#and THEN a mist swordsman shows up

[seravphs]

Act One, Chapter One: half agony, half hope

Knights are bound by duty and honor, but Gojo is more devoted to his princess than he ever was to his oaths.

Main Masterlist | AO3

wc — 10k

tags — royal au, knight gojo, princess reader, forbidden love, ballroom scene, dancing, court politics, blood, minor character death, period-typical misogyny, complicated relationships with fathers, secret meetings, flouting social etiquette by sneaking out to meet your childhood best friend who is also your loyal knight, title from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Next: the beginning of devotion (coming soon)

He was so still Shoko almost mistook him for a dead body. It was a common misunderstanding in her line of business, but not one she was usually startled by. As a poisoner, legally and officially a herbalist, the occasional corpse on her table wasn’t such an unexpected occurrence. A lord, on the other hand, was. 

Especially if it was him.   

Gojo Satoru wasn’t just a lord. He was the son of the former Hand of the King, the greatest swordsman in living history, and connected to the princess. There wasn’t a man alive who didn’t know the Gojo name. It was synonymous with the royal house itself as the clan that had produced scores of advisors to the king. In nearly every generation, the heir to the throne was accompanied by a Gojo, acting as a living sword and shield. 

But even with that storied history, this one was special. A young man who had risen to prominence during The Silent War, he returned home from hell as a knight unlike any other. The bards would adore him. They already did. 

Most generals earned their titles by leading campaigns. Gojo hadn’t needed one. He turned the tides of the war as a single man army. They had started calling him a grim reaper, a god of death. 

Shoko disliked him on principle, but she couldn’t kill a man like that. They’d have her head on a pike. She didn’t mind the idea of dying so much. What she did shrink from was the idea of dying painfully. 

The princess was known for abstaining from most decisions involving the crown despite being in line to inherit it, but Shoko somehow doubted that she would remain so passive if her favorite knight was murdered. Thankfully, Gojo let out a soft breath to show her that he did remain among the living. 

“I thought you died,” she remarked. 

“Sorry to disappoint you.” 

She said something else, but Gojo wasn’t listening anymore. He was floating through a shapeless world again, chasing that moment. It slipped away from him despite his redoubled attempts to capture it. He remembered the tang of iron in his mouth. Blood spraying in the air, a mist that he could smell and taste. The leather grip of his sword in his hands, slippery with sweat. 

He was trying to win back enlightenment, briefly attained and lost again just as quickly on the battlefield. A feeling of deep and solid peace had settled over him as he hacked through bodies, as if that was what he was meant to do. It should’ve concerned him. He already confused the ever thinning boundary between man and monster. That bloodshed brought him such euphoric tranquility could only mean it was growing worse, but he hated things he couldn’t understand. 

He needed to experience it again. Just one more time, so he could make sense of it. The smell of blood. Wading through the dead and the dying, thigh deep in gore - it was no use. Frustrated, he let it go. 

There was something soothing about the cracks in the ceiling. He stared up at it, letting his breaths come as shallowly as they had while he had been immersed in his meditative state. Shoko’s basement was chilly and dark, but it was necessary for the illegal autopsies she performed at his request. Those, and the poisons she crafted for him, were its primary purpose. It was only a stroke of luck that these qualities were also helpful for his attempts to recover his short-lived state of grace. 

He was tempted to try again, but not today. There was someone too precious to keep waiting if he delayed any longer. He wouldn’t impose upon her the way he often imposed on the elder lords who tried to remind him of his place by pulling rank. While they deserved his spite, she didn’t. 

Even Shoko was surprised by his sudden desire for punctuality. “You’re not going to stay?”

“I have a princess to rescue,” he said. “Dragons to slay, things of that nature.” 

Shoko scoffed. “You are the dragon they have to save princesses from.”

Well, Gojo thought as he hurried down the corridor, she wasn’t wrong. He was sure others agreed with her. He didn’t waste his time with children’s tales anymore, but he remembered his mother’s voice whispering to him in the dark, curled around him in his bed. A dragon was a tool to lock princesses away. His presence deterred anyone from coming too near to his princess, so by that definition, he was most certainly a dragon. 

Gojo found that he was a little proud of himself for that. Thinking of his mother had made him nostalgic. He thought she might be proud too, that he had taken such good care of the princess she herself had looked after. A dragon might trap, but it also guarded and hoarded. He had polished his princess like a treasure, lavishing her with attention until she had become a gem. 

She was beautiful. 

He was a soldier, so he had long since rid himself of the ability to lose his breath, but if he still could, he would’ve choked at the sight of her when he broke past the doors. She was seated so that the eye of anyone who entered the ballroom would be drawn to her first, but he would’ve found her regardless. He had promised. 

Wherever you were, he would always find you. 

It’s difficult to hide, being as tall as he is, but Gojo managed. He didn’t want you to see him coming. Already, he has to bite his lip to fight down his smile as he draws closer and closer. A few more steps, a detour to duck behind some random noble, and he’s in front of you. 

“May I?” You don’t have a chance to speak before he’s already dragging a chair closer. 

The smile on your face doesn’t match the harsh delivery of your words. “The next time you leave me alone with these miserable fools, I’ll order you to fall on your sword.”

Gojo laughs, unfazed. “Good choice. You’re too pretty to get your hands dirty. Although, you are a bit more murderous than expected for a princess.” 

“You try putting up with Naoya’s simpering gibberish for an hour.”

“I don’t have to.” He slips into the chair beside you, avoiding you neatly when you try to trip him. “Watch your feet, my lady. People like me don’t have to put up with Naoya.” 

People like you shouldn’t have to, either. You’re both higher ranking than he is, a princess and a lord each, yet Gojo’s the only one who gets to escape his painful-to-witness affections. 

It’s only natural. A royal dowry comes attached to you. Any eligible man would have to be an idiot not to fight for your hand, but really, they’re vying for a chance at kingship. You can’t go one day without someone reminding you that you’re a physical embodiment of the crown, something to want and own. 

Gojo pours himself water with a heavy hand, bypassing the wine. Watching him sip at it, you realize you’ve actually never seen him drink.

“Come now,” he says, a little softer. “Don’t look so desolate. What will I do if everyone sees you pouting? You’ll ruin my reputation.”  

“You don’t have a reputation to ruin.” 

“Don’t underestimate the things I’d do for the smallest sign of joy from you. Shall I procure one right now to destroy for your amusement?” 

You know he wants you to smile, but you can’t. Even if Gojo can usually pry laughter from you with the ease of a trained jester, this time, your sadness weighs over you like a heavy wool cloak. It’s your birthday, but it’s not a happy occasion. Every passing year tightens the noose around your neck. 

You’re a princess, and that means your life was arranged for you before you breathed your first breath. There’s nothing you can do about it. You’ve never had a choice. 

“Don’t,” he whispers. 

“Don’t what?” 

“Don’t make that face,” he says. “I’d marry you. If it came down to it, I’d take care of you.” 

His words nearly cause you to spill your drink all over your finely embroidered dress. If it set in, it would never come out. He grasps your hand just as the cup begins to tip, saving you. 

“Did you mistake your water for wine?” It’s a genuine question from you. 

He waves his goblet around carelessly. You’re worried he might be actually drunk, but you smell no alcohol on him. He couldn’t get inebriated from just a sip, anyway. Whatever wild whims have overtaken him tonight are entirely of his own design. 

“Better me than Naoya, no? I’d keep you safe.” He cracks a crooked smile in your direction, like you’re sharing a secret. “Admit it. I’d be a good husband. If I were around, you’d be untouchable.” 

He’s telling the truth. If Gojo Satoru was your husband, no one would dare anything with you, but you chase the idea from your mind as quickly as Gojo plants it. You’re your father’s daughter, raised on his practicality. You don’t waste time on pipe dreams. Better the hideous truth than a lie costumed in beauty - the bite of thorns was infinitely preferable to the impermanent fantasy of petals. 

Instead of answering him, you push your plate in his direction. You don’t even have to ask. Gojo dutifully takes your knife and fork in hand to cut up your meat. “Not even going to consider it, princess? I’m hurt. That was a serious offer, you know.” 

“You’re insufferable. Be quiet and eat.” 

Gojo’s mother used to say that the more adamantly someone denied something, the closer to the truth it likely was. You can only hope Gojo doesn’t remember, because she was right. The reason you won’t give him even an inch on the topic of marriage is because a proposal from him is the only thing you want but can’t have. 

Predictably, he ignores you. He’s never known when to quit. With so little that can genuinely stand in his way, Gojo has difficulty understanding the concept of a limitation. You’re both spoiled in that sense, noble children who had never been told no. 

“Think about it,” he says casually. “We’d be invincible. What other house could stand before our union?”

“I said- hello, father.” 

“A little early to be calling- oh, hello, Your Majesty. You look well tonight. Is that a new ring?” 

Your father cuffs Gojo around the ears. “Brat.” 

He’s in a good mood, then. 

“My little girl,” he says to you. “How pretty you look. I’m surprised no one has stolen you away from me yet.” 

You’re not so little anymore, but you forgive him. It’s just the two of you, ever since the queen died. He’s the reason you are what you are, as cultivated as a rose in a greenhouse. The climate that nurtured you is one carefully tailored by his own hand. 

“Not for lack of trying,” Gojo says brightly. 

“Boy,” your father calls him, despite the fact that Gojo isn’t a boy either. A deep sigh escapes his lungs. He looks truly sorrowful for a moment. “You look just like your mother.” 

Gojo’s smile freezes on his face. It’s true, he does. Through him, the king’s former hand lives again, but you know Gojo doesn’t want to be seen as an extension of her, even if he misses her more than anything. 

You’re familiar with the way your father knows exactly what to say to make you feel small again. The king is someone who exudes power. His uncanny ability to pick out what you’re most sensitive to and exploit it makes even the most proud of noblemen revert to children in his presence, as if they’ve been scolded by a nanny for stealing tarts from the kitchen. It’s strange that you feel the need to protect Gojo, the strongest person you know, from that. 

He reaches out and pats Gojo’s cheek now that he’s reduced him to silence. “Enjoy the night, my dear child.” 

When he leaves, Gojo slumps back in his chair with a tick in his jaw. Even if the king is your father, he can’t help himself. “Nasty old man,” he mutters. 

You pinch his thigh beneath the table. “Smile and look pretty.”

“Ugh, who is it now?”

“Lord Zenin and his son haven’t gotten their fill of tormenting me.” 

“Hm,” Gojo says. “I wonder.” 

“If you have a plan to avoid them, hurry. They’re nearly here.” 

“I don’t know,” he teases. “I don’t think you’d like it very much.”

“Yes, well, I don’t like conversation with Sir Zenin very much either.” 

He grabs your hand. “Then you’ll forgive me for anything that happens tonight?” 

“Anything is questionable, but do as you please.” 

He tugs you from your seat, pulling you through the crowd of people. Caught in his wake, you float past faces familiar and unfamiliar until the patriarch of House Zenin and his infernal spawn fade behind you. 

When you turn to face him again, he’s dipped into a bow. His smile is sweet, boyish. It’s as if you’re children again, and he’s stolen you from your lessons to waltz in an empty ballroom, motes of dust that you’ve stirred up floating in the sunbeams. 

He extends his hand, a sapphire burning on one finger. A dragon curls around the silver band of the ring, a nod to his heritage. Though the Gojos are a powerful and ancient house, in this moment, Gojo looks young, foolish, and all the better for it. 

“May I have this dance, my lady?” 

You giggle, wishing you had a fan to pretend to hide behind. You’re playing pretend again, acting as if you’re characters from a storybook.

“I’d be delighted to, my lord.” 

The music swells. Gojo takes your hand and presses a kiss to your bare knuckles. His lips are soft against your skin, temptation incarnate. In his grasp, your fingers tremble slightly, torn between wanting to seize him and wanting to run away. 

You’re terrified by how much you want him. 

If you let him in for one second, you can imagine how easy it would be to never stop. He’s every one of your desires and hopes made manifest, tied up in a single person. Although it’s impossible, you still feel the heat of him. The warmth of his lips linger on you, a stolen moment before he sweeps you up in his arms.

This is how you remember he’s a boy no longer. The breadth of his shoulders is wide. He’s lost the roundness of youth, his face growing angular and cunning. There’s solid muscle underneath your hands as he pulls you with him, his feet beating a steady rhythm that you have to fight to keep up with. 

He’s doing it on purpose, you know, testing how much you still retained all of those years of tutoring. You’re determined to show him they weren’t for naught. 

When you catch your breath and master the music once more, gliding with him rather than being tugged along, he smiles like he always expected you to. He’s been like this since you were young, dangling challenges in front of you that he’s equally as excited to see you pass as fail. 

The music slows. All around you, the frantic steps melt into slow swaying. You’re feeling brave tonight, so you step closer. You allow the arm curled more tightly around your waist, the tender look in his eyes. When you steal a glance around, no one is watching the two of you, but how far can you go before you lose it all? 

“Don’t talk to Naoya again,” he murmurs against your skin. It tickles, and you squirm until he presses so close it petrifies you. “I don’t like the rumors around him.”

“What rumors?”

“Bad ones. He tumbles girls and leaves them with nothing. Hurts them, takes whatever he wants, and ruins their lives. I don’t trust him, and especially not with you.” His hand smoothes over a stray ruffle on your petticoat, the gesture impossibly loving. “Never with you, princess.” 

You shudder at the way he says princess, feeling cut open, exposed. What has gotten into him tonight? You don’t understand. It feels like drowning, your brain always three steps behind, struggling to break the waves of your confusion. 

You know you’re weak. It’s your name that protects you, the threat of your father and the royal house behind you. Alone, you’re a lamb to slaughter. You’ve been spoiled your whole life, leaving you naive and helpless. 

Gojo is someone you trust implicitly. He’s always protected you. You’ve relied on him for as long as you’ve been alive, but perhaps that’s conditioned you to feel comfortable putting your hand into the mouth of the beast. Even at the chance of exposing how poorly you’ve been trained for the court’s schemes, you don’t hold back when you’re with him. He makes you feel at ease to speak freely without fearing how much you’ll reveal of your own vulnerabilities. 

“I can’t,” you tell him honestly. “House Zenin is one of the Three Great Houses. I can’t refuse Naoya without good reason.” 

“Then marry me,” he says softly. “Marry me and be done with all of this. They don’t deserve you, anyway. They won’t treat you like I will.” 

You close your eyes, feeling the telltale hotness of incoming tears burn behind your eyelids. Why did he do this to you? He was so gentle it hurt, even though you knew he was capable of terrible things. Somehow that made it worse, the knowledge that he was choosing to be kind. 

“You should go,” you say instead. 

Marriage between you and Gojo would never happen. Forget your father. An alliance between the strongest house and the royal house? It would be akin to tyranny. There would be blood in the streets before any of the other nobles would allow it. It’s better not to dream about impossible desires. 

Thorns, not petals, you remind yourself. You can suffer the truth. 

“Why?” He says. “I want to stay with you. I want to be good to you.” 

“This isn’t something to joke about, Satoru.” He looks like he’d rather you have slapped him. “Never talk to me about this again. Find someone else to dance with.” 

There. Your brain snags on something to distract you. You’ve been dancing with him for too long. It’ll reflect poorly on your reputation to give an unmarried man so much of your attention. 

“Pick another partner,” you urge him. 

His brow creases. Stubbornly, he holds onto you even tighter. “Don’t want to.” 

“You have to. Everyone will whisper. I’m surprised they aren’t already.”

“Then let them,” he pleads. “It doesn’t mean anything to me.” 

Regretfully, you pull away. Darkness clouds his beautiful face. It’s unnatural. When you remember him, he’s always smiling. The instances when he directs a genuine frown at you are few and far between, but you’ve already made your decision. 

Gojo stalks off in search of a new partner. Somehow, even though you were the one who forced him to leave, your heart stings to watch his back fade into the distance. If you didn’t want him to go, you shouldn’t have said anything. This is what you hoped for. Still, it’s painful. 

You want to find somewhere to rest after your spat, drained from a rare argument with him, but nowhere is secluded enough for you to let your guard down. Suddenly, you feel a wave of hatred for your stupid, glittering palace and the stupid, glittering fools infesting it. You just fought with your best friend and you’re tired, but you still have to keep up appearances. 

Somewhere nearby, Gojo is spinning another girl, her skirts flaring out around them. You wish you could press your palms to your eyes, letting the pressure relieve your headache, but you’ve shown enough weakness tonight. Instead, you tilt your head back and breathe, trying to appear calm and in control. 

It’s a good thing you restrained yourself, because Naoya is the one that finds you. His shoes are the first thing you see, black leather with steel accents. Steel, not silver, because he wants it to hurt when he kicks. 

You know. You’ve heard the stories. 

“Abandoned by Satoru, my lady?” You hate the way it sounds coming out of his mouth. Gojo makes it sound so intimate, like it’s for you and him only. Naoya’s version is a bastardization, much like the man himself. 

You’re too tired to deal with him, and yet, you’ll have to. House Zenin is important to your father and thus, important to you, especially when you inevitably replace him. “What are you insinuating about your princess, Sir Zenin?”

You use the proper address, the way he should’ve spoken about Gojo. They’re not close enough for him to be calling the other man by his first name. 

“Nothing, nothing,” he says. “Don’t get defensive now.”

You want to tell one of the knights stationed around the hall to drag him away. Instead, you smile and let him prattle on. Court politics. If you ever want to prove to your father you deserve everything you’ve been born into, you have to play the game. No matter how terrible some of the players are. 

“Since you graced Satoru with one, I hope you wouldn’t mind another dance.” 

Turning him down isn’t an option, but when you see that everyone’s watching, you realize even more how much it really isn’t an option. He probably arranged it that way too. Demonspawn. You’d curse his house if you could, instead, you offer him your hand, cringing internally when he tries kissing it. 

You can’t help but compare the two. Gojo did it better. 

Like any son of a high born house, Naoya’s a good dancer. It’s the one compliment you’re willing to grace him with, as everything else about him, especially his personality, is hideous. His hand is solid against your upper back, the other leading you as you spin around the room. It makes you want to scrub yourself clean, even under the layers of clothes. 

You’re doing this for your house. Your throne. This is nothing. None of your mantras diminish your desire to shove Naoya’s head in the cake waiting at the banquet table. 

“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” he tells you. 

“Forwardness is unbecoming in a man,” you say with a smile, as if he’s telling you the sweetest nothings. “What would my father say?”

“Don’t play coy, princess. We both know how this ends.” 

“Please excuse me,” you say as soon as the song ends. One is enough. “I find myself rather dizzy.” 

Naoya’s lips whiten with anger. He tries to grab your wrist, but someone steps between you. “Watch your hands with Her Royal Highness, Zenin. I won’t tolerate your disrespect.” 

Naoya’s eyes flash, but the interloper is sweeping you away already. His hands hover above your dress, never actually touching, as he guides you in the opposite direction. 

“Sir Getou, what are you doing?” 

Getou looks down on you in amusement once you’re a safe distance away. “Satoru sent me to rescue you, of course. I didn’t think he was serious when he said you would get into trouble without him.”

“Trouble finds me,” you reply archly. 

“Yes, yes,” he placates, sparking annoyance even though he just saved you from Naoya. “Are you tired of dancing yet, or do you have room for one more? I’m hoping to make an impression on potential wives by dancing with the princess.”

You’re smart enough to know that one more is rarely truly one more, but Getou did save you from Naoya. Besides, if you’re busy with him, no one else can ask for your hand. 

“I suppose I can spare you a dance.” 

Like Gojo, Getou is an adept dancer. He is, after all, a trained court noble, and the sons of House Getou are unusually predisposed to the arts in any case. If the Gojos are known for their strength, the Getous are known for their crafts. 

Getou doesn’t flinch from your unwavering gaze. If anything, he seems to find it amusing, although in the way one would find a puppy amusing. Gently, he leads you around the ballroom. 

“Stay alert, my lady. Someone’s watching you,” Getou warns. 

You follow his gaze to Gojo. There’s a beautiful woman in his arms that takes you no time at all to place, so infamous is her notoriety. Yuki of House Tsukumo is second only to Gojo in her blatant disrespect for everything the elders held dear. 

They make a striking couple. Everywhere they go, heads turn to watch them pass. Her gold to his silver, her lion to his dragon - it would be a powerful match. They would be perfect for each other, if only because no one would be able to challenge each other like they could. 

Excellent dancers each, together they become an instrument for the music to shine through. Getou is gentle with you, each movement as delicate as lilies floating across the surface of a pond. In contrast, Gojo and Yuki dance like they’re fighting, each trying to gain an advantage over the other. They’re magnetic, drawing every eye in the room to watch them. 

Everyone else may be entranced by the pair of them, but the pair itself seems disinterested in the crowd around them. Yuki’s eyes are closed but Gojo-

Gojo’s looking at you. Your cheeks heat with his attention. His stare is intense, eyes half-lidded. Every move is prowling, almost predatory. His eyes remain fixated on your face as he and Yuki move in a complicated, sinuous series of circles. There’s something impossibly filthy about his gaze. It borders on indecency, combined with the way he barely seems to be paying attention to dancing, giving you all of his focus instead.

“We can’t let them steal all the attention,” Getou says. He really is Gojo’s brother-in-arms. “Let’s give them a show.” 

You’ve never been trained in statecraft, but you’ve been given the very finest of tutors in the elegant manners of the court. A show, as Getou puts it, is more than within your capabilities. You close your senses to the rest of the world, focusing on the shift of your skirts and Getou’s quiet voice as your steps weave intricate patterns across the floor. 

He’s a naturally friendly man. It’s easy to talk to him, whispering between each peak in the music. Although he’s friends with Gojo, your social circles rarely overlap enough for you to spend much time in Getou’s company. You’re almost surprised by how much you enjoy it. 

“I think it’s time to change partners,” calls a familiar voice.

As Getou takes the hands of Lady Yuki, her eyes still closed as she sways, someone takes his place. Gojo’s hand slides from where Getou’s were placed appropriately on your upper back down to your hip. You drag them back up, ignoring his pout. He’ll be your last dance of the night. 

“Should I be worried about being replaced?” He murmurs. 

“It was only one turn,” you tell him. 

“And I never want to do it again,” he says. “The other girls don’t dance like you do.” 

He’s an unrepentant liar. You might have been tutored by the best dancers your father could find, but at this level, first and second place might as well be interchangeable. He’s only saying it so you know that he wanted to come back to you, despite the fact that you forced him away. 

Gojo’s a contradiction wrapped inside a paradox, at once sadistic and merciful. No one’s capable of making you feel as much as he does. Without the guidance of formal tutors to give you the education of a prince, you have no idea how to navigate the dangerous world of alliances and betrayals, war and peace. Once, you clumsily blundered through diplomacy, watching your father’s disappointment grow by the hour. You’ve since learned that complete silence is preferable to gaucheness. At least that is something your education as a princess has taught you. 

But Gojo knew you before you grew into the woman you are now. He still remembers how to pull smiles and tears from you, how to push you to the brink of exasperation and coax you into brilliant happiness. He has a key to all the gates you’ve erected. No matter what you do, he always slips past your defenses. 

If you keep letting him do as he pleases, you’ll be the only one who loses. Gojo is a man. If he’s rumored to be attached to the princess, it’ll elevate his reputation. He’s already the best swordsman in the entire kingdom. Being thought of as a profligate would only make them worship him more. People love a little hint of degeneracy to their heroes - not too much to make them immoral, but enough to make them attainable. 

A princess is not a hero. You’re not someone to attain, you’re someone to obtain. When people look at you, they only see the crown. If you’re thought of as a ruined woman, it would prevent you from finding a husband. It would destabilize the entire kingdom. 

It hurts to realize that you’re that selfish. Gojo would’ve chosen you over anything, but you’re letting something as empty as reputation displace him. 

Not that it’s exactly a choice. Your life has been forfeit since you were born. You don’t belong to yourself, but to the royal house. As the only child of the king, you can’t allow yourself any mistakes, not when even the barest twitch of your fingers is scrutinized. 

When Gojo offers to escort you back to your chambers at the end of the night, you swallow down the desire to agree. His eyes are hopeful, mirroring your own expression. It could be like back then, when you were children, running through the halls of the grand palace without a care in the world. Except you know you can never return to the halcyon days of your childhood, before your mother died, before his mother disappeared, before everything went wrong. You try not to let the disappointment on his face bother you when you allow the knight your father sent to bring you back to your rooms instead. 

You attribute the strange feeling you get in the morning to the leftover melancholy of last night. Sunlight trickles across your face lazily, not enough to raise you from your bed but just bright enough to remind you that morning was here. 

You’ve never slept long enough for the sun to warm your face while you were still entangled in your sheets before. The window faces your bed at such an awkward angle that the sun has to be high in the sky before it can light across your pillows. 

Usually a maid wakes you by now if you aren’t up already. Where were they? 

A gentle knock at the door only makes you more apprehensive. It can’t be Utahime. You know the sound of her steps. The pacing is stilted, awkward, as if whoever was behind the door was nervous. 

“Hello?”

“Oh, princess!” Definitely nervous. Not a voice you can recognize. A new maid, perhaps? But why would they-

The door bursts open. You scream as a cloaked figure lunges at you. She throws herself on top of you, trying to pin you to the bed so she can run you through with the knife she has raised in her left hand. 

She’s crying. “You weren’t supposed to be awake!”

Crying and angry. Fluffy white down bursts into the air, obscuring your vision as she stabs a pillow so brutally it vomits its contents. She’s not very good, which explains her terror. Unfortunately, you aren’t very good either, and you’re pinned underneath her. Thrashing doesn’t work - at the very least, she’s stronger than you, if badly trained. 

When she finally immobilizes you, she has a growing bruise over her arm from a terrible punch you had thrown, trying to mimic the way Gojo does it. Keeping your thumb outside your fist was all you remembered, and it went wide. You barely managed to hit her, and it came with a cost. She snags your wrist and pins it down. 

The knife plunges towards you. It’s rusty, which terrifies you almost as much as the implement itself. If by some miracle you survived, you’d be at risk of infection. 

Blue eyes flash before you. In this moment, an inch away from death, you wish you had gotten to say goodbye to him. Fear robs you of rationality. You don’t know anything but that you want to see him one more time and feel the warmth of his embrace. 

“Princess, it’s okay. I’m here.” 

You crack an eye open. The girl is no longer visible. The only person leaning over you now has white hair and the characteristic Gojo eyes, impossible to fake. You decide you must’ve died already. This is heaven, where your wishes have been granted. 

Gojo pulls you up. His hands are warm and solid. Vaguely, you realize that you’re trembling with the same nonchalant distance that you would use to catalog the color of the pillows. 

“You’re not dead yet.”

“Did I say that out loud?”

He chuckles. His thumb is rubbing soothing circles into your palm. “No, I could just tell by the look in your eyes.” 

“The girl…”

“Dead.” 

You scramble to the edge of your bed and peek over. Sure enough, she’s lying in a pool of her own blood. Her throat has been cut so surely her head is nearly separated from her body. 

You gag. 

“Wait,” Gojo says. He kneels to tear off her cloak and holds it in front of you. “Here, princess.”

You don’t want to give in to your queasiness, especially not when he himself is so stoic, so you shake your head. More insistently, he pushes it towards you. 

“It’s only natural,” he soothes. “I’m used to this. You’ve never seen a dead body before.”

“Just come here,” you say weakly. “No, actually. I’ll come to you.” 

“Give me a second,” he says, dropping to his knees. Under the bed, he retrieves your silk slippers. He slips them onto your feet gently, standing when he’s finished with his task. 

Obligingly, he waits as you gingerly step over the girl. When your slipper threatens to dip into the red stain spreading across your floor, he simply grabs you underneath the armpits and lifts you over it. 

Even though it’s a horrific scene, you can’t look away. Her face is frozen in a still mask. Bile fills your stomach. Gojo gently turns your head in another direction with two fingers, the touch delicate. “Don’t look.” 

“I think I’m going to be sick.” 

“I told you not to restrain yourself,” he says disapprovingly.

“You’re not- you’re-“ You can’t figure out the right way to finish your sentence. “Does it really get that easy?” 

His laugh is short and brutal. “Easy? I didn’t even think about it. All I know how to do is kill. I don’t mind it, for you.” 

You shake your head. There’s nothing to say, with a body between you and blood pooling around both your shoes, but still, your heart aches. You had known him when he was a boy. It would always be hard to see him with calluses where once his hands had been chubby and soft. 

He chucks you under the chin, the gesture fleetingly affectionate. “Don’t be so despondent, princess. I’m glad to do it. That’s what knights are for.” 

Knights and maids, all meant to lay down their life or other lives for you at your convenience. Utahime was too loyal to have let an assassin into your chambers by choice. Your breath catches. It concerns him that you’re teetering into upset again, just when he’s calmed you down. 

“Satoru, is Iori-“ The thought is too horrible. You can’t finish it. 

“She’s not dead,” he says. 

Noticeably, he doesn’t say that she’s alright. 

Utahime will be scarred forever. They found her slumped at the bottom of the stairs, her body dumped unceremoniously after they stole her from outside your bedroom. A massive gash opened her right cheek up, crossing just slightly over her nose bridge. 

You almost can’t bear to look at her. Not because her scar makes her hideous - far from it. Utahime will always be beautiful to you. The scar is only a reminder of how you’ve failed her. 

You’re a princess without any power.  All you can do is fuss over her after the fact, unable to change the past. 

“Princess,” she hisses, jerking away from you for the third time in as many minutes. “You must stop! I’m your lady-in-waiting, not the other way around.” 

“You got hurt for me,” you say, hands balled helplessly at your side. You refuse to touch her more aggressively, for fear of aggravating her wound. The bandages wrapped around her cheek are an ever present reminder of how much she’s sacrificed for you. So are the whispers. The looks. She holds her head high, acting as if it doesn’t bother her. 

“I was glad to do it. I didn’t want to be shipped off to some far away baron anyway. Be grateful,” she cracks a smile you don’t feel. “I certainly am. At least I could still join the church, if anything.” 

Why do the people around you insist on destroying themselves for your benefit? 

“You don’t need a baron.” Loyally, you vow, “I’ll take care of you for the rest of your life.”

“Be careful, my lady. Some would take that as a marriage proposal, and then I’d have twice as many death threats.”

“I’d protect you.”

“You, princess? I doubt that,” Gojo calls. 

You’ve been watching the knights move in and out of the arena from your vantage point on the royal balcony, but very few of them have dared to address you, much less speak to you so casually. They’re all too focused on the tourney you’re set to watch this afternoon. Only he would be so familiar with you and so unconcerned about the sparring, knowing his chances. 

Utahime lets out an aggressive sigh with no regard as to whether or not Gojo could hear her. In fact, she’d probably prefer it if he had overheard. Gojo, for his part, ignores the chance to antagonize her for once in his life in order to focus on you.  

“You know, my lady, I’ve heard an interesting rumor going around.” 

You walk to the edge of the balcony and peer over the railing. Utahime gasps in fear and grabs onto your petticoats, afraid that you’ll tip over the fencing. “Go on, Sir Gojo,” you say. 

“If a fair damsel grants a knight her favor, he’ll fight ten times as well. Twenty, even. And all the more so if it’s the princess, who everyone knows is the fairest in the land.”

Unwillingly, a smile twitches to life upon your lips. “Is that so?”

“Won’t you grant your most loyal knight a token of your affection?”

“Don’t,” Utahime gripes. “What has he done to deserve it?”

A scrap of pale blue fabric flutters in the light breeze, reminiscent of doves. Gojo catches the ribbon you’ve loosed from your hair, his fist enclosed in armor. He brings it to his lips for a chaste kiss he can’t place upon you. The entire time, his eyes are on yours, searching. 

“I’ll win this whole thing,” he says. “I’ll defeat every knight here for you.” 

The trumpets blow, calling the contestants. He’ll be wanted. Utahime shakes you lightly as he leaves your sight. “Get yourself together,” she says sternly. 

“But mama, I love him!” You joke. 

Her frown can’t last in the face of your teasing smile. She fixes the lace on your sleeve and collar, though they’re hardly ruffled. She can’t help herself. It’s her second nature to dote on you. 

“Ah, my princess,” she sighs. “You worry me.” 

You poke her uninjured cheek, trying to get her to smile. “It’s not me. You worry too much.”

Another voice cuts in. “I feel the same way sometimes, my dear Lady Utahime, but I trust no one more than you. Her mother left her to your capable hands, after all.” 

Your father has arrived. Utahime smiles as the king kisses her cheek, but you can’t. You know he means it lightheartedly, but it galls you all the more that he says it so blithely. When your mother fell ill, Utahime had been the one who took charge of looking after you. 

Not your father. 

Not your only living parent, the man who was supposed to feel all the closer to you for your loss. Instead, he pushed you away. 

You knew you weren’t being fair. 

The king had been wracked with grief over the passing of his beloved wife. Along with his other royal duties, he couldn’t possibly have been expected to watch over an infant as well. You know better than anyone the toll the crown takes on a man. Stewardship of this land asks a heavy price. It’s not an easy role. 

No, you can’t blame your father for choosing the country. It’s his duty, as it is yours.

You only wish it hadn’t been Utahime’s burden to carry instead. She was just a few years older, a child still when she had raised another child. In many ways, she had been a mother to you. Only now that you’ve grown older than she had been back then do you understand how much responsibility she had accepted at such a young age. 

Your father turns to you. “Are you enjoying the tournament?”

“It’s barely started. Only the squires have been jousting. We haven’t seen any of the real knights yet.” 

“Those squires will become knights themselves one day. Watch carefully, and you may discover a treasure worth keeping.”

As he speaks, you finally find someone worth watching, as if your father only had to say it to cause it to happen. A boy with rosy hair lunges towards his opponent. He disarms him and forces him to the ground - only to offer him his hand in exchange.  

The other squire hesitates. Doubt crosses his face. Finally, he accepts the proffered hand like someone expecting an attack at any minute, but all the other boy does is pull him to his feet and dust him off. He’s more honorable than most of the knights of the realm you know, too focused on humiliating their opponents to flaunt their own glory. 

Your father doesn’t notice your distraction. He’s still speaking. You bring yourself back to the conversation just in time to hear him say, “Sukuna, the King of the Curses.”

“Sorry?” You laugh. 

“It’s no laughing matter, I’m afraid,” your father says gravely. “He’s the ruler of the Western Kingdom, the land where the sun never sets. Perhaps he’s grown tired of his arid land and seeks gentler climes, for his invasions have earned him the title ‘King of Curses’.” 

Utahime’s lip curls in disgust. “King of Cruelty is more like it. I’ve heard of what he’s done to his prisoners. That man has no honor.”

“None,” your father agrees, “and yet it is necessary not to antagonize him. We are small if prosperous. We can’t afford it.”

Utahime looks as if she wants to speak, but she holds her tongue. She’s always been good at navigating the court. Trained under her, you wait as well. Taking your cues from her is something you’ve done since you were a child.

“Yes,” your father says, his eyes distant. He’s ruminating over something he won’t share. “He can’t be provoked. The representative he sent us for this tourney must be carefully attended to.” 

That representative, Uraume, doesn’t fight like any knight you know. Their sword is wider than most of those found in your country, and half as tall as a man. Precision is lost in favor of brutality. They wreak havoc with the brutality of a butcher, tearing through the ranks of your best and strongest. Of course, he’s not the only strong fighter. There are other knights to watch as well. 

“That Lady Tsukumo is doing quite well for a woman,” your father notes in surprise. “What prodigious talent. I don’t think her house has produced a fighter like that in years.”

“She’s better than half your knights,” you remind him. “Lady Tsukumo already defeated most of her bracket.” 

“Yes, yes,” your father laughs. “You know I don’t mean it like that. I’m simply admiring her.” 

As the day progresses, clear victors emerge in each division of the tournament. Uraume is one of them. Gojo is another. 

They placed him against Getou for his penultimate match, knowing the crowd would go wild for a contest between not only two of the best knights of the realm, but sworn brothers. Although Getou is better than most, Gojo is more of a natural disaster than a real, human adversary. At the end of their round, Getou smiles even as Gojo brings him to his knees. 

The next round is even more hotly anticipated than Getou and Gojo’s. 

Gojo strides into the center of the arena with the classic arrogance he’s known for. He delights in riling the crowd up. They cheer louder and louder on each circuit he laps around the arena on his silver stallion, pale as moonlight. By the last, they’re nearly delirious with passion for him. 

Uraume has no such pretenses. They’re a cold creature, as frigid as they come. 

It matters not. Gojo beats them so easily that it can only be described as disrespectful. He rides past Uraume and thrusts the hilt of his sword into their stomach with such force they fall off their horse. Gojo dismounts casually. He hadn’t even used his blade. He flips Uraume onto their back with a boot and steps onto their breastplate, pinning them in place. His sword hovers underneath their chin, a whisper away from death. “Yield,” he says pleasantly. 

You, remembering your fathers speech about Sukuna’s chosen representative from that morning, glance to the side. He’s smiling as gently as ever. Underneath his cloak, where only you and Utahime can see, his hands clenched so tightly his knuckles have turned white. 

After the match, you recognize one of the men rushing Uraume off to be one of your father’s most trusted advisors. He must be doing damage control, but then again, when is he not when Gojo’s around? 

Your father stands, as composed as if he had never been upset in the first place. You envy that self-control. You’ve always aspired to your father. In your eyes, he was the perfect ruler - perhaps because he was the one who taught you what a ruler should be. 

Gojo waits in the center of the arena. He’s beautiful as always, as fierce as an avenging angel. There’s a fine sweat beading at his temples in a way that makes you want to wipe it off with your handkerchief, but you abstain, knowing thousands are watching. 

Gojo has no such scruples. 

When it’s time for him to be awarded his laurel crown, he kneels - not to your father, but to you. A gasp rises from the crowd. You stifle your own shock. Here, where every sign of weakness is clearly visible and easily taken advantage of, you can’t reveal that this wasn’t planned. The royal family’s control over its retainers must appear immaculate - even if Gojo had always been uncontrollable. 

Wordlessly, your father passes you the laurel. You know something is brewing. He can only tolerate Gojo’s outlandish behavior so many times. But this isn’t the place to worry about your father’s incumbent wrath, so you take over the duties of honoring the victor. It’s easy. You’ve seen your father do it enough times to be able to replicate it in your sleep. 

Gojo rises from his knees, a hungry smile on his face. “I told you I’d win.” 

“That you did,” you reply noncommittally, trying to figure out how you’re going to discreetly get him out of the arena without your father attempting to try him for treason. 

He frowns. Knowing him and the type of maneuvers he’s likely to pull, you put a respectable amount of distance between the two of you as you mark his brow in gold paint. 

When you grasp his hand to lift his arm into the air, he presses something into your palm. Years of sharing secrets and playing pretend at espionage have trained you not to flinch. When you lower your enjoined hands, you slip the shred of paper he’s passed you into your pocket. 

People are cheering. You notice with warmth that he looks heroic, like he’s stepped right out of an old legend. Your father doesn’t seem to agree. 

Arguments between the two of you used to be few and far between, but lately it seems like you can’t do anything right. You’d forgotten what it was like to retreat to your parents’ bedroom for a scolding. It hadn’t happened since you were a child, yet here you were again, studying the fabric of the draperies to avoid eye contact with your father, just like you had when you were younger. 

“He wasn’t trying to be disrespectful,” you start. But that’s not true, and you know it. So you try again. “He wasn’t trying to cause problems. He cares about the kingdom, father. He was just trying to show off his - our - strength.” 

“Gojo is a liability.” How easily your father casts him off, marks him as defective. He’s always been like that - clinical in his appraisal. You lacked that precise, indifferent ruthlessness. You’ve tried. 

“He’s a good man, a good knight. House Gojo has always been loyal to us, father. Remember his mother? Remember Sorashi? She wouldn’t want you to treat her son like this.”

Your father flinches. First comes sorrow, then, anger. “Don’t speak to me about Sorashi.”

“You can’t just pretend like they never existed! Sorashi, my mother-“

“Child, you are testing my patience dangerously.” 

You fall silent, hating yourself for it. Always a child. Never someone worth listening to. 

“You don’t understand anything,” he says more gently. 

“I don’t understand anything because you won’t tell me anything!” 

“You’re a princess,” he snarls. “You’re not supposed to know anything!”

You reel back, stunned. You had always been afraid that this was how your father truly felt. 

“You have no sons, so it’s me or no one else.” Disgust fills you at the fear in your own voice. Weak. Pathetic. After all these years, the lessons your father gave you still haven’t sunk in. Perhaps he’s right, and you’re not fit for the throne after all. You’re still begging for what you want instead of demanding it like it’s what you deserve. A prince wouldn’t act like this, but you’re not a prince - only a girl who was never taught how to rule. 

He throws up his hands in exasperation. “I didn’t say anything about sons. See, you’re too young and inexperienced. This is why I won’t let you in yet. You’re not ready to rule.”

“But I will?”

He gives you a wan smile. He’s tired. Guilt seeps through you. These days, all you do is fight. You miss the times when it felt like you had worked together. At the end of all of it, you love your father. You hate that it’s been like this. 

“All in time, my child. I love you, I really do. But you’re not ready.” 

Mutiny curls under your tongue. You’re not ready because he waited too long, hoping for a male heir until your mother died. By then, it was too late for you to catch up on years of lessons you should’ve had. Regardless of what he says, you know how he feels. You were never the one he wanted but-

He’s still your father. When he reaches out to stroke your cheek, a peace offering, you close your eyes against his hand and don’t give voice to your treasonous thoughts. It’s nothing to suffer the humiliation of your status for a while longer. You have all the time in the world to earn your place. 

Your father is right, in the end. You can be patient. 

Back in the privacy of your room, you unfurl Gojo’s note. Gojo’s mother had him trained in elegant cursive that he uses for formal documents and letters. In his messages to you, it degenerates into chicken scratch. It’s a lucky coincidence that it’s all but unreadable to anyone else, making it a code only you can decipher. 

The gardens at midnight. - S. 

Only a place and a time. Is he trying to tempt fate? 

You indulge in the idea of not going, especially since things are already tense with your father. All the way up until the hour you need to leave, you let yourself believe it’s not happening. It’s too risky. People are already suspicious of you as it is. The minute passes, and if you go now, you’ll be late, so you won’t. 

You grab your shawl with a huff of annoyance. You’re going. You were always going to go, from the very moment you got the note. 

You aren’t used to sneaking through hallways you usually glide through. There are several close calls as you make your way closer and closer to the gardens. Multiple times, you’re forced to make a run for the nearest door or drape to hide behind. 

You’re barely two feet away when you’re finally caught. A hand slaps over your mouth before you can scream as someone tugs you into a dark corridor. You kick and lash out, forgetting everything Gojo has taught you in favor of blind violence. 

“Shh,” comes a voice in your ear. “It’s just me.” 

You bite him. 

He hisses and pulls back, shaking out his hand. “What’s wrong with you?” 

“Why would you do that? You scared me!” 

“You’re not careful enough, princess. Did you even notice the maid coming up the left hallway?”

Admittedly, you hadn’t. It’s lucky that he was there to save you. 

Gojo has always been there to protect you. The tension bleeds from your body. You sigh and lean into him. You can’t help it. 

He laughs. “Are you that happy to see me?” 

“If you don’t be quiet, I’ll show you exactly how happy I am.” 

“Come on,” he tugs you out towards the gardens. It’s dangerous, but you follow him anyway. Being with Gojo is so threatening not despite his strength, but because of it. You rely on him too easily, trusting him to see you safely through any peril. His very presence is the promise of security. It makes it too easy to relax when he’s with you. 

You expect him to tell you why he called you here, but he remains silent when he tugs you down on the bench next to him. “Satoru?” 

“Here,” he says, opening his hands. A single crushed violet sits on his palm. You raise it to your eye. It’s all the more fragrant because it has been mangled, the delicate petals bruised to release the scent into the air. 

Gojo’s mouth lifts in a smile. “Sorry,” he says. “I didn’t realize.” 

“You really know how to win a girl’s heart,” you tease. 

“Hopefully I know how to win over her father’s too.”

You freeze. 

“If not marriage, then knighthood. Let me be yours, in whatever way I can have you.” 

“You have me,” you tell him. “You always have.”

You don’t know how to answer such devotion. Besides the obvious political ramifications of being wedded to Gojo when your marriage is meant to be a bargaining chip used for the sake of your kingdom, you don’t want it. Not like this. 

Gojo has been your dedicated shield for so long, the two of you have forgotten a life where he wouldn’t give up everything to protect you. He’d do anything for you - even that which he should hold sacred for himself. His very body is littered with scars that he’s received on your behalf. How much more can you take from him? 

Does Gojo really want to marry you or does he want to protect you? Will he play the part of the devoted servant for the rest of his life? 

“You don’t have to…” You realize you don’t know how to say it. Or that you don’t want to. Selfishly, a part of you can’t bear to release him from the oath he gave you when you were children, though he couldn’t have known. Neither of you could have understood what it meant for him to kneel at your feet and swear his life to you. It had all been in good fun, the way children understand things. “I don’t want you to- Oh, Satoru. You don’t owe me anything. You’ve done enough for me.” 

For a second, your imagination plays tricks on you. The cobalt of his eyes kindles into a terrifying flame, like the lightning in the town he hails from. It’s as if the draconic blood his ancestors claimed still lives within him. 

He continues as if he hadn’t heard you. “I’m going to ask your father tomorrow. I want to be your dedicated knight; I won’t wait any longer. I’ve waited enough.” 

His pushiness feeds your annoyance. You cling to it, preferring it to the dreadful hopelessness inside of you. The right thing is not always the easy thing. Gojo deserves his freedom after wasting his youth on keeping you safe, yet letting him go feels as difficult as willingly driving a nail through your hand. You want to cling to him forever, reassured by his strength. 

“Don’t,” you say, trying to sound firm. 

“At the ceremony,” he says determinedly. “When he gives me captainship in the army. He’ll have to say yes if I ask him then.” 

“Satoru, please-” Your voice wobbles embarrassingly, and you have to pause. Silently, you beg your tears not to fall. The way he disarms you is humiliating. You turn away, but Gojo understands. Years of watching after you has taught him a lot. He bandaged the scrapes that you refused to cry over and avenged your honor after you pretended your pride hadn't been hurt. He can see right through you. “Please don’t.” 

You see the frustration on his face. He’s not a man used to holding himself back, and yet he does. 

“It’s alright,” he says. “We can wait.” 

It’s just another number to add to the tally of favors you owe him. “It’s not that I don’t want you to be my guard,” you say in a small voice. “I just-” 

“I know. Though I do think the king will ask me anyway, so this is all pointless.” He looks away. “I just wanted you to- Nevermind.” 

“Really?” Doubt colors your voice. 

“I’m the strongest. Who else would your father ask to protect you but me?” 

“He doesn’t like you,” you point out. “No, he does, but it’s a very begrudging like. I don’t get it.” 

It makes you smile, thinking about the way your father can’t stand Gojo but won’t allow anyone else to speak poorly of him. He’s still a Gojo after all, no matter how much trouble he causes your father, and your father loves Gojos. The royal house has always held their house dear. They had been close for decades. Always, they were something to the other, no matter what form that something took. 

“There you are,” Gojo murmurs. His fingers trace the arc of your mouth. “So pretty.” 

You glare at him through tears. “And whose fault is it that I cried?” 

“Your father’s?” 

You scoff. “You see? This is why he doesn’t like you.” 

Gojo looks at you seriously. “I’ll get down on both knees and beg him for it if I have to.” 

“Don’t do that,” you gasp. 

“I don’t care,” he says. “You’re what’s most important to me. More than pride, more than honor.” 

You look at the crushed violet in your hand. 

Who else but Gojo? 

He breaks you down so easily. You press the flower back into his palm. “I know you’ll do what’s right.” 

His eyes soften. He leans closer. 

“Gojo,” comes a voice. “What are you doing in the gardens this late at night?” 

You stiffen. The owner of the voice is drawing closer. 

“Do you trust me?” Gojo asks, as cool and collected as ever. 

You nod, fearing your voice will give you away. He cups your face in his hands and ever so delicately presses a light kiss to your cheek, tilting his head towards you. Does it look like a real kiss from afar? Did he mean it to? 

“Stop,” he tells the man behind you. “Don’t come any closer. You’ll scare her.” 

“A new plaything?” Asks Yaga. “I’m not so scary, am I?” 

Gojo notices you tremble harder as the voice registers. Lord Commander Yaga is close to the King. As the captain of the kingsguard, he could ruin everything.

Gojo lifts a hand to the back of your head and presses it gently towards his shoulder, obscuring your face. He pulls you towards him, arranging your legs around his waist. A soothing hand traces a warm path up and down your back. It calms you as much as it shames you. You’ve never been this close to any man, not even him, and now you’re cuddling only for the sake of protecting your secrets. 

“The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard is a terrifying man, or so I’ve heard,” he says casually, as if the two of you aren’t trapped in an extremely compromising position. As if your father wouldn’t demand his head on a pike if Yaga realized who it was. 

“Just escort her to her room when you’re done,” Yaga says gruffly. “I don’t need to tell you to be a gentleman, do I?” 

“No, sir,” Gojo says cheerfully. 

That night, you breathe a sigh of relief. Yaga gave no sign he recognized you. He acted as if he normally would upon encountering any soldier of his on a late night escapade, profoundly disinterested and deeply desirous to get away. Only in the morning do you begin to doubt your deception. 

[madwomansapologist]

the show must go on | buggy

Masterlist | Rules | Taglist | Library | More Buggy | AO3

synopsis: When he captured the crew that has stolen from him, Buggy expected a lot of things. His precious map, his ship back, maybe even some berries. Buggy for sure didn't expect to be allured by your scared eyes.

warnings: smut. bondage. groping. spiting. edging. oral sex. penetration. tw: use of 'prettygirl'. same female!reader oc from nami (you can read as the stories being conected or not, your choice bae).

The chains were too heavy for you to break free. They had your ankles glued to the wooden chair' legs, arms tied behind it. The more you struggle, the more your muscles ache and your wrists burn. Your eyes sting with forming tears, and the lights in the mirror in front of you made your vision blur.

It all happened so fast. The poisoned mist, a caused fainting, the opening act of that terrified circus. Nami running away. She left you and the others, but you were truly sad that they catch her. You thought she would be able to escape. You wanted that to happen.

After that, Buggy's crew were even faster.

Zoro was imprisoned in what looked like a storage room. Nami was dragged there too. Pirates found ropes, probably to torture Luffy somehow. You tried to run, but you knew it wouldn't work out. You ended up locked on a old dressing room with a pirate watching over you.

The only thing you could do was to remain silent and keep on looking at yourself in the mirror. Until Luffy screamed.

Cold sweat spread across your skin, but soon Luffy's adorable laugh relieved you. What was amazing for you was a reason for your watcher to ran towards the main stage.

And all you needed was to be alone for a moment.

You bet money that Zoro is strong enough to break out of the chains in your place. You can almost hear the iron shattering. And Nami is stealth, you know for sure that she has something with her to break free from anywhere. But you also have something they don't: a screwdriver.

You still can't believe how his crew didn't check your pockets.

That's not the first time you hear about Buggy. He's a wanted pirate, known by his sadism and a delusion that you still not sure if it's an act or not. He clearly have no respect for the people living on this island, or your crew, not even his crew for that matter.

You guess he assumed you didn't represent any threat. And he was absolutely right. You can't put on a fight with him. You're not a swordsman, a trained thief, someone that ate a devil's fruit. But if you break free and manage to help your crew, than all those things won't fucking matter.

It was difficult to handle the screwdriver with your back turned, without seeing what you were doing and with your hands still tied, but that didn't stop you. Luffy would rather die than surrender, which means someone needs to save his ass.

With the incessant clicks of metal against metal, you imagined the ways Buggy would torture him. And then he would go after Zoro. Nami. You. How would he tear you apart? In which ways would he break your soul?

Steps startled you. In a second you hid the screwdriver and pretented that your chains weren't lighter than before. You looked back at the mirror, the lights momentarily blinding you, and put your head to work.

With your watcher back, you won't be able to free yourself. But maybe you can persuade him. Lure him into helping. That you can do.

You thought he would do like before: sit in one of the armchairs and act like you weren't there. Instead, you felt hands on your shoulders. You shivered, but they tightened your skin and stopped you from squirming any further.

Did he noticed what you're trying to do? Maybe there is a mirror you can't see, something that let him observe everything you did. You held the screwdriver stronger. He's right behind you, it can't be that difficult to hurt him.

"Poor thing. This wasn't how you expected your day to end, was it? Tied up, alone in a strange place, helpless." You foght the burning in your eyes and tried to focus your vision. Even though you struggled to see, you knew who was behind you. You recognized the voice the moment he opened his mouth. "Not at all my intention. Althought every show gets better with a damsel in distress."

You grind your teeth. Not just kidnapping and immobilizing you, Buggy also wanted to humiliate you? You'll show him where he can put all those poisoned words. "Oh, wasn't that your intention? That was quite clear the moment you ordered them to tie me to where I am."

Buggy squeezed your shoulders again, but this time it felt more like a massage than an act of control. He pout, softening his eyes. "But can you blame me? Your gang stole something from me."

In another situation, that touch would be comforting. Welcomed. But tied to that chair, not even the most beautiful words would be able to have any effect on your body. "But you weren't the one who stole the map, were you?"

Buggy leaned in, his face beside yours. Now you could see him perfectly. The condescending smile, the accusing eyes, the unstoppable mocking tone. His skin was so warm. "And I will get it back", he whispered against your ears, ignoring your question. "So why don't you help me, sweetie?"

"You can get fucked", you snapped. You turned your face, looking at him straight on instead of using the mirror. You gave him a sneer. "I'm not saying anything."

"Geez", Buggy smiled back. Or maybe he didn't. It was difficult to say with all the makeup on his face. He touched your cheeks, you tried to turn your face away from him but he held you by the chin. "Guess your time alone has left you in a bad mood."

He squeezed your face, his nails scratching your skin. Buggy continued to act as if nothing unusual was happening. Maybe for him that was commonplace. "I saw the things you created. All spread out on the ship your little friend stole from me. That means they're mine, right?"

Your struggle in the chair, but he held you in place. An animalistic sound escaped your lips, unintelligible because of Buggy and the anger you felt at the mere mention of losing your inventions.

"Losing all your instruments, your tools, the progress reports," Buggy said this as if he was reading the ride list at an amusement park. "And the inventions, of course."

In a display of strength and agility, Buggy easily turned your seat. Now facing him head on, his face so close to yours, you held your breath. "Or you could join my crew."

You spat on his face. "I'd rather die than be one of your freaks."

It was a risky choice. A move that could go very wrong. But you needed to make sure Buggy wouldn't notice the sound of your hands going back to work on the chains.

He wiped his face with his thumb, snorting at you. Then came silence. Just his eyes staring into yours, your hands working, your heart beating loudly against your ears.

Buggy leaned over, his face inches from yours. You could almost feel his nose against yours. "There are certain things you don't do with a host. Things that cannot be ignored."

He grabbed your hair, his fingers brushing your scalp, and squeezed. You were forced to look up, your neck burning. "Now open your mouth. Lick it clean."

"Fuck you", was your answer.

Buggy tugged on your hair, you felt your scalp burning, and he stuck his wet fingers in your mouth. He didn't wait for you to open up, he just made them cross your lips and press your tongue down.

You could have bitten his fingers. Struggled somehow. Instead, you remained still. If you were a great liar you would have believed it was out of fear of Buggy. Or because it was better to focus on the chains than on beating him in any way. But you weren't, so truth has become visible and palpable in you.

The long fingers in your mouth, the digits sinking against your tongue, his cold skin. And his lack of care, of delicacy, made you feel so full. You salivated against Buggy's fingers.

You liked it, and it surprised you more than anyone else.

But not only visible in your sharp gaze, and palpable in your wet mouth, the truth also became audible. When Buggy tried to take his fingers out of your mouth, a moan escaped with it.

So maybe Buggy was more surprised than you. And its been a long time since he last got surprised.

"Oh," Buggy licked his lips. He let go of your hair, your neck finally relieving. Buggy bent down, sitting on his heels and looking at you from his height. Now he got a smile on his face. You're pretty fucking sure he has one. "I see it now."

He slid his dry hand over your cheek, caressing it with an affection that surprised you. You almost lean on his touch. Almost.

His hand slid from your cheek to your waist. Buggy squeezed you, almost tighter than the chains you're trying to free yourself from. But his touch didn't bother you. It didn't make you feel trapped.

Buggy was that nightmare that occupied the minds of anyone who ever heard of his exploits. But there, crouched in front of you, you didn't think about any of that. You didn't think about anything at all.

"Pretty face, sharp mind. I won't get any answer out of you," Buggy whispered. His nails scratched your knees, moving up your thighs in an excruciatingly slow motion. Buggy stopped at the hem of your skirt, and played with the fabric. "So tell me, inventor, do you want to have a good time?"

"You kidnapped me,” you replied. "Arrested my friends. Tortured one of them."

"He didn't even cry", Buggy's nails lightly scratched the back of your knee. He threw the hat away, you heard the sound of something else falling. "And the past is the past."

You swallowed hard. "I can't do this."

"I will be your dirty secret", Buggy kissed your knee. The kiss went further on your skin, giving you goosebumps. "C'mon, pretty girl. You really gonna say no? I'm on my knees."

"You're not on your knees."

Without hesitation, Buggy knelt in front of him. He squeezed your waist, mischievous eyes staring into yours. "Say you don't want this."

At some point the truth would escape you. "Be quick", Buggy was sure he saw flames behind your eyes. "I still have to escape from here."

“Ah, pretty girl,” Buggy chuckled against your thighs. His laughter seemed to go through his body. "You won't escape me."

It wasn't a threat. For you, it landed as some kind of promise.

"Just wait and see", you promised him back.

Buggy lift your skirt, revealing you to him. He glared at you, almost making you shy away. Of course you couldn't move, but it still made you want to. His gaze rose to your eyes, and this time the smile was more natural. Almost a hidden line in all that red makeup.

Slowly, looking you in the eyes, Buggy licked from your entrance to the top of your pussy. Buggy seemed to be someone who was insatiable, but his calmness made you shiver.

It made you feel like this was going to take longer than you imagined. It made you feel like Buggy was going to devour you until there was nothing left.

And so he did. Buggy calmly played with you, got to know your body, found every nerve and got lost in them. You could feel yourself melting against his face. Turning into this brainless creature because of his touch.

When he got tired of torturing your lips, Buggy focused on your soaked entrance. He stuck his tongue into you, finding every nerve, and fucked you with it. You felt yourself grinding against his face, his nose pressing against your clit just the right way.

And when you were about to reach your peak, he pulled away.

"Do I need to wait more?" Buggy mocked you. You grunted, making Buggy laugh. "Anytime now you gonna magically break free?"

You lost count of how many times Buggy repeated this. He would take you to the gates of heaven only to bring you back to earth. It was torturous. Intoxicating. But one thing you can't say: that it didn't give you the time you needed.

Buggy pulled away, leaving bites on his thigh. "How much longer will I need to wait?"

At your limit, you didn't even bother to tell you. You just let go of the chains that previously held you, making Buggy's eyes widen, and pushed him with your feet. He fell onto his back, his face terrifyingly staring as you moved, his body propped up on his elbows. "How did you-"

You threw yourself at him, pulling his pants down. Buggy squirmed in your hands, feeling your fingers pressing against his cock. "Magic", you answered him.

Buggy would believe on anything you said to him if you kept on touching him like that.

Soaking wet, your pussy didn't need anything else to accommodate his cock. You felt it stretching you, making you feel so full, and heard Buggy's wit comments turning into desperate whimpers. He was just as sensitive as you. Just as needy as you.

Leaning on Buggy, your hands against his chest supporting you, you bounced on his cock.

And you didn't have the same patience as him. That wet sound, that impure and malicious sound, echoed through the dressing room. Their moans, Buggy's still surprised whispers, filled the entire room. For a moment you thought the whole world would be able to hear you.

To hear how good it was to be torn apart by Buggy.

But as Buggy said, he would be your dirty secret. A nasty memory about something you shouldn't have wanted so bad, but that you did it anyway. Buggy would be someone you shouldn't have been with, but fuck you would do it again if you ever have the chance.

And when you reached your so desired orgasm, when Buggy felt compressed by you warm wall and cum inside you, Buggy was the person you left whimpering on the floor so you could help your crew.

Little did you knew you carried a part of him with you.

if you enjoyed, please reblog! i promise it makes a difference ♡

@ madwomansapologist.tumblr.

[tozettastone]

can we get Maddie and Sakura meeting?

We can get Maddie and Sakura meeting. There was meant to be a little more to this but it does meet the brief.

This will make the most sense if you happen to be up to date on current Maddie lore but it only makes real reference to this short. (https://www.tumblr.com/tozettastone/755394950148096000)

---

Maddie preferred not to take jobs referred by her father. The first and only time she had, she'd managed to get her throat cut for her efforts. (She'd been poisoned, too, and the memory of trying to vomit up bile from her empty stomach through the massive slice in her throat had really lingered.)

Once burnt, twice shy and all that.

Unfortunately, what she was doing now, tracking Takahashi Ichiro through the most miserable season in Fire Country, wasn't a job "referred" by Kakuzu, exactly. Rather, he'd spotted Takahashi from a distance while recovering from, like, you know, death? And then he'd imperiously set Maddie the task of tracking his bounty while he staggered off to collect another four hearts in case he had to fight him.

At the time, Kakuzu had simply presented her with a page from his bingo book over tea.

He pointed. "This one."

His fingertips were bare, and they were still kind of black. Some of his nails had fallen off. It turned out that even a ragdoll monster needed a little chakra circulation. He was damaged.

Not as damaged as Hidan, mind. Hidan had been sewn back together as neatly as Maddie knew how, but he looked like Frankenstein's monster and was still spending most of his time either asleep or simmering himself in Maddie's bathtub. He complained about the cold a lot, but she had the sense that the cold was more psychological than physical. Sure, he'd lost a lot of blood and been in the cold earth. But he'd also been cut into pieces and buried alive in the dark. That one was going to leave a mark.

His current state did make the farmhouse quiet, though.

Maddie caught the bingo book page under one finger, careful not to touch Kakuzu, and slid it across the table.

Takahashi Ichiro was the first born son of a ninja family in Mist. No bloodline limit, flawless service record, started to show symptoms of what might be diplomatically called 'losing faith in village administration,' in his early twenties. He'd been a missing-nin for five years and groups of hunters sent after him had typically turned up stiff and blue-faced in a river.

He was a swordsman, a water technique master, and an elite front line combat specialist. He had stupid spiky hair and a birth mark on his jaw.

"A jounin, huh... He looks like he might be pretty scary," she said, dubious. She could feel the chakra signature Kakuzu meant though, a big watery knot off on the next nearest island of Wave. Bold of him to come back to what was nominally Mist territory, but the big bridge meant Leaf got to contest it. Maybe safer than four or five years ago, huh?

"You can't beat him. So don't get caught," Kakuzu advised, with zero sympathy.

"...Right." Maddie hesitated. She felt like, actually, Kakuzu owed her a lot more than she owed him, right now. But... he was still recovering from getting a rasengan to the face and lying around with no heart for two days before she crammed a new one into his body, so he wasn't at his best. And she could — technically — do this task, as long as nothing went wrong.

She was sentimental enough that she didn't want to disappoint her ailing father. Somehow.

God.

"Um... Sure," she said weakly, leaving Kakuzu looking as satisfied as he ever did.

And so Maddie left her cosy farmhouse in Wave and followed Takahashi at a distance of about six miles, cautiously pacing her away along the outer edge of her own sensing range. Whenever she got the opportunity, she left a message for Kakuzu with whatever dubious contact was available at the local town or outpost, keeping him apprised of the bounty's location as she went.

And she'd been at it for six weeks now, because Kakuzu was taking his sweet fucking time.

And, horribly, Takahashi had just stopped dicking around on the border of Wind Country. As far as Maddie could tell, he'd picked up a job that was taking him not just into Fire Country, but on a beeline for Leaf Village.

It was a terrible job, as far as she was concerned. Takahashi was not always within six miles of a comfortable inn, and the ones he WAS within six miles of were frequently too expensive for Maddie to justify spending the money, even though it was the beginning of winter and there was frost every morning. The foliage was dying back in this part of Fire Country, making foraging a pain in her ass. The rain dripped miserably from her nose as she trudged through the countryside, keeping Takahashi well within her range.

Maddie had spent a very long time living in the wilderness, but she'd had a permanent camp, which came with luxuries like a cute lean-to supported by trees, and a strong knowledge of where to lay her traps. Now, she tripped in the mud, viewed the towering Hashirama trees with a grim suspicion, and had to set new snares and hope for the best every bloody night.

Do you love your dad this much? she asked, every morning when she opened her eyes to grey skies, skeletal trees, numb toes and the vague sense of Takahashi's chakra signature travelling southwest, inexorably towards Leaf. This much? Like... Really? Is he this loveable?

Since the answers to these questions were up in the air, the sunk cost fallacy carried her forward.

She tried keeping herself warm with the thoughts of how many new techniques she could wheedle out of Kakuzu as payment for services rendered. Historically, he'd been pretty willing to exchange ninjutsu for her help, and while Kakuzu might not have collected techniques like Kakashi or Orochimaru, he'd been an active ninja and a ninjutsu specialist for eighty years. He knew a lot.

That particular morning, Maddie got up, brushed away the frost that had made itself at home on her bedroll — gross — and spent some time moving around and trying to get the blood back into her swollen toes. There was almost certainly a chakra circulation trick that could keep her toes warm overnight, but she didn't know it. Her snares had come up empty, so she ate some strips of dried fish and cheese and warmed up some drinking water.

She felt out Takahashi's chakra. He was still en route to Leaf.

His motives didn't make sense to Maddie. As far as she had heard, Senju Tsunade was running a tighter ship than her predecessor. And Leaf was a big village. Lots of manpower, robust systems, scary kage, you know?

It seemed like suicide.

She rubbed her face. She didn't get it and she didn't like it. But it wasn't her job to get it or like it. She was just tracking the guy. She was ten kilometres away. She was sneaky, and quiet, and probably safe, and... still kind of nervous. What was she meant to do if a Leaf-nin got to Takahashi first? Steal his body? Futilely message Kakuzu, who was likely days away? Ugh.

Because Maddie had chakra to burn, she used the incredibly chakra-inefficient corpse preservation technique on her bedroll to prevent microbial growth, then wicked all the water out of it with a little twist of water-nature chakra. It was relatively clean and bone-dry when she rolled it back up. No matter how miserable the weather was, she still had some advantages — sure, the elements worked hard, but Maddie's chakra tricks worked harder!

The frost turned to water as the sun heated the landscape (heated it infinitesimally, but still, it was above freezing) and by midmorning the terrain had turned to a slippery mix of sucking mud and wet, dead grass. She spent that day using her water-walking skills to make it over the muck, steadily following her quarry across the countryside. She didn't go far that day — he wasn't that far from Leaf Village itself now. But his stopping early at least made her hopeful that he wasn't going to go in.

Maddie paused at the familiar town of Tanzaku-gai to send another message to Kakuzu, using one of the messenger birds held by the temple to get it to another sleazy contact in the capital. (She had no particular fear that any of the monks might recognise her from her escapades five years ago. Hidan had... addressed that problem.) Despite Tsunade's depredations, the old castle had bounced back as a tourist attraction, and the owners had taken the perspective that, hey, now it was the ruin of an ancient castle destroyed by a really famous ninja! Wow! But at this time of year, the town, which was usually colourful and filled with tourists, was instead grey and brown and deserted. It was hard to get people drinking in the streets and gambling when they were freezing and ankle deep in mud, she guessed.

Maddie had received no response to any of her messages so far, and she knew Kakuzu was perfectly capable of getting her one, no matter where she was.

So she gritted her teeth and kept following.

Takahashi took her in a broad and unhappy circle around Leaf Village. She had no idea what he was doing. Was he waiting for a particular ninja to emerge so he could collect their bounty? Was he — Christ, was he communicating with the narrative black hole that was Danzo? Who knew about that, really. Shimura Danzo had made no sense to her in the original Naruto manga, and she barely remembered all of what he'd gotten up to now, but over the years she had retained only a powerful impression best summed up as 'some real fucking bullshit.'

With no news from her dad, Maddie kept on the trail. Her nerves steadily deteriorated. Eventually, she knew, she basically had to run into a Leaf ninja. And as far as she knew, there wasn't any rule against strange women with overly developed chakra systems wandering around outside the village, but... like... it didn't look great, did it?

After eight weeks, she decided she had to put an end date on this excursion before the warring sensations of anxiety, misery or boredom ended their grand melee inside her head and the victor finally killed her. She'd give it ten weeks, she decided, and she'd leave immediately if a Leaf ninja showed up to question her. She promptly dropped into a nearby village and sent Kakuzu a message letting him know this.

This message, he responded to at last. Of course.

A chakra monster of thumping black threads stumbled out of copse of evergreens at three in the morning, waking her up and scaring the piss out of her, to deliver his message.

It was one line in aggressive, old-fashioned calligraphy: Twelve weeks.

Kakuzu was, Maddie thought, really fucking pushing it.

She yanked the letter out of the monster's thready little claws and ignored the way its pulse thumped so hard she could feel it in her feet. It was the lightning heart, a thing of crackling static that made her heart beat erratically. At least that meant that he had more than one heart already — she'd given him an earth one.

Fine, she scrawled on the other side of the scrap of paper, in equally aggressive writing, and then she sent the monster packing with a glower and a wave.

It said nothing. They never did.

Twelve weeks. Three months. God. Her face scrunched up in a snarl.

Maddie watched it go, then crawled back into her bedroll in a foul temper and muttered angrily to herself about ungrateful family members instead of sleeping. In the morning, she would get up and find that her hair was a frizzy cloud from all the static.

Twelve weeks. Fine. That wasn't so much worse than ten, anyway, was it? She'd be okay. Twelve weeks.

Naturally, it was week eleven when it all went to shit.

--

"Hey," said a sweet and girlish voice. "Hello? Can you hear me?"

Maddie startled awake.

There was a ninja crouched in the mud a only a few metres away from her. She was an older teen, limbs still a little too long, and her eyes were so green that the colour was noticeable even in the moonlight. The darkness bled most of the colour out of the rest of her, but left the impression of pale but warm tones.

Maddie looked for a forehead protector. It was tied into her hair, but when Maddie shot out of her bedroll she was immediately tall enough to see — it was a Hidden Leaf symbol. Dammit.

The ninja stood up too, but she was pretty short. Maddie had half a foot on her. "Are you okay? You really shouldn't sleep here with just a bedroll, you'll freeze."

Maddie squinted at her. Green eyes. Short hair, tied up with her forehead protector. She had an apron skirt and dark shorts.

Jesus fucking Christ, thought Maddie. That's Haruno Sakura.

She had the chakra pool of a kid, and it was so controlled and placid that it didn't register as any particular affinity to her senses. This was probably why she hadn't woken Maddie from her sound sleep until she'd called out to her. Unlike almost every other ninja on the planet, this girl would almost certainly be able to disappear to Maddie's senses. How unsettling.

"I'm fine," she said, licking her lips nervously. "Thanks for your concern."

Sakura's eyebrows knit together in her forehead. "It's not healthy to let your body get so cold." Yyyeah, Maddie was pretty aware of that. But she had the advantage of being mostly comprised of chakra spaghetti, on the inside. It wasn't the same. "You should really consider going to one of the villages near here. There's one only three miles away. Do you need directions?"

"No, I don't need directions. Thank you. Sorry to put you to the trouble, shinobi-san."

Sakura rocked back on her heels. She chewed her lip. "I really think you should."

"Are you going to make me?" She almost certainly could.

"What? No, I'm not going to make you do anything." She looked offended.

"Okay."

She sighed. Fists clenched, she said, "But I advise against it. It's unsafe for you to be sleeping out here in this weather. I'm a medic, I'd know."

Maddie hummed. Clearly, despite what she said, she wasn't going to give up.

"Oh, well, if you're a medic," Maddie said, feigning a change of mind. "I guess you must know best. Where's the nearest village then?"

Smiling in relief, Sakura provided her directions: "Hitoko village is two miles due east of here. Once you get to the road, you really can't miss it."

"Great, thank you," said Maddie, who knew exactly where Hitoko was and who had ruled it out on account of the expense. With a deep sigh, she started rolling up her bedroll under Sakura's supervision.

She let her herd her all the way to the road and set her off in the right direction. Then, the very moment Sakura smiled brightly and continued on her way back to Leaf Village — was she coming back from a mission? out on a patrol? — Maddie turned right back around and went to find a new, better hidden sleeping spot.

Who knew Sakura would be so nosy and insistent?

She wondered: did this brief meeting with Sakura constitute 'being questioned' by Leaf nin? Was she permitted to pack up and go home now? She had never missed her seaside cottage so much as she did right now.

Leaf already knew about her. She didn't expect they knew very much, but she'd previously been under their surveillance as a person of interest in relation to Kakuzu, who was a big enough problem all on his own to justify that use of manpower...

She tried to imagine defending her choice to Kakuzu.

...Probably it did not count. Sakura thought she was a lost civilian, which meant she was flying well under the radar. Ugh.

At least Takahashi felt like he was sleeping peacefully, and not liable to go anywhere...

--

Maddie was startled awake less than an hour later by a gangly teenaged presence at her bedroll.

Because the moon was bright and the trees had no leaves, she could just make out how Sakura's eyebrow was twitching. Her glove creaked as her hand curled into a fist. "Aah... You know... you didn't have to lie about it..."

Clearly, thought Maddie, I did.

Great. Now how was she going to get out of this?

[mixelation]

I have an ask, though I don't know if this has been covered yet. What is Kisame up to in reborn au? Does he leave Kiri early? Make a bid for mizukage? Does he ever 'check-in' on Itachi (or vice versa)? Or does he try to stay as far away as humanly possible from Tori & co?

umm yeah, if you scroll back far enough int he tag, i've definitely talked about this. i did play with the idea of mizukage!kisame, but i don't think he's much of a leader. like his comments about himself are mostly like "well, i'm just made to follow orders" and deferring to itachi's decisions. he seems like a chill dude capable of working with lots of different types of personalities, so i'd buy him being popular enough in kiri to get support as kage if he went for it, but i just can't see him being interested if there's other viable candidates.

so my Concept is basically: his goal really is to just be a good kiri-nin, so he stays in village and retakes his position with the seven swordsman. he assassinates yagura earlier than in canon, bc i don't like yagura's bloody rule being 100% obito instead of just obito stoking the flames of a shit show. so kisame intervenes the second it becomes obvious yagura is still aiming the village in the direction of the bloody mist and then supports mei for mizukage. mei is aware kisame killed her predecessor, but it's a "good job, never mention this to anyone" type of thing.

i was thinking kisame is old enough he might run into kakuzu or sasori before team 4 becomes aware of each other, so he might be aware there's some reincarnations running around...? but no, he doesn't go check on itachi. he figures if itachi was reborn, he'll come find him himself :)

[canonsinthehead]

Naruto Modern AU/Hollywood pt.2 - Kiri & The All-Star Team

There is a silent hierarchy among all countries and the terrible assumption that bigger countries are better than smaller ones. The large presence and funds of various territories, like the country of fire, wind, earth, and lightning, overwhelms and overshadows small nations, especially in sports where each country dominates certain disciplines.

The land of fire (Konoha): badminton, soccer, gymnastics, and martial arts

The land of lightning (Kumo): Tennis, basketball, and athleticism

The land of earth (Iwa): cross country, marathon, weightlifting, and cycling

But in the last decade, the land of water emerged in the sports scene. It was coming out of years of political conflict that left the country in shambles with record levels of poverty, putting them at the bottom of the economic ladder. Not only was it a smaller nation, but a lot of its endeavors and way of life were unknown to the rest of the world because of the long-lasting reign of violence that controlled the country for decades.

Well, Kiri has been perceived as "these islands far away" with the highest crime rate in the world for the longest but Its newly found peace brought interesting things; industrialization,  a new economy open to the world, the exportation of its products, but specifically the creation of various social classes. This was not the case before, since it was, the government/military vs the rest of the population in poverty.

This modernized economy brought the country a new middle class and other social statuses. It recently started experiencing the concept of celebrities like the rest of the world and most are athletes.

Being surrounded by large bodies of water, any form of water activity has always been intuitive to them. To the point where many accuse them of having a "genetic advantage". Athletes from Kiri/Country of Water can now join world competitions and are killing the game in the water department and making a serious name for their country. They are undefeatable in all forms of swimming kayaking, boat racing, surfing, diving, synchronized/artistic swimming, water polo, etc. Now most of the competitions for these sports are held there.

Kiri is getting recognized overseas for many things, but recently certain people have attained celebrity status for unconventional reasons building a solid international fan base

Mei Terumi, the female president, for her breathtaking beauty

Haku is the new sensation in figure skating. A discipline Kiri started to dominate recently but the young man’s high level of skills made him reach first place in all competitions. His likeability, pure heart, and pretty looks opened many doors for him, he often features in variety shows and commercials. He is also a good friend of the #1 YouTuber/streamer and boxer Naruto Uzumaki and often appears on his channel

Ever since basketball was invented, Kumogakure dominated the sport, but in the past year, the mysterious national basketball team of Kiri has made a name for themselves.

Overnight, a team of 195 cm tall men came out of nowhere and climbed up the world ranking to second place. The team’s name is the Swordsman of the Mist and the current coach is Gengetsu Hozuki It may not seem like it, but many of the members have interesting inheritances and backgrounds.

Kisame Hoshigaki: leader and tallest. Surprisingly decent from a prestigious clan from Kiri. Kisame is an academic genius, who has a diploma in biology from the most prestigious universities in the country of Water but decided to use the basketball scholarship he received instead.

His son Shizuma Hoshigaki is a part-time social media influencer. He is problematic in his own way, but not enough to be canceled yet. Shizuma is not worried because he is a trust fund kid but wishes to outshine his father as a professional swimmer. The jokes write themselves since he barely practices the sport but is among the greatest and fastest the world has to offer (his shark DNA, I guess). He is dating Raiga’s daughter Buntan, and her father is really salty about it

Zabuza Momochi: nobody knows about his background. He is the most muscular. Him and Kisame get the most brand deals and promotions. Zabuza is also one of Haku’s coaches. He took him under his wing under unknown circumstances. He is the first to recognize the boy’s unique talent and aiding him in his journey as an athlete regardless of their differences. Zabuza always had a sweet spot for Haku and considered him like a son. So, he is often absent to prioritize the figure skater’s training.

Kisame knows Zabuza well, they are lifelong friends. The leader lets him get away with missing practices (even if it drives their coach insane). His best friend is a man of a few words, and above all works extremely hard and exercises double their training schedule in his own free time.

Juuzo Biwa: He is the third star player along with Kisame and Zabuza (The Killer Trio). He has no sense of personal space. Ironically, he is the wealthiest because he owns a successful brand of luxury cars coveted by the new high class. He is genuinely funny, and the variety show's favorite.

Raiga: Loudest laugh. Lost a lot of money due to his jewelry addiction. He smokes a pack with the blood of his enemies. The mother of his child is still getting child support payments, and he is bitter, even if they’re legally separated.

Because of His herratic behaviour and anger issues, he is kinda of a self-made outcast. The other members can cooporate as co-workers and teamates but nothing beyond that (Raiga has is own circle of friends). Since Raiga is so unhinged, no matter their coach's efforts, him and Zabuza do not get along.

Hassaku Onomichi: professional dunker. He befriended a lot of Kumo basketball players. He often gets caught up in beefs with anyone.

The popularity of the basketball team has offered them fans all across the world for their incredible talent, pleasant chemistry, unique sense of humor, and good looks to the point where tabloids from Konoha have launched a misinformation campaign to stain their image and effort to defend their basketball teams after getting constantly crushed by those "foreigners".

The last match of the International Basketball League’s series opposing The Swordmen of the Mist from Kiri against The Lightnings from Kumo was the most anticipated and heated match ever organized. Taking place in Konoha, it made record engagement and attendance. For the first time in history, Kumo lost the finale to first timers. The news traveled all across the world and, certified Kiri’s team's celebrity status since they won.

With their success, many shady investors like Gato started to take interest in basketball as a means of proposing Kiri overseas and for other shady dealings. The weight of all those rumors pushed many fans who knew Gato’s involvement in Haku’s career to beg him to change his manager/owner ASAP.

PART 1 next part

[bluegalaxygirl]

Kuraigana castle (Zosan X Reader) P1

Plot: Zoro gets invited back to the castle with his new family so his daughter can meet Mihawk and Perona.

Warning: Bad language, fluff, Making out, Violence and Snakes.

Reader is Female, her the ability to control Snakes that come form tattoo's on her arms, she can change the size of them but they are also connected to her emotions. Kuina is 10 months old and has Sanji's eyebrows and blonde hair but your eyes and skin tone.

Zoro X Sanji X reader, Poly relationship, established relationship.

P2

Zoro got a letter form Mihawk and Perona a few months ago, inviting his new family over to Kuraigana Castle for a night. You were all packed and ready to go but then you got attacked by the vinsmoke brothers while out stocking up on food for the crew. It didn't take you long to recover but Zoro was adamant that you had to be 100% ok before they go due to some animals on Kuraigana, he didn't tell you much just that they were apes and very skilled fighters. Luckily nothing else got in the way so the four of you headed out on a spare boat Franky offered you while they waited on another island that would keep your Captain happy. The sun was setting by the time you arrived, mist covered the rocky flooring and destroyed buildings littered the area "This is where you stayed or two years?" You ask stepping off the boat and onto a old wooden dock with two bags in your hands dropping them to the floor so you could take your baby girl off Zoro "Yea, it looks better than it was though" The swordsman hands you Kuina before stepping out of the boat "It used to look worse than this?" Sanji asks walking over to the three of you after tying the boat up to a nearby pole. Zoro chuckles and nods grabbing the two bags and starting to walk, you run after him not wanting to walk around alone as Sanji picks up another bag and follows "Wasn't someone supposed to meet us?" you ask placing a hand on Zoro's shoulder making him stop walking, he looks at you then sighs knowing your worried their going to get lost.

The four of you wait for a few minutes but no one showed up, you started to get nervous, the feeling of eyes on you seemed to come and go, you could tell Zoro was feeling it too, keeping a hand on his swords scanning the area as he stood next to you "Are you sure this is the right spot?" Sanji leans next to you against a large rock watching as you hold the baby in one arm while the other goes into your pocket pulling out the letter, the two of you read over it again "we'll we followed the directions and this is the only dock in sight" You sigh letting the cook have the letter while you pull the blanket over your daughter more, your heart drops when Zoro pulls out one of his swords and steps in front of you staring off into the distance. Sanji pulls you into his back looking around too try and see what Zoro sees "What is it?" The cook whispers after not seeing anything walking a little more forward to get a batter look. "Their in the tree line" The swordsman whispers back his eye fixed on the trees a good distance away form you only to suddenly turn and grab your waist pulling you away from the rock you were just leaning on as a giant ape land on it, Zoro's sword swings up cutting the large rock in half and sending the ape tumbling away. You hold your baby close to your chest as your pulled behind Zoro while Sanji kicks another ape away and stands in front of you. As you look around you notice more and more apes show up seeming to appear out of nowhere and with large swards and armor. Kuina clings to you as she starts to cry, you shush her and rub her back trying to clam her down.

"You bastard's, don't you dare make my baby girl cry" Sanji yells out pointing at one of the apes who takes a step back, the other apes widen there eyes as the cook growls his legs lighting on fire and his face full of anger, you take the opportunity while there distracted to let one of your snakes out, holding your arm out and making fangs out of your finger the tattoo on your arm comes to life, slithering out of the arm of your jacket and rapidly growing in size as it curls around your family with its head held high. Kuina looks up and giggles stretching her arms out to try and get its attention but the snakes round eyes are focused on the apes letting out a loud and angry hiss when one tires to take a step forward "You got this baby?" Zoro asks knowing he can fight with your snake protecting you and the baby "Yea hunk, have fun" You laugh as the swordsman jumps over your snake and attacks the apes who even though are good fighters and seem to know three swords style, they're no match for the green haired man. You look over to your other side surprised to see Sanji gone and fighting against some apes kicking them and setting them on fire while yelling at them. You let out a small laugh seeing the cooks still upset over them making his daughter cry.

Kuina pats your chest while looking up, you think she's looking at your snake but when you look up there are tiny ghosts flying around and attaching themselves to the apes before exploding "Horo horo horo, now why don't you all run along" A female voice hits your ears the apes starting to run off and dragging their injured friends away "What the hell you could have killed me" Your snake shrinks and goes back to your arm letting you see Zoro yelling at Perona who's floating and holding a stuffed bear "What? Not even a thank you?" She yells back getting in the green haired man's face as you walk over as the two argue Sanji runs over to you "Are you two ok?" his face is full of worry as he looks over his daughter but sighs in relief when he see's she's no longer crying "We're fine" you place a kiss on his cheek to reassure him before looking over at Perona and Zoro arguing. "Thank you" you smile getting the two to stop yelling at each other as you walk closer, Perona's eyes widening starting at the baby in your arms "Oh my Perona you look lovely, it so good to see you again" Sanji runs over hearts in his eyes and jumping to hug her only for the pink haired girl to fly over him and to you making the cook land on the dirt floor in front of Zoro "Oh look at her, so cute" You smile as your daughter looks up at the girl who fawns over her "Look at those pink cheeks and little hands and little booties so cute" Perona's face turns red as she squeals over the little girl. Zoro sighs and looks down at Sanji who just lies on the floor looking defeated "Come on get up" The cook sighs standing up, brushing the dirt off his suit and fixing his hair before turning to look at the the three girls, he can't help but smile seeing his cute baby girl get fawned over and laughing as the Pink haired girl shows off the stuffed bear. "Better?" The swordsman asks placing a hand around the cook's waist who nods in response.

The walk to the castle was long and on the way you were more than happy to let the pink haired girl carry Kuina for a bit "I can't get over how cute you are, lets just hope you dont get your dads sense of direction" Perona laughs directing her comment at Zoro "Oi, your the one who didn't meet us in the spot" The swordsman growls holding two bags in his hands giving the girl a stern look as she stops in front of him holding his baby close to her "No you went to the wrong dock" Perona pokes the green haired man making him growl at her and look away, you were about to speak up when she floats off down the path "Now come on before more of those apes show up" She calls to the three of you all running to catch up to her. The castle was large beyond beautiful and the inside was even better, it was much warmer in here even though the floors and walls were marble, red carpets lined the floors showing the way up some stairs and down hall ways, bright crystal chandeliers hung form the ceiling and luxurious furniture placed just right. "Mihawk's up the stairs come on" The girls smiles heading up there not waiting for the three of you "Hay wait" you all call out running after her with bags in hand and down a hall way "Perona" Zoro yells out making the girl stop in her tracks just outside some large doors, her puzzled look pisses the swordsman off as the three of you come to a stop, Sanji walks up to pink haired girl and takes the baby off her as she protests "You can't just run off like that with our baby" Zoro yells making her float back a bit.

Perona goes to yell at Zoro only to see you and Sanji panic fading form your faces as the cook holds the baby close to his chest and you running your fingers over the little girls cheek while Kuina babbles a little "Oh... i-im sorry" The pink haired girl looks down shocking Zoro a little, she's normally quick to anger and doesn't like to admit when she's wrong so this is a first. He pats her shoulder telling her it's ok, and he's no longer mad, she tears up a little but wipes them away "I really am sorry" she holds her bear close keeping her head down "Oh no please don't cry, were not mad" Sanji walks up to the girl after handing Kuina off to you, "Really?" Sanji nods at the girl seeming to cheer her up right away. You walk over to Zoro who puts the bags down and takes Kuina's hand as she reaches out for him, his eye softens as his daughter looks up at him. The large doors open to a living room, the fire place on and Mihawk sitting in a chair drinking a hot cup of tea "You're late" The black haired man puts his cup down and stands looking over as Perona fly's over to him "It's not my fault someone can't read directions" She puffs out her cheeks before turning to Zoro "I'm sorry we followed the directions on the letter, but we still got lost i guess" you laugh a little embarrassed as you walk into the room with Zoro's hand around your waist. You've never met Mihawk before but you've heard so much about him form many different people. Sanji stands on your other side, the last time he saw Mihawk was when he almost killed Zoro on the Baratie but that was a long time ago.

The black haired man walks over your heart pounding in your chest, he has no expression so you can't tell what he's thinking or feeling, Zoro notices and rubs your hip telling you it's ok but it still doesn't clam you down until the man in front of you lets a small smile show on his face with his eyes on your daughter "Congratulation" you let out a breath you didn't know you were holding as he takes your free hand and holds it in his "It's a pleasure to meet you, miss Y/N" you smile at him still a little nervous "It's a pleasure to meet you too, sir" you bow a little as he lets go of your hand and turns to Sanji holding his hand out to the cook who takes it, the two men greet each other before Mihawk turns to Zoro the two stare at each other for a little while then bow to each other. "Now were all friends i have so many things i want to show you" Perona floats over mainly talking to the little girl in your arms rubbing her little cheek before floating off "I'll be back, oh! and I'll drop off your bags too" she calls out with a big smile her ghost picking up your bags and floating away. "Still hyper as always" Zoro sighs earning a nod from the black haired man "Please come and sit, there's fresh tea on the table" Mihawk walks over to his chair and sits down crossing one leg over the other.

You sit down in between your two boys on the large sofa placing your baby on your lap, so she can sit up and look around as you pull the blanket off her not wanting her to get too hot. "I heard you named her after an old friend, is that correct?" Mihawk looks at Zoro who nods "Yes, Kuina was a very dear friend" The swordsman smiles placing his hand on the baby's cheek who holds it and babbles a little as Sanji pours some tea for the three of you, "She's beautiful, although when i sent the invitation i thought you would jump at the chance to show off" Mihawk's words make you and Sanji laugh a little as Zoro's face goes red refusing to look the older man in the face. "We would have come sooner, but we ... urm" you stop yourself moving some hair out of your face not sure if you should say anything, Sanji places a hand around your shoulders giving your arm a rub "We ran into some trouble with my old family" Sanji continues for you "I see, i'm glad your all ok." Mihawk knows of the Vinsmoke family and what they are like, so he can put two and two together. The man stands and steps over to you all "May i?" The black haired man holds his arms over to hold Kuina who smiles up at him. You nod and pass her up to him letting the man walk back to his seat and sit with the girl on his knee while he holds her there. Kuina looks up at him eyes full of wonder before smiling at him and holding her arms out to grab at his necklace, he keeps her away from it though since its actually a knife so instead he grabs his hat from the side table and letting her mess with it.

You all enjoy some tea as Mihawk watches your daughter run her hand lightly over the feather on his hat trying not to break it, "I'm back" Perona's sing-song voice calls out flying through the doors carrying a big box with the help of her ghosts setting it down on the floor next to Mihawk's chair, Sanji smiles at her and tried to greet her but yet again she ignores him making him pout. You pat his back letting him lay his head on your shoulder. "I bring gifts for you" Perona smiles going to take the baby off Mihawk only for him to put his hand in the way "Meany" she calls out pouting and crossing her arms over her chest "Your too hyper, plus you need to ask for permission" His calm voice makes her sigh and unfold her arms "Can i have the baby?" she asks only for the man to look at you, your a little confused making him sigh as Zoro's hand goes to your leg not really knowing what the warlord means by that look "I mean ask permission from the mother not me" Perona jumps a little embarrassed that she asked the wrong person but looks at you with puppy dog eyes and hands pressed together in a pleading way "Please can i hold your baby?" she asks making you laugh a little at her eagerness and child like attitude "Of course just please keep her where i can see her" The pink haired girl furiously nods taking the baby from Mihawk and sitting down on the floor with Kuina on her lap starting to show her all the stuffed toys the girl made in the box.

After a few hours of talking, drinking tea and Perona playing with Kuina you notice your little girl falling asleep on the pink haired girls lap, you place your cup down and stand gaining the girl's attention "I think i should take her to bed" you smile bending down seeing Perona pout but hand you Kuina "Can i at least help?" she asks as you stand and nod making her smile again. "Good night sweet angel" Sanji stands and walks over placing a kiss on the baby's head giving her a long loving look as you move over to where Zoro is sitting, so he can kiss her head too "Night sweetie" The swordsman whispers grabbing her blanket and placing it over the child. Perona leads the way to your room as you follow down the hall and up more stairs until you make it to a large room with a massive bed, windows on either side and a crib in front of one of the windows "Wow" you whisper looking around the room soon spotting your bags on the large bed. Perona fly's over to the crib and places her hands on it "I hope this is ok for Kuina" You smile at her and nod "It's perfect" you place Kuina down her eyes opening and closing as she tried to fall asleep. You go into one of the bags and get out some pj's for her laying them in the crib next to your girl so you change her out of her day cloths and place her into the night cloths.

Perona watches you work holding onto the blanket you had taken off the baby until your done about to put the blanket over the baby but you stop her "Sorry but its not good for a baby this young to sleep with a blanket like that. She loves it but if she rolls in it and gets tangled she won't be able to get back out" Your explanation seems to make the pink haired girl shocked pulling away with the blanket "What about teddy bears?" she asks only for you to shrug "I don't know but to be safe i say not while she's asleep or where i can't see her" the pink haired girl nods handing you the blanket back before looking over the now sleeping baby. You put the blanket on your bed and sit down for a minute watching your baby through the bars of the crib "Baby's are complicated" Perona sighs holding a teddy bear to her chest "Yea they are, but we just do our best, thats all we can sometimes do" you sigh rubbing your tired eyes "Well, i think your doing a good job" Perona's words make you stop, looking at her to see if she's telling the truth or not, but she just floats there looking over your baby with a loving look "Thank you, that means a lot" you tear up a little but manage to wipe it away and not cry.

The living room is silent as Sanji sits next to Zoro on the sofa watching the fire burn as Mihawk brings in a bottle of red wine and some glasses, he pours the wine into the glasses and hands one to Sanji then Zoro before sitting down with one of his own "So, you got lost again Zoro" Mihawk looks over at the swordsman who almost spits out his wine "What? no, Sanji and Y/n Navigated" The swordsman points his thumb at the cook who sigh and nods his head, he wants to be angry at his lover, but he's right "As much as i hate to admit it he's right, i don't know how we got lost" Sanji sips his wine leaning back on the sofa and pulling out the letter, the black haired man leans forward and holds out his hand for it. The cook hands the letter over and watches as the man reads through it soon sighing while placing it down on his lap and sipping his wine "I asked her to do one thing" Zoro laughs out realizing what happened only for the ghost girl to appear behind him "What?" she asks scaring the Zoro and Sanji a little "You sent them to the first dock not the second" The black hired man doesn't even look up as you walk in to hear the argument "There is only one dock" Perona fly's over to the man and picks up the letter as you lean on the back of the sofa "No there are two" Mihawk sips on his wine as the girl looks over the letter "That first one doesn't count, it can hardly be called a dock" as the two argue Zoro and Sanji look up at you with a smile "Hay love, come and sit" Sanji smiles moving aside and patting the seat in between him and Zoro.

You walk around and take a seat as Zoro puts his arm around your shoulders "Is she ok?" The swordsman asks, Sanji handing you a glass of wine that you gladly take "Yea she's fine, they have a crib for her, its lovely" you sip on the wine feeling the cook lay his head on your shoulder "She didn't cause you any problems right?" Zoro asks secretly pointing to Perona who's still yelling at Mihawk not wanting to admit she got you all lost "No she's great, nice, understanding, very different to how she used to be. What did you do to her?" you ask making the two boys laugh "I didn't do anything" The swordsman leans over and places a kiss on your cheek. "If your going to be that way then fine, i'm going to bed" Perona huff turning her back on Mihawk and floating off "Good night" The black haired man calls out "Good night Perona, sweet dreams" Sanji calls out to her and for the first time she waves keeping her back to him still as she fly's off down the hall "She acknowledged me" The cook smiles with hearts in his eyes as he floats his head down onto your lap, you laugh a little and run a hand through his hair before taking the wine off him and putting it on the table knowing it's going to take him a while to recover. Zoro chuckles but rolls his eyes at the cook sipping his wine "My apologies for her behavior, she's excited to see a new cute thing" Mihawk sighs looking at his almost empty glass of wine "I guess that hasn't changed" you laugh a little as Zoro leans in closer to you placing his head on your shoulder.

With the sky much darker and the red moon shining above, everyone decides to head for bed, you entered the room quietly and went to check on Kuina who was fast asleep in the crib, Sanji wraps his arms around you as he places his chin on your shoulder looking down at the baby with you "She's perfect" The cook whispers kissing your neck "Your perfect" Sanji pulls away turning you around to place his lips on yours, you kiss back leaning in and running your hand through his hair while he runs his tongue over your lower lip. Smiling you open your mouth for him letting your tongues met as your mouths move together, the blonde hums into your mouth running his hands up and down your back keeping you close to him until you both need air and pull away "Mi amour" Sanji whispers against your lips "My darling" you whisper back as Zoro walks over after getting all the clothes you three need out of the bags "Come on, i want to sleep" The swordsman kisses the cook's temple before kissing yours, handing you both your night clothes. You all change before climbing into the big bed pulling the thick duvet over you and cuddling into Zoro as Sanji lays behind you, his arm around your waist and his forehead pressed against your shoulder. The swordsman moves closer and rubs his thumb across your cheek before tilting your head up to look at him, his eyes lock with yours telling you unspoken words of love. Leaning up you place your lips on his in a light kiss that soon deepens when the swordsman pushes his tongue into your mouth, you moan a little and open your mouth for him meeting his tongue as you run your hand through his hair.

[rainbeaudingo]

Had a dream about Shirakumo/Kurogiri, but he was in an entirely different show/anime.

His design looked incredible. Almost like layers of watercolor of purple and blue on his clothes. He was wearing a suit and had a swordsman’s cape that obscured one arm. I think he also had a wooden cane. He was much older, probably closer to mid 40s, with salt and pepper hair. His face wasn’t obscured by mist. He had a big scar from the middle left of his forehead down to his mouth.

He was still in the same role, basically a manipulated servant of someone high up (Idk if specifically AFO). People argued that he was trying to “make himself look more human” by his mannerisms.

I just thought it was interesting. I’ll try to draw him later.

[sugutoad]

Matchup Trade for my favourite person ever, @fourtyfourcatss !

↳ you have been placed in the cabin of the triple goddess — the mistress of magic and tricks and of the hidden art

¡! ❞ cabin 20 ¡! ❞

ஓ๑ why hecate? The main reason I opted to choose the goddess of magic for you was your personality. you’re analytical yet creative — a sense of not following a certain frame but rather following the flow of life and whatever comes at you — focusing on the big picture of upcoming events but not ignoring smaller ones. Your hubris and ambition is quite a noticeable detail about you, along with your inner lingering fear of disappointment and isolation, so it’s a trait that I personally think would meddle with your demigod life. As for Enyo, there had been a debate between her and athena. this was due to your level headed and analytical demeanour but enyo had seemed to be more of your fit. your pride doesn’t necessarily come from anywhere like that of an athena child, but rather of how you grew up. i’m not entirely sure how to express it but it’s those points in matchups when you are so certain about things but never know how to explain them. from there was a compition of figuring out who becomes a parental figure in your life and alas, hecate won.

ஓ๑ hecate deeply cares for all her kids but you hold an even special place in heart, that is if gods even have hearts? This comes from how similar you are to her in nature and how you think. she thoroughly understands the grudge you had held against her, you simply wanted to look out for your siblings and were upset that she paid no attention to them

ஓ๑ but nonetheless, that doesn’t mean she is a strict parent. hecate expects the best of her children and will assist them throughout their struggles to help you succeed. she is desperate to show that she is a responsible figure, someone you can lay your trust in and look up to as a motherly figure. 

ஓ๑ though hecate never had a cabin and you never had the best relationship with your absent mother, you fought and insisted to Chiron on how your mother deserved a cabin of her own. In return, Hecate appointed you as camp leader and it was a perfect fit! You were a responsible, creative, intelligent and valued family above anything else. Plus, almost every camper looked up to you as an older figure despite your choice on the war which I will discuss later 

ஓ๑ your fatal flaw defect is deliberation. Your opinionated nature and fear of risking the safety of your family causes you to be deliberate about many situations which can change huge factors in your life.

 intelligence, honesty, quick wit, selflessness, willingness to hear others, analytical, creativity, and flexibility are all strengths.

 weaknesses include being proud, opinionated, refusing to be lower, poking in unwanted business, and being a talented burnt out child ( i have no idea but you certainly give that vibe to me? do correct me if i’m wrong and ignore the last part then)

Being alone, not being enough, hearing your wrong are all fears. 

powers include the ability to control every aspect of magic, have control over the mist, shadow travel, create potions, speak to animals under your mother’s domain, hand your own strength over to others and to quickly learn any weapon while coming up with a strategy. These are actually just a few examples because with magic, almost anything can be accomplished but it is extremely power draining. 

ஓ๑ weapons: a bow and arrow. not only does this prevent you from being hurt, as you don’t need fight in the front, but this is a weapon that can quickly end an enemy if put to proper and analytical use (which so happens to be one of your many strengths) your swordsman skills aren’t necessarily bad but there have certainly been more experienced soldiers. to use one properly, you have to analyse the situation you are dealing with and hyper fixate on a certain section of the opponent’s body to strike. and with your great intuition, you land almost every shot in the exact place you had planned. Because of this skill, many had thought you were to be a child of Apollo but once showing some signs of magic, that theory was quickly changed but everyone was so confused on how long it took you to get claimed….

ஓ๑ claiming: you came a year after percy jackson did, but are the same age as him.  you’re claiming ... don’t get pissed at me or anything, but i have a strong feeling you didn’t get claimed. Despite that, literally everyone in the camp knew that you were a child of hecate so it really did puzzle everyone as to why you weren’t claimed. this caused a huge inner turmoil for you since you knew you belonged to a family, but at the same time you really didn’t have anyone besides a cabin full of unclaimed kids and children with huge stealing issues (ahem ahem cabin 11). there was still a problem tho, hecate didn’t have a cabin and she hadnt’t claim you due to how campers treat children whose parentage originated from the underworld (the last part had been unknown to you, so you had held a grudge at your mother for years)— but at last, at fucking last, you got claimed after the whole war was over. it was a bittersweet thing for you though, since you felt pissed that hecate hadn’t voluntarily claimed you, but rather did so because of percy who had wished that all children must get claimed at the age of 13 and you had been no exception.

a little drabble:

It should have been an honour to Quasar to be still alive but why was she? Almost everyone of her siblings had been slain in the war for a choice they had made to get the honour they deserved and to stand by their mother’s side. Quasar didn’t agree much with the latter. She had just wanted her siblings to be safe and she would have done, no matter what the consequences may have been. But here she was, standing in front of the Olympian Gods as they held their shitty heads up high, discussing whether Quasar and her brother should even live. But after your mother had begged the Gods, emerald eyes nearly blood shot at the thought of losing two of her precious children. Quasar could feel the eyes of Gods looking down at her and everything felt too much. Alabaster gave her a tight smile and nod, telling her it would be ok. Alas the decision had been made. And it was ruled stupid in her eyes. She and Alabaster were to live but Alabaster wasn’t allowed in Camp. While Quasar had doubts in what she had been doing, Alabaster is still willing to do that and holds a grudge against the son of Poseidon. The sea god feared that the emerald eye boy would kill his only son. Upon hearing that, Quasad looked devastated and was about to speak up until Alabaster shook his head beside her and accepted the deal. All for her... When Alabaster, Quasar and her mother were allowed to leave, the second Hecate shut the door behind them, Quasar felt tears stinging her eyes. But she refused to cry. Not here. Not now. Not ever. Especially after what Alabaster chose to do. So when Hecate held her children tight in her arms, placing a soft kiss on each one of their heads, she promised she would claim Quasar the second she placed a step in Camp Half Blood. And Hecate lived up to her promise. The second Quasar was in the sight of everyone else, a faint green glow surrounded her and the claiming took place. Chiron took a step forward, bowing his head in respect as he announced the obvious to everyone else: “Hail, Quasar Xing, Daughter of the Magic Goddess” 

(Excuse the shitty drabble, my head is functioning at the moment)

ஓ๑ You were a traitor, part of kronos’s army. The thing is, if you really believed in your ideals wholeheartedly, with full confidence that the world would be better off without both the gods and kronos, you would’ve done everything in your power to make it true. As black and white as you present yourself to be, you're more contradictory than everyone gives credit for. You only work towards a plan with full length ambition when you see a future for it, but you clearly didn’t see any futuristic outcome for this plan so at the end of the day, you were human through and through. And if anyone knows you well enough, would know the reason for your actions. You didn’t care much for supporting your mother but rather assuring the safety of your siblings. And how would you have been able to do it if you were supporting the opposing side? Exactly. Plus, no one would have suspected you. 

ஓ๑ Many campers in Camp Half Blood come to you. It is either because they wish to seek out your opinion in certain life decisions or because of how safe you make everyone else feel. You had this magical nature to make people feel at home. This probably ranges from how observant you are about others (which helps you to know them more and once you point out small things, they feel valued) or how much you want to help others and encourage them at point. 

ஓ๑ You and your brother were inseparable. You loved him and he loved you. Two sides of the same coin. The two of you were always found somewhere together and when he had died during the war, you were broken. Heart shattered and blood shot eyes, your vision always blurry. How could you live in camp, while he was dead? You had even considered doing what Orpheus had done once and attempting to bribe Hades somehow but in reality, what were the chances of that succeeding? So when newcomers had been placed in the Hecate cabin, you took it upon yourself to protect them at all cost. 

ஓ๑ Sometimes, just sometimes, Chiron grants you permission to teach another camper’s class for a day. The truth was, you didn’t really have anything to teach or have your own class until Lou Ellen suggested a class where demigods learned how to control the mist? I mean, it is possible for that to happen. Thalia was able to do that and so was Percy. All it takes is good practice and someone who is good at explaining things. And that someone is you! Who else would be better? In addition, you were the only camper in the  Hecate Cabin who has been here for over 3 years. 

ஓ๑ I couldn’t continue this matchup if I didn’t include Leo Valdez. Despite being well aware of your past, he lets it go - seeing only the best of your heart and your truest intentions. He is absolutely in love with you. As you would carry away with your conversation ever so passionately and walking quickly, he would stay silent for once and stare at the beautiful girl in front of him. Lou Ellen had definitely realised that even before you had. She would always tease you about it until your face had turned crimson. Little sister behaviour <3

ஓ๑ But asides Leo, Lou Ellen is one of your closest relationships. She seems to always know how you feel, a telepathic connection almost. She would sit close to you as the two of you giggled over something Leo did or cry over the death of your siblings. Through thick and thin, she remained close by your side.

[meelysant]

Although I don't really like Naruto, nor the anime not the mangas have an oc for this show, the reason being that I made the character to play in a naruto themed rpg with my friends, to this days one my favorite characters i ever played in a rpg game, Ayano Hyuuga.

Due to the fact I wanted to make the character with the least research i possibly could into the universe, and I decided she would be a specialist in taijutsu and kenjutsu, simply because i didn't want to look into the power system from the anime to get to the game (although i ended up drawing all the images I used for her for some reason).

Her backstory was initially quite simple she was a regect member of the hyuga clan, that didn't know that she was in actuallity she was a experiment made by orochimaru (the only thing i remember that i actually liked from naruto and still like) that was being used as a living spy inside of konoha, the goal it was that as i got more into the game and see more abouth the universe I would define the finer details of her story.

The first image is an uptdated sheet of how she looked in the first half of the campain that got actually finished, the second pic is a updated sheet of how she would look into the shippuden part of the game that saddly never happened for reasons out of the game.

This last image is a reference of a point of her i made in her backstory as the game had progressed, i ended up not writing her story for real but what i have set with my dm was that Ayano was originally a shinobi not from konoha but instead she was fro kiri, what ended up matching really well with her characert sheet, as she aside from her specialization in infiltration, she also was specialized in using water jutsu (she specialy had a mist jutsu that was a broken combo with her byakugan) and swordsmanship.

From her backstory she was originally a prodigy shinobi from kiri, form the time it was still the bloody misty, having graduate rather young with honors in a similar fashion to kisame and zabuza, and was being prepared to become one of the mist swordsman, however due her young age all the bloodshed got to her head and she wanted to scape, it was then that she met orochimaro that offered her a chance of going with him and be away from all this bloodshed, what she promptly accepted what lead her to become Ayano Hyuuga, and a spy from orochimaru.

Under the cut are the original art and design i did for Ayano

My original design phylosophy for ayano was to pick up the expected traits from a member of the hyuuga clan and make one that was clearly out of place as she wasn't actualy a hyuuga, so i focused her in bold contrasting colors, having her main collor being this vibrant purple and the pinkish white haori, as a taijutsu specilist she used an oversized haori to confuse the enemy about her moviments.

The first addition to her design where the kathanas she colleted in her first mission, the headband she used to tie her bangs, the red scarf, what was an in game gift from hinata, as she was very close with hinata in this part and had a nice rivalry with neji, that turn into a great friendship.

There's also a special mention to her cursed mark wich begin a way thata orochimaro controlled my character but would enventually become a buff from her in later points of the game, this discovery was one of the best scenes of Ayano in the rpg.

Her grown up design, at this point i got three pairs of swords each that i used in different situations, Ayano was more involved with the village and started to have control of her cursed mark, i was also at that point i made most of her backstory as i decided she was from kiri and had sharp teeth.

I was also at that point i noticed that her collor pallet had some eary simillarities with orochimaru and the sounf shinobi collors, so i decided that i would more straigth foward incorporate into her desing, this collors representing that she was starting to get acquited with her connection with hi.

As a bonus i only ever have this as a wip, but as i was talking with my dm aboyt Ayano future he told me that i would eventually reach stage two of my cursed mark, as at that point it was more of a buff to me, so i came up with how she would look like, i decided to give it a more savage look and the horns and spikes would be usable in this form. unfortanally i lost the original archive of the drawing so i couldn't finish it and the game died before i could reach it but that was one of the many things i was looking foward to in the game at the time.

[shiroi---kumo]

Would you ever destroy the world if it means freeing it from Chaos?

Ask my Muse 'would you ever' questions || Accepting

The swordsman grimaces as the words are spoken and he looks to the stranger with a deep frown stitched into his lips. A heavy sadness takes his form, filling his gaze to its brim as he sighs.

"Firstly traveler, I am going to need you to play that sentence over in your head again because it is both disturbing and makes me deeply uncomfortable.

Secondly, please don't dress up such an act to sound more noble than it actually is. It's genocide and I won't allow it to be spoken of as anything less than what it is. It's slaughtering the people of Wonderland for a selfish cause without looking for alternatives or understanding what Chaos actually is and anyone who thinks in such a way is both deranged and twisted. Any act that involves killing innocents is never the answer, much less children, and if you need to phrase in such a way that makes it sound like the person performing the act is in some way a hero or a savior of sorts is also deeply concerning. A murderer is still a murderer no matter what clothes they wear.

Also, even if the people of Wonderland are in an unfortunate situation, myself included - there would be nothing noble about slaughtering them for a cause that most of them aren't even privy to. It's playing God with the lives of the people and deciding what is best for them and forcing them to make a choice that the end result would then be their demise. There is no such thing as "wiping out a civilization for the better good" and anyone who thinks that way needs to set back for a minute and question their morality. Anyone who thinks that way has something fundamentally wrong with them and I'm not willing to stand here and argue about that.

Again, this all makes me deeply uncomfortable. Even more so as someone who was present for the death of both Misterica and Windaria. I've watched two entire worlds die and you ask me something like this? Even the Windarians showed more grace than this when we were locked in war with each other and it seemed the only thing they were capable of doing was trying to kill us.

Thirdly, to imply destroying the world would be somehow saving the world is flawed thinking because it doesn't even come close to the beginnings of understanding what Wonderland even is. While it has become an amalgamation of a multitude of worlds forcibly put together at its core it resides it's original lands and where Chaos originated from.

Chaos is a godly being just as I am, just as Black Wind is and to believe 'destroying the world would destroy Chaos' is nativity at its finest. Chaos is a being of it's own life force. It is neither Soil nor Mist and I have felt this when I have fused my soul to its core in our many battles. I have been one with that beast and I can tell you it is a spirit like none other. It is a being of darkness but not in the way my Other is but instead a feeling of corrupt infection.

Chaos is feeding off the negativity of the living beings of the universe and if you think "destroying the world would free it from Chaos" means you don't understand the problem at all and are looking for a fast solution, which is most likely born of your simplistic nature of looking for a fast solution instead of actually doing the work. Destroying Wonderland would only cause more problems.

Wonderland and Chaos are intertwined at their cores. Wonderland and Chaos exist because the other exists. Chaos can however be pacified because destroying Wonderland would be destroying the fabric of the universe and if you break out a single part of a window then the rest is sure shatter out right along with it. The unwilling sacrifice of Wonderland's inhabitants is not worth destroying the universe all for a rash solution.

I'm not that stupid and neither is Black Wind. Even if I don't always completely agree with the man, neither of us are willing to run a fraction of a chance that the universe would somehow not crumble into nothing at the aspect of losing one of its pillars. Black Wind might be a ruthless man at times but he isn't cruel. He isn't without mercy and he certainly isn't without a brain. Senseless violence is all this would be and neither of us operate on those terms.

I have survived the genocide of my own people and then again of the Windarians and you would ask me if I would do such an act onto another? Of course I wouldn't. Genocide is never the answer and now I seriously need you to stop and rethink that sentence, stranger because you have me worried."

[wyrmfedgrave]

1914: The Work.

"Mighty Odin laughs upon his throne¹,

Claim(ing) his children² for his own.

The voice of Thor resounds from on high,

(As) armed Valkyries ride (in) the sky:

The Gods of Asgard³ their powers release,

To rouse... dullards from (their) peace.

Awake,... hypocrites & deign to (see),

The actions of (your) "Brotherhood of Man⁴."

Could your shrill pippings... impair,

The warlike impulse (found) there?

Where now the gentle maxims of school,

The Cant⁵ of preachers & (their) Golden Rule⁶?

What (can) feeble... doctrine... sway?

Too long restrained... bloody tempest breaks,

Midgard⁷, beneath the (tread) of warriors shakes,

On to death, Berserkers⁸ bold!!

In acts of (red) bravery... die!

Who cares (for a) heaven (full) of priests,

When only warriors... with Woden⁹ feast?

Flesh of Schrimnir¹⁰ &... cup of mead,

Are for him who falls in martial deed:

Luckless boor that passive meets his end,

Never in Valhalla (will he) contend¹¹.

Slay, brothers, slay!!

Bathe in crimson gore;

Let Thor... view the sport once more!

All... thoughts fad(e) in(to) mist,

Attack or... resist.

List,... Alfadur¹² to the clash of steel;

How (a)like does each swordsman feel!"

Notes:

1. Odin's main throne was in Valhalla. But, he had another, lesser known seat of office.

This was called Hlidskjalf (high seat with a view) & it allowed the 1-eyed God to use seidr (omniscience)!

There, 1 could look into the other realms. Such as when Freyr (lord) did so, when he peeked into Jotunheim - & fell in love...

It's described as being inside of Valaskjalf (Shelf of the Slain), Odin's home.

Freyr, BTW, is the Vanir (friends?) God of peace, rain & fertility. Though from another race of Gods, he lived with the Aesir - as a 'hostage!'

2. In the Christian Bible, there's 2 versions of the creation event.

But, in Norse myth, there's different Gods present at man's creation.

The only God present in both versions is Odin.

He was the 1 to breathe life into 2 tree trunks found at the beach. These were named Ask (ash tree) & Embla (elm, water pot or vine?)

3. Asgard (Gods's 'fort'?) was home to the Norse Gods. Several divine homes are located there.

Places like Alfheim (Elfland), Gladsheimr (bright home), Idavollr (splendid plain), Noatun (ship port?), Vingolf (friendly hall) & Valhalla are all located there.

4. Here, Lovecraft shows his disdain of Immanuel Kant's book Perpetual Peace & the growing inter- national peace movement.

Kant was a major German philosopher.

Hate much, Lovecraft?

5. Interesting word: It describes any hypocritical or sanctimonious speech on political, religious or moral.

It's also all about particular slangs, lingos & science terminology!

"Beam me up, Scotty?"

6. The Golden Rule, of almost all religions, is to treat others as you want to be treated. It got this name because there's value in being respectful & caring with 1 another.

7. Midgard (middle earth or 'fort' wall?) is the Earth. It named the "wall around the world," a defense from Ice Giant attacks!!

Where's Thor when you really need him?

Making movies...

8. Berserkers were unruly Norse warriors who fought in a trance-like fury!

Some would fight in the nude - unhindered by either, wounds or weather.

Others bit their shields or roared like banshees!

Often, they attacked both, friends & foes - which led them be outlawed.

Think about that for a 2nd...

A successfully violent & martial culture that's scared of no 1 - except 1 of their own!!

9. Woden¹³ is the Anglo-Saxon version of the Scandinavian Odin. He's also king of their Gods & leads the nightmarish 'Wild Hunt!'

But, all of these divinities are of Germanic stock. Local languages account for the variant spellings.

10. Schrimnir is now spelled Saehrimnir (sooty sea beast). Both, however, are the names of the magical boiled meat served in Valhalla.

The beast (walrus?) is slaughtered each evening to feed the Einherjar (warriors who fight alone?).

Then, the beast (boar?!) is resurrected again - til the next evening...

11. Cowards & those who died in bed or from disease weren't welcomed in Valhalla. Only heroic warriors could expect to be taken there.

However, only half of the slain actually went to Valhalla. The rest went to Folkvangr (field of the host), hall of Freya (the lady).

Freya was the Goddess of love, war & magic. She's also an Aesir 'hostage' & was originally a Vanir Goddess.

12. Alfadur (all father) is another name for Odin.

But, long after Ragnarok, an Alfadur is supposed to recreate some of the lost worlds.

The whole 9 worlds aren't mentioned.

This sounds like a major error, since it's Balder who's supposed to do that.

But, perhaps, Alfadur is a title that passed down to Odin's son...

It could be this error that confounded Lovecraft's translation.

13. Anglo-Saxon Woden is also known as Uuoden in Old Saxon, Wuodan in Old Dutch, Weda in Old Frisian & Wuotan in Old High German.

All these various names go back to the old Proto- Germanic Wodanaz, meaning "Lord of the Frenzied."

Odin seems to translate as "lord of inspiration?" But , it can also mean "lord of the delirious or raging."

Next: Part 3 The Work continues...

[silverstonewolf]

Chapter 1

Wtf dnd

Dungeons and dragons is what we played at the end of school at my friends house, Kieran his parents were upstairs working in the cafe. I was the storytelling cherry was a magic knight, John was a heavy swordsman and Kieran was a dark elf mage. That was our last day of living in a safe world where the only danger was other people and illness. The next day , rites opened up all over the world and suck everyone in, we ended up in a place where they were doors picking a door will are profession. But some had not many doors or with me there was only one door. I had no choice but to go through it when I got back to the earth it was to find my home town empty of human life.

I went to my house and opened my skill to see what it was it was a book that could read monsters' skills, rank, and weakness. How did he know this because it showed a gobin who looked at him outside the house. Luckily, they didn't see me it, show their skill was quick attack, rank e, weakness lce magic or fire. I grabbed a bowl of beans and went upstairs to my room, I was lucky I had my own key. I wonder where everyone else was. I looked the window to see if I could read any other monsters. I got beholder or eight eyes, skill laz beam,rank f weakness heavy skill. Fishmen skill water blast rank f and weakness wind and fire magic sabre tooth hyena rank e, skill tornado howl and weakness fire magic. I then realised I could summon rank f monsters because I had level up the book. I looked through the monsters to see if I could ride one to see if I could find out if there was anyone else here. Their were two I ride that is a lizard Tortoise which is a gaint dinosaur with a tortoise shell. It's skill ultimate shield which lasts for three minutes, rank f and weakness steel magic when it's out of its shell. And a gaint earth frog skill high jump rank f and weakness wind magic.

I summon a earth frog I got on and told it to hop to Kieran cafe when I got there. The door opened and my best friend was wearing a green hoodie and pole, ready to fight. But stopped when he saw me he was happy to see me and me about how long ago I got back. And I told him a few minutes ago his heart sunk that I didn't know what happened to everyone else. I offered my friend a ride to John House to see if he was here. He agreed he told on the frog that he has fire magic and dark magic just like the game they played and wasn't surprised I became summon.

When we get the house, John runs outside and hugs us. We told him what happened and what skills we had he told us that he has become a heavy swordsman, just like the character in Dnd He plays. We then discussed what to do next they thought looking for cherry, but she was a foreign exchange student, so she probably at school. We were worried that would be full of strong monsters. John remembered that his parents were clean and had keys to the houses they cleaned. He looked at the keys until he found jim House, who was opposite, the school front gate. I looked through the book to find a monster we could use yo sneak to the house. I found a union rabbit that can turn itself invisible and whatever it touches for eight minutes. So we ran to the house while I held the rabbit when we got there, ran stairs to see the gate of the school. We saw a goblins wizard skill fireballs rank e and weakness water blast and a goblin chief skill earth magic and call rank f goblins to help. I looked up to see a rank c gaint wasps skill poison stink and weakness winds blade that what to level up. I went downstairs to ask my friends what skills they had. Kieran had fireballs and dark mist, and John had steel armour that would protect them from low spells for eight minutes and big, which is to change the size of anything he cast it on. I had a plan. I summon gaint earth beetles "ready" I ask them they nodded. As we walked up are first reuse mission for real.

[shiroi---kumo]

⋆୨𖤓୧⋆ It's a mission report if he's ever heard one as the small soldier recounts the events of what occurred to him with little waver in his voice. It's odd in a way to expect this man to speak of White Cloud in such a way when the swordsman was not his fellow warrior but instead his szerelmi keverék so it's a little more than off to hear him speak of the prince in such a matter of fact sort of way.

Shouldn't he be more concerned? Or was he just that confident in the Cloud's skills? Maybe it was just that he hadn't been made privy to his mix's self sacrificial nature yet and boy what a conversation that would be when he was.

Speaking of the child, there is a blond boy that has to be one of the children that belongs to that man named Mustang that White Cloud calls Eversti all the time. Though he didn't see any Ezredes in him and he certainly wouldn't be addressing the man in such a way the same as his counter was. Even if the man asked him to, it absolutely wasn't about to happen.

That man had killed his Other so he held no respect for him and he almost thinks the game the Cloud is playing with him is even more cruel. Establishing false bonds even when the swordsman is drowning in a bitter flavored anger. Ever the liar even when the truth would be far more beneficial to all of them.

So cold blue are shifting down from one human to the other and then back again. White Cloud told him to run, did it? Typical. What else did he expect from Tiamat's Holy Blade of Salvation? Of course, the little fool told them to run while he handled it and by handled it - that means if he was lucky the boy wouldn't be half way across Wonderland by now getting carted off to Gaudium again all because he didn't know how to be anything but a martyr. It wasn't the human's fault. He only did as he was told - but if he knew his Mix would give himself up at the slightest threat to those around him would he have done so, so willingly?

Bahamut be damned, he's growing tired of the boy's antics.

"Return to the Comodeen and inform the engineer but do not tell the others. We will handle the situation."

And it's an order in the only way he knows how to give one. He may have never climbed too high in Windaria's military ranks but it was only because he had no care to do so. Climbing the ranks meant climbing into the seat of power and leading the people was something he held no interest in.

His eyes are shifting over to his Misterican counterpart for this mission as he frowns deeply towards him. "Come. Let us find your prince before he does something rash or foolish."

⋯✧・♪♫♪・✧⋯ Everything is happening in slow motion as he watches a cloud of dust or pollen or whatever else it could be get thrown in his nephew's face. The boy recoils and coughs. Jade eyes haze over as he lets out a pained sounding whine and stumbles in place for a moment.

It's a slow motion horror show.

This witch knew Sielu just as he had guessed and she put her fucking hands on him. On his bond. His husband and now she was raising her vile grip to rest right between the shoulder blades of his little wisp. This bitch was putting her hands on his family and he would make her pay for it.

"Get your hands off him, you fucking bitch!!"

And it's a deep growl that has a citrine gaze lighting aglow as he resists every urge to blow mist in her face just so he wouldn't have to hear another word out of her fucking mouth.

She says she broke Sielu and it's enough to drive him over the edge. It's enough to have his entire body trembling with the rage that's flooding his mind like a flare shot off without warning. A burst of fire ready to become all consuming in the matter of a few moments.

He has two goals right now. Get Pilvi away from this woman and collect Diamond Dust. Everything else could wait because from the sounds of Pilvi's earlier screaming, he knew where Sielu was and he knew the man was alive. If this bitch did as she claims and broke his husband then he would be there to pick the pieces up and put him back together.

Just as the ocean had done for him countless times in the past. What was a star without the heat to light it's flame? He would light the fires in that oceanic heart once more because he was the only one who knew how to keep a fire lit underwater.

"You really don't know how not to touch what isn't fucking yours to touch, do you?" He hisses as he takes a step forward.

Another and he's running. Where the energy to do so is even coming from is also a question he can't answer but he next words drop in a command that has a head of white hair jerking in his direction without question.

"Pilvi release your lungs!!"

And he does. The boy does as commanded without hesitation. He's already compromised. All ready contaminated if he had to guess by the way jade eye look at him in a haze, but that doesn't stop the way white rolls out of him in plumes that seem to be near endless. White over takes the area and clouds the vision of everyone in it. White floods the entire space of this clearing and seeps out onto the ground to stretch into the forest and the near by town and somehow it keeps rolling.

As the Celestial Mother's Holy Vessel it's no wonder that Pilvi's lung capacity is capable of hitting such impossible levels. Like a dragon incarnate, white continues to roll out of him in a never ending stream as the world around them only continues to grow thicker and thicker.

"That's it, Kid." He yells. "ALL of it Pilvi. ALL of it."

At this point he doesn't know if it will ever stop and he almost doesn't care if it does. It's a good distraction as his nephew bends forward to continue to let it pour from his lungs while the couple remaining men in the area start to scrabble. It's enough of a distraction that he has the time to close in enough that he can retrieve Diamond Dust from the neck of the poor bastard he buried it in and it's in this moment he laughs.

A haunting echo vibrating all around them them as the sound bounces around the Mist that surrounds them. Even if his entire body is screaming, he has to move. Even if his entire form is begging him for rest, he can't give it to it yet. Not until the boy is safe.

He laughs again. Deep and guttural, pulling the sound up from his belly and back reaches of his throat only for it to be followed by a scream and the sound of blood shed.

A body hits the ground and the laugh resumes but it continues to bounce around them making it hard to distinguish which direction the sound is coming from. There are frightened footsteps thudding around in this deathly white space only for a scream to start and then dissipate as if the noise itself was stripped right out of it's victim's lungs.

A second body hits the ground and the white cloud around them gains an orangeish hue. This is it. She's next. He'll fucking kill her for everything she's done. She better pray to whatever god she hails to because his isn't about to save her.

There's a brief bit of chat before she finally gets to throw the pollen into the boy's face. It's all over for him now.

She could just take him, but there's something about this other man that has her interest piqued. Finally, she's able to look over at him, and there's just no way to suppress the grin.

"Ooh, I know that orange," she taunts. "And red - it's so sad there's no red one anymore. I hope I figure out that purple soon... Are there other colors out there? Are they just as pretty and vibrant? I'll break you just like I broke my pretty blue pet, and then I'll have two little garden statues. I can't keep 'kenshi-baby, though, as much as I know he'd love to stay with me."

She's fishing for another handful of pollen, her other palm flat on the swordsman's back.

"My darling was so angry when I broke that one chain. I never got a closer look at the other pieces he had on him, but soon... soon I will, don't worry. Now come here and make this easy."

Kaze isn't necessarily the one he wanted to run into.

Then again, he supposes it's lucky. The Windarian is far more capable than him at handling this. With a sigh, he slips back into field reporting just to get this over with so maybe his heart will calm down soon. Even though the shift in his tone isn't something he wants to share with Ed, it's either this or delaying crucial help that he's starting to think his cloud needs.

He just prays in the back of his mind that Little Cloud stays out of it. He doesn't want to break that promise or that trust - he can't. Makenshi can only do so much on his own.

"Hi, Black Wind. He's back that way, towards town. Gaudium showed up. He told me to take the kid and go home, and I'm not stupid enough to think I can fight, so I'm doing what he said. He probably needs help. There were a lot of them."

[caithyra]

Sakura Part 1 and Narrative Sabotage (or how Kakashi sabotaged her from the beginning)

So, I looked through my old folders and saw a bunch of Sakura-centric fics that I’ve started over the years, and it got me thinking of how fandom absolutely despises Part 1 Sakura for being totally “useless” and “Sasuke-obsessed”. And...

...I don’t see it? Okay, so I see Sakura’s crush and Kishi’s attempts at using it for levity (and his inabilities as a writer), but I don’t see any obsession or uselessness until AFTER Sasuke leaves (seriously, that bench he left her on leeched her of all character).

But I did see a couple of scenes that might explain why people think Part 1 Sakura was like that all the time (and I saw a bunch in which she is useful to the extent of her abilities like not having a kyuubi or being an Uchiha), and how the well was poisoned from the beginning...

The first scene I mean is this one. We’ve previously been introduced to Sakura’s crush on Sasuke, and Naruto’s crush on Sakura. Because Naruto is the main character, Sakura’s disinterest in him is seen as “bad” by the narrative and another “underdog” thing for Naruto (little did we know that NinJesus was Nice Guying the real underdog).

Then Kakashi, who is supposed to be the teacher, expert and authority says that she cares more about boys than being a ninja when she is shy about introducing herself and her ambitions in front of her crush. Note that Sakura is the one vocalizing doubt on Kakashi’s own introduction, funnily enough.

But anyway, this scene has now prepped us to see Sakura as Sasuke-obsessed fangirl.

So in the Bell Survival Test, Sakura immediately hides and observes her enemy. Naruto challenges Kakashi head-on. Kakashi forms what seems to be the Tiger seal and only Sakura (not Sasuke, who recognizes the seal as a fire seal) reveals her hiding spot to warn Naruto.

Well, it was a fake-out (also, people who flanderizes Part 1 Sakura as physically abusive and hitting Naruto all the time, why aren’t you flanderizing the perverts called Kakashi, Hiruzen, Ebisu and Jiraiya, at least one who digitally penetrates Naruto and the others who have a thing for Naruto’s Sexy no Jutsu while being his guardian/teachers?), and then Sakura and Sasuke watches Naruto use Kage Bunshin and so on.

And then Naruto is caught in a trap with Kakashi gloating over him (when Naruto gets down, he’s caught in yet another trap). And then Kakashi disappears from view after Sasuke attacks (and runs) via Kawarimi and Sakura runs and tries to find and regroup with Sasuke.

Instead she runs into Kakashi who knocks her unconscious with a genjutsu depicting Sasuke dying and pleading for help (keep in mind that she hasn’t eaten dinner or breakfast, so she’s essentially running on the previous day’s lunch at this point, and, well, it’s near lunch so it’s been 24 hours since she last ate). When she wakes up again, she sees what appears to be Sasuke’s severed head and faints again.

When she wakes up and sees that Sasuke is fine, she’s happy and hugs him. Then she thinks they should quit since they can’t win like this anyway (coming to the right conclusion, though not to the answer Kakashi wanted).

Meanwhile, Naruto has freed himself from the trap and is about to eat all the lunch all by himself (what a team-player, y’all! Betcha he didn’t skip dinner either the night before).

And then we get this:

The only time Naruto was even near to Sakura was when he was fighting Kakashi head on or dangling in front Kakashi in a trap. Was she supposed to jump in then? Or when Kakashi Kawarimi’d away from Sasuke’s attack? When she didn’t know where Kakashi was, Naruto was trapped, and she’d previously revealed her position yelling a warning for Naruto?

Instead of running away to hide and regroup with the non-trapped teammate? Who, by the way, ended up being closer to Sakura the rest of the time.

We know what happens next: They pass the test and fandom (and probably Kakashi) decides that Sakura is Sasuke-obsessed and wouldn’t have passed the test if she didn’t copy Sasuke.

I mean, it’s not like she cares for her team and tries to help them in what way she can, right (like, enough to reveal herself to warn them and faint in distress of one of them dying)? /sarcasm

Hilariously, I think that Sakura actually would have passed Kakashi’s test with better teammates (who act like a team rather than a non-ninja and an avenger). And that’s before it came down to lunchboxes.

Now, she might be “useless” because of her lack of skills (Hey, Kakashi-sensei! Isn’t it someone’s job to fix that?), but you see her sometimes be more useful than her teammates. Like when Naruto freezes in fright:

BTW, that’s a chuunin with specialized weapons she’s going up against who earned the moniker “Demon Brother”. Compared to Naruto, Sakura was definitely of more use in this fight (remember, their mission is to protect Tazuna). Also, she is the one asking questions and educating her teammates throughout this whole arc, showing more interest in the thought of foreign ninja than Sasuke at the beginning of it, even.

This actually continues with Sakura showing drive and talent, but also doubts because she’s on a team with plot-elevated NinJesuses, and she feels weak because of it, and Kakashi not giving her recognition hurts her both in-story, and in the fandom (since Kakashi is meant to be a reliable narrator when it comes to his students at this point).

People don’t twig onto Kakashi’s unreliability and bias as a teacher (and the narrative’s bias against female characters) until it became obvious when he abandoned her between the second and third exams, and they take her self-deprecation as gospel, so to the fandom, she’s always been useless.

So basically, what we started with had a solid foundation of a good character; a regular girl with a crush who is interested in knowing things, who sometimes act competently and sometimes silly. She’s starting from scratch but is willing to improve (and the Tree Walking Exercise shows that she learns fast, and the first exams shows that she’s good at retaining what she learnt). She’s far from useless.

Unfortunately we have a character in authority undermining her by mentioning that she’s Sasuke-focused whether or not it applies to the situation, and then the narrative starts doing that as well, and well, you end up with a “Part 1 Sakura was always useless” in fandom.

My verdict is that Sakura in the beginning of Part 1, and in the beginning of Part 2, were both good characters, not obsessed (again, just a young girl with a crush), and far from useless, but that the narrative soon after dropped the ball hard (like, if we find a hole in Earth’s core, we’ll know what to blame). Plus sexism, but that’s a far longer essay than I have time to write right now.

[h4kufilmz]

follow the wind ✎ ( PARK SUNGHOON )

=͟͟͞♡ PAIRING : SUNGHOON x MALE READER

=͟͟͞♡ GENRE : ... Angst. are we surprised? are you surprisd? and some fantasy, again, ARE YOU SURPRISED? some fluff at the end, happy ending, now this is where y'all should be surprised cause.. happy? endings? 🤺

=͟͟͞♡ WARNING : major character death, blood, violence, some cursing and grief.

a sigh left M/N's parted lips, letting the soft cool breeze sweep through his features into his room. no other than his soft breaths and rustle from the trees were heard.

he liked it this way, it kept his mind at bay from the thoughts seeping through it, troubling him. he prefers to deal with it alone as he could think more clearly by himself, and this is not something he should really be telling anyone.

from the far distance he could see a creature flying it's way to his window, it glimmered as it made contact with golden rays of the sun, he exactly knew who this was from.

a smile grew on his face as the owl made of ice landed on the stool of his window, it shine so brightly as a cold mist cascades down it's figure as it fades away leaving a single snowflake.

his smile grew bigger as he knew who this was from, "ah what does he want now?" he got off the chair that sar beside the window slipping the snowflake in his pocket. paying no mind, he took his coat and was about to head before stopping.

his eyes stared at his holster that carried his sword, something in him was telling him to bring it with him, for a few seconds he stood there deciding if he should or not, ultimately he made up his mind and wrapped the holster around his waist, slipping on his coat he made his way out.

-

today was particularly a windy one, the walk through the forest was rather more tedious than it is, leaves flying whichever direction the wind blew, same with his hair, it'll look as if he got caught in some storm when he gets there.

finally, he saw the clearing they'd normally meet in, M/N could see sunghoon's silver hair in the distance, neatly styled, just like always.

he was the star between the two of them, everyone always praised him and noticed his efforts, he'd always have a group of fans waiting beside the street screaming his name just him to not even look their way and continue dragging M/N to some random stool that he saw a few days ago.

that was the thing about sunghoon, he never truly cared about the fame he got, he never really acknowledged the fans screaming his way. it never really held any importance to him, it really caught his eye nor got to him in any way.

and he'll continue to do so, as he truly doesn't see how people see him, he'd honestly disagree whenever M/N mentions that he should show some appreciation to those people who made the effort to lose their voices just for him to walk past them, he'd always say: "i don't deserve the praise, you do." and M/N would just scoff and they'd laugh it off. that's how it's always been.

M/N disagree's with sunghoon as well, a never ending argument against them both.

despite his fame and success, M/N was just always seen as sunghoon's shadow, only following behind him and no one truly noticed nor praised him as much as they would do to sunghoon, but he's fine with that, only sunghoon wasn't. he's always been M/N's biggest fan, always cheering him on, preaching about how good of a swordsman he is to everyone, advocating that they should scream M/N's name, praise him, give him these tittles and awards and not him.

they both worked hard to get to where they are now, ans M/N can't be any prouder of sunghoon, he wasn't the least bit jealous and sunghoon wasn't cocky at all unlike most who reached that kind of status.

hearing the soft crunch of the leaves behind him, sunghoon turned around with a smile immediately approaching the boy engulfing him in his arms.

"hoon— i need to breathe." M/N in a muffled voice said, patting sunghoons back lightly as he finally let go. "you're extra affectionate today." M/N stated, smoothing his wrinkled coat, "and you — you like a mess, what storm hit you today?" and there it was, the teasing, accompanied with his cheeky smirk. what a very punchable face he truly had, yet too pretty to scar.

a glare was sent in sunghoons direction, with an eye-roll, M/N a hand in his pocket taking out the snowflake sunghoon had sent him, "what does mr ice prince need?" it was sunghoons turn to roll his eyes, oh how he hated that title.

"y'know just because i've been given the power to manipulate ice doesn't mea that i—"

"that i am cold." M/N mimicked his words spot on, he heard of the nth time, he could even copy the little things he does that are almost unnoticeable whenever he said it, "yes yes, i get — you give very warm hugs baby but why did you disturb my looking out the window session?"

'baby' ugh how sunghoon loved and hated, he'd always scream inside whenever M/N would call him that, and the way he'll always say it will never get sunghoon to recover, yet.. this time around he hoped to not hear it.

before answering M/N's question, sunghoon's eyes darted to the side, he could feel the sense of hesitation and seemingly sunghoon was holding himself back on something, "ah i just wanted to spend time with you!" sunghoon tugged his lips into a smile, "i've been so busy and you've been on break so we don't even have time to see each other as much, and i miss you." M/N knew sunghoon better than anyone, he could noticed the shake in his smile even if it the the slightest movement he could notice it, sunghoon was an open book to him that he could read through all the time, and M/N knew whenever he was troubled by something.

"has something happened hoon?"

a short pause occurred, until sunghoon shook his head lightly a soft smile made it's way onto his lips as he took M/N's hand, "it's fine, just enjoy some time with me.. please?" his eyes silently pleaded with M/N, he couldn't resist those eyes, he entwined their fingers together sunghoon looked pleased as they took their walk into the forest.

it was a silent walk, yet it was comfortable form of silence, they've always done this and it's one of thejr favorite things to do, the state of serenity was something they both cherished, as their minds were always at peace whenever they'd have these walks only them and the sounds of the forest accompany them.

they stopped at another clearing in the forest, this one was particularly spacious, perfect for a training ground where swords and different elements would clash, the grass seemed to be shaved off clean as the trees surrounded it, M/N wonder if this were a work of humans in the past, well it didn't look old that's for sure.

"remember that last village we went to?" the question raised M/N's brows for a moment, a little startled by the sudden question of it, "the stone village? near borea? yes i do, there were countless reports of attacks from there."

"attacks caused by demons, from the neighboring realm elysia." sunghoon's whole, aura changed by the second, something dark seemed to loom around him. "we managed to infiltrate one of their camps and in the middle of the fighting you.. disappeared, where were you?" sunghoon eyes slightly narrowed, his tone held a one of suspicion towards M/N. M/N was caught off guard, he raked his mind for a convincing answer, "i ran off into he forest as i saw some of them trying to flee, possibly call for back up." M/N tried his best at that one, though he doubts it'll even slightly convince sunghoon.

what truly baffled him is why he was asking these questions so suddenly, he could sense that something was wrong before they even arrived at this clearing, sunghoon seemed so nervous and seemed to be contemplating about something, as if we were tasked to do something againt his own will. with a glance spared he could see sunghoon just standing there, in deep thought, he noticed that his hand place atop the lock of his scabbard.

M/N was scared that the thing he was fearing ever since that mission has already happened.

"hoon is something wrong? y'know you can just tell m—" yet sunghoon did not let him finish, he gave M/N no time to react. as huge pillars of ice emerged from the ground charging towards M/N with great speeds.

M/N was sent hurling towards a tree, as he didn't anticipate an attack coming from sunghoon, he swore he would've been crushed here and there if the ice just didn't stop. he shakily breathes out a sigh eyeing te stray icicle that was close to impale him.

his eyes then soon darted toward sunghoon, who already had his sword unsheathed, it pointed his way he could see the cold mist that encapsulated it slowly disperse into nothing.

"the council already knows what you did, someone saw you helping them flee."

"but i have a plan M/N we can esca—" yet before sunghoon knew it, a huge gust of wind dispersed through the small clearing, the huge pieces of ice were sent flying. M/N then leaped forward sword unsheathed, their blades met.

with a loud klang they struggled against each other, their fierce gazes never left on another, "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" M/N yelled, shoving sunghoon away using the fuller of his sword.

"and what do you want me to let it happen, M/N?" his voice fell into a whisper, soft and breathless, the glint of hope in his eyes didn't falter yet.. he didn't know what to do, sunghoon seemed to be pinned onto a corner to he had to make up his mind and decide, yet he knew the answer but he doesn't know if it's the right one. all he knows he'll never forgive himself if he lets this happen to someone who's been with through everything.

"i— .. i don't know, but you can't just throw away everything just to save me." M/N's voice wavered, he's been thinking of what step he should take for the past weeks, and seemingly he took too long, they caught up on him and now they're in this predicament, swords drawn, on opposite sides.

"so what if i lose everything? i can get back on my feet but losing you... that's forever M/N."

silence then befell over them, the two seemed to be so deep into their own worlds, thinking.

"i challenge you to a duel." M/N looking up at sunghoon, who's eyes were wide, a puzzled expression on his face. "if i win, you'll leave me alone and if you win, i'll agree with your plan." he pointed his blade right at him, "don't you dare hold back park sunghoon."

with this proposal M/N made, sunghoon wanted to refuse yet it seemed as if this was the only way they'll have it.

setting their hesitation aside they lunged forward their blades met once, sending a huge shockwave that traveled through the forest.

with each slash and perry, wind and ice clashed, cuts and gashes formed from these slashes but the pain wasn't felt, they were too determined to win to feel any of it. even if the red liquid started to seep through their clothes.

this continued, the trees froze and fell from both wind and ice, the animals fled to safety this clearing turned into a battleground of two powerhouses.

they fought for something, as with each klang that emitted from their blades their hearts and souls shattered, they never thought their swords would ever clash with one another. they comrades, friends.. and maybe even more.

now they were in opposite sides, one wanted to throw away everything and run away and the other wanted nothing of that.. he didn't know what he wanted. but he dedicated his sword and strength so his friend can keep that thing's he's worked so hard for, to not wander around the plains aimlessly trying to a place called home, he want that for sunghoon, that life is the his bestfriend doesn't deserve. and he'll make sure he won't need to experience it.

with each frozen structure sunghoon M/N's way, the sharp winds that could cut through mountains always just cut through it, til one of them could find a blind plot on their armor this battle won't end.

and there they came to halt, their ragged breaths filled the silence, "M/N. let's stop this, there'll be no end to this and we'll end up hurting ourselves more." sunghoon was the first speak in between his pants, it wasn't the exhaustion that made him want to stop, is the further clashing with M/N was what made him want to stop. it hurts him that they came to this, but with M/N's shaking from left to right the dread that simmered down soon came back, worse than ever.

"you" M/N breathlessly said, lifting his arm up pointing his sword in sunghoons direction, "you've always been like this." his words arched sunghoons brow in confusion, "what do you mean?"

"i mean this! you never know when to stop meddling with other people's business, my business, you should've just let me deal with this myself. and now we're here—"

"AND WHAT DO WANT ME TO DO HUH?" the sudden outburst made M/N flinch, his eyes wide as he gazed up at sunghoon who's tears slid down his features, "DO YOU WANT ME TO WATCH THEM KILL YOU? OR— OR LET YOU TURN YOURSELF IN?!" he clenched his chest as more tears fell down.

M/N wanted to run to him, say sorry, say he didn't mean anything he said and that he takes it all back and hold sunghoon in his arms, yet not a single muscle even dare move in M/N's body, all he could do stare in silence.

until.. "let's finish this." the wind seemed to blow harder now as it circled M/N, his eyes were blanketed by a soft hue of green. he channeled his winds to a level sunghoon nor even M/N has seen, he was determined to finish this.

sunghoon gripped tightly gripped the handle of his sword, the pain he felt morphed into a searing anger, the way M/N just dismissed him, he didn't seem to acknowledge that fact that he wanted to stop and this was hurting them. hurting him. all those years until now it seemed like he was facing a different person. so if he really just wanted to finish this then so be it.

the temperature then dropped drastically, as the ground started to freeze under sunghoon's shoes, the ice slowly crept up to the tip of his blade, he was called the ice prince for a reason.

with one moment of silence, in a mere millisecond, total destruction.

they lunged forward as once again their blades met, yet this time, it seemed that thirst for one anothers blood is present within their blades.

they danced in a clash of blades and destruction, sunghoon thrusted his sword forward, M/N dodged his attack by fading into the cold mist that emitted from sunghoon. he raised his sword to slash him from behind, but a an icicle that arose from the ground didn't allow him to do so.

this continued for hours, a grand duel that shook the forest they were bound to be taken over by fatigue, and that is exactly what they felt, they'll soon succumb to their own exhaustion.

yet both didn't have the desire to step down, even if they were already battered, their hair disheveled, slashes and gashes were littered their body, the pain never got to them.

when the begins to set in the horizon, they had one last leap forward, their swords struggled against each other, their shaking hands and legs struggled to keep them up, as their eyes met.

time seemed to stand still at that moment, their anger simmered as they looked into each others eyes with shock and fear. this wasn't them and they should stop, sunghoon wanted to stop, yet M/N.. he wanted to get this over with.

a huge surge of wind encapsulated his sword, with a single slash sunghoon was pushed hard towards a tree, hitting his head in the process.

the impact made him dizzy, his vision was blurry and everything seemed to spin around him, but he could still see M/N's figure standing there, he then held a stance, an offensive one seemingly he was about to strike sunghoon, with one slash he'd be finished.

sunghoon just accepted it at this point, if he were to go, then so be it, he could see a dome of wind circling around them, the faint glow of green accompanying it, slowly it grew brighter and brighter. he was too weak to anything anymore.

sunghoon just closed his eyes, this was it, this'll how he'll meet his end, memories started to replay in his mind, the laughter, the sadness, the ups and downs, he only smiled. he was glad he lived a life with M/N in it while it lasted, never had he imagined they'd ever come to this.

sunghoon could hear the wind howling loud in his ears, at any second by now, was expecting it.

yet when it stopped, he didn't felt.. nothing, he couldn't feel the wind blowing anymore, he couldn't hear it, was this death? that thought went away when he could see the sound of metal hitting the ground and a loud thud accompanied it. he opened his eyes and he didn't want to believe it, there M/N layed in a pool of his own blood, "M-M/N" he uttered weakly, he tried to stand but his legs didn't let him, as he fell flat on the ground, with a shaky arm he dragged himself towards where M/N layed.

when he reached M/N's body immediately he shook it, "M/N get up this isn't funny." he lied beside him, not caring if his clothes were stained with blood, he needed to wake M/N up. "M/N, M/N! wake up p-please!" a sob ripped through his throat, yet M/N still didn't move. "this isn't fucking funny please... i'm sorry." he buried his head on M/N's back, his weak sobs echoed through the forest, as he continued to beg M/N to wake up, yet nothing, he didn't want to accept this.

he failed to save him.

as everything else went black.

-

sunghoon soon awoke in an unfamiliar room, it looked like a little cottage from what he assumed, he stepped off from the bed and opening the door to see no one, but he sensed that he wasn't alone here, "hello? anyone there?" looked around cautiously, his attention then went to the window.

as he stares outside, he could only see miles and miles of grass, the only thing that stuck out was the tiny hill in the distance and a tree stood there.

with his curiosity peaked, he went outside, he walked closer and he could finally notice someone sitting under the tree. he felt a sense of familiarity with this person, he had no idea where so maybe they know.

with each step he got closer and closer, until he reached the hill, the person face the other way so he couldn't see him all he knew this person was guy, "hello?" he tried getting his attention, almost immediately they turned their head.

and sunghoon's eyes almost bulged out of it's sockets, it was M/N but.. what was he doing here? he seemed sad and ashamed, as he was in deep thought.

quickly his feet moved up the hill, he walked beside M/N, "M/N." he said, M/N seemed to avoid his gaze, he pursed his lips together with a glint of shame in his eyes.

"hey, what's wrong?" sunghoon eyes held a sense of concern, placing his hand on M/N's shoulder.

he was then shocked to hear a sob emit from him, sunghoon didn't waste a second to take M/N in his embrace, he didn't know what was happening, nor where they were and why theut were here.

he only whispered comforting words in his ear, "i'm sorry" in betweens his tears he said, "what do you mean?" he chuckled, smoothing his thumb wiping away the tears the slid down M/N's face.

M/N's eyes for a second widened, seemingly in shock he, immediately it seems as if he knew what was going on.

"did you accidentally break something again?" sunghoon joked, this was his way to calm the boy down, which worked, M/N's laughter never failed to make his heart flutter.

they just laid there incased in a warm embrace, in silence. listening to calming howl of breeze hitting the tree causing it to rustle softly above them.

M/N pulled away, wiping the stray tears, sniffling, his eyes then went down on sunghoons figure, he feel sunghoons hands on his, M/N entwined their fingers together, relishing the moment they'd still be together.

"so where are we?" sunghoon's eyes scanned the area for anything else, but it was only an endless sea of grass. "i myself can't answer that, cause i don't know." M/N chuckled.

he lied.

"well i must say, pretty neat place." sunghoon pulled M/N in his arms, joyous laughter emitted fom the two.

"hoon remember the last village we went to?" sunghoon's head tilted in confusion, "yeah what about it?" he returned the question, M/N cleared his throat before answering, "you remember when i suddenly disappeared? when i came back i told you i chased down some demons trying to flee.. actually i helped them flee."

sunghoon for a moment pulled away, he an expression of shock and fear on his features.

"M/N why did you just tell me this now? what if the council finds out, they'll see you as a traitor and—"

M/N brought his fingers up to sunghoons lips, shutting him up, "calm down, they won't." sunghoon couldn't feel the reassurance, yet the usual calmness that radiated from M/N made him drop it, and considering... this place seems to just be an endless field. he didn't know if this was truly endless, yet.. as long as they're safe and as long as hes with M/N he's content.

"are you not mad at me?" sunghoon's eye's narrowed in question, as he shook his head, "not even a bit, you did what you thought was right." sunghoon stroked M/N's head, the reassuring gaze made him comfortable enough to keep going.

"they were kids, that i assume that they only wanted to see their father who stationed in that camp."

sunghoon nodded signaling for the boy to keep going, "i had no choice, they were only kids hoon, i can't sit here and continue killing beings who are only paying the price for what their ancestors did."

"what do you mean? you're.. leaving the knights?"

M/N nodded, a solemn smile tugged his lips. "i plan on going on a trip once i do so."

sunghoon nodded, he understood M/N and his reasons, yet he couldn't help but be sad as it won't be the same when he's, "can i come?" oh how innocent his question came, M/N shook his head a smile tugged his lips, he brought his hands onto sunghoons face cupping it.

"i wanna take this one alone, i'll be gone for a while but.. once i come back i'll make sure to bring you something."

sunghoon nodded and brought M/N into a tight embrace, "i'm gonna miss you." he buried his head on the crook of M/N's neck, "i'll miss you too, very very very much, but i'll be back." they stayed like that for a while, relishing every moment that passed, every leaf that fell from the tree a moment passed.

M/N pulled away and stood up reaching for sunghoons hand who immediately took his, "let's go to bed it's getting late." sunghoon nodded, no further questions he wanted to spend every last moment right now with M/N.

hands entwined they made it back to the small cottage, the sun sunk down the field as the moon arose, they went under the covers, entangling themselves arms and legs, sunghoon planted a soft kisss on M/N's head as the boy giggled.

sunghoot then felt drowsy, his eyes felt heavy and with a yawn accompanying it, but all he could do as he was drifting away into sleep was look at M/N's smiling face, he'll remember that smile forever.

"goodbye hoon, thank you for everything." sunghoon felt M/N's soft lips on his forehead and there on slowly, he drifted off to sleep.

-

sunghoons eyes fluttered awake, as he looked around to see the boys, surrounding him, he turned his head to find M/N but he wasn't there.. there was no way he could fit such a small anyway, he tried getting up but his body clearly said no, as a sharp pain from his head pulled him back down. "hoon just stay still, you're not in shape to get up." jay scolded, clicking his tongue.

"w-where's M/N?" he asked and everyone just fell silent, they all seemed to avoid his gaze it confused him, until heesung stood up, he had the smile that didn't exactly reached his ears, it seemingly like he was trying to reassure sunghoon, "don't be shocked but.. M/N is gone."

sunghoon's blinked eyes blinked in confusion, "he didn't even say goodb—" he stopped mid sentence as the memory replayed itself to him.

"n-no.." he uttered tears brimmed in his eyes, "no he told me he was going on a trip i— i need to see him" despite the pain he sat up, yet jay kept him in place, as he only shook his head.

"he's alive i just talked to him moments ago t-this isn't true stop fucking playing in my head stop— STOP HE ISN'T GONE HE'S ALIVE" sunghoon held his head in his hands, the other boy could only cry along with him, they felt his grief as M/N was their friend too yet sunghoon him and sunghoon had a special connection. so what they felt, sunghoon felt it much worst.

"maybe that was his way of saying goodbye to you, but he's gone sunghoon." in between the tears jake said, his hand was on sunghoons shoulder, sunghoon shook his head, refusing to believe this, it wasn't real to him, it didn't feel like it, cause he still feels as if M/N is still here and alive and he's just on a long trip and he'll come back to him, he told him he'd comeback.

he'd comeback to him, he will, he should, but deep down sunghoon he won't, but what else is he to do? he lost the most of important person in his eyes, in his life. where will he even begin to get back on his feet after this? will he even be able to do so? these questions were raised in his head as he continued to sob loudly, calling out M/N's name thinking that somehow he'll hear him and he'll come back.

but he won't and sunghoon doesn't know what else to do, but to helplessly cry out his name.

-

it's been three since M/N's passing, the slight sting was still felt in his heart, whenever he'd see something that made him remember M/N, or the mention of his name.

sunghoon was a mess after that, he shut everyone out and cried every night, he stopped going to the knights headquarters and just stayed clumped up in his room in grief.

he avoided the forest at all cost, he hated it, he hated that it reminded him of him and M/N's walks together and he remembered the dreaded memory of their battle and M/N's lifeless body laying on the dirt ground in a pool of his own blood.

but that's all over now, he's trying to get on his feet again, he's getting himself back step by step, though it is proven to not be easy, his mind wanders back to that dreaded memory once and a while, but he'll have to learn how to live with the pain. he'll prove to himself that he can do it, that he can stand back up after everything, that's why M/N always wanted for him he must've hated seeing him at that state.

a grieving soul that called out for his name.

he'll do this for himself, he's lost sight of everything, his friends, his job, his achievements, his life. he lost himself to hi grief but he's back up to fight and learn to live with his grief, it'll just be a part of him forever.

but it doesn't need to keep weighing him down, he'll live with it, as with everything he'll learn.

the knock from his door startled, "park sunghoon!" it was sunoo, "you're fucking late come on! the boys are waiting at the plaza" he sounded annoyed, he was too deep in his thoughts to remember. he opened his door already ready, "sorry i got a little bit too comfortable." he chuckled, "whatever let's go we can't keep M/N waiting." sunghoon nodded, this was the first in two years will he ever get to see his bestfriends grave, the boys made sure it was kept clean and fresh flowers were always placed there, he couldn't thank them more for it.

"come onnn you know how pissed jay gets"

"okay okay damn, no need to threaten me with that."

they shared on last laughter and made their way out sunghoons house, without even a second before stepping out they were immediately met with screaming, fans, they called both sunoo and sunghoon's name and for once.

he waved back at them.

they all went silent after that, seemingly too shocked to even emit a scream, sunghoon and sunoo only laughed as they continued walking.

wherever the winds goes he'll follow, he'll get himse the back on track and walk on the path he intended to walk on, it won't be easy but maybe he'll be able to do it.

and maybe one day the wind will lead back to M/N's arms, and he'll come back to him, after his long trip away.

[shiroi---kumo]

⋆˖⁺‧₊☽◯☾₊‧⁺˖⋆ "The Kingdom of Hyrule -" He sounded aloud as he listened to this strange man explain the area. There was question in his voice as the swordsman of white continued to linger in the sky as this man explained that the land was protected by a Goddess named Hylia... but his next words are what have the floating man raising his hands in front of himself to shake them lightly for a moment before he waved them as if to dismiss the notion and he began to explain.

"Well no, that's silly. Of course not, because Lady Tiamat created me. I've never heard of a Goddess named Hylia, but Lady Tiamat is the Celestial Mother of my people. Your Goddess wouldn't have had a hand in my creation. I doubt she has any bearing over Mist or Soil in all honesty."

Slowly he allows himself to sink down towards the ground with his hands up as if to show he is of no harm and has no intention of reaching for his own weapon resting at the back of his waist.

"What I meant was, I was assessing the area because they were not lands I recognized. Has anything strange happened in recent memory? I know most of the lands in this general area quite well and I have had yet to fly over your Hyrule so I was merely looking it over... because these lands are... new." His voice trails off for a moment as he explains.

"But no need to worry about that. You are, dear knight? How shall I address you?"

"Assessing the area?" Link repeated back. If the stranger hovering in the sky was hoping that he was being comforting, there were... some better words that he could have thought of. To him, it left the idea that they were just being monitored to see how useful this land might end up being for another's use.

Hyrule had been through enough. He wasn't really looking to see some outside group trying to invade just because the land seemed weakened and unguarded in the moment.

"Yes, it is," he said in confirmation. "You're hoverin' above what's going to become the Kingdom of Hyrule." Well, not this patch of land specifically. Maybe nearby, though he imagined that the location with the Goddess Statue would become a place of worship, not a place to rule.

World? His head canted slightly to the side, eyes narrowed, but let that comment go. "This land is protected by the Goddess Hylia. And I don't really recall her created creatures that could fly the way you are." His mind didn't jump to him being a creature of Demise; that didn't seem to fit either. But someone that came from outside of this... world, that would fit.