| [Feb. 26th, 2017|08:58 pm] |
One day, if no one else had gotten there first, Raidou was going to find a find a dark, quiet corner, and break Kuroda’s neck in it.
He tightened his arm around Genma’s narrow back, and said, “I know. I was there. She was dead before you got to her.”
Genma was past the point where words could comfort. He drew a wracked breath and just— fell apart, voice shredding on heaving sobs. Audible, terrible. Raidou didn't move. He settled like a foundation and threaded his fingers gently through Genma's sodden hair, prepared to sit until Genma could breathe again or the ship docked, whichever came first.
On Genma’s other side, Ryouma had let go and drawn back. There was hurt in his eyes, frustration in the downward tilt of his mouth. A student who wanted, so badly, to help his teacher. Raidou had used two sentences and a hug, and that had been enough to break Genma's fragile balance, but Ryouma had tried first.
Ryouma had been the other medic at Genma's side when Fukuda died, begging him to save her.
Raidou couldn't reach to catch Ryouma's shoulder, knew Genma didn't want to shatter in front of their rookies, but driving Ryouma away didn't help anyone. He'd seen Genma crumble; he needed to see what came next. Raidou opened his mouth.
Kakashi sat down on Ryouma's other side.
Sat down against Ryouma's side, bracketing him in. A shiver of chakra rippled through the air, a curling of warmth around all four of them. The water pulled out of their clothes, off their skin. A thousand droplets hung suspended for a moment, glittering in the dim lamplight. Kakashi turned his palm up. The water formed a ribbon and splashed silently down on the far side of the compartment. Beneath Raidou’s hand, Genma’s hair was fine and dry. Raidou could feel the wet warmth of tears soaking into his shirt.
In the gloom, Ryouma’s head ducked and Raidou caught the edge of a startled look. Then, slowly, Ryouma leaned back against Kakashi. Like Raidou, Kakashi didn’t move.
Raidou set that particular anomaly aside to think about when Genma wasn't destroying himself over too much healing, too little sleep, a death he couldn't have prevented, and one small, shitty commanding officer who liked to punch down. This close, Genma’s chakra should have felt like a warm fountain, even to Raidou’s limited sensing abilities. It felt like wire, tangled and scraped thin.
Overspent. Raidou should have caught that before.
He spread his other hand between Genma’s shoulderblades, over Genma’s spine, finding the heart chakra point. Teased out a slender thread of his own chakra and let it slip beneath Genma’s skin, finding an easy anchor in the earth nature they shared. Genma shuddered. Raidou made a quiet, reassuring sound in his ear and opened the right channels. Energy unspooled, sinking into parched, raw pathways that drank it like a lifeline.
Very gradually, something began to ease in Genma’s shoulders. The long muscles down his back unlocked. The white-knuckled grip on Raidou’s shirt relaxed fractionally. He wasn’t done crying, but he’d finally found a rhythm that wasn’t tearing his throat out. Raidou broke the transfer and rubbed his hand over Genma’s back, encouraging him.
The mission was still ongoing, but it didn’t matter anymore. The ship had left habor. Kimiko and her daughter, gods willing, were still asleep. Team Thirteen were taken care of. Kurenai had Kuroda in hand — probably without swearing at him, which was something Raidou was going to have to deal with later — and there was nowhere anyone needed to be. Genma had cut it bone-fine, but he’d made it.
Without Kuroda, Raidou suspected he’d have made it all the way home, vanished for an evening, and shown up to the next morning’s training practice with a freshly washed face and none of them any the wiser.
On the balance, this was more painful, but it was better.
(Someone still needed to break Kuroda’s teeth.) |
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