四十九;「video post」

[saucey]

[The feet clicks on and Sasuke can be seen from the chest up, hands resting behind his head and soaking wet from the rain. He doesn't seem to car much, but there's a shadow in front of the PCD that can be seen on what little view of the roof there is, indicating that the PCD is under some sort of protection.

After a moment, Sasuke just closes his eyes.]

I'll be fine, so don't tell me to come inside.

[The feed times out.]

Comments

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

[No, he won't tell you to come inside, but a few minutes later, he'll come up and stand beside you.]

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[saucey]

[He knows you're there, Neji, but he's not gonna open his eyes.]

What, Hyuuga?

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

I've been inside too long and Tenten's recovering now.

[What does that have to do with coming out to bother you? Who knows.]

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[saucey]

Mm. Good.

[Then sit if you intend to stick around :|]

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

[Patience, Sasuke. 8/ He lowers himself down, one knee up with his arm slung over it, and the other leg outstretched.]

Itachi-san seems to have returned while I was [A brief pause] away.

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[saucey]

Yeah. He's two years older than mine was. [Reference to Leifytachi here.]

He's not... [He opens his eyes here, just glancing up at the dark sky.] as bad as I thought he would be.

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

Hm.. then his ailment looks to be farther along than last time as well. [Because he saw him, broken and gasping once before, but it wasn't as bad as it looked]

'As bad'. ...In his harshness toward you?

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[saucey]

[Sasuke bites his lip, recalling the video from earlier that day.] ...Yeah. He had a fit earlier today.

Mm. He was...almost nice, when I went to meet him.

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

...I see. He hasn't come to live with us again- fortunate considering his age, I would have disallowed it anyway. But at least he's here again, hm? For your sake, at the very least.

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[saucey]

I wasn't expecting him to, anyway. I took his things and Pumpkin with me whenever I went to go meet him.

...But yeah. I'm glad he's back.

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

Of course.
[He glances at Sasuke from the corner of his eyes, head still facing forward]

Despite his change, however, you seem to have the same attitude toward him. If it came to a conflict between the Akatsuki and Konoha Shinobi, Sasuke... where is your loyalty?

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[saucey]

... Please don't make me choose.

[He can't choose. It's family versus friends, Neji, and family almost always wins.]

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

[Concern, a bit of worry as he actually looks at Sasuke this time]

Sasuke... It's fine if you're unsure for now, but don't expect to be trusted with sensitive information in the future. If we can't be sure of you, then we can't trust you to act on our behalf instead of his.

[It's something he doesn't want to say, but it's true enough.]

...You understand, don't you?

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[saucey]

[Sasuke just looks away, letting the rain shift his hair and into his face.]

...Hn.

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

[It's an odd impulse, but he reaches over and plucks Sasuke's hair out of his face. But maybe after all, it's just to get his attention. He sighs.]

You realize that your actions impact more than just yourself, Sasuke. Kakashi-sensei, Naruto, Sakura, have a personal attachment to you, and others have attachments to them. Whatever you're doing, move carefully and try to avoid any more incidents.

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[saucey]

[Neji moving his hair out of his eyes gets his attention. Gets him to glance over, too.

He doesn't bother with a response.]

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

[His hand retracts and drapes back over his knee, fingers twitching subtly. He smiles thinly, apologetic.]

Tensions have gotten higher in the city with all the recent happenings. It's natural to worry about missteps.

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[saucey]

I know. Your disappearing act didn't help much.

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

[Flinch, memories, wide-eyed for a moment before he shoves them back]

That... no, it didn't. We'll have to move more carefully.

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[saucey]

Mm. I know.

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

...I hope it didn't stir up too much trouble.

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[saucey]

Any longer and everyone would've flipped shit. [A shrug.]

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

It's a relief that he was finished before that, then.

[Some humor in that, but not really]

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[saucey]

[Okay, you have his attention.]

...Sasori?

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[heavenly-earth.livejournal.com]

[A small nod]

It's better that he didn't manage to capture Hinata-sama, or he would have had another puppet for his collection. The outrage would have been far worse.