| [Oct. 31st, 2009|12:14 am] |
"How about walking," Kakashi said stubbornly. "On my own feet, which have a few million years of evolutionary practice at the concept?"
"If you think you can walk to the Stone and back, you're welcome to try," Ryouma said, in a good imitation of Kakashi's usual drawl. He leaned on the wheelchair's handles. "But when you fall over, I'm hauling you back here over my shoulder. Through the middle of the city. Maybe with a detour by the Hokage's Palace. Or we could just take the wheelchair and be quick and quiet."
There was a beat of silence.
"I appreciate that you're a fast learner," said Kakashi eventually, "but it's possible to take a lesson too far."
Ryouma smirked, sharp as a blade, and watched him with steady dark eyes. Kakashi scowled back, then flicked another glance over the wheelchair. It was just a standard issue hospital model, stacked with blankets and boasting a ready set of foot supports. Or, to put it another way, embarrassment on four wheels.
"I hate you," Kakashi muttered, and reached across to shut down the monitors--something he'd learned during one of his very first hospital stays. If Ryouma had cleared a trip outside with the medics, they'd be expecting it. He tugged the re-attached suction cups off his chest, unthreading them from his shirt, and slid the IV needles free from his hands. Then he looked at Hoshika, who was watching them both, and ruffled her ears.
"Time to go, beautiful."
Brown eyes flicked quickly between Kakashi and Ryouma, then narrowed at Ryouma in clear warning. Kakashi stifled something like a snort. Hoshika snapped up the last scraps of jerky from the bed, licked his fingers, and slid stiffly down to the floor.
A whip-crack of chakra was all it took to banish her.
Kakashi vision greyed for a moment as the back-lash caught him with a nasty sting; he breathed out slow. Then he swung his legs off the bed (didn't wince), and set his bare feet on the floor. Muscles that had been overworked, left to stiffen for a week, and then recently slammed into hard tiles woke up and yelled at him. He hissed a breath between his teeth, getting used to it, then shoved himself upright.
For a brief moment of triumph, his legs held and he grinned tightly, then they collapsed like a headshot puppet.
Ryouma caught him just before the floor did, hard-muscled arms tightening around his chest and shoulders. Kakashi grabbed him back, fingers digging hard into cloth and skin, and made a noise of short, defeated frustration.
"Okay," he said, disgusted to find himself panting. "You win. Can we go now?" |
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