fantheflame | 1st fan

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[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.]

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[She doesn't know. That much is plainly, starkly obvious.]

That's - [The breath that cuts him off is almost a wheeze.] - Not what I meant.

[Why the hell is this happening? He should have another ten fights left in him; instead, he can barely catch his breath. And Sakura, all over again, doesn't know his intentions.]

[He's been here less than a day and he already hates nearly everything about this place.]

I intend to protect Konoha.

[It takes all his breath to get that out. His vision goes hazy, and one shaking hand comes up to smear some of the sweat out of his eyes. If she doesn't believe him... she's probably going to kill him right here. If she does...]

[There's very little that could stop her in her tracks more thoroughly than those words, from him.

After all, she remembers all too clearly the last time they met; he'd been a madman, and he'd made his intentions toward Konoha more than clear.

But now he's saying something completely different. And from the sound of it... no. This doesn't mean he's from the past. He knows what she expects from him, she hears that in his voice. He knows she sees him as a threat.

Which means he's changed.

Hope rises in her throat, and she swallows, wanting to believe it's true -- and at the same time, wondering. Because they're both students of Kakashi, or were, and the first lesson they learned was never, ever to take anything at face value.]

How... how can I know you mean that? [She can't, that's the end of it. But she wants him to give her reason to believe...]

You can't.

[Plain, simple fact, much as he speaks the words in gushes of labored breath.]

I spoke to - in the Edo Tensei -

[He grits his teeth, forcing a swallow down his dry throat. Anyone else would get one-word answers if it were them finding him, but Sakura he believes will listen, so he'll try to talk.]

Itachi. The four Hokage.

[He lifts his head enough to look at her again, if more blearily than before, over his shoulder.]

You don't have your Yin seal yet, huh?

[It sounds like babbling at first. The four dead Hokage? But weren't they unable to be resurrected? The words don't connect, don't give her a complete understanding, and she almost wonders, a little, if he's suffering from more than chakra drain.

But then he mentions the Yin seal, and she freezes. Because that -- that, he has no way of knowing about. She started it after he left, and it's too subtle before it's ready to be seen. But it's almost ready. She knows that; she knows she'll be able to unleash it soon, during this battle.

And if he knows about it...]

You've come to the battle. You're there.

[The words are breathed out softly, full of surprise and hope. Hope, because he's there, because he says he's no longer an enemy, and if he means that, if that's really true...

He's back. He's back.

If it's true.]

Edited 2013-07-26 13:02 (UTC)

[A little smile quirks up at the edges of Sasuke's lips, even if his breathing is still heavy. She understands. That's Sakura. She's subtle. She's clever.]

You healed a lot of people... very quickly, with that.

[It's still hard for him to believe this insanity about timeline discrepancies, but it's easy enough to understand, and right now he's just going to have to roll with it as truth if he wants to save his breath.]

[And for the same reason, tell her things that are both what she'll want to hear - and what will make her believe him.]

Naruto told you to rest after that... you didn't punch him but you looked like you wanted to.

[Heh.]

[That smile. Both on his lips, and in his voice. He's not mocking her -- and what he's telling her, what he's saying, the way he's saying it...]

[She isn't questioning now.

He's back. He's back. Sasuke her teammate, the Sasuke she and Naruto have wanted back so desperately for years. He's finally back and there.

She doesn't waste time now; quickly, she moves to his side, fully within arm's reach, reaching out to rest a hand on his shoulder for a quick diagnostic jutsu. Only a basic one, but she's pretty sure she knows what's wrong with him, anyway.]

With the seal, I won't need rest, but right now, you do. Let me get you to the clinic. Chakra drain?

[All she can think is He's back, he's finally back...]

[It's surprising how little he feels threatened as she moves in like that. Not even a twitch of instinct to want to put up a guard; if anything, he relaxes a little because she has - she believes him, he's pretty damn sure she's not going to stab him, and he doesn't have to worry about the ifs right now.]

[He's trembling when she touches him, muscles worn completely out and shaking with the effort to keep him from being collapsed entirely in the dirt. There's a hitch in his lungs, and the palms of his hands are a little scraped up from the sand, but he's otherwise unhurt. But his chakra's a flicker at best, and his heart is thrumming.]

Easy to forget a limit you've never had before, [he responds by way of agreement. And a bit of an excuse even if he knows what he did was outright stupid.]

[He's in worse shape than she expected; how badly has he been limited, then, if he can push himself not just past but this far past his limits before realizing he's overdone it?

Or, alternatively, how accustomed is he to driving himself beyond all reason? She frowns at the thought, but forces herself to cheer up. He's back, that's what matters.]

And forget it, you definitely did! Here, let me...

[Her own chakra's quite limited, too -- but she's used to working within limitations, and she's been training. She's not actually using chakra now, as she lifts him to his feet, pulling one of his arms across her shoulders to support him.]

The battle dome clinic's a little ways, but it's not too bad of a trip.

[And she's not giving him the chance to say no. If you're back on Konoha's side, then she's taking charge of your health, Sasuke.]

[Sasuke notices. It's subtle - most wouldn't be able to tell when strength is based on chakra and when it's muscular, but Sasuke's so used to seeing chakra that he can practically taste it in the air when it's in use. And it's not, now. She's just that strongly muscled. His eyebrows lift a little in surprise - he hadn't expected that at all, not after seeing her throw her chakra around like a wave back home. But it's only momentary, and then a little smirk touches the corners of his lips. Adaptive. He's not surprised at that in her.]

[He stumbles, though, once she's pulled him fully upright, and it takes him a minute to find the rhythm of his feet, most of his (not exactly considerable) weight held up by hers.]

Glad it was you who found me, then.

[There's the slightest tease in his voice, the usual tone from when they were last on a team. But it's light and not cutting.]

[Her voice comes out more strained than it would if she were using chakra to boost her muscles -- Sasuke's weight isn't inconsiderable, and months of training aside, she's still pretty small herself.]

Me too. I know what to do with you.

[Belatedly, she realizes the words could sound threatening -- but it's something she'd say to Naruto if he'd worked himself into a similar state. It's something that hearkens back to the way things were before.]

[She does know exactly what to do with him, thankfully, so that by the time he's been in the clinic for maybe an hour (he can't entirely tell), he feels less like a wall fell on him. And he can breathe mostly normally, and see straight, even if he can't quite pull up the Sharingan yet.]

[Funny thing about having immensely high amounts of chakra: if you're used to using 80% before you even think about stopping, suddenly having it halved gives you a massive, massive fissure between how much you think you can use and how much usage leaves you nearly dead.]

[Still, how he's at rest on a cot instead of half-laying on the beach, dressed in light hospital clothes instead of poorly-fitting heavy fatigues, and his chakra is more than a flicker. He can see.]

[And he can think straight, so he can't help but be curious about something...]

How long have you been here?

[He saw her at home less than a day ago. But he could have said the same thing for Itachi, and...]

[Technically all he needs right now is rest, and probably a good feeding -- things he can certainly take care of without her presence -- she's not quite ready to leave him be yet. She believes him, but there's still so many questions that are left to answer, and she still can't quite believe it's real...]

It's been about six months. [She pauses at that, then adds with a definite grimace,] They dropped me in the river, in the middle of winter.

[Thanks to being a medic, and to having some assistance in quickly finding a warm place with towels and dry clothes, it's an irritating anecdote, not the dangerous bout of hypothermia it could have been.]

I hope however you arrived was a little gentler.

Edited 2013-08-01 01:25 (UTC)

[Sasuke would almost laugh at the face Sakura pulls, but he's too busy mulling over her words. All her words, one sentence at a time.]

[What the hell is wrong with this place?]

Marginally.

[An answer to the last, first. He at least wasn't put in any physical danger, even if he wouldn't exactly call waking up in Itachi and Law's shared bed gentle.]

As far as I can remember I saw you seven hours ago.

Seven hours ago...

[Her expression goes a little distant at that, trying to think.]

That's... [A pause.] Is that time you've been in Luceti, or time at home?

I've been in Luceti for seven hours now, give or take. [Hard to be exact when he spent part of it blurry with chakra drain, but.]

The last thing I remember at home we were on the battlefield together. The war is still going.

[And fuck but he wants to go home and finish it.]

How... how bad has it gotten?

[It's the only thing she can think of -- because it was so bad already, and having it drag on and on sounds even worse. Their losses have been harsh already...

But there's also the matter of Sasuke being there, and the million questions that are coming to her about that.]

What brought you back? How... how did you get to us?

Obito is the Juubi's jinchuuriki.

[The thought of softening or sugarcoating or leading up to that doesn't even enter his head. Why would he bother?]

[The next questions are more difficult to answer.]

Like I told you before... I spoke with the four Hokage via the Edo Tensei. [A beat. The next part won't go well.] Orochimaru helped with that.

[His words are like blows; Obito is the Juubi's jinchuuriki, with that much power directly at his command, controlled and focused. Orochimaru is there, somehow, interfering, still with his talons in Sasuke despite all the rumors of his death.]

Orochimaru...? But why would he? [Why would Orochimaru help with any of this?]

I'm not certain.

[It's mostly the truth.]

I have some idea, but the important thing is that he's on my side for now. [He's not stupid enough to say our side. No, whatever the snake's reasoning, he's behind Sasuke's choices, no one else's.] He should be on his way to the five kage.

To the kage... [She frowns at that, uncertain.] You're certain he's... not an enemy, for now? [She's caught that, my side instead of ours. No matter where Sasuke is placing himself, Orochimaru will never be an ally to Konoha.]

Certain enough. He's taking the medic from my team to help. I made sure my striker went along to keep them both in line.

[For all that Suigetsu's a piece of shit, Sasuke honestly expects he'll keep Karin less distracted than she could otherwise get.]

['My team,' he says; it makes Sakura want to cringe a little. We're your team, Sasuke. But sometime in the last three years, it seems like he's replaced them.]

Your team...? From Oto?

[The thing is, Sasuke doesn't even think of it like that. Words are what they are, but Team 7 was his assigned team in Konoha, and Taka is his hunter team for tactical reasons. No more, no less. He doesn't even catch Sakura's cringe.]

After Oto. I gathered them when I first overtook Orochimaru. [A beat, when he continues, his voice is flat.] Their purpose was to locate Itachi and subdue any surrounding threat.

I see.

[She remembers Karin, too -- remembers Sasuke ordering her to kill the hapless young woman. That's her replacement by Sasuke's side?]

And now?

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1st fan

OH WELL OKAY THEN DANG I GUESS I HAVE TO HIT THIS AGAIN

DANG I GUESS YOU DO

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1/2 JUST TWO I PROMISE

SEE JUST TWO

SHOCKER also pretend I didn't screw up order of events oops

I saw nothing~

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