| [Feb. 26th, 2017|08:59 pm] |
The lantern swung as the sea grew rougher. Thunder rolled in the distance. Kakashi tipped his head back, looking at the dark ceiling like he was watching lightning strikes. Ryouma’s hands fidgeted restlessly through dry seals, practicing a jutsu Raidou didn’t recognize. Sailors shouted and thumped above. The compartment grew a little warmer.
Genma drew a deep, shaky breath and let it out. The next was steadier.
Raidou rubbed the back of Genma’s neck, and said, “Welcome back.”
Genma pushed back enough to look up, exhaustion and embarrassment warring on his face. “I—uh—” He sighed, sniffed, lifted one hand to press under his nose, then rubbed a tear away. His eyes were red-rimmed, face pale where it wasn’t erratically flushed. His hair clung damply to his forehead. “I shouldn’t have let that happen.”
Kakashi made a sound of cutting exasperation. A part of Raidou noted the return to familiar rudeness with relief, then annoyance. Ryouma’s elbow thumped into Kakashi’s ribs.
“I cried after the last mission,” Raidou said simply. “When Sagara-sama told me I was suspended. I went home and fell on my moms. And I actually deserved that reprimand.”
Genma drew another deep breath, still grounding himself. “At least you kept it together until you were actually home.”
Raidou tilted a smile at him. “Shorter journey back.”
Genma managed a weak chuckle. “Drier, too.” He turned stiffly, as if his bones ached and his balance didn’t want to stay beneath him, and settled again with his side braced against Raidou’s, so he could see the others. “Thanks for coming to find me.” And then, to Ryouma alone: “And for disobeying orders.”
Ryouma’s head ducked, acceptance and deflection in one gesture. “You told me, after Ibaragashi… Talking helps.”
Another tear slipped down Genma’s cheek. He rubbed it away with the heel of his hand and looked down at his knees. “I… I really did try to save her. Maybe I should have tried harder.”
Kakashi dropped his gaze from the ceiling. “She wouldn’t have thanked you. I wouldn’t either, since Kiri-nin were about a half-second away from drowning me and Sango in a tree when you showed up.”
That hit home. Genma’s eyes flicked wide for a second. He rubbed savagely at another tear trying to escape, and didn’t respond.
Ryouma added, quietly: “You said something else, before we left Konoha. When we were testing Kakashi’s blood jutsu. You said a field medic had to make that call. If you couldn’t save someone, you’d have to let them go, because the rest of us need you.” His hands shifted, as if he wanted to reach out, but he stilled them in his lap. “And Fukuda agreed. She told you to kill her.”
Raidou could have hugged them.
A muscle in Genma’s jaw flickered. He shaped a few unspoken words, then said tightly, “She told me that after I told her it was hopeless.” His fingers curled, nails pressing into palms. “I didn’t lie to her. But maybe, if I’d known earlier—” He looked at Ryouma. “Did she say anything about her belly hurting, in the sewer after the fight?”
Ryouma shook his head. “Nothing. She couldn’t chakra-walk, but she’d hit her head. I thought she was concussed. Maybe a cracked rib, but I’ve broken plenty...”
“Did either of you want her dead?” Kakashi demanded.
“No,” Genma said sharply. “I wanted her alive.”
Ryouma’s answer was lower. “Not anymore. Not since… she hugged her sister.”
“Are either of you stupid?” Kakashi continued. He made it sound like an academic question.
Raidou gave him a narrow glance.
Genma’s look was more resigned. “Kuroda thinks so.” He let out a breath and slumped against Raidou. “He’s wrong about that, though.”
Kakashi leaned back against the barrels, satisfied. “He didn’t protect Eizo from the eel either, so he can stuff his judgement up his ass.”
There was the genius Raidou knew and tolerated, coldly using people he didn’t care about to prove a point to the ones he, perhaps, did. Genma, who’d known Eizo and had a fully functional set of human emotions, tucked his chin down. “Yeah,” he said, small-voiced and shaken. “Eizo.”
Ryouma made an abortive move towards him, glanced at Raidou, and broke it off. He turned to scowl at Kakashi, who held both hands up in a what? gesture. |
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