It was, all told, good that he'd been practicing keeping his expressions in check for the past two weeks and a half, because even with the growing habit of maintaining a neutral expression, Sasuke stared blankly at her for a moment. There was no hint of joking in her expression or body language, and he wouldn't have expected such a joke from Adela in any case: she meant it.
A month ago, he might have been startled to find that her goal extended to absolute authority over a village she'd been thrown into when on the run from her own kin; half a year ago, he might have been pleasantly surprised to see ambition in a Konoha-nin so young. But now, with the memory fresh of what Obito had taught him about keeping the village safe -- the level beneath the surface that Sasuke had only scratched upon, and by accident at that --
When he'd sorted through the image burned into mind (Sharingan or not) of his Hokage cutting open the neck of a child and looked at Adela again, at ease within the walls of a classroom and talking about childhood not three minutes ago, the reaction that wanted out was, bizarrely, laughter.
Compose yourself, his Hokage had said. Are you going to be able to behave so that no one can tell something is wrong?
"That's interesting," he said, biting down everything but the mild interest of a friend, and a little nonsensical from the effort that control took: "And you're hoping that your students will be old enough to vote for you when Hokage-sama steps down?"
no subject
A month ago, he might have been startled to find that her goal extended to absolute authority over a village she'd been thrown into when on the run from her own kin; half a year ago, he might have been pleasantly surprised to see ambition in a Konoha-nin so young. But now, with the memory fresh of what Obito had taught him about keeping the village safe -- the level beneath the surface that Sasuke had only scratched upon, and by accident at that --
When he'd sorted through the image burned into mind (Sharingan or not) of his Hokage cutting open the neck of a child and looked at Adela again, at ease within the walls of a classroom and talking about childhood not three minutes ago, the reaction that wanted out was, bizarrely, laughter.
Compose yourself, his Hokage had said. Are you going to be able to behave so that no one can tell something is wrong?
"That's interesting," he said, biting down everything but the mild interest of a friend, and a little nonsensical from the effort that control took: "And you're hoping that your students will be old enough to vote for you when Hokage-sama steps down?"