't necessary..."
"Ah, come eat with us!" I encouraged him. Rooting around in the bag, I picked out a miso ramen and tossed it at him. He caught it reflexively and looked at it for a moment before caving.
"Alright then. How much do I owe you?"
"Nothing," Tsumari said firmly. "My treat."
"Thanks," Kakashi muttered, not ungratefully.
"So hey Kashi, you never told me you fought Orochimaru before. I had to hear it from old Snake Man himself."
Kakashi almost choked on his ramen. "You fought Orochimaru?! Are you insane?"
"Hey, I didn't start the fight, it was him! I mean, I did use the first jutsu, and I did kind of provoke him, but it wasn't me!" I whined.
"Wasn't you. Okay, sure, we'll go with that."
"You're mean." I pouted, shovelling a mouthful of my favourite veggie ramen into my mouth.
Kakashi shook his head despairingly. He had already finished his ramen. "So what happened?"
"I was out in the forest-" I shot him a meaningful look "-and then he just randomly came out and started talking to me. He said that it was him who did that weird thing to my brother. Apparently, he wanted me to fight so he could analyse my skills. He reminded me that I'm the last living user of a Kekkei Genkai, which was nice of him. I'd almost forgotten. Then he said I'd be a nice vessel, whatever that means, and invited me to be his disciple and have loads of power. I may have antagonised him at that point, then we fought."
"Could you have added a little more sarcasm? I'm afraid I didn't quite pick up on your tone," Kakashi remarked.
"Sarcasm is my first language, it's only natural," I replied. "Oh, Sensei, here's some money for the ramen."
"How come you paid and I didn't?" Kakashi protested.
"I paid for you," I said dismissively. "It was my idea to get ramen anyway."
"You need to stop spending so much money on me. I bet Shiroha was something insane."
"I'll stop paying for you when you stop paying for me," I retorted. "It's not like I'm financially stuck or anything."
Kakashi sighed in defeat and flopped backwards onto the bed. I kicked him sharply from under the covers. "Ow, Miyoshi! Geez!" he exclaimed, sitting up violently and putting a hand to his head.
"Sorry, couldn't resist." I grinned. "That was payback for beating me into the ground."
"What?!" Tsumari exclaimed.
"It was just a practice spar to test out my new blade," Kakashi explained wearily. "Miyoshi's never beaten me in her life, and she's bitter."
"You would be too," I muttered. "On another note, does anyone know when I'm getting out of here?"
"The doctor estimated a few more days." Tsumari replied.
"Really?" I groaned. "I seem to be spending half my life in here."
"I can attest to that," Kakashi agreed.
"Says you." I scoffed. "Nobody's better at getting life-threatening chakra drain than you are. Remember when you had to spend two weeks recovering from overusing your Sharingan?"
"Not the most pleasant two weeks of my life," Kakashi admitted. He started to say something else, but was interrupted by the door flying open with a bang. Before I could look to see who was there, I was tackled by a bright yellow blur.
"Miyoshi, why are you in hospital again?" Naruto asked, sitting down on my lap.
"Ah, I got into a teensy fight," I replied vaguely. "Learn a lesson from me, buddy, and don't fight a battle you can't win. Not unless there's proper cause, anyway." I added as an afterthought.
"But we were gonna train tomorrow!" Naruto whined. "Because I get the day off school! It's not fair, you're always away or in hospital whenever we're supposed to train."
"I know, I'm sorry, buddy." I stroked Naruto's mess of blonde hair. It really wasn't fair on him, but there wasn't anything I could do about that.
"Hey, aren't you from the Academy?" Naruto asked Tsumari, forgetting that he was annoyed with me.
Tsumari smiled a little at him. "Yeah. I'm a teacher there, to another class."
"So how come you're here with my big sis?"
"I used to be her sensei," Tsumari explained. "I came here to make sure she's okay."
"She's probably not okay if she's in hospital, believe it," Naruto muttered, just loud enough for me to hear. "Wait, did you say you're Miyoshi's sensei? Teach me everything you know!" he demanded.
"Whoa, Naruto, calm down." I put a hand on his head. "It's getting late anyway, what are you doing up?"
"Coming to visit you, obviously." Naruto narrowed his eyes at me in confusion.
"You need to be in bed." I told him sternly.
"What!" He complained. "No way, I always stay up much later than this-"
"Exactly. Go on, go home and go to sleep. You can come back and visit in the morning, 'Kay?"
"'Kay," Naruto grumbled. He swung his legs off the bed dejectedly and walked with slumped shoulders to the door. "Hey, big sis, will you buy ramen when you get outta hospital?"
"As many bowls as you want," I promised. Naruto perked up a little.
"Alright, see ya tomorrow, believe it!" He grinned widely before running off again.
I stretched my arms out and yawned. "I think I might sleep now, too. Kashi, go home."
"Why?" Kakashi countered.
"Because you're exhausted and need rest. Go, shoo. Doctor's orders."
"Medic's orders," Kakashi corrected. "And can you really say that from a hospital bed?"
"Would you like to see my qualifications?" I raised an eyebrow. "As your only medic, I order you to go home and sleep."
"As your captain, I order you to stop ordering me around."
"As your friend, no, get your ass back to your apartment and sleep!"