The Roof, Saturday [1/26]

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra stood on the roof looking out over the edge. She had agreed to meet Ino later, but she had plenty of time to think while she waited. She had been putting off thinking about the weekend when she was not herself, and it was something she needed to do. This was as good a chance as any.

[ooc: Open like the roof tends to be.]

Comments

[intraspective]

Ino's hair was pulled back into it's regular ponytail and she was... not feeling better, but at least the fact of a spar gave her something to focus her attention on.

As long as she didn't think too hard about anything else.

Stepping onto the roof, in the early evening, she spotted Cassandra. "Hey," Ino said.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra turned and eyed Ino. "Ready?"

[intraspective]

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't." Ino said quietly. "I know what mind frame to approach a spar in."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

With a nod Cassandra shifted smoothly into a fighting stance. "Okay."

[intraspective]

She did the same, stepping away from the door, "Don't go easy on me." Ino didn't want that.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

"Never."

And with that she surged forward and launched herself into a kick.

[intraspective]

Ino ducked under the kick, one of her own feet lashing out at Cassandra.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra's hand snapped down to deflect the kick and propel herself over Ino's head. She landed lightly and immediately drove her elbow back toward Ino.

[intraspective]

Ino scrambled backwards, the elbow just grazing her head, and one fist going for Cassandra's ribcage.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Leaning into the punch robbed it of some of its force, but Cassandra still grunted as her arm snapped down to trap Ino's fist while she simultaneously spun to bring her knee up into Ino's hip.

[intraspective]

That knee hurt but Ino didn't let that stop her and hooked one of her ankles around Cassandra's then yanked.

[*kicks her email zomg* zomg sorry!]

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra let her legs slip out from under her and tangled her hand in Ino's collar to use her falling weight to pull the other girl down. She tried to shift as she fell to set Ino up for a throw.

[intraspective]

One of the problems with being small and really thin? It wasn't hard to take control of her in close combat. Ino winced as they went down, and grabbed hold of the hand that was holding her collar. You couldn't throw what clung to you, right?

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

As she rolled across the ground, Cassandra let go of Ino's collar, but the other girl didn't go flying. Instead Cassandra's arm extended and they both flopped to the ground for a second.

Cassandra twisted her wrist free and sprang immediately to her feet, failing to notice the small card (http://sound-loyalty.livejournal.com/16513.html?thread=352897#t352897) lying on the ground where she'd fallen.

[intraspective]

Ino's own getting to her feet came to an abrupt halt when she put her hand down on the card and glanced to see what she'd touched.

"That's Kabuto's..." she said, looking with wide eyes at Cassandra then picking it up. Why would Cassandra have one of Kabuto's cards..? Ino looked at it, and went white, "... Michael?"

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

The kick Cassandra had started froze in mid-air when Ino stopped paying attention.

She saw the card and frowned. "Don't know him," she told Ino.

[intraspective]

"He just started this term." Ino said, staring at it, "Where did you get this?" How did you get this was probably the better question.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra straightened and shifted slightly so that she took on a stance that was very reminiscent of Kabuto. "A gift." Of sorts, anyway.

[intraspective]

She looked up and blanched at the stance. Ino knew that stance.

Her hands shook. "Why did he have it?" When had he met Michael?

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

"Didn't ask," Cassandra admitted. It hadn't seemed important.

[intraspective]

She could probably guess why, given a few moments of thought. Ino bit her lip, then asked hesitatingly. "Did he talk to you about... it?"

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra offered Ino a look that pretty clearly suggested that Kabuto didn't talk about much to anyone, but then relented a bit.

"Some."

[intraspective]

Ino looked away at the look.

"C-can I know what he said?" She asked, blinking rapidly and trying to stay calm. "A-about me?"

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

"Why?" Cassandra asked. It wasn't a refusal, but she wanted to know why Ino wanted to know.

[intraspective]

Ino ducked her head, wishing her hair was loose so she could hide behind it. "Because I," her breathing hitched, "care."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

With a nod Cassandra straightened again. Her tone didn't change, but her cadence wasn't her own when she spoke, "'Ino-san should be happy, now. I'm sure her new toy will be happy to give her his shoulder to cry on.'"

[intraspective]

Her head whipped up to stare at Cassandra when the other girl had started speaking, and for a long moment she couldn't make heads or tails of what... Kabuto had said. New toy? What new toy?

Ino's hands clenched around the card and she looked at it, eyes widening as she made the connection. "B-because of Michael? That's w-why he..."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra shrugged unhelpfully, "I didn't understand."

[intraspective]

"Michael's a f-friend," Ino's voice wavered, "and, and it wasn't planned or anything. Kabuto's the one I, I..."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Shifting to Kabuto's cadence again, Cassandra helpfully added: "'She had no qualms about taking him to bed with her. She made her own decisions about things.'"

She still wasn't sure what was going on...

[intraspective]

Ino flinched, not doubting he'd said that, and with a shuddering breath slowly got to her feet.

"I... I didn't think h-he'd care," she said, "so l-little phases him and h-he's... more i-important."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

"I don't understand," Cassandra said simply.

[intraspective]

That made Ino stare at Cassandra--what was so hard to understand?

"Which part confused you?" Ino asked, picking the card off the ground gingerly. "It's a m-mess."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

"You. Him. Other him." All of it really.

[intraspective]

"I..." Ino looked helpless, not sure if she was up to explaining it to Cassandra. She took a deep breath and let it out, staring down at the card and turning it over in her hands.

"K-Kabuto is, is..." she shook her head, "to me, he is one of the most important people to me. We're, were, dating." How to explain it? "The way it w-worked in my head--he was m-mine, and I was h-his. B-but he never seemed to c-care as much."

Blinking furiously. "Michael was an... an impulse. A, a spur of the moment decision. We're f-friends but what I did," she shuddered, but said honestly, "I s-slept with him. I didn't think Kabuto would care."

But the card in her hand said otherwise. He had cared. And this was all her fault.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra thought about that, and about the impression she'd gotten of Kabuto.

"He cared," she added unhelpfully.

[intraspective]

"Y-yeah," Ino said, blinking back tears, "turns out he did."

And she'd majorly miscalculated.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

"What now?" Cassandra asked. She wasn't at all sure what to do, but knowing that Ino was hurting she reached out to gently lay a hand on the other girl's shoulder.

[intraspective]

Ino leaned into the touch, tears trickling down her face. "I don't know," she sniffled, "m-move on, maybe."

She wiped at her eyes. "A-apologize to h-him." Even though the very thought of trying to talk to him right now made her feel ill. He'd rip her to shreds.

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

Cassandra was very bad at this sort of thing, and she knew it. She knew how to patch bullet wounds, and she could set compound fractures in her sleep, but what had happened to Ino she didn't know how to fix.

"Okay," she said helplessly doing the only thing she could: leaning in for a light hug.

[intraspective]

The hug shattered what little control Ino had had over her tears and she lowered her face, leaning against Cassandra and not saying anything. Anything she said probably wouldn't have been comprehensible anyway.

She'd messed up. She'd have to fix it. It was all her fault.

After awhile, Ino sniffled and said weakly, "I'm so stupid."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

The crying wasn't something Cassandra knew what to do about, so she just sort of stood there and held Ino awkwardly without moving too much.

Then Ino spoke. "Not stupid," she disagreed.

[intraspective]

"I messed up," Ino said, "if I'd been smarter..."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

"People mess up," Cassandra still didn't shift from the hug. "At least no one died," she added helpfully.

[intraspective]

That made Ino laugh weakly, wiping at her eyes. "I should be glad of that, I guess," she shook her head, pulling out of the hug, "but it still hurts."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

"Yes," Cassandra agreed. Ino clearly was hurting after all.

[intraspective]

"I'll b-be alright," Ino said, trying mostly to convince herself of that. She hugged herself. "I'm getting cold," who knew if that was literally or figuratively, "we should go in."

[iseewhatyoumean.livejournal.com]

"Okay," Cassandra nodded, releasing her light hold on Ino and stepping back.

"Spar some other time," she suggested.

[intraspective]

"Alright," Ino nodded, "and sneak-off too..." she looked at Cassandra, "Thank you."

Then Ino headed for the stairs, not wanting to hear any answer and still holding the card she'd picked up in one hand. No matter how she looked at it this was her fault.