there is such a thing as an unflattering light [open]

[haruno]

Sakura figured she should probably be more annoyed than she was, crossing her arms and staring down the statue of her that was, consequentially, also crossing its arms and staring her down. Life imitating art was usually an expression she'd heard, not something she'd expressly seen. (Given the artists she knew, art wasn't even something held back

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[haruno]

The statue was changing again, even as she felt herself raising an eyebrow at his response to what she hadn't finished saying. All things considered, be barely knew her. She wondered what about the thought bothered him, what it could possibly remind him of.

"I mind," she said, "But it wasn't displaying for anyone other than me before you came in. Even then, it's not like you get a lot of context for what's going on. Like with the bamboo forest?" She blinked, feeling herself color a little as she recognized the scene the new statue was temporarily immortalizing.

Sakura tried to make her turn toward Marco look natural, sincerely hoping he wouldn't look back at the statue display right now. Where Naruto and Sai and Kakashi had all been willing to let her gaffe with Konohamaru's man on man sexy no jutsu pass, she had a strong feeling Marco wouldn't be as inclined to ignore it as they were.

"Look, I realize you couldn't have known about the whole... puppet thing. I was overreacting, and I apologize for that. I shouldn't lash out at people over things like that." Please don't look. "If you want, you can still use the stupid--" annoying, bothersome, but less offensive now than it had been, "--nickname. Barbie or Doctor Barbie, or whatever it is. I believe you about the pink."

She smiled. Please, please don't look back at the statues right now. Keeping her attention on him, she hoped he'd likewise keep his attention on her.

[livestoannoy]

Marco blinked in surprise. "Seriously?" he said, doubtful. "You don't mind, even though it's a doll?"

Sakura's luck was in - Marco was startled enough by the fact that Sakura was apparently now fine with the nickname that had made her punch him in the face the other day that he didn't look back at the statue.

Or at least...not immediately. Was Sakura blushing? Okay, as much as he'd like to think that she was blushing because she was talking to him and he was just that cute, but it didn't really make sense considering what they were talking about. Unless it was something about the statue...

Instinctively, Marco started to turn to look back at the statue again.

[haruno]

A little more heat rose in her face as he started turning, and she moved forward to take hold of him and bring his attention right back on her. "I can get past the doll thing. If you're stupid enough to think I'm anything like one, you'll be asking for whatever you get."

Wait. That sounded like more of a threat than it actually was, if at the same time she was serious about it. (Whoops.) "I believe you really did mean it just for the color of the whole stupid store. Girls and pink, barbie and pink, I guess it makes sense. I still don't know why you keep focusing on my hair color like this, but it beats the nicknames I had growing up."

Another awkward smile. He damn well better be distracted by now.

[livestoannoy]

Once again Marco was left blinking at her, as he found himself being spun around. Why the hell was she spending to much time going on about this...

Realisation hit Marco, and a slow grin crept over his face. "There's something embarrassing on the statues behind me, isn't there?" he said, teasing.

[haruno]

"I'm bad at apologies, that's all!" She willed the heat from her face, letting go of him to shake her head and dismiss his accusation with a wave of her hand. "I don't make them that often."

Surprisingly true. Sakura tried not to do things she had to apologize for -- and when she did, it had too often been to people who refused to hear out an apology from her.

Time to switch topics, if the one that came to her was actually something that struck her the longer she looked at him. "Did you cut your hair?" He seemed different, but it was hard to place how. It might have been her imagination, looking for anything to latch on to to pull the focus off herself.

[livestoannoy]

"Sure," Marco said, still grinning and not believing it one bit. "Apology accepted. But you don't have to worry, I won't look. See?" He brought up his hands, covering his eyes. "Your deep dark and incredibly embarrassing secrets can stay hidden. Although if it's like, you going skinny dipping or something, I'd like to state that letting me see that would totally make up for punching me in the face."

Unknown to Marco though, the scene was already changing: an alien creature, only about at tall as a gazelle appeared. The statue was still, yet the creature's gait indicated that it was at full speed, and running very fast. But down beside one of it's hind leg was something else: a cobra, uncoiled and at the moment where it was about to sink it's teeth into the creature's leg.

Meanwhile, Marco had opened his fingers an inch and was peeking at Sakura through them with one eye. "Uh, no, I haven't."

[haruno]

He was helping her switch mood rapidly, if she doubted that had anything to do with intent on his part, and everything to do with just being who he was. Eyes narrowed, she frowned and straightened up in indignation. "Don't be a pervert! I thought you said you don't like getting punched in the face."

His response had her furrowing her brow, just a little. She was riding on her indignation high at the moment. "No? I thought... Nevermind." She had to be seeing things. Had the statue changed yet?

She peeked past Marco -- and both her eyebrows shot up. "Orochima -- no, I definitely don't remember anything like that happening." As much as snakes brought several people to mind (Orochimaru, and then Sasuke-kun), there was nothing on her world like the creature running away. Not that she'd ever heard of, making it improbable that this was based on any memory of her own.

[livestoannoy]

Marco just laughed. Despite what she said, it didn't seem like she was really offended. (Especially since if past experience was anything to go by, her typical response to real offense was to bring out her fists straight away). "You'd be nice to look at though," he said, mischievous.

He was distracted from his teasing though - the statue had changed? Marco spun round, and suddenly found himself face to face with a familiar scene. This was one of his memories.

Marco didn't feel like laughing anymore. "No, this is one of mine," he said, his throat feeling a little dry.

[haruno]

She did smack him on the arm for that comment, even if her focus didn't shift from the statue. "Real funny," was anything but sincere, as she didn't much appreciate what she figured was teasing for the sake of it.

His claiming of the statue gave her pause. She'd guessed, if at the same time...

"Were you the snake?" It was a quieter question, subdued from before. Snakes haven't done a lot of good in her life, let alone the poisonous ones. Seeing the moment before a strike brought back memories she didn't want to remember. Ones she also didn't want whatever this was displaying in turn.

Sakura shivered, not noticing how she moved her arms up to cross over her chest, shifting the book to be in the middle of it.

[livestoannoy]

"Yeah, the snake's me," he nodded. "You know, there's gotta be other stuff here, right? Let's go look at some other stuff," Marco said turning around and starting to walk away form the statue.

"Preferably something that won't start poking around in my head," he added darkly.

[haruno]

It was a hall full of artwork. Of course there were other things to see, but he knew that. If he wanted to be away from this so badly, she could respect that, too.

Even if it made her frown as she moved toward the books piled on the floor. She knelt down, collecting them as she examined the statue once more. Poison wasn't something to take lightly.

She, better than many a person, knew that.

Catching up to Marco, she balanced the books against herself. "You could offer to help out, you know," she said mildly, not really caring. This wasn't anything she was concerned about carrying for a long period of time. Sakura hesitated before asking something she expected him to leave unanswered.

"Who was it?"

[livestoannoy]

"Hey, I had to drag those all the way here from home you know. And I don't have super strength," Marco said, though he still took a couple of the books from her.

"A Garatron," he answered. Now that he was away from the statue and it couldn't reach inside his brain anymore, Marco was a lot calmer. Fact was, it hadn't been the memory itself that had agitated him. "Very, very fast. Hell, that thing could outrun a cheetah, and that's the fastest land animal on Earth. Cobra morph was pretty much the only thing that could strike fast enough to take it down."

[haruno]

She snorted, not correcting him on his assumption. At least not right now. Using chakra to augment anything over the weight of these books? Not only a waste, but ridiculous. "It's called endurance. You should work on that." She half smiled, expression turning more neutral as she listened.

The way he was talking about morphs now reminded her again of the differences. How could one shape be more effective than the other? Were they all based on capitalizing on an animal's traits?

Or had he been telling the truth those months ago, when it came to literally becoming those animals?

"Why did you need to?" If he'd answered one question, she might as well see how long he'd answer anything. Sakura was curious by nature, if she tried to be respectful of other people's boundaries -- and privacy.

[livestoannoy]

"Why did you need to fight the puppet guy?" Marco countered. "He was the enemy, and he was a threat. If we hadn't taken him down, he would have taken us down."

Kill or be killed. The rule of nature, and the rule of war. No bloodless alternatives, no morally safe options. No matter the choice, someone would die. In the end, it always boiled down to you or them.

[haruno]

"It was a question," Sakura said, looking at him oddly. "Not an accusation. You don't have to justify the why to me."

Nevermind that she'd asked about the why. Being an enemy was one thing, and inevitably, there were many of those. Naruto had a knack for making them listen, for changing their minds -- but even back home, only he really did.

"How often did you have to make those kinds of calls?"

[livestoannoy]

"You asked why," Marco pointed out. "How often did you did need to fight someone?" he said, choosing again to counter a question with a question.

He liked Sakura, sure, but he didn't want to tell her about the war. About the Yeerks. He still had that card, and he was going to hold it close to his chest.