“We need to go now,” Katsuko burst out, before she could stop herself. “Masaaki had four Kiri-nin, Takayoshi would have hired more—”

She couldn’t lose Team Six now, not when she’d only just started to think of them as hers—

Her fingers twitched. Katsuko yanked the towel off her head and braced her good hand on her knee. “—and god knows the Tsuto family is rich enough to buy as many Kiri freaks as they want—”

Raidou snapped his fingers in front of her face. No aggression in the gesture, just a sudden sound to interrupt her rising panic. "They might be hurt, but we are hurt, and I've already maxed out my quota of dumbass decisions today. First aid, food. Then we'll go. If you want to go faster, help me deal with this mess first." He gestured curtly at himself.

Katsuko blinked and shook her head to silence the fear clanging around inside her skull. “Right,” she said, taking a deep breath. Then she ripped open the first alcohol wipe and went at him.

His hands were her major concern. She picked out as many bone fragments as she could from the bloody mess of his knuckles, went through three more alcohol wipes sterilizing the torn skin, and bandaged the hell out of everything. The burns and singing on his palms and the back of his neck she treated with burn cream and more bandages. There wasn’t much she could do about his mild concussion, besides apologize for punching him in the head and then retract her apology immediately afterward.

“I don’t feel even a little bit sorry,” Katsuko informed Raidou, peering at the senbon stab in his right thigh. “I hope I left a permanent knuckle imprint on your skull, you jerk.”

A shadow of a smile crossed his tired face. “Worried you that much, huh?”

She scowled and finished bandaging the senbon wound. “No. You can pull your pants back up, now.”

He did so and then shucked himself into a new shirt and armor, tossing back a handful of painkillers after he was fully dressed. “Your noodles are boiling over,” he said.

Katsuko scrambled to switch the flame off and managed to rescue the pot before the noodles dissolved into mush. Her appetite had vanished when 0300 came and went with no sign of Genma, Kakashi, or Ryouma, but she portioned the noodles out into two bowls anyways. She’d be useless on an empty stomach.

Raidou tossed his bowl back in a couple mouthfuls and then wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, rubbing the old blood off. Katsuko downed her own bowl, ignoring the boiling broth in favor of slurping the noodles, and caught the two rat bars Raidou tossed at her with a casual flick of his wrist. He took his own rat bar and glanced at the watch. Katsuko followed his gaze, watching the seconds tick by. Not quite half an hour yet, but she didn’t care about the difference a few minutes would make, and she doubted Raidou did, either.

He flickered through hand seals lightning-fast, pulling a henge mask over his face. “Let’s go.”

Finally.

Katsuko picked up her mask and slid it on. She resettled her katana and kodachi on her belt and rolled her good shoulder, savoring the fresh rush of adrenaline. “Ready, taichou.”

Raidou took the lead. He moved easier now for having taken a brief break; they both did. Katsuko adjusted her sling against her side and followed him out the door.

The storm hit them like a slap in the face. Katsuko squeezed her eyes shut against the battering rain and sealed the safehouse closed behind her. She fell in at Raidou’s side as they darted through the howling wind towards Ibaragashi City, reaching her chakra out in an automatic sweep of the area.