#nindoes

Dark circles under his eyes probably gave the difficulty sleeping away more so than anything else. It was always a stark contrast against his pale skin, just as each bruise was before he learned how to adequately avoid oncoming attacks.

Saying 'I'm fine' was an impulse response that she never did, and never would, believe. So instead he breathed a slow sigh and sank back, one arm folding behind his head as he fixed his glazed and tired eyes upon the drifting clouds.

"Here." He extended his other arm, a small pouch neatly tied at the top rested at the center of his palm. "I found some herbs that might be useful to you. With the season changing, I know these might be becoming harder to find."

🍃       ↺    ﹙   @nindoes​​   ,  naruto﹚      ﹒ ❝ don’t you believe me? ❞  +  sasuke   ;

How could he? The Naruto he knew  the one he left behind  lived and breathed Konoha. Sasuke had never understood the undying patriotism for a village as crooked as it was. Then again,  Naruto seemed to cling to   crooked,   broken,   unfixable things.  

All this time,  Naruto had been fighting tooth and nail to get him to come back,  but now he was willing to leave it all behind?  Just like that?  Had his speech truly inspired him that much?  (  He was never one for words to rile the masses,  that was Naruto’s forte.  ) Yet here they both stand on the precipice of changing the course of their lives forever. 

You would do that for me?    Of course he wouldn’t utter the words. Sasuke couldn’t trust that his voice wouldn’t break. Couldn’t trust that years of suppressed emotions wouldn’t spill & pour from him. As much he had trusted Naruto once,  he knew his loyalties lied elsewhere. They lied in the same place that murdered the Itachi he knew. 

            ❛ let's take a trip to tanzaku town, kushina! i heard the games there are pretty fun! ❜  the once shy, quiet little boy finally found his voice with the fiery red-headed girl. a broad smile gracing his features, illuminating his blonde hair further - it was almost as if he had a glow to him, sun-kissed. he tended to ignore the others in the village when he was within kushina's presence. he made his intention clear after the hidden cloud incident that she was apart of this village, she was his close friend, and that he would never leave her side. 

Kakashi had respect for his fellow ANBU comrades, it was why he worked so hard to avoid them, to slink back and rely on his typical tricks to throw them off his scent when they drew too near.

Some of them knew well his habits of movement, and some of them, such as Anri, knew how to pester him.

Kakashi looked past him, seeking out any tremor of movement that would indicate back-up had arrived. For now, it was just the two of them, though there was no doubt a unit was on their way.

"Good thing I'm not looking to chat, then."

The sting at his arm pulled his attention momentarily. One of them had grazed him with a shuriken, leaving a painful gash below the ANBU mark tattooed onto his bicep. It was a good hit. He would have praised whoever this had been during a training exercise, but unfortunately, it was now a matter of survival.

Perhaps Anri had been the one responsible. He was the only one that had kept up, after all.

The truth of that statement, and the irony of it, was almost worth laughing at. But Kakashi remained expressionless, his eyes a near empty void as he stared out over the glimmering lights in Konoha.

This cliffside offered a brilliant view, one that both enamored and dispirited him.

"That's all we are." He replied evenly. "Until the game ends."

And he would make sure it did, one way or another.

It was a ripple of movement, a reflex like no other when someone succeeded in entering his space. A kunai danced in his hand, hissing as it turned in the direction of Kakashi's unknown company--but it pulled up short.

This was not a member of the black ops that had been tailing him recently.

The piercing glare in his eyes shifted to something more startled and perplexed. He knew this face, not intimately enough to consider them a lost friend, but they had been lost. The Uchiha clan had become easily recognizable given he'd been at the helm of surveillance more hours than was worth remembering.

His sharingan remained open, staring upon another member of the very clan that it rightfully belonged to.

"You--" He paused, his keen ears picking up a sound not far off. The squadron was likely closing in again, and given how depleted he already was from evading them through the use of several jutsu, they would likely give him problems soon enough.

Kakashi heaved himself back to his feet.

"The ROOT will drag you back to Danzo if they catch you out here."

🍃       ↺    ﹙   @nindoes​   ,  naruto﹚      ﹒ ❝ didn’t you listen to what i just said? ❞ +  sasuke   ;

“ you really expect me to listen to you when you drone on and on? ” light and shadow. sun and moon. there are some times, more times than sasuke liked to admit, that these differences highlighted just how much he and naruto existed on opposite sides of the plane. how much better than him he was.