| [May. 16th, 2008|08:07 pm] |
That was a lot to absorb when you'd only been awake thirty seconds. Kakashi blinked, thrown in more ways than one, and tried to pick out the important details. That they'd been back thirty hours was a major one, and he'd been in surgery for at least half of that--which explained the seals wrapped around his right arm. Undoubtedly there would be more around his ankle. Fast healing jutsu to get him back on his feet and mission-fit a lot quicker than normal medicine would.
He'd be able to run missions still. Relief was heady.
The other piece of great news was that Haruichi was fine, judging by his ability to sit up and mouth off. If he was making threats he had to be okay. For the first time since the man had pulled him out of his cave, Kakashi was able to get a clear look at him. Haruichi looked older, but two years of absence would do that. His hair was shorter, but if he'd added any height or muscle, Kakashi couldn't see it. Despite the cast, the IV, and the hospital bed, he looked healthier than the last time Kakashi had seen him. There were no shadows to his skin, and no scent of sickness oozing from his pores.
And there was a girl holding his hand. Kakashi wasn't sure what was surprising him more; that she was doing it, or that Haruichi was letting her.
Pakkun nudged his elbow, sliding a glance at the dog on the floor that had yapped at them both. Kakashi followed his line of sight, and lifted an eyebrow at Pakkun's slightly blissful expression. Then at the prayer beads fastened around one of his front paws. "...what?" he croaked, reaching out to touch them.
"Hoshi gave them to me," Pakkun informed him, chest puffing up slightly with delight. "She wasn't sure if you'd want them, so she gave them to me. Handsome looking, aren't they?"
Kakashi wasn't quite sure what to make of that. He looked at the couple curled together across the room, and smelled happiness too real to be genjutsu or hallucination. He wasn't sure what to make of that, either. After a second he remembered himself enough to pull his hand back and let it drop over his mouth, hiding most of his lower face. The effort was exhausting. When he was masked as best he could manage, he managed to wrap his hazy-feeling mind around one more word. "Thanks." He wasn't quite sure if he was speaking to Haruichi, or the girl holding his hand. |
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