[She turns the corner and a training ground is in front of her. There's a look of confusion on her face as she could have sworn that it was further away than that but it passes quickly.

There's no sign of her teammate and he'd said to start without him if he was late so she glances around for the targets only to find they're not there.]

...?

[Strange, she'd used this one just yesterday and she knew they were there then. Had someone moved them?

Perhaps she should practise her taijutsu instead.]

[ooc: Seventeen-year-old Mikoto, just about to become a jounin. Line up to be mistaken for your parents. xD]

Questions, concerns, whatever. It all goes here!

Anon is on, IP logging is off.

[How was it that the saying went? His memory was spotty through the stars sparking a painful tempo through his head but he did recall, that love was something like a monkey trying to snatch the reflection of the pure white moon on deep, deep water. How was it, how was it that the story ended? (That vicious, vicious little proverb that had him smiling through small fingers when he'd first heard it, 'monkey, monkey!'

As a child the gravity of it, along with the cruelty of honesty in their sensei's stern clucked tongue, had escaped him completely. 'Would that you'll never have to understand .'')

And now? He understood, and bitterly envied the naievity of that child. And now! Now! He wished more than anything that very same, that he was still blind to the truth of honesty and hurt and the cruelty of the world. That all men were monkeys, and all slowly drowning.

Did it make him less of a man to know fear?

It certainly made him choke if nothing else, when the world around him shifted and the door clicked shut behind him, and the room that should have been Facility's lavatory suddenly took on a million echoes. He was not where he was meant to be. He gasped and laughed through his hands, clutching his face like an old woman overcome by her own mirth and likewise embarrassed by it, then sank to the ground and waited, head in his hands, for the spinning to stop.

It smelled of burning ashes and the wind whistled and roared through the gutted out remains of tents long since emptied. Why that door had brought him here, Izuna couldn't even begin to guess, but in the distant he heard the roaring of water.

And he greeted it with his quiet laughter.]

Though the flame be put out, the wick remains...!


[ ooc: Izuna here is from Facility, and Bad Shit Went Down, so he's more or less a complete wreck. He's bloodstained from head to toe and his eye bandages are soaked through. He'll be friendly enough on the approach but don't touch him unless you want a panic-fueled fight on your hands! 

The room is huge and set up to look like an abandoned Uchiha campground. Fires long since burned out, tents all abandoned and tattered. There's a river running nearby, starting in one distant wall and ending in the other, just denying the basic laws of physics. ]

[This door leads you into a large, drafty library. The ceiling recedes into darkness far above you and the whole place is very dim, and the shelves are crammed with books, thick tomes and slender volumes side by side. It's very quiet, in spite of the fact that there's no librarian evidently attending to glare noisy patrons into submission.

There is Kakuzu, however. He is calmly occupying his time with shelving books. He likes places like this, and he likes it when they're in order, so he'll do his part.]

It couldn't be. But, oh yes - that was how it was in this room. It brought your hunger forward, and made you want something that you enjoyed far more above anything.

There it sat. One last cup of ramen.

"You've gotta be joking. It's the 'last' cup of ramen."

That word seemed to echo through his mind, and it made it ultimately hard to resist.






--------------------
ooc; NARUDOGPILE IS GO! /o/ ANY CHARACTER WITH AN ORAL FIXATION IS GO!



CURRENT THREAD ORDER:

NARUTOS:
1 kagebunshins
2 myopicsage
3 sanninlegacy
4 super_ninjaboy

SASUKES:
1 scales_shed
2 aversedwayward

[ Another Sasuke-
Moving slowly through the hall of the dressing room, he doesn't appear much different from the rest of them.
But- if you note the hand feeling along the wall and the unfocused inky black eyes you might be able to figure out that this one has lost his sight. ]



// OOC
That's right.
Blind Sasuke D;
He's overdone it with the mangekyou.

[Have a pissed off looking Kankuro -- a pissed off looking Kankuro that kind of looks like a drowned cat. The poor guy got caught in a downpour and the rain proved too much for his face paint, which is now running down his face in purple streaks. He growls, the sound a rumble in his chest, and peels off his cloak. When he rings it out it leaves an impressive puddle of water at his feet.]

Oh fuck right off. [This is grumbled irritably under his breath.]

[It's cold, it's dark, it's wet. He is, by no means, a happy camper. He seems to fail to comprehend why he ends up in the strangest rooms. He really just wants to go home, dry up and stay there. Forever, if possible.]

This isn't funny anymore!

[OOC: The room's ceiling is made up of clouds. Dark raining clouds. So it's practically a downpour with the water collecting at ankle levels. But it only stays to that level. The door might not let you out.]

[ He's feeling a little trapped.

This place. These doors that open to nowhere and everywhere. It's a little absurd, he thinks, when he happens upon the age-old scent of smoke and roasting meat, snow in the air with no sky. Just four walls and a ceiling and a mockery of what Madara knows can't possibly be the night-darkened horizon of a land he both loves and hates. If he kept walking, he'd walk into one of those walls holding him in this place, on this cliff that is not really a cliff, but yet another stage.

The campfire looks and feels inviting. The meat roasting over the fire and the earthen flasks of wine sitting near the large log, even more so. He thinks he can take a small respite from opening and closing doors. ]


[ ooc: This is a room that looks and feels like the outdoors, but actually isn't. It is a cliff overlooking a wide terrain of land and mountains, and the night sky, complete with stars, can be seen above. The air in the room is cold, and there might be a little bit of snow, but the campfire can keep you warm! Don't walk too far, or you'll walk into a wall. ]

[The door opens to a large moonlit maze room.  The room expands for what seems like several miles and the large walls made of bushes extend high into the sky.  The only light comes from the full moon above, which does give out a lot of light.  It's a beautiful setting.]

[Unless, of course, you're a scared three year old who is lost in the winding maze.  The small sounds of a child's sniffles can be heard from the beginning of the maze and it's clear that the child is lost somewhere in the middle of the maze.]

A-A-Aniki...K-Kaa-san...T-Tou-san. 

Naruto had made it back to his spot in the forest room after his fight with Sasuke, limping and exhausted. His jacket was torn to shreds after he'd ripped it off when hit with Amaterasu. Once he made it back, he had wrapped an old shirt around his arm as a sling.

He really should have thrown the Rasenshuriken instead of rammed it into Sasuke up close, but he wanted to have the closure of doing it face to face, finishing it personally so he could look in Sasuke's eyes and see if there was any emotion whatsoever when he died. The damage to his arm was too much for Kyuubi to repair right now. It would take a lot longer unless a medic like Sakura or Tsunade could help.

As he dozed, he thought about how he'd finally found the will to kill Sasuke. He thought about how the Uchiha he knew - his friend, teammate, and 'brother' - was more or less dead inside. He thought about Gaara's words about being a friend and the decisions a Hokage must make. It had all come to a head and he found himself clashing with him in a serious fight to the death finally.

And once the dust settled, he turned his back on his teammate and left him. He could have killed Sasuke, finished him finally, but it wouldn't matter anyways in this place. The pain was too much to experience twice, and that's the only reason he spared him this time.

[After her talk with Naruto, she's found somewhere quiet and is thinking about what he told her.

Hinata-chan as the elder...?

It's such an odd idea. So much of her identity is wrapped up in being the elder sister that she has trouble imagining being the younger.]

...

[She wonders what this different Hinata-chan would be like.]

[Snow.

Something he only experienced in Nuadoria briefly.

For the first time in what seems like months, Sasuke takes a deep breath of fresh air. Nuadoria's air has been filled with the scent of blood, a scent that has pushed him over the edge for the last few days. And while the rage and will for revenge still is at the forefront of his mind, the urge to rend, kill and destroy is mostly gone. There's no one he needs to kill here. He knows this place all too well.

His eyes narrow at the soft ice on the ground. Anytime he tries anything, he's stopped. Anytime he thinks Naruto's completely out of his life, he reappears. Although it's not the snows fault at all, his kicks it hard, making it fly up in all directions.]

I'm sick of being here.

[Shisui stares into the mirror, seemingly lost in thought. Abruptly he glances around and when he's satisfied that he's alone, he activates his sharingan.

Three tomoe flare into life but it doesn't stop there as they change into a pinwheel shape. He studies this new form for a moment.]

So the real secret is true. I suppose it's a good job I'll never be able to use these eyes.

[He blinks and his eyes return to their normal black.

A new image forms in the mirror and he stares at it in shock.]

...Itachi-kun?

[Glances behind him. No one's there so he turns back to the mirror. The image of a smiling Itachi hugging him is still there and he reaches out to touch it gingerly.]

...

[ooc: When you enter this room, you get your own mirror. While it may seem ordinary at first, after a bit, you'll start seeing things in it. This can be anything as long as it's something you really want.

This AU Shisui wants Itachi's forgiveness and understanding in case you're curious.]

[ The poor boy's still searching for Yahiko and Konan-
But he stumbles into one of the rooms to find it decorated head to toe in red, white and green.
There's a big Christmas tree standing in the corner, filled with presents underneath it.

Most kids probably would go straight to the tree to find if they had any presents, but Nagato is more interested in the tables that hold a Christmas dinner and all sorts of yummy treats. ]