| A Light That Never Goes Out [1/3] [Kakashi & Ryouma] |
[Jan. 21st, 2012|01:46 pm] |
[Takes place immediately after Stranger in a Strange Land, and the day before Nothing to Fear.]
Somewhere in the warm glow of mid-morning, Kakashi woke up and realized Ryouma wasn't there. His scent was still there, weaving through the air and the sheets like a living ribbon, and relief came in the shape of he’s alive, I’m not crazy, but there was still a hole in the world where Ryouma should have been standing.
He’d had bad dreams. Maybe he was walking them off.
And maybe good things happened to nice people.
Kakashi was up, half dressed and three-quarters panicked when the lock turned against the latch and Ryouma walked through the door.
"Morning!” he said cheerfully, kicking his boots off and hefting a cardboard box that smelled like sugar. “Shirtless is a good look on you. Cake?"
( It would have been counter-productive to murder him with a coat-hanger, but for a moment Kakashi was severely tempted. ) |
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| A Light That Never Goes Out [2/3] [Kakashi & Ryouma] |
[Jan. 21st, 2012|01:59 pm] |
[Follows directly after A Light That Never Goes Out [1/3], the day before Nothing to Fear]
The cheapest jacket Threads had to offer was a plain navy blue hoodie that Ryouma picked up without a second glance and slung on the counter.
Kakashi rolled his eyes, returned it to the rack, and went to the back of the store. It took him a second to find what he was looking for—broad shoulders and a slim waist made a trickier combination when you added height as well—but he knew he’d picked right when Ryouma’s eyes flicked wide.
“This one,” Kakashi said, holding up a heavy leather jacket dyed espresso-dark. He eyed it consideringly. “Looks sturdy enough to turn a blade.”
“That costs as much as half a B-rank,” Ryouma said, slightly strangled.
“Good. Then you know it’s strong enough to put up with all the abuse you’ll give it.” And it had the rock star edge Ryouma coveted, which Kakashi knew looked good on him. He tossed it to Ryouma, who caught it reflexively. “Try it on.”
Ryouma hesitated, fingertips brushing the leather, then set his mouth and shrugged the jacket on with a touch of a dramatic flare, like a man donning armour. He zipped it halfway and flexed his shoulders, twisting at the hip. The jacket was just a little loose, leaving enough room for the muscle Ryouma wanted to put back on, but it moved like water. “Feels good,” he said, a little surprised, a little longing. “Warm. How’s it look?”
( Like sex on legs. ) |
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| A Light That Never Goes Out [3/3] [Kakashi & Ryouma] |
[Jan. 21st, 2012|02:07 pm] |
[Follows directly after A Light That Never Goes Out [2/3], the day before Nothing to Fear]
“Ow,” said Ryouma, much later. “I think I sprained something.”
“I think you deserved it,” Kakashi told him, watching narrow-eyed as little Jin walked stumble-footed up the garden path to a ramshackle house, hand in hand with Orin. Makoto and his red-headed friend, Saburo, had already gone. Saki was half-asleep on Ryouma’s back. “Are you sure it’s safe here?” Kakashi murmured.
It smelled like disuse and sweat and something rotten.
On Ryouma’s other side, Hanato nodded decisively. “Orin is Jin’s cousin,” he said. “She’ll look out for him.”
Kakashi glanced sidelong at Ryouma.
Ryouma just looked tired, suddenly, and a little sad. “She does a better job than I could. C’mon.” He turned, hefting Saki, who gave a quiet mumble and kicked one foot against his side. “Where’re you staying these days, Hanato? Still with your uncle?”
“Yeah,” said Hanato, flat. His eyes skated to Kakashi, clearly unwilling to discuss things with an interloper around.
Ryouma’s teeth bit into his lower lip, scent curling uncertain for a long enough moment that Kakashi almost offered to take Saki so that Ryouma could just go and talk to his furious little lieutenant, but then Ryouma came to his decision. “I’m tied down here in Konoha for the next month at least, til I’m mission-fit again and they decide what to do with me. I'll try to come down here more regular, but if you need to get in touch, don’t bother trying talk to ‘em up at HQ. Kakashi's putting me up right now—”
( He paused and glanced at Kakashi, and Kakashi realized Ryouma probably didn’t know the address. ) |
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| As The World Burns [Kakashi, Katsuko, Ryouma] |
[Jan. 21st, 2012|05:25 pm] |
[Takes place on October 30, seven days after Nothing To Fear]
After her conversation with Ryouma in the cafe, after she’d finally reassured herself that he was alive and well and not a figment of her imagination, Katsuko had parted ways with him at a nearby intersection and started making her meandering way back to HQ. A glint in the display window of a nearby pawnshop had caught her eye and she’d stopped to look at it, curious.
What she found there made inspiration spark.
The refitters had said it would take a week to get the inscription done, so at ten in the morning—seven days after she’d bumped into Ryouma in an elevator and found out he wasn’t dead—she knocked on the door of one Hatake Kakashi’s apartment and waited, holding a wrapped package in her arms.
She’d forgotten to eat, as usual, and her stomach growled faintly as she shifted her weight from foot to foot. Idly, she wondered if Ryouma would be willing to let her rifle through Hatake’s kitchen. Surely a living legend would have a few spare granola bars laying around? |
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| Same Ghost Every Night [Kakashi, Katsuko] |
[Jan. 21st, 2012|06:25 pm] |
[[Takes place early on November 3rd, four days after As The World Burns]]
She’s burning, everyone’s burning, flesh melting away from blackened bones. Honoka’s standing over her, bleeding around the dagger in her throat, silent accusation worse than a death sentence. Daichi’s screaming, curled around the blackened stump of his leg—
It was ANBU headquarters; people were used to random noises at all hours of the night. When Katsuko flailed awake, falling out of bed with a resounding crash, the only thing the woman in 316 did was knock on the wall between their rooms and call, “You still alive?”
After a moment, Katsuko stopped panting long enough to form words. “Looks like,” she croaked.
“Try not to put any holes in things,” 316 advised, and that was that. Katsuko kicked the blanket off and sat up, closing her eyes and pressing the heels of her palms into them hard enough she saw stars against her eyelids.
( There was insomnia, and then there was seeing dead and injured teammates every time she dozed off. ) |
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