There was a heartbeat where Ginta felt himself slipping, felt his guts catch like broken clockwork. Where he thought about that vat of flames he'd nearly fallen into, and wished he'd been consumed by the fire.

Tsuyako had been worth trying to save, hadn't she?

And then Kakashi turned the whole argument inside out. He was a cornered, vicious dog, snarling and lunging indiscriminately. He was being nasty just to be nasty. Hurting just to hurt. You didn't try to reason with a rabid animal: you stayed far enough away and you waited until you had a clean shot.

Jealous of Ryouma? Maybe. Who cared? Who the fuck cared?

"You have it backwards, genius," he whispered. "I was pissed you ditched me to sleep with him. But I don't really care. Do what you want. Just don't tell me I fucked up trying to save my partner, unless you're prepared to kill me, too."