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mavda · 3 years ago

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Beast Tamers

Ch.1 | Ch.2 | Ch.3 | Ch.4(1) | Ch.4(2) | Ch.5(1) | Ch.5(2) | Ch.5(3) | Ch.5(4) | Ch.6(1) | Ch.6(2) | Ch.6(3) | Ch.7(1) | Ch.7(2) | Ch.7(3) | Ch.7(4) | Ch.7(5) | Ch.8(1) | Ch.8(2) | Ch.8(3) | Ch.9(1) | Ch.9(2) | Ch.9(3) | Ch.9(4) | Ch.10(1) | Ch.10(2) | Ch.10(3) | Ch.10(4) | Ch.10(5) | Ch.10(6) | Ch.10(7) | Ch.11(1) |

Ch.11: The Hyuga clan (2)

It feels surreal. It feels right in a way that makes her heart hurt. Her cousin keeps close to her and Hinata can now talk without inhibition, without worrying. She talks about whatever she wants, whenever she wants. Neji doesn’t usually smile, has never been one to even smirk. But his tone is soft and he searches for her, probes her with questions.

They have started talking about their time back in the Hyuga clan and although it is obvious they are still apprehensive about it; although their eyes wander when the topic is reached; although the silences are longer and the words get lost more often. They talk.

Hinata guesses it is her fault she lets her guard down. The days are calm, her baby is healthy, she manages to catch Neji smirking once and Naruto is supposed to reach the Two-Tails territory within the week. Which means he’ll be back soon now. Sooner than when he left. Sooner than yesterday.

Hinata is walking through the hallways lost in thought. Trying to keep herself from worrying about her husband and focusing on her health and her baby. The maid that rushes to her looks agitated and she opens and closes her mouth for a while before saying anything.

“We have sent word to Lord Shikamaru,” she starts, her hands in front of her, her fingers pinching at each other. “Lady Mito, Lord Minato and Lord Jiraiya are outside the compound on business, and,” she looks at Hinata as if asking for forgiveness and Hinata only grows more apprehensive by the second, “we have sent for Lord Neji, too, he should be arriving any second now-”

“Wait,” Hinata interrupts and the maid catches her breath, her lips closing together in a thin line, “what- what happened?”

The maid is reluctant, she looks at Hinata with her brows furrowed and her gaze fixes on her lady’s white eyes.

“Lady Hinata’s father, Lord Hiashi is here.”

•····························•····························•

Hinata rushes to the guest room, then slows. The maid at her side follows her every movement and matches them accordingly. It only makes Hinata more nervous.

She ought to go and meet her father.

She could also let Neji handle everything and hide in her room-

-wait in her room.

She stands there a second too long, the maid stands close to her, then closer. Her voice is tinged with worry. “Maybe we should wait for Lord Neji, my lady.”

And in any other tone of voice maybe Hinata would have powered through. At any other point in her life, maybe she would have felt a surge of rebellion and walked alone. But this is another time, and the maid at her side doesn’t look away when Hinata turns to her.

There is no irk in her eyes, no contempt.

Hinata nods and tries her hardest to keep her thoughts from going haywire. It doesn’t work. Neji comes find her with his hair disheveled and his breath labored.

“Lady Hinata,” he breathes, and they share a look so heavy she wishes Neji could tell her they don’t need to- that they don’t have to-

“You don’t have to do this,” he finishes.

Hinata’s stomach turns. And leave him again to face this on his own?

“I can meet Lord Hiashi on my own-”

“B-but…”

“It is different with me.”

He frowns and as he gets closer he reaches for her arms. Hinata knows he’s right.

“You know it.”

She does. And she wishes she could accept this without having so much trouble. She wishes she could keep her father away from her. She wishes it didn’t hurt her to deny him.

But it does. Somehow, for some reason, the moment she heard he was here her first instinct was to go to him. Somehow, without her being able to understand why, thinking of disappointing him is out of the question.

“I… I want to g-go.”

She averts her eyes, because she can’t face her cousin now. Neji squeezes her arm and his next words are low, a whisper.

“I understand.”

•····························•····························•

Her father is sitting in the room with an air around him that shows no emotion. Hinata’s steps falter at the sight, but his gaze doesn’t follow. His eyes are fixed in front of him, and Hinata is only able to look him in the eyes when she’s sitting and Neji is next to her, a little behind. A guard. An assistant.

She waits for a signal. Loses herself in the white eyes of her father and realizes that she is the one who has to start talking when the silence drags on far too long for comfort.

Her father remains silent and Hinata wonders if he would keep on being silent even if she decided to keep quiet.

She doesn’t. The role of being a good host ingrained in her body.

“Father,” she says. Her breathing controlled, her body perfectly positioned. “It is good to s-see you again.” She winces as she stutters, fears a berating coming.

“It is good to see you again, too.”

It’s weird. Seeing her father waiting for her to speak first. Being in a position where she controls the situation.

It’s weird. Because she thought that even in here, even now, her father would impose himself. Would act like he did back home.

He doesn’t.

She is lost in thought and Hiashi can’t help but stare at her stomach. Big and obvious beneath her clothes.

“How far along are you?”

Hinata brings her hands to her belly immediately after, as if to keep her baby away from this conversation.

“Twenty- twenty-eight weeks n-now.”

Hiashi nods, then forces the words out of his mouth, “Congratulations.”

His daughter looks up with disbelief at his words and says nothing. He had thought he knew her so well. Had thought he could read her like an open book. But now she remains silent and looks at him with questions she does not share.

And if she doesn’t ask her questions he can’t answer.

Silence fills the room again and Hiashi steals a look at Neji, who looks straight at the floor in front of him with the blankest of faces. Just like Hiashi had taught him.

He hadn’t entertained the idea of being welcomed. But he certainly hadn’t entertained the idea either of being… received like this.

His daughter looks like he’s supposed to lash out at any moment and Neji sits tense like an arrow about to be released at any moment.

“Wha- what… What do I owe the h-honor of your visit, f-father?”

“You didn’t write to me.”

The moment the words leave his mouth Hiashi wishes he didn’t say anything. What a childish reason. What a lame excuse.

“I… I d-did,” his daughter lies and Hiashi realizes now more than ever that maybe… this whole situation didn’t bother her as much as him.

Hiashi’s eyes travel to his nephew, his stance so formal he can only feel proud for him. There is a voice at the back of his head telling him to let this go. To understand that this was a choice and not an obstacle, not a problem he had to solve.

It’s frustration what makes him speak. “I know Neji is the one who wrote all the letters you sent.”

Hinata and Neji startle with the slightest of movements, and Hinata’s eyes look at her father with a growing feeling of shame. How could he-?

“Do not forget I was the one who taught you penmanship, Hinata.” Aside from his words, there isn’t even the barest of signs to show there will be a conversation ensuing. Hiashi breathes in deep, lets out a shaky breath, “you too, Neji. I taught you both, I know how to recognize your writing,” Hiashi begins to stand, making sure his clothes don’t wrinkle on the way up, “or the way you fake Hinata’s writing, for that matter.”

His daughter looks up to him, and as always, her eyes fill with questions she doesn’t express.

But Hiashi now can guess what is it she expects of him, “Don’t worry, I’m leaving now.”

He stands with his back to the children and starts putting on his haori with conscious and deliberately slow movements.

“Did you come here now because Lord Naruto is not present?” Neji asks.

“No,” Hiashi answers, “it just happened to be when I had free time, I had no idea.”

Hiashi finishes putting on his haori and takes his long hair out to his back. There are no further attempts to ask anything to him as he makes his way to the door. He steals one last glance at his daughter. At her pregnant belly.

“I wish for you to have a smooth delivery and a healthy baby.” He bows as he offers the words. Stops a few more seconds just looking at her from the door.

“Why… wh-why didn’t you c-come to my wedding c-ceremony?”

A second. “The timing didn’t match, I was busy with the clan.”

Hinata wants to ask what was going on that he couldn’t come, but her father bows one last time before he starts closing the sliding door.

“Take care, Hinata.”

Hiashi stands behind the door casting a shadow for a moment too long and then he hurries away.

He lost his opportunity to ask for permission to see his grandchild after they’re born.

•····························•····························•

“Are you all right?”

“Y-yes.”

Neji stares at the sliding door, as if expecting for Lord Hiashi to come back any moment now.

“I don’t… I don’t really understand why Lord Hiashi came here.”

Hinata doesn’t know nor understand either, but she knows one thing for sure.

“Can you h-help me go back to my r-room?”

“Of course,” Neji stands in a flash, offering his hand as support and pressing the other to her back. “Are you feeling… all right?”

“Yes, just a little…” she doesn’t finish and Neji doesn’t keep on probing.

Neji takes her to her bedroom, makes sure she’s comfortable and leaves her alone. She doesn’t say anything and doesn’t ask him to stay. So he leaves. He’s sure… Lord Hiashi coming here rattled her nerves.

Hinata stays alone and eats alone. The night comes in a second and Shikamaru comes see her when he can. She’s all right. Nothing happened. He has nothing to worry about. He leaves with the same face Neji had given her in the afternoon.

Hinata wishes… she had said more. Wishes she had had the courage and strength to talk. On her terms, on her home.

And she didn’t.

She couldn’t.

She’s going to be a mother and she’s incapable of talking like an adult to her own father.

The faces Neji and Shikamaru gave her only serve to make her feel… worse.

She feels bad.

From the moment her heart started thumping inside her chest knowing her father was here.

From the moment she understood fear was the smallest of the feelings inside of her.

Her father had come to see her and she had felt excited at the idea he had come for her.

She hated it. The moment she understood it. She hated it. Hated it as she laid eyes on him, hated it as she felt guilt over his accusations, hated it as she accepted his reasons for not attending her wedding with a readiness that scared her.

Hated it as she wished for him to stay longer.

She wants to hate him so bad. Has wished to be able to be spiteful all her life. But she can’t. She can’t, she can’t. She can only remember his kindness, can only justify his wrongdoings.

She loathes the fact that all of her resolve crumbled down the moment he came back into her life.

She can live without him. Wants to live without him.

But only one word from him and she would accept him back into her life.

As the tears fall and she tries to clear her thoughts, she grabs one of Naruto’s clothes to their bed. With his scent around her, making as if he’s right beside her, she sniffles once more and falls asleep.

#naruto #naruhina #Naruto Uzumaki #Hinata Hyuga #uzumaki naruto #hyuga hinata #fanfiction #fanfic #beast tamers #ch.11 #part 2 #binge watched squid games the other day #great show #also Hinata is going through some shit okay #she didn't expect Hiashi to just up and come visit her #take care #see you next week!

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eat0crow · 4 years ago

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Not So Dead

Summary: Kakashi’s regretted a lot of things in his life. More than he can ever hope to put a number on. He never imagined not being more philosophical would make its way onto the list.

Notes: Written for @amusl02 as part of the @akatsuki-gift-exchange. I”m so sorry this is late!

You siad you wanted angst so I tried to be emo about it :D

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Kakashi’s never cared enough to worry about whatever bastardization of the afterlife his soul would end up in.

Most shinobi’s don’t as a general rule. How can they when they stain their hands with enough blood to fill hundreds of small basins for a paycheck? Sure, there’s a few like the Hyuga and the Uchiha, whose clan lore glamorizes battle so much they have a clear picture of their soul’s destination. But the general population of nins are more than happy with understanding that wherever their souls go...it can’t be anywhere good, and leaving it at that.

Avoiding the afterlife is a much more pressing, present, concern.

But fuck if the information wouldn’t come in handy right about now. He’s regretted a lot of things in his life. More than he can ever hope to put a number on. He never imagined not being more philosophical would make its way onto the list.

He should have listened to Sasuke when he’d had been explaining, in excruciating detail, to Naruto and Sakura just where the departed go, last night when they set up camp. He would have, but the temptation to remind Sasuke that technically, he was oversharing clan secrets, had been at the tip of his tongue and—

Seeing Sasuke start to open up, even if it was over something morose like death, with progress that was downright groundbreaking for him, kept Kakashi from saying anything. He’d never heard the boy talk even a third as much. So what was the harm in him giving away lore.

Sasuke is the clan, it’s his right to decide what gets guarded fiercely and what gets given away freely.

Tuning the kids conversation out, while immediately satisfying, evidently, had been a mistake. Because Kakashi has no fucking clue where he is. Probably not hell? He feels like his soul would be a lot more tormented than it is right now, if it was. Definity not heaven. Not ever heaven. Not after Rin. Or Obito. Or Kushina. Or Minato. Or—

All he knows for a fact is that he isn’t alive anymore. He can’t be. And it’s not the darkness that’s telling him that, not the nothingness or the weightlessness or the cold that seeps into his bones and bites at him harder than the chakra exhaustion that knocked him out had.

No, it’s none of that.

No.

It’s Obito that lets him know that he’s no longer part of the world of the living.

Obito, who’s older than he was the last time Kakashi saw him, who’s his age, which makes sense and doesn’t at the same time. Death, he supposes, gets to make its own set of rules. Whatever they are, aren’t nearly as important as the fact that Obito is here.

Not as the boy Kakashi remembers, who’d been sunshine and summer, warm smiles and endless hope. Or even as any of the variants he’s spent years creating as the answers to half his ‘what ifs’.

No, he’s here and all hard edges. Mangled and torn and cold and so much more beautiful in that he exists. That he’s in front of him. Kakashi has missed him, more with every precious person he’s lost, and the longer he’s lived. Seeing him with his arms crossed, with an orange, swirled mask dangling from his side that screams Naruto, is like stepping back in time. He feels like a genin. Albeit one with slightly more trauma, not to say he didn't already have his fair share than.

The glare on his face is like none of the expressions Kakashi can remember from his friend, but exactly what he always imagined when thinking about them meeting again in the next life. It causes a weird sense of validation to flood him. How could any of the people Kakashi failed possibly do anything but hate him?

Saving Kakashi was the last thing Obito had done, and for what? Him to turn around and kill Rin? For him to shove his hand through her chest and carve out her heart with lightning? Obito loved Rin, in every way he couldn’t. Didn’t want to, for that matter. Kakashi was happy to let her love him, if it meant she was happy and stayed in his life. Existing in her life, being her friend, was enough—all he was capable of.

Rin, was a butterfly. She was always destined to outgrow him once she found someone who loved her back, in the way she wanted and not just in the ways he could manage. She deserved to. Rin was amazing and wonderful and worth so much more than team seven.

He’d have been more than happy to let her fly away, if fate hadn’t been a bitch that decided thirteen was old enough for her to die.

“Bakakashi.” There’s a warning in Obito’s voice, his eyes are murderous, and it goes against every single one of Kakashi’s instincts to stay where he is. Not that he thinks he can move much. Apparently dying doesn’t come with a healing session, he still has all his injuries, and he feels just as drained as he did in Wave.

“Obito,” he finally says, he’s doing nothing to disguise any of the complicated knot of emotion that’s had more than a decade to tangle up from his voice. Maybe Obito will hear it and be able to understand them more than Kakashi himself does.

All he knows is that he’s feeling something.

Whether it’s a good something remains to be seen.

Though, he doubts that he can be part of any something that’s good.

Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, they’re proof of that. He’d worried so much about them getting to keep their childhoods, he hadn’t actually prepared them for the reality of shinobi life. Despite team 7’s history of cursed C ranks, he’d let them take this mission with nothing more than academy skills and D ranks under their belts. Fuck.

And now he’d gone and died on them. He’d left them behind in the middle of Wave with no one.

Desperately, he hopes they have the common sense to terminate their mission and return to the village.

Realistically he very much doubts they do.

“Pay attention to me, God damn it,” Obito hisses at him, voice sharp-edged and dripping with venom. He’s standing at Kakashi’s feet, kunai angled toward his throat. When did he get there? It’s hard to focus in wherever the fuck they are. “I guess some things never change, huh?”

“That’s not true,” he answers, he can’t stop himself. It’s Obito. No amount of post mortem introspection is going to prevent him from being at least a little bit of a bastard to him. “I’m taller than you now.”

Obito’s breath catches. He freezes, goes impossibly still, his fingers curling around the hilt of his knife so tightly his arm shakes. “You don’t get it, do you?” That’s not his angry tone. No, Obito's beyond that. This is his furious one. The one Kakashi never actually heard but always assumed he had. “Unbelievable. Fifteen years. After fifteen fucking years, here I am, a living corpse standing over you with a knife to your god damned throat and you still won’t take me seriously.”

“That’s not true,” Kakashi says, only, his words come out thick, slurred together around his tongue and the black spots thickening in his vision. “I always pay attention to you.”

How could he not?

Above him, Obito looks seconds away from dismembering him. He says...something. All Kakashi can hear is the rush of blood in his ears. Whatever cutting remark that Obito has to say—that Kakashi deserves to hear—is lost over the sound of his breathing.

He doesn’t want to pass out. Not when he’s just gotten Obito back and there’s a good chance he’ll wake up somewhere else, alone. He doesn’t know how this whole afterlife thing works. He’s terrified that if he closes his eyes, he won’t have the chance to find out.

It doesn’t seem to be up to him, though. The darkness keeps slipping into his vision, the cotton clouding his brain getting thicker with every second he forces himself to stay conscious.

The last thing he sees before he's swept away in the waves of chakra exhaustion is Obito’s face, hovering inches from his own with something that might have been concern flashing across it.

Kakashi’s next return to the land of the not so living (purgatory?), is a bit easier. There’s less of the bone-deep cold from before and more of the floating sensation. Like he’s stuck somewhere with just enough gravity to keep him steady in one place. He doesn’t hurt as badly, the only aches he feels are the ones he’s always had. It would be stranger for him to wake up with them gone, so he counts himself fully healed.

He pushes himself up into a sitting position, his muscles stiff and protesting even with the simple movement. His side is tender, but, considering Kakashi remembers his ribs being broken by that fucking overgrown sword, it’s nothing more than an inconvenience.

“It’s not the same if you roll over and die,” a quiet voice says, off to his left. Kakashi blinks, his mask is gone, so is his hitai-ate. All he can do is run his hands over his face and blink the last bits of sleep from his vision. Obito’s breath doesn’t catch when he turns to look at him, which makes sense, assuming he was the one to take his mask off in the first place. And really, who else is there to do it? “I have to be the one to kill you.”

“Sorry,” he manages after what feels like a small eternity. His brain hasn’t caught up with his tongue just yet. “You can. If you want to.”

Keeping his shoulders intentionally relaxed, his movements loose and lazy in a way that takes effort, Kakashi reaches toward his thigh, grabbing the tanto still strapped there. For a moment he weights the blade in his hand. It's standard issue, the same one given out to all jounin. Nothing remarkable about it.

Handle out, he offers it up to Obito.

And Obito stares, for a long endless moment that stretches into the next. Around them the landscape echoes the tension in his shoulders, the dark grey nothing rising up into jagged peaks, sharpening with every fraction of tension that makes its way into his frame. “Just like that. After everything, you’re not going to fight back?”

“I would,” Kakashi says, looking away first. “If it was anyone else.”

“Then why?” Obito asks, searching.

Kakashi cuts him off before he can continue. “Because you deserve to. Obito, I’m the reason you died, if anyone has the right to run a blade through me it’s you.”

Long, spindly fingers curl around the handle of the blade, and even though they don’t touch his skin, Kakashi can feel the phantom sensations of them across his hand. “I’m not killing you for me, dumbass.”

Kakashi swallows hard around the lump in his throat. He still doesn’t turn to face him. It’s weird seeing Obito with only a single Sharingan flashing red in his face. In a way, it’s a bit like seeing his own reflection mirrored back to him, and Kakashi has never been good with looking at his own face. “I know, and if Rin or Minato or Kushina was here I would let them kill me, too. But they’re not.”

“So what,” Obito scoffs, harsh and cruel as he throws the tanto sheath. “I’m the consolation prize? A get out of jail free card? I’m here so I might as well absolve you of your guilt like a convenient little escape-goat, is that right? Do you even care?”

Obito laughs. It sounds like a sob. Like something wretched from a wounded animal that’s hurting and has been hurting for so long it’s forgotten how to feel any differently. Kakashi hates that sound, he really really hates it.

Before he can help himself, Kakashi turns, grabbing the hand not clutching the blade between them in a white-knuckled grip that looks painful, and pulls. The tanto goes chattering forward and Obito is mashed against him into something that might resemble a hug and what feels more like a lifeline.

“Of course I care,” Kakashi says into the crown of Obito's hair. He smells like clay and metal and something not quite natural that doesn’t matter nearly as much as his warmth against his chest. “You’re not an escape-goat Obito. You’re the one I owe the most to. I’m sorry I couldn’t find some way to make it up to you before I died and ended up here.”

Against him, Obito stiffens further, pushing away with bony elbows that dig into his stomach until clawed fingers make their way into the skin of his shoulders. Obito holds himself there, arms-length away and propped up enough for Kakashi to have to crane his neck to make eye contact. “Wait. What? Kakashi, where the fuck do you think you are?”

“I’m not entirely sure,” Kakashi says, doing his best to make his voice come out breezily. “I don’t know anything about the afterlife”s geography.”

Obito pinches his side, hard. “You’re not—Bakakashi—I’m not dead. Neither are you.”

“Wait, what?”

“How you—this whole time you thought you were dead?” Obito shakes him, throwing his whole body weight into moving Kakashi’s upper torso. “You were going to let me kill you a second ago!”

“In the metaphorical sense.” Kakashi raises an eyebrow at him, the confused look on his face natural with not even a bit of exaggeration. “I figured after you got your justice, I’d move on to whatever hell comes next.”

“You were bleeding when you came here. You’re sitting in a patch of dried blood right now.”

“I haven’t died before, I don’t know how death works.” Kakashi shrugs.

For all he knows the afterlife could just be a really bland version of...well life.

Maybe if he wasn’t recovering from the after-effects of what he now knows for a fact had originally been a concussion, he’d be a lot more suspicious. Probably not though, because even without the head injury he’d have a lap full of Obito and there is absolutely no way he could be skeptical about his living or dead status with his arms around the ghost of a boy he watched die.

“My heart's beating, you idiot.” Obito protests, reaching down and placing Kakashi’s palm flat against his chest. On reflex, Kakashi tries to jerk it away, the only time he ever touches anyone's chest is when he’s tasked with carving out their heart. Obito’s grip is crushing, though. He holds his hand there firmly in place, not allowing even a fraction of give. “Don’t you think It would be a lot more still if I was a ghost.”

Kakashi wants to say he doesn’t know. Wants to point out that he can’t feel Obito’s heartbeat through the overwhelming panic that's nipping across Kakashi’s skin—and fuck, if he didn’t already have enough triggers, he should have expected to have a little trauma surrounding this. He can’t get the words out of his throat, though. Not through his breathing, that’s coming out in harsh pants. Not over the panic attack that had no business ruining this and is a good chunk of time past due.

For his part, Obito just watches him through it. Immovable as he keeps his grip welded around Kakashi’s wrist.

Eventually, after however long time takes to move here, he forces his mind to steady itself and compartmentalize this into the little boxes in the far-off corners labeled do not revisit. When he finally does feel, not okay, he’s too shaky for okay, but solid, he makes the effort to feel what Obito’s trying to show him.

When he does, he’s met with the steady thump of a heart beating under his hand. It feels like a bird, beating its wings—and that’s enough of the fragile animal metaphors for today, thank you very much. “Oh. Oh you’re real.”

Obito blinks at him, and the final bits of anger that have steadily been falling away, drains out of him. “Yeah,” Obito breathes, letting go of Kakashi’s hand, finally, and slumping forward, back into his arms. “Yeah, Kakashi, I’m real.”

“You’re alive,” Kakashi whispers. His grip must be painful, but he can’t stop himself from tightening his hold. Afraid that Obito will slip away as some figment of his imagination the second he eases up. “You’re alive.”

“Come on now,” Obito huffs. Something hot makes its way to the crook of Kakashi’s neck. He can’t be bothered to check and see which one of them is crying. “You didn’t think I’d actually let Iwa kill me, did you?”

Yes.

Yes, Kakashi very much did. If he had suspected for even a second that Obito was still out there, somewhere, alive and whole, he would have hunted him down with enough vigor to make his ninken jealous.

But saying that feels cheap when actions speak louder than words and enough time has passed for anything along that vein to ring as hollow platitudes.

Kakashi thinks Obito expects him to get angry at him, to demand to know where he’s been for the last fifteen years. Don’t get him wrong, Kakashi wants to know, he really desperately does. But the answer isn’t nearly as important as the fact that Obito is alive and whole and with him, so instead he settles on asking, “Where is here, then.”

Obito lets out a breath, slumping impossibly more against him. “This is a part of Kamui. Somehow when you exhausted yourself, you managed to find your way into the pocket dimension created by the Sharingan. Since we share the same set, we can access the same place. You’re lucky I was already here. You really would have been dead if I wasn’t.”

“Oh,” Kakashi says, simply. He supposes, in a way it makes sense. Their Mangekyou can banish objects, it has to have a place to send them to. Maybe he caught himself in the reflection of Zabuza’s water prison.

Kaskshi closes his eyes, content to just hold Obito there. It’s not like he’s gotten the chance to be close to anyone recently, physically or otherwise. So while he’s hyper aware of every inch of skin Obito is touching, it feels good. In a reassuring, alive, kind of way.

They lapse into a comfortable silence, the only sounds around being their combined breathing which quickly takes the place of white noise.

Obito’s the one to break it, turning his face against Kakashi’s chest and looking up. “Hey, Bakakashi, if I asked to kill you right now, would you let me?” His voice is soft without the venom in it, with nothing to hide the uncertainty.”

Kakashi doesn’t have to think about his answer before he responds, “Yes.”

He’s not his father, he’s not about to throw himself down on his own blade just to run from his ghosts. But, he thinks if one of his ghosts, the one that’s not quite dead yet, wants him to be, that’s okay. It’s different.

“You’d really give me your life, just like that?”

“Just like that,” Kakashi agrees, because it really is that simple. For him at least.

He hopes though, that Obito will want to wait just a little bit longer to kill him. Kakashi’s waited so long to see him again, he’d hate to have to wait until the end of Obito’s life to do it. Though, that would be fitting, in an ironic sort of way.

“In that case,” Obito starts, moving to stand up. Kakashi helps him the best he can, supporting him with a gentle hand against his back even if he misses the warmth instantly. “Will you come with me?”

Part of Kakashi wants to ask Obito what he means, won’t he come back with him? Back to the village, to Konoha and….and a stone carved with the name of almost everyone that made the place a home.

A large part of Kakashi, the part that makes him bite his tongue, reminds him that Obito’s had fifteen years to make his way back to the leaf. Back to him. If he was going to return to the village it would have happened by now. No. If they’re going anywhere it’s going to be on Obito’s terms.

This time it’s Kakashi’s turn to chase after him.

So he doesn’t have to think about it before responding, “Okay.” The only thing truly holding him back is….Naruto, who won’t get another instructor who will look at him as anything but a monster and fuck, he can’t abandon him again, not after finally being allowed to see him. And Sakura who’s going to be flushed out as a paper nin, which is a complete waste of her potential. And Sasuke, who’s going to be snatched up by Danzo’s grimy hands the second he comes back to the village with no one to keep him in the light and away from the shadows and— “But I have some kids I need to pick up first.”

#naruto #crow writes #obito uchiha #kakashi hatake #kakaobi #kakashi x obito #akatsuki gift exchange

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secret-engima · 5 years ago

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So in your Naruto FF cover where Noct/Yoru is believed to be a god, what are the reactions of the families of the Chocobros? Cause their Clan member just got poached but they've also been really strange ever since their near death experience that woke up their memories (or did they always remember)? Especially the Hyuuga because they basically had Hikaru/Ignis enslaved and branded. Or even some povs from the Chocobros. (Poor Prompto, being an Aburame lol)

Ooooo tricky. Kinda depends on the family?

Lemme see- Ignis’s family are Most Displeased. They are super possessive of their eyeballs and treat their branch members as slaves anyway so they see it more like theft than a powerful man claiming a friend. Of course, there’s not much they can DO about it considering it’s Yoru and he burns Ignis’s seal off in .05 seconds and also threatens to burn the rest of the main branch to the ground if they touch Ignis again (not in so many words, but his magic does flatten a few of the members with its intensity when they got too close to Ignis.

Tbh that’s probably a blood grudge the Hyuga hold until Naruto’s time even though they stay in Konoha and Ignis is known among the hyuga not only as the blind member but the Stolen Hyuga. A warning to all hyuga of what will happen if they are not careful with their eyes and other such nonsense that only works because younger Hyuga don’t interact with Yoru enough to know that he’s a really chill dude and Ignis is happy where he is.

The Inuzuka are not too thrilled at first, but more laidback about it? Gladio still visits and they can tell that he’s Super Happy about being reunited with Yoru, and Yoru is polite and respectful to them and their dogs like him and you can never go wrong with the opinion of dogs in an Inuzuka’s eyes.

The Aburame ... are honestly the most chill about this? They aren’t too thrilled at first, but Yoru already has a Hyuga and an Inuzuka by then, so there is a precedent, and after a bit of watching it’s clear that these four are basically a Hive unto themselves and Prompto is happy to be there, is healthy and well cared for so they just kinda- shrug and move on. Maybe use the fact that one of their own is “Favored by Yoru” to their advantage during tricky Council meetings generations later.

The oddness and memories thing were long commented on, but ... mostly unnoticed in Hikaru’s case? Among the Branch Clan it was noted, but no one said anything or really thought about it because honestly I doubt the Hyuga have never had an Incident where Branch Members get a bit ... weird post Sealing and post a traumatic experience. That’s a chakra doohickey tattooed to your SKULL, side-effects are not impossible. The Inuzuka noticed it too, but Gladio was still ... himself, just a big more jaded and mature so they let it slide.

The Aburame maybe spent a good few years trying to figure out what the freak happened with Prompto though. Because they’ve never had a bug-a-phobic member before and it’s weird. They love him tho. He’s their disaster child.

Tbh in the Warring States Era nobody was really focused on mental health. If you were loyal to the Clan and could fight that was all that really mattered, weirdo personality changes aside.

Uhhh POVs but only short snips, and pls forgive any inconsistencies with previously establish AU lore my brain is tired and I may not keep all the details 100% straight. Just roll with it.:

Ignis:

After a lifetime of being blind, being able to SEE everything, all around, at any given time is unnerving. This entire era is unnerving and Hikaru has bitten his tongue more than once to keep from railing against it. Against sending CHILDREN, some not much older than toddlers out into the field, against the brand on his head and the heads of so many others that burns on the whim of a Main Branch member.

He keeps his head down, but inside ... he hates. More than a little bit. He is a fractured piece of glass and he knows too much pressure with make him snap, so he does his utmost to avoid those situations (because if he snaps children will get hurt even more than now and nothing will change in the Clan).

Then one day they go to meet Hashirama and Madara, to speak of peace, and of course Hikaru has heard of Yoru, the mysterious forest spirit that supposedly watches over the new village and ensures no fighting happens, but he does not actually think this Yoru will be all that impressive.

He never expects it to be NOCTIS. Noctis, who looks at him with hope and wonder in his eyes, who looks so very unchanged despite lifetimes, who rises and calls him brother and Ignis and friend and CLAIMS him in a way the Clan Head cannot dispute. No one can dispute against Noctis, because he is still a Lucis Caelum and a king and to him, their chakra is pebbles in an ocean.

And for the first time in a long time, Ignis is happy. Ignis has hope.

...

Gladio

Gladiolus loves his new family, and he knows they love him back. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss his old life like a wound in his side. Iris’s presence makes it a bit better but also not, because war is cruel and no one cares that she is still so young (older than the other Clans children sent to the field, because Inuzuka treasure their puppies, but still far too YOUNG to the mind of a Shield and Crownsguard). He loves his canine partner and the Pack, he loves that they don’t really question his memories, how his personality has matured and changed since the incident that woke him up.

Even so...

Even so, the absence of his brothers is a bleeding wound in his heart, and when the Clan Head looks at him, Gladio knows the man can see that in his heart of hearts, Gladio is not part of their Pack. He is family, but he has another Pack, another Alpha he swore to a lifetime ago, and that loyalty still howls in his soul far stronger than even the ties of blood and Pack and love that binds him to the Inuzuka.

So perhaps that is why the Clan Head does not look as outraged or surprised as he could have been when Yoru finds him, when NOCTIS looks back at Gladio from an eerily familiar yet not face. That is why, while the Hyuga sputter in shock when Gladio hugs Ignis tight and spins him in a circle for joy, the Inuzuka just watch with comprehension dawning in their eyes. Gladio looks to his Clan Head and says he’s going with Yoru and there is not request for permission. Just a courtesy of announcement. Because THIS- this is his Pack, his Alpha, his Beta, his brothers and littermates. He will follow them above all.

And the Clan Head lets him go.

...

Prompto:

Prompto wants to know who he ticked off in his past life that had a say in the next, because he HAD to have ticked off someone. Why else would he have been reborn into a clan of LIVING HIVE PEOPLE???????

He thinks he distresses them- no, he knows he does, when he flinches from the clan techniques and hives, from the little insects and their pheromones that the Clan uses as essentially an insectoid, chakra-based texting system amongst themselves. He knows he stresses out his hive for a long time, flinching from the feel of them inside him, from the skitter of their legs and wings and the whisper of their tiny, simple little thoughts in his own when they talk to him.

It .... it’s bad for a while. A WHILE. Bad enough the Clan won’t let him fight (which is fine with him) but also bad enough he loses weight and can’t sleep from the hive buzzing buzzing buzzing under his skin from his distress toward them.

It’s his great great grandma that saves him, quite literally, because an Aburame that rejects the hive is an Aburame who dies, not by any malicious intent on the Clans’ part but just- biologically. Just like starving to death will kill him, rejecting his Hive will kill him too and he KNOWS that but he can’t just- turn off his fear.

Then one day Elder Maya, the oldest living Aburame, sends for him. He comes to her private house with shivering skin and jumping senses and the hyper-awareness of the things inside him buzzing buzzing buzzing trying to remove the source of his distress and making it worse because they WERE his distress-.

Elder Maya takes his shaking hands and leads him to her garden.

It’s- it’s beautiful. It’s so beautiful he could cry for his long lost camera of another life. There are colors everywhere, blues and greens, reds, pinks, whites, and mixed splashes of yellow and purple- flowers that stand tall, flowers that droop, flowers dangling from the vines growing up tree trunks.

And everywhere there were flowers, there were butterflies. Butterflies and ladybugs, the two insects he wasn’t completely creeped out by because they were so pretty and photogenic, and for a moment Prompto is so awed his shaking stops, the Hive inside him goes quiet. A butterfly flaps lazily over to him, a glorious thing with vivid blue wings the color of magic and black dots and swirls that remind him of fire. It settles on his hand and he doesn’t flinch from it like he does the kikachu of the clan, just stays quiet and watches it with a bit of awe.

“You are not scared of these ones,” Elder Maya hums.

“U-um ... no,” he whispers as he watches it, “they’re ... pretty. Cute. They don’t ... they don’t look like they’ll hurt me.” And that’s not really his issue with the Kikaichu, but he can’t explain a phobia to ninja, not well anyway.

“Good,” says his great great grandmother, but not with her lips, with the soft splash of impression-scent-sensation from the butterfly on his hand and he gapes as he realizes THIS is her hive. These ladybugs and butterflies are Elder Maya’s hive. He stares at her and she adjusts the dark glasses she wears, “I will give you some of mine. Why? So you can cultivate a new Hive that you will not be afraid of.”

And she does. And it’s CREEPY, but also ... kinda not? It’s ... it still freaks him out to have bugs under his skin, but these ones ... he knows these ones. He chose them, he hatched them, he raised them. They are beautiful and deadly and soft looking and can strip flesh from a target in seconds and he wishes he had a camera because it would be so cool to have butterflies that can pose on command.

It’s a rocky road, but his shaking stops, and his weight goes back to normal, and his sleep schedule returns, and all the Clan breathes a sigh of relief when they see Prompto ambling around, not flinching from the glittery blue butterflies flitting on his shoulders.

And it’s not like his old life, his brothers he misses so badly, but its kinda nice to never be alone. Wherever he goes, his Hive goes, and his new Queens are kinda ... bossy almost and its endearing in a creepy kinda way. The only thing that would make life better, make it perfect (other than to not need a Hive in the first place) would be to have his brothers again.

And then they go to the new village of Konoha, and he meets the famed and terrifying Yoru, who isn’t terrifying at all, but is instead old and tired and blue eyed, and a fish lover and when he smiles, crooked and shy at Prompto all his Hive SINGS under his skin because he KNOWS.

And suddenly the world is perfect again.

#SE asks #spideypoolalways asks #Not Everyday is a Good Day (Live Anyway) verse

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wakaoujisenhime · 5 years ago

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OMG! Headcanons about Akashi and Kise was really amazing! I fall in love with your writing! Thank you a lot! Can I ask friendship headcanons about Vorpal Swords team and reader in the training camp before match with Jabberwock? She cares about them because Riko and Momoi can't do it?

A/N: I’m so glad to hear that you liked them! So with this one I first had to explain how you got to know them, how you befriended them and finally how the trainings camp passed. I explicitly concentrated on the GoM members only, so if you’d like to hear how it would play out with the other three guys make sure to tell me! But anyway...I hope you enjoy this!

Tags: VS x reader ✅ SFW ✅ friendship ✅ slight fluff ✅

━━━━☆ ━━━━☆ ━━━━☆

So first of let me set the relationship between you guys straight:

back in the days you were also a student in Seirin high school, but unlike the others you weren’t a member of the basketball club

one day you saw them training and you were instantly in awe, impressed by their skills, will to play and their bodies 👀

all in all: you wanted to know more about them

luck was on your side since you knew Riko (she once was your tutor back when you were a first year and since then you had become great friends)

you once asked if you could watch them during their training and she just grinned widely as an answer

after that one time, you became a regular spectator and you sometimes even contributed to their training plan

some months passed and your name was soon in the club member list under the title of manager

and that’s how you got to know the rest of the Vorpal Swords team

your relationship with the Generation if Miracles was actually quite ok?

in the beginning when Kuroko explained his reason to leave them you actually felt sorry for both them and Kuroko

you basically met them in the same order as they appeared in the anime (so: Kise, Midorima, Aomine, Murasakibara and Akashi)

Now let me tell you something about your individual relationship with the Vorpal swords team:

1. Kagami:

you two are basically best friends

he got your back and you got his

the two of you get teased a lot by the others since you very often spend the night at his house (it’s comfier there than where you live that’s why)

a thing you two often do is an eating contest (in which you miserably fail every single time, but it’s fun nonetheless)

2. Kuroko:

he is your ‘son’

one time you accidentally called him that and since then it became quite the insider joke between you and the whole team

if he was embarrassed about it, no one knew thanks to his poker face

all in all you guys actually share some of the same tastes/hobbies (milkshake, books, ...) and they are quite often the main subject you guys talk about

if a new book of your/his favorite author was published you’d arrange a meeting and go buy it

3. Kise:

this man is literally your beauty specialist

the first time he saw you, he just knew that the way you dressed failed to bring out your inner beauty so...he basically kidnapped you one day and went on a shopping spree with you

since then he would always request you to call him on Facetime so he could evaluate the outfit you wore/wanted to wear

overall you guys have the same bubbly personality so you get along just perfectly

4. Midorima:

“(Y/N), here’s your lucky item for today, oh and by the way, I’ve listened to your horoscope for today...“

some people wonder if you ever regretted telling him that you were also listening/reading your horoscope from time to time

you could never forget the face he made when he heard that

since that day he always made sure to keep you up to date

sometimes it annoyed you just a little, but the pout he unconsciously made when someone asked you if you weren’t bothered by his constant talking was so out of character that you caught yourself thinking that he was cute

5. Aomine:

he is actually the hardest one to deal with (for you at least)

the proverb ‘opposites attract’ doesn’t apply to you guys at all

your relationship is basically like how his is with Momoi, but you get way more annoyed with him than she does (their ‘childhood friends’ status is to blame...)

but there are times when he is the exact type of person you need

when you were annoyed by something/someone and just need your peace, he is the man you’ll call up first (and vice versa)

the two of you would meet up somewhere where the both of you were comfortable at and probably lie down/or lean on a wall, saying nothing

that’s how it would play out the majority of the time

the silence was much more comfortable than any ‘Everything’s going to be alright/Don’t give up/ ...’ line

as to when you guys would actually talk about your problems...well that heavily depends on your guys’ mood

6. Murasakibara:

this man just loves you

wanna know why?

well...remember that street basketball match where you guys first met Himuro and Murasakibara?

yeah well you oh-so-conveniently had brought some sandwiches, drinks and sweets with you, just in case the boys got hungry/thirsty

out of politeness you offered the two Yosen boys some of your sweets

Himuro (being equally polite) refused, but Murasakibara...

“Is this...the premium bag with the super new and rare gummy bear taste?!”

“Y-Yes?”

his embrace almost crushed you...

that day he happily made you his sweets supplier

when you met there was no greeting, no ‘hey (Y/N)-chin how are you?’

he just opened his mouth and waited for you to put some of his favorite gummies in there

the first time he did that, you were caught by surprise and had nothing prepared for him

Murasakibara got so sad that he basically pouted for hours

that sight made your heart ache so bad that after you guys finished training, you took the purple giant by his hand and went to the candy shop in your neighborhood buying and taking notes on all of his favorite candies, so that you could be prepared for the next time

7. Akashi:

uff...where should I start

the first time you met him was basically alongside Kagami

you know...the scissor scene

yeah.......

anyway, your first thoughts were actually something along the lines of ‘is that man ok?’

you watched all of Rakuzan’s games and you just hated his guts and arrogance

the moment Seirin won against his team, you should’ve been the proudest person alive but you weren’t...

you actually felt pity for him and you just casually asked if he wanted to play some shogi with you

his answer was of course: yes

so during the shogi game you guys decided to talk about every possible topic you could think of and it was so fun, that you actually apologized to him for all the prejudices you had against him

he giggled and accepted your apology saying that it was something he was already used to

ouch?

oh btw the shogi game result.....?

you lost

And now FINALLY the trainingscamp:

it all started with a phone call you got from Riko

“Hey (Y/N), sorry to call you out of the blue like that, but I have a little favour to ask of you..“

and here you were...next to Riko’s father, sitting next to him in his minivan, with the whole GoM talking/bickering in the back while driving to a small improvised training camp for five days in order to prepare them for their game against an american basketball team

now as to why only the GoM members were here, while the rest of the boys (Hyuga, Takao and Wakamatsu), Riko and Momo weren’t here

answer: university

they all apparently had a huge test coming up and since the other three guys were the substitute players, they would train with the girls whenever they could, while you were given the task to train the main troupe

the first day was quite relaxing, since you just distributed the rooms amongst you guys, made a training plan, had a short training session and finally had a recollection talk during dinner

when they told you how Kuroko was punched...OH BOY you were ready to drive back yourself and strangle that arrogant prick

day two of the camp was filled with almost nothing but training and some lunch breaks

for the third day you decided to do something fun for the boys

so with the help of Riko’s father you guys prepared some BBQ and you borrowed all of their favorite movies and watched them online while eating, laughing and reminiscing

fourth day was filled with training also

and the final day was simply their (and your) free day, everybody could do whatever they wanted

you actually wanted to use that day to relax, but to your surprise the boys had now organized and dedicated a whole day just for you

seeing them all try and please you by buying you your most favorite things and literally treat you like a princess for a whole day had you teared up

“(Y/N)?! What’s wrong? Are you ok??“

you were so grateful to had gotten to know this guys, that you had actually started crying

the training camp ended on a happy note

a very happy one at that...for both you and them

#knb headcanons #knb fluff #knb x reader #vorpal swords #━𝙺𝙽𝙱 #━𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽'𝚂 𝙴𝙲𝙷𝙾

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oneyanderegirl · 5 years ago

Text

Hiraeth

Genre: One-shot, Angst Rating: T Sasuhina Month 2020 Theme: Day 11 (Hiraeth)

A/N: I wrote this before I wrote day 8/9/10, but I wanted to post them in order so I didn’t get a chance to post this until now. Part of my one-shot series for Sasuhina Month! Hope you enjoy!

Hiraeth - A homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past.

@sasuhinamonth (in case this doesn’t show up in the tags)

The smell of earth and wildflowers overpowered her nose. She could feel the blades of grass tickle the soles of her feet. A gentle breeze passed by her as her silvery eyes tried to make out the surroundings.

She could see an open field of grass that seemed to stretch for miles with no trees in site. Though there was no rain, she could see the gray clouds fill the sky to prevent the sun from reaching in. The land felt unfamiliar, yet a part of her seemed to recognize where this was. However, no matter how hard she tried to think of where this was, she could not come up with anything.

Instinctively, she could feel her feet start to walk without her permission, as if something was pulling her towards a destination. There were no landmarks nor were there any paths that she could see, yet her feet continued on as if her body knew where she was going. She did not know how long she had been walking, but eventually she came to a stop.

There sitting in the middle of the open field was a large raven. Next to it was a small hawk with a broken wing. When the raven saw her, it immediately shield itself in front of the injured hawk as it glared at her.

It was a dream.

Dreams were something that Hinata had become all too familiar with over the past month. Lately, she had been having the same dream. She dreamt of the grass field that now surrounded her. She would then walk around and eventually meet the raven and the injured hawk. The raven would glare at her while trying to protect the small hawk.

She wondered why this scene would often occur in her dreams.

The hawk looked at Hinata.

It had silvery eyes similar to her own. It looked at her with a sadness that Hinata couldn’t understand. The raven looked upset as well. It made her want to help them for a reason she couldn’t explain. But when she tried to go closer to them, a sudden loud rumble startled her and caused her to jump in fright. Looking up at the sky, Hinata saw lightning and thunder started to appear. A heavy downpour of rain immediately followed afterwards.

A gust of wind blew past her, forcing Hinata to close her eyes as she shivered. The cold chill froze the land around her. She could see small icicles that formed on each blade of grass. The flowers had become dead and wilted.

Suddenly, the raven and hawk had disappeared. Instead, what took their place was the back of a man.

A man she didn’t know.

A man she couldn’t recognize.

In front of them was a forest of trees. The trees were frosted with ice and snow. The rain was now a mix of snow and ice. The atmosphere became colder as each second passed. The land around them was dying.

But Hinata didn’t care. All her attention was on the man she couldn’t see.

He wore a black yukata and carried a black sheathed sword on his back. He had raven-black spiked hair that reached just to the end of his neck. Though she couldn’t see his face, she could see that he was as pale as snow. The man was walking away and heading towards the forest.

An unfamiliar sorrow enveloped her heart as she watched him leave her. Hinata didn’t want him to leave. She didn’t understand why she always dreamed of the man. It was always the same man in her dreams. He would always leave her when she saw him. No matter how many times she would call out to him, he would ignore her. And when he finally did leave as the world around them crumbled to pieces, waiting for the wintry chill to send them to their deaths, she would feel her heart cry in heartache.

“ Who are you?” She cried out.

The man stopped walking. He turned slightly towards her, but she still could not make out his face.

“ Are you ready to go home now?” He answered.

Not waiting for her response, the man disappeared into the forest.

Hinata woke up.

The quiet buzzing of the heater echoed the room as she laid in bed. The clock on her nightstand read 4:13 AM. She reached out to open the blinds in an attempt to bring in some light.

It was raining.

The sound of rain brought a loneliness that added to the pain that Hinata was already feeling from her dream. She could feel the dried tears that had been running down her cheeks. It irritated her skin, though she didn’t try to wipe them away. Instead, she opted to head towards the kitchen to brew some hot tea in hopes that she could fall back asleep.

The kitchen was a simple one. A black refrigerator stood alongside a kitchen stovetop that came with an oven. The countertop was made of black marble. There was a small wooden dining table that held a light blue vase filled with white camellia flowers in the middle. Hinata could see a piece of paper underneath the vase, so she carefully grabbed it to read what was written on it.

I’ll be gone for a few days on a mission. Take care of yourself. I’ll be back soon. - Sasuke

Hinata read the note in her hand as she sipped her tea, unsure of how she should feel about it. He was gone again. It seemed that he had been taking on more missions lately. Whether it was to avoid her or not, she did not know. All she could do was stare at the note wondering if he really would be back in a few days or would he take on another mission again?

Sasuke Uchiha.

The man who everyone had said was her lover.

The man who she had been living with since they were twenty-three, though their relationship had been going on far longer than that.

Yet, Hinata could not remember him.

She could not remember a single thing about him. The only thing she could recall was their childhood days when the Uchiha were still the largest rivals with the Hyuga. When their families would compete in power and influence. She could recall their academy days where she had watched the hatred consume the twelve year old in such a way that seemed to make him unapproachable. She recalled him defecting from the village shortly after discovering a small taste of power in order to become even stronger.

Then the Fourth War came.

She remembered at some point, he had switched sides and decided to help Konoha and the other villages fight the war. She remembered the aftermath where countless civilians and shinobi had ended up injured or dead, including her cousin Neji. She remembered at one point, the night before Sasuke had left the village for good, how she had desperately tried to find comfort within the hospital room that he stayed at. She remembered his words clearly, and how they had provided her relief in a time where she was grieving. She remembered seeing him vanish in the morning before she could even thank him for his kind words, despite how unusual that was for the man.

And then nothing.

That was the last thing she could remember.

Memory loss was what they had told her at the hospital. She had suffered from severe memory loss due to becoming inflicted with a poison containing a cursed jutsu. Tsunade had told her that she would have almost died if not for her friend Sakura. They told her that the memories would eventually come back, given time. They had told her to come see them every month for a check up to ensure that things were progressing. They had told her to let Sasuke take her places, show her familiar objects, and tell her stories. They told her to let her friends and families do the same as long as she did not feel overwhelmed. They told her that as long as she kept trying, they’ll eventually come back.

How many months has it been since they had told her that?

Hinata walked to the living room. She could see a futon with dark blue blankets messily spread out across the floor. There were books of all sorts on the sofa and the coffee table next to the futon. There was a TV, though neither of them really ever used it. Next to the living room was another open space that had a sliding door that led to the outside. Near it was a low wooden table with a clean tea set on it. In the corner was a drawer with a basket full of blank scrolls next to it. Hanging on the wall were two scrolls. One was black with a fan that was red on top and white on the bottom half. The other scroll was white with a drawn flame that was enclosed by two lines with a half circle to form almost a cone shaped pattern using black ink.

They were the symbols representing the Uchiha and Hyuga clans.

A sign that she had permission to live here.

Hinata decided to tidy up the blankets and refold them. The blankets smelled like burnt ashes and tea. It made her feel a sense of yearning and a sadness that she couldn’t quite explain. It was as if her body knew what it wanted, but her mind couldn’t fathom the emotions. She laid on the sofa and closed her eyes.

Ever since Hinata had been released from the hospital, Sasuke had opted to sleep in the living room so that she could use the bedroom. He had told her that until she remembered him, he would respect her private space. She was grateful at the gesture.

Yet no matter how many times they had tried to help her recall the lost memories, nothing ever came back.

They had tried over several months to help her remember the past eight years. There were fragments that would come here and there, but it never added up to a whole memory. She could recall small bits of details, but never anything coherent. And as months passed to no avail, their relationship had begun to slowly devolve.

They were no longer like they once were. They had become more like roommates than lovers. They were no longer close as their friends and family used to tell her. The bedroom that they had once shared only waited for her now.

The two of them had essentially become strangers again.

She looked at the neatly folded blankets that she had placed next to the futon. The sound of rain echoed throughout the home. Hinata found herself slowly moving to touch the empty futon. It too smelled like Sasuke. She wasn’t sure what she was doing, but before she knew it she had found herself laying on it. Closing her eyes once more, she inhaled his scent as she laid there in silence.

Though she was now an adult, in her mind, she was a seventeen year old stuck in a twenty-five year old body. It felt as if time had frozen in place. She could not recall anything past that age. Her memories were not coming back. In her mind, the relationship they had shared was never there. It never existed.

But as Hinata laid there listening to the pitter pattering of the rain while inhaling his scent, she could feel a desperate yearning for the Uchiha to come back.

Her mind may have forgotten him, but her heart certainly did not.

It confused her. Yet despite the anxiousness of her heart, she felt at ease laying there. She wanted him to come back. She wanted to see him once more. She was tired of the emotions that would surface again and again, often hurting her heart. She wished she could remember him. She wished she could regain all the lost memories and become happy once more.

But she couldn’t.

The last line from her dream suddenly crossed her mind.

“ Are you ready to go home now?”

Except the image of the man who had asked her was now Sasuke Uchiha.

“ I am,” Hinata whispered.

She just couldn’t remember where her home was anymore.

#sasuhina #sasuhina month #sasuhinamonth2020 #shmonth2020 #personal #writing #AL #fanfic #fanfics

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beans-shadow · 5 years ago

Text

looking for the truth (pt 11)

Fandom: Naruto

Relationship: Kakasaku

Characters: Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura

read on ao3: here

part one / two / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine / ten / eleven / twelve / thirteen

On their way back to the village, Sakura makes Kakashi confront his past. But will that be the end of Kakashi?

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The whisk of the wind by his ears, and the soft tap of his sandals against branches. Those were the only two sounds that accompanied the pair of ninja as they focused all their energy and chakra into sprinting back to Konoha.

It had taken them about a week to reach the Land of Mountain Streams, but that had been at a leisurely pace, and no sense of urgency. Now, at full speed and no breaks, Kakashi estimated it would take them maybe two full days of continuous tree hopping to get back to the Leaf Village. Thank goodness Sakura had made the ninja pills.

Kakashi popped one into his mouth now as the final remains of adrenaline that had rushed through his body at the experimentation center left him. Immediately he felt the effects. His muscle’s tiredness disappeared, his eye no longer felt droopy, and his chakra supply rebounded slightly.

A few branches ahead of him, Sakura soldiered on, not bothering to replenish any energy since they’d fled from the scene a few hours ago. Her speed and agility in the trees where like that of a Hyuga’s; she sensed every tree and branch around her, snaking in the forest like she had an eye in the back of her head. The swiftness even topped Kakashi’s, who was content to let her take the lead on this portion of the mission. But while the pace she set was necessary, Kakashi worried whether it was sustainable.

One day into the monotonous running, Kakashi’s body was catching up to him. Compared to anyone else, Kakashi’s body was in top condition. He could last for hours in the battlefield, and days in the sun without food. But age was something even he could not prevent, not without Tsunade’s special jutsu. His muscle aches did not leave him with additional pills, and his chakra reserves were almost running dry. If he lost concentration for even a moment, he might slip and fall from the treetops.

Pushing himself, he reached Sakura and relayed as much. She stared on ahead, never faltering for a moment in her focus. It turned out, Sakura was in peak shape, and barely was feeling the lethargy that he did.

“I’m sorry, Kakashi, but we can’t stop for anything. With every second that passes, more might be getting infected. We have no idea what the state of our village is like.”

Understanding, Kakashi nodded. “Very well. Then you must leave me, and continue on.”

“What? No!” Finally turning to her fellow ninja, Sakura yelped. “We need to arrive together. As one, our message will be stronger.”

Annoyed, Kakashi shook his head. “I’m not sure what other option we have, Sakura, if reaching home quickly is more important.”

Grinding her teeth, Sakura thought. After slowing down and finally coming to a stop, she reached into her med kit.

“Dammit, I don’t have any military rations,” she grumbled, sifting through the arrangement of medicines in her hand.

“Neither do I,” Kakashi said, showing empty hands. Although necessary for survival, Kakashi typically never carried any with him out of fear of the chakra repercussions. He’d exhausted his reserves so many times to the point of abuse, he believed that after the three days’ non-stop immeasurable chakra power, he would never be able to recover again.

“And the food pills I have aren’t helping anymore?” She asked.

“Like I said, I’m past the point of just needing food,” Kakashi restated. “I need rest, Sakura. Just go, I’ll be fine.”

“No,” she said, stubborn like her teacher. “Here.” She shifted her pack to the front of her body, exposing her back. Bending down slightly, she looked to Kakashi. “Get on.”

“Excuse me?”

“Come on, I remember you did this with Guy Sensei a while back. Just get on, and we’ll be faster.”

Waving his hands in the air, Kakashi shook his head. “Oh no, no no no. That was entirely against my will, and after using my Sharingan extensively. Right now, I’m specifically trying to not reach that point again. Seriously Sakura, we’re wasting time. Besides, I don’t think you can carry me for half a day, at a sprint.”

That as clearly the wrong thing to say. With a look that would send Naruto running to Iruka, Sakura stared down Kakashi. “Get. On. My. Back. NOW!”

Chills running down his spine, with a small yelp Kakashi scrambled on her back. She hefted them both up, fixing her grip on his legs. “Try to hold on,” she said, and took off again.

Wind tore at Kakahsi’s face yet again, this time at a speed that caused tears to form in his eyes. He juggled up and down on Sakrua’s back slightly, but her running form was in tip top shape and she remained relatively smooth from branch to branch. It appeared that Kakashi had only been slowing them down the entire journey, and he was instantly filled with shame.

His arms around her chest, he also felt very self-conscious about his body positioning. Without the distraction of muscle pain, and the requirement to focus on his next footsteps, his blinding attraction to Sakura was once again front and center in his mind. Her insane strength only heightened his infatuation, and Kakashi closed his eyes to get her out of his head. But it was impossible with her underneath him, exerting herself, proving how much she’d grown yet again. And with darkness surrounding him, he could almost pretend his was at home, with Sakura…

No. That thought was dangerous, given the circumstances, and his position on her. He stopped himself, and tried to think of anything else. Ramen. Waterfalls. Naruto.

Ah, Naruto. That worked.

He wondered what Naruto was up to right now. Hopefully not still doing the medial tasks Tsunade had viciously threatened him with; Naruto might be a lot to handle, but he did his best work when he was passionate about what he was doing. Pointless errands were not the way to inspire him.

An image appeared in Kakashi’s mind: a small genin, with a bright orange jumpsuit and a fresh forehead protector. “My dream is to become the greatest Hokage!” Kakashi smiled. That kid was something, alright.

Then the smiling blonde with a thumb in the air blurred, morphing. His hair darkened, and the headband became covered by a pair of goggles. The orange of the jumpsuit vanished, the color only staying on the edges of the black outfit that grew from underneath.

Naruto’s blue eyes, bright with his future, blinked once and became blood red.

I wanted to become Hokage too, Kakashi. But who took that dream away from me?

Kakashi flinched at the accusation. He closed his eyes even more as if that would banish the image from his mind, tightening his hold on Sakura.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I should have been faster, smarter…” he whispered to Obito, whose pair of Sharingan twisted and developed into Mangekyo Sharingan. Everything else fell away, and all that was left was Kakashi in a world of black and red. It was if he was in Tsukuyomi again, with the emotional pain hitting him in every nerve.

“—too tight, Kakashi,” a voice called him back, and he opened his eyes. A tree branch immediately wacked him in the face, and he yelped in pain.

“Kakashi, please!” Sakura grunted. She tossed her head, hitting Kakashi in the side of his head.

“Ugh, what, Sakura?” He complained, bringing up one hand to rub his scratched eye.

“You’re choking me! Can you relax a little?”

Looking down, Kakashi saw his arm had risen to be holding on to Sakura by the neck. He loosened his grip at once, and shimmied down her torso. “Oh, I’m sorry,” he whispered.

“S’okay,” Sakura said, breathing slightly easier now. “But that’s the second time you’ve been unresponsive in a few days. Are you okay, Kakashi? Please, be honest,” she added, a note of desperation in her voice.

“I… I truly don’t know what you mean,” Kakashi admitted.

He could feel Sakura’s eye roll. “This was just like back at the hidden compound – you became stiff, and talked to someone. What’s going on, Kakashi? If you just tell me, I might be able to help.”

Again, Kakashi trailed off. “I…” He wasn’t sure where to begin. What had happened back at the Land of Mountain Streams, it had felt like his dreams in the past. Rin and Obito haunting, taunting him. But it had happened when he was awake, and he wasn’t sure what to make of that.

Shimmying on her back, Kakashi moved so his mouth was closer to her ear. Quietly, he asked, “You had called it... what was it?”

“PTSD?” Sakura said.

“Yeah, that… why did you say that? What does that mean?”

Sakura fell quiet, and the rhythmic sound of her feet lightly touching each branch became a metronome for Kakashi’s heartbeat.

“It means,” Sakura started, “that after you’ve experienced something that was either emotionally or physically traumatic in your life, it could have left a scar on you. But not on your body – in your mind.”

“My… my mind?” Kakashi shuddered. People could lie, so he couldn’t trust his ears. Genjutsu could alter what he saw. His mind was all that he trusted.

“Yes, your mind. Essentially, given the right stimuli, your mind could revert to when that scar was created, since it never healed. So you experience… episodes, were you aren’t aware of your surroundings, or you relive the moment.” Sakura breathed heavily through her words.

“Let’s talk about it later, this can’t be helpful given my extra weight,” Kakashi said.

“No,” Sakura denied. “I’m not letting you ignore this issue. It’s one that is prominent in Konoha, and one that for some reason, everyone seems to ignore!” She sighed, her pace slowing down just a moment. “Besides, talking with you helps remove the horror situations I’m playing in my mind. It helps me.”

Biting his lip, Kakashi could not find a valid argument against trying to understand his issues.

“I… I guess then, it would be because of my past…” he started. Pausing, he waited for Sakura to intervene already with questions, inquiries, or medical prods into his history. But she simply waited.

“I mean, since a little after I became a Chunin, I’ve had nightmares every night. Nightmares of… of my past missions, of my teammates.”

“In general, or specific ones?” Sakura piped up.

“Specific,” Kakashi quickly stated. “Definitely specific.”

The memory became fresh in his mind yet again. But this time, he imagined himself in Obito’s place: and he pushed his teammates out of the cave, letting the rock crush him instead. If only.

“If only…” he whispered, tears building up.

“Kakashi?” Sakura piped up. “You’re doing it again.”

“Oh, my Kami,” he whispered. “I guess you’re right…”

Sakura risked a glance up to Kakashi, her eyes pleading with all their worth. “I know you don’t like to share. I know it’s scary to let someone in. But please, Kakashi. I only want to help. Do you trust me?”

Kakashi breathed in, his lungs reacting harshly to the chilly air. All the nerves on his body stood on end, as if this moment right here, with him on Sakura’s back in quite an unmanly manner being carried back home, would determine his future.

He breathed out. “I do trust you.”

And so, for the first time in his life, he conceded his story.

He started out by describing his team. Naruto’s father, the ever-bright, lightning man that was Minato Namikaze himself, the fourth Hokage. Rin Nohara, the pleasant, smart, peacemaker of the trio which was completed by Obito.

“Obito Uchiha…” Kakashi murmured. “He hated my guts at first. Something about my natural talent and good charms. Called me ‘Bakashi’ and resented my quick climb through the shinobi ranks. Gosh, he made me so mad at times. All of his ignorant questions, all of his boasting, and always running late…”

Sakura chuckled under him. “Sounds like someone else I know,” she murmured, not wanting to stop his confession.

“We went through so much together. With them, I learned about the bell test. Teamwork. Comraderie. But I couldn’t… I couldn’t move past what my father had done to me.”

“The White Fang?” Sakura asked.

Kakashi bowed his head to the side. “Yes,” he confirmed, defeated. “The dishonor and shame I felt at my father stayed with me for years. The thought of abandoning a mission, for any reason, filled me with anger and distaste. This ideal was my mantra. That those that break the rules and regulations are scum. No matter what, I followed the rules. I would never place anything above my duty.”

He went on to describe the events of the Second Shinobi World War. Minato being called to the front lines, Stone Ninja capturing Rin. Obito demanding to rescue her. Kakashi’s refusal.

And Obito’s accusation.

“He called me worse than scum for abandoning my friends,” Kakashi said, his voice dropping ever lower as he made his way through his story. “And he was right. I realized the error in my ways. Alone, we can accomplish nothing in this world. Alone, we are stagnant. We must stay together. So I left the mission too, to help him rescue Rin. And that’s where it all really starts.”

The pain of Obito’s body being crushed by the boulder sat on Kakashi’s mind with the weight of a thousand suns. He described the sound in ominous detail, shudders rolling down his spine. The painful look in Obito’s eyes mixed with the pride he felt at finally forming a kinship with Kakashi tore at Kakashi’s heart.

“But that wasn’t it,” his grip tightened on Sakura’s shoulders. “Rin… they…” he breathed in. He’d never really said this out loud. Only to himself in the mirror, begging his mind to stop, or in his sleep with the windows tightly shut. The tears that threatened his eyes poked hard at his head, and his left eye seared.

“I didn’t mean to do it, but I did,” he whispered, the trees around him fading out. Rain replaced the leaves. “She stepped in front of me. I understand why she did it. I refused to help her. Because I couldn’t kill her. But she made me do it.”

He buried his face in Sakura’s shoulder, the tears finally erupting.

Sakura tried to murmur comforting words, but she was truthfully speechless. Digging into Kakashi’s past was much more painful than she could have imagined. Finding out what made her former sensei who he was, while intellectually invaluable, broke her heart. She thought his story was done, and her heart fell even further in her chest when he spoke again.

“Of course, that wasn’t the end of it.”

Kakashi reminded her of the Kaguya Otsutsuki Strikes, a series of memories Sakura never wanted to relive. The horror, duration, and decisive pain from those events were buried deep within her; the experience influenced who she was, but she never wanted to confront it again.

“That… that man who helped us. Tobi. That was Obito.”

Sakura’s breathing stopped for a second, and she faltered in her step. Pushing too much chakra into her foot in an attempt to regain traction, the next branch snapped and the pair went tumbling onto the ground. After letting go of Kakashi mid-fall, Sakura tumbled on the ground several yards before looking up, hair disheveled. Kakashi had rolled without grace just next to her, ending up on his back, legs splayed in front of him, his pack to the side. He made no move to get up.

Sakura snagged her backpack and crawled to Kakashi.

“That half-bodied Uchiha was Obito?” Sakura asked.

Kakashi nodded, a silent stream of water falling from his eye. “And it’s not as if he was mad at me. He was just trying to make the world a better place, even if it was a twisted way of going about it.” Groaning, he sat up, holding his back with a grimace. “In the end, he even sacrificed himself to save me. Again.” His head fell to his chest, a black cloud of despair hovering over him. “I don’t care what he did. Obito was a good man. I’m forever in his debt. But no matter how I look at it, no matter how many times I visit his memorial, I know… if I hadn’t had my head stuck of my ass when I was younger, everything would be different.”

Kakashi sniffed, and looked away from Sakura. “My stupid pride, my stupid sense of duty was the end of everything. I should have helped Obito rescue Rin without hesitation. She was my teammate. If we had gotten there sooner, if Obito hadn’t been found by Madara… Minato would be alive, Rin would be alive… the Uchiha clan wouldn’t be decimated. This is all my fault.”

Shaking his head violently, Kakashi whispered his last grievance.

“I’ve decided it is better to not let people get close to me, since I’m unable… I’m unable to protect them. Those I love die.”

And with that declaration, a dam built up for more than twenty years, reinforced with hard material, scraps, and dirt, with signs miles away warning anyone from even venturing near its proximity, broke.

And Kakashi wept.

Buckling over, Kakashi, the man without emotions, the blasé Copy Ninja, the honored Jonin, cried into his hands. All of his pain, emotions, and guilt crashed over him in wave after wave. He could see it: a peaceful world, a harmonious village, and a content life with his dogs. He didn’t need the fame that came with ‘Kakashi of the Sharingan’. Being the White Fang’s son even came with too much attention. All he wanted in life was quiet, and because of his idiocy, the world was in chaos.

Astounded, Sakura watched with wide eyes. She thought she had been discovering what made up Kakashi – what had played a part in building the man she saw before her. Instead, she’d uncovered the opposite. Kakashi’s past broke him. So much potential, so much strength, so much intellect, kicked down and discarded due to a traumatizing history. This man had so much love to give, but life played him dirty, causing him to be closed off, slow to trust, yet still immensely loyal.

All his lessons made perfect sense to Sakura now. The incessant lessons on teamwork, honesty, trust, and most of all – never abandoning your team – came directly from his experiences.

Sakura’s focus shifted back to the broken man in front of her. Still weeping silently, Sakura crawled closer, to sit right in front of him in between his legs. On her knees, she wrapped him in a hug, trying to convey how much she supported him.

It took a moment for Kakashi to discern what was happening around him, but once he did, he accepted her hug with little pause. He grasped to her as if she was his lifeline. The muscles she felt under his clothes were nothing more than a shield he’d developed over time to keep people out. To keep people from getting hurt by him again.

Rubbing his back, Sakura started to sway, like her mother did whenever she came home from school with another tale of bullying.

“I am not saying what you are feeling is invalid, but that’s not true, Kakashi,” she murmured to him, voice low and bursting with compassion. “You cannot – may not – blame yourself. You were just a child.”

Shaking his head, Kakashi mumbled into her shoulder, “I was a Jonin!”

“A child nonetheless,” Sakura stated again, voice firm. Pulling away from Kakashi, he still felt limp in her arms, looking to the ground. Shifting, she put her his face in her hands, much like she had when he’d been lost in his episode.

He relented to having his face turn, and as Sakura wiped away his tears, a couple of her own formed. “I told you once before that you had to forgive yourself, but if you couldn’t I would for you. I can’t do that this time. You need to forgive yourself, Kakashi, wholly. All this pain, this weight. It is dragging you down. The fact you still maintained to be the amazing person that you are is a testament to your strength, but it can’t last forever.”

The emerald in her eyes twinkled as water reflected the dim light that reached them through the tree branches up above. In her irises, Kakashi saw what she saw. A whole world, vibrant, full of possibility, if only he could move on from his past. His past that shrouded his every action, his every thought, with a cold despair and cynicism. A world where nothing is truly predictable, no matter how hard shinobi try. There was no way Kakashi could know what would have happened if he hadn’t been stubborn, and angry at his father. There was no way Kakashi could have foreseen Madara’s revival. This world was complicated, frustrating… but what in front of him was beautiful. A world of pink hair, light laugher, crying shoulders, and listening ears. There was a whole world in front of him for the taking, if only he could stand up and act.

“Please, Kakashi. I can’t force you,” Sakura whispered, her own tears now pouring over her cheeks. “And I know it’s hard. But—”

“I do,” Kakashi cut her off.

Her eyes widened. “What?”

“I do,” Kakashi repeated. “Forgive myself. You’re right.” He peeled her hands from his cheeks, holding them tightly in his lap. His heart was pounding, ready to make the move. He had to be brave, because after this, there was no turning back.

Sakura looked startled. “That quickly?”

Slowly, Kakashi raised one hand. Sakura stopped breathing as she saw the trajectory. Delicately, he grasped his mask, lowering it to reveal a full-toothed smile.

“That quickly,” he said. “You made it easy.”

Staring at the lower part of his face, Sakara’s mouth hung open. He noticed her pupils dilate, nostrils flare slightly. He brought one hand to her hair, tucking it behind her ear, smoothly transitioning to cupping her neck. Tugging on their one adjoined hand, he brought her closer, forcing her to lean forward on her knees. Sakura’s cheeks flared red, her eyes widening ever further as she offered no resistance.

As he pulled her towards him, she leapt to close the space.

But she threw her arms around his torso, climbing into his lap, legs parallel to his own. He froze, arm still extended, reaching out to where her head used to be.

Kakashi could feel her own heart beating a mile a minute as she nuzzled her face into the nook on his neck.

“Thank you,” she whispered, “for trusting me.”

Murmuring soft noises, Kakashi replied, “Thank you for letting me.”

Wrapping her in his arms, the pair sat there, the comfort they found with each other warming their hearts.

#kakasaku #kakashi #naruto #sakura #fanfic #looking for the truth #naruto fanfic #kakasaku fanfic #my writing

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scenariosofkonoha · 6 years ago

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ehy! some headcanons with kiba? your choice! thank you💕

Hello Clippers! Really anything I want?? *blushes* Well… it’s not a usual topic I suppose. I took somethings that had been rattling around in my head about what Kiba experiences when it comes to his nose. I hope that is okay, if it isn’t I’ll totally fix something else up for you. But I really hope you like it, it was a new and fun experience! ~ Admin Little Lace 🎀

Kiba Scent Headcanons

The nose of an Inuzuka clan member is as much as blessing as it is a curse. It is wonderful to be able to locate an enemy nin from 100 yards away and all. But it wasn’t wonderful to continuously ‘experience’ someone’s body odor.

From a young age Kiba was taught to center his chakra better so not to be exposed to every scent under the sun. The process of stopping the flow of chakra to his nose is tedious. His efforts never seeming to remove the overwhelming torrent of smells completely. The young Inuzuka often become frustrated.

Sensing his frustration his mother and her companion to to help his training.

“Each scent is different,” Kuromaru’s deep voice rumbled. “Each distinct in its own way,”“The ‘smell’ of something is made up of different scents,” his mother added. Her brash manner softer as she explained. “Don’t think of it as something huge. Break the smell down into individual scents.”

With their advice in mind, little Kiba discovers the full scale of the ability. Odors that once consumed him invited him into soft and strong notes that created them.

If dinner were cooking he could smell the the different vegetables boiling. The aroma of chicken stock and the twinge of char from the meat being over done.

People, in his opinion, were by far the most interesting. Everyone was comprised of so many different scents, he could get lost in them. They are hard to distinguish at first. All of them muddled together. He had never given it much thought before, but people came into contact with so many different scents throughout the day.

It isn’t until he is paired with Akamaru that he is ale to identify the myriad of fragrances within the Leaf.

“Blood,” Akamaru remarked from on top of his head. Kiba tilted his head, as if to look up the pup“Huh?”“Over there,” the youngest Inuzuka felt a paw knead into the right side of his head. Following the feeling, he saw a group of shinobi walking into the village gates. Taking short inhales through his nose the smell grew stronger. A metallic scent, copper kinda, but warm like meat Soon Akamaru wouldn’t have to point it out. A mental note of ninja smelling of blood files away in the boy’s head.

As the partner’s bond, they begin to classify familiar scents. Food is always easy, the aroma of each memorable but they start to recognize the smell of certain medicinal herds, ash of a detonated paper bomb, and various types of woods and metals.

Soon it becomes a game for the partners, the boy and the ninken challenging one another to spot the source of their new discoveries. Seeing this Hana shares wisdom with her brother.

“You can tell a lot about a person from the way they smell.” the older girl tells her juniors one day. “What they do, who their friends are, who they consider an enemy. Even, at times, insecurities and their inner most feelings. Most don’t think about it, worrying only if they stink or not. Because of this, it is a good way to learn about them.”“How do you do that?” Kiba asked skeptically.“Take all the little things, understand the scents and where they come from. Soon it will give you clues, creating a story. Being able to decipher the clues, building the story, is a sign of a good tracker.”

Between Akamaru’s skill of scent isolation and Kiba’s recall, the pair test out the theory. With each person they encounter they register their scent committing each detail to memory.

It is an easy start at first. The Inuzuka share a familial scent. Most clan members share the scent of their companions. An earthy mix of musk and sunshine. But his immediate family have minor differences.

His sister was a hive of small ‘clues’. Being a vet, she often smelled of other ninken, though not as strong as that of her three partners. But each smell was muted under a cover of salve and disinfectant. His mother’s was note as tame, hers was a loud as she was. The smell of Kuromaru only tainted with the coating of blood and metal.

Those had been simple to spot he knew them. His new team members however were all together different. They were not prominent. Hinata’s only barely registering unless he was close to her. Most girl’s in his class smelt of flowers, she was no different. But the Hyuga’s didn’t feel quite right. Her smell seemed trapped like a house with no windows. Kiba would liken it to flowers pressed inside of the pages of an old dusty book. It makes him uncomfortable and a little sad, bring him to invite her out more often.

What he couldn’t figure out though is why she would sometimes smell like ramen…

Shino owned a scent that was oddly neutral. If he weren’t actively looking for him, he won’t notice it. Sometimes he misses it even when he is looking for him.

Akamaru thinks the insect harboring nin smells like herbs and grass. A soft woodsy air like he is outside all the time. After a while, Kiba can tell where his peer has been by what kind of woods he reeks of. If it is of a cleaner sort, he has been by the cliffs. A deeper more earth tone? He has been by the village gate.

Kurenai is different than most woman in Konoha, in that she doesn’t smell like flowers at all. His sensei is like a breeze of air on a rainy day. The clean sense owning an under current of something headier. Sandalwood perhaps? The two mingled in a ashen bouquet. Like smoke but not from a fire. In his young age, he is not sure why.

His new found skill makes it easier to find his friends around the village. All of them has something that makes them different from their family or they people they were around. For instance, all the Yamanaka’s smelling of flowers but Ino exclusively of bush clover. And both Lee and Guy-sensei always smelling faintly of sweat (Or maybe the power of youth??) but Guy’s scent being ‘spicier’ for lack of a better term.

Sometimes the jutsu a shinobi uses changes their scent, the Inuzuka would soon discover. Kakashi-sensei often hosts one of warm static and singed fabric. While the genin would learn that Asuma was an overwhelming swarm of ash as if 1,000 paper bombs had gone off. That paired with the cigar smoke finally laid to rest the mystery of his mentor’s fragrance.

While few Kiba would come into contact with owned a “quiet” or “muted scents” like that of his team, a trait for sensory types he supposed. Others were “loud” and “Overbearing”. Now that wasn’t a bad thing in the case of Ayame and Teuchi, it was a pleasure to smell the best ramen in the land of fire on them. It was not the case with Naruto.

Kiba does not like they way Naruto smells. Not that the boy stinks per se. He and Akamaru can only describe it as…much. However possible, whether it be by clones or sheer effort, the blonde-nin smells of the entire Village.

Ichiraku Ramen, grass, flowers, ash, metal, static, medical herbs, bath house water, static, cup ramen, ninken and Kami only knew what else. You name it, somehow the shinobi reeked of it. It is overwhelming. Unable to explain it, and unwilling to deal with it, Kiba generally shuts the chakra away from his nose when interacting with Naruto. Even with the plethora of scents, his friend is so distinctive he can find him anywhere.

Over time new scents were added to the hidden leaf. Jiraya’s foggy essences of bath house and water lily, Tsunade’s fusion of medicine and sake. Even Captain Yamato’s torrent of fresh lumbered trees and Sai, whose could only be described as ink spilled on paper.

The shinobi’s sister had not lied when she said someone’s smell could tell who they were friends with. Over time he began to notice patterns. Shikamaru some days smelt of BBQ pork. Those were the days he trained with Choji. While others, he shared the ash and tobacco, the days he played shogi with Asuma.

Sometimes Ino smelled of cherry blossoms, while Lee and Neji smelled shared a sent of metal like that of kunai. Speaking of the elder Hyuga, he gained a small whiff of a familiar closed off smile. The change brought a smile to the Inuzuka’s face.

But not all scents brought happiness. The human body gave off different hormonal responses to emotion and instinct. As well as a scent. These were the basics that were taught from almost birth. Kiba was always aware he could smell them, his first interaction with them smelling fear coming off his father. It was a gift his mother often played on, the talent gaining her the title of the Hidden Leaf’s scariest Kunoichi.

Saddness, on the other hand, had a scent all it’s own. Generally smelt of warm salt water. A fact he had learned the day of Lord 3rd’s funeral. But he had also come to know that it was different for everyone.

Tears on Tsunade was often followed by that of sake…a lot of it. If his sister lost a patient, her scent was void of disinfectant.

The smell did not discriminate. Almost everyone in the village owned it at one time or another. Sometimes it surprised the nin. Catching it on Kakashi-sensei once, also brought the stench of copious amounts of hand soap. More that he had experienced on even a medical nin.

Now sadness and loss are very much alike. But loss manifested a little differently. When someone is gone, it is as if the origin of a scent is wiped off the planet. The day Jiraya’s smell of water lily did not return to the village, it was almost as if it left no trace. He could no longer sense it on Lady Tsunade, as sake took it’s place. Naruto’s was different.

Kiba can’t catch a scent of something if it is frozen. It’s almost as if the smell is locked inside ice as well. So he is unfamiliar with the the sickly sweet fruit-like smell on Naruto’s hands. It was almost like he had spilled a drink or something. After a while this new scent stays on the knucklehead ninja.

“There,” Akamaru points, his snout messing something something under a park bench. Taking a sniff of the air himself, Kiba caught whiff of the familiar complicated scent. Naruto. But also the sticky almost artificial smell. Kneeling slightly, the boy notices two sticks swimming in a puddle of blue. That was the day Kiba know what a Popsicle smelled like. Mentally adding the smell to the list that was his friend.

But some smells don’t go away after the origin is gone. No sometimes they linger like a familiar friend. When Asuma passed, Kurenai continued to smell like him. Kiba found it interesting. That even after months of only ever smelling sadness on her, that it had not changed. Pregnant woman gain a new layer to their smell while they are carrying their child. Kiba had learned that from his clan, it happened with Ninken as well.

But his Sensei’s essence of ash only grew stronger during the time. At one point even covering her scent of wood and rain. The Inuzuka had imagined that once she had her child that it might go away, like all the others did. But it hadn’t. The woman would forever hold the scent of her fallen lover even after Mirai came into the world. The little bundle holding the tell-tale whiff of Sarutobi ash.

As she grew, Kiba supposed, the little girl’s scent would change as well. Just as those in the village had. Hinata’s closed off smell had shed the more confident she became. It blossomed into a blend of wild flowers…with that ever present touch of ramen…

She was not the only one, all of his friends’ in the village would evolve. The flowers of the girl’s in his class would be fused in with new scents. Some familiar like ink and bush flowers. Others no so much, like potato chips and mountain air. The strange intermix, mirroring that of his sensei’s.

One day Kiba himself would find a scent that was intriguing. It was softer and not quite like flowers. But it reminded him of lazy days in the sun, and running home in the rain, with just a hint of blood. The smell would be wonderful but for some reason he will want to cover it with his own, the fusion of Akamaru and fresh linen melding well with it.

Though they are unable to experience it as he does, he can’t help but smile when cuddled into him his lover says:

“Hmmm…you smell nice.”

#ask #naruto #naruto headcanon #naruto headcanons #naruto scenarios #naruto imagine #Kiba Inuzuka #Inuzuka Kiba #Kiba #Kiba Headcanon #kiba imagines #little lace secret notebooks #Admin Little Lace

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manikas-whims · 7 years ago

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A Chance at Redemption [9]

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [...] [10] [11] [12] [13]

Chapter 9: Blank Canvas

"He is the rain... ..washing away her colours. Now they are the same— A blank canvas..." -Sai

"My great grandson, Sasuke, has decided to settle down. He has found himself a suitable woman and wants to tie the knot with her in the sacred bond of marriage." Kiba spoke, mimicking Madara's exact words.

"Sacred my ass!" He yelled a second later.

"Pipe down, will you?! Unless ofcourse, you want the anbu to discover our hidden HQ." Temari warned in an irritated voice.

"Hn" Tenten scoffed, "atleast he's not just sitting silently about Sakura's betrayal."

"Tenten!" Lee yelled at her, "Sakura-san hasn't betrayed us. She will...she will never betray us..." Lee finished in a small hopeful tone.

All the members of FoK went silent after hearing Lee's words. They were all angry and confused about their pink-haired friend's sudden decision of going against them and marrying Sasuke. Everyone had known about her feelings for the young Uchiha who broke her trust and left the village to gain power under the commands of the former leaf shinobi named Orochimaru. Everyone knew that even after Sasuke's attempts at killing her and Naruto, both of them were still willing to save him from his dark past. Yet none of the members of FoK ever expected this to happen. None of them had ever expected Sakura to leave their side to join Sasuke in a bond of marriage.

"Whatever it is..we don't have much time to ponder about that bitch's traitorous decision." Samui declared firmly.

Her choice of words earned her a pulverising glare from Temari. The four-pogtailed kunoichi is a proper civilian from the village hidden in the sand but she isn't oblivious about her friends from the leaf. She is fully aware of Sakura's love for Sasuke but she also knows that the pinkette will never stoop this low to be with the guy of her dreams. She will never marry him like that on a whim so she can stay by his side forever. There is something more to this whole situation than meets the eye. With a tired sigh, she ran her eyes across the room. To her surprise, she found Sakura's best friend aka the Yamanaka clan's heiress lying as still as a rock on the lap of a very pale looking Sai(if that is even possible). All this time when some of the members of FoK were speaking against Sakura, Ino didn't even bat an eyelash. It's as if she isn't even present in this room, as if she is lost somewhere else in her thoughts.

"Her actions have been suspicious from the very beginning. I'm not surprised if she has betrayed us now." Samui stated as matter of fact.

"Nothing's suspicious about it!" Kiba argued.

"Yeah! There must be a good reason behind Sakura-san's decision." Lee agreed.

"And why do you guys think so? She couldn't even bring Hinata. So how can you expect anything good from her?" Tenten sneered.

"Tenten" this time Neji Hyuga spoke-up in a stiff tone, emphasizing every single word and it's syllables, "you.have.no.idea."

Neji has been hearing all of his comrades arguing over Sakura's loyalty for a while now, which is making his tongue itch to speak out for the poor girl but sadly, he cannot. Neji...I want this deal to remain a secret shared between only the two of us. I don't want you to tell anyone. He recalled her words. How he wants to speak-up for the pink-haired medic but cannot. No one but he knows how much Sakura has done for his clan by her marriage. But still, he has doubts about the Uchiha...doubts about his promise- whether he will stick to his words or not.

Tenten was eyeing Neji questioningly, wondering what he meant by his sudden statement. He tried to act as cool as possible and answered.

"What I mean is..I don't think we must accuse Sakura of a crime that she hasn't even committed." Neji explained.

"How can you be so sure that she isn't guilty? That she hasn't betrayed us?" Tenten asked, looking at him straight in the eyes.

"I...I'm not sure.. But we can't just accuse her without any evidence." Neji countered.

"Is it even necessary to look for an evidence? We all know that she has feelings for the Uchiha! She always had!" Tenten challenged.

"Tenten" Neji called her by her name yet again, "Shut up."

Those two words struck her like an arrow straight through her heart. She found it hard to believe that the Hyuga just ordered her to shut up? Shut up for what? For that pink haired kunoichi who couldn't even help them with the plan of a coup d'état? For the girl who couldn't even convince Hinata to join them? For the girl who has now taken the Uchihas' side?

She looked at him with an intense glare, "Neji, I can't believe it, you just shut me up for her? For her? What's so special about her, huh?"

Before the Hyuga Prodigy could answer his dual-bunned former teammate, the Nara clan's young genius spoke up.

"Quit it you two. There's no point in arguing."

"Yeah.." Choji agreed with his best friend and continued with his potato-chips stuffed-mouth, "Fhikamau's wight! Orjuvents mon't belp ush." (Shikamaru's right! Arguments won't help us.)

Darui felt relieved that someone finally put an end to his small team's quarrel. A clan's annihilation is going to occur soon and a group of misfits is not what he wants to be handling at these times. He wants a well-coordinated group of skilled shinobis and kunoichis, who can aid him in his coup against the Uchiha Government's orders.

He has been listening intently to their verbal fight. He was also present at the Hokage Tower for the hearing of Madara's announcement. And even though he doesn't know Sakura that well, he too suspects something fishy about Sakura's decision. She was even late for the meeting held yesterday. He recalled the previous days conversation that he had had with Ino, Sai and Tenten.

"She..." Ino went quite.

"She's at Hinata's." Tenten answered for Ino, "I met Ino and Sai in the streets today. So I asked them about Sakura and they told me that she has gone to talk to Hinata."

And then he also went through Sakura's explanation in his head.

"I was at the Hyugas'."

And also, how both Sakura and Neji gave completely contradicting answers in relation to the Hyuga Princess.

"It worked out." said Sakura.

But Neji uttered at the same time, "She won't be helping us."

All these hurriedly spoken confessions are more than enough for the former cloud nin to tell that most of these explanations given by his team members are plainly false. Ino's hesitance, Sai's silence, Tenten speaking in place of Ino and then Sakura and Neji's contrasting answers are all hinting towards some kind of hidden acts.

On suspecting this, Darui immediately called, "Ino! Sai! Yesterday...you both didn't know anything about Sakura's whereabouts. Am I right?"

Both the said persons gasped at his sudden question. Ino averted her eyes as if she was confronting herself about how she must go on with answering this query. Sai, on the other hand was looking expectantly at Ino, waiting for her to make a decision about their response to their leader. Yes! They both had lied the previous day about their pink-haired friend. Ino had informed Sai about Sakura's unexpected leave and thus, both of them had embarked on a trip around the village in search of the pinkette. But they had not prepared themselves for any encounters with the other members of the FoK. So when Tenten came up to them, Ino and Sai naturally lied to her and told the weapons' mistress that the girl in question is at the Hyuga's. Who knew one small lie would lead onto another one? And yet it did. Darui too asked them about Sakura and Tenten informed the cloud nin exactly what she herself had been told. Funny thing is, when Sakura arrived at the meeting thirty minutes late along with Neji (to everyone's surprise) and spoke exactly what Ino and Sai had used as a lie about her, they felt a sense of relief wash over their souls. So then, why is it that all of a sudden Darui is doubting them?

Sadly, if he is doubting them then he really must have caught on something from yesterday's meeting. Therefore Sai chose to let Ino shed some more tears for her friend while he left her side and walked towards the leader of the FoK to stand face-to-face with him.

"Yes. Indeed we lied. We didn't know anything about Sakura's location the previous day." Sai confessed the truth.

Every single member of their group gasped in shock but their leader's facial expression held no surprise. Creepy as it may appear, the dark-skinned man's demeanour remained calm and collected.

"Good" he patted Sai's back, "I'm glad that this time you've chosen to speak the truth."

"You both lied to me?!" Tenten yelled immediately after Darui's words.

Sai glanced at her and then shrugged with the best apologetic smile that he had learnt to put on within the past two months.

"You both lied!" Tenten yelled again.

"Yes they did," Shikamaru spoke up in a weirdly calm tone, "but this is not what must be questioned. The thing that we must be pondering about is Sakura."

"That's right." Temari joined, "Despite the lie told by Ino and Sai, Sakura was actually at the Hyuga compounds yesterday."

Darui nodded at the sand village's kunoichi and at the faithful Nara genius. Both of them had voiced his concern with the proper words. But the only person who can solve this completely tangled case is none other than the Hyuga Genius. He turned his eyes towards Neji, "Were you and Sakura actually at the Hyuga Compounds?"

For the first time in his life till date, Neji Hyuga tensed. He stood like a motionless statue, anxiety written all over his face. What should he do? Should he spill the beans? Should he hold onto his loyalty? He shook his head and lowered his head in contemplation. I don't want you to tell anyone. Sakura's words hammered into his thoughts yet again. She made this choice on her own free will. And if this is how she wants to go with it...like an unsung warrior..then so be it.

"We were at the Hyuga Compounds..to see Hinata-hime." He answered with an impassive face.

"Actually", Sai began, "Yesterday, Ino was keeping watch over Sakura. But then, Sakura somehow managed to escape the Yamanaka Flower Shop. Ino came to inform me about this and we began looking for her. It was at that very moment that Tenten stumbled upon us and asked us about Sakura."

Darui nodded his head and so, Sai went on, "We didn't want to create any kind of panic amongst the members of our already busy group, so Ino and I lied to Tenten. We thought that we'll be able to find Sakura in no time. We couldn't...But thankfully, Sakura joined us at the meeting along with Neji."

Sai explained, putting all the puzzle pieces in their proper place.

"Okay, Sakura escaped from Ino's watchful eyes and went to see Hinata. It is only natural since she herself suggested the idea of taking Hinata's help. Neji was also there at the Hyuga Compounds at that time." Shikamaru concluded Sai's explanation.

Yet, however legit this explanation may appear, there is still something that is unsolved. And it can't be solved until they find the missing puzzle piece. And that piece is, Sakura's marriage. All this mess doesn't put a finger on anything related to her unexpected marriage to the Uchiha Prodigy.

"So most of our problems have been concluded." Darui spoke, "But we still have no idea about Sakura's decision of marrying Sasuke."

"Like Tenten said, there's no need for any explanations. The girl has feelings for the Uchiha." Samui stated.

"No," Darui shook his head before Kiba or Lee could violently protest against Samui's words.

"I may not know much about Sakura or any of you guys from the leaf and sand. But something about that pink-haired girl screams loyalty to me. I don't think she can betray us for something like love. Love is supposed to make people help out those in need. Love doesn't make one selfish. It turns people into selfless souls..." Darui explained with an image of innocently smiling Sakura flashing before his mind's eyes.

"Love is an emotion that can make people achieve great heights. Love makes us strong. You are all expressing different emotions because you are concerned about your friend, Sakura. Some of you are anxious, some angry while others are silently wondering about her act. But unknowingly, you are all expressing disappointment for your friend's action because you all love her." Everyone listened silently to their pale-white haired leader's explanation.

He then went on, "Also if Sakura is marrying Sasuke because she loves him, then you are wrong. Even if she does love him, then too there must be another hidden reason for her doing so."

"Right" Shikamaru agreed, "but as of right now, thinking about our coup must be our top priority. Sakura's decision can be investigated later on."

"Yeah..." Kiba nodded, "You're right."

Samui and Tenten lowered their heads when they realised their mistake. Darui is speaking the truth about their emotions. They hold nothing against Sakura but for some reason, her sudden decision has disappointed them. Maybe it is because of her constant quiet behaviour for which they trusted her and never expected her to turn against them. It's just their bonds that are hurting them...

"About Sakura," Sai hesitantly began but when he noticed how everyone's attention had perked, he went on, "you all can plan out the coup while I, as a member of the anbu, can go and have a talk with Sakura."

Temari bolted up at that, "This is a really good idea! I agree with Sai."

"Me too!" Lee jumped up and down in excitement.

By the looks on other's faces, Darui confirmed that everyone was in agreement with Sai's ideology. So he allowed Sai to leave for his task while he discussed the last bits of their coup d'état.

"So, a pink-haired Uchiha. That's a first."

The words were addressed to Sakura by a very amused looking, explosive art-loving blond shinobi. She turned away from the window in the Hokage's Room to face the former Stone Village Ninja. A crooked sort of grin was plastered on his face and he had his right arm draped around the shoulders of his partner, the former Sand Village Ninja aka Sasori of the Red Sand. For some unknown reason, they both decided to stay in the room with her. Who knows? Maybe to bother her? But she was not at all in the mood to talk to anyone, especially if one of them happened to be a man that she had once killed in a punch.

"I think she's ignoring us." The young-looking, red-haired shinobi suggested in an amused tone.

"Hn! Whatever." muttered the blond and moved to stand next to the sullen female.

"You know what? Madara expects..." , Deidara paused to correct himself, "Madara wants grandsons from you. So...I already feel irritated at the prospect of little versions of Sasuke roaming around this place."

He smirked amusedly at the pinkette who finally decided to roll out some words from her silent tongue, "I wonder what would it be like to see little pink haired boys running around this place with their Sharingan."

It took the two re-animated shinobi a few seconds to realise that the girl had made a joke about her hair colour. And a sarcastic one at that. Sasori couldn't stop the small smirk from creeping on his face when he saw his blond partner grinning like an idiot at the little joke.

"Those boys will still be Uchihas." Sasori stated.

"But they'll look more Uchiha like without my hair trait." She shot back.

"I see you're getting quite cozy around each-other." A sly voice remarked when the door swung open to reveal a red-cloaked figure.

Kabuto slithered his way towards the three occupants of the room and smiled with an evil glint in his eyes. He glanced at his two re-animated shinobis and then moved his gaze to settle it on the only female amongst them. He grinned at her to reveal the creepy kind of opening of his wide jaw. It made the girl cringe but she kept her cool by hiding her fear behind a stoic face.

All throughout the war Kabuto Yakushi had stayed in the shadows and pulled the strings to control various dead men. But his reanimation jutsu was stopped somewhere in the middle of the war. Rumours kept circulating around in every nook and corner and one fine day, they even reached the ears of the fifth Hokage's disciple, Sakura Haruno. She heard several descriptions of how Itachi Uchiha was the one who put an end to Kabuto's tricks. But how? If Kabuto was the one acting like the puppeteer and pulling the strings, then how come one of his own puppets managed to stop him? Maybe Itachi Uchiha really is a legend? Or maybe it's just a rumour? But most of the times...rumours turn out to be the truth. Then...how? This is a tormenting topic. And what's even more tormenting, is the fact that Itachi didn't really kill Kabuto. He merely stopped the user from manipulating his puppets. He let the puppeteer live. He gave Kabuto a chance. And because of that very chance, this sick sycophant of Orochimaru is grinning from one ear to the other at a very irritated pink haired kunoichi.

Sakura glared at him and muttered out as calmly as possible, "What?"

"Well hello to you too, Sakura-chan." The snake drawled out immediately.

Sakura sighed loudly, wondering exactly how long she'll have to suffer in the presence of these crazy men.

"I wonder..." slithered Kabuto.

The pinkette knew that he was teasing her deliberately and wouldn't continue unless she asks him to. So she questioned, "Wonder what?"

The creepy guy snickered and answered, "I wonder how long have Sasuke-kun and you been having this clandestine affair."

She wanted to laugh in his face. Laugh at his choice of words because there never was any affair going on between the two. She used to harbour feelings for the dark avenger of her team. And these feelings later on developed into a very strong emotion- Love. Yes! Unfortunately she fell in love with the young Uchiha Prodigy right after he left her all by herself on a cold bench in the middle of the night. Because that very night, she witnessed the true personality of that boy and realised how alone and lost he was. And it is because of this realisation that she truly fell for him and decided that she wanted to save him. Sasuke on the other hand, never showed any interest in her. No. Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno never had an affair. They just happened to be together on the same team. Nothing more...

"Hmm...maybe it all started in the Forest of Death with the curse-mark?" Kabuto guessed, adjusting his glasses to the level of his piercing yellow irises.

"Or maybe...you two had been together even before that?" He whispered in her face with a sly grin on his face.

Unbeknownst to her own self, she had clenched her palm into fists and was currently shaking with rage, trying her best to keep herself from punching this snaky man right in his face and then yank out his tongue to chop it off and snatch away his ability of speech forever. Kabuto has hit a nerve he shouldn't have. He is well-aware of her feelings for the Uchiha and is just messing with her on purpose. She gritted her teeth and released a long breath before speaking.

"What do you want?" She muttered, trying to keep her anger in check.

"Oh come on, Sakura-chan! I'm just here on the Lord Hokage's orders." He feigned a look of hurt by placing one of his scaly palm on the position of his heart beneath his equally scaly chest.

She groaned in irritation and simply turned around to face the window again and ignore the presence of those three men.

Kabuto understood that she won't be turning back any time soon and so, he signalled the two other men in the room with a slight tilt of his head. On seeing his action, both of them brought out their arms and caught her wrists to keep her from moving. She gasped at the sudden intrusion but the guys kept on ignoring her and turns her around to face Orochimaru's sycophant once again. She began flailing her hands but a huge snake crawled out from underneath Kabuto's veil and coiled around her form.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" She yelled.

"Now now, an Uchiha bride mustn't raise her voice like this. It's bad for her reputation." Kabuto teased.

He pulled a small scroll from inside one of the sleeves of his cloak and spread it open infront of him. He then began making numerous hand signs, all the while keeping his eyes fixed on her angered state.

"What is it?!" She shouted again but earned no answer.

He continued on with his hand signs and once he was done, he grinned maniacally at her and slammed his palms on the intricate seals that were drawn on the scroll. Instantly, a surge of light blinded them and out came a tiny, mustard-coloured snake. It moved towards Sakura's left hand and crawled all the way up to her wrist, winding around it in a tight grasp. She shrieked, both in shock and fear. The little reptile made a low hissing sound and dug his fangs into the skin of her wrist. Sakura began losing the colour from her skin and paled in fear. The snake turned into a gold bracelet with it's scales etched into the accessory in a beautiful pattern.

"What is this, Kabuto?" She asked in fright.

A numbness spread all across her body and the pumping of her heart stopped for a second. Then it began to beat again but the strength she used to feel in herself was gone. It's as if her chakra was gone, leaving only small pints of it in her form.

"What...what did you do?" She asked desperately.

The snake-look alike grinned even more and her eyes widened in realisation. Her chakra points had been blocked.

Sai knew exactly where he'd find the solution to his problem. And his assumption turned out to be true. He saw Sasuke Uchiha resting atop a tree branch which happened to be in the vicinity of the Hokage Tower. The guy looked as silent and emotionless as he always is. Briefly Sai wondered why in the world did Naruto and Sakura want to help him out? Because clearly this guy is a stubborn brat who is way too blinded by his clan. Sasuke is nothing short of egotistical. As he knows that Sasuke is already aware of his presence, Sai takes in a deep breath and waits for the young prodigy to face down at him.

After a duration of five minutes, he realizes that Sasuke won't speak, so he himself decides to start the conversation, "We need to talk."

"I know you dislike me. But atleast try to show some respect to the grandson of the Hokage." The raven haired guy replied curtly.

"I apologize, Sasuke-kun. But seriously..we need to talk." Sai stated.

"Meh...I'd suggest you to stay away. He's not in a good mood right now." came the voice of a man sitting underneath a tree near Sasuke.

"Suigetsu-san" Sai greeted.

"Sai" the sharp-toothed guy returned the greeting.

Both of them came to know each-other on the day that Sai entered the Hokage Tower and requested Madara for a position in the anbu division. Suigetsu was the one who had guided him with all the things necessary for his entrance. They get to see each-other on a frequent basis just because they are both working like underdogs for the Uchiha but they never really engage in any kind of conversation other than the usual greetings. And although Suigetsu will never admit it, he has always wanted to talk to this pale-skinned shinobi who has now taken Sasuke's place in his former team.

Sai huffed out in annoyance, an action that he has learnt from Ino. They've been spending a lot of time together ever since the end of the war. The blonde female has been very kind towards him and always tries her best to help him out with his emotions. Maybe because of his connections with Sakura, Ino has become extremely friendly with him. A small unexpected smile graced upon his pale lips and he lowered his head to hide the joy he felt just by thinking about the Yamanaka Heiress. But thoughts of her also reminded him of her present sad condition.

He looked-up at Sasuke and began, "I need to talk about Sakura-san. I know she isn't marrying you on her choice."

The minute he uttered those words, Suigetsu choked on the water that he had been sipping from his bottle. He narrowed his purple irises in anxiety and turned his gaze towards the young Uchiha. Bad move, dude. He thought to himself as he gulped down on more water.

The said man finally opened his closed lids and glared down at Sai with his threatening Sharingan. "And who do you think made that choice for her?" He gritted out in his sinister, dark tone.

Sai lowered his head again, but this time in confusion, "Honestly speaking Sasuke-kun..I don't really know. I don't know why she is doing this but I know she doesn't want to marry you."

"Hn" Sasuke scoffed, "She always wanted to be with me."

"Not like this." Sai replied immediately.

The Uchiha's eyes narrowed into fine slits at his words. Not like this? Then like what?! As far as he remembers, Sakura has always loved him and even though she isn't admitting her feelings right now, she still loves him. She does. Sasuke knows that she will keep loving him despite of everything that has transpired between the two. He also knows that she is marrying him for the sake of a deal but Sakura would've married him even without any deals. Atleast..he thinks she will.

"She loves me." He stated the fact.

Suigetsu coughed this time, his eyes as wide as saucers after hearing Sasuke's statement. Sai too expressed hints of shock on his face. A brief moment passed in silence after which Sai spoke up.

"I know something's going on. I know she's hiding something. And because of that something, she has decided to marry you." said Sai.

Sasuke clenched his fists. This guy merely knows anything about team 7. How long has Sai been with them? Not longer than him, right? He knows everything about Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura like the back of his palms. Sai is nothing more than a pathetic replacement for his position in the team. Does Sai know the members of his team as well as him? No. So then...how does this stupid replacement know that Sakura is not marrying him plainly out of love but for some other reason?

"We were alone." Sai spoke again.

When he saw the quirk of one of Sasuke's brow, he continued, "When you..when you killed Naruto, Kakashi sensei lost it. He..he went into a coma. He's still not conscious and no one knows if he ever will be. Captain Yamato was gone. Sakura even had to declare herself dead and leave her parents. She disguised herself under the alias Doctor Kimiko Minamoto. So that left only me and Sakura. We became the only two remaining members of team 7. We were alone. We only had each-other. But then..Ino came to us and Shikamaru and Neji and many more. We formed a family again. But now..", Sai paused midway to glare at him, "She will be alone again. Alone..because you have taken her away from me and Ino and many of her other friends. She was finally rising up again..coming out of her state of torment. But now...she'll be in even more despair than before..."

If he was even the slightest bit affected by Sai's words then Sasuke is way too good at hiding it. He didn't even twitch after hearing this long speech. Just as Sai was about to speak again, Sasuke interrupted.

"Isn't it always like this? I am Sasuke Uchiha. I always take away what is mine." The raven stated calmly.

"What makes you think she's yours?" Sai asked with an edge in his voice.

Suigetsu noticed the Sasuke clenching and unclenching his palms, trying his best to keep calm. Uh-Oh! Not good. Suigetsu stood up from his spot underneath the shade of the tree and walked towards the two conversing dark-haired nins.

"Sasuke..Man..I think that Sai is right. That girl is not a non-living object that you can put your signature on. You can't claim her."

"Whatever..If you're done, then leave already." The Uchiha spoke without any trace of emotion.

Sai couldn't believe what the Uchiha just said. Sasuke doesn't care even a bit. It's like throwing words at deaf ears. Yes! Now Sai has realised it. Sasuke Uchiha is engulfed by the hatred. Darkness has eaten up all of him. Sasuke is a blank canvas now, just like he used to be.

"I was a blank canvas." Sai spoke.

Sasuke looked at him coolly while Suigetsu waited for him to elaborate.

"I..used to be a blank canvas..until I met him..Naruto..and then Sakura-san and Yamato Taichou and Kakashi sensei and..Ino... They all changed me.." He smiled dreamily, something he had never done before, "They painted this blank canvas." Sai finished, gesturing towards himself.

Sai didn't wait for any response from either of the two men listening to him. He turned on his heel and began walking out of the place.

It wouldn't have been possible for any commoners to hear Sai's words but Sasuke's trained ears caught on the words that his replacement had whispered before departing.

"You are also a blank canvas...and you'll turn her into one as well..."

A/N: So the chapter ends here. If any of you are still confused about Sasuke's behaviour, then let me explain. Remember the time when he killed Danzo and also stabbed Karin? He was not in his right mind at that time. I have based my Sasuke in that way: The one who only cares about his clan and revenge and is too lost in the dark.

Anyways, what do you guys think of the FoK?

Kabuto has sealed Sakura's chakra points. What do you think about this?

And what do you think of Sasuke?

*NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE POSTED AS SOON AS THIS ONE REACHES 20 NOTES.

Until next time guys..

~Manika

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#sasusaku #sasusaku fanfic #sasuke uchiha #sakura haruno #angst #romance #redemption #dark #hate #post war

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elegiesforshiva · 7 years ago

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Ghosts IX: Homage

Masterpost

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Ino is touching Sai.

Sakura can tell. It’s subtle, but the movement of a right arm beneath the duvet is making a repetitive, vertical motion. If that isn’t evidence enough, the hushed grunts and gasps leaking through Sai’s lips are. The couch makes a rubber squeak under the shifts of his body.

To be fair, Sakura knows it looks like she is asleep. She is lying on another couch and had dozed off enough to let go of the mask of her chakra earlier. Naruto is openly snoring on the other side, having passed out drunk with Hinata curled comfortably in his arms. The credits of a terrible movie they had been watching are now rolling on the neglected t.v. screen. Sakura supposes, had she been Ino, she would have wanted adequate entertainment too.

She listens in, peeking now and then with a sideward glance. Sai’s breaths are coming in shorter, his stature increasingly rigid. She sees Ino slant her face into the crook of his neck and then she makes a sound too. The motions of Sai’s right arm are harder to detect than Ino’s, but when Sakura looks for it, she sees it clear as day. She hears Ino sigh sweetly, and then there’s the sound of a wet suction that can only be a kiss.

Sakura wonders if the fact that she’s more intrigued than disgusted makes her a pervert. Or possibly a voyeur. She knows she would openly watch if she could. She wants to study them, note how their hands move over skin, memerize the discourse between eyes.

Love between the bodies exists—Sakura knows it does. But her curiosity was buried with the horror of unwanted hands on her flesh. Bloody tomoe swirled lazily in her head that day, sparked with the same madness as her intruder—yearning for a past that hadn’t survived. Those cruel, witted eyes took her desire from her, took everything from her.

But Ino has been through the miasma too, hasn’t she? And Sai, poor Sai—still learning to express himself without coming off as an unlubricated machine—is choking out a moan. The two of them are here, doing it right on her couch. They’ve found the secret she is still searching for.

Sakura drinks every bit in, savoring the texture of their pleasure in her mouth like a full meal after too many years of famine. It continues, the uneven breaths, the wet kisses, the small noises. Ino is a little louder than him, but Sakura’s sure it’s only because Sai is making a greater effort to be quiet.

Eventually they begin to fumble beneath the blanket, then remove it to go down the hall, Ino leading Sai with her hand clasped over his. Sakura hears a door open and shut—no doubt Ino’s old bedroom from when she used to live in the apartment. The light from the t.v. screen flashes against the adjacent wall.

Sakura starts to hear Ino’s cries of pleasure, followed by thumps and creaks of a bed. She curls up closer into her own comforter, careful not to disturb Naruto and Hinata on the other side of the couch.

Ino has had sex with countless other people in that very same room, on that very same bed, in what could only be described as a deeply confusing and painful period of her lifetime. Hearing the soft moans of her friend then, with a man she is undoubtedly in love with, softens something inside of Sakura.

She traces intricate swirls and circles on the arm of the sofa, drawing glyphs to the sound of love making. Sakura thinks her hands must be something foreign to move so delicately like that, her skin an opaque blue from the television screen.

When the sounds quiet, Sakura lifts her head up to look over at Naruto and Hinata. Naruto’s nose is burrowed in Hinata’s charcoal hair. She has the wisp of a smile , eyes closed peacefully. The image is surreal and oddly fascinating. For a moment, Sakura imagines that they’re both dead, holding one another in the most peaceful sleep life has to offer. Then Naruto lets out an audacious snore, shattering the image in an instant.

Sakura stands slowly, turning off the t.v. They hadn’t been planning a sleepover—even if Naruto did bring sake as an apology, (only to drink most of it himself.) The movie they chose was just so dull that they all ended up dozing off, Sakura exhausted from her shifts in the hospital, Naruto pleasantly drunk, and Hinata unnaturally relaxed from the massage Sakura had given her.

Sakura switches on the living room light and the Hyuga begins to stir. “Hinata,” Sakura calls, her voice a soft whisper.

“Hm…?” Hinata moans, “S-Sakura-san?” she slurs, saturated with sleep.

Sakura moves over to the couple. “Sorry for waking you,” she whispers. “I just thought it might be better if you two moved to the bed.” Sakura has to hold back from smiling, Hinata straining to look at her through the brightness of the room. The Hyuga heiress looks downright adorable. “I’d feel a lot more comfortable if you two weren’t crammed on the couch like this.”

“Oh,” Hinata murmurs, closing her eyes. She exhales gently and asks, “And you?”

“I’ll take the couch,” Sakura explains.

Hinata’s lips pull slightly downward.

“I’ll be fine, don’t worry. It’s much more roomy when there aren’t two other people on it.”

Sakura thinks Hinata is about to protest, but she just nods tiredly. “Okay,” Hinata mumbles.

She lets Sakura guide her to the bedroom, and easily makes herself comfortable on the plush mattress. Sakura doesn’t bother waking Naruto up, just carries him from the couch to her bedroom, gently laying him by Hinata. Hinata curls into him almost instinctively, probably too tired to bother with modesty. And Naruto responds to her, even in unconsciousness, wrapping a muscled arm around his wife.

“Good night,” Sakura whispers, before heading back to the living room.

Despite being on a sofa, Sakura sleeps better than she has in weeks.

“Sakura, right?”

Sakura turns her head to spot familiar green hair she had seen only a few days ago. “Oh.” She offers him a tired smile. “Hi Kaito.”

She sees the way his eyes twitch wide at the sound of his name and Sakura feels her abdomen twist in an empathic ache. She knows what it’s like to be forgettable too.

His focus is timidly fixed on her. He seems agitated, she observes, his lips scrunched together, shoulders tense. “Is everything alright?” Sakura asks.

Kaito nods, offering a smile much more sincere than hers. “Yeah, I’m just visiting a friend,” he explains.

He’s still rigid, but there isn’t terror in his tone so she can only assume his friend isn’t dying. That’s good. She nods her head, to herself and to him.

“It’s a shame you can’t be on the mission with us,” Kaito says.

Sakura fights the stiffness in her jaw and fingers, and she prepares for an interrogation. Busy at the hospital. But Kakashi said he spoke to Tsunade. Fuck. Chakra block? Then she wouldn’t be here at work right now. Sick friend. Completely bonkers. Needs my help. But then what kind of friend would she be to not commit them to a psych ward.

Maybe he notices her anxiety, because his eyes quiver, stricken with the kind of panic that accompanies a heinous blunder. “Ah—I mean—you’re a brilliant shinobi, is all,” Kaito amends. “I’ve really enjoyed working with you.”

Oh. He isn’t going to ask.

Sakura smiles softly, and she finds she doesn’t need to make an effort to give her features vibrance. “Thank you,” she murmurs, then adds with more confidence, “I’m sure you’re a great shinobi yourself. Hokage-sama wouldn’t have chosen you for such a high class mission if you weren’t.” And it’s true. Kakashi is methodical and calculating. He favors fail-safe options over risky calculations. He’s lost too much to chance already.

“Although we won’t see each other on the mission,” The sensor says. He lifts quivering knuckles to his lips and clears his throat. “Maybe we can see each other after?” Kaito says, and she watches the bob of his adam’s apple as he swallows thick. “On a date?” He clarifies.

There’s a tense pause where she tries to grapple with the proposition, flustered, because although this isn’t entirely uncommon for her, it’s not so often these offers feel so earnest. Kaito is looking straight at her, his brown honey struggling to refrain from melting, unease blaring and palpable. Sakura becomes increasingly aware of the purgatory she’s putting this poor nin through as she tries to process the new, tightly wound ball that’s floating in her stomach.

He speaks again, his tempo comes in fast. “I know, this is probably inappropriate—you’re working—I-I just thought…”

He pauses, breaks eye contact for respite before reconstructing himself with greater confidence. “You’re beautiful.” His sincerity is found raw in the texture of his voice and Sakura feels the thing lodged in her gut flutter. “And I would really like to take you out.”

“Yes,” Sakura says quickly, before she can second guess herself. “Yes, I would love that.” She feels a wide smile stretch onto her face, remembering an earlier conversation that implored she give love a fighting chance.

She watches the relief cascade through him, shoulders falling while a saccharine smile bursts through his lips. “Oh...wow. I kind of wasn’t expecting that,” Kaito gives a semi-nervous chuckle. He exhales, stretching the tension away. “Alright, I guess I’ll just come by the hospital after the mission?”

“Sure!” Sakura nods, and she can feel the warmth on her cheeks, the slight speed of her heart. She’s never been on a date before, and she can’t help but feel excited. “If I’m busy or not around, just leave a note with whoever is at the front desk. I’ll get in contact and we can figure out the details.”

“Great,” Kaito nods his head and doesn’t even try to fight back his grin. She likes that. It reminds her of Naruto. Smiles like that are wonderfully contagious things. “I’ll see you then.”

When Sakura walks back home that evening, her thoughts are wrapped in white silk. The sun doesn’t come out as early, and the leaves are nearly all gone now, but she’s warm with the knowledge that she’ll soon be having her very first date.

Some part of Sakura knows she shouldn’t have said yes—that she was sentencing herself and him for disappointment—another little death to survive. Because she isn’t ready. She couldn’t be. There are just too many phantoms flitting around right now and she shouldn’t be dragging someone else to meet them. They cradle her with claws while she sleeps. Sakura is sure of it.

Nonetheless, she’s smiling more often, and even treating herself to small meals and snacks. She imagines and reimagines her first date with Kaito, each one ending with a pair of puckered lips and the heat of being gathered in a pair of bronze arms. Suddenly, Sakura remembers what it’s like to want again.

“Not that I’m not happy for you,” Ino says, dipping a roller in pale green paint. “But maybe you should slow it down. You don’t know him, Sakura.”

“I know,” Sakura says, smiling. “That’s why it’s perfect.”

The living room walls are decided to be Sai’s new project. Ino plans to surprise him by doing the base and so he can skip straight to the decorative illustrations when he comes back from his mission. Sakura has just finished moving the furniture to the center of the room.

“That’s a dangerous game, forehead,” Ino says, rolling a splotch of mint over the base. “We all did that with Sasuke and—”

“He’s not Sasuke,” Sakura interrupts with crass certainty. He isn’t. Nobody is.

Ino looks over at Sakura with a slight pout, before smiling. “You’re right. Let me stop being such a downer.” The paint makes a wet squelch as it meets the wall. “I’m just really protective of you, you know.” And Sakura does.

She watches as several wet lines dribble down from Ino’s workspace. The color is so light it almost blends in with the white beneath it. Almost. “But first dates are super fun. The best part is when you realize it’s going nowhere so you just start making shit up just to see how they’ll react.”

“Pig!” Sakura laughs aloud, the sound foreign to her own ears. It must be to Ino too, because she sees her arm quiver. Fortunately, Sakura’s in a good enough mood that she can ignore it. “How many times did you resort to that?”

“More times than I can count. I was making up completely different personalities too, when I was younger.” Ino says, a wistful grin on her face. “Wasn’t that hard, considering...”

“Oh yeah,” Sakura says, remembering her best friend who wasn’t quite herself anymore—lost in mannerisms and memories that weren’t hers. “How has that been, by the way? Did you ever tell Sai about it?”

Ino just shrugs, looking bored. Sakura nearly cringes at that. “I don’t use the jutsu for that long anymore. It hasn’t gotten that bad in years.”

“You should tell him, Ino,” Sakura reproaches, before hastily amending her tone. “You know, just incase. So he’ll know what to do.”

Ino’s brow twitches and there’s a pregnant pause of idle painting. “I don’t...I don’t want to make it real,” she says, then stares down at the roller in her hand. Sakura makes a sharp inhale and looks away. She didn’t like that statement. She had that same thought when she was younger, and was longing for her love to return.

“Ugh, it’s fine.” Ino groans to herself suddenly. “I manage it so much better now, it’s not even a thing.”

Sakura looks at Ino again, frowning. “But if it happens again, he’ll need to—”

“Forehead,” Ino sighs, her shoulders slumping. She stares at Sakura, half pleading, half chiding. Sakura feels anger unfurl in her chest, and a twinge of guilt too. “If I thought it was a problem, I would tell you, okay?” Ino looks back at the wall, dips her roller into the tray of paint. “It’s in the past. Let’s just keep it there.”

Sakura frowns, wondering how it can be that simple. But she trusts Ino enough to believe her. She mercifully changes the subject. “Before I get my hands wet, do you want me to make tea or something?”

Ino stills, brings a hand to her chin in contemplation before shrugging. “Nah,” she decides. “The only tea we have is some foreign crap Sai bought. It’s supposed to help with cramps or something but it just tastes like ass.”

Sakura smirks fondly. “Sai’s too cute.” She lifts the other roller, admires the way the soft bristles saturate in the green hue when she dips it into the tray. “At least he tries.”

“Yeah, he’s super sweet about it.” Ino smiles. “You’d be surprised how many guys out there get uptight about periods. Meanwhile Sai comes home with some new weird product or technique every month,” she scoffs. “Mind you, the only suggestion I’ve actually liked is fucking.”

Sakura rolls her eyes, smirking. “What a surprise.”

“So tell me about this guy,” Ino says, and Sakura finds herself instantly smiling. “You’ve been on a mission with him before, right?”

Sakura nods, extending her arm upward to roll slick paint on. “He’s a sensor.”

“Oh,” Ino says. “I think a sensor would be good for you. They’re really perceptive. Kind of forces honest communication.”

“Oh, you don’t have to tell me that,” Sakura snorts. She sees Ino’s cheeks heat up ever so slightly.

“What’s he look like?”

“He’s…” Sakura pauses, considering. “Attractive.” She smiles. “And he has green hair. Like green green hair.”

“Oh shit, I think I’ve been in a team with him!” Ino exclaims. “Oh my god, that dude was so hot!” She gushes, “I mean—not like Sasuke or Sai hot, they’re just superhumanly sexy—but shit, I remember he took off his shirt when I was healing him on a mission and ooohh gurl!” Ino says, “Total heartthrob!”

Sakura chuckles, “Pig!” She tries to swallow her nervous smile and hopes her cheeks aren’t as pink as they feel.

“What do you think your babies will look like?” Ino asks. “What color will their hair be?”

“And she tells me to slow down,” Sakura mumbles, her stomach squirming in shared excitement. “Let’s just wait until the first date before we talk about babies, okay?”

Ino laughs lightly, “Yeah, you’re right. We gotta make sure he’s not just trying to get laid or marry rich.”

Sakura nearly chokes on her spit. “Marry rich? I never even thought of that.”

Ino just shrugs. “You’re probably going to be head of the hospital when Tsunade retires, everyone knows you make big bucks.” She lathers the roller in more slick paint. “Y’know, I think if he doesn’t work out, you should try dating a civilian. They’re way less maintenance and drama.”

Sakura tenses because this is code, she’s learned, in ways she didn’t want to.

“She can be difficult,” Kizashi had said casually to a friend, when he was too tired to love her okaasan anymore. Sakura knew she wasn’t supposed to be listening in on their conversation like that, but that’s exactly why she did. Something was wrong with her okaasan and everyone kept pretended like there wasn’t. Sakura had been sick of it. “High maintenance—you know,” Kizashe had amended, not liking his previous diction. “I thought she’d be better after her father passed—that she’d let it go. But she didn’t.”

Sakura recoils, as if she’d been slapped across her flushed cheeks. Her brows furrow and she frowns. “What makes you think I care about that?”

“I mean—I thought that—” Ino falters, hands still as her lips twitch. “I don’t know, simplicity is nice.”

Sakura’s frown deepens. “What?”

Ino bashfully meets her eyes, lips twisted in an anxious line. “Nothing, it was stupid. Just forget it.”

Sakura opens her mouth to question her further, before there’s a sudden, hollow thump thump. The two kunoichi look over at the window, spotting a small canine.

“A mission?” Sakura asks, and Ino walks over to open the window.

“Yamanaka-san!” the orange spotted dog greets, “Hokage-sama has summoned you. He would like to see you as soon as possible!” Ino turns to give Sakura an apologetic look.

“It’s okay,” Sakura says, nodding gently. “Go ahead. I’ll just finish up this wall and head out.”

“Thanks, forehead.” Ino smiles soft. She gives her a goodbye hug and squeezes tight. This shouldn’t startle Sakura, but it does.

The embrace is not apologetic, Sakura realizes. Perhaps grateful, but mostly just warm. Affection for the sake of it. It’s so good, the awareness of her own yearning for intimacy tsunamis through her. Sakura has been needing this. She’s been needing it forever.

But then Ino’s pulling away. “You’re the best,” Ino says.

Then she is gone.

“You remind me of my niece,” Yuuto says, a weary smile on his lips. The white tiles and walls, reflecting too-bright lighting is hard on Sakura’s eyes today, and she doesn’t know why. Lack of sleep, her body thinks. Lack of dreams, her head replies.

“Oh? How so?” Sakura asks, running her palm along his bare chest. The vibrant green of her hand is iridescent and makes the pain behind her eyes worse.

“Do you feel discomfort when I do this?” She asks, applying slight pressure to the breastbone. She likes the way he tenses against her, knowing it’s not of pain. It happens often when she’s with patients and she hasn’t tired of it yet. It’s one of the subtle reminders that she’s not just good at this but she belongs. And Sakura never felt like that until Tsunade.

“No, no pain,” Yuuto tells her, and her hands move to his head, gently presses against the forefront of his skull. “You have these moments,” he says then, answering her previous question. “Child-like. I used to think we were all dead before you.”

Sakura’s hands still for a moment, and she gauges the sincerity in his eyes. She wonders if the poison has already ensnared the cognitive functions in his brain.

“Not like innocent, but you’re...well...” He struggles in his search, before his tired eyes marginally lighten, like they’ve caught onto something. “Cute.”

“Cute,” Sakura repeats, wrinkling her nose. She regrets the occupancy of the word in her mouth as much as this conversation.

Yuuto howls then, and she jumps. He’s laughing—rough and throaty but so honest that it steals the breath from her lungs. “Just like that!” He gasps then, before taken by a fit of loud and forceful coughs.

It’s in this moment that Sakura confirms her suspicions. She likes Yuuto. She likes him very much.

Sakura places a chakra loaded palm on his chest and rubs her fingers against his warm skin soothingly. “Easy there,” she says, her smile sincere and taunting. “Laughing to death might be a pleasant way to go, but I’m not done with you yet.” His lips turn upwards and based on the pinch of his brow and heaves of his chest, the smile is painful for him to hold. But he wears it just the same.

“It would be, wouldn’t it?” Yuuto muses with a hum. He looks at her with a fondness in his eyes. Sakura feels undeserving, but her heart pumps forcefully against her ribs, devouring the image with need. It reminds her too much of her Tousan to deny herself the painful pleasure of smiling back.

Finally, she brushes a loose pink strand from her face and begins to scribbles notes. He’s doing worse, unsurprisingly. “We have a new medicine for you,” Sakura says then, skimming over numbers in his chart. “It’s not a cure, but it will slow the poison down.”

She meets his eyes, and she can see the grave dullness has returned. For a moment all she feels is pure anguish for bringing it up. But professional as always, she keeps the rot from her voice. “A nurse will be coming in to administer it through an IV. You’ll probably get a little nausea from it, and maybe a headache, but that should be the worst of it. If you feel anything else, let a staff member know immediately, okay?” He stiffly nods his consent.

“Will I see you again?” He asks then, and Sakura’s self loathing increases incrementally, looking into those lonely eyes of his. She wants to stay, keep him company. But she has to go back to the lab so she can keep him alive. Her medicine isn’t a cure. Not good enough.

“Of course,” she says. “You’re my patient.”

Yuuto doesn’t look satisfied, the frown on his lips still neatly placed above the wrinkle on his chin. He nods anyway, stern and stiff. It’s practiced—the nod of a shinobi after being handed a suicide mission. It makes her sick to her stomach.

“You’re a strong man, Yuuto,” Sakura says. “We’re going to get through this. I promise.” And she sees the weight on his shoulders marginally lift.

When she leaves, Sakura spends her walk to the lab pondering why life demands so much from the dying.

Sakura closes her eyes and tries to block out the rest of the world, her fingers splayed along her lower stomach, gently rubbing. She takes a deep breath, tries to coach herself through this the way she often does. Just relax, Sakura. We can do this.

She considers picturing Kaito. He’s handsome enough. And the thought is at least tangible, something written in the realm of possibility. But the concept is too strange with her not quite knowing the man. So Sakura pictures nothing.

She tries to recall that stranger from her most eerie and pleasant dreams. A man—an Uchiha—she recalls. It’s hard to remember when she’s awake, but she’s catalogued factual pieces the last time she woke up: Long, dark hair, like Madara, with two locks wrapped in strips of cloth to frame a regal face. Bold, azure lines tracing his bottom eyelids. None of it stands out like his Sharingan.

She remembered thinking he was a deity, when he undressed her in her dreams, placed his hot mouth between her legs. He was a man of unmatched caliber, this Uchiha, who wore holy white robes and Sasuke’s sinful smirk. And she remembers she had called him that, because he felt so much like her ex-teammate. She called him Sasuke-kun—like he was ever hers.

Sakura can’t quite grapple onto the memory of yearning in his eyes, but she imitates the way his hands had danced between her legs. It works, and soon enough, she’s sighing at the feel of her fingers meeting her lower petals, parting them gently. With great care and patience, she rubs sweet friction along her folds, working herself up to her peak. It takes longer than it should, her climax evading her. She forcefully exhales, and moves her fingers faster, hoping the stimulation will bring her closer.

It doesn’t, it leaves her feeling raw and distraught. She’s becoming more antsy, feeling herself growing dry. Sakura steals a determined breath and struggles to focus. I can do this. She used to all the time, though she hardly remembers it. She breathes in and out, honing in on the pad of her finger as it grazes her sensitive nub. Then there must be progress because she’s tossing her head to the side to mewl, stomach tight. Something coils inside and the moisture grows. She runs her fingers further down, probing her entrance gently with a single digit.

And then she feels a nukenin’s cold hands on her body, a man possessed forcing himself on her. Inside her.

Her hand stills and her eyes snap open as a tremor crawls through her. She sighs, pulling her hand away to stare up at the whiteness of her ceiling. All traces of her high vaporize, as if it were never there. Sakura buries the feeling that she’s been robbed of something, and with a heavy exhale, she sits up. She smears a frustrated tear off her cheek and crawls out of bed.

The stream from the showerhead is a bleak, liquid winter. Sakura turns the knob and makes it even colder. She has to use all her willpower to stay rooted in that spot, shivering. But that’s okay because she’s gotten good at doing things she doesn’t want to. It’ll help, she thinks, honing in on the loud buzz in her head. Sakura rocks back and forth on her heel, nails pinching hard into her arms as she holds herself. It’ll go away. It always does. It’s just a matter of when.

His tongue was slimy, she remembers. Her nails scrape at her neck, following the path he had forever marked You have her face. The nin had said, wearing a delirious smile. Sakura’s fingers move over her cheeks and wonder if they were ever really hers. Did that girl he saw die during her lifetime? He’d pushed inside her so painfully, so desperately—like he hated and loved her at once. Sakura wonders if she had always been wearing the face of a dead woman.

“Fuck!” Sakura mewls in pain, a burning sensation tearing her from the monochrome. She jerks from the water and her body shakes with the force of her gasps. She looks down at her trembling fingers, cheek throbbing. Her nails are stained with blood and chunks of skin. She’s shaking bad and she’s sure it’s not because she’s cold. She doesn’t want this. A life defined by deaths. She sees okaasan’s eyes—open, chapped lips slightly parted.

“Your kaasan doesn’t hate you,” Kizashi had told her, back when he was alive and full of mirth. He had sounded as if her suggestion was the most ridiculous thing he’d ever heard. “She’s just had a hard life.”

“Well, she must think I make it harder,” Sakura said, clutching the fabric of his shirt, trying to keep the tears from her voice. Her pout was as obnoxious as her sadness was honest. Her otousan’s large hand smoothed over her hair.

“She loves you, Sakura,” Otousan said. “She has a hard time showing it, but she loves you. She’s just had a hard life, that’s all.” His voice was mechanical, like this was a mantra he’s spoken for years, though it’s the first time Sakura had heard it.

“What happened to her?” Sakura asked. She felt Kizashi’s arms tense.

He ran his fingers through her hair again and she felt the warmth of his other hand moving up and down her arm, trying to chase a chill away. “It’s complicated,” he had said, and when she looked up, he was staring forward at the wall. “But it’s not your fault. I promise.” He held her closer, and kissed her forehead.

She’d frowned and said nothing. She wanted to believe him, but found she couldn’t.

Her youth didn’t come with naivety and she knew her otousan was wrong. Okaasan looked at her for too long sometimes—like she was seeing through her. It was as if she had already made up her mind long ago.

She imagines if she had come to the bedroom before her mother had passed out, Mebuki would have spent her last breath whispering You did this to me. before her face became the mask of a dead thing too.

Sakura places her palm over her chest, willing her second heart, with it’s second face, to stop beating. She moves back under the shower head, teeth chattering, skin frozen. And her blood is just droplets sprinkled in the water now. Sakura watches it dissolve, fading into liquid clarity. She shuts her eyes and listens to the rush of the cool stream.

It’ll wash away, she thinks, feeling gore on her face and between her legs. It always does. It’s just a matter of when.

A/N: Special thanks to Timafa, who encouraged me to write in that transitional scene. Hopefully future chapters will read smoother for it.

#mine #sasusaku #fanfiction #ghosts #elegiesforshiva #efs writes #homemade trauma soup

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hatredcurse · 3 years ago

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anbu-hinata:

Sasuke’s words reassured her, and she smiled lightly, she guessed that this was an invitation for her to start randomly rambling about any silly subject that came to her mind.

“An experiment, you think? I suppose it could be true, otherwise I don’t understand why would they need us to work together. I saw you fighting in the war, Sasuke. You don’t need anyone to go on missions with you… actually, I believe you don’t need anyone at all.” Hinata said and her words almost sounded as if she was reminding this to herself. “Although two doujutsu users together could be a wonderful combination, Sharingan versus Byakugan, which one would win?” She continued graciously gesturing between the two of them. Hoping for a chuckle from him at least, who knows? Maybe he has a sense of humor?.

But what did Hinata know about Sasuke? She knew about how Konoha treated him, she knew about all the rumours and averting eyes that followed when he arrived at any place. She also knew he suffered and she refused to believe in the evil version of him that people from Konoha are so fond of.

Hinata herself knew that if she wasn’t the Hyuga heiress, people from her village would be dismissive and mean to her. She had to deal with enough bullying from children during her childhood, only because she was too soft, too afraid, only because she never dared to stand up for herself.

Her clan wasn’t easy to deal with either. Her own father rejected her, and told her way so many times how he wished she was never born. Hinata suffered too in a way, she has been rejected too, maybe she was more similar to Sasuke than she ever thought… But none of those experiences made her give up on her softness or stop believing in the goodness of people.

"Is there anything special I need to know about this mission? Besides that, is there any type of rule that I should follow as your teammate?” Hinata asked, looking at him with curious eyes. She was just trying to be the most perfect version of herself around him, because she certainly didn’t want to disappoint Sasuke Uchiha, so the more she knows about him, the better.

She was curious, that was clear. She wanted to get to know Sasuke, not Konoha’s one. Not the Sasuke who was hidden behind all of his walls. Not the one that keeps people at arm’s length only. Hinata wanted to get to know the Sasuke-Kun she knew from her childhood, again.

"And also, I forgot to ask, how are you doing?” The Hyuga heiress dared to ask concerned, she hoped that this question didn’t sound too personal to Sasuke but hopefully it would be a nice start for them to get to know each other better. If they are going to have each other’s backs and protect each other during this mission, they might as well talk about their personal lives a bit.

“I believe you don’t need anyone at all.” Painful how he thought the same for a long time. However, she meant it in terms of endearment and he wasn’t one to find malice in innocent intentions. Not anymore at least. “I pretend like I don’t need anyone at all,” he spoke lightly. It’s not really an act, he didn’t really pretend. It’s that anyone in the right mind wouldn’t place their life in his hands. Not anyone that didn’t know him intimately before. “I believe it depends on the user. Both doujutsus have proven by several timeless shinobi the extent that one can utilize them. I believe it falls down on who has a better grasp of the situation and who has sound philosophy.” He thought to himself. He’s heard of Uchiha’s who’ve lost to Byakyugan users and vice versa. Each situation highly variable, but all the same mythos given how much time has transpired since the acts. “I don’t believe we’d truly know unless we have a war, but even then, it’s not down to the ability as it is the leadership and intra-cooperation... At least, that’s what I think.” Great, now he’s thinking like his father. Something to ponder about later with a few more textbooks in his arsenal. “Not anything that wasn’t already debriefed by the captain. At this time, I think it’s imperative that we scout the land before we even try to blend in. It is unknown how much Kumogakure has changed over time, especially after the war. They’ve been notably quiet.” He hazard to speak of the land to Hinata, being a Hyuga, but maybe the war before means nothing to her. He knew nothing of that clan and its relations. “There are no rules. Follow my commands and I’ll follow yours. Whatever grudges, hatred, whatever you have against me, I’m not going to put up with it and risk my life to save you should you choose to be stubborn with me,” he warned. It may be unnecessary, but he couldn’t rule her out to be in the same crowd as the others. If she was, he’d like her to be completely transparent about it. “So—” he started to say something else, but was caught off-guard by her comments. Formalities, Sasuke. “I’m alright?” he spoke uncertain of how to answer. Truly, he didn’t know himself. “How are you?”

#ic #Sasuke VC: She's not actually being nice she's just putting up with me.

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vesperlionheart · 8 years ago

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Pompeii 25

Urgency was different in Pompeii. Sakura used to think of urgency like a held breath. She could only hold in her urgency for so long before she had to act on it, like some sort of rodent in a pond of water. Pompeii wasn’t like that. Pompeii held its urgency like a whale holds its breath. The panic and mummers of a snake-man made near immortal sent shockwaves through the community, but Pompeii endured in its habits, in its rituals, in its nuances. Pompeii held its breath long enough for Sakura to almost forget about the threats.

Almost.

“More allergies,” Sakura sighed, watching the tiny buds on the trees outside.

It was still chilly, and it would be a bit longer before anyone shed their jackets, but the flora and fauna in Pompeii was hearty, with breeds that enjoyed coming out early to torment those with sensitive immune systems. The landscape was changing yet again and she felt left behind. Hadn’t it just been the Yule tide? Hadn’t she just welcomed winter? It wasn’t even technically spring yet, but stuff was blooming.

“Ah, yes, but at least this is something easy for us to help with. People forget the simple things and come in thinking their head is going to roll off their shoulders. I would rather tell them it’s allergies than something worse,” Shizune chuckled, organizing the papers at her desk.

She looked more cheery than usual and Sakura was beginning to wonder if that was because the older woman could tell Sakura was unnerved by the things she didn’t understand. Sakura knew enough to worry, but not enough to know when to stop worrying.

When Sakura had tried asking around she had been treated little better than a child. She had been praised for her caring heart, cheered for her willingness to help others, pat on her head and turned around with a cup of milk and cookie for bed. Well, that last part was more figurative than literal. The head pats were literal but only a few people had actually given her food when ushering her along. Though, she didn’t mind the food.

“It’s brought in a few new faces, I’ll say that much,” Sakura sighed. “But I guess you are right. I like that I’m able to help in something around here. I should have a better attitude about things, like you.”

Shizune blushed the way mothers blush when being bragged about. “Sakura, you do an amazing job here. You help people every day.”

“Yeah, thanks. Hey, what does the rest of the day look like. I thought I saw we had a few cancellations but we’ve seen a good two dozen today.”

“That’s what happens when the broods come in. I swear some of these families populate like bunnies. Here it is, our list of appointments for the day….” Shizune ran her finger down her handwritten list. “That’s funny. You were right about all the cancellations. They’re today at the end. You’ve got one more patient coming in but after her you’re free to run back to your room for reading or whatever it is you do on your own.”

Sakura panicked internally and snickered on the outside, doing her best to stay cool. “No, it’s totally porn Shizune. What else could it be?”

“Obviously,” Shizune laughed along. Shizune’s chuckle doubled after she thought about it, glancing at Sakura’s face and then shaking her head, like the thought was too hard to imagine.

“What’s last on my list for today?” Sakura sighed, reaching for the list herself when it seemed Shizune would be lost in her fit of giggles for a moment more.

“Oh, I shouldn’t laugh so much, I told myself I would warn you about this next one. She’s a friend of mine and Tsunade. She’s…a bit eccentric and the Mizu boys all know to be weary of her. She’s sort of the shadow king to their faction, but is very hands off about things. Mei likes to stay out of politics and just generally leave society to itself.”

Sakura raised a single brow before reaching for the file and flipping through. She saw a few pages of barely any notes. Mei was older, but hadn’t been in more than maybe twice in all her time in Pompeii.

“She’s not a mermaid…it says she’s a…” When Sakura looked up she saw Shizune wincing and Sakura screwed her lips shut. “Sorry, I know, sorry, won’t say that stuff out loud.”

It was still rude for even doctors to mention the classification of certain citizens of Pompeii and Mei was one of them. Sakura thought it might wear off in time after she had been in Pompeii for a while, but it never did. Apparently, when someone shared that with you it was a sign of either deep respect of affection. Some used it as a flirting tactic, others guarded themselves strictly even when their classification was more obvious than others.

Sakura returned her eyes to the notes to try and figure out the rest on her own. It said Mei was a type of Cecaelia related to the Blue Ringed breed found in the waters around Australia. If Sakura remembered correctly the Blue Ringed was a type of Octopus.

The door chimed and a tall woman with long red hair sauntered in, looking as healthy as a spring breeze. Her heels clicked light across the floor and stopped in front of Shizune. Hands on her hips the new woman scanned the room before speaking. “Where’s the pretty new doctor that’s made such a riot in my waters?”

Sakura stood up from behind her desk and came out so that Mei could see her. “Mei Terumi?” Sakura asked, extending a hand to shake. “I’m Doctor Haruno, it’s nice to finally meet.”

Mei’s eyes were brilliant in a shade of aqua green as she reached out a hand to meet Sakura’s shake, but instead of the typical shake she tugged Sakura closer and clasped Sakura’s hand in both of hers. “No, the pleasure is all mine,” she cooed, eyes still dancing. “I’ve been looking forward to when I would finally be courageous enough to make it here. Oh, you are such a cute little thing. I’m sorry it took me so long. You must have been horribly harassed by the men here in Pompeii. I can’t imagine how they’d ever leave you alone.” She tugged Sakura’s hands up to her chest and pat them there. “We girls need to stick together sometimes, don’t you think?”

Sakura smiled, more amused by Shizune’s gesturing hand motions in the background than Mei’s words. “Of course. You said you wanted a physical with us. Why don’t I show you to your room so you can get comfortable while I get your things.”

Mei tittered in delight. “Of course. Yes, comfortable.”

Sakura smiled and nodded, leading the woman away. Before she rounded the last corner she cast a final look over her shoulder at Shizune who was giving Sakura a big thumb’s up and mouthing ‘good luck.’

After the check up Sakura was glad she had the rest of the day cleared. She went up to her room to change out of her day clothes into something more casual and flipped open the book of sass to see if it would talk to her today. Some days it did, some days it only showed her pointless chatter, and other days it was as silent as a dead thing.

Today was one of those days.

She quickly realized after starting to get her things together for tea that she was missing her favorite mug. It was downstairs in the work room where she had left it after washing it. She toed into her ballet flats and made her way back downstairs with the intention of picking up her mug and leaving, but paused when she saw Shizune shuffling through some papers and looking lost.

“Shizune?” Sakura asked. “Something wrong?”

Shizune looked up and smiled. “No, I’m just having trouble entering some data on this computer and I need to do it all before going to the bank which closes in an hour.”

“Do you want me to do the data entry for you? It’s easy enough for me to figure out.” Sakura edged over and saw what Shizune was working on. It was simple input and Sakura knew she could have it done in twenty minutes, maybe twenty five if the computer loaded like a slow beast.

“No thank you dear. If you do it for me again I’ll never learn. I think I can do it, I just need the time. Oh! But there is something you could help me with.” Shizune reached for the money pouch with all the checks and ‘odd’ forms of payment that needed to be cashed at the end of the week. “Will you take this down to the Hyuga bank? I know it’s a few days early but we’ve been so busy it’s extra full and it’s making me nervous.”

“That’s easy enough,” Sakura chuckled. “Let me get my purse and I’ll be out soon. If you’re still on this when I come back I’ll help you out, but I think you have got the hang of it.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, you’ve come a long way since day one.”

“Oh, that’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said about my work skills,” Shizune cheered, honestly moved by the praise on something she was struggling with.

Sakura skipped back upstairs to get her purse and stepped out of her flats and into some boots. It was still a little cold outside which meant she needed to layer up some more. Sakura paired her jeans with a nicer sweater, this one without stains, and pulled down a green army jacket to wear over her sweater. If it rained she would be fine.

Sakura paused at the thought of rain. She hadn’t seen Pein in a while. He’d been gone, off on business with some of the other ‘important’ members of Pompeii society. Yesterday Sakura had visited his favorite diner for an order of waffles and hung out extra long in hopes of catching him. Konan ended up teasing Sakura about it and promised she would tell Pein to stop being so busy he couldn’t stop by and say hi.

But it wasn’t just Pein. The crows and ravens stayed ever present outside her window, but she hadn’t seen a single Uchiha on the streets. When she went to the mountain to visit Izuna for his monthly treatment his home had been empty. It was only when she was leaving did she see Madara, and he pouted terribly when she asked about the other Uchiha.

Pompeii was different.

Sakura locked the doors behind her and kept the money bag safe in her purse as she walked the rest of the way to the bank. She made it in less than eight minutes of quick leg work and found it mostly empty. A mousy white eyed woman approached Sakura and asked if there was anything she could do to help.

Withdrawing the money bag from her purse Sakura handled it carefully. “I need this currency exchanged and deposited in our account. Who could I see for this service?”

“I’ll be handling the doctor’s finances,” a new voice cut in. The younger Hyuga woman nodded and backed away before returning to her work.

Sakura turned and saw behind her a vague but familiar sight. “You’re Neji…we’ve met before. Hinata’s cousin, correct?”

He was taller than her with a curtain of perfectly treated coffee colored hair that reached the middle of his back. It was tied back in a braid that helped show off the clear white color of his moon colored eyes. Neji nodded to her and gestured to an office off to the side.

“You are not mistaken, doctor. We have met before and I know of you well enough.”

“You’re a very informed man, sir,” Sakura tried to chuckle. She felt odd, almost as if she were speaking to marble. His face was without flaw, his posture was perfect, and even the fabric of his suit seemed immaculate. He was too pretty for a boy and Sakura thought of how Haku might feel if he were to be left in a room with another boy so pretty. Would he be envious?

“This way please.” Neji held open the door to his office and let her take a seat inside before closing the door behind them and sitting down behind a desk.

She noticed on the wall behind him was a calender for phases of the moon and below that a small table with perfectly arranged quartz crystals, silver coins, and sparkling white chains and jewels. It looked like a small dragon’s hoard.

Neji coughed once, positioning himself between her and the pile. “You have mixed currency to exchange?”

“Yeah, Shizune says this is the best place to go for that sort of thing.”

Neji lightly huffed, reaching for the money bag as she passed it to him. “We are the only bank worth mentioning. The Hygua family has been managing the finances of this town for as long as banks served a purpose. Such knowledge is common. You would do well to learn this.”

Sakura felt a tick above her brow and forced a smile. “Sure,” she said, wincing at how hard it was to stay civil with the man across from her. He was cold and stiff. Did he know he was being rude and not care, or was he really that dense?

“Um, thanks for doing this, by the way. It’s awfully nice of you.”

“This is my job.”

“Y-yeah, but still, I appreciate it.”

“Hmm. I will now assess the contents of your purse. Please, do not disturb me during this process if you wish for the utmost in accuracy.”

Neji unzipped the pouch and removed the assortment of items. Much of it was money Sakura recognized, but some of it was odd paper and there were even pieces that didn’t look like money at all. Neji sorted through all of it with fine, pale fingers that worked more like wires, manipulating the items seamlessly in a rhythm that reminded her of puppeteers. A moment later he had his piles.

He read off the amount each pile was worth and listed the name for its brand of currency. There was a stack of what looked like leaves, but when turned over shimmered like brass. Those were called LeeBrans or Leaf Brands, and were worth a different amount depending on the number of points and color of the leaf. Neji had them all memorized and worked quickly to calculate their worth.

Neji was so focused on the work in front of it it gave Sakura a free moment to think and watch him without feeling nervous about it. Usually she would want to look away after staring too long in fear of being caught looking, but Neji was distracted and she was curious.

Most of the people in Pompeii had the otherworldliness feeling to them, and Neji was no exception but he was different. He was so easily not human. Sakura didn’t know what he was, and wasn’t going to ask, but he was too perfect, too neat, too pretty, and too articulate with his hands to be something as trivial as human. And even if he had been rude, Sakura wasn’t blind. Neji was nice to look at.

Too bad he was sort of a jerk.

“The total monetary value in common currency is listed here on this slip,” Neji said, printing something out and placing it in front of Sakura.

He circled a number and Sakura grinned. It had been a good week, after all.

“I’d like to deposit it into our account, please.”

“Any withdraws today?”

Sakura shook her head. “None.”

She had loans to pay off, but she had to wait until pay day to tidy that monthly expense up. She’d be paying off her loans for the next few years, but at this rate she would still be able to live comfortably. It was such a nice change from before.

Someone outside the office caught Sakura’s attention and she turned, expecting to see Hinata, but it was only another Hyuga who looked similar.

“Something wrong?” Neji asked, frowning at her divided attention.

“No, I just thought I saw your cousin Hinata, but I was mistaken.”

Neji’s glower was instant and Sakura had to blink to make sure she didn’t imagine it. A second later he blushed and looked away. He distracted himself by coughing into his hand and tugging the front of his suit down. “No, the lady Hinata would not lower herself to come here where the actual work is done. You are mistaken. I have made the deposit and here is your receipt. Are you satisfied with your service?”

“Oh, yeah, thank you.”

She started to stand and he watched her before moving to stand himself. “Than if everything is agreeable and you have no issues with the service here might I suggest you deposit your money with me personally next time your office needs to bank. It would not be a waste of your time.”

‘And have to sit awkwardly across a desk with someone stuck with a stick so far up? Who would want that?’ The thought made Sakura feel a little guilty. Neji wasn’t the most social or tactful, but he wasn’t terrible. Maybe she just needed to give him another chance.

“Sure thing, Neji. You’re the expert. I’ll see you next time.”

“Yes, I am.”

Sakura felt awkward, not knowing how to respond, so she just sort of waved and walked out on her own, stopping at the top of the stairs when she noticed the rain all around her, but not on her. Sakura looked up in the sky and smiled at the hole cut out to keep her dry. Pein must have gotten the message about missing her at his diner. She liked to think this was his way of making up for it.

The rain came down but it was more like a light mist. Some of it splashed her, but she kept her hood up and was more dry than wet as she walked home. She didn’t have far to go but she took her time, and made sure she was aware of her surroundings on the way back.

It was because she was looking that she saw it. Sakura stopped and turned towards the space between two buildings, seeing a shadowed figure standing stiffly in place, face turned three quarters away. She thought she recognized him, but approached anyway to be sure.

“Sai?”

He didn’t respond. The rain kept coming down on him but he didn’t move. His black clothes were soaked and clung to him. He had to be cold. Sakura was in twice as many layers and she was still chilled, even though she wasn’t even wet. She cursed when she reached him, seeing how pale his skin was. He had always been pale, but this was the next level of white. She touched his face and hissed. He was like ice.

“You’re going to get sick like this, honey,” Sakura chided, taking him by the shoulder and pulling him. “What are you doing out here?”

Sai didn’t respond, he didn’t even look at her as he continued to stand there in the rain. Sakura had to draw closer to him. There was no rain falling down on him when she stood beside him, so she stayed close, pulling him closer to her. She called his name a few more times and waited but he never reacted. He was still breathing and she felt the pulse of life through his veins on his neck, but Sai was mentally checked out.

“Come here you poor thing,” Sakura sighed, dragging him with her.

He came almost unwillingly, but that was because he was stiff to move and needed to be pushed and pulled all the way back to her building. Shizune was gone but Sakura led Sai into one of the exam rooms downstairs and began to pull off his wet things. She brought dry towels and then comforters and blankets.

“What happened to you?” Sakura asked again after he had been mostly dried. He didn’t react once during the whole time she had been trying to help him. He blinked maybe once, but he seemed mentally checked out and devoid of emotion more so than usual.

Nearly an hour of her watching over him passed. Sakura left him on his own a few times, but always came back. Sometimes she came back with warm tea for him to sip, or a hot bagel for him to chew on. He didn’t respond to either, but did curl up in the blankets she brought down. Sakura combed back his hair as he stared blankly across the room, waiting for him to say something.

It was dark and the room was only dimly lit when Sakura heard the first thing of the night out of Sai.

“Please, not more. You said we would be the last.”

Sakura rushed to his side, hoping to see a reaction or something new on his face, but it was as blank as ever. “Sai? Sai, who are you talking about. What’s supposed to be the last? Can you talk to me please.”

A moment later Sai opened his mouth and showed off the tattoo there before closing it and his eyes and going to sleep. Sakura let him, but stayed close by in the next room over, unsettled by what she had heard and saw. She was unwilling to leave him alone but gave him his space.

Sai had been traumatized by something and it wasn’t over, by the sounds of it.

#Pompeii #weird Wednesdays #Sakura #Sai #Mei #Neji #He's such a hoarder #he likes shiny things #he's old and gruff #guess what that makes him #Sai is my son and I never meant to hurt him so #I'm sorry #my hands were made to sin

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kimmibers · 8 years ago

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SasuHina - His Beauty and Her Beast Chapter 4

Got nothing to say other than, hope you like it :)

Kim xxx

For 5 days Hinata lay in her bed at the Uchiha mansion, she had a terrible fever and flu. Sakura helped her each morning to wash and change in to some clean pyjama's as she was lethargic and had little energy. She told her Sasuke had been the one who found her, how worried they all were when she hadn't returned and shushed her when Hinata tried to apologise profusely. Throughout the day Sakura would bring up warm meals for her and chat with her until she fell asleep. Hinata had forgotten how reassuring it was to have friends who helped you in time of need, she would have to find a way to thank Sakura and Sasuke.

Naruto and Sasuke came in to her room also to keep the fire going in her room to keep it warm for her, even though she had a fever she could go from being hot and sweating in one minute to freezing the next. Naruto would talk to her happily as he did so, but Sasuke would remain silent concentrating only on the task at hand and walk out her room again.

On the 6th day Hinata was feeling more herself, her body ached but other than that she felt fine. She managed a shower and to change into her own day clothes before Sakura walked in to her room in the morning.

“Oh good.” Sakura smiled at her and lay a tray of tea on the small table. “How are feeling?”

“Better. Thank you, Sakura, for everything.” Hinata placed her book down beside her on the window seat and looked out the window to see Sasuke and Naruto both hard at work.

“I think one more day of rest should do the trick.”

“Really? I was hoping to-”

“Hinata, don't rush it ok.” Sakura advised. Hinata looked to her lap and nodded her head.

For the rest of the day however Hinata organised and cleaned her room. Tidying the draws and getting rid of all the dust, she swept and moped the floor, cleaned the windows, each trinket glistened and shone in the sunlight streaming through the now clean windows.

Hinata happily sang a merry song as she climbed up the bed post to remove the dirty canopy over it.

“Shouldn't you be resting?” Hinata screamed in embarrassment having been caught singing and fell on to her mattress.

“Sasuke?”

“The door was open.” Sasuke smirked at her. “Sakura asked me to bring you up some soup.” He lifted the tray in his hands as evidence, “Naruto got a splinter, you'd think he'd been fatally wounded the way he goes on about it.” Hinata chuckled half heartedly, she didn't want Sasuke to see the hurt his words had her as they bought back the memories of Neji on the battlefield.

“Um Sasuke...I...I wanted to thank you for...well-”

“It's fine.” Sasuke lay the tray with the steaming bowl of soup, some crusty rolls and piping hot tea on it. “I'm er sorry about your cousin. I didn't know he'd passed away.” Sasuke added.

“Oh...thank you.” Hinata looked at her hands in her lap, and quickly changed the subject. “I...I bought you something actually.” She went rummaging through a bag on the floor. “It was a welcome home present, but well...Now it's more of a thank you one I guess.”

“Hn. You mean I don't get two?”

“Don't be greedy, how unbecoming of a clan head.” Hinata joked at Sasuke while handing over a rectangle navy blue box with a red ribbon wrapped around it.

“What is it?”

“Open it to find out.” She sat on the window seat beside him, keeping a large enough gap between them.

“It's not going to explode out at me or anything?”

“No.” Hinata chuckled, “What presents did you get to make you think that?”

“You don't wonna know.”

Sasuke looked down at the carefully tied ribbon and back at the Hyuga in warning.

“I swear it won't explode.” She chuckled.

Sasuke nodded his head and pulled on the ribbon slowly. As a child he'd been given many gifts mainly off fan girls, all of them he'd thrown in the trash straight away. As an adult, he'd never been given a present before, his reputation put fan girls off now thankfully.

This was why with this gift he took great care in opening it, he wanted to cherish the feeling of opening something. He was aware of the Hyuga watching him and grateful that she allowed him to take his time. If Naruto was beside him he'd no doubt of snatched the gift out of his hands by now and unwrapped it for him. Taking the lid off the navy box Sasuke smiled at the cream book with a black circle and red eye in it's centre.

“The fellowship of the ring.” Sasuke pulled the book from the box.

“To start your reading adventure.” Hinata smiled. “I hope you like it, I saw it when I went shopping with Hanabi.”

“I'm sure I will. Thank you Hinata.”

“Di-Did you just say me by my name?”

“Yeah, it sounded weird, don't be expecting me to say it again.” Sasuke tried to joke. He looked around the room feeling the awkward atmosphere between them. Social interaction was not his strong suit. “Looks good in here.” Sasuke commented trying to fill the gap. “Needs decorating though.” He pointed to a corner where some of the wallpaper was coming away.

“We can concentrate on down stairs first, I think. The kitchen is beautiful, nothing needs changing in there. Maybe a few modern touches here and there, add your own preferences to the sitting room and such.”

“We?”

“Well...If you want...I mean... I decorated my own room back home and-”

“Ok.” Hinata smiled at Sasuke's easy response and leant back against the window.

“Outside looks much better.” She commented.

“It's getting there. I was thinking of hiring a gardener, get it ready for this stupid ball. How about a maze? Then I can tell the old council members to go in there and hope they get lost.” Hinata laughed at Sasuke's mischievous smile. “You think it's too much don't you?”

“A little.” Hinata kept chuckling, “Although if you do go along with that idea remind me to send the Hyuga elders in there with them.” Sasuke chuckled along with her.

“What fun are we missing?” Naruto came walking in the room with his own bowl of soup and Sakura walking behind him with a bowl for herself and Sasuke.

“We're just discussing how to get rid of the people who make our lives a living hell.” Sasuke smirked.

“By making them get lost in a maze.” Hinata added.

“Ha! I thought Sasuke had dragged you to the dark side for a minute there Hinata.” Naruto joked.

“Hinata's too pure for the dark side.” Sasuke said taking the bowl of soup from Sakura's hands. Naruto and Sakura sat on a couple of plush pillows on the floor and each began eating.

“Too pure?” Sakura smiled, “You don't know Hinata like I do.” Sakura spoke between mouthfuls.

“Sakura don't you dare! We promised never to tell anyone!” Hinata's eyes widened knowing exactly what secret of hers Sakura would divulge.

“What have you done that we couldn't know.” Sasuke smirked at the Hyuga.

“N-Nothing.” Hinata blushed.

“She-”

“Don't you dare! Not another word.” Hinata pointed at Sakura. “Otherwise I'll tell them what you did that night too.” Sakura's face blushed as much as Hinata's and quickly closed her mouth.

“Hyuga, you surprise me everyday.” Sasuke smiled to her over his spoon of soup. They each ate in silence after that, looking at one another wondering what secrets they kept. Well apart from Sasuke, they all knew about his dark past, how ironic that he was the only one in the room with no secrets to tell.

As one week turned in to the next the mansion and grounds became more and more liveable. Hinata met with the gardener Sasuke had hired because as soon as he saw Sasuke the poor man nearly wet himself. Hinata suggested a herb garden near the kitchens, so they could use them in the cooking. A grass area, flower beds, there was already a natural lake so that needed cleaning up. Tall Hedges would go around the mansion giving Sasuke privacy, not that he needed it at the moment with an empty district. But Hinata had pointed out the next generation would. He'd liked that, Hinata didn't just see him living there but generations of Uchiha's, his clan restored.

The four of them made a great team together, they easily got along, well apart from when Naruto annoyed the hell out of Sasuke with his whining. Each night after a full day of decorating, cleaning or other responsibilities they chose to do, they had a meal usually prepared by Hinata or Sakura and they would relax in the sitting room.

Tonight was no different Naruto and Sakura played on the new gaming system Naruto had bought and big TV while Sasuke and Hinata read their books.

“Oh come on Sakura! You have to let me win once!” Naruto moaned.

“It's one on one, why would I let you win idiot?! It's not my fault you're crap at this game.”

“Will you two stop bickering.” Sasuke looked his two team mates on the floor.

“Sorry.” They both said in unison and went back to their game.

Hearing a chuckle coming from behind her book Sasuke looked at the Hyuga.

“What you giggling at?”

“I was just thinking how you're like their dad.” Hinata placed her book on her lap. “Telling them off like children.”

“Don't give me nightmares Hyuga.”

“I think I'm gonna go for a walk in the gardens, stretch my legs.” Hinata smiled at Sasuke and placed her book on the side table.

“Don't get lost.” Sasuke called smirking to himself while going back to his book. Feeling eyes watching him he looked over at his two team mates. “What?”

“Nothing.” They both jumped and turned back to their game.

Hinata wrapped her coat tighter around herself, it felt good to feel the fresh air on her face after being in the house all day. There was hardly any wind tonight which made walking all the more pleasant. She noticed the newly laid grass and earth that had been shifted to add more fertile soil to aid the flowers and plants once the gardener was ready to plant them. Bags and bags of soil sat to one side, with a stack of wood beside it and big stones to lay a path.

Hinata strolled past them all and looked at the Uchiha mansion behind her, she smiled to herself seeing the windows looking clean. Soon they would be able concentrate on Sasuke's lessons rather than just cleaning the place up. They still hadn't discussed a date for the ball, but Hinata wanted to make sure Sasuke was ready first.

Noticing she'd walked to the lake Hinata looked over the still and welcoming water, the water clean now. Using her Byakugan she spotted Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura in the sitting room still, wanting to make sure no one could see her. Knowing she was definitely alone she took off her coat and shoes and lay them on the side of the lake where they wouldn't get wet. Sending chakra to her feet she took a tentative step on to its surface, then another, until finally she stood in the centre of the lake. She loved the feeling of the water lapping her toes and often wondered why her nature affinity was fire and lightning, somehow she'd always had a special bond with water. It was able to calm her and clear her head of negative thoughts. As a child she use to dance on the water when no one was watching.

Hinata smiled at the memory and began to swing her arms from side to side, her hips moving on there own with her arms movements. Pulling her phone and headphones from her pocket Hinata played a certain track she'd always loved and was soon swaying from side to side again.

The music began with a long and beautiful melody, and a female voice began to sing. Hinata danced around the lake to the music twisting and turning to the rhythm of the track. Letting go of all inhibitions she stag jumped it to air sending water droplets all around her. Spinning on the spot she created a water sphere around herself, being able to control the water at her feet Hinata moved it in such a way it twirled in to a column of under her feet and pushed her up in to the air.

Hinata released the water sphere around her and it created a level platform for her to move on in a small circle. Where she dipped her hands in the water once more and sent it flying around her.

As the music settled down once more Hinata allowed the water to drop her back to its normal surface level and instead of a column of water she'd created a shape of a man. She tried not to pay too much attention to the fact she'd created a clone to look exactly like her cousin Neji. Instead she curtsied and the water clone bowed back with a secret smile on his face, he wrapped his hand around her waist and settled it on her back, while Hinata placed her hand on his shoulder, with their other hands they held on to one another. In time with the music they waltzed around the lake in hold. Hinata couldn't help but laugh at how free she felt.

Sasuke sat on the couch reading his book off Hinata, she was right he was actually enjoying it. Being engrossed in another world, the characters, their trials and tribulations. Sasuke frowned and looked around him; Naruto and Sakura were still playing their stupid and loud video game, Hinata had yet to return from her walk. She must have been gone a while now, half an hour? Maybe more? He didn't want to seem like he was worrying about the Hyuga, God knows his team mates would think way too much if he did mention anything.

Snuggling down more into the couch cushion he pulled the book up to cover his face and activated his sharingan. The sharingan gave him the ability to see through the house walls and around the grounds, he couldn't see objects as clearly as the Byakugan but he could detect chakra.

Sasuke could see the two figures dancing on the lake, he could tell which was the original and which figure was the clone by the flow of chakra from Hinata's feet gliding over the surface of the lake where it formed lines almost like a cartoon stick man. He frowned when he saw the way she danced with the obvious male water figure. He didn't know why he felt put out by it, he didn't have a particular affection for her, maybe it was the fact it reminded him of his old team mate Suigetsu. He did however admire her ability to form the water so precisely though, it took great chakra control to do that he'd admit.

He had meant to go back to reading, meant to give Hinata her privacy again but the way she danced so freely held his stare. She moved elegantly over the water, as if she and water were one of the same. Seeing the two figures break apart he watched as they danced away from each other, the chakra at her feet uncoiled like a rope as she pirouetted away. For a while the clone mirrored Hinata's movements until she began to run towards the clone. Suddenly she leapt in the air, right into the chakra enhanced hands of the clone where he lifted her in the air above his head and spun them round in a circle.

“Sasuke? Sasuke?!”

“What!?” Sasuke released his sharingan, moved his book and angrily looked to Naruto on the floor.

“Just wondering if you wanted a turn?”

“As if.” Sasuke frowned and quickly went back to his book.

Hinata took steadying breaths and relinquished her control over the water, watching the water clone Neji disappear back in to the water. She sighed in relief when she felt her chakra suck itself back into her body. She hadn't realised she used so much but she was happy she'd done it.

After retrieving her belongings Hinata walked slowly back to the house, feeling like a weight had been lifted off her shoulder's.

As the end of October approached the four friends were busy during their days still, however now they were hardly seeing one another. Naruto was now helping Kakashi with his paperwork at the Hokage tower. Now most rooms in the house were clean and Hinata starting to decorate the lounge, Sakura didn't feel confident in her decorating skills to 'help' Hinata, and therefore with Hinata's blessing (even though Hinata couldn't understand why Sakura needed her blessing) Sakura began to work shifts at the hospital. Sasuke had 'helped' Hinata at first, telling her colours he liked, which were none by the way. If the colour was in the rainbow or Naruto liked it; Sasuke hated it! He chose a couple of pictures of rooms he liked the look of so Hinata could quote 'get a feel for what he liked', which he of course had rolled his eyes at. After that Hinata had worked on her own. While Hinata was busy decorating Sasuke was either helping the gardener, looking through some book Hinata had wanted him to read before they began their lessons which she'd told him would start soon or training.

Hinata stood in the kitchen trying to make herself look busy while she waited for Sasuke to return from the local shops. She wanted to ask him for a favour and today she had put the finishing touches to the sitting room and wanted him to see the end result. She hoped he liked it! She'd worked really hard decorating the room to what she hoped was to Sasuke's liking. She had hoped they'd do the project together but the second she mentioned the word shopping Sasuke left everything to her.

On the bright side, she felt like she knew him a lot more after decorating one room in his (hopefully) taste though. I know it sounds absurd but Hinata had come to realise a few details about Sasuke just from the picture boards and colours he'd chosen. He liked cosy rooms, snug and warm. He liked a more relaxed homely finish, nothing too modern but not old fashioned either, liked wooden flooring but it had to be light wood not dark. Didn't like a fuss to be made of things, so ornaments were out of the question. Art had to have a purpose as to why it was there! Things had to be organised, it reminded her of a saying her father used: 'A place for everything and everything in its place'. All these little details she'd kept in mind while she'd decorated, she only hoped they were the right details.

Slamming the front door shut behind him with a kick of his foot Sasuke walked in to the kitchen and threw the bags of food on the counter top. Hinata then took over and began to put all the food away while Sasuke helped himself to a coffee to warm himself up. This was their routine now; he'd shop and bring the food home and Hinata would put it all away (mainly cos Sasuke had no idea where any of the food went since she'd reorganised! That was his excuse anyway) strange really how accustomed and relaxed he found himself in her presence though, usually more so than when he was in Naruto's but then again Naruto did tend to get on his nerves. Sasuke put it down to the fact Hinata could get along with anyone, himself included. She was just a gentle soul, nothing more to it.

“I made some soup in the pan for you.” Hinata informed him. She knew him well enough by now to know that he probably hadn't eaten since breakfast, knew he was starving and with it now being 1 in the afternoon if he didn't eat something soon he'd be grouchy...well more grouchy than normal.

“You heard from Sakura?” Sasuke asked, to try and fill the silence between them.

“Um she messaged me before, she finishes at midnight so we need to save her some leftovers.” Sasuke nodded his head slightly to show he was at least listening, “You heard from Naruto?” Hinata asked him while still putting away the shopping.

“He said about 10, but knowing him more like 11. I wouldn't bother saving him anything he'll probably get ramen.”

“ok. I was thinking of inviting a few friends over next week? Have a movie night?” Hinata began to twiddle her thumbs as she was becoming more and more agitated the more questions she asked Sasuke.

“Hyuga, did I happen to mention I hate when you think things.”

“Mmmm? Yes last Tuesda -”

“That was a rhetorical question Hyuga. You know I use sarcasm right? ”

“Oh?” Hinata looked over at Sasuke with a confused expression on her face, “It's just very hard to tell with you, seeing as you're an arse all the time.” Sasuke actually found himself laughing, not a full belly laugh he hadn't done that since his childhood. But a laugh never the less.

“Touché Hyuga, if I had a drink I'd raise a glass to your snide comment.”

“What do you think though? We could invite some of your friends...” Seeing Sasuke's face of disgust it was Hinata's turn to laugh, “Or we could just invite a select few people over.”

“I'll think about it.”

“Really?” Hinata smiled at him brightly.

“Don't get you're hopes up Hyuga, chances are I'm gonna say 'no'.”

“I'll take those chances.”

Sasuke placed his now empty soup bowl in the sink, he'd wash it later with the other pots, he told himself. Hinata usually made the meal and he wash the dishes, he didn't expect her to do everything in the house!

Sensing Hinata's stare on him he looked over at her and caught her eye.

“What?”

“I-I...-”

“God I hate when you get all nervous. I'm not gonna kill you.”

“No-No I know.” Hinata assured him, her eyes growing wide at the thought she would even think he would. Huh? Did the Hyuga actually trust he wouldn't hurt her? Strange...

“I am a little nervous though, sure.” She chuckled awkwardly, “I just reallywantyoutolikeitandidontknowifyouwilland-”

“Hyuga! Breath!” Sasuke placed his hands on her shoulder's, “Start again, somewhere I can make even the slightest sense what you're going on about.” Hinata bit her lip to hide her smile, there was nothing she could do to hide her blush of embarrassment on her cheeks though. Hinata took a few deep and calming breaths and looked in to Sasuke's smirking face.

“I finished decorating the sitting room. Would you like to see it?” Hinata whispered. Seeing Sasuke nod his head Hinata grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him out the kitchen.

Sasuke was trying to comprehend how Hinata had gone from shy and nervous to having her hand in his and pulling him in the direction she wanted to go. When the hell did he become the less dominant one?

“Ready?” Hinata smiled at him. Sasuke felt himself nodding automatically, heard Hinata open the door to the sitting room and pull him in to the newly decorated room. He could smell the new paint smell still, but his mind was elsewhere. He was concentrating on Hinata, watching her reactions. If he was truly honest with himself he found her fascinating to watch. Her smile; her true smile, was rare especially after the war so Sakura had informed him. Seeing her truly smile now and for that smile to be aimed at him well he would dare the devil himself not to smile back also! Because he was smiling back, and yes a true and rare smile it felt strange and odd but still he smiled.

She pulled him this way and that, showing him certain things in the room she thought he would like. A certain chair, she knew he liked to sit in his dad's chair so she'd had the inners and springs re-done so it was now more comfy, where the fabric had been fraying and fading away had been replaced with tan leather to match the new 'L' shaped couch. Still old, but yet new.

The mantelpiece above the fire had been sanded down to its wood, so it now looked like a piece of drift wood off the beach rather than the grand ornamental and intricate design it had on it only two weeks ago.

Then it hit him; a wave of emotion that he had no idea how to handle. Two weeks ago this room had been a reminder of the past, a happy reminder for once. A room his mother had decorated herself, a room where the whole family gathered together for a change, a room where himself and Itachi had been shouted at countless times for fighting, where he would wait right next to window for Itachi to come home.

“Sasuke?”

Sasuke clutched onto the back of the new couch to steady himself. He felt like he was about to be throw up.

“You don't like it? I can change-”

“Shhh.” Sasuke placed his hand over her mouth. He couldn't stand to hear her talking, with his ears buzzing he felt seconds away from passing out. He had to find a way to get rid of these emotions; to forget them.

“I need a drink.” Sasuke mumbled.

“Wait Sasuke-” Hinata tried to stop him, but once Sasuke Uchiha had made up his mind there was no stopping him.

#SasuHina #sasuke x hinata #sasukexhinata #sasuhina fanfic #his beauty and her beast

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