Backslide-Blackkat

Chapter 10

It's a bit of a surprise to wander into the Jounin Standby Station and see the now-familiar wealth of crimson hair. Genma pauses three steps into the room and blinks, but Kurama remains on the comfortable couch, papers scattered around him like the victims of a localized hurricane. Huffing out a soft laugh—because if asked Genma would have said that Kurama was the politely amiable but distant type, never one to socialize, and clearly would have been wrong—the tokujo changes direction and settles onto the couch across from the redhead.

"Having fun?" he asks dryly, watching Kurama mutter and chew on the end of his pen.

Kurama flinches, so slightly that most people would miss it, and then raises his head. He blinks at Genma for a moment, blue eyes almost dazed, before focus rushes back into them like a wave and they narrow sharply.

"Genma-san!" he says sharply, bolting to his feet. "Come with me!"

"Wha—?" Genma starts, but before he can even get to the second syllable Kurama has grabbed his wrist, dragged him to his feet, and triggered a shunshin. The world blurs with smoke and color, and half a second later they're touching down in a deserted training ground, Genma's head spinning slightly from the speed of the transportation.

It's only his long-honed instincts that let him dodge the lightning-swift hand-strike that would have caved in his nose if it connected, and with a huff Genma leaps back, putting distance between himself and the redhead. "Kurama-kun, what the hell?"

Settled into an unfamiliar taijutsu stance, Kurama blinks at him innocently. "I need your help with my training," he says, as though it should be obvious why he's grabbing random tokujo and then trying to rearrange their faces. "We both have a shift at the Mission Assignment Desk this afternoon, so you don't have missions and can spar with me, right?" He smiles, bright and deceptively sweet. "You're one of the fastest and most agile shinobi in Konoha. Please?"

That's blatant flattery—apparently Kurama is very enthusiastic about this training. Genma hesitates, eyeing the jounin suspiciously, and then sighs and shoves his hair back from his face. "Right," he says resignedly. "What are we doing exactly?"

The grin he gets in return is blinding. "Don't worry, you don't need to do anything specific. It'll all be on my end. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, kenjutsu, senbon—use whatever you like. Just try not to let me hit you anywhere."

Kurama takes a half-step back before shifting stances, his expression turning distant and a little vague, as though he's focusing on something complicated. Genma considers him for half a second, then mentally shrugs and takes his own stance. He's always up for a good, vigorous spar—one of the hazards of spending his formative years in close proximity to Gai—and he's seen Kurama in action. The man's good, so this will at least be interesting. There are far worse ways to pass a morning.

He doesn't wait for a signal—they're clearly both ready—but launches himself across the gap between them. Putting his speed to use, he whirls and drops, sweeping out a long leg to knock Kurama off his feet. Without so much as a heartbeat of hesitation, Kurama leaps into the air, twisting nimbly to land on his feet behind the tokujo and striking out with a sword-hand. Genma easily knocks it to the side, dipping away from the follow-up and then trying a high kick. Kurama sways out of the way, letting Genma's sandal just miss his chin, and then darts away from a sternum blow.

"You really are fast," he says, apparently pleased as he drops into another stance Genma has never seen before. "That's perfect."

"Same to you," Genma offers with a grin, because it's rare that anyone but Kakashi can match him in a spar, speed-wise. This is looking to be even better than he'd thought.

Kurama leaps forward, and launches into a blindingly quick series of punches and kicks. Genma matches him, blocking them easily enough. The redhead's attention still seems divided, like he's concentrating on more than just their match, and Genma lands two hard hits on his ribs and one on his thigh before Kurama breaks away.