Stiffly, Kakashi pulled one leg up and braced his elbow on his knee, sports bottle still dangling from his hand. The liquid inside was bright blue, sloshing gently behind clear plastic. His visible eye flicked to it, tracking the movement.

That was not the question he'd expected.

"I smelled you," he admitted, after a beat of silence. "Thought I saw you, but when I woke up properly you were gone. And I couldn't believe you'd been there and--left."

It was hard to remember his exact train of thought, beyond faint memory-echoes of surprise and confusion. He'd been exhausted--still recovering from dragging Tsume and Ryouma home--and solidly determined not to leave his broken little pack unguarded. Though when they'd even become his pack...

Ryouma still was. He had no idea where things stood with Tsume, beyond a brief exhange of bared teeth in the mens' showers and Kuromaru's new determination that Ryouma was alpha.

None of which answered Ginta's question.

"I don't really know," he said, turning the bottle over in his hands. Blue liquid splashed, rippling like a wave. "I wasn't thinking much of anything until you snapped--" do you always sleep with straight guys, or is this some kind of new kink for you? "--and I snapped back."