| [Sep. 24th, 2013|10:19 pm] |
“Hound—” he started, but Kakashi had already moved, reaching up to plant a splay-fingered palm on Ryouma’s shoulder. Ozone-edged lightning chakra jumped from Kakashi to Ryouma in a pulse Genma could feel across the room.
Ryouma’s whole body shuddered, and his hand shot up, grabbing Kakashi’s wrist the same way Kakashi had grabbed Namura’s only moments earlier. “I will kill the next person who touches me,” he growled.
“Medic wants you,” Kakashi said calmly.
Tension dropped away from Ryouma’s shoulders, and he released Kakashi’s wrist. “Okay,” he said. “I won’t kill you.” His head twitched back against the pillow as he looked up at the medic. “What? I thought I told you to let me die.”
“I tried,” Kakashi said. “They got fussy about it.”
“Answer my questions and you can go right back to sleep,” Namura said. “Do you know where you are?”
“Hayama Medical Clinic, Isegawa province, getting tortured by my teammate,” Ryouma said. He pulled the edge of his pillow up, rubbing the corner against his face. His illusory mask started to wisp away at the touch, like ice turning to fog.
Kakashi hissed and flicked Ryouma’s wrist. “I told you not to touch your face,” he said, as he recast the water-henge mask.
Namura waited for her patient to settle. “How many fingers am I holding up?” she asked, raising two on one hand and holding it steady.
“Two,” Ryouma said, sounding bitterly vexed. “They're foggy. It’s chakra-exhaustion. Let me sleep.”
Namura turned to look at Genma. “Satisfactory? He seems rousable, alert and oriented to me.”
“Let him sleep,” Genma agreed. “Sorry, Ram. Needed to be sure.”
“Should fix his leg before he does,” Kakashi said. “Right thigh. Ignore him if he squeaks.”
A disgruntled groan came from under the blankets covering Katsuko.
Namura just looked at Ryouma for a moment. “I’ll have to remove his pants. Daisuke, come over here and help me get his pants off. I’d rather not cut them up if I don’t have to.”
Ryouma made a low, angry noise, deep in his chest, then lifted his hips and shoved his pants down, revealing everything he had to offer, and a long, clean-looking wound on his right thigh. “Do it quick,” he said.
Katsuko uncurled herself carefully from the blankets, craning her neck to get a good eyeful.
“Daisuke,” Namura said.
Her assistant materialized and handed her a hand towel, which she draped artlessly over Ryouma’s genitals.
Katsuko sighed and ducked back under the covers.
“This could use stitching,” Namura said, inspecting the cut.
“Steri-strip it,” Genma told her. “I’ll heal it when I can move again. I’m definitely starting to feel things.”
A lot of things. Mostly burning pain in his belly and shoulders, and a steadily building ache in his chakra coils. Deep muscles shivered and twitched as they started to come back to life, but he still couldn’t lift his arms or move his legs.
Namura nodded. She cleaned the wound with antiseptic, then carefully taped the edges together. She was still bent over Ryouma’s bare legs and barely-covered crotch when Raidou came back from the shower.
“I left for five minutes,” Raidou said.
“Ram saw his chance and took it,” Kakashi said, without a hint of irony. He had one elbow on the bedframe, and his chin propped in his hand, watching the proceedings with tired interest.
“Finished,” Namura said. “You can cover yourself, Ram-san, and go back to sleep. Do you need help getting your pants back on?”
“No one’s ever offered to help me get less naked before,” Ryouma slurred. He reached for his pants and pulled them back up, ignoring the hand towel.
“There’s a first time for everything,” Namura told him. She tucked the blankets back over Ryouma, then turned to look at Raidou. “You wanted to go last, I believe. So that means you’re next, Hound-san. Do you need stitching or just some sleep?”
“No sleep,” Kakashi said. A blatant lie if Genma ever heard one, or a gross overestimation of Kakashi’s chakra reserves. “Your kid can do some bandaging if he's brave enough, though. You should look at the captain before his burns get grosser.” He turned his masked face towards Raidou. “You know I’m right.”
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