#Sakura's death was a suicide

[g0nta-g0kuhara]

My favourite ongoing bit about Yasuhiro is that he's played up as this ridiculous, unreliable guy but so many times he predicts things in thh that nobody takes seriously but genuinely come true

[saneandrocking]

I need to read a fanfic where Sasuke manages to kill Sakura because Kakashi and Naruto didn't arrive in time. But it has to be Kakashi-centric and it has to necessarily show this man suffering. Imagine not only having lost a teammate due to the technique you developed to protect those you love, but losing a student for having taught this same technique to your other student with a tragic past. I feel like this would push Kakashi to his limit and he would actually try to kill himself in a gruesome way. Just to survive, because he's not so lucky.

Also, bonus points if Naruto goes rogue. You can talk all the nonsense you want, but my boy would never forgive Sasuke for killing Sakura. Neither him nor the Leaf. Not even Tsunade could escape at this point.

[lullabynorth]

A huge theme in Madoka Magica is suicide / self-descruction / the death of the self. I know this might sound obvious, but please hear me out.

Madoka choosing to destroy everything she had, erasing her entire existence, for the sake of saving all magical girls.

Sayaka destroying herself over and over again because she doesn't feel the pain anymore, even falling into despair and dying.

Homura throwing away who she used to be and becoming a different person while obsessing over Madoka and trying to save her.

Kyoko's wish leading to her father's murder spree and eventual suicide after telling him the truth about who she was.

Mami focusing too much on leading others and sealing her own demise.

Each member of the Holy Quintet has some sort of connection to that theme. And it's really interesting when you think about it.

[rainbowkittyblossomwings]

Here I did more bad transparent

[team7-headquarter]

I love how grim was the original Naruto.

I really miss when adults were portrayed like that, like actual soldiers who had to indulge in several vices to control their PTSD. They smoke or do drugs or read porn or drink or become addicted to work or physical exercise. They are all perverted in their own ways, broken, traumatized, damaged.

I miss when they had big ass scars and when you could tell they were shinobis used to killing for a living just by looking at them.

I miss how Kishimoto used the kids view to make everything look kinda innocent at first, but slowly turned everything worse the more that they lived to reveal to real shinobi world, not how the kids dreamed it to be.

There was something so appealing to it, to the contrast of innocence vs a world submerged in war and violence.

Kakashi starts the Land of the Waves arc being a funny dude with hearts in his speech bubbles and it progresses to Kakashi putting his hand through Haku's heart with a chidori. There's suicide and there's extortion and there's old men molesting Sakura and people being crucified and genocide and corruption and—

There are moments when you can feel the reality of their violence, like when Orochimaru appeared on The Forest of Death. He showed Sasuke and Sakura with a genjutsu how he'd decapitate them. Like when Hiruzen gave his soul to a demon to try and seal Orochimaru's soul too. Like when Gaara started killing people by exploding them with his sand. Like when Rock Lee was told that if he went along with the surgery he could die and if he did not he would never walk again. Like Orochimaru experimenting with kids or like when Neji revealed the secondary branch of the Hyuugas were slaves marked like cattle that would only find freedom if dead. Like Itachi forcing Sasuke to live again and again the Uchiha massacre with a genjutsu.

Shippuden has a lot of it. It is brilliant at times, but doesn't have the consistency of the original.

[dilfartist]

Just obsessed or love obsessed?

Tw; Kidnapping, sensitive topics, Yandere behavior, Obsessive behavior, marriage mentions, abuse, physical abuse, mentions of Suicide on Yoosung’s part, mentions of death, NSFW on the end of Asmodeus’s part,

Which yanderes are actually in love with their darlings? Which yanderes simply obsess over their darlings?

Fandoms: Naruto, JJK, Demon Slayer, Death Note, JJBA, Chainsaw Man, Baruto, Obey Me, and Mystic Messenger.

Characters; Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Mahito, Toji, Geto, Sukuna, Douma, Tengen, Mitsuri, Akaza, Gyutaro, Muzan, Light Yagami, Chilchuck, Laios, Ascended Astarion, Dio, Kira Yoshikage, Jotaro, Josuke, Yoosung, Mammon, Asmodeus, and Denji.

Notes: {Most of these are just ramblings, sorry if they mirror each other in similarity. Not all characters from each show/movie will be on this list, just a few that came to mind.}

Reblogs and Comments are greatly appreciated!

Somewhat proofread

Reader's description; Female/GN

Obsessed

These yanderes have no love for their obsession. Although they want you for romantic purposes, they could never love you. Most of these yanderes treat you like a pet rather than an actual lover.

Mahito

Mahito sees humans as toys. Humans are there for his entertainment. Their tears, their fear, their panic, and their crys are all for his pleasure. Mahito has only managed to love the suffering of human beings.

Mahito harbors no love for his darling. Sure, Mahito favors you compared to other humans and he doesn't outright kill you or torture you, but your relationship is more like a farmer favoring one of the farm animals he’s leading to the slaughter, so he allows it to live a little longer than the others.

If you were to ask him if he loved you since he’s gone out of his way to keep you to himself and demands romantic actions out of you; he’ll respond with a laugh, finding it laughable you’d assume so.

“Love you?” Mahito giggles, “You know, I was manifested by the strong emotions of humans, but love isn’t one of them. But hey, if it makes you feel any better, you're my favorite human!”

Sukuna

Sukuna was born evil, not giving two shits about the human race he once belonged to. Love, in the eyes of Sukuna, is a feeble emotion that only exists to continue giving humans a reason for their pitiful existence and to keep their kin cared for. Those who sing songs of romance irk Sukuna. As if the human race couldn't get more irritating. Though he will admit he enjoys a good lovers quarrel. The negative emotions that cause the birth of curses and the scenes of women and men plucking out the eyeballs of their lover's hidden sweetheart in an act of rage; never fails to give him a wicked laugh.

Lust. Lust is what Sukuna feels for you. Love is nowhere in sight. Any act of love you find yourself partaking in with Sukuna isn't because Sukuna desires loving contact, but because you loathe the thought of acting this way with him. He relishes in the resentment you feel towards him. Kisses, hugs, cute nicknames, and lingering touches in favor of disturbing you. Sukuna is obsessed with you due to your enjoyable reactions. Such a scared little thing, he thinks. In a world of humans Sukuna views as insects, you are Sukuna's shivering prized chihuahua.

If you were convinced Sukuna was in love with you and asked about it, he'd laugh in your face.

"Maggots, such as the human race, invented love to maintain relevancy and keep their young alive. What else are they good for if they can only birth a few babes before their bodies break. They might as well drop dead once production is no longer available. Unfortunately for all living creatures, they continue their life spans." Sukana speaks with distaste. He leans his cheek against his fist, gazing down at you from his throne. "I find the emotion despicable. Although.." Sukana begins, lips curling into a cruel smirk, "I could think differently if it came to you, my dear pet." You don't miss the flash of amusement in his ruby eyes at the sight of your grimace.

Douma

Douma will never love anyone. Douma is stated to have no emotions but that isn’t necessarily true. Douma can feel emotions for himself, it’s others he cannot feel emotions for. Douma may have claimed to feel love towards Shinobu but Douma wanted to feel something, or at least convince himself he felt something before the end of his life. Truly Douma could never love his darling even if he tried.

Contrary to popular belief Douma does treat his darling like he loves them...50% of the time. The other half of the time he acts on his sadistic nature.

He is one of the yanderes that will kill his darling with no hesitation if he needs to. Douma will hesitate if his obsession is strong enough to dissuade him. If his darling ever dies or somehow escapes then he’ll forget about them. In his eyes, you’re replaceable since you never were loved in the first place.

“You know, (Name), I think I’m actually in love with you!” Douma would smile down at you as you sat in his lap. “Can’t you hear it! My heart flutters at the sight of you!” he’d pushed your head to his chest, “Such an exquisite feeling.” he cooed at you, hugging you closer. You scowl knowing every word from his lips is a lie. You wonder which one of you he’s trying to convince.

Ascended Astarion

Astarion before the ascension would genuinely love his Darling. And if he didn’t he wouldn’t even be with his Darling. However, if his darling allowed him to go through his accession, all his love would vanish from his body. Once a vampire spawn becomes a true vampire, they become a shell of the person they used to be.

Astarion is no longer the person you once knew. In fact, he resembles his former master in ways. His spawns, his mean attitude, his view of other people as less. It’s a sicking sight, truly. He no longer treats you as an equal. You’re a pet to him, even if he says you are his consort.

You both know Astarion doesn’t love you anymore. Yet neither of you have said a thing about it. Astarion finds it rather amusing you think he could love someone as pathic as you. His old weaker self did and he won’t repeat any actions from the past. And still, he refuses to allow you to leave his side. His darling will be reassured but they know the love of their life is no longer around.

“I love you, my dear pet. That’s what you want to hear, isn’t it?” he’d chuckle darkly at you, his tone full of mockery. You wish his words were the truth, but they’re not.

Dio Brando

Even in normal circumstances, Dio wouldn’t be able to love. During his normal life, Dio only loved the pleasure he sought in hurting others. He forced himself to act like he loved Jonathan and George Joestar, but in reality, he was only using them for his advantage. Once he turned into a creature of the night, the was no way he’d be able to love. All of his humanity, including his human emotions had been erased.

Dio’s darling is merely for his entertainment; he does not yearn for a real connection. You’re simply a pet. He’ll care for your health so you won’t die, he’ll feed you well so you won’t starve, and he’ll even buy you nice things to keep you in line. Other than those few things, he could care less about you. He enjoys keeping you around because of your reactions. You’re just so human! It disgusts him and excites him at the same time.

“Poor dear,” Dio sang cruelly as he held you in his lap. “Shivering in my lap like a lamb awaiting for the slaughter.” he’d chuckle darkly after.

Kira Yoshikage

Yoshikage never loves any of his darlings. He takes without a second thought, caring not for the person that fuels his obsession. Yoshikage may take the time to learn about his victim but after some time your fate will be the same as any other darling. Depending on which stage of Yoshikage you get that is.

You could encounter a quick death if you met Yoshikage at the start of Dimond is unbreakable. He’d be interested then when he finds the right time to kill his darling and take their hand. If you come across Kira in the middle of Dimond is unbreakable then your death will come after a while. It depends if he likes your personality since during this stage he begins to prefer knowing a woman’s personality when taking their hand. If he meets you by the end of Dimond is unbreakable then you have the most probability of living. He’d be so concerned about keeping his identity a secret he might keep you around longer and settle with befriending you instead of outright killing you.

Kira really has no love for his darling. The only care he has for his darling is keeping their hands beautiful to fuel his obsession. Kira is less obsessed with his darling and more obsessed with their hands.

“Darling you must keep yourself clean,” he’d chid, pulling out a pack of wipes to desperately clean the dirt from underneath your beautiful fingernails.

Love-Obsessed

Both their feelings and obsession grow together as they come to know you. They love and are obsessed with you. These yanderes see their darling as actual partners and do love them, unlike the obsessed yanderes.

Naruto Uzumaki

Naruto loves you with all of his being. Growing up as a boy with no family and for a short while in his childhood no friends, he yearns for a real connection. He wants to love and be loved. So when you come into the picture, he swears no harm will come to you. Even if the leaf village is at stake.

Naruto does everything he can to please you because he believes you deserve everything good that comes to you. His generosity isn’t meant to be taken as a way to manipulate you, unlike some characters. Naruto strives to keep you happy. He’ll do everything he thinks will do right by you.

Naruto sees his darling as his partner in crime. His one and only. He refuses to look at anyone else. He’ll keep you safe even if it means keeping you locked away.

“I love you more than anything, you know,” Naruto whispers to you as he snuggles up to you. “I’ll never let anything happen to you, believe it.”

Denji

Denji’s been through a lot. No one has been there to love Denji for who he really is. Everyone loves Chainsaw Man...then there's him. All of a sudden you come into his life. Dissimilar Makima or any woman in his life, you care for him. You’re genuinely kind without expecting him to do something for you. His feelings grow for you due to your kind nature.

Being Chainsaw man comes with its cons. He’s always in danger and his loved ones are always in harm's way because of him. He grows paranoid. What would become of you once it was revealed he cares for you?! He manages to pull some strings and finds a place for the both of you to live together. Sure you can’t leave but at least your are safe! Plus, Denji is a great guy who gives you everything you want.

Denji doesn’t force you to care or love him, he implies wanting your tenderness but never forces you. He loves you. He goes as far as fighting every demon in your name.

“I like you...like a lot.” Denji starts off slowly. He’s at your side, crouching to your level. His eyes show vulnerability, “...you don’t have to like me back but I won’t allow anyone to hurt you. I wish things could be different...I really do.”

Yoosung Kim

Yoosung falls in love with his darling very quickly. Originally, Yoosung fell in love with the Mc in eleven days. Instead of his obsession and love growing together, Yoosung falls in love first then his obsession begins to grow. Though Yoosung is in love with his darling he still compares them to Rika despite his darling and Rika not sharing many qualities. He loves his darling for their kindness but also because they share the comfort Rika gave him.

Yoosung doesn't care if he puts his darling in harm's way despite claiming the opposite. Yoosung loves his darling enough to be in harms way along with him. In a way it’s like a romantic double suicide

“You’ll only talk to me, right?” he’d ask. Despite this question being sent through text you could hear the question asked in Yoosung’s voice. “I love you so much, do you really think some guy like Zen could compare?”

Mitsuri kanroji

Mitsuri is heavily encouraged by love in her daily life, so of course she’d be in love with her darling. Her darling completely takes over her mind, invading every thought she has. She doesn’t see her behavior as weird or obsessive. After all, isn’t it ideal for a lover to be utterly in love and devoted to their special someone?

Her obsession and love for you grow at the same pace. She’s so in love with her darling, every action she takes is in the name of her darling. She constantly reminds her darling of her love and devotion, not caring if her darling doesn’t reciprocate.

Her obsession is fueled by the constant rejection she’s faced in her life. She’s clingy, clingy to the point you feel suffocated. She needs her darling's reassurance and will be unsettled by her darling giving anyone else praise she deems too much.

“You’re so amazing!” she’d coo at you, latched onto your right arm, batting her lashes. “I’m so glad you’re mine, (Name).” she’d hum, pushing her face into your sleeve.

Sakura Haruno

She is a very dedicated person. Despite the lack of love she received from Sasuke, she stood by his side the entire time no matter what. When she loves, she loves hard. This also applies when she begins to obsess over her darling. Even if you don’t share her feelings she will never move on. Sakura is a very persistent person, and if she truly desires something then she’ll achieve it.

Her obsessiveness comes later on when she really gets to know you. Once the obsession starts, there’s no way of getting rid of her. Her love overpowers her obsession, which is worse.

If you thought Sakura being at your hip most of the time was annoying, then your hell is with Yandere Sakura. Sakura will never leave you alone. However, you have a savor named Tsunade. Sakura listens to Tsunade with out a doubt. However, Tsunade doesn’t really care for your situation. Sakura can be annoying but she doesn’t bring harm to you. So...not her circus, not her monkeys.

“Gosh,” she’d sigh dreamily as she lay against your chest, “I’m the luckiest girl in the village, aren’t I?”

Josuke Higashikata

The king of romance himself! Josuke loves his darling dearly. Even going as far as to think twice before hurting his darling if they dare insult his hairstyle. Unlike all the others on this list, Josuke would be in love with you first before the obsession would even begin.

Josuke never lets his darling forget his love and dedication towards them. He reminds them he loves them every chance he gets.

Josuke is more normal thanks to his genuine love for his darling. However, that won’t stop him from acting on his obsession. If his darling ever found out about his obsession and attempted to leave, he’d hesitate to

“Oh, these?” Josuke would look down at the bouquet in his hands. He’d rub the back of his neck with a grin, “Just wanted to get something for the lovely girl I call my girlfriend!”

Laois Touden

You are as important as Falin is to him. His mind is full of thoughts of you. Although Laois is obsessed with you, he treats you right. He never oversteps boundaries, always makes sure not to hurt or overwhelm you, and always listens to you and your needs. If it weren’t for his unhealthy obsession, Laios would be the best boyfriend.

Laios obsesses over his darling the same way he obsesses over monsters. Laios carries a notebook full of facts about you. What monster food do you prefer? Easy! You love boiled mimics! After all, Laious put it down in his note book and Laious is dedicated to being correct about his darling.

His love goes as far as locking away his darling; If necessary that is. He’d rather explore the word with his darling. He won’t repeat allowing someone so dear to him to be hurt again. Laios nearly lost his sister and he’ll be damned if you were ever harmed.

“I don’t think I say it enough,” Laios comments completely out of the blue. You and him sit at the breakfast table, still in your midnight clothes. Laios looks at you sweetly, his chin against his palm. “I love you.”

Obsessed to Love- obsessed

These yanderes start just obsessed with their darlings with either no feelings or ignoring their growing feelings. As time goes on, they begin to fall in love with their darling.

Toji Fushiguro

Toji finds it hard to love after his late wife’s passing. So when you come into his life he’s as distant as he can be. Toji’s rude and nasty to you. Not because he dislikes you- well, not fully anyway- but because Toji can sense his attraction towards you. It scares him; it Angers him even. Toji’s had his fair share of one-night stands, feeling nothing after them besides passing sentiments of guilt because of his late wife. However, you’re different. For some reason, the fuzzy feelings he felt with his late wife have come back when he’s around you. He loathes these feelings. In a way, Toji finds this as a betrayal, and he blames you.

However, as time progresses, Toji learns to allow you in. He can’t obsess over his late wife forever. At first, he’s simply obsessed with you. Always around you, you’re constantly on his mind, keeping a tracking device on you, the usual. Then it happens. You show him genuine kindness and show you care for his well-being and it’s like a switch flipped. Toji realizes he’s in love. And instead of getting angry or distancing himself, he accepts it. Unfortunately for you, Toji’s left broken by his ex-wife’s death and you’re the new love of his life.

You’re immediately kidnapped and taken away to live with him. The one person he loved died, he will not have that happen again. Toji knows he needs a stable life to keep you around and he refuses to use another woman for her money since he finds it disrespectful to you. Toji’s gambling habits cease nearly quickly. He works for the both of you to have a stable life because he love you enough to try. Toji never outright tells you he loves you, but you can tell in the ways he acts around you.

“I’ve gotta say, you’re the biggest pain in my ass.” Toji would grumble. You both lay on the couch together, him on the bottom while you lay ontop of him with a blanket wrapped around you. His hands fiddled with your hair, one of his quiet ways to show his love.

Akaza

At first, he felt like he was betraying his first love, Koyuki. Akaza distances himself because of the guilt that consumes him. He feels so weak, which pisses him off. And he can’t help but find himself getting angry at his darling as well since you caused this weak feeling to initiate. If it weren’t for his guilt at the onset Akaza would be categorized in the love-obsessed category. Once he learns to move on and realize his feelings will not be leaving any time, then he’d be loving towards his darling.

Immediately, His darling is kidnapped. Akaza has learned from his past to always be near his loved ones; his darling wouldn’t suffer the same fate because of his carelessness. He’d keep them in a nice house deep in the forest. Akaza remembers every part of the forest just in case you attempted to run away. The house would be nice and furnished and his darling could request items to be placed into the house. It’s more of a house for his darling than a shared house.

Very loving towards his darling. If it weren’t for the circumstances, Akaza and his darling's relationship would be seen as the ideal romantic relationship. Akaza didn’t want his darling to be taken away, he’d much rather have his darling willingly. However, his trauma and immortality dissuade him.

“You’re so beautiful...” Akaza would murmur to you. You watched in the mirror as the demon brought your hairbrush back to your hair, gently going through the strands. “So beautiful, my love.” he’d press a small kiss on your shoulder blade.

Jotaro Kujo

Jotaro already has too many problems to worry about romance. Jotaro’s obsession disturbed him. He has other priorities such as saving the world from enemy stand users, yet he often finds himself thinking about you rather than the problem at hand. It becomes a problem for him. There’s even a point where he becomes annoyed by your name alone. However, as time goes on he learns to accept his feelings of obsession. Then he’ll have to accept the romantic feelings that soon follow after he accepts his obsession.

A while back, I wrote Jotaro as a yandere that would hold you captive and overall be very intimidating towards his darling. Now that I look at his character, he’s more likely to act regularly with his darling. Jotaro will come off the same as any man who has a healthy relationship with their significant other. The only reason he’d become intimidating towards his darling is because they’re trying to leave him. No matter how obsessed jotaro finds himself, he ultimately won’t force his darling by his side. Jotaro recognizes the danger he puts his darling in when they date, he realizes how selfish he is just being near you. Jotaro genuinely loves his darling, so although he does try to intimidate his darling into staying with him, he would allow you to leave if that’s what you truly wanted.

Jotaro is the type of Yandere to allow you to leave but have you on his mind ever since. There are memorabilia of yours around his house. Pictures hang upon his walls that he hasn’t bothered to take down. There’s even a framed picture of you right next to his bed.

Tengen Uzui + Wives

The Uzuis would be off put by their darling at first. Despite it traditionally being on the man’s part to decide if he wants to marry another wife, Tengen puts his wife's decisions above his. Tengen isn’t the type to simply marry someone because of a little crush or obsession. One, he needs to feel strong feelings towards someone before he considers putting a ring on it. Two, Tengen respects his wives too much to decide marriage on his own. Tengen would introduce the topic and his darling to his wives slowly, giving them a little time to decide whether to feed his obsession or not. Ultimately, Tengen gets their blessings.

Their obsessions don’t blossom until marriage. Ideally, their darling is not as strong as them. They become very protective of them, especially Tengen if this is after he retires. Time passes and they all grow to love their darling, they’re obsession turns into a love obsession. Each one of them won’t keep their hands off their darling. They are in general very touchy with each other, but with their darling, it’s times 100.

At least one of them has to accompany you. Not only to keep you safe but to make sure you never think of leaving them. They don’t mind kidnapping their darling if they need to.

“Don’t splash around so much,” Tengen complained to his other wives. They all sat in the bathtub, cleaning each other. You sat firmly in Tengen’s lap. “Stop hogging cleaning them, Suma!” Makio barks at Suma. “I am not! Lord Tengen! Makio is trying to say I’m hogging the sponge, but I’m not!” Suma whines. They were taking turns washing your body, whilst Hinatsuru washed your hair. Tengen presses a small kiss on the back of your head.

Asmodeus

When Asmodeus first met his darling he only saw them as someone he could seduce for a moment of pleasure. It isn’t until he makes a pact with his darling that his obsession begins. Sure, Solomon also has a pact with Asmodeus and he’s not obsessed with him. You’re different. You help him with problems and spend time with him. And such a cutie you are you do it no questions asked. The obsession sets in when he manages to sleep with you. It was like your body was crafted for him. It’s addicting really. Your taste, your touch, your sweet voice! He’s even considered never touching another again.

He’ll stick around you more which leads to a connection between you...or maybe just in Asmodeus’s eyes. Love, an emotion he’s only been able to share with his brothers, will develop in the time shared with you. You’ve surprised him again! Asmodueus will grow into a possessive person. Not even his brothers will have the fortune of spending time with you. Asmodeus becomes harsh with his brothers, like a cat hissing at other cats for being too close to their owner. Lucifer has to step in ever so often because Asmodeus is close to ripping out one of another demon’s eyes with his claws because they got too friendly with you.

Don’t think you can just leave him either; That isn’t an option whether it be due to your exchange coming to an end or you not wanting a relationship anymore. It just won’t happen. If you have to go back to the human world, that just won’t slide with Asmodeus. He’ll find a way to be with you. If Lucifer doesn't appeal to any of Asmodeus’s requests to keep you in Devil Dom, then he has no problem going with you. Nor does he have a problem possessing random people to see you every day. Now, ending the relationship with Asmodeus will lead to a moment of pain. A moment of pain because there is no way you’d be apart for more than a couple of months. His brothers won’t force you to be in Asmodeus’s arms nor will they stop talking to you until you give in to dating Amsodeus again, they care for you as much as they care for their brother. Nonetheless, you will have earfuls of them trying to convince you to be with Asmodeus again. Not to mention every demon in Devil Dom has been in your DMs on Devilgram. All of his adoring fans call you every name under the sun. No matter how tough your skin is their words will get to you. They even began to spread hate against humans which got the attention of both Lucifer and Diavalo. Now you’re having a conference with them, where you simply decide to go back to him. It’s better for everyone.

“Don’t you feel so much better~” Asmodeus coos to you, his fingers deep inside your cunt. “No one can make you feel as good as I can!” Asmodeus presses a trail of kisses down your neck, “No one could love you as much as i do.”

Mammon

When you first met, Mammon only saw you as an annoying human. Another task on his list that his brother put on him. Then he began to get to know you and that view quickly faded. Unlike other yanderes, Mammon fell in love quickly compared to the others. Suddenly, Mammon was proud to be your first man. So proud in fact that many reconsider his sin being greed.

Though greed is definitely his sin. He’s so greedy he won’t allow his family to take your time away from him. Mammon nearly snarls like a rabid dog at the thought of anyone stealing you away from him. If it’s his brothers then he won't have as much of a problem, he’ll complain but won’t harm them. Let another demon try the same and he won’t care if he breaks a few bones. Not even caring for Lucifer’s chiding.

His love is apparent. It’s overwhelmingly sweet, overshadowing his tough-guy act. You won’t even mind his obsession because his love delays any concerns that arise because of his actions.

“I’m your first man, so I should be your most important priority,” Mammon huffs clinging to your waist tightly. You scheduled a lunch with his brothers due to Mammon taking up your time, now you think you should cancel it. Mammon shows no sign of letting go any time soon and it’s getting harder to breath.

Chilchuck Tims

There would be no way in hell Chilchuck would allow himself to fall in love or even think of any romantic thoughts of his darling, at first. After his wife left him and took away his children, leaving him alone, he couldn’t bear the thought of another romantic relationship. His obsession starts slowly because he distances himself since he can tell he feels attracted to you.

He hates the fact he often has dreams of you or the fact he remembers your favorite foods. He especially hates it when he gets a foreign fuzzy feeling in his chest when it comes to you. He’s often rude and closed off to his darling. He comes off meaner to his darling than anyone else. It has gotten to the point the others often call him out on his behavior to which he scoffs and turns away.

It isn’t till he learns that not everyone will leave him and he can learn to be a better partner Chilchuck opens himself to being romantic with his darling. He grows to love his darling so dearly. He writes to his daughters about his darling. Even goes as far as mentioning them every chance he has to his companions.

And although he’s finally going through the process of learning to forgive himself for his divorce, he’s still paranoid. If you show any signs of leaving him, he won’t immediately lock you away but he’ll become uncharacteristically clingy. Every hour he’s snuggling closer to you, asking about your day. He even begins to stop complaining about small things you do that annoy him at times. If you are attempting to leave him, good luck. That isn’t happening. Besides Chilchuck’s small size, he’s incredibly smart when it comes to dire situations. Such as you leaving.

“I...I love you.” Chilchuck admits, his face has an expression of the first taste of sour candy. It’s almost as if the words stung the tip of his tongue each time he spoke.

Gyutaro

You’re interesting to him. Whether you’re ugly or pretty, Gyutaro envies you. Those who are attractive get to live happily without the misery of being ugly. It makes him sick. You are treated better than he was that’s for sure. But as he comes to know how kind you are to others, especially the less fortunate, he begins to obsess over you. You’re so beautiful, much more attractive than him anyway. How could he not think of you.

Gyutaro learns more about you by stalking you. He’s always around, going as far as to hide in the dark of your room in the mornings just to get more of you. Gyutaro never thought about marriage as a mortal, he was too caught up in caring for his sister and many girls never even glanced his way when it came to romance. You change his mind. He can imagine you in a beautiful wedding dress as you profess your love to him not even cringing at his ugliness.

He genuinely loves his darling. Gyutaro wishes he could have met his darling when he was a mortal, his life wouldn’t have been so depressing, and he could have even tried to find a better occupation and live a normal life with you. He’s selfish, after all, he’s faced so many hardships, why can’t he take the few things that bring him joy? No one else deserves you. Once you’ve lost your beauty, you’re better off dead than in the hands of others.

“So beautiful...gahahaha!” Gyutaro laughed manically to himself. He sat in the corner watching you closely, his hand covering his wide smile. “No one else could compare!”

Possibly love-obsessed (unsure)

These yanderes could either love their darling and never admit it or not love them at all. It depends on the situation or stage of the relationship.

Suguru Geto

(Only Non-Sorcerer Darling)

Geto believes that he could never love a Non-Sorcerer yet has an obsession with his darling. Geto felt the need to dehumanize the Human race since his change in ideology to cease any doubts he may have about his decisions. There may be a part of him deep down that isn’t fond of the idea of hurting Non-sorcerers but is too far gone to even think about ending what he started. Geto strives to protect the weak. When he was in high school he believed that the weak were Non-Sorcerers until his perspective changed to Sorcerers being the weak ones due to the Non-Sorcerers being in charge and harming the ones keeping them safe from curses. He found the acts of Non-Sorcerers to be unforgivable which is why he went to the extreme of choosing to start a genocide.

There is a part of him that despises his darling. How could some random monkey make him feel this way? It’s perplexing. Sometimes he wants to gouge out your throat and watch as the light fades from your eyes to give him the pleasure of his original ideology: All Non-Sorcerers should be terminated. Yet he cannot bring himself to put the plan into action. Especially when you’ve been such a good pet and listen to his every command. He won’t admit that he craves to be around you. He loves holding you tight as you both drift to sleep, he loves the sweet kisses that he forces out of you, and he loves the way you moan out his name. A filthy monkey shouldn’t have the pleasures of indulging in his greatness, yet he refuses to kill his darling.

Even Geto doesn’t know if he loves his darling. He’s adamant he only sees his darling as his pet, but deep down he might love his darling. Though that would never come to light.

“You’re a good pet. Always listening and obeying my commands.” Geto comments as he reads his daily newspapers. You brush his hair quietly, focusing on the raven strands gently pulled by the bristles of the brush. “Good. Just as all monkeys should.”

Sasuke Uchiha

It isn’t that Sasuke is incapable of loving because he definitely loves the people in his life. However, he is too emotionally immature to truly love his darling. He yearns for their touch and love but he can’t for the life of him reciprocate the affection.

Sasuke has forgotten the feeling of love since It had been ripped away from him at such a young age. He assumes his love for things in his life is just extreme liking them. Sasuke extremely likes tomatoes and Sasuke extremely likes talking walks but the word love never seems to come to mind. If anything he just won't admit it to himself. He can love.

It won’t be until when Baruto begins that Sasuke is finally classified as Love-obsessed. He’s more truthful to others and himself. He can finally admit he’s in love with his darling...to himself. In Baruto, Sasuke is more open to being vulnerable around his loved ones and even tries his best to repair relationships with advice from Kakashi.

“I care about you...” Sasuke would say, not daring to look you in the eyes. “...a lot,” he adds in awkwardly.

Light yagami

Many believe Light to have no love for anyone, for whatever reason. However, this is not the case. Light's love for his family is one of the main reasons he decides to become Kira. Or what he believes to be justice. Light started out wanting to be a cop because his father was a cop and Light wanted to bring justice to the world. Light wants the world filled with good and his family surrounded by good instead of unjustified evil. The reason he’s so cruel to Misa and even uses her to his advantage is that he never shared these feelings in the first place. Misa forced him into a relationship with her and didn’t seem to mind him not wanting it. He’s very different with his darling.

I put him on this list because there are two ways Kira could feel about his darling. One, he’d be obsessed with them but wouldn’t love them. This would happen if they were involved in the Kira case and Light would obsess over them because of it. Two, his darling is a random citizen who shares his feelings and judgment, and Light loves his darling dearly.

Even if Light truly cares for you, he won't admit it because of his focus on the Kira case.

Muzan kibutsuji

For Muzan to care about his Darling, they would have to have certain qualifications. One, they knew of Muzan before he transitioned into the first demon. Two they either could relate to Muzan’s past as a human or they didn’t have any judgment towards Muzan because of his sickly appearance. These are a few situations that would lead to Muzan's obsession. Once Muzan turned he had past wives who killed themselves because of his cruelness. Muzan had no feelings toward them which is why Muzan would be more likely to love or care about his darling if he had known them before his change.

If Muzan’s darling had none of these traits then Muzan would be purely obsessed with his darling. Muzan would need a connection with his darling. There is a slim chance his darling could win over his true affection, but the chance of it happening is nearly impossible.

[system-to-the-madness]

Cherry Blossom Interventions 🌸 Fushiguro Megumi x Reader

Pairing: Fushiguro Megumi x Reader (can be read as any gender, no pronouns used) Genre: hurt/comfort – angst to fluff Word Count: 3 271 Warnings: SPOILER for up to chapter 253, suicidal tendencies and implications (Megumi), mentions of death and depression Summary: Megumi has drawn back from everyday life completely, so you intervene A/N: Sorry for the late post; life happened. Played volleyball with friends, went to eat sushi, went running with the same friends, went to Maces, and then to a foot Onsen.

Sakura Festival Masterlist - Masterlist

"Why am I here?"

You stopped in your tracks and turned around to Megumi. He was standing underneath a cherry blossom tree when a cool breeze of spring air swept through his hair, carrying pink petals that caught in his black strands. His hair was shorter than it had been in autumn; not by much but the difference was still noticeable. You wondered whether he had cut it to not resemble the version of himself Sukuna had turned him into.

“You know why you are here,” you answered him, ignoring the frown on his brow. “This is an intervention.”

“What kind of intervention,” he asked back, clearly starting to get upset.

“What kind of intervention do you think it is?”

“Whatever it is, I’m not interested.” Megumi was already turning away from you again when you called out for him.

“We are worried,” you told him, almost shouting.

He just scoffed.

“Who is we?”

“Yūji, me, Toge, Maki, Yūta” you replied. “Panda, too, and Ieiri-sensei. Ever since December, ever since that last fight. Do you think we don’t know what's been going on with you? Do you think we don't know you've been skipping therapy and meals. We know you're just holed up in your room the whole day. We know you don't want to be here; you don't want to be with us anymore-”

“Then why can't you let me be?”

His shout made you flinch, but you had faced scarier things than an upset classmate.

“Because we care,” you shouted back. “We care too much to let you ruin your life like this! Don't misunderstand: We are not making light of the situation you were in - you are in. We understand that none of us could ever possibly imagine the things you have gone through, but you cannot ask us to let our friend die, who we fought so hard to save. You can't ask that of us!”

Megumi just rolled his eyes. “And what about what I want? What about the things I want,” he asked.

“For once, you don't get to say in this,” you shook your head. “It's not much we demand of you. We want you to eat properly. We know you haven't. We want you to step outside at least once a week, doesn't have to be long, just sit in the sun for a few minutes. That's all we ask. Or open your window, it's been barricaded since you moved back in in January. And go to your therapy sessions. We know you have them scheduled and we know you've been skipping them. You can't expect to get better if you don't go to these sessions.”

“And what if I don't want to get better?”

“That's not an option. I told you: For once you don't get to say in this.”

Megumi stared at you from between the falling cherry blossom petals that were carried down to the ground by the wind. You could see in his eyes that right now, in this moment in time, he thought he hated you. You just had to hope he didn't actually feel that way. If he did, you did you definitely would have been the wrong choice to have this conversation with him.

It had been quite a debate between the second years, Yūji, and you about who should talk to Megumi. You even considered asking Ieiri-sensei about being the one to talk to him, but in the end, everyone agreed it would be best if it were you. They were convinced you were the one he trusted the most, the one he liked the best. At least those were the others’ arguments. You weren't sure how true they held, now that he stared at you as if he wished you were to drop dead to the floor.

“All right,” Megumi sighed. “I'll oblige to your demands under one condition: Give me one good reason why I should continue fighting. But keep in mind: my mother is dead. My father is dead, killed by the man who raised me, the man who – although he is not my father – is the closest thing I've ever had to one, the man who I had to watch being killed by my own hands. My sister is dead, also killed by me. What do I live for? Give me one good reason.”

You stared back at Megumi watching the hatred in his eyes. It was obvious he didn't believe you had any idea what he was going through.

Truthfully, you didn't. Your situation was nothing like his, and you never had been in a situation like this before nor would you ever be, but that didn't mean you didn't know all the facts he just listed. His father, his mother, his sister, and Gojō-sensei, all the people he ever might have considered family, were gone, along with so many others. And in a large part he blamed himself for it.

It was not his fault, how could it have been his fault, when it had been Sukuna, who had possessed his body. But you supposed having to watch your own body commit such terrors, having to watch as your hands took life after life, unable to interfere, unable to save his friends and family, unable to do anything but watch them all being slaughtered… it wasn’t surprising he blamed himself.

“Gojō’s in a coma, one he might never wake back up from, and it's nobody's fault but mine. Do you really believe I can live in a world like that?”

You wanted to disagree with him, tell him that it was not his fault, that he was not the one to blame, that as long as you all stuck together, there was still hope, but you knew better than to do so. Instead, you started with what he had demanded of you.

“You want me to give you a reason to keep on living,” you asked. “Gojō-sensei is not dead. As you said he's in a coma. Ieiri-sensei has been working on him every day. As far as we know he might wake up any day now.”

Megumi shook his head. “You really believe that,” he asked, “if you’re really believing that, you are more naïve than I believed you to be.” He sounded disappointed.

“Not naïve,” you disagreed. “Hopeful.”

“Same thing.”

“But let's assume for one moment Gojō were to wake back up,” you continued the train of thought before Megumi could derail it again. “Wouldn’t you want to be there? Wouldn’t you want to see him again, talk to him again?”

“You’re dealing in probabilities; probabilities are not good enough. Give me something tangible.”

You blinked. You had really thought he would give in at Gojō. So, what were you to say now?

“A stary sky then,” you offered. “To go star gazing the way we did last summer. On a blanket, out in front of the school, sharing snacks and drinks.”

Megumi scuffed.

“Another sunrise,” you continued. “Pinks and reds and oranges dying the clouds, a new day with new possibilities-”

“New suffering? Not good enough.”

“A puppy’s fur under your fingertips, these sharp, tiny teeth burying in your skin.”

“And what for?” Before you could answer, he kept going. “All my life I’ve tried to form relationships, be close to people I care about, and all my life they left me. One after the other. So what good is another stary sky, another sunrise, a puppy’s fur underneath my fingertips, if I don’t have anyone to share it with? It’s not good enough.”

A part of your mind was still hung up on the thought that it was probably better for Megumi to blame the dead for being dead than himself, but you quickly answered.

“You have us,” you told him, taking a careful step forward. “Maki, Toge, Panda, Yūta.”

His ocean blue eyes glimmered as he fully turned towards you as if he was waiting for something specific.

“You have Yūji.”

His shoulders sacked, and he looked away.

“Not good enough. They’re all gonna leave eventually.”

“I won’t,” you disagreed. “I’m not gonna leave. I made you a promise when we entered Shibuya together, that I’d always be there, and I don’t plan on breaking that promise.”

Megumi shook his head, biting his lips, still not looking at you.

“You’ll be there,” he asked, sounding disbelieving. “For every stary sky, every sunset. Every meal, walk, therapy session.”

“Yes.” Your reply was unwavering.

“You don’t even know what that means,” Megumi sighed, finally looking back up to you, but now he seemed rather sad than angry. As if the scenarios he had painted were what he wanted but were too far out of reach to even attempt to grasp them. “I’m sick. My mind- I’m broken. Something inside my head is broken and I don’t know if it will ever heal again, and if it does, if it heals right. A promise like you’re offering… it wouldn’t just be for the next days or weeks. It might be months, years, hell, it might be decades of me trying to shut my self away, of nightmares, therapy, being unable to laugh or feel anything other than this pitch-black darkness. You can’t promise me you’ll be strong enough to be there. I don’t doubt that you have the strength to see me through all this, I know you do. But there will be times when it will seem as if I’d be okay, and you’ll be hopeful, but when I have a bad phase again- It would hurt you, and I can’t hurt any more of my friends.”

“And you think the way you’re behaving right now is hurting nobody? Megumi, I won’t promise that I’ll always be there. I can’t. I’m still a sorcerer, I still have to go to missions, and am in danger every time I go. But I will be there for you for as long as I can and for as long and often as you want me to be.”

“For every stary sky?”

“And every sunrise.”

“Every meal?”

“If that’s what you want, yes. And for every walk, and if you want me to, I’ll even wait outside the therapist’s office for you.”

Megumi averted his gaze, staring at a spot right in front of your feet.

“Why? Why would you do that? What do you get in return?”

Carefully you took a step forward. “Because I care about you Megumi. And even though it might seem selfless, getting to be there for you, supporting you, trying to help you to get back to your feet, getting to watch you fight to get better, being with you through all this, is actually a very selfish act.”

Megumi looked back up, his eyes scanning your face for a moment.

“Can you hug me,” he asked, voice quiet over the wind in the branches above you.

“Of course,” you smiled and slowly crossed the last distance between you, wrapping your arms around him. He seemed to melt into the touch, almost fragile, his body moving closer to yours until his whole front was flatly pressed against yours, his face buried against the side of your neck, his hair tickling your cheek and ear. You held him tight, not too tight, so he still could breathe without effort, but tight enough for him to feel how serious you were with everything you had offered.

“I’m just scared of ending up alone again,” he whispered. “And I can’t lose you too. You’re too important to me.”

“You won’t lose me,” you whispered back, rubbing his back through the thick fabric of his oversized hoodie.

“What if you die?”

“I won’t. And if I do, I’ll come back as a curse, like Rika.”

The sound of a small chuckle surprised you, but you quickly held Megumi tighter, hoping to engrave the sound into your memory forever.

Before you could say anything else, Megumi’s phone started ringing. You stiffened up, ready to pull away, but Megumi kept you close.

“Aren’t you going to answer,” you asked, hesitantly wrapping your arms back around him.

“No,” he replied.

“What if it’s important?”

“How important can it be,” Megumi shrugged. “Not more important than this, anyway.”

After a while the ringing stopped, and Megumi slowly loosened his hold on you. Carefully pulling away, you came face to face with him.

“Thank you,” he said sincerely.

“What for?”

“Everything. I… I tend to lose sight of the good things in life and let the darkness swallow me whole.”

Taking a step back, you reached out your hand for him to take. Questioningly he raised his eyebrows at you but placed his hand in yours.

“Now you won’t get lost in the darkness,” you told him with a smirk, making him roll his eyes.

“That’s too cheesy for me,” he shook his head.

“Oh, don’t start laughing now, Fushiguro,” you cried. “I saw that! The corner of your mouth was twitching!”

“It wasn’t! That’s annoyance at how cheesy you were being!”

He only kept his expression in check for another second before he burst out laughing. Using your intertwined hands, he pulled you back into a hug, this one more casual than the first. When his phone started ringing again, both of you ignored it.

After you had calmed down from the laughter, Megumi’s eyes fixed themselves on your face, watching you as were catching your breath.

“Can I kiss you,” he suddenly asked, making you freeze in your motion.

Surprised you looked at him, your heart seeming to miss a few beats, but then you nodded your head, and a moment later his lips were on yours, soft, a little chapped, but gentle. It was a sweet kiss, nothing too extravagant, and still enough to steal your breath and make you weak in your knees.

It was perfect, you suddenly realized, kissing Megumi like his. Around you, cherry blossom petals were floating on a warm spring breeze, birds were singing in the branches above you, and Megumi’s arms were warm and secure around you while his heart beat a firm rhythm underneath your fingers, somewhat too fast for a normal heartbeat, but then again yours was probably racing too.

The perfect moment got interrupted by yet another ring of Megumi’s phone.

“I think you should answer it,” you mumbled against his lips. “It’s probably really something important.”

Megumi sighed but pulled away enough to grab his phone out of his pocket.

“It’s just Yūji,” he rolled his eyes, but before he could answer the call, the ringing stopped again.

He shrugged, slipping the phone back into his pocket.

“I got a question,” he suddenly declared.

“Ask away.”

“You said: another stary sky, another sunrise, and…” he hesitated for a moment before continuing. “a puppy’s fur underneath my fingertips. Where do you plan to get me a puppy from?” He sounded amused, but you knew him good enough to know that he would do hell of a lot to play with a puppy sometime soon.

“Okay, here’s the thing.”

“Oh dear.”

“Yūji and I were thinking, for a while now.”

“That can’t be a good sign,” Megumi sighed. “What crazy idea did you two come up with now?”

“I’m gonna ignore that low-key insult, and let you live” you announced, “But do you know Principal Yaga’s friend, the one who had all these dogs?”

Megumi nodded, clearly hesitant about whether or not he really wanted to know what Yūji and you had come up with.

“So, one of the dogs had puppies a few weeks back and we were thinking that it might be good to adopt one of them, for our year. We’ve been talking to the teachers and thinking things through and if all of us take turns caring for it, it won’t be too much responsibility all at once. And it would give us some sort of stability, having to go on walks on regular hours, playing, teaching it commands… but there’d also someone to keep us company when we don’t feel so good, someone who can’t give us advice, but also won’t ask questions either. Someone who accepts us as we are, no matter how good we are in school or whatever. So… yeah, the puppy is already old enough to be separated from its mother and is moving in next Friday.”

Megumi stared at you.

“You adopted a puppy,” he asked incredulously.

“We adopted a puppy,” you corrected. “Yeah.”

“And we‘ll share responsibility for it?”

You nodded, and Megumi’s eyes suddenly grew hard.

“I don’t know that dog yet, but I’ll fight you for custody after graduation,” he declared, making your eyes widen.

Graduation. That was still three years away, the furthest Megumi had talked about the future since November.

Swallowing your surprise, you shrugged. “That’s okay with me.”

“But wait,” Megumi suddenly stopped. “Before the puppy arrives, we need all kinds of stuff. It won’t be like with Shiro and Kuro, it’ll need a basket, and bowls and a leash! I think we’ll need several baskets, so we don’t have to carry them around all the time. And food! We need special-”

He was interrupted by the ringing of a mobile phone, this time yours.

“Yūji,” you told him, showing him the screen on which a picture of your pink haired classmate had popped up.

“Let’s answer it,” Megumi sighed. “He’ll just keep calling otherwise.”

You had barely pressed the green button to answer the call, when Yūji’s voice was already sounding from the small speaker, loud enough that you didn’t even have to put your ear to it.

“Megumi isn’t answering his phone,” Yūji all but screamed. “I’ve tried calling him dozens of times but he’s not answering! I’m really worried! We need to-”

“Yūji, Yūji, calm down!” Quickly you interrupted your panicking friend, pressing the speaker button so Megumi could listen in. “He’s with me, he’s fine, we were talking a walk.”

On the other side silence spread out.

“And you didn’t call dozens of times, you called three times,” Megumi added, leaning down to the speaker.

On the other end, a small “oh” was audible.

“So, what’s so important that you decided to terrorize Megumi via phone calls,” you asked, shooting Megumi a glance.

His eyebrows were furrowed, and it was not hard to tell that he had only now realized just how worried his friends were about him, how much they cared about him. Enough to send ever cheerful Yūji into something akin to a panic attack just because he hadn’t answered his phone for a few minutes.

“I didn’t terrorize him,” Yūji protested.

“You kinda did, but whatever. What’s going on?”

“You guys need to come to the hospital wing asap,” Yūji told you.

Megumi and you exchanged glances. The hospital wing? That wasn’t good. Megumi took your hand in his and started walking back the way you had come.

“We’re on our way,” you told Yūji, “What’s going on? Who got hurt?”

“Nobody,” Yūji sounded like he was running himself now, slightly out of breath. “Gojō-sensei’s awake.”

And with that he ended the call.

Megumi and you were both so surprised about the message, that you came to a slithering halt. Gojō was awake? Sure, you had told Megumi it was a possibility, that he might wake up soon, but you had not believed it to actually, really happen at all.

For a short moment Megumi and you looked at each other,f inding your own surprise and relief mirrored on his face. And then you took off running, taking the quickest way to the hospital wing, your hands intertwined.

[qingxin-dream]

“Just One Good Thing”

summary | it’s hard to love someone who is broken, and even harder when two broken people love so deeply it hurts. (art credits: @/pastahands on twitter).

warnings | not proofread/vent writing, scaramouche lore spoilers, brief graphic depiction of death, illness, loss, profanity, TW heavy mental health topics, self-hatred, dissociation, depression, suicidal thoughts/ideation, graphic description of self-harm wounds, fear of abandonment, guilt, reader is hospitalized

genre | angst, hurt, comfort

word count | 2.5k

pairing | wanderer x reader

✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧⋄⋆⋅⋆⋄✧

This was not the first time the puppet experienced betrayal.

How could you have known? It was long before you came into existence, hundreds of years of anguish buried in layers upon layers beneath his artificial constitution. He had once been but an innocent, naive babe with the world sparkling in the reflection of his violet eyes, meant for something greater. He had once fulfilled a purpose.

To be brought into the world against your will, crafted from the divine hand of a grieving Archon, only to have every semblance of your being ripped from you and cast aside in the name of so-called mercy—is a fate akin to death itself.

You never knew his past.

How he was once an eccentric named Kabukimono who wandered from Shakkei Pavilion and made friends with the blade smiths of Tatarasuna. His first taste of human life was amid a blazing furnace and the clamoring of a hammer onto hot metal, learning what it meant to labor and create. He had grown to love the little village as his own, playing with the children and sipping on the bitter taste of tea leaves with his comrades.

The puppet who had called himself Kabukimono was painfully ignorant to the cruelty of fate.

He could have never fathomed the day he would hold the future of his village in his trembling, pale hands as the toxic Tatarigami fumes envelope him in chemicals. There he climbed deep inside the Mikage Furnace, the unique resilience of his artificial body left unharmed by the inhospitable temperatures glowing hot against his divine skin. Any normal human would’ve perished a thousand times over.

Inside the foreign device that promised to save his home lay the bloody, withering heart cut fresh from his closest companion’s chest.

“You are a human, Kabukimono,” Niwa had insisted with a soft smile pulling at the corner of his mouth, a comforting hand resting on the eccentric’s shoulder. “You just don’t have a heart.”

Yet there the puppet stood, his voice robbed from his aching throat, cradling the very essence of his friend’s humanity in his palm.

It was his fault. What a foolish creature he was to ever involve himself with humans, whom he could only bring suffering. His tears were evaporated instantly as the grotesque realization dawned on the distraught young Kabukimono. He would later discover that he had been betrayed by a man who introduced himself as Escher but was known among the Fatui as The Doctor.

The dirty pads of his bare feet had thumped through the rocky village path and down the dirt roads leading to the outskirts of the rural Inazuman wilderness. Crows rustled in the trees and flapped their feathers into the sky, jeering at the desolate and abandoned settlement.

The village should have been evacuated. All who could have been saved were rushed as far away as possible from the poisonous Tatarigami. Rows upon rows of homes and businesses were eerily vacant. Kabukimono, in his watery hysterics, had not paid any mind to his surroundings, leaving behind the only home he ever had for good.

That is, until he stumbled across a young boy who lived under an old sakura tree. Kabukimono immediately felt the void in his chest wrench with visceral guilt upon learning that the child’s parents were crafts-people. The house was utterly empty except for the lonely little boy.

For as much as the puppet wanted nothing more than to rid himself of human companionship, he felt responsible for the loss of the boy’s parents. He had an obligation to see that he was taken care of and safe from the Tatarigami. If he could not have saved his friends, perhaps he could atone for his sins in raising the orphaned child—who reminded him too much of himself.

“Promise me,” Kabukimono spoke up with a bit of a hoarse tone, his voice cracking with emotion, extending a shaky hand to the young boy. “That we can be family. I will watch over you.”

“Like a big brother?” asked the innocent boy with a hopeful smile. He wouldn’t have to be alone anymore, taking the eccentric’s hand in his own. “I’ve always wanted one… I promise, we will be family.”

For a short while, the puppet had learned to push the turmoil plaguing his conscience to the back of his mind. His focus had shifted entirely to ensuring the boy’s safety and happiness, trying to scavenge food for him and exchanging stories under the moonlight. Although, Kabukimono flinched with each cough from the boy that shattered the silence between them as they went to sleep.

He hated that he recognized the symptoms. The residue of the Tatarigami had somehow infected the child, no doubt. A dreadful thought occurred to him—perhaps he had given the sickness to the orphaned child after what happened at the Mikage Furnace. The idea was enough to eat him alive with worry. Kabukimono had secretly prayed that the boy would endure the illness.

The puppet had worked tirelessly to give him the best he possibly could. If his coughs were dry, he would fetch him water. If his stomach rumbled, he would prepare some Lavender Melons. If he needed a friend, Kabukimono would be there to hold his hand as he slept like a guardian angel.

The day the elderly sakura tree shed its pretty pink blossoms was the day the boy was found unresponsive.

Kabukimono, too, found himself hollow and devoid. What did it mean to be family? What did it mean to love? What was the point of having such worthless emotions?

A blazing inferno consumed the darkness of the night sky. Crackling embers swirled and smoke bellowed in the rural countryside as a rickety house succumbed to a hellish fate. No one was there to witness the flaming spectacle. No one to help, or save the vacant violet eyes of a nameless puppet who clutched a small doll in his lap.

It was laughable, truly, how sick and twisted the world could be. The puppet couldn’t fulfill his creator’s wishes, nor could he befriend humanity, or have a heart of his own. Oh, to perish in a fiery death would be far too simple for Celestia’s liking, wouldn’t it?

For five hundred years, Kabukimono, Kunikuzushi, Scaramouche—no matter who he became—the feeling of inadequacy remained.

His divinely-created body was an immortal prison, shackling him to his sins. As a Fatui Harbinger, no needle, blade, or poison of the Doctor could kill him. No enemy or magic of the Abyss could ultimately break him. The puppet was built to withstand the likes of the Cataclysm that had taken his creator’s sister, yet the scars of these experiments litter his fair skin are a reminder that he is indeed alive.

Wanderer vividly remembers his dark fascination with testing his limits in the depths of his dissociation. Anything to serve as penance for the irreversible destruction he had inflicted upon his friends, his family, and his home. If he was lucky, perhaps the Doctor would find a way to end his misery or the maddening darkness of the Abyss would swallow him whole once and for all.

Even forsaking his autonomy and identity as Scaramouche to ascend to godhood would be a fitting death for the puppet. After all, the Everlasting Lord of Arcane Wisdom would never bow to his emotions like a weakling. Losing himself to infinite knowledge and truth would be a good ending, despite the insanity that would befall him.

All that mattered is he would cease to exist.

But it was you who defeated him, in all his might and glory as a fake Archon pumped full of divine wisdom and the sludgy remains of dead gods. It was you who found him after he tried to erase every part of his worthless being from Irminsul, and helped him pick up the pieces of himself in the aftermath.

The reality that lies within Irminsul had given him a new perspective as the Wanderer. Though he retained the poignant memories of his sins, Wanderer made sure to carve a special space in the void of his artificial body just for you. His savior.

Not a single one of those instances—absolutely fucking none of them—could ever compare to the morbid and desperate pit of despair that ravages Wanderer at the sight of your fragile body curled up in a white hospital gown. You are hooked up to a myriad of monitors and machines, wires and tubes tangling your frame like chains. The distant beep of the electrocardiogram is burned into Wanderer’s mind.

It’s your heartbeat, and the very reason for his continued existence. You had been reduced to small blip on a computer screen.

The hospital room was otherwise silent. The windows had the blinds slightly drawn, a cool ray of moonlight washing over Wanderer’s disheveled indigo hair from behind. Even if you were unconscious, Wanderer had wanted to tuck you in for the night, but he was terrified of hurting you. The fluorescent white light above your bed was off, bathing you both in warm darkness.

In the late hours, all Wanderer could do was stare at you with eyes reddened from crying, his crimson eyeliner smudged at the edge of lashes. He would occasionally lick his dry lips, which were chapped and peeling. The sting of the dead skin on his lips being tugged between his teeth was a momentary release from the overwhelming anxiety dwelling within.

His thin fingers are intertwined with yours on the hospital bed, one of the few ways the puppet can keep himself grounded in this moment. Every once in awhile, he’ll give your hand a gentle squeeze followed by a few broken wishes for you to open your eyes again. To see the life in you and hear your sweet voice again.

Sometimes it would get to be too much. Wanderer would raise your hand and kiss your knuckles with hot, salty tears pricking at his eyes. The stinging sensation would force his eyelids closed, sorrow streaming down his stained cheeks. He was sure that this was a result of his own shortcomings.

Your arms are wrapped in bandages with a few stitches here and there lying underneath. A deathly pale color flushed your beautiful face. And oh, Archons, those eyes of yours he had always adored endlessly were sunken darkly into your face, hidden in your slumber. His gaze drifted to your lips, still full and pink, perhaps his last vestige of hope as they parted for your sacred breaths.

To imagine you’re suffering as much as he had in his past is utterly unthinkable to Wanderer.

The only difference is your fragile mortality. He knows your pain now, he can see it carved onto your wrists in what must have been a frenzied meltdown.

Some cuts are lighter and faded, meaning this certainly isn’t the first time you hurt yourself. Other gashes in your arm are deeper and swollen, each one weighs on the puppet’s heart greater than the last. He couldn’t count how many times you must have taken that razor to your wrist. Wanderer silently curses himself for letting this happen to you.

“How stupid could I be? Letting her away from me,” he quietly lamented with his head in hands, fingers curling around his indigo locks tightly. “I had just one good thing.”

Rocking himself gently in the chair next to you, Wanderer continuously tugs at his hair to an almost extreme degree, unable to handle the anger, betrayal, and sadness overcoming him. He was practically attached to you at the hip, he should’ve noticed when your voice faltered or when your eyes betrayed your words. He should’ve seen the signs of you slipping through his fingers.

Even if every day wasn’t perfect, even if sometimes you both said hurtful things to each other, neither of you never truly meant it. Wanderer couldn’t bear to imagine not waking up next to you, the morning sunlight kissing your silhouette like an angel. He never thought that he’d find his purpose in you, in the most mundane moments that he cherished so deeply.

He knew you had a history of mental health struggles. So did he. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t going to give you his everything—fingers entwined and sweat glistening on your bodies as he made you his for the umpteenth time.

The echo of the puppet’s soft sobs dissipates into the emptiness of the hospital room. His whole body is shaking with emotional agony. It’s the first time in centuries that he has allowed himself to feel vulnerable like this. How could he not when the love of his life—the meaning of his existence—had tried to take themselves out of it?

Wanderer finally releases his hair, taking your left hand again and passionately pressing his lips to your bare ring finger as an unspoken promise. You both had worked so hard to love better and be better. He wasn’t about to give you up.

There would never be another you in eternity.

He couldn’t bear the heavy burden on his heart anymore. Carefully, he pulled the thin blanket back and climbed into the hospital bed next to you. His fingers trembled at the contact, feeling your faint warmth. Wanderer gently pulled you close so that your head was safely tucked into his chest and he could rest his chin on your soft hair. He sighed, covering you both in the blanket once more.

Sobs tugged at his chest and his grip on you momentarily tightened. Though tears glistened at the corner of his broken violet eyes, Wanderer blinked them back with a shaky breath. You were in his arms and his world was made whole again.

“I love you, (Y/N),” his voice is gravely and barely audible. “I love you so fucking much… don’t you dare think otherwise.”

The puppet nuzzles his nose into your scalp, breathing in your familiarity like it’s home. He begins to play with your hair gently, combing and caressing your soft strands with his fingertips painted in black.

“You scared the shit out of me, you know…” Wanderer kisses your hair, closing his eyelids for a long moment to memorialize the feeling of your skin on his lips. “But I’m gonna get you out of here, baby. I’m gonna get you help, okay?”

His toned arms keep your body pressed to his, wanting to feel every part of your being entangled with him as it should be. The tickling sensation of your little breaths on his neck brought a small smile to his face because it meant you were sleeping comfortably and most importantly, alive. You were the missing piece in his puzzle, fitting perfectly into place with him.

“It’ll be okay. Everything will be okay,” the puppet whispers to you, hoping you could hear and feel his love in every way, shape, and form possible. His words also served as an assurance to himself because in this moment he felt so helpless, seeing the wounds on your precious skin.

“I won’t let anything hurt you anymore,” Wanderer solemnly vows, his voice slowly but surely trailing off as he succumbs to his exhaustion with you held close to his heart.

“Goodnight, my love.”

thanks for reading! reblogs are appreciated! my masterlist.

[vinomino]

Be Vulnerable Part 3 - Angel’s Trumpet

Contents: nsfw mdni 18+, arranged marriage au, samurai au, heavy angst, murder/violence, description of injury, blood, implication of suicide, comfort, unprotected sex, semi-public sex, creampie, open ending, implied major character death

WC: 7.4k

When the trumpets blow, it will usher a time of horror and judgment upon the earth that will be unmatched by any other time in human history— the Angel’s Trumpets. Its heavenly intoxicating scent permeates the air– lily, jasmine, hyacinth, gardenia, citrus, lemon, mint, and musk, beloved by wildlife. Some consider it to be the most poisonous of all tropical plants, a small amount will begin an agonizing painful death. Angelic flowers while the leaves taste dreadful— how can one being be opposites? The roots, leaves, flowers, and seeds will paralyze and convulse its victim, the deadly beautiful allure. 

It would take an idiot to not be able to connect the dots that you were the missing Lady from Bofurin. For the past few days, Togame’s been surveying you. He’s able to tell that you were a high-born lady; the way etiquette was second nature to you. The way you bow, pronounce your words, and even eat, he knew someone was bound to be looking for you. Then Shishitoren received a letter from Bofurin requesting an audience to help aid in a missing person search.

He shifts in the seat beside your bed, you must have cried yourself to sleep. Your cheeks are still wet, he takes the back of his hand away, getting up he burns a stick of incense in the corner of the room to help you sleep. Togame cards his fingers through his black locks. Lettint out a sigh, he glances over his shoulder at you sleeping before closing the doors behind him. 

Togame enters the Shishitoren Headquarters’s meeting hall. Lord Commanders Umemiya and Tomiyama were sitting across from each other. Lord General Militants Tsubaki and Hiragi were on Bofurin’s side and some other men he didn’t recognize. Toagme waves at Sakura as he walks in, and the young boy nods his head at him. Shishitoren clansman Sako and Inugami were on the Shishitoren side. He takes a seat next to his own Lord Commander.  

“I apologize for the short notice, but we have reason to believe the Lady we are looking for has crossed into your territory. Bofurin requests the help of Shishitoren in our search.” Umemiya requests. 

“Sure Ume! We’re friends now!” Tomiyama beams and kicks his legs out.

“Wait a moment…” Togame interrupts, raising his hand to silence everyone. He places his hand on Tomiyama’s shoulder, “Choji.” Tomiyama can sense that Togame is asking to leave this to him so he nods. Every person present waits for what he is about to say. 

“The missing Lady is at my residence.” 

“Really? That’s great, we’ll send a carriage over to–” Umemiya waves some of the Bofurin members over. 

“Now…I didn’t say I would send her back.” 

“Hey, what the hell are you saying?!” A platinum-haired man scowls at him. 

“I don’t believe it should be up to you.” Togame runs a finger on the rim of the glass of water on the table. 

“She’s my wife–” Kaji was about to jump over the table at him, but Umemiya silenced him. 

“Can you explain yourself?” The Bofurin Leader squints his blue eyes at Togame. 

“When I asked her if she ran away, she froze up, unable to answer. I barely managed her to calm down.” Togame taps a finger on his chin when he thinks back to you. 

“You asshole! Don’t tell such lies! You're holding her hostage!” Hiragi has to hold Kaji back. 

“How is she doing?” Sakura approaches the table. 

“She was sleeping when I last saw her–” 

“Enough of this nonsense!” Kaji shouts.  

Togame remembers your bleak expression. “If I hadn’t stopped her, she was going to jump right off the bridge. It makes me wonder what pushed her to such an edge.” Everyone stops and stares at Togame. “I’ll ask her if she wants to go back and if she doesn’t…I am not going to force her.” With that, he gets up and leaves. Nobody held him back. 

“Togame, wait.” Sakura goes after him. 

“Hmm? What is it Sakura?” 

“Is she…” The duo-toned boy struggles to find the next words. 

“Sakura, why don’t you accompany me back to see her.” Togame ushers him along with him.

“Miss, are you up?”

One of the maids knocks on the door, awakening you. Sitting up you rub your eyelids, and the faint smell of lavender drifts throughout the room and fills your nose. “Yes, I’m awake now…” 

They get you ready and lead you to the dining room. Stepping inside you see Sakura along with Togame. “Sakura? What’re you doing here…” Did he come to take you back? You fist at your kimono.

“Come take a seat, you must be hungry, we’ll talk as we eat.” Togame spoke.

You are chewing as you stare at the two men. They seem close, the way Togame was teasing Sakura. They notice you looking. Togame clears his throat, “Do you want to go back to Bofurin?” 

You don’t respond, anxiously fiddling with the edge of your clothes. It’s not that you didn’t want to return to Bofurin, you just didn’t want to see those awful people. Kaji…you wonder what he’s up to now. 

“We aren’t going to force you back if you don't want to,” Sakura assures you and Togame nods his head. 

Silence as you stare down at your hands.

“Take your time.” Togame’s voice snaps you back to reality. 

“I’ll need to go back and talk with Suo and Nirei.” Sakura bids himself off. You watch him disappear down the hall.

“There’s a festival tonight, want to go with me?” Togame pats your head, chuckling at the way your eyes light up. 

The district was bustling, lights were strung up illuminating the area in a warm glow. They bang the drums loudly as people rejoice in the streets. You haven’t been to a festival in so long and never one this big. Shishitoren was known for its festivals. The ladies had dressed you in a black yukata with orange flowers sewn on it, and you wore the same geta sandals as Togame.

“Here, have this.” Togame hands you a skewer. 

“Oh. Thank you.” You accept it and bite off some of the chicken. 

“It’s good right?” He smirks as you nod. 

Vendors lined the sidewalks, selling things from food to toys. “Pretty miss! Pretty miss! Come look over here!” An old man beckons you to his stall selling a variety of kanzashi*. Togame notices you looking at a particular hairpin on display.

“Do you want it?” He asks.

“No– it’s alright!” You don’t want him to keep spending on you so you walk over to the next stall.

“Sir, I’d like to buy this one.” He hands the merchandiser the money and takes the one you were eyeing, placing it into his pocket. 

Returning to Togame’s estate, “Thank you, that was a lot of fun.” You smile at him. 

Togame pauses for a second, “I have something for you. Stay still.”

You’re confused, but you oblige, standing still. He pulls the hana-kanzashi* out, the silk carefully crafted to form a sakura flower– the flower of April. He moves closer towards you, gently tucking a lock of your hair behind your ear and then carefully pinning the hairpin into place. He steps back to admire his handiwork before turning on his heel and leaving you standing in bewilderment. Togame hopes you don’t notice that his ears are red. A soft smile is on his lips as he walks, if you show even the slightest hesitation on going back to your husband, he would be willing to start a war. 

Taking the hairpin out, you hold the silk jewelry in your fingers. It reminded you of the two colored boy. Why would he do such a thing? 

You slide open the doors to the room you’ve been using. It feels colder than usual, the window is left wide open. Perhaps the servants wanted to air out the room. Shutting the doors behind you place the hairpin Togame gifted you onto a table before a pair of arms wrap themselves around you. You’re about to scream, but hey place a hand over your mouth to silence you. 

“It’s me, it’s me.” A voice you haven’t heard in a while, Ren. “It’s me, princess, calm down.” He hushes you, then he takes his hand off your mouth.

Spinning around, you come face to face with your husband. “Ren– what, what are you doing here?” You whisper. His dark tired eyes try to take in your face, to burn it into his memory. 

“It’s– it’s all my fault” he chokes out. “I should’ve paid more attention– I should’ve cared more–” dropping to his knees to clasp your hands between his. “I–I’m sorry–please don’t leave me��please don’t abandon me.” He tremors from his airways clenching up, his lips curve downward from the harsh swallow. His palms are sweaty, “Please— I’ll do better–” His voice finally gives with a crack, emotions pouring out of him, seeping into you. A hellish poison. This is his punishment, his judgment, his apocalypse. Repent all his wrongdoings. He parts his mouth to speak, but the ball in his throat clogs it up, like a dam suppressing the tides. Your husband’s miserable appearance. 

“Ren–” A knock. 

“I’m sorry–” Ren starts again, but you shove his head into you to silence him.

“Miss, the bath is ready.” A maid announces and you can hear her going to open the door. 

“I’ll be out right now! Give me a moment!” You fumble out.

Looking down, he’s clinging onto you, cheeks red, and not wanting you to leave. Tilting his chin up, you bend your back, capturing his lips in a rushed parting kiss. His arms try to keep you close, afraid you’ll disappear again. Slipping out of his grasp, you rush out of the room, glancing back at him one last time. Leaving him on his knees. 

“I’m tired from the outing, can we make this quick?” The maid nods her head.

Finally dressed, you head back, peeking your head in to see if Ren is still there. But you’re met with an empty room. A note folded up and placed under the hairpin.

Tomorrow night I’ll be waiting for you. 

Burning the paper over the candle and letting it turn into a pile of ash in the incense tray, the hairpin is in your other hand. The suffocation, as if you were gasping for breath under deep water. The desperate yet fragile tenacity. Such dissipated when you ran away, the weight vanishing, like a baby’s first breath. They say freedom is to die for. 

You stood up and closed the window, shutting the breeze out. The eerie night continues as you sleep. The muddling haze that clouds your mind even in the deepest slumber. Restless during the day, the servants pick up on it. The slightest memory of that house was enough to make you spiral, the warm sun does little to soothe you. A tiny droplet of blood rises from the torn skin on the tip of your index finger from biting your nails. Forming a deep metallic iron taste. You haven’t seen Togame all day, they say he’s busy. All alone in your thoughts with the question; do I want to go back? 

At dinner, you finally see Togame, observing him taking a sip from his cup. His green hues find yours, “What is it?” 

“Do you have time…to play another round of Go with me?”

And so, you sit across from him, the game board separating the seats. You play the same color again– white. The game is played— desiring, seducing, and falling in silence. Togame’s gauging your intentions through his lashes, the lack of hesitation you continue with knowing that you were bound to lose again. He places a black stone down on the grid, you don’t reach for yours.

Swallowing the mouthful of saliva down, “Togame, do you have feelings for me?” You ask.

The black-haired man hums and leans back, “Will my answer affect your decision, angel?” 

Peering out the window behind him, the sun is setting, “Can we keep in touch? Can I write to you?” You regard Togame with the kindness he has shown you, however, your mistake was opening your heart wide enough for Kaji Ren to wedge himself in it. 

“Where should I send the letters?” 

“To the Kaji estate.” 

He doesn’t move, continuing to stare at the unfinished Go board, not looking up until you’ve left the room. It feels like he’s lost. Rushing down the halls to the side door you left out of to go to the festival, you crack it open, and you spot another man in an orange– Shishitoren haori.

“You’re heading to Kaji?” Answering him with a nod, “I’ll lead you to him.” The man ushers you along.

You follow him down the streets until you see the bridge you crossed. In the distance, you can make out a few figures and some carriages. 

“She’ll come.” Tsubaki places a hand on Kotoha’s shoulder, sensing the younger woman’s nervousness. She nods. 

“Hey, look, it’s Sako.” Ren whips his head towards Shishitoren’s territory at Hiragi’s sentence. His chest aches in anticipation of Sako. 

Walking behind the male, you come closer to the sound of water, it makes you clench your fists. He abruptly stops directly in the middle and you peek around him, seeing Kaji standing a few feet away, Kaji starts approaching you. Rushing out behind the man who guided you— you run straight to Kotoha, going right past your husband. She engulfs you in her arms and a warm sensation blossoms inside you. Inhaling her scent, she tightens her hold around you. The brunette pulls you into her carriage. 

The men have to stifle their laughs as Ren stands there with his arms out, as he anticipated to embrace you. He inhaled, dropping his arms to his sides, “Thank you for guiding her Sako.” 

“Yeah–pfft, it’s fine.” Sako covers his mouth, to not burst out laughing at his old friend. “Good luck Kaji.”

With that, Bofurin takes their leave, Ren sits on top of his steed, a tap on his shoulder, and Kasumi hands him a note: Don’t look so gloomy :) 

He clicks his tongue, crumples the paper, and throws it making Kasumi chuckle. Kaji shoots a glare at Enomoto who giggles under his breath. He unwraps a piece of candy and tosses it into his mouth, crunching down on the sugary sweet. 

“She fell asleep?” Kotoha raises her head to Tsubaki, away from you sleeping on her lap, “Yeah, she must be exhausted.” They both smile as you softly snore. 

It feels vaguely uncomfortable. Your eyes feel like hot coals cooling in water as you glance around the room, the aroma of medicine. The wet cloth on your forehead no longer feels refreshing. A hand reaches to soak it again, Kotoha sees you’ve awoken, “How are you feeling?” She asks.

You release a groan, too tired to articulate words. She wipes your face down, the water lessening the heat pooling in your head, and you fall asleep again after she feeds you a pill.

Awaking after a few hours, the fever has quelled down, and you sit up when the door opens. Kotoha enters and a white-haired man follows behind her.

“Oh, you’re up! Do you feel better?!” He booms, startling you.

Kotoha elbows him, “You’re scaring her.” He makes a sad face at her comment.  

The scar above his eyebrow— Bofurin’s Lord Commander, Umemiya Hajime. You try to shuffle out of bed to properly greet him but Kotoha pushes you back down.

“No, no there’s no need to be so formal!” Umemiya shakes his head, stepping closer to the bedside, he reaches out and pats your head.

He grins, “If anything troubles you again, depend on your big brothers.”  

“Yes, even if it’s the Lord General,” Kotoha adds on. 

Tightly clenching your hands, you nod, afraid if you were to speak you’d start crying. 

Since they both left, you’ve been lying on your side staring at the wall. Bored, you get up and head to the door, wanting to take a walk. Opening the door, you crash into something, covering your nose, you look up to see who it is. Ren stands there for a split second before picking you up.

“R-Ren?!” You squeak out. He wordlessly sits you back on the bed, it dips under your weight.

“You still have a light fever.” Is he scolding you? You want to punch him. He sets a book on the nightstand before sitting on the edge beside you. “I’m sorry.” 

Glancing at your feet awkwardly, “Why?” 

“I’m the head of the house, yet I didn’t know what was happening in it. I swore to respect, console, help, and love you until my death…I made those vows, yet I didn’t do anything to honor them. If you don’t want to forgive me I can accept that– how can I even ask for forgiveness…” he scoffs at himself, “You can go home…if you desire to.” Ren feels his hands sweating up. 

The lump in your throat that you thought would never go away, but before you knew it, the warmth Bofurin– Ren gave you melted it, it’s why your thoughts feel so clear and simple at this moment, “I don’t want to go home, I want to stay here.”

He turns his neck to look at you, instinctively reaching out to touch you, but stops himself. You grab his hand and press it against your cheek, the warmth from you seeps onto his cold hand, and his gray eyes tremble and shine. Shuffling closer to him, to rest your forehead against his arm, “I was afraid that your love was fleeting. I’m afraid of you growing tired of me and leaving– that you won’t continue loving me.” You force yourself to whisper the last words out. 

Ren places both hands on your cheeks to tilt your head up, “It pains me to death to hear that.” He says with an agonizing expression, your words pricked at his soul. His heart ached at your restlessness. You squint your eyes when his thumbs wipe your tears away. “What can I do for you to be at peace?” You part your lips and fist the sheets beneath. 

“Tell me what happened that day.” 

“Ren?” 

“It’s alright, I’ll believe everything you say.” 

“But–” 

“You’re my wife, the most important person to me.” 

The Head Maid had been serving Ren– his parents since before you were born, is he going to trust your words over hers? Is he really going to believe you, will your next words ruin everything? Can you go back to that rotting cage? He caresses you upon seeing the despair in you. But if you don’t say anything, will nothing change? You want to tell him, you want him to believe you because then, that’ll mean he truly cherishes you. 

“She said– that I didn’t belong here,” pressing your knuckles to your mouth, “and…they called me a bitch who had forgotten her place.” You flinch when you see Ren’s face. 

“I should’ve just slain them,” he clenches his jaw. “Will you be at ease if I cut their tongues out?” 

“I…don’t want you to dirty your hands for me.” 

Ren softly brushes the hair out of your face. “It’s my duty as your husband to protect your honor.” 

Desperate to change the topic, “What did you bring? A book?” You chuckle, glancing at the book on the nightstand, a familiar cover. 

“Why don’t you go back to sleep? I’ll read to you.” He suggests, tucking you in, and situating himself in the seat beside you. He opens the book– the book you were reading before you ran away. “Ren?” You get his attention. 

“Yes?” 

“I’m cold.” 

“I’ll get another blanket.” He grabs the arms of the chair to push himself up. 

“I don’t want another blanket.” 

Ren pauses. Then he takes off his shoes, removes his swords, and places them down on a table. He throws his haori on the chair an gets onto the bed as well. You move to give him room, and he rests his back against the wall, pulling you to lay against him. You situate yourself comfortably as he drapes the blanket over you. Reaching over to the nightstand, he finally notices the kanzashi. “Where’d you get that?” 

You follow his eyes to where he is looking. The hairpin Togame gave you, Kotoha must’ve put it there. You remind yourself to write to him soon. 

“It was a gift.” 

He doesn’t think much of it, picking the book up, flicking to the page you left off of, and pulling out the bookmark. He begins reading, The Earthly Paradise; Ascent to Heaven:

“The glory of Him, who moves all things ray forth

through all the universe, and is reflected

from each things in proportion to its worth.”1

He watches the way your lashes flutter as you close your eyes. 

“I have been in that Heaven of His most light,

and what I saw, those who descend from there

lack both the knowledge and the power to write.

For as our intellect draws near its goal

it opens to such depths of understanding

as memory cannot plumb within the soul.”1

Deja vu, at this moment you’re reminded of your nanny reading to you, her voice– the voice of a mother.

“Nevertheless, whatever portion time

still leaves me of the treasure of that kingdom

shall now become the subject of my rhyme.

O good Apollo, for this last week, I pray

you make me such a vessel of your powers

as you deem worthy to be crowned with bay.”1

Tears trickle out as you reopen your eyes. 

“One peak of cleft Parnassus heretofore 

has served my need, now must I summon both

on entering the arena one time more.

Enter my breast, I pray you, and there breathe 

as high a strain as you conquered Marsyas

that time you drew his body from its sheath.

O power divine, but lend to my high strain

so much as will make clear even the shadow

of that High Kingdom stamped upon my brain,

and you shall see me come to your dear gove

to crown myself with those green leaves which you–”1

He felt your body shake against him, finally noticing your wet cheeks. “Wh– Why are you crying? Please don’t cry…please.” He frets, and you almost start laughing. He doesn’t even know why you’re crying. His body is warming you, lulling you to sleep. Tilting your head against his chest, you shut your eyes. 

“Young Lord! That’s a lie! I only wanted what was best for the Madam! Please! Believe me!” Kaji stares down at the Head Maid. She’s prostrating herself along with all the other members of the household, they cower in fear. The tip of his katana glints in the light. “Riko, which one dared to call my wife “a bitch”?” Riko quivers and steps forward, pointing out the lackey that pushed you. She pleads for her life as she gets dragged off, going to the same place as her lover. The servants hold their breaths, horrified. “Everyone besides the Head Maid, go back to your posts.” With Kaji’s permission, they hurriedly scurry back to where they were.

The woman at his feet, the woman whom he had known since an infant, the woman he trusted, the woman who comforted him when his parents died. He feels nothing but contempt. 

“You know very well that what you did was treason towards this house.” Kaji blankly states. 

“My Lord,” she points a finger at Riko, “She’s lying! Trust me!” 

Kaji scowls, “Trust you? I trusted you with my wife and this is how you scorn me.” 

“I only spoke on behalf of the Madam, she’s young and I thought she needed guidance!” 

“You told my Miss that she didn’t belong here! You did nothing to stop the torment!” Riko shouts at her. 

“Torment?” Kaji raises a brow when he looks at Riko. 

“They give the Lady old food, neglect their tasks regarding the Lady– and snicker behind her back.” When Riko finishes, Kaji feels like he wants to vomit. 

Why did you endure this? Put up with this treatment? If only you cared more about yourself– No, he should’ve known. Asked you more questions and paid more attention– he only has himself to blame. 

“It baffles me that someone this arrogant managed to stay here for so long. You won’t receive severance pay and are to never step foot back in Bofurin. If you do– I’ll have you killed.”

He wants to kill her, but his mother was close to her, back when he was still in her womb, the woman before him cared for her. At the very least, he never wants to see her again. 

Riko watches out the window as the Bofurin guards take the Head Maid out of the estate and to the borders. Most of the servants are forced along with her as well. The place no longer feels as angry.

In the Umemiya estate library, you browse the shelves. The Lord Commander had a habit of reading as well, so he hastily suggested you check it out. The amount of books surprised you; books from different languages, vast topics, and names of many authors. The librarian sits near the front door and you’ve wandered all the way to a back corner. You come across a reading nook with a cushioned chair and small table, the seat Umemiya would read in, he told you about it. You place a few books down on the table and go back reading some more titles on the bookshelf. Too immersed you don’t notice the footsteps approaching you. 

“Lady Kotoha told me you would be here,” Ren interrupts. He looks disheveled like he just ran. 

“What are you doing here, Ren?” You turn away from the shelf to look at your husband. 

“I– I just want to spend some time with you.” He scratches his neck, a small blush on his cheeks.

You tilt your head, “There’s only one chair here…” 

“It’s fine.” 

Ren sits on the windowsill as you flip through a book. You can feel him drilling holes into your head from how long he was staring at you.

“Is there something you want to say?” 

He perks up, “No?” 

Shutting the book, you wave him towards you. He stops right in front of you, surprised when you stand up. He really is as handsome as they say. You pull him down by the collar to quickly kiss him. When you back away, he wraps his arms around your waist, tugging you into him for a more deeper kiss. Your insides tingle as his tongue glides against yours. 

Ren rests his forehead against yours, “You drive me insane,” he murmured, voice a tad strained. “Having you kiss me and not being able to do all the things I want to do to you…it’s torture.” 

You smile, “We just need to be quiet.” 

He pulled away slightly, his eyes dark with desire. He knew he was losing the battle with himself. His eyes scanned the secluded nook you two were in, no one else was around, and the front desk was far enough away to not hear anything. A hint of excitement in his eyes, “You’re full of dangerous ideas, you know that?” Ren leans in, lips against your ear, his warm breath sends a shiver down your spine, “You’ve convinced me, princess. Let’s see if you can keep quiet.” 

Effortlessly lifting you, he pins you against the bookshelf, and your shoes slip off during the process. He presses his body up against yours, “I can’t believe I’m doing this in a library, but I can’t seem to resist you.” 

You softly chuckle, “You’re like a dog in heat.” He smirks at your comment.

“Woof.” 

Clothes are littered on the floor, your obi and his koshi-himos* are discarded on the chair, and his jacket is strewn over the table. Your kimono is open as he nips and kisses the skin of your breasts. You bite down on your bottom lip to muffle your moans. Your slick starts to cover the insides of your thighs. “Ren–'' you pant out with need. 

The sound of you so needy was making his self-control slip away, his desire starting to taking over. 

“I can’t wait much longer, I need you, now.” He grunts. 

You steady yourself on his shoulders as the tip of his cock prods your hole. His hands on your hips positioned you, he pressed himself against your entrance, his body tingling with anticipation. “You’re so beautiful, I can’t believe you’re mine.” He says in a low, hoarse whisper. His grip on you tightens as he begins to slowly push into you, the sensation of being inside you is so overwhelming that he couldn’t help but let out a guttural moan. You whimper into his neck. “So tight, so perfect.” 

Ren’s body moves against yours, finding a rhythm that matches your needs. You bite down on his shoulder to silence yourself, nails digging into his biceps as his cock hits your cervix. Ren bucks his hips at the slight pain, the feeling of your teeth heightening his pleasure, adding to the intensity of the moment. The sound of skin against skin filled the nook. A sob slips out your lips when he finds that sweet spot. “Shhh, you need to be quiet, remember?” He forces out.

“O-Okay…” You whisper.

“That’s it, good girl,” he breathed. “Stay quiet for me.” 

He can feel your body shaking with pleasure, your wet muscles clenching around him. “Let go for me princess– I can feel it.” 

A broken cry, muffled into his shoulder as you cream around his cock, your pussy flutters around him. “That’s it– ride it out. That’s my princess.” His body responded to your every shiver and shudder, he continues to fuck his dick in and out of your walls until he’s on the brink of release. With a few more snaps of his hips, he groans and cums inside, filling you up.

You’re spent, weakly clinging onto him. He whispers sweet nothings into your ear as you catch your breath. Ren cleans you up with his handkerchief and dresses you. 

The librarian avoids eye contact when he carries you out of the building. 

A couple of days pass and you arrive back at the Kaji estate. But you’re staying in the annex as the rest of the place is being rebuilt.

“I don’t want you to remember any bad memories.” Ren told you.

You reunited with Riko, she asked why you came back, and cried when you embraced her. Now, she’s at the Umemiya estate, being taught by the Head Maid there, as she’s to become one herself. The servants– the old ones that were still around were those who didn’t participate in mocking you, but only held their heads down. Riko must’ve stood up for them. The new ones were good-natured and did what they were supposed to. Hasu; your new personal maid was one recommended to you by Kotoha, she’s shrewd and diligent. Sometimes you think she does her job too seriously. 

Hasu helps you sort out the gifts, you’re starting to worry if Ren has a spending problem. You’ve started managing the household so you know how much money he has, but still– there’s no way you can wear all the jewelry he’s given you. 

“Madam, should I place this in your closet?” Hasu holds out the open box to you. 

A kimono delicately wrapped inside, you reached out to feel the fabric, Nishijin brocade* in the honshibo-ori* style. Not even your father would be able to obtain such a thing. “Is my husband back?” You ask one of the servants, and they rush outside to check, shortly returning, “The Lord is in the meeting room.” 

“Hasu, can you get me dressed?” She bows her head. 

The kimono fits you well, Ren must’ve given your measurements to ensure so. “I’m going to go see him.” Hasu and the servants nod and bow as you head off.

You find Ren sitting at a table, with other Vaisravana members, you see Sakura, Nirei, and Suo sitting beside each other. Enomoto and Kasumi are next to Kaji. Hiragi seems to have his vices with him as well. They seem busy, you decide to wait for Ren to finish when you hear Nirei speak, “Oh! It’s the Madam!” He must’ve seen you peeking in.

Ren immediately storms over to the door and swings it open, “Did you come to see me?” 

“You’re busy right now– I’ll wait for you to finish.” 

“I’m not busy at all.” 

“No, you are.” 

He frowns, drooping like a puppy who had their treat taken away. “We ain’t busy at all, right Hiragi!” Matsumoto smacks Hiragi’s shoulder who groans.

“It’s alright, you can go Kaji.” Hiragi pinches the bridge of his nose. With permission, Ren whisks you away to his office. 

“You don’t need to carry me.” 

“Why would I let you tire your feet when I’m here.” He sharply responds. 

“Is that a new kimono?” Ren sits down on the couch. 

“Mhm. What do you think of it?” You stand up to show it off. 

“Yeah…” he thumbs at the edge of a fold. 

“Seriously…I spent all day sorting through your gifts.” 

“Is there anything you don’t like?” 

“No, they’re all beautiful. I don’t know how I’m supposed to wear them all.” 

He chuckles and stands up, touching your cheek. “You can give away the ones you don’t want. I like spoiling my wife.” 

“I like being pampered.” You grin at him, he does the same back. 

“Then I’ll buy you the finest things.” He pinched your cheek. “I said I’d devote my life to you, did I not?” 

Raising yourself on your toes, you wrap your arms around his neck. He kisses your cheek and then your lips while his hands fiddle with your belt. It makes you wonder if his insatiable lust will quell when you’re pregnant.

“Ren, don’t you need to go.”

Setting your book down. You look at the man kneeling on the floor with his head in your lap. “Later. I haven’t seen you in a while…” He grumbles. It had only been a few hours. Reaching down to ruffle his hair, the sight makes you wonder if he was such a feared man. “I don’t want to leave you…or our child.” Ever since Kotoha told you, you were with child, he’s been skipping his duties to be by your side. Ren turned his head to look at your showing stomach, his heart blooming.

“Hiragi’s going to scold you.” The servants smile at the sight.

Dear Tsuya, 

I hope you enjoy reading this letter and it finds you well. Remember when we were kids and you would ask me what kind of man I want my husband to be? I now have the answer,  I would want him to be Kaji Ren. There is no other I wish to take as my husband, even with our misfortune, we were able to find our paths. In Bofurin, I can’t tell you how ridiculously happy I am. Give my warm wishes to Akihito and my nephew, spring is coming soon again. 

We will welcome our firstborn in the fall. If it is a girl, I will name her after you, after my dear elder sister. 

Ren was busy, there was word spreading about the Noroshi clan declaring war. When you asked him if it was going to be alright, he embraced you and told you not to worry about a thing. The Noroshi clan was only surrounded by bad rumors; their brutality and the way they left their battlefields burnt to the ground. There wasn’t much you could do, spending your days being doted on by the servants and having afternoon tea with Kotoha and Tsubaki.

“Get something in your stomach. It should calm you down.” The brunette slides a plate of fruit over towards you. “It’ll be fine. Bofurin isn’t that weak. You already know that, don’t you?” 

Tsubaki nods and pats your head, “Leave it all up to us. Let’s all go shopping when this is all over ‘kay?” 

Those two eased you. 

There were guards all over the estate, Riko and Hasu wouldn’t leave your side. As the date was approaching, you rarely saw Ren due to all the training and patrols that were going on. You sat embroidering a handkerchief for Ren. A light green fabric with a lotus in the middle of the embroidery hoop. A lotus for his name. 

“Miss, you're doing so well. I’m sure the Lord will be happy to receive this.” They both sing praises.

Heat rushes to your cheeks from you imagining his smile when you present it to him, wishing for his safe return. 

“Madam, it’ll be best if you stay here, I can send someone to give your present to the Lord.” You frown, but it makes sense, Ren was in the training halls and you didn’t want to cause a stir again.

“Alright, I’ll leave it up to you.” The guard ushers his assistant to make their way to Ren. They both bow their heads as you return to your room. 

“Shall I ready the bath���?” Hasu asks. 

“Yes, I’d like that.” 

She offers you a comforting smile before heading to the washroom. 

Washing your hands in the water, you hear a clatter. Looking down you notice your ring has broken into two. Picking the pieces up; how ominous. 

“The battle will commence a day from today. Right at 00:00. Their goal, as written in the letter, is to annihilate Bofurin. We’ll need to create a line of defense across the whole territory…the Tamon team will defend the rivers.” Lord General Militant Mizuki is leading the meeting. 

You must be sleeping by now, the moon is shining brilliantly in the night sky. When this is all over he doesn’t plan on leaving your side for a few days. A small smile tugged his lips as he imagined the peaceful days with you and the baby. 

Lord Commander Umemiya speaks up, “Bofurin represents every one of you guys…show them what you’ve got.” With his words of reassurance, the hall interrupts in chatter. 

We can’t keep the doom and gloom. Let’s give it a shot, boys!

Even Kaji himself felt his nerves calming at the sight of his fellow clansmen cheering themselves up. 

Blissful ignorance. 

~

“Lord General!” a member from the Zojo unit scrambles towards him. “They– They’ve broken through the south-west forest.” The forest near his estate– near you. He wants to abandon his position, but his men– “Kaji, go find herrr, we’ll handle it herrre, trrrust us.” Enomoto places a hand on his shoulder, Kasumi gives him a thumbs up, and he nods, “Thank you.” 

“Madam, it’s best for you to move to a more inconspicuous room.” A guardsman suggests. You can tell it had to do with the information he just received.

“Alright, lead the way.”

He guides you to a spare chamber, located near the servants’ wing. “Do not open this door until either I come back or the sun comes up.” He sternly advises and shuts the doors. Sighing, you sit down on a chair. Hasu holds your arm and Riko has a firm expression, the servants that went with you murmur amongst themselves. It made sense for everyone to be on edge. 

Hours pass and the sun will rise in a few. The maids huddled together on the mat. Dead silence until you see smoke coming from the nearby forest. Ushering everyone to be silent, you can pick up the distinct sound of swords clashing. For some reason, a terrible feeling brews within you. 

“Stay here. I must go check something.” 

“Madam– you can’t–” Riko stops when she sees your face. Clenching her jaw, “At least take us with you.” 

“No, stay here with the others. I won’t repeat myself. You too, Hasu.” Your unwavering tone allows no room to talk. They both reluctantly agree and you slip out of the room. There was no one in sight down the halls. As you further traverse back towards your chambers, the estate feels so eerie and unfamiliar. The doors of your outer chambers are wide open, you enter and see a guardsman lying on the ground. His neck was slashed open barbarically. Straining your breath to calm yourself, you pick up the tablecloth and drape it over him. A loud clang is near where you were. With no time to waste, you enter your room and reach inside the closet, pulling out a wooden box. You open and unwrap the cloth, revealing the katana your father gifted you with. 

“Father, please protect me.”

You’ve brought it with you to Bofurin without anyone noticing. Holding the sword to your chest, you walk by the wall, going closer to where the clanging is coming from. You hear a pair of voices arguing. One familiar, Ren’s voice. Stopping at the corner to lower yourself to the ground and peer over the wall to see what is going on, you see Ren fighting with a Noroshi member. 

“I didn’t expect Noroshi to stoop so low– going after innocents.” Your husband sneers. 

“Just go down already…I wanna leave…I’m so bored…I can die…” Kanon Banjo is the third strongest in Noroshi. A man he detests. “Why am I tasked with this….” Banjo bites at his nails. “Getting a stupid girl….” 

He tightens the grip on his sword enraged. He’d do anything to protect you, even if he has to turn back into the beast he hates.

Covering your mouth, Ren was heaving on the ground.

“Come on…stand up. C’mon, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon…Why…won’t you stand up? Why– won’t you stand up?!... Weaklings like you need to shut up and die.” You watch in horror as he raises his and points the tip of his blade over Ren’s throat. 

You don’t know why you did it. You didn’t want Ren to die. You didn’t want to watch him die right in front of your eyes. 

Unsheathing your sword, you rush and plunge the entirety of it through the back of Banjo’s neck. Twisting it sideways to enlarge the entry. He screams in anguish and twists his body, turning his sword and piercing you in the side. You gasp out and crash backward into the wall, sliding down onto the floor. Your head must’ve hit the wall, you can’t hear anything. Your vision is twisting and fading. Banjo grips at the blade part of the katana sticking out his neck, screeching in agony before crashing down, trying to pull it out, but since you’ve twisted it he struggled to do so. Blinking, you see the unknown swordsman give up on removing the sword, already coming to terms he was going to die. Banjo grabs his katana and forces himself towards you, planning on finishing you off before he perishes, taking you with him. Ren regains consciousness and tries to push himself up, to see what happened. 

Shit– did Hiragi come–

Kaji sees Banjo, an unfamiliar katana that’s through him, he turns to look at where the intruder is going. The scene can’t be real. His wife, on the ground, blood pooling beneath you. Kaji drags himself to his feet, not minding the insane pain that wrecks his body. You blink slowly, pupils rising towards him, looking behind the man who was going to kill you. 

He curses. No– This can’t be happening. Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck 

Ren draws his wakizashi*, stabbing it into Banjo’s neck, directly aiming for the carotid artery. The Noroshi member falls limply onto the floor, possibly dead or either about to die very soon, so he doesn’t care enough to check, crawling toward you instead. 

The only thing you can hear aside from the high-pitched ringing is your heartbeat, it’s pounding inside your chest. The bruising sharp pain in your side, your stomach– 

“Wake up– shit don’t fall asleep– please–!” He places his hand over yours– over the wound. He needs to call for Kotoha, blood rivulets trickle down his forehead into his eyes, hastily blinking to clear his vision. “Hold on– hold on for me–”  

He’ll probably scold you for being reckless when you wake up. It’ll be fine, he can’t stay mad at you for long. When this is all over, you’ll finally tell him you fell as deeply in love as he has. Then you’ll spend time with Riko and Hasu before heading to a tea party with Kotoha and Tsubaki. When this is all over, you’ll live in peace with the child, you’ll live the rest of your life happily with your Lord General Kaji Ren.  

*Notes

[samasmith23]

How Goro Akechi effectively serves as a dark foil to the Phantom Thieves' brand of rehabilitative justice

So... I understand that Goro Akechi is a pretty divisive character within the Persona 5 fanbase (especially his pre-Royal incarnation), but I have to admit that I honestly found his backstory and role as a sinister foil to the Phantom Thieves to be legitimately intriguing. Elements which are revealed during his boss fight in the game’s “Cruiser of Pride” arc!

When the Phantom Thieves infiltrate the Meta-Verse to confront the Shadow of the corrupt ultra-nationalist politician, Masayoshi Shido, who’s palace takes the form of a gigantic yacht sailing through the ruins of a sunken Japan, they are suddenly confronted by Akechi in the ship’s engine room. Having just betrayed the team during the previous arc, Akechi is revealed to not only be the true culprit behind the mysterious wave of mental shutdowns & psychotic breakdowns (which included the deaths of two Phantom Thieves’ member’s parents, Futaba Sakura’s mother Wakaba Isshiki & Haru Okumura’s father Kunikazu Okumura respectively…) that have occurred throughout the game’s narrative as part of Shido’s conspiracy to get elected as Prime Minister, but that he is also Shido’s illegitimate child. Essentially, Akechi was the product of a dubious affair between Shido and a sex worker whom the former later discarded when he discovered that she was pregnant, driving her to depression and suicide shortly after Akechi's birth. Akechi spent his entire childhood being passed around as a “problem child” between various foster homes (highlighting Japan’s problems with how the country treats its orphaned children) before later being granted the power of a "wildcard" persona-user, as well as knowledge about the existence of the Meta-Verse by the false god of control, Yaldabaoth.

While Akechi was a societal outcast similar to the members of the Phantom Thieves, he took the wrong message from his experiences. Akechi misguidedly believes that the only way to truly oppose the status quo that looked down upon him is to not only become a part of it (i.e. caring only about his good grades & celebrity status) but to destroy everything that he hates by reducing himself to Shido's right-hand assassin in the Meta-Verse, perpetuating mental shutdowns & psychotic breakdowns on Shido’s political enemies simply to get some semblance of recognition & validation from his abusive father before exacting revenge on him (whilst exploiting his "ace-detective" celebrity status to "solve" the crimes that he himself committed).

Essentially, once Shido finally became prime minister Akechi planned to whisper the truth about being the former’s illegitimate child, telling Shido that he was only able to get where he was due to the son he abandoned and labeled as a potential “political scandal” before murdering him.

Despite Akechi and the Phantom Thieves' mutual dislike of Shido, the former is so fixated on vengeance that he does not care about the innocent lives he ruins and destroys in the crossfire to satisfy his own personal bloodlust. Instead of legitimately trying to reform society like the Phantom Thieves do, Akechi becomes a pawn of the very same systemic corruption that was responsible for his initial suffering. Akechi cares only about his own hatred & jealousy instead of empathizing with others who were also victimized by society’s ills. This contrast is visually reflected through the juxtaposition between Akechi and the Phantom Thieves’ leader, Joker, when they confront each other in the engine room of Shido’s yacht. While Joker is portrayed as standing strong alongside his teammates & friends, Akechi stands alone in the opposite end of the room, confused & angry. While there is a part of Akechi that regrets his horrible actions and even recognizes the potential for him & Joker to be friends due to their similar backgrounds, he's too far gone into his obsessive vendetta against Shido that he refuses to turn back and now desires to kill the Phantom Thieves in a misguided attempt to ease his internal conflict.

During the boss fight with Akechi in Shido's Palace, the detective prince repeatedly dismisses the Phantom Thieves' efforts to appeal to his common senses, believing that concepts like friendship and teamwork are foolish "cliched bullish*t... in this eat or be eaten world."

While this attitude of Akechi's might seem unrealistically cartoonish on the surface, it actually makes sense when considering his background of being unfairly labeled as a "throw-away child" by Japan's foster care institutions. YouTuber LadyVirgilia goes into far greater detail about this in her excellent The Truth About Goro Akechi analysis video. There, she states that an overwhelming number of Japanese orphans are incapable of being legally adopted due to impoverished parents voluntarily relinquishing them from their care while still maintaining legal guardianship over them. Additionally, LadyVirgilia discusses how violent hierarchical power structures often form among the children within these foster homes, with younger orphans sadly being subject to bullying & abuse by their older peers.

While these facts are not explicitly stated about Akechi's backstory within P5 Royal itself, they can easily be heavily inferred due to the game's heavy emphasis on exploring themes related to Japanese sociocultural issues. It’s implied that the institutional failings of Japan's foster care system (combined with Shido's abandonment of his son while he was still in the womb), ultimately contributed to the development of Akechi's warped perception of the rest of the world. Due to being dismissed as a "throw-away child" and being forced to grow up in an institution that is unfortunately subject to high rates of systemic abuse & neglect, Akechi spent his entire life feeling unwanted & loved. Ideals such as friendship & companionship became foreign and unrealistic concepts to him due to having experienced nothing but society's cold & uncaring apathy.

Essentially, Akechi became deeply jealous & hateful toward the rest of the world, misguidedly compelling him to want to prove his superiority over the rest of society by manufacturing his status as "the celebrity ace-detective and honors student who ultimately brought down Shido." But when Akechi encounters the Phantom Thieves and befriends their leader Joker, he begins to experience his first genuine bond of companionship. Despite developing a legitimate appreciation towards Joker, Akechi is simultaneously confused & unable to fully process these newfound feelings. Akechi becomes envious of Joker's ability to rise above his similar status as a societal outcast by befriending & protecting others like himself. Consequently, Akechi projects his own failings & inability to legitimately rise above his tragic upbringing beyond his false celebrity status onto Joker & the Phantom Thieves, cruely dismissing them as "the trash of society" and blaming them for interfering with his revenge plot against Shido. This empty & hollow existence that Akechi chooses to live is further reflected by the sole two personas that he utilizes during his boss fight: Robin Hood, who represents Akechi's false celebrity & justice-abiding gentleman facade, and Loki, who embodies Akechi’s true personality as a deceitful trickster & psychotic murderer.

I personally couldn’t help but find all of these elements to be rather interesting & insightful about Akechi’s role as an antagonist/rival to the Phantom Thieves. It honestly highlights the tragic nature of Akechi's situation, since while he had the potential to utilize his deductive knowledge & skills as a "wildcard" Persona-user similar to Joker, he instead allowed himself to be consumed by his own hatred & madness.

The parallels between Akechi & Joker are further evident through the latter also being a victim of Shido’s abuse. Specifically, the corrupt politician wrongfully sued Joker for “assault” when he tried to stop Shido from drunkenly forcing himself upon a woman. In contrast to Akechi however, Joker is motivated by his negative experiences to fight against the unjust status quo that figures like Shido represent to prevent similar abuses of power from ever occurring again to others. Additionally, we also see dualistic parallels between Akechi and other members of the Phantom Thieves, such as Makoto Nijima who similarly previously upheld the misconception that “good grades and following orders are all that truly matters to be a worthwhile member of society.” Whereas Makoto outgrows this mentality by instead choosing to utilize her status as student council president to help her suffering peers rather than for her own academic career, Akechi conversely exploits his intellect as an “ace-detective” to perpetuate societal injustices for his self-centered vendetta against Shido.

In essence, if the Phantom Thieves embody the potential benefits of rehabilitative justice then Goro Akechi embodies the dangers of retributive justice (aka, revenge). To reference two of my favorite movies, Batman Begins and Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, not only is there a strong difference between justice and revenge (one is about altruistic harmony whereas the other is about personal satisfaction), but the most surefire way to victory is by fighting to protect what you love rather than fighting to destroy what you hate...

The distinction between justice & revenge is made abundantly clear at the end of Akechi's storyline in the baseline game (i.e. before the Royal exclusive Third Semester new content), where following his defeat at the hands of the Phantom Thieves Akechi is suddenly approached by a cognitive duplicate of himself that dwells within Shido's palace. In addition to the Cognitive Akechi emphasizing the futility of Akechi's quest for acknowledgment & vengeance against Shido by revealing that the latter always intended to dispose of his right-hand assassin once he was elected prime minister, the cognitive duplicate also reveals the true depths of Shido's depravity when he states that he only ever viewed Akechi as a puppet to fulfill his own ambitions. While it is true that Akechi was so obsessed with revenge that he allowed himself to become a pawn of the corrupt status quo, it is exceptionally cruel to learn that this is how Shido has always viewed his own son (which is further punctuated by Shido later revealing to the Phantom Thieves that he secretly always suspected that Akechi was his illegitimate child due to how much he reminded him of his mother). It is this revelation in particular that allows the Phantom Thieves to better empathize with Akechi's tragic upbringing & circumstances. Even though they still seek to hold Akechi accountable for the murders that he committed at Shido's behest, the Phantom Thieves simultaneously recognize that in a sense, Akechi was also a victim of both Shido's cruelty and the systemic injustices of larger Japanese society.

This effectively culminates in the bittersweet resolution to Akechi's storyline in the base Persona 5 game. When the Cognitive Akechi duplicate offers his real-world counterpart one last chance to "redeem" himself in Shido's eyes by killing the Phantom Thieves in his stead, Akechi for the first time in his life decides to be his own person instead of being defined by the labels Shido and society had imposed upon him since birth. Choosing to no longer be a puppet of Shido's corrupt machinations, Akechi rejects his cognitive duplicate's hollow offer by instead turning his gun on the duplicate and his Shadow minions before sealing the engine room's watertight doors between himself and the Phantom Thieves. At the very end, Akechi was finally able to acknowledge that his desire for false appreciation from both his abusive father and larger society was ultimately worthless. Akechi ultimately sacrifices himself to allow the Phantom Thieves to escape, recognizing their true justice while entrusting them to do what he was incapable of by holding Shido accountable for his crimes & reforming society.

From a certain point of view, one could argue that the Phantom Thieves indirectly inspired a change of heart in Akechi by proving to him the validity of their sense of justice.

Overall, while I was initially indifferent towards Goro Akechi at the start of my playthrough of Persona 5 (and even outright skeptical & suspicious of his motives given his vocal opposition to the Phantom Thieves), by the time I got to his boss battle in Shido's palace I ended gained a deeper understanding and appreciation for what the developers at Atlus were attempting to convey with his character. Akechi effectively functions as both a cautionary tale about the dangers of allowing oneself to be consumed with thoughts of revenge, as well as a dark parallel to the Phantom Thieves who seek to legitimately reform society for altruistic rather than self-centered reasons. It was these elements that ultimately elevated Akechi into becoming one of my personal favorite members of P5's cast (right behind Makoto, Futaba & Ann...) from both a narrative and character writing perspective (especially with the Royal edition's overhauled confidant line for Akechi, which better fleshes out the latter's rivalry with Joker, and the player now has to progress manually instead of it being automatic)! And I am definitely curious to see how Royal's exclusive "Third Semester" content further fleshes out Akechi's character since I'm aware that he plays a major role in the new story content.

[takami-takami]

TRIGGER WARNING: Hawks x reader. Minors DNI. Trauma. Pedophilia/incest. Comfort/support for that. Do not add any harmful comments or tags. Subject matter is not for everyone, so please ONLY read if this will not trigger you, as I will be making no attempt to censor this or any explicitness.

"Is there something wrong with me," you ask.

Those words are the last to leave your lips. Putting your secrets to words feels as if you've allowed the fluid that filled the cavity of your chest to spill; that fluid being a sacrilegious amalgamation of sorts, an unholy blend of suicidal dread and utterly childlike rage.

Keigo catches them. He picks them up like he does your hands in the cradle of his palms. 

You could count the creases in those palms just as easily as you could Keigo's smile lines, or the crinkles at the corners of his eyes when you make him laugh from his belly. You could sketch Keigo's fingerprints from memory, you're positively sure.

"There's something wrong with what happened to you," Keigo answers. "But no. There's nothing wrong with you."

For once, you feel no obligation to correct him. His emphasis on happened is deliberate, and you allow it. After years of gentle coaxing, from the first time he nearly cried the word baby the first time you told him, you feel no need to compare what didn't happen to what did. You feel no desire to hide in shame of what could have been worse. You feel no obligation to inscribe a caveat into your own experience.

You feel no performance in your childhood death.

If anyone understands the intricacies and complexities that line a traumatic past, if there's anyone you can trust, it's him. His voice crackles with empathy like candlelight in the dim of your shared bedroom. 

Try as you might to find it, there is no pity in his words. They are neither rehearsed nor forced. 

Keigo's words are perfect, and they are for you.

"Is this okay," he further asks before he lifts your hand to his cheeks; and it cracks your shell down its center. You nod and you mean it.

Simple, unfamiliar words; finally, finally, finally uttered by someone who should be saying them to you. A person unrelated to you by blood, a man of the appropriate age promises to crawl inside your body and it's so innocent and sweet. His words taste of sugarcane and smell like the pinkest sakura petals, dancing as they fall like stars and landing with a comparable delicateness.

Keigo's words remind you of the morning he tried cooking you pancake stacks with whipped cream and strawberries. They remind you of how the edges of the batter crisped golden brown with char because he was too distracted by the way you laughed at his quips that came to his throat easily.

From your chest, a giggle— another word you can say now, with him. 

Giggle. Neighborhood. One day, when you and Keigo raise your own little ones and watch them tussle and toddle trying to carry the weight of their untainted wings, you're sure you will be able to say the word family again.

For now, his chaste kiss to your bruised yet healing knuckles is enough.

[sasukesun]

top iconic and insane naruto moments

“do not talk about sasuke in my presence as though he belongs to you” [goes four tails] @ orochimaru

proposing a suicide pact between him and sasuke (bonus: “what the fuck is wrong with you” — a man who’s worse)

“if my arms get ripped off, i’ll just kick him to death, if my legs get ripped off, i’ll just bite him to death, if my head gets ripped off, i’ll just stare him to death and if my eyes get ripped out i’ll just curse him to death” 😁

[sees a shooting star] 🥰 “sasuke” 🥰

baby gay moment “if that means to be wise then i’ll happily live as a fool”

😄🧡💙 “i’m really glad i met you” @ sasuke who almost killed kakashi and sakura minutes earlier

[wakes up next to sasuke without an arm and almost dying of blood loss] “is this heaven?”

[lies down in bed and glows pink in the night in his room] “what are you doing right now, sasuke? are you alright?”

[slaps gaara’s hand and rejects him in front of his whole family when he tries to make him give up on sasuke]

[sassykinzonline]

thank you @heavensculled for reminding me to make this post through your post.

okay so.

theres a reason that naruto specifically phrases his double-suicide the way he does: hes answering the question posed to him by itachi.

theres a misconception that naruto is stubborn and stupid. naruto is steadfast in his conviction, but like anyone who truly believes in something, he is always thinking deeper about what his convictions mean and how to get there. he also doesnt discount information or ideology just because of the source-- he is rather literate, likely due to his skills with empathy. we know this because of his conversation with nagato.

so if itachi, someone he knows to be extremely important to what he cares about and knows that person intimately, why would he discount itachi's perspective on it? and by the time he actually makes his proposal, he is now aware of itachi's truth and his true feelings.

recall that actually in the little gay heart-to-heart glitter space (GGS for short), naruto says hes "not gonna lose", not that he doesnt plan on dying. so obviously he has a different goal in mind than "live or die". we also know that before the GGS, this is how "blows are exchanged".

no kill shot from either side. although this was just said...

what can we gather from this? that a certain someone is full of shit, and naruto now has re-confirmed this (just like with "i spared your life on a whim"). but whats the reason naruto cant actually die?

so now naruto knows this. he also knows this after sakura is almost killed:

naruto also knows that an implicit part of the plan involves neverending pain that will only end with death, because its intended to bait all battle from every shinobi in one direction. this is the start of it:

as i previously joked about, naruto's confession/proposal is calling a bluff but also a way of stating his intentions. we know this because in the actual battle he says:

in summary, naruto's lovers' double suicide plan isnt about bending someone to his will. its the opposite. it's his final guess at putting together all the things he has understood until now, and presenting it as his position. this is the stand he is taking. it's a promise, because he never breaks his promises. part of the final battle is a test whether to see whether or not he can keep the promise alive:

why would you be mad at someone youre trying to kill for almost dying? hmm...i wonder.

in any case, naruto's final guess is the right one.

and he proves himself after all, and it's a happy moment...but not just for him.

[moldy-flowers]

Naruto au where Jiriya comes back to Konoha to adopt Naruto like he promised to do but somewhere along the way they get Tsunade back in the village and Tsunade becomes Sasukes caretaker (She adopts him but neither are comfortable calling eachother mother and son yet so they stick with "The Lady in my house who cooks bad" and "the brat who doesn't appreciate good meals when he sees them")

Then at some point when Naruto and Sasuke are genins Jiriya and Tsunade get married and now Naruto and Sasuke have to live together. There's a really emotional scene of Sasuke having to say goodbye to his old home and its like "oh god its really all over they're not coming back I'm not coming back I can't just leave them behind I need to let go but I just can't do it" and Tsunade calls Sasuke her son for the first time and he totally doesn't cry!!!

Forest of death but Sasuke Sakura and Naruto already know who Orochimaru is, Sasuke knows absolutely not to trust him so the curse mark doesn't really affect him too horribly but it does lead for a lot of tension in the group. Also after being the girlboss she was born to be Sakura decides she can't be protected anymore and bc Tsunade is like, right there she asks her if she can be trained and Tsunade says yes obv. Hiruzen dies purely because i hate that guy but Orochimaru also dies to Jiriya and Tsunade also because I really really hate him too.

Theres the time when Kisame and Itachi visit Konoha and Itachi hears Naruto refer to Tsunade as his mom and Sasuke as his brother and hes GOT to know what's going on so he spies on them and learns that Sasukes been adopted but he sees this moment of Tsunade announcing she's pregnant (what a shocker she was 🤏 that close to never having to worry about pregnancy ever again but Jiriya just couldn't keep it in his pants for another 2 years, the manwhore.) And itachi sees Sasuke realising he's gonna be an older brother and being super happy about it saying he's gonna be the best big brother ever (Hades hangs his laundry on the bar its so low all he's gotta do is not kill everyone and he's already better than Itachi) and Itachi is like "ah man but how's he gonna get stronger there's no hatred in there i need him to do my suicide for me!!!" But Jiriya noticed he was there and confronts him a little later but see Jiriyas a little smarty pants and has been living in Konoha for years and always knew there was something fishy with the massacre and danzo so Jiriya just bluffs his way to the truth (Phoenix is that you?) And he's like "look Sasukes ur brother but he's my son now, he has enough nightmares and enough trauma and enough trust issues to last him a lifetime feck off and if you wanna die so bad then kill yourself and don't use your brother as a tool for ur suicide" <- I may be projecting a bit but ANYWAYS Itachi and Kisame have to leave Konoha bc Naruto is under watch by Kakashi, Tsunade and Jiriya and they are NAWT winning that fight.

Skip to shippuden era Sasuke v/ Itachi fight but Itachis been skipping out on his meds!! (He did it because he's a nerd loser guy who thinks "oh man sasuke isn't angry or filled with hatred and overall living a really terrible and unfufilling life he's probably so weak i need to stoop down to his level") Oh no so hes really super sick and Sasuke has picked up a lot from Tsunade so he knows Itachis time is near and although Sasuke really wants Itachi dead he's like "fuck it, dude you absolutely ruined my life and gave me trauma I'm never ever going to recover from sometimes I still wonder if my friends or family are going to turn around and kill me do you know how fucked that is why the hell did you even do that I don't want some bullshit excuse tell me" like he absolutely chews that loser (derogatory) out and Itachi is like, "kk ill tell u everything" and Sasuke is RUINED and he takes like a long 30 minutes of silence between the two just sitting there for Sasuke to go like "Itachi, I don't... think I forgive you. But I understand why you did it. I would have done it too" And its very emotional!! That moment is all Itachi needs bc he was sort of barely clinging onto life as it is and now that he's got peace he can finally die and they share a really sweet moment before he goes :(

And when Sasuke gets home and cries, (this time he can admit it cause he's a big boy now and understands it's okay to feel) to Tsunade he calls her his mother for the first time and its so ahaishahabnabsjsjnd

Anyways they all lived happily ever after the end no wars no nothing all over bye bye

[drawbauchery]

Random and nearly irrelevant Headcanons:

- Kokichi can't sleep on his back because he thinks he's back on the table under the press

-Robot Kiibo is going on the field trip because human Kiibo thinks he'd be in too much pain to go camping

- Ryoma has severe hydrophobia

- Hiyoko has trouble trusting Sonia after she accidentally sent her to her death

- Mahiru has trouble maintaining eye contact with Fuyuhiko or Peko

-Nagito gets phantom pains in his hand the worst, because he had to slam it onto a knife. He doesn't get pain in his chest because he was already dead when the spear fell

- Loud noises behind Makoto don't make him jump, instead he completely freezes

- Sakura can't drink protein shakes anymore without thinking of her suicide

- The siren of a firetruck fills Celeste with dread, but she's good at hiding it

- Shuichi has caffeine addiction and insomnia because everyone died at night

- Kaito is still chronically ill, but it's minor and non-fatal

- Korekiyo has trouble looking in the mirror

OOGHHH DUUUDE I LOVE THESE

@charismatic-cannibal thought of that kokichi one too and we talk about that a lot

ryoma's hydrophobia is inevitable, of course..i have been planning to make use of it for a while... . same with kaito's >:3

and i especially like the ones for celeste & shuichi...

[completeoveranalysis]

[7]

Ok the narrative takes a bit of a turn towards ideas like suicidal ideation, so if you don’t want to deal with that today you can safely avoid this post. The pages are safely under the Read More.

There's also blood.

See this is the other thing that undoes the Cardcaptor Sakura dance - I don’t think CLAMP would write that Cardcaptor Sakura was murdered. It’s just a bit dark for what the series is. 

I call shenanigans. Something else is at play here that will make sense later, but for now CLAMP are cackling as they watch at least some of the fandom 15 years ago genuinely believe that Cardcaptor Sakura and Syaoran grew up to be murdered by Evil Wolverine. IT’S SHENANIGANS.

OH.

OH, poor Watanuki. 

He doesn’t properly remember but on some level he blamed his own existence for the death of his parents, and felt that he didn’t deserve to live after that. That explains a lot about the version of Watanuki that Doumeki saw in the past - he wasn’t just alone, he was alone and genuinely thought he didn’t want to be alive anymore, because of what his existence has caused. 

It’s so heartbreaking I don’t even know what to say about that. 

Except that the difference lies in the detail of him being so attractive to spirits because of all the dark hurt inside him. When we first meet Watanuki he is hounded by spirits, even without his memory, because his body remembers and his heart is still broken he becomes self-sacrificing as a result. 

UNTIL things start to change. We heard in the previous chapters that Watanuki doesn’t see spirits like that as much anymore. He has begun to heal. He isn't alone anymore. He doesn't think he would be better off never existing, and knows that there are people who are happier now that he exists.

Watanuki has decided to keep living, and so the pain the spirits found so delicious is nowhere near as strong as it was before.  It’s so interesting to me that his character arc matches the supernatural arc around his existence. ‘He wasn’t supposed to exist and was meant to disappear’ becomes ‘he has a place he is loved and that sustains him’ - and ‘he wanted to die from guilt’ becomes ‘he wants to live for the people he loves now’. It’s a wonderful parallel arc that you can’t even spot happening until afterwards, because even Watanuki himself doesn’t know it's happening.