#finally someone else who thinks there's room for improvement in Konoha

[cropofshinobi]

@hyuga-natsu:

It was a delicate balancing act within the clan, but Natsu had two worried parents and protective older sisters to guide her into making sure she kept her head low and didn’t draw too much attention to herself. In the past, she’d thought briefly about making it all the way to a tokubetsu jonin rank and specializing in tracking missions.

Then came the wake-up call. Boys and girls from her caste were very limited on what they could do, and even more limited on which legal rights they carried in the village. The Hyūga Clan had always been particularly strange in this regard: the one exception where a clan’s traditions were left accepted and unhindered by the village with no effort made to change or conform. This had apparently been part of their initial agreement in joining the village.

It meant slavery was going to continue well into the new millennium.

“Indeed. It sounds like it. I’m starting to think my generation is a generation of inheritance with little to no progress.” In short, she knew what her future was going to hold. The day Hiashi-sama became a father, his son or daughter would have Natsu (or someone like Natsu) to tend to them around the clock.

There wouldn’t be any chasing rogue ninjas or looking for foreign shinobi on Konoha terrain for her. She’d be a glorified babysitter paid only with food, shelter, and a meager allowance.

Natsu had to chuckle, though, hearing Sakumo talk about the time he tried to color his hair. “My goodness. You probably should have had someone who knew what they were doing handle that. There’s a Yamanaka in my team. She maintains a magenta stripe in her hair and she’s platinum blonde, almost as light as you.” That hot pink really popped.

Sakumo privately agreed, but was careful to toe the line. Constructive criticism of the village could mean accusations if the wrong person overheard them,  especially by the current administration so soon after the war. Carefully, he nudged the conversation in a little more neutral direction. “It doesn’t help that the generations before you grew up during such a turbulent era. War can make people so concerned about keeping things stable that improving on them can become an afterthought if it happens at all.”    

Rather than improve on the work of the founders those in power, born between the end of the warring states era and the armistice no one believed would last, seemed preoccupied with preserving it. Even if it meant Konoha repeating the same mistakes.

At least Sakumo had learned from his hair-dying incident. In the years that followed he always opted for using wigs, disguises, or transformation jutsu for undercover missions.

“It probably would have been far more successful. For one thing, they might have told me how different weapon grade materials are from hair dye.” Despite his punishment for ‘wasting valuable supplies’ it was a fond memory. While Sakumo grudgingly accepted, after the hack-job haircut, that he’d become a laughing stocking until his hair grew back the neighbor he’d tried to imitate hadn’t. After hearing about Sakumo’s near baldness she (and her many siblings) pitched in and tried to find something to mask the worst of the bare spots. White paint, textured glue, and feathers wrangled from an old pillow didn’t solve the problem (nothing but time would), but the emergency meeting had lead to a much appreciated revelation: hats weren’t banned at the academy. He might look he’d just been de-loused, but at least none of the other students would have to know. “At the time I thought if I asked anyone they’d immediately inform my family, so ‘poor’ was better than nothing.”

He tried to picture it, but Natsu-san’s teammate didn’t ring any bells. Sakumo was sure he’d remember someone with such striking hair. “That sounds difficult. I wonder how she keeps the streak from bleeding into the rest,” he wondered..

[depressedhatakekakashi]

I have been thinking a lot about how the politics of Kohona change between Hiruzen and Tsunade, and when you mentioned Hiruzen expecting everyone else to be willing to sacrifice for the village it all clicked into place.

We know that there’s a terrible system for managing orphans in the village too but there has to be someone doing something to help, most likely a underfunded civilian volunteer organization making sure that the kids are at least getting fed and clothed with some form of shelter whether it’s some form of group housing or that they’re squatting in an abandoned building.

Then Minato takes over and knows the work they’re doing because of how he tries to support and advocate for Kakashi to stay in the Hatake estate, and he starts giving them the funding they need. Of course then the 9-tails attack happens and Hiruzen is back in place, and that’s the first funding that gets cut in favour of rebuilding. There’s land seizures for quick sale and revenue for the village which means the kids who were squatting get displaced, and the group housing gets extremely crowded. I also think the Hatake estate would be among these sales because it is likely on some valuable land, and when Kakashi moves into his small apartment. Meanwhile, the volunteer organizations are back to being overwhelmed.

When Tsunade comes in she already is known as someone who cares immensely about others and she’s flooded with funding requests. Where Minato probably tried to push though as much as he could, she tries to build a more sustainable system. It results in her not being especially popular among the civilians because she keeps raising the taxation rates but once the systems are in place, people are reluctant to let them go. I don’t think that she would be able to implement as much change as she would want because of the council elders, but she’s able to start putting into place the mechanisms to facilitate the change later on for when Kakashi and Naruto take over.

Sorry for the long ask and not quite as fun as Pokémon AU stuff, but it’s something that I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about and that point you made just made it finally all click.

Tbh i don’t think Tsunade had the time to put changes into place. When she came in she was overwhelmed with rebuilding konoha, cementing Konoha as a strong hold after losing so many shinobi in the attack, and then everything happened with the akatsuki and the war

A lot of time Tsunade was playing defense. She was fighting against the elders and trying to keep Konoha on its feet. She didn’t have a lot of wiggle room to improve the system but she did do little things i think. She was also training sakura which took up time as well

The major changes happened with Kakashi. When he took over they were in times of peace. The struggles tsunade faced were dealt with in her final year as hokage and tied off, so by the time Kakashi took the hat he could begin making the changes Tsunade never had time for

It was under Kakashi the an orphanage was properly opened in Konoha (and control of it given to Kabuto as an opportunity for him to make up for his past actions and return to his roots)

It was Kakashi who had the opportunity to change the rules so that shinobi would take prisioners rather than just killing the enemy right away.

It was Kakashi who the village really grew ubder

Had Tsunade stuck around i think she would have made a lot more changes, and i think her biggest contribution was to the hospital and medicine in general, but she really had a full plate when she took the job

Kakashi was the one who has peace and opening to properly change the village for the better

Tsunade was better than hiruzen by miles, but i genuinly think it was Kakashi, who has seen all of the ways in whoch the village was broken and at its worse, who was the most capable of bringing about change. Tsunade had her own pains, but when it comes to an orphanage and children left behind, i think it’s kakashi who would be most likely to have a hand in that.

Again, it’s not because i don’t think tsunade wanted to make significant changes. She just didn’t have the power. With danzo and the elders against her and the constant barrage of challenge and attacks, she had little to no time to make significant changes

[ladykissingfish]

Under the Mistletoe with the Akatsuki // Part Eight // Kakuzu

What is with this group and wasting their free time doing such inane and pointless things? The old guy can think of at least 50 other activities (the majority of which involve making money) that everyone could be doing, rather than lining up to kiss each under a little green plant. When it’s his turn in the spotlight, he tries as hard as he can to back out of his “obligation” ... but Pein (and Kakuzu’s own persistent partner, Hidan) insist that Kakuzu participate. Kakuzu sighs and nods; he’s smart enough to know when he’s been defeated. However, Pein should know that Kakuzu will be adding a little extra money to his paycheck that week, for “hazard pay”.

Pein

Nagato was more interested in Kakuzu joining his group than any of the others. Immortality, money-sense, expertise and wisdom ... this is the man who survived the wars of the past. This is the man who survived the mighty Hashirama, God of all shinobi. Still, Nagato is no fool; he realizes that Kakuzu’s number one priority in life isn’t the Akatsuki, but money. Kakuzu would probably (and had likely thought about) betray them all in exchange for a tidy sum. So Nagato (as Pein) works to keep Kakuzu content enough to remain loyal, including making him the group’s treasurer and giving him complete control over everyone’s finances. And Kakuzu remains highly useful; strategizing, completing missions twice as fast (and ten times as efficient) as his younger teammates. Pein approaches Kakuzu and gives him a light kiss on the forehead, before returning to his room. He reminds himself to speak to Kakuzu later; he has some ideas about weapons he’d like to procure for the group, and needs to see if it would be financially feasible to do so.

Konan

Kakuzu genuinely likes Konan, and appreciates her company. Many men of Kakuzu’s generation were raised on the belief system that women were solely meant to be wives, child-bearers, and home-makers; to call a female a ninja was deemed unthinkable. But Kakuzu was a rarity in that he never saw this as being the case; man or woman, one’s inner strength was all that mattered in regards to being a shinobi. He’s spoken with Konan at length about her childhood, and the trauma she endured, and he knows that this little blue-haired lady is a sight tougher than a LOT of people (and Kakuzu’s met quite a few in his long life). Konan walks up to him and he smiles; it’s rare for Kakuzu to smile, but Konan brings it out of him. “Good evening, Kakuzu-san. I think it’s my turn.” He nods, and slips off his mask so that his lips are exposed. He leans down and very, very gently kisses her cheek. Her blushing skin is soft and her smile is beautiful as she thanks him and steps away, to let the next person go.

Kisame

Nobody knows this about Kakuzu (and he fears he would be mocked if they did), but the old guy puts a lot of emphasis on the idea of exercise. Five hearts is a lot of responsibility, and staying healthy is how Kakuzu intends to keep living forever. So every night, when the others are asleep and after he’s done with his reading, he’ll spend some time in his room exercising. One night Kisame passed by his open door and saw him using a pair of heavy books as make-shift weights. The next evening Kisame came to Kakuzu’s room with a set of real barbells , which he casually gave to Kakuzu with the admonition not to overdo it. Kakuzu greatly appreciated the gesture (and the unspoken support), and the two have been good friends ever since. But ... a kiss between them would just be too strange, so Kisame comes up with a better option: an arm-wrestling match, Kisame grabs the kitchen table and two chairs and sets them up under the mistletoe. Of course the rest of the Akatsuki gathers to watch, hooting and hollering and placing bets on who will win. Kisame and Kakuzu are both fairly evenly matched, so that challenge goes on for a while. Finally, with a final grunt of exertion, Kakuzu is able to slam Kisame’s hand into the table. Everyone claps, and Kisame laughs and tells Kakuzu that he’s “one tough son of a bitch”; high compliment coming from a man who was half-shark.

Itachi

Out of all the members of the Akatsuki, Itachi was by far the least problematic of the younger ones. Quiet, thoughtful, quick and efficient in completing missions. And polite; always forthcoming with “please” and “thank you”, and never failing to use honorifics with the others, even though some of them (ie Deidara and Hidan) don’t show him that same respect back. One time Kakuzu had caught a cold that stubbornly hung on for several days. Itachi came to his room every day with a cup of congestion-easing tea, something that Kakuzu didn’t ask for, but greatly appreciated nonetheless. Itachi comes up to him and nods. “Kakuzu-san.” “Itachi-san.” Itachi leans up and gives him a light kiss to the cheek, and Kakuzu is struck by a particular urge — to hug this kid. Something about him, perhaps everything about him, seems like a cry for parental love and affection. Kakuzu resists this odd impulse, but Itachi seems to sense that it’s something he wanted, because he leans over again and very briefly puts his arms around the older man. “Thank you,” he murmurs, before walking away. Kakuzu watches him go, slightly shaking his head.

Tobi

Tobi gives Kakuzu an uneasy feeling deep within his heart(s). Running around, speaking loudly, eating nothing but candy and sweets, acting like a complete fool — it’s an act. Kakuzu has never been more convinced of anything in his life. The only question is, why is Tobi putting on this act? To deceive them all into a false sense of security, before striking? Kakuzu has hunted bounties a good deal of his life, and a lot of the more difficult ones to catch have acted EXACTLY the way Tobi does, in order to throw off potential bounty hunters. Kakuzu learned to see through them, the same way he sees through Tobi. But to tip one’s hand and give away what you know is unthinkable in the chase and capture game, so Kakuzu never lets on what he actually believes. “Oh boy Kakuzu-san; does Tobi get a kissy now?!” Kakuzu nods, and Tobi slides his mask halfway off (Kakuzu notes the lines on the side of his face; accident, most likely. Possibly a disfiguring one) and the strange glint of his eye. Before Tobi can act, Kakuzu puts a hand on his face and kisses his forehead. “There. Now go.” Tobi slides the mask back on and hurries away with his usual chatter and giggling, and Kakuzu reminds himself to loom through the bingo book later for bounties with visible scarring on the left side of the face.

Zetsu

Five hearts means more blood needed to sustain said hearts. More blood means a stronger scent. A stronger scent means ... Kakuzu smells delicious to someone like Zetsu. Zetsu approaches him and looks around quickly; the two are alone. His brain runs through every possible scenario in which he could successfully kill and eat Kakuzu. He’s victorious in a few ... but most end with him mutilated by the man’s tentacles, and having to face the wrath of Pein on top of everything else. So he simply sighs, flicks out his tongue to taste the saltiness of Kakuzu’s cheek, and walks away again. Just that one taste was almost enough to make zetsu throw restraint to the wind and eat his fill, so he leaves before he can do anything he’ll regret. Kakuzu wipes off his cheek in mild disgust ... in a group full of freaks, Zetsu certainly seemed to take the cake.

Deidara

Kakuzu still remembers the day they brought this kid into the group. And that’s exactly what he was; a kid. Barely 15 years old, with a powerful “gift”, and full of anger at a village he felt betrayed him in not trying to understand his unique sense of ‘art’. Fast forward several years later and Deidara had changed, and most of that change was the better. Kakuzu could only surmise that the kid matured due to the constant council and guidance of his older and wiser partner Sasori; Kakuzu feels mildly jealous that Sasori was able to reign some measure of improvement over HIS young partner, but Kakuzu couldn’t do a thing with Hidan. Still, though, even Sasori hadn’t been able to completely tame the kid, as evidenced by Deidara managing to get BOTH arms blown off in a tussle with some Konoha nin. Kakuzu had been tasked with sewing his new arms back on, but to the kids credit, despite his painful the procedure had been, he didn’t utter a sound. Had even thanked Kakuzu, twice, afterwards. Deidara walks up to him and looks almost shy; 19 years old now and still with the face of a child. Kakuzu leans down and kisses the kid’s forehead, again noting his soft and smooth — and LONG — his hair was. It sways as Deidara walks away, and Kakuzu wonders how much he could get for those luscious locks, from the right buyer.

Sasori

Respect. Out of all the words that Kakuzu could use to describe how he felt about Sasori, Respect was at the top of the list. And the funny thing was, Kakuzu hadn’t even met the REAL Sasori until almost a year of being in the Akatsuki. The two had been sent on a mission, and at night, near the campfire, a soft metal sound made Kakuzu turn his head. It was a small, slender redhead, emerging from the being that Kakuzu had THOUGHT was a real person. The two had looked at each other for a while, and then started a game of cards as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. As time went on, the two became closer. They both shared an interest in/knowledge of medical jutsu and procedures, and would often come to one another with questions or with articles on different medicines. Kakuzu nods at him as he walks up, and Sasori does the same. He thinks about it, bends down and kisses Sasori’s left cheek, and Sasori smiles at him, bidding him a quiet Good Evening before going back to his room.

Hidan

“Hey old fuck; you’ve been dying to get your hands on my sexy body all day, haven’t ya, pervert?” Kakuzu would roll his eyes at Hidan’s comment, but at this point, he’s ridiculously used to the things his partner says and does. As he looks at Hidan’s face, he wonders, and not for the first time, whether this is a punishment of sorts. Gaining five hearts and creating a kind of immortality only came for Kakuzu at the end of a long and bloody road, one paved with the unwilling sacrifices of other people. Was it Fate, that the Gods had put THIS man, this loud, overbearing, foul-mouthed heathen, into his path? And as the one person who just might be immortal, too? Hidan often joked about “When all these other assholes bite the big one, me and you might as well get married, bastard.” But what in the world was he saying? Surely he was joking; why would someone as young and attractive as Hidan want to be with Kakuzu? Kakuzu who was heaven knows how many times Hidan’s age, and — “So we gonna slobber each other or what?” “You’ve got a big mouth, brat. Learn to shut up once in a while.” “MAKE me shut up, fuck-face.” So Kakuzu grabs Hidan around the waist, tilts him back, and sinks into his lips. Kakuzu’s mouth is rough and scarred but Hidan’s is smooth and soft, and the contrast creates a dizzying effect for both men. Hidan grasps Kakuzu’s shoulders tighter, leaving slight nail-prints in Kakuzu’s flesh. Their lips are touching but in this moment it feels like everything is touching, even their very souls (if either of them still had one, that is). When Kakuzu finally breaks the kiss and pulls Hidan back up, the white-haired immortal seems fairly disorientated ... but that doesn’t stop his mouth. “You’re an even bigger pervert than I thought, old fuck. Who the hell said you could stick your tongue in my mouth?? And why —” Kakuzu suddenly reaches out and grabs Hidan’s face with both hands, this time pulling him forward into a very soft, closed-mouth kiss. “Better?” Instead of a smartass answer, Hidan simply nods; and now he’s smiling as he walks away. If he were to turn around at any point, he’d surely gasp; because Kakuzu’s smile was even bigger than Hidan’s own. “Stupid kid,” Kakuzu mutters to himself, still smiling as he makes his way back to his room.

[thinknicht]

Kakashi loses his father and Minato gains a puppy

Kakashi had been mad at his dad for months now – for screwing up that stupid mission, for losing all his awesome reputation because of it, for getting replaced by a ghost. Everybody had said his dad was going to cost them the war, that he was a selfish bastard; everybody had whispered and subtly let Kakashi know just how much of a disappointment his father was. 

It was so unfair! Why did he have to make a stupid mistake? He was supposed to be perfect, Konoha’s elite White Fang. Everybody was supposed to love and admire him… it shouldn’t be like this. The Hatake Sakumo he knew and admired was always proud and straight-backed, confident and sure. He wasn’t supposed to make mistakes, to have people hate him so much that they’d treat him and Kakashi both like trash. Kakashi… couldn’t do much. He was just a kid – but he could feel. He’d felt all sorts of things – he had been scared and ashamed and sad at it all – but mostly he’d been furious. He’d been mad at the old ladies gossiping about his dad on the street, at his classmates who’d previously admired him but would now shoot him derisive looks, at their parents who mumbled bad words behind his back, thinking he couldn’t hear – or perhaps not caring. But most of all he was mad at his dad for not defending himself, for not defending him. 

Picking up Kakashi from the Academy, he must have heard the whispering parents too, seen the looks Kakashi’s classmates kept shooting at him – but instead of standing proud whilst slinging Kakashi upon his shoulders like he had used to, Sakumo had bowed his head and said nothing. They had walked silently home, side by side – yet it had felt like they were worlds apart. He couldn't stop thinking about how his dad hadn’t met the eyes of those gossiping parents, or even their children. Of what those parents had said and how his dad’s hand had trembled on his back as he’d led Kakashi away.

The dishonoured White Fang. He too, must know the gravity of what he’d done, they whispered. Just look at him, at those eyebags and posture. It seemed like the pathetic scumbag at least recognized what he was. Suits him right, they crowed, for almost costing Konoha the war. It’d be better if that drunk disgrace just ended it already. 

The words had hurt – but they couldn't compare to his father's reaction. It had challenged some of Kakashi’s most visceral beliefs about what his dad was like. Day after day, his father would pick him up from the Academy and never defend him,  never look anyone in the eyes, like a beat down dog. Then, one day he didn't come. After waiting in the rain for over thirty minutes, Kakashi  had realised this. He’d been forgotten, cast aside.  No one would come to pick him up. Kakashi had begun walking home alone after that – every day. His father hadn’t mentioned it at dinner. The added responsibility was not as exciting as he’d always pictured it to be.

Some days it had all gotten to be too much and he’d said something rude and frustrated to his dad – but he hadn’t really meant it! He’d just been acting petulant. He’d just wanted things to get better… to go back to how they’d used to be. He’d wanted Sakumo to snap out of the weird dazes he got into lately, maybe even get angry at him and defend himself, even if Kakashi had to take the brunt of his fury. It would have been okay. Kakashi had just wanted him to react – anything at all would have been preferred to the emptiness that constantly seemed to follow him, dull grey eyes unnerving… unfocused… wrong . Kakashi had just wanted things to return to how they used to be.

 The winter was cold and harsh, reflecting Kakashi's mood perfectly. Overcast skies and short days were not conductive to good humor, but with the beginnings of spring, Kakashi felt the beginnings of new hope sprout within him. Perhaps, now that everything was brighter and better, his dad would get better too?

He'd been in a good mood all week so much so that he didn't even mind that much when his dad forgot to make breakfast or lunch or shown his face at all. This had happened a few times before, him falling asleep and not waking up for a long time. By dinner Kakashi decided to go look for him, maybe get him to come out to the porch and look at the rabbit den he'd spotted in the garden. And yet dad wasn’t in his room or the living room or the bathroom or the kitchen. After checking everywhere else he could think, he’d gone to the west wing. His father had always avoided it because it contained his mother’s old bedroom, the one both of his parents had used to sleep in before he was born… the one dad never used anymore. 

 There was a smell in the corridor… unpleasant, disgusting. He had been ignoring it until now, and he kept doing so. Maybe his father had left to the bar or even a mission! Or maybe he’d gone to mom's grave. He should just… 

He went back to the kitchen and ate dinner. He brushed his teeth. He put on his pajamas and went to bed. It had been a long time since his father had tucked him in. Normally, Kakashi was responsible in following his bed time, but that night he felt restless. Against his father’s wishes (who was he kidding, nobody would scold him) he flipped on the light again and paged through a scroll – he would look for dad tomorrow, hopefully by then the smell would be gone. But the stench was getting worse and worse and finally he set the scroll aside and propped himself up. There was no way he could keep ignoring it any longer. It had penetrated up his nostrils and into his bloodstream, slinking into the very marrow of his bones.  Those of Hatake descent had extremely sharp noses; at this rate sleeping would be impossible.

Resigned to some inminent pain in his nostrils, Kakashi crawled out of his futon and folded it carefully, his stomach pooling with dread. It was unreasonable. He wasn’t a little baby anymore – he was six . It was just a smell. Maybe some dead animal had gotten in, he told himself. He’d throw it out and that was that. And yet every part of him told him to turn around. He didn’t. 

 Earlier, Kakashi had left his mother’s room out of the search for his father before – perhaps because a part of him had known all along what he would find.  Still, the sight of his father’s rigid corpse shocked him down to the very core. It had to be a joke, a trick, a training exercise, he thought wildly, but he didn’t dare step into the room to check.  Kakashi was a logical creature even then and he knew that that made little sense – Sakumo hadn’t trained or played with him in months, and he was sensitive about strong smells. No. What he was seeing was exactly as it appeared.

He was dead. Not murdered or assassinated – dead.

The body of his dead father was sprawled upon the blood-splattered floor, flies buzzing around it noisily. A katana gleamed, reflecting the moonlight that streamed in from the window as it protruded from his stomach. Sepukku. The samurai’s suicide ritual.

Kakashi had known something was wrong even before going into his mother’s old room, but nothing could have prepared him for this. His father – dead. The flies, the blood, the smell, the choice he had made – seppuku .

After standing there for maybe minutes or maybe seconds, his recollection of the night’s events got blurry. Kakashi barely remembered running out of the house in still in his pajamas and barefoot, or stepping on glass as he rushed away, away, away. He barely remembered barging into the hokage tower, leaving bloody footprints in his wake and sobbing uncontrollably. He barely remembered explaining much of anything, other than repeating ‘sepukku’, ‘sepukku’, 'sepukku’ like a mantra. The look in the hokage’s eyes said he understood. Someone had sedated him after that.

  It had been a month since then. He couldn’t go to sleep at night anymore without seeing Sakumo’s cold body sprawled upon the blood-stained wood whenever he closed his eyes, without smelling that smell . He couldn’t dream anymore, couldn’t get a full night’s sleep. He couldn’t train with Sakumo anymore or count the days until he’d be back from his latest mission. He couldn’t do any of those things – because Sakumo had abandoned him.

 The villager’s behavior toward him didn’t improve. In fact, it was as if Sakumo’s death had been kindling thrown into a fire. Where previously people had only whispered about the White Fang’s shameful, pathetic, selfish behavior, now they all talked about it openly. Every gossiping old lady told their neighbor that they’d always known there was something cowardly and dishonourable about that Hatake dog. Drinking himself into a stupor to then commit suicide, and to top it off with his kid at home! It was rumored that the poor boy had found the man in a pool of blood and sake. What a pathetic waste of space he had been! 

Kakashi’s mask, until then vehemently hated, had suddenly become a reprieve – he was harder to recognize with it. His training, which had previously been the way in which he connected with Sakumo, the way in which he strove to impress him when he returned from missions, now became the only thing he had left. He trained constantly, both resenting and missing Sakumo in equal measure, his exertions the only outlet. During those moments, when his body and spirit trembled and his eyes misted, he swore to himself that he would never make the same mistake.

 Sakumo had died (had killed himself) for breaking the rules. Everybody said so. Kakashi had always known that the rules were important, but a few times he’d felt tempted to question them – like when that frog girl had crossdressed as a boy. He had seen her sometimes afterward, when he’d glanced out of his classroom window, sitting all alone and friendless in the yard outside while her classmates played – and he had known immediately that this was his fault, that his rule-abiding had done that. Before he’d confronted her, she’d had friends, he’d seen it. He hadn’t liked that… somehow it had annoyed him, he didn’t know why. He’d told her sensei about it, just kind of expecting she’d get into trouble for a bit and maybe find him to throw another tadpole at him afterward… but that hadn’t been what had happened. She hadn’t found him to throw tadpoles at him whatsoever, and instead had started looking sullen and withdrawn and sad whenever he saw her from the window. He hadn’t wanted that. He’d just wanted to follow the rules.

A part of him had begun to doubt his decision then. A part of him had felt guilty.

He had thought about breaking the rules other times too, like when a hard test was coming up and he’d been tempted to sneak into the teacher’s room to check the answers – this was practically in a ninja’s job description after all – though he’d settled for studying all night in the end. 

He had felt bad, too, about more indirect breaches like getting all riled up when that frog girl called him names. Ninja weren’t supposed to fall for taunts, it was in the shinobi handbook that they show no emotion because talling for taunts lead to mistakes. But he kind of enjoyed the breach in the monotony that the frog girl and her loud bowlcut friend provided. He liked that they weren’t all admiring and brown-nosing around him like all his classmates, and, though he’d never admit it to himself, he liked the stories they came up with too, and when he was bored in class he would sometimes picture the annoyed faces frog girl would make at him when he outsmarted her and snicker. But ninja should live in the present, without distractions or indulgences in childish make-belief games, he realized that now. That girl was a rule-breaker more than anyone else he knew, and if Kakashi had learned something from his father’s death it was this: he would never, ever break a rule again. Any rule.

 He stopped going to frog girl and bowlcut’s meadow. At first a part of him missed them. He was all alone, after all – but – he still didn’t go, didn’t want to see their looks of pity – or even worse – disgust. He kept wanting to drop by but then not doing it. He had other things to keep him busy, like being a genin. He was a ninja now.

He wouldn’t make his father’s mistakes in his career, he swore to himself. He’d follow the ninja handbook to a T and then nothing like what Sakumo had gone through would happen to him. He had graduated now and frog girl and bowlcut were just kids . He had better things to do than them now, like training and having endless nightmares.

 At night, he couldn’t keep lying to himself. He cried himself to sleep often.

During the day, he kept his mask on and his feelings off, and surely things would get better if he did that. He had been accustomed to living alone from when his father left on missions, but this was different. He was in charge of his dad’s money now and other things like cooking and cleaning and bills and… he felt anxiety just thinking about it. He knew he’d have to pay some kind of bills for electricity and hot water and heat and all that later on, but he didn’t know how or where or when to do it. Money wasn’t an issue, his father had never lacked it, but he still got nervous thinking about what if he suddenly ran out or someone scammed him?

 He had spent the first week after That Night with another family – the Sarutobi household – the first week after his dad had died. Then he’d graduated the Academy and the hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had told him that he was welcome to stay with them, though he could become independent now too if he wanted, seeing as he was now a genin – legally an adult. Kakashi had jumped at the chance of being alone. Asuma’s constant invasive presence and probing questions had been stifling, his mom’s mothering unwanted, the pitying looks they all kept shooting at him less than welcome.

“I will return home,” he’d told the hokage immediately. The more Hiruzen had insisted to the contrary, the stronger Kakashi’s determination to be left alone.

  Now, he was regretting that decision… he hated living alone, hated the empty spaces and the silent Estate. At this point he'd agree to live with anyone, but his pride kept him from going back to the Sarutobi household. He missed his dad… he missed frog girl and bowlcut but didn’t know how to reach out. He felt so, so alone. He wanted to be independent and strong and rule-abiding, but he wanted a hug too and a good night’s sleep and some excuse to leave this stifling estate where his dad had killed himself, but he couldn’t let himself look weak, he couldn’t , didn’t even know how – and he didn’t know what to do.

 He had started going to the central market in Konoha, even though it was very far from the Hatake Estate, which was located at the village’s outskirts. He told himself it was just because the central market was better than the small shop he’d used to frequent, even though he’d never bothered to go there Before.

At the market, he would dawdle and soak in the people and chatter, floating through the lively atmosphere. It made the loneliness starker but also duller. Before, he had loved to have his peace and quiet, but now silences haunted him. Now the noises of people had become a balm. He often just walked around the stalls, peering at the wares and at the people and listened . He didn’t do anything else. A part of him had hoped to maybe run into someone he liked there… but of course he never did. He should have known that none of his classmates or frog girl or bowlcut would be there, of course. If he had really wanted to find them, he knew he could, but somehow he didn’t.

 He was shaken out of his musings when the blond man appeared again. Kakashi and the blond man had coincided a few times in the market already. The blonde would often sit on a bench and do nothing in particular, though he’d sometimes bring books to snicker at, or chat up girls and vendors alike when they passed him by. The blonde man had a radiant smile and people seemed to love him, Kakashi had noticed. A part of him wanted to be mad at him for that, for having something he so sorely wanted but didn’t have, not any longer, not after that mission – but he mostly found himself being unable to muster up much resentment.

Sometimes, Kakashi wondered why the blond man would spend so much time at the market, just like him. Was he lonely too? Did his family leave him behind like Kakashi’s father? Despite himself, he’d gotten curious. He had made a habit of going to the market every day and he’d started getting to know the regulars. During his excursions, Kakashi always wore bland clothes and the mask so that he wouldn’t be noticed as much, but he in turn did notice the people, and the blonde man was often there – except sometimes when he left on missions, or so Kakashi assumed. The blonde man was a ninja.

He’d never dared to approach, but today he felt tired… so he sat down on the bench across the blonde to eat an apple he’d bought. He tried to divine what the man was reading, to subtly glance at his book’s cover… but he got caught looking. The blonde gave him a smile, then returned to his book. Kakashi didn’t dare to look again but his heart pounded. A while later, the blonde was cornered by some civilian ladies who wanted his opinion on some of their wares and ushered him away. Finally, Kakashi dared to steal another glance, then stood up and stretched, readying to go back to the estate.

 That smile… it had struck him like a punch to the gut. How long since anyone had just… smiled at him? He couldn’t remember the last time. Lately, he was always alone, and when he wasn’t, all he saw in people’s eyes was either disinterest or distaste, depending on whether they recognized him or not. Sometimes there was pity in the case of his father’s former friends like the hokage. 

Missions weren’t any better. In fact, he found that he hated the whole thing. Without fail, he always got passed around the genin teams, mostly replacing recently deceased members, and was never liked by the other integrants. He wasn’t sure if it was because they knew his reputation, because he was so much younger (and better, he privately thought) than them, or because he was the replacement of their dead friends. Yes, Kakashi thought. Nobody had smiled at him in a long, long time… He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed it until that very moment.

 The next day, he sat on the bench across the blonde again… and the day after too. He always noticed when the man was gone on missions and he… it wasn’t like he was stalking him or anything, but the man – Minato, the old ladies called him – would always smile that warm smile at him, and Kakashi… Kakashi cherished it. He mustn't know who he was, that Minato. A part of him feared what would happen if he found out… would he start glaring at Kakashi if he did?

 One day, Minato sat down next to him. Kakashi froze and almost bolted… but the blonde just pulled a book out of his pouch and calmly began to thumb through it, like always. He talked to the merchants like always too, and Kakashi slowly relaxed. The week afterward, when Minato returned from what must have been a mission, he sat next to Kakashi again, surprising him once more, but he relaxed quicker than last time.

 “Mind if I take one?” Minato asked, peering at him from over his book. “Those oranges look mouth-watering.”

Kakashi startled and looked at Minato suspiciously. “You’re an adult. You shouldn’t be asking kids to give you their oranges.”

The blonde’s lips quirked into that smile again and Kakashi almost forgot he was supposed to be acting pissed-suspicious. “Yeah, but aren’t you one too?” Minato asked with a chuckle. “A legal adult? I’ve heard about you, you’ve made genin, haven’t you?”

Kakashi was startled for two reasons: one – adults never acknowledged he was independent and two – Minato knew who he was! And he still smiled at him?

“I guess you can have an orange,” Kakashi decided, handing it over.

Minato laughed. “Thanks, kiddo. Also, I was going to say that I would pay you back before you interrupted me.” He chuckled. “You’re always here, so I figured I’d treat you next time we meet.”

Next time.

Kakashi’s breath hitched. “S-sure. I mean whatever, it’s just an orange.”

The blonde chuckled. “So you don’t want to get treated, huh? Well, I guess it’s no sweat off my back…”

“That’s not what I said!” Kakashi exclaimed, wide-eyed. He took it back! He wanted to meet with Minato again!

The blonde teen laughed, suddenly reaching out to give him a mighty head ruffle. “Alright, alright. I’ll treat you to some dango then, I think.”

“I don’t like sweets,” Kakashi informed, crossing his arms, but secretly wishing for another head-ruffle.

“You say that now … but have you tried the fried eggplant with honey?” the blonde prodded happily. “Maki-baa makes ones to die for!”

“Eggplant,” Kakashi repeated dubiously, “with honey ? What kind of crazy person would make a sweet out of eggplant ?”

Minato smirked at him. “Just you wait. You’re going to be blown away, Kakashi!”

“H-hey! How do you know my name,” Kakashi muttered. “Stalker.”

The blonde chuckled. “Kid, I’m a master infiltrator. Knowing these things is pretty much my job.”

“Yeah, well you look like a girl,” Kakashi spluttered, embarrassed for some reason. “And way too young.”

“I’ll have you know, I’m nineteen and my looks are great for making people underestimate me, so… peace!”

“You’re weird,” Kakashi declared.

“Ah, wait till you try the eggplant. You’ll join the dark side soon.”

“ Right .”

  Somehow, Minato never suddenly decided that Kakashi was a persona non grata. He never avoided him, never stopped being kind. Kakashi found himself missing the blonde intensely when he was gone on missions, though he never admitted to it.

Life continued and things got easier… or maybe he just got used to his situation. He got used to his nightmares, used to the silence, used to the glares. Like all shinobi worth their salt, Kakashi adapted. He stopped getting crawls just from looking at the Hatake estate, though he still avoided the west wing like the plague. He completed D-ranks with ease and watched as other genin got sent out to the field and didn’t come back. He got used to being a replacement for the dead genin too… there were many. Still, a part of him wished he could have his own team, his own sensei. He wanted it so badly… why couldn’t he have what everyone else did? He surmised none of the jonin wanted to get stuck with the little kid, with the White Fang’s spawn. He understood. He still wished though.

Autumn came and went and the days got colder. Less people visited the market now, but Kakashi still went religiously. Despite his pride, he had finally worked up the courage to ask Minato how to deal with taxes and bills… even though he’d hated doing it, because he was afraid Minato would think he was a little kid after all if he asked. But the blonde hadn’t done that. He’d gone into long-winded, excited explanations on book-keeping, tax-paying, old fogies who might try to mess up his taxes so he needed to check everything over carefully, remember that, Kakashi!, and most importantly, what Minato had happily dubbed ‘money-saving ninja skills’. Kakashi had never enjoyed learning about anything more, but maybe that was because it was Minato who was teaching him.

One day, Minato showed him how to fish in order to save money. Another day he invited Kakashi to a training ground and taught him how to season said fish. Then, the week after they went to the woods and they cooked a rabbit. Minato would often give him tips on how to save money whilst doing all of this, though Kakashi privately thought that the blonde wouldn’t really need to follow his own advice since merchants were constantly gifting him their wares or inviting him over. At the beginning, Kakashi had wondered why everyone liked Minato so much, but now he understood. Minato was special… he was… sometimes, Kakashi couldn’t believe that someone like that would bother to give him the time of day. It was... the best thing that had happend to him in a long, long time. Maybe ever.

  Over the years, someone had taken up the nasty habit of drawing odd preschooler figures on his window when it was fogged up from the cold, or with crayons and chalk during the summer. Kakashi had been trying to catch the perpetrator ever since they'd begun, thinking that it might have been frog girl or bowl cut, but never managed. When he grumbled about it halfheartedly to Minato one day, the blonde  burst out laughing.

“Ah, the henohenomoheji? That was me!”

“What?” repeated Kakashi dubiously. “You’re the person who draws them? But they look like they were made by a preschooler!”

“Ah, I guess it’s a habit, from when my siblings were still… anyway, yeah! I’m not an artist, that’s for sure,” Minato told him sheepishly. “But I wasn’t trying to bother you, I promise. The henohenomoheji were just my way of telling you that I’d returned to the village after a mission, Kakashi. I always stop by your place to sketch a quick one on my way to the tower.”

“Oh.” The tower was on the other side of the village. Kakashi gulped. He felt happy Minato went out of his way like that, he really did, but… a part of him had hoped…

“Kakashi? What’s with that look?” Minato asked softly. “I… didn’t know it would upset you. I’ll stop, I promise.”

“No, don’t,” Kakashi mumbled.

He should have known it hadn’t been those two. Of course they must have thought the same as everyone else, that he was a disgrace and not worth hanging out with. Why had he even expected otherwise? Frog girl and bowlcut had probably forgotten all about him by now. He felt some part of him freeze at that. If they’d forgotten him so easily, he had no reason to expend energy thinking about them either. Firmly, Kakashi pushed the two out of his mind. He would not think about them again.

“Kakashi? Is everything… alright?” Minato’s deep blue eyes were filled with concern and Kakashi felt the coldness that had spread in his gut thaw.

“Yeah, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.”

Minato nodded slowly. “Well… I have some news that will cheer you up! I applied to be a jonin sensei. How’s that for cool?”

Kakashi frowned. “A… a jonin sensei?” Hope lit up within him. “Does that mean… you’ll…?”

“Yep! You’re my student now, Kakashi! Hope you’re not too put off by this pretty face.”

Kakashi’s lips split into a large grin, his cheeks hurting from the rare action. The mask would cover it, but Minato had never had any issue with reading his expressions before. Smiling brightly, the blond teen lurched forward to give him one of those wild head-ruffle noogies Kakashi adored so much.

“I guess it could be worse,” he muttered, failing rather spectacularly at hiding his excitement.

“Don’t be coy with me, Kakashi! I’m your sensei now and what kind of pupil lies to their sensei!”

“Sh-shut up, Minato… sensei.”

“Awww! And he’s blushing! I need to take a picture!”

“DON’T YOU DARE!”

Note: this is an extract of my story misnomer, hence the frog girl oc, but I figured this chapter pretty much doubled as a Kakashi character stude so here you go! Hope you enjoyed!

(Also, in case it wasn’t obvious from the japanese characters, the image above is not mine.)

[ssatoritendou]

Blueberry Eyes

Pairing: kageyama/reader

Kageyama Tobio 

Word count: 4.2k

+ summary: You and your soulmate are connected by listening to music. 

Genre: fluff; soulmates 

To say he found it annoying was an understatement. How can someone listen to the same song over and over again? Stupid soulmate. That’s what Kageyama thought. He didn’t have time for a soulmate. He has one focus and his one love Volleyball. But he could say this about his soulmate. She listened to the playlist in exact order every day at the same time. It kept him on a time schedule surprisingly. Sometimes she went a little off base in the afternoon, sometimes listening to classical piano pieces and sometimes white noise.

Right now he was practicing sets against the wall at lunch waiting for Hinata to come over to yell at him excitedly to set to him. Which he would end up ultimately doing. When all of a sudden strong guitar rift came into his head causing him to set the ball higher than expected leading it to hit him in the face. “Kageyama what happened? You messed up. You never messed up.” “Idiot. Stupid idiot, she is not on a schedule. And this song isn’t even on her playlist.” “Maybe it’s a song she listens to when she is upset,” Hinata suggested. Kageyama didn’t like the feeling that his soulmate could be upset. But what could he do, he didn’t know you. “I don’t care if she is upset! It’s really annoying that she is listening to songs not on schedule and not the regular ones. It throws me off my game. And you don’t want me off my game if you want perfect sets Hinata.” “I think you need to be more appreciative of your soulmate bond. It’s amazing that you are able to hear the music she listens to. It gives you an insight into her personality. I just have my soulmates' first words to me and all I know is that I’ll know who it is when I meet them. I guess for you it could be anyone with headphones on. And why are you assuming the gender of your soulmate for all you know it could be Tsukishima with all the times he is wearing headphones.” Hinata said with an evil smile on his face. “Baka it’s not Tsukishima he doesn’t listen to music on a schedule and he doesn’t listen to this type of music that is for sure.”

“HEY! HEY! HEY!” You heard come from your owl-headed captain while he was reading a volleyball magazine. “Keiji does he always have to yell like that inside?” You asked your older brother. He exhaled and shook his head, “Settle down Bokuto, we are inside.” Bokuto frowned and his hair frowning with his face. “Akaashi, ____ you won’t believe it I’m one of the topped 5 ranked Aces in the nation. See!” He pointed to the magazine with a great picture of him spiking. “Weren’t you in the top 3 the last time we went to nationals?” “Akaashi!” He bit back your brother. “You are in the top 5 that’s all that matters.” You said with a smile. “It’s a positive thing. Universities with strong volleyball programs will see this and definitely want you on their team. As long as you eat healthily and improve your technique.” “Thanks, little Akashi.” You hated that nickname he had given you “Bokuto don’t call me that. Shouldn’t you be studying if you want to go to the training camp next month?” “Don’t you guys want to help me?” He said, turning to you and Keiji. “I’m a first-year Bokuto. I have no clue what you are learning about.” “I have my own finals to worry about so that I can play as well. ___ here is just a manager in training. She doesn’t even have to go. I'm sure she would rather stay home anyway.” “Not true. I would like to know everything about the teams playing style considering we will be playing against them in the future.” “There you go _____. You know Kuroo told me about this amazing combo team from the Miyagi Prefecture. Fast spikes. But I’m sure he is over exaggerating. They were invited to the training camp.” You were able to get Bokuto to calm down. Maybe that was your gift as an Akaashi, being able to calm down the Owl-Headed captain, just like your brother. You were able to get him to talk about volleyball with Akaashi while you put in your headphones. You were listening to some Beethoven pieces to keep you focused. You put your phone to your side and started working on some of your math work. Sometimes your mind wandered to soulmate connections. Most girls your age would tell and squeal about their connection. But you had no clue what your connection was. It bothered you a little bit. Akaashi was lucky he had a tattoo of a timer of when he was going to meet his soulmate. He wouldn’t tell you the exact timing of the timer. You never had any strange markings or any sort of sign. It worried you. Were you destined to be alone? But dwelling on things that shouldn’t make you worried won’t do you any good. You had a plan for your life and the universe will work things out for you. As you are working on the homework your music was changed to a rock song. You yanked the headphones out and Konoha was laughing. “Don’t do that you jerk.” You pushed him.

Kageyama was going for his morning run. He put his headphones in not like he needed the music he had his soulmate's morning playlist playing. “Tobio dear I made eggs and toast. Where are you going?” “Out for a run Mom, I’ll be back in 20 minutes.” He said after finishing tying his shoelace. He began running around his neighborhood. He noticed the music was barely playing a faint, low noise of the start of techno piano, he thinks it is Korean pop. But he could barely hear it; he heard the pumping of his heart louder. He decided to take a stretching break and put on his own music. His sister made him a playlist to keep him pumped while running. He was a little ashamed of admitting it but he enjoyed Ariana Grande. He put on her new song and continued his run.

Yes, the finals were finally over but in the midst of immense studying, you had gotten sick. A chest cold you would have gone to school but your mother insisted that you stay home for the day. You put on your music at a low volume. You had NCT U’s light bulb playing in your ear as you were falling back to sleep in the early morning as Keiji the adjoining bathroom was brushing his teeth. The cough syrup finally kicks in and making you feel sleepy. That's when you swear that your song had changed to Ariana Grande’s Positions. When you look down and your screen still said NCT—Light Bulb with the volume not even passing the rewind icon. “Keiji!” He emerged from the bathroom toothbrush in his mouth shrugging at your loudness so early. “I can’t hear the song that is playing in my headphones instead it’s playing Ariana Grande. Can you hear it?” You handed him the headphone. He spat the toothpaste in the sink and came to sit on your bed placing the headphone in his ear. Instead of hearing the very powerful female vocalist, he heard the rap section of the song you were listening to. “I do not hear Ariana Grande, I just hear the Korean Rap.” You flopped your head down on the pillow. “Is this cold medicine making me go crazy?” Keiji laughed at your dramatics. “You know some soulmate connections are connected to what you listen to.” He smirked leaving your room. “Well, I’m off to school text me if you need anything.” Your eyes were wide open with shock. You listen to music all the time. All the time. Based on times of day, feelings and emotions, and tasks. This is the first time you heard your soulmate's music or whatever they were listening to. Or maybe your music was always too low for you to hear what they were listening to. But if that’s true based on this experience that means the volume was too loud for them to hear their own music. You had forced your music preferences onto someone else which is a horrible thing to do. You must be so annoying to this person. Listening to music all the damn time. And they have to listen to it. You quickly pulled the covers over your head hoping to fall apart.

The rest of the morning the person whoever they are were playing pumped-up songs. You assumed they were happy about something or possibly working out. After Akaashi requested your help with songs for his workout routine you were well versed in the subject. They played them until about 8:50 which is when a majority of when classes start in high school. That was a plus you knew this person was in high school.

Kageyama has had 2 off days now in the past 2 months. The one where his soulmate changed the song they were listening to and messed with his practicing of setting to himself. 2 today when his soulmate didn’t listen to any music at all. Today was the day he got back his final grades. He did overall well except for one that didn’t even graze the passing mark. How the hell was he going to get to Tokyo now? He wanted to play Nekoma. He wanted to face that setter that got along with Hinata again. He wanted to play those other Tokyo teams. Some have been to nationals and he wants to beat them and let them know that he is better than them. When it came to practice time and they were in the club room, Hinata had failed one test too. He and the orange were seething that they were not able to go. “Hey, you two only failed one test right? So just take the supplementary lessons in the morning and don’t worry I got you a ride to Tokyo. You’ll be there in no time.” Tanaka said with an evil smile.

Summer has finally approached. With that comes a lot of training for the volleyball team. But these camps were more than just training. It was about building relationships with teams and other players in the same positions as you to pass on techniques. But once it’s game time no one can really beat Bokuto’s spikes. With his strong arms, pure agility, and positive attitude while playing it's hard to keep up with him. Expect when he is shut out then and only then can Akaashi really know what to do to make him feel better. But Bokuto is also not your team's strongest link; everyone else is very strong as well.

You were filling water bottles up when Kuroo tapped your shoulder. “____ this is the Manager and Junior Manager of the Karasuno team from Miyagi.” “Oh, you mean the wonder-team. The ones with the crazy spike attacks. Bokuto was talking about this for months. Pretty sure Keiji was going to strangle him if he wouldn’t shut up.” You said with a laugh. The oldest bowed, she was quite beautiful. “Hi my name is Kiyoko and this is Yachi.” The smaller one blonde bowed as well and said a quick hello. You bowed back and said, “It is nice to meet you. I’m ___ as Kuroo said. And I’m a manager at Fukurodani. I’ll show you around and where you and where your team will be sleeping.” You were given the job of showing the new managers where they would be because you drew the shortest straw of the managers. It didn’t bother you as much. “Since we are in a school we are staying in classrooms that’s why the form said sleeping bags are required. So the girl managers are sleeping in room 119. And based on the map I was given Karasuno will be staying on the opposite side of the building in 160. And the coaches are staying right in between 140-142. Why don’t you two set up your spots here? And then I’ll help you with the other bags if you need them for your other rooms.” You said looking up from your paper. “Thank you again. But don’t worry about the bags the boys will bring in their own. Yachi do you mind putting my bag in there while I tell the coach about the sleeping arrangements.” “U-uh yes, Kiyoko,” Yachi said nervously. The tall older dark-haired female left the room. “Are you a first-year by chance? There aren’t a lot of first-years well none, managers and I would very much like to have a friend.” You said to the blonde female. “Yes I am. Yachi Hitoka.” “Akaashi, _________. Pleased to meet you and I hope we can become good friends.”

Yachi and You spent time together when you weren’t with your teams. You found her company enjoyable. She talked about Hinata an orange-haired short but fast spiker and his partner a setter Kageyama who is obsessed with volleyball. She then told you they weren’t the brightest pair and they had to take supplementary lessons but would be arriving shortly. Within an hour the 2 burst through the door panting from running. As soon as the next set for Karasuno’s match started you watched to see what Yachi was talking about. And she was right the little orange one moved so fast and the blueberry setter, set to his exact speed. That was a true pairing.

As soon as the camp started it ended in 2 days. And you were thankful. You enjoyed the rushed yes, but since you were the runt of your Fukurodani manager team and were the servant to everyone. Keiji saw that it was taking a toll on you. You just finished cleaning around the gym when someone bumped into you causing you to drop the floor polish. “Hey watch it blueberry.” You let that slip out by accident slapping your hand on your mouth. When you first saw the setter of the Karasuno team you thought his eyes looked like blueberries and even his hair now that you are closer to him looked like that shade of blue. “What did you say?” He said with anger in his tone. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I’m just a little worn out and I tend to get a little crabby when that happens. I know you didn’t mean to bump into me. And that reaction was not warranted.” You bowed and apologized profusely hoping that he would accept. Keiji was walking over when he saw you bent over in front of the young setter. “Uh ___ what is going on here.” “Not now Akaashi.” “What did she do?” Akaashi asked with a sigh in his voice as he pinched the tip of his nose. “She called me blueberry after I did accidentally bump into her causing the polish to fall over.” “Hmm, not her worst reaction.” This caused you to kick your older brother in the ankle. “Wait till I tell mom about this then will see if you get any curry tonight.” You stuck your tongue out in return. “There is one way to settle this then you rambling apologies and making Kageyama uncomfortable. As long as Kageyama doesn’t mind will you help her clean up the polish?” You felt bad for him, how was a first-year going to say no to a second year. Also, your brother putting him in an awkward position to if he said no he would look like a bad guy. But what you and your brother didn’t know that Kageyama had the utmost respect for him. Akaashi was setting for one of the top aces in Japan. He was so lucky. So naturally, he agreed to do so. You were a little shocked. You and he cleaned in silence; it was peaceful. You were humming a little bit. You noticed that Kageyama looked up when you started humming. You stopped right then and there afraid you would freeze to death from his icy glare. Not that you mind though, the none emotionless setter was gorgeous. He did have ridiculously beautiful blueberry eyes and a nice jawline. And his hair looked really soft too, which made him look like a blueberry even more. You finished quickly so you would not hold him up anymore. “I’m sorry again that my brother forced you to help clean.” You apologized bowing to him. “He didn’t force me. I did bump into you, causing you to drop the polish. I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention, I was lost in my thoughts.” He bowed to you. ‘Also very gentlemanly.’ You thought to yourself. “I understand I do that too sometimes. You played really well for the games you got to play in. You can set to the orange guy perfectly. You match his speed so he can spike it perfectly almost every time when he isn’t blocked by Nekoma.” You said mocking Hinata’s spiking motion.   Kageyama looked down and smiled at you. “I think Fukurodani stumped him a couple of times.” “Well, we do have one of the top 5 aces in Japan. It is bound to happen.” You said with a chuckle walking backward out of the gym. “Hey I was wondering was that song you were humming earlier something by Ariana Grande?” You thought for a minute. Over the course ever since you found your soulmate connection you decided to lesson your time listening to music. You found that the person you were connected to liked Ariana Grande a lot. Maybe it was Positions. “Oh yeah, it was. Sorry if you found that was annoying. Just someone I know really likes that song.” You laughed again. “Come on ___ we got to go!” Bokuto yelled from the bus he was hanging out of the door while your brother was trying to pull him in. “It looks like I have to go. There is supposed to be another training camp soon, maybe your team will invite them too, it was nice talking to you. Yachi has my number if you need another friend.” You grabbed your bag by the entrance of the gym and hopped over to your bus. Kageyama watched you the whole way, his heart fluttering a little bit. When you reached the bus Bokuto was smirking, “Was Little Akaashi flirting with the setter from Karasuno?” “No! I have no idea what you are talking about! And stop calling me that!” You huffed and sat in your seat. You placed your headphones in for a somewhat long drive which you can get some much-needed sleep. You decided to listen to music for once, choosing to listen to Blueberry Eyes. As the bus was finally pulling out Kageyama was looking at the bus and you gave him a little wave and he waved back. “You are blushing.” Bokuto leaned over with a big smile. You pulled his sleep mask down. “Go to sleep you great horned owl.”

As the Manager from Fukurodani gave Kageyama a wave. He waved back. But the reason he was looking at the Fukurodani bus leaving was that he heard the song his soulmate was playing, Blueberry Eyes. He does not believe in coincidences. You just called him blueberry. Worse of all was that he kind of liked you. But not in a romantic way yet. He liked you as a person. You didn’t find volleyball boring, your brother was also a setter, and you were fun to talk to. “Kageyama who are you waving at?!” Hinata yelled at him.   “No one you need to worry about Dumbass!” He yelled back. “He was waving at one of the Fukurodani’s cute managers,” Nishinoya said, smiling. “She seems so sweet and innocent like a pure angel.” Tanaka agreed. “Yeah, she is Akashi's sister,” Suga said. “So I doubt you two will ever get close to her.” The two second-years pouted at their chances with the manager.

The next camp was coming up in a few weeks. Hinata and Kageyama did have a fight and he did frighten Yachi. He felt bad because of the few friends he had; he lost both of them. As much as he hated Hinata, he was able to keep up with Kageyama’s skill and shared the passion for volleyball. Yachi was able to help him with his grade and was a great tutor and she also didn’t find volleyball boring, and she is curious about the sport. He went to her house to apologize. He brought her some cat-shaped cookies (that what his sister told him to do). “You didn’t have to Kageyama.” Yachi was shaking her head feeling guilty that she didn’t do anything for him. “It is an apology for what happened in the gym the other day between Hinata and me. You shouldn’t have seen that and we shouldn’t have let that happen.” “Thank you for the apology. I hope you and Hinata work things out.” She said with a smile. There was silence for a moment before Yachi’s phone dinged. She looked down at it knowing it was you continuing the conversation that you guys started earlier. She laughed at her phone. Kageyama lifted his eyebrow in suspicion. “Sorry, that was ____.” “_____?” “Uh yeah. Fukurodani’s manager, Akaashi’s sister.” “Oh her. I believe she is my soulmate.” With that statement, she almost dropped the box of cookies. “What?!” She squeaked.

“Yachi!” You screamed and leaped into her arms. “____ it had only been 2 weeks.” “But I missed you. I don’t have a lot of girl-friends.” She laughed and hugged you right back. “Come on I’ll show you to your classroom again.” Yachi was not the one for evil plans or devilish plans. But only knowing for a few weeks she knows Kageyama would be a good fit for you. And you for him. So she and he planned for a way to get to know each other. While he focuses on volleyball.

“____ I have to help with setting up for dinner. Can you throw balls for Kageyama? I usually do but-” “Of course Yachi. I’m used to doing it for Akaashi.” You jogged over to Kageyama and he was stretching.“Hi Kageyama, Yachi asked me to throw  balls for you to set is that ok?” “Yes of course. I’m assuming you know how to throw to setters?” “Mmhmm.” You hummed with a nod.

Evenings passed, helping Kageyama with his setting for this move for him and Hinata. After each training session, he would walk you to your room. You got to know him, he was really a simple person, with some anger problems, and a love for volleyball. You also found out you could make him blush easily.

The last day had finally approached. The boys and managers were treated with BBQ. After that, you had to clean the gym. “Want some help again? A way for me to repay you for helping me this week.” Kageyama asked. “Please do.” You said with a sigh. “Thank you.” He shrugged happily helping you. “You and Hinata really improved that move. It looks good I have a feeling you will get to play Seijoh. I’ll be rooting for you.” He was listening to you but also not because he had a plan for you, he was going to confirm his theory that you were in fact his soulmate. He put in his headphones when you weren’t looking, putting it at full volume, and played the song you have been listening to for 2 weeks. Blueberry Eyes. He turned his head and watched you jump and seeing you drop your broom. You looked directly into Kageyama's eyes. He looked at you deadpan, smirking, skipping the song to an Ariana song. You had a cute confused look on your face and made his heart flutter again. He took out his headphones. “You- You, uh… You are my soulmate!” You said flabbergasted. “Yes.” He shrugged. “You knew? For how long?” “2 weeks when you were leaving. You listened to that song. Blueberry Eyes. Normally I would be offended, but the song is very complimentary. You do have good music taste and I like that you were on a schedule. Then you went off it and that did throw me off.” “I’m sorry. When I found out that was my connection which was when I was sick and you were listening to your music. I felt horribly guilty that I was forcing my type of music onto another. And I never wanted to do that to you.” He walked over to you and hugged you to stop you from rambling. “It doesn’t matter to me. You have good music taste. I don’t know what I really liked.” “Ariana Grande.” He blushed and pushed you out of his grasp. “Hey, Baka that is not fair.” He said embarrassed. ��Oh, Kageyama it is not that bad.” You laughed. You noticed he was still holding your hand. “I like that you are my soulmate Kageyama.” “And I like you are mine. And I ask for a couple of things. 1. Please call me Tobio, 2. Never change your music taste, and 3. If you can please come to my games.” You blushed at the last request. “Anything for my Blueberry.” You pecked his cheek. His face heated up again. “You can call me Tobio,'' I said. “Blueberry in private please.” “Anything you want.” you agreed.

[owlsbride]

Icha Icha and Prejudice: The Book Club

Chapter VII: Under the Suna Sun

Kakashi was a man of war, of battlefields, makeshift camps, nights under the stars but surrounded by insects, earth and who knows what else. He was a man who had spent more than a day without bathing with questionable hygiene and eaten the most diverse foods, even some that he would never want to remember ever again. Kakashi had shared missions with both comrades and traitors at the same time. He had forever soiled his hands with blood for Konoha, and after many years of self-pity, regrets, little self-esteem, psychological torture and a considerable amount of therapy he could say that he felt Ok, with everything... Much of the time.

However, what Kakashi was not, and maybe he had his new job to blame, a man of high temperatures. He was perfectly fine with Konoha's weather. It was a nice one: with all four seasons developing naturally throughout the year. A winter that invites you to sit by the fire, but that does not soak the bones. Stable autumns and springs with the necessary rains and a hot but bearable summer, with sweet fragrances, long sunsets, cosy beaches, soft breezes and the eternal smell of the cherry trees. Even in those days when the heat was oppressive, Konoha was still comforting, comfortable and pleasant.

Now Suna, Suna was terrible. Kakashi hated Suna. No, he didn't hate his people, the villagers, the Kazekage nor nothing like that. He just hated the weather. There was a hideous winter or a hideous summer, and he wasn't sure which one was worse. He had been there on many occasions, and he never had been one to complain, but this heat? This heat was killing him now with all the protocol clothes and the village tour under the midday sun to take the dimension of the damage caused by Naruto and if he has to be fair also by the Kazekage. The same Kazekage that could not be found anywhere because he was busy in reunions and meetings with very important people.

"Gaara is going to be busy with very important politicians, Hokage Sama..." Baki began, Kakashi lifted an eyebrow "Not that you are not import..."

"It's ok, Baki, will he be available in the night?" Kakashi interrupted tiredly. He had been travelling the whole night for nothing, he didn't give a damn if he was an important person or not. He just wanted to go to what would be his room and wash off all the sand that he already had on parts of his body that he didn't even know existed.

"What a drag" Kakashi heard Shikamaru snarl and agreed with the boy, nodding only his head "He must be afraid of you, Lord Sixth." The Hokage smiled to himself. Shikamaru could be a bit of a pain in the ass at times and a lazy one, but he would never admit a disrespect to Konoha or his leader. And this time, he didn't correct him.

"Hey, crybaby," Temari spoke to Shikamaru, lifting her chin full of proud and arrogance "My brother is not afraid of no one."

"Troublesome" Shikamaru answered, looking down.

Kakashi's head was about to explode, but Shikamaru was right. Knowing Gaara's social skills, the most probable thing was that the young man would be hidden in his office trying to figure out how to handle the situation. After all, what he had told Sakura the other night, was correct.

The Kazekage had a difficult childhood, like most of them, but somehow he hadn't been able to fully heal the wounds of the past, (has someone actually done it?) and with his too rational mind and his emotional part repressed he was an introverted, quiet and distant being. Gaara was more like a child than an adult. However, the Kazekage had earned his respect. Suna had never been better, and his performance in the fourth war was outstanding, nothing to do with the boy with the deep gaze who was always seeking answers. Gaara was doing well as Suna's leader. Until two weeks ago that Naruto came up with his plan. And so it was now. He really should have brought Sakura, at least now it would be easing his headache. He could hear from behind him the merry couple fighting about something.

"Hey, you two" Kakashi addressed them both "Don't you have something to do? Like catching up, maybe?" He shooed them away with his hands.

"But Hokage Sama..." Temari tried to protest bowing a little.

"It's ok, Princess," Kakashi said mimicking some kind of courtesy he learned over the years "I'm sure Baki, here, is willing and able to show me the place around. I'll see you all of them later tonight after recognising the situation" Kakashi finished with a bow from his own.

Temari and Shikamaru stood still watching Kakashi walk away into the village with Baki. They both had to recognise that as idle or hunched or oblivious he may seem, he was a really regal Hokage.

"Oh, Temari..." Kakashi spoke again without turning to look at her "Make sure that your brother is available for dinner." It was not a suggestion, not a request or a wish, it was an order.

"Jeez, you are so fucked up." Shikamaru whispered.

"Yeah, what a drag" Temari finished realising her breath soundly. Shikamaru smiled at the use of his words.

The situation was absolutely irrational and surrealistic. There were hordes of villagers asking him things about when the improvements that the future Hokage to be promised them were going to arrive. The answers were never, but of course, he couldn't say anything remotely closer to that. What were they thinking? Would Naruto have drugged Gaara to agree or did he just convince him with a few words? If so, he would be a great Hokage if it could mature even a little.

Naruto and Gaara promised that through new jutsus they would stop the sandstorms. That they both would build hot springs bath and aqueducts coming from the outskirts of Konoha to Suna, to create their own spa and recreation centre. They had also promised that they would control the winter temperatures and that soon the houses would not need to have hermetic closures to fight against the sand. How the hell were they going to achieve that? Yes, the times were changing, but a whole new infrastructure to generate the energy necessary to fulfil Naruto's plans was impossible. At least for the moment. In fact, they had to be grateful that they could connect the required antennas to access the telephone lines and the internet.

Fortunately for Kakashi, time was on his side, and all his responses were "I'm sure, my dear sirs, that by the time Uzumaki Naruto takes over as the Seventh Hokage he will have all his plans in motion." With good fortune and favourable wind that would still be within a few years.

"There is one more thing, Hokage Sama" Baki spoke once all the villagers were already returning to their homes not so happy with Kakashi's half-lies, half trues answers.

"What now?" Kakashi felt light, almost floating. The heat was finally having its effect, and the headache was throbbing. Fucking Sakura, she was right, a heatstroke was coming.

"If you prefer we can discuss it later, you look..."

"I'm ok, Baki, what is it? what did those two do?" Now he was starting to get mad.

"Well... Uzumaki Naruto, and Lord Gaara, had promised all the kids in the village that they will form a special camp to train future academy aspirants and genins, and that Naruto would be in charge of assigning missions, all of low rank of course, in order to practice his duties as a Hokage and that Gaara would be his advisor. Kankuro would train the kids. We have all the village children signed up waiting for the special camp to start."

"What you are saying is that they want to form an academy prior to the academy just to simulate the work of the Kages and that not only are Naruto and your Kazekage involved but also Kankuro?"

"Yes, Sir" Baki was so embarrassed.

"Definitely not" Kakashi was about to pass out.

"But Lord Sixth, the kids are so excited, what will we tell them?"

"There is no we, Baki. I'll speak to Gaara tonight, and he will have to take care, now I want to go to my lodging."

The dinner with Gaara wasn't comfortable at all. The Kazekage would bearly looked Kakashi in the eyes. He much more preferred the terrible and strong Gaara from the Desert than this excuse of a boy playing the leader. Yes, he had messed up the things a bit, but nothing beyond repair.

The new infrastructures would arrive sooner or later, and the camp thing could be a summer camp and not a pre-academy. He would give them the possibility to do it in Konoha where Kakashi himself could control them, and Naruto would only be a simple instructor. That way, Gaara would not have to neglect his village. It was the best measure for damage control.

Even so, Kakashi did not put aside his job as Konoha's leader in this meeting. With the tenderness worthy of a good older brother, but the Hokage's firmness, he asked the youngest to please not listen to Naruto's follies anymore. Being a good friend did not mean putting the village's stability at risk just by being complacent. Kakashi also gave Gaara a friendly reminder: to never get over his persona again. He was Konoha's Hokage, not Naruto.

Gaara still had a lot to learn yet, so Kakashi incentivized him to not to hesitate to ask for advice outside his closest circle. Sometimes the objectivity of others was the best advisor. And for that, the councils were hostiles towards him, except of course for the two brothers and Baki. That annoyed him a lot, but somehow everything turned out ok.

Kakashi arrived finally at the luxurious room that Gaara had prepared for him. He didn't see Shikamaru in the whole day after he dismissed him early in the midday and during the dinner they bearly address each other and it was ok. He didn't need the Nara witty mind talking and complaining around in the same room. Besides, Kakashi suspected that Shikamaru was involved in much more satisfactory endeavours than politics, and plans for future summer camps.

After the longest shower of his life, Kakashi finally was ready to go to bed, it was still hot out there and in the room but the cold shower and the conditioner helped a little. He collapsed on the mattress as he had not in a long time. Only on his underwear, he didn't even take the bother to rearrange his mask. This time he was as tired as if he had been fighting all night for the Anbu. It was a very comfortable bed, enough for more than one person, and suddenly he remembered Sakura.

22:40: Are you there? I'm so so so sorry...

22:40: Sakura this have been madness

He waited for the answer, his eyes closing slowly.

22:41: You were right Sakura, I should have brought you with me. The heat is killing me, my head is killing me, everything is killing me

22:41: Ok... Let's talk later.

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Notes:

Well, Kakashi is having a hard time at Suna right?

Next chapter: chatting, texting, reading... and he will come back to Konoha eventually.

I just realise that I'm always asking for likes, and kudos and comments, but I've never thank you before! so here I go: Thank you, everyone!! you make my day when you do something like that, so please keep going and make me happy. See you soon.

[vulcan-highblood]

You Belong With (someone better than) Me

Fandom: Naruto

Rating: T

Pairing: Umino Iruka / Hatake Kakashi

Chapters: 1/3

Summary: Exasperated with the ever-increasing number of well-meaning but annoying busybodies who seem to think he needs a man in his life, Iruka finally breaks down and asks Kakashi to be his fake-boyfriend in order to keep the wannabe-matchmakers off his back. 

The only problem is, Kakashi turns out to be a much better boyfriend than Iruka anticipated.

Read it on AO3

[For @the-umino-hours 1-year anniversary prompt: Fake Dating/Marriage]

Chapter 1: Will You Be My (Fake) Boyfriend? Please Check _Yes or _No

“That’s all from me,” Iruka lifted his eyes from the grade report he’d finished reading off, wrapping up his fifth student feedback report of the night. “Did you have any other questions about your daughter’s progress, Nakamura-san?” Iruka asked, gently closing the folder of Kanade’s information and handing it across the desk to her mother, who accepted it with both hands. 

“I did have one question,” she said, “It’s not about Kanade, but…” she tucked the folder into her bag and dug around for a moment before withdrawing a small photograph. “I wanted to tell you about the nice young man in this picture. He’s my cousin, Kotaro. A weaponsmith.” She wiggled her eyebrows conspiratorially. “He’s got a strong back and a lot of stamina, if you know what I mean.”

Iruka knew exactly what she meant. Face heating, he accepted the photo, sparing a quick glance down at it. He’d seen the man - Kotaro, apparently - around the village. He was tall and muscular, with wide shoulders and soft eyes. A rather unfortunate bit of facial hair, but Iruka wasn’t one to hold that against someone. Everyone had their idiosyncrasies. “I’m sure he’s very nice,” Iruka said weakly, tucking the picture into one of the drawers in his teaching desk. 

“Oh he is,” Nakamura-san insisted, leaning forward. “His contact information is on the back of the photo. If you’re interested.”

I’m very much not, but I suppose I appreciate the sentiment? Iruka thought tiredly, forcing a smile. “Thank you for your consideration,” he said. “As for Kanade-chan…?”

“Oh, she loves your class, and she’s been improving steadily, as you noted,” Nakamura-san said, finally taking her cue to leave. “Thank you for everything you do for her, Iruka-sensei.”

“Of course,” Iruka said, rising also and bowing politely. “It’s my honor to do so.” He held the bow as she crossed the room.

“Oh,” Nakamura-san paused at the door, “Just so you know, Kotaro’s usually only free on Sundays.” She turned and winked at Iruka. “But for you, I’m sure he could make an exception.”

“Ah,” Iruka said awkwardly, bowing again to avoid eye contact, “Yes. Thank you for the information.”

As soon as she was gone, Iruka flopped back into his chair and groaned loudly, covering his face with his hands. He still had another three days of parent-teacher conferences to look forward to, and that was his ninth proposition-by-proxy this week. What was it about being a single male teacher that made all of the village busybodies come out in droves? It didn’t make sense. Iruka wasn’t particularly clever or talented, and he certainly didn’t have much in the way of disposable income. So why had it come to this? He yanked open the desk drawer, staring forlornly down at the small mountain of photos residing there. He didn’t have the heart to throw any of them away, but at this point he was starting to run out of room for actual teaching aids in the drawer. Clearly, something had to be done about the situation. But what? 

Start dating? With what free time? Iruka was barely making ends meet with his punishing schedule as it was, he didn’t have time to date anyone. That’s why he was still single! He barely had time to take Naruto out for ramen between his missions, and woe to any man who thought Iruka would prioritize a date over spending time with the growing boy. 

But this was starting to get ridiculous, Iruka thought, shutting the drawer a bit more forcefully than was strictly necessary. No one had been so invested in his personal life when he’d been running missions. He paused, considering that for a moment, and decided that yes, it wasn’t just rosy hindsight. While his friends had given him some grief about being the perpetually single third-wheel, he hadn’t really been close enough to anyone else in the village to warrant that level of attention. So maybe it was more a problem of visibility? Iruka was almost always in the village these days - teaching, working the mission desk, taking Naruto for ramen… yes, the real problem here was that people were entirely too familiar with Iruka, so he bore the brunt of Konoha villagers’ well-meaning but excruciating attempts at matchmaking.

But how to get it to stop? He couldn’t even bear to throw out the useless photos, so telling them to their face that he didn’t have time for their matchmaking was out of the question. But he had equally little time to devote to deterring them! What he needed was something that would require very little effort, but would have significant enough visibility and impact to be both noted and respected by the villagers.

Packing up his supplies, Iruka considered his options. He could buy a fake engagement ring, but people were bound to start asking around about his mysterious fiancée. Worse yet, if it ever got out that the ring was a fake, he’d be back to square one, but instead of giggling it would be pitying stares and sympathetic hand-pats that accompanied the photos. It wasn’t that Iruka couldn’t get a date, and a fake ring might give the mistaken impression that Iruka thought he couldn’t get anyone without faking it. The issue here wasn’t a failure to get a date, but rather a lack of willingness to pursue the option. 

Could he get a fake boyfriend? Iruka immediately dismissed the idea. For one thing, he couldn’t afford an escort. And if anyone found out the boyfriend was fake, he’d be in the exact same position as he would be in with the fake ring - pity and hand-pats. No thank you.

Grumbling under his breath, Iruka gave the classroom a once-over, plucking a stray shuriken out of the wall and wiping the blackboards down one more time before letting himself out and shutting the door. He glanced at the hall clock and winced. It was late. By the time he managed to cook something, it would be too late to digest it properly. Besides, he had homework assignments to grade, and if he spent an hour or more buying ingredients and making an actual meal, he wouldn’t be getting to sleep until midnight. Then he would be getting up at six, rushing through breakfast and back at the Academy by seven to prep for classes. Ugh. 

Iruka decided he’d rather sleep an extra hour than go to the effort of preparing a healthy meal (especially since his healthy meals always ended up tasting terrible), so he headed in the direction of the nearest shop that offered carry-out meals. He picked up something with vegetables and a lean protein to feel like he was at least wasting money on healthy pre-prepared food. It was cheaper to cook his own, but at what cost? Iruka needed his sleep, especially with several more days of parent-teacher conferences looming in his future.

As he was waiting for his meal, he happened to glance outside and caught sight of Kakashi wandering by. Iruka immediately perked up, realizing that if the jonin-sensei was around then Naruto was probably somewhere in the village, too. Iruka hopped from one foot to the other, more anxious for his food to be ready. He really didn’t have time to go looking for Naruto tonight, but he wanted to see the boy. Maybe if he put off grading for one night, he could visit the kid. He could catch up on grading over the weekend. 

“Here’s your order, Iruka-sensei,” said Fujita-san, passing Iruka a wrapped bundle of delicious-smelling food. “Have a nice night.”

“Thank you!” Iruka beamed, rushing out into the night. By some stroke of luck, Kakashi was still out there. “Oh! Kakashi-san!” he called, hurrying over.

Kakashi, nose stuck in his usual reading material, lifted his head slowly, turning to Iruka. “Ah, Iruka-sensei. To what do I owe the pleasure?” 

“Oh,” Iruka felt his cheeks heat as he realized how rude it probably seemed to jump straight to asking where’s Naruto? “Are you back from your mission?”

“Mm,” Kakashi made a noise of assent. “The kids did well.” 

“Oh, good! I’m glad to hear it. And you’re all fine?” Iruka looked Kakashi over, but he wasn’t really the sort to look injured, even if he was. Elite jonin like Kakashi didn’t get to that status by broadcasting their injuries. 

“Nary a scratch between us,” Kakashi said. “We just got back. I think Naruto might be looking for you, actually.” 

“Oh!” Iruka glanced down at his dinner. “I only bought enough for one person,” he frowned, then turned back to Kakashi and said, “Have you eaten yet?” 

Kakashi’s visible eye widened in surprise. “No,” he said slowly, “I haven’t.”

“Here,” Iruka pressed his dinner into Kakashi’s chest, “You take this, Naruto and I will find something for the two of us.”

Kakashi glanced down at the dinner, then back up to Iruka before carefully accepting the wrapped meal. “...thank you?” 

“Thank you,” Iruka countered. “Have a good evening, Kakashi-san.” Then, before the jonin could formulate a reply, he scampered off. 

~~*~~

The next morning Iruka dragged himself out of bed early so he could throw rice in a pot and toss some dry sardines in a pot of water. He managed to scrounge up some cabbage that had seen better days, chopped up some tofu, and was just throwing them into the fish-water when Naruto wandered into the kitchen, scrubbing his eyes and yawning loudly. 

“Morning, Iruka-sensei,” Naruto said, a bit too loudly for six in the morning, “Sorry I fell asleep here again last night. I was planning on going home, I promise.”

“I don’t mind if you sleep over, Naruto. That’s what the guest futon is for,” Iruka reassured him. “Are you hungry?”

“You’re cooking?” Naruto grinned widely. “What are you making?”

Iruka gestured at the simmering pot and then turned to dig in his fridge for the miso. He pulled it out and scooped up a large spoonful, gazed at it consideringly, and put about a third back. “Miso soup, rice, and I’ve got eggs in the fridge,” he said. “Nothing too fancy, I’m afraid.”

“Sounds great!” Naruto exclaimed. “Kakashi-sensei brings me breakfast like that sometimes. But he usually makes fish and vegetables too.”

Well good for him, Iruka thought, half sincere, half snide. I’m glad one of us knows how to cook.   He tasted the miso soup consideringly. It might have too much miso. Or not enough. Or was he supposed to take it off the heat before adding the miso? He didn’t remember. The rice pot wasn’t steaming anymore, and Iruka lifted the lid only to smell the distinct odor of scalding rice. “Oh!” he yelped, turning off the burner and staring at the rice, wondering if it had cooked through this time or if he would once more be having al dente rice for breakfast. He grabbed the spoon he’d used to taste the miso soup and took a small bite of rice. It tasted slightly burnt, but seemed soft enough. A little on the firm side, but certainly not the worst rice he’d ever made. 

Behind him, Naruto giggled. “Did you burn the rice again, Iruka-sensei?”

“That’s enough out of you,” Iruka groused. “I’ve told you before, the smoke adds flavor!” he scooped a large portion into a rice bowl, setting it down in front of Naruto before dishing up a second bowl for himself. Quite a bit of rice was stuck to the bottom of the pot. Lovely. He’d leave the pot to soak while he was at work, hopefully it would be washable by the time he got home. 

“Make sure you eat the cabbage, too,” Iruka warned, setting a bowl miso in front of Naruto. He moved back across the kitchen, plucking two small styrofoam containers and two eggs from his fridge. “And eat your natto, it’s good for you,” he added, plunking the little box down and setting the egg down beside it.

“You really need a new rice cooker, Iruka-sensei,” Naruto observed, ignoring the natto and cracking the egg over his rice, pouring a bit of soy sauce over it before vigorously stirring it in.

Iruka sighed, popping open his natto container and removing the thin paper covering the beans. He used his chopsticks to stir the fermented beans around before piling them atop his rice and cracking his own egg over them. “I’ll get one eventually. But this works fine, for now.”

“At least rice cookers don’t burn the rice,” Naruto pointed out. “I think that’s probably worth it, right?” 

Iruka shrugged. Rice cookers could get pretty spendy, and the ones at the secondhand shop had appeared to be on their last legs. He was saving up, of course, but he had other priorities. He could handle a bit of burnt rice. “You really should eat the natto,” he encouraged. 

“I tried it once, Iruka-sensei. I think it almost killed me,” Naruto said too-seriously. “I’m just not cut out for healthy food, I think.”

Iruka laughed before he could help it. “Oh, fine,” he shook his head. “Next time, then.” It was something of a joke between them by now - Iruka would give him natto, Naruto wouldn’t eat it, and the natto would go back into the fridge.  

The two of them ate in comfortable silence, and Naruto wordlessly gathered up the dishes, putting them in the sink before running some hot water. Iruka felt his eyebrows climb in surprise. “Oh?” he said, “What’s this?”

“You made breakfast, so I’ll wash the dishes,” Naruto declared. “Kakashi-sensei always makes me wash the dishes when he brings me food, so I’ve gotten pretty good at it,” he added, beaming with pride. 

“That’s very kind of you,” Iruka said, “I guess I’ll go get my things, then.” He hadn’t bothered unpacking his teaching satchel, but he still double-checked it to make sure he had everything he needed. That done, he wandered back into the kitchen, spotting Naruto attacking the rice pot.

“Oh, just let that one soak, I’ll get to it tonight,” he told Naruto. 

“Okay,” Naruto agreed cheerfully, setting it in the sink and following him to the door. They left together, Naruto not-so-surreptitiously sniffing his shirt. 

“If you feel you have to do a smell check, you should probably just shower and change,” Iruka chided. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Naruto waved him off. “It’s fine.” 

Iruka considered pressing the issue, but in the end, he decided it wasn’t worth the shouting. “Have a good day of training,” he said as Naruto drew to a halt at the corner of the street. 

Naruto beamed back at Iruka.  “You too, Iruka-sensei!”

Iruka waved him off with a smile, before picking up his pace and heading for the Academy. He had another long day ahead of him, and running late wasn’t going to make it any easier to get through.

~~*~~

“Thank you for always taking care of our boy,” Tsutsuji-san said, heading for the door, “And remember what I said about my friend Hiei,” she added with a small titter. “He’d definitely be interested.”

“Of course, Tsutsuji-san,” Iruka managed to say in a strangled voice, “Thank you for your consideration.”

“Oh you’re very welcome, Iruka-sensei,” Tsutsuji-san said. “Have a nice evening.”

“You too,” Iruka replied. As soon as she was gone he shoved the third photo of the night into his desk drawer. This had gone so far beyond ridiculous he wasn’t sure what word he could even use to describe it. Scowling, he straightened up the classroom, shoved some homework assignments in his bag, and matched out of the Academy in a huff. He had to find something to make this stop!

“Yo, Iruka-sensei,” Kakashi called as he exited. The jonin was leaning casually against the Academy gates, age-inappropriate reading material in hand. Kakashi glanced up fully as Iruka approached, his eye widening as he took in Iruka’s appearance. “Rough day?” he asked, pushing off the gate and transitioning to a more vertical slouch. 

“You could say that,” Iruka sighed, then frowned in confusion. “Forgive my rudeness, Kakashi-san, but why are you here?” 

“Maa, I wanted to ask you if you had time to grab dinner sometime. Since you gave me dinner yesterday, I thought I might return the favor,” Kakashi explained. 

“Dinner?” Iruka repeated, frowning. “What, like tonight?” 

“Whenever you have time,” Kakashi clarified. 

“Oh. Uh. Sure, I’ll get back to you on that…” Iruka turned to leave, then paused, an idea forming in his mind. “Say, Kakashi-san?” 

“Yes?” Kakashi was still standing there with a vague expression on his face.

Iruka glanced around nervously to make sure no local busybodies were watching, then leaned in. “How would you feel about making that dinner a monthly arrangement? I’ll pay, of course!”

Kakashi’s eyebrow lifted in response. “Mind if I ask why?”

Iruka glanced around again. “Do you mind if we talk it over somewhere else?”

“Like over dinner?” Kakashi suggested, sounding faintly amused.

“Somewhere private,” Iruka specified. 

“Dinner at my place,” Kakashi amended.

“At your place?” Iruka echoed faintly.

“It’s pretty private,” Kakashi assured him. “Just me and the ninken.” 

“Okay,” Iruka agreed. “When?”

“We can go now,” Kakashi suggested. “I have all the ingredients at home already, we just need to eat them.” 

“You bought enough for two?” Iruka asked faintly, not sure how this conversation had gone from maybe a dinner sometime to a home-cooked meal at the copy-nin’s house.

“I usually take some leftovers to Naruto,” Kakashi explained. “He never eats vegetables when left to his own devices.” 

Iruka laughed at that. “True enough,” he noted with amusement. 

“So it’s decided. You can tell me more about whatever it is you can’t discuss publicly over dinner,” Kakashi gazed at Iruka for confirmation.

“Sure,” Iruka agreed, mentally apologizing to his future self for the pile of grading he’d be doing this weekend. “Sounds great.”

Nodding, Kakashi turned and began wandering off, heading into the village. It was at this point Iruka realized he had no idea where Kakashi’s house was. Well. If Kakashi was going to agree to Iruka’s harebrained scheme, perhaps it was a good idea to know where the man lived.

It didn’t take them long to reach their destination. It turned out Kakashi had a modest one-bedroom apartment with a wide living room and a cozy kitchen and dining area. Kakashi pulled out a small induction burner, setting it on the table, carrying over a large pot a moment later. It was packed full of vegetables, tofu, shirataki noodles and beef. “Hope you like sukiyaki,” Kakashi said, pouring a thick sweet dashi broth over the ingredients.

“Are you kidding? I haven’t had beef for two weeks!” Iruka exclaimed, probably more excited than he should have been, but beef was expensive and he was starving. “This looks amazing, Kakashi-san!”

Kakashi scrubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly, a blush rising on his visible cheek. “Maa, sensei, it's just a bit of chopping vegetables.”

“Yeah, well, considering I don’t even do that half the time, I’m impressed!” Iruka grinned at Kakashi, unable to contain his excitement. 

Kakashi set a small bowl in front of him with an egg, then carried over a steaming bowl of rice for each of them before settling down at the other table setting. “So,” he began, cracking his own egg into the bowl and lightly scrambling it, “What did you want to ask about that you couldn’t bring up in public?” 

“Well,” Iruka began, cracking his own egg, “Lately I keep having well-meaning people trying to set me up on dates, and honestly it’s starting to get on my nerves.” 

Kakashi hummed sympathetically to show he was listening, then adjusted the temperature on the burner to bring up the temperature of the sukiyaki broth. 

“So I was thinking,” Iruka continued, picking up the provided chopsticks and attacking the egg with a bit more ferocity than was probably warranted, “Maybe I should just… pretend to date someone? Just to stop the nagging.”

Kakashi turned from the sukiyaki to gaze at Iruka. “Oh? Were you planning to ask me out on a fake date, then?”

“Here’s the thing,” Iruka said, finally setting down his chopsticks to look Kakashi in the eye, “I have no time for dating. It’s why I’m not dating anyone currently. So I really don’t have the energy to spare for faking it, either.”

“Hmm,” Kakashi made a thoughtful noise. “Sounds difficult.”

“It is,” Iruka agreed. “And then, you offered dinner, and I thought maybe…” He tried to think of how to explain his thoughts in a nice (or at least nice-ish?) manner. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but… if I were going to only go on sporadic dates with someone, it would have to be someone who’s… also sporadic?” He grimaced, realizing that maybe this wasn’t the most diplomatic approach. 

“Ah,” Kakashi said, digging into the sukiyaki with his chopsticks, checking the doneness of the meat. “So you don’t want to go on dates, but you still want to pretend you’re dating.”

“Exactly,” Iruka exclaimed, pointing at Kakashi excitedly. “I need someone… low effort? Who wouldn’t care if we only went out, say, once a month. Or less, even. Less than that would be ideal.”

“I see,” Kakashi grabbed Iruka’s plate, plopping some beef on it. “Here,” he handed it back before serving himself as well. “So you want us to go on fake dates, but not very often. What am I getting from this arrangement?”

“Oh,” Iruka realized he’d not really thought that far ahead. “Well. I’m really busy, so I can’t offer much. I can, uh… buy you dinner once a month? Or maybe less than once a month?” Iruka offered, smiling weakly as he dipped the beef into his raw egg before dropping it onto his rice and shoveling it into his mouth. Oh. The rice was perfectly tender, the broth was just the right balance of sweet and salty, and the thinly sliced beef was melting with marbled fat. “Oh wow,” he moaned. “Maybe you don’t need to eat out, this is so good.”  

Kakashi snorted in amusement. His own beef had vanished, though his mask was still in place. 

Iruka averted his gaze out of courtesy before continuing. “So. Uh. What do you want from me, then?”

“Eh,” Kakashi said, serving himself some of the vegetables. “I don’t really need anything. But this sounds interesting, so I’ll do it.”

“You’ll pretend to be my boyfriend and you don’t want anything in return?” Iruka asked, surprised to have gotten Kakashi to agree so quickly. He’d thought the jonin would at least ask for something from him, but Kakashi seemed remarkably easy to please. Then again, that had been the whole reason Iruka had asked him in the first place - he wanted someone low-effort. 

“If I think of something, I’ll let you know,” Kakashi said. “Now eat, the sukiyaki’s not going to finish itself.”

~~*~~

It wasn’t until Iruka got home late in the evening that he realized he and Kakashi had never decided when their first official “date” was to take place. Oh well, he thought, dumping the pile of grading out on his kotatsu with a heavy sigh, surely they’d be able to discuss it soon enough. For now, he had homework to grade.

“Oh, hey Iruka-sensei!” Naruto called from the kitchen. “Welcome home!” he poked his head out to gaze at Iruka curiously. “You were out late.”

Urk. “Yes,” Iruka answered awkwardly, “I was having dinner with Kakashi-san.”

“Oh really?” Naruto asked, wandering out of the kitchen and into the living room. “Why didn’t you invite me?”

“It was rather last-minute,” Iruka admitted. 

“Oh,” Naruto said. “Okay. Cool.”

“Why are you here?” Iruka finally asked. 

“I came to wash the pot from this morning,” Naruto replied, “and then I ate some of the food in your fridge, so I had to wash my plate after that. Did you know you don’t have any instant ramen in your kitchen?”

“Yes,” Iruka replied with an amused snort. “There’s a reason for that. It’s not healthy.”

“It’s a lot easier than cooking, though,” Naruto grumbled. “So what did you have for dinner with Kakashi-sensei?”

“We had sukiyaki,” Iruka replied, settling down on a cushion and pulling out one of the homework papers. “Did you eat the rest of the rice from this morning?”

Naruto laughed. “No, actually I just ate some fried eggs.”

“That’s not enough for dinner!” Iruka protested. “You should have eaten more than that.”

“It’s fine,” Naruto assured him, “I had a big lunch.”

Iruka gave him a look, but Naruto didn’t flinch, so he must have meant it. “All right,” Iruka finally said, “But if you get hungry…”

“I know, I know, I just have to tell you.” Naruto flopped down on the other side of the kotatsu, wrinkling his nose as he eyed the homework spread across the table. “Oh, this stuff? Gross.”

“Hey, that’s my occupation you’re calling gross,” Iruka protested, setting his pen down momentarily to shoot a scowl in Naruto’s direction.

“Yeah, but homework sucks,” Naruto said. “I bet you didn’t like it when you were a kid, either.”

“Immaterial,” Iruka replied, “It’s important to make sure all the students understand the coursework and have a firm grasp on what we’re learning in class.”

“Oh sure, but important doesn’t mean it’s not boring,” Naruto shot back, grinning and ducking under Iruka’s half-hearted swipe at him. 

“If you’re just going to be a pest…” Iruka warned.

“I’ll be good!” Naruto promised, lifting his hands in a gesture of surrender. “I just… didn’t want to be alone tonight.”

“You’re always welcome to stay with me,” Iruka said, lifting his eyes to make sure Naruto saw he was serious. “You know that, right?”

“I do,” Naruto admitted, shuffling around so that most of his body was hidden under the kotatsu quilt, tucking it up under his chin and grinning at Iruka. “It’s just nice to hear it, sometimes.”

Iruka smiled. “Then I’ll say it as many times as you need.”

~~*~~

The next morning Iruka dragged himself out of bed and stumbled into the kitchen. Rather than make rice, he had a vague inkling that maybe toast and soup would be good enough for the day. He dug some corn potage out of the fridge and had it heating on the stove, shoving the toast in the toaster. He scrounged through the fridge, finding a few tomatoes which he sliced up and sprinkled with a little salt and pepper. He dished up the sliced tomatoes, tossed the toast onto plates, and poured two bowls of the corn soup just as Naruto wandered into the kitchen. 

“Toast for breakfast, huh?” Naruto commented sleepily. “And tomatoes?” 

“And corn soup,” Iruka added. “I just heated it up on the stove.”

“Looks great,” Naruto commented, sitting down at the table and clapping his hands together. “Let’s eat.”

“Let‘s eat,” Iruka echoed, then dug in. The tomatoes were… oversalted. But still mostly edible if you ate them with the toast. The soup was fine, at least. 

“Thanks for the meal!” Naruto exclaimed after practically inhaling his breakfast. “I’ll wash the dishes.” 

“Thanks for the meal,” Iruka mumbled as he finished his own breakfast, then wandered back into the living room to pack his school bag. 

He and Naruto left together not too long after that, parting ways at the same corner as yesterday. Iruka trudged the rest of the way to the Academy, already exhausted. Just one more day of parent-teacher conferences, he reminded himself. Then he had a whole weekend… of double shifts at the mission desk. And all the grading he hadn’t finished yet. Iruka groaned. 

“Yo, Iruka-sensei!” 

Iruka blinked, not sure he was seeing things right. “Kakashi-san?” he said, spotting the jonin casually leaning against the Academy gates, drawing confused looks from passing staff members.

“Please, it’s just Kakashi,” he said, moving away from the gate and walking over to Iruka. “We’re dating, after all.”

“Right,” Iruka said, feeling off-center and a bit confused. “Did we… have something scheduled?”

“Nope!” Kakashi replied cheerily, then lifted a thermos. “But you looked tired after last night’s dinner, so I thought I’d bring you some of my favorite coffee.”

Iruka hadn’t gotten around to the grocery store to buy more of his own coffee, and the swill in the teacher’s lounge could double as paint-thinner. Coffee sounded marvelous, though he still felt a little confused . He stared at the thermos in Kakashi’s grasp, struggling to formulate a response. “But...why?”

Kakashi pressed the thermos into his hands. “Just a thoughtful gesture from your boyfriend, that’s all.”

“I can’t accept this,” Iruka protested, his hands closing around the thermos anyway. “I already told you, I don’t have a lot of time - ”

“It’s fine,” Kakashi assured him, taking a step back and lifting his hands. “I already made the coffee, so you might as well drink it.”

“True…” Iruka glanced down at the thermos with a sigh. He decided that he could accept this one gesture, so long as he impressed upon Kakashi that this sort of behavior couldn’t become a habitual thing. Iruka just didn’t have the energy to reciprocate, and he didn’t want it to look like Kakashi was putting all the work into the relationship. “Thank you,” he said, lifting his head to face the jonin, “I appre - ”

Kakashi was gone.

Sighing exasperatedly, Iruka waved the thermos in the air. “I appreciate it!” he shouted, just in case the man was still hanging around. He supposed that popping in with random gifts and then vanishing was to be expected when ‘dating’ someone as eccentric as Kakashi. He still felt bad, though. He’d specifically asked Kakashi to do this because he hadn’t wanted to go to much effort. If Kakashi was going to do his best to sell the relationship, it would look pretty bad if Iruka wasn’t doing his best, too.

With a groan, Iruka stared down at the thermos of coffee. This was going to be more work than he’d bargained for.

[britishassistant]

Too Many Bridges (I Dig Canals) 1

He was twenty-two when he died.

His mama hadn’t wanted him to move out to West Texas, crying that it wasn’t safe. His dad had soothed that he’d be fine at UTEP, the first one in the family to go to university, a business major, doing them all so proud.

His little sister had said they’d all dealt with much worse in high school, where the teachers screamed at you for speaking Spanish until you could barely remember a word.

His short older sister just snuck a dumb Homestuck backpack into his luggage, filled with the latest volumes of Boruto. He’d liked to read them while eating shitty convenience store ramen at 2AM.

Then he’d run out of cup ramen in his senior year, gone to the 7-11 at 1AM to grab some more, and made the mistake of glancing at a cracker junkie shaking from withdrawal.

Last thing he knew, he was bleeding out around a knife while the druggie tore through his groceries, crooning, “C’mon, c’mon where’s the hit, where is it, I know you’re hiding it.”

He’d only had the strength left to flip the racist fucker off before he finally drifted away.

He wakes as a baby.

The only natural response to this is to begin screaming.

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?! Why the fuck is he a baby?! Is everyone a baby when they go to Heaven?! Or wait, his butt’s kinda damp, is this Heaven at all?! Is he in Hell?! Was him flipping off that cracker enough to get him sent to Hell, after all he’s done?! All the masses he’s been to?! For the love of Christ, what’s going on—

A woman with white-blond hair and a tired face leans over him, muttering something harsh-sounding in a foreign language.

A loud and angry sounding man’s voice shouts something from somewhere he can’t see, which startles him into crying harder.

Then a large and callused hand slams down over his mouth, practically smothering him.

The woman’s face looms over him, wrinkled and shadowed like the face of the devil himself, poisonous green eyes glaring at him.

“Damare, kuso gaki.” The devil-woman hisses.

He whimpers.

His hair is green now.

Like a dehydrated shrub left too long in the heat, spiky-dry and almost yellowing at the edges.

And his eyes are purple. As if the green spiky anime hair wasn’t enough to humiliate him.

He misses his mama and his dad and his sisters but thank Jesus they’ll never see him like this.

At least his skin color’s pretty much the same as his last life. If he ended up resembling that fucking junkie who murdered him in any way, shape or form...

Well. All he knows is it wouldn't be pretty.

His new name is Meiun Nobuo.

The devil-woman who would rather smother him in his crib than let him cry apparently gave birth to him.

The deadbeat who cursed him with this eye and hair color and returns most nights stinking of alcohol and rotting fish is the sperm donor.

He misses his real family.

They live in a dock town.

Their house is farthest from the shore, so the scent of rotting fish guts and seagull shit is vaguely bearable. It’s bigger than the fishermen and farmer’s huts and market stalls that make up the rest of the village, with a curved asian roof.

He thinks the sperm donor is in a relatively high position in the village, perhaps an official of some sort. Probably inherited, because he seriously doubts anyone with a brain would elect that drunk deadbeat to any position of authority, but who knows.

He used to think the same thing about the government in his past life, and look what happened there.

Ragged official looking people buzz in and out of the rooms he’s not supposed to enter all day every day. Some of them smile at him if they notice him, lips spread sickeningly wide and eyes sycophantically crinkled.

Others look at him like he’s a nuisance, worthy of only their ire.

As if he asked to be reborn to this fucking paltry excuse for family when he had a perfectly good one back home

The devil-woman isn’t from around here.

That much is obvious in the way she’s constantly ill at ease, snapping at the slightest inconvenience, acting like everyone’s out to get her.

To be fair, a lot of them probably are just for the chance to have some peace and quiet again.

He privately counts himself among that number.

She’s always grumbling about how much better it is in rain, but regardless of the weather her shitty attitude never seems to improve.

She also starts trying to poison him when he turns four.

When his rice tastes weirdly bitter he spits it back into the bowl.

The devil-woman slaps him across the face.

“Eat.” She hisses, forcing his head into the bowl. “I didn’t destroy my body for you to bring shame to the Dokuso name like this. Your great uncle was already immune to neurotoxins by the time he was your age. The least you can do is eat.”

He tries to struggle, to scream for someone to help him, but the devil-woman just forces his head down farther until he swallows every last grain of tainted rice.

His body won’t stop shaking for the rest of the day, every gasp of air feeling like it’s scraping his lungs raw.

It becomes some kind of demented pattern.

He’s poisoned, he suffers, his body adjusts, he’s poisoned again in a new way, rinse and repeat until he seriously finds himself contemplating whether his last death was better than this.

The look of dissatisfaction the devil-woman always wears, as though he’s somehow not doing this (or dying) fast enough for her liking, weighs the argument a lot.

On the days where he’s in less danger of throwing up his guts, he has lessons with a tutor, because of course he fucking does.

Death, taxes and homework: the three constants of existence.

The tutor calls him a prodigy with mathematics, even if his grasp of kanji is shaky.

The deadbeat uses this as an excuse to push some of his work onto a five year old with some garbled line about “carrying on the work of our forefathers”.

He hates this.

He hates it so fucking much.

He prays every night, asking Christ why he’s being tormented like this. He hasn’t got an answer back yet.

He’s gonna make a break for it as soon as he’s old enough to do so. He’s still too young to be allowed out of the house, even for festivals. He also doesn’t receive anything like an allowance yet either, though he suspects that’s more due to the fact that the sperm donor is a cheapskate.

It’s fine. It’ll be fine. He’s already got access to some of the accounts, has proven himself to be a dedicated worker beneath suspicion.

Nobody’ll suspect the kid “carrying on the work of his forefathers” if money begins disappearing, not when there are so many greedy adults around. It’s foolproof.

He’s just gotta wait until he learns where he is and how he can get away.

He can do that. It’ll be fine.

“The daimyō has declared dōjutsu users enemies of the state.” His sperm donor complains one evening. “The Mizukage has authorized the use of deadly force to subdue them.”

The devil-woman sniffs, says something nasally and contrarian back but he can’t hear her over the blood rushing in his ears.

Dōjutsu.

Mizukage.

His mouth is dry. He can’t breathe.

There’s no way—there’s absolutely no fucking way—the tech here is way too primitive, he must be hallucinating, going through withdrawal from not reading his favorite manga for so long.

There’s no way this place could be the same world as Boruto. Besides, Chojuro would never authorize a-a genocide like that, Kagura-kun would be so disappointed in him—

But Kagura-kun’s grandfather wouldn’t have had any problems with it, would he?

It’s not until the devil-woman whacks him over the head and screams at him to get up that he realizes he’s on the floor.

He climbs shakily to his feet.

He endures the scolding quietly.

He goes to his room when dismissed.

He shuts the door behind him and slides down it, trying to muffle the sounds escaping his throat. They could be hysterical laughter or sobs. He really isn’t sure.

Because of course he’s been reborn years before any of the good characters of this series or plot developments that he can clearly remember will make their appearance.

That’s just his fucking luck.

He presses his forehead to his knees and screams.

This revelation helps along his plans, at least.

If he’s in Kiri, then he knows he’s probably on one of the many islands that make up the...peninsula? Archipelago? Fuck, geography was never his strong suit.

But yeah, he’ll need to charter a boat to get to the mainland so he can disappear.

He briefly entertains the idea of becoming a ninja for Kiri, maybe growing up to become one of Chojuro’s aides and Kagura-kun’s mentors. Getting to meet Boruto when that arc comes around.

But no. Or at least, not yet.

Going there before Terumi Mei has had the chance to overthrow Yagura isn’t a good idea, what with the whole “kill everyone else you studied with to become a genin” thing they’ve got going on. Also the people claiming to be his parents might track him down and have him sent back.

Fire Country is probably his best bet to vanish. The ninja there actually care about the populace.

He might even be able to go to Konoha. See Boruto and Sarada and Mitsuki grow up firsthand.

The thought leaves a warm feeling in his chest even as his limbs tremble from the effects of the latest venom for the rest of the week.

It doesn’t last.

Of course it doesn’t.

It’s one thing to know that certain people in the community are slated for death.

It’s a different ballgame entirely to see a mob barge into the sperm donor’s office, howling for blood.

He can only hear the words “kekkai genkai filth” chanted like a curse before the deadbeat is nodding his head and rising, grabbing a huge ass sword from where it’s been gathering dust on the wall.

He tries to shrink back, tries to let the throng pass him without drawing their attention, but a hand grabs his collar and yanks him away from his little table, away from his calculations, and drags him along with the frothing crowd of people with hate in their eyes.

He’s squashed near the back of the herd, but every time he tries to get away there are hands and arms to yank him back into line, hands of men or women or—Jesus, or other kids.

He’s eventually funneled through the doorway of a tiny farmer’s hut, pushed into one of the walls by the crush of people, and he looks up and there’s—

There’s—

Oh God.

Oh God.

Oh Jesus in Heaven have mercy.

He can’t look.

It’s awful, it’s too much, he can’t look, he can’t, he gags, averts his eyes—

He sees the girl in the corner of the room.

She’s crying, mouthing “Mama” to herself over and over.

One of those murderers has seen her too.

The man takes a step towards the girl—

“Stay the fuck away from her!” He yells.

He can’t remember moving. All he knows is he’s now in between the girl and the mob, knees trembling and adrenaline pounding in his ears.

His voice is all shaky and squeaky, not intimidating at all.

He’s scared.

Jesus Christ, he’s so scared.

These monsters just killed that innocent lady for their dumb fucking witch hunt.

What’ll they do to this girl if they get their hands on her?

One of the villagers steps forward and growls, “Outta the way, boy. You don’t wanna get hurt for that thing.”

“Fuck you, asshole!” He screams back.

“Meiun, discipline your fucking brat before we do it for you!” Someone else in the mob shouts.

The sperm donor is pushed to the front and begrudgingly holds out a hand. “Don’t be stupid Nobuo. Get your ass over here, now.”

“Listen to your father!” The demon-woman shrieks from the safety of several people away.

He laughs. He can’t help it. “My father?! You want me to acknowledge that drunken excuse of a sperm donor as a father?! Get real, you fucking hag!! You and him wouldn’t know what real fucking parenting looked like if you fucking murdered it in cold fucking blood!!”

He points at what’s left of the lady. “Because guess what? Looks like ya did!”

“How dare you—” The deadbeat’s gone dark purple.

“No, how dare you?!” His hands are shaking and Christ, there’s no way this can end well, but his mouth won’t stop running. “That lady was a perfectly fucking nice lady, a loving wife and a good mom and you assholes think you can just come out here and murder her for what?! Having something that you don’t?! Being a genuinely good person, like you aren’t?! You’re all just JEALOUS FU—”

Pain explodes in his temple.

A man’s screaming, “SHUT UP, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, YOU KNOW NOTHING YOU LITTLE BASTARD, SHUT UP—”

He tries to raise his arms, tries to fight back, but the man’s swinging too wildly, he can’t stop the blow to the gut that knocks the air out of him.

More arms appear from nowhere, shoving him to the ground, pinning him down, jeers and taunts about how if he loves kekkai genkai filth that much he can join them, see what happens to them.

The knife glints evilly in the light.

He doesn’t wanna die again.

Jesus Christ, he doesn’t wanna die again.

There’s cold for a moment behind his right ear.

And then there’s nothing but agony, red and sharp and pounding pounding pounding and Nobuo is screaming screaming screaming.

Until his throat feels like it’s going to give out.

Until he knows he’ll die like this.

He doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die he doesn’t wanna die Christ—

The sensation is sudden and painful.

Like he’s been punched in the chest again, but in reverse.

Something erupts from him, with enough force to leave him breathless.

The jeers and ugly laughter become screams as pained as his own.

“Shit, he’s one t—?!” is the last thing he hears before a sound like glass shattering over and over overwhelms all other noise, even the terrified shrieks for mercy.

Nobuo’s eyes roll back into his head.

He blacks out.

The right side of his head throbs.

He whimpers in pain, curling in on himself.

“A-are you alright? Are you hurting? I tried to patch you up as best I could...” A soft, sweet voice murmurs.

He cracks open his eyes a sliver to see a dark-haired head with a pretty face hovering over him. The pretty face looks worried, almost scared.

“What...?” He tries to ask, voice croaky as hell. “Where...?”

“Ah, I, uh, took you and ran away after you got those guys off you.” The pretty face explains, averting their eyes for some reason. Their kimono is torn in places. “You-your e-head was bleeding really bad, so I tried to fix it, but I don’t think I did a very good job...”

What?

His hand lifts to the side of his head, feeling cloth sticky with what he can only assume is blood.

And feeling nothing beneath it.

His breathing hitches. He tries to stop it, tries to gulp the panic and fear back down, he can’t cry, he’ll get hit again if he cries, he can’t—

He lets out a sound that can only be described as a wail, shoulders shaking.

There’s movement and he flinches, oh god, he doesn’t want a hit, not now, not when he’s already dealing with this—

Small, thin arms wrap around him, trembling. A head of soft hair buries itself in his other shoulder, and a low voice begins sobbing “I-I’m so-sorry, I-I didn’t, I co-couldn’t stop them, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” in his remaining ear.

A small part of his brain notes that this is the first time he’s been hugged since he woke up as a baby.

They cry for a long, long time.

Finally, when it feels like he’s gonna have a head cold for a week at least, he shrugs his shoulder minutely.

The girl looks up, face blotchy and red.

“You’re that girl, right? What’s your name?” He croaks.

The girl tenses and pulls away a little. “I’m Haku. I’m eight. A-and I-I’m a b-boy.”

“Oh. Sorry.” He rubs the back of his neck, feeling his cheeks flush. Where does he feel like he’s heard that name before...?

“And you are?” Haku prompts.

“M-Meiun Nobuo.” He states with a grimace. “M’ six.”

“Ah...then Official Meiun was...” Haku’s eyes begin to fill with tears again. “Y-your father, and, and your m-mother—”

“God no.” He snaps. “That man impregnated that woman to make me, but father and mother are the last things they can be called. Real parents don’t pull the shit they do on their kids.”

He folds his arms across his chest. “This may’ve sped up my plans, but you did me a favor, taking me with you. I was planning on running away anyway.”

Haku lets out a confused sniffle.“Where were you planning on running away to?”

“Fire Country.” He might puff out his chest a little. “Their ninja actually care about people, and they don’t hate kekkai genkai there.”

“Kekkai genkai...th-that’s what they kept calling me and m-mama...” Fat tears begin rolling Haku’s pretty face.

He shakily slides an arm around the older boy’s shoulders. “Y-you can come with me. If you want. I-I don’t exactly know the way, I was hoping to get some more geography and funds first, b-but I’ll figure something out, I swear.”

Haku takes a few deep, shuddery breaths. “I-I don’t either, but I know how to get to the next village, if that’s okay?”

“That’s great! That’s way better than what I can do!” He assures, giving his traveling companion’s shoulder a pat. “...d’you, like, wanna start going now, or...?”

“Can we stay here for a moment?” Haku asks. “J-just until I can check your head’s okay?”

Meiun Nobuo nods carefully, leaning more against the older boy. “Sure. No rush.”

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Three Hundred Sixty-Five: Being Bold ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uzumaki Naruto, Hatake Kakashi ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ] [ AO3 Link ]

Of any adjectives one could use to describe Hyūga Hinata...bold is not typically one of them. From the time she was young, she had been a meek, withdrawn, introverted girl who prefered to keep her head down rather than make waves. While several girls in her Academy class through the years would yell and argue and fuss, Hinata always kept her thoughts and opinions to herself, focusing on her coursework and listening to the instructor, Umino Iruka. After all, she had rather heavy expectations riding on her shoulders. She couldn’t afford to squander her focus and risk lowering her grades: something her father was quite critical of.

The first trimester went well, and many students were eager to go home and show off their marks. Some, of course...not so much. While Kiba griped about his lack of participation grade, and Shikamaru shrugged off the note of sleeping in class too much, Hinata was simply happy to have near-perfect marks. Not as high as the class brain Sakura, but good enough for her.

...and hopefully for Hiashi.

Carefully tucking her papers into her bag, she paused as Sakura tried to wheedle Sasuke’s grades from him.

“I bet you got all perfect marks, ne Sasuke-kun?”

Having been grinning widely at his grades, he nonetheless refused to answer, hurrying home to indeed show his father his flawless marks. Hinata watched him go, smiling slightly. She hadn’t really talked to Sasuke yet, but he seemed like a very nice boy.

“Did you pass any parts of class, Naruto?”

Gaze turning back to Sakura, Hinata saw her instead rounding on Naruto, who ducked stubbornly.

“I did fine!”

“With all the times you skip class and interrupt? I doubt it!”

“Leave me alone, Sakura-chan,” the blond muttered, stuffing his results in his pocket and shuffling from the classroom.

Hinata hesitated, part of her wanting to reach out and comfort the boy...but she was too late.

Funny how often she was just a little too far behind.

...not long after that, tragedy struck when the Uchiha were annihilated all in the course of one night. Save for one. The boy in her class, Sasuke. Rumors began to fly, whispers following him wherever he went.

No longer was he the bright boy from the first trimester. Numbed, cold, and distant...Sasuke kept himself cut off from everyone around him.

...she deeply regretted never introducing herself before that day. Another opportunity missed thanks to her hesitation.

The rest of their Academy years passed with little changing. Hinata remained the wallflower, practically friendless as her timid nature kept her from bonding with the other girls. They were too loud, too bright, too bold to bother with someone like her. Naruto was still the class clown, barely scraping his grades by and yet insisting he would someday lead their village. And Sasuke’s stoicism and reclusion was as strong as ever, ignoring his classmates beyond the absolute necessary.

Hinata couldn’t help but admire Naruto’s enthusiasm and refusal to give up. His confidence was like nothing she’d ever really known. Nearly everyone within her clan were quiet, polite people. Not unapologetically clear in their intentions and actions. Something about it was...inspiring, and she couldn’t help but wish to be as sure of herself as he appeared to be.

...then there was Sasuke.

Hinata couldn’t help but feel a sting of second hand embarrassment whenever the other girls pestered him. It was so glaringly obvious that he wanted nothing to do with them or their affections, and yet they persisted. It was...painful to watch. And the attention from them only earned jealousy of the other boys until most of them were at least annoyed with him, if not outright disliked him. They called him cocky and aloof.

...but she never saw him that way.

It was clear something was driving him. His focus was absolute, cutting off anyone and everyone unnecessary from his lessons. Every day after lessons at the Academy, he would leave to the training grounds and practice until late in the evening. Hinata, making a habit of her own solo training sessions, saw him every time she managed to sneak out to the public training area rather than use her clan’s. His training was relentless, and she couldn’t help but be astounded by how far he could push himself. No one else in their class could do what Sasuke could do.

...in a way...she looked up to him, too. But so too did she feel sorry for him.

...he must have been terribly lonely.

And then came the day of their team announcements. All anyone could talk about beforehand was the scandal with Naruto and the scroll he stole...all ending with him being granted a special graduation pass by Iruka! Some of the students were annoyed he circumvented the exams, but Hinata was glad. As goofy as he was, Naruto still tried hard, and deserved to move on to the next phase of his growth as a ninja.

She really wanted to be on his team…!

Nervously fiddling her pencil as she waited, Hinata stared up at the front of the room, wondering who she would be assigned with. Her grades were pretty good, even if she was a little low in the technical aspects. To balance, she’d likely have someone who had good execution of techniques...and then maybe someone else middle ground?

“Team seven!” Iruka then barked. “Uzumaki Naruto!”

Her heart leapt. Now was her chance…!

“Uchiha Sasuke!”

Come on, come on…

“And Hyūga Hinata!”

Pale eyes blinked. She...wait...she did it? She was on his team…?

Not only that, but Sasuke was part of their squad as well.

At the announcement, all of the girls groaned, having lost their chance to be with the Uchiha. He looked entirely nonplussed either way, ignoring Naruto’s baiting taunts about them working together.

At first...things did not go well.

Naruto and Sasuke were constantly at odds. Naruto’s desire to prove himself against his self-proclaimed rival, and Sasuke’s determination to do things on his own meant that there was very little teamwork the day they first trained together with Kakashi. Hinata, too timid to take any initiative, gave her best effort to rally them to...no avail.

Kakashi lectured the boys harshly, noting Hinata’s attempts to bring them together that they both ignored, too dead set on competing with each other to heed her call to work together.

Change was slow to come through their D-ranks, the boys still at one another’s throats. Hinata, put off from interjecting, usually could do little more than watch.

...that changed after the mission to Nami no Kuni.

Being plunged into life or death struggles, feeling the true weight of their teammates’ lives in their hands, all three emerged changed from their first C-rank.

And for a while...things got better. Naruto toned down his taunting. Sasuke cut back on his jabs. Hinata, too, found her voice and began to speak up more, mediating between the two better than before.

It looked like their team was finally turning around.

...then the chūnin exams arrived.

She was nervous. Partially because she still wasn’t sure if she’d grown enough. Naruto and Sasuke had been improving by leaps and bounds. And while Kakashi assured her she too was growing...it didn’t feel like enough. But the three signed on, and there was no going back.

The first exam was simple enough. Hinata with her Byakugan and Sasuke with his Sharingan made quick work of their tests. While Naruto left every question blank on the sheet, he did get the last question right...by the skin of his teeth.

The second exam was where it all went wrong. Targeted for his bloodline, Sasuke’s run-in with Orochimaru saw him marked with some strange jutsu. With both boys left incapacitated, it was up to Hinata to defend them. As Oto drew in and other Konoha teams assisted, it was then she caught sight of her true fear regarding the exams.

Her cousin, Neji.

By the end they passed, if just barely. The preliminaries were unexpected, and only Naruto’s went smoothly. Sasuke, afflicted by his curse mark, was taken by Kakashi to be sealed, and then seen to by the medics.

Hinata...had to face Neji.

This was it, her fear realized. But she wasn’t going to back down. She couldn’t let Naruto and Sasuke down...she couldn’t be the weak link in their team. So she assumed her stance and gave it her all.

...but it still wasn’t enough.

Next thing she knew, she awakened in the hospital, the ache in her chest like a weight. But even worse was the knowledge that she’d failed. Naruto and Sasuke could still advance...but she was out of the running this time around.

With Kakashi taking Sasuke and Jiraiya taking Naruto, Hinata was left to her own devices...with a small suggestion from their sensei.

“You really shouldn’t be training with your heart on the mend. I think...you should shift your focus for a while. I know you’ve been making those poultices for the boys. Why not take an apprenticeship at the hospital while we’re gone? You can still be learning a valuable skill, and let your body rest with something a bit less...intense.”

So...she did as suggested. And even made a new friend as she did so.

The final exam was off to a good start. Naruto managed to beat Neji, and the defeat led to changes both in her cousin, and to an extent, her father. But as Sasuke arrived (in the nick of time) for his fight, the attack from Suna and Oto began. Hinata, her heart still weak, missed the entire attack when her mind faded to black.

...from that moment, everything resolved to change once more.

With Hiruzen’s death, Naruto accompanied Jiraiya to find Tsunade. Hinata kept up her medical training. Sasuke was set to train with Kakashi...when a new threat entered the fray:

Akatsuki. Namely...Sasuke’s elder brother, Itachi.

His confrontation with the other Uchiha left Sasuke beaten and weakened. Hinata’s attempts to help were far from enough. And Naruto chose the exact wrong time to challenge him. The boys fought, Kakashi separated them...and Hinata was left wondering what had happened to her team.

Attempts to talk to Naruto were wasted. He could only go on and on about how Sasuke had changed, how his attitude was grating. He didn’t seem to connect the dots about Itachi.

...so Hinata decides to try talking to Sasuke herself.

But he isn’t at home.

Using her Byakugan, she finds him near one of the village walls, with a pack over his shoulders and a coldness to his aura she flinches from...but doesn’t let stop her.

“Sasuke-kun!”

He stops, turning to find her behind him. “...what are you doing out so late?”

It doesn’t take much to put two and two together. The pack. His walking the one road out of the village.

...he’s leaving.

And for once...Hinata doesn’t back down. Now more than ever, she has to be bold.

“...I could ask you the s-same thing,” she replies, tone soft. “...what do you think you’ll find out there?”

“The strength I can’t find in here.”

“But...Sasu-!”

“I’m tired of being coddled...I’m tired of no one taking me seriously!” His teeth grit. “...for more than five years now, I’ve lived in fear. But also with a constant determination. I’m afraid he’ll kill me before I can kill him. Before I can make this right...and avenge my clan for the massacre he wrought on them. Don’t you get it, Hinata? I have to do this. Konoha isn’t getting me what I want. No one is listening to me…!”

“I’ve been trying to listen,” she counters, taking a step. “But you k-keep so much inside you, Sasuke-kun. I know it can’t be easy, but...we’re - we’re your teammates! We want to help you!”

“All Naruto does is antagonize me...he doesn’t want to help me, he wants to beat me! Prove he’s better! But he doesn’t realize what he’s measuring himself against. I’m not his rival...I’m not just a step on his ladder to the top. I’m someone with a burden to carry that he’ll never understand…”

“...I’m sorry. I know that...that no one can know what you feel. But...is leaving really the answer…? Do you really trust that man more than you trust us?”

“...I trust in his power. Power is what I need, more than anything else. Even more than teammates. More than friends. If I can’t kill my brother, Hinata...then my existence is meaningless. I’ll have failed everyone I ever cared about...who I was too weak to save…! I have to do this.”

Jaw trembling, Hinata fights against the sting of tears in her eyes. “...so you’ll leave us behind…? Just like that? After a-all we’ve been through these past six months...is it really so easy to walk away? Sasuke-kun, I...I care about you. We all do.”

“...everyone here is standing in my way.”

“Even me?”

For the first time...he hesitates. “...no. Not you. You’ve tried to make peace between Naruto and I. And...I have to thank you for that. You’ve been the voice of reason. The one trying to hold this team together. But...I can’t do this anymore, Hinata. Being on team seven isn’t helping me reach my goal. The one purpose I have. I can’t stand idling in it any longer. It’s what I need...do you understand?”

For a moment, she stares at him and thinks to challenge him. But then she thinks about her cousin. Her sister. Her clan. About her own need to grow, and how she’s felt stymied as the boys both seem to get stronger. She can blame her weakened heart all she wants, but...in truth, she knows that’s not all that’s holding her back.

...she understands.

Expression wilting in defeat, her head bows. “...I-I do. And...I’m sorry, Sasuke-kun. I’m sorry that...that I held you back.”

“...it’s not your fault.”

“...I’m the weak link -”

“No!” To her honest surprise, he cuts in. “...you heard what I said. You’ve tried hard. Harder than anyone. You’re not weak, Hinata. Far from it. Once your heart heals...you’re going to bounce back even harder. I know it. What you went through in the exams...it made you stronger. But me…? I feel like I got weaker.”

“That’s not true…”

“...either way, Konoha isn’t what I need.” For a moment, he actually looks torn, and steps up closer. “...you’ve been a good teammate, Hinata. A good...a good friend. And…” His speech starts to waver. “...I’ll see you when it’s all over. When Itachi is dead - when I’ve finally done what I’m meant to do - I’ll come back.”

“...you…?”

“...and I expect you to be stronger when I do,” he goes on, and to her surprise, his lips twitch. “Put that knucklehead in his place for me, all right? But...keep an eye on him, too. Don’t let him walk all over you. Make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”

“I...I-I won’t...” Her lips tremble, threatening to crack.

“...you’ll be all right.” Reaching out, he lays a hand atop her head, gently ruffling her hair. “...I’ll see you when it’s over.”

Too choked up to reply, she watches him turn around, heading toward the gate. “...p-promise me!” she calls after him, taking half a step forward. “Promise you’ll come back, Uchiha Sasuke!”

Holding an arm out, he lets a thumb lift in a sign of agreement.

Watching him go, she finally dissolves, dropping to her knees and letting sobs rack her frames. All of her efforts to keep them together...to try to make this work...they’ve all failed. She’s still weak. Still useless.

...that has to change.

For a while, she sits and she slowly regathers herself, wiping stubbornly at her cheeks with the cuffs of her coat. Crying isn’t going to solve anything.

Sasuke is going to confront his brother.

Naruto is going to be Hokage.

And Hinata?

...Hinata is going to get stronger, too. Why, she’s still not sure. But she knows where to start.

First thing in the morning...she’s going to talk to Neji.

Time to turn fear into strength.

                                                            .oOo.

     First off, sorry for the further delay on this - I had a MUCH busier day yesterday than I intended ^^; I technically got this written last night, but it was so late and I was so tired I wanted to wait to proofread and post. Apologies~      Anyway...we finish the challenge with some more team seven!Hinata. Which is an AU growing on me quickly. There are other pieces in it but...guh, right now I don't have the time to find them. I WILL, hopefully soon, go through and sort all these and make mini series for connected drabbles on AO3, and a masterpost on Tumblr. It'll just take me some time :'D I know this is more summary than anything, but I haven't had time to properly plot how this would be different, if much at all, from canon. So I tried to sort of gloss over details in favor of addressing the actual prompt at the end. This might end up being one of the things I continue, we'll have to see!      ...and now, on to the mushy part.      ...I won't lie, I'm seriously sad this is over. Part of me is having a hard time grasping that, lol - but at the same time, I'm both relieved and proud. Over 560k words, with an average of about 1540 per day. That's...that's a lot, lmao. And the community has been so good to me. I hadn't really ficced for years before starting this, hadn't really been in the SH community for a good long while, and yet y'all welcomed me with open arms. We had one naysayer, and a few visits from g.o.d, but honestly that was nothing compared to the overwhelming support you guys gave me. I appreciate it more than words can say. This year has been a tough one for me, but having this challenge to keep coming back to was important. Coming back to you guys was important. So thank you so much for what you in turn gave ME this year.      That said, I will be taking a pretty sizeable hiatus from ficcing - not forever, as I want to do more! But the burnout is VERY real, lol. Probably expect at least a few months while I recuperate and plot the fics I want to do in the background. And also taking some time to work on fics outside SH I want to do, and have just been too burnt out to work on.      If you want to find me elsewhere, I have both AO3 and Tumblr for my OC fic stuff under the username kusunogatari! Be warned it has, uh...some *spicy* content, so keep that in mind xD But I'll be over there working on projects every so often, as I've been heavily neglecting it. And I'll also be on my RP blog kusunokihime.      Anyway...I feel like I could ramble for ages, and I kinda want to, but I also need to let this project come to a close. Thank you all for sticking with me for the past nearly 13 months now. It's been a blast.      If you want (and please note this is NOT me trying to force anyone's hand), I DO have a ko-fi (aka a tip jar) where you can donate to support the author behind this madness - again, it's in NO way necessary, but anyone who WANTS to can donate a few dollars here: https://ko-fi.com/sylveradrake - I don't expect anyone to, but it's there for anyone who feels like it~      With that...I guess I'll go ahead and sign off. I hope you all have a lovely day / week / month / forever, and I'll see you down the road for more fics soon!      Love,      Sylvie

[syao]

Neji Plays an Otome Game - Finale

Read Time: 7 mins | Random | Prompt: Competition

RECAP: With Rock Lee’s inspired intervention, Hyuuga Neji was moved by his flowing feelings of a man to play an otome game for his bedridden comrade, Tenten.

“What flowing feelings?” interjected Neji wanly. “And what is Gai doing here?”

Maito Gai emerged from out of nowhere, cracking up. “Ohohoho, count on Neji-kun to sense his beloved sensei’s chakra, even when he’s disguised as a narrator!”

Neji scowled. “I’d really prefer that you refrain from breaking the fourth wall.”

Gai pumped his fist. “You’re right. Why break just the fourth wall when I can do MUCH BETTER than that! The fifth, sixth, seventh, nay, EIGHTH wall awaits!”

Rock Lee’s eyes glistened with tears of pride. “Wohooo! Gai-sensei, so coooool!”

“Won’t you come in, Gai-sensei?” Tenten called from inside the room. “You’re all scaring the tenants.”

“Woooo!!!”

“And don’t break any of my walls on the way in, okay?”

“Woooo!!!”

“NEJI--”

“I’ve got this. Go back to bed.”

Unlikely Kindred Spirit

“Ah, so you’re playing Dokidoki Tutorial’s handheld release,” said Gai, nodding to himself solemnly as he watched Neji navigate through the dialogues. “It’s been many years since I’ve seen these...”

“YOU’VE PLAYED THIS?!” Neji and Tenten exclaimed in unison.

Gai grinned. “Don’t sound too impressed, disciples of mine! Kakashi and I have fought in many, many battles in the game’s original arcade release to test each other’s true strengths. It was a fierce competition to see who gets the Good Ending for all the boys first.”

KAKASHI-SENSEI PLAYED THIS, TOO?! Both faces darkened as they imagined the Copy Ninja calmly and impassively answering all the dokidoki decision points without missing a beat.

“No wonder he grew up to be such a remorseless, feared shinobi,” muttered Neji.

Life’s Philosophy

"So really, you can consult me about the choices and I’ll be happy to enlighten you, Neji.” Gai offered him a fatherly smile, as if reassuring him that of his reliability.

“Very well.” Neji pressed the Start button on the handheld and started to go play back the opening scenes.

Tenten’s forehead creased. “Neji, haven’t you read through those screens before? You can just press Skip to quickly move past those parts, you know.”

“I prefer not to,” he answered curtly. “In real life, we can’t skip out the parts of life we find tedious or those we don’t like. It’s what makes us stronger and more resilient, fallible human beings as we are.”

“Well-said, Neji-kun!” Lee and Gai applauded him enthusiastically.

Tenten’s eyes narrowed. You just didn’t know about the Skip option, did you?

How Women Do It

Tenten forced herself to sit up on the bed. “Well at least use the Load function!” She grabbed the device and demonstrated how to bring up the full menu. “Save the decision parts so it’ll be easier to go back to them in the future!” 

Lee and Neji both gaped at Tenten as she repeatedly tapped on Next to get past filled pages with various dates, game times, and chapters. Finally, she found a blank slot at page 35 to save.

“How long have you been playing this, Tenten?” asked Neji.

“I probably started a week ago.”

Lee held out his fingers to count. “15 slots per page, then multiply it by 34...”

Neji had long computed the answer in his mind, based on the strange look he was suddenly giving at her.

Gai rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “So that’s how women remember all of a man’s past mistakes in life. No wonder these can be easily brought up during arguments.”

“THAT’S SEXIST!!!”

It’s Perfectly Normal

Tenten puffed her cheeks in annoyance. “Look, it’s not just the choice screens you can save. It’s normal to save certain points of the game that you really enjoyed.”

Gai nodded along. “That’s true. There are certain conversations that are always fun to go back to, but they’re not selected to be part of the Clips Gallery.”

The kunoichi nodded gratefully to her sensei for his back-up. “Right! It’s perfectly normal! For example, I saved the moment from Hattori’s route when he finally understood that the female MC was more than just a childhood friend to him. You’ll see that on Page 16, Slot#3.”

Lee and Neji’s face darkened. That random yet accurate memory is definitely NOT normal!

Mission Completion Rate

Neji firmly pushed the coughing Tenten back to her bed. “Get some rest. You’re straining yourself out too much.” 

Lee nodded. “Yeah, Tenten! Leave this game to us.”

“B-But..”

The Hyuuga’s forehead creased. “Are you still holding a grudge against me for turning that guy into a Yandere? I told you, he had some issues right from the start. He had a double personality. He wasn’t a healthy choice for the MC at all. Also, I saw that the bad ending unlocked one picture for the CG gallery, improving your completion rate.”

Tenten sweatdropped. Count on Neji to find mission completion as the most attractive part of the game.

The Essence of Choices

Prince looks like he’s about to cry.

<< You hug him. >>

<< You stroke his head. >>

Neji glanced at Gai. “So what do you think? They’re basically the same thing.”

“HMP!” Their sensei wore a smug grin. “Listen, cherished student of mine. On the surface, skinship in otome games may all look the same. However,  the key to making the right choice in scenarios like this is to understand the context of your relationship. Try to recall your journey of love: did he previously share a rarely-spoken-of past memory of a precious loved one stroking his head as an expression of affection? Then that may be the right answer. Or maybe you two have known each other all your lives and have always treated him like a little brother. Stroking his head is what a big sister will do, so he’ll only feel disheartened if you choose to go with that option.” 

Gai capped it off by patting his student on the shoulder. “The bottom line is, an almost-correct answer means nothing to the game. It’s either you get the exact response and progress your relationship, or you don’t, and you get a smaller leeway for mistakes until the next bad ending cut-off.”

Neji hated to admit it, but he couldn’t help feeling impressed by the expert understanding the man had for the game. “You must have beat Kakashi during the challenge.”

The jounin raised a shaking fist in the air. “Almost! I was so close to beating him! But his choices were flawless and he beat all the endings before I did.” Gai looked torn between frustration and awe as he recalled that memory. “That Kakashi seems to have more experiences with different men than I do!”

Neji (and Tenten, who was trying to rest on her bed) both grimaced. THAT DIDN’T SOUND RIGHT!!!

Okay Kind of Guy

I am caught by surprise when I hear a soft voice speak from behind.

“Do not trust people so easily, Tenten.” He refuses to meet my gaze, but we are the only ones left in the empty classroom, so I’m sure he is talking to me. “What you see is not always what one is.”

“Finally, a sensible person in the game,” remarked Neji. “Who’s this silver-haired, blue-eyed fellow?”

“Oh, that’s Vincent. He’s the mysterious foreign exchange student from England,” explained Tenten. “Really smart but really quiet guy. He always watches the female MC from a distance and gives her advice. He’s cold to everyone else, though.”

“... sounds like an okay guy to me,” shrugged Neji.

"It sounds like someone I know, though,” murmured Lee, tapping on his chin.

What’s Wrong with Him?

“Does Vincent have a route?” Neji wanted to know.

Tenten thought for a moment. “Yeah, I think I saw a page for him in the CG Gallery. I just haven’t gotten around to playing Vincent’s route.”

He gave her an incredulous look. “So you’ve opted to play all the other men before him? What’s wrong with Vincent?”

Tenten sweatdropped. Neji... really does have a soft spot for Vincent, huh?

Down, Boy, Down!

Neji was still inconsolably miffed by what he perceived as a snub of his newfound bias, so Tenten felt compelled to say something.

“I wanted to play Vincent last because I heard his route has the most number of story spoilers.”

“...”

He’s still mad. Tenten sighed, and then added, “I also want to save the best route for last.”

“...really?” He opened one eye and looked at her skeptically.

But Lee and Gai were seeing something else. Neji’s like a puppy wagging his tail!

The Girl Who Feels Loved

“Well, we’ve made enough ruckus for one day.” Lee gave the bedridden patient a snappy farewell salute. “Feel better, Tenten!”

“We’ll check in from time to time to make sure you’ve taken your meds and are well-fed,” promised Gai as he left fruits and bottled water within her reach.

“I left three choice screens on Slots 11, 12, and 13 in case I made a mistake on Prince’ route,” said Neji. “It’s really difficult to seduce a sociopath bastard.”

She stifled a laugh. For all their quirks, her team really loves her, and she loves them back just as much.

"Thank you, everyone. I had a great time today.” She beamed fondly at them.

Otome guys may be cute and all, but nothing beats my 3D boys.

That Word Again 

“Didn't you have fun, Neji?” asked Lee as the trio walked home leisurely.

“Fun. Heh.” Neji rolled his eyes. “Playing to please fictional men so they’ll date the female MC is hardly fun. A relationship should be the product of two people working together to keep it stable and strong, not a one-sided effort to fit somebody’s preferences and expectations.”

Gai looked impressed. “For a tsundere, you seem to express the ways of love so clearly.”

Neji scowled. “There’s that word again! Why do you keep calling me that?!”

Lee and Gai both wore a stupid expression on their faces as if they were doing their damn best not to burst out laughing.

“F-Fine! Just call me whatever you want! It’s not like I particularly care.” He crossed his arms with a scowl.

Neji’s tsundere-ness is a dating sim dream! Gai imagined hordes of male players exploding into massive nosebleeds if they overhear this conversation. We must keep this dere side of him a secret... or he’ll pose a threat to the future of Konoha youth! 

The Last Word

“But all that aside, I really appreciate that you decided to meet Tenten’s interests halfway,” said Lee smilingly. “You’re typically not the kind of person who’d be pushed into doing something he didn’t like.”

Neji shrugged. “If I didn’t do that, Tenten would have insisted on playing all day. Otherwise, I just want to move on from this day and forget those sissy-looking, psychologically-problematic jerks.”

“Now. now, Neji. it”s not so bad,” chuckled Lee. “Besides, it’s not as if it’s the furthest you would go for her.”

The Hyuuga glared pointedly at him, but had no words to rebut until they parted ways.

“Was I too upfront with him, Gai-sensei?” asked Rock Lee when it was just the two of them walking back.

In response, Gai grinned. “A bit. I have a feeling that someone’s going to do a lot of thinking tonight about circumstances.”

Indeed, that night, Neji could hardly feel the beckoning of slumber. He was busy writing down in-depth character profiles for each otome male route, his famed observational skills polished by Gai’s game insights meticulously detailing the nuances of possible choice screens that would come up as the game progressed.

Neji sighed. Maybe Lee was right-- there wasn’t a lot he wouldn’t do for the sake of Tenten’s smile. 

But it’s not like he could help it. Just like the female MC in the game, pleasing someone that matters to him did feel... a little nice.

THE END

[narusakufactory]

Chapter 1  | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 (Part 1) | more to come

Note: Sorry again for the delay. Here is the first half of chapter 6. I’d say There will probably be 8 chapters in total. Stay tuned!

Banging woke her from her sleep. She sat up straight, searching the room for the source. The room was bright for this early in the morning. She glanced at the clock… but it was blank. Sakura scrambled from the bed and grabbed the clock. Someone had deliberately unplugged it. Work started hours ago. More banging came from the kitchen. Someone hissed in pain.

"Got dangit." Naruto turned, jerking in surprise when Sakura was right behind him. She grabbed him by his collar, bringing him close.

"Why did you unplug my alarm clock?!"

"Ah uh, good morning Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned, putting his hands on her shoulders and easing her back. "Don't worry, I already called in for you. You have another day off!" Silence. The air grew still and a cold wave washed over him. Ah, she was upset. Sakura grabbed his shirt, shaking him.

"You can't call my job and take off work for me!"

"Shh shh sh!" Naruto raised a finger to his mouth, peering over toward the living room. Luckily, all the noise did not disturb Shina from his sleep. Sakura released him and leaned over the counter.

"I heard you've been wearing yourself thin anyway. What's wrong with another day off?" Naruto placed a pan on the hot stove.

"You do NOT have the right to-"

"And, I wanted to figure out Shina's situation today. We can't keep going on like this, right?" Naruto interrupted her, but kept his attention on the pan and began preparing eggs. "He wanted us to have a picnic today. Together. Because 'we always used to'."

"… Naruto, are you leading him on?"

"No." Finally, he looked at her, she seemed distraught. "… It's a great chance to figure out what he's thinking, right? He seems to think we're his parents. Maybe… we can get him to tell us what he knows."

"You want to trick him?"

"No."

"That's what it sounds like to me."

"Sakura-chan… haven't you noticed?" Sakura gave him a blank stare. He continued, "How much he looks like us?" When Sakura rolled her eyes, he chuckled. "What, you don't think so?"

"Nar-"

"Sakura, when we get to the park, there's more I want to talk about too. Don't you think it's about time we stop avoiding it?"

"There's not much to talk about." Sakura crossed her arms and watched Naruto attempt to flip the eggs into a proper omelette. She wondered when he learned to cook for himself.

"Yes, there is. Aren't you supposed to talk through stuff like this?"

"You can solve your problems if you just grow up."

"It's the opposite." Naruto's expression hardened. "Is it that hard for you to tell me the truth for once?" Sakura balled her fist and rage filled her mind. She wanted to yell at him and insist that the drop the topic once and for all. He wouldn't. He wouldn't because he was right.

"Papa?" In the living room, Shina pushed himself onto his knees. Naruto wasn't there, but his blankets and pillow were.

"Good morning, Shina!" Naruto brushed past Sakura and approached Shina's bedding. The boy's eyes lit up.

"Are we gonna go to the park now?"

Sakura sighed, and not for the first time that day. The morning started off poorly, but as time went on it improved. When Shina woke, he begged to go to the park. She never saw him so eager since his mysterious appearance. She didn't resist his request despite rejecting Naruto moments before. Together, they walked hand in hand with Shina swinging between them. It felt… natural.

"Let's go there!" The boy shouted enthusiastically. Shina released their hands and rushed over to a small gathering of trees and playground equipment. He sat on a swing, completely in his element.

"Seems like he's been here before."

Sakura turned when Naruto spoke. They sat on a bench together, watching over the small boy as he swung and played on the equipment. When other children arrived, Shina joined in on the usual playground fun. He certainly wasn't shy.

"… Is it ok if we talk now?" Naruto continued. Their… 'friendship' had been rocky for months leading up to this. It was Shina who allowed Naruto to speak to Sakura on a normal basis again. But even Shina put a strain on whatever Naruto and Sakura had between them. "Please?"

Sakura sighed. Again. She wondered if it was becoming annoying.

"About what, Naruto?"

"Where Shina is from. I have a pretty good idea. Probably'ttebayo." He cleared his throat, thinking of the best way to explain. This was a subject they never told anyone else. A secret between the two of them, a secret they buried years ago. Naruto rubbed his hands. They agreed to never broach the subject again, but what other possibility could there be?

"Spit it out, Naruto." She insisted.

"Alright alright." Naruto rubbed his head and leaned back into the bench. He glanced around, ensuring they were alone. "… Shina is from here. But a different 'here'."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sakura eyed him him skeptically.

"You know… like… that place we went to that was an 'illusion'?" Sakura's eyes widened, then narrowed in disbelief.

"I thought you had a serious suggestion."

"It is serious." Naruto stretched out, crossing his legs and extending his arm over the bench behind her. He watched as Shina played with the other children completely in his element. A stark contrast to his own childhood. "Shina…. He could be from somewhere else. Almost the same place… with all these strange little changes that don't make sense. Like that place."

Despite her attempts to brush it off… Naruto made some sense. Even after all these years, she and Naruto didn't quite understand what that world was. Was it a genjutsu?

"Wherever Shina is from… it's a different Konoha. You and I are there. But older… maybe?" Naruto tapped his foot, daring to continue as he watched her tense. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable… but how else could he explain? "We're older. Which means Konoha is not that different after all, it's changed with time. Shina knows us because… I'm his dad. And…" He trailed off, deciding to let her put the rest of the pieces together. Or at least, he hoped she was. When she turned to him, eyes ablaze, he cringed. Did he upset her after all?

"And what?" The tinge of anger was not present in her glimmering green eyes.

"You get the idea, right?" Naruto tried, tracing his eyes over the playground as not to meet her eyes.

"Naruto, say it." She insisted.

"That somewhere else… Shina is my son. And… you are his mother. And we live together in a house like the one I took him to. It sounds stupid I know and it's not exactly like what happened to us, but it's possible right?" Naruto breathed out and closed his eyes, tense and waiting. He expected her to finally get upset. Or even to deny it or call him stupid. Anything.

When Naruto opened his eyes, Sakura looked thoughtful and pensive. She had the focused look she wore when doing her work or figuring out a plan… or determining if his reasons were bullcrap.

"Naruto."

Someone called from behind. Naruto glanced over his shoulder to find an annoyed Shikamaru. He remembered the conversation he dipped out and avoided for the past few days.

"Ah! Shikamaru! Where have you been?" Naruto stood up. "It's like you've been avoiding me the past few days." Shikamaru glared and Sakura rolled her eyes. His attempt at passing the blame was quite obvious.

"I'm not here to talk about that. Hokage-sama wishes to see you."

"Kakashi? What for?" Sakura asked, curiosity piqued. "Did Naruto do something stupid?"

"No idea, he didn't say. But that's probably it."

"Hey, I haven't done anything stupid in forever'ttebayo." Naruto complained. "Does it… have to be right now?"

They glanced toward the playground, observing the children continue to play, including Shina.

"Is that the kid everyone's gossiping about?" Shikamaru asked. "Ino hasn't shut up about it." Sakura froze.

"Ino? What has she said?"

Shikamaru shrugged, "I didn't pay attention. She's been looking for you though. Kinda weird how the both of you seem to be avoiding everyone."

"We haven't been avoiding anyone." Naruto insisted. While it was true that he avoided people, Sakura wasn't… right?

"Anyway, I came to let you know since you're ignoring the birds too." Shikamaru raised a hand as he turned around. "We'll talk later." A breeze flew past as Naruto stood there and contemplated the request. It wasn't an order that he had to see Kakashi right now, right?

"Naruto, go see Kakashi. We can talk later too." Sakura refocused her attention on the playground. Shina stopped playing with the other children to observe the roots of a tree nearby.

"I'm sure it can wait'ttebayo." Naruto insisted, wishing to sit back down but Sakura blocked the open space with her hand. If they didn't talk now, who knows when she'd be willing to sit down and listen.

"Get it out of the way… then we'll figure things out later." He started to protest, but Sakura turned to him. Her expression was… open. Relaxed. Calm. There was even a small smile on her lips. She meant it, he realized. Naruto hid his surprise with a smile and started walking backwards, holding her gaze.

"Later then."

pt. 2 coming soon

[abeautifulunfolding]

Dance With Me

I’m really sorry for taking a really long time finishing the story. I don’t know if it’s what you were expecting, but I really hope you like it. @snk-ame-chan 

Read on AO3

Prompts: Regret -The realization that you make a mistake that you can't fix -Bliss -Longing -Projecting in others

The Uzumaki family hosted Konoha’s Christmas gala this year. Their cozy home was crowded with guests, barely accommodating the entire town. It seemed like Christmas had thrown up on their house with every room decorated in gaudy bright lights and tinsel, which had to have some sort of angel or Santa figure. For the past few hours, Sasuke watched Naruto float from guest to guest.

Sasuke noticed when Naruto finally decided to saunter up to him. He was wearing a crisp black suit without a hint of orange on him. Some things do change after all. “Dance with me,” Naruto commanded, with his hand outstretched. He stared at him, his blue eyes unwavering. And who was Sasuke to say no?

Naruto's hands entwined with his felt so warm, fitting perfectly in place. He placed a hand on Sasuke’s shoulder, which tensed at first, but Naruto’s soft chuckle made Sasuke crack a smile. And then they both began laughing.

They danced to the soft sounds of the piano. Someone in the crowd began clapping, maybe it was Minato or one of their friends, but pretty soon everyone in the room does. The dance was complicated since there were so many movements that needed to happen at once, and simple because of how in synch they were. Up and down, left and right, side step, and back step. Sasuke twirled Naruto. Naruto twirled Sasuke. They clung on to each other. Naruto felt so warm in his arms.

It was just them. Sasuke and Naruto. Naruto and Sasuke.

The last note in the song played and they both stopped. They were both out of breath. Naruto’s hot breath tickled the hair on Sasuke’s neck. Sasuke clung on to him, resting his head in the crook of Naruto's neck. Sasuke placed a hand over his chest trying to calm his heartbeat. It kept pounding and felt loud. He wondered if Naruto could hear it also.

Sasuke wished he could stay in Naruto’s arms, but these moments do not last forever so he put some considerable distance between them. He locked eyes with Naruto who stared at him in wonder. “You’ve improved your dancing,” Sasuke commented. "Last time you kept stepping on my feet."

“A compliment from you?” Naruto grinned. He rubbed the back of his head. "It must be my lucky day." They gazed at each other for a few seconds, and Sasuke wondered if Naruto was going to go back to entertaining everyone. Not waiting for his decision, Sasuke shuffled back to his seat and began drinking the eggnog that he had earlier. “Where are you going?” Naruto asked, racing after him. “Let’s go somewhere else.” And for the second time that day, Sasuke followed Naruto’s lead. He led the way up the stairs to his room. Garland wrapped around the staircase with bright red ribbons and Christmas wreaths covered their picture frames. “So what have you been up to this entire time?” Naruto asked.

As they enter, Sasuke’s eyes swept around the room. It smelled faintly of ramen and the walls had the same orange tint. Naruto took a seat by his desk, which had several papers spread all over. “Finishing my masters,” Sasuke answered, as he sat down by the edge of Naruto’s bed. He tapped the edge of his styrofoam cup and added after a thought, “I’m working with Itachi at Akatsuki and I do some freelance work. I help with my Dad with the family business sometimes.”

“Big surprise. Mister valedictorian is still overachieving,” Naruto remarked, as he began to toss an old baseball up and down. Sasuke shrugged as he was glancing at the picture frames. Most of them were the same, but there were some new ones. One was of them on their school’s varsity baseball team. “Me? Well, I took a year off after college, and now my Dad is showing me the ropes of his job. I guess I’ll go back to do my masters after that.” Sasuke nodded. He remembered hearing all this information from friends and from scrolling through various Facebook statuses. Sasuke glanced at the trophies on his wardrobe recalling each win and loss and then stopped. “You kept it,” Sasuke said. It was the charm necklace Sasuke gave him. They made each other ones in kindergarten as part of an assignment. The fox and frog charms were faded and its silver chain was broken.

“Of course,” Naruto replied. “You’re my best friend.”

Sasuke snorted. Naruto called everyone that.

“Hey what’s so funny?” Naruto asked, slowing down the pace of his tosses.

“Nothing,” Sasuke replied, shaking his head. He then noticed Naruto staring at him in disbelief. “I’m serious, nothing,” he continued, but Naruto dropped the baseball on the floor and inched closer until he was seated next to him. Sasuke observed his movements suspiciously. Naruto proceeded to tickle him from underneath his armpits and at his sides. “No, stop.” Sasuke laughter filled the room and the eggnog he was holding was shaking. “Wait. It’s going to spill.”  

Naruto halted. Sasuke placed the cup on the wardrobe and began smoothening the creases left on his suit.

“But you really are you know,” Naruto grinned. “I’ve always wanted to be your friend. When I first heard you sing during the winter musical. Everyone else stopped singing, but you kept going anyway. It was really brave and your voice was—“ He stopped, as if recalling that time, and then finished. “It blew me away.”

During that winter musical, all the kids had to perform songs. The other kids didn’t continue the song and Sasuke was the only one that finished it. But brave? That was a funny compliment. He wasn’t brave at all. Sasuke shook his head again. “Idiot.”

Naruto smiled at the familiar insult. “Don’t ever change, Sasuke,” he said, but then fell silent. His expression was stern. Not feeling the need to add anything, Sasuke took a sip from his drink and waited for him to continue. Sasuke could still hear everyone else celebrating. “Can I ask you a question?”

“You just did.”

“Right,” Naruto murmured. “Why’d you leave so soon after graduation?” Naruto asked, observing him. Shifting from side to side, Sasuke tightened his grip on his drink. “I looked everywhere for you. Then Itachi said you left after I asked Hinata to—“ Naruto stopped speaking, as he noticed Sasuke’s eyes dart toward the door. Then Naruto barely above a whisper asked, “Do you hate me? Is that why you stopped replying? Did I do something wrong?”

Naruto’s gaze held his eyes waiting for a response. Sasuke wanted to laugh at the irony of it all. He paused a few moments. All the eggnog he’d been drinking was gone and now there were indents from his nails on the cup. Sasuke muttered, “I don’t hate you.” He could never hate him.

"Then what's wrong?" Naruto asked.  

What wasn’t wrong? Naruto’s wedding was tomorrow. Naruto was getting married and not to him. At one point they could understand each other without words. Naruto would smile and Sasuke could tell which was sincere and which was a plea for help. He twiddled with the hem of his sleeve and then noticed Naruto was still waiting for a response.

At first, Sasuke was content with just being by Naruto’s side in any way possible. Wouldn’t that be true love? No. He wouldn’t tell him. Itachi insisted that he come for closure, but Sasuke couldn’t. It wouldn’t be fair after all this time, especially not the day before his wedding. And what good would it do? Even if Naruto didn’t marry her that wouldn’t mean they would be together. It was selfish.

"Sasuke," Naruto said, leaning in and touching Sasuke's shoulders. Sasuke shoves the hands away and crosses his arms. Hurt and pain flashed through Naruto and Sasuke immediately regretted his decision. He looked small despite being the same height. Sasuke’s chest and lungs felt tight and his breath felt shallower. “I don’t understand. What’s wrong?”

He hadn’t cried. Not the entire time after finding out Naruto proposed and not after receiving the letter with a set date and venue. Crying was useless and yet Sasuke couldn’t stop.

“Oh,” Naruto said, eyes wide and then after a beat, repeated in realization. “Oh.” Sasuke felt Naruto wrap his arms around him, rubbing soothing circles on his back. “How long?”

“I’m just,” Sasuke began as he started wiping his face, trying to think of something to say, “really happy for you. I didn’t think you would be getting married. That’s all.”

“That’s all,” Naruto slowly repeated as he peered at him. “Please don’t lie to me. I’m not dumb. I can count the times on my hands of how often I’ve seen you cry.”

“I don’t know,” Sasuke said, since truly it had been a long time and he couldn’t say when he realized it or if it began earlier. “Since high school.” Sasuke shrugged as he glanced at the clock. “I should go,” he said, reaching in his pockets for his keys. “You have a big day tomorrow and I have to drive back home.”

“You’re leaving already?” Naruto asked, frowning. His hands were shaking. “I haven’t seen you in such a long time and you’re going to leave again? You can’t just, after I find out—Can't we still be friends?"

Sasuke shook his head. At least not in the way they were before.

"Can we dance again?"

Sasuke almost said no, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t because he was weak and he wanted to be with him. And not when Naruto seemed so lost. So, Sasuke nodded his head slowly and they dance. His room doesn’t allow for a lot of movement and there isn’t any music to dance to. This time they don’t display much technique and dance with less exuberance. This time Naruto rests his head on Sasuke's. Naruto clutched Sasuke during this embrace. His fingers stroked through Sasuke’s hair.

They had many firsts, but his first dance would not be theirs. That privilege would go to Naruto’s fiancé. If they could understand each other without words, then maybe this would be enough. "When you’re old and retired," Sasuke whispered. "And with your wife and children and grandchildren. Don't forget me."

Naruto chuckled halfheartedly in a somber way that made Sasuke wish he didn’t ask. “I could never forget you.”

“Can I have a request?”

Sasuke nodded.

“Don’t forget me either.”

Sasuke left, taking those memories and happy moments with him. Naruto stared at his retreating silhouette. At one point they’d been closer than anyone. The air in the room was cold enough for Naruto’s breath to be visible.

--

Snow fell on the way back home. The drive back home was long, and not only because of holiday traffic. Sasuke changed the radio station, but mixes of Christmas songs were on repeat again. The announcer mentioned something about some idiot who crashed and then left his car in the middle of the freeway.

As he pulled into his neighborhood, the bright Christmas lights mocked him. Sasuke had to constantly resist the urge to crash his car into the nearest tree. Sasuke walked into his apartment. He dropped his keys on the counter and turned on the lights.

He slumped down on his loveseat, not caring that he should change out of his suit. Sasuke wanted to call Itachi and tell him that visiting was a mistake how it just made him feel worse, but Itachi would probably be sleeping. A soft purring came from his cat, Apollo, as it started to knead against his hand. There was something in his mouth.

“Apollo.” Sasuke sighed, as he went to the kitchen to fetch the spray bottle. It was better not to get into a fight with Apollo. He needed to feed him too. As he refilled the bowl, there was a ring at his door. He was going to ignore it. Who visits at 3am? But then it rang again. Sasuke stormed toward the door and slammed it open.

"Naruto?" He blinked twice and then rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing the idiot outside of his house still in his tux, which by the way was even more of a mess than his. “What are you doing here?”

“I was pissed off at you after graduation you know,” Naruto stated. “I thought wouldn’t Sasuke be proud of me? I graduated and I’m engaged. Of course my Mom and Dad were and so was everyone else.”

“Is that all?” Sasuke interrupted, glaring at the pavement. He’d rather not have Naruto come all the way from Konoha to tell him this.

“Let me finish,” Naruto continued. “And then I wondered why I was doing this. Everyone always told me how they could see me marrying Hinata, how she was the perfect girl, and I guess we were happy.” Sasuke grip tightened on his crossed arms. “It was the next step. She loved me for so long, and it would only be fair after all this time.”

“Don’t feel obligated to tell me this because you feel guilty.”

“No. I said let me finish,” Naruto said, louder with more conviction. “Wouldn’t that be a good time to ask my best friend? But I was mad at you because you were mad at me, or at least I thought you were anyway.” Naruto fell silent and was pensive. Sasuke leaned against the door as he waited for him to respond. The reminder that Naruto knew and the topic would be brought up again set him on edge.

“I missed you while you were gone,” Naruto said finally, giving a small smile. “I don’t think I can stand to see you leave again.”

Sasuke stood still as his words were sinking in. There were a bunch of questions racing through his head. Some ideas that he didn’t want to entertain since that would be too good to be true. “What does this mean?”

“Well, I was already considering calling off the marriage,” Naruto replied, running his hands through his hair. “Neji and Hiashi are going to kill me. At least it wasn’t at the altar. Hopefully we can get a refund.”

Naruto stopped rambling and then their eyes met.

"Aren’t you going to invite me in? So rude I swear. I’ve been freezing my ass off waiting, my car is totaled, and I’m pretty sure my Mom’s going to give me a scolding soon.”

Sasuke guided him into the living room. Naruto inspected it and as he sat down on the loveseat Apollo leaped onto his lap. “I haven’t seen you in forever buddy.”

Sasuke sighed noticing what Apollo had been playing with earlier was left on the carpet. He reached for his charm necklace that was now wet.

“You actually kept it.”

“Of course, dumbass,” Sasuke replied, examining the music note and bird charms. It needed to be washed. “It was a gift from someone special.” Despite Sasuke’s concerns of what their relationship was and possibly could be, that answer rang the clearest to him.  

Naruto grinned, pulling Sasuke down now next to him.  

They spent the rest of the night catching up and talking.

[ayamashie]

what if? just what if Sarada is not Sakura’s daughter?

Annoyed and frustrated, Sakura got herself out of bed. She just came home an hour ago after finishing her 24-hour shift at Konoha hospital. She was tired and sleepy. And the sound of the doorbell ringing didn't do anything but to add up to her annoyance. She was sure it was Naruto coming to get patched up after a youthful challenge with Lee, or it was the silver-haired Hokage coming to beg her to heal half-burned or gorily disarranged Anbu. Sakura wasn't in the mood for it. 

The day hasn't been an easy day for her. She had yelled at Kakashi in the budget meeting for allocating a small budget for the Konoha mental health clinic and almost punched head anbu out of the meeting room for saying "you don't need a clinic for mental health. You just need to get over whatever is in your head". Kakashi agreeing to increased budget improved her mood. When she came back to the hospital, she was bombarded with the surgeries that had consumed most of her energy. At the end of the shift, she had to practically drag herself to home and made herself take a quick shower before she had let her self sink into the soft mattress and wrap her small frame in her sheets trying to summon some sleep that seemed to be a million miles away from her tired eyes. And finally, when she was able to close her eyes, embracing the bliss of sleep, the loud doorbell had woken her up. "I swear to kami there are others in the hospital too. Get Shizune senpai for once". Sakura mumbled to herself as she put the on the robe over her short pyjamas, walking downstairs to reach her front door the door. Veins adorned her broad forehead as the loud bell went off again as she arrived at the door handle. Clenching her eyes to suppress the anger that was burning inside her, she opened the door. "WHAT?" Sakura? It wasn't Kakashi's firm voice. Nor it was the loud voice of the knucklehead ninja. The voice was like a bucket of water to the anger burning inside her. She knew to whom the voice belonged to. It was a voice that she had once died to hear.   "Sasuke Kun?" The man in front of her didn't respond, nor his face showed any expressions. Sakura found herself getting lost in the darkness of his eyes. She couldn't believe that it was him. After all the waiting, all the praying, after all the tears, all the pain he was here finally. Happiness bubbled up inside her chest, and despite the cold night wind, she felt a warmth washing over her. "You are back!!!!" A wide smile had appeared on her face that was enough to convince anyone how genuine the happiness she felt was. And just before she reached out to embrace Sasuke in a warm hug, she noticed the small bundle that was in his hands. "may I come in?" Sakura eyed the bundle trying to figure out what Sasuke was clutching so close to him. She stepped forward, trying to peep into the bundle of fabric. It was then she heard it. A soft coo of a baby.  Her eyes went wide, and Sakura took a few steps reluctantly. "Is..is that a baby?" There was an undeniable shake in her voice. "Sakura, please. It cold out here." Frowning at the raven-haired man, Sakura stepped aside letting him in. Stepping in, Sasuke held the bundle in one hand trying to unstrap his shoes. Sakura just stayed there watching him as he unstrapped his boots and walked into the living room, leaving Sakura, confused, at the door. Sakura couldn't think much as her wide eyes flowed his back. She couldn't even bring herself to utter a word. She was in shock. Until Sasuke settled himself on the couch and called out her name. Sakura shook her head as if she was brushing off the shock and quickly made her way to the couch. "Is that a baby?" As soon as Sakura found her ability to talk again, she asked Sasuke. Sasuke looked at her and turned his glance back to the small face that was visible in the bundle. "Yes, it is." "Did you kill her mother? What is going on Sasuke??" Sasuke frowned at Sakura's remark and looked at the baby again, ignoring her questions and the apparent panic in her voice. Sakura watched him with astonishment as Sasuke smiled softly brushing off the black curls off the baby's tiny face. It was a beautiful babe and It was hard not to smile at the small human. Sakura sat by Sasuke, smiling. "Is it a boy?" "No, it's a girl." Smiling at Sasuke's reply, Sakura reached to touch the baby's face. Her smile grew wide as she felt the baby's skin under her finger. "She is beautiful." "I know she is." Sakura was surprised at how soft Sasuke's voice was. She turned to look at him and saw the smile on his face has grown wide. She studied how Sasuke's eyes squinted as he played with the baby's hair. The cold expressionless Sasuke's face was showing love. It was then it hit her. "is this baby yours?" She desperately waited for an answer, but she didn't get one. Sighing loudly, she turned to the sleeping baby again. "You know she got your hair." "I know." Came another soft reply from Sasuke and Sakura smiled. "Do you want to hold her?" Sakura's eyes went wide as Sakura held the bundle to her with a smile on his face that was still very strange to her. "Does Naruto know?" Giving him a small smile, Sakura reached out and held the baby in her arms. "No" "Ohh, she is tinnyy. She is so beautiful Sasuke". Tears welled up in sakura eyes as she held the bundle closer to her chest, smiling at the sleeping human. Rocking the baby, she hummed softly. After a while, she turned her head to Sasuke, who was watching her. The smile on his face had vanished, and he sighed. "She is mine…" He stopped to take a deep breath in, and Sakura scooted closer to him encouraging him to talk. "She is mine and Karin's." "Oh.." Sakura couldn't help the frown that appeared on her face, and she looked at the baby. "She died while giving birth to her. it was hard pregnancy sakura, and she just died." Sakura was positive that she heard a shake in his voice, but she didn't want to look at him. She was jealous and hurt. Jealous and hurt that even after all the love she had shown for Sasuke, she never was his first option. That he decided to choose someone else to build a family, she was hoping to build with him even as a young genin. And now she was holding the fruit of his decision. To her surprise, all  bitterness that was welling up in her vanished as she looked at the small human sleeping  peacefully in her hands. The beautiful little thing who she just cannot be jealous of and who has played no role to hurt her. "I am sorry, Sasuke." She said softly rocking the baby again. "Sakura. Will you look after her? for me?" Sakura's eyes went wide again, and she turned her head to look at Sasuke. "What? I can't." "Please." Sasuke begged to turn his body towards her in utter desperation. Hopelessness was written all over his face, and Sakura couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "Karin is no more, and I can't let her grow in Orochimaru's hideout. She has no one there and I want her to be with you and Naruto. I want her to attend the academy and become a splendid ninja which I know she will be if she stayed with you." A small smile played at Sakura's lips. A feeling of proudness filled her chest as she realized Sasuke had acknowledged her, and he was complimenting her in a very "Sasuke" way. She really wanted to help him. But she wasn't cut for motherhood at the moment. She was the director of the hospital who worked long shifts. She doesn't have any idea on how to handle babies, and she had no idea how she will bring up a small baby and work at the hospital at the same time. So she held out the baby for the father. "I really do want to help Sasuke, but I don't know how to. I don't know anything about being a mother I work really long hours at the hospital. I will ruin your baby Sasuke. I will be a crappy mother. Please understand, and I am glad you came to me, but I am sorry." Sasuke sighed and took the baby from her arms. Holding the baby close to him, Sasuke stood up and made his way to the door as Sakura watched him. She felt a painful squeeze at her heart as she realized she had disappointed him again. For whatever it is she really did love him, and Sakura honestly wanted to help him. "Wait." She called out for Sasuke standing up. Sasuke turned around to her as she made her way to quickly. "If I do this, will you stay in the village? will you come back?" Sasuke looked at the baby in his hands and sighed, not giving her an answer. She desperately asked him again. "Will you?" "I can't, I can't just stay I have my missions. But I will visit. I promise." Sakura looked at her and sincerity was all she could read in them. Even if he didn't come around for her, he definitely would for his child and Sakura wanted to believe it. After a long wait, she sighed and reached out for the baby again. "fine. I will be a mother to her. I will manage somehow." Sasuke smiled as he handed the baby to her. He watched Sakura smiling and rocking the baby in her hands, and he knew deep within, she was going to the perfect mother for his child. "Have you named her yet?" Sakura asked, looking at Sasuke, with a vibrant smile of her face. "How about you name her." Sakura's eyebrows knotted in confusion as Sasuke replied. "Are you sure? There isn't any name Karin would have wanted to name her with?" Well, you are the mother now. Sasuke replied, smiling, and Sakura looked at the baby again. "Sarada" "Lovely", Sasuke whispered softly and leaned down and kissed little Sarada on her forehead. Smiling, he played with the baby's black curls. He stood straight then and tapped his two fingers on Sakura's forehead, giving her a smile full of gratitude. "I will leave now. I will visit. Take care." "You aren't going to wait and explain this to Naruto and Kakashi?" "I am sure you can do that better than me."  

[coaldplay]

Promise of Mother’s Love: chapter 3 - “Sighs”

Six years later

Mirai Sarutobi woke up.

She lay down on her back and extended her left arm to the opposite side of the bed.

She sensed he still wasn't there. She turned to see only an empty space.

She sighed. It was her daily ritual, when her husband, Kosuke, was on a mission.

She sat up, resting her back on the pillows. She looked at the watch on the bedside table next to her. It was almost seven a.m. It was just beginning to clear outside. Days were getting shorter and colder. The tree opposite to the window had long started to show first signs of an autumn. Now, their small garden glowed with the colors of green, golden yellow and bright red.

Winter was fast approaching. It will snow soon. She sighed again. Personally, she preferred summer.

Today, they will have to rake leaves again. Her eyes lit up. Strangely enough, she felt happy at the thought. Yes, it will be a good day.

In the end, it was October 10th.

She stood up to welcome the day, with a wide smile. She had many things to do. But first the toilet, shower and other such.

She will wash her teeth after breakfast. Obviously, after breakfast.

During the morning toilet, she repeated the list of things she had yet to buy.

She checked the fridge and cabinets... yes, milk, eggs, flour, absolutely. She was going to make a cake. His favorite. Cheesecake with raisins. But she can't forget about the ramen. Oh, absolutely not. There wasn't Naruto's birthday without the ramen.

At the memory of Naruto eating a ramen for the first time, her mood improved even more. He looked like he had a meal made by Kami herself, who descended from heaven, not lousy Mirai Sarutobi of Konoha.

She didn't even realize, when she started humming a song she recently heard. Who would've thought, that Naruto would like music so much?

After that, he always tortured her, so she would listen to this or that cassette with him.

That's why she knew what to buy him for a gift. A set of cassettes with his favorite bands, that he didn't yet have. When the Third asked her for advice because he had no idea himself, she only told him, that the cassettes were already taken and Naruto already has his own cassette player, so that option was out too.

"And don't even think about buying ramen like last year!" she said.

Yes. It really happened. Even now, she couldn't really believe it. But apparently every of her senses rebelled against her and registered it.

She remembered that Kosuke just shook his head, smiling.

"Really, Hiruzen, try this time. Don't go easy on this. You can't do that. I gave him a blunt replica of Minato's kunai, remember?"

"I just wanted to make Naruto happy," answered the Third Hokage.

Well, Mirai had to admit it. The little one was delighted. It was a large packet with a great inscription: "Ramen in ten flavors!".

Going down the stairs to the ground floor, she promised herself that starting from tomorrow, she would limit the ramen.

She knew, however, that she couldn't keep this promise.

She knew, that she had too big weakness for Naruto.

She hoped that it would be different for Karin. Or Konohamaru.

She had known about it for a week now. She was waiting for this day.

Kosuke said he would make it here, and then, when everyone cools down... she would start the party again!

They've been trying for a year. She and Kosuke had everything planned. When they bought this apartment three years ago, they remembered to have an one room as a store. This room would be soon transformed from a warehouse into a children's room.

After drying her hair, she dressed warmly and went out to the store.

Naruto quickly opened his eyes. He heard the door downstairs closing.

This is the day!

He got up. He started running. He opened the door of his room without even paying attention to it. He ran down the stairs as fast as he could. He was at most a meter tall.

Tup, tup, tup, tup, tup.

He reached the calendar in the kitchen.

He looked for a number ten.

It was marked with a red circle and in red capital letters: "NARUTO'S BIRTHDAY!"

"Yatta!" he shouted from joy.

Of course, yesterday he knew, he will have a birthday today, but he preferred to make sure he wasn't wrong. After all, it was only once a year. Not every day.

It reminded him, how cool it was year ago.

He got very cool kunai from uncle Kosuki. He showed it to Shikamaru, who announced that even if it were a ninja kunai, it was of a very strange shape. Maybe that's why, when Naruto tried to throw it like a real ninja, no matter how hard, the knife had never stuck in this big tree in the garden. It confused him a bit, but at least he could train to become a great ninja, one like his father.

From his aunt Mirai, he received toy ninja armband, a tape recorder, which he had until now... and a cookbook. She said if he could choose a nice dish for her, she would definitely prepare it for him. Only one condition: it could not be ramen. He didn't understand this. He didn't know the word, but it seemed a little funny to him. Of course, it wasn't nice to laugh at other people, especially if they're nice to you, and aunt Mirai was a very nice person, but, well, he just didn't know how to react.

Therefore, despite everything, he liked the gift he got from his grandfather the most.

Ten ramen flavors combo. Even now, a small smile appeared on his little face as he recalled this gift. He forced his aunt to prepare it for him whenever he wanted. He intended to save it for special occasions, but then his uncle informed him, that it had an expiration date and after that date, he could no longer eat it. He then decided: during the next ten days he has to eat this ramen every day, for dinner. He wouldn't let it go to waste.

He didn't know the word either, but he felt it inside: ramen meant too much for him to just like... not eat it, when he had a chance. And so many flavors?

Funny.

At first, aunt Mirai didn't want to work with him. He offered that if she agrees, he wouldn't eat a single ramen for the next month. She agreed.

He did not think it through. He really did not think it through.

He winced. It was the worst month ever in the history of months, for sure.

By the way, he recently noticed that aunt Mirai was strangely pleased, and so much so, that she was smiling at all times. At first, he was surprised. Then, it started to irritate him, because he didn't know why, and he wanted to know why. He decided that he had to find out. In his six-year-old mind, he decided that he must first make her stop being so satisfied with herself.

He started slowly. He would leave toy samurai soldiers in the middle of the room; he would forget to clean up after himself, or he would brush his teeth before breakfast, not after. Nothing worked. He concluded, he had to do something big.

When he consulted Shikamaru, he, at first, didn't know what he wanted to do. When he explained everything, Nara announced, that if he really wants to risk the "mother's anger", as he put it, he should spill milk on the table. Naruto reminded him that Mirai is his aunt, not his mother. He had no mother.

However, to reach his ultimate goal, Naruto did it. The day before yesterday, at breakfast, he spilled milk on the table, when he was pouring cereal. She just looked at him, as if he had grown a second head, threw him an old cloth and told him to clean it all up. He did it, furious. She probably thought he was angry that he had to clean up after all. No; he was angry, because Mirai ignored him again.

Yesterday morning he decided to make the biggest mess in his room, so big, like never before. He managed to do it - he was proud of himself, even. And it was left there for a whole day. Normally, she would start complaining, that she wouldn't clean it up, and she would be screeching at him until he cleaned it all himself. But when, under a pretext, he led her into his room, she acted as if everything was all right. She just looked at him strangely and asked what he wants.

That made him furious. There was no ignoring Naruto Namikaze.

Finally, at the end of the day, she asked why he hadn't cleaned his room yet. He lifted his eyes and then narrowed them, hoping he would feel anger from her, but no. Nothing. Just simple satisfaction, with that stupid smile on her face. His irritation had left him and he felt empty. As if he wasn't really there.

Once, Shikamaru introduced him to Choji. It was at the playground, which they played at from time to time. Akimichi boy asked him, why he had such strange things on his face. He asked what they meant. Naruto couldn't answer him though, because he didn't know it himself. Naruto didn't think he looked weird, because he always looked like that. Since when he remembered. And that's it. It was how he looked. It didn't occur to him, that his appearance might be weird for someone. It was the same with small marks and patterns above his eyebrows. Before Choji, who was the first to notice his freckles and lines on his cheeks, even Shikamaru didn't notice them.

After this event, no one he asked knew what they were was and why he had them. He also asked about his "whiskers", but answer was always the same.

Thick blonde hair. Freckles on the nose. Eyelets over the eyebrows and lines on the cheeks. Ears slightly protruding. Bright blue eyes. He shrugged. He guessed he was just weird. Different. Eh, screw it. Choji was fat. Naruto wasn't. And Naruto didn't react as if he had been hurt, when Choji reminded him that he had a strange appearance.

"And why are you so fat?" he responded back then.

However, from then on, he began to see many things that distinguished him from others.

It occurred to him, that when he was focused, he could see things that no one else saw. He knew; he asked other kids. Once, he told Mirai about that. The day he did it, turned out to be one of the worst in his young life.

He has never seen her so scared. She made him promise that he would tell no one, if her or grandfather hadn't given a permission. He promised, but didn't forget, how she reacted.

Very next day, grandfather Hiruzen came to them, seemingly unannounced.

Uncle Kosuke said "Nothing.", when asked by Naruto what was happening, and Mirai tried to pretend, that this "nothing" was indeed happening. Naruto though could feel, that aunt Mirai was scared; that uncle Kosuke was impatient and upset for some reason, and grandfather... well, he felt guilty, just like as if he had just lied.

They told him everything was fine and nothing was happening.

He saddened. He didn't know why they were lying to him. His family lied to him. But previous day, however, he learned that he should not ask about it, because then everyone behaves as if there was a problem with him; as if it was all his fault.

"No, it isn't" he wanted to say, but felt like he just shouldn't. He never told anything, not to her, not to anyone, so just like Mirai wanted. Not to know.

He didn't like what he felt. He did not like it, not one bit...

The sound of the door opening ripped him out of his thoughts.

He looked around. He was at the kitchen table. Second thing he noticed, he wasn't wearing the pajamas, but something else. He was surprised. He didn't remember changing his clothes. He looked at the clock on the wall. He realized, that he has been sitting in the kitchen for over an hour already.

"Oh... hi, Naruto! I see you are already waiting for your birthday breakfast," Mirai said cheerfully as she entered the kitchen. She had shopping bags in her hands. She went to the counter by the wall.

"Hey, auntie. Yes... I've been here for some time."

She narrowed her eyes. It was a strange answer for a six-year-old.

Recently, he behaved differently. Badly, although he knew she didn't approve. It made no sense. She thought he wasn't that kind of boy to be rude on purpose.

She began to unpack shopping.

"What do you want for your breakfast Naruto? Remember that today is your special day, so you can choose anything," she turned to look at him. "Although I hope it will not be ramen."

"I want cereal."

"Be polite. What you should say?" she ashed him with a smile.

"Please."

She went to the fridge and pulled out milk. After this, she reached into the high side cabinet for his favorite cereal.

She was busy, when he ate, but he didn't even try to start a talk.

She was looking at him from time to time. He looked thoughtful.

"Okay, go brush your teeth now. How about we go to Yoshino and Shikamaru?" she said, when he finished. She wanted to make everything. She already agreed with Yoshino, that Nara would help her prepare for Naruto's birthday party.

She didn't receive a response.

"Naruto? You asleep? Do you want to go to Shikamaru?"

Naruto was as if he just woke up. He smiled broadly.

"Sure!"

"My aunt still behaves strangely," he said to young Nara as they lay there, staring at the clouds. Today was a clear day. A little windy, but warm.

Shikamaru sighed. Why did women always have to be so troublesome? He didn't understand why his father married such a scary person.

"Still, huh?"

"I totally don't know..."

Shikamaru sighed again. He already knew what was going on. He didn't want to be the one to tell him that though.

But Naruto knew his mannerisms.

"You know something and you want to hide it from me."

Nara sighed yet again, even louder. How did Naruto guess this? Troublesome. Blond was looking at him with his stupidly gaping mouth.

"Shut your face, because if you not, a fly will fly in."

Naruto closed his mouth, loudly "clicking" with his teeth.

"I overheard your aunt talking to my mother."

Naruto grinned at this.

Shikamaru, seeing this, sighed again. It sounded like "troublesome".

"Come on, come on! Spit it!"

"Your aunt will tell you. I don't want to get involved in this."

Naruto, now grumpy, turned away from him theatrically.

Shikamaru sat down and put his hand on Naruto's shoulder.

He sighed one last time and began the story.

"So when a man and a woman love each other very much ..."

"... sometimes, out of this love, arises a new life. You will have a cousin, Naruto!" she said happily. "Girl or boy. Just please, don't tell anyone about it! This is supposed to be a big surprise for everyone!"

Naruto cornered her as soon as he saw her.

Yoshino will have a chat with Shikamaru about eavesdropping.

Naruto looked happy for her, and for her unborn child. She had to admit it: she was relieved. She heard a lot of kids get jealous and everything... she was worried, she won't have so much time for him. But that wasn't the day for such thoughts.

She was still worried over his strange behaviour during the last week. Naruto though, when she asked him, said that it won't happen again and that she shouldn't think about it. It sounded a little weird from a six-year-old. Go figure.

Mirumi said to herself, that she will have to prepare him for the time after the delivery. They won't have so much time for him. She remembered, how handful he was... if that was to repeat - but she surely didn't want to think about that now and spoil her humor. She was very happy about finally being pregnant, at least.

Naruto was most pleased, that his aunt's secret was finally known. At least to him. And to Yoshino. And to Shikamaru. And to Mirumi herself obviously. He winced at the thought. It wasn't so much of a secret now, was it?

At least Kosuke doesn't know yet.

He hoped it wouldn't be as bad as he sometimes heard in adult conversations, or from the other kids. He really didn't know what to think about a new member of his family. He has to speak about it to Shikamaru. Shikamaru was super smart. He will help him figure it out. But later.

It was supposed to be a small birthday. Yoshino and Shikamaru. Grandfather Hiruzen, of course. Choji was supposed to be too. His little group of friends. He was worried about the Akimichi; would they really have enough food for him? Yoshino, however, calmed him down, when she also brought some food.

Everything was in place. They just have to wait for grandpa, and they would start.

All that was left was to hope, that his father will come.

_

Back then, six years ago, Hiruzen begged him, to give himself time to mourn.

But he was adamant. There was always too much work for him to be done.

The Third even offered he would take over for a year or two, so that Minato could take care of Naruto.

Minato refused under a pretext, that Biwako was dead too. That was a very low blow.

Today, Naruto turned 6. He was growing fast. He had the character of his mother and his father's appearance. His looked like him.

Hiruzen slammed the door as he left. These times they preferred not to meet too often.

Behind the door, Minato heard a sad sigh. The receding steps.

He remembered what Hiruzen asked Kushina, when she was still alive. She agreed. Minato understood everything. He really did.

"You've been chosen as Fourth Hokage, in part for your merits in the Third Shinobi War. During the same war, Obito was killed. Irony, isn't it? After he was dead, Kakashi killed Obito's love, Rin, who he swore to Uchiha, to protect. You left them alone. It's why both are dead now."

At that time, Kushina was still with him.

"And even after everything, you still haven't learned. You left Kushina alone."

That was his fault.

"That is your fault."

He failed. And that was the truth. But the truth lost meaning. The only truth in existence. She is dead.

"You failed as a Hokage, as a sensei, as a husband and as a father. You are considered the greatest hero of the last war, who, by himself, forced two Hidden Villages into peace. You, the Hokage, who they say led his village to the road of restoration, at the end of which was greatness, that was not seen before in the Elemental Nations. You, the fastest man alive, proved to be always too late to save what is the most important. Kushina is dead. Rin is dead. Obito is dead. Kakashi doesn't talk to you. Naruto probably hates you. Hiruzen is dissapointed. All because you, you! - the fastest man alive!, have proven to be too slow to save what is most important. The love of your life."

The curse placed upon him.

"And now you still want to pretend to be a father? Who do you think you are?! You let your son's mother die!"

He didn't deserve him. He deserved nothing.

"You are nothing. You are no one. You are no one, just like me," said a hoarse voice muffled by the mask. This man's voice never left him.

Kneeling over her body, he promised her, he would take care of their son. However, Naruto's cries were like a knife hammering into his heart. When he was still a newborn, he cried louder and louder, day by day. Minato didn't know how to look after him. He didn't sleep for weeks.

Finally, full of shame, he gave Naruto away, into the care of Hiruzen's daughter. It was then, that they quarreled for the first time with Hiruzen. He convinced himself that this would be the best way. That he would visit him as often as possible. At that time, however, he felt, in surrendering Naruto, he had betrayed everything he once believed.

The irony was for what price is anything worth?

The voice of a man in a black coat, as he began to call him, became the voice of his conscience.

He could not look Naruto in his eyes, nor real purple, nor fake blue ones.

He looked at the stack of documents in front of him. The Chuunin exams were approaching. He never had time for Naruto during these times, he told himself. He has duties. He returned to work. Maybe it'll let him forget for a while.

_

Hiruzen started walking. People parted in front of him, full of respect. He nodded to them in greetings. The walk from the Hokage Tower to her daughter's house always took about an hour.

He was far too old to jump on buildings. Or too patient. Could be both, honestly.

It was near the Nara clan compound. The Sarutobi family were friends with Naras for many decades, ever since they were both welcomed to Konoha. Hiruzen was good friends with Shukaku's father, when they were just kids.

When opportunity arose to buy a house in this area, Kosuke and Mirai decided to do it. There was a beautiful forest of the Nara clan, to which they all had free admission. Not many did.

There were also plenty of shops in the area. Of course. This was the Nara clan - lazy and phlegmatic. Every single one of them. Maybe except for individuals, such as Yoshino.

Naras didn't like to walk far, so they just didn't.

Shikamaru and Naruto became best friends. With Choji, three of them, were quite known in the area. Naruto was always the first to make trouble, but his two friends were a good influence.

It was Naruto, who was, one could say, a bad influence.

He was just like Kushina. Always the first to do everything. First to jump into this or that lake, first to climb a tree. First to prank the shopkeeper. Except for the appearance, he didn't seem to have inherited much from Minato.

And maybe that's good.

No, he won't think about him today. It was the tenth of October. Naruto's birthday. He was six years old. It wasn't the time.

He thought about another topic. He wondered, what should he give him for his birthday?

Mirai warned him, that if he gives him ramen again, it would end... badly, for whatever that was supposed to mean. Anyway, it was usually a lot better to listen to her advice, than not.

One day, Hiruzen watched Naruto throwing a kunai, which was a blunt replica of these used by his father. Naruto didn't know this detail though.

He decided, that since the boy was brought up in a shinobi family, and he also came from the Uzumaki clan, his training should begin very, very soon. He was big enough.

Was it really safe? They never found out why it happened to him.

The Rinnegan. Eyes of the Sage of Six Paths.

They wondered, if this was because of the Kyuubi chakra, that might have attacked his body during the labor. This could not be ruled out.

When Jiraya saw the Eyes, he told them the story of a boy who had died many years earlier. The boy's name was Nagato. Hiruzen knew of three orphans from the Rain, that his student had been once taken in, but Jiraya back then did not speak about Nagato's Rinnegan.

The first thing was that the boy was also an Uzumaki. Characteristic crimson red hair, enormous life energy, stamina, high amounts of chakra. Everything fit. The second thing was that Nagato had the same eyes. The Eyes.

Seals, which shortly after the birth of Naruto, were given to him, above all, caused the little one to have normal-looking blue pupils, in his father's image. However, main task of these seals was to limit Rinnegan's power as much as possible. Nobody knew, what it's capabilities were or would be, except that after the blood and chakra tests, it turned out that the boy had all five chakra natures. That was not the case with Nagato, who possessed only Wind chakra.

Wind was rare on its own. Maybe Nagato was Kushina's closer relative? She had Wind chakra too. That was just a speculation.

Whatever was the case with Nagato, there weren't Kyuubi's influence though.

Tiny amount of Kyuubi's chakra was found in Naruto's sample. That fact unnerved them all. They didn't know, what that could mean for the kid.

It was expected that he, like Kushina, would receive some Kyuubi Jinchuuriki features i.e. much faster body healing and huge, even for their clan, chakra reserves. But no. All they confirmed was above average metabolism, which could also come from the Rinnegan.

And that was exactly the problem.

They did not know whether something was the effect of Kyuubi's chakra adopted naturally in Naruto's organism, or whether it was the effect of the Eyes. As far as their information went, it was impossible to say anything definitive.

Which didn't mean they didn't have any clues here, in Konoha. Hashirama's wife, Uzumaki Mito, the previous Jinchuuriki of the Nine-tails, had a son, who was the father of Tsunade.

Darirama, as Hiruzen checked in the ninja archives and in the archives of disease cards, did not have such qualities as Naruto, although his delivery was described to be also very difficult. No characteristic whiskers, no Kyuubi chakra was adopted in his body.

Hiruzen knew him personally. They were good colleagues. He nothing extraordinary though - Darirama was a lively man, cheerful, but that's all. Naruto was a bit like him, not to mention Nawaki, but Tsunade didn't inherit much from her father.

Hiruzen noticed something at the shop window. Kakashi will be overjoyed when he tells him. Unless he knows it already. Which was very probable.

The Third Hokage shook his head. He returned to the previous line of thought.

There were several differences between Mito and Kushina. First, Kushina became Jinchuuriki at the age of ten, and Mito was almost thirty. In their cases, slightly different seals were also used, and besides, in the seal belonging to the older Uzumaki, were also a sizable element of Mokuton's chakra. Mokuton had powerful properties. It perfectly suppressed and dispersed aggressive types of chakras, exactly like of a tailed beast.

That's the reason Hashirama was this powerful against the Bijuus.

Shortly after Naruto's birth, Tsunade was called back to the village by Minato. It was under a threat of marking her in the Bingo Book, if, by some chance, she decided not to assess Naruto's "condition".

When she arrived, however, she first announced that she would not allow the baby's eyes to be removed, if they thought of such a thing. Hiruzen and Minato did not even think of it.

In the case of Sharingan and Byakugan, they could be weakened and masked, but it was only a half-measure, even in their case. If one wanted to neutralize a shinobi, no matter what characteristics this shinobi possessed, the seal was to be put on the body to disturb and take excess chakra above the level specified on it.

Everything they had was hope it would work on Rinnegan.

Paradoxically, it was a lot easier to put a suppressing seal that was supposed to be effective on the whole body, than on a part of said body, for example, just a hand or a leg. The fact that in this case, it was about the central nervous system meant, there was a risk that Naruto could go blind if something went wrong. And back then, if something could go wrong, it certainly would. It made Minato's agreement even more so... scary? Hiruzen didn't know how to call it, but it scared him very much. It still does.

It was then, that the Third understood how much Minato had changed after Kushina's death.

After noticing that by herself, Tsunade even offered that if they didn't bother her anymore, she would let them use her special Transformation Technique in the seal, to mask Naruto's eyes. She even willingly added her Senju chakra as an additional barrier. However, Hiruzen was under the impression, that even if Minato refused her, she would still help the boy, disinterestedly, like she used to. It was obvious the offer was just a pretext to do it.

It was how shocked they both were at Minato's change.

Everything went well. Or so they thought.

Until recently, Rinnegan seemed to be asleep, but Hiruzen then understood that they were the ones to be asleep. They were fools.

After Naruto told Mirai about what he was seeing, Hiruzen understood one more thing: it was time to start preparing him for the news. Shinobi training. It was this matter, that led him to Hokage's office. And Naruto's birthday.

Minato was still Naruto's father.

Hiruzen sighed. By name, yes.

Minato, after initial doubts, agreed that the Third Hokage should train his son for a shinobi. However, when Hiruzen told him that Minato should show himself at Naruto's birthday party, the conversation took a wrong turn. He said he couldn't go, giving the workload associated with the upcoming Chuunin exams as a reason. His usual, annual, excuse.

When Naruto was not yet aware of his surroundings, Hiruzen let it pass, but every year their quarrels became more and more aggressive.

He knocked on the door.

He heard quick steps. Hiruzen smiled.

Door was opened, and how surprising!, it was grinning Naruto himself.

_

Notes:

1. I feel like in canon, we never actually got to see Minato that was not idealized, like he was a knight in a bright armor. Minato's thoughts about Obito and Rin were not shown until the very end and even then, story was focused more on Kakashi. I wanted to give Minato more personality than shown in canon, but not make Naruto really "neglected", as if he had no friends or such, becuase, again, I find "neglected Naruto" fics potentially more unforgiving of author's mistakes. Not that I fear hard topics, it is just not a plan.

2. Rinnegan will not be OP. Rinnegan wasn't really OP in canon, not in comparison. About that: power levels will not be very high above-Pain. No gods. BTW how did Nagato get to know Rinnegan's techniques? Another canon plot hole or Rinnegan users "just know", as if it was Rinnegan's ability itself?

3. I plan to give Rinnegan its justice though.

[britishassistant]

But I Like One Piece (9)

It takes her a long time to get Okaa-sama back inside.

There’s masks watching from the trees as she closes the door, and she can spot more through all the windows, glimpses of white against dark leaves.

She closes the door and locks it.

Then she draws the blinds on all of the windows, as though that will act as a barrier somehow.

Her mother is still weeping softly downstairs.

She slides down a wall, trying to choke back sobs herself. She can’t do this. Not now. She needs to think, to plan, not—not cry like a helpless little eight year old.

She is mentally twenty, she needs to act like it.

She pinches her arms, hard, until the tears in her eyes are from the pain instead.

Think, Ketsugi. How can you convince the authorities of Otou-sama’s innocence without getting yourself and Okaa-sama locked up as well?

The easiest way would be to catch the real culprit.

But she has no idea what actually happened yet, let alone who could’ve done it. If she tries to start snooping around the crime scene for clues, she’ll probably be caught and imprisoned for suspicious behavior. And then Okaa-sama would be all alone, so that’s out.

She could go on strike.

Not a hunger one, but she could sit outside the Hokage’s office with a cardboard sign? Naruto, Lee, Chouji and Sakura would sit with her, she’s sure. Maybe even all of their lunchtime group.

And then the masks will take them, like they’d taken Naruto and Lee, all of her friends vanishing in swirls of leaves, never to be seen again—

She has to bite down on her knee, teeth digging into the flesh awkwardly, to keep herself from screaming.

She briefly entertains a fantasy of going around and beating masks up until they tell her where Otou-sama is, and then staging a dramatic rescue complete with a dynamic entry and exit.

No, she decides, swallowing the metallic taste in her mouth. She’s nowhere near strong enough for that, no matter how much she’s improved under Gai-sensei’s and her father’s training. The masks would just hurt her again.

So if she can’t find the true culprit, or peacefully protest his imprisonment, or rescue Otou-sama by force, what can she do?

She gnaws at her lower lip.

...There really isn’t anything, is there?

Everything she can think of would end up with them imprisoned as well, or worse. Konoha’s not like her last life, with laws and foundations and charities against illegal incarceration. They don’t even have a police force anymore, since all the Uchiha were the police and all the Uchiha are dead.

Things like bail or lawyers or civil rights are probably about as substantial as a pipe dream here.

That must be why Okaa-sama’s crying so much.

Because she knows that the people who took Otou-sama have all the power here, and anything they try to do to get him back could mean he’s forced to stay captive for longer instead, to punish them for disobedience.

All they can do is keep their heads down and try not to show any aggression or resentment and hope obedience translates into loyalty and innocence in the eyes of the right people.

They’re just immigrants after all. They have no power in a village that doesn’t want them here.

She troops downstairs, knee stinging with the movement.

She takes the portion on the plate out of the oven, and switches the oven off. She gently puts it onto a smaller plate and covers it in foil, waiting for it to cool before she puts it into the fridge. She washes off the big plate and puts it back in the cupboard where it lives.

She does not consider giving the meal to someone else or eating it herself. Otou-sama is coming back. It’ll...just take him a little while, that’s all.

She goes back upstairs and brushes her teeth and puts on her little nightie.

By the time she comes back down, the food’s cooled enough to safely be put in the fridge.

She lingers in the doorway of the living room. “Okaa-sama?”

Her mother lifts her head from her arms. Her eyes are swollen and red, and her thick brown hair is disheveled. “Hm?”

“Can I sleep with you in the big bed tonight?” She asks, ears burning, painfully aware that she hasn’t done so since she was two and would wake up screaming from dreams about her old family and best friend and robbers with itchy trigger fingers.

“Oh sweetheart.” Her mother murmurs. “Of course. Just let Okaa-san get ready for bed, alright?”

“Okay.” She says. She goes back upstairs.

She sits and rubs spit into the little teethmarks on her knee, so the sluggishly bleeding punctures will scab over and she won’t get blood on her parents’ sheets.

They’ve stopped bleeding and she’s crawled under the covers and dozing by the time Okaa-sama finally comes upstairs and begins washing up for bed.

Her mother hugs her close in bed, her hair dampening under the onslaught of silent weeping.

Hey Franky, Usopp, Sanji and Luffy. She prays silently. I know this is a lot to ask, but please, please, please. Let Otou-sama come home safe. Me and Okaa-sama can’t do anything, so please. Help us by doing what we can’t.

“Psst!”

She rolls over in bed, eyes feeling too heavy to open.

“Psst! Little girl! What was it...Ketsugi Mayu-san!”

She wrinkles her nose, blinking and rubbing the sleep out of one eye.

There’s a turtle on her pillow. It’s little, and green with yellow swirls on it’s shell.

But still. Turtle.

“Y’r a t’rtle.” She slurs.

The turtle looks very indignant (can turtles do that?) and straightens its head. “I.” It whispers, in a very self-important tone. “Am a tortoise.”

“Y’r a t’rt’se.” She corrects agreeably. Then pauses. “Didj’ou jus’ talk?”

“Yes I did. Honestly girl, haven’t you ever seen a summons before?” The tortoise complains.

“Whassa summons?” She asks, rubbing her other eye.

The tortoise mutters something that sounds a little unkind about civilian families. “You can call this one Jimichi. I have come from Gai-sama, bearing a message for Ketsugi Mayu-san.”

Okaa-sama shifts restlessly behind her.

She looks behind her at her mother, and then back to the tortoise. “May I pick you up, Jimichi-san?”

Jimichi-san looks like he’s about to protest when Okaa-sama lets out a soft little sob in her sleep. “Ooh—alright then, just this once, mind!”

She carries the tortoise into her bedroom and sets him down on her bed, kneeling in front of him.

“Are you hungry, Jimichi-san? Would you like some water or anything?”

The tortoise looks considering, before shaking his little wrinkly head. “No, thank you. I will be fine, so long as I complete my mission.”

She sits back on her heels to listen, trying to ignore the little pinpricks of pain in her knee.

“Gai-sama wishes to tell you he will be out of the village for the next week or so—he is currently in pursuit of the thieves who broke into Hokage Tower earlier today. He conveys his regards to Ketsugi Jirou and Chie, and expects you to keep up your most youthful training with Uzumaki Naruto-kun and Rock Lee-kun.” The tortoise took a breath.

“Are Naruto and Lee alright, Jimichi-san?” She bursts out, hardly able to control herself.

The tortoise shoots her a withering look. “How should I know? Yūcho and Katsu were sent to talk to them, not me.”

“Oh. I’m sorry. I-I just haven’t seen them since the mask took them away a-aft-after—” She swallows, and makes herself continue even if her voice sounds small. “—After he said my father was being held in Interrogation.”

There’s a quiet inhale.

“Has your father been doing anything that warrants this suspicion?” Jimichi-san asks.

She frowns. “Of course not. If he were going to do it, Otou-sama would’ve talked it over Okaa-sama and come up with a plan to get her and me and Naruto out if he got caught—he loves her too much not to. And both of them are too much in love with Gai-sensei to hurt the village he loves like this.”

“What.” Jimichi-san squeaks.

There’s a soft snap from the tree in next door’s garden. Maybe a stray cat?

“I know.” She whispers, barely stifling giggles. “It’s so embarrassing—at breakfast t-they always pine over hi-his e-eve-every w-wo—”

Ah. She’s crying. She rubs furiously at her face, but it’s not stopping, why won’t it stop—

“Oh—blow.” Jimichi-san sighs. “...if I find out what happened to Uzumaki Naruto and Rock Lee, will you stop making this racket?”

She sniffs miserably. “‘M sorry.”

He gives a disdainful huff before retracting into his shell.

There’s two puffs of smoke, and then there’s a yellow tortoise with blue swirls on its shell and a purple one with red swirls on her bed.

“Jimi, dude, what gives?” The yellow one says.

“I am not your ‘dude’, Yūcho!” Jimichi-san hisses. “My name is Jimichi! And keep your voice down, you numbskull!”

“Awright, awright, don’t get’cha panties in a twist, jeez.” Yūcho-san says without lowering his voice very much at all. “‘Sup little dude?”

“Hello.” She replies, biting her lower lip to keep from laughing. Don’t think about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, don’t think about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, don’t—

“U-um.” The purple one whispers. “Why are we here, Jimichi-san? Was there a problem with delivering your message?”

“Wh-of course there wasn’t!” Jimichi-san blusters. “My message was delivered with all due promptness and clarity, wasn’t it, Ketsugi-san?”

“Yes Jimichi-san.” She nods. “I’m Ketsugi Mayu. It’s nice to meet you, Yūcho-san, Katsu-san.”

The purple one—Katsu-san— startles a little. “Eh, nice to meet you too. Um.”

“Oh fuck.” Yūcho-san stares at her. “You’re the one who’s dad is de—”

Jimichi-san somehow rockets himself across her duvet to slam into Yūcho-san and send him spinning like a top. “Don’t you dare use those words in front of a little girl, you idiot!!”

She gapes as Yūcho-san gradually slows and begins groaning complaints, not quite sure what to do or how to stop it if this somehow turns into a tortoise-brawl on top of her bed.

Don’t think about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Jimichi-san stands. “Honestly. Ketsugi-san asked me to call you here because she was worried about Uzumaki Naruto-kun and Rock Lee-kun, and here you are, wasting her time. Now, did you two deliver your messages successfully to your recipients or didn’t you?”

“Of course I did, dude!” Yūcho-san protests. “Blondie was in his apartment and got the message loud and clear!”

“Um, I also was able to locate Lee-san at the Orphanage.” Kastu-san volunteers softly. “He was deep in thought, but was not actively distressed.”

She sighs. Well, she’ll take what she can get. “Thank you for your help, Yūcho-san, Katsu-san, Jimichi-san.” She bows at the waist.

“Ah, i-it’s no problem.” Katsu-san stutters, while Yūcho-san cheers, “Hey, happy to help!”

Jimichi-san lets out a little huff. “Well, you just keep your head down and your nose clean, alright? You’ll be no good to anyone if you’re in trouble too. Now run along back to bed, go on.”

She stands and bows to them again. The three tortoises all vanish in puffs of smoke.

It feels awful, trying to get up at her normal time the next morning.

She rubs the sleep from her swollen eyes, and tucks the blanket back in around her mother. Okaa-sama hadn’t even stirred during the night. Little furrows still crease her brow in sleep.

She kisses the crown of her mother’s head, and leaves the house as quietly as she can.

She keeps her eyes on her shoes and doesn’t look up at where she can feel the masks watching her.

Naruto hasn’t set up any traps this morning. She knocks on his door, the sound jarring in the quiet of dawn.

His eyes are bloodshot and red, making the blue look even bluer.

“I wan’ ‘Tou-san.” He mumbles.

She reaches out and hugs him tight, pretending she doesn’t feel his shoulders shaking as she strokes his back.

“I know.” She murmurs. “I want him too.”

Even Lee is subdued compared to his usual exuberance.

He’s trying his best. He takes both of them by the shoulders and says, “Don’t worry! Gai-sensei will definitely find the culprit soon and free your father from his most unyouthful imprisonment!”

Naruto’s face crumples even more at that for some reason, so she does her best to smile back at Lee for the both of them. “Yeah. Thanks, Lee.”

Since Lee’s the oldest and the most like Gai-sensei in temperament, it’s unanimously decided that he will be the one to lead the group’s exercises.

He’s not as hard a task-master as Gai-sensei, dropping the number of laps they have to do around Konoha by five every time Naruto yawns. They end up doing only one hundred of the original one hundred and fifty.

They’re running through the basic kata for what will eventually be a Dynamic Entry once their leg muscles are built up enough when it hits her.

She stops dead.

Unfortunately, her momentum doesn’t, so she wavers on her toes before her leg buckles and she crashes to the ground.

“Mayu-chan!”

“I’m okay!” She unfolds herself and sits up, looking into two pairs of worried eyes. “I’m fine—just remembered something and got distracted is all.”

“What is it?” Lee asks as Naruto plops down beside her.

She opens her mouth, and closes it. She looks away, ears and neck burning with embarrassment.

“I—” Her voice cracks, and she has to swallow. “I...may have forgotten to make us lunch last night?”

Lee decides that the best thing to do is run another lap of Konoha before going back to her house to make lunch together.

She readily agrees. She doesn’t think she could stand it if she had to work in a silent kitchen. Not today.

There are more people up and about now.

It may just be paranoia, but she could swear that many of them were whispering and pointing at her.

She keeps her eyes down and does her best to ignore this as she ignores the masks.

The house is still dark when she lets them in. Well, Okaa-sama does need her sleep.

They decide to make something quick and easy for lunch.

They have plenty of bacon, and some spring greens left over from yesterday’s miso soup. So while she parboils and shocks the vegetables, Lee stirs the bacon around in the pan, and Naruto puts what may be a little too much honey mustard on slices of bread.

Okaa-sama comes down sometime during when she’s patting the spring greens dry.

Her mother won’t stop touching, whether it’s ruffling Lee’s hair, giving her kisses on the cheek, or hugging Naruto.

Naruto latches onto Okaa-sama like an octopus with his arms and legs. Her mother promptly heaves him up to sit on her hip, showing no sign of strain at carrying around an eight year old boy, and begins to prepare breakfast around them.

By the time the sandwiches are assembled and put into the lunchboxes with sides of cherry tomatoes and pudding cups for dessert, there’s barely enough time to run through the basic strikes her father was teaching her.

Lee’s enthusiasm about her training is...well-intentioned if ill-advised.

“No, I’m not going to hit you with the bokken! It’ll really hurt!” She argues.

“Do not worry, Mayu-chan! I am sure that I will be able to block adequately so I am not injured!” Lee says cheerfully, giving her a thumbs up.

“I’m telling you, even blocking this will give you bruises!!” She yells back, exasperated. “Okaa-sama! Tell him!”

Okaa-sama smiles at them as Naruto giggles weakly, hitching him higher. “I think Mayu-chan is right about this, Lee-kun. Come on in both of you, breakfast is ready.”

The Academy is buzzing with rumors

Apparently what happened yesterday was a theft—though whether anything got taken or not or if the theft was combined with an attempt on the Hokage’s life is hotly debated.

The thief—or thieves’—target was apparently a scroll of some kind, which apparently contained some insanely strong, killer jutsu from the Nidaime’s time. Or the secret to eternal life. Or the Shodaime’s ultimate bloodline ability. Or all the money in Konoha’s treasury.

For some reason everyone pulls a face when one of the civilian kids volunteers the last option.

There’s also plenty of argument about who the culprits are. A lot of people think it was the Demolition Squad from Iwa, given the huge explosion. Others say it wasn’t flashy enough to be Iwa, that it had to be missing-nin from Suna. Still more say that there’s no way it’d be Suna, that the only people strong enough to get through Konoha’s defenses were the Seven Swordsmen of Kiri.

One or two say it might’ve been Uchiha Itachi, come back to test his strength against the Hokage, but glares from their lunchtime group quickly shut that up.

There’s a general consensus that it had to be an inside job though. That the culprits, whoever they were, needed somebody in Konoha to know where their prize was and how to get to it.

“But we saw that blonde guy yesterday.” Kiba insists. “It’s obvious that was one of the thieves!”

“That doesn’t discount the possibility of there being someone in Konoha who helped them.” Shikamaru drawls. “After all, how could an outsider who’s never lived here know anything?”

Something niggles in her brain, but she focuses on eating her sandwich.

Ino sighs. “Daddy’s had to do so much overtime at his work because of this stupid thing.”

She narrowly avoids flinching, and asks, “What does this have to do with your dad doing overtime at the flower shop?”

Theres’s a silence.

“What?” Ino says, confusion written all over her face.

She shrugs. She doesn’t think she said anything weird...

“Mayu.” Shikamaru says slowly. “What is it you think Ino’s family does?”

She takes another bite that tastes like cardboard and carefully thinks over her answer. “...Flower shop ninja?”

Ino snorts and Hinata begins giggling quietly, while Sakura stares at her. She shifts in her seat.

“Right.” Shikamaru says, squinting at her. “Okay. And Chouji’s family? Or Kiba’s.”

Oh, she knows these. “Chef ninja and dog ninja.” She replies confidently.

Chouji shrugs, nods, and bites into an onigiri while Kiba cheers, pulling Akamaru off his head for cuddles and doggy kisses.

“My family?” Sasuke cuts in, bags under his eyes. He looks like crap.

She meets his gaze head on. “Police ninja.” Then she puts the other half of her sandwich and her cherry tomatoes into his lunchbox.

He looks down at it, grunts, and bites into the sandwich. Then makes a face. “Too much mustard.”

“Blame Naruto.” She says, grinning at the boy in question’s mildly irritated “Hey!”

“Mine, Shino’s and Hinata’s families?” Shikamaru asks, head now cradled in his hands.

She frowns. “Insect ninja...” She points at Shino, who inclines his head, “I have no idea about Hinata...Sleepy ninja?”

Ino and Kiba promptly crack up. Even Chouji chuckles a bit.

Shikamaru’s head drops through his hands and thunks on the table. “How have you lived in Konoha your whole life and still know nothing?!”

“I know some things!” She argues, flushing in embarrassment. “It’s just—knowing what food you like is more important than where you come from, right?”

There’s a moment of silence as everyone stares at her.

Then Hinata goes red as Chouji hums next to her, a quiet, happy sound, and Shikamaru mutters “Troublesome,” under his breath as everyone focuses back on eating.

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day Two Hundred Eighty-Five: Scissors ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: A Light Amongst Shadows ] [ AO3 Link ]

For most of her life, Hinata had no sway over her appearance. Hiashi kept her attire neat, always sporting their clan crest as not to let her forget who her actions represented. And even her hair was never allowed to grow, restricted to a traditional hime cut through all of her schooling, and even upon becoming a genin.

For the most part, Hinata didn’t really mind. Her clothes suited her well enough, especially with how baggy they were. Her lack of confidence coupled with her early blooming meant she was more than fine with being hidden under fabric. And in all honesty, her short hair was useful, keeping it out of her face when training or doing missions.

But after graduating from the Academy...things began to change for Hinata. Her teammates, a far cry from her own timid nature, helped bring out a subtle shift in her mindset. Watching her inspiration, Uzumaki Naruto, continue to defy odds made her believe that maybe there was still hope for her. 

The greatest change, however...came from her first attempt at the chūnin exams.

With mounting tensions behind the scenes, it was already slated to be an interesting year. Konoha’s junchūriki, as well as Suna’s, were going to be participating. Otogakure, a new village, was submitting entrants. And both Hinata and her cousin Neji would be thrown in together for the exams. At first, she’d simply hoped that they would skate past one another, never truly interacting.

But due to the high rate of completion in the Forest of Death, the proctors declared a preliminary round before arranging for the final task. And that was when random chance intersected with fate.

Hinata was to face Neji.

On one side, a girl attempting to change and defy the expectations and opinions of her clan. On the other, a boy born into servitude and mistreatment by that same clan, his genius overshadowed by his birthright. Hinata had long questioned the seal, knowing it was the reason behind her cousin’s anger and hate...and she knew it was justified.

If she were to be the outlet for that hate...then so be it.

But nor would she just give up…!

No matter her pain or stumbling, she refused to stay down, even as those around her cried for the match to end. It wasn’t until her heart was struck and Neji restrained that she was removed from the arena, rushed to the hospital and barely saved from an early death.

And still she wondered...had she changed? Even a sliver?

Would everyone be...proud of her?

Neji’s match against Naruto was quite the upset, Hinata torn between her cousin defying his fate, and her idol continuing on. In the end...Naruto was victorious, and Neji left to think. And his considerations were only deepened when Hiashi finally told him the truth of his father’s death.

From there...Neji too began to change. And Hinata was eager to see it, forgiving him his aggression and wanting only to rebuild what should have been a friendship from the start. Together, they began to train and strive to improve, gauging their progress against one another.

Hinata, finally, was flourishing. No longer did she have Naruto to worry about, the Uzumaki set to leave Konoha for three years. In those same years, she was determined to become someone worthy to walk beside a student of a sannin...and everyone else in their year. No longer would she be the timid, hesitating little genin. Hyūga Hinata was going to blossom at last.

And with her confidence...her hair began to grow. With Hiashi’s acceptance of her and Neji’s growth and independence, she was left to craft her own image. Foggy memories of her mother always included long, dark hair. So Hinata decided to emulate.

The next four years were filled with constant effort. Even upon Naruto’s return, she refused to waver. Though still soft compared to others she knew - Sakura’s take-no-shit attitude, Ino’s unshakable confidence, Tenten’s self-assured will to reach her goals - Hinata nonetheless kept training.

So when she stood before her village’s greatest enemy in the pits of its ruination, she did not tremble or flee. She stood her ground...even if, in the end, she knew it would be useless.

No more running away. No more second guessing. No more doubt. Even if she would face death...she’d do so with her head held high.

But Pein did not kill her, despite his best intentions. Hinata scraped through, her second near-death experience only serving to harden her resolve. Come wartime, she was ready, giving her all for her village, her country, her world. All of her hard work, all of her effort...it couldn’t be for nothing.

...and then the mokuton speared through her most beloved cousin’s chest.

Neji...unshakable pillar of strength and inspiration. Her cousin, her mentor, her friend...choosing his ultimate destiny. For her sake.

It shattered her, it boiled her...but only for an instant, heart pushed back to let her mind do what had to be done in the aftermath.

In the end...they were victorious. The cost was high, but that of losing would have been the ultimate price. Priorities, perspective...everything was changed.

A long-standing friendship would see her cousin brought back to her, and Hinata vowed then and there that she would never again let a brother die for a brother unless it was his own will. The Hyūga seal would die with him...but this time, stay dead.

Looking in the mirror of her rebuilt room, still novel after the leveling of Konoha, Hinata tries to recognize her reflection. The past several months after the war have been...difficult. Rewarding, but a test of her resolve and spirit. Hanabi has been working with her, alongside Neji, to end the Hyūga seal. Their Uchiha allies stand with them. But there’s still something missing...and she can’t quite place it.

She looks into the mirror...and in some ways, she doesn’t recognize who she sees. Hinata of the past is only caught in glimpses, pieces of the face that stares back. Her face isn’t as round as it once was, stripped of the stubborn baby fat that always made her look so childish. Still heart shaped, it’s more mature than it used to be. Her eyes are the most distinct difference. Hardened with all they’ve seen, shadowed with a lingering exhaustion she can’t seem to shake. So many time she closes her eyes and sees the war...sees Pein...sees the Tsukuyomi dream that now feels more like a nightmare.

...she really has changed. But has it been in all the way she’s wanted?

Studying her own face, she grips a pair of scissors in her hand. The tradition of long hair in the Hyūga is a prominent one. Her father, her cousin...Hanabi is the only exception, but she’s still young despite her heiress position. Soon, Hiashi will let her grow it out as a symbol of recognition.

Hinata, however...knows of another rite of passage. That of severing the past, giving oneself a clean slate. For four years now, she’s let her locks grow unfettered. These strands know of her failures, her victories, her joys and her sorrows. If she cuts them off - if she severs them now - will she get the rebirth she wants?

...for now, she sets the blades aside.

A bit more time to think.

“...you want to what?”

“It just feels like...maybe I should.” Hinata brings her hair around her shoulder, stroking at it slowly as Sasuke watches. He’s become a close companion during his stay in Konoha after his brother’s return. There’s only a handful of people she would consider breaching this topic with, and he was the first to come to mind that would give an honest answer. “...while I’ve grown a lot from all I’ve faced these past few years...it also feels like it’s all weighing on me. Part of me...wants to be rid of that weight.”

Sasuke knows the tradition well - Sakura did it during the chūnin exams, and another dear friend did the same for a fresh start so many years ago. “...I suppose that decision lies most with you.”

“...you really don’t have any o-opinion?”

“If you want to cut it, cut it. If you have any doubts, don’t. While it will, in time, grow back...it’s a lesson in consequences. This decision will have lasting ones. But…”

She glances up as he fades to silence, and then stiffens as he takes a section of strands. For a moment, Sasuke’s gaze is miles away...and she has to wonder what he’s seeing.

“...the rumors were true back then. I’ve always been fond of long hair. But no one ever really knew why.”

“...what was the reason?”

“...on most people, it’s never really mattered to me. Sakura’s didn’t, Ino’s didn’t...because it wasn’t quite right. But in your case...it fits rather well.” Slowly, he lets the hair slip from his grip. “...I like long hair because it reminds me of my mother. It’s not quite the same shade, but...yours reminds me of hers the most.”

In spite of herself, Hinata feels her heart quicken in her chest. She...she reminds Sasuke of his mother…?

“...but it’s still your choice. I can see the reasoning from both sides. Don’t make a call on my account, or anyone else’s. Like I said, your choice will have consequences, but...yours, at least, won’t be forever. It can grow back again. Not everything - or everyone - has that luxury.”

Hearing the weight in his words, Hinata swallows dryly. “I...I understand.”

“...good. Did you need anything else?”

“No, um...that was - that was all I wanted to ask you. Thank you...for being honest with me.”

“It’s one of my few virtues,” he replies, giving a hint of a smile. “Hope you find some peace, whatever you decide, Hyūga.”

Nodding, she watches him go, her heart finally calming as she finds herself alone. Pale eyes flicker back and forth as she thinks.

...maybe...the scissors can wait.

                                                            .oOo.

     I am...v tired, so I dunno if I'll have much to say this time around xD      Hinata's hair, as small of a detail as it might seem, is interesting to me. Kishi obviously kept it short to signify her lack of care about Sasuke's supposed preference, but...well, it obviously is a little different in a universe where they get together. The verse I write really only changes post 699, so maybe her motivations ARE still the same when she's little. But I also like the idea of the Hyūga influence, too. Neji is a bit of an outlier there, but that COULD be explained by his genius, even if he's not Main House.      ...I dunno, I'm too tired to elaborate as thoughtfully on this as I want to, but hopefully you get my meaning xD      With that tho, I'm gonna wrap up. Thanks for reading!