#kyugens

Granted the lead, he tilts his head in the direction they need to turn. Though he does note there seems to be a hint of amusement on the other. Tucking that away, he refocuses on trying to sort through his thoughts.

As promised the tea house is no more than twenty minutes from their path of travel. It's a small building, but with many signs that it is maintained from the fresh garden outside to the well worn path that leads inside the tea house.

Sasuke steps inside, pushing aside the small curtain. It sends out a quick 'ting' letting the owners know they have visitors. A warm greeting is shouted from behind the counter. Sasuke mumbles it back before going to his usual table in the corner. He doesn't even glance back to ensure his companion is following, simply expecting him to.

Sliding into his seat, he leans back as he looks over the place with fond familiarity. Then his gaze settles on the Kazekage, trying to search for the reason he trusts him. Or why he granted him that trust back then. A sleek black cat slips along the back of his booth, and draws Sasuke's attention away from Gaara. He lifts a hand to stroke it between the ears.

"....why did--" he stops and presses his lips into a grim line. The cat meows in protest, he resumes petting them.

"Earlier," he tries again," you said you had nothing to fear from me. I assumed you meant you could take me out if I did something out of line. But that's not..." he stops again finding the words on his tongue refusing to leave. He just wants clarity why is his body fighting it? It may expose him, but he's willing to risk it for the peace it could bring his thoughts. It takes a few moments of building himself up to finally get the words out.

A free man at last. The trials finished, his period of isolation completed, and everything else finalized within the last week. Now that he was finally integrated back into Konohagakure, it should mean that he is finally receiving the rest he had been longing for.

Not quite. 

By the time he had reached the pillars of the long-abandoned Uchiha estate, he was tapped on the shoulder by one of the several pencil pushers that worked under the Hokage, giving him one notice before they ushered the Uchiha into the main office. In spite of it all, his duty as a shinobi never ceased and being a citizen of Konoha meant that he had to uphold his duties; ex-ronin or not.

What came afterwards wasn’t so pleasant. Not that it was unagreeable, just not preferred. An assignment with Inuzuka Kiba. But, an assignment was an assignment after all, and any objections to higher command meant threats of dismissal... again.

beautiful as it may be, his hair only proved to be a hassle when wet, long strands sticking to all his bare skin and when water escapes stray stands, it only rolls down bare torso to meet the fabric of pants him. generally annoying, but it's something he's gotten over long ago. his hair's already hidden within a towel when kiba approaches him from behind, neji feeling the weight of the bed shift as kiba kneels of it.

" kiba... " any thought afterwards soon after disappear as kiba takes the towel from his head. white eyes close at the sensation of gentle fingers comb though and untangle whatever knots he came across. for kiba to go through his hair in sections, drying still damp hair as best he could with the towel and neji simply lets him. if anything, he wonders how long kiba actually knew how to tend to long hair / knew that caring for short hair wasn't even close to the same as someone with such a length like himself and decides to chalk it up to all the times kiba had watched him do it himself.

                   “...Ah...Kiba...” 

         Saburo squinted over the head of the massive dog that was currently barring him from doing his current job. The teen squinted at  He held the package up over his head, attention dropping back to the ninken. 

                   “This package is fragile and it’s for your mom. Could you, please?...” Saburo didn’t mind having the ninken barring his way--really. He usually gave letters to whichever dog was sitting out front. But... he didn’t know Akamaru quite as well as the other two ninken usually at the Inuzuka gate.