| [Aug. 23rd, 2014|05:06 am] |
Genma allowed himself a soft sigh. “So. Taichou’s cuddly toy for bedtime was a stuffed tiger, and Hatake’s is a thousand-fold alloy blade. What about the rest of you?”
For an instant Ryouma looked blank, then hurt, before he turned his gaze away. “You're not distracting us that easily, lieutenant,” he said, sounding suspiciously light, and just a little forced. “You promised the story behind the marriage proposal, if I got it right.”
All Genma’s concerns about Ryouma’s emotional resilience came crowding back, adding to the litany of other worries this mission had generated. Was it Ryouma’s own troubled childhood that made him flinch, or was it the teenage girl he’d had a hand in killing on the mission? The babies Katsuko and Raidou had had to kill? Or the deaths of the young girls on the previous mission?
He glanced at Raidou—had the captain picked up on the same thing?—and tapped code against Raidou’s knee: Safe?
Unknown, Raidou signed against the back of Genma's hand. Aloud, he said, “You did promise the story, lieutenant.”
Watchful worrying it would have to be, then.
“I said I might tell you—” Genma started.
“You're gonna leave us to start asking around when we get back to Konoha, lieutenant?” Ryouma asked. He seemed to have bounced back enough to engage again. “Who knows what damage we'll do to your reputation?”
“I see you passed your coercive methods classes in Academy,” Genma said with a small laugh. “Alright, here’s the story. We’d been dating for five months. I got a little banged up on a mission, and when I got home, got a proposal I wasn’t expecting. I turned it down because I’m too young to get married, and my commitment to ANBU comes first.”
Ryouma was quiet for a long moment before he said, “And then you broke up?”
Genma nodded. “Yeah,” he said quietly. “A couple weeks later.” A couple of tense, argument-filled, miserable weeks.
“They should put that in the recruitment posters,” Katsuko said with a wry twist. “‘Joining ANBU gets you a mask, a reputation, and an inability to keep relationships alive'.” Her expression turned softer and more sincere. “Shouldn't keep us from trying, though.”
“Speak for yourself,” Ryouma said. “I intend to blow through as many one-night-stands as we have time for.” He tossed Katsuko a wicked grin. “I already bet the lieutenant I could sleep with all the lower ranking ANBU in a year.”
Genma rested his forehead very, very gently in his hand.
“How about you try making some friends instead,” Raidou said softly. Dark, shadowed eyes locked onto Ryouma.
Ryouma dropped his gaze and the grin. After a moment he shrugged one shoulder and patted half-heartedly at Kakashi’s ankle. “Lieutenant never did actually take the bet,” he said.
Thank you for not throwing me into that fire, Genma thought. He reached over and gave Ryouma’s elbow a light touch. “They say the strongest friendships are forged in foxholes, right?” |
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