| Let's Be Enemies [Genma & Kakashi] | [Oct. 4th, 2010|02:46 pm] |
[Backstory: Takes place [Backstory. Takes place early October, four years post-Kyuubi, approximately two weeks following the end of Have a Little faith]
Genma spent a week in the hospital getting his poison-ravaged chakra system doctored back into health. In that time he endured three separate brain scans by the resident Hyuuga medic, and two hours-long sessions of painstaking work to repair the damage Kakashi and his desperate field-attempt at a chakra sieve had left behind. He was visited several times by three different debriefing agents in crisp Intel grey — mostly short meetings to clarify details he’d already given them, but one intense session covering every wretched moment of his mission and captivity. He’d run a fever that night, earning himself an extra day of observation when all he wanted was to go home and sleep in his own bed.
He also sat through far too many hours of conversation with a plain-faced woman from psych who knew the details of his life story better than he did, and asked him questions to which there were no right answers. She’d been summoned that night after the big debriefing, to sit quietly with Genma and make small talk, like she was a friend. When Genma suggested that what he’d really like would be to see an actual friend — Rina, for example, or Ginta — she’d been sympathetic in her refusal. The whole situation was classified to the highest level. No one, not even Genma’s most trusted friends, could even know he was in hospital, let alone why.
At least she’d told him what she could about Kakashi. Still a captive, but negotiations were going well. Two or three days into Genma’s hospital stay, the news had finally come: Kakashi was released and on his way home. Uninjured beyond what Genma had already known about.
The psych woman had asked probing questions about Kakashi, too, and Genma’s estimation of Kakashi’s mental health. Those hadn’t had any right answers, either.
Eventually he’d heard that Kakashi was back in Konoha, but undergoing medical evaluation. And no, Genma couldn’t visit him. When they’d finally turned Genma loose to recuperate at home, he learned only that Kakashi had been deemed fit for duty. And that pending passing a physical, so was he.
So maybe some of those questions Genma’d answered had had right answers after all.
Two weeks after that, Genma had a cover story down pat to answer the friends who wondered where he’d been and why he was looking so haggard. A laugh followed by a transparent lie about a drinking binge and two-week-long hangover, with a tap of two fingers to the hidden ink spiral under his left sleeve, and his ANBU friends just nodded and saluted back. For lower-ranked and civilian friends, a simple, “Eh, I had a really boring mission. Trust me, you don’t want to hear about it,” combined with a few hints about gross old men and long boring hours of surveillance turned the curious aside.
He’d stopped by Kakashi’s door once or twice, but never found the younger man home. But between the assurances of his psych handler, and the irrefutable evidence that Kakashi was back on active assignment after only a short time on medical leave, Genma wasn’t overly anxious about him.
Still, he felt a heavy thread break in his chest when he saw Kakashi in the market one sunny afternoon. The other ninja was in black clothes that might have been the underpinnings of the standard jounin’s uniform, standing at the green grocer’s stall, picking through a pile of roasted chestnuts. Genma strolled over with a grin.
“Yo. Good to see you finally turned in your mission report. Are those your reward?” he asked, gesturing at the nuts. |
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