The Way Through Stone Village (Naruto)

78: PR with Sakura and Bakugo

[OP: "I have Made Mistakes"--The Oh Hellos]

Day 63:

The party plans hit a snag when Kosame informed them that many people in the Village weren't sure they were really invited.

"So the flying invitations didn't reassure them?" Dabi said. "Shocker."

"I guess it could be intimidating," Shine mused.

"Well, the best way to fix this--" Wally held up a hand. "--is to go out there and do a little PR ourselves, and I'm the king of PR. We'll just tell them they can come. The word will spread--I bet everyone will turn out."

"I hope we can fit everyone, in that case," Gaara said. "These celebrations always seem to get a little further out of hand than I expect them to."

"You know it." Camie was scrolling through her playlist again. "Would 'Don't You Worry' be a good song?"

"That's a bop," Shine said. "So I'd say yes."

Camie made some swiping motion. "Cool... Hey, are soundtracks okay?"

"I have an idea from a soundtrack," Shine said. "Do you know 'Way Up'? From that Spiderman movie."

"The one with the alt Spiderman?" Camie said. "Oh, that was massive. I mean, I wasn't super into it before, but, you know, now that we're heroes, we have to take an interest in the peeps who pave the way... Hey, ever think it was cray cray how there were movies and comics about people with superpowers for years before quirks emerged?"

"That makes it sound like they came out of a pond," Wally said. "But same thing with us. My buddy GL had comics he really liked about superheroes way before he was one. So did I."

"Or was it all pictures?" Shine asked. "Communication from other dimensions? One has to wonder. Was it always based on something real? Even in our Bible we have Samson, with the strength of 10 men. Or Elijah, who ran faster than a chariot once. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who didn't burn up in the fiery furnace. What is all this but a prelude to superpowers becoming a common thing? Though not where I live."

"Isn't it boring for you to go home then?" Temari asked.

"Not at all," Shine said. "Real life has a way of compensating for the lack of novelty in abilities by adding plenty of stressors and problems that hit too close to home."

It took Temari a second to realize that was probably a negative statement.

"You must really not like your own world, if you spend months in other ones every chance you get," Suigetsu said, with a strange look. "I mean...that has to be weird. But if I could escape this one, I bet it would be nice."

Shine laughed and put down her Bible she'd been reading. "You sound like my friend Raven."

"The old one or the younger ones?" Wally asked.

"The old, but don't let her hear you call her that," Shine snorted. "She once said that same thing to me. I told her that she wouldn't like it. The desire to escape is never a good foundation for World Walking, because you'll only find that the next world you go to has just as many problems as yours. The longer you say there the more you'll see it, too. At least I'm used to mine. They're...comforting...sometimes... On the other hand, when I enter a world and the atrocities of mine aren't present in it, I feel a little envious...until I realize they have their own atrocities."

"Do we want to know what you mean?" Kankuro asked.

"I don't think so," Shine said. "Putting a Tailed Beast into a newborn is not anything people in my world would do--because they can't. And the world would probably say it's unethical...but that wouldn't stop someone from doing it, if they could. In the same way, there are things in my world that I won't tell you, but your world would do them, if they could. Evil spreads like sickness. Thankfully, so does good." She tugged her hair.