☽ うちはサスケ Uchiha Sasuke ☾ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
fantheflame) wrote2013-07-16 08:35 pm
fantheflame) wrote2013-07-16 08:35 pm
Entry tags:
1st fan
[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.]
[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.]
I saw nothing~
[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.]
no subject
[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.]
no subject
[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.]
no subject
[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...]
no subject
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.
no subject
[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.
no subject
[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?
no subject
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.]
no subject
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?
no subject
[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.
no subject
Orochimaru...? But why would he? [Why would Orochimaru help with any of this?]
no subject
[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.
no subject
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.]
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[For all that Suigetsu's a piece of shit, Sasuke honestly expects he'll keep Karin less distracted than she could otherwise get.]
no subject
['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?
no subject
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.
no subject
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?