[Open] It's getting hot in here

[showsnopiety]

Who: Caren and anyone visiting the hot springs!
When: Post dungeon, could be right after fail/success, could be days after
Where: Hot Springs of course
What: There's a hot springs, so now there's a hot springs episode.
Rating: Could be a p-13 and beyond because some people are only wearing towels in this place.





[Win or fail, everyone needed a reason and a way to relax. With the fall of the towers, there was all sorts of good things to come from it. Some would say it was the birds; and others would say it was the hot springs.

The large, large pools of heated water. Sure, they could be used as a way to get all steamed up (or even steam punk) but after all that hard work, everyone deserves a break!

Bring your swimsuits, your towels, your drinks and snacks-who knows, you should be able to find them in the bazaars, or even on Airy. It's time to soak in the heat!]

Comments

[mitotic]

[ It doesn't really bother her that he falters, that he doesn't know how to respond in kind. Not anymore. He does what he can, and he tries, and Sakura has learned where to look for it. There are walls that even someone as friendly and people-oriented as she keeps, but for him (and for Naruto, and for Sarada) she is always open. Even for little things like this. Especially for moments like this, when he looks as peaceful as she usually sees him. ]

Here? Yeah, I saw him in the spring earlier.

[penitents]

Good.

[ It seems abrupt, but his concern is clear in his asking to begin with. Though they'd all sustained a number of injuries, Naruto had, of course, over done it as he usually does. Fortunate that they were able to get him healed, at last partially, before arriving here. In their own world, something like a knife through the hand could almost be waved off as a minor injury.

That didn't remain true here. Naruto had a steep learning curve to climb, and it preoccupied much more of Sasuke's thoughts than he cared to admit out loud. ]

[mitotic]

Worried about us?

[ She's teasing him, albeit gently: her smile softens it. Of course she knows he's interested in their well-being. It isn't always obvious to most, but she's known him long enough to know that he is, even when he doesn't necessarily express it.

Still, she enjoys ribbing him sometimes. Just not nearly as often or as antagonistic as Naruto. ]

[penitents]

[ Sasuke cracks an eye open, rolling his head just against the rocks to look at her sideways, bemused. It's a testament to how far their relationship has come: when he was young, she had spent so much time walking on eggshells around him that he'd never had the chance to know what she was like as a whole person. After a moment, leaving the look squared on her as a dry response to her playfulness, he closes his eyes again and flexes his hand on hers beneath the water. Her hands aren't as soft as Naruto's, a byproduct of fighting with her fists and not having the same natural healing factor Naruto did. ]

Yeah.

[mitotic]

[ The flexing of his hands is all the invitation Sakura needs to thread her fingers gently through his, and even though his eventual response is as taciturn as she expected from him, the fact that he admits it at all conveys volumes. ]

He'll be fine. [ Sakura settles down in the water a little, leaning her head gently against his shoulder, content in the warmth of the water and in his presence. ] I guess it's been a while since we were challenged like that.

[ Even Shin had been destroyed by his own children... "children." ]