Having a slab of raw meat where half his face should have been helped Raidou in his efforts to not wince, but it was a close thing. Genma trusted him, had always trusted him, and that was exactly why he'd gotten away with it. Even now Genma was giving him ways to get out of it. All he had to do was agree. Yeah, fearless, Intel dicked us over...

But he already had a hard enough time facing himself in the mirror.

"I lied," he said, flat and decided, like a man stepping into the noose. "Hiro backed me up because -- I don't know. Because he wanted your side of the story, maybe, or just didn't want to deal with the fallout. And I would have snapped his neck otherwise. Or tried to, at least." He shoved himself up, twisting around to set his back against the railing bars, and sat again. Facing Genma directly without looming over him. "You'd just woken up, kid. I'd had four days to wrap my head around things, but you'd had five minutes and half a heart attack, what with all the yelling. You didn't -- you didn't need to know yet. And I didn't want to be the bastard who gave you more bad news."

Because Genma had been in enough pieces already, and Raidou hadn't been in any kind of shape to hold them together. Though he'd been determined to try.

And still was, dammit. Even if his heart was about ready to splash into his stomach at the look on Genma's face.

He hunched his shoulders, sending a long ripple of pain arcing down his left side, and welcomed the sensation like the strike Genma was in no position to deliver. An apology caught in his throat, but he couldn't say it and mean it. Even now, he'd do it all over again.