[Luceti] Appointments

[medicalpunch]

[For all those interactions that don't get a whole separate post all to their lonesomes, or for continuing log threads that don't belong on a community post for whatever reason.]

Comments

[believeit]

[He slides across the floor like a worm so he can at least be in front of the camera again.]

I haven't even heard about most of this stuff! Are you sure we learnt it in the Academy?

[medicalpunch]

[Gosh, Naruto! You're making it really hard for her to keep a straight face here.]

Well, not in the Academy, no. This is the jounin test, Naruto! These are all things you should have learned since graduating. I mean, you haven't been a chuunin at all, but you spent all that time with Jiraiya-sama...

[Which is a tough topic, let's not linger there.]

Anyway, if a chuunin leads small groups, a jounin has to be ready to lead big ones! You've got to really know your stuff.

[believeit]

Well Ero-sennin taught me jutsu and how to fight, he never said anything about codes and rule numbers! I bet he didn't even know 'em anyway!

[This is no help argh.]

Do you know them?

[medicalpunch]

Hmm. Well, it's possible he kind of forgot about those. I mean, he wasn't really active for a long time, wasn't he? Just wandering around writing those filthy books...

[She pauses, considering how best to proceed, then grins wickedly.]

Of course I know them! Here-

[And she just starts rattling off things that she figures sound pretty good, filling them in to be the "five hundred fifty-five laws of defense." Most of it is just common-sense defensive techniques, but pad it all out with enough big words...

On the other hand, her poker face might be wearing a little thin. That's a real sparkle in her eyes right now...]

[believeit]

[He's listening but he doesn't get any of it. Cue the whining]

Sakura-chaaaaaaaaaan!

[medicalpunch]

[And that's when she breaks -- she just can't take it anymore, can't keep up the façade in the face of that whining despair. Time to dissolve into helpless giggling.]

Naruto, your face...!

[believeit]

What about my face?! [This isn't the time to be laughing Sakura, this is serious!!]

[medicalpunch]

[It's cute and dumb, that's what about your face.]

You... hahaha, you're falling for it... [And she's just covering her face now, laughing.]

[believeit]

[There's a few seconds of confused silence.

But then he gets it.]

THIS WAS ALL A JOKE WASN'T IT?!

[medicalpunch]

[She's laughing too hard to answer now, but she nods broadly. After a moment or two, she pulls herself together enough to ask,]

You got that all from Kakashi-sensei?

[believeit]

YOU WENT ALONG WITH IT!!

[He expects this shit from Kakashi but NOT YOU Sakura]

[medicalpunch]

It was too funny not to!

[Baby troll has taken her first few steps to a larger world of messing with people's heads.]

[believeit]

It's not funny!!

[medicalpunch]

Of course it is!

action [morning after NARUTO MALLYNap]

[fervidity]

[Sakura is one of the first people Kushina contacts beside Kakashi. She's his teammate so if anyone (other than herself and Minato) knows where he is, it would be her.

Added to that fact is Naruto has a crush on her; If Naruto was just like her, he would be spending a lot of time around the person he liked.

So she knocks on Sakura's door at the earliest in the morning as deemed polite.

Then she waits -- the hardest part about it all.]

[medicalpunch]

[Sakura's up, and comes to the door with a steaming mug of tea in one hand.]

Kushina-san?

[Much like her son, Kushina's not all that hard to read; it's immediately evident that something's pretty wrong here.]

What's wrong? Come in, come in...

[She beckons Kushina into the apartment, worried.]

[fervidity]

[She almost does because that tea looks comforting and warm and she's cold and tired from searching all night and most of morning. Instead she shakes herself and remains just outside her door, shaking her head.]

I'm sorry Sakura, I can't.

[She gets right to the point -- impatient and frazzled and upset and very obviously worried.]

Have you seen Naruto?

[medicalpunch]

[The question makes Sakura's heart clench. As bad as Kushina looks -- and the hour of the morning she's coming around, as though Naruto hasn't spent the night at home...]

Not recently, no. Is he...?

[fervidity]

[Her lips form a thin line, body tensing a little.]

If he's around, I'll find him.

Then I'll scold him until his ears fall off for not answering me and worrying his father and I.

[medicalpunch]

I'll help. [Whether with the finding or scolding, she doesn't clarify, but in any case, her tone is serious, bordering on grim.]

[fervidity]

[Kushina hesitates in accepting.

It's not that she doesn't appreciate the help, or doesn't trust her, but Sakura had been drinking her tea and had obviously woken up not that long ago whereas Kushina hasn't slept at all.

And probably wasn't going to for a while. She had a personal mission to complete. Search every nook and cranny of this place until she was sure Naruto had gone home.

She's not sure what to say to the offer since she never expected she would have to deal with a missing son. After a while, there's a nod.]

Okay. Thank you.

[The more help, the better. Unlike Minato, she'll try not to take everything on her shoulders. Besides this is Naruto's friend and teammate. If anybody knew where he was, then Sakura was one of those people.]

[medicalpunch]

[Kushina looks utterly exhausted; Sakura's half-tempted to tell her to get some rest, let Naruto's friends take over for at least a few hours, long enough for her to refresh herself and get at least a little sleep in.

But it's pretty easy to guess that the suggestion won't fly. Even with medical authority behind it, she has a feeling Kushina won't listen to anyone telling her not to search for Naruto. And that's....

That's okay. Naruto needs people to care for him.]

He's got friends here. The more of us there are looking for him, the better.

[And she absolutely counts herself high on that list of friends.]

We'll find him, Kushina-san. If he's still anywhere in the enclosure, we'll find him.

[fervidity]

[He's got friends here.

Her heavy heart lifts a little and she finally manages a small smile, grateful that he does have people like Sakura and the rest of his friends. Grateful that they would want to help find him too-

-If he's still in Luceti.]

Right.

[They're the same willful words she said to Minato only a few hours ago. It wasn't 'he's still here' or 'he's okay' like she expects. It's if he's here, they would damn well find him and nothing is going to stop her.

Or Sakura.

She's glad Naruto likes a person like Sakura. He did follow some of her advice, after all.]

Let's go!

[medicalpunch]

[And even better that Sakura is learning to like him back.

But there's always that if. Luceti is a place of impermanence, in its own way -- all the ways in which someone could just leave with no warning, no preparation, no chance to say goodbye.

All she can hope is that if Naruto's gone, it's temporary; even if getting home is urgent, more time with his family is what she dearly wants for him.]

You got it! We'll take this whole place apart.

[fervidity]

[YES GOOD YES

Easily excitable and now with a goal in mind with someone who was a woman after her own heart, Kushina feels her determination take precedence over everything else.

That Naruto might have gone home and she wouldn't see him again... or worse.]

Hell yeah!

[Gone is the exhaustion in her eyes.]

Who's nearby here?