[The tree has better acoustics than that hole, Shikamaru thinks lightly. He sits down on the branch to listen, still smiling. Hidan probably wasn't in that pit for long. The tree isn't the same, but this way he gets a taste.
It should be satisfying. It's not, and his face falls. Instead it's the same as the moment after he buried him. He's waiting for a sense of fulfillment but when he tears his ears inwards and away from Hidan's yells, all there is is a hollow sound.
He doesn't even have closure to fall back on this time.
But he does have time to think. They've started all over again; Asuma is and has been avenged, just as he told Hidan. This is something new that won't be solved so simply. Hands curled a lighter in a white knuckled grip, Shikamaru breaks away from the tree and towards the mountains.
[action]
It should be satisfying. It's not, and his face falls. Instead it's the same as the moment after he buried him. He's waiting for a sense of fulfillment but when he tears his ears inwards and away from Hidan's yells, all there is is a hollow sound.
He doesn't even have closure to fall back on this time.
But he does have time to think. They've started all over again; Asuma is and has been avenged, just as he told Hidan. This is something new that won't be solved so simply. Hands curled a lighter in a white knuckled grip, Shikamaru breaks away from the tree and towards the mountains.
He can't let anyone die like that again.]