Day 42: Tasty Burger [Evening]

[guyslikegames]

Okay, so it looked like there was no point in trying to get through a TV. It figured. It was either because their abilities were sealed off or the world inside the TV simply didn't exist here. It wouldn't have made much sense for the Head Doctor to bring them there when they had such an easy method of escaping/hiding out anyway. Yousuke told

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[toobothersome]

Whatever reservations the other two had about food were lost on Shikamaru, who set about diligently consuming the fries they'd both passed over. Not disgusting, not delicious, but most certainly food, which was his sole requirement at the moment. He listened to Sai, chewing as he tried to focus on the report. Night fell instantly. That didn't seem possible, and a glance out the nearby window confirmed that the sky was, most assuredly, a sky and not some kind of physical construction. Shikamaru was uniquely qualified to judge, but if asked, he would have said that further study was required.

So genjutsu was the most likely explanation. The magic here presented itself differently from that in his own world, but all such things, jutsu or not, shared similar functions: they either affected the physical world or the mental one, and it would be much easier to alter perceptions than to alter the physical world, especially when it came to the transformation of the hospital staff. He didn't voice his thoughts, partially because they seemed obvious and partially because his mouth was full, but he glanced to Kakashi to see if the man agreed. It didn't matter, since they were powerless to resist it and a strong enough genjutsu could affect the body as well.

The birds...those virgin-eating things Sakura had been so intent on killing? Fantastic. So, at best, that left Jiraiya and Kakashi as the only non-targets, unless he'd missed some titillating Konoha gossip, and with Ino on his team, that wasn't likely. Even Kakashi wasn't a certainty...he read a lot of smut, but Shikamaru had never seen him show interest in anyone. Jiraiya was a safe bet, though. Out of all of the women in Konoha, there had to be one who'd waited until after courtship to slap him.

Shikamaru sighed, reaching for another fry as he thought about the troublesome evening that might lie ahead of them, but then he paused to consider Sai's frown.

Sai'd been here for half a month, so it made sense that he would have been selected for one of Landel's little tests. Brainwashing didn't have many long-term effects on people unless they were the type to sit around blaming themselves for things that weren't their fault, and that seemed antithetical to Sai's nature. Maybe that was what he'd meant when he talked about losing his temper.

Whatever. It was irrelevant to the subject at hand. He popped the fry into his mouth and picked up another, maintaining concentration but waiting to hear the sober ninja's opinion before offering his own.

[lostonlifesroad]

Kakashi ignored his food for the moment, despite what intentions he'd had for the pair of ninja he brought to the restaurant. He could gulp down his own meal rather quickly if it came down to it. Right now, he wanted to give his focus to the account being told, and the ninja telling it. That turned out to be a good choice, since even Kakashi could have missed the change in Sai's expression otherwise.

...Okay, probably not when it was that obvious. But at the very least, his mouth wouldn't be full when the time came to reply.

"That could be a definite problem." Kakashi could take a fair guess at which of the ninja lacked 'immunity' from that particular monster. Trying to lighten the tense situation a bit, he let out a low chuckle. "I suppose it'd be the only time Jiraiya's love of women has really paid off for him." Unless he'd never actually managed to get a woman into bed. It was hard to tell when the sannin was exaggerating sometimes. But the scenes in the Icha Icha novels seemed convincing, and someone certainly would have pointed out if they were written by someone who didn't have a clue what they were talking about, right?

Of course, that was a train of thought Kakashi chose to stop right then. Somehow he doubted he could ever read those novels the same way if he pictured Jiraiya as the one doing those things. He'd try, but he wouldn't enjoy it. As much.

Back to the matter at hand. "We should prepare for that to happen again." Hopefully none of them would be taken; if he was honest with himself, even Kakashi would admit that he didn't want to give the possibility as much probability of happening as he probably should have. "It'll be important to make sure none of us are alone on the buses. I don't think it'll be too hard to manage that. Sai, you can try to find Sakura; it'll give you the chance to get her the vial before any chaos starts. Shikamaru, hopefully you'll be a bit less inebriated by then, so you try and find Naruto." Kakashi paused for a moment then, considering another name. "You could also look out for Sokka. It might not hurt to introduce those two." Naruto had a particular way of winning people over to his side, after all. He might be the most likely one to convince Sokka that they weren't so like the Fire Nation of their world. And even if it was just Shikamaru and Naruto, it would force Shikamaru into a leadership role. For better or worse, the chuunin couldn't give up on himself, and Kakashi wasn't going to give him much of an opportunity to.

"Which leaves me to find Jiraiya." Allowing Kakashi the opportunity to pass on confirmation about Itachi's death. While he knew it wouldn't remain a secret for long, the jounin didn't feel right passing the news along to the other ninja as if it were a rumor. Sasuke at least needed some time to grieve, and hopefully, tell the people who thought highest of him directly. Kakashi could wait until it became a tactical matter at the very least. "If all three of us get on different buses, we can look out for any other allies we have." Including the Uchiha, who would without doubt feel no appreciation for the consideration. "Then we can all regroup in the entry hall of the Institute."

They had the beginnings of a plan, though there was obviously much more to consider. Just how any of this was possible remained an ever-present question, and the answer was as illusive as always. And then, of course, was the possibility that they wouldn't be boarding the buses at all. Kakashi left that one unsaid for now; hopefully, Jiraiya's obsession with Renamon would ensure the sannin wasn't on his own in town. The same went with Naruto's and Sakura's preoccupation with Sasuke. Either way, if night did fall with the patients still in town, they'd have three goals: find each other, take whatever advantage they could of the situation, and above all else, survive.

[lostonlifesroad]

[Guys...I wrote this on my phone.]

With those details laid out, Kakashi gave Sai a glance, wondering just how much was being left unsaid in regards to his own experience. He could at least take a stab at the truth; guilt was practically drawn across Sai's face. "Anyone you fought in that state will forgive you, Sai--considering how long it's been, I'm sure they already have. Everyone knows by now that Special Counseling is total mind control. You weren't acting according to your own will then. When you are, you're protective of your companions--even if it doesn't exactly abide by whatever orders you might have. Right?"

Kakashi's grin was a friendly one, as if his statement couldn't possibly hint at his awareness of Sai's real mission as part of Team Kakashi: to keep an eye on Naruto. It ultimately wasn't something that mattered in the jounin's mind. Aside from what he'd been told, Kakashi had seen the truth when he talked to Sai about Naruto's having been taken. The conversation had been brief, but it had told Kakashi all he needed to know.

[tsunagari]

Sai schooled his face back into a neutral expression, then a sort of half smile. "It was Usopp, Luffy-kun, and his crew that I attacked. I might as well have never raised a hand against them from the way they acted later." Despite the stab wound he'd given their captain.

But this wasn't the current matter at hand. They hadn't come there to discuss his problems. He became completely serious again, glancing to Shikamaru and then back to Kakashi. I suspect that, whatever happens, Landel will try and catch us off guard. The first incident gave us no precedent to go on. The second went along normally despite patient paranoia. He has to know that there are still some of us around from the first trip. To have the exact same thing happen again would allow us to be too prepared." They could try and prepare themselves for any sort of danger and still be easily overwhelmed. None of them had their weapons, and who was to say that the citizens of town wouldn't go the way the nurses and orderlies had two weeks ago.

"I can only assume from what happened last night that we are in for a good deal of trouble." Blood on the walls right before an event like this couldn't be a good sign.

[toobothersome]

Still silent, Shikamaru listened to everything the other ninja were saying, sorting through the new information and cross-referencing it with what he'd observed at a much slower pace than usual. He didn't know if he was capable of the type of quick decisionmaking the situation might require, and the teams were less-than-ideal.

Aside from "not great," Shikamaru didn't have a solid read on Naruto's condition. To be honest with himself, which was a little easier now but no less unpleasant, he'd been avoiding the other boy. Sorting through his own emotions was bothersome enough, and considering all that Naruto had been through in the last few days, there was a chance he needed a type of support that Shikamaru wasn't eager to provide. Worse, at any moment, he could blurt out more news about the future of Konoha, and despite everyone else's senseless interest in the subject, Shikamaru was determined to ignore it.

So yeah, Shikamaru wasn't the greatest friend to have in a time of need. He considered that, picking at the bun of his nearly-finished cheeseburger, until he came to the conclusion that this wasn't the time to come to conclusions and refocused on the present. He'd find Naruto, maybe find Sokka, and come up with a way to keep everyone alive. That was all he needed to do. Anything else was a distraction.

Shikamaru took the final bite of his burger, watching the table as he thought, then picked up a plastic fork and slowly twirled it between his fingers to test his coordination. "If Sai's right, there's a good chance we might not make it to the buses," he said when the fork bounced off of the table's edge and hit the floor with a quiet click. Undaunted, he reached for the spoon. "I wasn't paying attention to the town's layout. Are there any stores with stuff we could use for weapons? Any dead-end streets?" He hadn't seen a map, but Sai had been here before and Kakashi had spent the day in another part of town. Between the two of them, there should be something useful.

When the spoon fell as well, he picked it up and tried again. There was no way to speed up the process, but at least he could monitor his condition.