"Am not," Ryouma said automatically. His fingers jigged on top of the rumpled bed sheet, bare centimeters from Tsume's side. Kakashi raised a steely grey eyebrow. Ryouma scowled, flattened his hands on either side of him, and hitched himself up on his elbows. Tsume slid a little down his chest before she caught herself groggily. He wished she'd move. When her bandaged forehead rubbed his skin, he found it hard to breathe.

"I was in shock," he said. "Injured. Tortured. I thought I killed one of my teammates. Now I find out I just mutilated both of 'em." Kuromaru's ear had been half-eaten away before Ryouma had amputated the rest of it, and he'd never given Tsume any medical care at all... What lay beneath the bandages? How far had it spread, before help came?

Why hadn't they told him?

"I can think of more reasons, if you want 'em," he said, very low. "But that'll go for starting on. Dammit, woman, why didn't you--"

He broke off, panting, trembling. What could he have done?

Taken her eye out, too?