| [Nov. 29th, 2016|09:57 pm] |
Raidou kept his eyes to himself, scrubbed down, sluiced off, and gestured Kakashi, Satomi, and Kurenai to take his place after Ginta and his charges vacated the pool. The tired pair of healers were settled with warm clothes and a cloak to sit on, while Ryouma set about finding sturdier food for them. Kakashi and the two Intel women managed to wash up without anyone accidentally touching or making eye contact. Raidou was unsurprised to learn that Kakashi’s talent for vanishing food also extended to achieving clothing without ever, apparently, being naked.
Satomi and Kurenai stretched their bath to include Fukuda — an operation that involved even less eye contact — and then the three women joined Usagi and Ginta for a quiet conference, which Raidou interrupted to explain the vice-commander’s plan.
Ginta took his assignment in stride. “I want Tousaki, too. We’ll need muscle in case there’s trouble.”
“Fine,” Raidou said. “Usagi?”
“Works for me,” she said. “You want Fukuda too?”
Ginta regarded Fukuda — seated between Satomi and Kurenai — with indifference. “She already told us where she thinks the traps are, and what to expect. With her injury, she’s more liability than help on a scouting mission.”
That also had the advantage of keeping her away from Ryouma and Kakashi. Raidou approved.
Usagi raised her voice. “Hatake, Tousaki, gear up. Vice wants you for a scouting mission.”
Ryouma scrambled to his feet. Kakashi loped over at an easier pace to inquire: “Did we do something wrong?”
“Probably,” Usagi said. “Sakamoto-fukuchou is in charge. Satomi’s going, too.”
Kakashi’s face, hard to read at the best of times, went completely expressionless.
Ryouma glanced at him sidelong, then at Satomi — she was equally stone-faced — and tugged on the collar of his wrap-shirt. “If anyone asks, we’re just suspiciously athletic hikers from no particular country lost in these caves.”
“Spelunkers,” Ginta said, with a brittle diamond smile.
Ryouma gave a wary blink, his standard response to a word outside his lexicon. “Yes, sir.”
Raidou had good feelings about this expedition already.
Usagi’s eyes skimmed over Kakashi, Ryouma, and Satomi to fix on Ginta. “Be back within the hour,” she ordered, and it was an order, no room for flex.
Ginta’s salute was razor sharp, held just a fraction of a second longer than necessary. He jerked his head at the others. “You heard the captain.”
As the mismatched party moved out, Kakashi leaned up to say something inaudible in Ryouma’s ear, and Ryouma’s expression cleared. New definition learned, Raidou guessed.
Usagi, watching silently, stayed put until the group rounded a corner, and the glint of Ginta’s pale hair vanished. When she turned, Raidou touched her shoulder. She tipped her head up, and he could still see his friend there, in the steady line of her mouth, the square set of her shoulders.
“Taichou,” he said softly, acknowledging.
Her mouth tilted fractionally. “Taichou.”
Together, they returned to care for their medics. |
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