how did this even happen...

[mooneye]

It wasn't a bad sort of place. Lots of things to do and people to see. Plenty of freedom to dart over the rooftops and down the alleys--or out of the village and into the woods and rocky wild places beyond. Obito liked Michi no Sato.

He had stopped for lunch and was eating at a table outside the restaurant, watching people walk past. The food was good. The cold breeze was nice. Ah, yes. Years and years trapped in a cave with a crazy old man and a bunch of plant monsters--it had left him really able to appreciate the little things.

[ooc: here is an AU Obito in his twenties. Got through the time with Madara, and Rin's death, but didn't go completely evil after all of it...]

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[facevalue]

That makes him blink and tilt his head, staring at the other. "You think us animals, then?" The other man certainly possessed the same kind of power and grace as... well, perhaps not a cat, he revised his earlier opinion. With that hair, it had become more clear with the sketching. A lion, predatory while appearing to be lazing in the sun.

[mooneye]

"I think of myself that way." He said, shrugging. Or at least, not totally human. One of Madara's creatures from the dark, not exactly a man but not quite anything else. "So if you wouldn't smile for an animal you wanted to make a bond with, then there's no need to smile for me."

[facevalue]

He makes a small, thoughtful sound, a hand coming to his chin as he genuinely contemplates that. "I wonder, do animals appreciate smiles?" he muses, seemingly to himself.

[mooneye]

"...Dogs might." He considered the question himself. "Dogs smile too, I suppose."

[facevalue]

"A dog..." In an instant, his sketchpad is open again, a quick several strokes against the page before he presents the image of a four-legged canine. "I do not think they smile, either."

[mooneye]

"Don't they? I thought when you scratched their ears, they did." He considered that, thinking of Kakashi's dogs and shaking his head, frowning. "But I don't like dogs, myself. I could be wrong."

[facevalue]

...Now he was curious. He nearly puts the sketchpad away to pull out his ink and brush, ready to draw a dog just to see what it did. Was this 'excitement?'

It fades all too quickly, though, buried beneath the practicality of being before a stranger. "I am not sure. I am only familiar with Kakashi-senpai's dogs, and they are not ordinary dogs, at all."

[mooneye]

"Those things are irritating." His brow furrowed slightly, at the mention of Kakashi. "If they smile, I don't think it counts." He glanced around them, like there might be a dog somewhere nearby that they could test the smileage of.

[facevalue]

"I think they are... what is the word?" His brow creases as he tries to think of what the proper emotion is to project. Ah, there it is. "Useful."

[mooneye]

After a moment, he nodded. Yes. That was true.

[facevalue]

His eyes are emotionless as ever as he stares up at the other man. "You know Kakashi-senpai?"

[mooneye]

A pause, as he thought about just how to answer that. "Yes. We were teammates, actually."

[facevalue]

At that, Sai's eyes narrow, just a fraction. Kakashi-senpai's teammates...

Then his eyes go wide as he suddenly realizes just where it is he's heard that name, in relation to Hatake Kakashi-senpai's Sharingan, and his team. Before he joined ANBU.

His voice is still smooth as he only blinks. "So being kersplatted did not end in death," he observes, though he's studying the other far more carefully now.

[mooneye]

"Ah. No. Not in my world, at least. It put me out of commission for a while, but." He shrugged.

[facevalue]

"Did it in any?" He tilts his head, the edges of his smile tugging at his lips again. "Or is Uchiha Obito only faking death in every instance?"

[mooneye]

"In every instance I've heard of, he is only faking it." That got a sly smile.

[facevalue]

"For what purpose?" He closes the sketchbook, his pleasant smile on his face as if in an attempt to lull the other into a false sense of security, even if they both already knew it to be false. "Why not return to Konoha?"

[mooneye]

He watched the smile creep back and now--knowing what it was a little better--thought how interesting it was. The boy was mimicking emotion. He was doing it logically, Obito thought, in order to get logical responses. But emotion was not a logical thing.

"Where I'm from, I did return eventually." He shrugged. "But I didn't stay long. I like it better out away from the village, doing as I please."

[facevalue]

Sai tilts his head and opens his sketchbook again, using the charcoal to write two characters, 自由, and display them to the other. "Is that the thing called 'freedom'?"

[mooneye]

That got a smile of genuine pleasure. "Yes."

[facevalue]

He nods, understanding the meaning in the definition, but having no sense of it for himself. It's with a kind of curiosity that he asks, "What is it like?"

He's never experienced it for himself, and truthfully, he has no desire to do so. Following orders is much simpler.

[mooneye]

"It's the best thing in the world." His teeth flash as he grins, sharp and pleased. "Just being yourself, you know?"

[facevalue]

"Oneself..." Another quick scrawl of two characters, 自分, and he displays it again. "And how do you determine just who that person is?"

[mooneye]

"Well, I determined it by having a rock fall on me. But I've heard other people find simpler, less painful ways. It's all very personal."

[facevalue]

His face goes still at that as he contemplates the paper. A moment, then he uses one of his gloved fingers to smudge the second character of each word, leaving only the 自 character clear from both. "They both have 'self' in them, don't they?" he says, more to himself than the other. A beat, then his smile finds his lips again. "Ah... but I do not think even a rock could find my Self."