saucey | 二十九; 「accidental voice post」

Current Mood: scared

Entry tags:

二十九; 「accidental voice post」

[The feed clicks on again and one can immediately hear the sounds of rustling fabric. There's occasional mumbling from Sakura and Neji, but otherwise there's nothing of importance.

That is, when Sasuke himself starts to stir, mumbling quietly to himself. After a couple of minutes his breathing starts to labor, his mumbling growing loud enough for his PCD to pick it up.]

Blood...everywhere... Stop it, uncle... nii-san...

Don't want...to see it...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Al's eyes drift half-closed, and he keeps up with the slow, soothing rubs. Eventually his hand drifts back up and he brushes through Sasuke's hair again, a counterpoint to the soft purring of the cats and Al's steady heartbeat.]

You are loved, Sasuke.

[He voice is broken and shaky, almost like he's struggling to simply answer and respond now.]

I-I... I know...

[The answer is encouraging. Up until now there hasn't been much acknowledgement. Al ruffles his hair gently.]

Do you?

[All Al gets is a simple, short nod.]

[Al smiles, and scoops up Mouko, who's wobbling up his legs, and tucks her in by Sasuke's face, where she attempts to wiggle in between his neck and shoulder. Al can't help a soft giggle.]

[He jumps just a little, not expecting the kitten to be in his face. He glances over, eyes red, wet, and puffy. Mouko just rubs against him, mewing softly while trying to cheer him up and reassuring him that everything's going to be okay.]

Mouko...

[... and cue Shadow coming over to attempt to eat Sasuke's hair, too, cuddling against his owner.]

See, they want you to be happy, too.

H-Hey, Shadow... I want my hair...

[He forces a small smile, reaching back with a shaky hand to pet the cat.]

[Purring. Lots of it. Al rolls onto his back, staring up at the ceiling with a half-smile.]

... he always does that. Ever since he was a kitten.

He must've had a lot of hairballs, then.

[Al makes a face.]

Uh-huh. I think he's hacked up enough to stuff a couch with. You should have seen the face Ed made the first time Shadow coughed one up on his coat.

[He chokes out a forced laugh at that.]

I bet he threw a fit...

Yep, he was convinced Shadow hated him for a while.

[Al's eyes flick to the side.]

... do you want to hear the whole story?

[Sasuke gives another short nod.]

Yeah.

[Al settled down a bit, half-smiling, thinking of where to begin.]

... it was very soon after I started to become friends with your older self. I was already close with Itachi, but I was just starting to get to know you.

It was late in September. It was a cold, rainy night out, and I was going home, and I heard something in a cardboard box, so I backtracked and found five kittens.

They were really little, just a few weeks. One of them had one eye still closed, and they were cold and hungry and crying. I was afraid of predators, so I stayed with them all night, but their mother didn't come back.

I knew Ed would make me put them back if I took them home. I remembered Itachi telling me that the Uchihas were very closely tied to cats, and you always had kittens underfoot growing up... and I'd never taken care of kittens that little. I didn't know how.

At about five in the morning I sent a message to Itachi to ask him if he had milk, and I showed up in Vincent's kitchen with five kittens in my jacket. Hah, he was so surprised when I started pulling them out... but he knew just what to do, and he helped me take care of them.

Edited 2009-07-14 04:35 (UTC)

[He just lays there and listens. He doesn't say anything, but he can't help but think... that the Itachi Al describes in his story is a lot like the one he grew to love and admire when he was little.]

Hn...

[Leaving Itachi out of the story wasn't... possible. He was intricately entwined in it, but Alphonse had promised to tell the story. He would stick to the facts and try not to let his love for either of them color the telling of events.]

Itachi set up a warm crate for them by the stove, and he showed me how to feed them. They were older than Mouko, so they could have some kitten food and broth along with milk.

I left them there, but I came over all the time to take care of them.

[Al rubs Shadow behind the ears.]

Later that same week, I came into the kitchen, and I walked in on your older self, sitting on the floor by the crate, playing with the kittens. He was just... covered in them, and they were loving on him. He looked so... happy. It was the first time I'd seen him like that. Peaceful.

... it was the first time we'd ever sat down and really spoken together, one on one. We talked about the cats, and about nin-cats, and about how my brother wouldn't let me have one when I was younger, and how I'd have to find homes for these. All the while, Shadow was crawling all over him and eating his hair, and snuggling him.

I told him that cats knew good people.

[Al pauses.]

... and that I did too.

I asked him if he would like to keep one. ... he was in a rough place right then. He'd gone through a breakup with someone he liked a while back, and he didn't have a lot of trust in him. He'd only recently started living with Itachi, and he was very unsure of himself.

... up until then, he'd been locking himself in his room constantly, and he'd barely talk to anyone, but the kittens had made him come down.

He picked up Shadow and named him on the spot.

We talked a lot. About life, and stuff. About the things we liked doing. We agreed to start hanging out more, and that I could get him out of the house, show him some of my favorite places. Go for walks.

[Al pauses again, trailing off, lost in memories.]

Shadow stayed with Sasuke. Kitty came with me. King Bradley went to stay with Maes. Mikazuki stayed with Vincent, and the fifth kitten is now the house cat of Murrue's place.

Ah...

[He nods, just listening. Taking it all in. Absently, he starts to pet Mouko, and she purrs in contentment.]

That... must've been nice.

It was.

[Al rubs behind Shadow's ears, making him purr loud enough to vibrate.]

Hah... Shadow's made a few friends in his time, too. He gets up to all sorts of shenanigans with Cador, Lelouch and Suzaku's yodare cat. We're... pretty sure Cador is male, too, so... we haven't had a lot of luck figuring that one out. They leave each other presents sometimes so if you find a thrown up sock and half a mouse on the doorstep, it's probably from Cador to Shadow.

[Al takes a moment to poke at Shadow's paws, and the cat gets bored with the game and begins to groom himself instead, still purring.]

Pumpkin, that's the other cat... she came along at Christmas. She was my and Sasuke's present to Itachi.

[Sasuke glances back at Al at the last bit.]

What...was my relationship with him? With Itachi...

[Al's eyes half-close.]

When he first came, it was like what you have with him now. Threats. Violence. ... all of it.

... but the closer I got to Itachi and the more I came to know him, and the more I came to know, the more I encouraged him to tell your older self the - ... well, to make up.

There was no Madara, no Akatsuki. No one dangerous from your world... nothing to worry about.

Itachi... made up his mind after Sasuke told him what he'd been through from ages thirteen to sixteen. The training he'd undergone to kill him. And what had... been done to him.

He told Sasuke what they needed to, and... some things he didn't know.

... it wasn't like when you were children, but... you know how Ed and I act around each other, right?

[A fleeting smile.]

It was... like that. You were... really close. You even shared a room.

[In fact they also slept in the same bed so Sasuke could help keep Itachi warm, but that might be too much to digest.]

[Sasuke lays back on the pillow, half-burying his face into the fluffy cotton, mumbling.]

...Must've been nice for him.

[Al rolls over, disturbing not one but both cats to lay an arm over Sasuke and tug him into a soft hug.]

You'd want that?

[Sasuke clenches his teeth as he buries his face into the pillow. That alone should be answer enough for Al. But he can't. He can't have what they had back, not after what happened.

Not after what Itachi did to him. His lying. His betrayal.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

二十九; 「accidental voice post」

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]

[Offline]