| Tearing At The Seams [closed to Ryouma, Tsume, Kakashi] | [Sep. 19th, 2008|03:09 pm] |
[Takes place two days after Give The Other Fella Hell, Lead Me Away and In The Sky With Diamonds]
"Can't Kanaye take care of it?" Yasuo asked from the doorway, voice pitched low and body language--not to mention scent--screaming annoyance. "He is the clan head."
The voice from outside answered quietly. "He's busy. Problems in the North quarter--"
"All right, look..." Yasuo glanced around the room absently. "Try this--"
Tsume tuned him out, letting him deal with clan matters. The very idea that Kanaye's beta had come here to see if she'd help--talk about moonfaced. Because she could do anything about an uppity clan member challenging people he shouldn't be challenging while she was hospitalized.
"Ow," she muttered, glancing sidelong at Tori, who sat on a stool beside the bed, a length of bandages spilling over her lap.
Tori dipped the paintbrush in the tiny cut she'd just opened back up in Tsume's arm, and turned to paint bloody seals on the cloth. "Don't be a baby."
"--he a beta?" Yasuo asked quietly.
"I guess so. He's challenging betas."
A pause, then, "Isn't he genin?"
"Yeah."
"Then he's not a beta. Send a true beta out on a hunt with him. They'll sort things out and it'll take care of the problem."
The man in the hall poked his head around the corner, flashing a quick smile at Tsume, seeing nothing unusual about the beds pushed together and shared. "Kanaye sends his best."
Tsume smiled. "Tell him I said thanks."
With a nod, the man disappeared down the hall.
Tsume took a deep breath and relaxed back, listening to the bustle and mutter of noise around her. Tori was grumbling about seals while Yasuo shuffled back toward a chair, placed near the door to see down the hall. Tsume's mother sat unseeingly in a large recliner, both Tori and Yasuo's dogs curled at her feet.
There had been a steady stream of people in and out of the room since they'd been transferred from the ICU to a more clan-friendly floor the day before, once Kuromaru had been pronounced safe to move. Tsume was half afraid to ask Ryouma and Kakashi if they were all right with everyone there; she didn't know what to tell them if they said no. She ignored them, instead. |
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