| [Apr. 20th, 2008|04:24 am] |
It had been coincidence that this mission had crossed their paths with Stone ninja. Coincidence that it had been Iwagakure ninja they had faced down, fought, that had killed their teammates. Coincidence. Genma had told himself that over and over, not fate. Not karma. Coincidence. But when Kakashi spat it now, it didn't seem so innocuously coincidental anymore.
The worst insults one ninja could hurl at another: traitor, comrade killer, coward--and Kakashi had deftly called Genma all three and meant every word of it. Defect to Stone? Genma would sooner cut off his own crippled hands. He stared at them now, at hands still purple with healing scars, hands perverted from their natural shape to something monstrous and broken. Hands that would never be right again, thanks to Iwagakure's tender care.
Hands that had failed him when it had mattered most.
He looked up at Kakashi, and felt his chakra draw down into a tight, hard knot. Concentrating. Molding. He felt the sentries' hold on him tighten, heard a murmured word of warning from one anonymous guard to another. Genma wanted to lunge for that arrogant, spiteful face. Wanted to wound back as deeply as he'd been hurt. He wasn't eloquent like Kakashi, but he was just as bitter. Just as full of vitriol.
"You'd have traded Nobuki's life for a dog? A dog? For all I know you set off the trap that hit him, set those Iwa ninja on me and Ayako. What was your real objective? Make contact and let one escape with whatever information you passed him? And then you wanted me to trade my friends' lives for your dog's?"
It wasn't enough. It wasn't anything at all. Kakashi stood there, smug, unconcerned about the sentries. Unconcerned about anything except himself and his damn dog. Genma was mourning lost comrades. Lost friends. He wondered if Kakashi had even bothered to learn their full names.
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