If Kaede-sensei could have seen him know, Ryuichi knew she'd be laughing her ass off. Probably make some bad jokes too. If she had been in a really, really good mood, she might have helped him. However, when it was his fault for getting into the mess in the first place, then it was his job to get out of it. She'd said that was how life worked. You had to fix the things you broke, and if you couldn't, well, you had to try.

Still, if someone offered a hand, when you were on your knees, and you might have been starting to shiver, because the snow was soaking through your clothes, it was usually a good idea to accept. Arrogance got you killed. Stubbornness could too, but more often it kept you alive. Hey, take what you've got. If not skill, then at least you can stand the blows for a time.

Ryuichi nodded once, sharply. His hand was shaking too much. If you couldn't be steady, then your work would be sloppy, and that wasn't good. It would take too much time doing it one-handed, as it was. "Yeah. Just do it fast, ok?"

Don't freak out about it, was what his eyes said, all hard and cool.

He sheathed the remaining katana (not much use for keeping it out, now), and pulled a roll of fresh bandages out of his belt-pouch. Always nice to be prepared; it had definitely paid off now.

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Bandaging was easy. It got even easier when the wound was like, all the way across the forearm. Kotetsu's eyes widened at the fucking huge gash on the guy's wrist. Arm. Fucking hell. He tried to fight with this? and just with a tourniquet? Was he crazy?


"I can do fast," Kotetsu said, getting it nice and tight, enough to halt bleeding and hopefully not kill his arm at the same time. "Fucking shit, we'd better get to Kanae-sensei fast." Or hell, the first medic Kotetsu sees.

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Ryuichi grimaced. Somehow it had gotten longer. Probably when he'd hit the tree. Probably when he'd hit the tree numerous times. Fuck.

Sometimes even he wondered about his sanity. Then the answer disturbed him, and Ryuichi didn't think about it any longer. There were some things that didn't require deep thought. In fact, sometimes you really shouldn't ponder overly much. You wouldn't like what you managed to dig up.

"Good." Not much else to say on the matter. He didn't even wince at the way Kotetsu was tying it, though he was pretty sure it was coming close to cutting off his circulation. Small matter. He'd live. Somehow.

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"Yeah. Next time you oughtn't let it drip all over the place. Get some stitches at least. And you shoulda said you were busted, before I whammied you against the tree. At least I didn't use wire for it, that one'd have shredded you, you know." Kotetsu tied it and sliced it off with his bandage. "C'mon. Wanna teleport?" He could do it into the village, at least.

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Ryuichi shrugged. Yeah, he could have said something, but that just wasn't what he did. Admitting a weakness was stupid; it got people killed. Hide it if you could, ignore it if you could. Otherwise, suck it up and keep on fighting. Maybe Kotetsu would have stopped if he had known, maybe not. Ryuichi didn't know him well enough to say one way or another, and he wasn't trusting enough to assume.

"Sure, but I can't do handseals right now." Fingers were pretty numb, not very responsive to his mental cues at all. Cold weather didn't help at all. Probably sped the process along, as it were. Kotetsu would have to do it, since Ryuichi wasn't skilled enough to pull the jutsu off without them. He ought to practice that one more. It was handy in a tight spot.

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"'Kay. Um. let's see..." Kotetsu fiddled his fingers together, and pressed chakra through his hands.

A moment later, he nearly tripped over Ryuichi's legs as he staggered upright under his weight. Sweet, they were just at the edge of the inner Village. Meant they had only... oh, half the Village to walk to get there. "Right. Let's walk, then?"

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