The first twitch, the first low groan--the first sign that Raidou was still with him--jarred Genma into heart-pounding alertness. He strained forwards against his bonds despite the futility, panting open-mouthed. It was getting harder to breathe.

"You're one to talk," he rasped. His voice sounded strange and soft to his own ears. As if it were muffled in cotton. As if that unnatural fog was still flowing around them.

"Can you get your weight on your feet?" It was the first thing he thought of. He'd watched with growing despair, as Raidou's hands went bloodless white and nail beds tinged dusky grey; as his lips had followed suit, while he slumped unconscious.

"One of their guys is a medic. He treated your burns. Healed them a little." The bastard they'd called Yuuhito. He'd come in long after the other ninja had left, and done a half-assed job. Genma had winced when he saw him applying the rabbit seal to his jutsu. A seal to halve the strength of the healing. When he'd finished, the burns looked a week old, not fresh and raw. But they looked just as miserably painful.

At least they weren't oozing anymore. The medic had bandaged Raidou with no more care than he would have a wooden effigy. And Genma hadn't dared say a word, because any healing was better than none at all. He'd winced and coughed, and the medic had looked at him once with pure contempt written over his face.

Genma coughed again now, breathing in short gasps because deep breaths were impossible with his arms wrenched up. Raidou's arms were held even higher, but the medic had done something with glowing hands over Raidou's chest, targeting lung meridians. Genma'd seen the same technique used during the war, to keep bound prisoners from drowning in their own body fluids.

It was only a matter of time, now that Raidou was awake, before they came back to start again.

He didn't dare let Raidou think about that.

"We get home--there's a movie I wanna go see--with you. Horror flick. Think it's based on--Orochimaru. Guy resurrects dinosaurs."