[ The impact of what Itachi tells him is so large that Sasuke sets his phone, face down, on the island in the middle of his apartment and walks away from it.
It isn't lost on him that it had taken death, resurrection, and Sasuke's unbridled determination to get any kind of truth from his brother. Yet here, all it had taken was a text message. But more than the offer of Synchrony and all that comes with it are the words It wasn't your fault.
It takes him a good thirty minutes to reel himself back and return to the conversation. ]
I remember. You said the Bond was similar. Mastering that technique must have been easy for a shinobi of your caliber.
[The delay doesn't bother him. It allows Itachi a moment to gather his own thoughts, and reminds him too well of their attempts at stilted conversation in Aefenglom.
He doesn't want to acknowledge the compliment. It feels so wrong, and so misplaced, a matured pantomime of Sasuke as a child crowing over his brother's skill as a shinobi. And how does it compare now, suspecting Sasuke has likely surpassed his ability altogether? No, almost certainly he has. His own physical condition here would see to that difference now.]
It wasn't so simple as that.
In any case… I am grateful for your willingness to attempt it again.
[That's all he can think to say, an appreciation for Sasuke's confidence like a bright, blazing beacon in the dark.
[ Simplicity doesn't matter; to Sasuke it only drives home the fact Itachi was able to master something difficult. That isn't the point, he knows, and besides — being faced with both his brother's honesty and gratitude is overwhelming. Leaving the conversation as it is feels wrong somehow, but Sasuke finds he can't continue for the time being. So: ]
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It isn't lost on him that it had taken death, resurrection, and Sasuke's unbridled determination to get any kind of truth from his brother. Yet here, all it had taken was a text message. But more than the offer of Synchrony and all that comes with it are the words It wasn't your fault.
It takes him a good thirty minutes to reel himself back and return to the conversation. ]
I remember. You said the Bond was similar. Mastering that technique must have been easy for a shinobi of your caliber.
I would try again.
I believe it should work.
no subject
He doesn't want to acknowledge the compliment. It feels so wrong, and so misplaced, a matured pantomime of Sasuke as a child crowing over his brother's skill as a shinobi. And how does it compare now, suspecting Sasuke has likely surpassed his ability altogether? No, almost certainly he has. His own physical condition here would see to that difference now.]
It wasn't so simple as that.
In any case… I am grateful for your willingness to attempt it again.
[That's all he can think to say, an appreciation for Sasuke's confidence like a bright, blazing beacon in the dark.
He can only hope he is right.]
no subject
I'll keep in touch.