| [Apr. 20th, 2008|03:51 am] |
There was a reason they made sure to disarm ANBU before they debriefed them. When Genma lost his careful calm he'd taken Kakashi's with it. The copy-nin tensed when his teammate lunged to his feet, adrenaline soaking through his system and adding an extra charge to a body already crouched on the wire-edge. Genma yelled; Kakashi reached for a kunai... which wasn't there.
They had sentries for the same reason. Three of them blurred in fast enough to ripple the air, two to flank Genma, and one to stand in front of Kakashi with a meaningful look. The briefer didn't move, except to smile that same not-quite-smile and talk about honor. About serving the Hokage.
The sentries did their job, Genma settled down, and Kakashi stayed in his chair and reminded himself of rule twenty-five.
"No," he said evenly. "I found Ayako already dead." 'Incapacitated' was a pretty word, it looked nice on reports. He'd learned the kanji for it when he'd been young enough to care how his paperwork read. "Genma had been caught by surprise. Nobuki was busy getting himself a chest piercing--" with a katana, "--and there were between seven and nine enemy shinobi left. I don't know how many Genma took down. I got at least two, my summons took down one. And one escaped."
Kakashi hadn't followed. He'd been busy. He'd been the only one left standing, with Genma kneeling to shove both hands into Nobuki's chest and waste his chakra. One captain dead, one teammate dying, one head wound from a stone jutsu Kakashi hadn't dodged fast enough, and one dog bleeding out under his hands.
One dog Genma hadn't healed.
He didn't bother to say it. It was already in the paperwork, written down in pretty kanji set aside for just that purpose. Mission failed. Casualties sustained. Agents wounded. Collateral damage. |
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