| [Oct. 1st, 2015|02:11 am] |
Next to her, Kakashi inhaled almost soundlessly and flicked her a look out of the corner of his eye. Katsuko met his gaze and put a little teeth into her smile. He stayed silent, and she turned back to Genma.
The lieutenant was nodding. "Before we get to that, any other questions? I know it's been a little chaotic, but I think things should get steadier from here on out."
"Not right yet. Sure I'll think of something later, though." Ryouma pushed restlessly up to his feet, shooting a grateful look at Katsuko. "You stay sitting, lieutenant. Me and Kakashi can go check out the hall."
“Make sure Kakashi doesn’t faint,” Katsuko said, patting Kakashi’s knee to show she meant no insult. “He is a delicate flower.”
Kakashi sighed heavily and leaned one elbow on the table. “I am,” he agreed, to Katsuko’s blinking shock. “Maybe I should stay here and listen to Ueno get confused by long words. For my health.”
Katsuko stared, for once too surprised to shoot off even an automatic retort. Genma, meanwhile, pinned Kakashi with a look.
Ryouma huffed in exasperation, came round the table, and hooked a hand in the collar of Kakashi’s shirt. "Not a good idea for anyone's health to stick around when Katsuko's confused."
“Excuse me?” she demanded, but Ryouma was already towing Kakashi out of the room. The door slid shut behind the two men, leaving Katsuko alone with Genma, the leftover snacks, and her own rising sense of indignation.
“I changed my mind,” she said at last. “My kouhai are the worst and they aren’t cute at all. Let’s trade them for another pair of rookies, lieutenant.”
She’d been expecting some form of dry retort. Instead, Genma smiled and reached for his folders. “You might be surprised to see I complimented how you handle them. They actually do rely on you. So do taichou and I.”
There wasn’t really anything she could say in response to that. Katsuko studied Genma’s face, trying to see past the smile. As always, she was thwarted by the urbane calm he wore like a comfortable sweater.
Katsuko didn’t understand this man. She was the one who had to get people to like her, not the other way around. When she’d first joined ANBU it’d taken her weeks to wear Raidou down enough to admit that fine, yes, they were friends. Ryouma had been easy to click with, but that was because she’d purposely made the first move.
She hadn’t done anything to win the kind of warmth the lieutenant liked to show her on a regular basis. It made suspicion itch at the back of her mind.
“Here,” Genma said, and slid her report across the table. It was about three pages long, paper-clipped together at one corner, with Genma’s neat handwriting filling almost every labeled section. Katsuko braced herself and started to flip through. |
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