sunshineverse | It's a pretty sword at least.

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It's a pretty sword at least.

Who: Adela Milani (

abileunaspada) & Sasuke Uchiha (

not_thedragon)
When: November 19th-30th (originally planned for November 19th through 27th)
Where: Between Land of Fire and Land of Birds
Notes: A simple weapons' commission turns sour when rumours of an opportunity reach the ears of a surprising foe.

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It really was her finest work...

Adela sighed as she lovingly peace-bound the ornate sword into its hilt. It might have been overly-decorated and never meant to see combat of any kind, but it was still such a fine work that she didn't care. Hopefully the lord who commissioned it from their store would agree, because they hadn't specifically asked for uncle's work and he had given this job to her...

Well, and to Sasuke for the delivery. Really, she'd be able to handle a bunch of bandits, but given all that happened she couldn't exactly blame Obito for wanting to make sure that there was a Jonin with her. Really, even if on paper he'd been given the same mission she knew the real reason, if she was honest with herself. Well, hopefully it would just be a precaution this time...

[[OoC: Separate threads below!]]

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"... Yeah. And you rest, you look like you could use it," She nodded before uncovering her plate, sighing as her stomach reacted a bit and she began to eat. It was tasty, really, but she was so hungry that she didn't bother to savour it. It was only through sheer force of will that she wasn't eating quickly enough to make herself sick, seeing as her stomach was half-way welcoming and half-way protesting the sudden fill.

At last she sighed, having cleared the plate before she made to get to her feet. Which... Admittedly, she was a little clumsy, but she was quick enough to regain her balance and just stretch. She was still sore all over, probably from chakra exertion, but god it felt like she slept forever... What time even was it anyway?

"I can't," he admitted, though he did push himself to standing from where he'd been looming in the window skill, stretching out the accumulated kinks out of his muscles. "I took a soldier pill maybe two hours ago; it won't wear off for a few more."

He glanced over when she stood in turn, assessing the near-stumble with a medic-trained jaundiced eye. It seemed like she wasn't too weak to stand, just not entirely recovered from a night and half a day's worth of sleep, which was probably to be expected after the exertion yesterday. Speaking of which --

"Since we're both awake, we should talk."

"You should still be resting," Adela started with a huff, but his request got her to stop and blink at him, not stretching out the kinks of her own muscles anymore as she approached.

"What about?"

He shrugged one shoulder, dismissive: he'd bypassed should a long time ago and was firmly in the realm of over-caffeinated and under-patient, which was perhaps not the best time to approach this conversation. He was, however, reasonably certain that he wouldn't get a better opportunity to figure out exactly what was going on here, which meant he folded his arms and levelled an expectant look at Adela as she neared.

"You froze yesterday," he said bluntly. "And I know it's not because it was your first time in a life-or-death situation. Explain."

It happened in an instant. She looked away, clearly tense as she was finding it difficult to breathe or face what had happened. It felt... Childish, and Sasuke had nearly gotten killed because of her failure to act. She finally just took a seat next to him, her gaze on the ground as she spoke at long last.

"They were from Kiri. That's why."

He could recognized the response -- how many times had he been through it himself, on the receiving end of a criticism and too ashamed not to look away -- and had he been less tired it might have eased him off. As it was, he merely waited for her to settle and give an explanation that ...

Left something to be desired. He didn't raise an eyebrow, exactly, but his tone was flat: "Kiri, where your cousin is."

Unspoken: whom you defended despite fearing his village beyond reason. The man who led the attack called you traitor to a clan. What was he talking about?"

"... When I showed proficiency with the clan's dota and the elders found out... My parents decided that they didn't want me to be a Kiri nin, more than anything, but if I stayed then I'd be forced to. They... Did something to try and prevent that."

She took a breath, her eyes closing -- it was still kind of hard for her to talk about, considering what it meant, "They had my uncle smuggle me out of village and staged my murder there when I turned eight. I didn't know what was going on at the time, only that I wasn't allowed to see my parents anymore or go home ever again. It wasn't until last year that I found out that the clan executed them for it. And that they were fully willing to die so I could have free choice with my life."

She was curling up then, pulling her knees to her chest even as she kept looking away from him, "So to them, I'm officially a traitor because I left, and I didn't come back. I still don't know if they'll try and take me back or just kill me as a threat to the clan. I don't want anything to do with them anymore. I don't want to be recognized as one of them when they'd force my family into a situation like that."

It wasn't as if Sasuke had heard about the practices of the Hidden Mist, how the shinobi were put through brutal training and an even more brutal final exam in an effort to produce the most unquestioning killers. The Kiri-nin he'd encountered over his time as an active Konoha-nin had both lent credence to and questions about those rumours -- the ones they'd run across just now seemed unlikely to have killed a roomful of rabbits, let alone their own classmates.

But whether Kiri was a constant bloodbath or a petting zoo, it didn't mean that Adela's parents hadn't performed an act of treason in smuggling her out of the village. And if they were clanned, with a bloodline and a child who showed evidence of that bloodline ...

"I see," he said finally, tone troubled. "That explains why they turned on you so quickly. They must not have recognised you at first."

Which begged the question of just how many people knew who Adela was and what price Kiri or her clan might be willing to put on her head. Sasuke knew well enough the price of a pair of Uchiha eyes, especially ones that had activated the Sharingan, and he'd heard whispers before of the money that a bloodline clan was willing to lay out for the return of one of their own gone rogue.

Dead or alive. His expression darkened, lips thinning: just what had Obito been thinking? Adela's presence in Konoha was bad enough, but as an active-duty Konoha-nin ... it was as good as a slap in the face to Kirigakure, unless some other deal had been worked out to allow it.

For a long time Adela was quiet, just sitting next to him and waiting for if he said anything else. When no words came, she just sighed and made to lean on him, light and careful of his injuries.

"I'm sorry, Senpai. I was... Afraid. And that almost cost you your eyes, and your life. I'm sorry."

It was inevitable, after the injuries and the information that he'd just learned; Sasuke tensed at the press of her body against his side and didn't fully relax, gaze trained on the gleam of his own forehead protector where he'd left it on his bed.

"You shouldn't have frozen up, but I shouldn't have been distracted either," he said, automatic, trying to chase through the thoughts of -- of what constituted loyalty, as he'd been taught from birth. There was no doubt that Adela had saved his life earlier, and if she was being hunted for her bloodline, it was at the expense of possibly exposing her identity and location if any of the enemy had survived.

It was easier to say, shrugging off the apology with words if not physically: "I should have realised faster what they were after once they'd made it clear that the sword wasn't it."

"You were distracted trying to protect me. No one can fault you for that," The contact she felt she needed more than ever, glancing to him briefly before her eyes rested on his leg. He was hurt because of her. Nearly died because of her. All because she was afraid.

"I'm sorry," Once more she said it, resting her head on his shoulder as she closed her eye against the tears that wanted to come out. Not then. She couldn't feel sorry for herself then.

"I'll try harder, and be stronger. I'm not going to let anything like that happen to you again... Not to you, or to anyone else from Konoha. That's my promise to you, Senpai."

"I was the ranking nin on the mission," Sasuke said, a certain amount of impatience colouring his tone. "Blame and credit on this mission fall on me unless I specify otherwise. I know what the failures were, and we both screwed it up."

Of course, as the ranking nin, his screwups counted somewhat more than Adela's. That was, he assumed, not something that would likely go over well with her, so he let the silence after her declaration drag before he came up with a response that seemed to work.

"How are you going to become stronger if you're paralysed by Kiri-nin?" It made sense, of course, to be afraid of the affiliation most likely to try to take her back to the village and clan in which she'd been born. But the terror Sasuke had seen yesterday had been something stronger and less rational.

"I dunno how I'm going to, yet. But I know I have to try. I owe it to everyone there, to my uncle, to my parents... To you. I have to keep going."

She was still quiet, leaning on him, pleaing silently for support. She didn't want to explain that, maybe, it was because she thought she'd never be stronger than anyone from Kiri. Not from anyone that was sent after her, or even just happened to cross her path. Like Sephiroth. Like that Hoshigaki guy. Or anyone. The bloody mist still terrified her.

Maybe it shouldn't have.

When her eyes opened again it was to a frown, both her clouded and clear eyes looking down on the metal balls she pulled out of the pouch and absently started to play with.

"... But... I can't run. Not anymore. Not from my blood, can I?"

There was a part of Sasuke, clan-born and unable to really conceive of a situation where he would need to turn on his own kin, that wanted to wonder out loud whether anyone should have run from their own blood. The issue of village loyalty, too ... perhaps it was less Adela's choice than it had been her family's, but even at eight Sasuke had known without the shadow of a doubt that his purpose in life was to protect his brother, his clan, his home.

Perhaps the bigger question was exactly how bad Kiri was, that it could inspire outright treason in an effort to free a child. And beyond that, inevitably, wondering what terrors could make someone want to betray home and clan.

Tired as he was, Sasuke knew that those were likely not questions to be posed to Adela, for all that she seemed settled firmly into Konoha. Obito, perhaps ... what made Obito confident that the wearing of a Konoha forehead protector spelled loyalty?

"Blood will always be a part of you," he said finally, because that much was invariably true. "Sooner or later your clan and the village you should have belonged to will know that you exist, assuming they don't already know. If it's not your intent to return, then you can't be an easy target."

"They've known since the chuunin exams in summer of last year. I used my dota then, and that's when they found out."

She clenched at the balls then, her teeth gritted before she took a breath.

"... I've been kind of afraid to use it since, because that caused such a political uproar. I didn't want to cause any trouble like that again, not to the people who worked so hard to keep me safe and free. So... I guess for a long time, even though I trained in it, I just plain didn't want to use it. But if I want to be the best I can be for the village, I have to. I can't hide from who I am."

That would have explained the attack on her earlier in the year, Sasuke realised, news of a valuable bloodline in Konoha filtered through strange gossip magazines becoming deadly. There were plenty of unaffiliated and missing-nin in the world who might even have thought that returning her to village or clan would have merited a reward even without one officially posted -- he would have to find out if there were.

Kiri wasn't commissioning missions to retrieve her, at the very least, but once the ability was developed to a greater extent ...

"The mere fact of your presence in Konoha is going to cause trouble," he said, blunt without quite letting the lingering discomfort over the story itself filter into his voice. "It would have been one thing if you were a regular shinobi and fled as a child, but someone from a clan and an active bloodline wearing the Leaf is a political mess. If your loyalty lies with Konoha, you should be using every power at your disposal to make whatever sacrifice the Hokage has laid out to keep you here worthwhile."

Which was, perhaps, harsher than entirely necessary, but Sasuke was short on patience at the moment.

"... You're right. I do. M'sorry, Senpai -- it's because I Was holding back and too scared to act that you got hurt. Rank... Rank's got nothing to do with it this time," She sighed, leaning on him a bit more. She knew he was right. She didn't mind that he was being so honest about it -- part of her admired that about him, that he just was so honest. It meant a lot to her, even if he didn't realize it.

"And... Thanks. If I was alone I probably would have died. I... Needed you there. Thank you."

"It wasn't just that you were scared," he said, trying but unable to entirely hide the impatience. "Our complete failure to work as a team is what made it easy for them to separate us."

Which was his fault, having failed to accurately assess the level of fear Adela had been experiencing. Full disclosure would have helped -- perhaps it was something he needed to remember to request with every mission where he outranked his teammates, given that it had been useful on his trial jounin missions thus far -- but he could understand reluctance on Obito's part to make Adela's history readily available. Adela's, too, given how she'd frozen up despite having prior in-field experience at the mere sight of the Kiri symbol.

That said reluctance meant Sasuke would be wearing a bruise around his eye was an irritation for a variety of reasons, not least the embarrassment of having been locked up in shock from the injury for too long himself.

But he was too exhausted to begin sussing everything out in detail, and beyond that -- whatever Adela's status as an asset, they had agreed to be friends. In the end he sighed, folding his arms without quite dislodging her.

"What matters now is that we still have the sword to deliver and can complete the mission," he said. Not before the soldier pill wore off and he passed out for several hours, but that much was probably obvious.

"... Yeah. We'll get it there," Once more Adela nodded before Sasuke ended up passing out. It was with a sigh and a gentle smile that she moved him over to his bed, making sure not to disturb his injury too much and covering him with the blanket he'd thrown on her. She kept some water nearby for him too, in case he needed that drink once he woke up.

And by the time he did, the sun had started setting and Adela was sitting nearby, her back against the wall as she was absently humming a tune Sasuke likely never would have heard before. It was soft, pleasant, and for her something that reminded her of home. It seemed like she hadn't noticed Sasuke waking up just yet and just continued, calmed and lulled by the song she remembered.

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It's a pretty sword at least.

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