Day 34: Breakfast

[screwthegods]

[starting off in M13]

The last part of the night was little more than a blur in Homura's mind. The men had rushed in, but not joined them, instead staying off to themselves. Before any of them had a chance to react, however, a voice sounded through the air, mocking some other person Homura had never heard of, and the patients themselves.

To Homura, whoever that man was, he sounded a great deal like a god.

But before he could ask questions, the demi-god found himself no longer in the chapel, but some strange room on a bed. Is that what Kenren had meant from his earlier warning? Homura sat up, glad at least that the world didn't spin when he did so. Then the same man from before began to speak again, with a completely different tone. It was confusing to hear him talk that way, calling them patients instead of prisoners as he had before. Homura listened quietly as the announcement was made, then got out of bed.

Maybe he wouldn't have to go anywhere yet. It wasn't like Homura knew where to go anyway, and that meant he had time. If this was his room, and if he had been here as long as Kenren had said, there was a chance he could find something with answers. The Taisho had even told him that Homura had seen Rinrei. Certainly he would've written something down, made a map, something that could let him find her again! He started with the desk at the end of his bed, first finding a small stack of notebooks. Picking up the first, he flipped through, turning the pages with quickening desperation as he found each one to be blank.

Comments

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

Not for the first time, Sasuke vowed to kill his nurse. As a rule he avoided pointless casualties, but not only was the woman likely to become some kind of undead creature at night, if various first-person accounts were to be believed, but she practiced being evil by day. It was almost as bad as Orochimaru and a good deal less useful.

"Oh! There's your good friend!" Sasuke felt himself being propelled towards a table, presumably to sit next to whomever his nurse had designated as his 'good friend' for the day.

"Simon, Sean," the woman said, and Sasuke immediately tensed. The nurse must have sensed it where she was gripping his shoulder, and she tsk-ed. "I know you two had a little tiff the other day, but you should always work on playing nice. Try to make up!"

And then she was gone, and Sasuke was left to seethe and eat.

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

Sai watched, surprised, as Sasuke's nurse led the other ninja over. That was surprising, given their argument before. He supposed she just considered it a small tussle between friends. In any case, Sasuke didn't look pleased.

"Good morning, Sasuke-kun," Sai greeted in the friendliest tone he knew and with a smile, although it wouldn't be seen by his companion. "I'm sorry if you're still angry at me for last night."

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

Yes, the woman definitely needed to die.

Sasuke composed his face into its absolute coldest and glanced over at Sai's voice -- filled again with that irritating false cheer. It was impossible to deny that he was still angry; by the time he'd finally gotten to the door the night had ended.

It was true that he needed to find a better way to manage Itachi. But still -- "Stay out of my way in the future," he said, imperious, and started on his breakfast.

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

"You wouldn't have made it to him, you know, in that span of time." Sai followed Sasuke's example, starting on his own breakfast. He picked up the utensil with his left hand, though it wasn't his dominant one, in order to test out the finger strength and how much control he had. Moving certain fingers in certain directions was painful, but at least they moved. Hopefully the damage hadn't been enough to cause permanent difficulties.

He glanced up again after a few moments, even though he knew Sasuke didn't care to hear from him. "I won't physically block you again."

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

"It doesn't matter," Sasuke snapped. "It was worth the try."

Sai clearly had no idea what he was dealing with -- and doubtless had no way of understanding what it was like to need to chase after a goal, regardless of any obstacles. And although the night had indeed ended before Sasuke could have had a decent hope of finding Itachi, that there was any chance at all meant that he had to try.

Again he almost wished Naruto were here. Moron understood that much.

Sai's next words made Sasuke glance over again, eyes narrowed. "Then how do you plan to block me?"

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

Smiling was such a default reaction. Perhaps Sasuke could tell that he was even without his sight. "So defensive, Sasuke-kun," Sai answered without actually answering. He said nothing else, instead returning to his own meal. Telling the other ninja would defeat the purpose, wouldn't it?

"You shouldn't worry. I don't want to upset you more than I already have."

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

Sai had seemed to be the more reasonable of the new Team 7 when Sasuke had first met him, but Sasuke's opinion was rapidly shifting from a neutral-to-tolerant position to outright dislike. Beyond the simple indirectness of his speech -- the most annoying thing about him to begin with -- there was now the issue of indirectness of action.

Which reminded Sasuke too much of Sound, so when he spoke his voice was chillier than it had been in a long while, well past the usual purposeful detachment. "I should consider you my enemy in the future, then."

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

The smile faded quickly from Sai's face. He leaned slightly closer, voice taking on a far more serious tone. "Please don't speak like that, Sasuke-kun. It would be a mistake. I consider you an ally. What I do, I do because I have your safety in mind."

Sasuke wasn't the only one wishing Naruto was around. Sai could certainly use his help when it came to talking to his friend. "I won't stand in your way in any form as long as it can be helped. I don't wish to make you an adversary."

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

The quality of Sai's voice changed, shifting to something far less grating. Despite that Sasuke was still tempted to pull an imitation of Sai himself and have a go at the Konoha-nin with the closest semi-sharp utensil at hand.

"Let me make this clear, Sai," Sasuke said, gripping his fork a little more tightly than strictly necessary for whatever this too-sweet mess was supposed to be. "When we allied, it was a very loose agreement. In case you have forgotten, the intention was to exchange information and assist in case of need we might happen upon, or shared goals.

"That gives you no right to do anything with 'my safety in mind'." Sasuke's voice had taken on a hint of vehemence, but otherwise stayed cold. "If you stand between Itachi and me, then you are my adversary. I don't care if you're allied with him, only if you get in my way. Understand?"

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

"I understand, Sasuke-kun." Sai nearly sighed, shifting in his seat and staring down at the table. His breakfast wasn't particularly appetizing right now. "And you must realize that if I had to make a choice between you or your brother I would side with you without hesitation. Whether you're angry at me or not."

Sasuke was so quick to jump at people. If he wasn't careful, the other alliances he'd made might crumble as well. Sai owed it to Naruto to stick with him.

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

What exactly was Sai playing at? Sasuke couldn't figure out an exact methodology behind his actions: it would have made sense had Sai refused to take sides at all and had chosen instead to simply not involve himself. In that case, allying with both Sasuke and Itachi would have been a prudent move.

There were a few other scenarios that were equally logical. This was somehow none of them. Showing his irritation by slipping and allowing a slight frown onto his faco, Sasuke stared at the space where Sai should have been.

Useless, but perhaps it carried the point of intense scrutiny. "Then why did you prevent me from leaving last night?"

[tsunagari.livejournal.com]

Sai tilted his head to the side. Sasuke really was refusing to hear him out correctly. "I've already told you why, Sasuke-kun, and you've already snapped at me for it."

He picked up his fork and began pulling apart his pancake with his fork. "Aside from reading about it, I've witnessed people make poor decisions due to anger. You were upset last night." Well, more than he usually was. Sai didn't know how much that was saying. "And you'd missed a good day at least. So were unarmed, and you were searching with little to no information, hence your arrival at our room. Those weren't the sort of circumstances you should be going after Itachi under.

"I told you of my alliance with Itachi so that you wouldn't find out through other means later, and to hopefully give you some pause. You've made it quite clear now, however, that you don't want me worrying for your safety. I'm not your friend, in other words."

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

So what it really kept boiling down to was the fact that Sai had inexplicably decided to protect Sasuke. Mostly from himself, apparently. Where that got confusing was the part where Sai had, at least as far as Sasuke remembered, quite recently accused Sasuke of not deserving the bonds he'd once had.

"No, you're not my friend," Sasuke confirmed, frown deepening. "You don't have an obligation to do anything to protect me. What are you getting out of it?"