Kimiko, further back in the cave, had snapped her head up at the noise. Realizing the source, she settled back down and grimly resumed burping Sango. Genma took a deep breath, regarding Kakashi and Ryouma in turn, and rolled away on his side so he didn’t have to look at them. Raidou was preparing something that smelled meaty-savory, and ignoring them all.

Carefully, Kakashi removed the twig and relocated the bug to the cave wall, where it scuttled up into a dark crevice and vanished. Ryouma watched the crevice suspiciously.

“Insect bully,” Kakashi told him. Then, more softly, so Genma didn’t roll back over and attempt unnecessary medical jutsu, “Do you know you’re bleeding through your shirt?”

Ryouma glanced down and frowned at the scattered stains spreading on his dark grey t-shirt, where the rope-harness had rubbed his shoulders raw. He glanced back at Genma, frown deepening, and pushed himself to his feet. His balance wavered fractionally, as if the blood had rushed to his head. He steadied himself against the cave wall and murmured, “Toss me my kit?”

Tangled near Genma’s knees were a mass of scrolls, kits, and supplies that Raidou had unsealed but not finished organizing. Kakashi leaned over to hook out Ryouma’s, distinguishable by old black rot-marks that hadn’t fully washed out. Ryouma waved a silent explanation at Raidou and staggered out of the cave. Kakashi trailed after him.

The sun was high and hot, scattering rainbows through patches of silvery mist. A salt-laden breeze washed over Kakashi’s skin. The air smelled like ocean and greenery.

Ryouma found a rock, sat down on it, and pulled his shirt off like it had personally offended him. He gestured for his kit. Kakashi tossed it over, and lay down in the grass. The sun spilled warmth down on him, while Ryouma hissed and swore quietly at gauze. A sharp bite of herbs made Kakashi wrinkle his nose. He glanced up and watched Ryouma doctor himself with a pale green salve.

“I should have known you didn’t kill Fukuda,” Kakashi said.

Ryouma went still. A line of salve dripped down and cut a slash over the tattooed dragon coiled on his chest. He said, “A month ago, I might’ve.”

Kakashi shrugged. “A month ago, I would have let you.”

Ryouma’s laugh cracked in half, like a split stone. “You couldn’t’ve stopped me. You were on your knees, waiting for the blow to fall.” He looked down, rubbed the line of salve away. When he spoke next, there was a weight to the words, as if he’d been carrying them for a while. “She was working for her village, same as we are. But her village turned on its own. Don’t know if she ever gave a shit about anyone other than Kimiko, or if she just cared about Kimiko too much to care for anyone else, but— I don’t know. I almost liked her, just before the end.”

So had Kakashi. You couldn’t help admiring someone that strong.

It was funny, what you could feel about someone else’s traitor.

“What actually happened?” he asked.

Ryouma’s left shoulder lifted, lowered. A thin line of blood rolled down his skin, caught by a strip of gauze. “Six Kiri nin. You were right. Genma and Fukuda each took down one, and I got the rest, but one of ‘em hit Fukuda with a jutsu first. Some kinda Wind technique. It smashed her into the wall. We thought she had concussion—she was shaky on her feet, couldn’t chakra-walk.”

Kakashi pushed himself upright as Ryouma spoke, bracing one hand against the grass.

Ryouma continued. “We got out of the tunnel, found you missing, and Raidou and Kimiko missing, and she just took off. Found the others, charged right into another fight, and— she took another blow. Just a kick to the stomach, that time, but she went down. Genma said it was her spleen. Internal bleeding. There was nothing he could do.” Ryouma’s fingers flexed. He looked down at them, eyes dark in the midday sun. “She asked him to end it. He did.”

Of course she did. Of course he had.

Sango gone, Kimiko frantic. They wouldn’t have hesitated.

Kakashi glanced back at the cave, but the entrance was angled away. A small, cold part of him remembered dropping Kimiko at the cliff edge, and wanted to bite itself. He brushed it away; Kimiko wouldn’t welcome or want his apology.

He said, “What did you do with the body?”