Red Nara

Saya had prepared a mountain of food with my help, five liter bottles of plum tincture, a barrel of wine, and had a very good meal. Then where did the hangover come from that was so wild that even Uzumaki's lauded stamina faltered?

Stretching my memory, I fished out the individual pieces that gradually formed into a coherent picture, and suppressed the urge to groan - after the main guests had left and only the Ino-Shika-Cho trio remained, I had pulled out an experimental tincture of pure alcohol on herbs from my stash!

My cousins were drunk but still managed to crawl out of the house, and I returned from seeing the last guests off and found Saya asleep on the couch. I remember exactly that I wanted to take her to the bedroom and even managed to lift her up, but further on... By deduction, it can be assumed that I reached the target, because I could feel the edge of the bed from below, but I must have passed out there too.

Judging by the fact that we're both dressed, not much else happened. That was fine. A brief opening of my eye told me that morning was still a long way off and that I didn't need to get up yet. Taking a deep breath, I rested my face against the soft chest and slowly drifted into sleep.

  ***

- Ryo-san!

The voice from behind the fence made me rise from the hammock that was stretched between the trees in the garden and look in that direction.

- М?

The dark-haired head sticking out over the fence was that of a vaguely familiar girl of about seven. Maki-chan, I think.

- Yao-ji-san has pulled his back again, and now he can't move, only grunting in pain! Please help me! - After capturing my attention, the girl whispered embarrassedly.

Sighing, I jumped down to the ground. It seems that even on a legitimate day off work will not leave me, not in the hospital, so in the clan.

- Ma, I'm going out for a minute," I shouted in the direction of the house.

- What's wrong? - Saya asked, looking out the open kitchen window.

- Yao-san pulled his back and sent his granddaughter to fetch me," I explained to her, and with an understanding nod, I jumped over the fence and turned to little Nara. - Let's go see your grandfather.

Taking the squeaky girl in my arms, I used the shunshin and in a moment I was standing near the porch of a tidy one-story house belonging to a retired veteran and his only relative. It's a common enough situation when only a couple people remain of the entire family, and that's separated by several generations. Yao is actually Maki's great-grandfather, not grandfather; all other close relatives died in the service.

- Well, here we are," I grinned, lowering the little girl to the ground.

She gave me a menacing look that only made me smile, and then rushed into the house.

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