| [Feb. 21st, 2010|05:08 am] |
Genma looked up at Kakashi, weariness in every motion. Even breathing felt like effort, but it was clear Kakashi wanted him to stand. He tried to shrug Kakashi's hand off, but the motion seemed to be some kind of cue to Kakashi, who tightened his grip and pulled.
At least with contact again Genma could feel Kakashi's chakra like a beacon. Alive, alive, alive, unbroken.
He grabbed the bundle with his right hand, and used it to push off from the floor. Let Kakashi's pull steady him. Even so the floor lurched under him. "Let go. Don't want to take you down with me. I can't do much for you without a decent medkit, and I'm not letting them--" Genma's sentence ended abruptly in a nauseated gulp. "Just go. Sit. Mattresses."
Not letting Kumoto and his assistant conduct any more experiments on either one of them. Not letting himself think about it.
Kakashi snorted. "Don't flatter yourself, Shiranui. You haven't taken me down yet." Disdain and something else laced through his raspy voice. Something Genma couldn't identify. Kakashi's fingers tightened again, steadying and pushing at the same time.
"You're a bastard," Genma said quietly, with no malice. Together they stumbled the rest of the way across the room to collapse on the mattresses. Kakashi shoved Genma towards the mattress closest to the wall -- furthest from the door. It was another scathing blow to Genma's pride that he needed that. Needed what fragile protection Kakashi -- beaten, battered, and swaying on his feet -- could offer.
All Genma wanted to do was lie down with his back against the cold wall, Kakashi within touching distance, and sleep. When he opened his blanket bundle, a bottle of water rolled out. A second water bottle stayed nestled in the folds of heavy cloth. There were foil-wrapped ration bars, too, and a small selection of basic medical supplies: aspirin tablets, antibiotic ointment, a roll of gauze. There was a toothbrush, a bar of soap, a comb. It looked like a standard prisoner's kit.
He wondered if they could trust the water, tantalizing in its crystal-clear bottle. He grabbed the one that had rolled away and uncapped it, sniffing cautiously at the mouth of the bottle. Nothing his nose could detect. "Can you tell? Is it safe?" he asked.
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