| [Sep. 24th, 2013|12:46 am] |
Yondaime-sama turned back to his ninja. “Rabbit, have your team secure the immediate area, and then send someone to find the radio and tell them to start assembling reinforcements. I want a dozen jounin and fifty chuunin here by midday tomorrow. And—Dammit, actually, just let me know when they've established contact with Konoha; I'll come. Kawasaki, take the loyal guards and start cleaning up the bodies and triaging the injured. Give medical aid to the emergency cases; right now I don't care what their loyalties are. We'll question them later.” The ANBU supporting Asuma received their orders with a nod, and one of the white-clad medics saluted and darted back into the hall. “Hyuuga, Yuuhi, you're with me. And with Sarutobi, here.” He looked at Asuma. “Can you walk at all?"
Asuma shifted his weight, trying not to lean so heavily on Badger. His head still swam, but at least he didn’t feel like he was going to collapse. “Slowly?” he offered.
Yondaime-sama’s mouth twitched toward a smile. “Well, we already passed out the prizes for speed. Here, Badger, hand him over.” The ANBU obediently transferred their burden before saluting and taking their leave as well. Asuma needed to lean more to one side than his back liked in order to use the Hokage as a crutch, but he gritted his teeth and ignored it as best he could. Yondaime-sama, for his part, hardly seemed to notice the extra weight Asuma put on him.
Once settled, the Hokage turned to their medic. “Hyuuga?”
“We’ll need water,” the medic said to the guard who had remained behind. “Do you have a kitchenette or a sink available?”
“Would a bathroom be acceptable?” the guard asked. After Hyuuga’s affirmative nod, the man gestured to the hallway opposite the one the Daimyou had taken. “Please follow me.”
The safe room wasn’t much different from the rest of the palace in terms of decorations; there was no point in inconveniencing the Daimyou just because of a potential threat to his life. Asuma had only been through it once or twice, but the layout was one of the few things still clear in his mind at the moment. The foyer led to entertaining and food preparation rooms on one side, and to several bedrooms with their own attached bathrooms on the other. There were no windows or other methods of entry, beyond the one they just came through, that could compromise safety. In total the area was large enough to house the Daimyou, his immediate family, and up to three other sets of visiting dignitaries.
The bathroom the guard led them to fit all five people easily, with a wide double sink, a large bathtub separate from a walk-in shower, and a toilet that was probably cleaner than Asuma was. Yondaime-sama decided to remedy that problem by dropping the lid and plunking Asuma down on top of it.
Asuma rested against the back of the toilet with an unconcealed sigh, and didn’t think too hard about the grime that had rubbed off onto the Hokage’s coat. He should probably offer to pay for the dry-cleaning later. |
|