| [Feb. 8th, 2017|04:13 am] |
Sun-dazzled silhouette resolved into broad shoulders, an armload of firewood, and a bemused smile.
"Nap in the sun is starting to look appealing," Raidou said. "Shiranui's passed out. Kimiko'll probably join him when she relaxes an inch. You owe me tea, Tousaki. Do you need to give me a raincheck?"
Ryouma groaned. "I'm coming." His abused muscles were stiffening after rest; he had to lever himself up, elbows underneath. "You napping or eating, Ka— Hound?"
"Yes," Kakashi said. He shoved up, almost staggering. "Should check on the baby."
They made a slow trek back. Genma was still stretched out in his patch of sunlight near the mouth of the cave, but he'd been wrapped in blankets til only a pale slice of exhausted face showed, under the tangled tumble of his hair. The hectic flush had burned away from his cheekbones, leaving shadows like bruises under his eyes. Ryouma tried to step more quietly. He found himself holding his breath.
Further inside the cave, Kimiko curled in another bedroll, with Sango snuggled drowsing against her breast. Kimiko's eyes slit open, then drifted closed again, as if even the effort of apprehension was too much for her now.
Several empty ration packs lay in a tidy pile near their sorted gear. Raidou had three more ration packs heating. On the tripod, the kettle was just coming to its second boil.
Ryouma made tea. They dumped pouches of rice into packets of mackerel and pork in sweet-and-salty sauce, and Raidou produced dented metal spoons. They ate, cross-legged in the sunlight at the cave mouth, quiet so as to let Gemma sleep.
Clouds rolled in. The mist came down. Raidou and Ryouma scraped up their chakra and set shadow clones to guard. Kakashi fell asleep, head on a rock, curled tidily near Ryouma's knee.
The cave-creature with too many legs hadn't come back yet. Ryouma leaned back against the rough wall of rock and let himself drowse.
Dreams stirred, sluggish, and snared him. He was a genin again, watching curiously as Hitomi-sensei plucked the white Hyuuga eyes out of her head and held them out in her open palm: "More useful than a Sharingan," she said. "Your friend should reconsider."
"I don't think he had the choice," Ryouma said. He had to look farther down than usual to see Hitomi-sensei; he'd grown again. He was adult now, in ANBU blacks, with tattooed arms.
Hitomi-sensei said, "You never think. That's the problem." She put her eyes back in and went away.
Kakashi said, "You throw away all your chances." His red Sharingan eye spun like a child's pinwheel. His mask was red too, but it wasn't a mask, it was blood. Blood glued his lips together and coated his collarbones. His grey eye was gone; a tiny ghost-white crab crawled out of the hole and scurried beneath Ryouma's boot. Ryouma stamped in reflexive horror. The shattered crab became two, then four, then a scuttling sea.
Kakashi said accusingly, "Look what you've done. You owe me an eye." He stretched out a hand. |
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