"Here, you can sit," Genma said, pulling a tall, swivel-seated stool with a low metal back over towards them. He grabbed an identical one for himself. She looked like she needed to sit. Not that she'd likely ever admit such a thing, but the bandages on her head and face were enough to say it for her. And maybe if he sat she would get over her machismo--could women have machismo?--anyway she'd get over it and sit down, too.

"And everything's safe to touch. I keep a clean workstation. Everyone in here does. If you don't, people end up dead and then there are inquiries and paperwork..." He laughed, hoping she'd get the joke. Gallows humor was, after all, a specialty in ANBU all its own.

"So I guess I'll start with the finished product I was working on," he continued, and pulled the bottle of poison down from its shelf. "And then the lethal ingredients, and you can tell me which ones are the most prominent."