| [Aug. 14th, 2008|11:32 pm] |
She kept talking. Touching him, even after he pulled back, even after she was safe in Kakashi's arms. Kept sniffing at him, and now he was trapped between the bed and wall and Kakashi, and he couldn't even run. Her head turned, nostrils flaring to catch his scent, wide mouth flickering in a contented smile. A few days ago he'd wanted to kiss her.
Now--
He would have given anything just to touch her without fear.
They'd bandaged her face.
Fingers dug into his shoulder, bruising knots of tension. Kakashi, still holding onto him, even as he cradled Tsume one-armed and awkward. Ryouma couldn't look away from the hidden wreck of Tsume's face, but Kakashi would give him truth. Reality.
"Did I touch her?" His voice wavered and broke. "I didn't--Kuromaru--"
His hands clenched into fists, ground against the tiled floor. "I didn't touch her." But there was the faintest seepage of yellow fluid through the thick white bandages wrapping her face, a thin whiff of decay...
"Kakashi," he pleaded.
For half an hour, he'd had somewhere to stand. Now he was falling again, and he couldn't see the ground. |
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