( CLOSED. ) DON'T FOLD IF YOU'RE MADE TO BEND—

[kawarimi]

WHO: kakashi and planned thread partners.
WHAT: tdm events and miscellany.
WHERE: all over neo tokyo.
WHEN: january 1st–30th.
WARNINGS: tbd.

Comments

( ITACHI. )

[kawarimi]

( finally, a little r-and-r.

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...

[blackfire]

（ he has never been one for luxury. his indulgences were few and modest in comparison to many in konoha, who had long enjoyed the fruits of its prosperity without having seen the danger and darkness that its obedient children faced.

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

[kawarimi]

( itachi is the last person kakashi expects to join him. "join him" meant loosely and not without a generous helping of suspicion, and he wonders not for the first time since arriving if he's being stalked. it's self-possessed thinking but not totally bonkers as sasuke's likely been monitored from afar and with an intensity no man but an uchiha man could achieve. and while he'd never consider his existence as weighty as sasuke's to itachi, kakashi is still someone who knows much. recently, much too much.

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.

[blackfire]

I imagine there are many things you don't realize about me, Hatake Kakashi.

（ 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. ）