| [Mar. 28th, 2015|03:12 am] |
The offer hung in the air with the rising steam. Asuma kept the spray of water directed into the tub, watched it swirl down the drain, and tried to imagine telling Genma about the way Kazuma had turned from friend to foe so easily, the way Chiriku had slipped away between one breath and another.
“I’ll keep it in mind,” he replied, just as quietly.
Genma nodded. From the corner of his eye, Asuma watched him soap up, open his mouth as though to speak, then change his mind and remain silent. It took him several minutes to decide on a new topic of conversation.
“So is your sister as sweet and personable as I remember her being?” he asked eventually.
Ah, Reiko. That was always an easy thing to talk about.
“Sweeter,” Asuma replied. “She’s on pregnancy attempt number two. Apparently it’s not taking well, so she’s taking it out on everyone in earshot.”
Genma’s expression bordered somewhere between smelling over-ripe durian and eating over-ripe durian. “What trimester? She in the puke all day stage, or is she on bedrest and hating it?”
Asuma traded the shower head for the body wash again. “First trimester. The way she tells it, she’s so sick she’s losing weight instead of gaining, but she’s still going in to the office every day.” He shrugged one shoulder. “I haven’t listened that closely, to be honest.”
“Because who wants to listen to an angry woman vomiting?” Genma chuckled. “I don’t imagine she approves much of this arrangement.” He waved his free hand, indicating his currently naked state and the complete lack of fucks they were giving about the situation. “If you even told her you were going to see me today. She’s not expecting you for dinner, is she?”
Asuma wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “No. I try my best to only be there when I’m sleeping.” Which he’d done a lot of, conveniently, right after he returned to Konoha. All the hospital visits, paperwork, and finally the desk job filled the rest of his time once he couldn’t find an excuse to sleep all day, but that wouldn’t last forever. Begging ANBU to take him back just so he wouldn’t have to deal with his sister on the other side of the dinner table was beginning to look very tempting. “Aoba dropped the news on me at work. I came by right after I got out.”
Genma ran a hand over his head, looking thoughtful for a moment, before he gestured with his elbow. Asuma followed the motion, spotted a bottle of conditioner in that direction, and traded it for the shower head once more.
“You’re a good friend,” Genma said, “even if you are doing it for entirely self-serving reasons.” He sighed deeply as he scrubbed in the conditioner, swaying slightly where he sat. Looked like the pills might finally be kicking in. “I can’t say I can offer much advice other than continued avoidance for your own sanity’s sake. Obstetrics isn’t a big part of field medic training.”
“Not my baby, not my problem,” Asuma replied. A bit harsh, but a reality. He and Reiko had never gotten on well, and he didn’t see that changing just because there was a new addition to the family. If anything, he felt sorry for the poor kid even getting born—but he knew better than to say that out loud. Family and reproduction were too important to Konoha’s culture to be publicly blasé about. “You’re looking wobbly. Narcotics working yet?”
“I think so. My leg still hurts, but I don’t care anymore.” Genma gave him the glazed-eye smile of a tired but well-medicated patient. “You’ll just have to be that awesome uncle that rescues the kid for an afternoon, sugars him up, and sends him back. I bet we could get my dad to help with that. Kids don’t care if the cupcakes are day-olds.”
The mental image of his short-tempered sister trying to corral a toddler amped up on frosting was definitely delightful. Asuma laughed and shook his head, offering Genma back the shower head. “You’re a subversive son of a bitch. C’mon, let’s finish up and get you in bed before you end up passed out in the tub.”
“Ninja,” Genma replied. “Subversion is one of my core competencies.” |
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