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

[haruno]

"Sparring, on defense, moving through ranks, in order to protect, in order to harm..." She trailed off. "In a certain theory, I needed to fight someone every day. With the war on, it's constant. Or it was. In a way, it still is."

The scenery had shifted, their numbers were tens of thousands less than she'd been fighting with back home, but the principle was in the end the same.

If she didn't like any of the sides involved. If she was idealistic enough to want to prevent the Ohm from destroying worlds on the merit that life was worth preserving. If she didn't entirely trust anyone here, let alone alien species she'd never directly communicated with.

Kakashi would have handled this better. Tsunade. Even Naruto, if the longer she was around, the less she wanted him to be confronted with this version of reality. Why was she the one who woke up first?

[livestoannoy]

War. Just like his world. "So ninjas acted like soldiers," he said, hazarding a guess from the way she described thing. Though that idea didn't seem right - why use freaking ninjas as infantry, when they'd be much more effective as assassins, or guerrilla fighters? "Who were you fighting?"

[haruno]

Not exactly. "Ninja." Her tone was flat, almost mocking. It was an age honored tradition. For centuries ninja clans were hired to take on other ninja clans. Wars fought on country to country scales couldn't afford shinobi perpetually; in some ways it cut down on the kind of bickering that used to be more predominant.

Short as her answer was, it left out all of the particulars. They were fighting the undead and an army of clones. The leader was an insane shinobi also responsible for co-founding her village. Losing meant losing her best friend, and her village's best hope. It meant, if Madara had succeeded, being put under the rule of an egomaniac whose best idea of peace was taking away the free will of every person alive.

When no one could disagree, let alone with him, then yes. War would cease.

So would progress. Invention. Creativity. Joy.

She wondered how much of that she could project on the conflict with the Ohm. Either way, war ends when something is annihilated. It's a fluke we get to say we're on the side

[livestoannoy]

"And what, the samurai just stand around and take bets do they?" Marco said, raising an eyebrow. None of this seemed to make any sense.

[haruno]

She rolled her eyes. "The samurai don't like being involved. But if you're asking -- really asking -- they're allied with us. Which says something, if you knew anything about politics on my world."

[livestoannoy]

"Oh, sure, I always make a point of knowing about the politics of worlds that I've never visited and never will," Marco said, rolling his eyes.

[haruno]

"Just like I make sure to read up on who is and isn't Chinese when I've never heard of the nation before."

[livestoannoy]

"Hey, I could have just assumed that you were Japanese when you started going on about samurai and ninjas," Marco said, grinning a little. "But I didn't. So there."

[haruno]

"And now you're assuming I know who or what the Japanese are." If she did have an idea. Sakura'd heard from Zouichi already about some similarities between what she knew from home and what this Earth nation -- no, Earth country -- had been like for him. She shook her head. "Next thing I know you'll be making historical references that mean nothing to me -- oh. Wait..."

She leveled part of an unimpressed stare his way. "The Stone Age? Jokes like that make a lot more sense if the people you're telling them to know what you're talking about."

Go figure if he just liked making himself feel clever. Sakura had a least made an effort to understand that reference in the Media Library, in some of her self-scheduled down time.

[livestoannoy]

"How was I supposed to know you didn't have the Stone Age in your world?" Marco said, a little defensive. She didn't like his jokes?!

But they had to be funny even if someone didn't necessarily know all the references, right?

...Right?

[haruno]

Maybe, Marco.

It all depended on the joke.

"Not knowing about the Great Wall or that you aren't Chinese might have been a hint," she said, looking over at him in amusement. "Not to mention my hair." Though he had mentioned (or at least implied) he wasn't much of a historian. "Unless your Stone Age was the Age of Lost Pigmentation, too."

[livestoannoy]

"Come on, you don't have to know about China to know about the freaking Stone Age," Marco said, ignoring the fact that Sakura actually had a point there. Then he stopped.

"Was that a joke?" Marco turned to look at Sakura incredulously. He broke out into a slow grin. "That was!" he crowed. "So you do have a sense of humour swimming around somewhere underneath all that pink."

[haruno]

She widened her eyes in mock surprise. "Me? A sense of humor? That's impossible, we don't have things like those in Konoha."

She kept walking, shaking her head. How sad. So delusional, and at his age!

[livestoannoy]

She just made another one! Ah, there was hope after all.

"You're not in 'Konoha' or whatever anymore, Barbie," Marco smirked.

[haruno]

She looked around, managing to not pause over the nickname she'd just given him license to use again. "Guess that might explain the unfamiliar scenery." Though in all seriousness, she turned her head to look back toward him. "Think we can agree to leave some of our assumptions back on the planets they came from?"

Sakura quirked up an eyebrow. Think you even can?