Uzumaki

Tea and Sweets

"These books aren't enough."

"No."

"What?"

"No." Naruto was whining again, and Satsuki resisted the urge to uppercut him. "They're fine. No more books."

Satsuki gave Naruto a cold glare, gaze flicking back to her work. Naruto found himself mesmerised by the way she leafed through the pages. She looked up at him, slamming the book shut and sliding it on top of a badly-balanced book tower. "These aren't specific enough," she said.

"Why does it matter?"

Satsuki didn't respond. She was awkwardly positioned, half kneeling but mostly lying down; one arm held a textbook flat on the floor, and the other wrote fluidly in a notebook, the paper held down by an elbow.

Naruto frowned, standing up and stretching. The day had grown late.

"Ah! The view out of your window is amazing!"

And it was.

Satsuki's room looked onto the main square of Konoha and the Hokage building, and the sky above it. Evening had fallen, and the lanterns from the shop below gave the view a singed orange glow. The sun beamed over angular pipes and tanks of the Konoha rooftops, a half-complete jigsaw silhouette casting over the windowsill. Satsuki didn't say anything.

"Don't you like it?"

She didn't look up from her work. "Get some more sources."

"How?"

Satsuki didn't say anything, and Naruto turned, looking at her. She had a strange grace, and he couldn't figure out where it came from. Even amongst scattered paper and books, elbow pressed on the corner of a book with pen and paper in hand and hair half pulled up into a bun, she retained an eloquence that made every mistake seem intended. He cast his gaze away quickly.

"Do you have any cup ramen?"

She looked up, eyes flat and black. Naruto didn't feel certain she was looking at him.

"No," she said, unwinding herself from the mess of documents and folders like a coiling snake. Satsuki didn't knock a single thing out of place, even amidst the precarious mess.

"I'm going to Ichiraku then-"

"I'm making tea."

Naruto blinked. "What?"

Satsuki stood up, brushing strands of dark hair behind her ear and brushing past Naruto like a stranger. "I'm making tea," she repeated, reaching the cooker and turning on the gas.

"And?"

Satsuki stopped, settling the pan on the hob before stilling her movements. After a few seconds, she turned her head slightly, regarding Naruto on the edge of her peripheral vision.

"Stay."

--

The food was much nicer than Naruto had expected.

Not that he knew what he'd expected, anyway. But it was nice; it had been a rice bowl, but with eggs and meats and vegetables. He hated vegetables, and carefully picked around them; but on the off occasion he accidentally swallowed one, he didn't gag.

The air was heavy. Naruto hurriedly grabbed his chopsticks from their upright position in the bowl and left them beside it. "Uh-" he began. "...thanks."

Satsuki didn't respond, standing up and taking both bowls to the sink. Naruto watched her walk, her silhouette passing by the window for a second.

"Do you want some tea?" she said.