Room 504, Saturday Evening

[intraspective]

After a handwavy day of training that had left her tired and achy, but in a good mood, Ino was sprawled out on her bed, hair still damp from a shower, and making faces at the latest book she was attempting to read. For something that had the word 'basic' in its title... it wasn't very basic at all.

And the dictionary she was flipping through only helped so much. Geez. She considered writing to the author and complaining about false advertising.

Or maybe she'd just fling it at the wall. The thunk it made was very satisfying.

[Open~!]

Comments

[intraspective]

That made her laugh too. She twisted to lay on her back and told him, "Being willing to and voluntarily hanging around in your company is nothing anywhere near love."

She even managed to say it without blushing. Much. 'Cause she didn't like him at all, you know.

... really.

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

Kabuto snickered against his hand. "Whatever you say. I'm surprised you didn't deny it to begin with, though." He laid back as well, taking the book with him and holding it up so he could still read it. "...This was a good purchase. I approve of it."

[intraspective]

"You're currently laying on my bed." Ino pointed out, "And I've fallen asleep on yours once with my memory fully intact. Saying I don't willingly hang around you seems a bit... ridiculous."

"I'd like it better if I could understand it," she observed, "but glad you approve, I suppose."

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"Love and war, Ino-san," Kabuto explained to her. "Not that you enjoy my company."

"I can read it to you, if you want. Would you be able to focus enough to do it tonight?" he asked sweetly, nudging her side with the back of his hand.

[intraspective]

She squeaked and moved slightly away. Slightly. "I can focus just fine if you'd stop that!"

"All's fair is definitely true in war." Her tone of voice making it clear she thought this was a stupid thing to doubt. After all, she was a shinobi too. "Love? Can't really say."

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"That's what I thought you'd say," Kabuto said smugly, obviously pleased with himself. "You're so predictable sometimes."

He adjusted his position so that he could hold the book comfortably against his chest. "Can you see okay? You might need to move a little."

[intraspective]

"You say that often, but I don't think you mind." Ino said while moving closer so that she could see better. This put her kinda leaning on him, but she wasn't complaining. "Now I can."

One hand might have been creeping up to play with his hair.

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

Kabuto pulled her closer, then settled in to start reading aloud. The hair-playing was not unnoticed, though he left it unmentioned. As he read, he stopped frequently to explain different words and how they were being used to describe things. He was like a walking medical dictionary.

[intraspective]

He was definitely the nicest looking medical dictionary that she'd ever come across. Ino could get used to this kind of studying. She learned things and got to play with hair. Good times.

She took advantage of a pause, after almost an hour or so to ask, "How long did it take you to learn all of this?"

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"Well, I'm almost nineteen..." Kabuto said, pausing and thinking about it seriously. "I started studying when my foster father took me in. He was the Konoha Medical Unit Squad's chief medical officer, so it made perfect sense." Kabuto smiled slightly, eyes half-closing because Ino playing with his hair was really relaxing.

[intraspective]

She blinked, and then, because she had to ask, "Almost nineteen? When's your birthday?" Ino played with his hair a bit more before asking, "Did you always like it? Studying medicine I mean. Or was that learned over time?"

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"It's something I've always had an interest in, yes." Kabuto's eyes fluttered completely closed for a moment, while he replied to her. "My birthday is..." There was a long pause, like he actually had to think hard to remember."...February 29."

[intraspective]

"Did you actually have to think about that?" Ino asked incredulously, hands pausing in his hair. "Isn't that just something you should know off the top of your head?"

All this information? Totally being filed away in the back of her head where she'd never, ever forget any of it.

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"I don't celebrate it," Kabuto admitted with a slight shrug, looking over at her. "It's just another day; what's the point in making a big deal about it?"

[intraspective]

Right then. He was totally getting a present or something from her in February. Whether he liked it or not.

"It's a day when you're allowed to act like it's aaaaaall about you." Ino told him, "and get presents. That's the fun of it."

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"...Right." Kabuto didn't seem concerned, just kind of brushing her off. "Why did you want to know, anyway?"

[intraspective]

"Just wondering." Ino said cheerfully, playing with his hair. She went back to an earlier question. "How old were you when you started studying?" He couldn't have been really, really little if he'd started medicine around that time.

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"Oh, young," Kabuto replied vaguely. "Even before I was officially studying medicine, I would read everything I could about it. So you could say I've been studying it for as long as I can remember." He was answering....just not in the specifics she might have wanted. And he was happy to keep it that way.

[intraspective]

Ino took a moment to picture a really young Kabuto lugging around a medical textbook and reading it very seriously. Awwww.

"It's good that you knew what interested you though, right?" The tips of her fingers gently massaged his scalp, "I mean, I think that the shinobi who don't know what they want to go into have a harder time of it. Makes deciding what to learn harder."

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"It's always good when you know what you're doing. Wandering aimlessly, without goals, will not get you anywhere." Kabuto relaxed again, shifting a little to almost lean into Ino's hands.

[intraspective]

Ino grinned a little as his head pressed slightly against her hands. He clearly wanted her to continue.

"Mmm." She hummed a little, "My boss says though that you've got to have balance, even with hopes and stuff, and that it's important not to let your goal consume you." Or something like that anyway. Of course, Cable-san had also mentioned that you should 'help where you can' but Ino didn't think Kabuto would care about that.

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

Kabuto would never, ever let his goals consume him. Never, ever. Not him!

"Your boss sounds like a smart guy," Kabuto commented absently. His mind just wasn't on the conversation anymore. "Better than some, anyway."

[intraspective]

"Cable-san is awesome." Ino told him serenely. "You should talk to him at some point, just to see."

... was he starting to fall asleep on her?

[sound-loyalty.livejournal.com]

"I might." If only to gather some more information about him. "How are things going with your training, by the way?" Kabuto wasn't falling asleep; he was just thinking about several different things all at once, and it tended to make him seem...a little bit vague.

[intraspective]

Her hands continued rubbing small circles on his scalp. It was soothing. "Training? It's going fine." A pause. "Oh! Yondaime-sama got back to me. So we talked and he told me that he'd been kidnapped which is a pretty good reason for not returning my call sooner."