[log, action thread] Dango doesn't heal the soul [Open]
It was evening, making the sky get almost gray. Aki stumbled a bit, blinking in a bleary fashion. It was hard to see...even to just move or think. He looked around. The guards at the gate had dug up a pair of old pants for him - which was more than he had had in months. He licked his lips, ignoring the traces of blood and dirt. How long had he been just aimlessly wandering after...that woman's subordinates had dumped him. He wasn't even sure how long he'd spent with Orochimayu, not that most of it he could remember.
He could remember pain - lots of it - and her mocking laughter.
Aki felt awful. And one of the things he did when he felt awful was drink. It didn't sound a bad idea.
He stumbled into the first bar he found - hair wild, eyes heavily underlined, face drawn. He was bruised and cut in a hundred or more different places - covered with mud and dirt. He knew he was probably needing a shave badly. He didn't know how thin he looked or how much like a walking corpse he resembled as he staggered to the counter.
"...I need a beer." he said in a hoarse voice. "...and dango."
Might as well eat too.
It had been a while since the last time she'd hit a bar - a few weeks, as a matter of fact, not since the last time she'd been out with Kakami and Kureno - and she didn't really like drinking alone. Not that she didn't; afterall, there was always a six pack in her fridge. But there was something different from getting drunk in the privacy of your own home and getting drunk in a rowdy crowd of friends. And considering where she was, she was bound to run into someone she knew. And fuck knew she needed a drink.
Asuka could have expected Aki, when pushing into the bar and letting her eyes adjust to the light. Aki was a barhopper, after all. She just didn't expect him in such... bad shape.
The jounin made her way toward the bar, weaving between tables and other patrons, coming up next to the younger man. She hesitated touching him, because damn... how messed up was he to come into a bar like this?
"... Aki?" she asked, not quite hesitant but certainly concerned.
Aki turned and then gave a weak grin. "Hey..." He looked at her more. "Asuka."
He was leaning against the counter, more to hold himself up than anything else. "This guy won't give me a beer." He nodded to the bartended in a slightly hazy way
Took him a second to remember her name, didn't it? Either he was dead drunk already, which would explain his appearence (Aki wasn't unknown for sleeping off his alcohol in ditches), or something was even more wrong.
Frowning slightly in consternation, she parked herself at the bar next to him, folding her arms on the counter but not sitting. "How much have you had to drink already?"
"Nothin'..." Aki grimaced. "That's what he said. I haven't had jack shit for..." the man paused, counting on his hands. "Nothing for days...maybe a week." There'd been that stream around and he'd tried to follow it for as long as he could. "Nothin' eat neither...bastard won't give me some fuckin' dango like I asked -whoa..." he gripped the counter and pulled himself up again.
It was an automatic reflex to reach out and grab the man's arm to help steady him, but she stopped just shy of actually doing so. Her brows furrowed further at his words. Days? Good grief, how did he get like this then?
"Sit down, then," she said - almost ordered. She wasn't the mothering type in the least, but she knew a problem when she saw it. "Hey jackass - " this was directed to the bartender - "just get some goddamn dango, would you?" Meat would be better than sweets, but the carbohydrates would boost him long enough to get him someplace else. Maybe home. Better the hospital.
The bartender gave her a scathing look for her words, but got the requested item. He did not bring any beer, but that was probably for the better.
Aki managed to climb onto a stool, yelping and then cursing when he knocked his bad wrist. Orochimayu had snapped it and then it'd never been set. It would probably have to rebroken Aki realized glumly, so it could be set right. His glumness instantly dissapeared as he was given the dango. Ten sticks were gone in the matter of a few minutes, although Aki nearly choked several times with how fast he stuffed his mouth.
She watched in silence, perched on the edge of the stool next to him as he snarfed the dango down like a starving man - which he probably was. Multiple scenarios were mulled over, most involving missions... but it didn't make sense. Those weren't the kind of pants he would wear, for one (Aki was almost as picky as Kureno when it came to attire), and for two... what would make him come back from a mission like this?
"... so." Asuka resisted the urge to pull the food away from him when he started choking on it. "How come you haven't eaten in so long?"
"She wouldn't let me." he said through a mouthful and then swallowed. Now he just felt ill. "...Don't supose I could get some water or they ain't servin' that either...?"
"Water," she called as an aside to the bartender, and looked back to Aki. "She who?"
This was starting to seem worse and worse. Had to be mission related. Torture, maybe? Interrogation? Had to be if it involved food deprivation.
The bartended arrived with a glass of water. "Don't drink it so fast," Asuka warned him. Not that he'd listen, she suspected.
Aki drank it down thirstily - but no where near as fast as he wanted. When he put the glass down, he stared at the countertop. He felt ill. A hand came up to cover his seal. "...Thought she was gonna starve me to death but it ain't her way really, y'know?"
"No," she agreed slowly. "What is more her way?"
"...Bloody stuff." He murmured, voice soft and almost a little sad. "She thought it was beautiful; represented life." There was a pause. "...Asuka, I don't feel so great..."
He turned and vomited the dango and water he'd just downed, then threatened to fall off the stool after it as his body wavered.
This time she did grab him by the arm, keeping him from keeling off the stool. The bartender and other patrons muttered their disgust, but she ignored them, slipping off her own stool and fighting to support the taller man at the same time.
The way he had touched his old curse seal made her uneasy. This was not a tack she liked; not at all. If this involved Orochimayu...
"Hey," she said, fairly gently but also firmly. "Let's get you out of here, huh? Get you something better than dango." She was short enough that getting an arm over her shoulders wouldn't be too difficult, but she sure hoped he wouldn't pass out. Dragging him would be a pain in the ass.
As an afterthought, she dug some cash out of her pocket - didn't bother counting it - and slapped it down on the counter before looping his arm over her shoulders. "C'mon. This place sucks anyway."
The bartender gave her a dirty look as he mopped up the mess. She ignored him.
Aki leaned against her as she got him out of the bar. "I'll pay ya back..." he muttered. "Not supposed to let the girl pay..." He gave an odd sort of laugh.
Everything felt all hollow and empty again. He still felt sick, although vomiting had helped. Aki blinked, trying for the hundreth time to get the haze to go away. And like all the other times it didn't work. "Hey...Asuka...hey, where are we going?"
Good question. His place wasn't all that far away, but he needed more than just a little sleep. If Orochimayu was involved, he'd need the Hokage to double check the seal and make sure nothing else was wrong with him. The hospital was farther away, but... necessary.
"To get you a nice bed," she said. Or lied; hospital beds weren't that great. "Maybe a shower. Make you feel better, I'd bet."
"Yeah...bed...bed is good." He leaned a little more on her and took a slightly ragged breath. "Hey..."
Had anyone been looking for him? He wanted to ask but didn't know how too. It seemed a rather stupid thing to want to know. Although he couldn't imagine a three month absence with no word being ignored by Ibiki unless something majorly fucked up had happened. "Whas...been going on?"
"Same old same old," she lied again. Safe small talk was what he needed, not details about the attack or whatever other morbid or depressing tales that were floating around. "Getting missions, getting drunk, attempting getting laid and failing. Watching other people be stupid."
Geez he was heavy. Should have been heavier, though. A lot heavier. From the way the pants were about ready to fall off his hips, the pants agreed with her. "Where the hell have you been, anyway? That's one long mission you've been on, man."
He laughed, hoarsely and bitterly. "Oh yeah, fucking long mission." He laughed again, as if amused about some private joke.
If anyone had told her Aki was a little cracked in the head, Asuka's response would have been, 'No duh.' This, though, was far more cracked than usual.
"How'd it go?" Perhaps trying a different angle to get him to talk about what the hell had happened would work...
"Just fine." Aki said with a slightly off kilter grin. "Went smooooooth." He laughed again.
...
... So much for that.
In between staggering down the road and trying not to drop the taller man, the hospital managed to actually get closer, though it took far too long for that to happen. Soon enough they'd actually be there, and then maybe Asuka could send word to the Hokage. Or at least to Ibiki; she'd definitely need to know where Aki had been.
And hopefully Aki wouldn't fight the hospital idea too much.
"This ain't my neighborhood." Aki said after a few minutes. "Dammit, I fucking miss my bed. Where are we going, Asuka? Not another bathroom?"
"That was a bar we were just at," she replied, ignoring his first question as they plodded down the street. "Not a bathroom." She'd already been caught in a bathroom with him once; it was an experience that didn't need repeating (much as he might say otherwise).
"Yeah, okay." Aki grinned sloppily but it faded. "Serious, Asuka. This isn't my place. Where are we going?" He stiffened a tad, feet starting to slow.
Here we go. Now she'd get to find out if he was really going to put up a fight or if he was too weak (judging from his reaction to eating that much dango so quickly) to do much more than whine about it.
"The hospital," she sighed.
"Nah...don't need it. Want my own place." he protested, stopping and then pulling away from her.
It caused him to stumble back, nearly making him fall on the dirt road.
He slipped away faster than she had expected - and the grime on his skin didn't exactly make him easy to grab hold of. Asuka managed to keep a hold on his wrist, though, managed to keep him from falling flat on his ass. The wrist felt too small in her grasp; he really was too thin.
"Aki, seriously," she started, exasperated. "You need more than just shower and sleep. You need - " an IV, a doctor's examination, some sedatives " - need some attention. I'm not a fucking nurse, so I'm taking you to someone who is."
[[Anyone wanna help drag him the rest of the way in?]]
He could remember pain - lots of it - and her mocking laughter.
Aki felt awful. And one of the things he did when he felt awful was drink. It didn't sound a bad idea.
He stumbled into the first bar he found - hair wild, eyes heavily underlined, face drawn. He was bruised and cut in a hundred or more different places - covered with mud and dirt. He knew he was probably needing a shave badly. He didn't know how thin he looked or how much like a walking corpse he resembled as he staggered to the counter.
"...I need a beer." he said in a hoarse voice. "...and dango."
Might as well eat too.
It had been a while since the last time she'd hit a bar - a few weeks, as a matter of fact, not since the last time she'd been out with Kakami and Kureno - and she didn't really like drinking alone. Not that she didn't; afterall, there was always a six pack in her fridge. But there was something different from getting drunk in the privacy of your own home and getting drunk in a rowdy crowd of friends. And considering where she was, she was bound to run into someone she knew. And fuck knew she needed a drink.
Asuka could have expected Aki, when pushing into the bar and letting her eyes adjust to the light. Aki was a barhopper, after all. She just didn't expect him in such... bad shape.
The jounin made her way toward the bar, weaving between tables and other patrons, coming up next to the younger man. She hesitated touching him, because damn... how messed up was he to come into a bar like this?
"... Aki?" she asked, not quite hesitant but certainly concerned.
Aki turned and then gave a weak grin. "Hey..." He looked at her more. "Asuka."
He was leaning against the counter, more to hold himself up than anything else. "This guy won't give me a beer." He nodded to the bartended in a slightly hazy way
Took him a second to remember her name, didn't it? Either he was dead drunk already, which would explain his appearence (Aki wasn't unknown for sleeping off his alcohol in ditches), or something was even more wrong.
Frowning slightly in consternation, she parked herself at the bar next to him, folding her arms on the counter but not sitting. "How much have you had to drink already?"
"Nothin'..." Aki grimaced. "That's what he said. I haven't had jack shit for..." the man paused, counting on his hands. "Nothing for days...maybe a week." There'd been that stream around and he'd tried to follow it for as long as he could. "Nothin' eat neither...bastard won't give me some fuckin' dango like I asked -whoa..." he gripped the counter and pulled himself up again.
It was an automatic reflex to reach out and grab the man's arm to help steady him, but she stopped just shy of actually doing so. Her brows furrowed further at his words. Days? Good grief, how did he get like this then?
"Sit down, then," she said - almost ordered. She wasn't the mothering type in the least, but she knew a problem when she saw it. "Hey jackass - " this was directed to the bartender - "just get some goddamn dango, would you?" Meat would be better than sweets, but the carbohydrates would boost him long enough to get him someplace else. Maybe home. Better the hospital.
The bartender gave her a scathing look for her words, but got the requested item. He did not bring any beer, but that was probably for the better.
Aki managed to climb onto a stool, yelping and then cursing when he knocked his bad wrist. Orochimayu had snapped it and then it'd never been set. It would probably have to rebroken Aki realized glumly, so it could be set right. His glumness instantly dissapeared as he was given the dango. Ten sticks were gone in the matter of a few minutes, although Aki nearly choked several times with how fast he stuffed his mouth.
She watched in silence, perched on the edge of the stool next to him as he snarfed the dango down like a starving man - which he probably was. Multiple scenarios were mulled over, most involving missions... but it didn't make sense. Those weren't the kind of pants he would wear, for one (Aki was almost as picky as Kureno when it came to attire), and for two... what would make him come back from a mission like this?
"... so." Asuka resisted the urge to pull the food away from him when he started choking on it. "How come you haven't eaten in so long?"
"She wouldn't let me." he said through a mouthful and then swallowed. Now he just felt ill. "...Don't supose I could get some water or they ain't servin' that either...?"
"Water," she called as an aside to the bartender, and looked back to Aki. "She who?"
This was starting to seem worse and worse. Had to be mission related. Torture, maybe? Interrogation? Had to be if it involved food deprivation.
The bartended arrived with a glass of water. "Don't drink it so fast," Asuka warned him. Not that he'd listen, she suspected.
Aki drank it down thirstily - but no where near as fast as he wanted. When he put the glass down, he stared at the countertop. He felt ill. A hand came up to cover his seal. "...Thought she was gonna starve me to death but it ain't her way really, y'know?"
"No," she agreed slowly. "What is more her way?"
"...Bloody stuff." He murmured, voice soft and almost a little sad. "She thought it was beautiful; represented life." There was a pause. "...Asuka, I don't feel so great..."
He turned and vomited the dango and water he'd just downed, then threatened to fall off the stool after it as his body wavered.
This time she did grab him by the arm, keeping him from keeling off the stool. The bartender and other patrons muttered their disgust, but she ignored them, slipping off her own stool and fighting to support the taller man at the same time.
The way he had touched his old curse seal made her uneasy. This was not a tack she liked; not at all. If this involved Orochimayu...
"Hey," she said, fairly gently but also firmly. "Let's get you out of here, huh? Get you something better than dango." She was short enough that getting an arm over her shoulders wouldn't be too difficult, but she sure hoped he wouldn't pass out. Dragging him would be a pain in the ass.
As an afterthought, she dug some cash out of her pocket - didn't bother counting it - and slapped it down on the counter before looping his arm over her shoulders. "C'mon. This place sucks anyway."
The bartender gave her a dirty look as he mopped up the mess. She ignored him.
Aki leaned against her as she got him out of the bar. "I'll pay ya back..." he muttered. "Not supposed to let the girl pay..." He gave an odd sort of laugh.
Everything felt all hollow and empty again. He still felt sick, although vomiting had helped. Aki blinked, trying for the hundreth time to get the haze to go away. And like all the other times it didn't work. "Hey...Asuka...hey, where are we going?"
Good question. His place wasn't all that far away, but he needed more than just a little sleep. If Orochimayu was involved, he'd need the Hokage to double check the seal and make sure nothing else was wrong with him. The hospital was farther away, but... necessary.
"To get you a nice bed," she said. Or lied; hospital beds weren't that great. "Maybe a shower. Make you feel better, I'd bet."
"Yeah...bed...bed is good." He leaned a little more on her and took a slightly ragged breath. "Hey..."
Had anyone been looking for him? He wanted to ask but didn't know how too. It seemed a rather stupid thing to want to know. Although he couldn't imagine a three month absence with no word being ignored by Ibiki unless something majorly fucked up had happened. "Whas...been going on?"
"Same old same old," she lied again. Safe small talk was what he needed, not details about the attack or whatever other morbid or depressing tales that were floating around. "Getting missions, getting drunk, attempting getting laid and failing. Watching other people be stupid."
Geez he was heavy. Should have been heavier, though. A lot heavier. From the way the pants were about ready to fall off his hips, the pants agreed with her. "Where the hell have you been, anyway? That's one long mission you've been on, man."
He laughed, hoarsely and bitterly. "Oh yeah, fucking long mission." He laughed again, as if amused about some private joke.
If anyone had told her Aki was a little cracked in the head, Asuka's response would have been, 'No duh.' This, though, was far more cracked than usual.
"How'd it go?" Perhaps trying a different angle to get him to talk about what the hell had happened would work...
"Just fine." Aki said with a slightly off kilter grin. "Went smooooooth." He laughed again.
...
... So much for that.
In between staggering down the road and trying not to drop the taller man, the hospital managed to actually get closer, though it took far too long for that to happen. Soon enough they'd actually be there, and then maybe Asuka could send word to the Hokage. Or at least to Ibiki; she'd definitely need to know where Aki had been.
And hopefully Aki wouldn't fight the hospital idea too much.
"This ain't my neighborhood." Aki said after a few minutes. "Dammit, I fucking miss my bed. Where are we going, Asuka? Not another bathroom?"
"That was a bar we were just at," she replied, ignoring his first question as they plodded down the street. "Not a bathroom." She'd already been caught in a bathroom with him once; it was an experience that didn't need repeating (much as he might say otherwise).
"Yeah, okay." Aki grinned sloppily but it faded. "Serious, Asuka. This isn't my place. Where are we going?" He stiffened a tad, feet starting to slow.
Here we go. Now she'd get to find out if he was really going to put up a fight or if he was too weak (judging from his reaction to eating that much dango so quickly) to do much more than whine about it.
"The hospital," she sighed.
"Nah...don't need it. Want my own place." he protested, stopping and then pulling away from her.
It caused him to stumble back, nearly making him fall on the dirt road.
He slipped away faster than she had expected - and the grime on his skin didn't exactly make him easy to grab hold of. Asuka managed to keep a hold on his wrist, though, managed to keep him from falling flat on his ass. The wrist felt too small in her grasp; he really was too thin.
"Aki, seriously," she started, exasperated. "You need more than just shower and sleep. You need - " an IV, a doctor's examination, some sedatives " - need some attention. I'm not a fucking nurse, so I'm taking you to someone who is."
[[Anyone wanna help drag him the rest of the way in?]]