#hatake iruka

[littlechinesedoll]

Like a Prayer - Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruko fic

Like a Prayer Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/46367686.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Category: F/M

Fandom:Naruto

Relationship: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruko, Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka, Uchiha Fugaku/Uchiha Mikoto, Haruno Sakura/Uchiha Sasuke

Character: Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto, Uzumaki Naruko, Umino Iruka, Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha Mikoto, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Itachi, Haruno Sakura, Yamanaka Ino

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Japanese High School, Bullying, Haruno Sakura Bashing, Haruno Sakura Being An Asshole, Good Parent Uchiha Fugaku, Angst, Love Confessions, Female Uzumaki Naruto, kakairu adopts naruko

Summary

   Naruko has long hair. Down to her waist. It used to be a messy boyish pixie cut when she started to grow it as a prayer, when one day during a day out hanging with him, Sasuke made an offhanded comment about how a woman with their back turned to them, had such beautiful long hair.

   She cuts it all off a week before graduation, when she saw a girl in their year with pink hair half as long as hers, latch onto Sasuke’s arm, and Sasuke didn’t push her off like he usually did with other girls.

Notes

   This was inspired by: https://twitter.com/pukun_p/status/1643638533276459009

See the end of the work for more notes

---

“What did you do to your hair!” Sasuke demands when he sees Naruko with a blunt bob down to the curve where her neck met her shoulders, and textured bangs. By her ear, that enamel fishcake pin Sasuke got when he went past an accessories store and thought of her. She’s never taken it off since Sasuke got it for her.

Sasuke hasn’t seen her in a week. They’ve been together every day since they were five (unless their parents had to take them somewhere), hand in hand and cheek to cheek when they were children, and shoulder to shoulder as they grew up, and this is the first time in their lives that Sasuke hasn’t heard from Naruko for a week. No note, no call, no text, no nothing, when she can never stop messaging Sasuke all kinds of random things.

Then she shows up on the last day of school, having cut all her hair off. Sasuke wonders what’s going on inside her head—what would prompt this drastic change? Sure, she looks great in this new haircut, but what was the point of growing it that long, and dragging Sasuke to her shopping trips looking for products to make sure her hair stayed soft, shiny, and volumized, only to just cut it all off?

Was it just… an impulse decision?

It’s graduation day. Sasuke would love nothing but to ask Naruko and her parents to join him and his parents to lunch out to celebrate, then spend the first day of summer vacation with her.

---

It’s graduation day. But Naruko would like things to be over so she can try and continue to compartmentalize and not break down in front of her best friend. The love of her life.

She wants the ceremony to be over because her full-time job starts at 11am and the ceremony will end at 10:45am, so she has to pedal as fast as she can to get to the coffee and bakery shop she’s been waiting at in the last week in attempt to avoid Sasuke. Besides, there was nothing to do at school anymore since she got all the credits she needed to pass and graduate.

“I cut it,” she says, “I got a full-time job, contractual though, and I thought the hair got in the way of being productive at work ,” it’s a lie. She could easily just put it up into pigtails, braid them, and wrap it around itself in a bun to keep it out of her face while she waited and bussed tables.

She cut it in the hopes of moving on. Letting go of this silly little crush. Of the silly hope that one day, Sasuke would look at her and tell her he liked her hair. That he’d ask to touch it or offer to comb it because he wanted to feel the softness between his fingers, and let the fresh floral scent fill his senses. That he’d tell her that he liked her back the way she liked him, and her prayer would be granted.

It was foolish of her to hold on to this stupid prayer. Because of course, Uchiha Sasuke, the most handsome, most popular, smartest boy in school, would pair up with the smartest, prettiest girl in their year, Haruno Sakura.

Because who would ever look at loud, obnoxious, tomboyish, scar cheeked, chubby, orphaned Naruko, who barely passes math, and picks fights, eats too much and has pudge, and wears a skirt below the knee unlike all the other girls because she hates that her thighs are too thick. Not cute is what she gets from their classmates all the time.

She tries not to compare herself to other girls, she does anyway.

Sakura is top of the class, the valedictorian. She’s on the math team, vice president of the literature club, and is student council president, and gets tons of chocolate on White Day because she’s pretty and all the boys like her. She got accepted to a good school and will become a doctor.

Sasuke is second next to her. Sasuke’s the captain of the baseball team, part of the kendo team, and gets tons of chocolate on Valentines’ Day because he’s handsome and all the girls like him. All his applications were accepted and he’s sure to follow in Itachi and their father’s steps to run their family business.

Then there’s Ino whose hair never really needs any combing, with her fair skin, scar-free face. She’s captain of the debate team and a member of the kyuudou team. And Hinata who’s the very definition of cute to every guy in their class: small, quiet, demure, small voice, who liked giving out sweets to anyone who’d take them. They get chocolate on White Day, too.

And Naruko. Naruko likes to eat ramen, make clay frogs, and joined the garden and flower arrangement club, and is always tanned—shades darker than every other girl, and always sweaty because she’s always under the sun in the garden. She’s never gotten chocolate on White Day from anyone in her life.

It’s not that she’s insecure, because hey everybody’s got something they hate about themselves, and she doesn’t have enough self-hatred to change anything. She just… knows she’s not pretty. Average, at best? At least she’s not completely ugly. Maybe. Skincare never got rid of the scars anyway and she wears enough sunscreen.  

“I wanted to work over the summer to get some sweet cash to spend on stupid shit and food before college!” she adds with a grin. “Besides, all those hair products were getting expensive,” she scrunches her nose. “I could use that extra cash in case I need anything else when I move to my new apartment closer to the school. I didn’t want to bother my dads. They’ve spent enough already. Time to pull my own weight I guess,”

That one isn’t a lie. But she actually doesn’t need cash. She’ll be getting a full salary for two months before she gets to move. She hasn’t really thought what she’s going to do with all of it. All she wanted was a distraction. Iruka and Kakashi look after her well, and Kakashi has good income as a lawyer, and she has a grandma who has more money than she knows what to do with and she always handed cash over when she asked nicely, but only if she helped over at her grandma’s clinic, sorting documents or cleaning up the place, or taking over the secretary when she can’t come in.

“Why didn’t you tell me you got a job?” Sasuke asks. Because usually, Naruko tells him everything and if there’s something Sasuke knows about his best friend, it’s that Naruko can’t lie to him even if she tried.

They even shared plans for when they go to college. They planned on living in the same complex halfway between the community college she decided to go to, and the university Sasuke got accepted to. But things didn’t go as planned since Naruko’s parents can’t find anything within budget where Sasuke wanted Naruko to rent so they could be close, so they went with a student apartment complex near the community college. Which is easier on Naruko if she wants to go home during the weekends since it’ll only take a short bus ride.  

Naruko actually wants to skip the ceremony right after she gets called on stage, so she can leave and not see the what the fuss is about when people gather around to watch Sasuke give Sakura the second button on his uniform jacket when she asks for it as they exchanged gifts. (1)

She doesn’t want to hear the cheers of the student body when the handsomest boy and the prettiest girl finally get together because it makes sense.

That doesn’t stop Naruko from having a gift for Sasuke though. She’ll try to be as casual as possible, keep it together, and last long enough for Iruka and Kakashi to get photos and then she can go back to work, cry in the locker for about five minutes, get her shit together, and probably hopefully be successful in avoiding Sasuke and as she tries work herself to death for the next two months before starting college in attempt to push aside these feelings.

A teacher’s voice comes from the campus speakers. Students are being told to gather at the ceremony area.

That’s Naruko’s cue to give Sasuke her gift, because she wants to avoid the awkwardness, and not give anybody the chance to assume that she’s confessing her feelings because she’s giving Sasuke a gift. Good thing it’s not chocolate, because Sasuke hates sweet things.

“Congratulations on graduating!” Naruko practically shoves the white gift bag into Sasuke’s hands.

In it is a small pack of the expensive, fancy green tea she bought with her first week’s salary, a coaster she made in the pottery seminar she went to in the shape of a cat’s head, and a small candle that smells like freshly laundered sheets.

“See you later!” she says.

It’s another lie. She runs over to where her class is, separate from Sasuke since he’s in the class with the achievers, and she’s in the class of not-so-achievers, and waits for the ceremony to start.

---

“Haruno Sakura, Class 3-A, Konoha School of Medicine,”

---

“Uchiha Sasuke, Class 3-A, University of Konoha,”

---

“Hatake Naruko, Class 3-C, Nishiba College,” (2)

Naruko climbs up the stairs to the stage, a grin on her face, genuinely elated she’s finally done with high school. She bows to the headmaster and accepts the fake rolled up diploma, then bows once again before going back to her seat. She doesn’t look for Sasuke in the audience.

---

When Iruka and Kakashi have gotten their fill of photos, of all of them together, one with each parent, and Naruko alone with the stage as the background, she tells them she’s about to be late for her job and rushes to the school quadrangle where her bicycle is parked, and where students are gathered giving each other congratulations and making plans for the summer as the last day of school ends.

She knew it, people are gathered around Sakura and Sasuke, and she doesn’t stay around long enough to watch Sasuke give Sakura the second button of his jacket and breaks into half a sprint to get to her bicycle.

---

Sasuke thanks Sakura for her gifts but gives her back the gift bag and doesn’t give her the second button when she asks for it. He leaves her there and doesn’t pay her any more attention as he looks around for Naruko. He doesn’t see her but sees Iruka and Kakashi. Iruka may stay a while longer because he’s a teacher and Kakashi may have to go back to the office if they weren’t able to take the whole day off for their daughter and the lunch they're supposed to go to.  

Whispers and silence blanket over the crowd as Sasuke leaves Sakura in the middle of the quadrangle, second button-less, headed for Iruka, gathered with other faulty near the school building entrance.

“Oh, she left!” says Iruka with a disappointed frown when Sasuke comes up to them to ask. “Late for her shift, she said. We were supposed to go to lunch with you! Please tell Mikoto-san we can’t make it. We can gather gain when Naruko-chan’s on her day off, okay?”

Sasuke didn’t even get to take a photo with her. Naruko always insisted they take photos together on the last day of school before summer. Today is their last “last day” together, and they have no photo for it.

“Sure. What time is she getting home?” Sasuke dares to ask.

“She usually gets in before midnight,” says Iruka with a sigh. “It’s concerning, our little girl out that late, but that’s the shift she agreed to,”

Midnight? Naruko shouldn’t be out that late without him if Sasuke has anything to do or say about it. Sure, she can handle herself and can throw a mean punch if she wants to, but still. He’ll even do whatever Itachi wants, even be his runner for work the entire summer, if it could mean he can borrow his car and pick her up—every night if he must—instead of Naruko riding her bicycle alone in the dark.

“Can I go pick her up?” he says without thinking.

“Oh, that’s sweet of you, Sasuke-kun!” Iruka breathes in relief. “Is it okay if we leave Naruko to you?”

“Of course!” Sasuke answers without missing a beat. Aside from her parents and his family, she wouldn’t be safer with anyone else but him. “Sensei,” he says because they’re on school grounds, “Kakashi-jisan, let’s all have lunch with mom, dad, and Itachi, to celebrate sometime soon?”

“Sure,” Kakashi nods. “Naruko’ll let you know when her off day is, okay?”

“Do you happen to know where the café she works at is?”

“It’s called Cream & Sugar if I recall correctly,” says Kakashi.

Sasuke nods, bids them goodbye, then returns to his parents and brother who are ready to take him out for a celebratory lunch. They’re disappointed Naruko isn’t coming with them.

---

“Sasuke, where are Naru-chan, Iruka-san, and Kakashi-san?” his mother asks as he gets in the backseat of the car, next to Itachi.

“Iruka-jisan said they’re sorry they can’t make it today since Naruko said she’s late for work. We can gather again on her day off,” he says as he straps himself in.

“Oh, that's a shame,” Mikoto tuts.

“Alright, fess up,” says Itachi as their father eases out of the parking lot. “What did you do?”

“What? Why’d you think I did something?”

Itachi raises a brow. “If there’s someone between the two of you with less self-awareness it’s you, Otouto. Besides, even if you did Naru-chan wrong, she can’t ever manage to stay away from you too long, ever,”

“Itachi-kun,” their mother sighs, “At least say with a little bit more grace,”

“Well, she hasn’t been at the house for a week,” remarks Fugaku. Naruko’s a noisy child but he’s learned to love her too, and that she’s good for Sasuke and Sasuke is good for her. “Better say sorry even though you don’t know what you’re sorry for, Sasuke,”

“Listen to your father, boys,” says his mother. “He’s right,”

“Oh, what a miracle, the blessed words right from your lips,” Fugaku chuckles, Itachi rolls his eyes at the flirting.

Sasuke ignores it and opens the gift bag from Naruko and stares at the variety of items. He loves every single one of them—Naruko always knew what he liked. He opens the card and sees her messy but still legible handwriting.

サスケてめへ Sasuke-teme he To Sasuke-teme,

おめでとうございます！できただってばよ！自分に気を付けてね！ Omedetou gozaimasu! Dekita datte ba yo! Jibun ni ki wo tsukete ne! Congratulations! We made it! Take care of yourself.

ナルコより Naruko yori From, Naruko.

What had he done? To deserve just a cold sounding card without a single emoji, and not a hug on one of the biggest days of their lives?

---

Naruko cries in the locker room when she gets there, replaying the small scene with Sasuke and Sakura in her head, over and over again, imagining Sasuke handing over the button to Sakura, them sharing a hug, and Sasuke inviting Sakura instead of her to a celebratory lunch like Mikoto-basan told her they’d go to after the ceremony.

You have no right to be hurt, she tells herself, sniffling as she pulls on her uniform, then ties up her apron at the back. You have no right. She can’t help but be hurt anyway, and she hates it.

But she must admit, though. A successful businessman and a doctor, that’s a power couple right there if she ever saw one.

Naruko wants to finish college just to say that she did—because it had always been Sasuke’s plan. She plans on taking something close to administration, even though she isn’t good with authority figures. The connections and skills someone gets from helping run a company might help in the mundanity of personal life. Maybe she’ll get into the firm Kakashi works at and work her way up to be a legal secretary or an administrative officer.  

She removes the fishcake pin from her hair and shoves it in her bag to make sure she doesn’t lose it, then pulls her hair up into a neat half-ponytail. Then she changes her mind about the pin, fishes it out of the bag, and uses it to pin her bangs to the side. She’s never taken this off since Sasuke gave it to her a year ago and she isn’t about to stop now.

Though she might, just to take her mind off it.

It isn’t fair, she thinks. She loved Sasuke for so long. Longer than anyone else, she’s sure, except maybe his parents and Itachi-niichan. Like how she knows the way he likes the cheap shirt she got him from Uniqlo that he’s worn so much it’s gone ratty and got holes already on the seam of the shoulder blade and near the neck hole. Mikoto-basan offered to sew it for him but he insists he likes it still.

She knows every inch of his room, the shampoo he uses, how he likes his eggs in the morning, what kind of tea he likes, what to get him at the café, or during sleepovers, where to get her futon from, and how he likes it when she blow dries his hair at night after a bath, or how he complains when Naruko shoves a headband on his head to free his face of hair and smears all that skincare on his cheeks and forehead but secretly likes it because it the scents are so light and fresh.

Now she can’t do it anymore. She must respect his girlfriend, even though she never respected Naruko. She misses Sasuke so much, but she has to stay away from him. She’s been on the wrong end of Sakura’s attention before, and it’s not something she wants a repeat of.

“Look, I know you think you two are best friends or whatever label you’re using to delude yourself. Because honestly, a stupid, scarred, class-C piggy like you? Can’t even tell you and a whole chashu roll apart! Sasuke-kun is too smart and has far too refined taste for you. You? He would never, ew,”

It’s a miracle the acetone she used to remove the superglue Sakura and Ino poured onto her hair didn’t burn her hair right off.

She didn’t tell Sasuke nor her parents.

Sasuke, out of anger, might make a scene and humiliate Sakura in front of the entire school, Iruka might bring this up to the headmaster and she might not graduate on time, and Kakashi would most definitely sue—he’s known for crushing the guilty accused and leaving them penniless.

That’s not something she wants to happen. It’d be a taint on Sasuke’s character, a stain on Sakura’s educational and legal background, and too much work on Kakashi. She’d rather stay away from Sakura to save her own sanity and self-respect. Naruko may be stubborn and too headstrong at times, but she knows when to stop, especially if she knows nothing will come of it.

So, she washes her face in the staff restroom, ices her eyes to depuff them, then faces the day’s customers with a smile and a bow. If working hard and long enough to tire herself out is the only thing she can do to avoid thinking about Sasuke and just sleep when she gets home, she’ll do it. Maybe if she does it long enough, she’ll forget about it.

Who knows, maybe Sasuke won’t even notice her gone with how much time he’s going to spend with his new girlfriend.

---

When her shift ends, she’s surprised to see Itachi’s SUV, a white Land Cruiser, waiting across the street from where she bolted her bicycle at a bicycle rack.

“There you are!”

She half gasps when she sees Sasuke step out of the driver’s side of the car.

“C’mon, I’ll put your bicycle in the back. I’ll take you home,” he calls out as he crosses the street toward her.

“What are you doing here?” she asks, watching him unlock the rope lock with the spare key she gave him years ago when she first got her bike. “How did you know where I work?”

“I asked your dads,” he answers, “Iruka-jisan said he was worried about you being out so late, so I offered to pick you up,”

What if one of Sakura’s friends were around and sees them? Just because they’ve graduated doesn’t mean Sakura doesn’t have the means to find her. Stay away from him, she reminds herself, stepping away from Sasuke to make sure there’s always enough space between them.

Which confuses Sasuke, because Naruko is always all over him. Not in an ecchi sort of way, since she can’t flirt to save her life, but always touching, latched onto him, always a tackle hug when she sees him for the first time that day, or when he surprises her, and she doesn’t expect him to be at the place she’s at. Pinching or poking whatever part of him, draping herself onto him whenever she pleases.

Why? Why all this… space. They’d been attached at the hip since they were kids. Now Sasuke’s had an entire week without any kind of physical contact with her. It’s not right. She’s supposed to run to him and tackle him in the middle of the street even though there’s a chance they can get run over despite not there being any cars at this hour. She’s supposed to be giggling and happy that he’s here, because she always is.

Quietly, Naruko nods and follows Sasuke to the car because she’s too tired and hurt to argue. He deposits the bicycle in the back, and she wordlessly gets in the front seat and buckles herself up. Sasuke gets in, clicks the belt on, starts the car, and the silent drive home is excruciating. Before, Naruko would eagerly plug her phone in and start playing whatever’s on her rotation or bother Sasuke as he drives and laughs when he tries his best not to crash.

Now, there’s… nothing.  

“Why are you still in your uniform?” is what Naruko settles for halfway through the ride.

“I didn’t… feel like changing out of it yet,”

He’s still in his white collared shirt, black pants, and his usual school sneakers. His jacket isn’t on. Naruko guesses the second button is missing now, held close by the pretty girl Sasuke likes.

“I liked your gifts, thank you,” Sasuke says when Naruko says nothing. “I’m still going to get a warmer for the candle though, so that I don’t have to light it and forget. Don’t wanna burn the house down,”

“I’m glad,” she says. She doesn’t sound like it.

When Naruko is happy, everybody knows it. Her smile is as bright as the sun, grinning like her full cheeks will burst. Her voice is big and boisterous and can cheer anyone up. This isn’t Naruko.

Sasuke pulls over a few streets away from Naruko’s house, puts the car in neutral, and activates the breaks. “What did I do?” he dares to ask instead of just following his father’s terrible advice.

“What?” Naruko looks at him for the first time since she got in the car. “What do you mean?”

“What did I do, Naruko?” he repeats the question. “There must’ve been something I’ve done for you to just… stop.”

“S…stop?”

“Yes!” Sasuke says in frustration. “You barely talked to me this week. Not a single message. You didn’t even tell me you got a job,”

Naruko shrugs. “You never reply anyway,”

“That’s because all you send me are memes!” he argues. “I’d reply if you sent something I could actually reply to,”

“I’m just… tired. Having a job is new, y’know?” she sighs. “I didn’t expect shifts to be that long, or the tasks to be that many, to be honest,”

“Then negotiate for shorter shifts!”

“Ah, but I like the long shifts, though,”

“What?”

“It’s ah… the long hours keep me busy and tired, so there’s no chance to think about things I don’t what to think about. Work, sleep, eat, repeat and all that,”

That’s not healthy at all. “Things you don’t want to think about… what do you mean?”

Naruko unbuckles her seatbelt then unlocks her door. “Thank you. I’ll walk the rest of the way,”

Sasuke quickly locks the car and grabs her wrist.

She gasps and pulls her arm from him. “Don’t touch me!”

Of course Naruko’s raised her voice around him. All the time. But never really at him and that’s what catches Sasuke off guard. Since when did she dislike Sasuke’s touch?

“What if she sees us!” says Naruko, “What if someone else she knows sees us? Then rats you out?”  

“What? Dobe, I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about right now. Who’s going to see us?”

“Sakura! Your girlfriend!” Naruko hisses. “Didn’t you give her your second button!”

She has to get out of here. She can’t cry here. She fumbles with the lock.

“Look, I’m not that smart but I know taken men aren’t supposed to be touching any girl other than their own, so stop it, Sasuke. I’ll stay away from you, so you don’t get into trouble with her, okay? I’ll just walk home,”

Once she finally manages to unlock the door, she hops out and slams the door shut. If she can hold it in until she gets to her room, gods favor her, even through the front door, that’d be great. She can’t stay here and be forced to confess feelings that will never be reciprocated. There’s no point. She has to keep it together, or she’ll look like some desperate girl, crying because she can’t get the attention of the boy she likes.

Sasuke hates girls who beg for his attention. She doesn’t want to be that girl. But she thinks to all the years they’ve spent together and realizes, what if she’s been that girl this entire time? Always invading Sasuke’s space, taking his things, putting herself in his personal space without ever having asked if that was okay.

So that’s what the movies were all talking about, Naruko thinks as she breaks into a jog, when they say to love is to let go. She loves Sasuke enough to preserve his new relationship.  

“Wait! Naruko, stop! That’s not—ugh! Listen!” the passenger door closes with a loud thud and Sasuke groans as he unbuckles his seatbelt, then grabs his uniform jacket from the backseat before stepping out of the car. “Wait!” he pulls it on as he runs after her. “Dobe, I said wait!”

“Hey! Ow!” Naruko exclaims when Sasuke gets a hold of her wrist and yanks her back.

“Listen to me!” Sasuke tells her. “That girl isn’t my girlfriend!” (2)

Naruko stops struggling.

“Look at my jacket, Naruko. I didn’t give her anything!”

He’s right. Naruko looks at the shiny gold buttons on Sasuke’s black jacket. It’s all there. Not one’s missing.

“I saw you…” she lowers her head, not wanting to look at him. “She was all over you, and you didn’t do anything. And after the ceremony… everyone was watching you and her,”

Sasuke thinks back to the day she’s talking about. “I didn’t push her off because Kurenai-sensei was there, and I didn’t want to get into trouble. This morning, she did ask me for the button,” he says, “But I didn’t give it to her,”

He’d been much crueler to Sakura than he intended though, but she wouldn’t take a hint and he’d had enough. “Why would I give you a button at all? I don’t like you,” he’d told her as he rejected her gifts before rushing toward Iruka.

Sasuke reaches for the second button, pops it off, turns her wrist around to open Naruko’s hand, and places it in her palm, then lets her wrist go. “I would never have given the second button to anyone else but you,”

Naruko thinks the amount of crying she’s been doing the last few days can last someone else a lifetime, but Sasuke’s gesture moves her to tears still, and then she finally gives in to the need to throw herself at him.

Sasuke welcomes Naruko into his arms and hugs her like he’s never hugged her before. She cries and cries into his jacket.

“I missed you!” Naruko sobs. “I thought you had a girlfriend and that I couldn’t see you anymore!”

She’s not even mad about him getting some other girl because Sasuke doesn’t owe her his feelings just because they’ve been together so long. She’s just sad and hurt there was a chance she couldn’t see him anymore had his girlfriend been a type of person who’d forbid him to see other girls even as a friend—forbidden to see her.

The boy presses hips lips against his best girl’s temple.

“I’m sorry,” he says finally.

“Why are you saying sorry?” Naruko pulls away from him as she sniffles. “You have nothing to be sorry for,”

“I still hurt you though,”

Naruko shakes her head. “I hurt myself. I hurt you. I’m the one who’s sorry,” she opens her hand, “You… like me?”

Sasuke hums. He doesn’t even know when he started liking Naruko. He just… woke up one day and realized he can’t live without her. Doesn’t want to live without her. Doesn’t want a future without her. He wants this button to be the start of the forever Sasuke wants with Naruko.

“Because… I kinda like you, too,” Naruko gives him a wet, embarrassed smile. “Like, a lot. For the longest time,”

The dorkiness of Naruko’s confession is what makes the moment close to Sasuke’s heart. He chuckles. “What a coincidence, I like you, too,”

Naruko pouts and pokes at Sasuke’s chest. “You’re making fun of me,”

Sasuke pulls her back into an embrace and kisses her hair. “C’mon, I’ll take you home. Then I can walk with you to work tomorrow,”

The button digs into the skin of her palm with how tight she’s holding onto it. She has Sasuke back. She’ll be sure to keep him forever.

“And oh,” he says, and Naruko looks up at him. “I like your hair,” he runs his fingers through the soft, short locks. “Looks good,”

She grins at him, swollen eyes and all. She doesn’t have to grow her hair out again. Her prayer’s already been answered.

---

End Notes

   (1) On graduation day at junior high or high schools, a male graduate may give the second button on his school jacket to a female student. It is usual for a female junior or classmate to ask the senior male student she likes for his button. If the male student likes her too, he may give her his button. Some popular male students may receive many requests from female students, but he will give his second button to the girl he likes the most, and the other buttons to the other girls. The significance of the second button is that it is located closest to one’s heart.

   (2) I planned on putting here the fictional made up Nishiba Senmon Gakkō, Westleaf College/Community College. Just played around with some kanji. West because I like it, and leaf because Hidden in the Leaves. 「Nishi・にし・西」 for west; 「ha・は・葉 」for leaf. Ha becomes ba when read together with nishi. Nishiba. 西葉.

   The University of Konoha I ripped off The University of Tokyo, and Konoha School of Medicine I ripped off Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, because there aren’t really any fancy-named universities in Japan. 😅

   Also, in Japan I don’t think they actually announce the schools the graduating students got into. They did at my school, though! (I didn’t live or study in Japan). I just wanted to emphasize the divide Naruko and Sakura had with their educational goals.

   (3) Um, the level of “brashness/rudeness” of Sasuke’s speech and the casualness/closeness of his relationship with Naruko I imagine for this sentence doesn’t come through in English lol. I think in Japanese this would have been “Ano onna wa ore no kanojo janee yo!” ・「あの女は俺の彼女じゃねよ！」・「あのおんなはおれのかのじょじゃねえよ！」

   “Usually” (with quote unquote!! don’t take my word for it!!) ‘that something/someone’ or ‘ano hito/koto/mono’ or 「あの一人・こと・もの」sounds… rude? In a sense? Sort of like Sasuke isn’t willing to say ‘that person’s’ name, or ‘that’ said with disgust, or he thinks it’s not worth his breath saying her name, as opposed to it being a filler when ‘forgetting’ that person’s name.

   I also imagine that the Japanese Sasuke uses with Naruko is very casual, that’s why he uses 「ore・おれ・俺」 a rude/arrogant version of I, because he’s close to her, and why he uses 「negative/is not・janee・じゃねえ」 which is even ruder/casual than 「janai・じゃない」, which is already a rude/casual from of 「ja arimasen・じゃありません」. Maybe for people he doesn’t know he uses 「boku ・ ぼく・僕 」which is the polite version of I for boys.

   Had Sasuke been politer or had he been speaking to his parents or an authority figure he respected, it would’ve been「Ano onna wa boku no kanojo janai!」・「あの女は僕の彼女じゃない！」・「あのおんなはぼくのかのじょじゃない！」there’s an even politer version of this sentence but I doubt Sasuke would use that on anyone.

   There’s something so cool about rude Japanese, don’t you think? I would one day LOVE to learn how to speak or write in the politest version of Japanese, kinda like how an assistant would speak to their superior, or a butler to his master. Anyways I’m not that good at the implications of chosen words or tone in both English and Japanese so there’s that. But I enjoy learning both languages (English isn’t my native language).

   This fic was inspired by: https://twitter.com/pukun_p/status/1643638533276459009

   Thank you for reading!!

Please drop by the archive and comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!

[yg-arts]

Comic inspired by this post made by @kkirincorrectquotes .

[sasukeuchiha-24]

Kakashi Hatake 🪷🍃

[rutbort]

Art dump wips auughhhhhh#хуйзалупажопачлен

[bonanza-tact]

Sometimes a calm afternoon with your adopted son is what you might need

[a-ard]

naruto x bleach au

[ahofroggo]

I love iruka and his family

[p-papiru]

Sunset 🌇

[kankuroplease]

[irrevocably-delicious]

Another kakashi focussed comic!

This will be my last naruto comic for a little bit, but I had so much fun making these that the odds of me never doing another one are slim. I’m going to gather them all up to make a zine out of soon.

I hope you enjoy this last one. This one is a little more loosey goosey.

First comic

Second comic

Third comic

[saintsole]

you say it's because of my age, girl. but age ain't nothin' but a number

art by @sso_s__ on X!

[kakashixhatakesxwhore]

Random NSFW headcanon please? (If you do nsfw...)

alrighty roo, buckaroo, lets discuss kinkage - thank you so much for the request

Random Kinks They Deffo Have

They: Iruka, Kakashi, and Itachi (with additions of Sasuke and Shikamaru) (f!Reader)

Warnings: whew! Swearing, explicit smut, power play, somno/free use, auralism, names of authority, praise kink, spit/blood/cum play, idk just please be 18

Notes: This one is for the freaks, obvi Boruto!Sasuke and Boruto!Shikamaru, I'm begging for everyone's thoughts and opinions - be prepared for Shikamaru's to be nasty

Masterlist💿

Iruka

Power Play

He just fucking loves when you take control

Anything you tell him to do, Iruka will do compulsively, and he's absolutely twitching when you tell him how good he is for doing so

All! About! Your! Pleasure!

Iruka's favourite encounters would be when he's not allowed to touch you, though, funnily enough

You're riding him, and all he can do is watch your sultry smile and feel your pussy hugging him tight - he wants to feel you, to run his hands all over your body - but he can't - or else you'll slow down to a halt and sometimes even pull him out, just to give him a beration of sorts

Now, that said, Iruka does not fuck with demeaning talk - you better love on this motherfucker, he's trying his goddamn best for you, and if you should negate that, it would allow a dark cloud to form over Iruka's mind

You don't want that, right? Exactly. So you keep it sweet, you give him stupid, little commands then fan the flames of his ego when he completes the command in spades

Lowk gets boyfriend-brain when he's with you, so kinda does need to be told what to do

Iruka is a sweetheart!!! He's always going what he can for you, all the time, even if you don't explicitly ask him to every time

Kakashi

Free Use/Somnophilia

When you said you would be okay with giving it a trial run, Kakashi was elated, and fucked you four seperate times that night, and began again before you woke up in the morning

He fucks you slow, almost trying not to wake you up, but the stretch is unmistakable

"Good morning, pretty lady. Have any good dreams?" He would ask, noticing your quickened breath, making you instantly relax into the situation

You love it - you stop sleeping in any amount of pant, just so Kakashi could have you as he pleased

When you got home, he would be pressing you against the door, when you try to start chopping vegetables for dinner, he would bend you over then pop you up on the counter when he just couldn't get enough

Kakashi's condition is that everything spontaneous happens within your shared, lovely, little home

He might sneak you away occasionally while the two of you are out, finding a small cache in the forest, but Kakashi would be asking for permission, assurance, consent at every step of the way - public is just different, but he's not entirely opposed

Kakashi just can't believe he's got you, and every time he looks at you, he needs to have you

Itachi

Auralism

He needs to hear you; the way your voice quakes, the way your nails rake across the skin of his back

Itachi's favourite sound though, is the harmony of your bodies meeting, skin smacking skin, squelches and a slick plunging sound, filling the room

Yeiff - let alone fucking outside - my god - Itachi wants your encounter to be so loud that the whole world knows what's going on

With his shit eyeslight, Itachi would prefer to close his eyes while fucking you, letting your beautifully wanton sounds paint a picture in his mind

In a perfect world, he would totally love to get tied up with a blindfold on - just to be at the mercy of your light touch and the intoxicating sound of your pleasure - Itachi would break the binding eventually, desperate to have his hands on you, needing to fuck you hard enough to hear the smacking and sloshing

Itachi is also the primo dirty talker, insisting you reply to him through your stinted pants, sharp gasps and breathy moans

His whole arousal around the subject of sound is cranked up to ten the second the two of you are in public - your little yips when he squeezes your ass, or the biting 'Itachi' that slips out of your mouth when he corners you to cop a feel

Oh, he fucks with names, you can call him whatever the fuck you want, so long as he's the one you're screaming about - but he likes it when you speak to him with more authoritarian honorifics (sir, daddy, lord)

Sasuke

Praise

Ooh, tell him he's hitting the spot and Sasuke would lose it, only trying to hit the exact same spot again

If you're ever out, singing his tune to another party, about anything, and Sasuke catches wind, he's taking you home immediately to prove he can provide more than you bargained for

Y'all, lets be real, and acknowledge that sweet Sasuke craves praise in any and all capacities, but most fervently in the four walls of your bedroom

Again and again, it doesn't matter how many times you tell him, he wants to hear it again

"Sasuke, your cock is so fucking big," you gasped as he slid in slowly.

"Louder. Tell the neighbours."

Loves, loves, loves to be able to hear the affect he's having on your body, every wave of pleasure, every jolt from your orgasm

Even if it's visibly clear that he's got you like putty in his palm, Sasuke will demand that you tell him how good he is, how deep he can reach, how much your pussy loved him

You're a blabbering mess, and it strokes Sasuke's ego to no end that he can bring you to this point, absolutely drunk with pleasure

Shikamaru

Spit/Blood/Cum Play

Anything Shikamaru can ingest that comes from your body (not excretions, sickos), he will

It's insane when you two hit the trifecta - Shikamaru cumming all over a patch of knicks on your stomach then spitting on the pile of liquid, he would mix it all together with his index finger, on top of you, before he would lean down and lick it all up, shoving the finger covered in the rose-tinted mixture into your mouth

Mm mm mm, and your cum, my good Christ, does he ever love your cum

Nothing brings Shikamaru so much joy as pulling his fingers out of you, being coated in a shiny slick

There's also something about the way your face screws up every time he brings a kunai into the bedroom - Shikamaru goes weak in the knees when he sees your crimson blood, glinting on the tip of the knife, losing it even further when you lick it off without hestitation

He's going to cum on your face, just to see you try to open those pretty eyelashes of yours, beads of white weighing them down

Shikamaru had no clue he was into fluids, until you randomly asked him, one day, to spit in your mouth - it's been a done deal since then, spitting just comes with the territory eventually

He always loved seeing your body get painted with his cum, but it's a whole different ball game to watch you play with it, to watch you lick it all up without wasting a drop like you used to do (honestly, Shikamaru can't even remember why he used to wipe his cum off of you)

[rocketpunchhh]

this is the only scene ever in boruto. I think i'd remember anything else

[mishellii]

♢ᴘᴇᴛ ɴᴀᴍᴇꜱ ʜᴇᴀᴅᴄᴀɴᴏɴꜱ♢

naruto, sasuke, shikamaru, kiba, shino, neji, iruka & kakashi

a/n: sooo,, i SHOUld be working on my uni essays and on the bf!neji texts BUT this had been sitting in my notes app for a while so i decided to post it ;D (the neji texts will come soon i promise). some are longer, some are shorter for which i apologise,,,,,, please ignore typos, i can't spell & enjoy MWUAH

likes & reblogs appreciated <3

warnings: some NSFW parts! MINORS DO NOT INTERACT! :) also not proofread as usual

masterlist

♢ɴᴀʀᴜᴛᴏ ᴜᴢᴜᴍᴀᴋɪ♢

✿oh my baby boy

❀first off: angel. 100%.

✿because u are his angel u feel me

❀he can't go a day without telling u

✿then also just the basic baby

❀but mostly when he wants something from u or he's apologising for dumb stuff he's done

✿puppy eyes and all

❀and also during sexy time

✿it's his most used name for u there

✿fight me on this

❀big on his own self made nicknames for u

✿for instance: u fell down the stairs once?

❀"hey, stairs, how you doin'"

✿and just silly ones like: boo, pookie, apple of my eye

❀he's weird like that c'mon we been knew

♢ꜱᴀꜱᴜᴋᴇ ᴜᴄʜɪʜᴀ♢

✿now this guy is a wild card

❀he'd prefer ur name through & through

✿but he'd slip in a casual babe sometimes which makes ur knees weak obviously

❀because he barely ever calls u that

✿if ur married he'd only call you his wife

❀doesn't even let you answer questions on your own sometimes just so he can hit them with

❀"well, MY WIFE, thinks you suck ass, so.."

✿during sex he can be quiet mean 

❀I DONT THINK in the derogatory way but more in a teasing way

✿"c'mon, sweetheart, look at me."

❀when ur just about to black out??

✿but like i said 

❀not big on pet names but he'll use them more often if he knows u enjoy it <3

♢ꜱʜɪᴋᴀᴍᴀʀᴜ ɴᴀʀᴀ♢

✿pretty

❀just pretty bro.

✿not ALL THE TIME, especially not in public as i don't think he's big on PDA

❀but in the comfort of ur own 4 walls? definitely

✿now don't HATE ME for this but,,,

❀woman. and brat.

✿but only in petty situations, like when ur scolding his lazy ass and he hits u with a "go easy on me, woman, i just woke up."

❀or u've been going on his nerves while he's working

✿,,i'm busy, brat.''

❀in bed tho???

✿love or doll

❀i'm almost CERTAIN.

✿like,, can u imagine?? in his dumb fucking charming voice ???

❀PFFF i'm on my knees 

♢ᴋɪʙᴀ ɪɴᴜᴢᴜᴋᴀ♢

✿now this fucker

❀teasing names through & through

✿ur shorter than him? 

❀"hey, shortie, need help?"

✿ur taller than him?

❀"hey, giant, how's the weather up there?"

✿he's a DICK ok (affectionately ofc)

❀but he can be sweet too i promise

✿he's having fun with calling u bunny during sex or simply baby 

❀also ???? "okay, boss." when he's been annoying u all day and u finally snap at him?

✿he's a menace with nicknames i'm telling u

♢ꜱʜɪɴᴏ ᴀʙᴜʀᴀᴍᴇ♢

✿you probably guessed it and bully me if you'd like but,,,

❀bug or lovebug

✿come oooon he loves his bugs AND he loves you?? it fits PERFECTLY

❀not one to do it infront of other people either but in your private space he just wouldn't stop calling you one of these

✿i also see him using the regular honey but the abbreviation so hun because it's short and sweet and he doesn't like those long ass names

❀apologies if ur name is long LMAO mine is too tho

✿takes the hun into the bedroom but prefers a gentle love while having sex

❀shino's not a sweet talker in my mind, but the pet names make up for it FOSHOU

✿ALSO big brain idea i just had:

❀i think shino can't fully express his emotions verbally so before going on missions he definitely writes u letters and that's where he's blooming

✿''u keep me going everyday, sunshine.''

❀and it doesn't even matter if you have a bubbly personality or not

✿UGH lovesick fr

♢ɴᴇᴊɪ ʜʏᴜɢᴀ♢

❀this pretty princess doesn't even know ur name when ur alone with him 

✿ESPECIALLY when ur texting

❀sweetheart, love & darling

✿he'd make u fall in love over again whenever he calls u one of those i'm just saying

❀because he's always so sincere when he's talking to u it drives me crazy just thinking about it 

✿during sexy time too, he would NEVER

❀& i will die on this hill 

✿NEVER use any degrading names for u

❀ur his baby don't make him do that

✿even when ur fighting, he'd always address u in such a kind way i'm actually going insane

❀"have you had dinner yet, dear?"

✿ sedate me pls

♢ɪʀᴜᴋᴀ ᴜᴍɪɴᴏ♢

✿AAA this guy

❀soo,, like father like son,,, angel

✿u can't change my mind

❀being the kind hearted person he is, it just fits u can't tell me off

✿but i will also say he'd use some funny ones in private because we all know he's just a silly lil guy deep inside

❀i'm thinking toots & peach

✿especially when greeting u !! like ''ey, toots, how's it going?''

❀during sex he will be quiet awkward at the start of ur relationship, settling in angel as he's most familiar with it at first

✿but after some time he'd pull a babydoll or gorgeous on u

❀i mean,,, i'd cry but idk about y'all

✿oVERALL he loves using pet names and wouldn't be opossed to u calling him some sweet ones as well <3

❀call him handsome and he'll go through the roof

♢ᴋᴀᴋᴀꜱʜɪ ʜᴀᴛᴀᴋᴇ♢

✿AHEM

❀so this man,,

✿at the start of ur relationship he's such a shy lil bean so he'll only use your first name

❀but once he's been with you long enough he gets so so comfortable

✿starts of with the regular baby because u are his baby aight.

❀his most frequently used one too i'd say

✿but then he'd go like 

❀"hey, beautiful." "y'alright, sweetheart?"

✿and idk about u but i'd faint

❀HE KNOWS ABOUT HIS AFFECT ON U TOO

✿uses it against u during sex SO OFTEN

❀grunting a "there y'go, darling." into your ear with a sly smirk on his lips 

✿i'm (s)creaming

❀but he's a very private person so don't expect too much of that in public !!

✿a side from a "yes, ma'am" when u tell him not to die on a mission <3

a/n: i hope this doesn't SUCK ahemm,,, and i'll see you beans next time bye bye x

devider by @enchanthings

[rutbort]

Art dump+kkir

[skykashi]

Look at these new beautiful official illustrations from Borutage game 😍❤️