The Home I Crave

The Inn's Room

You had no doubts about the honesty of the inn's owner when he talked about the difficulties faced by the people of those lands when you looked around the room and noticed that there was no other thing that could be used as a bed besides the futon itself. Yes, you still had your sheets, but they were dirty and wet and you didn't want to make things worse to the inn's workers by spreading them on the floor for an entire night.

You and Tobirama dropped your things on a corner and took off your sandals. The silence between you was now turning into embarrassment. You wanted to leave that place and that feeling behind, so you found in the sheets the perfect excuse for that.

- I'm going to talk to the owner about this – you commented, pointing your pack – I want to find a place where I can wash them.

- Do it – was his reply – If he indicates you a place, tell me so I can do the same with mine.

You left the room and found the old man, who confirmed that there was a service area behind the building where the sheets and clothes could be washed, but it was commonly used by the housemaids. However, there was only two of them at service at the moment, so there wouldn't be any problems if you wanted to wash your things there. Since it was raining, you couldn't went out to the said area, but the man led you to a corridor where there was a small window, through which you could see the place he was referring to. You had two options to get there: you could went through the tea house's front door and walk around the balcony, taking the longer way, or you could cross that corridor and open the door at the end of it, turning your left and finding the area right after.

You thanked the old man's instructions and searched for the stairs to the upper floor.

You had no idea of how long you took to find the man and to talk to him, but you were sure you didn't take more than a few minutes. You came back to your room and locked the door behind you, but didn't leave the entry immediately because what you saw when you turned to the room's interior left you static.

The bathroom's door, at the opposite side of the entry's, was recently opened, steam spreading at its surroundings; Tobirama went through it, on barefoot, his hair washed, his body only wrapped in a towel. He stopped when he saw you, but didn't say anything: he just went to his backpack, seeking for clean clothes.

You passed by him toward the bathroom. You were received with heated, wet air on your face and thin steam that blurred your sight; when your vision cleared up, you understood why he didn't take his clothes to the bathroom with him: the place was so small that it could hardly contain the bath tub and two or three wood tanks with clean water with a small bucket upon the lid of one of them.

You looked into the tub and saw it was empty, but its wood structure was wet, confirming that it was recently used. Perhaps Tobirama used his Suiton to fill it up and preserve the water in the tanks; but it didn't explain how he could take a bath so fast.

You were still thinking about this when his voice sounded behind you, bringing you back to reality.

- I supposed you want to take a bath too, y/n-san.

You turned to him, who was now wearing pants, and said you were going to prepare your things first. He nodded and entered the bathroom for the second time. Before you could ask what he was going to do, he took the bucket off the wood lid covering the first tank and left it upon the second one, then removed the lid itself and grabbed the tank as if it was a medium recipient and not that large container full with liters of water you were seeing. He turned it over the bath tub and within seconds, it was full of clean water; he put the tank back on its place and covered with the lid, then did a few hand signs and produced a thin flame just above the water to heat it up.