HSV - Study Buddies

Moriko took a deep breath as she stirred the soup and looked at the time. The scent of leeks was thick in the air as she smiled softly. She hadn't seen Masaru in a while. She hadn't been avoiding him so to say, but she hadn't been actively seeking him, having been giving him space since she realized how badly she had been treating him. He said he forgave her but Moriko hadn't really come to forgive herself.

But she really missed her friend, his smile, his laugh. The way he overlooked and forgave her social awkwardness, even helped her with it. The way she can talk with him about medicines and the human anatomy for hours upon hours and neither would get bored. He was someone she could watch informative programming and documentaries with and wouldn't fall asleep on her. He was her study buddy, and Moriko decided to see if they can be close without romantic feelings being stirred, she didn't want to risk his happiness by feeling in love with him again. It wasn't fair to Masaru. She had done well so far, so hopefully the night would prove they can be close without her making it awkward.

There was a knock at the door and she felt a slight flutter in her chest as her face reddened, but she cursed at herself. No, that wasn't allowed.

She turned as her Great Dane opened the front door with his paw. "Hey buddy, didn't know you could do that," came his familiar voice. Moriko smiled to herself, she had really missed that casual tone of his. She washed her hands and came out of the kitchen.

"He's known how to do that for a while..." she said with a soft smile.

He looked at her, "Hey," he said petting the spoiled dog as the large canine jumped up licking the man's face. Masaru laughed as Moriko only giggled.

"Hello," she said, "You have been missed."

"Okay buddy, down," he laughed as the dog got off him and back down on his four paws. He chuckled some more petting the dog's head, "I can see that."

Moriko only offered a smile, "I thought you might be hungry... so I made leek soup, and some cheddar biscuits, and some snacks for later."

He sniffed the air and smelled the scent from the kitchen so he only walked over to the room, "I could eat now," he told her.

She only smiled, "Good, I just finished."

Masaru sat down while Moriko made two bowls of the soup leaving the biscuits on the side as she served the two of them then made up Akihiro's dog food. He looked around, "hey where's Kana?"

She looked at him and gave a sigh, "I made Wakana a cake and she decided to eat it all in one sitting... again... so she's sleeping it off in her room. You can see if she's awake if you want."

He seemed to debate it then shook his head, "Neh, I'll let her sleep, besides I came here to see you."

How much she would have given to hear Masaru say that only a few months ago. She would have swooned at the thought. But now Moriko only offered him a smile, "if you say so."

Moriko sat down and joined in on the eating. She really hadn't thought of leeks before meeting Masaru but they were healthy for you and she did like the aftertaste, so she could eat them without complaint. After the dog gobbled down his meal Akihiro came over to the two, turning his puppy eyes to beg for more food. Masaru only chuckled and gave him a biscuit which he greedily took and gobbled up. Moriko watched them, "Don't feed him too much," she said.

"I'll try," Masaru teased.

When the dog put his big head on his owner's lap, Moriko smiled softly and pet his head. She glanced at Masaru and bit her lip slightly. "So..." she started, but she dropped the sentence and continued eating. She didn't know what to say. Should she apologize for being distant? or not even bring it up?

"So what?" he asked.

"Um... Well I bought some documentaries on human anatomy, and I got a few books on medical plants," she said to save herself, "We can start there if you want."

Masaru blinked at her, the guilty expression was on her face as plain as day, Moriko wasn't very adapt at hiding how she felt. But he didn't feel like confronting her when they were supposed to be having a fun night, there was always time to talk later. "Sounds good, nothing else is on your mind is it?"

"Just... wondering what to do for Wakana's birthday," Moriko fibbed thinking on her feet, "I mean I don't know what to get her since the only thing I can make is pineapple treats. She was very sweet to get me some things for the kitchen I want to return the favor."

"Then just make her pineapple treats," Masaru chuckled, "I mean you make her happy by makin them right?"

"The fact that she gorges herself on them suggests that she hopefully does."

"I told you before, gifts don't need to last, people like the thought, I'm sure Kana is perfectly happy with the pineapple cake."

Moriko offered a small smile, "I suppose. Though I should probably only make her single serving treats from now on to make sure she doesn't hurt herself again."

"That's a good idea," Masaru chuckled.

Moriko only gave a soft smile, "I should have done that after the first time this happened."

He returned the smile, then slowly it faded. It was nagging at him, the guilt that she was trying to hide with her smile and light jokes. He gave a sigh, "Much as I like talking about Kana, I know it wasn't her you were thinking about." Moriko met his gaze, and he only sighed softly "There was something else you wanted to say..."

Moriko frowned slightly, "I just..." she sighed, she wanted to tell him no, everything was fine, but, they did promise no secrets, "I feel bad, about you know... not seeing you... and I still feel bad about before."

It was his turn to frown, "I told you it was fine... You didn't mean it."

"I know but-"

"No buts it's fine. Is that why you invited me over? To apologize? I thought you wanted to hang out. You know I was wondering why I didn't see you anymore."

"I do want to spend time with you Masaru, I missed you... I just, I feel bad about not seeing you I do, I kept debating with myself about it, but I didn't come because I wanted to give you space."

"When did I say I wanted space? Just being friends doesn't mean stay away from me Moriko."

Moriko only looked down, "I'm sorry..."

It was Masaru's turn to sigh, tonight was suppose to be fun, and here they were creating tension. "Never mind."

"No you're angry with me."

"I'm not angry Moriko... just... a bit upset if I'm gonna be honest."

"I don't want want to upset you, I want you happy Masaru."

"Then don't think you need to stay away from me. You're my friend Moriko, yeah you did some stupid stuff, but you didn't mean it cause you didn't know any better. I forgive you isn't that enough? Can't we just be friends?"

Moriko looked down, "Yes we can be friends Masaru that's all I want, I'm..." she took a deep breath, she didn't mean to upset him, "I'm just afraid of doing it again..."

Masaru gave a sigh, great now he made her feel bad about it. "Hey, I know you're not okay? You know better now... I trust you."

She looked to him at the word 'trust', "I didn't realize... that you'd care if I stopped coming around."

"Well now you know I do, so just don't be a stranger okay?"

She blinked at him, "Well I'm not a stranger, at least I don't think so..." she said in the most innocent tone possible.

Masaru wasn't quite sure why he started laughing, maybe he really needed the laugh from this tension, or he forgot how clueless Moriko was to figures of speech. The blank but questioning look she gave him only made his laughter grow. "Well then don't act like a stranger okay?" he chuckled.

"O-Okay..." She smiled softly.

He chuckles died down and he give her a grin, "you know, I missed you Moriko."

She returned his smile as Akihiro moved over to Masaru wanting to be petted, Masaru only smiled and gave the dog the affection he wanted. Moriko watched the two then spoke, "I missed you too. In all honesty Masaru... Sometimes I thought you only tolerated me for Akihiro," she admitted to him.

Masaru only blinked, then made a thoughtful expression, "well... I thought you'd be upset if you knew the truth... I do really like Akihiro's company."

Moriko blinked at him, "Wait, what?"

The man burst out laughing again, "What? He's a great friend! He missed me more then you did apparently."

Moriko's face went red, "Wh-What you want me to jump on you and lick your cheek? That's weird!"

"I'm joking Moriko geez," Masaru chuckled. God she was so flustered over that image of greeting him like Akihiro did.

She pouted at him, "Th-That wasn't funny."

"Then why am I laughing?" He only chuckled more when Moriko stuck her tongue at him. He took a deep breath to slow down his laughter, "Now about the human anatomy."

The evening was filled with diagrams, books, and some documentaries going on in the background as the two laid on the carpet discussing the topics Moriko needed to cover. Though soon Akihiro felt abandoned and started laying on their books trying to beg for the snacks Moriko brought out later, wanting attention. The two only laughed and gave enough of a break to give Akihiro attention with belly rubs and making him do tricks for treats before going onto medical plants.

"I don't know how you're suppose to memorize all of these plants..." Moriko commented looking through the thick books.

"Eh it's not easy, I'm sure ANBU are allowed a cheat sheet or two cause you gotta know a bit of everything," Masaru mused glancing through some of the pages trying to pick out the more important plants to show her.

"Isn't that.... cheating?"

"This isn't a test, just a quick reference sheet, just until you know them by heart."

"Hm... I suppose..." Moriko muttered before digging out a scroll to start taking notes with. She frowned slightly, "I'm going to need pictures of the plants though... I can't draw."

"I bet you can."

"You haven't seen me try," Moriko deadpanned.

"Go ahead, try then," Masaru told her. Moriko raised a brow to him, then sighed taking a spare sheet of paper.

He waited until Moriko finally flipped the paper to show him the picture of... whatever she was drawing. He bit his bottom lip slightly, "Um... it's... not terrible?"

"Can you tell what it is?"

".... a leaf?"

Moriko pouted at him and showed him the medicinal flower she tried to copy, "I told you..."

He just gave a soft chuckle and pat her head, "We'll find picture for you then."

She was still a little pouty, but she sighed then managed a small smile, "thank you."

Soon it was getting late and Masaru decided it was time her headed home. "This was fun Moriko, we need to do this again soon."

"With all those plants we're going to need to," Moriko replied with a soft smile.

He gave a small chuckle and nodded, "I've been trying to get Narashi to study with me cause he needs to know about plants too, but he keeps falling asleep on me. Maybe I can bring him next time?"

"Sure," Moriko smiled without hesitation.

Masaru looked at her, it was a little weird to him that she was completely fine seeing Narashi after everything that happened. "So... everything is all good, you know, between you two?"

She gave him a nod, "Yes we've seen each other couple of times then we talked... and I think we agreed to a fresh start, he... really isn't that bad of a person is he? His ego is very annoying though..."

He chuckled a bit, "Yeah... it can get on your nerves sometimes I'll agree to that."

She only smiled at him, "I look forward to seeing you both... I mean I still want to spar with you too, after your performance in the Jounin Exams I want to be sure I'm able to match you."

"We'll see," he laughed.

As he stepped out the door Moriko just watched him, he glanced at her and gave her a questioning look when he saw he subtly chewing her lip, that always meant she was debating on something. He only raised a brow to her so finally she just stepped closer to him and hugged her friend. "I'll see you soon?"

"Yeah," he told her returning the hug.

She smiled and wished him good night before he left. Masaru turned back to see her return into her house. He felt better as he made his way back home for the night.