| [Jan. 4th, 2014|09:29 am] |
“Good to know,” Genma said. That was one good thing about Kakashi’s painful directness, he supposed. And so far he hadn’t seen a lot to criticize about Raidou’s leadership himself. “If that ever changes, you know where to find me.” He stretched and leaned back. “Last one, then. How well do you think you’re fitting in with the team, and how well did you work on the mission?”
“Jaggedly,” Kakashi said in answer to the first question. “But I was useful on the mission. Tracked, hunted, held my own.” His mouth tightened into a grimace under his mask. “Though I didn't get to you quickly enough when the wall came down, and I missed my footing with the queen. If I hadn't fallen down that shaft, I could have ended that fight a lot faster.”
“That wall coming down caught us both off guard,” Genma said. “If we’d known there were demons tunneling in the walls, we’d never have separated in the first place. But if you hadn’t fallen down the shaft, would you even have found the queen’s chamber at all?”
“Yes,” Kakashi said simply. “I was following your ANBU spark.”
Genma nodded. Given the complexity of the mine, whether Kakashi would have made it in time to stop Genma becoming demon fodder was a what-if probably better left unexamined. “Were you moving blind? Would a light have helped you?”
“I had a light jutsu,” Kakashi said, “but I cut it. Didn’t want to give them the head’s up.”
That had been in Kakashi’s report, Genma remembered, now that Kakashi said it. And an assertion that if he hadn’t fallen, hadn’t lost the use of his arm when he used his raikiri no jutsu on the demon’s scorpion-like tail, he could have killed the demon outright with a second raikiri, instead of just cracking its armor.
Which would have saved the rest of Team Six from the fight: saved Ryouma’s chakra and lungs, saved Katsuko’s collarbone, saved Raidou from the demon’s acid. It was a heavy burden Kakashi had placed on himself.
“You know,” Genma said, “even if you’d managed perfect hits, there’s no guarantee you’d have killed her. We didn’t get to dissect her, since Tousaki’s jutsu didn’t leave much to analyze, but for all we know she had multiple hearts, and there was no telling exactly where they were in her body.”
Kakashi sighed so softly Genma would have missed it in a noisy room. “Yeah,” he said, looking down. It didn’t sound like he quite believed it, even though Genma’s logic was unassailable. Genma sympathized; it was hard to let go of the idea that you could have done more, no matter how much evidence there was to the contrary. Especially for someone like Kakashi, who was a perfectionist by nature. And there was only slim evidence here.
Kakashi looked up, changing the subject. “How do you think I'm doing with the team?”
“You’re pulling your weight,” Genma said. He considered careful wording, but Kakashi would probably prefer a direct approach. “Your skills in the field are impeccable, you follow orders, you show up to practice and work hard, you do your paperwork—if a little illegibly, and you took good care of your injured teammates after the mission.”
Kakashi looked expectant, waiting for Genma to fill in the unspoken ‘but...’
“But you’ve given your teammates the idea you don’t much care for their company. As soon as you’ve finished whatever team-related task is assigned to you, you disappear,” Genma said. “I’m not telling you you need to like them, but camaraderie is an important part of team effectiveness.”
Kakashi was silent for a moment, expression thoughtful as he turned that over. Then he nodded once. “Thank you, lieutenant,” he said. He tapped fingertips to his tattoo’s shoulder in a quick, fluid salute—not quite second nature, maybe, but certainly practiced. Genma was only partway through reflexively returning the salute when Kakashi turned and let himself out, closing the apartment door with a soft click.
Genma blinked.
“Like that, Hatake,” he told the empty room. “Exactly like that.”
He seemed to have a peculiar talent for triggering Kakashi to bolt.
Sighing, he flopped back against the couch cushions and stared up at the ceiling. “Well done, Shiranui.” |
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