| [Apr. 20th, 2008|03:03 am] |
The acrid stink of cigarette smoke was the first thing Kakashi had been able to scent in hours that wasn't flavoured with blood. It was jarring. He twitched, pulled out of his own thoughts by the sensory strike. By the briefer's introductory speech underwritten by her not-quite-real smile. The edge of his half-vision was fuzzy, slightly blurred in a way that made it hard to focus. Ordinarily he would have chalked that up to exhaustion and simply forced himself to pay closer attention, but he didn't feel tired. He had every reason to be tired; two days worth of running, fighting, and failure, but the combination had catalyzed in a way that left him tense. Awake. Genma was sitting on his blind side.
Kakashi didn't look at him. It was easier not to gut someone if you could pretend they didn't exist. He folded his arms, ignoring the way they felt oddly light without the weight of his arm guards. Easily broken. The burned right hand he kept close to his chest, hiding the white flash of bandage that screamed weakness. Instinct.
Akayama watched them both for a moment, her expression calm. Kakashi knew she'd had her own run of bad missions. Every interviewer that conducted this style of briefing always had. It was part of the reason they got chosen. The experience promoted empathy and understanding, a shared bond with whatever unlucky agent had fucked up and neglected to bring his teammates home. It was supposed to make it easier to talk.
He hated her. Her and Genma and the last two days. The three Leaf corpses they hadn't been able to bring home.
Kakashi didn't move. His chest felt tight, circled by the immovable bone arches of his ribcage. Painful. He inhaled carefully though his mouth, dragging in air that tasted once more of red, sieved through his bloody mask. It was hard to draw a full breath.
Akayama's level gaze switched to him. "Ordinarily we'd begin proceedings with the captain's report," she said softly, "but in this instance, that will not be possible."
He didn't flinch.
"You're both of equal rank," she continued. "Would either of you like to begin?"
Kakashi said nothing. He wasn't certain he was capable of human speech. Of anything but howling.
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