| We All Have a Weakness [Genma, Kakashi] | [Jan. 14th, 2010|01:48 pm] |
Backstory. Set four years post Kyuubi, September 15th. One year after Kakashi and Genma's encounter in a safehouse shower, Love the Sounds When You Come Undone, two years after the mission where they learned to hate one another, How to Lose a Life. One year and seven months prior to Leaves' canon starting.
Genma hated several things about this mission already, not least of which was his mission partner. He ran next to Kakashi through the farmland that covered the plateau above Konoha, still well within the penumbra of their village's protection. A glance to the left showed a sea of vermilion and crimson, where autumn had set the trees aflame. That was another thing to hate: leaving Konoha at the peak of the fall flush, although if he wasn't looking for things to be unhappy about, Genma had to admit it wasn't as if they'd see no trees on their journey. But they were heading north, he grumbled to himself, and the trees to the north were more oaky, less maply, so less colorful. And anyway by the time they got back to Konoha the peak would be over.
Then there was Kakashi, with his disdainful silence, the twitching eyebrow when Genma had entered the briefing room, the dismissive snort that had stood for an answer when Genma had made what he'd considered a generous effort and greeted Kakashi with a shallow head-nod of a bow. Two years later and Kakashi still hadn't forgiven Genma for his dog's death? Just a month ago Genma had stood at the memorial stone, tracing a calloused fingertip over the names Ishida Nobuki and Oda Ayako, remembering carnage and failure, and the feeling of Ishida's heart stilling under Genma's hands. How did a dog's death weigh more heavily than that?
And one year ago there had been that... That incident in the safehouse showers. As far as Genma was concerned, that ought to have set them more than even over whatever karmic debt Genma had accumulated for failing to save Kakashi's dog. In fact the sums were looking decidedly to him like Kakashi was the one still owing something. The bastard.
But there were other things to hate, too, like the fact that while Genma was speeding out of Konoha with a mission partner he couldn't stand, Ginta was surely on his way back from his latest mission. Which wasn't an epic disaster or anything, but Ginta's mission had looked like something of a cakewalk on paper, so they'd made plans. Obviously a tracking mission to hunt down a rogue ANBU took precedence over a samurai film and movie sweets with a friend, but... But fuck it. Genma was unhappy, and missing out on Zaotachi's Revenge sucked. By they time he got back to Konoha, it would be gone, and some stupid chick flick would be playing.
Then there were the disturbing details of the mission itself. Inouye Suguru had a three days head start on them, which meant they had to cover ground as fast as Kakashi could pick out the rapidly evaporating trail. And Genma had known Suguru, which just made things so much worse. Suguru's wife and two young sons had been found dead in their home, killed by a poison concocted in the same lab in ANBU's basement where Genma worked. Suguru himself was long gone by the time ANBU realized what had happened, but the signs of a break were everywhere.
They cut through a ripe-for-harvest rice field, barely leaving a ripple in the tall, grain-heavy stems. Kakashi slowed, and Genma caught up to him. "Did you know him? Suguru, I mean? Ever take a mission with him? I only worked in the lab with him, so I've got no idea how good his field skills are." |
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