16autumnroad | [Voice / Action : Forest, 3/17] Arrival

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[Voice / Action : Forest, 3/17] Arrival

Kai! [Sudden absence from the battlefield prompts Chouji's immediate attempt to dispel an illusion.]

Why won't the genjutsu break? It must be too strong. [Not to mention that genjutsu and fine chakra control are not his strongest skills. Pain should also work. It's hardly the preferred method for breaking illusions, but it's more reliable for anyone whose chakra control isn't near perfect. He reaches for a kunai, but none is available. Unarmed and unarmored in a genjutsu that could be used to do pretty much anything to him; somehow that isn't surprising. Chouji is starting to worry though. He crouches down, snatches a jagged rock, and slices open his left palm. Still nothing.

Unwilling to simply sit and wait, he pushes off lightly, leaping into the trees. Chouji conceals himself as well as he can among the branches, only now noticing the journal lying open on the ground below. Shivering from the cold, a twinge of pain between his shoulder blades makes Chouji twitch, wondering if the attack he's been braced for is finally coming. His eyes widen as he looks over his shoulder to see a pair of feathered wings. A little desperate now, Chouji makes one final attempt at breaking free. He stabs his thigh with the rock. Still trapped, he resigns himself to staying here until someone manages to free him, letting the stone fall back to the ground. Chouji keeps watch for any further signs of danger on the off chance the genjutsu's caster slips and gives something away.]

[Chouji can heard over the journal; he will pick it up as soon as he receives an answer. He can also be found in the forest or anywhere in the common areas of town after he eventually makes it there.]

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"It's not the Edo Tensei." It's the first thing that comes to him -- at least he knows the war, she tells herself. That's... that something, at least. "They're taken... I don't know. Some of them are taken from... from before, but I think some know... how they ended." The words are hesitant, trying to skirt a little; she's still working her own mind around this.

"Some of them? ...Sakura, how many are there?"

That's not the important question, and he knows it. Chouji shakes his head. He hesitates but knows he'll have to ask eventually. "Who?" Basic intelligence gathering training as well as knowledge gleaned from another conversation here prompt him to immediately countermand his own question. "Wait, don't tell me who unless they already know. Other people can hear this if they try, right?"

Chouji doesn't want anyone to find out about their own death through an overheard conversation. He won't be responsible for that.

"Exactly right," Sakura agrees grimly. "A moment, let me see if I can filter this...

She fiddles with the journal a bit, and engages the filter -- it's something she hasn't done often, but she's glad the function exists.

"There, they shouldn't be able to see this now," she says more firmly. "As for your question..."

She pauses there. "I've been making an effort not to say anything," she admits quietly. "I don't want to inadvertently... give anyone a reason to dread going home again. Who would want to know the future when they won't be able to change it, or even remember it when they go home?"

"You're sure they can't?"

"What's the last thing you remember, then?" Chouji asks. Memories and timelines are code now, if they're still trying to avoid giving away too much. They don't know which of them has experienced more in their own world, after all. Chouji has never been very good at codes or riddles, but he'll do his best.

"I'd..." He'd heard his best friends' fathers in his head before they died. Headquarters had exploded. Neji had died. So many people died, but those are the three whose fate he knows for certain and who he knows by name. "I'd gotten an extra boost of chakra from someone who had plenty to spare." That would mean something to Sakura if she'd been there, because she would have received the same.

She feels hideously guilty that her first reaction to his cautious statement is intense relief. She shouldn't be glad that someone else is from the middle of the mess that battle became, she shouldn't be glad that someone else has seen the suffering behind it and is going to be confronting someone they just watched die. She shouldn't...

But she is. Gods, it's such a relief not to be the only one.

"The last thing I remember is Naruto spreading his chakra to Hinata," she admits quietly. "So he kept it up?" It sounds like Chouji is, if anything, from seconds or minutes later than her.

"Yes. I think everyone got some. I'd lost so much weight from my techniques, and I gained it all back immediately. The last thing I remember, Naruto and Lee were working together to avenge--" Neji's death, but Chouji stops before he says the words.

He pauses, adding softly, "If it seems like anyone needs to talk to my teammates, I'll do it." It's probably been hard for Sakura to look at Ino and Shikamaru, especially Ino, knowing of their loss. Chouji can already feel it starting to wear on him. If they're going to find out, though, he wants to be there to comfort them.

To avenge, yes. She draws a slow breath, then says, "He's here. Neji is." On the same floor as her, and two months now she hasn't been able to make herself confront him. The thought of those pale eyes, which she last saw Lee's hand sadly close, facing her just makes her sick to her stomach.

And speaking of which... "So's Asuma." For the warnings Chouji needs before he finds out the hard way. Asuma's been easier for her to deal with - she wasn't present when he died, hasn't had to battle images of blood and impalement and her own feelings of crushing failure. But all those things, Chouji will probably have to confront.

Chouji closes his eyes, grimaces, nods. "And he doesn't know? His teammates don't know?" Chouji may be willing to take the responsibility for breaking awful news to his own teammates, but he wouldn't even know where to start with Gai's students. Plus, it's different when it's your own death. The idea of Neji knowing he'll go home only to die is awful.

The next part is hard to take, and a sharp intake of breath precedes his words. "Asuma-sensei? He's... he's alive here?"

"No, they don't." She shakes her head. "I haven't been able to tell them. How... how do you say that to someone? They won't be able to change it, when they go home they won't even remember the warning..." She takes a deep, slow breath, forcing herself to calm. The whole thing makes her feel ill.

"Yes, he's here. Arrived not that long ago, and not for the first time, he says. So... you'll get more time with him. I don't know if... if he knows, though."

"No. I don't think I could either." Chouji will leave that team's heartbreak alone, let them enjoy the extra time they have left together.

Time has at least started to dull the pain from Asuma's death. Asuma's students didn't only see him die, though. "We had to fight Asuma-sensei's body, during the war. He was one of the ones they revived." He shakes his head, not allowing himself to cry. "He was still himself, he just couldn't control what he was doing. He was proud of me for finally attacking him." Chouji knows he did the right thing in the end, but the very idea of being praised for attacking his mentor is horrifying. It's almost as bad as the fact that it was necessary.

He falls silent momentarily, then asks softly, "Is there anywhere to get barbecue here?" Chouji would give a lot for one more team dinner with his sensei.

"I'm sorry." It's an empty thing to say, foolish, but it's all Sakura can offer. Both her mentors still live, but she can well imagine what it would feel like to face down Kakashi or Tsunade, to have to strike them even if they were nothing more than puppets. It's ugly.

The whole war's ugly, and trapped in Luceti, her bitterness against it has only grown.

"There's a grocery shop, and a couple people are running restaurants," she offers. "They might prepare something..."

He just nods to accept the sympathy. It's hard to know what to say, but Sakura tried. She's probably had a hard enough time in the war herself. She has to deal with the wounded as well as the fighting when it comes to battle, and goodness knows Chouji has enough trouble managing one role in the war. "Thank you. For listening."

A thought occurs to him, given their initial hesitance to discuss the war openly. Has Sakura had anyone to do the same for her? "Are any of the others from the war, or are we the only ones this far along?"

He waves off the uncertainty in that offer, a slow smile spreading across his face. "As long as provisions are available. I can always do the cooking myself if I need to."

"Anytime." The ones who know have to stick together, in her mind. They're carrying a burden that the others don't, and so they need to share it. "Tenten knows about it, at least, but she's... not as far long as we are. She doesn't know." And, Sakura quietly hopes, she won't find out. "The others... I'm not sure." It's a topic she's generally tried to avoid, to steer as safe and as clear as she can. "I don't think anyone's from as far along as we are."

She takes a low breath, in and out, and pushes away the unpleasant thoughts. "Pretty much anything is available here, from what I've found. The Malnosso at least keep us in good conditions." Even if the price was far too high.

"I won't say anything to her about it." When she confirms his theory, he hesitates, not wanting to question Sakura's ability to cope. He knows how strong she is. She just shouldn't be forced to use that strength unnecessarily. "If you need anything, you can let me know, alright? You listened to me, after all."

Chouji nods. "The Malnosso are our captors, then?"

"Thank you." The smile she gives him is a little thin -- yes, she has very much been carrying this alone for the past two months and more, but it's hard to relax that hold even a little. And she's never been good at admitting when she's feeling overwhelmed.

"They are," she confirms, happy to be on easier ground. "They're people who've been brought here by this world too, but they're unable to ever leave. So when we appear, they put us in these enclosures to try and figure out how we're able to leave, and to try and replicate it so everyone can." She doesn't sound happy about it, not in the least. "Supposedly it's all for our own protection, because not everyone who's stuck here likes the people who will disappear and go home, but that's a pretty stupid excuse, if you ask me."

"Anytime," he says with quiet emphasis. Chouji didn't expect Sakura to take him up on his offer immediately, but it doesn't have an expiration date. If she wants to later, she's welcome to find him.

He sounds equally doubtful when he answers. " 'For your own good' can be taken too far." An awful thought occurs to Chouji. "Sakura, you don't think they ever put people from the same world in different enclosures, do you?" They must not. His teammates are all here, and the odds of that are low enough even without taking into account multiple enclosures.

"Ah, about that." She frowns, thinking over what she's learned so far. "There are other enclosures, but I don't know whether there's anyone from our world -- or anyone else's that's here -- in them. You might want to ask someone who's been here longer." Shikamaru, really -- of course he's the best source of information. But she doesn't need to rub it in again how long Shikamaru's been here without his best friend.

"Shikamaru will probably give me a spectacularly long mission briefing if I ask enough questions," Chouji mutters, sighing. He doesn't like to think about it, but avoiding the truth won't make it disappear. Shikamaru has been here for years, and Chouji just arrived. He does appreciate Sakura skirting the subject, but he'd rather let it sink in right away. That way it's just one more blow on top of a long, hard day.

After all, if he's missed a lot here, Shikamaru has missed as much at home. Not as much time, maybe, but Chouji remembers things his best friend doesn't. Important things that will hurt a lot more than a couple of years missed. "I'm so glad I talked to you first, though. I couldn't..." He would have given everything away immediately. "I would have done everything wrong with my teammates." Chouji can't express how grateful he is to Sakura for preventing that.

She understands exactly what he means by that. "Shikamaru did the same thing for me, or similar enough," she admits with a small nod. "Filled me in on all the details... it stopped me from blurting things out. And... you know, it's good to know I'm not the only one anymore who knows about..." A vague wave of her hand. "About everything. It's been a lonely feeling, knowing these things and keeping entirely silent about them." Because why should she give everyone else the pain too, when there's nothing anyone can do about it as long as they're here?

"Any time you need to talk," she adds, "I'm around."

"I'm sure it was." The admission catches him by surprise, and Chouji's face and voice soften immediately. He is twice as thankful to have Sakura here, given the reminder of what her own arrival must have been like, no one to share the burden. Chouji's next words are quiet but heartfelt. "I'm sorry you were on your own with it. It won't be quite so lonely anymore, I hope."

He nods at that, reminding her firmly, "The offer is mutual."

"I hope so too." She manages a smile for him; it's a bit on the thin side, but no less genuine for it. If circumstances can't be truly good, at least she's not alone in dealing with the difficulty.

"I'll remember it." Someone to turn to -- and of all people to share this knowledge with, Chouji -- someone who, from what she knows of him, isn't afraid to show his emotions, to admit to them. A step above more than a few guys she knows.

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[Voice / Action : Forest, 3/17] Arrival

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