Day 25: Breakfast

[uncage]

Kuja was, in fact, quite surprised to suddenly find himself in bed. An odd turn of events, as he previously remembered investigating the contents of a closet. If the genome hadn't known any better, he would have thought he hadn't even left the room. However, the items he was still holding obviously proved such thoughts untrue; he had left his room

Comments

[tte_bayo]

Same as always, the intercom would go off (and from the way the jackass spoke this time he was this close to screaming back at the voice) and whatever he was in the middle of would get rudely interrupted.

No memories of how he returned to his room and he would wake. In bed, and, Naruto realized after patting at his injuries, bandaged. He sat up quickly and frowned at the bright light of morning, immediately thinking of Lee. Was Lee alright?

His arms stung. It hurt to move them. When his nurse appeared and brightly informed him that it was time for breakfast, Naruto gave her the standard death glare and followed her to the cafeteria. While walking he rolled his shoulders and flexed, irritated with the lasting side effects of two, big gashes in both arms. The bandages trailed a little bit past his sleeves. He was actually unconcerned with the weird food this morning -- what caught his eye quickly was a familiar face from the other day, sitting alone near the entrance.

Naruto shuffled over quickly, stopping at the table before he sat down. Sai, the ninja who remembered things he didn't. The ninja he didn't know, but supposedly should have. Maybe his only link to what was really happening back home. He looked at him for a few prolonged seconds, unsure, and then sat, elbows plopping down at the table.

"Sai, right?"

[tsunagari]

Sai's eyes had followed Sasuke as he had entered, gotten his food, and proceeded to avoid his company in favor of another's. He wasn't about to go after him just yet. There was still another he wanted to see.

In fact, as he was distracted by one acquaintance, the more important of the two arrived. Sai turned back to the blond, face expressionless as Naruto spoke to him again as though he didn't recognize him. Discouraging, that. Surely this strange institution had done something to his mind. That would have to be dealt with.

There was also the possibility that this was an impostor.

"Naruto-kun," he responded in greeting and in affirmation of the boy's question. A smile at once spread across his face. "It's good to see you. We didn't get to finish our conversation yesterday." The fact the boy was still in one piece after the events of last night was also a plus.

[tte_bayo]

"Yeah, glad you made it through your first night," replied Naruto while sitting back in his chair and watching Sai curiously. What was it Sasuke had called him? A replacement?

He seemed polite and friendly and all that, but there was a strange, automatic nature to his smile. Sai looked to be about his age, but if he really was a Konoha-nin Naruto didn't recognize him.

"So you seem to know me," he blinked, genuinely perplexed but also somewhat aware of the weird situation. That Sasuke remembered him spoke a lot of his credibility.

"And I've been able to gather that my memories are kind of screwed up from this place since I got here. Fill me in?"

[tsunagari]

He sounded like Naruto. For the most part he acted like Naruto. Odds were good that this really was Naruto.

Sai simply wanted to be more certain, first, before he went and told this boy anything.

"I'm sorry, Naruto-kun," he said softly, the same cheerful expression still in place. "A lost memory is a good excuse for not recognizing me, but you can understand why I might be suspicious, can't you? I should be sure you are who you appear to be."

He leaned back a bit, observing the blond through eyes still slitted from his smile. How best to go about doing this?

Then, suddenly, he asked "So, did you actually have the balls to step outside your room last night?"

[tte_bayo]

Wait a minute. Not how things were supposed to go. He had to prove something to this guy and not the other way around? Since when? Yeah, okay, Landel's was kind of screwy and there was such a thing as genjutsu, but still. Naruto frowned at first, eyebrows slanting down in minor frustration.

"How'm I supposed to--"

But any further words were suddenly swallowed up by an unintelligible noise, an indignant squawk lacking all eloquence and grace. Naruto sat bolt upright in his chair and balled his hands up into fists on the tabletop, canine teeth flashing through a hot temper.

"What the hell?! 'Course I left, first chance I got!" He then raised a fist and pushed up the sleeve of that arm, showing clearly the extensive bandage work on his bicep. Loud and grating: "Screw you! I have battle wounds! I busted my ass all night!"

[tsunagari]

The smile on Sai's face stayed the same, and he leaned forward again. His hands he folded in front of him as he'd seen many a business man do whenever they wanted to get down to the issue at hand.

"That's all, Naruto-kun. I believe you now." And he did. He had no other reason at this point to believe the boy might be an impostor. He had reacted exactly as Naruto would have, in Sai's experience.

"So you're missing some of your memory. What do you remember last?"

[she_bloomed]

[[ from here. ]]

As if she wouldn't recognize the loud, proud boast about battle wounds from across the cafeteria.

Sakura squared her shoulders, face scrunched up in a decidedly unamused expression as she calmly, calmly, took her tray in hand and walked stiffly over the where Naruto and a dark-haired, young man about their age were sitting. She was preparing to yell, lecture him for not taking care of himself, the pain of her own wounds put aside as the usual temper flared. However, as she drew closer and closer, sight of the bandages reminded her again that she'd let her her teammate- no, not just a teammate- run off and nearly get himself killed again. If only she'd volunteered to go instead, but then Naruto or Lee would've been left to fend off the swarm of bug-creatures that had left the deep marks on her neck and arms.

And yet it was still hard not to blame herself for being unable to heal him when he'd needed it so much. Beyond that, the unanswered, lingering words of the previous night... Both caused her angry expression to melt away by the time she arrived and set her tray down gently, if somewhat stiffly, awkward as it was, next to Naruto. However, Sakura did not take her seat yet.

"Naruto..." she found herself saying, words running dry as soon as she realized she didn't know what to say. His companion probably thought she was terribly rude.

[tte_bayo]

Naruto made another wordless noise at Sai's reaction; just as garbled, but much more confused. He lowered the arm he was brandishing like a trophy and blinked twice.

"You, what?" He sputtered, not catching on very quick. The calm smile just never left this guy's face. It was somewhat disconcerting, but for whatever reason, Sai was ready to talk to him now. His brain skipped over the confusion like a record player getting past a crack.

"Well, like I was saying," Naruto started over with an exaggerated frown and in an excited rush, even though he hadn't been saying anything, "I can't even remember going home to Konoha yet, but a bunch of people told me I've been there a while now. I was training outside the Leaf village when I woke up here."

It was then that Sakura showed, placing her tray down (with some undue force) next to where he sat, and causing Naruto to jump in his seat. Some survival mechanism kicked in and made him fear meeting her eyes, as he fully expected to receive a punch in the face when he did. But when he did look up, somewhat fearfully, the fear melted away and he paused.

In trying to decipher her expression and her terse greeting, he realized he still hadn't come to terms with her actions last night. A blush nearly passed over his face, but more importantly than that: his eyes widened at the bandages covering her arms and neck, and his chair was nearly knocked back as he rushed to stand up.

"Sakura-chan!" His voice was almost, almost scolding. It couldn't quite make it to that tone, however, since this was Naruto to Sakura and scolding by him directed to her was exceedingly rare. He also knew that any unexpected grabbing or invasions of personal space meant instant death, so by habit he didn't try it, merely stood close to her, worriedly. "What happened?! How did you get hurt?!"

[tsunagari]

Hadn't even returned home yet? When had it been that Naruto had returned to Konoha from his training with Jiraiya? Was that a couple months worth of memories at least that he was missing? That was... troubling.

Sai was about to say something in response to this news, but then Sakura made her presence known. He turned his smile upon her, offering a short greeting himself. Sasuke had mentioned Sakura the night before, but he hadn't actually seen her in Landels until now. So all three of them were here. He supposed that should have made things make a little more sense, but it didn't. Not really.

He remained silent as Naruto expressed concern over Sakura's injuries. No doubt both of them had also come across some of the odd creatures in this place while roaming the halls that night. The irony of Naruto telling him to be careful and then ending up more wounded than Sai was not lost on him.

The fact that she had not greeted him as a teammate caused his smile to fall away. Was she not familiar with him either? "Sakura-san," he asked after a moment. "My name is Sai. Do you remember me?"

[OOC: My bad. Some of that ended up out of order last time.]

[she_bloomed]

"Eh?" Sakura didn't have the presence of mind to form an indignant response to Naruto's almost scolding tone. Somewhere between embarrassed and touched, the pink-haired girl found herself able to fight off the blush that she was not accustomed to feeling due to Naruto's words and actions. Barely. It took her a few moments of staring back at him, green eyes meeting blue, and blinking away the shock at being scolded by Naruto. And, of course, there was that small hint of annoyance that she hadn't been as successful in defending her two companions as she'd hoped.

When she finally came to her senses, lips formed in an irritated pout as she narrowed her eyes in his direction. They had company, and there was no way she was going to make a scene like she had last night.

"It's not that big of deal. Honestly, were just attacked by some over-sized lizards with wings. I was doing my best to protect Usagi and Relena. It doesn't look like things went much better on your end either," she pointed out, a hint of wounded pride evident in her voice as she pointed an accusing finger at the bandages on Naruto's arms. "You were probably just being reckless again! Have you ever though about what I - we - would do if your showboating got you crippled?" Or worse.

Of course, Sakura would've probably continued had Naruto's friend not spoken up, apparently knowing her name and asking her if she remembered him. That, in and of itself, caused her to stop dead in her tracks as her expression shifted again to one of surprise. She would've assumed Naruto had just talked about her to someone he met earlier, but he asked if she remembered him... Something about him, about his presence, made her feel strangely bad that she didn't.

"I, ah..." Again. Haruno Sakura at a loss for words. This was turning out to be a really strange day. When she finally found her voice for the second time, her eyes had softened considerably, and she shook her head. "I'm... really sorry, but I don't..." Sakura's voice trailed off.

How easy was it to tell someone flat out that you didn't know them?

[tte_bayo]

It surprised Naruto that Sakura would look surprised, like anything he said or did would give her thought to pause like that. Equally unaccustomed to it, he spent the pause blinking back at her and idly wondering in the back of his mind if this was the calm before the storm.

She soon lectured back, and on the other hand he was very used to her lecturing. Like a child, he placed his hands on his hips and looked the other way, pouting just slightly.

"I wasn't being reckless!" But that wasn't true. Actually, he had been completely reckless. Actually, the whole thing was more or less his fault. "The thing we ran into wasn't human and thought we were tasty, s'all. These're just scratches. We handled it well." Oh, the lies. "Did Usagi-chan and your roommate do alright? Did you get to see them fight?"

It was all too easy to get lost in another world when it came to Sakura-chan. Naruto looked to Sai when he greeted her, curiously, and then back to Sakura when she confirmed she didn't know him. Sasuke's words came back to him, replacement, and a small lightbulb finally went off. He slapped his fist against his palm lightly in a gesture of sudden understanding and opened his mouth to babble.

"Replacement for Team Seven?!" Naruto asked, suddenly, looking at Sai like he just put the puzzle together. "Sai? You're our teammate?"

[tsunagari]

Sai wished the question had been issued as a statement, that Naruto had suddenly regained some of his memories and was prepared to talk to him like the teammate he had steadily found himself becoming. But no, this was Naruto being slow to come to a realization. Sasuke's words from the day before must have finally punctured the thick outer enamel of his brain.

"Yes," Sai said with a nod, the smile not quite returning. "I was assigned to Team Kakashi for the mission involving finding Orochimaru's whereabouts. We became... friends. Of a sort." It was still a difficult concept for Sai to understand, but he assumed they were considered more "friends" than simply "acquaintances" now.

Turning his attention back to Sakura, he let himself frown just slightly, "It's odd that you and Naruto seem to be suffering from some memory loss here, while Sasuke-kun is not."

[desertification]

Like having the same dream every night, but without ever waking up. But Gaara would not know what it was to have a dream, never mind the same every night, and so the metaphor was moot. He woke up, a jolt from fruitless exploration to bed, stored his bat, and was escorted by his nurse to breakfast. She was much too perky, too talkative, for any time of day.

She walked him on the line, filled his tray as if he were incapable of the task. Gaara could hear Naruto's voice across the Cafeteria as she filled a glass with water. The nurse steered him toward a certain group with the words, "There's that sweet girl you gave that flower to, Gary!"

His nurse, smiling widely, left his side as they reached the table. Gaara managed to stop gritting his teeth and looked over the group. That girl with pink hair Naruto called Sakura, the one Sasuke had spoken with last night--Gaara thought he recognized him, though it had been dark--and Naruto himself. Naruto had been hurt; his eyes lingered on the bandages on his arms.

Gaara almost frowned; instead, he put down his tray and took a seat. "Reckless," he told Naruto as if it were a well-known fact, like a blue sky or a dry desert.

Memory loss, the guy with dark hair was saying. Team Kakashi. Gaara said nothing, focusing instead on the odd sandwich. He picked it up, took a bite, chewed. After a minute he put it down, remove the top, and returned his attention to the sausage alone.

[she_bloomed]

Sakura only answered Naruto's rambling with The Look, implying in a very scary way that she didn't believe a word of it. When was Naruto not reckless? He knew it as well as she did. The mention of Usagi and Relena, however, resulted in a more thoughtful expression as she realized, while Relena was alright, that she hadn't seen Usagi yet.

"Relena was sleeping earlier, so I know she's alright. Usagi... Well, she's really brave." Sakura paused and bit her lip. "I haven't seen her yet today, but she was moving around last night. I couldn't get a clear look, but I'm sure her wounds weren't fatal or anything," she answered. Naruto would probably be worried about the girl, seeing as though he'd taken it upon himself to make sure she was safe for the night.

What ensued would hit Sakura hard. A replacement for Sasuke-kun? This Sai was claiming that they'd replaced Sasuke with him? She blinked once and swallowed hard, looking like she'd just been slapped in the face. Naruto seemed to be buying all this, which didn't say all that much for Sai's sincerity considering Naruto still thought the man behind all this was called Phil Atio, but Sasuke-kun remembered him, knew he'd apparently been replaced... She almost snapped at Sai that they would never allow Sasuke to be replaced but quickly caught wind of what he'd said earlier.

Friends... They'd been friends. A pang of guilt instantly coursed through her, and she was offering Sai an apologetic look, opening her mouth to voice it when Gaara suddenly appeared. His presence broke the somber mood as he accused Naruto of the same thing she had. Glad for the reprieve, Sakura smiled triumphantly at Naruto, as though Gaara's opinion validated the world in that moment.

"Thank you, Gaara," she agreed. "It's good that someone else knows where I'm coming from." Even though anyone with a brain at all could probably tell that Naruto was reckless within five minutes of meeting him. Maybe this was payback for the night before, even if the whole deal with Usagi probably hadn't been his fault.

[tte_bayo]

It was admittedly pretty hard to defend himself, since reckless behavior was usually the default, but Naruto lived on a plane that was often separate from reality. He strategically avoided The Look -- but when he heard that Usagi's condition was not exactly known, Naruto was visibly concerned. His arms folded over his chest thoughtfully, until Sai spoke again.

It seemed that Sakura was initially unsure about the revelation. He believed it if only for Sasuke, and considered Sai with an undecipherable stare. One the faltered when the other nin mentioned friendship. Was that true? A friend he couldn't remember?

That was-- sad. The blond frowned a little bit, and said: "I'm sorry..."

But was distracted when Gaara suddenly joined them, sitting down and commenting on his behavior with one word and nothing more. And Sakura just happened to agree so happily! Naruto glared a little bit in his direction, despite having been honestly concerned about Gaara just a few hours ago during the night.

With a dramatic harumph, Naruto seated himself next to Gaara noisily. He leaned one elbow on the table and stared him down while the sand-nin ate very calmly.

"Hey, Sai, would you happen to know anything about the Kazekage's status?"

[tsunagari]

Sai had actually been busy staring at the red-head in question, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. The Kazekage, of course, was a very recognizable figure. His image had been listed first in ROOT's records as a potentially dangerous individual, and now as the leader of the Sand Village. There was no mistaking the dark rings around the eyes, or the scar on the left side of his forehead. What were the people of this facility planning, bringing such people here?

His eyes flitted back to Naruto as the boy asked his question, which only served to confuse Sai further. The Kazekage's status?

"He... seems in good enough health to me," Sai answered, looking Gaara over again. Shouldn't Naruto simply have asked the other boy how he was? Unless he meant something else...

"I hadn't heard of the Kazekage being abducted," he went on to add, "unless it happened around the same time as my own abduction? As tight as security is in the Sand Village now, I wouldn't have thought anyone would be able to get away with replacing him with a fake."