“Hm,” Katsuko said, and flexed her fingers around the hilts of her swords. Sweat ran down her forehead into her eyes; she ignored it, as well as the hind part of her brain that purred at having all that wiry strength pinned underneath her. "Trying to go easy on me?”

Kakashi glanced down pointedly at the blades kissing his throat. His voice was hoarse. "That felt easy to you?"

Katsuko grinned, breathing hard. “You really want me to answer that?”

“You asked first.”

She chuckled and drew her swords back, still wary. When Kakashi didn’t immediately lunge to attack her, she shifted her weight off her knee and let him up. Blood trickled down her calf from the knife wound; she grimaced at the sting. Given that she’d kicked Kakashi in the face and nearly caved in his ribs, she didn’t have grounds to get angry. Besides, he looked good on his back.

Almost as if he’d read her mind, Kakashi sat up, hooked his foot around her good ankle, and brought her crashing back down onto her butt with a seamless jerk. “How bad’s your leg?”

“I take back the kind thoughts I had about you,” Katsuko said, clutching her calf. Her recently-healed arm shook a little from the strain she'd put it through. “All three of them.”

"Somehow, I'll find a way to go on," Kakashi drawled, and made an impatient gesture. Katsuko grudgingly gave him her ankle and let him roll up her trouser leg. He was still breathing hard, but his hands were steady as he ran them over her calf, testing the edges of the cut.

Katsuko ignored the feel of calloused fingers against her skin. “Does it need stitches, or can I just stick a bandage over it?”

"Stitches. You're down to muscle." He tilted his head slightly, eye narrowing. "Medic wouldn't hurt, unless you want to explain to the lieutenant why you're limping after two days of rest."

“I’ll go if you go,” Katsuko said. “I’m not explaining to the lieutenant why your face looks like an eggplant.”

His mask moved as he winced, grimacing and pushing his hitai-ate up. Long fingers skated over the reddening bruise framing his left eye. “You realize I stuck to not using the Sharingan, right?” he asked. “You didn’t actually need to blind it.”