| The Devil's Got My Secret (Tsume/Ryouma) | [Nov. 12th, 2009|11:22 am] |
Backdated. Takes place March 31, the day after All We Know Is Distance, the day before Tsume leaves on her mission with Asuma inFire and Water, and five days before Kakashi wakes up in Welcome to My Morning.
"Ryouma," Kuromaru said, pausing in the apartment doorway, "is still not in his room."
Tsume slid the whetstone along her kunai, glancing over at her familiar. He looked highly disapproving. Her lips twitched. "Well, Kuromaru, if you're going to let him be the alpha, he can go wherever he wants."
"I know." Kuromaru walked inside, stiff-legged and unhappy. "He's probably with Kakashi still."
Tsume felt that golden eye narrow at her, and tried not to react.
"You know they're mounting each other."
Tsume snorted a laugh. "Pup, Kakashi's in a coma." If Ryouma's clone hadn't found them the night before to let them know where Ryouma was and why -- with instructions that they could visit if they brought food -- rumor would have still told her about Kakashi. ANBU were almost as good at fighting as they were at gossip.
"Well." Kuromaru flopped down. "We should go check on him."
She almost said they didn't need to hover -- which was true -- but... it was nice to see a friendly face, even if you were just sitting with a hospitalized friend, rather than hospitalized yourself. It wasn't like Ryouma had other family to visit -- or Kakashi either, though she wasn't sure if Kakashi would even appreciate guests. And Ryouma probably was bored.
Tsume stood, opening the chest she'd planted at the foot of her bed. Her armor was still heaped in a corner, but now her clothes and various bits and pieces were at least dumped into the chest, instead of strewn across the floor. She dug around until she found a deck of cards, then slipped them into the pocket of her cargos. They could stop by and get okonomiyaki, too, which would probably make Ryouma happier than any friendly face.
"Okay," she said, and Kuromaru bounded happily to his feet. "Let's go check out how Ryouma and Kakashi are doing." And Ginta -- she'd heard something about him being on that mission as well. She'd have to see if she couldn't find him afterward.
It didn't take too long to get several platters of okonomiyaki and cart it all to the hospital. It took a lot longer to go through the paperwork to get into the ANBU ICU, and a huge number of promises that the food wasn't for a patient, it was for a visitor. Luckily, they seemed to know who Ryouma was.
"I'll find him!" Kuromaru announced, leaping down the corridors and bouncing up to peer through the glass walls while one of the nurses hissed at Tsume to make him settle down! Tsume smilingly promised she would and followed the streak of wet nose prints down the hall and around the corner. She was pretty sure the ANBU guards were trying not to laugh, terrified, no doubt, of the nurses.
"Kuromaru, you're gonna get us thrown out," Tsume said in a low murmur. Ahead, the canine slowed and continued on at a slightly more stately prance -- and then he froze, paws braced up against a door, nose pressed to the glass portion, tail wagging furiously. She saw him inhale, doubtlessly to howl, and barked, "Don't!"
He turned to give her an injured look.
"Out of the way, mutt." She bumped him aside, juggling her box of food while opening the door and stepping within. She glanced only briefly at the slim man under the bedsheet and blanket. Machines beeped, his pale skin was paler -- where it wasn't bruised or bandaged -- and he was perfectly still in a way that people weren't unless they were dead or drugged.
Or comatose.
She didn't look long; Ryouma had seen them, and she turned to give him a quick smile. Tsume started to speak, and was cut off by Kuromaru, who raced forward to leap around Ryouma's feet.
"We brought you food! And cards! And guess what, they wanted my paw print, as if canines have fingerwhorls like humans do!" |
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