Previously
He hadn't expected the door to open, nor did he expect Keisuke to be there, especially not with a kitten in his arms.
The silverette blinked a little bit, a little more than a deer in headlights for a moment. He had been delivering the bean buns on the sly; he had purposely been avoiding contact with Keisuke when he did it, just in case his tsundere responses threw the Sarutobi off (as he knew they often did).
Before he becomes a dick again... He began to draw the conclusion that Keisuke's behavior was less of a conscious decision than he thought. "..." He decided to choose his questions carefully. "...I already know that you must be hurt." He told him finally, though he was mostly pondering to himself. "But..." Confusion colored his expression as his eyebrows furrowed. "Have you been eating the bean buns?"
There. That was his real question.
Previously
"What makes you think I'd want help from the person who killed Kaoru?"
He flinched at first, but he agreed. Yes, he had been the primary cause of her death and he still thought about it, wondered if anything would have changed if he'd been faster with his traps, but-
How could I tell him I regret so much more than just Kaoru?
It was complicated feeling; it made him wonder again how distant they'd really become, or rather, how different Mamoru himself had become.
Instead of breaking down at the memory, he clung to his anger like it was his only lifeboat in the middle of a raging ocean.
"I don't." He watched the brunette carefully, completely prepared to follow him out. "But I'm going to keep talking until you listen." It was a struggle to force his next words out, but he did, and later felt accomplished for it, "Keisuke, Kaoru is gone. You aren't. There's an obvious difference between you two, and there always has been. You can't deter me by bringing up my past mistakes when this is about you, not me."
Previously
Though he did not expect the Hokage when he was skinning potatoes over the Yukinojo kitchen sink, he certainly didn't expect the words, "Keisuke is back, and he may be asking Ibiki to lobotomize him" to come out of the blonde's mouth.
The potato dropped.
"Permission to use you as leverage?" The question was rushed as his voice shook a bit, though the affirmative answer was immediate.
"Do whatever you need to." Of course he understood. It was obvious from the look in his eyes; this wasn't much different from his own experiences with Uchiha Sasuke, who, thankfully, had successfully made his way back to the village (mostly) unharmed.
Mamoru wished he was faster.
He ran as fast as his legs could carry him- no, faster, he realized when they became numb- and only stopped when he arrived at his destination, not even bothering to catch his breath.
Idiot! What are you thinking?
He knew there had been something wrong with Keisuke, something, something...! But what?
Why did he keep hiding it? Was he prepared to keep that secret with him forever? But a lobotomy...
There won't be any Keisuke.
He blanched, though he did not slow his pace when he thought of it this way, the blow hitting him almost as hard as a physical one. All conscious thoughts began to fly out of the window when he finally approached his goal; though those standing outside initially would not let him pass, he ground his teeth and barked, "I'm here on orders from the Hokage. Both of them." While it technically wasn't a lie, he'd only gotten permission from one of them, but it was of no consequence.
"Papers?" One of the guards asked, and the blood in Mamoru's veins began to boil.
"This is a time sensitive order." The cold focus in his eyes caused them to stiffen before him as he shifted, momentarily, into business mode. "If you don't let me through, I'll make you."
And they could tell that the feminine looking shinobi definitely could.
"Stop!"
It seemed like some sort of dream; Ibiki Morino paused for but a moment, but Mamoru could read his expression clearly.
I don't want to do this.
He was thankful for that hesitation. Keisuke, on the other hand, did not seem so grateful. Before he had a chance to speak, Mamoru continued, "By order of Lord Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto, you are forbidden to go through with this."
Ibiki's hand dropped. "...I see."
He wanted to hold his feelings back, to keep his voice down, to say nothing until at least Ibiki was out of sight, but Mamoru found himself opening his mouth against his better judgement. "Keisuke, what the fuck?!"
Is this my fault?
"I get it, you want to be alone, or something stupid like that," his fury rose as his instincts squirmed inside of him, screaming for Mamoru to shut up, calm down, and take this somewhere else, but he didn't stop, "but a lobotomy?"
Is it something I did?
"Why are you closing me-" He stopped, realizing he'd become selfish about it, as if he should have been the only one who mattered, even if no one else did. "...why are you closing us out?"
Why do I have to include anyone else?
Ah, but that was it, why it hurt the most. He'd missed Keisuke most of all, and he'd known there would be something in between them, but nothing so great that they couldn't talk, that they couldn't-
"No, I take it back." He corrected himself again, careful to mask his tears with rage. "Why do you keep closing me out? I care about you, alright? I'm here." Never had he said anything so passionately to a friend before, and he spoke with his hands.
I became strong so that you could lean on me, stupid!
"Talk to me!" He demanded.
*************
Previously
Just like old times...
No, it wouldn't be "just like old times". In those days, Mamoru had been a disaster unless Kaoru or Keisuke were around. Even if, for some reason, Mamoru would be come incompetent in the middle of this mission, he'd no doubt be more useful than he had been as a genin.
He took Kimiko's words as a grain of salt; it was a little irritating that he would have to put in extra effort and incapacitate instead of killing (snapping a neck was actually a lot easier than knocking someone out because it worked every time) but he knew how to deal with it. As he took a communicator, he gave Kimiko a smile before switching it on. "Testing." Immediately after they were ready to go, he snapped into mission mode.
"I'll assume you're going to go barrelling through, Keisuke-kun?" He asked, his eyes set on their goal. "If you create a distraction, I can grab it and we'll be out of here in less than twenty minutes."
His friend seemed a little offset by the change in his demeanor, but quickly set pace with him. "Yeah, sure. Just don't get in my way, okay?" He gave Mamoru a smirk that the silverette was familiar with before he headed into the thick of their enemies.
I'll leave that to him. "I'll cover you, but I'm focusing on the prize." In the meantime...
With a sense of urgency, he began to toss his kunai on the ground as he snuck past guards, careful not to draw any attention to himself. After waiting for Keisuke to lure away the enemies (and hopefully incapacitate them as per Kimiko's instructions) he swiftly plucked one of the four artefacts from its pedestal. One~
The second one was not far from the last. Two~
The other ones must be in the next room... Another room...he pondered this for a moment. Might be traps...a few more guards...easy, I think.
Into his comm link, he said, "I'm going on to the second room. Two down."
He'd already tripped his own wires so that they would only react to foreign chakra; it would be impossible for Keisuke to set them off (though it was entirely possible to set them off without Mamoru being around), but he knew for sure that when someone did set them off, they'd end up "crucified".
It was a surprise worth waiting for, honestly.
Previously
Mamoru was unsure of which reaction to make first.
Initially, his instincts screamed for him to lash out at whoever it was (though honestly, the possibilities were extremely limited), but the warmth changed his words mid-sentence from, "YOU WEIRD FREAK, GET-you're warm."
So warm...
Indeed, he had been freezing moments before, which was why he struggled to figure out what the problem was. It may have had something to do with the fact that Mamoru didn't mind being snuggled by a bigger, stronger guy, which made him question his sexual preference. "Keisuke!" He hissed.
"Shh. Moru, just go to sleep."
"BUT I-"
"It's fine. It's not like I have a crush on you anymore."
What?
Instead of calming him, the statement made him squirm. "You what? I..." A mix of bewilderment and distress flashed across his face. "I'm..."
Keisuke seemed to sense the verbal vomit, because he said, "Hey, it's not prob-"
"I'm so sorry, I had no idea. Oh my god, I'm such an idiot." If possible, he squirmed even further away from Keisuke in the closed space as he rambled.
"Moru!" A pair of fingers pinched the tip of Mamoru's nose, which somehow calmed him. "...go to sleep."
"...don't tell me what to do." He grumbled, but he found himself snuggling up to his friend anyway, ignoring all of the chances he'd probably have to say "no homo".
Just east of them lay Kimiko, who had been listening to their banter for quite some time. Though she found it endearing, she was glad they'd settled down; she wouldn't be getting any sleep otherwise.
***************
A noise caused Mamoru to draw a kunai faster than he was completely coherent. "Someone's there."
The look on Keisuke's face caused him to slowly melt back into reality. "...what?"
The alarm washed away, replacing itself with a look of tired acceptance. "Nothin'. Go get'em tiger."
Unfortunately, nothing turned out to be there, so Mamoru found himself keeping watch for the rest of the early morning, until he felt it was time for them to move on. Being that they were quite close to their destination (having already reached Yukigakure), Mamoru was becoming insanely restless.
Have the three of us ever worked before? Keisuke-kun and I worked together a long time ago, but that was back when...
His fingers twitched.
It shouldn't be a problem, right? As long as I'm timely with my traps, I can hold up my end just fine.
At least, he hoped he could. Another failure in front of Keisuke would be...devastating.
"Rise and shine." He said at exactly four that morning. "Time to work."
