Air Drill Practice (Privite, Invite only)

Mezurashii smiled at Itami's light refusal, it's understandable, she thought as she set the stove to simmer and moved to chop the vegetables, pausing to grab some sauce and adding lightly to another dish.

The door opened loudly and closed quietly, why he does that is beyond her.

"I smell something great!" he called out as her papa entered the kitchen, he grinned at her and Mezurashii waved. Focused on her cooking, her papa made a move to speak but the redhead beat him to it.

"Make one comment on women and their cooking and you get no dessert" she threatened seriously. There was an audible 'click' from him wisely closing his mouth.

"So... Who's the guy in the bathroom?" he asked slyly and this time Mezurashii actually turned to her papa.

"My teammate, Itami. Don't scare him" she warned "now be helpful and get the plates" she said as she mixed in the vegetables of one dish and set the other aside. Once the food was set she looked at it all.

A large bowl of rice was in the middle with grilled salmon, tampura, gyoza, a plate of lightly seasoned beef and cups of lilac tea set around it. She smiled at the presentation before gesturing for her papa to seat.

"Itami! dinners ready!" she called out lightly, the walls would echo her words for her. Mezurashii sat down and waited for her friend and guest.

[just so you know it's a traditional Japanese table, the house itself it traditional as well but there are a few things modern, if we come across them at all I'll let you know!]

After a quick shower, Itami got dressed in his clothes again, but went to put his jacket folded on the guest bed. The light blue shirt lightly stuck to his chest and back as he didn't want to just use a towel without making sure which one was for him and so he didn't completely dry off. He went out of the room again, momentarily confused as to which direction the kitchen was in, but just then Mezurashii called for dinner and he gladly followed her voice.
He felt peaceful and a little hungry, but all in all good. He really liked it here. And he dreaded the moment he'd have to return home and face his father again.

Entering the room Mezurashii was in, he took a quick glance at it and spotted a man sitting at the table. Stunned for a second, he halted at the doorframe, not knowing what to say or how to act. Then, his eyes still a little wide, he said: "H-hello sir, nice to meet you, I am Mezurashii's teammate, Itami Himitsu."

He wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to act. He stayed at the doorframe and looked from Mezurashii to her father and back.

Mezurashii listened as her papa laughed heartily.

"Hello Itami! You can call me Katsu, or brownie cause that's my nickname!" he grinned and she sighed in relief before smiling happily at Itami before gesturing to take a seat.

"I hope I haven't made anything you don't like" she said absently before scooping a spoonful of rice into a small bowl and handing it to Itami, then doing the same for her papa and then herself. Mezurashii grabbed her chopsticks and placed some food on her plate, papa doing the same.

"So... how long have you kids been teammates?" papa asked conversationally, Mezurashii thought for a second.

"I think... a week?" she looked to Itami for confirmation.

Itami relaxed a tiny bit as Mezurashii's father laughed and he nodded at him, his expression still a bit confused though. He was slightly amused at the nickname and he made a mental note to always call Mez's father Katsu, and not brownie.

He moved towards the table and sat down, on his knees. He took the bowl of rice Mez handed him and set it in front of his plate. "No, everything looks great Mez." he said and smiled at her.
He put some seasoned beef on his plate and started eating with his chopsticks. It was delicious. Much more than the things he cooked for himself, as much as he knew how. He smiled again, down at his plate, happy to be here.

Itami nodded at Mezurashii's questioning look. "Yeah, it's been about a week." He turned towards Katsu then: "But we've known eachother before we were in the same team."

He took a bit of salmon with the chopsticks and put it next to the beef. "We were training today, and we were so tired in the end we decided to go rest a bit and have some tea." he added, as if trying to explain the situation.

Mezurashii smiled at Itami, it was a good conversation starter. But a chill went up her spine when her papa made a thoughtful noise.

'Oh please no!' she cried in her head as she turned to her guardian figure.

"So you've known her for a decent amount of time then..." he said and Mezurashii glanced up towards the heavens in a quick and silent prayer to whatever god may be listening and hoped it would reach them before her papa spoke.

"When should I be expecting grandkids?" he asked happily. Mezurashii face-palmed and sent her papa a look that promised pain.

"Papa! The hell is wrong with you?" she questioned "actually, don't answer that. No dumplings for you!" she reprimanded and ignored the desperate pleas of her papa before turning to Itami.

"Sorry, my papa is... well... crazy" she admitted bluntly. "He's been trying to get me a boyfriend for at least a year now, so you can imagine what I've had to deal with. On the other hand, you probably won't believe the insane things he's tried" Mezurashii admitted.

"But anyway, just ignore whatever he says about dating because... well, that's self-explanatory now" she shrugged before eating, still ignoring her papa's cries for the dumplings and took a bite of her food. Though eventually she sighed and sent him a withering glare that shut the older man up, though he continued to sulk while he ate his food.

Mezurashii sighed at her papa's behavior but couldn't help the small smile that played on her lips, after all who could stay made at Katsu? He was known for his earth style tricks that even sent Jounin through a look on occasion, he was damn proud of it.

Itami took another bite of the salmon and nodded at Katsu. He has known Mezurashii since his academy days. They've become good friends since then.
But a second later he looked up at the man's words and went pale. His mind was blank for a moment but then a deep blush settled on his cheeks and he looked down at his food. He didn't know how to respond to that so he just stared at his beef and salmon as if they were the most interesting things in the planet.
Embarrased as hell, he listened as Mezurashii talked and tried to difuse the situation.

His cheeks still red, Itami didn't dare look at Mezurashii. He mumbled into his plate:
"N-no it's nothing like that s-sir, we're just friends and b-besides Mezurashii is a bit older than m-me."

He chewed his beef and rice and poured himself some tea, trying to pretend his embarrasment was gone. He took a few sips and kept quiet.
He saw Mezurashii send a look at her father as he sulked and he couldn't help but smile a little even though the blush still hadn't receeded.

Mezurashii continued to eat, thinking of ways to get rid of the awkward atmosphere.

"Itami, I think I figured out what went wrong with the Air Drill" she said after a moment "you know how wind jutsu requires a lot of imagination and concentration? Well I was concentrating but I wasn't thinking of what the jutsu would do, so the pressure had no where to go. That's why it exploded like that" the redhead explained, when her papa made a move to speak she tossed one of her chopsticks at his head. It hit target and he yelped, kinda girlishly, and fell to his side in surprise. The thrown utensil landed back in her hand perfectly and she grabbed another piece of food.

"You are banned from talking" she stated before turning back to Itami as though nothing had happened. Though she did gesture a 'sorry' to her papa for hurting him with her spare hand.

Itami thought for a moment, glad for the interuption. "That seems plausible." he said and took another sip at his tea. "We should go back to the field tomorrow, if you have time. Maybe we'll already be able to perfect it." he said and smiled. He was looking forward to trying the jutsu again. He really hoped it would work better this time.
He giggled then, as Mezurashii threw the chopstick at her father.

Finishing the last few bites, Itami yawned then, but tried to cover up his tiredness. His eyes stung a little, from tiredness. He rubbed them and stood up, taking the plate in his hand. "I can help you clean up Mezurashii. But I think I will go to bed soon after. I'm kind of tired from the training and the mental efforts."

Mezurashii smiled, relieved that the tension was gone but looked down at her plate.

"Actually I had made some dumplings for dessert, but if your tired then you can go straight to bed" she smiled kindly before standing up and grabbing the empty plates and bowls and placing them in the sink and began to wash them.

"Yay! Are they the over-sized ones that are absolutely-" Katsu was cut off when she gave him a stern glare.

"I already said you didn't get any" she said before smiling "but yes, they are" she added and turned around to continue the washing. Papa just sulked.

"But... but... I'll... I'll buy you that new weapons pouch you wanted!" he tried and Mezurashii paused, she turned to him slowly.

"Add the new ninja sandals and it's a deal" she finally said and her papa called out if victory. Agreeing he ran to the fridge and grabbed out the bowl of dumplings. Each dumping were the size of his palm and each were filled with a different flavor, some were chocolate while others were vanilla, and so on so forth.

"Your cleaning up the table" she stated absently and Katsu simply agreed, he really loved those dumplings.

Itami was torn between sleep and the dumplings but another yawn finished the decision making for him. "Thanks Mez, I think I really need to head to bed though." He stretched and added: "Sorry. The dumplings look wonderful though."
As she cleaned the dishes, he felt a little guilty for not helping more, but at least he brought some of the dishes from the table to the sink.
Standing next to Mezurashii, he watched amused at her bargaining with her father. It seemed these two had a wonderful father-child relationship and for a moment he felt quite sad. He imagined what it would be like to live in such a warm and nice home, with family that you loved and that loved you.
As Katsu started eating and Mezurashii fell into silence, Itami turned to her: "Thank you for the dinner Mezurashii. It was amazing."
He moved towards the door and added: "Goodnight."
Walking slowly, he reached the guestroom and entered. It has been a long day. He still felt a little weird because he was sleeping over, especially after that comment Katsu made. But due to his tiredness, he dismissed it and climbed into bed.