twenty-fifth breath ✧ voice

[musubi]

[When Isamu speaks, his voice is incredibly shaky.]

You motherfuckers.

You fucking win. Are you happy?

[He doesn't clarify who he's speaking to, but the answer may be obvious.

Wanting to visit Naoki as often as he could get away with without being shooed off, the teen had headed up to his friend's apartment. But he wasn't there. It didn't look as if he'd ever been there.

He wasn't at the house. He wasn't at the New Feather lodges. He wasn't anywhere.

Naoki would have told him if he was leaving again, right? Things had just been starting to work out between them again...]

You can't... You can't do shit like this.

DO YOU HEAR ME? YOU CAN'T DO THIS.

[Filtered to Raphael, Richard, and Sanji]

He's gone.

I have to get out of here.

Just... don't look for me, okay?

[Unspoken: He'll be back. Maybe.]

Comments

[Voice]

[ledbythewind]

[Gone? That can't be... he can't be gone, Richard never got to apologize, the last time they spoke was an argument... this can't be happening...]

Gone...?

[Voice/filtered]

[causeblocked.livejournal.com]

Shit...

Shit shit shit...

Yeah. Yeah, man. I... shit. I'm so sorry.

[Voice/filtered]

[ledbythewind]

[There's a thud as Richard's legs give way beneath him and deposit him unceremoniously on the ground, too numb with shock to reply.

He'd promised, he'd promised he'd take Naoki back home to Efinea with him. What if he never sees him again? What if he never gets to apologize?

Naoki...]

[Voice/filtered]

[causeblocked.livejournal.com]

I... I can't do this.

I can't take this.

I'm sorry, Richard.

Please... don't do anything stupid. Talk with Raph or Sanji or something...

I'll be back in... I dunno. I'll be back.

[Voice]

[fyulong]

Hey... what's wrong?

[He knows this is Naoki's roommate, and they'd been having problems lately. Maybe they could use an extra hand or something?

Still... something definitely isn't right about this, though.]

[Voice]

[causeblocked.livejournal.com]

Everything.

Fucking everything.

[Voice]

[fyulong]

That... sounds pretty serious. [And vague, man. Why make it public if you're not going to explain?]

[Voice]

[causeblocked.livejournal.com]

It's as fucking serious as it gets.

...I'm so tired of this shit.

[Voice]

[godbent]

[...Okay there's a few things which could have happened here but at the same time how likely is this guy to want to talk to her? Not at all, really.

...Nnngh.]

Do what?

[If he doesn't reply or something, she can always just. Stalk other replies. Something about this guy probably will relate back to Naoki after all]

[Voice]

[causeblocked.livejournal.com]

Do THIS.

[Voice]

[godbent]

Oh yeah, like that's specific.

[Voice]

[causeblocked.livejournal.com]

SHUT UP.

I'm not gonna deal with your bullshit right now.

[Filtered]

It's Naoki.

He's gone.

[Voice//Private]

[goldenglasses]

[That doesn't sound good. Vash can't help but pry.]

Hey, are you alright? What happened?

[Voice//Private]

[causeblocked.livejournal.com]

Man, he's...

It's... it's Naoki, man.

[Voice//Private]

[goldenglasses]

Naoki? What's happened? Was he kidnapped?

[Voice//Private]

[causeblocked.livejournal.com]

He's...

He's gone.

[Voice / Private]

[strayfag.livejournal.com]

[Oh hey, it's that guy from before, still speaking his language and everything.]

Hey, don't do anything crazy. [Because something crazy is the first thing he'd do if he was that pissed.] What happened?

[Voice / Private]

[causeblocked.livejournal.com]

Fuck, man. If I do something too crazy I'll get people yelling down my neck anyway.

I just...

My best friend is gone, man... We've been here nearly a year...

I need to get away. I at least need that.

[Voice / Private]

[strayfag.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I get it. [He doesn't ask or offer condolences because he always thought it was bullshit anyway, and it's not like they're friends. But still.]

Take care of yourself out there.

[filter]

[oda-hates-me.livejournal.com]

[He'd suspected as much, hearing Isamu's drunken-like rage through the journals.

But it still hits like a punch to the gut. Naoki's really...

It's selfish - of course Isamu's gonna take this the worst out of anyone, and probably needs someone to talk him down - but Sanji can't bother to answer the guy right away. He stares at the journal and then closes it to be alone, let the numb truth really sink in.

It's later when he picks it back up, out of loyalty to both of them:]

When will you be back?

[filter]

[causeblocked.livejournal.com]

I...

I don't know.

[filter]

[oda-hates-me.livejournal.com]

... Don't do anything stupid.

[Voice | Filtered]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

[He's tired. He's barely slept all week with all the bullshit drama his family's going through, but he can't leave his buddy out to rot.]

Who's gone?

[Though he has a bad feeling exactly who.]

[Voice | Filtered]

[causeblocked.livejournal.com]

Naoki, goddammit.

[Voice | Filtered]

[meanandgreen.livejournal.com]

Thought so. [Poor kid.] Where're you goin'?