[Sometimes he honestly marvels that so many people think Itachi is polite. (Then he remembers that seeing this side of him is a privilege and he has to fight back a smile.) It doesn't mean he's going to just take that lying down though.]
You think I spent years riding the sword just to need help learning how to slide down a hill on a piece of wood?
[That gets an actual playful punch to the shoulder as Wei Wuxian lets out a bright laugh.]
You're such an ass! [Affectionate.
Wei Wuxian allows Itachi to deal with the employee managing the hut and accepts one of the boards with a bright thanks to the employee once it's been handed over. It doesn't even occur to him to be surprised that Itachi knows his shoe size. Itachi knows all of his clothing sizes. That's normal.]
（ he takes the hit good-naturedly, with an exaggerated wince of pain as he rubs the spot in question, but when they reach the hut the fond behaviour is put away in favour of his mission persona.
one of the attendants offer them some basic safety and usage instructions, inquires as to their prior experience and ensures that they know how to use the lift system, and then off they go in the sort of awkward, half-hobble of having one foot strapped in to the board and pushing along with the other in the snow. once they're sitting on the lift with a bar across their laps and the boards, itachi leans back a bit against the surprisingly luxurious and heated cushioning. ）
It's strange, isn't it? To think there are people for whom this is a daily indulgence.
[His attention had been immediately captured by the mechanisms used to move them along in the ski lift so Wei Wuxian is leaning out as far as he can to stare at the cable when Itachi's words pull his attention back. The question sends his gaze flashing to the skiers and snowboarders beneath them and he watches them for a moment in a studious silence.]
The idle rich with too much time on their hands. [Another universal of all the worlds, he's sure.]
All that money and so many of them think only of self-indulgence. [Despite the harsh judgment, his tone speaks only of wistful resignation. He'd seen it so often and for so long that he simply can't muster the indignation it deserves.]
Some of the cultivation families were like that. [The Jin, he doesn't say, though they were hardly alone in their desire only to serve themselves.] Was it much of a problem in Konoha?
（ wei wuxian turns the question back to him, and itachi is silent a moment. one gloved hand rests on the crossbar holding them in place. he has not spoken so much on konoha in some time. in a way, it is easier to discuss with someone who knows him barely half so well — wei wuxian, more than any others here, will decipher the immutable depths of his love for his home written in the constellation of all the words he does not say.
he is so accustomed to guarding that feeling fiercely that the idea of letting it be known is... difficult. difficult, but not impossible.
(nothing feels so, at wei wuxian's side.)
he licks his lips, which are already chapped by the cold air. then: ）
No. While there were families possessed of variable wealth — it was rare that a clan would put pageantry before prestige in Konoha. That is not to say they were not capable of frivolity, only... it is considered a worthier thing, to speak of a son or daughter lost fighting an enemy, than of the riches they brought back from war. The latter is... gauche. A clan head who cared for such things would not survive very long in that position. However, in speaking of other cities or villages within the Land of Fire... I spent very little time among civilians, but I imagine that they would follow similarly patterned behaviour.
（ a vague wave of one hand out at the milling participants of the idle day. ）
[He does hear the admiration in Itachi's words, and Wei Wuxian understands it. Such a people are rare in Wei Wuxian's world and he recognizes the virtue in it. Perhaps in a war-torn world (at least by comparison) like Itachi's, people have a better idea of what really matters. It's not a value the cultivation world shares no matter how many of the great sects would argue otherwise. Even the Lan with their thousands of rules and strict adherence to moral law didn't hold any sway over the rest of the great clans on those matters.]
Is this more of that Will of Fire then? [He doesn't remember the exact meaning Itachi had shared with him, but he can't help feeling like it is.]
（ he peels a glove off, lifting his bare hand to rub at his cheek. the slopes move below them, glittering white. it is strange, to see them without the faint red tarnish of the sharingan overlaid.
then: ）
The Will of Fire was born of a belief that love is the most vital part of a road to peace.
（ the uchiha built the foundation of their presence in konoha upon that idea. they bled for it, wept for it, and ultimately — ）
It is a wonderful home. I'm certain you would like it very much.
[Not quite the same, but related, maybe. It's love, he thinks, that would teach people to value the sacrifice of service and life over the accumulation of wealth. Wei Wuxian closes his eyes and focuses on the cold wind stinging playfully at his cheeks for a moment. When he opens his eyes again, his smile and eyes are bright and focused on Itachi.]
Where was your favorite place to go in your village? You must have had some place you liked better than most.
（ he says that softly, consideringly. the hokage monument, once. before he became aware of the viper's nest hidden behind those stone façades... it would be easy to mention the places that made good dango, or served excellent tea. but none of it, ultimately... ）
In the Uchiha compound, there was a lake called Nakano. It was fed by a large river that comes down from the mountains to the north, as cold as ice even in the dead of summer. But the lake itself was calm and placid — and I trained there often as a boy. My father would often come and oversee me there. （ his expression softens, and then, ） He was always very proud of my accomplishments.
[For once Wei Wuxian doesn't stop himself when he feels his hand twitching, seeing the instinct through and bringing his hand up to rest briefly on Itachi's shoulder. Not in comfort exactly, but in some muted gesture of affection at the soft memory. He doesn't leave it there long which is good because they're coming up on the end of their ride. He'd paid enough attention at the instruction below that he manages not to tumble over himself as they depart the lift and he tries to picture the location Itachi described in his mind, filling in the details he doesn't know with what makes sense to him.
He can picture Itachi sitting there in meditation or perhaps even walking on top of that still water the way he's seen him do. Or perhaps there were targets set up just near the water's edge. There were probably copses of trees around the lake as well, and reeds sticking out of the shallows. He smiles warmly at the images his mind supplies.]
It sounds peaceful. [The exact opposite of the adrenaline rush he imagines he's about to endure.]
You know, it's a good thing you didn't meet me when I was younger. I would have tried so hard to drive you crazy. [He lets out a laugh. Someone quiet, brilliant, and kind? No, Itachi would have hard to work to maintain his peaceful trainings.]
（ ah, 'crazy'. such a curious word for an uchiha. but he takes it in stride, tugging on wei wuxian's puffy coat to direct him. they opt for one of the smaller hills, something a bit less... aggressively arduous while still being a fair to middling challenge. itachi gives the treeline a considering look, mindful of the wells that form around their base. he straps his second foot in easily enough, managing not to shimmy in an undignified way to the crest of the hill. with a sidelong glance at his companion — ）
I've no doubt. You would not have succeeded, though.
（ he's always been perilously immune to such behaviour.
perhaps that's why he yeets himself off down the hill.
Aiyo, you cheat! [Wei Wuxian shouts behind him. It takes him a moment longer to strap his own foot in with barely a fraction of Itachi's grace, and then he jumps on and takes off in Itachi's wake.
He doesn't manage to catch up, but he matches Itachi's speed and comes up on his side trailing only a little behind. By then though, he's less interested in beating him and more interested in navigating the ride. It both is and isn't like riding a sword, and he falls in love with the experience immediately. The balance required is the same but riding on top of the snow is entirely different than on air.
Thankfully he manages it with relative ease and he lets out an appreciative whoop as he angles his body to gather more speed. With his heart in his throat and the cold rushing past him, Wei Wuxian can't help laughing in delight. He isn't entirely sure how to stop, but that seems like a problem for future Wei Wuxian.]
（ he eases up, angling the board a little to cut into the snow to let wei wuxian pass him. wind tears at the laughter, and all at once his heart feels soaringly light and caught in a vice grip. it's the sort of carefree fun...
(sasuke would have enjoyed this. lifetimes ago, perhaps. but would he have ever had the time or the means to have taken him? that is the harder question.)
he follows at a more sedate speed — these boards have nothing on the speed of shunshin, after all, so that in and of itself is no lure to him. once they're both properly at the bottom (and wei wuxian has found some method of stopping) itachi pings him on the earpiece: Again? ）
[His checks are flushed from the windburn, his eyes are bright from the combination of adrenaline and joy, and the wide smile he shoots Itachi's way is even more blinding than usual.]
«Absolutely! Come on, let's go!»
[Naturally, they go again, not once more but several more times, eventually graduating to one of the slightly more challenging hills with easy finesse. It's on their designated last run that Wei Wuxian—having gotten familiar with how to shift his weight and turn in order to slow—doesn't come to as easy of a stop as before. He overcorrects on his stop and tumbles to the ground, but the laughter spilling from his throat the whole way down makes it obvious he's unharmed. When his tumble has come to a stop, he unhooks his boots from the board and splays his arms and legs out to the sides like a starfish, grinning up at the sky and enjoying the chill of the snow beneath him.]
Aiya, I'm gonna be so sore tomorrow. [He complains, attempting to pout through his obvious delight.]
（ he comes to a very graceful heel-side stop right above wei wuxian's head. this may or may not result in a spray of snow? difficult to say. his expression — or what's visible of it behind the goggles and assorted cold-weather gear — is nigh on unreadable. perhaps it's only the fact that he had the absolute fuckin' temerity to stop so close and so, um, wetly that gives away the playful edge to his demeanour. ）
Too late he brings his arms up to cover his face. The snow has already speckled him and he sits up to shake it off like a dog shaking off water. He barely even registers Itachi's words aside from the smug teasing tone that he wouldn't have registered as such just a few months ago.
This...this means war.]
This man! [He shouts as if to an audience despite their relative privacy. His expression is affronted though his eyes gleam with glee as he scrambles away and digs one hand into the snow to fling a poorly formed snowball at Itachi's chest.]
（ trick of the light glinting off the snow? stubbornness? willful acknowledgement that a little snow has not, in fact, ever harmed anyone?
whatever the reason, the snow impacts against his dark jacket and itachi just sort of. tips his head down to look at the spatter. brushes it off faintly with one hand as if it's merely settling dust.
then he deliberately leans down, unhooks himself from his snowboard, tucks it up under one arm and with the other hand gathers a handful of snow which he rolls against his thigh to shape it.
and then he tosses it right back. the other patrons around them may or may not be looking at them both like they're complete lunatics.
[Entirely oblivious (or perhaps uncaring) of any eyes on them, Wei Wuxian lets out a shout that's far too delighted to be offended as the snowball hits his shoulder when he doesn't turn quickly enough. He nearly trips over himself in his haste to stumble away and grab his board, using it as a makeshift shield to guard his side before he sprints away to put space between them and to move away from the other patrons' path. (He might not care if they're being looked at, but he's at least polite enough to get out of the way.)
When he's a few feet and behind the cover of a tree, he drops the board and kneels on one knee to gather more snow. Instead of the perfectly rolled snowball that Itachi had thrown, his first few mostly fall apart mid-flight before he finally starts trying to be neater with them.
Snowball making talisman. New idea. Not that he could use it here with the ghost matter, but he files it away for later as he grins and continues flinging snowball after snowball. Very clearly he is favoring quantity over quality.]
[There is a yelp from behind the tree accompanied by a somewhat awed "How?"
Alright since the tree is doing nothing and shelter is clearly for cowards anyway, Wei Wuxian gives it up, dive rolling out from beneath his attempt at cover with a snowball in hand and throwing it with far more precision than the others at Itachi's chest. He should probably dive roll back out of the way, but he's way too invested in seeing if the snowball connects.]
in any case, he's ready for the snowball this time — having abandoned his snowboard to the nearby copse — and now with both hands free it gets summarily snatched out of thin air, hefted once or twice in thought, and then thrown back. what wei wuxian may be too preoccupied to notice is that he is hot on the (tail?) of that snowball, and when it's served its purpose as a distraction — regardless of having hit the other man or not — itachi neatly fists one hand in wei wuxian's jacket, hooks a foot behind his ankle and cleanly sweeps him off his feet.
which is altogether a rather abrupt motion, truncated by the fact that his fingers flex against the jacket and wei wuxian is lowered gingerly the last few inches into the powder snow. itachi stands back, pushes his goggles up on his forehead and, with the faintest of smiles more obvious by the crinkles at the corners of his eyes than any upturn of the mouth, says: ）
[As Itachi predicted, Wei Wuxian is indeed too busy bringing up his hands to guard against the snowball—that this ridiculous man had snatched out of the air—to pay attention to the man that follows. He doesn't go down hard at all thanks to Itachi's careful maneuvering, but he lets out a dramatic sounding "oof" anyway, mostly for show.
For a moment Wei Wuxian only lays there flat, his expression alight with joy and his face flushed from the cold, and then he pushes himself up onto his elbows, eyes narrowing in challenge.]
You wish! [Itachi is standing close enough that it's barely any work to spring up and catapult them both down into the snow together. The result is that they land on their backs with one of Wei Wuxian's hands still twisted in Itachi's coat, and Wei Wuxian turns his head to glance at Itachi before falling abruptly into laughter. As he laughs, he untwines his fingers from Itachi's coat to instinctively brush a few flakes of snow away from his hair, barely even noticing what he's doing before his hand is back at his own side.]
I'm calling this one a draw because I wanna go to the hot springs.
（ it is perhaps the first time in his life that the sudden attack draws no response. there is no instinctive twist of his body, no deflection, not even the barest whisper of the sharingan drawn up from the depths of dark eyes. he just lets the tackle happen and lands all but bonelessly in the snow.
wei wuxian touches his hair, and his eyes widen a fraction — not the first, nor even the most intimate thing the man has ever done, but certainly the first time within easy view and earshot of others — and once he draws back, itachi stands smoothly. ）
[The sight of the familiar sign shifts his smile from delighted to warmed and he mimics it with ease, taking the offered hand a second later and rising to his feet. He brushes snow from his pants as he moves to collect his board, and then tosses a grin over his shoulder.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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You think I spent years riding the sword just to need help learning how to slide down a hill on a piece of wood?
[Bring it on.]
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（ how does he know that. whence came this forbidden knowledge??
that is for the uchiha to know and other people to never find out. ）
It's a polyethylene composite. So perhaps, more help is needed after all.
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You're such an ass! [Affectionate.
Wei Wuxian allows Itachi to deal with the employee managing the hut and accepts one of the boards with a bright thanks to the employee once it's been handed over. It doesn't even occur to him to be surprised that Itachi knows his shoe size. Itachi knows all of his clothing sizes. That's normal.]
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one of the attendants offer them some basic safety and usage instructions, inquires as to their prior experience and ensures that they know how to use the lift system, and then off they go in the sort of awkward, half-hobble of having one foot strapped in to the board and pushing along with the other in the snow. once they're sitting on the lift with a bar across their laps and the boards, itachi leans back a bit against the surprisingly luxurious and heated cushioning. ）
It's strange, isn't it? To think there are people for whom this is a daily indulgence.
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The idle rich with too much time on their hands. [Another universal of all the worlds, he's sure.]
All that money and so many of them think only of self-indulgence. [Despite the harsh judgment, his tone speaks only of wistful resignation. He'd seen it so often and for so long that he simply can't muster the indignation it deserves.]
Some of the cultivation families were like that. [The Jin, he doesn't say, though they were hardly alone in their desire only to serve themselves.] Was it much of a problem in Konoha?
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he is so accustomed to guarding that feeling fiercely that the idea of letting it be known is... difficult. difficult, but not impossible.
(nothing feels so, at wei wuxian's side.)
he licks his lips, which are already chapped by the cold air. then: ）
No. While there were families possessed of variable wealth — it was rare that a clan would put pageantry before prestige in Konoha. That is not to say they were not capable of frivolity, only... it is considered a worthier thing, to speak of a son or daughter lost fighting an enemy, than of the riches they brought back from war. The latter is... gauche. A clan head who cared for such things would not survive very long in that position. However, in speaking of other cities or villages within the Land of Fire... I spent very little time among civilians, but I imagine that they would follow similarly patterned behaviour.
（ a vague wave of one hand out at the milling participants of the idle day. ）
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Is this more of that Will of Fire then? [He doesn't remember the exact meaning Itachi had shared with him, but he can't help feeling like it is.]
I think I'd like it there in your Land of Fire.
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（ he peels a glove off, lifting his bare hand to rub at his cheek. the slopes move below them, glittering white. it is strange, to see them without the faint red tarnish of the sharingan overlaid.
then: ）
The Will of Fire was born of a belief that love is the most vital part of a road to peace.
（ the uchiha built the foundation of their presence in konoha upon that idea. they bled for it, wept for it, and ultimately — ）
It is a wonderful home. I'm certain you would like it very much.
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Where was your favorite place to go in your village? You must have had some place you liked better than most.
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（ he says that softly, consideringly. the hokage monument, once. before he became aware of the viper's nest hidden behind those stone façades... it would be easy to mention the places that made good dango, or served excellent tea. but none of it, ultimately... ）
In the Uchiha compound, there was a lake called Nakano. It was fed by a large river that comes down from the mountains to the north, as cold as ice even in the dead of summer. But the lake itself was calm and placid — and I trained there often as a boy. My father would often come and oversee me there. （ his expression softens, and then, ） He was always very proud of my accomplishments.
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He can picture Itachi sitting there in meditation or perhaps even walking on top of that still water the way he's seen him do. Or perhaps there were targets set up just near the water's edge. There were probably copses of trees around the lake as well, and reeds sticking out of the shallows. He smiles warmly at the images his mind supplies.]
It sounds peaceful. [The exact opposite of the adrenaline rush he imagines he's about to endure.]
You know, it's a good thing you didn't meet me when I was younger. I would have tried so hard to drive you crazy. [He lets out a laugh. Someone quiet, brilliant, and kind? No, Itachi would have hard to work to maintain his peaceful trainings.]
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I've no doubt. You would not have succeeded, though.
（ he's always been perilously immune to such behaviour.
perhaps that's why he yeets himself off down the hill.
have fun keeping up, wei wuxian. ）
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He doesn't manage to catch up, but he matches Itachi's speed and comes up on his side trailing only a little behind. By then though, he's less interested in beating him and more interested in navigating the ride. It both is and isn't like riding a sword, and he falls in love with the experience immediately. The balance required is the same but riding on top of the snow is entirely different than on air.
Thankfully he manages it with relative ease and he lets out an appreciative whoop as he angles his body to gather more speed. With his heart in his throat and the cold rushing past him, Wei Wuxian can't help laughing in delight. He isn't entirely sure how to stop, but that seems like a problem for future Wei Wuxian.]
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(sasuke would have enjoyed this. lifetimes ago, perhaps. but would he have ever had the time or the means to have taken him? that is the harder question.)
he follows at a more sedate speed — these boards have nothing on the speed of shunshin, after all, so that in and of itself is no lure to him. once they're both properly at the bottom (and wei wuxian has found some method of stopping) itachi pings him on the earpiece: Again? ）
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«Absolutely! Come on, let's go!»
[Naturally, they go again, not once more but several more times, eventually graduating to one of the slightly more challenging hills with easy finesse. It's on their designated last run that Wei Wuxian—having gotten familiar with how to shift his weight and turn in order to slow—doesn't come to as easy of a stop as before. He overcorrects on his stop and tumbles to the ground, but the laughter spilling from his throat the whole way down makes it obvious he's unharmed. When his tumble has come to a stop, he unhooks his boots from the board and splays his arms and legs out to the sides like a starfish, grinning up at the sky and enjoying the chill of the snow beneath him.]
Aiya, I'm gonna be so sore tomorrow. [He complains, attempting to pout through his obvious delight.]
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Hush. That's what the hotsprings are for.
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Too late he brings his arms up to cover his face. The snow has already speckled him and he sits up to shake it off like a dog shaking off water. He barely even registers Itachi's words aside from the smug teasing tone that he wouldn't have registered as such just a few months ago.
This...this means war.]
This man! [He shouts as if to an audience despite their relative privacy. His expression is affronted though his eyes gleam with glee as he scrambles away and digs one hand into the snow to fling a poorly formed snowball at Itachi's chest.]
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whatever the reason, the snow impacts against his dark jacket and itachi just sort of. tips his head down to look at the spatter. brushes it off faintly with one hand as if it's merely settling dust.
then he deliberately leans down, unhooks himself from his snowboard, tucks it up under one arm and with the other hand gathers a handful of snow which he rolls against his thigh to shape it.
and then he tosses it right back. the other patrons around them may or may not be looking at them both like they're complete lunatics.
well, they can deal with it. ）
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When he's a few feet and behind the cover of a tree, he drops the board and kneels on one knee to gather more snow. Instead of the perfectly rolled snowball that Itachi had thrown, his first few mostly fall apart mid-flight before he finally starts trying to be neater with them.
Snowball making talisman. New idea. Not that he could use it here with the ghost matter, but he files it away for later as he grins and continues flinging snowball after snowball. Very clearly he is favoring quantity over quality.]
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the cover does n̸̮͊ó̷ͅt̸̪͑h̸̟͘ĩ̷̩n̷͇̾g̷̲̕.
hope you like this absolute jackass hitting a snowball with another snowball
to smack wei wuxian right in the back of the head. ）
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Alright since the tree is doing nothing and shelter is clearly for cowards anyway, Wei Wuxian gives it up, dive rolling out from beneath his attempt at cover with a snowball in hand and throwing it with far more precision than the others at Itachi's chest. He should probably dive roll back out of the way, but he's way too invested in seeing if the snowball connects.]
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or
#yolt in their respective cases?
hm.
in any case, he's ready for the snowball this time — having abandoned his snowboard to the nearby copse — and now with both hands free it gets summarily snatched out of thin air, hefted once or twice in thought, and then thrown back. what wei wuxian may be too preoccupied to notice is that he is hot on the (tail?) of that snowball, and when it's served its purpose as a distraction — regardless of having hit the other man or not — itachi neatly fists one hand in wei wuxian's jacket, hooks a foot behind his ankle and cleanly sweeps him off his feet.
which is altogether a rather abrupt motion, truncated by the fact that his fingers flex against the jacket and wei wuxian is lowered gingerly the last few inches into the powder snow. itachi stands back, pushes his goggles up on his forehead and, with the faintest of smiles more obvious by the crinkles at the corners of his eyes than any upturn of the mouth, says: ）
Do you yield?
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For a moment Wei Wuxian only lays there flat, his expression alight with joy and his face flushed from the cold, and then he pushes himself up onto his elbows, eyes narrowing in challenge.]
You wish! [Itachi is standing close enough that it's barely any work to spring up and catapult them both down into the snow together. The result is that they land on their backs with one of Wei Wuxian's hands still twisted in Itachi's coat, and Wei Wuxian turns his head to glance at Itachi before falling abruptly into laughter. As he laughs, he untwines his fingers from Itachi's coat to instinctively brush a few flakes of snow away from his hair, barely even noticing what he's doing before his hand is back at his own side.]
I'm calling this one a draw because I wanna go to the hot springs.
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wei wuxian touches his hair, and his eyes widen a fraction — not the first, nor even the most intimate thing the man has ever done, but certainly the first time within easy view and earshot of others — and once he draws back, itachi stands smoothly. ）
Of course. A draw.
（ he holds out a hand in an old, familiar sign. ）
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Now what was it about those hot springs?
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