tsuntrader | Appointments Post

...wow, that's a lot of questions.

I'm taking shots in the dark here. [It's only natural that a considerable amount of questions follow.]

[...

He thinks about saying something like streamline it, or pick one question at a time, but that's really just dodging it.]

My friends from home get it. Not everyone else does.

Then that's their problem, not yours.

No, it is mine. [He's firm on this, responding without hesitation.] This isn't an argument on the playground, and I'm not twelve.

I'm going to do more than point fingers and wait for my friends to get over it.

Yeah? And how is that fair to you?

Fair, unfair... I'm not playing a game. [He's not talking about Monopoly.] Accept it or drop it, because I'm not changing my mind about that.

[You're acting like you're in the wrong.

That's not fair to you.

Your friends from home get it, don't they?

He stares at Shikamaru for a few seconds before pointedly looking back down at the game.]

[He's not sure which of the two roads Silver chose to take, though he clearly picked one of them, so he doesn't say anything else for now. He rubs his face and waits for his turn.]

[He takes his turn slowly, using the time to consider what to say next. (He ends up landing on Shikamaru's property. Welp...)]

[...] No matter what, that's not something anyone should deal with while bed bound.

[He holds out a hand, casually waiting for money to pass hands.]

I'm not that eager on waiting until I'm out. [His voice isn't as sharp now.] I can eat again, and the infection's clearing out of my system. Law says I can start on walking again soon as that's done, but I'm not going anywhere soon. You wouldn't wait that long to patch things up with Gold, right?

Bad comparison. Gold and I always patch things up the minute a problem crops up.

I think you proved my point anyways.

Of course, last time I was barely able to move because of dealing with something serious and making the best outcome I could out of it, he apologized. He apologized for getting upset over it and pushing me around as a result, especially since I hadn't even recovered yet.

He knew it wasn't fair to me. [Hint hint.]

[...he's trying to make his point again, but he doesn't understand the situation as well as he thinks he does.]

Has Masaomi ever explained to you why there's such a gap of trust between him and Mikado?

[...Masaomi has only explained a few things to him. The few things he has have left nothing but more questions and suspicion.

He shakes his head, but he doesn't expect Shikamaru to elaborate.]

[It's really not his business to, so he looks away and thinks of another approach.

He comes up with one soon enough.]

When Masaomi asked me to be his comrade... I said yes, but I had one condition.

[...One condition?]

My obligation to Konoha comes first, whether he likes it or not. He also agreed to those terms, and it was under that reasoning that I did what I did.

[...Which makes sense. Absolutely.

Then why is there a problem?]

...even the first time I tried that, in my world, it wasn't true. Even my own leader saw through my bullshit.

[Sometimes it would be really nice to have Tsunade around, he thinks. Troublesome as she is and everything.]

Masaomi would have to, knowing the story. It's true Hidan is a dangerous criminal from my world, but my shit with him has always been personal.

[...] How personal are we talking, here?

Absolutely.

That's even more of a reason to keep other people out of it. [He's not quite connecting the dots. Maybe he just doesn't know better, but...]

Mm. I still think that.

[Because of what he did, it was personal for Hidan too. That endless cycle of revenge Naruto talks about, and such.]

But I didn't stop there. I only shared certain plans with Masaomi and Ino... the ones I decided to act on.

[Which he didn't get to act on. The final plan was his resolve to get something from the Malnosso to remove Hidan's immortality.

He thinks of how unsatisfied he was, watching him die.]

There was more where those came from that I wasn't so forthcoming with, including ones that may have seen me dead.

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]