1st fan

[fantheflame]

[Action: Awakening ((Closed))]

[Sasuke is not enjoying getting used to being unsure of things. But he is - unsure - and finds that while the things he is unsure of are troubling, the state of unsurety isn't as terrifying as it used to be.]

[Right now, there are two very important things he's unsure of: whether he's alive or dead, and, if the second, whether this is heaven or hell.]

[The last thing he remembers? His deranged excuse for a... cousin of sorts? Taking on the ten-tails as its container. And now he's here - wherever here is - standing in a stranger's bedroom, holding a photograph of his brother with (presumably) that stranger. He awoke nearly naked with a pair of wings sprouted from his own back, and now he's somewhere with evidence of one of the dead. What else could have happened?]

We lost, huh...?

[Something like guilt makes a feeble case for life in his chest, but it's hard to feel guilty when you don't remember an ending. Instead he's just... staring at this photograph. One thumb swipes idly across the cool glass, over Itachi's face, half-expecting it to vanish once obstructed. It doesn't.]

[He's not sure whether to feel a sense of final relief - he's here, and, it seems, so is Itachi - or sick doom - who the hell is this complete stranger who's gotten to share in his brother's... something. Not life, maybe, but...]

[The Itachi in the picture is almost smiling, and his eyes look more alive than Sasuke remembers since they were very small.]


[Action: Examination ((Sometime Later; Open))]

[Sasuke is - a little bit of everywhere. He doesn't exactly believe... most of this. Half thinks this is some sadistic side-plot in Obito's (Madara's?) ridiculous Moon's Eye genjutsu (keeps having to remind himself he wouldn't know that exists if that were the case). So he's exploring - barracks, apartments, the shrine, the forest - here one moment, maybe lingering to examine (Sharingan blazing red the entire time) - and then gone in a flicker, off to the next place. He's not taking particular care to remain hidden (really, he doesn't care who sees him in what may be a fake or an illusion or a dream), but he's not being loud about his presence either.]


[Follow-Up Action: Drained ((Closed to Sakura))]

[One thing Sasuke should maybe have done was paid attention to the tidbits he's heard about halved powers, weakened chakra, difficulty... being, as a shinobi.]

[Because now, feeling more physically real than he has the entire time he's been here - how could he be this bone-tired in a dream? - he's slumped on hands and knees on the riverbank just to the north of town, eyes fading back and forth between blazing red and dim grey-black, breath harsh in and out of his lungs. How did he run so quickly out of chakra? How did Sharingan run him so quickly out of chakra?]

[His eyes fade back to dull black and stay there at last, and he lifts a hand to brush sweaty bangs out of his eyes, feeling at once overheated and clammy. Maybe he's had his question answered, finally, and this is hell.]


[Voice: Greeting ((Sometime Later; Open))]

--believe this thing - hm.

[It's a voice some will recognize.]

If paper can really record - whatever. I'm told I've been here before. I don't think I believe that. I certainly don't remember it.

Some of you know me. That's fine. Some of you would rather you didn't, and that's fine too.

I don't know what you know and I don't know what kind of bullshit this jutsu or hell or whatever it is is pulling, and I don't entirely care.

You should know I'm no longer an enemy of Konoha.

Believe me or don't, but I don't intend to fight you.

[There's a shift, and a few long seconds of tape-recorder not-quite-silence, followed by a muffled shuffle of movement over paper before the recording ends.]

Comments

voice; SORRY ITS LATE backdated to when he arrived ;;

[fervidity]

[It isn't a voice she knows.

But she knows 'enemy of Konoha' and that rattles her already frayed nerves from everything ELSE that has happened this week.]

Who are you?

voice forever; NO YOU'RE FINE I'm even worse this week

[fantheflame]

[Interesting. Not a voice he knows at all.]

Who are you that you expect me to answer without your name first?

perma-voice; AHAH ITS FINE BACKTAG IS MY FRIEND

[fervidity]

You're the one that mentioned you were an enemy of Konoha!

[fantheflame]

You're a noisy one.

If you'll notice, I said I was an enemy of Konoha. Past tense.

[fervidity]

Yeah, I noticed.

So what kind of person even admits that at all? Who are you?

[BOY IF SHE KNEW YOU WERE MIKOTO'S LITTLE NEWBORN BABY SASUKE......]

[fantheflame]

It's not an admission when everyone in Konoha already knows it as fact. Missing-nin isn't exactly a status you keep quiet.

So if you don't know already, tell me why I should tell you. Who are you?

[He can do this dance all day~]

[fervidity]

[SCOFF]

Yeah, I'd say the opposite of quiet because you just broadcasted the information to everyone in Luceti so now they know too.

[WHO IS THIS BRAT SERIOUSLY]

Because I'm from Konoha. Who are you?

[kushina can't dance but she can argue like nobody's business!]

[fantheflame]

I don't entirely see how that matters.

[What, so some people he's never met will know he was a traitor and came back? This hurts him how?]

If you were from Konoha you'd know who I am. Try again.

[fervidity]

[ALLLRIGHT

TRYING AGAIN]

Who are you?

[fantheflame]

[Sasuke snorts a quiet laugh.]

I'll at least give you that you're persistent.

[Still not answering though.]

[fervidity]

[There's a small pause as if she's waiting for his answer and then she releases an annoyed grunt.]

And you're irritating, ya know? [What's that? DATTEBANE. Sure was.]

A missing-nin from Konoha. [A looonger pause.]

... You can't be Obito.

[fantheflame]

[Okay Sasuke legitimately pauses at that first part. Because wait.]

[You don't hear that consistently for five years and constantly for another two and not develop a kneejerk reaction.]

[On the other hand he laughs out loud when she suggests he might be Obito.]

You got the clan right.

How do you know Naruto?

[Okay at least now he's willing to drop hints.]

[fervidity]

[He might hear a small exhale of air when he only says she got the CLAN right.]

What? [She didn't say anything about Naruto. But he knows Naruto, an Uchiha that knows Naruto but isn't Obito and is a missing-nin.

Who the hell-]

You're not Madara either, right?

[Or FUGAKU. That would be bad too. Mikoto's grumpy husband.]

[fantheflame]

How old do I sound to you?

[fervidity]

[Sounds like a bratty child.

But okay, that's a no. She's really getting frustrated now.]

Just tell me who you are and I don't have to keep guessing your whole clan. I'm out of missing nins from the Uchiha to choose from.

[fantheflame]

Tell me how you know Naruto and we'll go from there.

[Sasuke's just on the edge of audibly frustrated himself. She's got Naruto's same verbal tic, but mentioning the blond brat didn't bring his name to light, despite their being on the same team. How much information is missing here? Who the hell could this be?]

[fervidity]

... We live together.

[She's getting suspicious now and she's already mamabear protective of her son.]

Who are you?

[fantheflame]

[Because that tells him anything at -]

[And then it really clicks. Same verbal tic, living together here (and Naruto didn't greet him by exclaiming about some girl or another), she's clearly a little older than he is (if not by much), and who the hell did Sasuke run into in his first five minutes here?]

[The last part is what took the longest to catch up. He's going to have to get used to seeing the dead here, isn't he?]

[At least this time, when he speaks, his voice is softer. Calmer. A little cautious.]

...Are you his mother?

[fervidity]

[There's a little sound of surprise on her end and then silence.

This person is very sharp to pick up something like that from their short conversation. She must have slipped up somewhere, let her damn verbal quirk get caught up in a sentence without her noticing because that's the only thing they can hear -- her voice. It was harder to stop it when she was emotionally charged and this person was annoying enough to get her to that point.

And she still doesn't know who it is. Her voice isn't as annoyed or harsh or suspiscious anymore. In fact, she's almost smiling when she confirms, a silent and genuine pride for who she is for once.

Not Tomato. Not Red Hot-Blooded Habanero. Not the Kyuubi jinchuriki. But Naruto's mother.]

Yeah. I guess you really know how I know him now.

[And RIGHT BACK into irritation.]

So who are you?

[fantheflame]

[For just a moment, Sasuke almost snaps something back in return to that irritated voice - damn if she doesn't sound like Naruto (obnoxious!).]

[But what quickly chases that is the edges of something like embarrassment.]

[Naruto's mother.]

[Suddenly, all he can think of is Mikoto.]

[It takes him a moment to reply, but when he does, he's much, much more reserved about it.]

Uchiha Sasuke.

[He wonders - he is a little older than Naruto, after all - if she'll recognize his name. If he should clarify.]

[If she knows (knew) his parents.]

[fervidity]

Uchiha Sasuke?

[It's more questioning at first, like the name isn't familiar to her. And then she remembers. Not long before she was having her own baby, her Naruto, just like Mikoto. Sasuke's mother is holding a little bundle that Kushina SWEARS is a girl the first time she sees him. And how she confesses she hopes Naruto and Sasuke can be friends.

Is that how he knew Naruto? But why a missing-nin? Why an enemy of Konoha?

And she called him irritating! Not that he didn't deserve it because he was being a jerk but she finally sounds not as rough anymore. There's almost laughter but she's still a bit angry.]

You know, that was no way to treat someone who knew you when you were just a baby.

[fantheflame]

[Well that answered all of his questions at once, didn't it?]

[He's glad he's using audio-only, right now, because he can kind of feel his face heating up. He really doesn't want this stranger (mostly stranger) talking about him as a baby, thanks.]

[But then again it's Naruto's mom. The idiot's gotta be ecstatic about that.]

I wouldn't be much of a shinobi if I just answered all of a stranger's questions.

[It feels a little awkward to put it like that. Because now that he knows who she is... it doesn't really matter that they've never met. "Stranger" isn't the right word.]

[Sasuke, for the first time, presses the "lock" button for the rest of his reply.]

[[Locked: 30% Unhackable]]
You knew my mom, right?

[If she knew him as a baby...]

locked; 30% hackable

[fervidity]

Does that mean I don't have to answer yours?

[It's the same reason she didn't answer his (not really) until he guessed who she was completely. He still doesn't have her name though. Maybe just knowing she was Naruto's mother is enough.

That isn't what she's expecting to come from him next (a sorry would have been preferable) it takes a bit before she responds.]

Yeah, we were friends. You looked just like her when you were a baby. I thought you were a girl since you were pretty cute.

[Part of her almost doesn't believe it's Sasuke, but when he asks that, when she realizes it's possible, it makes her a little less angry and more curious. Only a son would ask about his mother right away. It makes her wonder though; Sasuke knew his mom too, why is he asking her?]

30% lock forever

[fantheflame]

[Well now Sasuke's bright fucking red; it's a good thing this is all voice. But then again, he's well aware he got his mother's cheekbones, her nose... he's pretty sure now this isn't a trick.]

[He swallows, carefully, before speaking again.]

What was she like?

[Memories from seven and younger are going to be clouded and skewed, he knows that. He wonders how much of what he remembers was true to her as a person, and how much was just her as a mother. If the two are all that different. He really doesn't have any way to know.]

Re: 30% lock forever

[fervidity]

[There's a confused silence from Kushina. Sasuke should know what she was like, that's his mother. Unless he means, of course, when she was younger.

But something doesn't FEEL right. Something unsettles her.]

Mikoto? She was--

[One of the few she could call a true friend. When everyone else picked on her, Mikoto didn't. When she got older and girls began to envy her, Mikoto didn't. When marriage and children lessened their time together, Mikoto still never changed.

And then Kushina envied Mikoto. She always looked so happy when she visited and watched her there with Itachi, and her belly round with, what she could guess now, was Sasuke. She didn't have to worry about a bijuu ruining everything. But Mikoto helped her more times than she could count just being there and being so content with her family. It made Kushina happy to see such a good person had a life fitting for her; untroubled and perfect.

It made Kushina want her own family, even with the risks.]

One of the nicest people I knew.

But you should know that. You probably spent more time with her than I did.