Ain't no party like a ninja party

[usedswift]

Who: open to literally anyone in Blackthorn City who wanders into the ninja party + friends
Where: Blackthorn City (mainly hotsprings but also anywhere)
When: July 23rd
Summary: Sasuke gets a birthday party whether he wants one or not. Lucky for him, he has friends (in spite of his best efforts) who'll plan one.
Rating: G? PG for violence

[ooc; general mingle log for Blackthorn City/Sasuke's birthday. Most of it will probably take place at the hotsprings itself, though like the 'who' says, it's completely open to anyone just walking by and wondering what the big deal is, or someone who's already there and then has their pleasant soak interrupted by a bunch of dumb ninjas.]

Comments

[beforethedarkness]

I won't if I can help it.

[He seems softer then, thinking over something. Even if he says that, what guarantee is there that he can? Whether he can change things for himself, these things have already happened for Neji, Naruto, Sakura, Shino... And there's no changing that for them. It weighs heavily on him, the knowledge that he might not be able to change anything.

It's something he's thought about a lot, and as much as he doesn't want to... It feels like it's something he has to do. No matter how he doesn't want to, it feels like he has to then and there.

He takes a step back from Neji, meeting his eye... Before, without warning, he does something no one would likely expect from the young and arrogant Uchiha at all.

He gets to his knees. Then rests his weight forward on his hands. And then, as low to the ground as he can, he bows to Neji. Hopefully the action would be that much louder, because he's not going to give the addition of 'I'm sorry' on top of what he's already doing. Even if he's not done saying what he has to say.]

I know that no matter what I say, I still might not be able to change what happened. I can't change what happened for you because of the actions I did in the future - your past.

[uncagedforjustamoment]

[He's close to seizing the advantage once Sasuke steps back, darting forward and rendering the youth's hands and arms useless in a silent display of how much he has not truly been defanged without his jutsu, but the abrupt and unusual movement that followed Sasuke's backpedal pre-empts the process.

At first, he registers the potential for a sweeping attack...but the required tenseness for that in his posture is missing. Instead he...

...bows.

The action most certainly catches the Hyuuga off-guard. He's rather good at reading people, predicting human nature and how any one person ought to react to a situation once he's examined them and begun his advance. It's not common--or at least it wasn't--for his observations to be incorrect. But a...formal apology. Prostrating himself in such a way, to a Hyuuga--a side branch member such as himself--at that?

Few in Konoha would recognize or place quite as much significance upon such a gesture as much or more than the Hyuuga. In fact, he can't say that the Uchiha even did. At the moment, such definition is less important than how he is obligated to receive it in the context of the one performing it. Furthermore his words finally do retract his obstinate, insulting attitude on the matter.

Neji stares down at Sasuke for several moments, and then frowns for several more, silent all the while as he processes the action.

Such a gesture is more efficient without an apology explicitly attached. An apology from the one who did not commit the actions yet would mean nothing, and in fact would simply be an insult with the knowledge that he would proceed to do them anyway.

This is...

More complicated.

Eventually, he takes a step back from the youth, and considers for a moment simply walking away. It would be the most appropriate acceptance, as much as there can be, for the gesture, as much as it means. Still, he can hardly do so if the child doesn't indeed fully grasp the subtleties of the gesture and instead takes it as a rejection.

He turns his frown away from the Uchiha for the second time today.]

Contemplate well on this: if at any moment I find her distressed, if she is harmed, upset, or in any emotional turmoil, if you hurt her in any way, form, or fashion I determine as your fault, I'll return it to you in the form of physical agony that neither the hospitals nor the prevention of death in this place will help you with. Should you decide to allow her to continue to pursue you, ensure that you keep that in mind.

[That is the closest Sasuke is likely to get to Neji acknowledging that he is, in fact, not the same shinobi that will and did abandon the village and wreck such havoc on the shinobi world and the feelings of his friends.

Not that he will not do it, of course. Instead, likewise with Obito, he will allow Sasuke to continue to demonstrate the difference between a name and a person for as long as those prove different.

That is all.

With nothing more to say, he simply turns and starts back toward the springs.]