| [Jun. 10th, 2013|06:09 am] |
Genma’s soldier pill had finally worn off. The sky had slowly modulated from bright aqua to rich tangerine to dusty mauve, and the shadows of the guards on the walls stretched out to the east instead of the west—long black lines pointing towards the darkening forest. The craggy faces of Konoha’s leaders backing the village wore deep shades of blue, with rays of gold backlighting the spikes of Yondaime’s hair and the roofs of ANBU headquarters beyond them.
Nothing had happened.
All day long, messengers had come and gone. Personnel had arrived and departed. Ranging parties had come in the gates with nothing to report beyond the usual activity within Fire Country’s borders, and others had gone out to look for what seemed to be increasingly imaginary clues that an attack was imminent.
Genma yawned, rolling his shoulders with a creaking pop. His back ached, his feet were leaden, and his chakra, when he mustered it for a casual sense of what was in range, came sluggishly to his call.
Raidou’s chakra felt like a banked fire, too. He still stood ramrod straight, but Genma could read fatigue in the way Raidou moved—he showed the careful economy of a man who was husbanding the last of his resources.
How long had it been since they’d slept? Last night was the chase, the incident, and the endless debriefing; the night before had been set up for phase two of the Trials—it was hard to believe the first day of Trials was only two days gone. It felt like a week since Genma’s head had last seen his pillow.
Well, Aoba’s couch.
Maybe tonight, if things stayed calm, he’d sleep at his dad’s.
Katsuko’s chakra, unlike his and Raidou’s, remained a beacon. It still flared and flickered with disorder, and as the shadows grew longer, her agitation seemed to be mounting again.
He leaned back against the wall and looked at his two companions. “Our relief team ought to be here soon. Looks like they’ll probably have a boring night.”
Katsuko shrugged, distant and preoccupied with whatever internal demons she was facing down.
“I may kill Hatake," Raidou said, in a friendly, conversational tone. “Or at least tack a notice to his big clever forehead. ‘Capture enemy spies for questioning, don't fillet them.’”
“I’m pretty sure I remember that one from Akuma-sensei’s lectures at the Academy,” Genma agreed. “What is that, Rule 63? ‘A shinobi never wastes an opportunity to gather intelligence, no matter how much the enemy deserves to die.’ Something like that.”
“My point exactly,” Raidou said. “Genin know that one.”
Katsuko tipped her head slightly, listening despite her turmoil. The cheerful incongruity of her rat mask struck Genma as funny for no reason other than that he was tired. Funny and a little sad. Was it the spectre of the Fox that had her so worked up in knots? But the Fox was dead, and if there was another tailed demon about to be loosed on Konoha, there was no sign of it. |
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