Shū glanced back at their sensei. Kakashi was laughing behind her mask while the weird guy sitting next to her animatedly explained something with both hands.
Shū sighed and rested his cheek against his palm. Their food had been finished ages ago. The plates were practically polished clean. They had even drunk a bit of the sake that had arrived with the food, yet their sensei showed no signs of remembering that she had two students sitting nearby.
"She said we'd leave early tomorrow, and it's already so late," Shū muttered. "Why are we still here?"
Itsuki shrugged. "Our sensei forgot about us."
Another few moments passed. Shū drummed his fingers impatiently on the table. "This is ridiculous. Someone needs to tell her we have to leave."
Itsuki pointed at Shū. "You do it."
"Nah." Shū pointed right back. "You do it."
Itsuki opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Fine." He held out his fist. "Let's play stone, Leaf, Kunai. Loser goes to get Sensei."
They both raised their fists. "Stone, Leaf, Kunai!"
They both threw Kunai. It was a tie.
"Oh." Itsuki's grin disappeared.
Shū stared at his hand in betrayal. "...Damn."
With disgruntled faces, the two of them got up. It was better to get this over with now.
Itsuki, though, thought this was karma because they hadn't gone to get her the moment they realized sensei was taking too long to come back.
The two boys approached the table.
"Sensei."
"Ah, Shū, Itsuki." Kakashi looked up at her sulking students. "Is something wrong?"
Yes. Several things, actually. Shū really wanted to complain, but he held his tongue in front of the strange man. He could pester her later, when they were out of earshot.
Who knew what repercussions he'd face if he embarrassed her in front of a stranger?
Itsuki, who apparently valued his life just as much as Shū did, bowed politely. "It's getting late, Sensei. You said we'd be leaving early tomorrow, remember?" New chapters come out on g.com first.
Kakashi looked genuinely surprised. Her eyes darted to the tavern's windows. "When did it get so late?"
"Ah." Hashirama covered his mouth, trying to hide his laughter. "It seemed I had stolen you from your students for quite a while."
Kakashi waved it off. "If anyone is at fault, it is me. I lost track of time."
She felt flustered. She'd let the alcohol get to her head, gotten carried away with the company, and completely forgotten about the two boys.
Hashirama was an odd man, but he was easy to talk to. Easier than she'd expected someone like him to be.
"It seems that I have to get going," she said, turning toward Hashirama.
"I had a wonderful time." Hashirama smiled at her, his expression open and entirely without pretense. "I will admit that I hope that we can have a repeat."
For a brief moment, Kakashi didn't know what to say. "Perhaps we will."
Then he turned toward the two boys, who had been standing awkwardly beside the table, desperately trying not to look as though they'd been eavesdropping on everything. "I'm sorry for keeping your sensei so late."
"It's fine, sir!" Itsuki replied immediately.
Shū shot him a look. Is it fine? We've been sitting here long enough to grow old!
But the guy looked so genuinely apologetic that even Shū couldn't bring himself to complain. Besides, the man was enormous.
Not necessarily in height, although he was certainly tall enough. There was something about his presence that made Shū instinctively reluctant to offend him. It was the sort of feeling he sometimes got around Kakashi-sama.
Kakashi stood too, grateful for the excuse to end the evening before she made an even bigger fool of herself. "Thank you for the company, Hashirama-sama."
"The pleasure was mine, Kakashi-san."
Shū's eyebrow twitched. What the hell? Why were the two of them on first-name terms?
He'd known their sensei long enough to understand she wasn't exactly a fan of formality, but there was a big difference between telling people in your clan to drop the formality and allowing a stranger to.
Shū narrowed his eyes at their sensei. Now that he looked closely, Kakashi was swaying ever so slightly. He realized then there was a big possibility that she was drunk.
Hashirama reached for his purse, planning to pay for their drinks. Kakashi watched him count the little money that remained, and a faint, deeply troubled expression crossed his face.
She burst out laughing and hurried to stop him by grabbing the edge of his sleeve.
"No, no, Hashirama-sama, since I cleaned out your pockets, I must insist that you let me pay for everything."
Hashirama rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. He had been the one to offer her a drink, and yet she still had to pay for him. "...You really did win quite a lot, didn't you?"
"I did." Kakashi's shoulders shook with barely contained laughter.
Even when she did her best to try to let him win, he still somehow lost.
"Well, I'll make it up to you by winning and paying for the drinks next time." Hashirama's warm brown eyes crinkled at the corners as he smiled at Kakashi.
"Then I'll look forward to it." Kakashi looked away first.
The alcohol must be really getting to her now because her face felt a little too hot.
Hashirama rose from his seat. "Good night, Kakashi-san. Get some rest. I wish you the best of luck for tomorrow."
"Good night, Hashirama-sama." She paused, then added, "And try not to lose all your money before we meet again."
"I'll do my best!"
Kakashi nodded and gave him a small wave before turning to her students. "Come on, you two, let's get going before you fall asleep standing up."
As the three of them headed for the door, she could still hear Hashirama humming cheerfully behind them.
Itsuki leaned toward Kakashi. "Sensei, who exactly was that guy?" Itsuki had to ask. He was just so curious.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, that would be the next head of the Senju clan," Kakashi told them lazily over her shoulder.
Shū was astonished by the casual delivery of such devastating news. It was like he was having a weird déjà vu of the night they met the Uchiha.
He remembered that Uchiha guy delivering the news that his clan head was on the way, in that same exact tone.
Shū decided then and there that their sensei was a walking magnet for trouble. The odds of their mission tomorrow going smoothly weren't looking all that good.
He glanced at Itsuki, who was still spluttering at the news. If they survived tomorrow's mission, Shū was demanding more than half the bounty.