pawnstorm | [Open] It's getting hot in here

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[Open] It's getting hot in here

Who: Caren and anyone visiting the hot springs!
When: Post dungeon, could be right after fail/success, could be days after
Where: Hot Springs of course
What: There's a hot springs, so now there's a hot springs episode.
Rating: Could be a p-13 and beyond because some people are only wearing towels in this place.

[Win or fail, everyone needed a reason and a way to relax. With the fall of the towers, there was all sorts of good things to come from it. Some would say it was the birds; and others would say it was the hot springs.

The large, large pools of heated water. Sure, they could be used as a way to get all steamed up (or even steam punk) but after all that hard work, everyone deserves a break!

Bring your swimsuits, your towels, your drinks and snacks-who knows, you should be able to find them in the bazaars, or even on Airy. It's time to soak in the heat!]

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[Their eyes meet over the word and while Naruto knows he isn't supposed to react- it's hard not to. Nanadaime. Becoming Hokage one day had never been a child's dream because it had never been treated like one; Naruto had never forgotten about it, had never hesitated to mention it, and had never considered it anything but his inevitable future. But the reality is that despite his goal, there have been times where Naruto wasn't sure what would happen in the end. Bringing Sasuke back to the village, protecting Konoha, Akatsuki, the Fourth Shinobi War- there had always been something, and while he had refused to consider the job a possibility, he'd been faced with a far more sobering one. If, when the war was over, he still had to fight Sasuke- then they would die together.

In this moment it finally becomes real to him that a day will come when Naruto could have both.

It hits him like a sucker punch, leaving him momentarily breathless for happiness. One day, Sasuke will come back home- and all three of them will be together again.

His voice is rough when he speaks again, and Naruto turns his face back up towards the sky. Blinks the tears away.]

You aren't the only shinobi in Konoha. Another team could handle it for a week, and it'd be worth it to piss you off.

[ This Naruto has on idea what Sasuke is doing, of course. He doesn't know that after Sasuke returned to the village from his travels, he felt traces of Kaguya lurking in the world. Nobody could understand the threat of her quite how Naruto and Sasuke could, what facing that woman down had meant. Sasuke's task was to find out what was causing it, while Naruto continued building a revolution they both wanted. It was the only way to make things work, to keep everyone safe: they were the two who saved the world, in the end.

But the idea is a nice one. That he could be in the village for a week. Spending time with Naruto, and with Sakura and Sarada. Sasuke sighs, slowly, though his nose.

He doesn't need to look at Naruto to hear the quiver of emotion in his voice, but Sasuke watches his profile anyway. He'd spent enough of his life trying to look the other way. ]

You're such a nuisance.

You're just getting spoiled'attebayo.

[There's no way for him to know that for sure, and Naruto knows that this summary probably couldn't be further from the truth. Even as children, the two of them were always reaching as far as they could, hungry for growth and recognition.

Whatever arrangement they have must make sense for them at the time, and he's sure it's only temporary. Sasuke and Sakura are part of a family now, after all.]

That other me must be going easy on you.

[ That draws a laugh out of him. It's brief, but the very idea of Naruto going easy on him is probably the most hilarious thing Sasuke has heard in years. Never in their shared history of knowing one another have they made anything easy for the other. Naruto had explained it best, when he'd said Sasuke had become his goal. The two of them, just by existing, somehow made the other stronger.

There's no way Naruto can be serious with a statement like that. Sasuke only shakes his head and sinks further into the water, letting it rise to his collar bones. ]

We both have a lot to do.

[ He says, finally, but even that much reminds him of everything he should be doing back there, and Sasuke finds he isn't inclined to talk about it. ]

What do you intend to do with those feathers?

Edited 2016-05-24 21:57 (UTC)

[It's a joke that maybe only the two of them could ever really appreciate. Two boys using one another as yardsticks, measuring growth and progress and strength and power- trying to beat the fates they were born into and trying to beat one another.

Sasuke's admission and the lax way that his body tells Naruto everything he could need to know. They're okay. This thing between them, the history past and present- it really is okay. It's the first time in years that he's seen such a look on Sasuke's face. To see him at peace.

Naruto's mouth quirks into a thoughtful frown. The feathers, from those birds with the crazy arms.]

I guess I don't really know yet'attebayo. I've heard that stuff like that can help you with magic and stuff, but I don't know anybody who knows how to use it.

Do you?

Not yet.

[ But he plans on finding some. Or, barring that, finding out how to do it himself. Sasuke has never really allowed himself to rely too heavily on the people around him. Outside Team Seven, the people around him became tools for Sasuke to use. Having left the village even during the peace, Sasuke still habitually falls back on fending for himself. ]

I need to do more reading.

[Well, that's to be expected too he thinks. He wouldn't say that Sasuke is the most studious of all of Team 7, but that's because in a way, Sasuke's like him- he only really works on the things that interest him. Sakura-chan was always the best student.]

Suddenly I think I should'a gotten more'attebayo, just in case we mess up a few times. This magic thing isn't easy at all.

[Which is to say that Naruto never really expected easy. It's always been about the fight with him- about challenge and change, defeat and growth. If he's good at nothing else, then its at failing and trying again.]

I know it's not chakra, but I tried thinking of it that way, and I couldn't make it work at all. At least you got a few sparks.

If you can't learn to feel for it in your body you're not going to be able to use it.

[ Sasuke may not have the intellectual know how that Sakura has always had, but he learns in his own way— like Naruto, Sasuke uses his body to understand. He turns his gaze back on his young friend, contemplative. He might have enjoyed watching Naruto struggle with the newness when he was younger, teased him until he became so frustrated that he pulled off something miraculous and inevitably surged past Sasuke in skill.

He knows, now, that wasn't how it went. Naruto had the kyuubi in him, he had a boost of uncontrollable strength. Sasuke didn't know until much later that it was his pain that both gave him strength and sought to destroy him in the same breath. Maybe he would have died in that first fight, years ago, if he hadn't had that curse— but then again, maybe he would have ended up killing his friend and remained lost to the dark and to hatred forever.

Lifting his right hand out of the hot spring, Sasuke offers his palm to Naruto. ]

Give me your hand.

Edited (fuck u) 2016-05-31 05:23 (UTC)

[There are things that make Naruto hesitate, and then there's this: a decision he wishes he'd made when he was much younger. When they were two boys, on a swing and on a pier. How long has he been holding his hand out to Sasuke? In a history of loneliness and friendship and loss, a timeline punctuated chidori's scream and a coil of wind in his fist- he doesn't know if he has an answer. He wishes he'd tried sooner, but he doesn't regret his refusal to take it back. How can he when it's lead them to this?

How can he when Sasuke reaches for him now?

Naruto feels the smile in his stomach, a lightness he can't describe, and his right hand breaks the water- the sage's pale circle still in the centre of his palm.]

[ Sasuke touches him before Naruto can complete the gesture, holding his hand palm up, to look down at the perfect circle like a tattoo on his skin. It feels like a lifetime ago that he had a matching mark on his left arm. They each lost them, after their fight. It's fitting, in a way. Naruto has a new arm, now, but it's as much a blatant scar as the one Sasuke carries in his missing limb.

Adjusting their grip, Sasuke holds his hand palm to palm and looks back into Naruto's face. He can feel it immediately, the warm rush of Naruto's mana. It's like stepping into the open and being washed over with sunlight. ]

What do you feel?

[This part he knows and the flicker of recognition is easy to track on his features. He'd been the one to spot mana-starvation during their battle, and he'd been the one to throw his arms out. Sasuke's touch feels exactly the way it did the first time and Naruto's shoulders soften in immediate relief. With his eyes closed its easier to focus on the sensation, to liken it to something else, and fine the words to describe it. At Sasuke's side, hands still clasped, he eases back against the edge of the springs. It's the first time he's looked relaxed since he got here.]

Yours is like- when it's a really hot day, and you jump into a pond to cool off. Or like when the sun goes down in the summertime.

[ This isn't how Sasuke initially found his mana, but he had always been separate from Naruto in that way. Sasuke picked things up quickly, genius. It didn't take hard work for him to make the connections, like Naruto did, but his first mana exchange had solidified his understanding of it. He can feel Naruto's mana crawl up his arm, spread like honey through his body. ]

Where do you feel it?

Everywhere.

[It's a simple and straightforward answer for something Naruto experiences as simple and straightforward. He says it the way he might shrug, casual and without embarrassment, and then he thinks-]

Or maybe like Susanoo? Like a big hand right here. [His unoccupied hand and the one still in Sasuke's own move to his chest, waving in a vague and all encompassing sort of gesture.]

[ The gesture tugs on Sasuke's arm, but he makes no effort to try and control the way Naruto pulls him in his wake. It's an interesting comparison, that the feel of his mana is like the feel of Susano'o. Sasuke doesn't have much concept of what his mana would feel like to someone else, just as he wouldn't know what his chakra would feel like on someone else. What he does know is how it feels when it's full (like now) and when it's empty (like earlier) and how it felt for Naruto's mana to fill in the holes. ]

The largest concentration is there.

[A frown pulls at the corner of his mouth. Naruto's arms lower back to the water- elbows dangling on the ledge, and his head rolls to look in Sasuke's direction.]

Mine? Oh oh, so I feel it there like when you put something in an empty cup, right? That's where the empty part is.

[ The dangle of Naruto's arm puts a gap between their palms where their fingers remained linked, and where Naruto sets his elbows on the edge of the hotspring Sasuke lets his own arm dip back into the water, his hand held above the surface by Naruto's own. ]

Yeah. [ It isn't how Sasuke would have explained it, but that's why he let Naruto come to his own conclusion. ] When you use that ability of yours, it takes up almost all of your mana. You haven't experienced the in between, only full or empty.

I don't really know how to use it. [It's a frighteningly candid admission, especially when his cloak is the only thing that's stood between Naruto and certain death since he'd arrived.] When something bad happens I'm normally okay, but I'm not used to noticing it anyway. It still hurts, just like back home, so I don't pay much attention.

[Somewhere in the springs he can hear laughter and joking- familiar exchanges between people who must know one another well.]

The worst times I just thought it was gonna be rough. I'm not sure how to turn it on, so that part always just happens- and then I know after, when I feel real sick.

You need to learn.

[ Sasuke slips his fingers out of Naruto's hold. There is no need for a mana exchange, and the point he had been trying to make has been made, so continuing to hold his hand is unnecessary. He isn't sure what to make of the twinge of reluctance he feels in the act.

It could be partly that, but Sasuke's gaze grows heavy, watching Naruto intensely when he goes on: ]

If you don't, you'll die.

[The intensity of Sasuke's gaze doesn't bring him around. He's been feeling that for years.

Their connection broken, Naruto's arms lower until they disappear beneath the surface of the spring. He knows what that kind of ultimatum is supposed to mean, but the reality is that they've been facing death since they were children. They understood what the life of a shinobi meant on their first mission into the land of waves and that hasn't changed as they've gotten older. The potential is always there. His eyes close on a sigh.]

You're this old and you're still underestimating me? You're the one that's gotta learn, Sasuke.

[ He's seen all that Naruto can do, and that death in a stupid place like this for a war that isn't their own, in a way that could be avoided would be a waste. That Sasuke isn't sure he could survive through the loss of another bond he held so dear, even after all this time.

Instead, he sighs gently, quietly, and Sasuke lets his gaze slide away when Naruto closes his eyes. He's long since moved past underestimating his friend. After so many years, the only thing Naruto has done is consistently surprise him, but he shakes his head anyway. ]

Don't be an idiot. You know what I mean.

I'm going to master it.

[The words come easy, the way a casual admission might-a statement of fact. And that's because it is. Naruto knows that he'll do it the same way he knew he'd master the rasengan and the way he knew he'd be Jiraiya's student and the way he knew he'd become hokage. He's going to work for it until he succeeds and he'll ask for help when he needs it and he won't stop.

But this is Sasuke worried about him- a new experience maybe for both of them, and that's why he says it the way he does. He can't imagine what this must be like for his friend because he can't imagine the things that have changed between them, or what experiences he's had that Naruto hasn't yet.

It's a promise, this way.]

[ Naruto has always been the kind to keep to his word, despite all of Sasuke's misgivings when they were growing up. He'd brought Sasuke back to the village, he'd mastered every technique he said he would, he became Hokage and was acknowledged by the ninja world. Hearing him say this, Sasuke feels relief filter through him, and lets the small smile slip.

Of course.

Maye Naruto was right, and he was getting old. He should have known better than to underestimate Naruto's determination. ]

Hn.

Ohhhhkay!

[The word comes out like a groan and Naruto's weight rolls forward- a small wake rippling out from his sides. Like everything else he does it's a noisy exclamation, the pointed shift from one direction to another.] Enough soaking'attebayo.

C'mon, we should get going again before we turn into broth.

[ Sasuke arches both eyebrows up at him, as he rises. Somehow, he refrains from commenting that Naruto is probably mostly a noodle to begin with, given the amount of ramen he ingests on any given day. ]

You've had enough already?

Who wants to just sit around all the time? [He pushes to his feet in one fluid motion, and though he does leave the water sloshing around his thighs he manages not to cause a tidal wave, so. Small blessings. Naruto's arms lift, a stretch high over his head before he reaches for the towel in his hair, wrapping it around his waist.]

And anyway I get bored if I'm here too long.

You comin'?

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penitents - 2016-06-11 07:21 (UTC) - Expand

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