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( CLOSED. ) DON'T FOLD IF YOU'RE MADE TO BEND—
WHO: kakashi and planned thread partners.
WHAT: tdm events and miscellany.
WHERE: all over neo tokyo.
WHEN: january 1st–30th.
WARNINGS: tbd.
WHAT: tdm events and miscellany.
WHERE: all over neo tokyo.
WHEN: january 1st–30th.
WARNINGS: tbd.
( SASUKE. )
( she isn't to blame for the distrustful look she gives them in the rearview; he wouldn't put the fate of his home in the hands of outsiders—least of all ones brought in against their will. but this, and the mitigation of collateral damage, is their duty. he'll put his best effort into saving these civilians for their sake and the sake of the comrades he must return to konoha.
as they're flown lower to the minimum safe altitude for a parachute, he joins sasuke on the opposite side, refusing the help of the overhead bar. )
Ready?
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The waves beneath them churn brown near the shoreline, awash with debris already, but the actual threat beyond the earthquake damage seems minimal. And it's as if the moment he thinks it, the water starts to move. Not in larger swells that buffet the seawall or crashes of waves further threatening the foundation of already crumbling buildings.
The water is going out away from the shore, mimicking a low tide that rips the sea back in a powerful undercurrent. It's coming. ]
Aa. [ He's crouched low, eyes on the ground below them, and as he answers he realizes how little of a plan he does have. ] Kakashi... when we're down there, use douton where I can see you. I'll need it.
And for whatever else happens... you can rely on me.
[ No time is given for Kakashi to process words which harken back to their first conversation in this place, standing in stark contrast to how he had once felt. Whatever complicated feelings strive to sway him off course, this one is simple: they're on the same side. They're teammates. And he has a duty to protect his hokage.
Fingers grip the helicopter's siding as he suddenly pitches forward without warning, the pilot's shout for him to "grab a fucking parachute" lost to the whipping of wind about his ears as he drops straight down towards the Tokyo Bay below. ]
no subject
conditions are becoming unsafe for the pilot who, through the stress of surprise at sasuke's leap, wrestles with the controls to keep the helicopter level. )
Relax; if we couldn't do this much, your people wouldn't have brought us here! We'll contact you again when we're in range of the landing zone! ( he follows sasuke in a fall, removing himself as her last responsibility.
they've done this countless times from more impossible heights; on the way down, kakashi builds on the plan his student alluded to. douton is a reliable first resort despite its chakra expenditure. the bigger the area of effect, the bigger the drain. he can make a wall as tall as a skyscraper or as wide as the bay itself and die doing it or he can trust that several middling versions will slow the waves' impacts until most ground-locked civilians can get to safety. trust plays a big factor in how to proceed. we can leave the rescue to everlight, kakashi thinks about a team that shines as bright as naruto. ino will rally them up. but where will brimstone, redemption, and the rest of revelation be?
where is itachi?
when the smaller details of the street rush into view, a shadow clone is conjured from blurring hand seals. it braces him at the wrist and forearm, using his different momentum to spin and launch him skyward, cushioning his landing before it impacts the street and disappears.
in a low crouch, kakashi locates sasuke, shaking his arms out before getting to work. )
Alright, eyes on me!
( another series of gestures are sped through. his student can keep up and outpace him, reinvigorated by the ease at which they take up their old roles. gritting his teeth into a smirk, he shows off a little for this one, and then he'll get to stand back and watch as the same technique is performed at his side. )
Douton: Doryuuheki!
( palms slap at the ground in a shockwave that breaks asphalt, rattling apart large soil aggregate into smaller-grained clay. rain seeps into an already damp upper layer, mixing, forming a dense wall of mud that launches into the sky, sealing the mouths of three city blocks—and it's decorated with the faces of howling hounds, solidifying into a dam as hardy as concrete. )
no subject
Conjuring Susanoo in its partial form, with its arm in motion to match his momentum and snatch him from the air just before his impact with the ground, is an exercise in timing that's executed effortlessly entirely out of reflex. There's an unusual strain that accompanies the act, as if he's pushing just against the edge of cold glass without threatening to break it, but the new limitation is noted with objective indifference as his eyes go to Kakashi. Is it just the flicker of pain and a flash in his vision, courtesy of the implant, that he'll have to contend with? Or is he truly weakened? The most unpleasant option always feels the most likely: both. But right now he has a goal and nothing else can matter.
For a moment it's as if the rain stops and sea calms, time slowing for the formation of each and every hand seal that his teacher telegraphs to him from across a soon-to-be battlefield: the two of them up against a merciless threat of nature. The wall itself is huge, erupting from the earth in a way that his teacher makes look so effortless... and it forces him to realize how long he's been fighting on his own. For years now he's had no one at his side, and certainly no one that he can trust to find the harmony to his melody in combat. Kakashi is and always has been an elite shinobi, and he can feel his own instinct responding to his presence on the field.
Susanoo releases him as the technique is completed and by the time his feet touch the ground he's made the necessary adjustments in his mind, converting a two-handed technique into what his past injuries have forced him to master. One-handed seals are formed in a blur of motion as he turns, palm slamming against the ground in a mirror image of Kakashi's copied movements that summons a tear across pavement and a surge of rock and cement. ]
Douton: Doryuuheki!
[ Rebar twists through the wall that stretches to meet Kakashi's, another three blocks shielded by packed rubble only pushed down further by Susanoo's curling hands. Yellow eyes bore into the distance, peering out at an ocean still drawing back for its greatest punch yet. ]
It's coming... there won't be enough time to reinforce walls along the whole of the bay. [ His head turns to again look to Kakashi, wet hair matted to a face aged by determination and severity. ]
... but the other teams should be deployed to the east and west, if the pilots have any sense. I'll create more walls, and I can buy us some time when it hits, but not much.
[ Is he asking for Kakashi's approval? Is it instinct? Even he isn't sure. ]
( ITACHI. )
there's little privacy at the base, and that always-watched feeling is beginning to remind kakashi why he's always preferred the missions that bring him to rural parts of the fire country. fewer people. consistently warm.
well, as soon as the heat was shut off and vouchers to the hot springs were offered, he took his ungratefully and without comment. now, soaking, he affords lilith a small "okay, fair." while it's not enough to impress him or sway him totally to their cause, it does help. submersing himself briefly in hot water solves a deep-seated chill that'd been difficult to wick away with showers and thicker clothing. )
Haa...
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but onsen had been a balm to his ailing body — the steam was beneficial to his lungs, the mineral water eased muscle aches and soreness he had simply learned to live with, and the resultant easing of tension had been as close to relaxed as he had known in years. kisame had never said a word about his occasional detours while on-mission — but then, he was a keenly observant man. often, when he felt itachi had been too taxed by some physicality or other, he would smile and ask permission to do whatever difficult task lay ahead of them — be it a fight, or some other thing. the deference had made it easier to accept assistance he might have refused if it had been posed as compensation for weakness.
but now, the spring poses little utility to him save its warmth. he took the voucher mostly to be polite when it was thrust on him, and finds himself here now more out of curiosity than anything. even the shower he takes is a bit more brisk than he'd like, making him wonder if their capacity to heat water manually is reduced as well — though it's not so much a deterrent that it puts him off the experience. he simply makes short work of it, and then pins his hair up to keep it out of the water as he heads for the hot spring itself.
he senses the chakra just as he steps into view, and one corner of his mouth curves down faintly in a frown. it does not otherwise give him pause, and the deliberation with which he reaches the water's edge and steps down into it reveals nothing of his feelings towards the company.
instead, kakashi gets a polite-but-distant nod in greeting, and no verbal acknowledgement at all. if the man wishes to hold a conversation, surely he can find his tongue. ）
kill me this is so fkin late
the truth of the uchiha massacre is a reopened wound. predictably, kakashi's been blaming himself for half of it—wisely not aloud—and has climbed back into his antisocial shell where he can comfortably berate himself in peace. the questions have been made clichéd at twenty-seven years old: "if only" this, "i could've" that. "why" has been a popular one, too, and only today he woke up and consciously moved onto "man up."
but resolve is a fickle bitch. seeing itachi, allowing his former-peer-turned-adversary-turned-comrade to get into the water without letting slip a single pitying word, he's unable to make good on his promise to himself. kakashi's open eye isn't soft or understanding beholding itachi in this raw state, naked but as invulnerable in this moment as he is. it's calculating. narrowed. solving a tricky problem. everyone says he's good at that, one of the best if not the best in the fire country at detecting nuance with wit and instinct and using it to conjure a solution however unconventional.
kakashi thinks, clearly they never bathed with uchiha itachi at an onsen.
he shifts on the uneven stone beneath his feet, rising some from the water. itachi's nod, simple and unassuming, is registered, torn apart for double meanings, and then awkwardly returned. )
I... didn't realize you were the relaxing type.
nw!! it happens, man.
（ it's a neutral statement, proffered only because of the hesitance displayed in kakashi's statement. that it's not outright hostility, or departure means only one thing — he and sasuke have discussed the matter to some extent.
the outcome of such a conversation bothers him little. it is only talk, and he has been the subject of much worse debates in absentia, after death. he merely lifts one shoulder in an absent shrug, sinking down into the yield of hot water until the water laps at the divot of his collarbones.
he does not — relax. to do so represents an impossibility in this man's presence. but nor does he seem especially on guard or unsettled by it. he simply occupies the space with the same force of presence that has carried him through the last decade of his life. ）
( WOLFWOOD. )
if only lilith could shell out for massage vouchers, too. then they'd really be cooking with gas.
kakashi sits unaccompanied against the side of one pool, head canted back to rest against a rolled-up towel. his face is hidden by a white cloth tied back so that it hangs freely over his nose and mouth. any movement outside doesn't come from him, as still as any man asleep might be, but there's the occasional drift of a lazy eye keeping a lookout for other bathers.
can't take the readiness out of shinobi. )
Hey... I recognize you, ( he says on spotting wolfwood, hiking an arm up out of the water to rest along the uneven edge behind them. ) Hmm... Revelation, right? Nicky.
( has to use his civilian name........... )
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anyway, wolfwood doesn't need to be told twice to hit up the springs. throw in free vouchers into the mix, and he's there before they even finish talking. no man's land was a harsh desert planet—you'd sooner find alcohol than water in any tavern you come across, and hot baths were few and far between, especially ones this size. it's practically luxury, and wolfwood has no qualms about taking advantage of things when the opportunity presents itself.
given the state of the base, it should stand to reason that he wouldn't be the only one making the trip out here, and so kakashi's presence doesn't surprise him; more of a shift in awareness to accommodate for the added company. he's seen the guy around—it helps that they're on the same team, and wolfwood's taken it upon himself to at least know the names and faces of the people he's to be working with. the eye of michael gave him shit all, but they did beat observation and vigilance into him after pulling him off the operating table. you always remember the ones that are bigger than you, the ones that are stronger than you. you never know when they'll turn around and consume you next. ]
That's me. [ it's a lazy drawl as he slides into the tub across kakashi, taking a drag of his cigarette. if the guy didn't want to share, wolfwood figures he would've said something. ] Good to meet ya, Botan.
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cigarette smoke mingles with the steam coming off of the onsen's surface and hangs as heavier particles in the air between them. this makes it slow to dissipate, and though kakashi's sense of smell is acute, this is one odour he's never minded. calming, in a way.
it reminds him of asuma—a colleague and friend. )
In situations like these, it's always hard to tell who's a talker and who isn't. So, don't mind me, I've got my book here if you'd prefer silence.
no subject
[ it's clear that wolfwood isn't too hung up on it though, given the way he chuckles, tipping his head back to blow a thin stream of smoke up above them to mix with the steam. he doesn't know if he's actually allowed to smoke in here, but whatever; it's not like he'd listen if they said otherwise. everyone's got their vices, and if he's to be kidnapped and enlisted to fight someone else's war, then he thinks he's earned this. besides, kakashi doesn't seem to mind, so he doesn't think much else of it.
wolfwood doesn't run his mouth quite like vash does, but he doesn't mind putting out feelers if it's to people he's to be working with. given the advancement of technology in neo tokyo, he doubts that actual hardcopy books are common versus digital ones he's seen on people's devices out on the street. could be something from kakashi's home, maybe. ]
Yeah? Whatcha readin'?