''You're not going to eat that anymore?'' Izuna asked, pointing to the meat.

Daichi sighed and shoved the plate toward him. ''Go ahead.''

Izuna grinned widely and put Daichi's plate on top of his. As he was eagerly eating the steak, a waitress walked by and stopped at their table.

''Is everything to your liking?'' She asked, smiling kindly.

Kai, another member of the Anbu squad that Izuna was in charge of, nodded. ''It is.''

''Ah, can I order another drink?'' Izuna asked.

''The usual?"

Izuna nodded his head and the waitress wrote his order down on a small notebook before looking up again. ''Does anyone else want to order a drink as well?"

''I'm fine.'' Arata said, and Kai and Daichi said the same. The only one who could drink and eat more was their leader, who was still enjoying his meal.

The girl nodded and left.

''I'm totally stuffed!'' Kai groaned, but then a grin appeared on his face. ''But it's nice to do this every week. That was a good idea of you, taichou.''

Izuna nodded and put the cutlery on his now empty plate. ''It is,'' He said. ''And I already told you to call me by my name outside work.''

''It's weird to call you that,'' Arata spoke as he took a sip from his drink. ''We're used to calling you 'taichou'.''

Kai nodded in agreement, which made Izuna sulk slightly, and he muttered some inaudible words. Daichi sighed and looked up to the wall, where a clock hung on the wall.

Almost 23:20.

It was already that late. It was hard to believe they were already sitting there for about three hours now ever since they came back from their long and tiring mission. He was extremely tired, and he just wanted to go home, which was exactly what he was going to do. Daichi had to get up early in the morning after all.

''I'm going home in a few minutes.'' Daichi said, and his three team mates looked at him.

''Already?'' Izuna asked. ''We have a day off tomorrow. Just stay a little longer.''

Daichi shook his head. ''I promised Kayo to visit her tomorrow morning.''

''Ah, Kayo? I haven't heard from her for quite some time. How is she doing?'' Kai asked curiously. ''When is the operation?''

''She's doing fine.'' Daichi answered, and he started tapping his nails against the wood of the table when he remembered her telling him about her worries the last time he visited her. ''The operation is next week. Kayo is pretty nervous, though. She's a bit afraid.''

Kai was about to ask more when a waitress interrupted their conversation. Daichi frowned slightly when he noticed that it wasn't the same girl who served them before, but a different one.

''One beer?" She asked nicely, and Izuna nodded fanatically. ''Can you get me another?

With a smile, she put the glass in front of him and left without saying or asking anything else. Daichi knew something was off. Even though this was only his second year of working as an Anbu, he had seen a lot of faces already, but hers was a stranger's.

''Hey Arata,'' He murmured. ''Do you know her? The waitress from just now?"

Arata looked over his shoulder to take a glance at her. After a few seconds, he turned back around and shook his head. ''Never seen her before.''

Daichi sent Izuna and Kai questioning looks, too, but they also didn't know anything.

''Why do you want to know?'' Kai asked.

Daichi narrowed his eyes at the girl and clenched his jaw. ''I don't know.'' He muttered. ''But don't you think it's weird that none of us know her?''

''She could be from another village.'' Izuna said as he took a sip of his drink. ''Maybe she just moved here.''

''Anyway, I still want to ask you something about Kayo, Daichi, is that okay?'' Kai asked, and Daichi turned back around to face him and gave him a nod as response.

''I only heard she got badly injured on a mission and couldn't use her legs afterward,'' Kai spoke a bit hesitantly, not knowing how sensitive this topic was to him. ''But what happened exactly?''

Daichi dug his nails into his palms. Talking about it didn't really bother him, but it did remind him of Kayo's crying face. She was terrified when she heard she couldn't walk anymore.

''They were ambushed by rogues on their mission.'' Daichi muttered. ''Kayo's team mate died, she was stabbed in her back, and her other team mate got away with minor injuries.''

''It must have been hard for her.'' Arata said. ''But at least she'll be able to walk again after the operation. Doesn't she get the same kind of thing as the Hokage?"

Daichi nodded. ''But Kayo will get prosthetic legs, while the Seventh has a prosthetic arm.'' He spoke. ''But while Seventh had already lost his arm, Kayo still has her legs.''

''I understand why she's afraid.'' Izuna sighed. ''Bu-'' He was about to say more when they were interrupted by the waitress, who was holding a filled glass in her hand.

''One beer?'' She asked.

Izuna nodded, and she placed the glass in front of him on the table and took the empty one. ''Thanks.''

The girl smiled and left. Daichi watched her walk away. He still had a bad feeling about her.

Izuna quickly drank the beer, looking quite pleased, and put en empty glass back on the table a few seconds later. ''I'm going outside for a smoke.'' He said, and he stood up. ''Can you wait a little longer, Daichi? Then we can walk back together.''

Daichi nodded and leaned his elbows on the table, resting his head in his hand. Waiting for a little longer should be fine. It's not like anyone was waiting for him to come back home. Kaira, Kazu, and Shunsuke were probably asleep already anyway.

This only meant half an hour or so less sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

''Thank you, Kazu.'' Kaira sighed as she put the last plates back in the cabinet.

Kazu beamed slightly, drying his hands. ''Doing the dishes is no big deal.'' He said. ''And we can't let the bandage get wet, right?''

Kaira smiled softly and placed a kiss on his head before ruffling his hair. ''Now go to bed. You're tired, aren't you?''

''It's your fault for starting doing the dishes this late.''

Kaira grimaced and gave him a playful push. ''Go upstairs already.'' She mumbled, laughing lightly. ''Can you also check if your little brother is already sleeping?''

''Yes, but when will Daichi come back?"'

Kaira pursed her lips and looked at the clock. After squinting her eyes, she was finally able to read the time. ''I expect him to come at any moment now.'' She said. ''It won't be long.''

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

''He's taking long.'' Daichi grumbled.

''Should I ask for the bill?" Kai asked. ''Then we can pay already.''

Daichi nodded and stood up. ''Go ahead.'' He said. ''But I'm going to check on Izuna. I want to go home but he's already out there for a long time.''

Daichi didn't wait for a reaction and headed toward the exit of the restaurant. He knew that Izuna never smoked more than one cigarette, but by now he could have already smoked a few more.

He opened the door and looked around, but there was nobody in front of the building. Daichi frowned and called the name of the person he was looking for. ''Izuna?"

No response.

''Izuna?'' Daichi tried again, but there was once again no answer. Gritting his teeth, he began to walk further away from the restaurant and called Izuna's name several times. After a few attempts, Daichi sighed in defeat and ran a hand through his hair. ''What the hell is going on?''

Suddenly, Daichi heard a weird sound and narrowed his eyes, looking at his surroundings. At first, he didn't notice anything, but then he saw a gray lighter lying on the floor next to the building. He didn't see it before, but from this distance, he could partly see what was lying at the side of the restaurant.

Daichi recognized the lighter immediately.

It was Izuna's.

Just from seeing it, he already got a really bad feeling about the whole situation. And once again, he heard that sound. It was similar to a groan, but it sounded hoarse. It came from close to where the lighter was, and in a few seconds, Daichi was right there, at the side of the building.

His eyes widened in shock.

There was Izuna, lying on the ground, making choking sounds as he was convulsing and twitching.

''Izuna!''

--------------------------

Should a make an overview of all the OCs? I'm introducing a lot of them in a short time so I thought that it could be convenient to explain who is who.