| [May. 1st, 2009|02:27 pm] |
"He did all that, huh?" Genma's amused smile fell into something more sober. "He said he was pretty worn out. I'm kind of surprised they'd send a pair of rookies on a mission like that, though. I mean, he told me it was a retrieval." The word felt like dry breadcrumbs in his throat. "Tsuchibe... You said you should check up on Tsuchibe." He tried to put a face to that name, and failed.
His eyes strayed to the window, to clouds and streaks of rain. To the memorial tablets by his shrine. There were seven altogether: his parents', his sisters', his first sensei's, and one each for Kobo and Seijuro. Kobo had never had a chance to be rescued; for Seijuro rescue had come too late. For Genma it had come just in time. If it had been a two person team of ANBU rookies there four years ago, instead of four veterans plus a pair of medics...
It was never wise to think of the might-have-beens. Never. Not about that long ago mission, and not about the one he'd just finished--about bleeding that wouldn't stop and bruises that still ached. Not good to think about the mission Raidou had just come back from, or Kaito and Natsumi's rescue operation. What was done was done, and if you were still there to drink a toast to fallen comrades, then no matter how many poisoned hits you'd taken, Karma hadn't caught up to you yet. The trick was to keep running.
It was her silence, more than anything, that made Genma aware of Natsumi again. He glanced up at her with a guilty grimace. "Sorry. Guess I'm still kinda tired. You want more tea?"
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