Night 48: M51-M60 Hallway

[zack-fair.livejournal.com]

[M57]

Having no roommate pretty much sucked. Even if the first guy who'd been in here with him had just slept the whole time, at least there'd been someone else around. It was one small thing to focus on, even if only as a perplexity. Tieria had actually given him someone to talk to after that, but this evening the man had just never shown up. Did that mean he was gone? Or maybe the nurses switched things around sometime. If not, though, that'd make the second roommate of his who'd just up and disappeared.

Was he bad luck or something?

It looked like he had the room to himself for the moment, but that wasn't something Zack liked. He'd prefer to have someone to chat with over dinner, but instead he'd been forced to eat in silence and then scribble in his journal to pass the time. He'd made sure to get a hold of his flashlight before the lights went out, but since that was really the only thing he needed at this point, it wasn't like he'd had to do much preparation.

The announcements from the Head Doc spiced things up a little, but it was hard to care too much when Zack had barely any idea of what the man was going on about. Jill, a rebel... what was all that? Maybe he could ask Aidou, since the kid seemed to be well-informed. If they got the chance, anyway. He didn't know how much effort this task of theirs was going to take, but he'd stay focused on the matter at hand if that was what it came to. He was nothing if not a good soldier, as much as it hurt him to admit these days.

Once Landel was done talking, all Zack could do was wait. He stood in the center of the room and started in on some squats, figuring that he could limber up while he waited for Aidou to arrive. He hoped it wouldn't take too long.

Comments

Re: inside M58

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

She half expected him to refuse and force her to explain the map in detail, but time was apparently more important than who he had to hold hands with. But he complied, whether it was because the information was just that important or because it didn't bother him, she could never be entirely sure.

Sakura laid the map out flat over her journal and set it in her lap, giving at least a relatively steady surface before she took his hand. Their arms rested closely, touching at times because of the nature of the task, but at least he couldn't tell she was blushing as she guided his hand over the page, explaining each point before tracing it back to the institute, which she'd centered on her lap. Maybe he'd be too focused on the map to notice how fast her heart seemed to be beating or how her skin felt warmer. Despite what people might say about him, how cold and distant and frosty he might be, his hand was still just as warm as any other human being.

"...then if you head North from the institute, there's a mine and..."

She was careful to outline all the pertinent details, the mountains to the west, the lake, the strange ruins, the general direction one would take to head toward Doyleton, though it was oddly vague. Maybe the direction was just obvious or there was plenty of signage to show the way?

Once finished, she let her hand rest on his, telling herself it was just in case he had any questions, if there was something she hadn't explained well, all the meanwhile, that psychotic inner voice of hers was filling her head with all sorts of ideas that a boy and a girl could do together alone on a bed and all but demanding to know what was wrong with her for not taking advantage of that very fact.

"Will that do?" she asked finally, voice catching in her throat for a moment as she pushed those thoughts aside (or at least tried very, very hard to) and tried to focus on the matter at hand.

Re: inside M58

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

Sasuke, much as Sakura suspected, was completely innocent of both concern and secondary intentions as he allowed the girl to guide his hand over the map resting on her legs. Brow furrowed in concentration, he focused with as much clarity as possible on the distance their hands were moving, and the image of the map arose almost like the blind Sharingan he'd grown to know: lines of light in a blackness, tracing out terrain and buildings. The prison they lived in, a mountain range, the road leading to Doyleton.

It shouldn't have been, but the realisation that the world existing outside of the Institute had such normal features was almost shocking. Thick forest and a lake that fed towards the Institute; it might as well have been situated a half-mile outside of Konohagakure, near the headstreams of the riverwater that had baptised Sasuke's determination to kill his brother.

There were stranger features, though -- an abandoned mine and the ruins that Sasuke recalled Aidou describing. It confirmed that the surrounding region was like the Institute in their physical integrity, at the least. Landel's grew infested with monsters in the night and Doyleton with the walking dead. Sasuke had to wonder what came out of the woods and the hills.

In any case, he had to admit that Sakura's idea had been a good one. When their hands stopped moving he became aware of that she wasn't letting go of his hand, the texture of someone else's skin against his own something he wasn't so much used to as tolerating for the moment.

"It should do," he answered, and lifted his hand away from the map, assuming that she would let go if there was nothing left to show. "If that's all, you can take the map with you. I have no further need of it."

Unless there was information within it that Sakura had deliberately withheld from Sasuke ... but Sakura in her aid, like Kakashi in his silence, had the weakness of Konoha's leaves, buoyant in the air and growing upwards towards the lies that kept them fixed to the village's trees.

Re: inside M58

[see-my-back.livejournal.com]

"I- no, that's all," she caught herself before she said more.

Sakura's hand clung to his for just a moment longer than absolutely necessary. But as he was pulling away it was hard to really keep a hold on him without reason. And just as quickly as the chance had come, it was gone. She moved slowly at first, realization dawning on her that she was supposed to be doing something. Folding the map, yes! And she quickly went to the task, rustling the paper a bit louder than usual in her sudden rush.

"I should probably get going then. I'm sure that we- well... we both have places to be," she brushed imaginary dust from her skirt in a nervous gesture and tucked the map away in her pouch. Stupid, so stupid! She was getting nowhere!

But wasn't it enough that he was here? That she got to see him almost every day again and... that he wasn't her enemy? Just that much was more than she'd thought possible back home.

"Hey um... if you want, maybe we could go look around town tomorrow, like last time. I really- Well- think about it okay?" she said finally, before opening the door and hurrying out. Ugh, that was pathetic...

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Re: inside M58

[sasuke-of-sound.livejournal.com]

Sakura let go abruptly and started rustling her things around as if in a great haste to leave. Perhaps she had somewhere urgent to go? It did seem that the Konoha-nin were rather closely organised, from what Sasuke could tell by what Kakashi said and their frequent bulletin board messages.

Though their day shifts seemed to be more relaxed, if Sakura's offer to walk around Doyleton again was any indication. Sasuke had to admit that it hadn't been an unsuccessful day, though that had as much to do with the rise of the dead once the sun set as it did with Sakura's company during the day. And for all the use that this map could potentially serve, the fact that the Institute had had managed to use an Uchiha corpse and Sasuke had allowed it --

Used Itachi's corpse --

Sasuke forcibly shook the memory out of mind. "I'll find you if it's convenient," he answered shortly, just before the sound of the door.

And now to meet Aidou and his third. Another topic that had been stalled by the discovery of the elders' lies and Konohagakure's ignorant complicity. There was something surreal, almost inappropriate, about simply continuing with the map, exploring the basement, alliance with Konoha-nin, anything that had existed before learning the truth -- but there wasn't a choice, not here. There were no new beginnings anyway; what Sasuke had, now, was less a beginning than a completion.

So for now there was nothing to do but continue. Sasuke picked up the silver sword that had been moved aside in order for them to examine the map, balanced his own in his right hand, and stepped out into the hallway.

[[to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/840219.html?thread=67685915#t67685915)]]