The Huntress

Her Protector

Radiant rays of the morning and a delightful smell from the little bakery she loves so much caress her senses, gently persuading her to rise to the new day. A much more welcoming way of waking as compared to the morning the day after she was discharged. Man, what a night...and what a bangin' headache she had.

She throws off the duvet, forcing her body to peel itself from the comfort of her own bed. She had spent three more days in that prison of a hospital room before her mother finally signed off for her to be released with a clean bill of health. Although, that bill may have been put into question after the events of that night.

She may be being a bit dramatic. Her stay at the hospital wasn't all that bad thanks to the routine visits from her parents, friends, and her chaotically energetic students. She was awestricken, she had never had so many caring people circulate around her. Had that been what she was missing out on for so long?

At one time during her hospital stay, all the teams and their senseis had smushed into the room and brought her a cheesy fruit basket. However, she was confident her friends had put the basket together since it was full of tiny bottles of booze disguised as different varieties of fruit. She loved it, all the same, maybe a little more–her mini inner alcoholic crying tears of joy.

The day she was discharged was followed by an amazing night of drinking, laughing, and dancing, surrounded by good company. How she was blessed with such great friends in such a short amount of time, she had no idea. But whoever was looking down at her with favor is sure to be thanked greatly when she gets to the afterlife.

Maybe the Old Bat felt sentimental and put in a good word for her.

One particular moment of the night she held closer than the rest, and that was when she had literally dragged a buzzed Kakashi onto the nonexistent dancefloor to engage in a battle of worst dance moves. The sight of him in semi-casual clothes, his melodic laughter hardly hindered by his signature mask altogether paired with joyfully awkward dancing, was one she could never forget. A sight so beautifully uncharacteristic of him that it left the long-forgotten in attendance utterly baffled by the display. And Katsume was right there with them, though less baffled, as she figuratively grocery-shopped to his figurative sprinkler, and laughed so hard her cheeks burned the rest of the night. However, that could have also been due to the copious amounts of alcohol in her system. Or possibly a lingering after-effect of the briefest moment she saw his face when he pulled down his mask to take a shot. But even so, she would never forget it.

It was the best night of her entire life.

She yawns and stretches her arms as she sits up in the bed, snickering to herself as she remembers the expression on Kakashi's face when their 'judge' forfeited his duties to get in on the action of the dance challenge and slurred something about youthful spirit . Unfortunately, due to the bad choice of arbiter, a victor was never announced, which meant the loser was free of punishment. The look of utter relief that washed over Kakashi's inebriated and exhausted form was adorable in its own way but confirmed that he was sure he had lost. So, Katsume, who was not surprised whatsoever by the outcome, commended herself on her ridiculous victory.

She's brought out of her reminiscing when she hears a loud knock on the front door. She rubs the sleep from her eyes as she opens the door to see her father standing tall in the hallway with too cheerful a smile for eight in the morning.

"Good Morning, Sunshine! I'm leaving on a mission later today, so I thought maybe we could go get some breakfast before I go!"

Katsume can't help but smile hearing the endearment the Old Bat would use for her coming from her Jiraiya. "You know I'll never say no to food," she says and he chuckles, "Just give me a moment and I'll meet you downstairs."