Nightshift 49: M1-M10 Hallway

[oftemptation]

[from here and outside M4.]

"Haseo?" Endrance knocked once, having finally seemed to learn his lesson about just walking into M4 without knocking or stating his identity first. Once he'd knocked, though, the nerves really set in. What if Haseo wasn't there? What if he'd been taken again? What if --

Stop. Stop that line of thought. He said he

Comments

M3

[toobothersome]

Sprawled across his bed with his dinner barely touched, Shikamaru tapped his pen against the blank page of his journal. It was a nervous habit, he knew, but not his nervous habit--he didn't have nervous habits, since they required a type of anxiety that had never been part of his personality. There were times he could have remained calmer, sure, but they were all matters of life and death, usually not his life and death, and never matters of pens and paper.

Though, in a less immediate manner, this was a matter of life of death too. Hence the appropriation of nervous habits. He switched to chewing the end of his pen, which was equally ineffective. There was no point in assuming his usual thinking position--he'd thought this through already. Now, it was just a matter of choosing words.

Regardless of the likelihood of success, he tested, it's essential that the others believe their given tasks will ultimately lead to a return to Konoha, and it's essential that they're constantly under orders. A perceived lack of leadership drives them to work independently, often recklessly and sometimes alone.

Shikamaru tore out the page, crumpled it, and chucked it into the wastebasket where it joined the others he'd penned during dinner. There was no way to do his without sounding insolent, especially since he hadn't been asked for a report. Again, he rubbed his head--the worst of the headache had passed once he'd decided on his course of action, but its residue remained, blurring the lights and causing a vague sense of vertigo and nausea.

When the intercom crackled and darkness flooded the room, he reached for his flashlight and pushed the switch forward. Maybe if he moved quickly enough, he could make it to Kakashi's room and talk about this in person before Sakura showed up. Not ideal, but nothing about this situation was ideal.

[to here]