16autumnroad | Notes and Encounters

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!ic contact

Notes and Encounters

Appointment Post
Call, leave a message, slide a note under the door, or stop by to find Chouji.

Please use the subject line to mention method of contact and the date of the interaction.
(i.e. "Voice, 3/9")

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I'll teach you how to play. You can decide what you do.

[Shikamaru speak for "don't go out of your way". He doesn't think the game would be as special to him as it was without that board, though.]

After having you as an opponent, making the board will be the easy part.

[No uncertainty. It's as good as a promise now. Chouji can tell the board and its loss mean something to Shikamaru, and why would he leave that alone if he could try to help? Something like this, Chouji doesn't consider "out of his way."

He leans his head against Shikamaru's for a second, a silent reminder that he doesn't mind the work or the fact that he'll lose every game.]

[He laughs, a little. It was like grudgework getting Katara to play. She doesn't like losing. Aang and Ikki were better sports. He thinks he remembers these things now.

He sits here and lets himself relax a bit, but still wonders if it's real.]

[Chouji can feel a little of the tension leaving Shikamaru, can hear it in his laugh. With a deep breath, he relaxes too. He'll be here for Shikamaru, but he won't walk on eggshells.]

It's good you remembered when you came back. [While they were on the draft, Chouji realized just how much it would have hurt certain people to be forgotten. Masaomi is the first that comes to mind, of course.

Chouji still doesn't know whether anyone feels like that because he can't remember.]

Aa. You think so?

Yes, I do.

It's probably awful that I'm also grateful you came back at all. [Because this isn't home for any of them. The draft drove that point home well enough. Battles to fight in either place, but at least the ones at home are theirs.

Chouji may not want his teammates here, but he also doesn't want to think about being here without them.

He continues to skirt the issue of events at home for the time being.]

If you're guilty for that, it's not like I'm worse.

[This is the second time Chouji's been back, actually. He was glad both times, even if he knew he shouldn't be.]

Well, at least we're on the same page.

Mostly. [He frowns.] I ran into Ino, in the hall.

[A similar frown, and a sigh] She asks a lot of questions. I had trouble answering honestly without giving everything away.

[He snorts.]

No kidding. Troublesome girl...

She wouldn't be Ino if she weren't.

[A pause, then very quietly] She asked me about her dad. I told her what he was doing, where he was stationed. Then I stopped.

I told her I wasn't going to answer her questions.

[Blunt, but there was no way to do it without lying.]

The best thing you could do under the circumstances. [Shikamaru is aware of that, Chouji knows, but he'll affirm the choice anyway.]

[He hums, gaze directed at the ceiling and trailing off in thought.]

[He recognizes the sound for what it is, and he'll be quiet to let Shikamaru think for a minute. Chouji still doesn't know whether he can tell Ino. More importantly, he doesn't know whether he should. He'll manage somehow if he needs to, like he promised Sakura, but he's thankful he isn't making that decision alone.]

...I'm not decided on what to do, regarding her. [These are the words after a while.] If she's told by anyone, it should be us, but not until after some more though.

I know. I told Sakura when I arrived that I'd do it if either of you needed to be told. [He's well aware Shikamaru won't let him tell her alone now.]

So long as we're agreed on that.

Of course!

[a pause, and very softly] Would you have wanted me to tell you? I didn't think you would.

[He doesn't respond to that with words so much, just thinks on it quietly for a long moment. Then shakes his head.]

[That's about what he expected, and the denial comes as no surprise. He nods, letting the silence draw out a little longer before he speaks again.]

Ino always wants to be told things.

But she doesn't always need to know them.

[All he can do is reiterate what he said before.]

I'll think on it some more.

Yeah. [Chouji won't mention it again, and it almost hurts how glad he is to leave the choice entirely in Shikamaru's hands now. He'd never leave telling Ino, comforting her, to Shikamaru alone, but the decision? He relinquishes it completely.

Shikamaru may be the team strategist, but tonight is one of the nights Chouji realizes again just how heavy a burden that is. He forgets, every once in awhile. Never for long; circumstances are always too quick to remind him.]

And... the rest of it? [There aren't any right words. He knows there aren't. All the 'how are you's and 'I'm sorry's pile up unsaid because they're as obvious as the answers to them, and none of them change anything. Shikamaru's father was the one who knew what to say, and Shikaku-san is the one being mourned this time. Not only him, even, but everything else on top of it. Over half of the army... and Shikamaru would feel more responsibility for that than Chouji does.]

[There's no disguising the way Shikamaru's spine goes rigid, with them sitting back like this. There's nothing else to give him away other than that. Nothing but a void of tells and emotions in the quiet.

...]

I'm taking a pillow for the night, if you don't mind it.

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