[action log] Himorogi pick-up

[geotaint]

Who: Cloud Strife, Kakashi
Where/When: Himorogi, evening on the 26th
Status: Closed
Style: Action
Warnings: Just a little bad language from Cloud!

Comments

[ura_no_ura]

[ And Kakashi wasn't good at being on time. He rarely ever was. But he tries to be on time now. Twenty minutes instead of an hour. Because he can't afford to be late in times of war. Being late can mean finding the person you're looking for dead, or not at all. Just an empty space where they should be standing, without them to fill it up.

And you, grabbing at the air, trying to pull them back.

This is war.

There is fear in the end and you never stop being afraid. You never stop looking over your back or thinking every time this might be the lastSo Kakashi moves as quickly as he can

[geotaint]

[ Cloud has enough sense not to be startled by Kakashi's arrival; it's in keeping with what he already knows about the man, and he was prepared for it. But while his mind was prepared, his body apparently wasn't.

Adrenaline spikes - especially in such an unfamiliar place, an unfamiliar situation - and he half-flinches into a fighting stance, his fingers loose and ready to reach for the grip of his sword. But it's Kakashi, and he turns the movement into something a little more graceful, tucking his hands into his pockets instead.

He tries not to feel too much relief at the familiar figure. Kakashi is not that familiar, he reminds himself. He's a guy you met once, in another strange place. And this is war, apparently. Who knows which side you want to be on.

Though he already knew the answer to that one: neitherKakashi

[ura_no_ura]

[ Kakashi hears the equivocation in Cloud's words and understands. After all, he did just arrive, only to discover that he was already entrenched in someone else's war by mere affiliation. That can't be pleasant for anyone, let alone a soldier who'd just spent a few months leisuring in a place like Somarium, where fights were few and far in between and lethal intent was rarely ever felt.

Cloud's chakra is unlike anything Kakashi has ever felt, and it definitely is not what he remembers.

He sighs as he approaches Cloud, his fingers tucked away in his pockets. ]

Well, it would've been better if we were meeting under better circumstances.

[Pauses]

You're different from what I remember.

[They hadn't spent much time together in Somarium, but it is said that the best warriors know everything about their opponent once they cross swords. And so, there's a sense of knowing here. A knowing and not knowing all at once.]

[geotaint]

[ Cloud nods in agreement with the sentiment - Kakashi's words are about as close as he himself would get to admitting the tentative friendship between them, too.

Their stances mirror one another, an unspoken concession to the fact that neither of them are toting weapons - not just yet, anyway. Cloud allows himself to relax into a slight slouch, willfully forcing his tensed muscles to relax. ]

Different? It's hardly been that long.

[ He cants his head to one side, thoughtfully, considering the other man - he can't see much of a difference, at least not on the outside. Kakashi looks pretty much just as Cloud remembers him. ]

[ura_no_ura]

Your energy.

[ Kakashi explains with a cant of the head, as though Cloud should understand what he means by energy, without further elaboration. ]

It's... changed.