[Voice]
[The Forge clicks on with the ease of someone’s who has used it before, who still remembers, who couldn’t forget if he tried. There is no scuffle of feet against the ground, oh no, but there’s the wind whispering against the microphone, suggesting movement, quick movement. Quiet movement.
[Going home didn’t change much.]
Again.
[Surprise, but it's a familiar surprise, one he's experienced a few times before, and yet, still he only comes up with one word. A single word with a hundred possibilities. Again, he’s here. Again, these buildings. Again, he’s kidnapped to another damn world. Again, he’s playing out the role he thought he left behind when he went home.]
If you want me, you know where to find me.
[Because, above all else? He remembers the apartment. He remembers what has happened there, remembers who had lived here. Oh, yeah, Sasuke’s come back. Maybe not home, maybe he won’t call it that, and maybe -certainly-he’s angry, but he’s here, all the same.]
Private to Itachi
[A long pause; going back has reminded him of what it’s like without his brother, with only a ghost and memories. He feels as if mourning and angry are the only thing he knows, the only thing he’s good at; he has had enough practice for a thousand years.]
Itachi. If you are still here, then...
[He trails off. Respond was what he wants to say. It is. But...]
I remember this.
[Going home didn’t change much.]
Again.
[Surprise, but it's a familiar surprise, one he's experienced a few times before, and yet, still he only comes up with one word. A single word with a hundred possibilities. Again, he’s here. Again, these buildings. Again, he’s kidnapped to another damn world. Again, he’s playing out the role he thought he left behind when he went home.]
If you want me, you know where to find me.
[Because, above all else? He remembers the apartment. He remembers what has happened there, remembers who had lived here. Oh, yeah, Sasuke’s come back. Maybe not home, maybe he won’t call it that, and maybe -certainly-he’s angry, but he’s here, all the same.]
Private to Itachi
[A long pause; going back has reminded him of what it’s like without his brother, with only a ghost and memories. He feels as if mourning and angry are the only thing he knows, the only thing he’s good at; he has had enough practice for a thousand years.]
Itachi. If you are still here, then...
[He trails off. Respond was what he wants to say. It is. But...]
I remember this.