| [Jun. 13th, 2009|06:21 pm] |
Genma took another slow, shallow breath through his nose. Closed his eyes and opened them. Raidou was still there. Raidou had his back. And the rogue Mist ninja were dead; Intel had proof. That had to count for something. Four days was a long time--plenty of time for a new squad to be sent out to deal with their unfinished business. He pursed his lips and hissed out something like a sigh.
"Shiranui Genma, 010203, and Namiashi Raidou, 009717, reporting mission failure, for--" He paused, felt his throat tighten a moment, then free again. It was over and the Mist nin were dead. Sago was dead. And there was nothing he could do for Yukaho or her team but see to it they were honored as heroes. "For rescue attempt of Hara Yukaho and her three genin. I..." He faltered again, looking lost at Raidou.
"I don't remember the mission number. I don't even know what day it is. What fucking day is it?" His voice rose tense and quick.
Raidou's chakra washed over his skin, a protective swell from his point of contact with Genma's wrist. "Thursday? I think it's Thursday, fearless," he said, and rattled off the missing mission number.
"Thursday," Genma echoed. He listened to the steady beeping of monitors, watched Raidou's eyes tracking him. "Mission failed," he said more quietly. "I... I had her tags. Had Yukaho-san's tags. I don't know what happened to them after we--" were captured. Were stripped and manacled and-- His eyes bored into Raidou, seeing past bandages to fresh, weeping burns blistering in the wake of Sago's rake. "We lost our equipment."
He thought of Yukaho's naked, brutalized body, and the bodies of those children half sunk in bloody mire. A little girl Haruko's age, with her arm and half her ribcage severed from her body. A boy with a snapped neck and glassy, sightless eyes.
"They died fighting. There were no survivors." |
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