| [Sep. 14th, 2013|01:20 am] |
Dinner turned out surprisingly well, when all was said and done. Kakashi’d returned from the spring with a bundle of wild onions to add to the pot: combined with Genma’s fiddleheads and mushrooms, and a packet of seasoning mix liberated from one of the standard-issue ramen blocks, the “kids” as Raidou called them, had done an admirable job with the rabbit stew.
The unholy alliance Raidou had predicted was well underway by the time it came to put out bedrolls, with Katsuko and Ryouma breaking into silent laughter when Kakashi raised a judgmental eyebrow over some comment one of them made, but it didn’t seem mean spirited.
The real joy of having Ueno on the team became apparent when she called up a half dozen clones to clean up their dinner making effort, then turned to Raidou and declared them ready for the night’s watch.
The whole night’s watch.
She’d created six kage bunshin so loaded with chakra they almost felt human, and Katsuko’s ever-burning torch was almost undimmed. Whatever that enemy medic had done to her, it seemed beyond the bounds of human capacity. Genma found himself thinking of the Yondaime’s late wife—was Katsuko some kind of vessel for a demon’s chakra? But that, surely, would have made her too valuable to the village to be an ANBU agent.
“Should we set secondaries?” Genma asked, eying the tiny army of kunoichi.
They shook their heads in unison with Katsuko herself.
“This is why I wanted to keep her when I got promoted to captain,” Raidou said, “Everyone gets to sleep.”
“We’re going to get spoiled,” Genma said. “But you won’t catch me saying no to a night’s sleep on the trail.” He glanced over the rest of his team. “Speaking of which...” He yawned and stretched. “Unless any of you need me for anything else?”
Kakashi said nothing.
Ryouma looked idly down at his boots.
New armor could chafe. New boots could raise blisters.
And the rookies were in a cutthroat competition of manliness and stoicism.
“Show me,” Genma said. “I’d rather chakra-heal your strains and blisters before we sleep so natural healing can supplement it, than end up with either of you limping halfway to our objective tomorrow.”
There was another silent moment as the rookies waited each other out. Ryouma broke first, reaching down to unfasten his right boot. “It’s just rubbing a bit. Haven’t broken them in quite yet.”
“Easy fix,” Genma said. “Left boot off, too, please.” While Ryouma unlaced his second boot, Genma looked expectantly at Kakashi.
Very reluctantly, Kakashi started unfastening his vest. After he removed it, he pulled the black underpinnings of his uniform aside to reveal raw, moist-looking red patches where the armor had been rubbing under his arms. “I have a med-kit,” he said, sounding defensive. “I wasn’t going to let it fester.”
“I know it was almost a week ago,” said Genma, “but I’m sure I remember Namiashi-taichou laying out some rules, including one about not concealing an injury, no matter how minor.”
The rookies’ silence on the matter was probably as much of an admission as it was reasonable to expect. “Tousaki, let your feet air out for a sec while I see about Hatake.” Medics had strong stomachs, but there was no need for self-torture, after all.
“Are you sure you can see well enough, lieutenant?” Katsuko asked. “Maybe Hatake ought to take his shirt all the way off.”
Kakashi went still.
“Boun-” Raidou started.
“-daries,” Katsuko said, sounding sad. |
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