"Water's great," Genma answered. "I don't usually drink chicken." He cast a careful eye over Tsume before going to attend to Kuromaru. She looked a little steadier on her feet, less like she needed a chair shoved under her before she fell. Still pale, but her eyes were lively. It was safe leaving her to fill a glass while he treated her familiar.

"I'm not gonna try to heal you any, so don't worry. If Haruichi and Waki-sensei are working on you, you don't need me screwing around with it. Either one of them would probably skin me alive if I fucked something up. I'm just gonna do what a field medic does best: first aid. Little salve, little gauze." He sat on the bed next to Kuromaru and opened up his kit, laying out rolls of bandage and a jar of antiseptic ointment.

"You're gonna have to take off the hitai-ate. You okay with that?"