| [Jan. 22nd, 2010|09:15 pm] |
Kakashi's hand slapped down over Genma's mouth. He felt the agonized flinch, saw the white-wash of pain leech all the colour from Genma's face, but only relaxed enough to let Genma breathe again.
"No," he said, roughshod raw. "Don't you dare tell me that, you bastard. You're a soldier of Konoha and you're still breathing, that's it. And your life--" He clenched his teeth, jaw aching. "I'd be dead twice-over if you hadn't saved me. You think that's not worth--"
Doing everything possible.
He pulled his hand back, sliding it beneath Genma's neck instead. Genma was still holding onto Kakashi's armour strap; Kakashi moved to one side and worked his free arm beneath Genma's knees again, picking the heavier man up with a spasm of back muscles.
"A safe house won't work," he said with finality, over Genma's breathless protest. "At the rate you're getting worse, you'd be dead long before anyone could meet us."
Baiji was crouching to one side, a study in canine misery. Kakashi eyed the short drooping tail and flattened hackles, the look in dark brown eyes that said Sorry, boss, and whistled him quietly. Floppy ears pricked; Baiji slunk close. Kakashi heaved Genma carefully up onto his back, trying not to jostle the man more than necessary. Baiji straightened. The smaller hound Reiji, bounded over, fur a-bristle with ravenous enthusiasm. Kakashi scruffed him with brief, grateful affection.
Genma still looked like a sack of wet rice tossed over Baiji's heavy shoulders, but his grip was stronger in that dark fur.
Kakashi moved close enough to look him directly in the eyes. Look up at his eyes, at least.
"This has a good chance of working," he said, and he believed it. "We're too valuable to kill. And too much of a liability to torture." Hopefully. "Arakaki will know where we are in thirty-six hours. They'll get us out through diplomatic channels. Both of us."
They would. Because it was insane and stupid, and bloody-desperate enough to work. Like the impossible marriage of sharingan and chidori in the middle of a battlefield, when the only thing left to fight for was one still-breathing teammate. When the only thing that mattered was whatever it took.
Kakashi hadn't cared about dying then, either.
It was funny, in a way that really wasn't, how often that helped.
|
|