025 -- [Action || Voice]

[endgames]

[When Shikamaru heads down to Asuma's apartment Monday morning, he finds it empty of everything but Kurenai's things and a silver lighter standing on the table. It's wrong, but he doesn't give in to the false hope.

Of course it would stay. Even though Shikamaru gave it back to him, the lighter stopped being Asuma's the moment he picked it off his dying body.

Kurenai must've stepped out before it happened. She's a ninja, and not so senseless to have left the door wide open and run off in her grief. And so he waits for her, and tries to find his words.

After he leaves Kurenai, he has to tell Ino. Team 8 he'll find in person too - he has a request for them on top of this. It's been too long since they've heard a stir from their enemies.]

[It's well past midnight before an announcement comes, after he's made this post and spent a few hours going over the discussions there. When people are either busy with the information he gave them, or asleep.

He smokes a cigarette on his way back to his apartment in the night air, putting it out before he steps into the building, his posture falsely relaxed until he steps into his own room.]

Sarutobi Asuma is gone. [There's a pause and- no, he doesn't think it was mentioned.] Also, Haruno Sakura returned to her world a few weeks ago, for anyone who knew her.

Funnily enough, I haven't seen that masked Akatsuki guy in a while either...

[Too many people to filter that too. It's vague enough, but anyone who needs to know should get what he means. It would have been better news if he'd known before.

He'll answer journal comments in the morning.]

Comments

[Voice]

[savedtheworld]

Sarutobi Asuma? [A brief memory flickers.] Is he related to Asuma Dove?

[Voice]

[endgames]

[Dove. That was his name during that experiment, when people came from alternate realities. When he got to be a dad and live long enough for it too.]

They're the same person. The one you're talking about thought he was from a different world.

[Voice]

[savedtheworld]

Oh, right. That makes sense. The week I talked to him was during that experiment... the other me, that is. I didn't know he was really from your world.

[Voice]

[endgames]

Yeah. My sensei.

[Voice]

[savedtheworld]

I wish I could have met him, then. The real him. He must be a great guy.

[Voice]

[endgames]

Heh. [He doesn't speak until he's sure he can do so without choking up.] Best there is. Someday, I hope to be just as cool.

[Voice]

[savedtheworld]

You're pretty cool already, Shikamaru. So I think you have a good chance of catching up to him.

[Voice]

[endgames]

Someday. [Gotta get out of here first.] But thank you.

[He's not the most wordy today. Sorry Aang.]

[Voice]

[savedtheworld]

Anytime, buddy. By the way, that masked guy... [He tries to word it carefully.] do you mean that one guy in a mask named Tobi?

[Voice]

[endgames]

I think that was his name.

[Aang knows it was, but he should catch on he's being vague on purpose.]

[Voice] 1/2

[savedtheworld]

[He catches on quick, this time. If he was gone, wouldn't that mean they could talk openly about him? But no, Shikamaru didn't seem to know for sure... and people came back. If he saw that they knew about him and were playing him, that Aang had been warned...

So Aang had to make this convincing.]

[Voice]

[savedtheworld]

Tobi, yeah? I think he's the guy I talked to, that one time, who said he was a ninja. So you think he went home? What a shame. He was a real funny guy, and I'm sure we could have been great friends. But hey! I'm sure he's happier back home. He probably has a ninja wife and ninja kids back home with the same ninja masks. And I bet he has some kind of ninja jewelry business that he has to get back to running.

[solemnly] Goodbye, Tobi.

[Voice] 1/2

[endgames]

[...ninja jewelry business.

Aang, what do you eat to come up with this stuff. 8|]

[Voice]

[endgames]

It's just as well. He may have been a dangerous criminal.

[If they're playing like this, he has to act his part too.]

[Voice]

[savedtheworld]

You could be right, Shikamaru. I guess anything's possible. But he was a really friendly guy. He could have always been framed by a ninja rival.

[Voice]

[endgames]

Like such a guy would have that sort of tragic backstory.

[NO ONE in his world has those, especially criminals- oh.]

[Voice]

[savedtheworld]

Hey, you never know. There could be a lot of sad stories in your ninja history books.

[Voice]

[endgames]

That would explain it. I never cared much for history.

[Voice]

[savedtheworld]

I guess ninja history's not that important to being a ninja. It's more important when you're an Avatar and have to share a spirit with most of the people from that history.

[Voice]

[endgames]

I guess that would make you a walking cheat sheet, for exams.

[Voice]

[savedtheworld]

Maybe. But most of them would be kinda mad to be bothered for something like that.

[Voice]

[endgames]

Haa? You the only one with a sense of humor?

[He is bullshitting this conversation so much, but it's good. It's what he should be doing.]

[Voice]

[savedtheworld]

[Aang doesn't know the good he's doing.]

Only kind of. Roku and Kuruk both had pretty good senses of humor. They just got more... serious as they got older. [It's weird to describe Roku in the past tense while Roku is present in Luceti, but that's another time confusion for this place.]

[Voice]

[endgames]

I'd appeal to their childhoods or something.

[Voice]

[savedtheworld]

[Remember that time before Sozin left you to die or before Koh stole your fiancee's face?]

I'd study.