| [Aug. 23rd, 2014|05:20 am] |
He followed Genma to the kitchen, dragged over the folding chair for the lieutenant to collapse into, and busied himself pumping water and lighting the tiny stove. The fuel canister was full again; Raidou must have replaced it for his breakfast stew. He crouched over it, waiting for the water to boil. The back of his neck prickled with Genma's gaze.
When Genma finally spoke, his voice ground low with tiredness and pain. "That's the hardest part of the job. When everything in you is telling you that the person you're trying to save deserves to die." He drew a slow breath, let it out. "When you have a teammate badly injured, or dead, and it's your prisoner's fault. And when you're off on a mission like ours, where you had to… Where some of your targets deserved Konoha's wrath, but some were just…"
"In the way?" Ryouma asked the water bubbling in the pot.
"Collateral," Genma said.
Ryouma remembered the wet thunk of kunai into flesh, the Tsuto boy's last gurgling breath nearly inaudible under his father's screams. And then Genma's voice, calm and collected over the radio: Primary objective here complete. Moving on…
He shuddered, straightened, reached for clean mugs. "You got that coffee, lieutenant?"
Genma leaned precipitously out of his chair, hanging on to the edge of the doorway, and called for one of Katsuko's clones to bring his medkit. When the clone arrived, Genma dug through the kit to an interior compartment and unearthed a slim metal cannister. He unscrewed the lid and pulled out a slender foil tube printed with a brightly colored image of a girl in traditional southern Water Country garb. "One packet makes two cups."
Ryouma poured half the crystals carefully into a mug, and paused. "You wanted tea."
"I could do either, I guess." Genma tilted his head back against the wall, heavy-lidded eyes barely slitted open. "That's how you know I'm tired. Can't make a simple decision easily." He dragged his gaze up again, with obvious effort. "You think you can drink two cups of coffee? I've got tea in here, just need to dig it back out."
"Those mornings you see me looking only slightly zombified on the training field at 5 a.m.? Those are two-cup mornings. I need at least three cups if you want me chipper." Ryouma added hot water, stirred, and set the mug aside to accept the folded tea packet Genma'd produced instead.
It looked fancy, too. Probably needed some delicate brewing temperature six degrees below the boiling point of water, or something. He dropped it in the mug, poured water in, and held the cup out. "Thanks for sharing."
Genma's eyes were slipping down to half-mast again. He made an mhm noise at the back of his throat and curled his fingers around the mug.
Ryouma dredged his brain for something else to say. "Smells like good stuff."
The corners of Genma's mouth tipped up. "Enjoy. Mount Akan coffee is amazing." He opened his eyes, took a deep breath of the scented steam from his tea cup, and struggled a little more upright. "When we get back to Konoha, I'll buy you a cup of the real stuff."
Ryouma's fancy-coffee-buying habits usually involved more whipped cream and hazelnut syrup and espresso shots, but he said, "Sure," and tried a cautious sip. He'd burned his tongue once already today, making tea with Katsuko. |
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