| Lay Your Armor Down [Ryouma, Katsuko] |
[Nov. 21st, 2009|10:53 am] |
Takes place April 6, the morning after All My Regrets Are Nothing New, a week after Katsuko and Ryuichi's mission in Knife's Edge and No Rest for the Wicked.
Ryouma stopped by the mission office just before breakfast, right after his morning workout and the mission desk shift change. The gangly young chuunin who manned the desk for the morning shift was new--he'd just come in a few weeks ago, after an injured knee took him off active duty for the next month or two--and unlikely to ask questions. In fact he seemed much more interested in the sudoku puzzle in his newspaper than in the reasons Ryouma had spent a week on Personal Leave and now wanted the first mission that would take him out of Konoha. "Things're always slow at the beginning of the week," he said, poking through the open-assignment missions stacked on his desk. "There's a B-rank surveillance out in Mangrove Country, but--"
"I need somethin' with less time to think," Ryouma said. "Team'd be good." Dammit, where were Arata and Hiroyuki when he needed them? "There's not anything up by the Lightning Country border, is there? Near the post that replaced the Dainichi Nyorai Temple Base?"
"Operations there are extremely limited right now," the chuunin said firmly. "But... Hold on a sec." He swiveled his chair around to paw through another basket of sealed scrolls. "You said your name was Tousaki, right? Then you're just in time. Another two days and they'd probably have pulled you off Personal Leave for this one, or assigned someone else. Reiko-san must've been keeping this one back for you. You're good with straightforward assassinations, aren't you?"
( 'My specialty,' Ryouma said. 'Who's coming along for the ride?' ) |
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| The Devil's Got My Secret (Tsume/Ryouma) |
[Nov. 12th, 2009|11:22 am] |
Backdated. Takes place March 31, the day after All We Know Is Distance, the day before Tsume leaves on her mission with Asuma inFire and Water, and five days before Kakashi wakes up in Welcome to My Morning.
"Ryouma," Kuromaru said, pausing in the apartment doorway, "is still not in his room."
Tsume slid the whetstone along her kunai, glancing over at her familiar. He looked highly disapproving. Her lips twitched. "Well, Kuromaru, if you're going to let him be the alpha, he can go wherever he wants."
"I know." Kuromaru walked inside, stiff-legged and unhappy. "He's probably with Kakashi still."
Tsume felt that golden eye narrow at her, and tried not to react.
"You know they're mounting each other."
Tsume snorted a laugh. "Pup, Kakashi's in a coma." If Ryouma's clone hadn't found them the night before to let them know where Ryouma was and why -- with instructions that they could visit if they brought food -- rumor would have still told her about Kakashi. ANBU were almost as good at fighting as they were at gossip.
"Well." Kuromaru flopped down. "We should go check on him."
She almost said they didn't need to hover -- which was true -- but... it was nice to see a friendly face, even if you were just sitting with a hospitalized friend, rather than hospitalized yourself. It wasn't like Ryouma had other family to visit -- or Kakashi either, though she wasn't sure if Kakashi would even appreciate guests. And Ryouma probably was bored.
Tsume stood, opening the chest she'd planted at the foot of her bed. Her armor was still heaped in a corner, but now her clothes and various bits and pieces were at least dumped into the chest, instead of strewn across the floor. She dug around until she found a deck of cards, then slipped them into the pocket of her cargos. ( They could stop by and get okonomiyaki, too, which would probably make Ryouma happier than any friendly face. ) |
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| Feuds and Families [Asuma, Tsume, the Sandaime] |
[Nov. 3rd, 2009|05:21 pm] |
Set two days after Kunoichi and Bastards.
As he walked down one of the many twisting corridors of ANBU's hospital wards, Sarutobi Hizuren re-read the battered scroll in his hand and contemplated the new shape of the universe. As ANBU missives went, the scroll wasn't even slightly succinct. Or typical.
dear konoha, it read,
we've landed in inabe. (staying at the Salted Goose Hotel--and no, we didn't ask about the name) we need an extration team for two ninja, chakra depleted but only slightly injured, (SLIGHTLY?) and a lot of money. you wouldnt believe how much food asuma goes through, even though hes not eating meat. he says its okay because its on
(hey! she eats at LEAST as much as I do. More considering she's half a foot tall.)
we have your tickbit thing you wanted and i expect you to explain to hariuchi why i was on a mission before being released. hopefully before i get back.
tell kuromaru i'm fine.
(and tell that pretty desk chuunin I'm bringing her back something sparkly)
your faverite agents,
Inuzuka Tsume and
(P.S. Checked in under the names Yamaguchi Tsubame and Yamaguchi Arata. Staying in room 312. Bring lots of painkillers. GOOD painkillers.)
Lips twisting dryly, he read one of the scrawling additions again. It was strange how little the handwriting had changed, despite five years and a continent's worth of distance. He could remember reading identical scrawls on assignments carried home from the academy--and on walls, in lengthy, misspelled graffiti that gained height as the artist had grown.
He remembered several (dozen) shouting matches on the subject of defacing one's own village.
Of course, being the Hokage, he remembered many things. Including the last sight of a gawky, ill-tempered, impatient teenager storming out of the village to get some damn freedom, dad! And the man he'd become, strolling back.
And joining ANBU.
The Sandaime reached the right door, inclined his head to one of the nurses hurrying by, and let himself in. The scroll vanished into one of his wide robe-pockets, whisked neatly out of sight; he didn't need it anyway, it was already two days old. And the 'faverite agents' it concerned were neatly installed in clean, comfortable--
Completely abandoned hospital beds.
The Sandaime raised his eyebrows at the little party of humans--and one large, ragged Inuzuka familiar--splayed about on the floor, arguing over cards.
"Is this a bad moment?" he inquired. |
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| All My Regrets Are Nothing New. [Kakashi & Ryouma] |
[Oct. 30th, 2009|10:39 pm] |
Takes place seven hours after Welcome to My Morning, and begins two hours before The Little Things Give You Away
This time, when Kakashi woke up, it was with the little mental click of reality slotting back into place. He knew where he was, and why he was there. He knew that Ginta was across the hall, Tsuyako was in the ground, and Ryouma--
Was fast asleep in a chair.
Stiffly, Kakashi raised himself up on one elbow and glanced around the room. The clock said he'd been asleep for at least seven hours, but nothing much had changed. There were more food wrappers in a crumpled heap around the rubbish bin (Ryouma must have eaten), a stack of Intel forms on the rickety bedside table, and a pile of neatly folded black clothes at the foot of the bed: Kakashi's clothes, with a mask on top.
So Ryouma had paid attention to his free pass into Kakashi's room.
Kakashi raked a hand through oily grey hair, pulling it out of his eyes, and decided he was okay with that. Well, mostly okay with that. Ryouma wouldn't be curious enough to mess with his scrolls, at least; not if he couldn't read them.
Welded metal bed-struts creaked quietly as he shoved himself back against the pillows and looked at the man. Ryouma had curled himself up into the ugly vinyl chair, long legs folded beneath him, arms crossed loosely over his chest, head resting against a stolen hospital pillow. Definitely there, not easy to miss, but taking up as little space as possible. Which was not surprising, given that he'd probably had to negotiate for his right to be there all week.
The red Atomic Sunrise hoodie was draped across his stomach and wedged beneath one arm, a makeshift blanket. He breathed soft and slow, eyes not even flickering beneath their lids; too tired to dream, probably, if the fresh hollows in his face were any indicator.
( Good. That would make things easier. ) |
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| Reconaissance and Recovery [Haruichi, Katsuko] |
[Oct. 28th, 2009|06:03 pm] |
Takes place directly after Celestial Navigation.
With Haruichi tracking, it'd taken them a scant half-hour to locate the fortress. By that time the moon had come out, throwing their shadows into sharp relief on the blank white desert. Eerie quiet reigned as they closed in on their destination, with not even the soft whisper of booted feet upon the sand to give their presence away.
Katsuko kept her eyes trained on Haruichi’s back as she ran, trusting the Hyuuga to lead the way. The byakugan and his encyclopedic knowledge of the stars made him more of an expert on this bit than her; all she had to do was focus on providing backup. She skimmed her fingers over the hilt of her mother’s katana, double-wrapped and oiled with balm to protect against the harsh desert winds. The mission brief had said to expect heavy resistance. She’d be ready.
The Intel bastard had been half-right: the bunker was near a cliff, and a godsdamned mountain range. It’d be pushing it to call it the ‘Cliff of Sorrows’, though. Looked more like the ‘Sad Little Half Hill’. The bunker itself almost dwarfed the cliff, its builders having added onto the original design since Konoha had obtained the floor plan. It clung to the side of the mountain like a parasitic mass; obviously, the architects thought that normal geometric designs were for weaklings. The bunker itself was divided into round little ‘pods’, similar to the structure of Sunagakure. Bridges manned by hidden guardsmen connected each ‘pod’ to each other, leaving Katsuko with the impression of a giant insect nest glued to the side of the mountain. Mountain range and attached bunker were located in the deepest part of a desert valley, shielded by genjutsu that had taken all of Katsuko’s and Haruichi’s skill to see through.
Now both Konoha ANBU were crouched behind a stand of boulders on the lip of the valley mouth, looking down on the slumbering bunker below. Katsuko raised an eyebrow at the size of the thing. Rather more than two ANBU could handle.
Good thing she’d brought extra explosive tags. |
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| Celestial Navigation [Haruichi, Katsuko] |
[Oct. 25th, 2009|07:16 pm] |
[Backdated!! Set on March 3rd, not long after Can't Choose Your Family]
Huh.
Well as first days went, this one hadn't been so bad. Katsuko set up her things in her new apartment and laid traps around her soon-to-be permanently opened window. Then she wandered around HQ, learned nothing about its layout, and got hopelessly lost. Somehow, she made it back to her room for a quick catnap that ended up lasting several hours.
And then that message summoning her to a mission debriefing came.
Katsuko sighed and eyed the lone couch in the room. It didn't look nearly long enough to accommodate her lounging frame. Briefly, she considered sprawling out on the floor to continue her nap.
Then the door slammed open and her mission partner stalked in. |
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| The Little Things Give You Away [Ginta, Hiro] |
[Oct. 20th, 2009|10:05 am] |
[Takes place the evening of April 5, the same day as Welcome to My Morning, three days after Just Enough Rope]
By sundown Ginta was awake and really wished he wasn't. He'd woken in his own bed shortly after noon, gotten an update from the nurses -- Kakashi was fine, sleeping, but no longer in a coma -- and crashed back out again. Ryouma was still in there with Kakashi. Keeping an eye on him. Keeping the door closed. And as much as Ginta'd told himself a hundred times in the last few days alone, that he was letting it go...
He couldn't let it go.
Couldn't let go of the way Kakashi had clung to him that morning. Or the way he'd been caught painfully in the middle when Ryouma had returned to the room. Kakashi had wanted proof Ginta was alive--he'd gotten that. And then Kakashi'd wanted proof he himself was alive, and the only one he wanted that proof from was Ryouma.
Grandmother hadn't been by and wasn't expected until tomorrow. Ginta's mother was absent as well, busy with her own life. Now that Ginta was out of danger there was no further need to sit by his bedside. And he was, he told himself, just as glad she was staying away. It was harder to endure an hour of his mother's sighs and glances at her watch and weak attempts at conversation, than it was to sit in silence, reading the film magazine she'd left behind, and try not to notice the closed door across the hall.
( That's what he told himself. ) |
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| All You Can Take [Ryuichi, Katsuko] |
[Oct. 3rd, 2009|06:38 pm] |
Late at night on April 14th, after Knife's Edge and No Rest For the Wicked.
What it all came down to was that Headquarters wasn't stupid. They'd see something wrong with the report, or the hospital charts, and eventually they'd dig a little deeper into Arai Ryuichi's files. What they'd find there was anybody's guess, but Katsuko knew it would more than enough for them to put two and two together and come up with four.
They'd find out Ryuichi had taken illegal drugs, that he'd overdosed on those drugs to complete the mission.
And then they'd realize that Katsuko had deliberately left it out of her report.
Kami, what had she been thinking, enabling a chronic user? Some skewed notion of honor, protecting a teammate who didn't want her help? The most she'd managed to do was buy both of them some time, and it would only ensure that HQ would come down on their asses all the harder for it.
Ryuichi would be unrepentant.
Three agents dead, one partner looking for death, and her caught in the middle of it all.
It pissed her off.
Normally she wouldn't be so angry, just accept the consequences and move on, but... she was due for her period in a week. Unlike some lucky bitches who just bled and went on with their lives, she'd inherited from her mother the cramps, headaches, and hair-trigger temper that came before the 'woman's gift'. It made her chafe inside her own skin, want to lash out at whoever and whatever crossed her path. It was a restless feeling burning underneath her breastbone, a sort of exhausted energy that wouldn't let her sleep until she'd worked the need to hurt and hit and fight out of her system.
So that was how she found herself slipping out of bed and down to one of the training grounds by the Forest of Death, where she could punch and kick at trees and unseen enemies to her heart's content. The training ground itself was rarely used by anyone except fellow jounin, and even they wouldn't be crazy enough to come around in the dead of night.
Katsuko shrugged out of her jacket and dropped it carelessly on the ground, heading over to one of the training dummies. She'd beat it it until she worked up a sweat or it broke, whichever one came first. Then she'd move on to practicing lightning jutsu on the trees. That was always a stress-relieving exercise in futility. |
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| Lost and Found [Genma & Haruichi] |
[Sep. 20th, 2009|09:16 am] |
[Backstory. Takes place the evening of March 14, immediately following Can't Stay Lost Forever and a few hours after Pay It Forward, half a week after Could You Bite The Hand?, and half a week before Walking In Your Footsteps]
It had been a relatively quiet week, which was just as well, Genma thought, seeing as he'd had to spend some portion of it explaining to Arakaki why he'd brawled with Raidou and broken a cop's collarbone. And worrying about Raidou. Healing his face. Listening for nightmares. There'd been that little talk with Tsume earlier in the day, too, and laundry and weapon sharpening and otherwise preparing for his upcoming mission with a rookie he didn't know.
He would have preferred to have Raidou on the mission, but Genma was very low on the list of people allowed to ask for favors from the mission office right now, what with his recent arrest. So he'd just have to go to the mission briefing tomorrow morning, and leave with this Gekkou Hayate kid in the afternoon, and Raidou would be fine. Was already fine. Had bounced back remarkably well, all things considered.
Now Genma just needed to get his gear in order for the mission. His med kit was running a little low on supplies--soldier pills, blood pills, poison antidotes, bandages. He decided to stop by the infirmary now, since late on a Friday afternoon was usually a good time to find them with nothing to do, while Saturday morning they'd be busy with whatever was left over from Friday night.
He made his way to the basement, paused to flirt with the mission desk staff, then turned the corner to find the medical bay empty as predicted. Empty except for one black-haired, hunched-backed figure in a white coat. His back was to the door, but that didn't mean anything to a Hyuuga.
"Yo, Haruichi. S'up? I came by to stock up and..." Genma broke off. Haruichi still hadn't turned around. Three-sixty vision not withstanding, there was something wrong about that.
"Haruichi?" |
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| The Ballad of Shiranui Genma [Yanagi, Genma] |
[Sep. 6th, 2009|07:15 pm] |
[Set mid-February, six weeks after Karma's Bitch, roughly four months after the Fox]
Yanagi had spent the last six weeks composing, re-composing, writing, scrapping, re-writing, and editing one single song. It had varied from punk to metal to a ballad to dirty limericks put to music, only to be tossed out so that he could try putting goth lyrics to a hip hop tune.
In the end, he had something he wasn't at all sure was any good, but it was certainly unexpected, and he'd had a fun six weeks playing with it.
He shifted the guitar on his back, retrieved from his father's house -- which was in one of the few quarters of Konoha that had been remarkably unscathed after the Fox had attacked -- and trotted across the snow that covered ANBU HQ grounds. They must have had a hot spell; it was only ankle-deep, with ice underneath. For mid-February, that wasn't bad.
Yanagi bent, hooking his guitar back before it slid over, and gathered up a handful of snow. He packed it, looking up at the building before him.
Shiranui Genma lived on the third floor, and if the information Yanagi had gotten was correct -- and it was, because Intel kept tabs like this, and he had access to Intel -- then Genma's window was--
There.
He popped chakra into the snow and tossed it upward. It arced against the night sky, brilliant white, skimming into blue, and spattered against the window. White electricity sizzled and crackled across the window. Yanagi ducked instinctively, muffling a snicker, ( and did it again. ) |
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| The Shadow Proves the Sunshine. [Genma and Raidou] |
[Sep. 2nd, 2009|10:13 pm] |
[Takes place in the morning of April 5th, the same day as Welcome to My Morning, three days following After the Rain and Just Enough Rope, and six days after Meet You on the Other Side.]
The day after Genma's second hand surgery and two days after Rina's visit (which he'd had heard about only in reluctant snatches from Genma), things had settled into something like a routine. 0600 brought a snap of florescent light as the first nurse of the day began the morning shift, followed almost immediately by the first cardiac clench of the day as Genma and Raidou twitched awake with their own personal curses.
(Holy Buddha's scrotum, was Genma's contribution today.
Son of a riddled whore, Raidou returned, with equal fervor.
Mornin', said the nurse.)
Then there was the ritual peeing in a cup (which Genma, as always, wanted to make a race), followed by the first blood samples of the day (there was no way to make that a race, but Raidou decided he won on account of not going corpse pale), and finally the systematic checking of IV lines, monitor screens, the black seals on Raidou's bandages, and the glowing blue ones on Genma's cast. Medications were adjusted and given, and Raidou almost missed it when Genma tucked his psych pill under his tongue and pretended to swallow it. He glowered; Genma gave him a narrow-eyed, slightly sulky look in return. The nurse stepped in before anyone decided to punctuate the lowering argument with a thrown bedpan, and made Genma swallow the pill.
( Then they had to rate their pain on a scale of one to ten. ) |
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| Just Enough Rope [Hiro] |
[Sep. 2nd, 2009|12:04 am] |
[Takes place in the early morning of April 2nd, several hours following After the Rain, three days after All We Know is Distance, four days after Meet You on the Other Side, and eight days after Dude, that was YOU?.]
Hiro slipped through the hospital like a wraith, trying not to observe his surroundings or have any impact upon them. He was a container tipped to the brim with precious information, and he couldn't be a person again until he had poured it all out in pages of notes spilling over Kotoe-san's desk.
Raidou had slept through the rest of the debriefing. Hiro wasn't sure Genma would be able to sleep for days.
It was still in the small hours of the morning -- it had only taken that long? -- and the usual ICU hush had escalated into a deathly absence of sound. At this hour the electrical chirping of monitors was muffled behind closed doors; the visitors were mostly slumped, asleep, over uncomfortable hospital armchairs; and the patients seemed to be taking a brief respite between emergencies.
Experimentally, Hiro scuffed a foot on his next step. It echoed.
The sound reverberated in the ache behind his eyes, creating ripples in his carefully-constructed equilibrium -- Genma's experience, painstakingly recreated image by image, moment by moment, carried whole and entire within the confines of his skull -- and he quickly withdrew back into himself.
( An image caught the corner of his eye and held it, jostling his mental load until he had to scramble for security. ) |
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| Almost Not Alone [Genma, Rina] |
[Aug. 29th, 2009|10:40 pm] |
[Takes place on the 3rd of April, one day after After the Rain, five days after Meet You on the Other Side, and about five years after Got That Mountain to Climb.]
It was almost a rule, that Genma always had to screw up all of her hard work whenever she wasn't there to fix it. Turning up the water from 'hot' to 'scorching,' Rina poured another handful of shampoo and tried desperately to scrub all the branches out of her hair.
One week. One week she'd been gone, and this was the kind of thing he got up to. How did he manage it? She'd been looking forward to a nice, relaxing shower ever since she'd crossed back over the border, and instead here she was, frantically scrubbing her skin off along with the grime.
Ducking her head under the spray for the fifth time, she forcefully widened her eyes, not letting them close. When she closed them, all she could see was--
Don't think about it. The note said it wasn't as bad this time.
No sense worrying until she got there, anyway--right, as if thinking that ever helps--and they wouldn't let her into the hospital until she was clean. Dragging her fingers roughly through her hair again, searching for dirt and debris, she ended up with just a handful of pale, gleaming strands.
Finally.
The water ran clear now, instead of red-black with ink and unidentified blood. Rinsing her hair one more time, she shut it off gingerly, using her fingertips so the layer of grime she'd left on the knobs wouldn't transfer back to her hands again.
( Housekeeping could deal with the dirt; she didn't have time. ) |
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| Welcome to My Morning [Ginta, Ryouma, Kakashi] |
[Aug. 29th, 2009|02:08 pm] |
[Takes place late morning on April 5th, almost a week after All We Know is Distance.]
A week in the hospital was enough to drive even the calmest man to extreme measures. Or at least that was Ginta's thinking. When they finally allowed him up from his bed, five days in, he immediately started making boredom contingency plans. Many of them, in fact most of them, involved finagling himself into a wheelchair and over to Kakashi's room with a deck of cards and a couple of cans of apple juice, to help Ryouma keep watch.
Shiratori had debriefed him and sworn that the docs said Kakashi was mending. The nurses and even his own doctor had said the same thing. Ryouma had gotten the same story, evidently. Chakra exhaustion and a soldier pill overdose were serious conditions, but they were known quantities. Kakashi would be in an uncomplicated coma for several days, and then he'd wake up. It had happened before, it would probably happen again. And it was happening now.
Patience, they said. Ironic that patient and patience were such similar words. Even his grandmother could get nothing more from the doctors. And, she'd told Ginta, she believed them. Of course Ginta believed them, too, at an intellectual level. Kakashi's vitals were stable, and his chakra readings were improving daily. Believing didn't make the wait any easier.
( On the seventh day home, the fifth of April, at a little after ten in the morning, Ginta talked his nurse into helping him get set up in the wheelchair again. ) |
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| Karma's Bitch [Genma & Yanagi] |
[Jul. 10th, 2009|08:42 pm] |
[Takes place five years ago, mid-December, six weeks after the Fox's devastation of Konoha, approximately five months after FUBAR]
Genma had been in ANBU barely a month. His armour was still stiff, his mask still shiny, and the handle of his katana had only just begun to feel like it really fit his palms. There were a lot of new faces behind ANBU's masks. A lot of grieving faces behind masks both new and old. There was no one in Konoha who hadn't lost someone to the Fox's carnage. ANBU had sent more than a quarter of her agents to their graves that night. Genma had been still dressed in funeral blacks over bandages when he received the scroll stamped with Sandaime's seal asking him to take the oath and pledge himself to Konoha's black ops.
( Now, a month later, he'd already run five missions. ) |
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| Got That Mountain to Climb [Genma, Rina] |
[Jun. 27th, 2009|09:41 pm] |
[Backdated: Takes place a little over four years ago, on March 19th, about a year and five months after the Kyuubi attack, and a week after Genma's rescue from the Iwagakure prisons.]
Rina tagged along behind Ito-sensei, her head spinning delightfully, clutching a spiral-bound notebook already a quarter-full with clipped notations, sprawling diagrams, and enthusiastic exclamation points. The just-completed burn-repair surgery had been absolutely fascinating to watch--seeing glowing blue chakra-channels spontaneously reform themselves within the carnage of twisted fingers and torn flesh--and she'd noticed that Ito-sensei had used one of the modified sterilization scrolls that had brought her to his attention in the first place.
See, and they'd complained that she hadn't followed the blueprints! Clearly Ito-sensei didn't mind. Rina had been in the Seal Division for more than a year now, and had been making seals for years before that--certainly she knew enough to substitute the more powerful tri-point pattern for a quad-point, even if it wasn't exactly what the design called for.
Actually, if the tri-point was good, what if she used the double-stabilized quint-pattern she'd seen downstairs, instead? ...Awesome. Fumbling through her notebook, she pulled her fountain pen out from behind her ear and drew herself a quick sketch, then had to half-run to catch up with Ito-sensei as he pushed through the door leading to their last patient of the day.
"Genma," she heard Ito-sensei call good-naturedly as she slid in behind him, "there's someone I'd like you to meet." |
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| FUBAR (Genma, Yanagi) |
[Jun. 27th, 2009|04:00 pm] |
[Backdated: Takes place in August, three months before the Fox attack]
"Hey. Kid. You keeping a look out?"
Nori flashed an irritated glance over his shoulder, but then turned his sharp eyes back to the forest that surrounded them. "Of course I'm keeping a look out. And I'm not a kid." His teeth ground together, already expecting the taunt.
"Right. Rookie."
"I still outrank you."
That got Akira's goat. The special jounin glared at him, and Nori smirked. If looks could kill... this whole group would be dead. Rain ninja weren't exactly known for getting along -- at least, not these days. These days, they were more known for tearing into each other, everyone grappling for a piece of the country. This group was no different, though Yanagi hadn't yet figured out all of the political machinations. He didn't really need to; he just needed to get enough information back to Konoha to make sure this faction didn't win.
And stay alive long enough to get the information back to Konoha. There was a reason they sent ANBU in, rather than the normal intel jounin. ( Rain weren't kind to traitors. ) |
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| Kunoichi and Bastards. [Asuma & Tsume] |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|09:29 pm] |
[Takes places directly after Pirates and Ninja]
There were only so many ways you could swim back to consciousness in thirty-six hours before it became something like routine. This time, Asuma woke with a soft little gasp that was barely more than a deeper inhale, and felt his fingers twitch. He didn't open his eyes. Some wary, uncertain part of him wanted caution. Wanted to know what the hell had happened before all that black...
"You awake, old man?"
It was a surreal experience to hear your own voice twisted into humour and something that wasn't quite worry.
"Unhg?" Asuma managed, and slit one eyelid open. He was lying belly-down on a broad table, unwounded cheek pressed against wooden planks that were just a mite too sticky for his personal taste. He winced.
( Directly in his blurry line of sight, his own face grinned back at him. ) |
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| Coming and Going [Kuromaru, Yasuo, Waki] |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|05:34 pm] |
[Companion piece to the Pirates thread. Takes place during Pirates and Ninja.]
"You're a bad ninja," Kuromaru mumbled, his muzzle resting on his forepaws as he lay across the hospital bed.
Yasuo refrained from pointing out that Kuromaru was the one needed in the hospital for chakra surgeries -- even if they were mostly certain the rot was gone this time. He also refrained from pointing out that if Kuromaru hadn't been so determined to leave the village, they could be home in the clan grounds right now waiting for Tsume's return, rather than locked in a hospital room to ensure Kuromaru stayed where he belonged. And finally, he refrained from pointing out that he was following orders, while Kuromaru was disobeying them at every turn -- his doctor's orders to stay put for surgery, the Hokage's orders that Tsume go without Kuromaru, and Tsume's orders that Kuromaru stay here.
( Refraining was getting easier. He'd already pointed everything out many times over the last two days. ) |
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| All We Know Is Distance [Ryouma and Ginta] |
[Jun. 15th, 2009|10:37 pm] |
The message was waiting when Ryouma came home, pleasantly tired and only slightly splattered with drying black slime and blood that wasn't his. He shoved back his ram-faced mask and leaned hipshot against the mission desk, grinning cheerfully down at Reiko. "Guess who didn't even get scratched this time, eh? You can put 'COMPLETE VICTORY' in that little box up at the top. It was glorious. They didn't even--"
"Ryouma-kun," Reiko said very quietly, "you need to go to the hospital."
He blinked down at her. "Shuuhei isn't colicky anymore, is he? I know it's awful hard stayin' up all night with a crying baby, but I didn't think you could go deaf. None of this blood's mine, all right?"
( Reiko pulled a sticky-note off his file folder and held it out. ) |
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sleepy
confused
angry