| 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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| After the Rain [Hiro, Genma, and Raidou] |
[Jun. 13th, 2009|03:47 pm] |
[Takes place in the early morning of April 2nd, four days after Meet You on the Other Side and eight days after Dude, that was YOU?.]
It was two weeks later, on a different floor, but to Hiro the deja-vu felt palpable. Shiranui Genma, back in the hospital... And yet again, Hiro was walking down the white-walled hallways with a sheaf of papers--considerably thicker, this time--and a mission scroll.
This was actually his second attempt. The first time, he'd been intercepted by a hawk-faced woman who'd flashed her ANBU tattoo and credentials and told him in no uncertain terms to go home. Sato Kotoe, apparently, matching the face to the name heading his handful of reports--she was his superior both in general and on this case, and it had only taken a moment of meeting her eyes to read her clearly-projected implacability.
( Hiro had nodded sharply, and left. ) |
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| Meet You on the Other Side [closed to Genma & Raidou] |
[May. 6th, 2009|07:24 pm] |
[Directly follows Follow You Into Dark]
One of the hardest tasks a medic ever faced, according to the wisdom of Konoha's most experienced healers, was keeping alive a patient who believed he had lost any reason to continue the struggle. Only the suicides were worse, and it being a ninja village, there were almost no suicides who survived long enough to receive any medical treatment at all.
No, it was the shinobi who came in a bloodied mess, clutching dogtags torn from the necks of corpses; the men and women who had watched their partners cut down; the jounin-sensei bringing back the lifeless bodies of the genin they had sworn to protect; the survivors of capture and torture who had failed their missions, their teammates, themselves--those were the ones the medics dreaded caring for most. There was no hope you could give a man who'd had all his hopes wrenched away.
Of course, Konoha's medics weren't the types to give up easily. Even in the most dire of cases, there was always a chance. ( As long as the patient made it through the first twenty-four hours, they said, there was hope. ) |
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| Follow You Into Dark. [Closed to Raidou] |
[May. 7th, 2009|12:01 am] |
[Directly follows Doubt in Your Faith.]
When Raidou broke the surface of consciousness, it wasn't to find pain eating him alive. There was no metal on his wrists, no strain on his shoulders, no ground beneath his feet that he couldn't quite touch. The scent reaching his nose was medicinal, clinical, not the damp drift of gathering fog or the choking mess of sweat and fear and blood. He was warm and dry, and he couldn't feel anything beyond the heavy drag of exhaustion.
I'm dead, he thought, and found he didn't much care.
Blackness pulled him down.
When he stirred again, long hours later, it was to find something gently touching the right side of his jaw. Voices murmuring just outside of hearing. His eyebrows creased together slightly, a thin line drawing between them, and he turned his head away. The touch pulled back.
"--miashi-san?"
( If he was dead, then he didn't have to answer. ) |
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| Doubt in Your Faith [closed to Raidou and Genma] |
[May. 5th, 2009|02:18 pm] |
Directly follows All the Way Through
Hearing was the first sensation to come back this time. Hearing and pain. Feet pounding, harshly-drawn breaths, and the gentle clank of weapons. Shudders jolted through Genma, striking reverberations like a temple gong from his right side with every breath. It boiled into something else in the pit of his belly; oozed coldly from his hip down through his left leg to his dangling ankle; strangled like a serpent coiled tight around his neck...
And his hand.
( Merciful Kanon, his left hand. ) |
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| Woke With This Fear [closed to Genma & Raidou] |
[May. 2nd, 2009|06:07 pm] |
[Takes place Wednesday, March 26, six days after Girls Girls Girls! and Playing Doctor, four days after Chemical Lessons]
At a little after three in the morning, Genma was sleeping soundly. Really soundly. He was dreaming one of those confused but pleasant dreams that involved being lost in a cavernously large training facility, and discovering all kinds of interesting weapons the likes of which he'd never seen before. He was gleefully collecting a sort of combination shuriken-nunchaku device, testing it out with child-like delight, when a sharp sound intruded. Hammering, pounding, a voice calling something indistinct. His name. He was on his feet before he quite realized why, reaching for the imaginary weapon he'd held only seconds before.
The pounding continued, but seemed to come from next door now, not his own. Although he was sure he'd heard his name shouted. This definitely demanded investigation. He located a real weapon or two. With a senbon between the teeth, poisoned tip outermost, and a freshly-sharpened kunai in his left hand, he cautiously opened his door.
There was an Intel agent in dress-greys standing in front of Raidou's door.
Genma blinked, squinted, blinked, and asked what the hell was going on in a gravelly voice. |
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| Throwing a Bone. [Closed to Raidou and Tsume] |
[Jan. 21st, 2009|01:30 am] |
[Takes place two days after Equilibrium and Could You Bite the Hand.]
It was amazing, really, what ANBU could get away with. Raidou had punched a cop in the face, Genma had broken an Uchiha collarbone, and both of them had come away with nothing more than an official reprimand, three months of docked pay, and an amused look from Arisa, Genma's Intel friend, who'd come to bail them out.
Whatever complaints you could make about Intel, they sure managed to make criminal charges vanish fast. Raidou wasn't quite sure he wanted to know how--or why. Being grateful was about all he had the energy to manage, what with the hangover, and most of that was directed at Genma.
Sometime in the evening after their release, Raidou found his backbone, quenched his lingering desire to duck and run, and sat through three-quarters of a healing. The fact that Genma performed the honours with a quick smile, careful hands, and a whole lot of patience, made it more of a trial than actual torture. But Raidou still planned to stay far away from anymore damn claws.
( Well, right after he found Tsume and sorted things out. ) |
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| Could You Bite The Hand? [closed to Genma & Raidou] |
[Jan. 18th, 2009|10:55 am] |
[ Takes place the evening after Equilibrium and The Dogs Ate My Homework ]
After leaving Kaito to his campy torch songs and his renewed homework assignment, Genma had gone in search of Ginta. Found him, too, but it turned out he was already busy getting ready for a mission he was scheduled for in the morning, and a command appearance at his grandmother's for dinner in a few hours.
And he was in a pissy mood about something, Genma could tell. His laugh had been particularly crystalline when Genma'd mentioned how he'd tried to work a minor healing jutsu on a guy and given him some accidental wood in the process. If that didn't make Ginta laugh--really laugh--then it was probably a good idea to leave him to his mission planning and dressing for dinner. Besides, he'd been second best, and he'd said as much to Genma.
"You don't want to hang out with me. Where's your buddy Raidou? Your hip-attachment break down or something?"
Genma had winced just a little at that. Covered it with a grin and a laugh and some joke about the the futility of the angle. And left. Because pissy, and holy fuck was he actually jealous or something? Ginta was no fun to hang around with.
Especially when he was right.
( At a quarter past six Genma went on an extensive search for his best friend. ) |
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| Hit The Bell Curve [Closed to Kaito and Raidou] |
[Nov. 6th, 2008|07:44 pm] |
[Takes place four days after Expletives Don't Cover It, the day after Dog of War Meets Puppy of Emo and Ew, What's That Smell?.]
Walking into the ANBU HQ was a bit like walking into the loony bin. Except that Kadan worked in the loony bin, and that wasn't nearly as stressful as this. This is where the functional loonies stayed.
The ninja at the desk stopped him before he even got through the lobby, asking what his business was. He held up the medical scroll like a shield.
When the ninja went to take it, Kadan yanked it back, appalled. "This is sensitive client-patient privileged information. Not for you." Sure, the shinobi could kill him, but he had ethics! Even if he was still only an orderly. "I'm here to see Namiashi Raidou, and no one else. So either let me through, or bring him down here."
Steel glinted. Oh Buddha, he'd forgotten about the crazy-killers part. He swallowed. "Please."
A moment later the ninja had sent a clone--freaky, that--and Kadan waited in the lobby hoping his intended target was a little more friendly. Damn Kaito, anyway. |
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| Expletives Don't Cover It. [Closed to Raidou and Kaito] |
[Oct. 19th, 2008|04:34 am] |
[Takes place a month after Winner Picks Dinner, and the day after Other Such Expletives and Better Than It Was. Also four days after Give the Other Fella Hell and the same day as Tearing at the Seams ]
Raidou had to forgo his shower the next morning; it was far too much hassle with his bandages and stitches. Instead he washed up carefully at his sink, shaved by touch, and dug out one of his looser, softer t-shirts to wear.
His morning exercises he didn't skimp on, but he did take it slow. Kaito's rescue mission hadn't exactly been a bloody one, but it had left a few bruises. He dropped himself into a stance at one point, felt his back crack, and resigned himself to being an old man at twenty-four. With any luck someone would take him out before arthritis eventually caught up and bit him.
Roughly before nine, with the sun backlighting his apartment, he got to work making the promised pancakes with an absent eye on the door. It was anyone's guess if the kid would actually show up.
Half an hour later, he had a decent stack made and a half-formed idea about tracking Kaito down and dragging him out of bed...
( A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. ) |
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| Better Than It Was. [Closed to Genma and Raidou] |
[Oct. 18th, 2008|03:22 am] |
[Set five days after Incident at Shimabashi and the afternoon of And Other Such Expletives.]
When Raidou woke up it was to find his head on the far side of fuzzy-feeling and his bare back stuck to the sheets. As returns to consciousness went, that one ranked up with sucks out loud. He gave his ceiling a disgruntled look, feeling more tired than when he'd actually gone to sleep, and peeled himself off the bed. A glance at the clock revealed it was early evening; he'd missed most of the day sleeping.
But at least he hadn't managed to burst any stitches, he'd just--oozed enough to make his bandages seriously sticky. And the painkillers he'd swallowed before he'd fallen down with vague aims of hitting the bed had worn off so much it wasn't even funny. His back hurt.
( Still, between him and the shinobi guard, he wasn't the dead one. ) |
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| Hanging Over [closed to Genma & Raidou] |
[Oct. 13th, 2008|06:05 pm] |
Takes place in mid-February, the day after Winner Picks Dinner
When Genma woke up for the first time, he was still drunk. He managed to get himself and his pot of nastiness to the bathroom, where he pissed out a good quart of converted alcohol, and poured away the puke. Then he flushed the whole mess, rinsed the saucepan, gagged a little but didn't start with the heaves again, and decided his head would probably appreciate it if he tried to get some water and painkillers down now, while he was still slightly buzzed.
( He had some vague memories about getting home. ) |
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| Give the Other Fella Hell [Closed to Raidou and Tsume] |
[Aug. 31st, 2008|04:51 pm] |
Takes place 24 hours after The Best of Our Dreams Fell Apart
Tsume watched Tori push the sliding door to the hospital room partially closed, then open again, itching to do it herself. She felt like a tick-bit invalid in the wheelchair, given firm orders by the nurse that she could leave the room but she was not to wander around on her own.
She supposed she should just be grateful that Tori had offered to take her out. Anything was better than trying not to toss and turn, trying not to wake the two men sharing a bed with her. It had been almost twenty-four hours since the last time she'd been conscious, and there had been tubes stretched over the three of them again. Kakashi was wearing hospital pajama bottoms, and both dogs looks distinctly sleepy.
Tsume was very much awake, and painkillers--while making her groggy--meant she wasn't hurting. She was bored.
She'd jumped at the chance when Tori had offered to take her to a visiting room, to see her children--Yasuo had told them they could skip school.
Tori had gotten permission from a nurse, left a message with one of the dogs in case either man woke, and found a wheelchair.
Wheelchair.
"This," Tsume muttered, using a thumbnail to tear the bandaging further away from her eye, "is annoying."
"Be glad you're alive to be annoyed," Tori snapped, leaning her heavily pregnant weight into the chair to get it rolling. "All those little stunts you pulled--"
"I didn't pull any stunts!" Tsume yelped, then hissed as she jerked, thumbnail digging momentarily into the burns near her eye. Even the drugs couldn't stop the quick flash of pain.
"Idiot," Tori muttered, reaching out to slap Tsume's hand away. "Don't pick at it! It's gonna scar bad enough anyway!"
Tsume put her hands in her lap and slouched in her chair.
They rolled down the hall, past doors and gurneys, and finally reached the elevator. It was a short enough ride down, and then they were out.
Here, the sterility was muted by people. Sick, injured--over there someone had spilled blood--but at least it wasn't pine cleaner and antiseptic. The halls were noisier, less with the dying ANBU and more with complaining children.
"MA!"
( And speaking of children... ) |
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| Sacred Spaces [Closed to Raidou and Tsume] |
[Jun. 30th, 2008|11:25 pm] |
[Immediately follows Sacred Traditions]
Tsume got to break three chairs, four noses, and a table before the Uchiha showed up in force. Of course, 'force' for the ninja police meant one.
No matter how many times it happened, it was always a little disheartening to be spun into a genjutsu and wake in the drunk tank. You'd think she'd learn to kai at some point, but she always thought she was still brawling until that moment when she wasn't.
She twisted around, staggering on uncertain feet--maybe those last few shots of tequila hadn't been a great idea. No, wait, they had been a brilliant idea!--before she realized what had happened. There were three people sleeping, and Raidou just staring at her. She smiled broadly at him and dropped out of her fighting stance. "Hi!" |
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| Sacred Traditions [closed to Raidou and Tsume] |
[Jun. 29th, 2008|02:49 pm] |
[Immediately follows Sacred Balance]
They'd slept a great deal later than they normally would. Tsume had woken once in the early morning when the boy beside her began to scream. It took a little while to calm him down, and longer still to hold him close and tell him it would be all right, explain that he couldn't go home now, that they'd find a new family for him. Eventually, he cried himself to sleep.
Aoi watched, then curled against Raidou's chest and closed her eyes.
It was almost eleven when they finally set out for Konoha, the two children on Kuromaru's broad back. He couldn't run at full speed; neither of the cubs wanted to be tied down, and Tsume couldn't blame them. But they couldn't hold on very well, either, and while sleep had replenished a great deal of her chakra, keeping them on that way would wear it down by that evening. So Kuromaru ran slower than he normally would, sticking to the forest floor, occasionally grabbing the cubs with chakra when he needed to.
It saved strength, but slowed their travel. Even as the forest grew more and more enlivened, Tsume found herself tensing. She wanted to be home, where it was safe. Not thinking about attacking demons and villagers who'd sacrificed their children. Flanking Kuromaru's other side, Raidou looked as edgy as she felt. He'd pulled free a kunai to twirl absently, only to put it back when the boy started to cry.
Still, they were uninjured--other than the ones inflicted in their impromptu spar the night before--and that was a plus. If anything wanted the children, they'd have to go through herself or Raidou before they even got to the four-legged demon with a mouthful of fangs. He'd protect the cubs as ferociously as any human would.
Then Kurmaru yowled and staggered. Both cubs toppled in a slow-motion slide, the boy's arms locked around Aoi, her fists buried in Kuromaru's ruff. They were tipping toward Raidou; Tsume left him to catch them and dove for her whimpering familiar. |
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| Sacred Balance |
[Jun. 29th, 2008|02:41 am] |
[Immediately follows Sacred Duty]
Kuromaru woke up at the first noise. He slept lightly on missions; that was his job as the alpha male, no matter who else was on watch. He rolled up to his feet in one sleek move, turning to look where the noise was coming from.
Raidou's face was pulled, drawn. He smelled bad. The bitter smell of fear came off him, slowly growing. In a moment he'd wake, and if he was still panicked--
Kuromaru glanced at the children lying helplessly. The decision was made before he ever realized what he was deciding on. In one swift movement, faster than any non-ninja canine could do, he slid over Raidou and dove, forepaws pinning the man's shoulders, hindpaws his wrists, teeth at his throat. He held, keeping the man from flailing and hitting the cubs, careful not to break the skin but jaw tight on the human's windpipe, like Kuromaru would do for any other canine that he needed to submit without a fight. |
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| Sacred Duty [Closed to Raidou and Tsume] |
[Jun. 27th, 2008|03:49 am] |
[Follows immediately after Sacred Rituals]
Raidou slowed, and then settled down onto his haunches. The shadows of scrubby plantlife broke up his shape, making him almost invisible in the lowering gloom of evening. In the distance, a few lights were beginning to burn.
"We need to lose insignia," he muttered, looking at Tsume, thinking. "No Leaf symbols. No ANBU marks. Nothing that'll give them ammo to start a war. Your clan marks," he added, turning to look at Tsume. "Fangs, claws... mask, too. We'll need to leave our masks. Or hide them. And armour..." |
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| Sacred Lines [closed to Tsume and Raidou] |
[Jun. 25th, 2008|06:27 pm] |
[Takes place two weeks after the end of the Three's a Crowd... thread and Get Your Story Straight. Five days after Attack of the Ankle Biters.]
The door to the little cabin was cracked open, letting afternoon light spill in, turning dust motes to fools' gold and streaking a beam across the warped wooden floor. Cold air ghosted up from the holes in the flooring planks, breezes that shouldn't have existed sliding around Tsume's ankles like cool fingers. It was a miserable hideout in the chilly weather, but still better than a cave. She could only be grateful they had a bunker on the far edge of Fire Country, though grateful was difficult to remember when the pump was so cold her skin had to be dragged off it, and the slanted roof let rain water dribble in.
She'd be glad when her back-up arrived. There wasn't any hurry, really; the demon lurking at the edge of the other country was only a minor demon, she could tell by scent and spoor, and while the rumors might be true and it might be preying on the nearby village, that wasn't a Fire Country village. In fact, Konoha wasn't even getting paid for this mission: keeping Fire Country free from demons--minor or otherwise--was in their own best interest. A single quiet whisper of something demonic was enough to send any available ninja out to investigate.
( This time, it had been her and Kuromaru. ) |
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hung over
chipper
angry