"I'm surrounded by sadists," Seiji murmured to himself at Hikari's quip, rubbing his temples beneath the unforgiving arms of his glasses. "Sadists and gluttons."<br/><br/>His attention piqued at the sound of their sensei-turned-squad leader's laughter. His disbelief was suspended only because he was sure that she wasn't getting some sick amusement out of the topic of torture. At least, he sincerely hoped that she wasn't. Instead of blatantly denying it, or at least giving some sort of explanation for amusement, she dismissed herself on the subject of having to do paperwork. He had taken that at face value, but something in Hikari's words and demeanor told him that she knew something he didn't. Girls had some strange way of wireless communication that Seiji was sure that he would never comprehend.<br/><br/>He suddenly felt himself stooping down slightly as Hikari hooked her arm along his shoulders. Koji looped his own arm around her neck and Seiji did the same, his arm draped along Koji's and dangling loosely on Hikari's shoulder. It was nice to have his squad back together. Granted, it never really split up, so to say, but having one less team member than they were used to for an entire year felt a little bit hollow. Koji and Asami were great comrades, but they were always at their best as a complete team.<br/><br/>Koji looked up to the sky absently, contemplating the local places. "In the interest of eating as a team for the first time in a<span style="font-style: italic">year</span>," he trailed off, casting a sideways half-hearted glare at Hikari to remind her that yes she had, in fact, abandoned them for a year. "I'd kind of like to do something a bit nicer than we usually do."<br/><br/>Seiji offered a small hum of consideration, though it didn't take long for him to agree that it was a good idea. "Kozue? It's been a while since we've even walked by there." That was more than likely due to their outlandish prices, and perhaps had a bit to do with the fact that he felt he stood out in a place like that, but the food was remarkable and he was sure he could deal with the prices for an occasion like this. He looked to the other two for any sort of confirmation or bias one way or the other, but he had pretty much gathered that the general consensus was they didn't care as long as there was good food involved. So Kozue it was, he supposed.<br/><br/>The restaurant was a small walk if you kept a brisk pace, and that was just fine by Seiji. Konoha was nothing if not aesthetically appealing, especially around this time of year. Pink petals fell in no particular pattern other than their own accord, drifting lazily until they met the ground and scattering about as haphazardly as they fell. It was so relaxing that Seiji almost found himself wishing that it was a longer walk, but he was always the type to take what he could get. There was always the walk back, anyway.<br/><br/>Slender shoulders bobbed up and down in a half-hearted shrug, but it was obvious that Koji was hyped up about eating at Kozue. "I'm fine with anything, but let's do it fast. I'm hungry."<br/><br/>Seiji had known the man too long to be incredulous at this point, but he was still thrown for a loop every time he was reminded that Koji was actually a bottomless pit. Instead of any remark he would usually make, he turned his attention instead to Hikari. "How was your training?" he asked, both in idle conversation and out of general interest. The reason she'd left in the first place to master the art of ice release, a once-damned technique in Kirigakure. Years and years had passed since that time and Kirigakure grew as a whole, and residents grew along with it. Ice Release jutsu had likely done nothing but flourish in that time frame, and he was eager to see just how much it had.<br/><br/>"Hey, yeah," Koji piped up, almost as an afterthought. "How was that? Better have been good to get you to disappear on us for so long."