#KAZUMA????? KAZUMA WHAT HAVE YOU DONE??????

[kazumasdiary]

WHAT THE HAP IS FUCKENING

[fighting-these-demons]

@thedragonchilde had me thinking about proposals a lot lately.

The tags aren't a proposal but they're sorta close.

Sorry if they're a bother Op. o7 Thank you for sharing these photos they're beautiful!

[genericpuff]

I'm honestly amazed by how well you can imitate the LO S3 art style! Have you always been good at this sort of thing or is it a skill you developed due to your work as a tattoo artist?

ahhh thank you, but ima let you in on a little trade secret -

it's literally just referencing LMAO which is a valuable skillset to have! but one that I think a lot of folks tend to overlook because they think "learning to draw" means "I need to be able to draw everything perfectly from imagination!" Which sure, learning how to draw things without needing references might be cool, but it's ultimately not the sole defining feature of a "good artist" and I think there's frankly way too much emphasis put on "drawing without references" these days because it creates this unrealistic expectation of what an artist is. Referencing is part of the process! It's important! And it's a valuable skill to have so that you can actually grow your skills beyond your own limits! Referencing is as important to the process of creating art as research is to the process of writing, you can only produce so much new stuff if you're not taking in new stuff alongside it.

Though I use this skill a lot in tattooing as well, it's mostly rooted in my animation schooling which broke me out of the habit of drawing purely from imagination and taught me how to properly reference other material for educational purposes.

And I'm sure there are people in audience right now gasping at the fact that I simply cropped a bunch of different shots of Minthe from S3 and rearranged them like some surgical madman playing with body parts-

-but this is like, the actual majority of the process when it comes to learning other art styles and this process is taught as a skill in a lot of art schools because it forces you to draw what's there rather than what you think is there. This is the basis of master studies, to learn the techniques of other artists by trying to mimic them as closely as possible. Don't know what tools that artist used specifically? Try to recreate the work anyways with your best guess. Even if you only get close but not perfect, you'll still likely learn a lot along the way and may even develop some brand NEW techniques that weren't present in the original work you're studying from.

Imagination is necessary to the creative process, but it's only part of that process, you can't suddenly learn how to draw the way other artists draw through imagination alone because your imagination is limited purely by your own lived experiences. Our brains don't come pre-installed with these skills, they can't just magically unlock the capability to "do the thing". Just like how we have to learn to follow recipes as a means to becoming a baker or learn to read the alphabet to learn how to read and write, we have to learn how to draw what we see and reference the material around us if we truly want to expand our own innermost knowledge which will allow us to draw from imagination.

Here are some other examples of studies I've done, such as my attempts to learn the art style of The Doctor Foxglove Show:

As well as a background study from S1 of LO:

And of course here are a handful of the shitloads of studies I've done to try and "figure out" how to draw Hades and Persephone from S1 of LO:

Aaaand just for the fun of it, here are some completely non-LO studies, like the ones I did of Kazuma Koda's background work and Akihiko Yoshida's character designs for Nier: Automata:

And this sorta rotoscoped ??? animatic of Mitsuhiro doing the opening jig for Still Feel by Half Alive which is 100% not done and probably never will be LOL

I'm always progressively doing studies of both LO and other media in this way so that I can update my knowledge and continue to improve my skillset.

Though, despite my best efforts to mimic the original creator's style, works like Rekindled will always have my own stylizations present, as that's just an inevitable consequence of it being made by myself and Banshriek (and the fact that we just refuse to draw worse to look more like LO because jfc so much of LO's original art, even the stuff we love, is rooted in Rachel's trial and errors lmao), but that's a feature, not a bug :') <3

So the answer is yes, the Minthe S3 redraw was done through skills I developed over time, though not necessarily through tattooing, simply through learning how to actually practice properly beyond "drawing a lot". And you can too! Draw lots, but also remember that your brain isn't naturally just going to "get better" at whatever you're trying to achieve just because you really want to achieve it. I try to avoid the mantra of "just practice" because it oversimplifies what's truly necessary to learning - having something to learn from outside of your own imagination. If you don't learn how to practice properly, then you'll just wind up repeating the same mistakes and reinforcing the same bad habits over and over again.

All that's to say, if you want to learn how to draw like a certain artist, try and recreate their art for yourself ;0 (but like also please for the love of god remember that it's for EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES, I shouldn't have to tell y'all not to copy directly off other artists' work for your own because that's just deadass stealing lmao) I know this enters the ethical dilemma of tracing, and whether or not it's a "valid" way to learn, but there's a lot of virtue in learning through referencing other artists and building new skills through them. I'm sure folks will argue that it's a 'crutch' or 'training wheels', but that's all often being touted from the perspective that crutches and training wheels... are automatically bad things and aren't meant to help people ?

Like obviously if you want to create your own thing that isn't purely "living in the shadow" of the works that inspired you, you WILL have to make that leap into the unknown. But that leap's a lot less scary to make when you have a parachute.

[anime-fan-05]

love your writing. youre awesome. you don't have to but if if you could could you make yuyu hakusho characters x reader who's into cute dresses, make up, skin and haircare routines, stuffed animals collections and girly things. would they be accepting of her, find her annoying, join her or what do you think? plz

Yu Yu Hakusho ~With a very feminine reader~

Manga/anime: Yu Yu Hakusho

Warnings: nothing

(Y/N): your name

Thank you very much for the compliment! I personally didn't know which characters you meant exactly, so I created the headcanon with the main 4 and Koenma. If you also want someone else, write to me privately and I'll include them.

U. Yusuke

He thinks you're very adorable, but he'll never join you in hair and skin care

However, he really enjoys putting on your makeup, even if he often messes up your face

When you come back from the hairdresser with your hair cut or from the beautician with your nails done, he's always playing dumb that doesn't notice anything; however, after seeing you were offended, he compliments you ("I noticed it, (Y/N). You look great.")

Whenever he can, he buys you cute stuffed animals or accessories, such as necklaces and bracelets or rubber bands and hair clips

He also gives you nice clothes if he can buy them for you, and, if you wear them, he'll blush deeply and turn his head away so you can't see his huge blush

K. Kazuma

He's probably the person who accepts you the most

Are you wearing a nice outfit? "You're so cute, (Y/N)!" Have you groomed or cut your hair? "You look great, darling!" Did you wear makeup? "You're so gorgeous! You look great without makeup, but you're beautiful even like that!"

He goes to the game room a lot of times to win stuffed animals for you; when he wins nothing, he sulks all day ("Sorry, I won nothing..." "Kazuma, you don't have to give me a stuffed animal a day, don't worry!")

You two often do skin care together, but don't tell Yusuke this or he'll make fun of Kazuma for life

To give you gifts, he often asks Keiko for advice, as he considers his sister to be one of the least feminine women in existence (Shizuru always gets angry when he points this out to her)

Kurama

He finds it very cute you always get dressed up, but he often tells you you're beautiful, even without accessories or luxurious clothes

He always, always notices when you do something different to your hair, nails or face ("Have you done anything to your hair/nails/face? You're very beautiful, (Y/N).")

Probably, you two do hair care together: you're the only person wh's allowed to care for his hair

When you wear cute clothes, he blushes slightly and looks at you affectionately and meanwhile Youko stirs inside him

He sometimes lets you find cute stuffed animals or accessories on your bed, and then he pretends he didn't put them there ("That? No, I didn't give it to you.")

Hiei

He doesn't understand you: he can't understand why you care yourself so much, and he refuses to join you if you ask him this

Despite this, one day, after seeing his sister getting her hair done by Kazuma (Hiei wanted to kill him), he decided he would do the same to you: so, he combs your hair every morning

For a while, he never gave you accessories or stuffed animals, since he thought they were useless; however, everything changed when, one day, he gave you a hair clip he had found during a mission, and he saw your happiness born from that small gesture

"I found it lying around and I thought only a person like you could wear that horror."

This is what he says every time he gives you something to wear, but it's clear he does it because he loves seeing you smile and seeing you with what he steals buys

Koenma

Like Kazuma, he also compliments you when you change your appearance, changing your hairstyle or wearing different and nice clothes every time

You two do skin treatment together: he always claims your hands have the power to make his skin soft ("Only (Y/N) can touch my face! Only she has magic hands!")

He gives you everything you want: have you seen a nice hairpin? You'll find it in your room. Have you expressed your desire for a dress? It'll be yours immediately

He forces his subordinates to have their hair or make-up done whenever you want poor Jorge

When he can (once a day), he gives you a stuffed animal

💮 Rules 💮 Masterlist 💮

[woahiwrite]

Kuai Liang X F!Reader, Jealousy 18+

Content Warning: 18+ Minors imma reset your timeline. 5k words. Smut, jealousy, Harumi is mentioned but won't be making an appearance in this oneshot. I haven't written full on smut oneshots start to finish in so long so, we'll see how well this goes. Eating out(fem receiving), piv, multiple cream pies(wear protection unless you want some lil minions running around), multiple positions

  To my irls who requested I make Kuai Liang smut to feed his tag🤞🏾

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"Lord Liu Kang." You greeted, bowing at the waist beside your husband as he did the same, both of you rising back up to look upon the God as he addressed you both with kind smiles.

  "I hope building up the Shirai Ryu hasn't been too difficult during my absence." Liu Kang hummed, beginning to walk forward between the both of you, making you fall into formation on either side of him. "Geras had informed me of another incursion on our timeline, it had to be dealt with quickly." He explained, his hands clasped together before him.

  Coming to a stop alongside him and Kuai Liang as you all looked upon the courtyard, you saw that only two individuals were training right then, their training overseen by Smoke. Hanzo, the young boy that Tomas had came across, and another young initiate, Kazuma. "It is no problem at all, Lord Liu Kang, you have more pressing matters to attend to than helping us with the Clan." Kuai Liang stated, gaze locked on the two boys sparring with one another. Hanzo has tenacity, and was like a ball of fire with the fury that resided within him. Luckily, he had pretty good control over it. Lest he become more of a threat than an ally.

  You nodded in agreement, though you too were more focused on watching the boys train than the words that had fallen from Liu Kang's lips. You both had had so many less than promising initiates that you were both proud of how far he had come and yet were also afraid to lose your most promising one due to his tenacity. Already Hanzo had been in plenty of fights against the Lin Kuei, and though he was skilled, the Lin Kuei were seasoned, you both didn't want him to grow cocky and arrogant. For that would be his downfall.

  "I am glad you both understand. It worries me when I am unable to provide aid for others for an extended amount of time, anything could happen." The fire God confessed, moving on to continue walking, "Though I guess these are unnecessary worries, for you both are well equipped to hold your own." He added.

 

   Before any of you could say anything more, the sound of materializing sand reached your ears and you all turned as Geras appeared. He greeted you and your husband with a head nod before looking to Liu Kang with a slightly concerned expression. "I'll be right back." Liu Kang stated, a seriousness dripping into his usually warm tone as he and Geras walked out of earshot.

  You looked at them for a moment, wondering what the issue may be, but your attention was pulled away by a warm hand taking yours. "I do hope things aren't getting too out of hand." Kuai Liang sighed, rubbing his thumb over the ring that was nestled onto your finger. With every pass of his thumb, the ring seemed to get warmer, not to a painful amount, but it was comforting.

  "Things seem to be spiraling as of late, though Lord Liu Kang always knows he can come to us for help. We are the protectors of Earthrealm, stopping these..invasions is a part of doing that." You stated, taking in a soft breath through your nose. There were so many things to worry about and so much to complete when it came to building the Shirai Ryu, it was stressful but you both had assured one another it would be completed together. You, Kuai Liang, and Tomas. That's the only way it would be done efficiently and to the best quality. It was a difficult task, but one that had to be done to take up the large gap created in Earthrealm's defense thanks to Bi-Han's betrayal.

  Already, you had lost one close to you all to Bi-Han, luckily it was only to be temporary. Harumi had nearly been killed by your shared husband's brother, and for her safety and for the best recovery, she had moved into a neighboring clan to hopefully stay under the Lin Kuei's radar. Bi-Han had told Kuai Liang himself that family was not off limits, the extent of his dangerous intent would not stop for anyone. "You-"

  "Mrs. Shirai." Turning your head to address Liu Kang, you kept your hand in Kuai Liang's hoping to provide him some comfort for the turmoil that he surely felt even more than anyone else. "I need to speak with you for a moment, in private, please."

  Kuai Liang didn't say anything, but he gave your hand a small squeeze before dropping his back to his side. You smiled at him, before nodding at Liu Kang and following behind him.

 

   "Is everything alright, Lord Liu Kang?" You asked, eyebrows raised slightly. You had a feeling you already knew the answer. Glancing to the side for but a moment to address a worker who had just finished repairs on a building, you didn't notice that Liu Kang had stopped walking. You nearly bumped into his chest as he turned around, and the speed at which you stopped and tried to take a step back almost made you stumble. Bringing a hand forward, Liu Kang steadied you with a respectful yet firm hold on your waist, before his hands came back to being held in front of him. "Sorry." You laughed lightly, and were pleased that he laughed as well.

  "It's alright, I probably should have said something." He waved off the accident, eyes kind as he addressed you. "On another note, though-" He began, "Geras has informed me of..yet another, invasion onto this timeline. I do not know how these other Titans keep getting through, but there has to be a reason."

   "Who is it this time?" You asked, knowing that one of the first to break through had been a Scorpion from a past timeline, Hanzo, the very same kid the Shirai Ryu had taken in and began to train. You had wondered if that may have meant something, but whenever you asked the God before you, he never gave you a definite answer.

  Arms crossed over his chest, Kuai Liang tried not to stare too hard at you and Liu Kang, but he was curious. Why did the God have to talk to you in private? If it was something serious, shouldn't he know too? His brows furrowed slightly, feeling an unusual feeling build within him. He watched as you both conversed, Liu Kang placing a hand on your shoulder. Had Liu Kang always been so touchy? Kuai Liang almost wanted to walk over and see what you two were talking about himself, but he knew better, he had been taught better. He may have been a Grandmaster now, but he knew that was not on the same level as Lord Liu Kang. He was a Titan, a Keeper of Time, he held more power than anyone could probably fathom.

   Shaking his head, Kuai Liang tried and failed to try to turn his attention onto something else. He couldn't stop looking at the interaction, taking in every glance, every touch. The way Liu Kang looked at you, was that too fond? The way he would smile at you, and you would smile back. Kuai Liang hadn't noticed his darkened expression until a familiar voice came from beside him.

  "Kuai Liang? Is everything alright?" Tomas seemed to appear beside him, glancing over towards where you stood with Liu Kang before looking back at the orange-clad ninja.

  It took a moment for Kuai Liang to register what Tomas was saying, and when he did, he finally looked over at him. "I'm fine, brother. Why do you ask?" Kuai Liang questioned, noticing the irritation seeping through his tone and trying to lighten it as he spoke. Tomas looked at him with a raised brow, clearly not convinced.

  "You look tense."

  "I'm fine. How were Hanzo and Kazuma?" Kuai Liang asked, trying to get his mind off of what was going on in front of him. Though he couldn't help but keep glancing back at the conversation, watching Liu Kang rub your arm.

 

  "They were pretty good, I think Kazuma is trying to keep up with Hanzo, and so they are pushing eachother to do better." Tomas explained, looking between Kuai Liang and you again, you finally had began to come back over. "I can tell you more later though." He stated, noticing something that Kuai Liang hadn't. Looking over at his younger brother, Kuai Liang furrowed his brows at the knowing look given to him before Tomas made his departure.

  A soft hand on his cheek made him look forward again, and he felt much better seeing you in front of him. Looking at him with a kind smile. When he glanced up, Kuai Liang could no longer see Liu Kang. That was fine, Kuai Liang didn't know what he would say if he talked to him right then. "What was that about?" Kuai Liang asked, bringing a hand up to grab yours and interlace your fingers with his.

   "Lord Liu Kang was just informing me on what Geras had told him." You stated, leaving it at that. Kuai Liang wasn't pleased with that answer though. If that was the case, what was all the touching and full smiles? What Geras had told Liu Kang certainly couldn't have been any good, so what else had you both talked about? He didn't want to interrogate you though, but at the same time, he had never felt so much..negative emotion towards Liu Kang like this before.

  "If it's important, shouldn't I know as well?" Kuai Liang asked. He could see the conflict in your eyes, the uncertainty.

   "Lord Liu Kang asked that I keep this to myself. At least until the situation worsens, which he told me it most likely wouldn't. So, it should be fine." You stated, offering your husband a small smile.

   Kuai Liang didn't know how he felt about it. He was the Grandmaster, shouldn't he know of all threats? But besides that, you were his wife, he didn't want you to be in harms way. He wanted to know the details, wanted to make sure you were safe and wouldn't head out somewhere on your own. He had already almost lost Harumi. Whatever you guys did, you swore you would do it together. Kuai Liang released your hand and instead brought his down to hold your waist, feeling the slightest of shivers from you. It was something you always did whenever he touched your waist, or held your hips. Did you do the same when Liu Kang held you there? He glanced up from where his hand held you to your eyes, and he saw the way you must've noticed the look in his own.

  "Kuai Liang-" You started, but got cut off as he pressed his lips to yours, albeit brief, it was passionate and filled with his frustrations. When you parted, you looked dazed.

  Before you knew it, Kuai Liang had led you to your shared room, laid on your bed, and you could feel his warm hands pressing heavy against your skin as he pushed open your robes and snaked beneath your undershirt. You could barely catch your breath as he pressed his lips against yours, every momentary separation being kept together by a string of saliva. You had never had him be so rough with you, and you had barely even done anything yet. He relished in every shiver you gave him, every gasping breath, your hands burying themselves into his hair that was freed of the bun he normally wore it in.

   "What's gotten into you?" You finally ask as he pulled away long enough for you to formulate a sentence, chest heaving as you tried to catch your breath. Kuai Liang pulled away, sitting back and grabbing your hand to pull you up with him.

  "What is this?" Kuai Liang asked, running his thumb over the band of your wedding ring.

  "My ring?" You responded, brows furrowed in slight confusion.

  "Who put this on you?" He continued, pressing a few soft kisses along the tips of your fingers, though he didn't allow his gaze to break away from yours.

  "You did."

  "And what does that mean?"

  You didn't say anything for a moment, lost in the warm brown lust-filled eyes of your husband. He let out a huff, his hands warm on your skin, "What does that mean." He repeated, letting go of your hand and wrapping his arm around your waist, moving you both around so he was seated in your spot and you rested in his lap. With his other hand, he held your jaw, tilting your head up to give him more space to lick and kiss along your neck.

  Shivering as he bit into your skin, nearly enough to draw blood, you let out a pleasured sigh as you answered, "I'm yours.."

  "That's right.." Kuai Liang pulled away from your neck so he could finish shedding you of your clothes, leaving you only in your pants and underwear since he couldn't do much else from this position. "You're mine."

  Placing his hands onto your hips, Kuai Liang began to grind your body down against his, not caring for the layers of clothes that still separate you there. You could feel how hard he had become, his erection pressed to you in all the right places. Your hands held tight on his shoulders as you moaned, though afterwards you were quick to try to get him free of his own clothes. You struggled as Kuai Liang didn't let up, but you managed to snake your hands inside the opening of his robe and inner shirt, tugging it apart and revealing more of his neck and chest to you. 

  Kuai Liang briefly relented in his motions only so that he could pull his arms through the articles of clothing, it all folding over against the belt around his waist, leaving his upper body bare to you as yours was to him. "Though you.." You began, running your hands over his broad shoulders, your left hand trailing up beforehand to run along the scorpion tattoo that ran across his upper arm. "You are mine as well." You stated, gasping out as Kuai Liang wrapped an arm around you again, turning his body and pressing you down against the bed as he ended up on top of you once more.

  Kissing you once, twice, before beginning to kiss down your body, Kuai Liang didn't seem to let up in his fervor, if anything, it served to grow even more. His hands were warm as they tugged down your pants and underwear and left you bare beneath him. Yes, he was yours and you were his, and though he knew neither of you needed to be reminded, a small refresher was never a bad thing. For his head could still not get rid of the sight of Lord Liu Kang's hand on your body, and for that he needed to let his mind be filled with memories of how you felt beneath his hands. His touch bringing those sounds he loved so much from you. Rather it be a moan, a laugh, or a contented sigh.

  Kissing down your stomach, Kuai Liang purposefully skipped over the place he knew you wanted him most to place kisses and bites along the insides of your thighs. Your legs came up to rest over his shoulders, heels pressing into his back in an attempt to pull him closer that only made him let out a small huff of a laugh as he continued to indulge himself. Though he knew prolonged time doing so sometimes caused you to become shy, Kuai Liang was always one to spend time appreciating your body before ever actually truly touching you. It was done for a short moment earlier when he had placed kisses along your fingers, but now that he had gotten you completely bare, he wanted to do more.

  Your thighs were his favorite, for when with you, in private, he spent a lot of time on them. You were always coaxing him to rest his head on your legs and let you run your fingers through his hair to relieve some stress from the day. He could spend all day on them, or between them.

  Wrapping his arms around your thighs and pressing his hands into your hips, Kuai Liang finally moved his face to be level with your most sensitive place. The jealousy that had plagued his thoughts began to give way to being focused entirely on you. Liu Kang could not and would not ever be graced with the sight of you like this. Wouldn't hear that delicious sigh you let out when he finally placed his mouth on your cunt, the way your body strained against his hands. Wouldn't feel your fingers running through his hair and tugging as he took to eating you out like it was the only task he had ever been given.

  No, you were his, and he was yours. "Pull your legs up." Kuai Liang huffed, licking his lips and tasting you on them, releasing the hold he had had on you so you could follow through with his command. You did as asked, and Kuai Liang smiled as he was on you once again. Like this, with your legs up and his arms keeping them pinned down, he could easily keep you still enough for him to indulge in you to the best of his capabilities. Licking a long stripe up your cunt, Kuai Liang did not let up as he slightly shook his head from side to side, putting a little more of his body weight down on you as you mewled and pushed up against him.

  "Kuai Liang~" You moaned above him, driving him to continue. He couldn't help but push his hips down against the bed in hopes of relieving himself of some of the pressure that had built up in the front of his pants. Kuai Liang groaned against you at the friction caused, and was answered with another moan from you at the added stimulation. He took to rutting his hips against the bed to keep himself sated whilst he focused on you, letting out a slight guttural groan as you tugged his hair and tried to grind your hips against his face the best you could. Adjusting his hold on you, Kuai Liang gripped you tighter, pressing you down so that you could only sit and endure the onslaught of pleasure.

Your moans were a delight to his ears, filling his head and swirling around in it until it was all he could think about. How as you grew closer, they grew in pitch, whining and crying out to him as you gave in to the feeling of it all. Even as you came on his tongue, your body shuddering against him, Kuai Liang didn't stop. He kept going, knowing that the grip he held on you would surely leave marks, but he liked that thought. Liked that you would have something that reminded you of him that only you and him would see. One of your hands came down to grip his forearm, nails digging into his skin as you came again, this one harder than the last.

  It was only then that he pulled away, his hands rubbing along your thighs and helping you bring your legs back down to rest along the sheets. "Are you alright?" He asked, watching you as your chest heaved as you tried to catch your breath. You looked over him with glazed over eyes, but you still were present enough to nod your head.

   "Good." Standing up, Kuai Liang began to undo the belt around his waist. "Because we aren't done yet."

   Talking off the belt, the clothes that had been bunched up around it fell, and he took a moment to kick off his pants as well. You looked to him with a gaze filled with intrigue and lust. Eagerly accepting the kiss he gave as he wrapped an arm around your waist and pulled you close. He hummed softly as he pulled away, before using that hold he had on you to easily flip you over. Letting go of you to grab onto one of the pillows on the bed, Kuai Liang sat back on his heels and patted the side of your ass. "Up." He ordered, waiting for you to lift your hips up enough for him to slide the pillow beneath them.

  Letting out a soft breath at the sight, Kuai Liang ignored the urge he got to indulge himself in the taste of you once again, and instead positioned his legs on either side of yours. Balancing his weight on one arm, Kuai Liang used the other to run his fingers along your slick folds, gathering the mixture of his saliva and your release that glistened with the light it would catch. "Kuai Liang.." You breathed out, wiggling your hips in an effort to get more stimulation. It made him smile.

   "Still want more? I thought you'd be more tired." He joked, knowing damn well after years of being married together that your stamina had grown to match his, and that no session you both had ended after just one round unless you were interrupted. You glanced back at him from over your shoulder, and he could catch a hint of the smile that you wore thanks to the way it reached your eyes.

  "I can take all that you give me."

  Kuai Liang's eyebrow jerked up slightly, rubbing his slick-covered hand along his cock to aid in making things as smooth as possible. "Is that so?" He questioned as he guided himself to your cunt, slowly pushing in. A soft moan left your lips as he slid further inside, pulling back for but a moment only to continue forward with a bit more force. Your walls enveloped him in a warmth that was different than the one he constantly lived in, and he found relish and comfort in it.

  You finally responded to his question with a hum of confirmation, arching your back a bit more and letting out a shaky breath at the added stimulation. Kuai Liang lowered himself down until he was resting on his forearms, snaking his hands under your arms so he could hold onto your shoulders to keep you in place as he began to grind his hips against yours. One of your hands came back to hold onto his thigh whilst the other gripped his arm, and he felt your hands clench as he began to actually thrust. It did not take him long to find a pace that worked for both of you but was faster than the slower one that he usually would go at. Kuai Liang had always taken it slow with you before, he liked to draw it out, to spend as much time with you connected as one as he possibly could.

   Though for once, he wanted more than that. He wanted to leave with you both covered in the marks of one another, and while he didn't like to think about others knowing what happens in his private life, he wouldn't mind anyone seeing the testaments to his love to you left on your skin or his. Just so they could make it clear in their heads that you were his wife and that you belonged to one another.

  

   You cried out beneath him as he continued to press against the most sensitive spot within you, driving you closer and closer to yet another orgasm. Your walls tightened sporadically around him as that peak began to draw near again. In this position, you almost felt overwhelmed with how much you could feel. So close like this, you could feel Kuai Liang's chest pressing against your upper back, your shins resting over his calves, feel his breath against your skin. His hands were tight on your shoulders as he fucked you into the mattress, the bed shifting with every thrust, your moans broken as your body jerked forward with each hit of his hips against your ass.

  The only thing on your mind was Kuai Liang.

  He knew it too, if the way his name fell from your lips like a mantra said anything.

  

  "Cl-mm-close..." You moaned, your nails digging into Kuai Liang's thigh as your other hand moved from his forearm to grip the bedsheets. Kuai Liang was too, you could tell in the way you could feel his cock twitch, and just how loud he had become. Usually, he was more quiet, merely huffing or groaning. Now, almost every thrust was accompanied by a grunt, and he moaned at the feeling your nails pressing into his skin, and he groaned as your walls squeezed him.

  With one final thrust, you both came at the same time. You felt as if you had never moaned so loud, body tensed as the moan came almost guttural. Your voice had been so loud in your ears you didn't even catch that Kuai Liang had finished too until you noticed his hands pressed against the bed rather than gripping your shoulders. You could hear the slightest of whines leave him, his arms shaking as he fought through his climax to keep himself from placing all of his body weight down onto you. His breathing was heavy, washing over your skin and making you shiver.

  Your lower stomach felt warm from him finishing inside, but your shoulders felt warmer. Sliding your hand over, you placed your hand on top of his, and you could feel just how hot his hands had grown. Taking a moment to catch your breath, you whimpered at the empty feeling as Kuai Liang pulled out. Moving the pillow from beneath your hips, you groaned as you flipped over onto your back, looking up at Kuai Liang now and taking in his disheveled state. His face was flushed, strands of hair sticking to his skin as he looked down at you with eyes darkened thanks to the dilation of his pupils. You always thought he looked so good like this.

  Bringing a hand over, you hummed at the warmth of Kuai Liang's palm as he pressed it against your cheek before leaning down and capturing your lips in his. The warmth was opposed by the coldness of his ring, and you found yourself being lost in the feeling of his mouth on yours. Tasting hints of yourself on his tongue. You hadn't even noticed him realigning himself with your entrance before he had began to push in again. You both moaned into the kiss, your arms coming up to wrap around his neck and pull him closer. He wasn't fully hard again, not yet, but he liked the warmth when being nestled into your cunt.

   It was warm, yet it was also messy, your shared ecstasy slathered along the front of his thighs and the inner sides of yours, sticky as it coated his cock. "Are you going to tell me what made you want to do this?" You asked after a moment of silence, easily following along with the motion of Kuai Liang rolling you both over so you could rest against his chest. Slightly rolling your hips so you could get more comfortable, you also did it to hear the hitched breath that came from him.

  "I..did not like seeing Lord Liu Kang touch you." Kuai Liang stated, running his hands along your sides and up and down your back, soothing the marks he had left behind.

  You rose an eyebrow as you planted your hands into the bed so you could push yourself up and look him in the eyes. "You were jealous? Kuai Liang-"

  "I know, it is a childish thought. But the way you both looked as you talked to one another, it made me think."

  Shaking your head, you pressed a soft kiss to his lips before pulling away and carefully pushing yourself up into a sitting position, his hands sliding down your body to rest on your hips. "If you know it is childish then stop thinking about it. I am your  wife, Kuai Liang, and you are the only man who could ever make me feel the things you do."

  Grabbing his right hand, you placed yours over it and guided his hand up your body, leaning forward so your body was closer to his. Bringing his hand to your breast, you prompted him to squeeze it and run his fingers over your nipple. "No other man can touch me like this." You affirmed, brows furrowing slightly at the rush of pleasure from the attention to your chest before guiding his hand further up. "I'd let no other man touch me like this, unless they wished to lose their hands." You stated, seeing a flash of dark intrigue in his eyes. You didn't fail to notice over the years that your husband was one to get turned on by shows of your strength and battle prowess. You were rewarded in feeling his cock grow more erect within you.

   Guiding his hand up your neck, you parted your lips and took two of his fingers into your mouth, tasting a hint of the both of you on his fingers. You hummed around them as he pressed his fingers against your tongue before pushing himself up with his other arm so he could wrap it around your waist. Pulling his fingers from your mouth, Kuai Liang brought his hands to grip your ass, starting off slow in moving you up and down now that he was fully turned on again. "My beautiful wife.." Kuai Liang began, pressing kisses along your neck and shoulder, "My beautiful yet deadly wife." He hummed, leaving marks along your skin where your clothes would cover.

  His words did not match with the pace he came to set, as his hands forced you up and down on his cock at a pace that made your ass sting with the force of it hitting against his thighs. The room filled with sounds of your shared pleasure, a symphony of moans and proclamations of your love. The sticky slap of skin on skin, breathless moans and guttural groans, the slight creak of the bed as it followed the heavy motion of it all. Kuai Liang's hands were hot on your skin, but he kept himself under control, not letting himself grow too hot to leave burns. Your hands buried into his hair, grip tight on the dark brown tresses as your body gave in to the pleasure it was being given.

  Kuai Liang did not relent, did not stop as your walls squeezed him like a vice as you came once again, body shaking as your grip on him became near painful. He did not stop even as your body shuddered with the aftershocks, not slowing down until your nails dug into the scorpion tattoo on his bicep and let out a choked sob as you came yet again, this time pulling a moan from him as your cunt tightening around him pulled him over the edge with you. He slowed down your movements until you were both still, save for your shuddering breaths and shivering bodies. "You're alright..I've got you, just breathe." Kuai Liang huffed, wrapping his arms around your waist and holding you close to him.

  Your body grew heavier against him as all the energy you both had built up seemed to finally release, and he let out a small chuckle as you pressed your head into the crook of his neck. "I'll draw a bath." Kuai Liang stated, carefully pulling you off of his cock, biting his lip to hold back a sound at how sensitive he felt. You let out a tired hum, relaxing into the plush mattress as he pulled the blankets up over you.

  "I love you."

  He smiled a little lopsided at you, exhaustion wracking through his body as well, but he forced himself to get up so he could care for you. Pressing a soft kiss to your forehead, he brought his hand up to move some strands of hair from being in your face. "I love you too."

[yakuzacanons]

piggybacking off that one ask about nicknames:

what nicknames do you think the boys like being called, if any?

Such a good idea! Getting a couple posts done since it's the weekend and have the free time, hewwo.

Kazuma Kiryu

Nothing makes him fold like his S/O just saying his name. Doesn't mind more traditional nicknames like "dear" or even "honey".

Majima Goro

Honestly, anything goes? He reacts the same way to really any pet name, which is YIPPEE. Or something similar.

Saejima Taiga

Particularly fond of "Hun", for some reason. "Honey" is okay, but he likes the shortened version. Calling him "daddy" or "big papa" makes him just blush.

Akiyama Shun

Also not particular, although "sweetheart" or "sweetie" gets him all kicking his feet and twiddling his thumbs, if you get what I mean.

Tanimura Masayoshi

Calling him "Tani" is perhaps his most favorite pet name on the planet.

Ryuji Goda

Likes being called "babe". Shortening his name to "ryu" always gets a laugh out of him as the word so happens to mean dragon and he has a dragon tattoo... and you get the idea.

Nishikiyama Akira

"Babe" or "sweetie" is good. You can call him "baby" but only in private.

Daigo Dojima

Prefers just being called by his name most of all, but isn't opposed to being called "dear". More prone to joke nicknames, like "boss" or "chief". It makes him laugh, hearing it from you.

Mine Yoshitaka

Doesn't have a favorite. You ARE allowed to call him "daddy" though.

Tatsuo Shinada

You can call him "baby" because he is in fact kind of one. "Honey" and "cutie" also work.

Ichiban Kasuga

Likes having the -chan honorfic on his name or having his name shortened to a pet name. Calling him "Ichi" works a lot of the time.

Tianyou Zhao

Likes pretty much all nicknames. If you try to use a type of food as a pet name, like bean bun, it'll make him bust out laughing.

Joon-Gi Han

If you really want to stop him in his tracks, outright calling him "love" will do the trick. Doesn't like being called "Joonie" at first but is used to it now. He will ONLY accept it from you though!

[animeyanderelover]

Tw: Yandere themes, unhealthy relationship, possessive behavior, obsession, overprotective behavior, jealousy, paranoia, abduction, violence, death

Tags: @saiyara05 @shellofthewell

Words: 8.1k

The CEO and her bodyguard Pt.2

Pt.1

Months flew by faster than he had expected as he grew familiar with his duties as well as the people around him. It wasn't quite as boring as he had initially assumed. He wouldn't complain about it obviously, not with the amount of money he earned every month by following you and successfully intimidating about everybody that crossed his path.

It wasn't like he had much action within the job besides glaring at someone when they got a bit aggressive or irritated with you, something he had started doing when Yukimaru Aki had told him that no one was allowed to disrespect you or question your position as the CEO. As much as the little lady was bickering with you daily, she genuinely cared about you. Sone Kazuma wasn't much different as Toji had quickly realized. Both of your closest friends and assistants were more shady than what they initially appeared to be like and it was all done for your protection and reputation.

The most entertaining part about his job was actually watching you three who honestly appeared sometimes more like a trio of comedians than three of the most influential figures in Japan with your company. So whilst he wasn't able to beat anyone up as you usually were against any form of violence due to only minor incidents, he at least got a good laugh out of watching Sone, Yukimura and you at times. He had some memories he dared to title as fond since they had managed to elicit a chuckle out of him or had pleasantly surprised him.

~~~

His head was leaning back as he stared at the wall of the room, your gibberish white noise as he tried to somehow survive the sheer boredom of the presentation you were currently presenting to a few of higher-ranked members of your company. A presentation with fucking 39 foils plastered with statistics, charts and numbers. Aki had helped you putting everything together as she had essentially imprisoned you in your apartment for hours the last few weeks, discussing and planning everything with you.

Initially he had seriously thought that you couldn't do it as you had whined and begged and protested for her to let you off the hook because the both of you had still time but your best friend had remained firm in her decision. But in this moment you were doing surprisingly well, looking professional as you stood in front of the long table and had memorized everything that was written on the foils. You appeared to be in your flow as you fluently explained everything and suggested changes and adjustments for the feature. You almost looked like a different person.

Until suddenly someone stormed through the door, panting and gasping for breath, her cheeks flushed red as she sputtered out some apologies before flopping down onto her chair as Sone, who just happened to sit next to her, offered her a bottle of water. The younger woman wheezed out a "thank you" before taking a few gulps of the water. And just like that your focused appearance vanished into thin air as a grin stretched your face.

"Midori-chan! You came? Does that mean that...?" You didn't finish your question but he could see that you were slightly bouncing on your heels as you giddily looked at her with expecting eyes. She gave you a nod as a grin also broke free on her face.

"I'm officially an aunt now."

"Oh my god! Congratulations! What's his name? Is your brother fine? Is your sister-in-law alright? Is it really alright for you to be already here? I wouldn't have minded if you would have just taken the day off to spend some time with your little nephew! Tell me everything!" You rambled excitedly as you walked quickly over to her and grabbed her hands in your own, your eyes sparkling with joy and happiness. Midori on the other hand seemed a tiny bit flustered with your sudden intimacy and the onslaught of questions but she most likely didn't say anything because you were her boss.

"Both are doing fine. They're just a bit exhausted from everything. His name is Hayato." She answered you, the sheer brightness of your eyes almost overhwelming her as she averted her eyes elsewhere.

"I'm so happy for you. What does he look like? Do you have pictures? Please tell me that you have pictures of him. Can I see them if you a few? Can I-"

Aki suddenly loudly cleared her throat as he interrupted your happy ramble and adjusted her glasses.

"As happy as I am also for Midori-san, I think you're forgetting that we're in the middle of a meeting here, (y/n). You can interrogate her all you want after we are finished with this presentation. We're only halfway done." She reminded you with a dry yet sharp voice that made your shoulders lift up as a look of discontent deformed your face. It was obvious what you would have rather done right now but then your shoulders sagged in defeat as you plodded back to the front of the room.

You opened your mouth as Aki switched over to foil no. 21 yet nothing came out as you suddenly furrowed your eyebrows, wrinkles appearing on your forehead as your eyes were focused on the ground. Aki gave you a slightly confused look that morphed into a look of horror when you lifted your head and gave her an apologetic and bright smile.

"I forgot what I was supposed to say, Aki-chan."

A collective groan echoed through the room as Aki pinched the bridge of her nose, her nostrils flaring as she released a deep breath through them.

"Can we like...start over from the beginning? Because that's the only part I remember. I'm sure that it'll come back to me whilst I'm talking about what I recall. Midori has missed half of the presentation anyways."

Your suggestion was spoken with a tad bit of guilt and embarrassment audible in your voice as you gave everyone a sheepish grin whilst scratching your cheek. You braced yourself for a few scathing comments from Aki's side but instead a deep chuckle cut through the groans of your workers and you turned astonished around only to find your bodyguard leaning back in his chair, failing to hold his laughter in.

~~~

In hindsight he probably shouldn't have laughed because the mood of the room hadn't exactly called for it and Aki had given him her infamous death stare when she had caught him laughing. It had been the combination of everyone's tired and done faces, Aki's twitching brow and your sheepish face that had suddenly caused him to to splutter. All heads had turned around to him as he had quickly attempted to hide his laughter behind coughs. When his green eyes had met yours though, he remembered being sort of surprised to see you actually smiling at him as if happy to see him laughing.

He even remembered that within two days after this conference, you had woken him up by ringing his door bell persistently in the early morning.

~~~

He hadn't exactly been able to guess beforehand who it was that dared to knock on his door at such a godforsaken hour but when he opened it and saw you standing there with the same apologetic grin he often saw you giving others when your airheaded behavior got in the way, he couldn't bring himself to be surprised.

"Good morning, Fushiguro-san! Have I interrupted you?"

He leaned against the door frame as his green eyes locked onto the package you tried to hide behind your back. That combined with the impatient and eager spark in your eyes despite your somewhat guilty grin told him that you had something for him and in typical (y/n)-fashion you couldn't wait until his shift started and you would see him for over half of the day anyways.

"Just get it over with quickly. I'm trying to get some sleep."

You tilted your head rather adorably before glancing outside the window.

"Have you been up late again? I mean, it isn't any of my business. What you do with your time after I'm in my apartment and don't have to go outside anymore isn't of my concern because that is your free time. I just want to kindly remind you that in 2 hours I have to go back to work which means that you have to get back up by then too. I don't care too much personally but Aki will probably chew you up if you're sloppy in your job to protect me."

You were rambling again and Toji was absolutely not in the mood to hear it. Not when he was tired and lost money when he had been out to gamble a bit. He still had more than enough left of course but it had irritated him nevertheless. So instead he suddenly grabbed the package you were hiding behind your back and ripped it out of your hold.

"Hey!" You yelled before quickly covering your mouth as you remembered that Aki was inhabiting the apartment right next to Toji's. You glanced somewhat scared over at the door leading to Aki's apartment, ready to dash away if she should have woken up because both of you knew that she wouldn't take it well if she would find the both of you still awake instead of sleeping and getting some rest. When a minute passed by and nothing happened, you relaxed a bit.

"That was supposed to be a surprise for you. You're such a fun killer." You now whispered to him in a hushed down, pouting and glaring at him cutely that he couldn't help but let out a soft chuckle.

"You're quite bad at hiding a surprise if you shouldn't have known that already." He whispered back, playing around with the package in the palms of his hands.

"At least open it then. I want to see if you like it." You replied, gesturing at the package to urge him to open it. He shook it a bit in his hands as he couldn't help but question what you had bought in what had most likely been a sudden and unstoppable impulse of yours. The package was quickly torn open and you eagerly gauged his face as he saw what was inside. He arched one of his brows before looking at you.

"Seriously?"

"Well, you always look quite bored when we have a meeting. I understand that, I also feel that way. Unfortunately your job is to protect me and my job is being the CEO which also includes all those conferences. Since it isn't your job to actually listen to what I have to talk about during such meetings though, I thought buying you one of those might keep you entertained at least a bit. I also bought a couple of games you can play. Some of them aren't even available yet."

You explained in hushed giddiness as he pulled out the Nintende DS you had purchased for him. He remembered vaguely some adds he had seen about it as it was a very new and portable device. There were also some games inside the box that he could play with this thing. Now, he wasn't quite sure how to feel about this but he also knew better than to tell you straight in your face that he didn't know what to do with a Nintendo.

"Do you not like it?" He had perhaps remained quiet for a few seconds too long which gave him away to you.

"Let's just say that this isn’t what I was expecting to receive from my boss at such an early hour. I must admit, I’ve never really played much before.”

“But I thought you liked gambling!” You exclaimed confused before remembering that you had to keep quiet in order for Aki not to hear you. Toji gave you a weird look when you said that before he huffed out some air, somewhat amused by your statement.

"That's not the same, you know?" He told you after a few moments where he was thinking about what to say. He knew what Aki thought about his gambling habits and he knew that even Sone-san, despite being much more respectful and calmer about it than Aki was, also wasn't a big fan of it. He didn't know how you felt about gambling though.

"I know that of course. But seriously, isn't this the healthier option? You can still waste hours of your day doing something that won't do anyone any good, not even you, but at least you don't spend huge amounts of money on something that has only a little chance of earning you money anyways. You won't lose any money playing some games on a Nintendo. Can you tell me what the appeal in gambling is?"

You were genuinely curious as you looked at him and perhaps it was this look that you gave him that actually managed to overwhelm him for a short moment. You weren't really judging but instead asking him why he gambled as often as he did. And for the first time, he couldn't find a good reply. At least not one that every other person addicted to something would give you. "It's...just fun, alright? " He answered you after a while, although even you caught on to the slight hesitation in his voice.

You gave him a very long observant look as if searching for something in his body language or facial expression before you sighed and nodded thoughtfully. "I see. Well, I don't really care what you do in your free time as long as you do your job. Do not gamble in my presence though." "Weren't you gambling too the first time we met? Or is it alright for you if you gamble because you have enough money to waste?" Toji scoffed as he referred to the first time you had met him in the izakaya.

"That's true I guess... It was a one-time-thing though, understood? I won't do something like this again. I just...had some stuff on my mind back then." You spoke after a few seconds as if you had also been searching for a good enough answer to justify your participation in a small gamble without repeating what everyone addicted to gambling could have said too, although you still failed. Much like him. Then silence befell the both of you. Not the comfortable one, the awkward one where both of you grew slightly uncomfortable.

Toji didn't even know why he of all people suddenly felt so weird, so much aware of any blink he did with his eyes around you. He wasn't used to it so he was the first one to decide to end this conversation. "Thanks for the gift then." He finally said as he turned around in the doorframe and felt briefly embarrassed when he repeated his own words in his head and wondered if he could have said something that would have sounded better. He didn't even know what else he could have said but somehow the gnawing feeling in the back of his mind didn't want to leave him alone.

"See you in about 2 hours then." You muttered awkwardly as you turned around and walked towards the elevator. You turned one last time to wave him temporarily goodbye before you realized that he had already closed the door to his apartment.

"Well, that was weird." You muttered to yourself as you pulled out your key to enable the lift to reach the 4th floor.

~~~

"Furukawa-san, please calm down and have a seat." You said with a painfully forced amicable smile as you made some appeasing movements with your hands in hopes of calming the older man down.

It wasn't hard to see that you were slowly reaching the end of your patience though and Toji had to admire you for even holding out for as long as he did. He knew for sure that he would have snapped minutes ago with the bitter and entitled attitude the businessman was giving you as if forgetting that between the two of you, you were definitely the financially more successful CEO by a long shot.

He had been arguing with you for a while now about a contract you had crafted for a cooperation between your company and his smaller and insignificant one. He wasn't satisfied, wanted to play a bigger part within your company.

"I understand your frustration but your business has only been existing for a few years now. Frankly spoken, I fear you still lack a bit of experience in this business so I think it's better for you to learn a bit more about how to handle your own company before I assign you a bigger role." You told The older man, barely able to swallow the annoyed sigh back that desperately wanted to be let out whilst you were enduring his angry rants.

Toji was sitting on the couch in your office in the main building of the company in Tokyo, only focusing half-heartedly on the Nintendo as he constantly glanced at you and Furukawa-san, his eyes narrowing the more he heard him arguing stubbornly back at you, ignoring your logical approach to his discontent. Couldn't that old geezer just shut the fuck up? His jarring voice was giving Toji and probably even you a headache by now.

"Furukawa-san, you're not looking at this from a logical point of view. You can't expect me to put someone who has so little experience in handling a company to a higher-ranking position just li-"

"I do not have to listen to someone younger than me berating me like this! Especially not to someone who just one day conveniently appeared after the death of the previous CEO and his father and took over the company just like this! That's quite suspicious, wouldn't you agree?"

You didn't have enough time to even feel the anger making your blood boil as he accused you as bluntly as he did. No, instead both of you heard a sudden slam as Toji snapped the Nintendo closed and stood up from the couch as if the insult directed at you had struck the wrong cord in him and not you. All of a sudden there was a shift in the atmosphere as it felt heavy and oppressive, for Furukawa more than for you as his angry expression quickly dropped when Toji took a few huge strides to him before shamelessly towering over the smaller man.

"Wanne repeat that again?" He asked in a sneering tone as green eyes looked down on him as if he was a mere piece of trash laying uselessly on the ground somewhere. Furukawa's mouth went dry instantly as he stared at your bodyguard who so far had spent the entire time playing some games on the Nintendo you had gifted him. He nearly jumped up when Toji pressed a hand on his shoulder and applied a bit of pressure. His legs instantly gave up under him as Toji forced him to sit down again.

"Stop acting like a little brat. You ain't shit here, your age must have made you already quite a bit senile, hmm? Show some fucking respect to her because between the both of you, she is the one who makes all of the decisions. She's important, you are not. So stop acting like you're anything special because you are replacable to her. Be grateful that she even made time for you in the first place."

He'd gone visibly pale in his face and all he could manage to do was a weak nod, his whole body rigid. You gave Toji an appreciative nod as he continued standing behind Furukawa, glaring down at him. When you realized that he actually intended to stay there, you dismissed him with a wave of your hands.

"Fushiguro-san, that's enough. I think our dear Furukawa-san here has received his reality check. You're going to give the poor man a panic attack if you continue glaring at him like this."

For a moment Toji's gaze met yours as if telling you that such behavior wasn't enough before he let out a "tch" and stuffed his hands in the pocket of his trousers before flopping back down on the couch, resuming the game on the Nintendo. You could still see how he was glaring sharply every once in a while at Furukawa.

"So, Furukawa-san..." You began again, your voice snapping the older man only partially out of his tensed position.

"Let's talk about our contract again, alright?"

~~~

"That turned out easier than expected." You told him as you were putting on your jacket, about to leave your office. Toji was leaning against the wall on the other side, watching you as you stuffed everything into your handbag. You glanced shortly at your watch and let out a thoughtful hum. "I actually have time left. You really intimidated Furukawa-san for good. The poor guy just agreed blindly to everything I suggested. I appreciate your help of course but can you try to be a little bit less intense?"

Toji rolled his eyes at your words. "So now I'm being scolded for doing my job too good? It really is quite difficult to please Yukimaru and you." He told you, although at least he didn't seem to be deeply offended by your words. "I only did what Yukimaru asked of me. Complain to her, not me."

"I am aware of what Aki-chan told you but I didn't expect you to react quite as...well, ferocious as you did today. I mean, don't you think that you were overdoing it a bit? There isn't much use in me negotiating with partners if all they do is agree with everything I say. It takes a bit of fun out of it, although Furukawa-san definitely was a pain in the ass today."

You grinned when your last sentence elicited a light chuckle out of Toji as he trailed lazily behind you the moment you left your office and finished your work for the night.

"Hey, how about going out for a drink? I still have time and don't really want to go back home already." You abruptly asked him as both of you stepped into the lift and you pressed the button for the first floor.

"Don't really have a choice, do I? My working day only really ends when you're back in your apartment so as long as you're still outside, I can't really leave your side." He answered, although he definitely wouldn't mind going out for a bit. He had been stuck the entire day in your office, dealing with more or less tolerable people whilst playing some games on the Nintendo you had gifted him.

"That's right, I guess. Well, just means that I don't have to worry about anyone or anything as long as I have you with me." You replied with a slightly flustered grin as if just remembering that there had been very specific rules in his contract that he had to follow as your bodyguard. Your words caught him off-guard and he didn't know why. He glanced briefly over to you, gauging your expression as if trying to detect any dishonesty on your face. When he didn't find any and realized that you were actually being honest and had just given him a compliment, his eyes shifted to the buttons in the elevator as he sensed a weird warm sensation somewhere in his chest.

"How about going to that izakaya again?" You asked him as both of you left the huge building as every other worker on the first floor bowed down to you and wished you a pleasant night and you did your best to bow your head to all of them and thank them for working so well today.

That izakaya? What did that mean?

It seemed to be important to you and judging from the expectant look you had in your eyes, he realized that you assumed that he knew what you were talking about as well. All he could do was give you a surprisingly clueless and confused stare. A look of theatrical hurt crossed your face as you gasped shocked at him.

"You don't know what I mean, do you? How could you forget?" You spoke slightly dramatically as you placed a hand over your heart. It was only a playful gesture from your side but it bothered Toji much more than he had expected. Not your dramatic reaction but the fact that he had forgotten something that involved you. He was silently brainstorming for the memory that you meant by "that izakaya" but he had probably been to quite a lot izakayas in his life before which he couldn't even recall anymore. Had there ever been a special izakaya before in...

Oh. That's what you meant.

You snorted when you saw his face morph into one of realization as he finally understood to which izakaya you were referring to.

"Wow, seems like the gears finally started spinning. Took you long enough to remember. I'm talking about the izakaya where we first met, Fushiguro-san."

He narrowed his eyes but instead of glaring at you for laughing at him, he glared at the pathway beneath his feet as he silently strolled with you through the busy streets of Tokyo, the city bright with all the lights and adds from the buildings. He had forgotten, honestly he couldn't even remember very detailed what he had been doing with his life much before meeting you. He only vaguely remembered gambling a lot, accepting requests from others for the right amount of money, he remembered killing people for money. Only fleeting memories though, he couldn't even recall very well the faces of people who had hired him. But that wasn't the case with you, was it?

He started walking a bit slower when he realized that he could recall almost everyday he had spent with you more detailed than he could recall the almost last two years of his life. His eyes focused on the back of your head as you took the lead and walked through Tokyo in a good mood, heading for the izakaya. Had he been paying that much attention to you?

You tilted your head slightly to look at him and when your gazes met, he instinctively looked away. He didn't know why. But looking at you somehow only made him recall everything even more, flodded his mind with images of you laughing, pouting, goofing off and being silly.

"You don't have to feel bad for forgetting, you know? I didn't really expect you to remember."

What? What did that mean? Green eyes instantly shot up from the ground as a strange feeling took over him as he mulled over the words you had just told him. Unfortunately you didn't seem to have any intention of explaining yourself further as you walked on. Honestly, he had heard worse in his life, he had been treated worse in his life and nowadays he couldn't even be less bothered if anyone would try to get under his skin. So why...?

Why were your words bothering him so much?

You were a bit surprised when his steps suddenly quickened and he stood in front of you within an instance, forcing you to slow down and eventually fully stop. You were occasionally still amazed with how tall he was, especially since you would go as far as considering yourself quite tall in comparison to many other women in Japan. Now was one of those moments as you looked up at him, slightly confused as he was staring down at you with narrowed eyes as if you were a riddle he was desperately trying to solve.

"What do you mean?"

Hearing him speak so normally without any sneer, cockiness or slight annoyance came totally unexpectant and suddenly you found yourself being overtaken by awkwardness. You had never seen him quite as honest-looking as he was right now and you were taken aback by green eyes staring at you, silently wanting an answer from you.

"...What?"

It was the only thing you were able to blurt out as you were unable to tear your gaze away from Toji, your heart pounding in your chest due to his shift in attitude. Honestly, you wouldn't have been alarmed by anyone else acting this way. However, you couldn't help but be worried by Toji suddenly acting so out of character.

Before you could even grasp the situation, Toji seemed to snap out of it. It was if someone had just pulled him out of a trance. He blinked down at you as if he had just woken up from something before his face twisted into an unreadable mask that you couldn't fully decipher. He stepped out of your way, avoiding your own eyes vehemently. When he realized that you didn't move and were still standing there, looking at him with those eyes, he suddenly turned his back to you and walked on his own.

"Forget it." He muttered as he quickly moved to the izakaya. You stood there for a while, staring at his back as you were silently contemplating whether or not you should try to ask him about what had just happened. You could see though that he absolutely didn't want you to try to dig deeper so eventually you forced yourself to move and trail behind him.

~~~

Four glasses of beer and a plate of buttery and delicious tuna sashimi later and you were full. He'd accompanied you already a few times for a couple of drinks before so by now he kind of knew what was coming for him. Both of you had sat down on an empty lower table, the izakaya not nearly as full as it had been back when both of you had met for the first time.

"You probably shouldn't drink too much. Yukimaru will probably only scold you as soon as you get back to your apartment." He spoke as he watched you ordering another beer. You let out a tired and exhausted grumble as you rubbed your eyes.

"t's not my fault that I'm not built as you are. Sseriously, do you ever get drunk?" You slurred as you looked up at him through half-lidded eyes. Even if you tried to be serious right now, it was impossible for him to take you as such as he stared at your face. His eyes took in your hair, your eyes, your nose, your cheeks until they finally zoomed in on your lips...

"What are you lookin' at? my eyes are up 'ere." You spoke, your words snapping him for the second time tonight out of a daze. What was wrong with him?

"...'ey, anser ma question. What's your secret behind not getting drunk?" You repeated yourself, a pout on your lips as you snapped your fingers in front of his face as if hoping to get his attention.

"I don't know. I guess that I was just born with it." Your bodyguard spoke after actually considering it for a while before he also took a sip from the sake he had ordered. Honestly, sometimes he wished that he could get drunk and his inability to do so hadn't made him the biggest fan of alcohol. He enjoyed it though when he was around you as he just joined you whenever you were drinking.

"Hmm...So it's all thanks to your body." You muttered to yourself as your eyes shifted from his face to his toned chest, your gaze narrowing thoughtfully. His brows went up to his forehead as he noticed where your gaze was lingering, your eyes squeezing as you stared bluntly at his chest.

Before he could make any cocky remark about it though, one of your palms suddenly laid itself flatly on his chest, close to his own heart.

As his skin suddenly started heating up a tiny bit and he could feel his own heartbeat picking up its speed, he wondered briefly if perhaps alcohol had an effect on him after all. The warmth from your palm seeped through his shirt and spread throughout his entire chest. His gaze was glued to your hand resting on his chest, probably feeling his own heartbeat through the tip of your fingers. He was struggling to say something and a part of him didn't really want to say something either in favor of just having you touch him.

"C'n I borrow your body then? I wanna drink without gettin' drunk. That's not possible though, is it? Aaah, I'm jealous of you. Ye have such a beautiful body."

You pulled your hand back from his chest as if the sudden realization that swapping bodies wasn't possible had just immensely disappointed you. Toji on the other hand was attempting his best to figure silently out what the fuck was going on with him.

“Beautiful…?” Was the first word he was able to say to you after he had calmed down a bit, although he was still painfully aware how the heat of his skin and the own throbbing of his heart only got worse as he looked at you.

“Yeh. I mean, come on! Look atch you! You look like the guy people either wanna be with or want to be!” You spoke up as your hands gestured wildly at him, trying to make your point obvious.

He knew what you meant. Toji was highly confident in his abilities, he knew that his body and the physical strength that had come with it was one of a kind. All of his clients all of the women who had approached him in his past had known that too.

Yet hearing it from you, half-drunk and looking like your head was about to bang on the table because it was too heavy for you and you were quite tired at this point, just sounded so much more sincere.

He swirled the small cup of sake around in his hand, watching the clear liquid spiraling around as he did so. He wasn’t sure if he would have been able to say those words as easily if he would have continued looking at you.

“Thank you.”

There it was again. Sincerity. You peeked over to him as you heard it but you didn’t know what to say. Then the silence came. The same silence that made him itchy and more aware of every breath he took around you. You didn’t seem to mind as much, already happily drunk to care about the infamous awkward silence and in that moment he envied you for being able to just say whatever came to your mind and to remain so unaffected in a situation that had him acting so unusually stiff.

“Do you…actually want to know my answer to your question from before?”

That seemed to be enough to gain his attention as you felt his green eyes resting on you as you were playing with the chopsticks. It had been bothering you the moment he had asked you this question and you had been silently thinking about an answer in your head the entire time. At least up until you had downed your first glass of beer and had temporarily forgotten about it. It had just randomly came back to you now.

"...Do whatever you want."

You took that as a yes from his side.

"I didn't think that you would remember because to me you looked back then like the type of guy who doesn't care about his surroundings and the people in his life unless money is involved."

He couldn't really deny your words and his vague memories from his life in the years before he had met you only proved your point. Yet it wasn't true. At least not fully. Not when it came to you.

"That's sort of rude to say to your bodyguard, don't you think?" He chuckled as he tried to overplay the strange emotions your answer had awoken inside of him.

"Probably. But I am happy to see that I still made the right choice by picking you. I'm sure that if I would have chosen of Aki-chan's selected choices, I wouldn't have such a good time right now. You really are a nice drinking buddy, although it isn't quite as fun if only one party gets drunk."

You tried to give him a small smile without looking stupidly drunk before you took a glance at your watch and realized that it was about damn time for the two of you to leave.

"Aight! Time to head home." You declared as you slowly stood up, your head slightly spinning as the sudden shift of gravity due to you standing up after having only been sitting for the last two hours was almost too much for your drunk self.

Toji quickly grabbed you, his hand wrapping around your arm to stabilize you.

"Are you going to be fine walking like this around the streets?"

He asked, his tone somewhat laced with amusement as he also stood up from his seat.

"That's what you are for. Aki-chan will kill you if you lose me." You replied with a grumbling tone as you pinched the bridge of your nose. Perhaps you had overdone it a bit with your beer tonight.

~~~

"I'm more than capable to walk on my own two feet, y'know?" You complained to him as he led you through the crowds, his grip on your arm tight enough to not lose you yet also loose enough to not hurt you.

"You look like a gentle gust of wind could knock you off your feet." He instantly shot back, grinning as he looked at your slightly wobbly figure, swaying gently left and right.

"Now you're the one who is being mean. I'm your boss." You whined as you swatted his arm lightly when you took notice of the grin on his face. At least he seemed to be back to normal again. You had been low-key a bit worried when he had been so strangely sincere with you.

Your eyes lazily flew across the people walking all past you as Toji led you the way back to the main building. Your car was still in the parking facility where only workers of your company were allowed to drive their cars into. You wondered if Kazuma had already taken Aki with him and if both of them had driven home already. If Aki was still waiting for you, she would most likely insist on driving the car because she would never let someone on the wheel who had just consumed alcohol and Toji's apparent immunity against it was something she couldn't care less about.

You nearly tripped when Toji's strides suddenly increased in length and speed only to feel yourself suddenly be pulled closer against him, your body pressed against him as his one arm wrapped around your waist.

Subconsciously you noticed how incredibly warm his body was but you were more confused with his action. You glanced up at him only to notice that his green eyes were focused on something behind the two of you. You tilted your head around to search for whatever he was noticing but there were just too many people among the crowd.

"Toji...?"

A short skip of his own heart as you suddenly called him by his first name before his senses went back to focusing on those same footsteps he had been noticing for a while now. Someone was following you two. No, someone was following you.

He didn't answer you but you could sort of tell by his focused look that he was sensing something you couldn't. You didn't know why but for some reason his senses were so much more enhanced than those of everyone else around him.

"There's someone behind us, isn't there?" You asked, although you were already pretty sure that you were right anyways. Toji could tell from the look in your eyes that he didn't need to confirm what you already suspected so he didn't answer your question at all. Green eyes were darting over all the people in the crowd, trying to figure out which one of them it was. Until his eyes landed on a young man whose face was partially hidden by a mask he was wearing.

"Listen, there are still some members of the same group out there who murdered the two previous CEO's of the Ito company. One of them walked a few months ago just like that into our main building with a knife. It's clear that they're out for (y/n)'s life too. That's why I wanted her to get a bodyguard. And for some reason she has gone for you, a random man she met on the street. So as her bodyguard, you have only one job to do. Protect her. Protect her no matter what."

Those had been Aki's words to him a few weeks after he had been recruited by you and it had been her first words to him in a while as she had generally avoided conversing much with him when he had been new. She had obviously still been a bit resentful that you had chosen him over every other bodyguard she had suggested for you.

As his green eyes were scrutinizing the man standing there amongst the crowd, Toji stopped walking. He just stood there, silently staring at the guy who had also stopped when he had noticed that Toji had stopped. He had apparently finally realized that he had been spotted and Toji could tell even from the distance that he clearly hadn't expected to be spotted.

You had been about to say something to Toji but when you looked up at him and saw the look in his eyes, you quickly decided against it. Green eyes were fixed on someone within the crowd you still couldn't make out, focused and gleaming with something that made you swallow a bit.

There was something dangerous in his eyes and even the man could sense that from the distance as he slowly stepped away. Toji never left him out of his sight, his eyes following him and following him until even he couldn't make him out amongst the full streets anymore.

Only then did he finally turn his gaze back to you and released his hold on you, although it took him more willpower to do so than he had expected, your warm body pressed against his own causing pleasurable shivers to travel through his body.

"He's gone. You don't have to look so worried anymore." He reassured you when he noticed the look in your eyes. You glanced back at the crowd for a short moment before you nodded slowly.

~~~

"What in the world happened? (y/n), have you been drinking too much again?"

You let out an exhausted groan as Aki's voice pulled you out of your little nap. God, had you fallen asleep? The last thing you could recall was getting into the car and after that everything was sort of blurry. So you had perhaps fallen asleep whilst Toji had driven you home. Why was Aki making such a drama out of it though? It wasn't like you had never drunken a glass or two too much before.

"Aki, you're too loud." You grumbled as you cuddled yourself against the hard but very warm surface beneath you. It felt nice, what was it?

"Ooh, you're enjoying that right now, aren't you Fushiguro? I would appreciate it if you would let her down."

"What was I supposed to do? She fell asleep in the car and didn't want to get up when I tried to wake her up."

"You could have just told me and I could have helped."

What were those two arguing over again? You slowly forced yourself to lift your head, blinking with heavy eyelids to adjust to the light in the first floor. When you finally cracked them open fully, you understood why Aki was causing a little scene right now. Since when had you been on Toji's back?

Toji was the first one to notice that you had partially woken up and Aki noticed only a bit later.

"(y/n), would you please get down from him?"

Your sleep and alcohol-addled brain needed a bit to process her words before you slowly got down from his back with a slight look of discontent in your eyes.

"Why do you look so unhappy?"

"Toji is so warm, Aki."

"He's your bodyguard and not your plushie! Wait, did you just call him 'Toji'? Since when have the both of you been on first name terms?"

You considered her words for a bit. She had a point. So far you had only referred to him by his last name and he had done the same. However, he had been working for you closely for nearly a year now so honestly, at this point you thought that it was appropriate.

"Since today. I think the both of us are close enough now to call each other by the first name. Hey Toji, call me (y/n) from now on and not (l/n)."

You said as you turned around to look at him.

You didn't know if you had imagined the short expression on his face that almost looked flustered before a grin spread across his face.

"(y/n), huh?" He muttered, more to himself than to you or Aki before he locked eyes with you.

"Can't do much but do as you say. You're the boss after all."

~~~

The lift stopped on the third floor as Toji stepped out of the rather cramped room since he took up a lot of space within the elevator. You and Aki were staying as the both of you were heading for the fourth floor. You were still drunk after all so Aki planned to escort you to your apartment and make sure that you would instantly head to bed and sleep because you had work to do today again. You hadn't mentioned the fact that someone had been following you to Aki yet and whilst he initially thought that you might have forgotten about it temporarily again because of all the alcohol, you had thrown him a short glance when Aki had asked him if everything had been fine. He understood though. You were drunk and had a bit of a headache so Aki's overbearing questions if she would find out tonight probably would only add to your pain. You'd tell her tomorrow about it.

"Good night, Toji."

"You better not have a hangover tomorrow, Fushiguro-san."

With those words, the doors to the lift closed and he was left alone. He unlocked the door to his apartment, didn't bother to turn the lights on as he went to the living room and flopped down onto the couch. He leaned back against the pillows propped against the furniture, his gaze focused on the wall. Were you already in your apartment or was Aki still trying to stabilize your staggering and much taller figure than hers?

He clicked his tongue frustrated when he realized that his thoughts had drifted once again to you. He sighed as he leaned his head back. Today...had been strange. And now that he was all alone in the darkness with little sounds surrounding him, he became all the more aware of the fact that his heart was still pounding against his chest. It hadn't stopped doing that ever since you had touched his chest and he swore that he could still feel the weight, the warmth and the shape of your palm resting so close to his beating heart.

And then there had been the guy who had been following you... And when Toji had noticed, his body had instinctively clutched your body protectively to his own. When the fuck had he ever done this for one of his clients? He had no doubt that the guy was the pathetic leftover of the assassination group Aki had warned him about and he had also no doubt that he would have most likely attempted to do something if Toji hadn't been with you.

He would have tried to hurt you probably.

That thought struck the wrong cord somewhere inside him again and even worse than when this Furukawa guy had insulted and belittled you in his presence as anger tensed up his muscles before he forced himself to relax again.

Seriously, what was wrong with him?

It almost felt like...

Pt.3

[science-lings]

I've done this for Phoenix so now I have a duty to fulfill

Explanation of some options bc of the character limit under the cut

6- Mikotoba claims that his son/daughter adopted Ryunosuke as her sibling first and used his name as an alias but Sholmes argues that Iris also adopted him into their family and 'you already have an adopted son don't be greedy!' this all doesn't even matter because they are married and would share children anyway but its the principal of it all. Ryunosuke probably just asks for Kazuma's hand in marriage just to end the argument.

7- he's still a special little guy but not in the way that someone created by a deity really should be, he's pretty durable though...

8- you can't tell me that ryu doesn't have the vibe of a guy who was supposed to be the funny side character but then the real main character died and whoops you're important now have fun being subjected to the Horrors

9- get kung fu panda-ed idiot

[koalatysleep]

That time Togashi sneaked in a same-sex Soul Bond romance in Shonen Jump, in 90's uber-conservative Japan 😆❤️❤️

Somebody give Togashi a friggin' award for the Sneakiest Genius to ever Sneak, coz I'm not even kidding, he straight out created Kuwameshi as a Soul Bond romance in the subtext of YYH, where he tells us the real story is hidden! 🤩🤣😍

Full meta's on AO3 with proof points & screenshots, but here's the teaser!

When put together, Yusuke 幽助 and Kazuma 和真 means Souls (幽) in True Harmony (和真) who Help (助) each other which our heroes continually do throughout canon!

Kuwabara's last name is drawn from the Japanese phrase "kuwabara kuwabara" くわばら くわばら to ward off Lightning aka Bad Things like death, danger and bad luck, but written with the characters for Mulberry Field 桑原 instead, and GUESS WHAT - Mulberry has Divine significance in Japanese culture, is associated with the Sun God (Kuwa’s Reiki is Gold, like the sun), and items made from Mulberry wood are traditionally gifted to Japanese royalty, which Yusuke turns out to be!

Yusuke literally gets struck by Suzaku's lightning, tortured and nearly killed the minute he's separated from Kuwa in 4 beasts arc - more signs that Kuwa really is Yusuke’s Divine Protector who's been warding off lightning (Bad Things) from Yusuke just by being there, and their separation has immediate catastrophic impact on Yusuke coz Yusuke's not yet strong enough to fend off these threats on his own!

I know Togashi claims he came up with the Mulberry Field 桑原 characters for Kuwa's last name by combining characters from baseball players' names, and he very well may have done so, but considering the depth of Mulberry references throughout canon that we'll see in the full meta, you be the judge whether Togashi was also thinking of Mulberry's connotations when he picked these characters! Especially since at the end of the manga, there's a lot of seemingly throwaway lines about how both the Sky and the Sea are the same blue color, and how Yusuke told a half-truth about his real reason for picking the blue button in the 3-buttons mission! (This deserves its own meta another time!) I read this as 4th wall hint that Togashi was drawing from both Mulberry's divine symbolism and baseball players' names when he picked the characters for Kuwa's name, but he told a half-truth that he was only thinking of the baseball players! 🤣

Given the double Divine Protector symbolism in Kuwa's last name (from lightning ward and Mulberry) and the True Harmony meaning of his first name, Kuwa's literally made by his creator to be Yusuke's Divine Patron Saint who protects Yusuke from Bad Things coz Kuwa's in True Harmony (True Love) with Yusuke!

I read Yusuke's Good Luck in his fights throughout Genkai's succession trials as Kuwa's High Reiki unconsciously or semi-consciously increasing Yusuke’s Good Luck to save Yusuke from death or serious injury, as per the mini meta in the End Notes of The Good Fight Chapter 7!

Even if you choose not to take this read, who can forget Kuwa's SOUL literally left his body to save Yusuke from the demon fish in Rando fight? 🤯

There’re SO MANY times when Yusuke's opponents are outright surprised that Yusuke somehow has Reiki reserves when he shouldn't have any left, or they straight out say Yusuke's protected by stronger Reiki than expected (e.g. Rando fight, Suzaku fight, Toguro fight) - I read this as canon BOTH foreshadowing Yusuke's Mazoku heritage AND hinting that Kuwa's protecting Yusuke as his Divine Patron Saint by contributing his Reiki to Yusuke through their True Harmony Soul Bond connection! 

Seriously, I L❤️‍🔥ve Togashi's audacious True Harmony soul bond subtext! 🤣

Of course, this can be read as just Yusuke's Mazoku heritage giving him deep Reiki reserves & protection, but consider this! Yusuke's Mazoku Reiki is Red! In all these instances when Yusuke has unexpected Reiki reserves, his Reiki is BLUE!

Guess what else is the exact same blue? Kuwa's SOUL is literally blue when he saved Yusuke from the demon fish in Rando fight, and immediately afterwards, Yusuke escapes the demon fish in a spectacular explosion of Blue Reiki, the same color as Kuwa's SOUL! We only see Kuwa's Soul return to his body after Yusuke escapes!

In final Toguro fight in the Dark Tournament, after anime Yusuke fires his last Rei Gun and has no Reiki left, Hiei tells us Rei Gun's power is still going after leaving Yusuke's finger! There's a mysterious background music when this happens, and key characters look surprised! I read this as Kuwa (who was playing dead 🤣) contributing his Reiki to Rei Gun!

Their Reiki literally becomes ONE after Kuwa gives his lifeforce to save Yusuke post Suzaku fight as per the pics at start of this post! and it's Gold, Green, and Blue to represent Kuwa, Yusuke, and their Soul Bond respectively! Reiki is basically the energy of your heart, spirit and SOUL, so this is canon visually showing us they have a True Harmony Soul Bond! Just look at how epic our heroes are with their ONE Reiki!

Greek culture even has a star-crossed lovers story associated with Mulberry trees (which inspired Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet), where the lovers are thwarted by family circumstances, life-threatening danger, bad timing, and one party jumping prematurely to the wrong conclusion, which then leads the other party to follow suit -- all these elements appear in the Kuwameshi Love Story! Proof points in full meta!

The COUNTLESS times Yusuke and Kuwabara are in sync and mirror images of each other, and how they’re literally Two Souls in One Body when Yusuke possesses Kuwa’s body pre-revival, and then One Soul in Two Bodies for the rest of canon when Kuwa stands with Yusuke through thick-&-thin, and Yusuke follows Kuwa's moral code right back, eventually setting up the Makai Unification Tournament with Kuwa's 1-1 fight code, which prevents an all-out war, all its unnecessary bloodshed, and brings about Peace!

Preventing a war that's hundreds of years in the making is as good as Divine Intervention warding off catastrophe, just like saying "Kuwabara Kuwabara" wards off death and lightning strikes!

Even birds as symbol for Kuwameshi romance has Divine connotations in real-world Japan!

Sacred Mulberry wood symbolically expels evil in real-world Japanese rituals, same as how Kuwabara (literally Mulberry Field) expels the "evil" of Yusuke's inner demons from Yusuke's heart, the inner demons being Yusuke's distorted view of himself as a "bad, violent, good-for-nothing fuck-up unworthy of love", deep emotional pain, anger, and self-loathing.

There's even a manga pre-revival story (the 2 female best friends) that parallels this! Not to mention Kuwa literally manifests his Gold Rei Ken for first time using a broken piece of Musashi's wooden sword made from sacred wood!

And in the manga pre-revival story of the Old Man & the Raccoon, a wooden branch prevented the trap from closing fully around the raccon, thus preventing death or serious injury, foreshadowing how Kuwa likewise prevents the trap of the Dark Tournament from closing fully around Yusuke, preventing death of Yusuke's SOUL and True Self! Sacred wood, divine providence, and soul references abound throughout canon! Deets in full meta!

Given the massive weight of evidence that we see in the full meta, what else is Togashi showing us, other than two lovers forging a Soul Bond and becoming ONE?

What is True Harmony, other than another way to say Soul Bond?🤣

If you'd like to read how our heroes forged their Soul Bond in an Alternate Canon fic which has no constraints on what we can show in the main text, try The Good Fight on AO3! Most chapters have End Notes that gush about the canon subtext that inspired it!

If you're as intrigued by canon subtext as me, read the full meta for the mind-blowing depth and details! As always, meta is based on the canon versions that hew as close to original Japanese canon as a non-Japanese speaker can get!

Now on to the mind-blowing symbolism of Mulberry (kuwa 桑) in Kuwabara's last name!

[sufferu]

Seeing people complaining that it's been so frustrating all this time Subaru's character has basically never progressed and still thinks like an immature brat. All he can do is just yell and bullshit whenever dealing with the enemy. How do you feel about this kind of criticism? Do you find this criticism about Subaru kinda unfair or skewed ?

I know what takes you’re referencing, and I feel like everyone who approaches the story like that has fundamentally missed the point of what Re:Zero is about, lol.

If you’re approaching Re:Zero from the perspective of a typical battle shonen — the idea that the main character has to get strong so he can defeat the big bad evil guys — then, yeah, Subaru doesn’t do that, and you’re gonna be disappointed. But Re:Zero isn’t a battle shonen, it’s a psychological horror, and it’s a psychological story that specifically focuses on the importance of interpersonal connection and reliance on other people. Obviously Subaru isn’t going to solve everything by doing things himself, and he’s ESPECIALLY not going to do it by relying on Return By Death: both of those solutions directly contradict the lessons that the narrative is trying to impress upon both him and the audience. Complaining about Subaru not growing stronger or more independent so that he can fight on the same level as the people he relies upon is…I think it’s a bit like going to a seafood place and being angry that they aren’t serving you a hamburger. Re:Zero is simply not that kind of story.

Also — I guess I’ll take this chance to say: I find Re:Zero really interesting specifically with how it responds to the idea of growth through hard work, because Subaru actually DOES try to do that at one point, and it’s framed as him distracting himself from his personal issues. Subaru isn’t actually lazy: he’s a pretty hard worker from the very start, that was never one of his flaws. Even in the IF Routes — even in SLOTH — arguably one of his most defining traits is that he does not like lazing around when he feels like there’s work to be done. It’s not like it’s being treated as a negative or anything, but the concept of hard work is treated a lot more like a neutral than anything else in Re:Zero, which is interesting considering how many anime have “the value of hard work” as a central tenant. But this does mean that — for anyone who’s coming in with the assumption that hard work is again going to be a central tenant of the story — they are going to leave unsatisfied, because that was never one of the places where Subaru needed to grow and so that’s never going to be a focus point of Re:Zero. (If it was, then the protagonist would probably be Kazuma—)

[dorayakichan]

Windbreaker: first meeting + confession + dating headcanon (Part 2)

Pairing: Kaneshiro, Noah, Ryohei x gn!reader

Fluff

Kaneshiro

It was through Momoko, your friend that you were able to meet Kaneshiro. After you had gone to the U.S. when you were young, you still kept in touch with your best friend Momoko. So the first thing you did when you came back was meet up with her.

On that day you had decided to have a sleepover together so you would be staying at her house. When you went into her house with her to greet her grandfather you saw a girl with silver hair talking with him. As you greeted him and both of you left your eyes couldn’t stop glancing at her. As soon as you went into your room you asked your friend. 

“Who was that girl?” “That’s Dakeda Kaneshiro, leader of the Kazuma crew. You have heard about the Kazuma crew right?” You stared blankly at her. 

“They are the most famous biking crew in Japan and Kaneshiro is a 3 times world winner.” “Ahh…uhhh…wow” It was too much information to take in for you but nodded remembering the fact that her grandfather was a bike manufacturer. 

After that, you and Momoko continued talking until dinner time came. As dinner came and passed by you weren’t able to see that girl again. 

It was late at night after having talked some more and watched a movie, Momoko had fallen asleep, leaving you awake with nothing to do besides going out for some fresh air. 

As you sat outside on one of the stools you didn’t notice a figure come and sit right next to you. “Couldn’t sleep?” You jumped, hearing the voice that came right next to you but calmed as you saw Kaneshiro's calm side profile looking at the moon. As your eyes landed on her they were unable to stop gazing at her beautiful features, she was incredibly dazzling. Yet she gave off an extremely unapproachable vibe. 

“What? Too lost in my beauty?” she mockingly asked.

“Yeah…” You nodded only seconds later to realize what you had just said as you saw her eyes widen turning in your direction.

“I…I..but you actually are.” You lowered your head, fidgeting with your hands as your voice became barely above a whisper.

A chuckle escaped her mouth as she noticed your embarrassed state. 

The next day you were so embarrassed you would have preferred never waking up after what you did last night. Were you crazy? How could you say such things to a complete stranger maybe it was the atmosphere you thought as you reached the door of the bathroom. Before going in you slapped hard your face trying to stop the surge of more thoughts. The door opened to reveal none other than Kaneshiro, eyes flickering for some seconds into a shock gazing at your red cheeks which you had just slapped seconds ago.

Now you had done it. 

The breakfast was so awkward when you saw Kaneshiro coming there too. So awkward that even your friend who was trying to strike up a conversation with you noticed how you had completely lost it.

“Is everything okay?” Momoko asked after you finished breakfast. Only to spend the next 30 minutes listening to how you had made a fool of yourself in front of Kaneshiro.

“But why are you so worried, It’s not like you will have to cross paths with her in the future?” an extremely true fact and that’s how you went with your day and week telling yourself that it could happen it was not like you would have an encounter with her ever again.

“Yep, never again,” you said to yourself only to walk down the street with your ice cream, trip on your own two legs, and fall, with ice cream spilling all over your shirt. “Damn it.”

“You should see where you’re walking.”Kaneshiro's voice rang threw your ears as you raised your head meeting eyes with her. Great another one. As Kaneshiro helped you up you could see behind her two other guys one with black long hair and a scar in his eye and another with a Yankee kind of hairstyle. “Who is that Kaneshiro?” one of them asked. 

She looked at you as you waited for her response, clearly intimidated by the two men and extremely flustered. “My friend.”

That’s basically how it all started your friendship with Kaneshiro. You two would meet up more and although you had no idea about bikes and stuff she taught you a lot as you also taught her a lot about your interests and passions too. 

After weeks of knowing each-other, you could definitely see that you felt more than just, respect and love as a friend for her, it was something more. It was not admiration either. That’s how you started noticing the signs of how you would stare at her lips and imagine how they would feel if you could kiss them. When she talked, listening to her voice made you feel so comfortable and happy. When her eyes stared into yours, how your heart would start beating fast.

It was obvious you had fallen for the Dakeda Kaneshiro. Fallen so deep and so hard you had no idea what to do with those feelings, as you didn’t want to destroy what you had. But one day your parents called you asking to go back to the U.S. You had to start university soon. 

It was a hard decision you made that day choosing to keep those feelings to yourself or expressing it all and leaving like that. Neither was a good option. One would hurt you but the other how would it make Kaneshiro feel? No matter what her answer was.

So you decided to pour all your heart and soul into a conversation you had with Momoko and to your surprise minutes after that you saw Kaneshiro come close to where you both were sitting. 

“Hi!” you awkwardly greeted her hoping she had not heard what you said. “So I guess you’re a coward after all.” Kaneshiro left after saying what she had to say.

“I guess this is your last chance.” your friend said encouraging you to go after her. So that’s what you did running to her. “Kaneshiro wait…” you said but she did not stop walking, going towards the place where she was going to meet her crew, as some of the guys looked at you with annoyed expressions as you tried to talk to Kaneshiro and followed her. But you did not care, it was your last chance. 

“DAKEDA KANESHIRO I LIKE YOU” you screamed at the top of your lungs. She stilled in her place not turning around as the eyes of her crew widened, witnessing the scene in front of them.

“I don’t like you as a friend though, I have feelings for you that go beyond friendship. In the beginning, I wasn’t sure what these feelings were and I felt that it was not right to feel like this for you as I didn’t want you to hate me or stop being my friend. But with time I understood that I just couldn’t stop them…” You paused “I…I wanted to hold you, I wanted to hug you and kiss you. I wanted us to go on dates, I wanted you to look at me as more than just a friend, I started being greedy for more. That’s why I could not dare express my feelings. How could such an amazing person like you like me back? So that’s why when I found out I had to leave I thought that maybe it was better to keep these feelings buried in me forever, at least I would not have left you confused or sad or angry with me.”

“Ha…” she sighed as she turned walking up to you. “What an idiot,” she said as she proceeded to kiss you. 

After that you both started dating when you went to university. It was sad to be apart and missing her sometimes it was too much yet you both endured. When she had races that required her to come to the U.S., no matter where, you would go and meet her. 

When you had finally finished your bachelor studies you decided to get your master's in Japan. Having been apart from her for so long had been hard. After you went back although you were scared if everything would be okay. It really went well. Kaneshiro was a loyal one in love with you and only you, most of all she was the only one able to deal with your antics and clumsiness. 

From her point of view, those things were what made you even more adorable in her eyes. How could she leave without you in her life when you brought the most smiles and happiness into hers? It was not possible now you were everything to her as she was to you.

Noah

You met Noah when she came to Korea bothering Jay each and every second trying to race with him. She did not talk to you as she walked up to Jay speaking in english and asking him to race for the nth time. 

“Who is she?” You asked Jay, who turned to look at you and then shrugged it off going past her.

“Bye,” he told you as he entered inside his home, not even giving Noah an acknowledging look.

“Aghhh” she began hitting the wall in anger. “So I believe you want to race with Jay right?” you asked her, trying to start a conversation. “Whatever…” she said not even glancing at you and walking in the same direction you were supposed to go to reach home. 

You followed her walking behind her, until she snapped and turned in your direction. “What do you want? Why are you following me?” You were startled for a second and extended your hand pointing in the direction of your home. “Because I live there?” you said questioningly. 

As her eyes followed your hand, she stared for some seconds and turned to walk away. Just as she was about to take another step her stomach started growling. “Are you hungry?” you asked her as she turned once again with a very subtle look of embarrassment and annoyance on her face. 

“I’m a great cook,” you informed her, not expecting an answer back. “If not, I can also order take-out.” 

That is how Noah ended up having dinner at your house that day and even sleeping in. The next morning, you also gave her breakfast, and the more you did this stuff for her the less aggressive she became towards you. ‘She resembles a stray kitten.’ you thought, chuckling to yourself.

“What are you laughing at?” Noah who had just come out of the shower asked. “Nothing.” You brushed it off, asking her something that would pique her interest. “So you want to race with Jay right?” she nodded. “Then, I guess I could talk to him about this when I go to school.” You said as you took your bag. “If you want you can stay here,” you offered her.

You knew she was just a stranger but you felt no bad vibes coming from her besides her aggressiveness and her persistence to race Jay she seemed okay. So you were not worried.

After that, some time passed until she was finally able to race, and then Harry came too, welcoming himself into your home. While you did not mind as you sometimes felt lonely living in that big house, you noticed how you had changed the way you looked at Noah. Sometimes as she talked with Harry you felt jealous of how they communicated so well with each-other, You also felt slightly annoyed how you had to go to school or help the guys train as all you wanted was to spend more time with Noah. 

It took a very long time before you were able to finally express your feelings to Noah as she was packing her bags to leave you slipped a written letter in the pocket of her jacket, where you had basically told her all about how you felt.

Some months passed after she left and you felt lonely and very sad. She had never said anything after that, not even texted or called you. Maybe she had read the letter, but she did not want to reply. You had failed…or so you thought.

It was 2 a.m. when you heard a sound, your front door unlocking. Imagine the fright as you took the lamp ready to hit the intruder in the head, only for the light to flicker on as you came face to face with Noah. “What do you think you’re doing?” Noah looked displeased, as she left her luggage in the door and went to sit on the couch. “What?..... Why at this hour?...How?...” You had just woken up alarmed, previously scared that there was an intruder and now coming face to face with the girl you had a big crush on.

“Didn’t you say in your letter that I was always welcome and if you had to you’d be waiting for me?” she asked, not waiting for a response as she continued. “I come all this way and I’m greeted by you trying to murder me.” “You read my letter?” you interrupted her as you continued standing while looking shocked at her. 

“Yeah..” she turned her head so you were not able to see her facial expression as you strode towards Noah sitting next to her. “But you didn't text me or at least reply or anything at all. I thought you…” “Just shut up! I’m here so I guess you got your answer.” She continued looking on the other side. “What answer?” you asked perplexed were you maybe forgetting something? 

“The one in the letter!” She faced you, glaring. “You’re eyes widened remembering the last sentence you had written, to her now understanding why she had not answered. You were such an idiot.” 

‘Noah if you think or even have made a decision that you maybe, like me back, then the next time you come find me and we meet I’ll take it as a yes from you.’ 

Yep, you were the biggest idiot to ever exist, you had totally forgotten about that part. Not wasting any more time you embraced her into a warm hug leaving Noah speechless, Cupping her cheeks you gave her a peck on the lips. Noah was shocked as you saw the color change in her face, she became red so red, she could resemble a tomato. “Ok, whatever. I'm hungry.” She walked away as you chuckled going to the kitchen to prepare some food for your girlfriend. 

Dating Noah was fun especially as she was so easy to tease. You had so much fun every time you saw her redden after you had thrown a flirting comment at her out of nowhere. Or how she would come cuddling next to you, whenever you were asleep or thought so because she did not want to admit that her body craved yours, the need to be held close to you.

You had come like a small ray of light in her world and now you were the sun that warmed her world, Noah could never go back anymore to a world without you.

Ryohei

During your visit to Japan with Jay, Shelly, Dom, and TJ, you first met Ryohei when his gang was about to start a fight with the guys due to none other than TJ acting as if he was tough. 

You facepalmed yourself as you were about to intervene hearing TJ’s words which only you could understand because besides him you were the only one who knew Japanese, but stopped when you saw Ryohei walk in the middle saying sorry and leaving just like that with a fake smile on his face.

‘That was weird.’ you thought as you went straight to the place where Jay would repair his bike.

The second time you saw Ryohei was when Dom suggested the team battle. After they left and Jay, Dom, Noah, and Harry agreed to become a team together, you went to find a good place to eat. Noticing how none of them seemed to be thinking about the most important thing, especially before a race. As you finally found the restaurant, you texted everyone the location, waiting for them before going inside. 

That’s when you notice a familiar black-haired face walking inside an alley not far from the restaurant. As you had nothing better to do you decided to follow. Those Kazuma crew guys gave you a weird vibe, so why not observe them for a bit?

As you followed behind him he turned into a corner and then another as you arrived on a road with no way out you heard a voice behind you. “Looking for me?” You backed away startled. 

“Didn’t we say we would have the team battle with you and your friends later today? Why are you following me?” you had no excuse. 

“Can’t I follow someone I’m suspicious of?” you chose to come out with the truth rather than try to make up excuses. “Hmm..suspicious?” 

He moved away from you. Lighting a cigar while crouching down with his back close to the wall. Your eyes followed him as you waited, not sure for what. “Shouldn’t we be suspicious of you more than you are of us? Friend of Mahon Jo’s nephew?” “I have no idea what your deal is with Jay’s uncle but I mean you first messed with us, plus you look like a gang, while we only came here with no other intention besides fixing Jay’s bike.” “That garbage?” He said, chuckling.

“I don’t see the point of even trying for something like that but sure go ahead if you can.” You had to admit Jay’s bike was in horrible shape, a miracle needed to occur for it to actually be repaired. So although you got annoyed by what he said you decided to change the topic as you went next to him with your back against the wall as your eyes stared at his crouched figure. 

“Whatever…I just wanted to make sure, you won’t pull any tricks later.” “As if we need to.” “You’re pretty confident you know?” “Isn’t it normal?” he asked you. “I mean I get it you are one of the best crews in the world and stuff…but those guys are no joke either.” “We’ll see, " he said, getting up.”

He came closer to where you were standing, slightly lowering his head. “It’s dangerous following strangers around, you were just lucky today,” Ryohei whispered in your ear, leaving you there.

After the battle had finished and Jay had finally woken up, it was late at night when you remembered how you had forgotten your jacket where the race had happened. “It’s an expensive one.” You told Shelly and Dom as you got up to go retrieve it, going there alone after refusing to be accompanied by either of them. They had already gone through so much, that they needed to rest.

“I’ll be quick,” you told them running, not leaving them a chance to protest.

As you arrived at the place you saw a gang of guys, wearing some jackets that looked like the Kazuma crew logo talking amongst each-other. You tried to walk inconspicuously, but your efforts were for nothing as you heard someone say. “Wasn’t that person with those ‘Light Cavalry’ and the korean nobody bastards?” “Yeah, I think they were.” You acted like you didn’t hear them as you walked trying to see where you had dropped it. 

“Hey, you!” One of them said which went to deaf ears as you continued searching. “Hey, answer when I call you!” That same one said as they yanked your arm, making you face them. 

“Let go!” you answered him. “What if I don’t?” He mocked you as the guys in the back laughed. “I’ll show you what it means to mess with me,” you answered as you got ready to kick him.

“Leave them alone.” A voice you had now gotten accustomed to said coming from the other direction. “Oh, Ryohei this…” but the guy was unable to finish his sentence as Ryohei ordered. “Take your hands off.” He walked closer to where you both were standing as the other guy let you go. 

“Didn't you come here to retrieve something?” he asked you as you were about to leave. You turned towards him as he extended his arm giving you your jacket. “Thanks!” You said extending your arm to take it, only for him to put it behind his back. “Didn’t I tell you to be careful last time?” He said. “I wasn’t following anyone.” 

“Come with me.” He took you somewhere else far from his gang as he sat down on a bench. “I told you before that you were lucky, but I think it ran out now.” You stared at him. “C’mon sit.” He patted the place next to him. You complied, hoping he would give you that jacket as soon as possible. 

“Just get to the point, What do you want?” You asked, crossing your arms. “A date.” “A WHAT?” you shouted getting up. His eyes were serious this time as they looked at you. “You don’t want your jacket back?” “I..want it but this has nothing to do with what we were talking about right now. “And I also told you it’s dangerous but you walk in the middle of the night near a gang as if you’re going to the park with no fear in your eyes. This is your punishment for not heeding my advice. Come on a date with me and I’ll give you back your jacket.” Leaving you speechless as he vanished from your sight. 

That is how you ended up going on a date with Ryohei. With the Kazuma crew guy out of nowhere! During the date, you were finally able to notice why he was being like that to you. He definitely liked you, you thought to yourself as you saw him acting shy when your hands almost brushed. ‘Is this guy for real?’ you asked bewildered. 

Besides that one date, you went on more dates. You both also started calling and texting on the phone often until he finally confessed. Due to his weird approach in the beginning you had your doubts but with time you understood that was just the way he was and you started crushing on him more and more. 

So when he finally confessed you warned him: “You sure you won’t regret it? I’m a handful.” He smiled as he pushed you towards the wall nearby. “Never.” Was his answer as he latched his lips with yours, devouring all he could get of you. 

So you started dating. Ryohei wasn’t the type to express it much when there were people around but as soon as you both were alone he would engulf you in his embrace and kiss every part of you, whispering how much he adored you. 

From his appearance, you had never expected him to be this way, but he was extremely touchy when you both were alone so much that you sometimes asked yourself how was this guy so different when he was with you in comparison to others.

He was also very patient and understanding and would always worry about you if you tried doing something reckless. The more time went by, the more you fell deep in the abyss of love for him. It was certain now you both were smitten for each-other and there was no way this feeling would change for a very long time.

[magewritesstories]

CONTENT WARNING: This is literally just me hating on the 2nd and 3rd affiliate of the Workers. I'd love to hear y'all's opinions on this. Obviously mention of canon-typical things, e.g. violence, drugs, rape, etc.

I just read the 3rd & 2nd Affiliate chapters, plus the summit meeting and be so fucking for real rn, what is wrong with these people??!?!?

like i know the whole point is that you start out hating the gangs and then you grow to like them, like with Big Deal and God Dog, but the workers are just human garbage and there is no coming back from that???

like look at the line-up we have: a rapist drug making nepo baby (Vivi), some guy with stockholm syndrome that protects rapist drug making nepo baby (Xiaolong), an annoying gaslighting narcissist that blames all the horrible things she does on daddy issues (Mitsuki/Neko), some guy that can't get a fucking hard on and follows around annoying gaslighting narcissist so that he can bang her, like dude take some viagra and pull yourself together (Ryuhei/Nomen), pshyo twins who run this hell-on-earth (Eugene and whatever his brothers name is), some random buff dude with a inferirioiryt complex bc his dad wasn't a cheating asshole but just some deadbeat (Samuel), a murderer that kills people because they aren't strong enough (Kazuma/Hyottoko) a dude who's family was killed so he starts working for people who pay oney to the guy who killed is family (Magami/Daruma)

Like the only two people I somewhat get are Samuel and Xiaolung (the guy has stockholm syndrome but still)

Like??????? No excuse they can give me as backstory will make up for the horrible, horrible things they've done. Especially when it's something as dumb as 'Well, I could never get hard until I met her so I joined her hell brigade and started commiting horrible crimes.'

And I know that the people in the circus were also human garbage, but they were still human. But like the people Vivi drugged and raped were innocent, like that girl that Daniel befriends.

Anyway, yeah, the Workers instigate a visceral rage in me and I hate all of them. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

─── MAGE

[shifuto]

come here for a second while I psychoanalyze the Sargasso episodes

this is mostly about Astral, but there will be things about Vector and Yuma too (screenshots from episodes 96 to 98)

Vector was terrible, but he was right

if you don't think too deeply about it, you might miss this whole macabre undertone in Astral's very existence

so.. we don't get to know Astral and Yuma are the same person until the last episodes. Their Zexal morph is a very good hint though!

some points to take into consideration regarding them:

Yuma and Astral's relationship is borderline co-dependent (even more so on Yuma's side, considering his age and attachment style);

Astral was shoved on Earth and forced to stay by his side, risking his own life to recover the Numbers. Yuma's dad was the one who set that in motion by modifying Astral's "programming" and giving Yuma the Emperor's Key - that Astral himself gave Kazuma - and the Key set Astral "free" but causing his amnesia;

the fact that they have been one person is not the problem. Now that they are separated, they have lives of their own. Is it "fair" or "right" to mingle those lives, feelings and experiences into a sole unit again though? What happens with their own singular existences?

2 halves of 1 whole means they're both "incomplete"...... or are they?

Astral never had any will of his own. All this time, he's been bound by his mission. I don't think he's "emotionless" because he's from Astral World (plenty of people there as emotional as humans), it's probably because he is a weapon

he learned a lot of typically "positive" emotions through living around humans - more indirectly, by observing and watching in general; and also directly, thanks to Yuma, his friends and family - and, although, he had also experienced typically "negative" emotions, those were quickly shutdown, resolved or reframed

what Vector did, when he planted those seeds of discord, was to get Astral to face those "negative" emotions without any immediate way to diffuse them

what happens when an individual that is supposed to remain pure and impartial, keeping his feelings in check and using neutrality as much as possible, is driven into an emotional corner? What happens when this individual is pushed to experience conflict - and a very harsh one at that - when he's never had the tools or expertise to deal with it, since he was never really allowed to feel it?

Vector calls for Astral's "free will" knowing he had little to none at that point

his manipulation succeeded because, as Astral was the pillar of support in his relationship with Yuma, and Yuma was unstable with the whole betrayal drama - which, ironically, he also did to Astral, although it was more of a "lie by omission" - Astral did not have anyone close enough (other than Yuma) to support him, and Yuma was now a "liar"

Astral was alone, what a mess!

yes, Astral could have simply brushed it aside and thought about it rationally like he always does, conflict resolution is one of his specialties after all, and it works wonderfully when you're able to put emotions aside and use solely logic

in the end of the day, he would understand why Yuma did that, he would take Yuma's point of view, personality and own issues into account, and he would forgive him - as he did anyway!

he would have not looked into himself though so... Vector asking those questions was maleficent in essence, due to his intentions, but it also served to make Astral face his feelings

and Astral breaks, of course he does

...

one thing that really bothers me now, going through these scenes again with a different mind and thoughts, is how they handled Astral after: everything went "back to normal" and when something similar would happen again - Astral imbued with Number 96's Chaos that other time - Astral went the self-sacrifice route (probably part of his "programming", if I were to guess) as he always have done. Little to no regards to his own self

again and again and again he just pushes himself into neutrality and completing a task - hell, he can't even feel anything that isn't the most wholesome and healthy emotions without that throwing him for a loop, with a risk of him going berserk again, who even knows?

also greatly dislike how feelings of anger, being betrayed, sadness and hurt, are painted as "evil", literally

that is the whole premise of Chaos as the "enemy" after all: while Astral World is "pure" with only "acceptable" emotions, Barian World accepts the full scope, focusing on the sadness, the hurt and the anger.. understandably so

this scene is fantastic and really hits the nail on the head:

yes, Astral, Yuma did something terrible

many other terrible things too

you didn't get angry, how could you? After all, Yuma didn't mean it!

there we go: Vector played him like a fiddle

he knew exactly where to go and what buttons to push - for both Yuma and Astral - and he absolutely nailed it

even though it was the Barian power who caused them to split and Astral to lose control. That power is Chaos, it's all these "negative" emotions Astral literally cannot feel fully because they are fatal to him

what's really interesting though? This is his own inner voice:

it was the first time we heard Astral talk to himself like that - notice how deeper it sounds, much like Number's 96 voice (96 would be Astral's Chaos counterpart, I guess)

and then finally...

oh, now this is fun

I can see 2 things here:

Astral wants to become whole and/or

this is pure power lust (since he is stronger as Zexal)

this scene with Yuma bothers me a little but I get it: they're the same guy and Astral is an alien so it makes sense that Yuma would be able to "access" his heart, now... what he does, although it's a very "Yuma thing", also gets on my nerves but we'll get there when we get there...!

his own words - with a nudge from Vector, of course - man, this was so satisfying to see! Astral recognizing his own feelings, his own pain, not having to immediately make peace with it and just...... feeling these emotions

that's growth, baby!

I also love how he experienced splitting (black and white thinking): can't feel bad emotions at all -> can only feel bad emotions. And hyperbole, over-generalizing: "I can't believe in you anymore."

goodness, I love the immediate change in his tone when Yuma calls out to him: he's back using his soft monotone voice, tinged with a bit of curiosity

and he slowly...

... descent into madness...

... as he speaks about his feelings. I dare to say this was the most expressive Astral has ever been (and it's a shame we don't get to see such huge variety in his facial and body expressions for the rest of the show)

Astral goes back and forth in his exchange with Yuma here: a soft tone when answering directly to Yuma's feelings, just to be swept away by his own frenzy again

it's a really lovely contrast, and I wonder if it was on purpose? Even when lost within himself, he still directs gentleness towards Yuma; even when his very words bring Yuma to tears, he does it kindly.. sort of

we love to see it! And it was power lust after all

now.. let's talk about Yuma a bit, shall we?

Yuma is stubborn

that's kind of.. his whole gimmick with his "kattobingu" and everything. He will get what he wants with the power of friendship and being obstinate to the point of annoying. Unsurprisingly, it does work well for him! He managed to change and befriend, virtually, all characters he have met who showed any kind of animosity towards him or someone else

the flip-side is that he will not take "no" for an answer, will he? Like how he managed to break Ryoga in, by being extremely persistent on wanting to be friends...

... or when he jumped off a window to get Astral to stop

he will see the "good" in everyone and he will push his ideals and kindheartedness with no regards for the other person's wishes. It's really bothersome because it's genuine

too much of "too good" can be very toxic though and, ironically, Astral's predicament is good proof of that. But how can he blame Yuma? How can anyone blame him at all?

he did what was "right" in his heart and had no ill-intent. His naive nature makes him extremely easy to manipulate and he can be driven into corners having to make hard choices he will not be able to make (such as which friends will he be able to save? So many of his foes exploited this very weakness of his)

...

at last, forgiveness:

... and we're back to the "good" X "evil" dichotomy...

this is precisely why Astral World is dying (but they will only realize that later in the show), and why the Barians are trying so hard to save their own world: the "villains" are trying to survive, and the "heroes" are imposing their own wishes over everyone else - how ironic, considering the protagonist and main "hero" is famous for doing exactly that aha!

so the lesson to be learned after all this:

yes, that's the point!

this is a good thing, actually. Astral is capable of experiencing emotions, all of them! He grew and he became stronger than before, this is why they managed to evolve their Zexal form

to me, this was a massive step in completely "separating" Astral's existence from Yuma's, meaning: Astral existing as his own person

unfortunately, the show did not explore that development much further, and like I said earlier, everything went "back to normal" in a way or another

I guess.. uhh... it was probably good that Astral went back to Astral World in the end, after all. He was in his own world, not bound by Yuma or the Emperor's Key anymore, and he was living his own life independently

and an addendum: while Zexal 1st was more alike Yuma, Zexal 2nd was more alike Astral! Probably because the scales were tipping to his side more, due to everything that has happened. I think it's interesting and makes me wonder how Astral would look like as a "human" (2nd looks close enough to me)

also big shoutouts to Mizael for hating Vector's gut. Me too, mate, me too LMAO

Vector is probably the most intelligent character in this whole show, he was written brilliantly and the fact that he doubles down and keep on "betraying" people, just makes him so much more interesting

he is vicious and remorseless, and these are some of the things that make him such a wonderful villain. You really get to see him and his fiendish mind shine in these episodes

...

if you read until here, congratulations! You are very cool yay <3

[peemanne]

INFINITE WEALTH SPOILERS IN MINI RAMBLE AHEAD!!!!!!! YEAH!!!! LIKE FINAL CHAPTER SHENANIGANS!!!!! REALLY BAD!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!! (and also touching on y2 and y6 and gaiden i guess but come on)

YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!!!!!! IF YOU ARE NOW ON YOUR WAY OUT, SEE YOU LATER AND ALSO CHECK OUT THIS COOL PHOTO OF ZHAO I TOOK

Been mulling over IW's story since I beat it, and while there are still aspects I'm very much still mixed on, one thing I've surprisingly found to actually only be better after thinking about it even more was the final boss in Ebina. And yeah yeah he could have used a tad bit more screentime, but I think the stuff he does have and all the stuff he symbolizes are really well written. In Gaiden, we dealt with the manifestation of the yakuza itself, and now we face off against the manifestation of all the wrong the yakuza's done. Despite Kiryu's best efforts, there's so many lives he's endangered. So much death that follows him and those around him, and he's completely aware of this. Kiryu shows a lot of self-destructiveness throughout the series, like in Y2 where he gives himself up in a practically suicidal draw with Ryuji, or in Y6 where he so readily throws himself away at the first chance he gets. I still remember Haruka's line in that game: "Don't look so satisfied about this!". And especially in IW, knowing that cancer's got him that much closer to death's door, he's still so ready to throw himself away. But now that's he's forced to rely on his allies, now that he gets to really reflect on all the friends that he's made throughout the years, now that he has Ichiban telling him to really LIVE, he's done running. Kiryu sees a lot of himself in Ebina, because he knows the look of a man who's hellbent on throwing himself away.

Ebina knows he's fighting a losing battle. He leaves Sawashiro alive and he repeatedly begs for Kiryu to kill him at the end of the fight. Look at the demon on his back: he knows he's falling into hell, and he's intent on dragging the reason why he's falling down with him. And that's why it's so cathartic seeing Kiryu beg to him at the end. He's breaks down, seeing the personification of all of the sins the yakuza, and he cries out apologies. Because that's what this fight is about. Atonement, against a vengeful spirit. A breaking of the cycle, further hammered in by the choice to name Ebina's moves after chakra points ("Pierce the Muladhara, Cripple the Manipura, Wheel of Samsara"). The theme The End of Denial is such an amazing choice for this too, a much more sorrowful, reflective track than most of the other final boss themes. It's not just a cheeky bit of "look how far we've come" that they've included the original Yakuza's intro guitar in here, it's Kiryu directly reflecting on running away. Running away from the Fourth Chairman spot. Running away from Daigo and the clan. Running away from his family. Running away from all the wrongs he's done throughout the years. And now that Kiryu finally finds himself ready to confront it all, even if it's in his twilight years, there's not a chance in hell he's gonna let it slip past him, as he takes Ebina head-on. I couldn't disagree more with the notion that Ichiban should have been the one to fight him. Despite it being his half-brother, this just isn't his fight to take.

It's why this line means so much. Teary-eyed, he begs the man he just punched down for forgiveness for everything the yakuza has done, and he begs for him to LIVE, to not throw himself away the very same way Kiryu has. And this is how he breaks the cycle.

This is how Kazuma Kiryu finally gets to live again.

~ ~ ~

ok thing over! i've been thinking about a write-up on this game's finale ever since i beat it last march 30th and ebina's an aspect i really had to stew over, and i finally got to it in the same way i did with my gaiden mini ramble. by making a long text wall in a discord server and figuring that it'd fit well enough to be put here

i'd really like to shoutout @.FormerSoulKing on twitter and their post on IW's religious symbolism for inspiring this post. it's also just like, a really cool read.

additionally i'd also ramble about the ending scene with ichi carrying eiji out at the end and how it's like him "setting things right" and not letting what he watched happen to masato happen to another friend of his but honestly i just love that scene so much i don't think i could ever properly put it into words

[fnafluffy]

I am. Going insane about the comic you just dropped. What happened to Ryu?? Why is he calling susato his sister? Did susato find him and keep him from kazuma?? Has Kazuma been going around like he's a grieving widow out or revenge??? How does this change the story??? Fascinating, very well done!

HAHA i guess i'll give some context after all! ok so first of all, the au has kazuma, susato, and ryunosuke all much closer than they are canonically and they've known each other for years. ryunosuke has always treated susato more as a little sister than kazuma does. basically ryunosuke "dies" from blunt force trauma to the head but didnt really die but they dont find that out until later. kazuma goes crazy from this and thinks susato did it. even though susato was proven innocent, he still clings onto that (from guilt and grief) and begins to obsess over it. They have to keep kazuma physically away from susato on the ship because he tried to kill her when she said she didnt do it. this resulted in sholmes jumping in to protect her by shooting and grazing kazumas head, making him lose sight in his left eye. susato takes on kazumas past ambitions of becoming a lawyer and sholmes houses susato once they get to britain. kazuma becomes an apprentice to zieks to be a prosecutor so that he can put susato away. susato has to cut her hair and dress like a british man for court. Once they find out about Ryu being alive, the 221b family houses him until he can make a full recovery. (he is VERY concussed--therefore cannot open his eyes rn) and thats where the comic picks up!! Ryu calling susato his little sister was added in as an extra punch to kazumas gut because after all their trauma due to kazuma being a freak, ryu starts actually calling susato his little sister and being an older brother to her that kazuma never got to be. hes basically disowned by her and replaced.

[maddogofshimano]

The Tiger’s Repayment of a Favor: Saejima Boss Rush

Spoilers for Y4

Hell yes a new Saejima event! I’m always so excited for these, even if things are almost always going VERY poorly for Saejima in one way or another. He’s just a trouble magnet

Given the glut of resources I’ve accumulated over the years I blew nearly all of them on this event so that I could finally have a top 500 placement and get a fancy title plate 😎😎😎

Anyways, on to the event!

Summary: Shortly after the events of Y4, Saejima gets lost and is helped out by a kind stranger. When he finds that same stranger in trouble, he will go to any lengths to return the favor.

[On a certain day in 2010] [Almost immediately after Saejima Taiga, on the recommendation of Kiryu Kazuma and Majima Goro, launched the Tojo Clan Direct Line Saejima Family...] [Saejima was visiting the grave of his sister, Saejima Yasuko, and arrived in a town outside of Kamurocho.]

Saejima: ...Shit. I ended up gettin' lost. I ain't got a clue about places like this...

Saejima: I figured I'd stop by that restaurant Majima was talkin' up... Saejima: ...Oh. Now that I think about it, I got that smartphone Majima gave me. Is there a way to see a map on it?

<phone beeps> Saejima: Now where... is the map... supposed to be on this thing? This it? <phone beeps> Saejima: Nope, it ain't here. Is this it? No... maybe this? <phone beeps multiple times> Saejima: Oh, looks like this is it. Then, to search for a store... ya do this? Nah... is it this one? <phone beeps even more times, followed by thuds(?)> Saejima: Woah! The screen ain't workin' all the sudden!? I-Is it broken!!??

Glasses Wearing Man: Ladidadida~  ...Hm? Is something the matter?

Saejima: Ah, nah, I just went 'n' busted this smart phone... Man: Busted? ...Ah, it's actually just frozen. I could fix it for you if you'd like? Saejima: ...Is that alright? Man: Sure. I'm in a good mood because my work is going well, you know? Well, I suppose I don't actually do that much. Man: Hmm, just force-close the app... Huzzah, you're all good to go! Saejima: Oh! Ya really did it! Ya made it work! Saejima: I'm in your debt! What's your name?

Man: Oh no, I didn't do anything worth remembering my name for! See ya! Ladida~ 🎵 (tl note: I have no idea if this is less of a bizarre thing to say in Japan) <he leaves> Saejima: ...Heh, I had no clue how that was gonna go. Well then, let's check out that restaurant Majima mentioned... <Saejima finally gets his meal in Definitely Not Kamurocho> Saejima: Whew~! That was good food! Wouldn't expect anythin' less from a place my kyoudai recommended.

Saejima: Now then... I oughta get headin' home. ...Hm? Chinpira: Raaah!!!!

<the punk punches the man> Man: Guh... <he drops to the floor> Beefy Yakuza: ......

Chinpira: Oi! Don't fall over already Kosakai! We're not done here... (tl note: the name is 小酒井 with other readings being Osakai and Kozakai. Kosakai seems the most common) Saejima: Stop.

Chinpira: Ah, who the fuck are you? Saejima: I got no clue what this is about, but if ya wanna take it any further you'll be facin' me. Kosakai: U-.... Ughh... Y-You're... Saejima: It's alright. Stay back. Chinpira: ...So you're protecting that thief? Saejima: ...Thief? Chinpira: Don't ya know? This here Kosakai's made a killing off of petty thefts and swindling. Chinpira: He got carried away though and swiped our aniki's wallet, so we gotta teach him a lesson. Saejima: The hell? Is that true? Kosakai: ............ Saejima: Sure looks like he's tellin' the truth. Saejima: Don't tell me that when ya said work was goin' good... ya meant ya pulled a scummy job like that? (tl note: extremely funny for Saejima to get offended about stealing wallets. you are a crime boss) Kosakai: ...Yes. Chinpira: Now you get that he's not worth sticking your neck out for, right? So hurry up and move. Saejima: ...Nope, ain't movin'. Kosakai: !? Chinpira: What was that? Saejima: I'll take the punishment in his place. Leave him be. Kosakai: Umm... What are you... Chinpira: This isn't a fucking joke!!!! <Saejima gets punched> Chinpira: ...How's that? Still feeling the same?

Saejima: ...I ain't gonna hit back, so you're free to hit me as much as ya like. Teach me a lesson to your heart's content. (tl note: holding my head and trying to cobble together a wording that is accurate but doesn't just read as totally obscene in a masochistic kind of way but Saejima is making this so difficult) Chinpira: Tch... Fine, have it your way!!!! <a whole lot of beating sounds> Chinpira: Haa... Haa...

Saejima: ...Haa ...Haa... Are ya... satisfied now...? Chinpira: There's still more! <another punch> Saejima: ....Gh! Chinpira: Haa... Haa.... Saejima: If you're determined to do this, ya gotta do more. This ain't gonna take me down.  Kosakai: Wh-Why are you letting yourself get this badly hurt... Kosakai: All because of one little chat on the street? Doing this for my sake... when you're a total stranger to me... why on earth... Saejima: Well, why did ya help me out earlier? Kosakai: Eh? With your smart phone, you mean...? That was... I mean, I was in a good mood and just sort of felt like it. Saejima: Y'see... I also "just sort of felt like it". Kosakai: M-Mister... Chinpira: Haa... Haa... You just sort of felt like it? Stop fucking around... I'm gonna kill you... Beefy Yakuza: ...Wait. Chinpira: Eh... a-aniki... Beefy Yakuza: ...You're a stand-up guy, aren't you? I like you.

Saejima: ...You the boss? Kasagi: Yeah, Kasagi's the name. The owner of the wallet Kosakai tried to make off with. (tl note: name is 笠木 which can also be Kasaki but I went with Kasagi so it was a little more different from Kosakai) Kasagi: But after witnessing your manly spirit, I'm willing to forgive him. Saejima: Really? Kasagi: Yep. But, I'd lose face if I just let ya go back home like this. Kasagi: You know a lot about fighting, don't you? I'm actually one of those kinds of guys... Seeing someone strong gets me aching. (tl note: jesus fucking christ this really is just a BDSM scene) Kasagi: What do you say, will you fight me? Saejima: A fight, huh? Kasagi: A one-on-one fight, and if you win I'll let him walk free. If I win, then you'll hand that guy over like a good boy.  Kasagi: ...So how about it? Saejima: ...I'll do it. Since it'll make ya feel better. (tl note: the verb here is 気がすむ which is "to be satisfied" or "to feel good" which. look I'm trying really hard here to not make this all sound like dialogue from a porno but they're not helping me out!!) Kasagi: Good. And sorry about the damage, I'm not very good at holding back. You'll have to forgive me. Saejima: Ya better not go easy. Now hurry up 'n' come at me...! Kasagi: Heh, I thought you'd say that. Let's go all out then!

<the event happened, and I got way too many points>

Kasagi: S-... Strong...

<he hits the floor> Chinpira: A-Aniki!?

Saejima: ...Whew... Well then, I'll be takin' this guy.

<they start to leave, Kasagi pulls himself off the ground> Kasagi: Guh... W... Wait a minute.... Saejima: What d'ya want now? Kasagi: ...Who are you? Don't tell me... you're yakuza too? Saejima: ...I'm simply someone who got in a fight with ya. Who I am's got nothin' to do with that. Kasagi: I'm not trying to start shit again. I just... want to know who you are. Saejima: ...Saejima Taiga. Of the Tojo Clan. Kasagi: Saejima Taiga... You mean from the Saejima Family...? Saejima: ...We're leavin'. Kosakai: Y-Yes sir. <they leave> Kasagi: ...No wonder I wasn't a match for him.

Kosakai: ...U-Um... Thank you very much. If there's anything I can do to repay you...

Saejima: I was just returnin' the favor. No need to repay me. Kosakai: No way! But that's... but you... you didn't just help me out there. Kosakai: Thanks to you, Saejima-san... I've decided to stop with the petty theft and swindling... Saejima: Huh? What d'ya mean? Kosakai: Having seen you trying to return a tiny favor with no thought as to the risk you were putting yourself in... I realized how pathetic I was, preying on the good intentions of others. Kosakai: So... I'm going to live a respectable life, so that I can become the kind of man you are, Saejima-san. Saejima: ...That's just swell. If that's what ya want, then go for it. Kosakai: Yes sir! So, I want to repay the favor of you teaching me that! Saejima: I see... But don't worry about payin' me back. I've got an awful lotta favors I never managed to return. Kosakai: Eh... but... Saejima: If you're really determined to repay it, then pass the kindness on to someone else. Saejima: ...Just like ya did for me, back then.

Kosakai: ........Gotcha. I understand. Saejima: Well then, see ya. <Saejima leaves> Kosakai: Thank you so much! Saejima: Favors, huh... I've got a debt to Boss Sasai... I really wonder if I can pay it back.

<EVENT END>

Bonus stuff!

we do get the fun bits of lore that Kiryu recommended Saejima for a patriarch position, Majima is the one who gave Saejima a phone between games, and Saejima considers Majima a trustworthy foodie. along with one more thing...

I think we might have to consider if having dudes wail on him is some sort of fetish for Saejima and he’s just not quite aware of it. how many times has he just let someone beat on him when he really did not need to. really shines a new light on that whole thing with Kugihara

so just a few weeks ago they added a new rarity to the game beyond KSR, we now have UR. please take a look at the stat disparity going on here. it’s hurting me

the banner for the event had UR Majima and UR Saejima, so obviously I blew all my diamonds on it. I ended up with............ 4 Majimas!!!! the odds were 50/50!!!!!!!

in other news this blog is getting real close to 1,000 followers(!!!!) so I will have to update my event list in preparation for another translation give away. look forward to it!