[OPEN / bodyswap event] so she said what's the problem baby

[ghostpepper]

Who: Gaara in Kushina's body, OPEN
Where: Konoha for the majority of the event.
When: March 6th
Notes: Tophie and Elle have switched journals for the event for ease of icons/ID! Missive thread included inside.

[ The actual switch goes far too smoothly - aching from a night spent out in the deep desert under the full moon, Gaara isn't anywhere near alert when he all but trips over a... he doesn't know, doesn't have time to know, because then there's a seal burning through his foot and he's suddenly... somewhere else.

And he feels fine. Better than fine, he's never felt so healthy in his life, even as he's staggering from someone running into him. That's the first red flag. Not the health, not the seething silence in the back of his mind where cursing and grit should be. The proximity. No one ever gets that close. What happened? He spins, trying to catch sight of the runner, promptly falls over in a whirl of red hair and hopelessly altered balance...

And the sand doesn't catch him.

Gaara hasn't screamed in real fear or real anger since he was thirteen years old, but he barely suppresses it now. Instead, he can't help the hiss-whimper of terror as he looks down at a body not his own, in a country not his own, and in the chambers of his - not his - mind, a creature stirs with too many tails and fur like fire. What happened, he repeats, and Shukaku doesn't hear him.

It takes him too long to reach the travel seal with this light body with reflexes and a ground-eating stride alien to him, and the passports this body is holding - and it's a real person, she's a real person, an Uzumaki - won't take him to Suna. "You're scheduled for Konoha," he's told, and goes through the seals with a dazed obedience.

And then, as he emerges into familiar streets to a chorus of 'Kushina-sama's from the attendant shinobi, he realises. If he's a real person, if he's been switched, rather than transformed and kidnapped, then his body is still back in the ranges north of Sunagakure with a semi-berserk bijuu draining it of chakra.

He has to find the Hokage. ]

[ OOC NOTE: As far as anyone can see, Kushina has returned a little early from a courier mission to north Tea country, and is making her way towards the Hokage tower. She looks unsteady and a little panicked, and flinches if people move too close to her. Have fun. ]

Comments

[sunshinenpcs]

[ He skids around the corner chasing a whisp of colour he's sure was-- There! His feet carry him loudly forwards, a quick tak tak tak on the slightly damp sidewalk. Man, he's so glad the snow is no more; while it had been fun for a little, it's nice to not fall over every step he takes. (It was definitely all to do with the weather and not to do with his general lack of co-ordination. Yup.) He has his eyes set on the back of the woman in front of him, hands poised before him ready to take his aim and finally catch his mother by surprise. In all honesty he's every bit expecting her to evade him somehow, but that's all part of the game, all part of their exchanges, and whatever way it goes any chance to tumble through the street with his mom is a good outcome, whether he gets a bonk on the head for it or not. The way his face lights up at the thought makes it seem like he hasn't seen her for weeks, let alone a short few days while she ran her courier errands in tea country, but.. he had vowed to make the most of all the time he had with her now that she was finally back in Konoha, and he'd be damned if he didn't keep his promise! He springs forward with a slightly loaded leap, his hands outstretched till they meet with her sides, and as he tickles her relentlessly he cries out happily-- ] Mom!

[ghostpepper]

[ Three things happen in quick succession. First, Gaara freezes at the unexpected assault. Second, years of training and the body's reflexes kick in as he wheels his arms around to knock Naruto's away. Third, he attempts to half-throw half-shove his assailant away.

Somewhere between the first and second, he makes a choked noise almost like a laugh, which he will never admit to anyone again.

The cry of 'mom!' sinks in halfway through step two, and by step three he's realised with a flash of alarm who it is. Then alarm becomes anger becomes a headache behind his eyes as his own emotions conflict with a surge of affection that isn't his own, and he pulls the last motions to try and steady the other boy. For the woman's sake, and probably for the sake of Naruto's teammates. ]

Uz-- Naruto.

[sunshinenpcs]

[ Naruto had been listening out for the indignant shout of surprise and mirth in response to his attack, or even a skillful dodge and rebuttal to punish him for thinking he could have ever gotten away with tickling in his mom, so the noise he hears definitely isn't what he expects. He has no reason to doubt the woman before him, however, and even if he did he's much too excited to let suspicion slow him down. He's expecting the physical contact for sure (though it's a little softer than he'd presumed it would be) and he steels himself against it. He swerves, leaning backwards and springing forward again as though he were made of elastic and the force hadn't even touched him. He's so invested in assumption, in fact, that when his 'mother' stumbles over his name, he barely even notices. ] Eh? Is that all ya got? You're not that tired out from your mission, are you? C'mon, I can take it, y'know! [ His hands are outstretched again, and he leans in to make another attempt at tickling her sides. He'll never learn. ]