Haruichi's eyes slipped back over to Genma's own, though his slightly downturned face didn't shift. "I appreciate the sentiment," he said quietly. "But I can defend my fiancee's honour myself. That's somewhat the point."

He cricked his tender neck slightly raising his head, and tried not to wince. Ow. "Though I won't say 'no' if you're around to defend me, the next time."

He wouldn't admit it, but he had been getting the stuffing beat out of him. It hadn't been the first time Haruichi had discovered that being right meant being hit if you opened your mouth about it. Nor would it be the last. Oh well. After all, Haruichi had only needed to realize once that he'd rather be noisy and dead than right and quiet.

Speaking of quiet, the apparatus strapped to Genma's' arm had begun to slow its clicking. Haruichi's eyes zeroed in on it, a frown beginning to quirk his mouth to its accustomed position: one of suspicious annoyance.

"How long have you been hooked into that thing?"