| [Oct. 19th, 2013|04:27 am] |
Ryouma was going to be minus eighty points by the end of this conversation, judging by the smug gleam in Kakashi's eye. Kakashi probably wore the mask so he could gloat in safety, without provoking his teammates into punching the smirk off his face. Not that they'd hit him, but it'd save him dodging.
But Ryouma'd successfully punched him twice already. He let himself dwell on the warm glow of that thought for a moment, before another one struck. "What's your score?"
"Three hundred," Kakashi said instantly, in the most baldfaced lie since Katsuko'd tried to convince them at team practice that if they stood still and let her kick them in the face, it'd somehow make them more awesome. Ryouma raised both eyebrows.
Kakashi's gaze flicked away. "Seven," he said.
That— wasn't what he'd expected. Ryouma picked up his mug again, found it empty, put it down. "Why?"
Kakashi shrugged.
Well, he hadn't expected a full confession of childhood inadequacies and teenage self-loathing, either. Not like Sharingan no Kakashi, the Hatake heir and the Hokage's protégé, would stoop to being tormented by either one. He was enough of a perfectionist that he'd probably just taken off fifty points for fainting in the tattooist's office and another twenty for letting Ryouma take the demon queen kill.
"So how do I earn points?" Ryouma asked.
Kakashi's gaze drifted back from whatever middle distance he'd been studying. He cocked his head slightly to the side. "Wit or winning," he said judiciously. "For you, maybe stick to winning. Demon mother was a good start."
"I can be witty, too," Ryouma said, offended. "I've made the captain laugh."
"So does Ueno," Kakashi pointed out.
Damn, that was true. Though — Raidou's half-swallowed snicker at Katsuko's antics wasn't much like the low rumbling laugh Ryouma remembered from his bedroom six months ago, but he'd been trying to forget that, and it was true that Raidou hadn't seemed much more than mildly amused since then.
Good lovers were easy enough to come by, even if you didn't come by one like Raidou very often. Good captains were much rarer. Ryouma'd had one, once, and lost her too. |
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