Video Post - Back from Belly of the Beast
[The screen is still, blades of grass visible on the sides, as if the Hitomi has been tossed onto the ground. Broken light streaming through the treetops obscures anything beyond the grass, until even that is shadowed by a sudden drop of red. A shaking hand appears and feebly wipes it away, leaving a viridian smear.
Minato's face suddenly appears, ( Read more... )
Minato's face suddenly appears, ( Read more... )
[Gai had accepted that. He had believed him. Others were still struggling with their own issues about it, after all.... It wasn't so unusual a request, and he had been grateful at least that Minato was still in the village, if ostensibly unavailable. And so he had thrown himself into helping to keep the village running and together as best he could, hoped that Minato took up his rightful place once again, that he would return to them....]
[But not like this. Not like this! How had this happened? Had ( ... )
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Have a rather pissed off Kakashi.
At himself, more than anyone else. There's something a little off about him, though. He looks a little flushed above his mask, and his eye seems a little glazed. ]
Was no one watching him?
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I contacted him before! I had wanted to check in with him to help organize the people who were still here. And he answered! Yondaime-sama answered his Hitomi and said that he just needed some time alone to sort through his feelings, and he would be coming back to work shortly.... He had only seemed distressed, so I gave him the time he asked for.
[Just like he had given Kakashi what time he had asked for. It hadn't seemed as though it would do any harm, beyond putting a little more strain on the village--but then again, Gai had never been afraid of hard work, so....]
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No. That doesn't sound right. He wouldn't do that.
[ Pain.
It is flaring up and down his side, and his world is spinning when he stands, and everything is all cold and hot at once, but Kakashi is starting to move as well. He'd gotten sick about a week ago.
But it's nothing he can't deal with.
Even if everything hurts and his head is splitting and the ground keeps shifting under his feet.
He can deal with that later. ]
You didn't talk to him in person?
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[It had been.... confusing. Concerning. Gai had been worried and frustrated and maybe even a little hurt. But what could he have done? How should he have known to do anything differently, when he hadn't--still didn't--known was was going on? He didn't know Minato like Kakashi did--hardly knew him at all, beyond their time here. He'd just had to assume, had to hope for the best.... What had happened?]
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[ Kakashi curses lightly under his breath, and god, he is angry that he missed this. That he somehow didn't even know it was happening. (But how could he? He left the village.) ]
I'm not sure what's going on, Gai... but that doesn't sound like him at all.
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[Gai only shakes his head, frustrated. He doesn't know much about genjutsu, not nearly as much as Kakashi. And even if he had known, how could anyone make something like that out over the Hitomis? Should he have insisted on going to see him?]
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It doesn't sound like him at all. He isn't -- he wouldn't do that.
[ Kakashi is adamant about this. Minato would never abandon or put off duty in favor of tending to his own emotions. But if he was under the influence of genjutsu, it could have been possible -- however unlikely. Unless the gods had something to do with it. ]
Maybe the gods were tampering with him again. I don't know.
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[Gai doesn't like this at all; the gods tampering with Minato sounded more logical than he cared to admit, if rather nonsensical. But why would they do this? What reason could they have for touching Minato with such strange behavior,before he got attacked and showed up like this? Either way, it seems futile to waste their breath speculating further.]
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Minato holds back a moan and manages to roll himself off the Hitomi, clutching his ribs.]
Gai? Am-Am I home? [What happened? He's not sure. It's all so jumbled with the pain and the desperation. And he's in no state to think properly about cataloging his injuries.]
Badly. [He mutters.]
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[The scenery past Gai on the screen is a blur; he's running for the edge of Konoha. If Minato is hurt badly enough that even he thinks it's bad, then he must be in a very serious condition, and the dangers they're facing must be quite extraordinary indeed.] Yondaime-sama, please, I need your coordinates! Where are you?
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[ He knows Gai is far faster and stronger than he is, and would make better time than he would. So he doesn't tell him to stay back in the village. ]
I am en route there right now. I'll provide backup for you in the event that we are attacked. Hurry.
[ His fingers are already flicking through seals, for him to summon his pack. ]
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[Gai can only hope that it's safe to move Minato, whatever his injuries are; he'll probably be running all the way back, too. Unless Sakura meets him halfway.... But then, it would be safer to try and get them all back into the village, just in case whatever or whoever had hurt Minato tries to attack them all.... Gai blows out a noise of frustration, but focuses on pouring on the speed instead of worrying more.]
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I don't know. There's a tree.
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