[02/05 - 02/07] open

[not_thedragon]

Who: Sasuke and the consequences of his choices
When: February 5th through February 7th
Where: Chez Uchiha
Notes: Look at his life. Look at his choices.

He was mostly succeeding at not having any regrets. Even though the storm outside was still blustering out its tail end of snow and sleet, the skin-crawling buzzing had died down somewhat with the thorough expenditure of lightning chakra, leaving him with only the usual vague oppressed feeling that fire chakra sulked with in wet conditions.

The problem was less the chakra exhaustion and more the way Mikoto had taken one look at him and tsked him into a hot bath as if he were eight years old again, throwing chopped ginger into the bathwater and -- though not actually saying anything out loud -- speaking volumes with the disapproving angle of her neck.

It hadn't been ameliorated any when Sasuke had woken up with a head that felt as if he'd filled it with earth -- not even earth, maybe, dust, something that settled into crevices and left his hearing distant and head afflicted with the sort of hazy headache that made him want to do nothing more than crawl underneath his covers and ignore the world at large. If he was lucky, his mother wouldn't even have mentioned the problem to anyone else.

Comments

last night was so good, kakashi. don't worry

[not_thedragon]

This was how Sasuke knew he really was sick, other than the congestion and the ache and general unwellness: it wasn't until he'd set his own bowl down, mostly drained, that he remembered to try to see what Kakashi was hiding under that mask. Even then the effort was half-hearted, given how likely it was that -- and yes, there was already soup missing from Kakashi's bowl, and nearly no indication that the mask had ever moved.

There were times when Sasuke had theorized that Kakashi had to drink liquids through the mask, but the white gauze over his face today showed no soup stain. How did he even ...

His brain, preoccupied with consternated irritation over yet again missing an opportunity, caught up to the question late. "What?"

He blinked, then rewound what his ears had heard. "Oh. No," he said, as fervent as the blocked-up sinuses could allow. "This is still better than before."

im glad it was good for you, it was good for me too

[scarecrowboy]

He saw the twitch of irritation in Sasuke's eyebrow, and his mask shifted as his mouth curved in a smile. Keep trying, Sasuke. You might get there one day.

"Tell me about it," the older man muttered as he looked back to the bowl in his hands, swilling the contents. "Ironically enough, the only people who have berated me for my carelessness so far have been people who don't know what it feels like." He hitched in a deep inhale and held the breath for a moment, sure that he could feel the faint rush of relief brimming under his skin as he did, then let it go in a slow sigh that turned into a quiet wheeze.

mutual good is that good good

[not_thedragon]

Sasuke relaxed back against the headboard at the agreement, even as he took an unpleasantly noisy breath through the congestion. He was far from ungrateful for his secondary element -- it worked well with his first, and (though he would never admit it out loud) had enough cool factor that it was still a bit of a thrill every time he managed to make lightning chakra do something new.

"Same," he said, tilting the bowl for the last few drops of soup. If he ever moved out, this was definitely something he'd end up missing. "Do any other natures get like this? Even fire isn't this bad in wet weather."

[scarecrowboy]

Kakashi rolled a shoulder. "I'm not entirely certain. Lightning is the only one I feel so intensely. I suppose it's something to do with it being my natural affinity, and the fact that the others don't have the same, uh.. charge to them." His shoulders gave a little quirk, like he'd told a hilarious joke.

The last dregs of his bowl had disappeared while Sasuke's bowl was tilted, and he shifted to cross his legs as he sat on the end of Sasuke's bed, his chin resting in one hand propped up on his knee at the elbow.

"Wind gets a little lethargic sometimes, but I'm not sure if that's across the board."

[not_thedragon]

Fire affinity was nearly universal in the clan; perhaps that was why secondary affinities seemed to stand out as much. Sasuke remembered Obito's easy discussion of his -- steady elements, none of this volatility -- but still couldn't quite bring himself to be properly jealous. It took a second for him to register that Kakashi was laughing, and another one to rewind the words to --

Really? Proper respect for even a sometimes-teacher notwithstanding, Sasuke delivered as disbelieving a look as he could manage when his face still felt like someone had blocked every tenketsu in it.

"Perhaps there are other circumstances where other elements struggle, just not weather-related."

[scarecrowboy]

"Maybe. Something to look into in your downtime, hm?" Kakashi mused, tilting his head and regarding Sasuke with an appropriately curious look. How he spared thought for such involved subjects when his head was full of cotton wool Kakashi could only wonder (and could only find endearment in considering it was so very reminiscent of himself in his younger years).

Without any time or energy for being sentimental, Kakashi rolled a shoulder in a shrug, changing the subject with a quick shift of his attention.

"I should probably go. The last thing we need is to incubate this by spending time together." Okay, that came out a little ruder than he'd intended, but it was the long and short of his excuse. "There's a time-waster back at my apartment with my name on it." And Jiraiya's name on it, but that wasn't the point.