Title: A Test of Conviction
Characters: Shiranui Genma
Rating: T
Warnings: None.
Notes: Shitty ten minute drabble about Genma's pain tolerance.
If there was one thing Genma really wondered about at times like this, it was why his shock threshold was so goddamned high. Stabbed in the foot? Great. Not a problem. Broken jaw? Cake. Abscessed tooth? Get the painkillers. He refused to look in the mirror as he clutched the sink with shaking hands. His first thought, of course, had been to try to bleed it out. Jabbing at it with the senbon, though, did not have quite the desired result. The swelling simply worsened and so did the pain, but it failed to cross that necessary line…
He rinsed his mouth with peroxide a few times, and then with mouthwash, but found no consolation. A full quarter of his face throbbed with the pain. Rai had suggested that he consider seeing a doctor about it, but he had refused to even consider the idea. The pain was bad enough that he'd begun to doubt his convictions in the matter.
His eyes began to water and his foot tapped a nervous rhythm on the bathroom floor as he rifled the cabinets, searching for some end to the pain. Under a pile of towels, he found a half empty bottle of a fairly powerful topical anaesthetic, and thanking whatever gods might be watching over him, he sloshed it into his mouth. His lips and tongue numbed instantly, but the insistent, throbbing, scraping pain was dulled only slightly. As he set the bottle down, frustratedly clanking it onto the rim of the sink, he realised that he was now drooling on himself, just to add further insult to injury.
Frustrated beyond belief and still shivering as his body tried desperately to come to terms with this ailment that was bad, but not bad enough to shut it down, he leaned back and slid down the bathroom wall, curling into a ball as he reached the floor. If he could just keep his eyes closed and think about something else, maybe he could sleep it off. Maybe it would all go away. He tried to ignore his own terrified whimpering, and intoned the Tao to himself in his mind. Sleep would come. It had to.
