☽ 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.]
Re: 30% lock forever
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.
no subject
Most of my family - most of my clan - has been dead since I turned seven.
[There's no way to soften it, sugarcoat it, and even if there was, Sasuke wouldn't.]
no subject
Mikoto's happy family, the picture of perfection, little Itachi and a newborn Sasuke with rosy cheeks.
Gone?]
Sasuke... I'm sorry.
[She knows the pain of losing your family (more than once) and she doesn't need to know why to understand how much hurt it caused a young boy. She lost most of her clan in wars until all that was left was the few who escaped and found refuge among other countries. They weren't a singular unit anymore but remnants of a once powerful clan.
Like Sasuke.]
I know apologizing doesn't fix anything but no one should have to go through losing their family like that. It's cruel and unfair. [She's just sorry she only has memories of Mikoto.
What happened?]
But Itachi's here, I think. Your big brother. Did you know?
no subject
[The last words earn another, even more hollow laugh.]
I know.
[And in a way, having Itachi here helps, more than words can say. In another, it's more pain that Sasuke wants to have to try to handle.]
You don't know. Do you?
[What happened almost ten years ago.]
no subject
Would it change anything if I did? You lost your family to something horrible, that's enough for me. I don't need to know what happened to know how painful it must have been, Sasuke. How lost you probably felt...
[How angry. Her hands have stopped shaking.]
And I know I'm not Mikoto, and I know I'm not family but if you need anything you can come to me. I'll be here for as long as I can. Even if it's just a story about your mom when she was young. It's the least I can do for Mikoto and for you.
I'll look out for you for Mikoto's sake.
no subject
[...What the hell is happening?]
[Sasuke just. Sits there. For a few minutes. Dumbfounded and confused and not entirely sure he heard right, so he backs up and replays her comment again.]
[For a moment there's a little flare of anger, the second time, at her offer to - to what, act as his mother? She's not Mikoto, she's right about that, and those fierce fires start to rage again in the fury of Uchiha and outsiders and nonunderstanding but.]
[But this woman - Naruto's mother - is offering him memories of his mom. Things he never got to know. Stories he'll never have the chance to hear from Mikoto's own mouth.]
[The fire burns out as fast as it flared.]
[She's not Uchiha. She doesn't know him.]
[But even though she doesn't know him or know anything else but his lineage and the fact that he was a missing-nin she's offering him this all the same. He doesn't. Understand that. In very much the same way and with the same twisted-up feeling in his chest as he never understood (still kind of doesn't understand) Naruto continually calling him friend.]
[He doesn't have any idea what to say.]
no subject
She can guess that losing his family, losing everything was a turn that ultimately made him leave his village. He doesn't need to say it or what happened. Although no two people were the same, there's an instinct that resides in them all. Loneliness was the same for all people -- it was dark, it was suffocating, it could ruin you. Kushina could try all she wanted to push people away when she was young, fight bullies and trust no one, but when it came down to it she needed someone to love her.
Being saddled with the responsibility, of being alone as a jinchuriki very nearly made Kushina want to flee too.
No two people were the same.
Sasuke's silence confuses her because she was expecting SOME kind of reaction.
It's probably a lot for someone who lost his mother when he was only seven.]
Just as long as you tell me one thing in return.
no subject
[Fuck, he hasn't missed Mikoto this deeply in years.]
[He manages to push most of it down, to fight back the clench in his throat and clear it to a more reasonable voice before responding.]
What do you want to know?