Kakashi'd come with him to Shirakawa, when he could have eaten shaved ice at half a dozen stands in Konoha and spent his time far more pleasantly, lounging with his book. He'd pulled Ryouma down to sit with him in the waiting room, and talked him through the nerves and into memories Ryouma hadn't told anyone.

Hitomi-sensei had never asked. I'm your teacher, she'd said, not your friend. She'd taught them to kill and to survive, and two out of the three of them had managed it. She'd taught them to shield their hearts, not open them.

And now Kakashi was asking him to open his heart? Ryouma snickered.

Niimi-sensei's voice came from very far off. "I always like it when the jounin get giggly. Can you feel this, Tousaki?"

"Nope!" Ryouma said, or tried to; his tongue felt thick and the word slurred. "If you're feelin' me up, you should wait til I can return the favor…"

He heard the very distant slap of someone putting their face in their hand. Kakashi's voice came muffled: "Oh my god."

"Sadly a breach of the doctor-patient relationship," Niimi-sensei said breezily, "but I appreciate the sentiment. You're going to feel some pressure in a second. I need you to stay completely still."

"I'm good at stayin' still," Ryouma assured her. "Did I ever tell you about the time I hadta stake out this guy for like—hours—"

He blinked. His eyelids didn't seem to want to come back up. He could feel the pressure Niimi-sensei had promised him, on his lower thigh above his knee, but not what she was doing. From this angle, with his knee and his head level, he couldn't see, either.

"Goro," Niimi-sensei said, "you can start the seals on the north point. Finish that pot of ink off before you open a fresh one. I don't think you've told me that story, Tousaki. How long was your stake-out?"

"I forget how many hours," Ryouma said, disgruntled. "But I killed him afterward."

"Exciting story," Hyuuga-sensei said.

"I've got lots," Ryouma said. "Are you painting me?"

"Seals," Niimi-sensei said. "They'll help us align your chakra with ours and control the precise movements during the surgery. They'll provide additional chakra as well, so we're not draining you or ourselves."

"It's the same kind of chakra-imbued ink you use in scrolls," Goro said, somewhere over Ryouma's head. He seemed to be painting the floor, while Niimi-sensei worked on Ryouma's leg and Hyuuga-sensei guided her brush with murmured directives.

Kakashi liked seals, Ryouma thought happily. Maybe he liked this too.