| [Apr. 30th, 2014|05:54 am] |
A series of translocation jumps slung Katsuko and Raidou to the outskirts of the city, where paved streets and buildings gave way to thickly forested hills. The ocean roared at their backs as they faded into the night like specters. Clouds rolled over the sky, killing the moonlight and leaving them only darkness to navigate by.
They met the oncoming storm and ran through it. Rain shattered against their bare shoulders and stung healing cuts. Katsuko ignored the dull throb of her broken collarbone and fell in at Raidou’s side, staying a half-step behind so she could keep an eye on the tense set of his shoulders.
She tapped on her throat-mic. No sense in shouting over the rising wind, even if their close proximity meant there would be a little feedback. “Rai,” she said. “What are you going to tell the others?”
Droplets splashed on her mask and hissed over the comm.
“I don’t know,” Raidou said.
Katsuko swallowed and switched the radio line off, only to bring her hand back up to her throat-mic a second later. “I won’t tell them anything,” she said. “Not until you decide what to do.”
The silence that followed made anxiety twist hot and tight in Katsuko’s stomach. Then the defensive curl of Raidou’s spine straightened. His end of the line crackled. “I won’t make you lie for me, but— thank you. I’ll figure it out.” He closed some of the distance between them, falling in just behind her right shoulder: making a wall between the world and her wounded side. “How’s the arm?”
“It’s been better.” As if on cue, sharp pain spiked from her clavicle, running down her arm and making the fingers of her right hand curl. “I don’t even care if the lieutenant yells at me, I’ll love him forever if he heals this damn break.”
Raidou glanced back over his shoulder, measuring distance, and then slowed down and came to a stop. “I’m not the lieutenant, but let me see if we can at least bind it up.” A bare flicker of his usual wryness shone through. “I promise not to yell.”
“Pinky-swear?” Katsuko asked, but followed him anyways. They ducked into a hollow shielded from the rain by a rock outcropping. Raidou dug into his medkit for a sling and eased Katsuko into it, using additional bandages to secure her arm against her side. She didn’t say anything about the red streaks his hands left on the bandages, and he didn’t say anything about the exhausted waver in her voice. |
|