| [May. 22nd, 2014|04:37 am] |
“Can we do this if I keep my head upright?” Genma asked, swallowing at the thick sensation in his throat. “That really didn’t feel good.”
Raidou’s wry smile was a weird hybrid of reassuring and concerned. “You're not that short. Just stay where you are.” Cupping Genma's head carefully between his hands, he pressed his forehead against Genma's, aligning their pineal chakra points. Genma shut his eyes and felt the warm wash of breath as Raidou exhaled and initiated the transfer.
Heavy pressure thudded against Genma’s coils as Raidou’s chakra surged down receptive channels. Water and earth, wet and weighty. It gave Genma a strange chill, and he had to remind himself to keep breathing. The fire in his own nature fought against Raidou’s water, but earth sought like with earth—Raidou’s granite to Genma’s quicksilver—and slowly, relentlessly, Genma’s chakra level rose. He found himself breathing in sync with the captain. His pulse still raced, but he could feel the tug of Raidou’s slower biorhythm like a metronome.
For a moment, Genma drifted, letting Raidou’s strength take the place of his own. He leaned into it, and didn’t snap back until his legs buckled. Raidou caught him by the shoulders, and his clone grabbed an arm.
“Steady, Shiranui,” Raidou said.
Genma caught a breath. “Sorry. I’m good.”
Raidou didn’t let go right away, locking eyes with Genma like he was trying to see the lie hidden there.
“Really,” Genma said. He pulled back, testing the weight on his uninjured leg, and the uneasy slurry of foreign chakra mixing with his own low reserves. “That was a good transfusion. You’re not drained from it, are you? That felt like a lot.”
“Wasn't planning to use it for anything else today. You need it more,” Raidou told him. He gave Genma an almost affectionate pat on the shoulder.
Dealing with his leg couldn’t wait any longer. He undid his belt and pushed his tight-fitting trousers down. Raidou gave a low whistle when he caught sight of the vivid bruise dominating Genma’s thigh.
“Yeah. It’s not great,” Genma said. He sat on the edge of the platform and tried to figure out the best approach. The swelling was even more pronounced, straining the red edges of the closed wound. Iebara’s blade must have nicked the branching lateral artery, and solder-pill toxicity was killing his clotting. He flipped through seals for a cauterizing jutsu and tried to visualize the twisting course of the artery. It would be so much easier if he had the bleeder exposed. Or had a Hyuuga’s eyes. He pushed chakra into the depths of the wound, gritting his teeth as it burned its way through muscle and blood vessels alike. When they got home, he’d get a lecture and probably a round of corrective surgery to deal with the damage his emergency treatment had piled on top of the original injury, but field medicine was almost never pretty.
Raidou waited until he’d finished, then produced a sterile gauze square and some tape from the small arsenal of medical supplies he’d assembled, folded the gauze, and taped it carefully under Genma’s nose to catch the still-oozing bleeding. “That should hold you until you get the chance to do something better.”
“Thanks,” Genma told him. “Might get your help with that later. How are you at setting fractures? I just want to tape it in place, chakra healing can wait.”
“I've set bones,” Raidou said. “You might do better with a more delicate touch, though.” He raised heavy-boned, bandaged hands by way of explanation.
From his position at Kakashi’s side, Ryouma looked up. “My hands are still steady. And I've dealt with a broken nose before.” He ran a finger down the bridge of his own nose and back up, stopping at a nearly imperceptible divot.
“You set that yourself? Good, you can do mine after I’m finished with everyone and can take some painkillers.” Genma probed his leg gingerly, but it was impossible to feel the anatomy through the massive hematoma—he just had to hope that as broadly and deeply as he’d applied the jutsu, he’d managed to cap the bleeders.
“How’s Hatake? And how are you? If you’re finished transfusing him, let me give you a quick look, and then I want you to go get clean.” He looked around for the Katsuko clone that had accompanied him for that awkward shower, but it seemed to have absented itself. |
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