The ANBU Chronicles
File #1; Chapter 5
About 10 minutes later, Genma was laying Sasori down in a bed in one of the numerous inns near the bridge. He had told the innkeeper that he needed a room for the next 4 nights and paid him extra to keep the man's mouth shut.
"Do as I ask, and you will be rewarded for your trouble," Genma had told the man.
The man was obediant as soon as money was waved in front of his face. Such men were dangerous and yet so loyal... provided that you were the highest bidder. Genma figured it might be prudent to switch inns the next night but he decided to worry about that later. She was nodding in and out of consciousness and her skin was cooling with every passing moment. Her breathing was shallow and short. Genma wasn't sure what to do.
"Think!" he whispered to himself.
He then remembered that Sasori was a master at the art of poison-making so surely she had an antidote somewhere. He grabbed her back pack and started to dig through it until he found a small leather case. Cautiously, he opened it and found what he was looking for- the case was full of small vials with different colored liquid in each side. One side was clearly marked as antidotes and the other was clearly marked poisons. Genma turned the vials about until he could read their labels. He had no idea there could be so many different types of poisons! There was an antidote for glucose based poisons, animal based poisons (5 different types of animals), virus based poisons, plant based poisons, and a few random ones as well. On the other side were the deadly ones themselves. His hand drifted back to the antidotes and found a general antidote. He started to slip it out of the pocket it was in on the Antidote side of the case when he felt a cold hand on his.
Genma looked at Sasori as she tried to push the vial back into the pocket of her case. Instead, she groped for one on the Poisons side. He pushed her hand away easily.
"Wrong side," he said," These are the antidotes."
He indicated the left side of the case. She shook her head and struggled to say something.
"M-mmiss-la-mislabel..." she said weakly and made a grab for the side clearly marked Poisons again. Genma let her snatch a vial with strange green liquid in it. She pushed it sloppily in his hands for him to open. He unscrewed the small glass top and clenched it gently between his teeth. Slipping a hand under her head, he lifted her up carefully and tipped the antidote marked as a poison into her mouth, with some hesitation. He set the empty vial and cap on the bed stand and rubbed her throat a little bit to ease the antidote down. Genma shut the case and set it on the bed stand beside the empty vial. He dug a canteen out of his pack and one-handedly unscrewed the lid. Once it was open, he very carefully dropped small amounts of water into her mouth to help the antidote. He stopped when she held up her hand.
After easing her head back down on the pillow, Genma tended to her cut Achilles tendon. Thankfully, it wasn't cut all the way through so he could mend it in the field. Every Jounin was supposed to at least have some medical training now according to one of Tsunade's decisions regarding the ninja she commanded. Genma concentrated and gathered some chakra into his hands. Carefully, he started to knit the muscle back together with his healing chakra, his tongue nervously flicking the needle that was perpetually in his mouth.
After about 15 minutes, he had mended it as best as he could. He applied disinfectant and anti-bacterial liquid before properly dressing the wound. He listened to her breathing and was relieved to hear that her breaths were deeper and not as raspy as they were earlier. He judged it alright to leave her for the time being.
He stood up and walked to the door. He made sure that he had the room key in his pocket and locked the door on the way out.
Not even 5 minutes later, Genma was back on the bridge. His brow furrowed at the fact that while there was blood everywhere in no short supply, there was a lack of bodies from which the blood had come from. A half-hour was a long time and Genma was mildly impressed with the speed that all 11 bodies had been recovered, down to the last bit of skull and brain matter from the woman that Sasori had bashed in the face. The memory of her trying to pull the ball out of the woman's face gave him a small shiver. 'No wonder she was ANBU in Kumogakure,' he thought,' Makes me wonder what the rest of the Cloud ANBU are like.'
He turned around and noticed Sasori's kusarigama on the ground not far from him. He would have picked it up except for the fact that his sharp eyes noted a smudge on the bloodied blade. Someone other that Sasori had touched her weapon. 'A trap,' he thought.
It took Genma about a minute to find the wire, and a few minutes to neutralize the trap. He picked up her kusarigama and further checked the area for traps. He collected their kunai and found an enemy kunai that they had missed. Cautiously, he picked it up, wrapped it in a handerkerchief, and tucked it away.
Genma strolled about in town, looking for some food. He intended to buy dinner for himself and Sasori but wasn't quite sure want she'd like. He passed many vendors, all selling something that looked even more delicious than the last. Since he was in Wave Country, there was an abundance of seafood and other delicacies from the sea. Left and right, enticing aromas assailed him. One lady was handing out samples of the "fresh, spicy-cooked lobster". Out of curiosity, Genma sampled a bit. 'Not bad,' he thought. It was the first time he had ever had lobster. In fact, he had never really eaten much seafood before so why not try some now?
He ordered a small box of the spicy lobster at the stall and was given a little take-out box. Genma browsed the other stalls and bought some noodles at one, some stuffed crab at another, shrimp tempura at another stall, some snow crab legs, a pile of egg rolls at one, a small assortment of sushi, and a bottle of cold apple juice in a mini-mart. He bought a few other things, some peach buns for dessert and some medical supplies, and headed back to the inn. He couldn't wait to eat.
Sasori lay on the bed, her body fighting off the poison with the help of the antidote that Genma had helped to administer. Her right ankle was ball of dull pain that she had to constantly shove into the back of her mind. She tried to sit up but failed miserably. Her muscles had been hit hard by the poison and it was a struggle to even move her head. Sighing, she lay back on the pillow and let her thoughts drift. The only person who had ever really helped her was Arashi but now Genma had helped her to a safe location and even tended to her poisoning and injury. None of the Cloud ANBU in the past had ever done that for her.
'Bah, he's probably repaying me for covering his ass,' she thought,' That is more likely.'
A small part of her was doubtful. 'Nah, he was just doing his job,' she thought,' Nothing more, nothing less.' That doubtful part wouldn't quit. She really wasn't feeling like herself, no not at all.
-End Chapter 5-