Kankurō scowled as he trudged along the worn path leading to Konoha's hot springs, arms crossed, posture tense, and every inch of him radiating the mood of someone deeply inconvenienced.

“‘I want to hang out with Naruto,’ he says,” Kankurō muttered under his breath, mimicking Gaara’s voice in a flat monotone. “‘It’ll be good for diplomatic relations,’ he says. So now I’m stuck babysitting myself while the Kazekage runs off with his best friend.”

He stopped in front of the modest wooden entrance of the hot springs, eyeing the painted sign as if it had personally offended him.

Steam curled lazily from behind the wooden walls, and the faint murmur of relaxed conversation drifted through the cracks. Kankurō squinted.

“Do people really just... sit in hot water? For fun?”

Still, he had time to kill and no puppet maintenance to do—not without his tools—and the idea of soaking sore muscles didn’t sound entirely ridiculous. Muttering something indistinct under his breath, he stepped inside.

After the awkward process of figuring out how the whole changing room situation worked (he definitely opened a door he wasn’t supposed to at least once), Kankurō emerged at the edge of the outdoor bath wrapped in a towel and looking faintly suspicious of everything.

That’s when he noticed someone already seated in the water—you. You looked relaxed, content, at ease in the whole experience.

Kankurō paused, observed.

You slid into the water. He followed a moment later, slower, stiffer while looking off to the side. He didn't want to seem like a pervert staring at someone wrapped in a towel... he just didn't know what the hell he was doing!

You leaned back. He mirrored you, but kept one eye half-open as if expecting the water to betray him.

It wasn’t long before his expression softened slightly. His muscles unwound, and his shoulders, always held tight from stress and posture, finally started to sink.

A small breath escaped him.

“…Okay, this isn’t terrible,” he muttered, mostly to himself.