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dianapana · 3 years

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SH Day 8- Blackmail Material

@sasuhinamonth

Rated T, Modern AU, OOC

Week 2 started, ngl the fact that I finished week 1 made me feel like it was over and done with, but I also feel like since started and wrote daily I should keep the same energy but I am making no promises.

The Hyuugas always had strict rules, Hinata was never one to disobey those rules no matter how old, outdated and limiting they were. The rules dictated her life from her appearance to her profession and even the people she could keep around her. She kept her hair long at all times just like all Hyuugas had to, her clothing was always modest, never revealing; she chose a job in teaching for as a woman taking care of others was all she was good at, even that job was frown upon by the elders for she was an Assistant at University, and according to the elders a woman had nowhere to be in higher education. They contested even her choice to teach psychology, for that was not a valid science. Despite all of the issues the elders had with her career path, her actions never truly broke any of the rules and they were always approved in the end, Hinata always awaited their approval before actually doing anything either way. She even only kept people the clan approved of, Sarutobi, Sabaku and Nara were all families of high prestige with whom she could communicate, Haruno and Yamanaka were always too chaotic and no good came out of any contact with them. The elders gave her a list of all the clans that had people around her age, the ones written in black were fine to befriend, the ones written in red she had to steer clear of.

Hinata knew that no good could come out of breaking any of the rules, she kept quiet and did as they told her to, she befriended the three Sabaku kids, one of her colleagues at the university was the wife of a Sarutobi and the eldest Nara kid was one of her students. She slowly but steadily gained more freedom the more she followed the rules. When Kurenai asked Hinata to be her daughter’s godmother, Hinata delivered the news and asked to move on her own, when the Sarutobi heir talked her up at a meeting with important family heads, Hinata asked for an extended vacation abroad. In her 25 years she learned how to navigate the rules in such a way that they wouldn’t inconvenience her too much, and she also learned how she could breach them in such a way that would never be found, she was always taking small and calculated risks, she was always careful.

However, one evening after the first day of classes a student approached her, he was an Uchiha, part of an important clan that the elders approved of. Sasuke was a senior and well known around the university, so much so that Hinata knew about him too. He started their conversation by asking a few questions about the curriculum and the end of the semester project. The conversation was pleasant and academic, he told her some of the topics he was thinking of approaching and from which angels, each idea came with a set of pictures he showed her on his phone. After about 30 minutes of talking Hinata’s opinion of him changed. People said he was the type of smart that never worked hard, yet got good grades, some said he bribed all of his teachers, but the most spread rumour was that he was an utterly shitty person, one that would walk all over anyone to get what he wanted.

“I have one more picture to show you and I think we will be done here” Sasuke muttered and started scrolling through his phone.

While watching him looking for yet another resource for a project that was over 4 months away Hinata could only wonder how those rumours even started in the first place, however, her train of thoughts was interrupted by Sasuke’s declaration that he had found the picture. His eyes lit up like Christmas trees and his smile turned into an evil smirk. In the picture Hinata was dancing, she was dancing in a club with Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno, her clothes were anything but modest, for they were showing off her back which was entirely covered in ink. Her hair was up allowing the people to see her ears which were filled with piercings. The picture was proof of her breaking over 15 of the Hyuuga rules, the picture alone could ruin her life, the elders would lock her up for shaming them.

Hinata’s terrified eyes turned from the picture to Sasuke’s amused expression. “I found this picture to be very relevant to the class and the topic I wanted to study most when I registered for it” his voice was lower, the earnest and goody-two-shoes act was over, he had successfully fooled Hinata just for fun. “However I do think I’ll need some extra help to fully…examine everything about this picture” his last words were paired with a leery look, he moved his eyes slowly from her face to her chest, legs and back up to her face. “I think meeting twice a week is imperative for a project this size” Hinata was still stunned into silence, when Sasuke leaned over the desk, putting his face barely inches away from hers “I can’t wait to work with you teach”

The Uchiha boy got up and left, not before smirking at her and adding “I’ll find you at the end of tomorrow, don’t fly away little bird, we wouldn’t want me to make missing posters with that picture, would we?”

The moment the door closed, time seemed to start again, Hinata’s heart was beating out of her chest, how could that have happened? Everyone that was at that party was close friends with Sakura, the party was small, how could she not notice someone taking her picture? She had been to a number of parties over the years and never had any issues before, but Sasuke came in which his smirk and was about to ruin everything. He was blackmailing her. Hyuuga’s strictness was not a secret, every other important family knew about it, Sasuke was fully aware that he had the ability to ruin her and he decided to toy with her. She was caught between a rock and a hard place, either fate was equally disastrous.

Hinata laid her head onto her desk whishing the world to disappear, but even her moment of internal wallowing was interrupted by a set of ‘dings’ coming from her phone

Cheer up teach

Ull see all I have planned is fun

Ill contact you when I wanna meet

Make sure to come…unless…

He had her number, somehow that brat was playing her. Had they been in school together? Sasuke was 22 so 3 years younger than her, was he a freshman when she was a senior? Did they meet or interact before? Did they have common friends? Or did she do something to attract his interest and he did everything in his power to find her?

Forgot to tell you

Put ur tongue piercing in when we see each other

Over the years Hinata got a number of tattoos and piercings, they were her silent rebellion against the elders. Due to her modest clothing and long hair, they could never be seen, however, her tongue piercing was another deal. That one was visible at times when she talked, which is why she only wore it at home and on very rare occasions outside, not even all of her friends knew about it, she told very few people about it and even fewer saw it, thus Sasuke knowing about it scared her more than the picture itself. Looking at the texts again made her want to scream and cry, how could she fix this mess? Would Sasuke grow tired if she played along with him? And what was it he wanted exactly? All she could do was wait for him to contact her and see exactly where things were gonna go…

#sasuhina #sasuhina month #shmonth2021 #sasuhinafanfic #sasuhinamonth2021 #hinata #sasuke #hinata hyuuga #uchiha #susake uchiha #hyuuga #naruto #fanfic #fanfiction #dia story #diawrites #day8 #blackmail

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pro-sakuraharuno · 4 years

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“as much as everyone says team 7 was his family’s they kinda treated him like shit. Especially Sakura. If naruto had Hinata as a supporting team member who saw him for who he is, and not as the jinchuriki or an obnoxious brat (that’s how Sakura saw him).”

Um... What??? I could make a post bringing up all the times Sakura cared but I’ll just point out the highlights.

(Sakura feeling guilty for treating Naruto badly, which ended the chapter, while in the anime there was an added scene that made her retract her guilt)

When Naruto stabs his hand, Sakura is the only one to voice her concern.

Sakura doesn’t even think twice about jumping in to save Naruto from getting hit by Zabuza’s sword.

Over time, Sakura finds herself becoming impressed by him(whether or not she admits it out loud.)

Sakura is the first one to master the Chakra control and tree climbing exercise and is able to provide Naruto with tips.

Sakura keeping regulation of both Naruto and Sasuke.

She finds herself inspired by him.

They are a family.

She looks after him when he��s reckless and gets himself hurt.

Sakura worries for Naruto and even tries to cheer him up before the written exam.

Sakura is one of the first people who supported Naruto’s dream to become Hokage, and didn’t want to see it ripped away from him.

The two times Sakura thought Sasuke hit Naruto, she defended Naruto against Sasuke.

Cheering for him.

Worrying for him.

Worrying for him again.

Saving him.

(speaking of standing up for Naruto against Sasuke)

Forces herself to stay awake while Naruto and Sasuke are out cold to keep them safe.

If this doesn’t say anything, I don’t know what does.

Rooting for him.

Again

Encouraging him not to lose

Thanking Naruto for cheering her on during her fight with Ino.

Cheering him on again.

Believing in him at a time when most others didn’t.

Sakura rooting for Naruto during the prelims.

Worrying for him.

Being happy that he won.

Her tender smile when she finds out Naruto saved her from Gaara.

Worry, because she doesn’t want to see either of her teammates fighting.

Her hoping that things will go back to normal.

Putting her faith in Naruto, her dear friend, the person who’d overcome impossible odds.

Her recalling her words about Naruto in the beginning.

Thanking him.

Recognizing how great of a friend Naruto was, as she has several times now.

Visiting Naruto in the hospital.

Feeling horrible when she sees his injuries.

Trying her best to alleviate his guilt.

Is willing to put aside her desire to get back Sasuke, likely because she doesn’t want to put Naruto through that pressure and life threatening situation again. She doesn’t want to see him injured or pushing himself anymore.

Reflects on her own failture to stop Sasuke, and how she’d put everything on Naruto to take care of.

Swears to be of help next time because she doesn’t want Naruto to go through everything alone the next time he confronted Sasuke.

Immediately after goes to Tsunade to ask her to take her on as her apprentice so she would able to get stronger for BOTH of her teammates.

Accepts that it’s going to be a very hard journey. Just as Sasuke trains under Orochimaru, and Naruto trains under Jiraiya, Sakura also trains under one of the Sannin. And that’s all in Part 1. Here’s Part 2(there are probably quite a few but I’m going to list the ones that come to the top of my head.

noticing his smarts again

They work really well together to beat kakashi :’)

Finds out he has the nine tails inside of him and only reacts with Empathy, but she never thinks of him any less because of what he has inside of him.

Sakura being one of the first ones to save Naruto from loneliness.

This doesn’t need an explanation.

Once again, no explanation needed

Naruto is genuinely amazed by her skills.

When Naruto is going through mental anguish due to Itachi’s illusions, it’s Sakura and Chiyo who breaks him out of the genjutsu.

And

It’s Sakura and Kakashi who encourage Naruto to get back on his feet after this. (Actually in general Sakura is really beneficial to the team because she’s good at breaking Genjutsu due to he excellent chakra control.)

Sakura once again finding herself amazed by Naruto’s abilities.

Feeling sympathy for Naruto’s situation about being targeted.

Okay, THIS SCENE DOES NOT GET ENOUGH APPRECIATION. SAKURA MAKING HER HORROR AND FEAR AT THE THOUGHT OF NARUTO DYING CLEAR. Naruto is important to her, she wishes she could take away his burden, but removing the nine tails will kill him and it’s enough to make her break into tears. She’s being a genuinely good friend here.

More of that.

Sakura feeling bad for Naruto when he hasn’t accepted Gaara is dead yet.

once again, very important.

This was painful in itself. When Gaara dies and Naruto feels so helpless, breaks down, you can tell just how much Sakura wants to be there for her teammate, just how bad she wants to be there for him, but she doesn’t say much of anything, because he’s already told Chiyo to shut up, and she doesn’t want to make him feel worse.

Some could chalk this up to a Sasuke moment, but I always saw this as a team 7 moment. Even though Sakura herself was pissed, she doesn’t want Naruto to be the target of irritation from Sai. She’s willing to take on that role for the both of them.

Sakura understands quite well some of Naruto’s feelings about Sasuke

yup

Stands up for Naruto again

feeling bad for him again

Sakura worries for Naruto, just like she worried for Sasuke when he ended up with the curse mark. Both Yamato and Kakashi keep her out of the matters and nobody ever lets her in on anything despite her being their teammate.

Don’t get me started on this scene. This is a little like the scene where Sasuke nearly killed the Oto-nin when the curse-mark consumed him(biggest difference being that Naruto knocked her aside because he wasn’t conscious anymore. On top of Sakura not wanting to see Naruto in such a state, she feels terrible guilt over the promise he made her and the pressure it’s put on him (feels guilt yet again, a recurring thing that happens numerous times in the series). She doesn’t judge Naruto for having the nine tails inside of him. Rather, she hates that he’s been having to go through all of this and confronts him head on despite how reckless it is, because she doesn’t want to see him struggling alone like this.

Sakura healing Naruto. Sakura also wishing she could do more for Naruto, even being willing to learn a new jutsu to be able to help him (would have if it wasn’t for the fact that Yamato was the only one capable of using it due to Hashirama cells.)

Yet another great moment to show just how much Sakura cares about Naruto and wants to be able to be there for him. :’)

Doesn’t want to cause Naruto any guilt or worry, so she holds back the truth.

Oh yeah, such a “terrible friend”

Yet again she doesn’t want to make Naruto feel bad so she doesn’t tell him that he was the one who hurt her

which need I remind you devastates him when he finds out.

‘course it adds to his determination to work on controlling the nine-tails

Team 7 moment

I don’t think I’ve mentioned this before but Sakura does a good job at regulating Naruto and usually he’ll stand down if Sakura says something when he’s picking fights.

This

this is important because it show cases Sakura’s desire to help Naruto get Sasuke back.

Some took this as a SasuSaku moment in the manga(due to the lighting and the fact that Sakura and Sasuke are the only two that look at the photo in the manga), but this could also be taken as a Team 7 moment, since Sakura(who more than anything wanted to “get stronger together” had been basically told by Kakashi that his priority was Naruto since Naruto was the only one the training applied to.

(then again, Naruto himself right after was thinking about Sasuke so hard to say, but I think it could qualify as team 7, about Naruto’s and Sakura’s desire to save Sasuke, and Sakura’s desire to do something to help Naruto achieve their goal together, about her feeling helpless right then.)

Has faith in him to fight Kakuzu.

That

Having faith in him once again, when others don’t.

Isn’t afraid to scold him if he steps out of line and is disrespectful to people who are doing everything they can as fast as they can..

That isn’t to say she doesn’t understand.

Roots for him again.

When Sakura’s home gets obliterated in front of her, it’s Naruto she calls out for (before tending to the injured)

That

Even when Sakura is depressed herself, she goes out of her way to try to cheer Naruto up.

Appreciation

Guilt, once again, for putting such a promise on him.

There was also this. Sakura should have taken different actions, sure, but she found out about Naruto’s feelings at the worst possible time, and it wasn’t like it was out of any ill intent, she was genuinely trying to protect him, since he’d gotten hurt over and over again thanks to his devotion to Sasuke.

After all.

She was prioritizing Naruto and was prepared to give up her feelings for Sasuke to ease Naruto’s burden.

Thanks Naruto after she saves him.

Stands up for Naruto against Sasuke yet again

Gratitude (and also being sorry about the poison)

That

The tender look she gives him

Defends Naruto again.

Supporting Naruto in the war

Sakura manually pumping Naruto’s heart, and refusing to let him give up on his dream.

Also, no offense against Hinata, but I doubt her relationship with Sasuke could be anything like this.

Also, Sakura is irreplaceable because (aside from how many lives she’s saved, and how beneficial her chakra control is to the team) she’s meant to be like Tsunade (Jiraiya, Hashirama and others even compared her to Tsunade,) and they’re both medics. They’re the next young sannin.

And a paralleled Team Minato/Team Hiruzen with a happy ending

#sasusaku #narusaku #naruto #naruto uzumaki #sakura haruno #pro sakura haruno #sasuke uchiha #team 7

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britishassistant · 3 years

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But I Like One Piece (20)

They all turn to stare at him.

“Dear? How do you know that?” Okaa-san says.

Otou-san shakes his head and sits down heavily on the stairs. “The manufacturer for those weapons is in Yukigakure. Just like the incriminating ryo left at the scene of that theft.”

Oh.

Oh sweet Merry.

She mutters, “Shika said—when we were talking about the theft, he said it had to be an inside job, because an outsider couldn’t know anything. But if they were like me—if they’d read the comic based on Konoha in their past life, they would know. They’d know almost everything even if they never set foot here.”

She swallows, throat suddenly dry. “If it was plot-relevant, then they’d know more about what was valuable and how it was defended than people who’d lived here their whole lives. They’d even know the weaknesses of the ninja sent after them, if those ninja were major characters.”

Otou-san nods. “And if he or she needed to finance the manufacture of those weapons, what could be easier than to steal something from here and sell it to another hidden village?”

She sits down heavily on the stairs.

Her heart’s pounding too fast. The side of her head is throbbing in time with the beat.

“Well.” Okaa-san coughs. “That’s mildly terrifying.”

She lets out a humorless chuckle at the understatement.

Horror wars with elation in her brain. Elation at the knowledge that she isn’t alone here.

Horror at the idea of someone knowing everything about this place and deciding to use that knowledge for their own gain. If robbing Konoha wasn’t low for them, would they stoop to manipulating Naruto, Sakura, Uchiha? To hurting them to get their way, change a narrative they don’t like?

“But Iruka-sensei said Yukigakure gave us those guns for less money than they gave them to other villages.” Naruto says suddenly. “Maybe that’s the not-Mayu’s way of making it up to us?”

“You think villains who would commit such an unyouthful action would be capable of feeling guilt?” Lee says doubtfully. “Shouldn’t we tell Gai-sensei about this?”

“We can.” Otou-san sighs. “But I’m not sure how helpful it would be. Nara-san said Yamanaka-san knew about the Yuki connection between both the theft and these “guns”. For all we know, the price reduction could be a concession negotiated between the Hokage and the thief, and we just have a morsel of knowledge about that deal which would endanger Mayu more than it would help the village.”

She fidgets, tracing the scar on her lower lip.

Lee’s brows are furrowed, his mouth pulled down in a frown.

Okaa-san reaches out and smooths a hand over his hair. “Why don’t we get Ichiraku’s and sleep on it? I think Sanji would agree we’ll all make better decisions with some ramen in our bellies.”

Naruto springs to his feet. “Yeah! Ramen’ll fix everything, believe it! C’mon, I’m hungry, let’s go, let’s go!”

It doesn’t quite fix everything, she reflects later as she descales and fillets the pike for the offerings tomorrow. There’s still another reincarnated person who robbed the village, had her father take the fall for their crime, and is now mass-producing the very weapon that killed her past self, which they can do next to nothing about.

But ramen smoothed out the crease in Lee’s brow when they all agreed it was better to tell Gai-sensei than not. It lightened the mood and made everything this day had thrown at them seem a little less important in light of the celebrations planned for tomorrow.

Their small garden is now even smaller thanks to the a large wooden structure that sits next to the back fence.

It’s a bit like a cross between a shed and a greenhouse, if it only had three walls and no doors or windows. The roof is curved and the walls are sturdy, to protect the shrines inside from the elements.

There’s a length of thick white rope fastened with red twine inside the front gable, which is meant to ensure that the shrines are protected from malicious spirits.

Each one of the shrines has a small building that is sealed automatically once the shrine has been assembled, keeping a small object for the deity to inhabit safely locked away from prying eyes. There’s a small recess before this structure, for offerings to be placed, and a little column that puts them above the eye level of a kneeling person.

They’d debated setting aside a space for the shrines in the living room inside the house, to ensure they could be protected and cared for. But she kept getting impulses of outside, of wind and rain, freedom, that eventually they decided it was better than keeping them cooped up inside.

Plus this way, Luffy can’t raid the fridge as easily.

She’s already found certain small cuts of cooked meat have gone missing. If he’s anything like the manga, then she’s not giving him the chance to clean out the entire fridge.

They’ve been working on constructing it and the shrines on weekends and in the mornings during training. According to Gai-sensei, it’s excellent practice for C-rank missions.

Now all that’s left is to paint the structure and the ten shrines housed within.

Working out what to set out as offerings for tomorrow had been a challenge and a half.

For the most part, the Strawhats can be grouped into small sections of what they will and won’t eat.

Nami and Chopper are fruit lovers. Sanji, Zoro, Brook and Usopp are partial to seafood. Luffy, Franky, and Robin are happy with beef and other land-based meats.

However, Zoro, Sanji and Brook like varieties of seafood that are difficult to get in Konoha— octopus, lobster and prawns are expensive and hard to find, while sea king meat just doesn’t exist here. At least Zoro is happy enough with a traditional plate-2-bowls meal with rice.

Robin prefers sandwiches, and she’s not quite sure if the burgers Franky loves fit into that criteria. Chopper can’t stand spicy or bitter foods, but Zoro and Robin dislike sweets.

She’s just thankful that Luffy, Nami Usopp, and Merry are so easy to feed. Pike’s one of the few fish that Konoha doesn’t need to import, so it and tangerines relatively inexpensive.

There’s no chance of combining all their preferences into one dish. Her head hurts just imagining the clash of flavors.

So she had to somehow come up with a way of creating a meal that would (hopefully) make each of the pirates she idolizes happy.

No pressure.

Chouji ended up being her savior in this respect.

And maybe Uchiha did as well, but only a teeny tiny bit.

She’d been brainstorming different versions of meals she could try making that would satisfy everyone, but kept coming up short.

The added tension from Sakura’s friendly-again-but-still-not-quite-sitting-back-at-their-table thing at this time wasn’t exactly helping her think either.

“I’ve got cola, coffee, tea, heck even sake, but still no idea on what to pair any of them with.” She complained, tapping her pencil against the list in front of her.

Chouji had leaned over, a thoughtful look on his face. “Why not make them lunchboxes? That way you can make lots of things in smaller amounts and personalize each lunchbox for each of them.”

“Hm. That is a good idea.” She gnawed on her lower lip. “Only downside is working out when I can cook what and how much time the preparation of each portion is going so everything in the bentos is relatively fresh for when it’s offered... how much d’you think eleven more lunchboxes would cost?”

She’d just begun sketching out lines for a tentative timetable when Uchiha complained, “Why do you think you’ve gotta do everything on your own?”

She looked up, a little offended. “I’m not praying for help with this, are you mad? That’d be like asking someone to bake their own birthday cake.”

“What Sasuke means,” Chouji intervened. “Is that we could always split the work three-ways between us, and bring it to your house on the day?”

She blinked. “You...you guys would help me like that?”

Chouji smiled, then made a squeak of surprise when she lunged over the table to hug him tightly. “Thank you.”

“I have lunchboxes to spare.” Uchiha drawled. “Plus someone’s got to make sure you don’t mess up.”

She had then let Chouji go so she could boot Uchiha in the shin.

As a result of this arrangement, when she wakes up on The Day, all she has to worry about is preparing the pasta for Sanji, Nami and Usopp’s lunchboxes after training with Gai-sensei.

She’s almost worried that her timining be a little delayed because Gai-sensei grabs her in a bone-creaking hug when she arrives at training and spends about three minutes weeping over how youthful she is.

He then makes them run fifty times around the village balancing the paint pots they’ll be using later to ensure that the paint is agitated enough “so its most YOUTHFUL colors will shine through!!”

They nearly lose the purple when Naruto fumbles slightly over a root.

She bolts down her food at breakfast.

She puts on more rice again in preparation for the sesame onigiri, and pulls out a pot to fill with water that’s set to boil and a pan to gently heat some oil on the stove.

She smashes a clove of garlic and drops it in when the oil has begun to smoke gently, deseeding and dicing up some chilis and tossing them in as well for flavor.

She can’t help her grin when the heady spicy-savory scent fills the air, finely chopping capers and anchovies to toss in once she’s fished out the smashed garlic.

The scent mellows somewhat when the diced pike hits the pan as well, and she pushes it around until the fish is almost-but-not-quite cooked through.

Then in with a generous glug of wine and the heat is turned down to a gentle simmer to let the alcohol cook off.

Just in time for the rice to have cooked and cooled enough to begin mixing with yellow and black sesame seeds and begin forming into ten onigiri.

They don’t have any fillings other than the sesame, because they’re designed to take the edge off the stronger flavors of the pasta (her) and the takoyaki (Chouji), as well as serve as a substitute for a sesame topped bun accompanying the hamburger steaks (Uchiha).

The others begin to arrive at around ten.

Sakura and the Harunos arrive first alongside Ino and her dad.

She shouts a hello as Naruto and Lee lead Ino and Sakura through the kitchen to the back garden, nails orange with peeled tangerine.

Ino darts forward and steals two slices, chortling in response to her indignant “Oi!” and passing one to Sakura, who grins as she nibbles on their way out.

Yamanaka-san is totally at home chatting with Gai-sensei and Otou-san, but he snickers when Nara-san immediately gravitates towards him when he arrives. Shikamaru gives her a nod as he follows the adults outside and she puts the pasta on to boil.

She’s set aside two extra tangerines for when Shino and his father arrive. After all, she, Chouji and Uchiha are making enough to feed eleven deities and many many people, so shouldn’t their insects also be able to eat as well?

Shino’s dad stares at her inscrutably when she explains her reasoning, before accepting the fruit with a nod and a “thank you” barely audible over a loud buzzing.

Shino shifts from one foot to the other during this exchange before gently tugging his father’s sleeve. It occurs to her as she drains the pot-full pasta and adds the sauce alongside a cup of boiling water to emulsify everything that this might be the closest she’s ever seen him to being embarrassed.

Chouji and his dad arrive as she’s sprinkling in some parsley as a finishing touch.

They’re both carrying huge containers full of takoyaki and cooked spring greens, and she spares a small moment to be envious of all the amazing things Chouji’s family can afford to do.

Then she launches Chouji another hug to thank him for all his help once he’s set his cargo down.

He squeaks like he did last time and Akimichi-san laughs loudly, for some reason.

Iruka-sensei and Uchiha arrive with eleven lunchboxes, two dogs, Kiba and his mum, and Hinata in tow.

Uchiha keeps sneaking what appear to be morsels of meat to Akamaru and Kuromaru.

There’s also a pale-eyed frowning boy who Iruka-sensei introduces as Hyuuga Neji, Hinata’s cousin who’d been sent along to act as her chaperone.

The boy sniffs disdainfully when they greet him and goes to stand in a corner of the garden near Mebuki, completely ignoring Lee when he waves to him.

She doesn’t think she likes Hinata’s cousin very much.

The lunchboxes Uchiha brought are black lacquer decorated with gold and red tomoe, much fancier than anything she’d been expecting.

When questioned, he just shrugs and says, “It’s just old stuff from New Year’s. It’s just taking up space at home, so it’s better off here.”

She knows better than to say anything like “sorry”, so she just pats his shoulder and says “No, that compartment’s too small for the onigiri, put it in this one.”

“That’s way too big, it looks tiny in that one.” Uchiha snaps, but with a bit less bite than usual.

Iruka-sensei looks mildly overwhelmed by all the people in the back garden. Okaa-san comes along, hands him a drink, pats his shoulder and says “They’re in my house,” in a sympathetic tone.

Iruka-sensei gives her a pitying look and knocks the sake back in one go.

Adults here can be weird.

Finally they’ve finished serving and she calls out “Food’s up!”

The adults come in to help take the larger platters of food outside, a huge plate of pasta, several smaller hamburger steaks in the style of what they’d call “sliders” in her world, and mound upon mound of takoyaki and spring greens and tangerines.

There’s a clamor outside as people begin getting their portions.

She, Chouji and Uchiha are each balancing either three or four lunchboxes per person as they take them outside.

Sakura is helping Kiba paint a pattern of cherry blossoms across Chopper’s already vibrantly pink shrine. Evidence of her handiwork on Robin’s shrine is clear is the decoration of swirling petals and the streaks of matching purple paint all over her forehead.

Ino and Naruto obviously have had a battle over the orange judging by the splashes on their hands and clothing. On the plus side Nami and Luffy’s shrines are looking particularly colorful.

Shikamaru and Hinata are splotched with green, light blue and black-and-white. Lee is smudged with brown, cyan and white paint and beaming proudly.

Shino has yellow paint on the end of his nose and is looking at the detailed illustrations of insects on the sides with pride.

The only shrines that aren’t quite done are Sanji’s, which has a blue overcoat but no decoration, and Zoro’s which doesn’t have half its roof painted yet.

“We were waiting,” Naruto says, holding out two buckets of green paint and blue respectively, “For you guys to add your bits.”

She beams at him.

Of course, Uchiha has to ruin it by immediately grabbing the green.

“What?” He says, offloading his three lunchboxes onto Kiba. “I’ll give it back once I’m finished with it.”

Ino rolls her eyes and shoulders her paintbrush, adding another orange splotch to her outfit. “Ugh. I’ll help Mayu-chan, it’s better to get it done quickly. Let’s go before the food gets cold.”

Orange, red, and yellow fish on the blue background are much more vibrant and eye-catching than green, though Uchiha does “help” by flicking the paintbrush at her while she’s distracted.

In thanks, she smears yellow on the back of his neck.

After the extra decorations are finished, Lee, Sakura and Kiba redistribute the lunchboxes to make their offerings.

The only problem is there’s eleven of them and ten lunchboxes.

“You all go ahead.” She steps back. “I’ll do the next bit.”

Each one of them place the pirate lunchboxes down in front of the shrines and step back.

For some reason, she feels like traditional prayers and chants appropriated from the sage guy won’t really be all that welcoming to them.

But then, what? What could help them feel at home at these shrines, so far from the sea?

Her gaze falls on Brook’s shrine.

Oh.

Oh, well it’s obvious when it’s put like that, isn’t it?

She just hopes she remembers the words correctly. She doesn’t want to butcher them on accident.

“Yohohoho, yohohoho~ Yohohoho, yohohoho~”

Her voice sounds frail and quiet, and she can feel everyone’s eyes on her. Still, she stumbles through the last two refrains of yohohoho’s to the first verse.

“Binksu no sake wo, todokei ni yuku yo, umikaze, kimakase, namimakase~ Shio no mukou de, yuhi wo sawagu, sora nya, wao kaku tori no uta~”

Naruto joins in on the next verse, singing along slightly out of tune and mixing up some of the words.

His cheeks look as flushed as hers feel, and it’s hard not to giggle when they catch each other’s eyes. Somehow they both manage to keep singing.

Gai-sensei and Lee boisterously shout DON alongside them as they join as well, Gai-sensei’s voice strong and sure, while Lee’s volume makes up for any deficiencies in wording. She almost can’t hear Okaa-san’s melodious voice and Otou-san’s decidedly tone-deaf one join in on the second set of Yohohoho’s over their noise.

Sakura and Ino’s voices are both high-pitched, but they carry the tune well enough. So does Kiba, though he’s pitching up to a falsetto for some reason. Hinata’s voice is soft, but she’s genuinely singing, unlike Shikamaru and Sasuke who’re mumbling through all the bits apart from the yohohoho’s. Shino is monotone if precise and enthusiastic, while Chouji has a surprising set of pipes on him.

Akamaru is just howling to the beat. And with that accompaniment, how could anyone stop themselves from singing along?

It feels like more people than could possibly fit into their house and garden are bellowing Bink’s Sake together by the time they’ve reached the third set of Yohohoho’s.

It can’t exactly be called “harmonious”. Everyone’s a little out of tune, a little off beat.

But the mixing of all the voices of her family and friends feels so right, it makes her voice stronger, lets her sing louder.

She opens her eyes and nearly chokes on the next note.

Hovering in front of the brightly painted shrines, slightly faded but gaining color and substance with every passing moment, They stand.

Merry appears in all her glory, as if in mid- sail. Brook is playing his violin, a foot tapping to the beat. Franky is winding up for his SUPA pose, grinning broadly. Robin is resting a hand on Chopper’s hat. Chopper himself is peeking at them the wrong way round from Robin’s leg.

Sanji’s tapping out his cigarette with a grin and giving a small salute. Usopp is waving to them, like a captain would to his 8,000 followers. Nami’s blowing a kiss as if to adoring fans.

Zoro...is climbing over the garden fence and jogging to take his place in front his shrine next to the others. Nami shoots him a Look while Luffy laughs at him, sitting in mid air and clapping his feet together.

The Captain of the Straw Hat Pirates then turns to her and gives her a wide grin.

She blinks away tears as he and his crew fade away with the last notes of the song.

The food in the lunchboxes is gone.

The food on Naruto’s plate is also gone.

In fact, all the food in the immediate vicinity appears to be gone.

It’s just that Naruto looks down at his plate and yells in indignation first.

She lets out a wet laugh. “Darn it Luffy.”

18 notes · View notes

ikesenhell · 4 years

Text

An Ode to Someone I Once Knew

You can find all other IkeSen/IkeVamp works of mine on my page under the Masterlists! NOTES: Wow, let me just whip up some angst real quick for yall. Sorry that I’m constantly doing our boy Shingen dirty. Somehow, everything I write for him I honestly love.

This is one part fix-it for his route (because I feel like he was shortchanged SO HARD by his route, let’s be honest, I think he deserved better) and another part just blatantly attempting to hurt you all. Sorry? TW Angst, TW major character death.

---

Once, when her staying was less voluntary and more ‘voluntold’, she’d started on a poem. The pen in her purse was still good. From time to time, she dripped water into the ink just to make sure it stayed liquid; writing with a brush was still too difficult. The tiny notebook that used to hold grocery lists was now a therapist.

A seasoned poet, she was not. That was fine. No one would read it. It was just whatever felt right, mostly stream of consciousness: the bone deep fear Kenshin inspired, the agonizing loneliness, the uncertainty and helplessness of living in a world so removed from your own. It distracted from the ever-evolving timeframe of ‘homeward bound’.

More or less everyone had their own segment. Yukimura’s was short (the good thing about him was he was so clear cut that anything she wrote was the same); Sasuke’s, warm and friendly; Yoshimoto’s, elegant and difficult to pin down.

Speaking of difficult to pin down…

Even after the first month (and being kidnapped by his own people, and constantly visited, and negotiating boundary after boundary after fractional boundary with him), she couldn’t figure Shingen out. She assumed at first that the one among them most like the moon would be Yoshimoto. Oh, no. That was Shingen. He wore a thousand masks, each like a crescent or a waxing or a waning or a half moon, and even when he seemed most unobscured she wasn’t certain she had the whole picture. It was like viewing a man from a thousand miles away; she, earthbound, and he, out there in the heavens, visible but blurry all the same. She half-started on a poem, stopped, stared out into the dark, and absently titled it An Ode to Someone I Once Knew before a single sentence was fully formed.

No doubt she would only get perspective on him once she was safely home.

---

Another Full Moon for him: more clarity she couldn’t quite take at its face. She wandered across the stables and discovered him inside, holding the reins of a wild-eyed stallion and delivering calm instructions to a stressed-out Yukimura.

“You shouldn’t be handling him,” Yuki scolded, but his heart wasn’t in it. “I can do it.”

“I have it.” Shingen’s voice betrayed nothing; the horse reared powerfully and he snapped around, wrapped the rope around his hand, forced it back into place. “Do you think I haven’t done this a thousand times?”

Yuki opened his mouth to say something, spotted her, and closed it again. “Oi, Boar Woman. You should stay back.”

“I planned on it.”

“Goddess,” Shingen called smoothly, a grin sliding onto his lips. There it was; that lunar mask, constantly shifting. “Good morning.”

“Focus on the horse! Hells!” The younger man gripped at his own hair like it might help.

“It’s fine.” And Shingen finally turned back to focus on the animal. Sure hands slid up the rope, coming ever closer to its muzzle. It bucked and jerked and she could see the veins in his shoulder stand out, but he didn't budge. “Yuki, I need you to step back.”

“But--”

“Yukimura.”

That was a command if ever she’d heard one; and she never had, not from him. Yukimura stepped obediently backward, shoulder to shoulder with her, furling and unfurling his hands for a measure of control. Shingen straightened up (was he slouching all this time? He looked seven feet tall now), wound another handful of rope into his grasp, and came hand to nose with the stallion.

“Hush, now.” He breathed, and lay his fingers on its nose. His other hand waved a slow path near its eyes. “I’m right here. You can see me. You can smell me. I won’t hurt you.”

“Does he know what he’s doing?” She whispered to Yuki. Yuki, even rocking back and forth between his feet from stress, huffed a laugh.

“Yeah. He’s an expert. Watch.”

The horse didn't rear. It huffed, tried to back into the wall. Shingen coaxed it forward from the stall and into the sunlight, turning it around and around in the paddock. Those frightened eyes softened, blinked, its head lowered, and finally the strained walk turned into a peaceful, slow gait. Shingen smiled and pet its nose thoughtfully.

There it was. The briefest moment of a full moon, the clarity of a telescope, the breathlessness of walking on its surface and glimpsing it in true color. He looked more honest stroking the stallion’s mane than she’d ever seen before; a man at home in his own galaxy and unobscured by clouds.

“Told you,” he laughed, and flashed Yukimura a charming, boyish grin.

“I didn't doubt you could do it,” he snapped back. “Just…”

And it was gone. The men fell silent, the weight of something they didn't trust to her hanging between them.

---

Kenshin, in time, grew used enough to her presence to leverage her when he was bored. She learned the pattern of his unease: first he picked a fight with Shingen, then Yoshimoto, then Sasuke, and when inevitably both Sasuke and Yukimura excused themselves on some nonsense errand or another, he at last turned to her. The first five times, he made her drink with him, or waxed poetic about his sword.

This time he took her to the armory. Row upon row of naginata and polearms and spears and swords rest in their racks, polished to a fine edge. The instruments of war made her nauseous. Still, Kenshin looked so content and pleased that she didn't say that. She picked politely around the rows and asked questions, focused on learning as much as she could from the God of War himself. It was an opportunity few could boast.

“And what about that one?” She pointed to the largest of the bunch. Maybe in Europe it passed as a claymore. It was a monstrous blade in a beautiful crimson sheath, wrapped in golden ties and balanced in its own rack. Kenshin eyed it.

“That would be Shingen’s.”

“That thing is massive.”

“He’s very big.” Kenshin wrinkled his nose with distaste. All at once she remembered the legend that he’d had to have his own swords shortened--and noticed at the same time that he was barely taller than her. She hadn’t thought to mentally gauge the gap in their heights before now. “And dramatic.”

Dramatic? Coming from Kenshin? She laughed and managed to disguise it as a cough when he cast a curious glance her way. “I guess.”

Kenshin nodded slowly at the sword--as if it might tell him something, as if it had something to glean from that artistic sheath. He seemed tense, pensive, and she almost asked why--but the best students learned from what their teachers saw, right? So she followed his gaze once more, fully soaking in the sight until it unsettled her.

---

“You’re the kind of man that brings everything onto his shoulders, aren’t you?”

Shingen blinked. She almost patted herself on the back. For the last month, he’d visited her near-nightly in her chambers, constantly talking in circles around her questions and gathering whatever he thought he needed from her (god only knew what that was). She’d never seen him caught off guard before. It felt very much like Christine ripping the mask from the Phantom of the Opera, though she was less certain what she saw underneath. He schooled his expression.

“Why do you ask?”

Valuable opportunities like this didn't come along often with him. She mulled over her words, inspected the shaft of moonlight lancing along the floor. He wore new sandals with crimson trim, his legs folded perfectly under his kimono, the broad plane of his chest rakishly visible. His heart beat faster than most. She’d noticed that a while ago. His pulse was visible in his collarbone, but only when he turned ever so slightly and bared it further.

“Your sword,” she said at last. “It’s like you.”

He lifted a brow, mouth still a pensive line. She half-expected him to summon a deflecting smile and was surprised when he didn't. “How so?”

People don’t pick the biggest blade for no reason. You could manipulate a shorter katana faster. You already have reach. You’re trying to keep people away, but you’re strong, so why? She dug her fingers into the crook of her knees, frustrated, reaching for the sentences she felt and couldn’t match words to, struggling to bring that visible moon into focus and stay there.

“It just…” She sighed. “I don’t know how to phrase it. Would you just answer the question?”

No grin appeared. He just stared, his eyes searching hers, and for the first time he looked lost.

“I suppose any good daimyo does,” Shingen finally answered, diplomatic as ever. “If you really care about your people, you do everything you can for them--even if it takes blood, sweat, tears, and your whole heart.”

The picture remained blurry. She wanted to groan with frustration and shake him, demand answers to a question she didn't know. But that was all she could get. It had to be enough for now. Reluctantly, she stared out into the night sky, at all of the stars she never saw in the 21st century.

“Why do you ask?” Shingen pressed. The same tête-à-tête, back to haunt her. “It’s such a specific question. I’m curious, my goddess.”

He hadn’t stopped looking at her. Why? It was exhausting, the back-and-forth; it made her wonder why she’d named the poem about him (that she hadn’t even started to write) An Ode to Someone I Once Knew. Why did her heart insist that was the right title? She didn't even know him.

“Because,” she said softly, too tired of the fight to keep at it, “Sometimes I feel like I see you. Not the front you put up; something honest. Something real. Something that made Yuki want to follow you and your friends love you, not the…” And she waved a hand in front of her face, “the mask you do.”

Shingen inhaled quietly. She could feel his presence at her shoulder, like he shifted her tides with the gravity he commanded. “Why would you want to?”

“Why wouldn’t I want to know you? Don’t you come in here every night? Why shouldn’t I at least want to...” Goddamn words! She sighed. “Don’t you want people to know who you are?”

He could’ve referenced their bet, the one where he would make her smile. He could’ve made some oblique reference to trying to bed her, or slipped from the conversation with the same easy grace he wielded as effortlessly as that massive sword. And yet--yet he just reached out and took her hand. She flinched.

“Sorry.” Shingen squeezed her fingers, the gentle pressure easing her shock. “I didn't mean to frighten you.”

“You’re okay.” She allowed, noticing that the hammer of her heart matched the beat of his own pulse. “Why did you do that?”

Finally he granted her a smile. It was nothing like his usual. This one was sad, bittersweet, sincere. It was the look of a man who’d made up his mind, and for once, she remembered that he wasn’t a planet at all, not an asteroid, not anything in the solar system, just flesh and blood and bone and breath. The distance between them was not thousands of miles, but scant inches, inches that could be crossed. So she did. She scooted herself over to his hip. Shingen blinked with surprise.

“Careful,” she tittered despite herself. “If you keep looking shocked by the things I do, I’ll start getting a big head and think I’m clever.”

“Aren’t you?”

“I dunno, am I, mister ‘I have a super cool spy network and am notoriously smart’ man?”

Laughter rumbled in his throat. She dragged the hand that held hers into her lap, leaned her head against his shoulder, listened to his arrhythmic pulse. Solid warmth caressed her hair.

“Your heartbeat is off.”

Shingen paused entirely too long. “Is it?”

“Mhm.” She tapped out the pattern on the floor with her free hand. “It sounds like that.”

“Odd,” he remarked, and she knew he already knew.

---

He asked her to come to the stables the next day, and when she arrived, he was already saddling up a sweet black mare.

“Morning, Goddess.” Shingen grinned at her, all of his vulnerability erased in the light of day. “Do you know how to ride?”

“Not at all.”

“Not at all?”

The urge to say ‘horses are for rich people’ bubbled into her throat, but she bit it back. “Where I’m from, most people don’t have horses.”

“What a pity.” He guided the horse from the stall. Wait--weren’t the Takeda known for their cavalry? It made sense now. “Come on. Let me show you how.”

She accepted his boost into the saddle, his hands steady around her waist and the motion effortless. As soon as she went to swing her other leg over, Shingen cast her a bemused stare. “You’re wearing a kimono, Princess.”

“So…” Wrinkling her nose, she wriggled into a more comfortable position. “So I have to ride side-saddle, huh?”

“As princesses do.” Shingen shot her a smile, and for once the title didn't sound condescending. It felt like he meant it. “But you’ll be alright. There’s nothing you’ll have to do that you can’t do that way, and I assume if it became a matter of life or death, the state of your clothes will matter less--and that you’d quickly discover how to handle it. Come on.”

He guided her out into the courtyard, the sunlight beating down on the back of his neck and his shoulders, his hands firm around the reigns. Unbidden, she considered that he wasn’t teaching her how to ride for practicality.

“Shingen?”

“Yes?”

“Are you sharing something with me?”

He looked back, sincere and open, his expression unguarded and handsome and regal, and answered, “You wanted to know who I am.”

In great moments of your life, it is impossible to pinpoint them at the time, bookmark them and commit them to perfect memory. It was only in retrospect she realized this was when she truly, completely, and utterly fell.

---

They were headed to war, and she knew it. Kasugayama was a hive of activity. Shingen was largely absent from their nightly visits in the days leading up, the space in front of her screen empty and lonesome. She missed the tempo of his heartbeat. She missed the familiar rhythms of his voice.

God, she missed him.

She sat in front of the half-moon with her pen poised, the page of her notebook open to the poem she knew would write itself about him, wordless and quiet. Her soul sat still under the night canopy. She only half-knew him, really, and what she’d seen so far--

When he arrived at her room the next morning, a smile on his lips, her heart beat harder than ever before.

“Care to come out with me?”

“Where to?”

“Just a ride out. Nothing special. I simply thought you might want a brief outing before I leave for battle.”

They saddled up and headed down the city streets, out into the cool day. Echigo was mountainous, snow capped peaks in the distance wreathed in fog and vanishing into clouds. Wind stole away her breath. Sunlight warmed her fingers and face, a gentle reprieve. Around the twisting pathways they went, wild formation of rock and sky their only company until they reached a small lake.

“Here.” Shingen dismounted easily, offering a hand to her. “Let’s rest a while.”

She stripped off her geta and tabi socks, ignoring the laughter in his eyes, hitched up the edge of her kimono, and stepped into the still waters. It was freezing. Even so she wriggled her toes, relishing the feeling. Shingen sat heavily on the bank.

“Having fun, Princess?”

“I like water,” she announced simply. “I don’t know why. Always have. I used to live near the coast and I would go to the ocean all times of the year, even in the dead of winter, and walk through the surf. It calms me.”

“I wish I’d known that. I would’ve brought you out here sooner.”

She straightened up and offered a hand to him. “You could join me.”

A thousand thoughts marched across his features before they calmed again. “Ah, I’ll have to pass, unfortunately. Thank you.”

“Why’s that?”

For all the progress they’d made with each other, there was still something between them. Shingen fell silent, his gaze sliding upward to the sky, his picture-perfect posture a shield between himself and her questions. With a sigh, she waved it off. “Nevermind.”

“I…” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “It’s bothering you.”

“You have secrets, you don’t have to tell me.” Almost as soon as she said that, she walked it back with, “Health problems, right?”

Shingen stared. “Yes.”

“Is it some kind of heart thing?”

He hesitated. “No.”

“Okay.” Sloshing free from the water, she shook out her toes and flopped onto the grass beside him. “Something that messes with your pulse, at least.”

A pause. “Yes.”

Whatever it was felt obvious, but she still couldn’t pinpoint it. Frowning, she instructed, “Take a deep breath for me.”

“I can’t.”

“Just one, plea--”

Oh.

She halted mid-sentence, his impassive expression confirmation. Uncertainly, she scooted closer, her hand pressing to his chest. There it was. She could feel the staccato rise and fall under her fingers.

“It’s that bad?” She asked, her voice softer than she meant.

Shingen wrapped his hand around hers. “Bad enough. But I manage.”

An Ode to Someone I Once Knew. The title of the poem meant for him came back to her. It was like the muse knew well before she did, like it was the eulogy to a funeral not far off. If war or disease or famine didn't take him, his own body would, and faster than all the others. All the air in her lungs yearned to fill his.

No amount of breath filled the void of space, did it?

Shingen checked her chin lightly with his hand. “Don’t look so sad. I get that expression from Yuki enough for this lifetime.”

“There’s nothing to be done?” She asked.

After an eternity of silence, he responded, “No.”

There it was.The horse master himself wasn’t holding the reigns, and he knew it. Everything swam into perfect clarity. No wonder she’d barely known him. What was the point in it when you’d just leave them behind? He was already halfway around the bend, a smile on his face and the wind in his hair, and there was never any promise he’d still be there when she caught up…

Her knuckles were white. She realized that now; she’d clenched hard into the silk of his shirt, his hand still wrapped over top, eyes trained on hers. Bitterly, she spat, “This really isn’t fair.”

Shingen chuckled dryly. ��What isn’t fair about it to you?”

“That I just now get to--” Goddamnit, now was not the time to cry. She squeezed her eyes shut. “That I just now--I’m just getting to really know you, and I like what I’ve seen, and--”

He wasn’t rock and sky and space; he was flesh and bone and blood and so very little breath after all, only inches separating them, and then there was no separation at all. His hand was the gentlest pillow on the back of her head, her hand on his chest still cushioned in his, the mouth that teased and danced and infuriated her in equal measure over the weeks now on hers. The universe was an unfair place; his lips were so, so gentle and warm. Shingen drew away and she followed, chasing his breath with hers.

“Come back here and kiss me more,” she hissed, and he laughed.

“I am here,” he answered tenderly, and for once she believed him.

---

She never said she loved him. He never said it either; it hung between them like a wedding veil, never to be lifted, the final vows never spoken. But oh, he made sure she knew it. Her body memorized the sharp edge of his hips against the underside of her thigh, how one of his hands so easily gripped both of hers, how he worshipped her so slowly and silently and steadily. The closest they ever came to saying it aloud was the night before battle, wrapped together in his tent under a mountain of warm blankets to stay the cold. He took her hand and pressed it to his heart.

“All for you and Kai,” he said, and it took all of her composure not to burst into tears.

By the end of the week, victory and Kai was theirs.

By the end of the month, he was dead.

---

Tsutsujigasaki fell silent. Who else could fill it but Shingen? She sat in the courtyard hugging her knees at night, watching the moon play over her toes and wondering why it waxed and waned without him beside her. Yukimura and Yoshimoto filled the role of daimyo in the aching gulf. It was so often just the three of them in the mornings, both of them silent and heavy with unshed tears.

“You know,” Yuki started on one of those days, clearing his throat to get the grit from it, “You probably could help me with some of this stuff.”

Coming from Yuki, it sounded like an insult. She knew better by now. He was asking for help. She shrugged. “I don’t know most of the ins and outs like you do, much less Kai.”

“You’ll learn it.” He answered.

“Besides, the trick to Kai is simple,” Yoshimoto joined in quietly, his voice swallowed in the high ceilings. “It’s just Shingen.”

He was right. Even as she busied herself learning its streets, the hardworking people and their humble buildings, she saw Shingen reflected. The wind was his lungs, the town his heart, Tsutsujigasaki his sheltering arms. More and more of the governing work came her way; she buried herself in documents and correspondence and treaties and reconstruction and economic efforts. Kai even shared his generous spirit. The more she gave of herself to them, the more the people gave back to her. Word apparently spread quickly; they began to refer to her as the Lady Takeda.

“You should take the role,” Yoshimoto said one day.

“What?”

Sometimes it hurt to meet his gaze. Yoshimoto looked almost nothing like his cousin--except for those eyes. They had the same earthy eyes, bright and warm and all-seeing, charming and cunning and disarming. Now she buried herself there. It felt like the only part of Shingen she had left.

“The role of the Lady Takeda,” he answered smoothly. “You’d do beautifully.”

“But…” She hesitated, words stuck in her throat, and looked helplessly at Yuki. The other man shrugged.

“I have Shinano,” Yuki pointed out. “I mean, my older brother kinda has it, but…” The unspoken lingered. No doubt he wanted to go home. It was all Shingen wanted, too.

“I’d be here to support you with administrative work,” Yoshimoto offered. “If you would have the Imagawa, that is. I would be happy to support the Lady Takeda.”

“Wouldn’t,” she stuttered over her words, grasping for thoughts that knew the right words and didn't want to speak them aloud, “I would--Shingen would’ve had to marry me. I’m not the Lady Takeda.”

Yuki and Yoshimoto exchanged glances.

“Pretty sure he would’ve,” Yuki looked embarrassed. “Pretty sure he would’ve. In my book, you pretty much are.”

---

The ink in her pen was dry.

That was alright. She’d grown used to writing with a brush by now; enough documents passed over her desk that she’d worked it out. That, and Yoshimoto was more than happy to educate her (and wax poetic) on the finer points of calligraphy. She spent countless nights bent over a desk made for Shingen’s height that she couldn’t bring herself to replace, going to sleep under the pile of blankets from their last night together under the watchful light of the moon. Even years on, she could still smell him on the fabric.

Kai flourished again. She grew to love it the way she imagined Shingen had; the rumble of hoofbeats echoing in her heart, the fall turning her whole world into shades of orange and maroon and gold and crimson. He existed everywhere then. When the wind tornadoed the leaves around her, she swore that was his spirit reminding her he was still there.

She found her old notebook many years later, the dried out pen still stuck in that page she’d never finished. An Ode to Someone I Once Knew. Tracing the words with her thumb, she settled in front of her open screen, the full moon overhead spilling like a lantern onto a fresh page.

Mixing the ink the way Yoshimoto taught her, she pulled out a fresh leaf of paper and started on a new poem. At the top, she wrote: An Ode to Someone I Will Always Love.

#ikesen shingen #ikemen sengoku #my writing #an ode to someone i once knew #angst #tw death #death tw #tw: major character death #MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH #tw major character death

99 notes · View notes

temarisnara · 3 years

Note

for the meme: naruto, sakura, sasuke, kakashi

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

naruto

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff (i haven’t actually thought too much about these so i’m going with my gut here but dicey and i were talking tonight about the generational difference between naruto and jiraiya when it comes to loyalty. jiraiya grew up in a time of war and is a solider, he was trained to be loyal to the village. if it came down to it, he’d kill even tsunade if she betrayed the village. naruto is loyal to people. if sakura betrayed the village, he would never give up on her, just like he never gave up on sasuke. naruto wants to protect the village because the village is where the people he loves live. naruto’s entire narrative arc is about bonds so i’m pretty sure he’s a hufflepuff) best quality: god i just wrote a fucking essay above about it- his loyalty and bonds to other people. everyone he meets is now his friend whether they like it or not ! he was just such a lonely kid, desperate for attention, for love, for acknowledgement, anything at all. and it would’ve been so easy for him to sit in that, to let himself hate the village, to resent them- but he didn’t. he set out to prove them wrong and he did. he is so, so, so fucking good. worst quality: HIS TASTE IN MEN. okay like, on the real, it’s not his fault and boruto isn’t real but it’s such UTTER BULLSHIT that the entire fucking series he met these people who got fucked over by the village status quo and he promised them he was going to change it when he became hokage and he fucking didn’t. its BULLSHIT. it’s not his fault, that’s not him, but GOD i’m MAD. ship them with: SAKURA, sasuke, gaara, shikamaru, sai, kiba, hinata. brotp them with: SAKURA- in fact all of the above list. he has great dynamics with them. also, kakashi, iruka, jiraiya, tsunade, choji, i like to imagine his and ino’s dynamic as fucking hilarious when they’re older. oh and i want him and karin to be annoying cousins together like PLEASE i DESERVE THIS. needs to stay away from: STOP SHIPPING HIM WITH KAKASHI!!!!!!!! ENOUGH!!!!! GO TO JAIL!!!!!!!!! misc. thoughts: that’s my fucking BABY i’ve shed SO MANY TEARS over this blonde idiot. he’s so good.

sakura

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff (again, havent thought about it before now, but my gut SCREAMs gryffindor. she’s so...punchy, and head strong, and hard working. just like. all the gryffindor traits!) best quality: sakura’s character development lives rent free in my head. like. okay. sakura always had potential. she ranked high in her classes, she had better chakra control than naruto or sasuke, mastered things quicker than them, was observant and book smart. but physically and emotionally, she was weak! she could not hold her own in battle the way naruto or sasuke could, and often her fear got in the way, if not straight up controlled her. when naruto and sasuke fought, she could do nothing but beg them to stop. when sasuke left the village, he easily knocked her out. and sakura knew she was the weak link of team 7. so she resolved to get stronger. she sought out tsunade and trained with her for four years. and like, tsunade is an insane person. sakura would break her bones and tsunade would have her keep training and just heal them later. she mastered healing. she mastered chakra control. she developed fucking superhuman strength. she refused to be the weak link anymore, to just sit back helplessly while naruto and sasuke fought. she’s from a civilian family, she has NOTHING in terms of innate ninja abilities like literally everyone else in her class, but she became the strongest female ninja of her generation and surpassed her legendary sannin mentor through sheer hard work and determination. FUCK. she’s so cool. worst quality: again, this is NOT HER FAULT, it’s bad sexist writing, but sakura is such a fun and obnoxious character who matches naruto beat for beat, but when sasuke comes around she’s a shell of herself. even when she’s MARRIED TO HIM she doesn’t act like herself. she’s reverted back to that inflatuated 12 year old she’s long outgrown! bro, WHAT! ship them with: NARUTO AND INO. and. ok. listen. i’ve become soft for sasuke/sakura’s potential. if sakura got to be herself with sasuke, they’d be, at the very least, FUN. and sasuke/naruto/sakura is so fun. also rock lee is so sweet, i would not have been mad if they’d been endgame. brotp them with: NARUTO AND INO. kakashi, tsunade, hinata, rock lee. needs to stay away from: STOP!!! SHIPPING!!! KAKASHI!!! WITH!!! HIS!!! STUDENTS!!!!!!! misc. thoughts: i knew i would love sakura. look at her. she has pink hair and she punches things. 10/10. but she quickly, quickly became not just my favorite naruto character, but one of my favorite characters in all of shounen anime. the ball was dropped with her, multiple times, but she’s still such a dynamic fucking character with the best character development.

sasuke

general opinion: fall in a hole and die | don’t like them | eh | they’re fine I guess | like them! | love them | actual love of my life | there aren’t words to describe how i feel about him hotness level: get away from me | meh | neutral | theoretically hot but not my type | pretty hot | gorgeous! | 10/10 would bang hogwarts house: gryffindor | slytherin | ravenclaw | hufflepuff (sasuke is...hard. i think the argument for gryffindor could also be made, but i’m leaning towards slytherin) best quality: i’m so tired. the thing about sasuke is....he deserved so much better than he got. i can’t tell you what his best quality is because his entire character arc is him being self destructive. he’s not fucking well!!!! the good parts of him he either tries to snuff out, or the story glosses over them to show how far he’s fallen. I think, the one good quality that refused to die, is his protectiveness. Him protecting Naruto in the Zabuza arc was such a pivotal moment for him, for his and Naruto’s relationship, for Team 7, for the story. It was the moment where everything changed. He was so desperate to protect Naruto from Itachi, he was super protective of Sakura in the forest of death, and even in Shippuden, he’s protective of team Taka, and unfortunately the moment I finally broke and said fuck it, I love Sasuke, is when he protected Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi from the infinite tsukiyomi. worst quality: his extremism lmao like. god. again, dicey and i have talked about this, how characters who challenge the status quo are portrayed as ~crazy~ and extremists so yet again, its BAD WRITING but also PROPAGANDA! god. but like, i’m sorry, fuck the village but he wanted to go after people who were not involved in what happened to Itachi. I understand his anger, but I wish the narrative had treated it and him with respect rather than throwing a fucking dart at a board to decide what Sasuke’s character arc was going to be about this week! ship them with: naruto, suigetsu, juugo, and again, lowkey sakura. brotp them with: naruto, sakura, kakashi, team taka, itachi needs to stay away from: STOP SHIPPING HIM WITH HIS TEACHER AND BROTHER. YALL. misc. thoughts: i’m so fucking tired. what was kishimoto trying to do with him! i don’t understand! sasuke was right! he was fully right to hate the village, to demand change. why did kishimoto have the village repeatedly doing heinous, evil things, validating sasuke’s resentment, but sasuke was portrayed as being in the wrong. ALSO, the ENTIRE. FUCKING. POINT. of naruto is bonds, and how important friendship and love is, and sasuke’s entire GODDAMN NARRATIVE is about him breaking those bonds to become stronger, and destroying himself in the process, and everyone he loves telling him this isn’t the right path, and FINALLY he accepts it- and then in boruto he’s JUST. ALONE? HE HASNT MET HIS DAUGHTER IN 12 YEARS WHEN FAMILY WAS SO IMPORTANT TO HIM???? I HATE IT. I HATE IT. THIS IS SO BAD. SASUKE DESERVED BETTER.

kakashi

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7team7 · 4 years

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Making his list

Summary: The holidays are a busy time, so when Sakura is out of commission due to her pregnancy, Sasuke takes matters into his own hands. Modern AU, pregnant Sakura, good househusband Sasuke. [2.3k words]

A/N: sorry this is late, but happy holidays everyone!! This was the most voted option on twitter, but office au coming soon enough I guess!! Stream The Carol by Haseul and Christmas Tree Farm by TS

Sakura adored the holiday season. The chilly weather gave her the perfect excuse to cozy up near a fire with a mug of hot cocoa. She loved finding the perfect gifts for her friends and family, finally spending some of her hard earned money. She always marveled at all the decorations and loved taking the time to bake the sweetest confections. The hospital was busy as usual, but it was honestly fun to treat kids who had maybe eaten a bit too much sugar.

But as a pregnant woman, she just couldn’t keep up as well this time around. The normally welcome weather seemed to be more biting than usual and her pregnancy made her more tired. She was so busy getting things for the baby, she had less time to shop for other gifts. Being on maternity leave meant she had both nothing and everything to do. The thought of decorating and baking for hours on end made her feet ache.

Sasuke hated the holidays. It usually served as a reminder that his family was dead and he was all alone. People seemed to forget how to drive when it rained or snowed and lines were always too long everywhere.

But when he married Sakura and got her pregnant soon after, he found himself changing his mind. He couldn’t wait to watch her in action around their home. They’d been friends long enough that he’d received some of her incredibly thoughtful gifts and seen all the traditions she liked partaking in, but it was different now that they shared a home together. When they were just dating, he couldn’t hog her as much as he did now. He used to think Black Friday was ridiculous, but he had a feeling he’d be clambering over all the other parents for the toys his child would want next year. Why pass up a good sale?

[continued under the cut]

The night of December 1st, Sakura gave him a gift, claiming she just couldn’t help it. Sasuke unwrapped the shiny paper and opened the box to be faced with the ugliest ugly holiday sweater he had ever seen. It was red with white stripes and had a huge picture of the Grinch in the middle. “It’s funny, right? Because you’re kind of grumpy like him, but you just need a little holiday spirit to make your heart grow!” Oh yes, being likened to the Grinch did not make him very happy, but his wife did make his heart grow three sizes.

He pulled it on immediately over his t-shirt. Sakura’s eyes were practically sparkling. “Thanks for buying one that’s not itchy. Where’s yours?”

“Oh,” she bit her lip softly, like she hadn’t even considered matching like she usually wanted. She disappeared into their closet and pulled hers out—covered in candy canes and jingle bells.

“Um,” she said as she stuck her head through the collar, “I don’t think it fits me right now.” Her eyes immediately welled with tears. She loved this sweater and the hormones were not helping. She’d had it forever, so it was a little tight now that she was older and taller, but she couldn’t even get it past her belly.

“Uh,” Sasuke grappled with his words in an attempt to make her feel better. He hated seeing her cry, especially over something so menial. Sakura normally loved the holidays, and he had seen her wear that sweater at least once every year since he’d known her. “You can just wear it like this, right? With a shirt underneath or something? It’s just kind of a crop top now.”

Sakura looked up at him, more tears coming, “But then the baby will be cold!” Sasuke immediately yanked his sweater off and put it back in the box. “It’s okay, I just won’t wear mine until next year. We can match with the baby next year or something,” he said as he started helping Sakura out of her sweater. That easily helped cheer her up.

“Oh, Sasuke, we’re going to have a baby by this time next year! We’re going to buy so many toys I can’t wait!” She started babbling excitedly about the stages of development and what kinds of learning and playing kids did at what age and Sasuke decided this was much better than crying over an ugly sweater.

“We’d better get our tree soon before all the good ones get taken. I want to have it up all month so we can enjoy it,” Sakura mentioned to Sasuke the next day. She had started sorting through decorations after breakfast. “It smells so good and makes the house feel so much more festive. Hanging up ornaments is always fun, I even got a new star to put on top this year.” Sasuke simply nodded and started clearing their plates while she continued digging through boxes.

“I’m going out,” Sasuke announced after he finished washing the dishes. It was the weekend and they normally enjoyed reading the newspaper on the couch together after cleaning up, so Sakura was a bit confused. “Do you need anything?” he asked as he gathered his coat and scarf.

“Yeah, the perfect Christmas tree,” she joked. “No, I’m just going to be unboxing decorations here. Ever since we moved into this house I keep forgetting where I put everything so it’ll take me a while.”

Sakura had only managed to hang a wreath and put on some holiday music when Sasuke returned home.

“I brought you something,” he said gruffly as he propped the door open.

“Ooh, an early present? But why not just wait a little longer, darling?” Of course, Sakura loved receiving gifts from Sasuke because they were always things only he would think to give her, but she could wait.

“You said you wanted it now,” he said as he hauled in a huge evergreen tree. It wasn’t in a net like the ones they had at lots and it even had snow dropping off the branches. The thick trunk looked like it had taken a real beating.

“Sasuke,” she asked slowly, “did you chop this down yourself?”

“Of course I did,” he said matter of factly. “You said you wanted the perfect one and I found it for you. I just strapped it to the top of the car and brought it back. This one is way better than anything at those overpriced lots. It’s fresh,” he added, as if she didn’t notice. The snow was beginning to melt all over their floor.

“You’re not really allowed to do that, but thank you.” She didn’t even want to ask where he chose to cut it down because no matter the location, it probably wasn’t legal if he returned so quickly. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, still a bit cold from spending time outside. “It really is perfect,” she praised after she got over the shock. It seriously was a lovely tree. Sasuke was just the type of person who did things his own way, she supposed.

“If I put it in the corner, you’ll decorate it, right? Just call me when you need to put the star on top. I don’t want you falling.” She gave him another kiss and let him be on his way to read the paper they missed that morning. He didn’t end up going far, though, preferring to observe the way she danced around the tree and got excited every time she opened up an ornament she had forgotten about.

“Damn it, I completely forgot that I have Ino’s holiday brunch tomorrow. I promised to bring my usual cookies, but I’m beat.” Sakura had just finished eating dinner and decorating the house when she realized there was still more to do. She had already purchased all the ingredients from the store but there just wasn’t enough time in the day. She sighed, “I guess I’ll have to go pick something up on my way tomorrow. I’m sad, they’re such a tradition at this point.”

Sasuke knew which cookies she was talking about because he liked them too. She made them spiced enough for him to enjoy, so he found himself a little disappointed by the thought that they might not happen this year. “Why don’t you just go to bed early? No use in stressing over cookies. I’ll be there soon.” Normally Sakura preferred to fall asleep with her husband there to keep her warm, but she was too tired to argue or even think. Sasuke kept the heater on high and made sure she had an extra blanket before he tiptoed back into the kitchen.

If she wanted the cookies, he would give her the cookies. Surely he could make cookies. How hard could they be?

It turned out, cookies that tasted the way Sakura made them were very difficult to pull off. He even managed to pull out the original recipe, but it seemed like so many tweaks were made that he had to make several test batches before he got anywhere close.

At some point in the middle of the night, he baked himself into a frenzy and produced some damn good cookies. At least the oven made the house warmer, and the kitchen smelled divine. He crawled into bed beside his wife, not caring if he was covered in flour and sugar. As long as she was happy.

Sasuke was normally a heavy sleeper, but he was roused by Sakura’s shrieking in the kitchen. Fearing that something was wrong, he bolted out of their cozy bed with his eyes still half closed.

“Look, Sasuke, my cookies! Who made these?” He had even taken the time to arrange them into a neat pyramid on one of Sakura’s fancy platters. He hoped they would taste good, but even if they didn’t, at least they looked presentable.

Sasuke rubbed his bleary eyes, glad nothing was wrong. “Dunno. Maybe Santa was feeling generous and gave us cookies instead of eating everyone else’s.” Sakura beamed at him and took one off the top to bite into.

“Mm, they’re perfect! You did such a good job Sasuke! What a perfect surprise. Here, try,” she broke off a piece and handed it to Sasuke.

“Breakfast of champions,” he muttered after he finished chewing. He gathered his excited wife into his arms and planted a kiss on the crown of her head. He was tired, but it didn’t really matter because she was happy. He absentmindedly rubbed her pregnant stomach, wondering if their baby would like these cookies too.

“Thank you, you’re the best. Now go back to sleep while I get ready to go,” Sakura said to him.

After changing and finishing her hair and makeup, Sakura walked back to their bed to pull the covers up towards Sasuke’s chin. He kept his eyes closed but mumbled, “drive carefully, please. The roads are supposed to be a bit icy today.”

He was still in bed when he received Sakura’s text that she made it to Ino’s safely. She also sent him a picture of Ino’s house covered in lights, telling him to remind her that they need to put lights outside. It looked tasteful, but Sasuke had a feeling Sakura wanted something a little more over the top and festive. He tossed his blankets to the side and started getting ready for the day. If she wanted lights, he would put some lights up. And it would look better than everyone else’s in their neighborhood.

When Sakura returned home, she honestly didn’t notice. She was too exhausted from all the talking and eating she did at Ino’s. She walked into the house feeling ready to spend the rest of the day with Sasuke. She’d have to give him extra kisses to thank him again for the cookies. And the beautiful tree sitting in the corner of their living room.

“How was it?” he asked as he welcomed her in. One simple question got her talking for a while; she filled him in on anything and everything, from Ino’s decorations to the food to how her girlfriends were doing. “Oh and did you see the picture I sent? Her lights looked really nice, I’ll have to remember to put our lights up soon too.”

“Mhm. Do you notice anything different about the house?” “We have to turn some lights on in here, it gets dark so early in the winter,” she mused as she got up to switch the light on. Sasuke followed her and prevented her from doing so. “No, look outside.” Sakura moved away from the light switch, expecting to see fresh snow that had started falling after she had gotten home and only Sasuke noticed. When she got to their front window, she gasped.

Their lawn was decked out with bright lights, from a snowman to a reindeer to their front pathway lined with lights. She looked up and noticed the roof covered in lights too. She hadn’t noticed partially because they weren’t on when she got home during the day. Her eyes welled with tears as she opened the front door to step outside and get a closer look.

She surveyed their house, lined perfectly with twinkling lights. Their house looked much more festive and cheerful than anyone else on their block. “Did you do this?” she asked Sasuke who followed her out to bring her a coat.

“Glad you finally noticed,” he teased. “You said you wanted lights, but I wasn’t going to let you climb on a ladder while pregnant. So I put up the lights. I bought a few more because I figured you’d like them.”

“They’re perfect!” she exclaimed, giving him a big hug. She looked up at his handsome face, softly illuminated by all their new lights. “You’ll have to do this next year too. And make the cookies. And get the tree.”

He rolled his eyes. He’d gotten sucked into the holiday madness because of this dynamo of a woman standing before him. He was really in it for life. “I’ll have to put it on my list, I guess.”

“I promise I’ll be really nice to you,” she giggled as she pulled him back inside where it was warm.

“I won’t mind if you’re a little naughty,” he murmured as he pinched her hip playfully.

She stuck her tongue out at him, “Hey! The baby can hear you!”

A/N: I just love writing ss as same-same-but different in the intros, if you read a lot of my works you’ll notice that, but they’re just so easy to write like that lmao it makes me happy when people tell me they like the way I portray them because sometimes I do fear I’m just writing them as these not complex, static characters but. It be like that as a writer :-)

#sasusaku #fan fiction #happy holidays #my writing #one shot #my formatting is the most inconsistent thing in the world lmao

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thegraysquirrel · 4 years

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Self-Promotion Sunday

For self-promotion Sunday from @mouseymightymarvellous , I would like to bring the following to your attention:

*scrambles to search for anything useful to promote*

Oh! There was that one time I was making a promotional speech for Obito in the hypothetical situation of Obito in his prime (no Rinnegan though) fighting Shisui in his prime in hopes of convincing people to vote for Obito instead of Shisui! Below the cut, you will find all 3600 words of it... Because go big or go home.

(If I knew how the hell I would put this on AO3, I so would. But. Tags? Format? okay format would be easy probably I have no idea how to get this on there. Title? I know how to jump literal hurdles but I draw the line at figurative hurdles.)

One last thing! You might be asking, “Why?!” and I would shrug. In reality, I don’t like that Shisui’s Kotoamatsukami is regarded as unbeatable in the Naruto ‘verse. Everything should have a weakness and I just exploited my love for Obito as a character to throw him at Shisui and it worked remarkably well.

I will title this:

Why Obito (who fell through literal cracks and out of reality as he knew it while regarded as dead last and then dead first) Would Beat Shisui (the legend, the martyr, the Uchiha genius that seemed to have it all in terms of skills and abilities)

Okay so I have thoughts and I have to live up to my “commenting disaster” name so here goes. If you ever wanted to know how authors could feel when they got a comment from me, then buckle in. (wow this turned out to be about 2 full AO3 comments, yes, this is exactly how writers will feel upon seeing my comments in their inbox!)

I think it’s a wild guess that Shisui would have been able to manipulate the complete Uchiha clan through Fugaku.

SHISUI’S JUTSU AND WHAT I THINK OF IT

SHISUI’S LIMITATIONS AND LACK OF EXPERIENCE WITH KOTOAMATSUKAMI I don’t think Shisui’s ability has ever been countered or met his match in the short time he spent on the pages of the manga. Shisui doesn’t know how to tell if someone is fighting the manipulation, and he CAN’T know for sure that no one could. Considering he could use it once every ten years and he is younger than Genma, he hasn’t even got a lot of practise with it. He’ll have used it, what, once? So let’s say he used it twice, since he’s got two eyes.

That’s TWO instances in which he used it—are you honestly telling me that his technique is unstoppable because he used it twice with no one countering? I’m not buying this. We don’t know the limits, and Shisui sure as hell doesn’t either.

(I’ll admit, maybe it’s 10 years because the crow does not share the Uchiha blood. We can say Shisui could not use it for 2 years for the sake of Shisui, y’know… being able to build a reputation with it. I think Shisui had his Kotoamatsukami when Itachi was 5 years old, so he had it for about 8 years = 8 or 16 attempts, IF he spams his technique the second it comes off cooldown like us gamers do. Otherwise, he used it TWICE at most)

PEOPLE SAY “THIS JUTSU IS IMPOSSIBLE TO BEAT/THIS DEFENSE IS MORE SOLID THAN A ROCK” AND WERE PROVEN WRONG Do I think everyone has the potential to beat Shisui’s genjutsu? Hell no. But we CAN’T just buy the people’s words for it when we have so little data and they actually have little data too. The people Shisui used it on probably weren’t even a challenge in the genjutsu department. Here’s my thoughts about when people say something about a jutsu being *waves hand* without weakness.

Gaara was said to have Absolute Defence and Sasuke managed to penetrate it when he was a Genin and everyone was like “Whaaaat he got through the Absolute Defence how is that possible??”

In chapter 257, Kakashi says “There is no cancelling the effects of [Itachi’s Tsukuyomi],” but Sasuke still managed to do so later with an ordinary sharingan. Kakashi’s sharingan prowess in dealing with Itachi’s mangekyou sharingan were inferior to that of this particular Uchiha. Sasuke did it by putting a genjutsu on himself to break free of the former genjutsu.

I’m sure there are more instances when jutsus are called “impossible to defeat” only for someone to go in and say, “bitch, watch me prove you wrong.” Naruto did it with the 3rd Raikage, in a way. “Impossible to defeat” means nothing.

The only thing we have for Shisui’s eye-technique to be unstoppable is his and everyone’s beliefs that it’s flawless. But really, if Itachi’s powerful Tsukuyomi could be broken by an individual Uchiha, then why can’t Shisui’s have flaws that can be exploited (by another Uchiha)? When fighting an Uchiha and it’s one on one, flee, is Chiyo’s advice—unless you are also an Uchiha, I amend, even if your eyes are still basic instead of the premium version.

CLOSER LOOK ON SHISUI’S VICTIMS Follow me on this wild speculation. (If you’re still reading, you rock!) It was said that a different person would need to question the one under the genjutsu for them to even consider the possibility of being manipulated. Let’s also list off the people we know or assume have been under Shisui’s eye’s manipulation:

Bloody Mist ninjas

More Bloody Mist ninjas

Probably ninjas from other villages they were at war with (I honestly don’t know)

Probably the Elders via Danzo (I’m vague on the details, but very likely right?)

The Daimyo via Danzo (wow that was really a challenge to influence him. Someone without ninja skills.)

Mifune via Danzo

Edo Tensei Itachi via crow instructed by Itachi (well, the eye was instructed by Itachi)

If I look at the list, I’m not seeing anyone who would give Shisui (or the holder of Shisui’s eye) a challenge, especially as Itachi got under control willingly. Just like Kakashi had no trouble fighting Sakura, Sasuke, and Naruto in the first bell test, Shisui is on a level most people will never be able to reach.

The last one is the only one we know used on an Uchiha. We can’t actually conclude much or anything from it because Itachi orchestrated the Kotoamatsukami, but it was Itachi himself to make note of the manipulation. He was aware of the genjutsu. So the manipulation was noted.

MY CONCLUSION ON SHISUI He’s got the greatest genjutsu, but here’s the thing—he doesn’t know how to fight against other geniuses of genjutsu. It’s the same with eSports, when you are the best by far, you don’t get the experience against the people who match your skill, and that means you get rusty (YES I stole these words right from of a player in the LCS of League of Legends, be happy that I didn’t throw KICK a soccer metaphor at you) and since this tournament I’m arguing for is a knock-out, any mistake can cost you the tournament. His genjutsu is revered as the best, that it can’t be broken, but other jutsus that have been called flawless have been shown to have flaws that could be exploited. Shisui doesn’t have enough experience to have found them out himself. Shisui will win if his Kotoamatsukami works 100% on the enemy, but it’s less sure if the enemy breaks (partly) free.

But who could possibly have a chance of breaking free from it?

*RECORD SCRATCH* (In my document I had the following in a very big font. I miss my big font. ;-;)

MY ARGUMENTS FOR WHY OBITO CAN BREAK FREE FROM KOTOAMATSUKAMI (And why he can win it)

GENJUTSU AND MANIPULATION Obito is not just passing with genjutsu, he’s GOOD, because he was able to even control Yagura—a perfect Jinchuriki, someone who has a built-in pacemaker, but then a pacemaker for when the brain zones out of reality and needs to come back. He managed to somehow convince everyone that he was Uchiha Madara and he double-crossed the actual Madara too—this dude knows how manipulation works, even if that alone obviously won’t help him against a genjutsu of manipulation (it’s a good thing he’s got his own mangekyou sharingan, otherwise he’d definitely be toast). Still thought it worth mentioning.

I hear you say, “Madara manipulated him!”

Actually, no, I don’t think he did?

Hot take: (I don’t know enough of the general consensus to know if it is a hot take) Obito was NOT manipulated by Madara.

Madara manipulated the situations, but Obito remained true to himself in reacting to them. Whether it would have been Madara’s super evil plan to kill Rin or if it had been The Leaf’s own incompetence at sending kids into dangerous territory (resulting in the deaths of said kids because the system is SHIT), Obito would have reacted the same.

Yes, Madara is evil for playing with people’s lives like a kid does with blocks to build a structure, but Madara’s involvement isn’t important to the outcome. I think that Madara was unable to “genjutsu bullshit” his way into Obito’s mind, otherwise Madara would have hella secured Obito’s actions already. If Obito could have been influenced by “genjutsu suggestions”, no way in hell would Madara have simply kept asking Obito angrily, “Bring me to life, Obito, I hate being dead. I can’t become the Juubi’s jinchuuriki like this, Obito. Bring. Me. To. Life. (Wake me up.)”

Madara, feared by the world, didn’t use genjutsu on Obito from what we saw. He fell back on manipulating the circumstances for Obito, and the only reason I can think of that is because Obito isn’t susceptible to Madara’s suggestive genjutsu.

Every time I watch the Obito and Madara episode, I just see Madara spouting words and Obito indulging the old man until he can get out of here. In my interpretation, the words have nothing to latch onto. When Obito returns, it’s his own choice. Madara’s and Obito’s interests aren’t aligning as much as Madara would like, and as such, Obito remains more than just Madara’s pawn.

OBITO IS HELLA STUBBORN (OOPS AND MANIPULATION AGAIN) ANYWAY, if ANYONE would be able to find a flaw in Shisui’s eye technique, Obito would. HECK, he even managed to keep his mind sound when the Juubi was driving him crazy. Like, that anime sequence when his limbs were torn apart? That thing. This dude got willpower and a stubbornness to follow the path he wants to take even if it’s really a dumb path. I might be easily swayed and manipulated, but Obito is not. Shisui wouldn’t even need his eyes to sway me, but on Obito he would need to give his 100% and, again, I’m not sure Shisui has ever been pushed to his limit, and he ALSO thinks that he’s impossible to beat so he’s not even going to give it his 100% (he might think he is, but you’ll only know how fast you can run when you’re chased by something you really don’t want catching up to you or if your alarm went off too late and you really need to be on time). Against Obito, it’s a flaw for Shisui’s ability that it’s about manipulating his decision, because Obito is a master of manipulation himself. He knows what Madara did to him. He fought the Juubi. Obito would walk into a tree rather than change his mind about what path he should walk.

OBITO HAS EXPERIENCE Obito at his prime also has a lot more experience with his ability, he knows his own limitations and how to use it as a part of himself. He can use it multiple times, he can use it in ways Shisui would not expect... Shisui would need to figure it out fast, and I think Obito at his prime (TWO Kamui sharingan) just has too many tricks up his sleeve for even Shisui of the Body Flicker to keep up with.

MY SLEEP DEPRIVED CONCLUSION ON OBITO What I think Obito has: he got the stubbornness + sharingan skillz for weakening Shisui’s genjutsu on himself enough or maybe even completely repel it so Obito can actually still do things + Obito’s own mad skillzzz with Kamui. Shisui loses.

TO CONCLUDE

I’ve got a lot of fanon thoughts (or maybe just my personal fix-it for canon) on Obito that I won’t unpack here (it’s that Obito is actually a genius himself even if it never showed clearly in his years pre-sharingan) because, hey, people don’t like reading 1k of random shizzle when they just want to vote for their boy Shisui! But please give Obito a chance because I feel he actually has a chance!

TL;DR

Shisui has never been challenged in his abilities (especially not by an Uchiha). He won’t know what his all-out is for this, so he won’t go all-out

Abilities have been called flawless before only for someone to be “hold my beer” and fuck them up. Case in point: Sasuke practically made Gaara cry

There’s been precedent of an Uchiha with normal sharingan getting out of what is hailed as one of the best genjutsus whereas no one without sharingan would be able to do that alone (or at all)

Unlike Sasuke at that point, Obito has been a master of genjutsu and has a mangekyou sharingan at the point of fighting

Obito knows what manipulation is and has even kept to his sanity* when the Juubi was tearing him apart. He has manipulated practically everyone, including a perfect jinchuuriki. He will be able to find a flaw in Shisui’s jutsu because he’s too stubborn to change his mind enough about yeeting (parts of) himself to his Kamui dimension when there’s danger

Obito knows his own ability like the back of his hand, including limitations, so Shisui will have a hard time fighting Obito if his own Kotoamatsukami isn’t winning the fight for him.

*Okay, so maybe Obito isn’t completely sane, but Sakura wasn’t either when she fought off a jutsu working on the mind. I think Obito’s instability even gives him a cookie point

PLEASE GIVE OBITO A CHANCE I EVEN TALKED MY POOR SISTER’S EAR OFF DURING DINNER BECAUSE OF THIS

LET HER SACRIFICE NOT BE IN VAIN

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(Counterarguments with my own reply I put in that document)

Honestly Great Argumenter for Shisui: my counter argument: Shisui is known as the ultimate uchiha genjutsu master. And hes also the best looking. ;)

Me: In reply to greatest genjutsu master-- Would you say that Itachi was a greater genjutsu master than Sasuke? Because Sasuke broke free from ITACHI'S genjutsu. I'm not saying that Obito would put Shisui under a genjutsu--it's just that Shisui's genjutsu wouldn't hold as well as it normally would, and that might be enough already.

HGAS: Shisui would still be faster than obito if we take genjutsu out of the equation completely Minato was able to almost kill obito due to speed so that can't be discounted. Obito had to retreat from his fight with minato. Me: How old was Obito? 14? (Kakashi and Obito are both 31 at the end of Shippuuden, and Naruto’s birthday is in October, so Obito would have turned 32 in the following February of the war, and THIS means that Obito was 14 during the fight against Minato too, because Kakashi was 14 at the time of Naruto’s birth but Naruto timelines are terrible) I hardly call that his prime! And against Shisui, Obito will have two Kamui, whereas against Minato, he only had one. The fight would be different, I feel.

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YO BECAUSE I STILL GOT TIME HERE I WILL ADD TO THIS. I warned you, if you feel confused where this is all coming from, you’re probably feeling the exact same things Mumma does at some of my Konoha Files comments. This is how I roll. AND PLEASE IF YOU WANT TO TALK KONOHA FILES HIT ME UP because I’ve got a lot more thoughts on that than on Obito vs Shisui!

EXPERIENCE Shisui graduated any age between 6 and 12, but we know that about two years later, he met Itachi who was 5, and 8 years later he died (I think he died when Itachi was 13 because there was more time between Shisui’s death and the other Uchihas’ deaths). Shisui died when he was between 16 and 22. (I am not familiar with the book canon!)

This means Shisui had at most 10-11 years of experience as a ninja. Yes, one year after graduating he got the Kotoamatsukami, so he got 10 years TOPS with his Mangekyou Sharingan which had a freaking long timer of usage in between, regardless of how many years we put it as; 10 years, 2 years, Shisui would have kept that ace up his sleeve so he would not spam the ability the second it came off cooldown.

Obito graduated when he was 9. At his prime he was 31 years old. That’s 22-23 years of experience for Obito as a ninja! He got his mangekyou sharingan when he was, what, 14 (at the end of shippuuden he is 31, and Kakashi is 31 too, so they might have been the same age—and then the Kyuubi summoning was when he was 14)? That’s 17 years of experience with his Mangekyou sharingan.

Obito will have had way more battles with his ability than Shisui, way more opponents that would challenge his way of using his ability so Obito KNOWS what his flaws are. He knows what it will be like to fight against someone with kamui! He fought Minato and knows how the Flying Thunder God/teleportation can be used against him (and that was when he had his Mangekyou sharingan for less than a year!). In his battles, even when he was mostly forced to stay in the normal dimension because he needed to get his hands on someone, he has shown that he can slip body parts into his dimension even when he is attacked from all sides. His reaction time is solid (even if he is not because... dimension stuff).

Conclusion: Obito has more years of experience than Shisui at fighting with his mangekyou and more moments of figuring out his own limits and flaws and adjust his fighting style to minimize them. Obito has also had more momentous fights to test out his own abilities, including The 3rd Mizukage, The Fourth Hokage, Copy Ninja Kakashi with Kamui himself, other Uchihas during the Uchiha massacre (they count), Konan, Naruto and Killer B. Seriously, he’s more well-rounded than Shisui!

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THE MIST Shisui fought ninjas, soldiers of the Mist and was feared by them. Obito won from the strongest ninja of the Mist, the Mizukage who was also a FREAKING PERFECT JINCHUURIKI and kept him under his control for YEARS. I know which feat I think is more admirable.

SPEED Shisui is hailed for his speed, but the Body Flicker is said “To an observer, it appears as if the user has teleported. It is accomplished by using chakra to temporarily vitalise the body and move at extreme speeds.” Obito has FOUGHT Minato, who actually is able to teleport. This was 17 years ago!!! Obito has improved because he was just a fledgling who even had to figure out how his new arm worked!!! Yes, Shisui is faster than Obito, but Shisui will not be fast enough to pulverize Obito. Don’t forget, the kamui sharingan has the added benefits of being able to predict the opponent’s movements, see chakra, so Shisui’s speed advantage is diminished against any Uchiha.

OBITO’S TECHNIQUE Shisui has no idea what Obito’s technique could be and honestly, passing through him mid-fight is already a scary thought, just think how disappearing from sight and appearing could be. Heck, Obito could probably even be in his own dimension, spit fire, and then long-range Kamui it back to the dimension where Shisui is. The precision of it can be worth speculating, but if Obito can appear on a branch of a tree, then he sure as hell can know where exactly he’d send his fireball jutsu. He just does. He’s got the spatial awareness of the overlap between his own dimension and the one Shisui recedes in. And how would Shisui counteract this attack, huh? He can’t body flicker to Obito’s dimension.

Even if Obito stays in the dimension Shisui is in, Shisui won’t be able to exploit the weaknesses. It took Konan a long time to know what the timer for Obito’s ability was, and Konan had her own ability to exploit that weakness. From what we know of Uchihas fight styles, I am having a hard time figuring out what Shisui could do to exploit Obito’s timer—and that’s only if he can figure it out, which he won’t. No one but Konan has found out about that particular tid bit, to my knowledge.

Let’s say Shisui got a hit on Obito. A hit means contact and he gets sucked to the other dimension. Afterwards, Obito would return to the dimension with food and eat while Shisui starves. Win. I’m a bit fuzzy on the details, but the people who have managed to get a hit on Obito when Obito could use kamui (Remember! Obito could not use kamui when he was the Juubi jinchuuriki!):

Minato with his Flying Thunder God move when Obito was new to kamui, to his arm, and only had his right eye kamui and not his left

Kakashi but that was when he was in the other dimension while Obito was still fighting Naruto. Since Obito vs Shisui is a 1v1, this won’t happen

Kakashi because he used his OWN kamui to get a kunai to Obito. Uhuh, Kakashi got a lot of hits mostly because Kakashi had kamui.

Kakashi again, but that was because it would be hella stupid to phase out to the dimension that had a war going on.

Konan (she was so badass)

I honestly don’t remember more, do you?

Shisui is amazing with his body flicker, really, but Obito can dodge left and right. Shisui won’t get a hit on him unless Obito allows it, because Obito got the damn experience!

With two kamui’s, Obito’s transportation (himself and of others he holds on to) is faster, as we’ve seen when Obito and Kakashi worked together to move Obito to his own dimension. Obito’s speed has increased with two kamui’s.

SHISUI’S TECHNIQUE Shisui is a softy. I’m sorry, but he is. Aoba lived to tell the tale because Shisui wanted to scare them off with his genjutsu instead of killing them. Danzo was put under a genjutsu by Shisui and Shisui thought it was enough even when the genjutsu was done (and then Danzo managed to take an eye of BODY FLICKER SHISUI, so hey, his speed ain’t gonna be the end of it all). Shisui relies on his genjutsu deterring people—that’s obviously going to be his go-to move, and it means he can be caught off-guard when it’s not as effective.

He’s good at Taijutsu (or at least, he would win every spar against Itachi but Itachi was 3-9 years younger, so…), but even Taijutsu master Gai didn’t manage to land a hit on Obito when he used his nunchucks--would Shisui really be able to do what Taijutsu master Gai could not?

Another TL;DR

Shisui simply doesn’t have the tools against an Uchiha as experienced as Obito. Obito’s ability is a different kind of OP than Shisui’s because Obito knows how to use it as a part of him, whereas Shisui’s ability is something he has relied on very heavily because no one has countered it yet. Obito will find the weakness in Shisui’s “strongest” genjutsu and be able to win from Shisui because of all the battle experience against talented individuals Obito has had. Obito managed to unite the five nations all on his own, he was THAT powerful.

We’ve said before that Shisui is on a different level from practically everyone, but honestly?

Obito stares down on Shisui from his god tier level

*mic drop*

#Naruto #Uchiha Obito #Uchiha Shisui #meta #ish?#This is me #unfortunately #Am I looking for constructive criticism? Not really #Am I looking for people to infodump to me about Shisui or Obito or Madara? ABSOLUTELY #self promotion sunday #I tried #I will try to help you make fetch happen

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ohayohimawari · 5 years

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Kakashi Asks-Answer

Q: (From @nyxako-writing) “So this is more of a silly question, but since the Narutoverse has everything we have (except for guns) do you think Kakashi would ever be a gamer? And if he played any of the Legend of Zelda games, which would be his favorite? XD”

A: Okay so, here’s the thing.

Nyx has the pleasure (?) of knowing me through Discord, and when I’m not geeking over Kakashi, I’m geeking over the Legend of Zelda games. I owe you a life debt for presenting me with this scenario, Nyx! I’m sitting here happy as a clam with my Beta, my Naruto Official Character Data Book and my LoZ encyclopedias.

While I was taking my own sweet time drafting this answer, the incredibly talented @roonie-doodle made my dreams come true by creating this piece of fanart featuring BOTW Sheikah!Kakashi:

Grab a snack and a tasty beverage and buckle up for ALL the geeking Hima below the cut.

In Boruto, we see the next gen ninjas behaving rather UNninjalike with their handheld gaming devices. Whether that’s allowed under the Shinobi Rules or not, it proves that video games exist in Narutoverse.

As a single dad, Sakumo would totally employ screens to occupy Kakashi so he can catch a nap between missions. It’s my opinion that the members of the Hatake household would not like combat games. Think about it: after a day of working in customer service, would you want to unwind with a game that requires your character to level up at a call center? Coupled with their predisposition to PTSD and I think that’s a great big nope. However, father and son could only play Pong, Asteroids, and Pitfall so many times before Sakumo would see the benefit of spending his ryo on the more sophisticated NES, when it becomes available.

According to me, everyone should love the LoZ series and that includes the knuckleheads of Konoha. Even without my totally biased viewpoint, I think Kakashi would enjoy some, but not all of these fantasy adventure games. After he inserts that first Zelda cartridge into the console, he’d be astonished by the colors and the music. His little masked mouth would water at the ability to go up and down, left and right.

And when he enters that fantastic cave where the wisest npc is waiting with a sword and the warning, “It’s dangerous to go alone! Take this,” Kid!Kakashi would be hooked.

It’s not just the gameplay that has him running back to Zelda after killer kindergarten lets out for the day, though. I think that the first time Kakashi realizes he could’ve taken the shorter route of up, right, up, right, right, right, right, right, up, left, up, to the second dungeon (instead of his initial path of up, right, up, up, up, up, right, right, right, right, right, down, down, left, up), he’d grab his ninja crayons and draw a map of the whole darn overworld. Sakumo would totally put that shit up on the fridge too.

Then, then, after Kakashi has smashed through every breakable wall, moved every block, and beaten the OG Ganon, there’s a second effing quest waiting for him (and what a beast it is). Sakumo would be able to put the first map in his son’s baby book then because it’s basically useless for the second playthrough, and Kakashi’s meticulous approach to beating the game would begin anew.

Time to grab a tissue because this is where things get angsty. As we all know, my poor octorok-squishing bean has a very short childhood. While I’m sure that he would’ve loved the hell out of the first Zelda game, he is much too busy being a child soldier in the Third Shinobi War to play The Adventure of Link. While Nintendo offers new consoles and LoZ games to go with them, Dungeon Boss-Kishi plunges Kakashi into darkness with neither a red candle nor a blue one to help him find his way out. Between dodging Danzo and loathing himself, I can’t help but think that it’s impossible for this ANBU assassin to find time to play A Link to the Past or Link’s Awakening. Sob.

However, the Sun’s Song is unlocked and the clouds part for the early days of Team Seven. I can totally imagine Kakashi spying on his cute little genin (while he makes them wait for him) and overhears them discussing one of the best games in the LoZ series, Ocarina of Time. After all the lunches Yams has bought for him, Kakashi decides he can afford to splurge on an N64, and he attempts to recapture some of that Zelda magic from his youth.

This game does not disappoint Kakashi, either.

Like everyone, he’d consider muting the TV way before Link had a chance to verily demonstrate his courage because of Navi’s constant interruptions. However, I think after dealing with another talkative bright ball of a boy as his student, Kakashi is willing to put up with Navi out of respect for the late Great Deku Tree’s wishes.

Honestly, I think Kakashi could relate to this version of the Hero of Time. The poor kid doesn’t quite fit in with the others around him, he’s orphaned, has the expectation of saving the world thrust upon his little kid shoulders, then before he knows it, he’s all grown up and the world around him is even more dangerous than it was when he started.

Even though a map is provided in this game, I think Kakashi might still keep notes of every odd thing he encounters as he thoroughly explores 3D Hyrule (boulders, different colored trees and wide spaces that LoZ geeks know are suspicious). He’d be the kind of gamer that focuses on completing the game-not just beating it-making OoT the right game at the right time for him. He’d plant every bean (and drop bugs on the sprouts), get every weapon upgrade, collect every piece of heart and every gold skulltula. He’d be intrigued by the owner of the Happy Mask Shop (as well as Impa, the Skull Kid, that shady Poe Collector fellow, and Kaepora Gaebora), and he’d make sure that Link models each mask for the Deku Scrubs in their hidden grotto. The Water Temple would’ve driven him just as crazy as it drove the rest of us LoZ freaks when he finds that he’s one key short or didn’t move that one block before adjusting the water levels, but it’s all forgiven when he fights Dark Link.

Kakashi would use fishing as an excuse for being late to meet with Team Seven and it wouldn’t be a lie. Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura would catch on to the truth when their sensei starts absentmindedly humming the OoT soundtrack (the Gerudo Valley theme is his favorite) because everyone that’s played the game is guilty of it.

By the time Kakashi realizes that it’s impossible to beat the Running Man (even with the Pegasus Boots) in that damn race to Kokiri Forest no matter how many times and how many different ways he plays OoT, Majora’s Mask has dropped.

The alternate world of Termina serves as the perfect distraction from Sasuke’s obsession with revenge, and the beginning of the end of Team Seven. Kakashi would be quick to appreciate this game from the beginning; chasing after that weird Skull Kid from OoT, which leads Link to encounter the Happy Mask Shop owner who, right off the bat, starts to prove what a creepy creep he really is.

It should be obvious without my listing all of the reasons as to why Kakashi would love this game. The world is gorgeous, the story is mysterious, the dungeons and bosses are challenging, the Garos, the MASKS fer chrissakes, and the side quests (OMG, the side quests) are an LoZ completionist player’s dream.

If you still need proof that Majora’s Mask is among his favorite games, I offer Kakashi’s boldest move as the Roku-blow-up-the-moon-daime. Fight me.

I’ve kept to the LoZ games that have been released for home consoles because I think Kakashi would avoid the handheld devices. He doesn’t need to have his gaming habit blow his cover while out on missions. He has his trusty, tattered copies of Icha-Icha books and those are plenty to keep him occupied and entertained during downtime around the campfire.

At any rate, at this stage in the Naruto series, the main hero is off training with Jiraiya and the Leaf is short on shinobi to run missions, so Kakashi wouldn’t have much time to indulge his love of LoZ games anyway. He’s definitely invested in the series by now and curious about new installments to it. He would be aware of the release of The Wind Waker, but I think his initial impression of that game would be that it appears cartoonish, and may not be enough to spark his interest in the game at the time.

However, I’m certain that the next LoZ home console release would have those tantalizing fingers of his twitching to play again. I think there’s a lot about Twilight Princess that would catch his attention. The overall dark tone of the game would remind him of Majora’s Mask, new characters and enemies… The familiar LoZ story branches off into new territory and I bet that would have him keen to explore it.

But then he starts to play it.

Twilight Princess starts off so damn slow and Kakashi is so damn busy at this point in the series that I think he saves and quits and isn’t in a rush to return to the game. He’s got a Kazekage to rescue and a Kyūbi to protect; he doesn’t have time to herd oxen and chase cradle-stealing monkeys.

After the power of friendship saves the day and Gai carries Kakashi home, the copy-nin is bedridden and picks up the game again out of boredom. His interest in it is rekindled when he meets with the Twilight Emissaries and is turned into a wolf. Midna entertains him, definitely.

Honestly, I think Kakashi would have a love/hate relationship with Twilight Princess. My headcanon is that he would enjoy another opportunity to explore the world of LoZ, but this game doesn’t present the kind of satisfying overworld journey as other games did. He would be impressed by a few of the characters, but scratch his head at most of the others. He’d have a greater appreciation of the enemies, dungeons, the Ancient Hero, the Cave of Ordeals and especially, the overall story. However, I’m convinced that Kakashi is a completionist and anyone that challenges themselves to complete Twilight Princess knows the unbearable pain of Rollgoal. Ugh.

After Kakashi finishes this game he doesn’t sell it, but he doesn’t replay it often and never through to completion again. He’s satisfied that the Kingdom of Hyrule is safe as long as Malo exists within it.

At this point in Naruto’s flawed timeline, things are coming to a boil. Kakashi faces off in his own boss fight against Pain and Konoha suffers the same fate as Kakariko. My favorite ninja dork falls in battle (and I rage-quit the series for a while), but Kishi releases a bottled fairy and Kakashi is revived to fight in another shinobi war, become the Rokudaime, and play more LoZ games.

Or so he hoped.

Being Hokage comes with more paperwork than any elite shinobi could complete in a lifetime. The position also comes with a pay raise (as I imagine), so I see Kakashi parting with some of his savings to give the gift of a Wii and Skyward Sword to his best buddy, Gai.

I think that this is an LoZ game that Kakashi would be content to occasionally watch his eternal rival play, rather than play himself. Lord Sixth would love the story, would love the presentation that this game is the beginning of LoZ lore. He would also love that he is watching rather than playing when Gai deals with the frustration of syncing and re-syncing the controllers when he flies his loftwing, or swings the Master Sword. The only time I think Kakashi would grab the controllers for this game would be to take a crack at Koloktos. I also think that would be the only break he’d get to sneak in some LoZ fun while he’s Hokage.

Of course, this means Maito would become a fan of the LoZ games and he would approach them with the same gusto he applies to everything in his life. Gai would play through the back catalog, training for when Kakashi retires and becomes available to speed-run playthrough challenges.

Gai would be the friend that convinces Kakashi that he must play The Wind Waker and distracts his rival from the eternal sailing by explaining why A Link to the Past might be the most important game of the LoZ series. Now that Kakashi has reached a point in his life that offers him time for leisure, he plays through it as well as other games in the series that he had missed out on. Besides adding A Link to the Past to his list of favorites, it would otherwise remain unaltered at this point: Zelda, OoT, and Majora’s Mask.

By the time Kakashi knows the significance of the yellow band in the various caps worn by the Hero of Time, Breath of the Wild is released and his list of favorite LoZ games grows again.

There is just so much about this game that would appeal to Kakashi. The sheer size of the overworld (I’ve read it’s 360 square kilometers) and the fact that he can explore the whole thing would be this ninja dork’s dream come true. He can progress through the game however he wants to. He’d buy that Sheikah set right away, and find Majora’s Mask as soon as that DLC dropped and roam the world to his heart’s content.

Kakashi wouldn’t be bothered by the odd trophies this game offers for completing it, because as a completionist player, he understands that completing it is its own reward. His alter-ego Sukea would love taking photos both for the compendium and for the sake of fun. Kakashi loves to infiltrate, gather information, solve puzzles, and form plans and BOTW offers all of that in spades.

He’d restart the game so many times just to try out different strategies. The first time Kakashi leaps off of Mount Lanayru, sputters out of stamina and lands on a buck that charges straight for the blue lynel in Naydra’s Snowfield (this totally happened to me btw), he’d realize he should’ve been trading those spirit orbs for stamina vessels instead of only heart containers; resulting in his first restart. The second restart would come after Gai shows off his spiffy expand-a-band-banded inventory and this time, Kakashi would plow through the Great Plateau so he could recover that pair of priceless maracas. Countless other restarts occur as Kakashi experiments with which and how many towers he should attempt to overtake before he finally makes his way to Impa.

With every restart, he learns something new about BOTW and enjoys it more. He commits locations to memory (at least 148 for the towers, shrines and captured memories). He rushes to gather the essential 441 Korok seeds in each new playthrough (he might shed a tear when he finally becomes a member of the 900 club-I know I did). He figures out how to cheat on Eventide Island. He learns that even though he could launch Link across Hyrule with Magnesis and Stasis doesn’t mean he should. He looks forward to every Blood Moon, if only to cook as many hearty durians, mighty bananas, and endura carrots as he can between 11:30 and midnight in-game time. He realizes that his greatest enemy in all of Hyrule is the weather. When the Champion’s Ballad is available for download, his excitement for playing the game begins all over again.

I’ve stated several times that I’m convinced that Kakashi would be a completionist player and out of all the games, the latest LoZ is a pleasure to complete (despite what some YouTube gamers may say). In addition, BOTW came out during a period in Kakashi’s life when he could afford to spend significant time playing it.

And this finally brings me to the answer to your question. Breath of the Wild would be Kakashi’s favorite LoZ game, hands down. He would love this game so much and would enjoy playing it so often, that I think he had a Nintendo Switch stashed in the fanny pack he rocked during the Steam Ninja Scrolls arc.

XOXO

#kakashi asks #ohayohimawari answer #Kakashi #Kakashi Hatake #roonie-doodle #naruto fanart #sheikah kakashi #loz #i had so much fun answering this

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nonbinarysasukes · 5 years

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Ooh sasuke for the character game please!! :)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS ANON ILY *noisy gay sobbing* Sasuke is my absolute favourite Naruto character (as I have made... er, quite... obvious by now, shall we say?) <3

Ask meme here

First impression: The stereotypical “cool jerk”. I didn’t really like Sasuke all that much when he was first introduced because he seemed like the run-of-the-mill anti-hero, the perfect cool popular boy who ends up learning a good hard lesson. (Obviously that was fixed quickly enough lol)

Impression now: Well, you asked for it, my friend. So be prepared for a full analysis of my child! My take: Sasuke is a complex and detailed character whose drive to achieve his goals stands out almost more than Naruto. Up until he kills Itachi, it feels like that eight-year-old who watched his parents be murdered by his beloved brother is still stuck in Sasuke. He’s a complex character whose loyalties fluctuate like a pendulum; he’s full of raw pain and anger and sadness, all hidden beneath a cold wall he projects to the outer world. Sasuke is realistic and believable; all he has ever wanted is to bring justice. Even when he decides to destroy Konoha, it’s not just about him and what it did to his life. It’s about the world itself being corrupted by the village; it’s about revenge for his family; it’s about stopping what befell him from happening to others. All Sasuke’s ever wanted is a fair and just system that protects everyone just the same, and his ideals of right and wrong are black and white, even more so than Naruto. He believes firmly in “the ends justify the means”, and his thought process is a little childlike - as long as everything’s all right at the end, it’s doesn’t matter however you got there. Despite having been exposed to the harsh, unfair reality of the world, he still believes in right and wrong very strongly, and thinks that only by taking drastic action will the world change. Sasuke is willing to do things: he actively wants a better world, and will step up to do it himself, even willing to die “so the world’s hate will die with me”. He’s also a hard worker, which is what I absolutely love about him. Sasuke has inspired me many times to actually get on with my schoolwork instead of making posts about him XD “Oh no! I shouldn’t have stayed late to train at the Academy... Mother’s going to be so mad...” This is, approximately, what he mutters to himself as he runs back home to find the dead bodies of his family. Despite being a prodigy and supremely talented, Sasuke does not slack - oh no, he works hard. He works and works and works, first to match up with Itachi, then to kill him, then to destroy Konoha, then to beat Kaguya... and then, because he can. Because he wants to be his best; he wants to be the best, and the only way he can do that is to work his ass off. Of course, Lee and Guy take the cake for geniuses of hard work, but Sasuke is among the top as well! Sasuke is, emotionally, very realistic. He’s angry and sad because of an incident that screwed up his childhood, which many people sadly relate to. He negatively channels his rage into an obsessive focus on killing Itachi for his crimes, and keeps all his feelings bottled up for fear that he’ll collapse. All he wants to do is see justice in this cruel world, and he’s determined to achieve that goal, even if it means he’ll die for it. Sasuke lashes out in ways that aren’t very positive, keeping up a cold and calm exterior to hide the emotionally torn mess he is inside. He tries and tries and tries to heal, and each time all the progress he has made is brutally ripped away from him by the reopening of old wounds. Final take: Sasuke is detailed and complex and deep, and he deserved better.

Favorite moment: Every time he appears on screen. No, I’m serious! Ok but if I had to pick - riding Aoda. He looks so good in that scene, and I love his dynamic with him! Aoda is so cute, and I just love Sasuke’s whole snake aesthetic. I really like that he has a familiar, and there are so many cute Sasuke-and-Aoda bonding moments that could come out of that! (Sue me, I’m a closet Slytherin XD)

Idea for a story: Um, I’d say Sasuke being a lie detector but I already wrote that story, and my Mafia!AU headcanons are already up, so I’ll list one that’s been stewing in my head for a while. It’s a bit generic, but eh... I like it XD Sakura Haruno and Sasuke Uchiha rule the school. Everybody loves them - they’re smart, kind (well, in Sakura’s case at least), good-looking, athletic, the perfect power couple... And gay as all hell. Yep, you read that right. Sakura and Sasuke are best friends, more like siblings, and pretend to date so people won’t constantly bother them. But when Sakura’s longtime crush Ino Yamanaka brings her adoptive brother Naruto Uzumaki to Family Day... well, all hell breaks loose. What else did you expect when Sasuke’s around Naruto?

Unpopular opinion: Sasuke is a better character than Itachi. I personally feel that Itachi is misguided and all too “goody-two-shoes”. Sasuke shows a realistic side that the audience can identify with; Itachi was made out to be some kind of martyr, whereas he could have definitely avoided torturing his “beloved” brother for three days in genjutsu. I do love Itachi and Sasuke’s bond, but canon Itachi just doesn’t cut it for me. I also never got the whole “owo Itachi’s hot” thing - idk, he looks like a stressed old man to me. Sasuke’s character design was made to be hot XD

Favorite relationship: It’s totally not SNS. Yeah, totally. (Ok, yes, it is.) See, Sasuke and Naruto’s dynamic goes way beyond just friends. When on the genin team together, Sasuke trusts Naruto, the dead last, more than Sakura, who’s the smartest in the class. (Sakura haters, please leave. I only ever praise her, so you won’t find any bashing.) ANYWAY back to why I love SNS! Naruto is the first to really acknowledge Sasuke without comparing him to Itachi like the teachers and his family, or going gaga over him (well he does do that later, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it haha). Naruto sees Sasuke as a rival, and acknowledges that Sasuke is intelligent and powerful, and a person whose skills he can look up to. Naruto and Sasuke round each other off perfectly - Sasuke inspires Naruto to work hard, and Naruto inspires Sasuke to be himself, without the context of Itachi or the Uchiha name.

Favorite headcanon: Sasuke likes to dance in his free time. He knows how to waltz and even breakdance, and if he’s feeling down he’ll slam the radio on and get moving!

#uchiha sasuke #naruto #sasuke uchiha #sasuke #sasunaru #tani answers #anonymous #headcanons #tani's hcs #ask game #this is just me screaming about my baby #to be fair u asked for it #i cant thank you enough anon <3 #nrt

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365daysofsasuhina · 5 years

Text

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day One Hundred Seventy-Four: Recovery from ___ ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ] [ AO3 Link ]

He’s always pushed himself too hard.

Even before being given the ultimate goal of revenge, he strove to improve. Partly to impress his father, partly to fulfill his duty as a child of the clan head...but mostly? In all honesty? It was to make his brother proud. Prove that he could be helpful, useful, whatever Itachi would need.

How many hours and hours did he put into conquering Gōkakyū as quickly as possible? How many times did he run from the Academy to the training grounds, wanting to work on the power and aim of his kunai throws? He wanted, more than anything, to become a worthy shinobi. Of his clan, of his father, of his brother.

...and then...he lost all but the last.

And the last gave him a new purpose. Become the strongest shinobi...one that could, and would, defeat the man that slaughtered the Uchiha. Use the hate planted in his heart to burn away all other thoughts, all other goals...until Uchiha Itachi laid dead at his feet, his clan avenged and allowed to rest in peace.

Which is why now, in the last few weeks they have until they (hopefully) graduate from student to genin, Sasuke has spent every spare moment on the training grounds. Practicing his bukijutsu, his taijutsu, the list of ninjutsu Iruka had hinted would be necessary to pass. Because nothing was going to stand in his way. He would ascend to the next level...and from there, continue to climb the ranks until he could hunt down and kill Itachi at last.

For the moment, he’s working on the former. Kunai and shuriken litter a trio of obliging posts, mostly centered as close to the middle of the target as possible. Several are scattered on the ground: the result of hitting the same mark twice and ricocheting off to the well-trod dirt. The sun is high, the Spring day abnormally warm. Having finished his latest volley, Sasuke stands post-throw, shoulders hunched, brow drenched in sweat, breath drawn through his mouth. He’s been at it since the morning hours, and it’s starting to catch up with him. On top of his early start, he forgot any kind of canteen for water. More than once now, he’s promised ‘just one more round’ before taking a break, always wanting to inch a little closer to perfection.

But no matter how stubborn Uchiha Sasuke is...he’s not immune to the needs of the human body. And with one last huff of breath...he collapses.

Blissful darkness.

Fortunately for him...he wasn’t alone at the grounds.

Next thing he knows, consciousness slowly swimming back to the surface, is...something cool on his face? With a great effort, Sasuke drags open his eyes. Above him, tree boughs sway gently in the breeze, lying beneath their shade. Dark irises, fogged with exhaustion and a fair amount of confusion, stare up into the leaves, almost hypnotized by their movements.

“Um...Sasuke-kun?”

Slowly, he rolls his head to one side. Sitting next to him on her knees, hands nervously balled against their caps, Hyūga Hinata looks to him worriedly. “...what…?”

“Thank goodness you’re awake…” she murmurs, heaving a small sigh of relief. “I saw...I saw you collapse! I tried to find help, but...everyone else had - had gone! So I brought you over here, to the shade, and...put a cool cloth on your b-brow. How, um...how do you feel…?”

There’s a vague recognition of her as she rambles. Part of his Academy class. Wallflower. Part of another so-called ‘royal’ clan of Konoha, the Hyūga. They also possess powerful eyes. The Byakugan. But so far, she’s proved to be nothing special. All he has noticed about her is her hanging around that blond knucklehead Naruto.

Of course…‘around’ is a relative term. She rarely manages to get very close before getting all flustered and nervous. It’s obvious enough what’s going on, but...in all honesty, Sasuke hasn’t been able to care. He’s far too busy to really consider the details...even if he can’t help but notice them.

Slowly, he tries to sit up, ignoring her sudden blustering about ‘pushing himself too fast’. Bracing up on a palm, he reaches the other to feel at the clean rag along his forehead. Gripping it, he gives it a stare, still rather loopy and just...fixating on it.

“Um...d-do you need some water? You seemed rather dehydrated, but...I-I didn’t want to try to help you drink until you woke up…”

“ter…”

“W...what?”

“Water,” he croaks, throat horribly dry. As she hands over a canteen, he doesn’t hesitate to start downing it.

“Oh, b-be careful not to drink too fast, Sasuke-kun! You might make yourself - you might puke!”

Forcing himself to stop, he takes a gasping breath, forearm guard wiping at his chin. Gods, water’s never tasted so good.

All the while, Hinata remains kneeled beside him, anxiety still lingering as she watches for any further symptoms. “W-well, you...seem to be feeling better. Are you...do you need anything else?”

“I’m fine.” The reply is mostly reflexive. He doesn’t need anything. Anyone. All he needs is to keep up his training. Which he’s going to do now that he’s had a rest -

“W-wait!” Shadowing him as he moves to stand, the little Hyūga lifts hands as he staggers to one side. “Sasuke-kun p-please - you really should -”

“Stop telling me what to do,” he growls, half-heartedly making to push her aside.

“But -?”

“I don’t need your help! I just...need…”

“Y-you’re going to pass out again!” she insists, stamping a tiny foot in a rare show of determination.

Sasuke, however, doesn’t heed it. “Go home, Hyūga. If you’re not here to train, you’re in the way…”

“Sasuke-kun, please - you’re going to hurt yourself!”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“It w-will matter when you get hurt even worse, and it takes even longer to heal!” She jogs out in front of him, trying to plead her case. “...please. Just...take a little time to rest. You can - you can get back to it tomorrow. If you try to train now...you’ll only get further behind!”

The Uchiha just scowls, making to push her again. But to his surprise...she smacks his arm with the butt of her hand. With chakra. The tenketsu beneath the skin numbs, and his limb lays against his side, useless.

They both stare at it.

“...what...did you just do…?”

Suddenly looking afraid, she retreats half a step. “It...it’s the Jūken. My f-family’s specialized t-taijutsu. With our eyes, we see the chakra system...and we can - we can block it. I...I don’t want to hurt you!”

“My arm, it’s -!”

“I-it will wear off in an hour or so! But Sasuke-kun…” She hesitates, a hand curling at her chest. “I - I’m serious! If you push yourself now, you’ll o-only regret it later! I know...I know why you’re training so hard. We all do. But -”

“You don’t know anything,” he spits back, pointing at her with his good arm.

“...maybe I don’t know a...a lot of things,” Hinata admits quietly, softly, gently. “...b-but...we’re worried about you, you know.”

“...we?”

“All of us…! Your c-classmates! At least...those of us who p-pay attention. You’re going to hurt yourself, Sasuke-kun. And if...if something happens to you - if your body gives out when you push it too far - then...w-who will be left to fight for them…?”

He stares at her. Why does she care…? And how does she know so much? Is it that obvious?

Not getting an answer, her fingers fiddle nervously. “...I’m sorry I s-struck your arm. But...I had to do something. Your body was in v-very poor shape when I found you! And...it’s not yet r-ready to train again. You have to give it time to heal...o-okay?”

Her last words resonate something he’s often told, and Sasuke glances aside. In truth...she’s making perfect sense. But sense isn’t what he needs...he needs results! The risks don’t matter...only the results…

...but…

Seeing him think, Hinata quiets for a time. “...if...i-if you need a spar partner, I - I could help you. I’m not the best, but...well, I need the extra training. If I want to beat my sister, I…” Her tone fades to silence, and Sasuke doesn’t pry.

“...sure.”

“R...really?”

“Yeah, just...don’t do that to my arm again,” he mutters, shrugging the limp limb.

Hinata goes pink. “I...I-I won’t. But...if I promise that, then...will you promise to give yourself t-time to rest…?”

“...hn.”

Blinking, she watches him retreat to the posts, moving to pick up the tools. “...oh! Let me help you, um…” It’s her fault he only has one hand at the moment, anyway. He’ll need to recover from the Jūken strike before he can even think of controlling his fingers. Once they’re finished, she gives a sheepish glance. “I, um...I was going to come back here tomorrow. Maybe...we could spar…?”

“Yeah, I’ll be here.”

“O...okay! I’ll - I’ll see you then! And please...get some rest, ne?”

He just waves her off, watching her gather her things from beneath the tree before scurrying back toward the village.

...what a weird girl.

Of course...he likes weird a fair share better than normal. The normal ones drive him nuts.

Looking to his pack of throwing weapons, he seems to think for a moment before heading back home. He’ll need to be rested if he’s going to spar with the Jūken.

.oOo.

V v v tired, so I'll be brief. A wee fluffy moment between Hinata and Sasuke. Doesn't really have any plot weight, just...random fluff, lol - I like the concept of them training together. Hinata could have grown a lot, and Sasuke maybe could have learned some patience. Oh well, a girl can dream .-. Buuut on that note, my eyeballs are screaming, lol - time to go. Thanks for reading!

#sasuhina #uchiha sasuke #hyūga hinata #a light amongst shadows [ canon verse ]#365daysofsasuhina

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kegareki · 5 years

Note

talk abt shisui's babysitting service plz

i spent like two hours typing a response and it’s like. story format. so i hope you enjoy!!

---

it starts simply enough. when mikoto begins transitioning back to active duty, shisui takes over bringing satsuki and sasuke to their favorite park. he has the time, and he doesn't really mind babysitting, anyway. he's good with kids.

("satsuki cried when they first saw you," itachi points out when shisui says this, "and sasuke yelled at you and made you apologize."

"that was because of a misunderstanding," shisui insists. "and besides, satsuki was cuddling me within the hour. they love me now. they do. right? itachi? itachi???")

***

satsuki and sasuke mostly keep to themselves--the other uchiha kids usually stick to the nearest park to the compound, rather than this one, which is a distance away--and shisui knows that they're capable of interacting with other kids their age, and he hates that they act like it's a given not to interact with non-uchiha.

after a week and a half, shisui puts his foot down.

"you want us to make friends?" sasuke repeats, scandalized.

"you have to make at least one friend," shisui confirms. "each."

satsuki looks down and away, twisting their fingers. they're more anxious than sasuke is, and shy around strangers. shisui is hoping, though, that the passing familiarity of seeing the same kids in the same place every day will be enough for them to make an effort, anyway.

"all of you are like, four to six years old," shisui continues, waving his hand to encompass the playground. "all you have to do make friends is ask to join in on a game or something." looking down at sasuke's mulish expression and satsuki's uncomfortable frown, he sighs. "I want you to at least try, okay?"

sasuke, predictably, goes to join a clump of kids who look like they're hitting each other with sticks.

satsuki ends up approaching uzumaki naruto.

shisui's life flashes before his eyes. there will be accusations of the uchiha clan trying to take control of konoha's jinchuuriki--rumors will start again, newly aggravated--but naruto is mikoto's godson, for all that the sandaime uses loopholes and makes up new laws to prevent her from taking him in, and that means something.

when satsuki asks if naruto can have dinner at their house, shisui says yes.

when sasuke asks if kiba--who, apparently, abandoned his stick to start biting people instead--can have dinner at their house, shisui says uh. let's go check with his mom.

tsume laughs. it's a very big laugh and very loud. satsuki and sasuke and kiba all stare at her. shisui feels a lot like they're being made fun of, which is more or less the truth.

"you wanna bring my son into fugaku's house," tsume repeats delightedly. "oh, absolutely. I ain't gonna stop this for anything."

***

kiba and sasuke get into an argument during dinner over which of their older siblings is better.

satsuki points out that maybe itachi's the best brother and hana's the best sister.

"and you're the best sibling!" sasuke concludes.

kiba thinks this over, then nods agreeably, backing down from the fight that had him snarling just a minute before. "yeah, makes sense."

everything is quiet, and then:

"wait," sasuke says, alarmed, "does this mean I'm not the best brother?"

***

it's the latest ino-shika-trio next. shisui stopped paying attention for five minutes while talking to hana about itachi, and when he looks over at the kids next, they've got three more people with them and they're playing ninja tag.

or… something like that. there's someone who's running after other people, but everyone they tag also starts running at other people, until there's only one person left who's fleeing from everyone else. that person gets tackled into the ground.

"I have no idea what they're doing," shisui says.

hana shrugs. "they're kids. no one ever knows what's up with kids."

***

ino, sasuke, naruto, and kiba attempt to kill each other with sticks and fangs while satsuki, shikamaru, and chouji apparently make friends with an aburame through close inspection of bugs on the grass.

and then it's a civilian kid with pink hair.

and then it's another civilian kid who reminds shisui strangely of gai.

and then it's another civilian kid with twin buns in her hair and a fondness for projectile weapons.

(shisui takes great delight in informing itachi that he's been replaced as "the coolest shuriken user ever." itachi doesn't believe him right then, but as dinner goes on and sasuke chatters on about how cool tenten is and how she went fwish! and thwack! and made her name in a tree with shuriken, shisui can see itachi's realization that he's no longer the coolest person sasuke knows.

"sasuke," itachi cuts in smoothly, "would you like to practice with me after dinner? I can show you how to make shapes with shuriken."

"tenten's showing us tomorrow," sasuke says dismissively.

shisui tries to disguise his laugh as a cough.

satsuki pipes up, then, with a look of pity toward itachi. "but if nii-san shows you now, you can show off tomorrow, right?"

"that's right," shisui agrees. "just imagine tenten's face when you progress so much faster than kiba."

sasuke straightens immediately at that. "he's going down," he hisses. "nii-san, you have to show me how to do it. I need to rub it in kiba's face that he's a loser.")

***

and then, somehow, at some point, they stop meeting at the park and start meeting at the uchiha compound.

the guard at the gate gets a list of the kids that are part of sasuke and satsuki's retenue.

"huh," they say, amused. "this is the best networking the clan's had in years."

"right?" shisui says. "I know I told them that making friends when they're four is easy, but I wasn't expecting it to be like this."

***

"itachi," shisui says, without taking his eyes off the thirteen children that he's supposed to be looking after, "if you leave me alone with these kids, I'm never going to forgive you."

"oh, no," itachi says blandly. "whatever shall I do."

"itachi!" naruto yells. "you cannot escape your fate!"

that's a new line. it has to come from one of the hyuugas they've picked up.

"return to your family at once!" lee agrees with the kind of intensity that makes shisui worry about the kind of mayhem he may inflict in pursuit of whatever goal he may have at the moment. "otherwise, you may lose that which you can never recover!"

"and what would that be?" itachi asks with vague interest.

"your dignity," satsuki replies.

shisui snorts before he can stop himself.

"… why would I lose that?" itachi asks, this time with vague dread.

"because," satsuki says, with the grand assurance of a queen, "if you don't stay, we're going to chase you around konoha and use you as target practice. and if you disappear, we're going to ask around for you, and all of konoha will know that there are thirteen children trying to find you who want to beat you up with sticks."

shisui slaps a hand against his mouth. the mental imagery that evokes is glorious.

itachi stays still for a long moment, his eyes locked with satsuki's, before, finally, his shoulders sag in defeat. "I will give in," he says, "on one condition."

naruto eyes him suspiciously. "what's that?"

"I want my siblings to meet me halfway."

shikamaru's eyes narrow, and he shakes his head at naruto, but sasuke and satsuki are family. naruto shrugs back.

sasuke, satsuki, and itachi meet in the middle of the training field… and then itachi picks them up like sacks of flour and deadpans, "I have returned to my family. you can do nothing to me now."

the kids wail in protest.

shisui says, "no, no, please don't--" but, nope, there they go, running after itachi and still shouting for sasuke and satsuki to be released.

shisui drags his hands down his face and groans.

then he jogs to catch up so that he can make sure none of them get kidnapped or something.

***

(a little over half a decade later, shisui is looking at three suna shinobi and the hopeful faces of his kids.

"let them stay for one night," satsuki pleads.

"satsuki," shisui says slowly, "these are the kazekage's children. that's suna's jinchuuriki."

"he could be our jinchuuriki," satsuki says, "if you let them stay with you."

even sasuke is doing his best puppy eyes.

shisui curses his soft heart. "you're telling your mother."

the kids cheer as quietly as they can.)

#keg asks #satsuverse #wafflelate #not shown: all the parents telling shisui casually that they trust him with their kids #shisui (sweating): i won't let you down #the kids run wild half the time though he just cant win

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sharbat-jaan · 5 years

Text

Azalea Honey (Chapter 1)

Series: Naruto

Pair: Multiship, endgame sasusaku (,,,will likely not be monogamous,,,)

Genre: Drama and Angst, we’re out here exploring the dark realities and dubious morality of actual kunoichi work. This is definitely not one for the kids.

Fic Status: Incomplete

Chapter: 1/?

I just can’t stop thinking about how fucked up ninja politics is!!

Naruto knew he was the golden-boy of Konoha; he knew the combined guilt over his childhood mistreatments paired with his current habit of saving the world from apocalypse ever few years or so, had landed him in a favourable public light. Everyone owed Naruto something, and that debt was all the more important precisely because he wasn't the type to ask for a favour to be returned. So when the Hidden-Leaf prodigy put in a good word for Sasuke Uchiha, clearly guilty of repeated treason, mass-murder and conspiring to literally destroy the world, Naruto knew his good word weighed heavier than any other argument. Naruto felt guilty, using everyone's good will towards him to make sure they settled on the verdict he wanted, but he'd feel guiltier if he dragged Sasuke back to Konoha just to seal his chakra and let him rot in a cell. And so, with a miraculously light sentence, the last surviving Uchiha was yet again roaming the village that had taken away so much from him, cautiously rediscovering his home.

"Stop slurping so damn loud, you idiot," Sasuke grumbled, pulling Naruto out of his thoughts. Naruto took a fresh mouthful of the noodles, slurping and chewing as loud as he could to irritate his friend.

"That's how you're supposed to have ramen you bastard, how else is my man Ichiraku going to know I appreciate the delicious labour of his efforts?" Naruto shot the chef a thumbs up, and Ichiraku returned it without missing a beat. Turning back to Sasuke, Naruto continued to egg him on, taking on a tone of authority.

"I thought you'd have more class than that actually, can't believe you're letting your pride get in the way of proper, ramen-eating etiquette," he said, punctuating his sentence with yet another loud slurp. The last noodle to be suctioned into his mouth whipped around on its way up and Sasuke flinched back, avoiding the spray of broth as Naruto's facade of credibility broke off into muffled laughter.

It felt good, laughing like that, and Naruto let himself indulge in the feeling. This is what it was always supposed to be. No traumatic moral crisis, no divine prophecy, definitely no loss of limbs; just two fools keeping each other good company over good food.

"Don't get too pissed, man," Naruto grinned at his companion. "I'm enjoying the moment."

All that's missing is Sakura.

And suddenly, the air around them grew frigid.

"She isn't missing," Sasuke stated, face carefully blank. "She's at the hospital, and clearly didn't want to come."

Sasuke picked at his bowl, as the barest frown formed on his face, gaze growing distant. Naruto felt his heart drop, landing somewhere between lungs and diaphragm, pulse growing arrhythmic. Not this. The cold new void in his chest sent chills to his fingertips, guilt like a lead blanket smothering him. Not more of this.

Of course he'd felt it; the chasm that was suddenly evident between them. The way she'd been feigning eye contact by looking at the space just between their eyebrows, keeping conversations short and pleasant and meaningless. The smile on her lips and the tensed muscles of her neck. She hadn't spent more than five minutes with them since Sasuke's pardon, always excusing herself with half-hearted apologies and promises to make it next time, all unfulfilled.

"Hey," Naruto retorted, scrambling for words to warm them back up. "Don't be like that. You know Sakura's busy right now, with all her rehab patients and setting up the clinic. You should have seen her before. All she could think about was the three of us together again, like old times."

Like it was before they'd been forced to age decades in the span of a few years; when the worst of their fallings-out lasted a week at most, easily -if reluctantly- reconciled by offering to pay for a meal. Walking side by side through forests, chasing animals for old ladies, laughing at Kakashi's dead-pan humour. The sun that shone in Naruto's memories washed everything a soft pink.

Sasuke scoffed, and shot an incredulous look at Naruto.

"What, so she could watch us fight over ramen? Maybe we throw it back a bit and beat each other up?"

"Hey," Naruto shrugged, "its dinner and a show. You know how Sakura is about bargain deals."

"No, Naruto. I don't. I was batshit insane for three years while you two figured out how to be friends." Sasuke's frown was clearly present on his face now, and fishing the required bills out of his pocket, he left the money he owed next to his half eaten bowl. " I don't know a thing about Sakura. And I think she'd like to keep it that way."

Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the shoulders and leaned into him with the weight of his arms, holding his friend in place. It was maddening, finding the balance between anchor and shackle. "Hey," he started softly, relieved to feel some of the tension leave Sasuke's body.

"You're a bigger dumbass than I thought if you feel like Sakura doesn't want you here."

When Sasuke turned his gaze away, Naruto followed, keeping their eyes locked. The trepidation on Sasuke's face was a new addition to short list of expressions Naruto had seen him make since the end of the war. He didn't like it.

"She has every reason to hate me," Sasuke rued, and the weight of his words were suffocating. "She just can't say it to my face."

Naruto knew Sakura's tears flowed freely. She was generous with them, and they were full of love and frustration. She'd cried on everyone's behalf, feeling pain for them when they couldn't, and burdened herself with a piece of everyone's troubles, shouldering as much as she thought she could. He'd seen it when she thought nobody was paying attention; after long shifts at the trauma center, after shedding the persona of stability and support she put on for the orphans that visited her for therapy. The solitary grief, and the resolution to go back and do it all again.

She'd held Naruto countless times, playing with his hair and whispering soothing words to him when the weight of everyone's hopes and expectations clutched him by the throat and squeezed, tears glittering in her eyes like exposed minerals in cracked ore. But Naruto had never seen her weep with such devastated love and grief for anyone but Sasuke Uchiha, determined to pull as many of his traumas onto herself as she could, all of them even, if only she knew how.

"Trust me," Naruto laughed, giving Sasuke a playful shake. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he teased, "That's impossible. She had every chance to let you bleed out, but here you are, you ungrateful prick. She'll come around, when she's less busy. And if not, we'll just have to take her schedule into our own hands. Granny owes us for saving the universe, so I'm sure we can get a few strings pulled."

Sasuke sighed, resigned, and leaned into Naruto's hold, who in turn obliged his friend's rare request to be supported. Nothing could breach the silence that enveloped them, as the din of the eatery faded away until the only thing Naruto could hear was Sasuke's steady breath.

"Naruto," he whispered, drawing the boy's attention back to their conversation. "She won't let me fix things. Everything's fucked and I don't know how I'm supposed to fix it."

Just stay here, this time.

Breaking from his usual guise of positivity, Naruto spoke frankly.

"She needs us, Sasuke, just like we need her. Nobody's gonna understand how fucked up we are but us."

And Naruto knew that was the truth. He knew that her scaffolding of constant occupation was weakening, that there was only so far she could run before the absurd weight of it all caught up, and Sakura was overdue to collapse any time now. He also knew that this time, they'd be there to pick her back up. And maybe, they could put the pieces together better this time. Make things lighter, mend a few fractures.

"Give it some time," Naruto consoled. "It'll fix itself."

#kebabwords #fic #sasusaku #I know i shouldnt be so emotionally invested in the ptsd of fake anime ninjas but here we are #Sasuke Uchiha #sakura haruno #naruto #naruto uzumaki

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ikesenlemonadestandstories · 6 years

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Taco the Town

How’s it going everyone! Here’s part 3 of my current Modern AU Series - The Part Timer. If you’re looking for the first two parts jump down and check out the tag “The Part Timer Series” or you can scroll through my Master List that houses all my other Ikesen works.

Credit for the title/name for the UT forces’ restaurant goes to @ikesenhell who talked through these concepts with me over some nourishment. They’re very clever and I appreciate all the idea bouncing we were able to do.

As a brief reminder Zhari is @one-eyed-captain-kinky ‘s character and Akiharu belongs to @elievalentine.

Gonna drop it under the cut for clutter purposes :) have a great night honey bees! You all deserve it!

Tagging @little-mini-me-world

Keep those ‘Trick or Treat’ requests coming in! There’s still plenty of slots open :) If you have no clue what that is check out my previous post here.

Taco the Town - p3

You had been putting in hours almost regularly at Azuchi, and you finally had a Saturday afternoon off to go grab a meal with your friend who was in town to visit her parents.

“This place is amazing!” Ginny purred “Very Tex-Mex.”

“You’re sure I’m not underdressed for this?” you cocked an eyebrow looking over at your friend. Her blonde hair was styled, so it laid in neat waves, make-up done, smelling faintly of roses. To top the look off, she was in a pair of very short waist high jean shorts, a loose fitting crop top with an unknown logo on the front, and the most pristine white sneakers you had ever seen.

“Not at all, you look fine!” exclaiming as she smiled to herself.

“Last time I checked, fine, wasn’t a sought-after description Ginny.” you were now profoundly regretting your wardrobe decision. In a simple pair of black shorts, a lilac cotton tee, and your favorite pair of flip-flops that was not complimented well by the mess of a ponytail tumbling down your back you sighed and followed your friend around the corner.

You were led to a large yellow and red adobe building with “TACO THE TOWN” in bold letters hanging above a window that showcased, is that an antler chandelier? Oh heavens, how dose she find places like this?

“I know what you’re thinking,” she laughed and continued on reaching for the heavy glass door in front of us, “and the answer is my mom recommended it.”

“Your mom? I didn’t think she liked places like this.”

“She usually doesn’t, but apparently the staff is totally gorgeous!”

Before you could protest, she walked over the threshold. Following your friend dutifully, the crisp air from the air conditioner hit you as fast as the scent of fajitas and citrus. Weird combo, not bad, just weird.

“What lovely ladies. How many will we have the pleasure of serving today?” the host purred.

Ginny openly swooned next to you, and you had to admit, the tall redhead gave Hideyoshi a run for his money in the friendly greeting department. He was tall and broad with a smile and stance that oozed confidence.

“Just the two of us.” Ginny giggled, and you fought a blush

He grabbed two menus out from what you surmised was a shelf inside the podium he was standing at. Picking up a pen he tapped a button on the wall, as he pulled away a small light was visible underneath. I wonder if that’s how they let the wait staff know what tables are active. That’s pretty clever.

You followed the host to a small booth for two along a wall of windows. Placing the menus down he stepped back so gracefully he had to have been floating, there was no other way to describe how he moved so fluidly. You took your seat and grabbed one of the menus, flipping it to the back page where the drinks were located.

“Might I offer to get you started with something to drink?”

“I’ll have a Coke or a Pepsi, whatever you’ve got is fine.” your friend chirped across from you, giving her best smile.

“Of course, and for you princess?”

What? Princess? Was he talking to you? There was no way, not with Ginny dressed to the nines right across from you. You felt their collective gazes burning holes in you as you struggled to give an answer.

“Uh-um, can I just- Can I have a glass of water please?” you forced yourself to make eye contact while you placed your drink order. Was it warm in here? You had to be blushing, there’s no way you weren’t.

“Absolutely. I will have Yukimura bring that right out. My name is Shingen, please let me know if he gives you any trouble.”

“What?” A voice rang out from the opposite side of the restaurant “If anyone's giving people problems it’s you Shingen. You flirt. Leave those poor girls alone already.”

The host whose name was Shingen winked at the two of you before making his way back to the front of the restaurant. Not even a beat later drinks were being thrust in front of you.

“Water?”

“That’s me.” you smiled and sheepishly raised your hand.

He placed the glass down with a thunk following quickly with Ginny’s drink, dropping straws down between you. “Are you two ready to order or do you need a minute?”

“Can we get a minute please?” Ginny smiled up at him from behind the menu.

“Sure. I’ll be back in a bit. My names Yukimura just give a shout if you need me.” and then he was gone, stomping back towards the kitchen.

The moment he was out of earshot your friend lowered her menu and started using it as a fan. “Wow, both of them were soooo hot." She whispered through her teeth.

She wasn’t wrong. The young man, Yukimura, who had just waited on you was shorter than the host but was still tall in his own right. He had soft brown hair and eyes that matched. He may have been a bit brusque, but he seemed friendly. You found yourself smiling.

The food had come out in a timely manner, and Ginny and yourself had decided to split two dishes to better spread the wealth of flavor. So one large order of empanadas and another plate filled with chimichangas stuffed full of pulled pork and you should have been sufficiently stuffed, but that had never stopped you from dessert before.

“The Chocolate Pecan Pie for two?” a young man appeared seemingly out of thin air beside your table with your dessert, two spoons, and coffee for the both of you. This particular waiter wore slim black frames and had hair the same color as the chocolate on your pie, sporting a smaller frame than anyone you’d seen working here so far he looked approachable and slightly familiar.

“That’s ours' thanks.” Ginny, nearly squealed across from you as the man gracefully placed the desert between us.

“Yukimura stepped away for a bit, unfortunately, so I will be taking over until he returns. My name is Sasuke. Please don’t hesitate to call-” Sasuke was nearly through his introduction when there was a commotion behind us grabbing everyone's attention.

“What do you mean it wasn’t cooked all the way?” A young man with ice blonde hair and hetero-chromatic eyes, one the color of the deep sea and the other a vibrant shade of jade stared down the young couple at a table across the restaurant.

“Like I said!” the patron raised his voice “I wanted it well done. This is pink.”

“How can you tell? You haven’t even cut into it yet?” the blonde brought the large kitchen knife he was carrying up above his head before swiftly bringing it down into the man's dinner.

“If you’ll excuse me.” Sasuke bowed and scurried towards the commotion. “Kenshin!” calling after the man.

As it would turn out Sasuke had gone to high school with you and Ginny, he informed you that the four you saw today had been college friends of his and were all co-owners of the restaurant. Which you never would have known had Sasuke not come back after he de-escalated the situation with Kenshin. While they each have a stake in ‘Taco the Town,’ they all prefer to assist in the ways they can. It doesn’t always go smoothly since their such big personalities, but it had still been a good time, and the food was great.

Leftovers in a bag Ginny and yourself walked back towards your houses. Maybe you’d go back together sometime, or you’d take your new work friends with you. You were sure Zhari or Akiharu would like the food there.

You smiled and chatted all the way to Seventh Street where you and Ginny took off in separate directions. Her parents lived on the other side of town from your current home. Passing by Azuchi on your way back to your place Mitsuhide crept up next to you.

“You should take more care than to walk these streets alone at this hour little mouse.” he eyed your bag before slowing his pace to match yours. “On your way home from dinner?”

“I am, a friend is in town so we met up and went to get food.” you smiled up at him “Isn’t Azuchi the other way? I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble for being late.”

“You act as if Hideyoshi would be mad at me for making sure our new employee gets themselves home safe.” a mischievous grin graced his features “besides I enjoy teasing them and this is the perfect bait.”

“I’m not entirely sure what you mean by that but thanks for walking me back.” you turned to him once you reached your driveway. “This is me so I can take it from here. See you tomorrow?”

“Mhh,” he hummed a response. “Not going to invite me in for my trouble?”

“I know better than that.” you wiggled your eyebrows at him. “Unless you actually need something that is?”

“No little mouse, not tonight. Enjoy your evening.” He turned and started walking back down the road before you pulled your keys out. Stepping into your kitchen, you placed your leftovers in the fridge and headed off to watch TV before bed.

After all, tomorrow was the start of another busy week.

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roraewrites · 6 years

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twenty seven

[ sakura’s secret ] rating: m

//transition chap ~

previous | next

Sasuke’s Part

The first thing he had thought about this morning was Sakura; her hair smelled like his shampoo, and she had one of his shirts on. It was big around her small body, encasing her and practically claiming her as his own and it made him smirk. That smirk slowly faded as he closed his bedroom door behind him, leaving Sakura to fix herself up in his bathroom as he walked towards the front door.

“It’s so good to see you!”

He was instantly embraced in a warm hug and a set of lips pressing to his cheek. Like usual, his mother greeted him with an over the top embrace, but he couldn’t help the laugh that pressed through his lips. He could feel happiness emit from his core, spreading through his body and giving him life as he wrapped his own arms around Mikoto.

“You’re early,” he greeted and just as he was about to close the door behind his mother, a foot stopped it from closing. “And you’re—”

“I came with,” Itachi spared him a gentle smile, but a glint of mischief flared in his onyx eyes. Sasuke was now glaring at his older brother, fully aware of what was going on now.

“Have you eaten yet, dear? I could take my boys out for breakfast if you’d like. It’s been awhile since the three of us have gone out together.”

Sasuke nervously scratched at the back of his neck, something he had picked up on from that annoying blonde kid in his class and it only made him that much more irritated. Instead of rolling his eyes at his brother, Sasuke coughed slightly — Itachi’s smile grew at the corners. Of course he would love to go out and spend some time with his family, but before he could answer, the clanking of a bottle sounded from down the hall.

“Do you have someone here with you?” Mikoto’s soft voice cooed while her dark eyes lit up. It was almost encouraging to see that look from her, but a scorching blush settled on his cheeks as Itachi’s smile deepened. Of course his brother knew that Sakura was here, and of course he was going to see this out.

Sasuke took a deep breath before answering, his voice hardly sounding through the lump that had formed in his throat, “yeah.”

His heart was beating a little faster in his chest and his mind began to numb up a little. He could feel the tingling feeling at the tips of his ears, knowing full well that they matched the shade of red his cheeks had turned and before he could stop his mother from racing down the hall, a petite girl stood in the entryway of the hall.

Her soft voice was something he had grown used to and while it calmed his body more days than not, it was setting a fire in the pit of his stomach.

“I— uh, hi! Sorry if I interrupted or anything,” Sakura greeted with a cheeky smile and a small wave of her hand. The clothes that she wore were plain and simple, a mint colored shirt that hung down over her bottom and a pair of leggings that ran over the curves of her legs. She had her bangs braided off to the side and the rest of her pastel hair ran in waves, framing her face.

Sasuke even noticed she had a minimal amount of makeup on and although the look was natural, she looked absolutely stunning. The corners of his lips began to turn upwards when she glanced at him, the soft green of her irises meeting the dark pools of his own, but his thoughts had been completely cut in half when Mikoto had perched herself in front of Sakura.

His mother stood only a couple inches taller than the pinkette, but her warm smile and friendly eyes mirrored Sakura’s — maybe that was why Sasuke was so drawn to her, because he felt familiarity and he felt comfort whenever it came to the girl.

“You are so cute,” Mikoto’s soft voice filled his home and while it made not only Sasuke’s ears heat up, Sakura’s cheeks had been dusted with a pink blush. Her voice had almost been a whisper, but it was loud enough for both Sasuke and Itachi to hear. “Why hasn’t Sasuke told me about you? What’s your name?”

The younger Uchiha swallowed, trying to push the lump that had formed in his throat away as his mother began to ask questions. Whether or not Sakura wanted to answer, he knew that Mikoto wasn’t going to leave until she heard absolutely everything about what her youngest son had been up to.

“This must be why he doesn’t visit home anymore! If anything, you should’ve brought her with.” Stern, obsidian eyes rolled in Sasuke’s direction and he could only stare at her. Sakura stood completely still in front of the woman, her eyes somewhat wide as Mikoto’s gaze turned back to her. “So what was your name, dear?”

“Sakura,” she responded softly. “Sakura Haruno.”

When she said her name, it felt like butterfly wings fluttering on the inside of his chest but Sasuke remained quiet. Only his arms came to cross over his chest but when the pinkette finally offered a smile, he felt his heart nearly skip a beat.

“Sasuke probably hasn’t mentioned anything about me because we’re still fairly new with each other?” It was almost a question for him but she didn’t even spare him a glance. Instead, Mikoto took Sakura’s hands in her own before giving her a reassuring squeeze.

Oh, how his mother was such a loving and caring woman.

“Well you seem like a very lovely and kind young woman. Would you like to join us for breakfast?”

“Oh, no! I couldn’t! I’ve got to get home and finish some school work—!”

The entire room quieted down and just as Sasuke felt like he could breathe again, the only thing he could hear was the sound of his own heart smacking against his chest. Sakura was completely pale, Itachi’s smile faded, and Mikoto stood absolutely motionless in front of her.

Nobody said a word.

“Well good job, Sasuke! You’ve got a girl who’s committed to school,” Mikoto cooed before dropped Sakura’s hands and wrapping her up in a hug.

Sasuke still couldn’t breathe, he could hardly move. It was surprising to him that he kept a straight face, let alone remained quiet as tension began to settle down on all of them — or maybe it was just the three of them that truly knew what was going on? Regardless, he finally inhaled while his eyes found Sakura’s.

She looked absolutely sick to her stomach as she nodded and smiled, agreeing with Mikoto before laughing slightly.

“You’re sure you don’t want to come? I think it would be great for all of us.” His mother tried to reassure her and before she could reject once more, Itachi finally spoke up.

“She’s going to keep asking until you finally commit to coming.”

With that, Sakura nodded slightly, her small smile widening as the color returned to her face. “Then sure, I’ll go with you guys.”

Usually when Itachi and Sasuke were younger, their mother would take them into the city and to the smallest diner possible. She never explained why, but she would always pass up the high end, classy restaurants and continuously bring them to the same place yet neither of them would complain.

They would always be greeted by the same older woman and seated in the same place towards the back; it was always in the same booth and the three of them would sit in the same seats. Mikoto would usually take the seat across from her boys, allowing the two of them to sit by one another and while Sasuke would always complain about wanting to sit by his mother, Itachi would never let him out of the booth.

It was always such a fond memory, one that he’d never forget and as the four of them entered the small restaurant, he was greeted by nostalgia.

“Haven’t seen you guys in awhile!”

It was the older woman from years ago, only her hair was now completely gray and she had wrinkles that adorned her face. She looked as happy as ever though as she took them to their usual seat, placing menus in front of the four of them as they sat down. Mikoto insisted that she sit next to Sakura, while Sasuke sat by Itachi across from the women.

“Just like old times,” his brother elbowed him softly before picking up the menu. Sasuke could only scoff before finding Sakura’s playful smile and jade eyes looking at him from behind her menu. He smirked back before picking his own menu up and looking through their list.

After a few moments of silence, the older woman had returned with water for everyone and a hot pot of coffee accompanied with sugar and creamer. Once she took their orders, they all sat in a comfortable silence until Mikoto cleared her throat.

“So, Sasuke,” she started with a gentle smile.

“Mother,” he responded back in an even tone.

“How’s your first year of teaching going?”

If it hadn’t been for Itachi choking on his glass of water, Sasuke would have answered with a simple “fine”, but when his eyes peered over at Sakura, he shrugged.

“Harder than I thought it was going to be, but I enjoy it.”

Her dark brows furrowed together as she handed her older son a napkin, her hands coming to rest on the table between them. “I’m glad you enjoy it, dear. Is it what you thought it would be like?”

Another shrug except this time he could feel the heat stirring at the tips of his ears, but Sasuke was thanking himself for growing his hair out over time. “My class listens. There’s just other things that factor in that make it hard.”

“Hard in what way?” Itachi chimed in, but Sasuke’s knee was meeting Itachi’s from under the table.

Mikoto’s furrowed eyebrows never faltered and when she sat back, she glanced towards Sakura. “They still behave like children when they’re together. As a mother, I’m happy to see my boys getting along, but you’d think they would grow out of it at some point.”

Sakura merely giggled but it had such an effect on Sasuke that he had to glance away from her and focus solely on the cars that lined the street outside. It was sunny out, hardly any clouds lining the sky and while it was still slightly cool, the snow had finally stopped falling from the skies above.

When their food finally came, Sasuke was too deep in his thoughts to realize that Sakura had excused herself from the table and she was standing outside on her phone. She looked almost upset and the way she talked with her hands answered that for him.

He’d ask her about it later but for now, he watched as she walked back into the building and took her seat next to Mikoto, masking the worry and frustrations on her face with that usual smile before they all began to eat in silence.

“We’ll have to do this again, sometime!” his mother spoke as she hugged both Sasuke and Sakura. The three of them stood just outside of the building that Sasuke lived in, rays of light shining down on them as they said their goodbyes.

“I’d love to,” Sakura smiled before stepping back and finding Sasuke’s arm coming to wrap around her waist. Although she wanted to feel awkward, she felt almost comfortable being this close to him in front of his mother and she didn’t even seem to mind. Instead, she offered one more heartwarming smile before hopping back into the car with Itachi.

Sasuke and Sakura watched as Itachi drove away, both of them waving as they exited the parking lot and left the two of them to stand outside the building. It was only when they had turned onto the road and began to drive away that Sasuke pulled Sakura closer to him and began to steer her towards the doors of his building.

They hadn’t had time to talk about what transpired between the two of them last night, let alone have enough time to just talk that day and the moment they got up to his condo, he had her back pressed to wall and his hands on her hips, his lips coming to crash against hers.

“Didn’t get enough last night?” Sakura teased through their heated kiss and while Sasuke wanted to smirk, all he could think about was her.

She smelled of fresh flowers, her soft eyes and pastel hair enticing him and hypnotizing him, making him feel like his entire life had been unreal until he met her. Sasuke had never believed in the mushy, bullshit love stories, but when it came to Sakura, he was more than willing to wait a lifetime or two for her.

He was breathing her in now as his lips worked against hers, their tongues tangled in the middle as he hoisted her up against his body, her legs coming to wrap around his hips.

“I can’t get enough of you,” he breathed out before kissing at the corner of her mouth. Sakura only leaned into his kiss as he trailed soft pecks down her cheek, grazing her jawline and finally tracing his lips against her clavicle.

What he said was true.

Sakura Haruno was all he could think about. She was his first thought in the morning, his last thought before he fell asleep at night. When he decided to adventure into the city, he would think of places that she would like to visit, and when he would smell certain scents, they reminded him of her. He’d swear up and down that her laugh was the loveliest sound known to man, a calming bell in the back of his mind that would put him at ease on his most stressful of days.

It was unreal how he felt for her, but it also the realest thing he had ever felt for anyone. His fingers curled around her bottom, trying to pull her closer to his body as he pressed his nose into the crook of her neck.

She was all he ever wanted.

“Sasuke?” Sakura’s concerned tone sounded out before him but he didn’t move. He kept her in his arms, his nose inhaling that sweet, flowery fragrant he had grown familiar with and he just didn’t want to let go. Not now, not ever.

He’d never admit it, but he felt pain whenever it came to wanting Sakura. It hurt to know that he couldn’t have her the way he wanted — not yet, at least. Regardless, it hurt him to know that she was forbidden and as much as he wanted to claim her and hold her close whenever he wanted, he just couldn’t.

So in that moment, he held her as close as he could.

Her fingers started to run through his hair while her lips pressed gentle kisses to the crown of his head. A low hum began to calm his overwhelming emotions, taming the beast that screamed from inside of his chest, battling with his heart as he ached over something that couldn’t be his. Sakura continued to hum, and when he finally felt his composure return, he lifted his head from her neck and pressed one final kiss to her lips.

“I’ll take you home,” he spoke with a monotone voice, yet his eyes betrayed him. They were soft, filled with compassion and care and everything that reflected what he was currently feeling in his heart.

When Sakura bit down on her lip, he couldn’t help the smirk that pulled at his lips. “You know what that does to me,” he warned but instead of acting on it, he gently put her down and moved out of her way. “Go get your stuff and I’ll take you home.”

Sakura was quick to skip away from him and down the hall, but he could see the saddened expression in her eyes. It wasn’t fair for either of them to be split up, away from one another when feelings this strong had come into play.

It wasn’t what he had expected when he first saw her that day in his class; it wasn’t what he ever would’ve thought about doing, but there was something in her emerald eyes that called out to him, almost like a siren’s song and he felt nothing but lost and found at the same time.

#sasusaku #sasusaku fanfiction #ss fanfiction #rrstories #s/t #ronan rae

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