| [Jun. 5th, 2009|03:59 am] |
Braced with one hand either side of the sink, fingers curled around the rough-hewn edges of the thick plank that made up the counter, Kakashi felt his anger drain away. Even without Ginta's soft-voiced words, he wouldn't have had the energy to keep it. Four hours of sleep didn't begin to make up for two straight days of constant motion.
He breathed out slowly, eyes closing, head lowering.
Kill Ginta?
Not even if he'd broken. They'd only run one mission together, made it through one hospital stay, seen each other once when Kakashi could barely stand, still reeling from Sadao's attack, and once again on Ginta's birthday. Kissed once. Fought once--
Twice.
--and that only added up to four times spent in each other's company. Five times, if you counted a rescue that felt more like a massacre. But Kakashi couldn't kill him, couldn't even think about it. He'd rather drive lightning through his own chest.
He inhaled, exhaled, hissed softly as stiffening muscles protested when he straightened up, and flipped open a cupboard. Stacks of ration bars met his gaze; he chose four, swapping a sticky red bean flavoured one for peach-and-mango, and shut the cupboard again. Another yielded bottles of sealed water; he took two. Then he found the safehouse's impressive medic kit and dug out two tablets designed to dispell nausea.
Walking back to Ginta felt like crossing a gulf, but he forced himself to do it.
Carefully, he set the water bottle by Ginta's left hand, the tablets by his right hand, and two of the ration bars in his lap. Peach-and-mango--Ginta's favourite fruits--and a bland, inoffensive vanilla-and-ginger combination Kakashi'd never tried.
Then he sat back down on the floor and braced his head in his hand, resting his elbow on a bent knee.
"I didn't plan on ditching you to sleep with Ryouma. I woke up the morning after your birthday with you on my chest, and--panicked. Ryouma found me down at the training grounds, because I'd agreed to meet him up to... check in, and I'd forgotten. We got in a fight with three of Sadao's friends, and then I owed him a drink to make up for the one I missed..." The two remaining ration bars gleamed in his free hand, catching the light from the single oil lantern as he twisted them. He kept talking, getting the words out before he lost his nerve. "I don't know how it went from there to sex--and I'm pretty sure he doesn't, either, especially because he thinks he's straight. But suddenly I had two people in my life convinced they were invulnerable, and I didn't want to prove them wrong... And then Ryouma had his mission."
Ginta knew which mission.
"And you've had yours and you're right." His eyes closed. "You're always right, jackass. Who's the common denominator here?" |
|