As one of the village's famous beauties and a Jonin, Yuhi Kurenai was recognized wherever she went and often talked about. But people weren't gossiping about the same things today as they had before.
Today, they were gossiping about her boyfriend.
Yuhi Kurenai's heart inexplicably began to race.
She wanted to explain.
To say he wasn't her boyfriend, just her neighbor.
But the words reached her lips and then went no further.
What was there to explain?
Why did she need to explain?
They hadn't asked her to her face.
If she suddenly said, "We're not that kind of relationship,"
wouldn't that be even weirder?
Then she secretly glanced at Qiushui beside her.
Qiushui was looking at the vegetable stall ahead. His profile was clean-cut, and a faint, almost imperceptible smile touched his lips.
Had he heard?
Had he heard what they were saying?
What... what did he think?
Qiushui had no idea what was going through Yuhi Kurenai's mind. He bought an old hen, then turned to ask, "Kurenai, what would you like for dinner?"
"Ah..." Yuhi Kurenai was still thinking about what had just happened and didn't react at first. When she came back to herself, she said a little flusteredly, "Anything's fine. As long as you're the one making it."
After saying that, she felt like she might have been a little too direct.
Qiushui liked guests who weren't picky. He bought some other meat and vegetables, and then the two of them headed home together.
"Um, I'll go home and shower first, then come over in a bit," Yuhi Kurenai said.
She'd been out all day, and had just walked around the market. She realized she smelled a little and worried Qiushui might notice later.
"Sure, go ahead. These dishes will probably take about an hour," Qiushui said.
Qiushui opened the door and set the groceries on the kitchen counter. Then he left the kitchen and went into the bedroom.
He pulled a book off the shelf. The cover read Genjutsu Data Compendium. He'd gone to a bookstore especially to buy it a few days earlier. It was a thick volume covering the fundamentals of genjutsu, analyses of how various techniques worked, and a few simple ways to break them.
Over the past couple of weeks, he and Yuhi Kurenai had grown much closer.
At first, she'd only occasionally dropped by for a meal. Now, she came almost every day. At first, they'd been polite and formal; now, they joked around freely. She'd slump onto the sofa after dinner and complain that she'd eaten too much, and he'd make extra dishes she liked whenever he knew she was coming over.
Their relationship had reached this point. It was time to bring it up.
Qiushui carried the book into the living room and placed it neatly on the coffee table, right where it would be visible as soon as someone walked in. Then he returned to the kitchen. The first dish he planned to make today was chicken soup with yams and corn.
He chopped the chicken into pieces, put them in cold water with a spoonful of cooking wine, and brought it to a boil. After carefully skimming off the foam, he removed the chicken and rinsed it with warm water, then set it aside. He washed the sweet corn and cut it into rounds about two to three centimeters thick. After peeling the yam, he cut it into chunks and soaked them in water with a little white vinegar to keep them from oxidizing and turning dark. Next, he put the blanched chicken, corn, ginger slices, and red dates into a clay pot, poured in enough boiling water, and turned up the heat.
The chicken soup needed to simmer slowly. While it cooked, Qiushui started on the second dish: braised pork.
Just as Qiushui was halfway through making the second dish, Yuhi Kurenai's lazy voice drifted over.
"That smells amazing!"
Qiushui hadn't shut the door all the way earlier; he'd left it ajar. After her shower, Yuhi Kurenai followed the smell over and stopped in the kitchen doorway. She took a deep breath, an enraptured expression appearing on her face.
Qiushui turned at the sound of her voice and nearly dropped the spatula in his hand.
Yuhi Kurenai had changed into a red summer nightgown. Its burgundy silk stood out against her fair skin, making her look especially radiant. The thin shoulder straps were tied in a little bow at her collarbone. The neckline was just low enough to reveal the graceful line of her neck and the hollow of her collarbones, while the matching shorts were loose and ended at her upper thighs, accentuating her long, straight legs. Her dark hair, freshly dried, fell over her shoulders, with a few strands resting languidly against her chest.
Maybe it was his imagination, but Qiushui suddenly thought the braised pork reducing in the pan looked like it had turned pale.
He forced himself to look away and composed himself. "The kitchen's smoky. Why don't you go sit in the living room for a while? Otherwise, your shower will have been for nothing."
"Okay," Yuhi Kurenai replied softly, then turned and went to the living room.
A book lay on the coffee table, its cover reading Genjutsu Data Compendium. As a Jonin who specialized in genjutsu, Yuhi Kurenai had no interest in picking it up. She'd read this sort of introductory material countless times as a child.
Half an hour later, Qiushui brought out the braised pork, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, kung pao chicken, and cucumber salad. He set the four generous dishes on the table, filling it.
Yuhi Kurenai looked at the spread. "Qiushui, isn't this enough already? There are only two of us. We won't finish it."
"There's one more." Qiushui went back into the kitchen. A moment later, he came out with a bowl of soup and called out in a booming voice, "Chicken soup's here!"
Yuhi Kurenai pressed her palms together and said a reverent "Let's eat!" Then she eagerly picked up a piece of her favorite braised pork and put it in her mouth. It was sweet but not greasy, and melted as soon as she bit into it. A look of contentment immediately appeared on her face, and her eyes curved into crescents.
After dinner, Yuhi Kurenai sprawled on the sofa, blissful, and rubbed her slightly rounded stomach. "Qiushui, your cooking is too good. If I keep eating like this, I'm going to get fat."
Qiushui: How is that my fault?
He didn't say it aloud. Instead, he gathered the dishes and replied with a smile, "Should I make less next time?"
Yuhi Kurenai's face twisted with indecision as reason and appetite battled in her mind. In the end, delicious food won out. "Just make the same amount as usual. I'll add an extra hour of training every day."
Qiushui smiled but didn't reply. He carried the dishes into the kitchen, and when he returned after washing them, Yuhi Kurenai had sat up on the sofa and was looking at the Genjutsu Data Compendium.
"Qiushui," she said, pointing at the book. "Are you trying to learn genjutsu?"
Qiushui sat down across from her and nodded. "Yeah. I ran into an enemy who used genjutsu on a mission once. I didn't even see my opponent before I'd fallen into a trap without realizing it. If my teammate hadn't helped, I probably wouldn't have made it out alive. Now that I'm a teacher, I want to learn more about it so I can teach my students, too. At the very least, if they ever face an enemy who uses genjutsu, they won't be as clueless as I was back then—not even knowing how they got caught."
After hearing him out, Yuhi Kurenai looked at Qiushui with added admiration.
He really was so responsible toward his students.
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