Kushina's face grew redder as she spoke, and her voice grew softer.
"…I can massage your head. When I had headaches before, Grandma pressed here and it helped."
She looked up at Ryo, clutching the hem of her skirt with nervous fingers. Her sapphire eyes were bright with a mix of expectation and fluster.
Ryo's gaze passed over the tips of her reddened ears and her tense, intertwined fingers. He stayed silent for three seconds. The chakra that had been running fast in his body from working on Hiraishin settled slightly.
The faint scent of soap and herbs clung to the anxious girl.
He gave a low acknowledgment and let his body relax a fraction. It was tacit permission.
He was tired.
Breathing in Kushina's clean scent and that warm, familiar fragrance, a brief ripple of distraction passed through his chest.
Success.
Kushina lit up like a child who had sneaked a candy. She held down her excitement and quickly knelt beside his bedding.
Ryo turned his back to her.
She extended her small hands, fingertips a little cool, and carefully touched his temples. Feeling the warmth and firmness beneath her fingers, her hand trembled.
"Relax."
She muttered softly, imitating Mito's technique and doing her best to ignore the solid feel of muscle.
She pressed with the pads of her fingers, worried that too light would be useless and too heavy would be uncomfortable. Clumsy, but earnest.
Her warm fingertips worked at the acupoints. A few loose strands of hair brushed his neck as she moved, carrying the clean scent of soap and her own simple fragrance.
Ryo shut his eyes.
The jumbled symbols of the day receded.
Tense nerves began to loosen under the careful, cool touch.
A thread of odd comfort spread from his temples.
He leaned back the slightest bit, allowing her to draw a little closer.
Sensing his change in breathing, Kushina brightened.
Her courage grew.
She shifted a little closer, steady and focused.
"Here, and here. Grandma says this point helps the most." Her slender fingers, now warmer, moved from the temples to the back of his neck, searching out acupoints with care.
Each press, each brush of hair, dropped like pebbles into the calm lake of his mind, sending quiet ripples across the surface.
His clean scent mixed with the faint sweetness that was uniquely hers. Her heartbeat raced.
Time flowed by quietly.
Only their faint breaths sounded in the room.
After several days of this routine, she felt the timing was right. Following Mikoto's step-by-step advice had worked. The pace between her and Ryo had indeed warmed quickly.
Kushina's courage increased.
She rubbed her palms nervously against her skirt, took a deep breath, and, face flushed, patted her own knee.
"Hey." Kushina's voice suddenly sounded. With some hesitation and a bit of do-or-die resolve, she broke the warm quiet of the room.
She stopped her hands, cheeks burning hotter, and lowered her voice. "If you lie here, on my lap, it might work better."
Ryo paused for a moment at the suggestion.
Looking at the space she indicated, he exhaled once and shook his head without hesitation. "No. This is fine."
They had kept the massage routine proper these past few days. It helped him settle, and that was enough.
Kushina grew anxious at once. Her shyness flipped into determined insistence. "No. Try it. Grandma said it really helps you relax. Do you think I can't do it right?"
She rocked slightly, flustered but stubborn.
Ryo met her wide blue eyes, saw the look that said she would not let it go, and let his resistance drop.
He let out a small, almost inaudible sigh. "Suit yourself."
He adjusted his posture and relaxed his support so he could rest more comfortably.
Kushina straightened, steadying herself to support him. The weight was not light, but what she focused on was keeping calm and doing the technique correctly.
Kushina startled, then held herself steady.
Her heart pounded, embarrassment and nerves nearly overwhelming her. She almost moved away, but seeing his calm face with eyes closed, the impulse subsided.
Mikoto had said to hold steady.
For the effect, this much effort was worth it.
She urged herself on and focused.
Ryo felt the brief stiffness and the rise in her body heat.
Through the thin fabric, the contact point was warm. Her simple, clean scent wrapped around him and eased the last tightness from his thoughts.
Kushina took a deep breath, forced down the pounding in her chest, and continued.
A chance. Perfect timing.
She reached out again, fingers trembling slightly, and placed them carefully at his temples.
This time she did not hold back. Her fingertips pressed against warm skin with a measured, testing force and began to knead.
Her movements were still a little clumsy, but her focus was much sharper than before.
Her fingertips slid over the tense temporalis, adjusting pressure as she searched for the right points. Now and then a cool finger brushed his ear by accident.
A few strands of her red hair tangled around her fingers and swayed with the motion.
Each press made the muscle contours clearer under her touch. Each faint brush of hair seemed to speak quiet closeness.
She could feel the strong pulse beneath her fingers and his steady, long breaths, one by one, like beats landing on her heartstrings.
The tension beneath the quiet was more moving than any sound.
Kushina's face burned bright. Each accidental touch made her breath go thin and nervous.
In the room there was only Ryo's almost inaudible breathing and her own pounding heartbeat.
Moonlight fell through the window, tracing a soft halo along Ryo's calm profile and outlining Kushina's focused, shy expression.
The rare, warm stillness with its hint of innocence lasted a long time.
Perhaps only a quarter hour.
Then the door was yanked open with brute force.
The rough motion slammed it into the frame with a crash like thunder.
The air filled at once with the scent of battlefield smoke, bitter medicine, and harsh wind and dust. Along with it came a scorching gaze, full of restrained fury, pinning the room like a searchlight.
Tsunade was back.
She had been urgently recalled by Hiruzen earlier. Leaving the Hokage Building with a stomach full of frustration, she learned that Hiruzen had not consulted her about the Nine-Tails jinchūriki transition. He said it was better for Mito to tell her granddaughter herself. He left only a vague instruction for Tsunade to "clean up the mess" caused by Ryo.
Naturally, she assumed that was the entire reason she had been called back.
With nowhere to vent, she headed straight for the Senju residence.
Back home, she meant to ask Mito about Ryo in detail. But at this hour, Mito was already asleep, and Nawaki was out cold. Even so, Tsunade immediately caught a presence that was not family, one that was very familiar and made her angry, the culprit Ryo.
Her expression shifted again when she sensed a second, familiar presence in the same room.
At the doorway, Tsunade's blonde hair was a little mussed. Sweat beaded on her brow. Her eyes held both the fatigue of forced travel and the anger from being brushed off by Hiruzen.
When her gaze cut through the drifting dust and landed on the scene inside, she saw her little Kushina in a short cotton nightgown, arms and calves pale under the moonlight.
Her pupils tightened further at the sight of Kushina bowing her head with focused hands and a red face, her small palms working at Ryo's head.
That was not the main point.
The main point was that Ryo was resting comfortably while Kushina supported him.
Moonlight traced the outline clearly.
Kushina's face was red as a ripe tomato.
The air froze for an instant.
Kushina yelped like she had touched a hot iron. She snatched back her hands, pushed Ryo away in a panic, and sprang back. Her entire face went scarlet. She fumbled at her hem, trying to pull it down, and stammered, "Tsu, Tsunade-neechan, I, I wasn't, he, I was just, massage, Mikoto said, no, no…"
Her mind crashed.
Ryo steadied himself with one hand on the floor. He sat up, no embarrassment at being "caught," only slight irritation at being interrupted. He looked toward the doorway where a golden-haired figure radiated pressure.
Tsunade leaned on the frame with arms folded. Her gaze paused for a beat on the spot where Ryo had been resting, then lifted like a blade to Kushina's flushed face.
The anger from the Hokage Building evaporated. In its place rose something sharp and dangerous, a mix of fury and the mood of someone catching trouble in the act.
A slow, mischievous smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. It made Kushina's heart stop.
She drew out her words on purpose, her tone bright and teasing, each syllable landing like a hammer on Kushina's overloaded nerves. "Hey, hey, Kushina, little brat."
Tsunade tipped her chin and deliberately let her eyes sweep over Kushina's flat stomach, her smile turning even more "wicked." Her expression made it clear what she was implying.
"You are still so young." Her voice brimmed with pointed teasing. "If you ended up pregnant…"
Tsunade stretched the last three words long, the tail rising with mean amusement, like throwing a huge bomb into the silent room.
"Then I…"
She spread her hands, as if to say even the sky could fall and it would not be her problem. Her eyes flicked lightly over Ryo's calm face, then dropped hard back on Kushina, who wanted to sink through the floor. She spoke each word slowly. "Would not operate on you."
The words lit a fuse.
Kushina exploded, turning from a tomato into a shrieking steam engine, as if white steam really spouted from her head. "Tsunade-neechan, what are you saying! Idiot, idiot, big idiot! We did nothing. It was a massage!"
She stopped caring about anything else, clapped both hands over her burning face, and wailed with a thick fake-crying tone. She barreled past Tsunade at the door.
Tsunade stepped aside with interest.
Kushina scrambled out, hands and feet both working.
Her pounding footsteps boomed down the hall, mixed with muffled sobs of embarrassment and anger, each step like crushing what remained of her dignity.
Moonlight lay cold across the guest room.
Ryo stood up, composed as he straightened his slightly rumpled clothes, and adjusted his breathing.
Tsunade leaned against the frame, arms folded, that dangerous, amused smile still on her lips. Her eyes said, "Kid, not bad," as she looked him up and down.
Outside, Kushina's frantic running and choked cries faded at the end of the corridor.
The night felt like it had only just begun.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)