markofthebrave | [ Action ] .061

[ Action ] .061

[Days 1-2]
[The experiment catches up with Katara slowly - first through teleportation, then through the advent of (thought bubbles)]

[Day 3]
Meet the bitty:

[She's been in Luceti for two years now, along with her much older brother Sokka. She's totally adapted and probably playing hide-and-seek. Warning: She's also still teleporting.]

[Days 4-6]
[More thought bubbles. More transportation. Katara is starting to get very tired and frustrated at this point due to lack of sleep and various emotional issues. She keeps popping up in the most inconvenient places! Sorry about that...]

[Days 7-8]
[Today, Katara woke up a bit different: she has been AU'd to another world, that of the Konoha ninja (complete with forehead protector!). She chalks waking up in a strange bedroom to the experiment that's been going on the past couple of days and ninja!vanishes into the dawn - she'll apologize later. She'll do her best to move back in to her regular apartment and keep to her regular schedule - a few classes at school (despite having told Raine she would not be in attendance that week - and depending on if school is in session) - practice in the forest, climbing on some trees; and making dinner on Floor 8 of Community Building 1, where she has claimed the sole empty apartment.

The next day, she decides to take a break from her regular training to practice an art more specific to kunoichi: Ikebana. At around six in the evening, Katara heads down to the flower shop. After gathering her materials, and dressing for the occasion, Katara heads out behind her apartment complex to make the best use of the natural light to form her arrangements.]

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[He nearly double-takes again. That is such a shinobi way of handling things. If it were the Katara he's used to, he'd be so proud... hell, even with this one, he is.

This conversation is so easy. He feels guilty, finding relief in that.]

Regardless of that, and whether or not I know you... [He steps closer now.] We're comrades now.

[That's... harder to take well. It's a bit like a hot hammer hitting metal, actually, sudden emotion of loyalty and loss smiting years of training and the desire to prove herself--

Her expression turns downwards, and when she speaks her words are hard, though the tone is soft - and if one listens very closely, thick with emotion.]

I appreciate the sentiment, but you can't be comrades with a delusion.

[She is steeling herself for what she will find... for the nature of who it is that she is.]

If you believe that, then you may as well hand over your forehead protector.

[Saying this, he even puts his hand out for it.]

[Her response is automatic, and it flares hot. Her head snaps up, her posture shifts, and she leans towards him.]

I'll hand it over when you pry it off my cold, dead body!

Edited 2012-06-05 05:25 (UTC)

Then we are comrades.

[He puts his hand down slowly.]

And nothing else anyone has to say will change that. Even you.

[She stared at him hard for a long moment.

That flare of rage, of fierce devotion and pride, has pushed her over the edge of her grief and enabled her to consider this from different angles.

What if it had been someone else, wearing this?

Her gaze narrowed, past experiences with 'other' selves flickering through her mind until she comes to a decision.

And she holds out her hand to him, her eyes still slightly narrowed, her gaze intent.]

Comrades.

[A reaffirmation, acknowledgement, and decision.]

Edited 2012-06-05 05:37 (UTC)

[He made the same promise to Luffy. There's no way he wouldn't with her.]

Comrades.

[He slaps her open palm, then holds his fist out for a fistbump.]

Heh.

[/Fistbump.]

[And I will remember you.

But that doesn't need to be said.]

[No, it doesn't. Because your memory is eidetic. Because you said it would take a lobotomy. Because... that's what they do. They remember.

She looks away from him, over the tops of the trees, and blinks a few times.]

With the way things have been shifting, there's no way of knowing how long this one will last. I'd better find out who her friends are so I know what to expect.

[...but this isn't an infiltration mission.

...Still. Does she stay in the building? Should she live out her life when... no one here would remember her life? Maybe it would be better to spare them and go off on her own for a few days...]

You shouldn't think of it like that. [Her friends and family all love her, and she'll be there afterwards. Regardless.] Like you said, things are crazy now as it is.

What do you want to do?

[The fingers of her right hand flex in an odd rhythm against her sides, two, one two, one. An aborted signal?]

I'm not sure yet.

[She seems willing to leave it at that, as she is focusing on some distant point. Two, one two, one.

It was not Katara's habit to withdraw and figure things out, and - comrades.]

Do these names mean anything to you? Dao, Teo, Aoba Yamashiro, Hiroshi Mai, Lao,
Hyuuga Hachirou, or Hashimi Momo?

[Yes, she did throw in a few names off the top of her head, along with her brother and her team.]

The Hyuuga's are a noble clan, of course. [But there's not stirring of familiarity with the name Hachirou.]

I've worked with Aoba. We were part of the Niju Shotai together, on separate squads.

[That... is even harder to hear than the fact that she might not be "real," that her teammates, her family, might not be... she lowers her head slightly, the movement on her side ceasing. Aside from the wind blowing her hair, she is, in fact, very very still.]

He was my jounin sensei.

[Said simply.]

[Aoba with a team? Now that would be something. Good something.

And if she's talking about a squad, her teammate's names must be somewhere in there too. He's not sure if he should encourage her to talk about them or not.]

He's a good man. I owe him my life, technically.

[Him and Raidou.]

He is a good man.

[She lifted her head and stared out over the tops of the trees, not seeing them.]

He respected you.

I respect him.

[But that change is more or less insignificant, to her version of things.]

He must've taught you guys well.

[Katara just nodded, her heart too full right now for her to trust her voice.]

[...hmm.

Even a ninja, she's still a girl. He can't handle this the same way he did with Luffy. So Shikamaru sits, balanced on the edge of the building.]

Wanna go for a run?

[She takes a breath.

Two, one two, one.]

Actually, yes.

[Two, one two, one.

She nodded decisively.]

Let's do that.

Edited 2012-06-05 07:37 (UTC)

[He swings his legs once, planning to push off from here- if she can too.]

Can you use chakra?

[...a valid question. She certainly didn't feel any different, but, if she wasn't 'real,' then...

As she stepped up to the roof's edge, she sent a small pulse down her arm to make sure.

Ha.]

Just try and keep up.

[And then flash stepped off the roof.]

Tch.

[Meet you in the trees below, woman.]

[Whatever, she's already there. Waiting. Because she could take advantage of this, but... she chooses not to.]

You're going to have a hard time, running without shoes.

So give me yours.

[As he jumps to another tree. Using chakra to stick is easier this way, at least, not that it's an even trade.]

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