（ why does she feel 'a lot' is something of an understatement from him... ）
Oh?
（ she falls into step beside him, fingers gripping a little uncertainly at the edges of the box she's carrying. had he gotten tangled up in the jailbreak as well...? she should have asked sooner. ）
（ a spasm of guilt hooks in just behind her ribcage. the rational part of her knows that he's capable enough on his own, that she doesn't need to worry. it isn't like he would have been relying on her to protect him, after all. but he's — a friend, now. it's careless of her not to have known. those awful, lonely cells... he could have been killed, and she never would have known about it.
her fingers tighten on the edges of the box, making the wood creak in protest. ）
Let me know if you'd like help removing the brand. （ she has to thank kaito for that one, turning her onto the badiliscus skins to help. ） And then cursed, huh?
（ like jonas. but d, at least, doesn't smell like blood. she can't imagine how torturous that would be. ）
You aren't the first person I've heard of with such an issue. What seems to be the difficulty?
[Well, she can't feel too bad--at least, she doesn't have to feel too bad. He wasn't much different. Even despite being thrown into prison, he did not reach out to make sure she was alright.
The noise of the wood gets him to glance briefly over at her.] I'd like to remove it, yes. [Very strange for his skin to retain a mark, though, and he'd be lying if he wasn't clinically interested in the phenomenon. But he'd rather not have it there.]
Passing through doors, or archways, or thresholds makes me unable to breathe. But it only occurred at certain times.
[STOP, please check on her!! I hate all these men.]
Whenever the moons were full.
[At least, that's his best assumption. The only thing which seemed to stay the same whenever it happened.] The first time it happened, it had been for only a day. The second time, it was for several. [So this may explain why...
...he sort of hesitates very briefly going into Hale, like he expects for some reason to be barred entry. He'd just have to sit on the outside of hopefully a window and watch in frustration while Sakura worked inside.]
me crying like 'don't make me write lab nonsense pls'
（ do not think that hesitation escapes her as they enter the city gates. hale is... an interesting place, to be sure, bustling and busy and entirely underground. she feels uneasy in this place, which is perhaps a testament to the nearness of the labyrinth that everyone whispers about in the hush and fall of sound.
but she seems to know where she's going and who she wishes to talk to. she sweeps past the eerie black lake, the grand architecture with its high pillars carved from solid rock, and speaks to a woman who's smoking outside a beautifully-built laboratory. the woman nods, and gestures to the door behind her, and sakura gives d a meaningful look over her shoulder before she disappears inside.
providing, of course, that the gods of moons one and sundry don't disbar him from entry, if he trails after her he'll find her again speaking to a technician, who points her to one of the rooms. she's used it before, to analyze shalem's bloodwork — but this is her first time here for this specific purpose, and once they're inside and she's safely pulled the door shut behind them: ）
Okay. Here's what I have so far —
（ hope he's ready for some exposition i'm sure the fuck not about to write out because gosh, here it is! talk about blood! plasma! all sorts of high-falutin' lab tech babble! we have it all, baby, and once she's finished: ）
Did I miss anything?
honestly me even tho i’m playing mr vampire scientist d
[Well, the first threshold of Hale allows him entry without stealing any of his oxygen, so he thinks he might be okay through the rest of it. The architecture of Hale reminds him a lot of the now crumbling remnants of the scientific marvels the Nobility created.
He lets Sakura be the waypoint between him and the others, not that he doesn’t know how to speak when needed.
They do get a polite nod of his head, though.
With less trepidation than before, he follows her through the door (wow, he isn’t suffocating) and into their designated area where he puts the box she gave him down. He is listening to this amazing techno-speak, but takes a small pocket-sized computer from beneath his cloak somewhere, placing it down nearby.]
I’m impressed you put so much effort into the request.
[Like, she hardly knows him? Neither of them know if this will even work out yet.]
I’ll need a microscope and some of your blood as a sample. I’ll need you to draw some of mine.
You didn't think I was going to do anything by halves, did you?
（ at that request for a sample of blood, she reaches into the box, which is concealing a small cooler for just such a purpose, and pulls out a little vial. pre-drawn. look, it cannot be polite to draw blood in front of someone who has a craving for it regardless of his personal restraint. ）
Tada. The synthetic plasma's here too — （ she pats the cooler. ） just in case.
（ microscopes are ubiquitous, so he's free to take his pick of them depending on his need. she's just going to observe from this point — never know when new knowledge will come in handy, after all. ）
[To be honest, he sort of slightly adverts his gaze when she shows off the vial. Yes, thank you. But also: he is a bit worried by how much it makes the hair on the back of his neck raise, tantalized.
In an effort to not make it seem awkward, he takes off the hat to put it out of the way. Then he unclasps the collared pauldrons from his shoulders along with the cape attached to them; when he gently settles them on the ground, it’s with a heavy thunk. Without all of the bulk, it’s surprising how much he looks like a lean young man. The angular babyface now matches the physique.]
Thank you. I’m not sure there is a machine here which will dehydrate what’s synthesized. So I may only be able to make them in small batches at a time.
[He peruses the microscopes a moment with his eyes, then he brings his pick over by the small, folded computer.]
Is any of this equipment unfamiliar to your time period back home?
her attention blinks upwards from his clothing that he just threw?? on the ground?? okay buddy. and she purses her lips faintly. ）
Oh, lyophilization — there's a machine that can handle that.
（ she points out a small vacuum chamber, and continues on; ）
The machines back home take a few days to run through the process, but this can handle it in a matter of hours. It's mostly familiar, though some of it's a little more modern. Not enough that I'm completely in the dark.
[She is spared from her terrible future fate for a little bit while he sits down and sets up the parameters on the microscope.
Being able to dehydrate them eases the burden of worry he had. Small miracles.]
Alright.
[He leans back from the ocular lens and glances at her in acknowledgement. He assumes if she has questions, she’ll ask.
Turning his head in the other direction, he reaches over his shoulder to the back of his head and starts unzipping the neck of the leather chest piece. The black material peels apart over a pale and muscled back. He takes just his right arm out of the sleeve and rests it on the table.
Maybe the prison brand on the upper arm will distract her from everything else. It’s the single scar he has on his body.]
（ sir please stop disrobing she is a professional. who has absolutely seen scantily-clad men before and is not bothered by nudity in a clinical, medicinal sense, but this is like. too much. too far.
what was it he needed again?
right. blood sample. (why?)
she shakes her head and comes over to him, pulling her medical satchel around to the front of her body. she always carries an assortment of items usually relegated to scrolls in her world, but since she can't always rely on fuinjutsu, the old-fashioned way it is. she takes out needles, vacutainers and tubing. the room was already sterilized as per her instruction, and the items are all single-use by nature, so she's not shy about setting the wrapped needles and containers on the countertop. ）
Nonsense, I'm a doctor. If I was bothered by a little blood, I wouldn't have gotten very far in my career, would I?
（ she's going to draw his blood and absolutely Not Think about the tiny little ᴼᴴ ᴺᴼ ᴴᴱ'ᔆ ᴴᴼᵀ going off like a claxon in her brain. it's ridiculous, she feels twelve years old all over again, making eyes at sasuke when they were all first assigned to team seven. not exactly the world's most pleasant retrospective.
as she gets everything ready but just prior to the whole 'stab him for science' part... ）
[He cannot help that his outfit is ridiculous enough he must take most of it off in order to let her professionally draw blood (he can help it, he chose this).
Luckily for her, even though he can pick up on some subtle changes in her body, he says nothing about it. And she had entertained the idea of being his soulmate… Imagine him hearing her thoughts to put together with her heartbeat.]
No, I suppose not.
[He allows her to do what she will with his arm. It isn’t difficult to find a vein; his skin is so pale it looks somewhat translucent, and she can see the blue veins right below the skin. Take her pick.
His unoccupied hand opens the computer he had brought in to turn it on. Despite being something that resembles a laptop, it looks more outdated—a laptop version of an old IBM? Yes.]
…My blood is very poisonous, [he finally admits quietly after some consideration.] I’d rather not waste your time, so I want to make sure your blood is viable with mine. Since all of us appear to be from different worlds.
（ she snaps the vacutainer off handily once it's full, and then withdraws the needle, pressing a little square of gauze against it to forestall further bleeding. the way he'd said that, with more reluctance than he's shown about informing her of things so far... hm. ）
Is that a vampire thing generally speaking, or you specifically?
（ hush, it's part of her process. she watches him shimmy back into his — frankly, ridiculous — leather... thing, and then peels her gloves off. into the garbage bin they go. ）
Well, luckily for you I happen to be a poison expert.
（ it's said with gentle flippancy. not to downplay his situation, but. you know. one more thing she's not afraid of. ）
[In almost the same inquisitive tone she had given him previously:]
Oh?
[Though he doesn't keep his attention directly on her; instead, he shifts around so he can start working with his own blood first. Regale him with the poison expertise.]
My blood won't harm you unless it's ingested, so you'll be fine.
[In case she had any apprehensions with working with it if necessary. But now she knows why he did not offer his blood up when she made the request on the network. People would die unfortunately. Again?]
（ so she hovers a bit, standing on her tiptoes to see over his shoulder. why is he so tall? a mystery. ... finally, she just drags over a footstool and stands on that. she has defeated height, cannot be stopped, etc etc. ）
Poison is a common shinobi tool. It's beneficial to know how to counteract it.
（ were you expecting a more protracted answer? hm. she leans in, tucking her hair behind her ears so it won't fall forward in an untoward curtain while she's sort of in his space. ）
Why is it you always say the most shocking thing first, and then try to offer reassurances after the fact?
（ she knows full well why. psychologically, it's something she can recognize as a self-protective method. if you start with what's horrifying and it doesn't work to frighten people off, you can be reasonably assured that they'll handle your soft admissions more gently. but is he aware he's doing it? one wonders. ）
[Sakura... He will sit in a minute, be patient. But no, it's fine. He isn't bothered at all by her behind him, hovering over his shoulder, not even when she gets the stool. Sometimes, a gothic man is tall.
He hums in acknowledgement to her simple answer; it makes sense to him, and he doesn't need any kind of crazy explanation. In a way, he understands. Having poisonous blood isn't a life he chose; however, it has given him a tool to withstand venoms and poisons from others.
The blood he syringes into a petri dish actually looks exactly like normal blood. No weird colors, no strange bubbling. His blood seems... ordinary? He puts it briefly aside and disposes of the syringe.]
Would you rather hear the bad news last?
[Listen.
When he starts working with her blood next, he sits down in front of the microscope, making her the tall one now. Rather than the petri dish, a drop or two of her blood goes first onto a slide on the stage, and he leans forward to look through the lens at it.]
It's not bad news — you're the one that treats it that way. It's just information about you.
（ her own blood isn't... entirely normal either. maybe not in the sense that it's poisonous — but mitotic regeneration has left its mark on her cellular structure just the same, even if she hasn't had cause to use it since the war. ）
[His eyes are on the lens, but his brows furrow gently at the scolding. How is having poisonous, freakish blood not bad news, he wants to know. Inwardly, Left Hand is giving him a lot of hell.]
My blood is not normal human blood is all.
[He really doesn't have anything else to say in the face of her lecturing... though, he finds it kind she continues to try to get him to put his head on straight.]
Yours is not so normal either.
[He lifts his head away from the lens and glances over his shoulder at her.]
（ it was an example you goober!! next she'll be yelling at him not to take everything so literally. in the meantime, though, she just blows out a breath that stirs the long sweep of her bangs and folds her arms, fingers hooking on the hems of her tunic's opposing sleeves.
at his pivot onto the topic of her blood, she lifts one shoulder in a sort of shrug. there are all sorts of shinobi techniques that have a negative effect on the body. opening the eighth gate is nearly always fatal, gai being the remarkable exception. the mangekyō sharingan causes blindness, madness and unspeakable pain.
and as for mitotic regeneration? all you lose is time. she doesn't regret learning it, although she suspects she'll share tsunade's vanity in time. isn't it worth it, to trade away an uncertain future to survive a perilous now? she would have died a hundred times over in the war without it, if not by madara's sword or the swarm of white zetsu or the victims of the impure resurrection, then by kaguya's awful shifting dimensions and the fight that followed. ）
No, it wouldn't be.
（ is she going to elaborate on that? no. ）
But I don't think there's anything in it that will prevent it from working for this.
[It’s fine. He had not offered any explanation about his own blood either. They will continue to be the same secretive people in this regard.]
Let’s see if that’s true.
[He does not say this in a way that’s mean, but in a way that’s agreeable. Her blood will likely be fine—and perhaps even better. (As long as his own blood doesn’t mess things up which was what worried him.)
He turns back to clear a working space, and then he leaves her very briefly to gather some additional things. Time to test tube their blood together once he sits back down.
Then he can work on the pills.]
Did you have to get involved in the arresting after it happened?
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Oh?
（ she falls into step beside him, fingers gripping a little uncertainly at the edges of the box she's carrying. had he gotten tangled up in the jailbreak as well...? she should have asked sooner. ）
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Mm. [Sometimes, even when you mind your own business, you get caught up in every other mess.] I was arrested.
[He had been caught up in the prison abduct and, unfortunately, he was on the receiving end of it.]
And, as far as I'm aware, I was also cursed.
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her fingers tighten on the edges of the box, making the wood creak in protest. ）
Let me know if you'd like help removing the brand. （ she has to thank kaito for that one, turning her onto the badiliscus skins to help. ） And then cursed, huh?
（ like jonas. but d, at least, doesn't smell like blood. she can't imagine how torturous that would be. ）
You aren't the first person I've heard of with such an issue. What seems to be the difficulty?
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The noise of the wood gets him to glance briefly over at her.] I'd like to remove it, yes. [Very strange for his skin to retain a mark, though, and he'd be lying if he wasn't clinically interested in the phenomenon. But he'd rather not have it there.]
Passing through doors, or archways, or thresholds makes me unable to breathe. But it only occurred at certain times.
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everything.
she gives him a sidelong glance, and then: ）
What sort of 'certain times'?
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Whenever the moons were full.
[At least, that's his best assumption. The only thing which seemed to stay the same whenever it happened.] The first time it happened, it had been for only a day. The second time, it was for several. [So this may explain why...
...he sort of hesitates very briefly going into Hale, like he expects for some reason to be barred entry. He'd just have to sit on the outside of hopefully a window and watch in frustration while Sakura worked inside.]
me crying like 'don't make me write lab nonsense pls'
but she seems to know where she's going and who she wishes to talk to. she sweeps past the eerie black lake, the grand architecture with its high pillars carved from solid rock, and speaks to a woman who's smoking outside a beautifully-built laboratory. the woman nods, and gestures to the door behind her, and sakura gives d a meaningful look over her shoulder before she disappears inside.
providing, of course, that the gods of moons one and sundry don't disbar him from entry, if he trails after her he'll find her again speaking to a technician, who points her to one of the rooms. she's used it before, to analyze shalem's bloodwork — but this is her first time here for this specific purpose, and once they're inside and she's safely pulled the door shut behind them: ）
Okay. Here's what I have so far —
（ hope he's ready for some exposition i'm sure the fuck not about to write out because gosh, here it is! talk about blood! plasma! all sorts of high-falutin' lab tech babble! we have it all, baby, and once she's finished: ）
Did I miss anything?
honestly me even tho i’m playing mr vampire scientist d
He lets Sakura be the waypoint between him and the others, not that he doesn’t know how to speak when needed.
They do get a polite nod of his head, though.
With less trepidation than before, he follows her through the door (wow, he isn’t suffocating) and into their designated area where he puts the box she gave him down. He is listening to this amazing techno-speak, but takes a small pocket-sized computer from beneath his cloak somewhere, placing it down nearby.]
I’m impressed you put so much effort into the request.
[Like, she hardly knows him? Neither of them know if this will even work out yet.]
I’ll need a microscope and some of your blood as a sample. I’ll need you to draw some of mine.
what even is a science can i eat it
（ at that request for a sample of blood, she reaches into the box, which is concealing a small cooler for just such a purpose, and pulls out a little vial. pre-drawn. look, it cannot be polite to draw blood in front of someone who has a craving for it regardless of his personal restraint. ）
Tada. The synthetic plasma's here too — （ she pats the cooler. ） just in case.
（ microscopes are ubiquitous, so he's free to take his pick of them depending on his need. she's just going to observe from this point — never know when new knowledge will come in handy, after all. ）
yes
In an effort to not make it seem awkward, he takes off the hat to put it out of the way. Then he unclasps the collared pauldrons from his shoulders along with the cape attached to them; when he gently settles them on the ground, it’s with a heavy thunk. Without all of the bulk, it’s surprising how much he looks like a lean young man. The angular babyface now matches the physique.]
Thank you. I’m not sure there is a machine here which will dehydrate what’s synthesized. So I may only be able to make them in small batches at a time.
[He peruses the microscopes a moment with his eyes, then he brings his pick over by the small, folded computer.]
Is any of this equipment unfamiliar to your time period back home?
im so sorry
sakura: a keen objectifier of men. no she will not be accepting criticism at this time thank u. ）
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her attention blinks upwards from his clothing that he just threw?? on the ground?? okay buddy. and she purses her lips faintly. ）
Oh, lyophilization — there's a machine that can handle that.
（ she points out a small vacuum chamber, and continues on; ）
The machines back home take a few days to run through the process, but this can handle it in a matter of hours. It's mostly familiar, though some of it's a little more modern. Not enough that I'm completely in the dark.
i’m sorry to sakura…
Being able to dehydrate them eases the burden of worry he had. Small miracles.]
Alright.
[He leans back from the ocular lens and glances at her in acknowledgement. He assumes if she has questions, she’ll ask.
Turning his head in the other direction, he reaches over his shoulder to the back of his head and starts unzipping the neck of the leather chest piece. The black material peels apart over a pale and muscled back. He takes just his right arm out of the sleeve and rests it on the table.
Maybe the prison brand on the upper arm will distract her from everything else. It’s the single scar he has on his body.]
If you don’t want to, I can do it on my own.
her torment is too great
what was it he needed again?
right. blood sample. (why?)
she shakes her head and comes over to him, pulling her medical satchel around to the front of her body. she always carries an assortment of items usually relegated to scrolls in her world, but since she can't always rely on fuinjutsu, the old-fashioned way it is. she takes out needles, vacutainers and tubing. the room was already sterilized as per her instruction, and the items are all single-use by nature, so she's not shy about setting the wrapped needles and containers on the countertop. ）
Nonsense, I'm a doctor. If I was bothered by a little blood, I wouldn't have gotten very far in my career, would I?
（ she's going to draw his blood and absolutely Not Think about the tiny little ᴼᴴ ᴺᴼ ᴴᴱ'ᔆ ᴴᴼᵀ going off like a claxon in her brain. it's ridiculous, she feels twelve years old all over again, making eyes at sasuke when they were all first assigned to team seven. not exactly the world's most pleasant retrospective.
as she gets everything ready but just prior to the whole 'stab him for science' part... ）
Why is it you need your own blood...?
😔
Luckily for her, even though he can pick up on some subtle changes in her body, he says nothing about it. And she had entertained the idea of being his soulmate… Imagine him hearing her thoughts to put together with her heartbeat.]
No, I suppose not.
[He allows her to do what she will with his arm. It isn’t difficult to find a vein; his skin is so pale it looks somewhat translucent, and she can see the blue veins right below the skin. Take her pick.
His unoccupied hand opens the computer he had brought in to turn it on. Despite being something that resembles a laptop, it looks more outdated—a laptop version of an old IBM? Yes.]
…My blood is very poisonous, [he finally admits quietly after some consideration.] I’d rather not waste your time, so I want to make sure your blood is viable with mine. Since all of us appear to be from different worlds.
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Is that a vampire thing generally speaking, or you specifically?
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He waits for a second before removing it so he can slide his arm back into the sleeve and zip himself into the leather once more.]
Specifically me.
[He tried to tell you he was a monster, Sakura… :(]
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Well, luckily for you I happen to be a poison expert.
（ it's said with gentle flippancy. not to downplay his situation, but. you know. one more thing she's not afraid of. ）
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Oh?
[Though he doesn't keep his attention directly on her; instead, he shifts around so he can start working with his own blood first. Regale him with the poison expertise.]
My blood won't harm you unless it's ingested, so you'll be fine.
[In case she had any apprehensions with working with it if necessary. But now she knows why he did not offer his blood up when she made the request on the network. People would die unfortunately. Again?]
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Poison is a common shinobi tool. It's beneficial to know how to counteract it.
（ were you expecting a more protracted answer? hm. she leans in, tucking her hair behind her ears so it won't fall forward in an untoward curtain while she's sort of in his space. ）
Why is it you always say the most shocking thing first, and then try to offer reassurances after the fact?
（ she knows full well why. psychologically, it's something she can recognize as a self-protective method. if you start with what's horrifying and it doesn't work to frighten people off, you can be reasonably assured that they'll handle your soft admissions more gently. but is he aware he's doing it? one wonders. ）
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He hums in acknowledgement to her simple answer; it makes sense to him, and he doesn't need any kind of crazy explanation. In a way, he understands. Having poisonous blood isn't a life he chose; however, it has given him a tool to withstand venoms and poisons from others.
The blood he syringes into a petri dish actually looks exactly like normal blood. No weird colors, no strange bubbling. His blood seems... ordinary? He puts it briefly aside and disposes of the syringe.]
Would you rather hear the bad news last?
[Listen.
When he starts working with her blood next, he sits down in front of the microscope, making her the tall one now. Rather than the petri dish, a drop or two of her blood goes first onto a slide on the stage, and he leans forward to look through the lens at it.]
no subject
（ her own blood isn't... entirely normal either. maybe not in the sense that it's poisonous — but mitotic regeneration has left its mark on her cellular structure just the same, even if she hasn't had cause to use it since the war. ）
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My blood is not normal human blood is all.
[He really doesn't have anything else to say in the face of her lecturing... though, he finds it kind she continues to try to get him to put his head on straight.]
Yours is not so normal either.
[He lifts his head away from the lens and glances over his shoulder at her.]
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at his pivot onto the topic of her blood, she lifts one shoulder in a sort of shrug. there are all sorts of shinobi techniques that have a negative effect on the body. opening the eighth gate is nearly always fatal, gai being the remarkable exception. the mangekyō sharingan causes blindness, madness and unspeakable pain.
and as for mitotic regeneration? all you lose is time. she doesn't regret learning it, although she suspects she'll share tsunade's vanity in time. isn't it worth it, to trade away an uncertain future to survive a perilous now? she would have died a hundred times over in the war without it, if not by madara's sword or the swarm of white zetsu or the victims of the impure resurrection, then by kaguya's awful shifting dimensions and the fight that followed. ）
No, it wouldn't be.
（ is she going to elaborate on that? no. ）
But I don't think there's anything in it that will prevent it from working for this.
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Let’s see if that’s true.
[He does not say this in a way that’s mean, but in a way that’s agreeable. Her blood will likely be fine—and perhaps even better. (As long as his own blood doesn’t mess things up which was what worried him.)
He turns back to clear a working space, and then he leaves her very briefly to gather some additional things. Time to test tube their blood together once he sits back down.
Then he can work on the pills.]
Did you have to get involved in the arresting after it happened?
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cw... orochimaru??? (medical experimentation/torture refs)
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you almost got an itachi tag instead and that would make this thread wild
i would have howled with laughter NIISAN!!!
he and d in the same room would be hilarious. negative talking.
two traumatized prodigies who have a lot of love who don’t talk
should i be asking what happened to d's mom...........
it’s okay probably…
that's the opposite of reassuring
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