| [Feb. 7th, 2015|06:34 am] |
Yes, what did happen, Kakashi? Kurenai squashed down that little flare of the old anger. Rin had forgiven him. The war wasn't hers to wage.
The visible slice of Kakashi's face flinched into something extremely complicated, for a moment. "A perspective change," he said at last. "Nothing fatal." He waved it away. "It was a long time ago. What's going on with you?"
Tousaki accepted the evasion as if he was used to that, too. "Caught up on sleep," he said, with a lopsided shrug. "Well, not so much sleep, actually, but— Rest." His mood seemed to lighten a little.
Kakashi looked half-liddedly amused. "Something horizontal."
Tousaki stared at him. "How'd you—?"
"Remember how you always smell like a lady's bedroom?" Kakashi asked, and arched a meaningful brow.
"That was soap." Tousaki cracked his neck, and managed an entirely unsubtle sniff of his shirt collar. "So's this. You need more experience of ladies' bedrooms."
"You have enough for both of us and three more people," Kakashi retorted.
If that blow bruised, Tousaki didn't show it. "Well, somebody has to pick up your slack. Konoha nin have a reputation to keep up." He picked at a loose thread on the torn knee of his jeans. More quietly, he asked, "You heard anything from the captain yet?"
Kakashi sighed softly. "I was just about to ask you."
Tousaki groaned and flopped backward onto the bed, narrowly missing Kakashi's feet. Staring up at the ceiling, he said, "Nothing. I checked in with the lieutenant already — got some instructions for those log-books for you — and he hasn't heard from the captain since Wednesday night. Intel's had a full day. Shouldn't they be done with him by now?"
"Have you ever known Intel to be quick when they didn't have to be?" Kakashi asked. Kurenai frowned at him, but she didn't miss the grimness to his voice, the tension edging his eye. Worry.
"They were quick enough debriefing us the first time. You're the only one who got to sleep." Tousaki scowled. "Lieutenant says he's got house arrest. Raidou, I mean, not Genma. Genma gets out tomorrow, maybe, or the day after."
"House arrest is better than actual arrest," Kakashi said, which was cold comfort if Kurenai'd ever heard it. "Captain's smart enough not to hang himself on any rope they give him. At least, I think he is."
Kurenai hoped so. Remembering Namiashi's numb gaze, the last time she'd seen him in the maze of ANBU HQ, she hoped so fervently.
"Taichou's smart," Tousaki agreed doubtfully. "And Intel's on our side." He sounded even more doubtful about that.
She'd forgotten how hard it could be to just listen — not to ask questions, not to offer reassurance, not to direct the slow current of thoughts. Tousaki folded his arms behind his head and frowned up at the ceiling as if it were the barrier keeping his team from their captain. Kakashi gazed down at him, a faint line crinkling between the grey brow and the bandage. Kurenai fidgeted with her pen, and waited for the words that would make this uneasy spying worth it. |
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