| [Sep. 24th, 2013|10:36 pm] |
“They’re managing,” Raidou said, which was somewhere in the neighbourhood of truth. When he glanced over his shoulder, Katsuko was slumped against Ryouma’s shoulder, picking apart her final bean bun and shaping it into a deformed little creature. Ryouma’s fake-mask had faded up just enough to bare his mouth, and he and Kakashi seemed to be glaring at each other while Ryouma fumbled a spoon and Kakashi steadied him. Raidou turned back to Genma. “They’re almost using teamwork.”
“Wow,” Genma managed, fading out. “Soon they’ll be ready to get their hitai-ate and be real genin…”
“I’m not holding my breath,” Raidou muttered.
Genma was already gone, chest rising and falling in a slow rhythm. Raidou folded the sheets back over him, checked the IV, and left him to sleep.
Namura came up to his elbow. “Is this normal?” she asked, quiet.
“For them? They’re usually a little more violent,” Raidou said. “And noisy.”
“Oh,” she said.
“You get used to it,” Raidou said.
Namura glanced sideways at him. “When?”
“Hell if I know,” Raidou said, jaw cracking on a yawn. He glanced around when someone knocked at the door. “Now what?”
It was Amaya, the radio operative, breathless and clutching a sheet of paper. “ANBU-san, you have a response.”
Raidou blinked, and closed the door behind him. “Already?”
She handed it across. “It repeated twice. I made sure to copy it word for word, and sent the acknowledgement you gave me.”
Raidou flipped the sheet over, scanned the short collection of coded phrases, and felt his heart drop to his boots. “This can’t be right.”
“I copied it exactly,” Amaya said. “Is something wrong?”
In its entirety, the message said: Code Broken Link. No agents available. Handle situation as best you can.
A broken link, if Raidou remembered this month’s codes correctly, was a political attack on Fire Country soil. Most likely, an act of war.
There was no help coming.
He burned the message in his hand, flame dripping between his fingers, and scattered the ash into the wind. “I need the mayor,” he said.
He still owed the village an explanation—and the surrounding villages. They’d all lost people. But two civilians needed surgery, his team needed real medical care, and Konoha—gods even knew what Konoha needed right now, but Raidou needed to get home.
Kudo came at the run. “ANBU-san,” he said, breathless.
“There’s a problem,” Raidou said. “The evac team can’t make it. I need to transport my people home as fast as possible, and I want to take your two people with me, to real medic-nins.”
“But your medic-nin—”
“He’s a field medic. Not the same thing. He can help when he’s well enough, but I don’t know the clock on that. If we get your people to Konoha’s hospital, their chances are better.” Probably not good, especially not Hisa, with her parasite that was already growing. And who knew if Fujiyama would even want to wake up, with his wife slain and his children murdered, but Raidou had to try. “I need whatever you have. Horses, an ox cart.”
“What about a river boat?” |
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