sunshineverse | [open; 01/19-01/23]

Sasuke had grown to appreciate the culture of T&I a great deal over the past few weeks. The team Obito assigned him had proved stunningly efficient, the disparate team of specialists falling into place like gears in a well-oiled machine. The two information specialists had set to work immediately on debrief, playing bait into their carefully-maintained networks until leads had started twitching up out of the murky information Sasuke had had available, and field ops had slipped smoothly into action as soon as he'd been able to confirm some of the more promising ones while out on his mission with Sakura.

Waiting for their first report to arrive left him, strangely, with very little to do in the interim. He'd wound up getting a pass into the archives in the morning, ignoring the eyerolls that his information specialists had delivered when he'd told them. Keener, they'd said, not unkindly, but otherwise left him to it.

The best thing about the team, really, was the way that none of them asked more questions than they could help.

By afternoon he'd already forced his way through some of the driest scrolls he'd read in a lifetime of dry scrolls, blinking himself out of a doze more than once; it was glaringly obvious that he needed to do something to wake himself back up before trying to resume. Anyone else wandering into the archives after lunch would find him with his collar pulled high over his mouth and nose, hair lightly covered with dust, reorganizing a shelf of scrolls that likely hadn't been read in a decade.

Mhm, the daily grind coupled with old dust really wore down the spirit. That's why coffee existed. Mika had always found it soothing and she made a habit of sneaking a thermos in if she was working in the archives. Today she'd brewed it extra strong for an extra long dive into the scrolls. A familiar face greeted her, looked like the young Uchiha had gotten stuff doing some kind of grunt work.

"Sasuke-kun?" Mika edged over and covered her nose and mouth. Good gods he was picking up a lot of dust.

There had been a few people in and out of the archives already, mostly seasoned veterans who knew exactly where to go for the information they wanted and were in and out quickly. Sasuke gave only a cursory glance to the next person in, not quite registering that it was a familiar face until he'd looked back down at the scrolls in his hands and heard Mika's voice.

... this was probably not a state a son of the Uchiha clan head should have been in when greeting anyone, much less a recent mission partner. Sasuke set the scrolls in the appropriate order, giving his hands a largely-ineffective dusting-off before nodding to acknowledge Mika's presence.

"Mika-san. How are you?"

She smiled a little, Sasuke was one of the last people she expected to meet today and the dust wasn't very becoming. "I'm doing pretty well Sasuke-kun, just needed to come in and locate some papers. Looks like you're doing the same then?" Her eyes looked over the shelves, curious why the teen was there.

"It gets kind of lonely in here, did you need any help?" Judging from all the dust he'd been there a while. It couldn't hurt to help Sasuke in some menial task for a few minutes.

Some papers was not, strictly speaking, an entirely accurate description of w hat Sasuke was looking for, but to have an answer given to him rather than demanded of him was a pleasant change. He nodded instead of answering directly, reaching for another pair of out-of-order scrolls to illustrate:

"I got distracted by the mess this part of the shelves was in," he said, not untruthfully. "There's no need for you to waste your time doing the same."

Oh god, a neat freak? He'd be here forever if no one stopped him. "Oh boy, you might not want to do that for too long. Then you'll start noticing everything that's wrong." She laughed at that but was actually worried he might just try and organize even more. Then the regulars would freak out because their ordering system would be messed up and they'd be doing what Sasuke was attempting now. Even if no one else would actually care because these scrolls were likely useless to most people.

"You came in here something else then?" Maybe she could steer him away from this task.

"I've already noticed more than a few," he admitted, tone dry. He didn't miss the easy familiarity Mika had in the space: clearly she'd spent plenty of time here before. One of few who did, if the dust was any indication.

The question of what he was supposed to be here for returned, however, probably inevitably. Sasuke hesitated a moment before he gestured at the single measly scroll he'd found on chakra invasion so far. "I was looking for more information along those lines, originally. But it's not an urgent thing."

Very few in fact. Most people tried to avoid coming into the archives. Mika was one of the oddballs that actually got some enjoyment out of it. There was lots of interesting tidbits just laying around.

She looked to the scroll, then back at Sasuke. He must have a lot of downtime right now or something. He'd acted a little hesitant in replying which piqued Mika's interest. "Oh? Mind if I look?" Perhaps she might know where similar scrolls were, seeing as she was a more frequent visitor. "We may as well get you squared away, it'd suck to make another trip ne?"

His first instinct was to reject the assistance, but his second -- the one that had started to feel more like himself, or whatever himself had been before the start of this year -- reasoned that anyone even in this room had at least the amount of clearance required to know the contents of it. And he could just as easily have been doing his own research unrelated to any developments in his life.

Still, there was a hesitation before he nodded. "I'm looking into control. Of the body and the mind."

Mika was getting more curious, Sasuke obviously seemed uncomfortable or unwilling to disclose anything right away. Was it something that embarrassed him? If it were really meant to be a secret then Sasuke would have just told them to leave him alone.

As he told Mika what he was looking for though, they went "oh" and gave a nod. Was this for personal use? They decided not to ask. Yet.

"I'll have to double check but I think such scrolls on self discipline and such are a shelf down. Let me look." He could put the other scrolls away as they did so. This was interesting to say the least.

Fumiko had nearly hissed at him when he'd thought about what to do with a child and offered his hand to her at the Academy, so Sasuke found himself heading through the streets of Konoha with what might have been the shortest Uchiha on record trailing sulkily behind him for several long minutes before he'd finally grown exasperated and rounded on her with a glare. The glare had been returned with interest for all of a second (an impressive second, he had to grant) before her mouth had gone wobbly and he'd hastily whisked her off into an underused park -- the last thing he wanted was to have to deal with another release of the damn rumour magazine with the headline Second son of Uchiha clan head makes children cry.

Fortunately, the child had pulled herself together before quite bursting into tears, which left Sasuke crouched awkwardly in front of her while she sat on a park bench, scuffing the tips of her sandals in the dirt, and reluctantly narrated her version of events. It was a sullen story, broken through by the occasional sniffle, and it ultimately incriminated her as much as the Sarutobi girls.

It still left Sasuke with the odd, immature urge to march back to the Academy and tell Adela where she could put her notions about teamwork and appropriate use of jutsu, signed note or no note at all.

In the end, with Fumiko's parents still out of town and Mikoto well-used to leaving his dinner in the oven, Sasuke had taken her to the place that had always seemed to boost the spirits of the other women in his life. A few minutes in, he was beginning to regret the decision, as Fumiko descended upon the bakery display cases with a tray, tongs, and the face of a conqueror.

Edited 2015-01-06 05:20 (UTC)

It'd been a calm day. Most days were now that she was free to spend the hours as she pleased again. She'd woken early gone through most of her morning routine before getting caught up in a dispute between a pair of her cousins that took up the rest of her time until lunch. The afternoon was peaceful spent working on her jutsu she'd let fall to the wayside in her effort to get her wedding called off. She had a lot of time make up. For all that, Hinata wasn't in any rush to return to the compound and stopped at her favorite bakery for a treat. Just a pick me up to get through dinner with the family.

She'd just been contemplating a particularly tempting bun when a young Uchiha girl popped up next to her. For a moment, she just watched, amused with her enthusiasm as much as her attitude as she bounced from one tray to the next. But when her tray starts looking dangerously high for one little girl to manage on her own, Hinata glanced around the shop for her chaperone.

Ah. Her smile widens as her eyes meet Sasuke's and she tilts her head. The question clear: She's with you?

He spotted Hinata as soon as she came in, not surprised but still pleased to see his teammate at ease in one of her favourite spots. If Hinata is anywhere near as greedy as Fumiko is being, his wallet is going to take a beating today, but at least he's been busy enough that he's mostly made up for what he spent at the auction last spring, spending cash almost completely replenished despite the usual clan gouge.

When Hinata finally notices him, his mouth quirks up in a half-amused, half-wry answer: Yes, and then a tilt of his head to indicate the brightly-lit display of baked goods to ask what she's thinking about choosing today.

She just smiles and shrugs her shoulders a little. The bun she'd initially been inspecting somewhat less appealing as she watched the girl scamper madly between cases. It was adorable and amusing to her to watch even as she selected a pair of meat buns with the intent of giving one to Sasuke. As much as she enjoyed sweet even she couldn't eat it constantly.

Tray in hand, Hinata wandered over to him. "She's adorable. You sure you shouldn't step in and set a limit?"

Sasuke had had the same thought mere minutes ago, but it had already been too late by then; he'd said whatever you want and forgotten what the post-Academy hungry was like. He's descended upon the fridge too many times himself to have room to say anything, really.

"I already told her I'd treat for whatever she wanted," he says, shrugging one rueful shoulder. "This will be my lesson to watch my words."

"Oh you poor poor boy, " she says with a laugh. One would think that he would know better after the way the could clean out a cupboard shelf plus before going to work on studying in their own academy days.

"You can have one of my meat buns if you want."

The offer is met with a quirk of his mouth, amusement telling for just a second. Not for the first time, he's certain that Hinata is some mixture of too kind and too forgiving for her own good, but he has no desire to see her otherwise.

"I'll be fine," he says, watching Fumiko finally proceed back in his direction, though she draws up short at the sight of Hinata. "My mother will have something to say if I ruin my appetite for dinner."

She's only those things because it would make living with the rest of the clan too unbearable otherwise. And she preferred to channel her frustration into killing the older and more conservative members with kindness where she could. And he can't really say it hasn't been working for her so far either, as a result.

She laughs and pats his shoulder, "But won't her mother be the very same?"

"Her parents are out of the village on a long-term mission," Sasuke explains, just before the girl is in earshot and then in front of them, glancing curiously at Hinata before presenting him with the laden tray.

"These," Fumiko announces, expression dead serious, and then without much pause for a subject switch, continues to: "Is this Hyuuga lady your girlfriend?"

"Ah," She nods in understanding. That would explain a lot and knowing that only widens her smile as she studies the tray the girl holds out for Sasuke to see. Well she was certainly a precocious one and it was adorable it's own kind of advantage taking way.

"What?" She shakes her head with a chuckle, "No we're just friends."

It's hardly the first time they've been asked that question and it probably won't be the last, but Sasuke can still feel the deep sigh that emerges from him in response to it. Fumiko, at least, just gives both of them a scrutinizing look before shrugging one shoulder.

"Oh well," she says, and then points to Hinata's tray and her own. "Are you gonna pay, onii-san?"

... which is a sufficiently unexpectedly familiar form of address that Sasuke turns a startled glance to Hinata, a mute expression of alarm. Out loud, he only says -- "Missions don't pay as much as you think they do, Fumiko."

"Oh, no he doesn't need to do that." One look at the girls tray and Hinata knew that allowing Sasuke to pay for both of them wouldn't be fair at all. Though she has to give Fumiko some credit, it usually takes a little more to startle Sasuke into showing open alarm. And for a moment all she can do is try to hide a snicker behind a cough.

"No I had planned to purchase my own treats. Let Sasuke-kun recover from his losses last year before we have him treat both of us to whatever we want in here, okay?" She winks at the girl and turns an innocent grin on her friend as if to say she was teasing him, of course. She would never actually expect him to treat both of them at the same time.

Fumiko looks between them for a long moment, then fixes Sasuke with a deeply unimpressed stare. Sasuke recognizes the look -- unimpressed is hardly something new to see from other Uchiha -- and is already midway through suppressing a sigh when she quirks her chin up and does her level best to stare down her nose at him despite the differences in their heights.

"Onii-san," she says, as if explaining to a very small child. "Uchiha don't let money get in the awy of our reputations."

Whoever her parents are, they're going to be either completely unsurprised or utterly shocked by the notices piling up in their mailbox, he thinks with some dryness, and reaches for Hinata's tray to take up to the counter. He meets her teasing look with a resigned one: the clan name has been invoked, his hands are tied now.

Edited 2015-03-25 06:03 (UTC)

Oh good lord, the girl was adorable. Hinata can’t quite manage to hide the laugh behind her hand the odd chuckle escaping her as she watches her best friend be scolded by a girl that can’t be any older than ten or eleven. It actually fit in a way that someone so young would try, and it just made her efforts more entertaining.

“Uchiha-san, you’re a cruel one to your poor cousin,” she teases reaching to ruffle the girls hair now that her hands are empty.

The snow had hit overnight and Yamato had watched it settle from the warmth of his apartment, with barely concealed glee. From a practical point of view, snow made missions difficult, tracking easier and was an every day nuisance for the village, but something about a first snowfall completely enchanted him and always had.
So it was little wonder that Yamato was awake early and bundled up against the cold the next day, on a rare string of down time, to explore the village and it's new, chilled mantle.

His wandering lead him past the park and with hardly a soul in sight, Yamato detoured into the layer of untouched white powder to indulge in a little creative license with the materials at hand.

About halfway through the creation of what was shaping up to be a finely crafted snowman, Yamato spied a familiar tuft of coal black hair, followed by a just as dark, smaller figure stomping obstinately behind the first.
A childish grin touched his mouth; Obito had said to get Sasuke's attention..this was one way, right?

The snowball he'd been forming was in motion before he could second guess himself, already squashing down bubbling laughter at the memory of an almost identical moment between himself and their reigning Hokage as he did.

Sasuke wasn't sure when exactly 'go to Fumiko's parent-teacher meetings for her' had turned into 'babysit her most of the week', but here he was again, several dozen ryo forked over to the bakery and the child tromping through snow that nearly reached her shoulders where it had been piled particularly deep. At least there had been no further urgent fire-related summons, which hopefully meant she'd taken to punching the Sarutobi instead of trying to burn them, and she seemed in a better mood overall.

Better mood and more pastries than Sasuke thought could fit in someone this small didn't mean that she didn't still forge her way through the weather as if it were fighting her, and he was in the middle of hiding amusement when the snow struck him in the back of the head.

For a second the cold didn't make sense, and then on pure instinct he was dodging behind a streetlamp, his own handful of snow already arcing through the air and a teammate's name on his lips before he realised two things: one, his target was absolutely not the teammate he'd expected, and two, Fumiko was still standing in the middle of the park with a perplexed expression on her face.

Still, she reacted faster than he did to address their assailant.

"Ah!" She yelled, pointing emphatically with one mittened hand. "You threw snow!"

Edited 2015-01-06 23:40 (UTC)

The reaction had been more than he could have asked for and to be almost mistaken for Sasuke's more boisterous team mate was simply the icing on the cake.
The smaller Uchiha was clearly sharp as a blade though and Yamato held both hands up in an 'unarmed' gesture, smiling widely at both of them.

"You caught me!"

..Before signalling his near by clone to let loose the next volley at the pair of dark haired Shinobi.

Who was -- it was definitely someone wearing a Konoha forehead protector, Sasuke's immediate tension relaxing, but the face wasn't bringing up a name with it. He was fairly certain he must have seen the man before (that wasn't difficult in itself, in a tight-knit shinobi village), but certainly not enough for the kind of familiarity required for a snowball attack, of all things.

But Sasuke could sense no threat enough to pull Fumiko out of the street, not until there were suddenly more snowballs coming their way, from a different direction this time. He ducked out of the way of one intended for him, then snatched the other out of the air inches from Fumiko's indignant face.

... indignant was better than sulking. It only took a second for Sasuke to consider options before he'd put the snow into the child's hand, pointing in the direction it had come from. Realisation dawned on her face, followed by a squint of concentration (he was going to need to talk to her about how to better focus her eyesight) and a surprisingly powerful arm whipping the snow right back at the second snow-thrower.

The clone burst into a shower of wood chips at the impact of snow, expertly launched by the smaller Uchiha and the barrage stopped.
Yamato kept his hands raised and slowly approached the pair, smiling disarmingly and nodding towards them both.

That is the arm you have kunoichi-san, I'm almost certain you'll be at the top of the class in target practice, if you're not there already of course."

He pulled up short, out of hit range and still broadcasting as much 'not a threat' vibes as he could, worried that his fit of whimsy could have them getting off on the wrong foot now.

"Ah, I'm sorry for the silliness, Uchiha-san. I'm Yamato, your sensei asked me to seek you out concerning your potential for promotion and a further debrief of your recent mission."

he addressed Sasuke now, keeping eye contact and very purposely not flashing a meaningful look at his small companion at mention of the events Obito had made him aware of.

Wood chips -- that made Sasuke pause, surprised by the unusual clone material. Fumiko blinked as well, though her expression morphed quickly into one more of delight than anything else at the compliment. Apparently all that was needed to buy her trust was compliments; she tucked both hands into her pockets and grinned at the stranger a shade impishly.

Sasuke was resisting the urge to ruffle her hair -- apparently it was genetic after all, given how many times his older relatives had done the same to him -- when the mention of one of said older relatives made him straighten in surprise.

"Potential for a --" The notion of a promotion (to what, exactly?) was wiped out even more quickly at the mention of his most recent mission, Sasuke's expression startling into apprehension. Clearly this was another Konoha-nin, but Obito had made it very firm that what they'd done was under very specific clearance. Clearance that Fumiko was absolutely not granted, which meant Sasuke knelt after a moment, fishing a few ryou out of his pocket to hand to her.

"Get something to warm up," he instructed, pointing in the direction of the bakery. He fully expected her to use the remainder on baked goods, the selection of which would distract her for enough time to find out what Obito was thinking.

"How do I know sensei sent you?" He asked once she was out of earshot, voice dropping into seriousness.

Yamato offered the smaller Uchiha a wave as she raced off to what looked like a clean sweep of the bakeries display case, before turning back to Sasuke.

"I understand your suspicion, but he requested I speak to you personally and gave me an overview of what happened, though the details were omitted for securities sake. Of course, if you would prefer to see my papers, I can provide those, though I have been an ANBU captain under Lord Obito's command for a good number of years."

There was no humor to his words, expression serious in light of Sasuke's obvious distrust; it was a good trait, one that he hoped all of the younger shinobi exercised and one he wasn't about to disrespect.

"If you've really been asked to talk to me about my last mission, you'll understand why I want to see your papers," Sasuke said, voice hard, before remembering the belated: "Yamato-san."

It wasn't impossible that Obito would have sent someone to talk to him, but Sasuke had expected someone from Intel if anything. ANBU was something else entirely, and for a promotion to be a potential topic was outright strange, unless he was being promoted for being a mess of a shinobi and a failure when it came to taking adequate responsibility for his own mistakes.

He'd made his Hokage and sensei cut the throats of children for him. Nothing that Obito said could counter that truth, the reality of it.

"If you want more privacy to show me, I can set a sound muffling seal --" He glanced around the small park, spotting a set of trees and a lamppost close enough to form the four corners of one. "There."

Considering the fact that the seal might be more for Sasuke's benefit than his own, Yamato nodded and gestured for the the younger shinobi to lead the way.

Once set, he withdrew a scroll from his flak's breast pocket, unsealing it with a touch of chakra and handing it over without complaint.

"Everything should be in order, but I understand if you would prefer to consult with your sensei before we go any further."

He wouldn't push more than necessary, it had to be Sasuke's choice to trust him and however that happened made little difference to the impression Yamato was hoping to make.

Sasuke was going to end up checking with Obito in any case, but the papers did look to be in order, and he wasn't one for putting (most) conversations off. He let the Sharingan flare for a moment, examining the handwriting in Obito's signature and the structure of the seal: the curves and angles of the characters did have the familiar dashed build of his teacher's.

He let the red fade completely from his eyes before looking back up at Yamato, handing the papers back.

"You wanted a further debrief? What do you need to know?"

At the acceptance, Yamato visibly relaxed, falling into parade rest out of a life time of habit and flickered his gaze away.

"Debrief may actually be more official sounding than Lord Obito had in mind. He..expressed some concern regarding the impact your recent mission had and asked me to offer something of an objective view..if of course you felt you had need of it."

He repaired the eye contact at the last words, very aware that he was a stranger to Sasuke; he wasn't about to force a conversation or give off the impression that he though the younger shinobi couldn't handle himself. Ego's were important and fragile things and Yamato didn't want to risk any damage if this turned out to be simply Obito's over protectiveness.

Sasuke stayed tense even as Yamato relaxed, taking in details: the easy flow from intent to the gathered fluidity of formal at-ease. Even if this Yamato weren't a Konoha-nin -- and Sasuke had enough evidence that it outweighed his suspicion -- he was obviously enough a shinobi born and bred.

His observation cut short when the man spoke again, however, Sasuke's expression sharpening and mouth tensing.

"Concern?" He repeated, keeping the word as free of inflection as he could. "What kind of concern did sensei mention?"

Ah, as he expected. Yamato's mouth quirked with a wryness he couldn't mask and he flexed his shoulders. He'd been unsure if this conversation needed to happen at all, but it would be confirmed or denied here regardless.
"He is understandably protective of yourself and your team mates..But I'd take a guess that it's a little too all encompassing, hm?"

The not so subtle suggestion was an out; Sasuke could wave this off now if he wanted too, writing the encounter off as Obito's over protectiveness or...
"That being said, any knowledge or experience I have is yours to question if you ever require it."

Despite his efforts, the frown surfaced: protective was one thing, uncertain of Sasuke's work was another. Obito had been one of those things much more often than the other, but in this circumstance ... in this circumstance, it seemed more of the former. Sasuke hoped, at least, that remaining concerns with what had happened would have been an in-person discussion with a dozen security seals on the walls.

This public check-in, with a young relative not far off -- he was being given an out.

A strange tactic, if it was meant to gather information. And the identification he'd been given just now spoke to some high-level work. had He gave the man a long look, brow still furrowed, before responding:

"I'm always grateful for experienced insight. But right now is --" And as if on cue, Fumiko pushed open the door of the bakery, breath puffing out in the cold -- "Not ideal. Perhaps we can meet another time?"

His gaze diverted to the young girl trotting towards them, but his attention was still on Sasuke and he nodded.

"Of course. Apart from the general mission roster and my other duties, I'm free whenever is convenient." He chuckled at the amount of baked goods that was being ferried across the snow, as much as his next words "And if talking is less than appealing, you can find me at the training fields more often than not."

General mission roster and other duties, unspecified. Sasuke hadn't been a natural in T&I, but he hadn't been a natural in much other than trailing Itachi; he resisted the urge to narrow his eyes at the vagueness from practice.

"I'll find you," he said, certainty in his tone: whether it was a roundabout test or genuine overconcern, he'd eventually need to speak to this Yamato, he was sure. Or fight him, if the invitation to seek the man in the training fields held.

In the meantime, however, he had way more baked goods to pay for than he'd expected.

"... thank you for your --" He paused. "Concern."

[open; 01/19-01/23]

[01/19; open to anyone with Archives clearance]

[[the true reason mika drinks coffee all the time]]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

[01/20; open]

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Do you wanna build a snow maaan~?

does it have to be a snowman

Re: does it have to be a snowman

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

/slides in to wrap this up :3

:3