| [Aug. 1st, 2016|09:53 pm] |
For a moment, neither of the officers answered. Genma stepped closer to the bed, his quick glance summing up Ryouma's brace and crutches before returning to Raidou, weighted with something Ryouma couldn't read.
Raidou let the curtain fall closed behind him. "She's fine, Tousaki, don't look like that."
What was Ryouma supposed to be looking like? Katsuko'd been pulled away at the funeral, and Raidou'd hinted he wouldn't see them again for two weeks or more. Now he was back, and she wasn't.
"Her father requested her skills for a special mission," Raidou said. His voice was gentle, all the rough edges sanded off. "She'll be in charge of the protection detail on a political envoy into Iwa, for the foreseeable future."
"Iwa," Kakashi said, flatly.
"Iwa," Genma confirmed. "So you can understand why the Hokage would want someone of Ueno's talent as head of security for the detail."
"No, I don't," Kakashi snapped. "Ueno's explosive, not political. This is a stupid decision. Who really made it?"
The lieutenant didn't flinch. He reached out, instead, closing his hand on Ryouma's shoulder, pressing him back and down. The edge of the bed rose up behind Ryouma's legs. He sat.
Genma settled into the empty chair by the bed and set his cane aside. "When Sagara-sama briefed me about the situation, she said that Ueno Kasa requested his daughter for the mission, Yondaime-sama approved the request, and our Ueno was offered the slot. So as far as I know, Ueno made the final decision herself."
Kakashi drew a thin breath. His voice came quieter, but the edges were just as jagged. "Why isn't she here to tell us herself?"
She was supposed to be teaching Kakashi, Ryouma remembered dimly. The same way Genma had offered the shining promise of medic training, Katsuko had held out the offer of her family's sword style, a legacy shared with no one else in Konoha. Kakashi thirsted for knowledge like a dying man in a desert, but there'd seemed to be more between them than just a demonstration of kata and a few sparring sessions. There'd been real — if injured — pride and pleasure in Katsuko's voice when she told the story of their interrupted Crescent Moon Sweep.
Why would she leave that — leave them — to do a job she was bad at, with a family she hated, in a country that wanted her and every other Konoha shinobi dead? |
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