| [Mar. 5th, 2014|01:58 am] |
And that was just a little new. It might have been a complaining obedience, but it hadn’t been a questioned one. Up until now, every order Genma’d given Ryouma had been obeyed with a flicker of hesitation, a confirming glance at Raidou, or a good deal of attitude.
He should take the rookies out for one-on-ones more often. Katsuko, too, probably. She’d centered herself and was pushing against him with perfect form, almost equally strong on both sides, but he could feel a subtle tremor on his left—her right. “You’re doing great. Any pain?” he asked her.
“A little twinging in my right shoulder,” she answered. “Less than yesterday, though.”
He nodded. “Okay, you can drop it. Turn with your back to me, arms above your head?” She complied, letting him test her for power and range of motion on first one side, then the other. “I can still feel a little clicking on the right,” he said. “You’re a righty for your long blade?”
“No, my kodachi,” she corrected.
“You probably could do with another session with the medic on that side, and maybe some physio. I think there’s a little fluid in the joint.”
She grunted an acknowledgment and stepped away, pirouetting to face him.
“Any other issues you notice?” Genma asked her. “You know your body best. If your stamina’s good and you’re not having any particular pain anywhere, I’d say you can resume whatever training feels good.”
“Oh, good,” Katsuko said, brightening visibly. “I was getting bored doing things the easy way.”
Undoubtedly, Genma thought. How big a mistake had he just made? “That doesn’t mean you have license to injure yourself. Or your teammates,” he added, when she glanced Kakashi’s way.
Kakashi was still lapping between the fence posts, and looking like he’d never tire. “You can go race him if you want, though. He looks like he could use some motivation.”
“You're not trying to get me out of the way so you can torture Ryouma, are you?” Katsuko asked. “I take protecting my teammates very seriously.”
“I know you do,” Genma told her quietly. “Limber up, get the kinks out, and you might try some targeted fire jutsu, since I know your rehab is supposed to include small jutsu practice.”
Katsuko nodded, expression a steely mix of mission-readiness and calculating subterfuge, and jogged out towards the center of the field. A pair of blue-edged balls of flame leapt up from her palms, floating like were-lights in the mist. At the last minute, she veered towards Kakashi.
His only defensive reaction was to flip into a handstand and resume his laps—on his hands.
Well. They were sorted for the moment.
Genma turned his attention to Ryouma, whose squats had turned into a kind of moving meditation. Ryouma’s eyes were closed, his breathing steady, and his rhythm impeccable as he dipped and rose, dipped and rose.
“How’s the knee?” Genma asked.
“Steady enough,” Ryouma said without opening his eyes. He went smoothly into another dip. “It was stiff this morning, but it's limbered up.” As he completed the last rise, he opened his eyes and looked up at Genma. “Thigh aches a little, but it won't be a problem.” He was wearing a sweat- and grass-stained t-shirt, and his bare arms were littered with fresh bruises already darkening. His split lip was swelling, too.
“I’m guessing this morning’s spar hasn’t done you any favors,” Genma said. “Hang on, I’ll make a bench.” He worked a simple earth jutsu, forming a two meter long segment of clay-rich orange soil into a low, hip-height ridge. A twist of shaped chakra sheared the top of the ridge flat. “Hop up,” he said. “What hurts besides your thigh, that shiner, and your pride?”
There was a hint of stiffness marring Ryouma’s grace as he hoisted himself onto the bench with a stifled grunt. “You want more specific than 'everything,' I'm guessing,” he said. He reached up to prod gingerly at his blackened eye, feeling for the margin of the bruise. “Katsuko stamped on my fingers, but they're not broken. And I'm pretty sure I've got prints from her knees on my back and Kakashi's hands on my throat.” |
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