| [Jul. 12th, 2016|10:14 pm] |
“Good for her,” Genma said. “I’m sorry she didn’t get a chance to do that course audit, but I’m sure she’ll figure it all out.”
Genma’d been expecting the huskiness in Raidou’s voice. He hadn’t expected it to be mirrorred in his own. He glanced up at Raidou, catching reddened eyes for just a moment, before he found himself drawn back to his own letter.
He couldn’t have predicted a single sentence of it.
Lieutenant,
I haven't been fair to you in the past. Call it an inborn wariness towards medics, but I know you know I act differently towards you than the others. There are reasons for it, but it still doesn't excuse alienating you. I think, given a little more time, I would have been able to connect with you like I do the others.
You're a good man, lieutenant. You're serious and kind and capable, and I wouldn't trust my team with anyone else. Both of us were working towards a friendship before this summons from my father arrived, and I can genuinely say I regret the interruption in our progress. I've been wary and suspicious, and you have been nothing but gentle and patient. Thank you. A lot of officers wouldn't have bothered.
You probably know this about taichou already, but he does this thing where he thinks he has to set a good leadership example and bottles things up. Don't be afraid to check on him in private. Remind him he's human, and humans make mistakes. He doesn't have to be perfect.
And you don't have to be perfect either, lieutenant. You already do twice the work of a normal medic, given how this team likes to attack giant monsters with their faces. All of us would have died without you here. Don't be so hard on yourself; you belong on this team as surely as Sharingan Crankypants Kakashi does.
Thank you for everything, Genma-fukutaichou. I'll miss you.
-Katsuko
“She’s… She deserves this chance,” Genma said at last, still staring at the paper in his hands. “She could absolutely make her career with an assignment like this. Security at an embassy— that’s a good fit for her. No more mutilated little girls or civilian hits. Every fight she gets in, she’ll know for certain she’s protecting Konoha.”
His voice cracked, and his eyes felt hot and swollen, but he didn’t try to hide it from Raidou. Remind him he’s human… And you don’t have to be perfect, either. When he looked up at Raidou again, he knew his face gave him away. “When it matters, she really steps up.”
He held his letter out for Raidou to read. There wasn’t anything in it that was too personal to share, and Raidou was Katsuko’s friend as well as her captain. Former captain. It wasn’t much, but there was nothing else Genma could offer, and Raidou was hurting.
Raidou was clearly surprised by the gesture, but he took the letter with a nod of thanks. It was easy to see which parts Raidou was reading by the expression on his face. Exasperated and fond when he’d hit the instructions to Genma to remind Raidou he was human; a snort of pure amusement at ‘Sharingan Crankypants.’ He scanned through the letter a second time, like he wanted to refresh his thoughts before he spoke, then he folded it carefully and handed it back.
His eyes were still bright with shock and pain, but there was pride there, too. It was a good move for Katsuko, even if it was sooner than he or Genma would have liked. And she had stepped up, on the team in general, and in this farewell letter to her lieutenant.
“She’s right, you know,” Raidou said, with the kind of raw sincerity that only came in the aftermath of a major upheaval. “We would be dead without you.”
It was too much for Genma to keep looking at Raidou’s face. He dropped his gaze to the kitten in his lap, stroking between the triangular ears. They twitched every time Genma’s hand brushed too close to one, but the purring never ceased. |
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