voice/video; nov 20

[hatedriven]

[the feed clicks on to voice at first, the rustling sound of cloth as someone prepares to make a post. the voice that starts speaking is low, curt, businesslike and impatient.]

Are-

[however it doesn't get farther than that, and the video is unceremoniously clicked on as somebody flings open one of shibusen's doors. with way too much force. so

Comments

action

[hatedriven]

[he blames it on the shock of suddenly being back, and unable to keep his thoughts as focused as he usually had them. he blames the burning urge and rushed attempt he'd made to send out a broadcast. there's no other way he'd have ended up in this position. but what happened had happened and Sasuke stared coldly back up at Naruto for a long hard moment, a wide bandage wrapped across his chest and right shoulder under his open shirt, one that stretched more obviously as he reached over to click off the communicator as though running into Naruto this way had happened every day for the last three years.]

action like a boss!

[ramenandawesome]

[ what are words. how do i brain. there are a thousand things naruto had though to say, to do, when he finally reached sasuke. when he'd run through that base with is heart hammering wildly against his chest. the terror, anticipation, urgency that spurred him from room to room- flinging doors open with reckless abandon. shouting sasuke's name at the top of his lungs.

but here- in this place-

naruto doesn't move from the doorway. seemingly rooted in place. was this- was this really- happening? ]

[hatedriven]

[Sasuke straightens with the grace of a snake, slow and eerie, and tucks the communicator away. the broadcast will have to wait. but black eyes lift to Naruto's face, taking in the sight of him. the years they had been gone and apart seemed so much longer here and now. here in Death City. a place he thought he might have dreamed up in some drug induced delirium. there were many things Sasuke could say. instead, he advised:]

Close your mouth.

[ramenandawesome]

[ everything about him is different. it's in the way sasuke moves, the way he speaks, the way he carries himself- but for all of it, naruto is still stunned into paralysis. how long had he been looking? how hard had he pushed himself to- to reach this moment? ]

Sasuke. You're really-

[hatedriven]

[he lifts his chin, a practiced reaction, an arrogance he's developed that outmatches what he showed in his youth.]

You haven't grown much. [he lies, and his gaze drops, gives Naruto an appraising once over, an attempt to elicit a reaction he will know what to do with.] Did you get taller at all?

[ramenandawesome]

You...

[ramenandawesome]

You're still a bastard.

[hatedriven]

Hn.

[ramenandawesome]

[ naruto still doesn't know what to expect, not out of either of them- but the feeling remains heavy in his stomach. they'd been so close to finding him- so close to taking him back from orochimaru- and then without warning they were both-

here. naruto can't quite bring himself to look away for fear that the moment he does, everything will be gone. because he can handle a sasuke that doesn't remember death city, as long as he has sasuke there at all. ]

Do you know where we are?

[hatedriven]

[Sasuke hasn't broken eye contact either, and the reason isn't all that different from Naruto's. he remembered everything, and returning to his path of destruction- it had been more about survival than anything else. but there's no easy smile, just that hard look.]

Still asking stupid questions. [and finally his expression changes, almost a softening, a slight hooding of eyes. maybe this Naruto, doesn't know anything.] Do you?

[ramenandawesome]

[ only then does it feel safe enough to look away, and like an exhale, his relief is heavy in the air. instead of turning from his friend's gaze however, naruto of course, only meets it. ]

Like I'd forget.

[hatedriven]

Considering the things you do forget.

[a jibe that would have sounded more teasing if it didn't come out so flat and seemingly uncaring, but the defensive curl of Sasuke's hands relaxes.]

[ramenandawesome]

I remember what's important'ttebayo.

[ okay so maybe his tone could've sounded more like rising to the bait if the tone didn't come out, you know. a little defensive in return. ]

[hatedriven]

[Sasuke struggles for a moment, torn between what he remembers, the relationship they'd patched up in this city only to be thrown back into their own world, the hatred and revenge he'd been forced back on. the slightest crease mars his brow. he can't quite find that playful banter they used to engage in, and it leaves him floundering.]

Hn.

[ramenandawesome]

[ maybe because naruto is always at his best when the people he's with are at a loss, or maybe because naruto himself doesn't contemplate the seriousness of the situation. either way, he closes the distance between them with a certainty he doesn't question. the same certainty he feels when he thinks of their bond.

-and once he's in range, naruto throws a punch. waits for it to be caught. ]

[hatedriven]

[with reflexes so fast the movement would have been missed if Naruto blinks, Sasuke's hand snaps up and he catches that punch in his palm- fingers immediately curling in a bruisingly hard, iron-tight grip. whatever uncertainty might have been in his eyes before winked out, replaced with the cold hard gaze of someone desensitized to violence.]