#he exists to haunt hinata for the rest of his life

[lotus-duckies]

so like do you think the kitagawa guys were ever on the recieving end of This Kageyama or is it reserved for hinata specifically

[bananami]

haikyuu characters as taylor swift songs (the break ups)

a/n: time-skip canonically exists and that's what i'm clearly using

in honor of the eras tour starting up, here are some t swift songs that would encapsulate what a break up with certain haikyuu characters would look like; i only did a few because this shit took some tiiiime ok

i'm gonna hurt myself with this one.

masterlist

would've, could've, should've

"god rest my soul, i miss who i used to be" "give me back my girlhood, it was mine first" "and now that i'm grown i'm scared of ghosts, memories feel like weapons, and now that i know, i wish you'd left me wondering"

the effects of a break up with him lasts longer than you would like, following you for months after and even into the relationships you try to have afterwards. everything reminds you of him. if loving him meant you were left feeling like this, you would've rather never loved him at all. the break up with him literally breaks you.

-oikawa, atsumu, suna

midnight rain

"he wanted it comfortable, i wanted that pain" "i broke his heart 'cause he was nice, he was sunshine, i was midnight rain" "and he never thinks of me"

you're the problem. he was the nice guy that you should've chose, but you didn't. years of bad relationships had scarred you for the worse. the problem was that he was perfect, too perfect, and you were broken. better to run while you still had the chance, you convince yourself it was inevitable and he was just too nice to end things. you would ruin it for the both of you, he would find better.

-hinata, bokuto, suga

cardigan

"you drew stars around my scars, but not i'm bleeding" "i knew you'd linger like a tattoo kiss, i knew you'd haunt all of my what-ifs" "i knew i'd curse you for the longest time...i knew you'd miss me once the thrill expired" "i knew you'd come back to me"

it's a constant game of back and forth that you grew sick of. you were done being a second choice. there are a lot of regrets after the break up, but you get over it faster than he does. it takes longer for him to realize it, and by that time, you've moved on. he's texting you, begging you to take him back, blowing up your phone with voicemails, sending flowers to your work. eventually you block him. you still love him, but you choose yourself this time.

-osamu, ushijima, kageyama

exile

"i think i've seen this film before, and i didn't like the ending, you're not my homeland anymore, so what am i defending now" "i can see you staring honey, like he's just your understudy" "you never gave a warning sign (i gave so many signs)"

the fallout is slow, you've fought and broken up so many times recently that it's no surprise this last time. what is surprising is when he sees you with someone new, looking happier than you ever did with him. he thought it was like every other time, he thought you'd get back together. the confusion on his face is clear, the anger is quick. how could he have missed the resentment growing within you? he'd never stop trying to come back into your life. sometimes you'd let him back in. every time, you'd regret it.

-kenma, akaashi, kita

all too well

"you kept me like a secret, but i kept you like an oath" "maybe we got lost in translation, maybe i asked for too much, maybe this thing was a masterpiece 'til you tore it all up" "you call me up again just to break me like a promise, so casually cruel in the name of being honest"

it's perfect until it's not. the worst are the conversations toward the end of it all. he's hurting you, but he won't let you go, sacrificing your happiness for his comfort in a dead relationship. you cry loaded tears and he makes barren promises. the break up isn't even the end of it. you can't escape him, having to share your friends with one another and working so close to each other. you want so badly to be over him, but the wound rips open at every reminder of his constant presence in your life. he won't let you go completely, but he won't ever love you the way you deserve.

-kuroo, iwaizumi, sakusa

[pandoraimperatrix]

When the war is over

NejiHina Week 2023

Day 5 - Choice

READ ON AO3

NejiHina Week 2023  

Day 5 – Choice  

Will you choose me when the war is over?  

And knowing how well you can read my eyes; I know you can hear the question I’m too much of a coward to voice, your kisses giving me no true answer but the ecstasy of our meetings help me to forget.  

I face hordes of men, slashing and brutalizing their bodies without flinching. Nor death not the dead can stop me while you heart still beats, while air still fills your lungs.   

Living soldiers and supernatural threats alike will never frighten me, only the truth. However, against the silence of your non-answer, I am powerless.  

The meaninglessness of killing, the violence are nothing against the doom befalling over me every time your eyes stray, searching for blue skies. 

From the heavens incompressible horrors fall, with you by my side, in battle, in bed, I fight men and gods alike undaunted.  

But how can I fight truth? How can I win over history? How can I kill the part of me that will not be satisfied, that will always yearn for more and more and more of you. 

I don’t mind the blood anymore, for when you join me at the Nakano River at night, I barely notice the red flowers dissolving, lead away by the currents as you wash me, warm fingertips in my hair, feverish sex engulfing mine in rapture, nor ice-cold water nor our feverish flesh can’t make me forget, but I still pretend.  

I pretend that this is forever, I pretend you will choose me when the war is over.  

Nobody thought the war would last so long.  

But sometimes, I have trouble remembering a time before it.   

There was once truly a time in which I was content by living a life in which I walked always two steps behind you?  

In which the idea of having you moaning my name as I take you against a three as the world ends around us was ridiculous?

Unimaginable?   

There was once truly a time when I slept easily on an empty bed?  

There was once, truly, a sorry past existence in which I didn’t find home in the curve of your soft waist? In which I didn’t know the paths of your body as my own homeland and didn’t know the taste of your mouth?   

Where I was free from the prison of death, the decay of a wartime, where I was accepting of my fate as a creature cursed by the ability of desire what he could never have, of picturing a reality that would never cross the boundaries of his own mind. A pitiful man convinced by himself that his heart’s deepest yearning was impossible and should be buried in shame. 

There was really, such time?  

I’ve lost the count of the men, undead, gods and aliens I have murdered, and yet, I can remember the first night you searched for comfort in my arms, and every night since then. I hear men talking all the time how they can’t sleep, that the dead come to haunt and stela the little rest they can manage to get, but by your side, in our bed, the oblivion of sleep takes me over easily than when I was an innocent man.  

Hinata-sama... No, don’t answer me, please, just take me inside of you again, please make me forget that the war will one day end, and you will remember that you don’t want me. That you gave up on me eons ago, that I’ve lost the right of even wishing you would look at me.  

You will go back to seeing me as nothing but a placeholder. A choice made in haste and despair, something you regret even now as I eat your moans, and bury myself deep inside of you as if I belonged there. After, it will be as always, the forlorn look in your eyes, your silences, even if you can’t let go, because war drives people to hedonism, it’s hard to deny oneself comfort when the world around dies in smoke and ashes.  

Even remaining in my bed, head pillowed on my chest, you’re already gone. 

Averting your eyes as if I won’t notice that you still cry sometimes, when you realize it’s me you see just before climax takes your mind away and all I have left to hold on tight is your quivering body and the torturing feeling that even though I’m the only one that has you, you will never crown me king of your heart. 

[suckishima]

Asahi?

Yess, thanks for asking!!

First impression: i loved asahi pretty much immediately, not only was the contrast between his image and his personality really funny to me (although i still disagree that he looks scary lmao, imo he's probably one of the most conventionally pretty/handsome characters in the show, but the various characters reactions to seeing him the first time is still funny), but i also related to him right off the bat. i was absolutely convinced that he was gonna be my favorite character at first lol

Impression now: other characters have stolen my heart a biiiit more than asahi, but that's honestly more bc of narrative focus than anything else. i still have such a soft spot for him, i really like how he is kind of a cautious scaredy-cat but at the same time he gets so focused in-game. the manga has these really nice detailed panels of his hands during his pre-serve routine and i just really like how it's used as like a representation of him pouring his intensity/emotion directly into his physicality so that he can play to his fullest. idk it kinda goes back to how i think contrast makes him interesting

Favorite moment: this is small, but i think about how he reacts to hinata trying to take the ball from him during the tokyo training camp a lot. he isn't mad or offended, or even like worried (like tsukki sort of implies), but instead he's motivated to keep working harder and solidify his place as the ace

Idea for a story: oooo i have a spoiler-y answer that i'd love to read from someone someday (and that i'm sure must exist somewhere), but maybe like a one shot from his pov of him and the other third years hanging out at nationals and like savoring their last tournament together

Unpopular opinion: i guess i already said this lol, but hOW is he scary-looking 😆i mean i get it, it's like the goatee and long hair as a teenager and there’s definitely a cultural aspect to those things with him being a teenager in japan, but i personally just can't look at him and see anything other than a very kind man lol

Favorite relationship: nishinoya! their friendship is so fun! like on paper they shouldnt get along, but i absolutely love how noya is asahi's number 1 hype man, and i can like actually picture them hanging out and doing stuff together outside of volleyball

Favorite headcanon: shimizu’s words about his bun being too tight and causing a receding hairline haunts him for the rest of his life until he eventually throws out all his hair ties and just leaves his hair long and free

[opalescient]

haikyuu fic recs — the most beautiful, lovely, breathtaking masterlist (vol. I)

so i’ve been binging fics to cure my sadness, and i thought that these select masterpieces were too magnificent to not be plastered on every billboard ever. some tore my soul into shreds, while others melted said shreds back whole, but all of them made me feel some form of sheer, unadulterated love, so. please enjoy! 🥰⛅️✨

note: all of these fics are exquisite and you should read all of them, but if you’re short of time, those with ☆ are my all-time favourites!

daisuga

butterfly in the subway by bigspoonnoya ☆ | T

Sugawara Koushi has no idea he's already in love with the man he's supposed to hate.

i lovelovelove how all the concepts tied in together like a perfectly wrapped gift

also very wholesome, made me feel so inexplicably warm. like, love can exist everywhere!!! despite everything!!! that’s just so inspiring

i revisited this many times, i think it was (one of) my first haikyuu fics and honestly. it set the bar so high and i have no regrets

you’d fit my lonely arms so perfectly by boxofwonder ☆ | G

“Oh. You're. Not Asahi.”

Calmed down enough that he can speak again, Daichi takes a deep breath, his smile settling on his face easily and wide.

“Not as far as I know, no.”

-

Suga accidentally calls a stranger instead of his best friend, tells him all about his burned batch of cookies before realising, and that particular mistake might turn out the best one he ever made.

major, major fluff

the buildup!!!

god this made my yearning for love so much worse

the perfect stranger by downmoon | T

There’s a man standing outside Suga's door.

Scratch that. Start over.

There’s a man he doesn’t know standing outside his door, holding his sleeping nephew in one arm, with another kid clinging tightly to his free hand.

so domestic please read the entire series from start to finish it has my whole heart

shoyou and tobio as their actual kids 🥺

these two parents are so in love it makes me wanna cry

asanoya

silica sand by lilien passe ☆ | G

Overworked, over-stressed programmer Azumane Asahi works on the top floor of a Shinjuku skyscraper. Nervous around his coworkers and terrified of the long drop on the other side of the window, Asahi falls into a miserable routine, only to have it broken one day by a simple message on the outside of the glass.

PLEASE. so well-written it makes my heart glow and ache simultaneously

made me ascend into asanoya heaven

such a brilliantly unique concept i love it A+

qué syrah syrah by loudlucy | M

Asahi wants to be a Master Sommelier. It's the highest honor in wine service, and the certification would allow him to live the life he's always envisioned for himself. Too bad the certification test is notorious for being the world's most difficult.

Most people fail their first time taking the exam, and Asahi is no exception, but he has more difficulty than most dusting himself off and getting back on his feet. Enter Nishinoya, a young man who shares his same dream, and who believes in their goals so fiercely it forces Asahi to embark on a delicious and sensuous journey of viticulture and validation.

AKA The Wine Tasting AU that literally no one even knew to ask for.

NOTE: You Do Not Need to Know About Wine to Understand This Fic!

another super unique concept!!! (´∀｀=)

my god their chemistry is amazing

the writing made me feel things ngl

stop my bones from wondering by cerasi ☆ | T

After graduation, Asahi hides from the world and needs help from a few sources to find his way back.

i want to write sonnets and sing ballads for this fic, it’s that beautiful

as always, Top Notch Writing *chef’s kiss*

no but i seriously... can i kiss the author? asking for a friend 😳👉🏼👈🏼

iwaoi

star-crossed by starlitcities | T

“I never thought I’d see the day that I’d envy a human,” Oikawa admits, showering himself in tiny suns, because he can actually feels those, like a fusillade of warm kisses on luminous skin that leave marks. To humans, they’d be freckles. Skin stars, Oikawa calls them. He didn’t make that up, a human did.

“Who created the rule that we can’t touch, I wonder,” Iwaizumi ponders, floating heedlessly through space.

“Maybe it’s because we can fly. Humans dream of flying, right?”

“I don’t think so.”

gsjsgsjshsjshsjsj star!iwaoi

they’re LITERALLY STARS

beautifulbeautifulbeautiful i love how the author conveyed the beauty of touch and humanity 🥺🥺

please bless yourself further with the sequel sun-kissed

conquering the great king by suggestivescribe ☆| E

Iwaizumi blinked his gaze over to Oikawa, "Last time was supposed to be a one time thing," he said, voice low, lacking some conviction.

Oikawa's lips twitched into a smirk and he brought them hovering just over Iwaizumi's, "One time thing, Two time thing, what's it matter as long as it's not a Relationship thing?"

yes.

in fact, this entire series (breaking the rules) features daisuga, kuroken, asanoya and it’s SO GOOD. every single one.

but anyway, character development!!!!! plot!!!!!!!!! writing!!!!!!!! i’m here for it all

tsukkiyama

campfire in your chest by deanpendragon ☆ | M

Kei realizes in their second year of high school that he’s probably been in love with Yamaguchi since they were ten. However hopeless he might be in handling that situation, Kei prays he’s at least not as hopeless as Hinata and Kageyama. But he just might be.

SO BEAUTIFUL

i am also a sucker for anything with stars, moons and all the love in between

no words to describe this work of art please just go read it and be blessed

under the lilac tree by raewrites | G

there’s a lilac tree in Kei’s backyard.

gorgeous in its simplicity

softtsukkisofttsukkisofttsukki

not as grandiose as the rest but the love written into every word, action and character is absolutely show-stopping

kagehina

saffron and cayenne pepper by dontsaycrazy ☆ | T

Cooking is hard. Even if you have your very attractive, very grumpy neighbor there to help you.

-

In which Hinata's lack of cooking skills are a danger to him and others. Luckily (or not), Kageyama is willing to teach him, if only for the sake of avoiding any burned down apartments.

the essence of their characters were captured so well and yet it’s like they’re completely new characters too? author, whoever you are, you totally owned this

this made me ship kagehina so hard

fluff! cuteness! lots and lots of cooing!

kuroken

the galaxy is endless (i thought we were, too) by cosmogony ☆ | T

soulmate

/ˈsəʊlmeɪt/ • noun

A person who was made from the same star as you.

-

// Kuroken AU where the last words your soulmate will say to you appear on your skin when you turn 16, and how Kenma and Kuroo learn what this means over the course of their lives.

ahhh here it is. beautiful, heartbreaking, soul-emptying agony. you want angst? choke on this, and your tears later on.

no but seriously please read this if you haven’t you won’t regret it at all i promise

written from kenma’s perspective so you experience every depth and multitude of emotion he does and it’s so raw and- brb imma go cry for a sec

knot in my heart by hearthope | T

There’s a picture. Kenma blinks, looking at the little calico cat, being held up next to the face of a guy with stupidly messy hair and a crooked grin.

Cute.

The— the cat. The cat is cute.

Just the cat.

-

Kuroo starts spending a lot of time at the flower shop Kenma works at. Kenma definitely isn't into him.

okay so i like it when authors unravel a normally stoic character’s full scope of emotion and give them depth, sue me.

anyway, back on the fluff train!

i absolutely f*ck with flower symbolisms, cats and bitchy best friends who have dirt on each other. the layers of romance, friendship and everything in between is so prettily developed 10/10

bokuaka

the jacket you never returned by daisuga ☆☆ | G

He leaned over, kissed Bokuto on the cheek, and smiled bitterly, eyes watery.

He will never remember. Not now, not ever.

What they were will now forever be forgotten.

-

"You used to call me Keiji, Koutarou."

YOU USED TO CALL ME KEIJI, KOUTAROU!!!!!!!!!!

i beg you to listen to Spiegel im Spiegel when it’s first mentioned in the story please

i read this and screamed through my tears for a solid 1.5 hours. i rarely cry.

no f*ckin regrets though i read this thrice already and it hurts so good every time

rules by conesofdunshire ☆☆ | E

In which Akaashi Keiji is an overworked accountant who stumbles upon Bokuto one night playing the piano in the lobby of his work. Bokuto is different, that much is obvious. But with such supreme musical talent and a smile so dazzling it rivals the sun, there's just something about him that brings Akaashi back every night.

this fic. this fic has my whole, broken, sobbing heart and laughing soul

gorgeous. breathtaking. magnificent.

bokuto is so WARM and akaashi is so STRONG and they both find the solace they need in each other and it’s all i want for me 😭😭😭

in another life by littleluxray | T

Sleeping didn't come as easy as it used to. Bokuto knew this, and now Akaashi did, too.

The hospital AU that no body asked for, but that I took upon myself to write.

this is a famous fic that i doubt any seasoned haikyuu reader wouldn’t know, and RIGHTLY SO BECAUSE, the PAIN. the pain. the pain.

i could feel my lungs shrivel up and my chest cave in on itself. fatigue and rest are things i struggle with too so this whole story resonated with me from start to finish, and it broke me. in like, the best, most revitalising way

i would read this again but it still haunts me at night. i need to heal from the first time before i have the guts to try one more time HAHAHA 😆💔😭

tea-stained polaroids by dalyeau | G

“I'm gonna date that,” Bokuto declares solemnly, and Kuroo throws a plastic spoon at his head.

mmmmmmm pretty photographer + personalised coffee cups + cute baristas = diabetic fluff fic

i smiled so much throughout this you have no idea. cheeks achey but so good

i may have squealed a little at the ending

kurotsukki

moonfall by batman | T

There is no unlearning Tetsurou, after all. There is only leaving him.

-

(Five things of Tetsurou's that ended up in Kei's home, and one that never left.)

the writing!!!!!! is pure beauty!!!! sheer grace!!!!!!! the construction of the AU and the romanticism and hsjsgsjshsj

didn’t cry but. heart ache and bittersweet smiles are another level of misery that is just as fulfilling

yea just pleasepleasepleaseplease go read it thank you and have a good day

hidden gem by realmSpinner | E

Things get complicated when everything you thought you knew about a guy changes, and they get even more complicated when you actually start liking those changes.

That guy working with you AND becoming your neighbor? That's just a cherry on top of the cake of confusion.

this AU was refreshingly different, and amazingly so

top!tsukki??? sign me the f*ck up

the whole plot, man. perfection.

pings by barfs ☆☆ | T

[5/02/16, 3:50:17 AM] Tsukishima Kei: Please wake up.

[5/02/16, 3:50:23 AM] Tsukishima Kei: I hate begging. You know I hate it.

[5/02/16, 3:50:34 AM] Tsukishima Kei: I bet you’re snickering at that, wherever you are.

[5/02/16, 3:50:53 AM] Tsukishima Kei: But, it keeps hurting and I don’t know why and it feels like shit and I know you could tell me why, but you’re not here and I would really appreciate it if you’d just wake up.

[5/02/16, 3:51:02 AM] Tsukishima Kei: You’re laughing at that too, aren’t you.

[5/02/16, 3:51:10 AM] Tsukishima Kei: Dying is probably up there in the list of top ten shitty things you’ve ever done, and you’ve done a lot of shitty things.

god.

you already know what’s coming, and yet. when it comes.

how the f*ck did the author make grief beautiful????????? (at the expense of me dying along with kei and everyone else i guess)

this fic will ruin you and bury you under all your pain (i hope you’re ready)

but also put you back together with the “sequel”

kyouhaba

close to the chest by darkmagicalgirl | T

It takes Yahaba thirteen years to realize he's different from the other kids, one to figure out how to hide it, and two more to learn to be happy just the way he is. Yahaba's journey ft. an extremely annoyed Kyoutani, best friend in the world Watari, and loads and loads of good senpai Oikawa.

cause i’m (not) alright with the slow, burn~

no fr, take slow and burn very seriously

overthinking yahaba? i understand. i do.

again, such an amazing fic; 10/10 recommend

safe here by crossbelladonna ☆ | M

“Raids are routine work,” Kyoutani tells to Yahaba before he can air the question. “Sometimes there is no sleep done until we accomplish something, say kill a certain ghoul. I guess they’re still going through the possibility that people in the accident are still alive huh?”

Yahaba quirks a smile, pushing his mask up his head.

“You’re alive.”

Kyoutani looks at him intently and all of the things that they’ve gone through for the past month seems to flash in his mind.

“Yes I am.”

i haven’t watched tokyo ghoul but i understood everything perfectly. such is the power of f*cking kickass writing

*cue ugly crying and a lot of unresolved angst*

like the grief??????? ruin me please thank you 🙏 (i think i’m a little masochistic)

rare pairs

mannequin men by surveycorpsjean ☆ | M

[bokuto/akaashi/kuroo/tuskishima]

The modelling world is full of hungry wolves, constantly clambering over the other, snarling and desperate. They fight, and they kill, trampling over anything in their path.

In this case, Akaashi fell in love with the wolves.

i did not expect this to be good, and it wasn’t. it was SPLENDID.

akaashi is so enamoured with them from the get go i love it

a tiny bit of angst that stabbed me in the heart, but the happy ending soothed it (thankfully, because if there wasn’t one i will sue)

characterisation, writing, plot development; everything is great. can you tell i’m running out of synonyms for ‘beautiful’

feel like gold by heronfem ☆☆ | T

[bokuto/akaashi/kuroo/kenma]

In which Kenma is unapologetic and comfortable with who he is, Akaashi learns a lot about himself in a short period of time, Kuroo is wildly in love and an eternal survivor, and Bokuto remembers that love doesn't cure mental illness, but having a support system sure helps a lot.

Or, the one where 4 young men get together, and are helplessly, hopelessly, utterly in love despite everything.

e.e. cummings?? poetry??? f*ck yes

so beautiful. i’m so star-struck by this fic it’s simply stunning

there are no words to fully capture how worth your time and heart and mind reading this fic is so please. do yourself a favour, and fall in love with this fic with me

the sky and guilt are the only feelings i have left by oopsthisisqueertoo ☆☆ | not rated

[bokuto/akaashi/kuroo]

Akaashi is at his wits end. He feels nothing. He's quickly crumbling as a human being. He wants nothing but sweet release of death. In his fourth year of college he drafts a plan for his suicide. He is to graduate, publish writing for others to be inspired by, and slip quietly away. Shortly after, he meets a dog walker named Bokuto who asks him out and Akaashi reluctantly agrees. Nothing matters anymore and he treats Bokuto like an obligation. Until he's not anymore.

TW: SUICIDE ATTEMPTS & DEPRESSION

this was... this gutted me entirely and filled my body with too many shades of agony

arguably one of the best haikyuu fics i’ve ever read

so beautiful in the most painful way fathomable; strongly recommend

april to may by surveycorpsjean | T

[bokuto/akaashi/kuroo/tsukishima]

They're an odd family.

The four of them? Parents?

But still, they're a family.

So they'll support each other until the end.

aaahhhhh third gym as parents 🥺

so much fluff. i also love april and may

they’re still so in love there’s love in every millimetre of this fic :”)

that’s it for now! i’ll add more if i come across anymore good fics. i hope you enjoyed this list! if you have any requests/fic recs, or if u just wanna chat, feel free to just ask! hehe 🥰 k aight bye~

[magioftheseas]

The Remnant

Written for @izuruzine

Summary: Post-Canon AU where Kamukura Izuru is a ghost that starts haunting/terrorizing his once former self.

Rating: PG

Warnings: Vague references to canon events.

Notes: This is the other fic I wrote for the zine! It’s more like a bonus piece, but I do quite like it. I’m all about post-canon recovery, and I thought this would be a fun and interesting take. It’s not my usual brand of sentimental, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s still short and sweet.

***Alternate Ao3 Link*** Commission? Donate?

He had already predicted everything that would happen. But regardless of what happened, it would be of no concern to him because he would no longer be present. Regardless of the future, Kamukura Izuru’s existence would come to an end.

There was no reason to meet any of the remnants once again. Or so he thought.

It turned out that even one so beloved by talent was not omniscient.

--

While he was no longer present in a tangible sense, he still existed as a specter. A transient observer to Hinata Hajime’s life from then on. Watching the once normal boy make use of his talents here and there, and toss back and forth every night, plagued by scattered memories. Every so often, Hinata would wake with a strangled gasp, his chest heaving, his shoulders trembling, and his face wet with tears. With twitching fingers, Hinata would reach up to comb his fingers through his hair. He’d flinch whenever his fingers brushed against the ruined scar tissue atop his head like a twisted crown.

Kamukura Izuru would observe. Night after night. Watch Hinata Hajime muster up an air of normalcy and force himself to lie back down and attempt restful sleep once more.

“You are hopelessly dull, Hinata Hajime,” Kamukura said. “You have people you can confide in. Suffering alone does not suit someone as plain as you.”

Of course, Hinata Hajime hadn’t responded. How boring.

--

Simply watching became intolerable, so Kamukura Izuru began to test the extent of his capabilities as a specter. He found that while Hinata Hajime responded to brushes of contact with a shiver, inanimate objects were more complicated. He could flip the pages of a book, but he couldn’t pick up or carry the book itself. He could only move small, relatively light objects such as chopsticks and empty glasses.

Hinata Hajime always jumped when Kamukura swept aside his eating utensils. He was especially startled when Kamukura knocked over his glass. Hinata’s gaze jerked towards Kamukura’s direction, except it wasn’t quite lined up.

Kamukura flicked his forehead. Hinata stiffened, but it wasn’t long before his shoulders slacked.

“Must be going crazy,” Hinata muttered to himself.

“As if you weren’t already?” Kamukura asked him and, predictably, didn’t receive a response.

--

On one hand, making Hinata Hajime worry he might be haunted was rather pointless. On the other, Kamukura did feel a twinge of satisfaction when Hinata flinched in front of the mirror. More so when Kamukura knocked away his toothbrush and Hinata was left looking rather helpless.

Kamukura was acting out. He’s quite aware of this. These acts of defiance and rebellion made for poor justifications of his existence.

Well, he hadn’t exactly wanted to keep living upon entering the simulation. In a way, this was karmic punishment for threatening to throw away not only the lives of the remnants but the remains of Class 78.

“It’s your fault as well,” he told Hinata. “You were the one who agreed to the project in the first place.”

Hinata continued to comb through his hair furiously. He can’t seem to get the antenna quite right. His grimace was darkening.

He yelped when Kamukura pulled on his cheeks.

“S-Seriously what the hell?!”

“Hell is right,” Kamukura hummed. “This existence is hellish. However, you know the saying, don’t you?” As there is no point in waiting for an answer, he simply prodded the once normal boy and watched dully as Hinata turned away. “Misery loves company.”

--

Of course, Kamukura Izuru could not be satisfied with stagnancy and solitude. It had only taken X amount of days before the vacancy of living day to day as a mere tool and accessory for the Hope’s Peak Steering Committee had driven him to take the first hand offered. It hadn’t mattered the wretch that hand was attached to.

Hinata Hajime could not fully retreat into himself either. Or, rather, he would not be allowed to.

“Hinata-kun! It’s been a while!”

Komaeda Nagito. The former Ultimate Luck of the 77th batch of Hope’s Peak Academy. Recently recovered from once malignant lymphoma. The second ‘owner’ of a certain wretch’s hand has since been replaced with a bionic one, which Komaeda Nagito was using to wave at hi—them.

Komaeda’s gaze flickered towards Kamukura Izuru. His smile widened. He waved again at both of them.

“Aren’t you going to let me in?” Komaeda asked in a purring lilt as if Hinata had the heart to slam the door in his face. “It’s rude to just make someone stand on your porch.”

The sky was overcast, but Komaeda Nagito is more threatening than any storm. Hinata Hajime might manage a smile, but Kamukura Izuru was now alert.

Because. Komaeda Nagito could see him.

“Come inside,” Hinata said, standing aside.

Kamukura huffed. Komaeda smirked in his direction, which was wholly different to the snide glee of one Enoshima Junko but was unpleasant all the same.

--

“How lucky it is that I’ve gotten the chance to see you!” Komaeda exclaimed, gushed really.

“I mean, all you have to do is call,” Hinata said. “I’m always willing to meet up.”

Komaeda’s smile didn’t twitch, yet Kamukura saw through him easily.

An irritant as always.

“I don’t know,” Komaeda went on with a patronizing attempt at innocence. “Lately, it seems you’ve been keeping to yourself.”

“Has it?” Hinata grimaced. “That’s... I just...”

“No man is an island, you know. I worry the isolation might drive you mad.”

Hinata flinched at that. But even under Kamukura’s darkening glare, Komaeda was a careless beam of light. So irritatingly bright, especially with an avid gaze that was as sharp as it was often intense.

Komaeda was similar to Hinata in some unfortunate ways. Their dedication to talent for starters. When compared to Kamukura however, Komaeda was his complete opposite.

Nosy, pushy, and passionate in his pursuits—Komaeda was...completely different.

“I guess I do...get lonely,” Hinata muttered deferentially. “There’s just so much going on my head.”

Komaeda looked at Kamukura.

“Stating it out loud might be a good start,” Komaeda said. “Simply not acknowledging it will not cause those problems to disappear. The opposite, really. You’re causing it to fester.”

“Is that really what you think I am?” Kamukura huffed. “A mere problem to solve? A loose end to tidy up?”

“I think,” Komaeda said, “That ignoring Kamukura-kun isn’t doing you any good.” He paused just a moment, looking at him. “You’re behaving rather childishly.”

Hinata was quiet. Komaeda smiled.

“You don’t need to make such a dour face,” he laughed then, waving his bionic hand. The mechanical whirl was only slightly less grating than the wheeziness of his giggling. “It’s just a comment.”

Because of his transience, Kamukura could not see whatever face he was making reflected in Komaeda’s twinkling gaze. All he knew is that he felt agitated. It was as if his very being was bubbling.

“You’re such a jackass,” Hinata remarked quietly.

“Ill-bred, even now,” Kamukura agreed just as quietly. “It is as if getting on the nerves is your talent, Komaeda Nagito.”

Hinata tensed beside him. Komaeda looked rather despicably pleased with himself.

“It’s just a comment,” Komaeda repeated stubbornly. “Rather than insult me, we can all talk things out like adults, yes?”

They both wanted to throw him out. It was easier, after all, to just be childish. To simply lash out at annoyances and pretend that menial rebelliousness was enough.

Some time ago, on a boat en route to a certain island, Kamukura had met this annoying person he quickly dismissed.

“There is no reason we’ll ever meet again,” he had said.

There hadn’t been any reason for Kamukura to think he’d still exist after. And perhaps for that reason, Komaeda could not be deterred now.

“Hinata-kun. Kamukura-kun.” Stubborn until the end of time, Komaeda kept smiling at them. “Let’s talk things over.”

“This is your fault,” Kamukura told Hinata sourly. “You were the one who let him in.”

Hinata...flinched. Then, Hinata let out a long, heavy sigh. Kamukura, too, couldn’t help but sigh.

It was a little like submitting to fate itself.

“What do you even want me to say?” Hinata asked.

“I do not want to even have this conversation,” Kamukura muttered.

Komaeda laughed again.

“I think it’s lucky that we’re all here,” he said. “There’s no reason not to take advantage of this opportunity, right?”

Even one beloved by talent can be unlucky.

That was the thought Kamukura Izuru had. But now that it came to this, he could only look forward.

Because he was here, he would have to move forward.

“I suppose I should begin,” Kamukura said.

Hinata gave him a wide-eyed look as if seeing him for the very first time.

It was, admittedly, not only comical but another push forward for someone who had thought his existence would be voided. Perhaps, then, there could be other forms of amusement down the line.

Either way...

“I had thought I wouldn’t be present anymore,” Kamukura said. “And yet, here I remain.”

This will be the first step.

[new-tella-us]

Komahina Oneshot

Komahina ft. Trans Hajime. Another Tumblr inspired post. The tumblr account is catboymoments. Gotta give credit where credit is due.

If you didn't know that this is very gay and trans then idk how you got here but I'm happy to have ya.

But seriously, this has some pretty big trigger warnings

- Gender Dysphoria

- Complicated pregnancy

- Mentions of abortion

-PTSD

Anyways Onto the Oneshot!

Wow! I'm Pregnant! We're gunna have a happy family! Except...I'm a guy.

I feel horrible... This has been going on for about three days now. Mornings are the worst. I can't tell why. It's starting to worry Nagito and it's not like I can fake it, I tried. You can't fake puking. I can at least fake being somewhat lively.

...I need to get up. Need to get moving. Need to- Nevermind! I need to puke! Fuck... This feels disgusting. Maybe I should try and diagnose myself, or have Mikan help me. I felt a pat on my back; I knew it was Nagito but, I couldn't look at him while puking my guts out. When I finally finished desecrating the poor toilet I got up. I was sweating, pale and covered in whatever I managed to puke up on an empty stomach. I flushed the toilet and washed my face.

Nagito gave me a worried look. What was once an 'are you okay?' question turned into, "How are you feeling now?"

"I'm better," I responded. There wasn't much else to say, "I'll get this checked out soon, I'll just give it another day or two."

Nagito face turned stern, "Hajime, you need to get this thing checked out today! This has gone on for too long." He went out of the bathroom and grabbed his phone, "I'm calling Tsumiki-chan."

"Nonono! It's okay Nagito! I'll do it tomorrow! I can handle this myself!" I responded, a bit panicked. I never liked getting help from others, it didn't feel right to bother someone over something I can do myself.

"You said that yesterday. I'm calling Tsumiki-chan." He said in a more stern voice. I couldn't respond, there was no point in arguing with him when he's like this, plus; he's right. He made the call. I didn't hear Mikan's side of the call but, from what I can hear on Nagito's side, they made a time, 1 pm. He hung up and looked back at me, his glaze softened.

"Let's get you something to eat, okay?"

"Yeah," He smiles softly and gave me a small kiss on the forehead before leading me out of the house. But, while we were walking towards the cafeteria, a little voice told me something.

You know exactly what's happening.

I shook the thought away.

...

Breakfast was, mostly, fine. Only going to the bathroom once! Now, I have some time before I have to talk to Mikan. Nagito insists that I rest but I've gotten bored of doing that. I decided to just walk around the island. It was a really hot day and I was getting tired so, I couldn't walk for long. Huh, that never happens, I usually have more stamina than that... Maybe Nagito was right. Well, Nagito is usually right. Maybe I should just listen to Nagito more.

I started walking back, only taking a break to puke near a tree. Now, I'm really sweating, shaking too. I felt light-headed. Then, an unexpected helper appeared. She put my arm on her shoulder, behind her neck, her other hand supported me from my side. I didn't look up, I didn't need to. Her light orange kimono with scattered pink cherry blossoms gave away who she was.

"Hey Saionji..."

"Didn't listen to Komaeda again?" She knew it...

"Nope." I responded with as much satire I could muster.

"You're an idiot."

"Yup" Indeed I was but I could think about that a little bit more when my head wasn't spinning like crazy. Hiyoko helped me back to my cottage before leaving me to enter it myself. I opened the door and both Nagito and Mikan were sitting on the couch. I guess she came early.

"Hey guys, it seems like you were both waiting for me. Sorry about that."

"I-It's fine Hinata-san. So tell me a-about your condition. I've only seen g-glimpses of it" Mikan said.

So I explained. The morning sickness, the lack of energy and stamina. The fact that I can't even walk around the island without becoming pale and out of breath. Mikan thought about it and started checking her tablet. I assumed that she was looking up what this could mean before her eyes widen on something.

"I-I....I never knew this. Umm...I'll b-be right back." She seemed nervous as se got up and practically ran out of the house.

You know where she's going, you know what she's getting

There's that voice is again. I have no time for hallucinations or weird creepy messages.

...

Mikan returned after a few minutes with a little rectangular box in her hand.

"Welcome back, Tsumiki-chan. Now, are you going to explain why you suddenly freaked out like that and left?" Nagito said.

Mikan's gaze fell on me. Her look was almost unreadable. It's very unlike her.

"Hinata-san. Are you trans?" She asked bluntly.

"Wh-What?! What made you ask that??" I panicked. How did she know? How did she guess??

She turned her tablet to me; my profile was on it as was everyone else's. She pressed one of those special info buttons and a symbol appeared next to my profile picture.

The Female Sex Symbol...

Silence...

...Shit...

"I'm surprised that you didn't realize that this button exists. After all the creator of these tablets had a member who's entire case was solved because their sex was revealed." Mikan said. She always did have more confidence when she spoke facts. I didn't have anything to say, neither did Nagito. Mikan handed me the box; it was a pregnancy test.

"I w-won't ask. That's your b-business..." Her timidity returned. No, she won't ask because she'll get her answer depending on what I say or do. I could hand her back the test. I could lie and say I'm a virgin but, that wouldn't help me...

I got up and went to the bathroom...

...

......

...Are...Are you serious...? The test came back positive?! I...don't know how to feel about this... At least I know what's happening to me and probably why it's hitting me so hard.

...I feel too sick for this.

You knew this was coming.

'Izuru...not now. Please.'

You know you can't fully get rid of her.

'Who are you talking about?'

As if to answer my question, he materialized but not as himself. He materialized as a young girl. A girl that looks a lot like me.

'Fuck off, Izuru. You know that's not me...'

Is it not? It's who you once were.

'That was never me! She was someone else. Just a person of the past.'

And that way of thinking is what got you here. It's time for you to face the facts. You may be a boy but, you're not male. You forgetting that is why that test is positive. You took a chance, you were risky and here you are.

'We're done here.'

I was steaming. I couldn't listen to another word that fell out of that man's mouth. I needed to calm down. I took some deep breaths and left the bathroom. Mikan left but, Nagito was still there. I wasn't concerned with him knowing that I was trans, he already knew; he would have to know since he's...

"So, what happened? What did she give you? Are you okay?" he asked but, I had a feeling that he knew. I didn't want the mood to be sour. Having kids is supposed to be a good thing so, I wanted to lighten the mood with a pun.

"Well, I guess I should be invisible."

"...What? What do you mean?" He looked puzzled.

I looked at the pregnancy test. "Well, I'm a trans-parent." (Yes, I took this pun from the same tumblr user)

He looked at me, still puzzled, for a few minutes before he realized.

"...oh. Oh OH! You don't mean-" He looked happy, so happy. He gave me a hug, "Oh my god! I've always wanted to be a dad!"

He has? Great... Personally, I never wanted kids. I used to but, secondary school... changed me and showed me that really, I don't. But I can't just make a split second decision, he seem so happy...

"Yeah, but can we discuss this a bit more? I have my issues that I need to address."

His smile faded a bit "Uh sure"

We both sat on the bed of our room. I didn't know what to say. I don't know if I want to do this but, it would feel wrong just to abort with no conversation.

"So umm... Nagito. I...I don't know if I'm- we're ready to have kids. I guess I'm kind of worried?"

Tell him the actual reason, Hajime.

"I don't know what effect this might have on me and I'm scared that I might not be a great dad..."

Hajime...

"Is that the reason?" Nagito asked.

"...Yeah"

If you don't tell him, I will.

"..." I wasn't going to say anything but, Izuru kept on his threat. I lost control of my body.

"He has gender dysphoria" Izuru said, "So this pregnancy is reminding him of his uncertainty. The place he used to live in was not the most accepting of transgendered people"

Nagito fell silent, he was stunned. Damn it Izuru... did you have to be so blunt? I got control of my body back, I couldn't even look at Nagito, I felt so ashamed, I was putting my anxieties above a life. It felt...wrong. Or is it a life? It's a clump of cells but, it can become a life. I've been around too many mixed influences. I wish I knew which decision was the good decision.

Then again..

Is there truly a 'good' decision? On one hand, I'm killing a potential life and that will haunt me but, if I'm not ready to be a parent, I'm bringing a child into a world neither it nor I'm ready for and with a current war having, it's not like adoption is an option and, like Izuru said, it forces me to accept-

"Why didn't you tell me?" Nagito asked. He didn't sound mad, he sounded sad and even a bit guilty, I didn't answer, "I'm sorry if me saying that pressured you." He gave me a hug. I felt so guilty. "I can't say that I fully understand but, no matter what you choose, I'll be in your corner."

"I'm gunna give it a week or two then I'll make my decision," I said nearly in tears, "thank you for being so supportive."

...

It's been two weeks, I thought about it everyday. I was already two week pregnant so with another two weeks, the time for abortion via safe mentions was soon ending. I hesitated and swayed back and forth on my answer. I truly didn't know for a while. But, about two days before my decision I found myself sticking to an answer. I'll stick with this pregnancy. It might help me get over my gender dysphoria, maybe not fully but, somewhat? Plus, it's quite an efficient way to tell everyone that I'm trans. And who know, maybe I'm a better parent than I think I am and with Nagito, I feel like I can take it. It's sort of strange; I'm aware of all the health risks, the mental tax, the problems and possible sadness but, I feel like I can take it. I feel calmer know that I at least, have one person- well two people with Tsumiki, in my corner.

"I'm keeping it" I said with a hug.

"Really? You sure?" Nagito asked.

"Yeah, we're gonna be a family." I smiled, it wasn't fake.

But of course, like everything else in my life, it didn't come without complication. I was already pregnancy four weeks and was just feeling more exhausted. Another week had passed and I kept feeling worse. I didn't know why. I felt exhausted and cold. I was exhausted but not tired, not sleepy. I was awake and shaky. Nagito called Mikan again when he started to notice how pale I was getting. She said it was Iron Deficiency Anemia along with Hypertension. Two things that were really common in pregnancy. She gave me medication for it and it did help but not fully.

At about 8 weeks, I told the group about me being trans and about the child. Mikan recommended to do that instead of immediately because that's when the risk of a miscarriage goes down to less than 10 percent. The group was so happy to have two children born at similar times. Yes, two! Sonia and Gundham were having a kid as well. What a coincidence! Sonia insisted that we started talking more about it.

12 weeks in and everything has been going as smoothly as it can. There's still work, there's still complications, sleeping is an issue, I have been diagnosed with Insomnia, this pregnancy has also made me more dependent on Nagito and has given me more time to think and I don't know if I like that... But, everyone's been really supportive, they haven't treated me any different and because I have a bit more time, I can hangout with them more. I've learnt a lot more about Sonia. I knew a bit about her, like that she's into witchcraft and serial killer documentaries but, she was also into slice of life novels so, this was a dream of hers. How cute.

Weeks 16 - 30 can be summed up here. They all passed the same; excited conversations, preparations, fun little talks, work, insomnia, exhaustion, etc. What was really note worthy was while Nagito went out on a mission to the main lands, Makoto brought back a fluffy white dog, a Great Pyrenees puppy. We agreed to keep and so when Nagito came home, I surprised him with the dog. At first, he was silent, then he started crying; I was scared the he didn't like the dog but, that changed when he went up and hugged the dog, he was so happy. Apparently, this was the exact breed of the dog Nagito used to have. Wow, how lucky. He sat with it for hours before being willing to pry away from it and go to sleep. We decided to call her Lucy.

Fast forward to week 37, about 3 weeks before we thought I was due. I was pulling an all-nighter on this one project to have it done by tomorrow. I knew I was pushing myself but I was almost done, I wanted to free up my schedule so I can have more time with my baby. Nagito, however, was starting to get concerned.

"Hajime, it's really late. You should rest."

"I'm almost done, okay? I just need to finish this last assignment and I'll be in bed. Just give me about an hour." I said, trying to easy his concern.

"Alright.." He didn't sound too convinced but he did leave.

I continued to work on my project and the time flew by until in the middle of my assignment, my stomach really hurt, more than usual. Do you really need to kick that hard, Future Child? I tried to continues working but the pain would just come back worse every time. Maybe I should just go to bed... I tried to get up and walk back to my bedroom but the pain sent me down the floor, everything hurts...everything hurts...I couldn't even scream, I was in so much pain...I felt something wet trickle down and I knew what it was at this point. I didn't know what to do, I was crying. Was I going to die? Was I just going to have to give birth here and now? What can I do??

Then, my savior came into the room. No not Nagito, Lucy! She took one good look and me and went sprinting out the door. I could hear her barking and soon she seem back with Nagito.

"Hajime!! Are you okay!?"

I wanted to say something to something to that question; 'yes', 'no', 'shut the fuck up and call Tsumiki' but, I couldn't let out a sound. Luckily, he took the hint and called Mikan.

"Tsumiki-chan. I'm sorry to wake you but, Hajime may be going through contractions? Please help?!"

They talked for a bit, I could barely focus. I just remember Nagito carrying me to the bathroom while talking to Mikan. I don't know if she was just fast or if I blanked out for a bit but, Mikan was there before I knew it. They both briefly conversed before they got me dressed in a cheap, long white shirt and set me down in the bath. Mikan started sticking needles in me, I don't know what for and she was still talking to Nagito. She finally looked at me and told me to count my contractions and how often they happen. After each one (Because it hurts too much to talk during contractions) I would tell her, when she decided that they were regular enough, she grasped my hand a little and told me to take a deep breathe. I did. Then she told me to push.

That's when it hit me, this was happening now! Oh my god, I was not ready for this but, I don't have much of a choice. So I pushed. Oh god it hurts! I felt like my bones were breaking. She then told me to breathe again and I did, we repeated this until the water started to turn red with blood.

Blood...blood...

Blood...Blood...Blood...Blood...Blood...Blood...Blood...Blood...Blood...Blood...Blood...Blood...Blood...

Blood? Did someone die? I felt like I was somewhere else. I was watching the murders of the student council again, so much blood...like a perfect quality horror movie, I saw them all murder each other clear as day, every person, every stabbing, every slicing, every shooting, all the bloodshed, clear as the day I first saw it. I never forgot any of their faces...

Then, as if it couldn't get worse...all the murders, all the executions...all the blood, clear as day. I was just watching, unable to do anything. Nagito...Chiaki... They were gone. Was my happy life all a dream? Is this the reality I'm truly in or am I hallucinating and this is the fake reality? I can't tell, I can't tell... I want out of this nightmare! I hear voices in the distance, at first I couldn't understand what they are saying but, as the voices got louder, I could slowly understand. Were they calling me? I got my answer.

"HAJIME!" Nagito shouted, dragging me back to reality. I panicked at the different scenery. My heart was pounding, threatening to rip out of my chest. I looked around to see where I was, I was in the bathroom. I couldn't keep my vision still.

Nagito cupped my cheeks, obviously trying to calm me down. "Hajime look at me, okay?"

I tried to focus my vision on him, his eyes full of panic and worry.

"You're having a panic attack. Whatever you saw, it's just an illusion. You're okay, I'm okay, everyone is okay. Please try to calm down."

My throat was dry and hoarse but, I took a deep breath. I continued to do that until I became calmer.

He smiled down at me "Good...good."

Mikan then piped up, "Komaeda-san, I'm sorry but, we do need to c-continue with this..." Then she got an idea, "If blood is a trigger to Hinata-san then can maybe he should just look at you instead. I'll still need your attention Hinata-san but, just keep l-looking at him."

"Yeah, that's a good idea." Nagito agreed. I just nodded. So Mikan continued with her instruction and I kept my eyes on Nagito. It made the birthing a little easier to see his smile and soon enough I did my last push, I felt a weight leave me and while I was still sore, it didn't hurt nearly as much anymore. That's when the fatigue washed over me. I could feel myself passing out already.

"Hey hey...um, I know you're tired but, can you stay awake just a little longer please? Just until Tsumiki-chan says it's okay. Please?"

I didn't want to, the work should be over by now but, I could do it. Voices faded in and out, I was barely able to concentrate. Then, Nagito gave me a kiss on the forehead.

"You did it Hajime! It's okay now, you can rest." His voice was quiet and soothing.

"...Great.." I replied groggily before falling asleep almost immediately after.

I fell into a deep, very needed sleep. It was relaxing for once. No dreams, no nightmares just, floating in the darkness. But, I had to wake up.

The sun was shining through the curtains, not too much sun but, just enough to give the room a bright warm haze. I still felt sore but, it was much better than last night. I sat up and yawned.

"Oh good morning, Sleepyhead." Nagito said, playfully. He was sitting right next to me, looking at me with a warm smile. "I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

I felt a bit out of it, it seemed so peaceful right now, I just wanted to bask in it for a while. I took the time to notice things around me, like the fact that I was wearing something different; it was one of Nagito shirts and my boxers. I also noticed a little crib in the far corner of our bedroom with what looks to be a baby inside.

"Do you want to see your child?" Nagito asked.

I could only nod. He got up and went to the crib, picked up the small child and came back to the bed. Handing me the child he said,

"Meet your new baby son"

I held the child gently in my arms and at that moment, everything became worth it. He woke up and looked at me. I was expecting him to cry but, instead he just giggles grabbed my finger. Now I'm the one whose crying!

Nagito chuckled, "Don't cry on the baby!" He said playfully but, he was crying too.

He gave me a kiss, "I love you, Hajime"

I returned it, "I love you too, Nagito"

We both held our son and I knew, deep in my heart, this was the right decision.

We're a family now!

If I got something wrong, please tell me. I really tried and I wanna get it right.

[loptyrs-moved]

Can you talk more abt ur fandoms ocs? I like your writing a lot and would like to know more abt em

Oh my goodness I’m 🥺🥺🥺🥺 you’re SO sweet thank you!

Well, I have quite a few and some have their own deeper lore stories that go with them. If you guys want more information on them, I can do separate posts on all of them. But Here they are! I’m so excited to share my babies with you!

More is under the cut. The Picrew I used is here.

Ikemen Revolution

Black Army Side

Corrin Fukui

Age: Appears to be in mid-early twenties

Hair: Brick white

Eyes: Blood Red

Height: 4′11

Any other Qualities:

Draconic features -- She’s literally a dragon but not by nature

Curved Opalescent Horns

Shimmery opalescent tail

Wings that also shimmer in the light

retractable?

Pointed ears

Easily frightened by loud noises and sudden movements

stunted growth

Hoards blankets and comfort items

writes in a journal every day 

its one luka got for her and she refuses to write in anything else. she pours her heart out on the pages, and all her memories

she had a brother! but he passed away because of the magic tower :(

turns into a gIANT DRAGON 

ICE ICE BREATH BABY

Was found by Luka while on a patrol near the forbidden forest, lost and afraid, so she was taken in

Had amnesia at first

She actually is an experiment of Amon and she managed to escape

Excellent at sewing and gardening

Sufficient with baking

She’s for Luka! The way they fell for each other was a slow, gradual trust, and mutual understanding. She saw him as a man, as he was, and nothing else.

Sometimes is called Corri

gentle hearted and innocent

but not as innocent as you’d think 

she’s a dragon, and she’s a greedy little one

Ophelia Dae

Age: 24

Hair: Crimson red

Eyes: Jade green

Height: 5′8

Any other Qualities:

A skilled swordsman, and one of the Chosen Thirteen

9 of Spades baybeee

While she is more accustomed to short swords and sabers, Phelia is a magic user! But she isn’t really in agreement with Ray with his stance on magic

BOMBASTIC AS HELL

BISEXUAL

“Is he bothering you Queen?”

Trans

Was friends with Ray and Fenrir while in school, and was just as much of a hellraiser as them

she was there when the day things went dark happened and was almost taken but that day is a blur for her

phelia REFUSES to talk about it

she still has nightmares

raised by a single mother

TRIVIA! She was an old fire emblem oc i had and she was the daughter of Arvis -- so if you squint when she uses magic you’ll see Valflame

joined the army probably because Fenrir was too, and she was inspired by him 

she joined for her own reasons but he made it easier for her to do it too

his passion was what made her fall for him in the first place

has a personal vendetta against the magic tower for what they did to her and her friends

AND CORRIN JEEZ

will sacrifice herself if necessary to the cause

PROBABLY HAS ALMOST DIED BECAUSE OF IT

Bruh girl

Amira Nasiri

Age: 22

Hair: Chocolate brown

Eyes: Turquoise blue

Height: 5′3

Any other qualities:

My version of Alice! Difference is that she’s Persian

That’s it

She’s just as spunky as Alice 

however she responds with being called Alice a little different

she’s adamant about being called Amira

At some point she just accepts Seth does it to distance himself

also an avid baker like alice

pISTACIOS

BAKLAVA

Amira is just Alice except she’s just my take on her. 

She has the same vibrant spirit as Alice

and I personally consider Seth the canon route for REASONS

just ask me why fjgdfgjksd

Red Army Side

Azul Flores

Age: 25

Hair: Raven black

Eyes: Wisteria purple

Height: 5′0

Any Other Qualities:

An old friend of the Queen of Hearts

like she met him when she was 8 years old

fought his bullies when they would give him a hard time when he was a kid

they dated for a WHILE

did NOT work out

HARD CHILDHOOD

Ambitious, hard working young woman who was married into a high standing family on the Red side. Her mother was a teacher and gained the attention of one of the Chosen Thirteen on that side, and got married

Azul is NOT the officer’s daughter. She’s his step daughter

Has had extensive studies on the History of Cradle and of the Red Territory.

Wants to be a Cradle Historian

Works for the Red Army as a personal assistant to the queen

UNINTENTIONAL

THEY ACTUALLY CANT STAND EACH OTHER

Unless....

Look their story is very dramatic and it hurts me every day so please stay tuned with them. 

CUT THROAT BITCH

YOUR DEVIL

DEMON

Heckles Jonah like its her job — she knows him better than anyone elsd, if anyone knows his bs, its her

Bad resting bitch face

Actually really shy, and quiet when in different surroundings

A sweetheart and will cut a bitch for you once she knows u

She is perhaps one of the most transparent, honest, genuine person. there is no bullshit with her. she will tell you her honest thoughts with you

Cerise Nam

Age: 19

Hair: Berry Pink

Eyes: Petal Pink

Height: 5′2

Any other qualities:

Her mom came to Cradle from a far off place, and set up a food and pastry shop in the Central Quarter. Met her dad. Been there since

They live in Black Territory

She works for her parents and works with the pastries/desserts

loves making desserts from where her parents are from

She knows the Queen of Hearts VERY well since she makes the best mille feuille

Got a job from him actually, and works for the Red Army Headquarters kitchen

Loves to cook and bake!

a little naïve, but she’s a realist

youngest of FIVE kids!!

Morning girl

She may be petite but she can HEAFT heavy bags of flour/rice/dry goods

Met Zero by accident, and crashed into him while in town

love at first sight for her. how can you fault her?

she thinks he’s dreamy... and sweet...

does she flirt with him a little? Cerise can’t help it...

She and Zero have more of a hidden relationship because she fears her parents won’t approve

family stuff -- and she understands

RED ARMY OFFICER?? BLACK TERRITORY GIRL

look im cheesy

dont worry it works out

zero has to consider himself and his own personal stuff too so its a little difficult 

Non Army Suitor(s)

Lucile Lidell

Age: 20

Hair: Straw blonde

Eyes: Aqua blue

Height: 5'1

Any other qualities:

She and her twin, Noelle, are the actual descendants of the original Alice

Inherited unusual hairpins that were from cradle

More of the 'modern woman stuck in the wrong time' kind of gal

Rebellious

Noelle and Luci: partners in crime

Short skirts galore

Does not give a singular shit of what MEN think of her

Wants to be taken seriously

Sometimes acts like an airhead in order to get attention. She's actually pretty somber as a person and prefers to be in the background as her sister takes the stage

loves her sister more than anyone else in the world

When she and Noelle fall into Cradle, they kind of hightail it and live in the woods with Harr and Loki

Sticks with Harr since he's literally the least threatening man ever

First man to feel safe around

"Excuse me he said NO pickles!"

Will cut a bitch for him, or use magic -- luci will hurt someone if they even think a bout looking at him wrong

Loves to make clothes

'I mended the holes in your cloak for you...' 'Bye Harr, be safe and have a good day.'

'Welcome home, I missed you.'

Puts up a tough girl front but she's just a big softie just like him

Doesn't realize she has a crush on him until shit starts to hit the fan

Actually very vanilla tbh but wants to spoil her bf

Ikemen Sengoku

Ito Tsunade

Age: 26

Hair: Straw Blonde

Eyes: Molten Gold

Height: 5′5

Any Other Qualities:

Graduate student at the same university as Sasuke 

got stuck in the storm with him and Mai, and was tossed into the sengoku era

but she got separated from Mai

Met Shingen first much to her luck because uh.... lets say Tsunade is aint the sharpest tool in the shed

HEAD EMPTY

ZERO THOUGHTS

AIRHEAD

her aesthetic when she gets there?

TITS OUT

BIG HONKERS BIG TATA

HOT

her head might be empty but her tits are fat and they will protect you

Music nerd — loves traditional Japanese instruments, especially the difficult ones

Specializes in girl metal in modern day

eventually proves herself and plays some sick chords for the takeda/uesegi forces

she has entertained them for now

puts sake away like a monster

when she meets sasuke, she finds comfort in the fact he’s also lost with her, so she clings

asks him how to protect herself from shingen bc he’s horny lolol

genuinely thinks sasuke is hilarious

also does NOT realize she’s in love with him until the gravest of grave happens

her name was UNINTENTIONAL

Aibana Hinata

Age: Presents in his early-mid twenties

Hair: Black Midnight

Eyes: Haunting gold and vermillion

Height: 5'3

Any other qualities: 

The concubine of Nobunaga

Please know I made him a long while before the other guy was dropped so I’m just gonna offer this little gay boy

Nobunaga bought him from a brothel after being so intrigued by him. Hina entertained him so well that he was set for life

A RIGHT SNARKY BASTARD

HE KNOWS HE’S PRETTY AND CAN GET AWAY WITH MURDER

Likes to challenge Nobunaga in battles of wits

board games

debate as pillow talk

swordplay if the lords will entertain him enough

Bisexual as hell

Gender? Don’t know her

He uses all pronouns

True pronoun: princess

ONLY EXISTS IN A UNIVERSE WHERE THERE IS MAI

Nobunaga/Mai/Hinata........

Unless.......

Smart, and educated

former geisha

he can read! and write!

LOVE FUCKING WITH HIDEYOSHI

if there is mai, he would bond with her like no one else

he would be her best friend

her confidant

genuinely adores her

even if she is pursuing nobunaga, he doesn’t resent her ... he just wishes that she would find room in her heart for him too

puts up a tough exterior

a softie.....

[somegirlsnerdywords2]

Favourite Anime 2020

1. Fruits Basket 2nd Season (Rating: 10/10 - 25 Episodes - Spring 2020)

Genres: Slice of Life, Comedy, Supernatural, Drama, Romance, Shoujo

Synopsis: A year has passed since Tooru Honda began living in the Souma residence, and she has since created stronger relationships with its inhabitants Shigure, Kyou, and Yuki. She has also grown closer to the rest of the Souma family and has become familiar with their ancestral secret, having helped them with many of their personal issues. The closer Tooru gets, however, the more she begins to realize that their secret holds a darker truth than she first presumed. Summer is approaching and Tooru is invited to spend her days with the Soumas, mainly Kyou and Yuki. Tooru wishes for an easy-going vacation, but her close relationships with the two boys and the rest of the Soumas may prove to cause trouble. As they grow more intimate, their carefree time together is hindered by older hardships and feelings from the past that begin to resurface. The Eternal Banquet also dawns on the members of the zodiac, and they must tend to their duties alongside the unnerving head of the family, Akito Souma. With the banquet approaching and a plethora of feelings to be solved, will Tooru's life with the Soumas remain peaceful, or will she find herself in a situation from which she cannot escape? [Written by MAL Rewrite]

2. Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun (Rating: 10/10 - 12 Episodes - Winter 2020)

Genres: Comedy, School, Shounen, Supernatural

Synopsis: The famous "Seven Wonders" that every school seems to have are a staple of Japanese urban legends. One of the most well-known of these tales is that of Hanako-san: the ghost of a young girl who haunts the school's bathrooms. Kamome Academy has its own version of Hanako-san's legend. Rumors claim that if one successfully manages to summon Hanako-san, she will grant her summoner any wish. Lured by the gossip, many people have tried to call upon her, yet every attempt has failed. However, when Nene Yashiro, a girl hoping for romantic fortune, dares to summon Hanako-san, she discovers that the rumored "girl" is actually a boy! After a series of unfortunate events involving Nene's romantic desires, she is unwillingly entangled in the world of the supernatural, becoming Hanako-kun's assistant. Soon, she finds out about Hanako-kun's lesser-known duty: maintaining the fragile balance between mortals and apparitions. [Written by MAL Rewrite] 

3. Otome Game no Hametsu Flag shika Nai Akuyaku Reijou ni Tensei shiteshimatta... (Rating:  9.5/10 - 12 episodes - Spring 2020)

Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Fantasy, School

Synopsis: Most people would prefer being the protagonist of a world full of adventure, be it in a game or in another world. But, unfortunately, a certain girl is not so lucky. Regaining the memories of her past life, she realizes that she was reborn in the world of Fortune Lover—one of the games she used to play.

Unfortunately, the character she was reincarnated into—Katarina Claes—is the game's main antagonist, who faces utter doom in every ending. Using her extensive knowledge of the game, she takes it upon herself to escape from the chains of this accursed destiny.

However, this will not be an easy feat, especially since she needs to be cautious as to not set off death flags that may speed up the impending doom she is trying to avoid. Even so, to make a change that will affect the lives of everyone around her, she strives—not as the heroine—but as the villainess.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

4. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu 2nd Season (Rating: 9.5/10 - 12 Episodes - Summer 2020)

Genres: Psychological, Drama, Thriller, Fantasy

Synopsis: A reunion that was supposed to spell the arrival of peaceful times is quickly shattered when Subaru Natsuki and Emilia return to Irlam village. Witnessing the devastation left behind by the calamities known as Sin Archbishops, Subaru sinks into the depths of despair as his ability to redo proves futile. As the group makes their way to the Sanctuary in search of answers, Subaru has an unexpected encounter with the Witch of Greed—Echidna. Subjected to her untamed rhythm, he is forced to dive into the spirals of the past and future. At the same time, several mysterious threats set their sights on the Sanctuary, heralding a horrific fate for the hapless people trapped within. Everlasting contracts, past sins, and unrequited love will clash and submerge into a river of blood in the second season of Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu. Pushed to the brink of hopelessness, how long will Subaru's resolve to save his loved ones last? [Written by MAL Rewrite]

5.Chihayafuru 3 (Rating: 9.5/10 - 24 Episodes - Fall 2019 Leftover)

Genres: Game, Slice of Life, Sports, Drama, School, Josei

Synopsis: Winning the high school team tournament was a great accomplishment for the Mizusawa members. Each of them has made great strides in improving themselves, and the victory symbolizes how far they've come. But after accomplishing one goal, their individual aims are within reach. Chihaya Ayase has her sights set on Wakamiya Shinobu and the title of Queen, and now that Taichi Mashima has made it into Class A, he can finally compete against Arata Wataya. Everyone in Mizusawa wants to get better, and there's no telling what the future holds if they keep trying. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

6. Boku no Hero Academia 4th Season (Rating: 9/10 - 25 Episodes - Fall 2019 Leftover)

Genres: Action, Comedy, Super Power, School, Shounen

Synopsis: After successfully passing his Provisional Hero License exam, Izuku "Deku" Midoriya seeks out an extracurricular internship with a professional hero agency. At the recommendation of his mentor All Might, Midoriya lands a position under All Might's former sidekick, Sir Nighteye, now a famous hero in his own right. As Midoriya's classmates further their own abilities through various internships, up-and-coming villain Kai Chisaki utilizes his terrifying powers to gather favor in the criminal underworld. Known by the moniker Overhaul, Chisaki's ambitions collide with the League of Villains and its leader, Tomura Shigaraki. Through his work with Sir Nighteye, Midoriya discovers Chisaki's crime syndicate and the villain's hostile relationship with a mysterious young girl named Eri. Fearing for the child's safety, Midoriya and his upperclassman Mirio Toogata must work together to put an end to Chisaki's reign of terror. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

7. Haikyuu!!: To the Top 2nd Season (Rating: 9/10 - 12 Episodes - Fall 2020)

Genres: Comedy, Sports, Drama, School, Shounen

Synopsis: Karasuno enters into the second half of Nationals with brand-new opponents: Inarizaki High. The long-standing powerhouse team includes a few familiar faces, namely Miya Atsumu. Named Japan's "best high school setter," Miya previously rubbed elbows with Kageyama at the All-Japan Youth Intensive Training Camp. Karasuno will have to overcome a setter that outranks their own, and Atsumu's twin brother is on the team, too. (Source: ANN) 

8. Haikyuu!!: To the Top (Rating: 8.5/10 - 13 Episodes - Winter 2020)

Genres: Comedy, Sports, Drama, School, Shounen

Synopsis: After their triumphant victory over Shiratorizawa Academy, the Karasuno High School volleyball team has earned their long-awaited ticket to nationals. As preparations begin, genius setter Tobio Kageyama is invited to the All-Japan Youth Training Camp to play alongside fellow nationally recognized players. Meanwhile, Kei Tsukishima is invited to a special rookie training camp for first-years within the Miyagi Prefecture. Not receiving any invitations himself, the enthusiastic Shouyou Hinata feels left behind. However, Hinata does not back down. Transforming his frustration into self-motivation, he boldly decides to sneak himself into the same rookie training camp as Tsukishima. Even though Hinata only lands himself a job as the ball boy, he comes to see this as a golden opportunity. He begins to not only reflect on his skills as a volleyball player but also analyze the plethora of information available on the court and how he can apply it. As the much-anticipated national tournament approaches, the members of Karasuno's volleyball team attempt to overcome their weak points and refine their skills, all while aiming for the top! [Written by MAL Rewrite]

9. Kakushigoto (Rating: 8.5/10 - 12 Episodes - Spring 2020)

Genres: Slice of Life, Comedy, Shounen

Synopsis: Kakushi Gotou is a somewhat popular manga artist whose works are known for inappropriate content. Because of this raunchiness, when his daughter Hime was born, he vowed to keep his profession hidden from her, believing that she will be disillusioned if she finds out. This paranoia-induced belief leads Kakushi into hectic situations. Despite being a single father, he does his best and often resorts to extreme ends just to protect his secret, such as guising as a salaryman every day or holding emergency drills in case Hime somehow finds her way to his workplace. Kakushigoto tells the story of a father and daughter living side by side, maintaining their peaceful existence as the father attempts to preserve the status quo. However, there is a saying: "there are no secrets that time cannot reveal." In time, Hime must learn the reality behind the things she took for granted as she grew up. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

10. Fire Force Season 2 (Rating: 8/10 - 24 Episodes - Summer 2020)

Genres: Action, Supernatural, Shounen

Synopsis: After his confrontation in the Nether with his younger brother Shou, Shinra Kusakabe's resolve to become a hero that saves lives from the flame terror strengthens. Finding a way to turn the Infernals back into people, unraveling the mystery of the Evangelist and Adolla Burst, and saving his mother and Shou—these are the goals Shinra has in mind. However, he has come to realize that attaining these goals will not be easy, especially with the imminent danger the Evangelist poses. The Evangelist's plan is clear: to gather the eight pillars—the individuals who possess Adolla Burst—and sacrifice them to recreate the Great Cataclysm from 250 years ago. Having been revealed by the First Pillar that the birth of a new pillar is approaching, Shinra is determined to protect his fellow pillars from the Evangelist. Thus, the fiery battle between the Special Fire Force and the Evangelist ignites. Together with the Special Fire Force, Shinra's fight continues as he uncovers the truth about the Great Cataclysm and the nature of Adolla Bursts, as well as the mysteries behind human combustion. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

[greatcheesiness]

Hope: MSBY

Synopsis: In which a shooting star decided to make their prayers come true…

Characters: Atsumu/Sakusa/Hinata/Bokuto/Child! Y/n (little cameo) They’re all the same age except Y/n.

Genre: Angst, hopeful, Sad, a bit haunting at the end idk how that happened, mysterious, fate

W.c: 2k9

Moral of the story: Don’t think like this kids. Life is very valuable tsk.

[a/n] pfft I’m back y’all. Y’all missed me? Lmao no one asked. I have arrived with another short piece to satisfy your masochistic selves. I had no Wi-Fi and I thought I wasn’t gonna live a normal life. I was also a lazy bean who promised to work out but ended up eating Danish bread. They’re really good ngl. I did not proofread this so I am sorry for the errors. Sleep deprived again. I didn’t proofread this, sorry.

edit: this is a repost. I don’t think this was sent properly.

Little sparks emerged from the blazing mixture of red and orange. The colour of fiery and passion. But in the middle, there was a vibrant colour of yellow. Even if a person is angry and the things they do will not go as passionate, there’s always a little bit of hope. That was what Sakusa interpreted as he observed the fire. The ashy smoke floated upward into the sky and turned invisible where they will not be seen again. That is what they want, right? Just to die out...

“I’m going to find some more wood,” Bokuto said out of the blue and stood up from the barky log he just sat on. Hinata got a fright that he almost fell off of his side of the log. Bokuto then ran towards the darkened woods. Hinata’s eyes widened. He scuttled backwards and jogged into the woods, just to make sure he doesn’t wander off. Just to make sure he’s safe.

“Kotaro, wait up!” he shouted and the woods mimicked his voice of worry. It was a cold night. A blanket of navy covered the sky with a sprinkle of shimmering stars.

“I hope they don’t get lost. I heard that this is the largest forest in our area or perhaps the whole country,” the blonde head muttered. His fingers fiddling on to silver key necklace dearest to his heart. It was a gift given by his grandma just the day before her decease. That day felt like the day he lost a true friend. Sakusa stared into the sky. To become one of those shiny sequences high up the vast navy.

Small, slender, slim sticks were thrown into the fire by Atsumu. His eyes granted no mercy as he stared at them burning in the little hell he created. Sakusa could see the reflection of the fire in his chocolate eyes. Knowing the reason, he sighed. It conveyed his feelings. His pent up fury.

The long silence was interrupted by a trivial question. “Have you ever thought of what you want to become as you grow older?” Atsumu wondered. He had never really heard or knew much about Sakusa despite having each other’s presence in existence for a while. He blinked, his long lashes brushed through the air. “I don’t know,” he simply replied. His voice so curt that Atsumu’s feelings were hurt. He clutched his heart with a pain expression to emphasise the dramatic. “Omi kun, y’know that’s not the answer I want,” he whined at him. There he goes again, Sakusa thought.  

Atsumu hummed as he looked at the fire “Y’know.., it has always been my dream to become an astronaut. What do ya think Omi kun?” Sakusa scrunched his face at the thought. “What should I think??” The only responsive thought he had for that confession was that it was unbelievable to be true. He thought he wanted to become a volleyball player and join the national team. Maybe get the hot girlfriend of his dreams while he’s at it. But an astronaut? Does he even have the grad-?

“Haha if only I had the grades. I can see it right through you Omi kun,” he smirked as he pointed the stick at him held by his fingers. “To bad I’m not a smartass like my twin brother. Such a nerd without glasses,” he murmured at the mentions of his twin.

“Achieving high grades doesn’t make you a stereotypical ne-“

“I said what I said, Omi kun. I said what I said”

Sakusa stayed quiet after that. He had nothing else to add after that mild conversation. His eyes lingered at the book lying on the grassy ground. Atsumu’s five year old diary. To this day, he still remembered the contents inked in those pages. Hinata and Bokuto saw them as well. He pitied Atsumu, but dared not to speak a word of it. In that diary, Atsumu undergone what you call affliction. Even now, it still disturbed them.

Beside them, they set up a telescope that they had recently bought. They got it after dodging that expensive price. Bokuto’s bargaining skills were useful. The trees waved side to side with the gusting wind. Sakusa’s dark curls wavered. They’ve always wanted to see the stars together. Earlier this day, they heard from the news that there was going to be a shooting star passing earth. It was very exciting as no one would ever expect to see something like this in their time of life.

There was a lot of things around their temporary property. Tents set up, sleeping bags, coats, stocks of food and drinks, you name it. They fully decided that they would never ever come back home. All of them hated where they came from. It just wasn’t for them.

At around five or six in the evening, the four of them were in school cleaning up toilets and classrooms. This was Sakusa’s nightmare. His duty was in the boys’ toilet. All the grime, stench, dirtiness tainted each cubicle he entered. He felt like regurgitating, but if he was going to faint, at least faint outside the bathroom. Nonetheless, he pushed through this hell and managed it somehow.

Suddenly, a burning smell wavered through the air and entered his nostrils, sending him to alarm. He rushed out of the boys’ bathrooms. His eye’s enlarged at the sight of flames eating the corridors. His mouth gaped as he stood petrified. What in the world?

Someone grabbed his wrist and pulled him away from danger. Sakusa turned around to see it was Bokuto. His heart was racing as he tried to process what the fuck just occurred. “Kotaro, what on earth is going on?!” He didn’t answer for a while until they’ve reached outside the burning school.

“It was Atsumu’s doing. He threw a cigarette in the bin and the bin caught on fire!” Bokuto used his arms to demonstrate the fire. Sakusa glared at Atsumu and grabbed him by the collar. “I know you hate this fucking place, but did you have to fucking burn down the school!?” Atsumu shoved him away from him. “So what if I fucking did?!” Sakusa’s eyes were filled with anger. Who goes to this extent from hatred? Especially from a teenager.

“You… YOU BASTARD!” he cursed at his selfishness. A punch swung onto Atsumu’s face and he fell to the ground in an instant. The blond head swiped the blood off his busted lips and gave him a deadly glare. Oh if looks could kill…He collided into Sakusa causing him to cough out his saliva. Therefore, a dog fight transpired between them. Sakusa had no care for the dirt sticking on to him as his only goal was to knock some god damn sense into Atsumu’s brain.

Hinata panicked and attempts to pull Atsumu away while Bokuto did the same for Sakusa. “Look we tried to extinguish it with a fire extinguisher! But it…it just wouldn’t work at all!” Hinata explained while he still held onto Atsumu. Sakusa’s brows furrowed. “Then what the fuck did you do then?” All three of them looked at each other. “We ditched it,” Bokuto shrugged his shoulders “It would go out”

Sakusa groaned in his clammy palms. Oh my fucking god…Since this happened, what’s gonna happen to them? Will they all get in to trouble? Obviously. Should they just mention that it was Atsumu’s fault and he shall bear the consequence? Or should all of them step out and stay along with the blond retard? Everyone remained quiet. Sirens were heard and police cars and fire brigade were approaching their way.

“Do you just want to go home and pack our stuffs secretly? We can buy that telescope we all wanted and watch the shooting star that’s coming tonight….”

And that’s how they ended up here, in the meadow deep into the woods where no one will find them. If they decided to give up on them, just like how the others would. Sakusa admitted that it was a beautiful scenery. Atsumu and he didn’t fight anymore. What’s done has been done. Everything happens for a reason.

Hinata and Bokuto arrived with more sticks cradled in their arms. They were dropped onto the beryl green grass. After that, Hinata plopped down and his chest heaving up and down “Oi no more. I’m tired from running around,” he waved his hand at him without looking at Bokuto. The owl-like man plastered a huge grin on his face “You lack strength, Chibi chan. C’mon toughen up those muscles,” Bokuto wacked his shoulders that sent Chibi forward. They laughed. Only the corner of Sakusa’s lips curved.

Boys in pain come together to diminish those pains.

A spark occurred in the middle of the dark sky. Hinata noticed this first and mirthfully swore “Guys I see it!” All of them ran to the telescope, even having little arguments of who should go first. It ended up being Atsumu. The rest of them quietened down and all they could do was admire. It was absolutely spectacular without a doubt. Not only was one shooting star but there a shower of them. A celebration perhaps?

“There’s so many of them! We should make a wish,” Hinata encouraged. All of them clasped their hands together with their eyes closed. Sakusa joined and he wished that he would have a happy life. That was all he wanted.  

“Atsumu…”

“……”

“Atsumu… is that other shooting star approaching us or am I losing my mind?” Hinata asked worriedly. His knees shook like jelly. “Atsumu...” His body quivered with uncontrollable nervousness. Atsumu didn’t say anything back but gulped. “Well aren’t you going to answer us?” Bokuto asked with a lump in his throat.

Sakusa gazed up, following the track of the star before it split into two after crashing a certain part of the atmosphere. He knew. Everyone knew, that it was bound to reach them any minute.

“Will be able to get out of here in time?” Bokuto asked fretfully, brushing his hands through his grey strands. It wouldn’t be called a shooting star anymore. It was meteorite. The little thing drew closer and closer each time they blinked.

They just knew they wouldn’t make it out in time…

Atsumu sighed. “I’m staying here. I have nothing in this world to live for,” he gazed up and muttered as salty essence well up his chocolate eyes. He said it quietly, yet it was enough to be understood. He walked around a log and sat down with his head hung low. It was getting closer. Hinata swiftly sat beside him with his arms wrapped around him. His eyes closed “I’m staying with you. Staying with you until the end. Who knows we might end up somewhere beautiful. A magical land called Us”

When he said those words, a tear rolled down from Sakusa’s glistening ebony orbs. All of them wanted that. For a long time. A magical land called Us. This world gave them so much pain to the point that they had to imagine a wonderful world.

Bokuto, who used to use happiness to shield his sadness, embraced the both of them. The three of them cuddled. Some sniffles and sobs were heard from their trembling lips. Sakusa patted the left side of his chest. He was breathing quite heavily. This was most emotion he had ever displayed.  All of them turned their heads to face him. Atsumu’s arm stretched out. He smiled wearily “Come with us”

A lot of thought rushed through his mind. His head went racing. Was this the right choice? Was this what he wanted? What he if he still want to liv-

Before he could move a muscle, a bright, yellowish light flared behind them. His eyes reflected the light. Everything happened so fast and after that, they…. vanished. Long forgotten in this world.

 -

 “A lot of things have happened during this week. Firstly, the “shooting star” also known as a meteorite, crashed in the meadow of (xxx) wood, the largest in this country. No one has expected this phenomenon to split into two and destroy so much nature. Even almost damaging some parts of nearby towns. Another talked about topic, is the burned down school at (xxx) province with four boys that attended that school, missing…”

 The little girl watched the enormous meteorite from afar. “Wah it’s huge,” she said as she dangled her tiny little legs. An ice cream was in her hands as she watched the workers inspecting the rock. Maybe they could extract minerals and become filthy rich. She took a lick of the ice cream. The wind was howling that evening. She enjoyed a vanilla ice cream during cold season.

“Y/n, come here!”

Her mother yelled. Y/n shouldn’t be out in the open. It was too dangerous, who knows what will happen. Y/n stood up from the edge of a cliff and admired the amber sky before realizing her ice cream dropped to the ground. Her mouth gaped in disbelief. She paid for that using her own money by collecting reusable garbage for hours. She exhaled and tossed the cone away.

“Y/n!”

“I’m coming mom. I’m coming,” she called back. She dusted her hands off her skirt and jogged on. There was a valley close by so she needed to be cautious otherwise she might roll off the cliff and that wouldn’t be good. However, as she took another step, her foot slipped and her face fell flat on the ground. Blood dripped down from her nostrils. “Great…”

Luckily for her, she had an extra packet of tissue deep in her pocket. She took a tissue out and wiped the blood off that dried. All of a sudden, from the corner of her eyes, she caught something shining in the grass. Curiosity aroused her and she moved closer to the object. Mother told her that she shouldn’t take or even touch something that’s not hers. It could bring bad luck.

Y/n didn’t remember her mother’s words when she picked it up. It was a silver necklace that took the shape of a key. “Wow…” she mumbled. It had a simple design to it, yet to her it was the most beautiful thing she had seen that day. The wind blew even harder as the wind whistled.

“Y/n! If you don’t come this instant, I will leave you here,” her mother called out for what seemed like the last time. Y/n shoved the object into her pocket and rushed to her parent. She shuddered. How cold was it? She wrapped her arms around her and rubbed for heat.

“Y/n, what happened to your nose?”

“I just fell”

“That’s karma for not listening to me for the first time. I just fell”

“MOM”

 -

 So this was what the afterlife looked like? It looked the same as their world, yet maybe more magical. In this world, there was only the four of them and no one else. It had everything they needed. It was tranquilized. The trees consisted of wisteria. All of their stuff that they had with them before their very last breaths was placed exactly the same way, same place. However, the boys weren’t there.

A burning door stood in the middle of the meadow. All of them watched it, sitting down with bittersweet smiles on their faces. Was it worth it after all? Atsumu was the first one to hop off his position and run out into the wild. His appearance changed. He took the form of a little boy and had a book about stars in his hands. Ten years of age. The last time he felt a sense of happiness before all crashed down. Hinata turned back to a fifteen year old and Bokuto, a twelve year old. It made Sakusa feel old. He remained the same after all their transformations. A seventeen year old.

The last time he felt happy was just a few months ago. Despite that, he never really intended to die. It was just a last minute wish he made that he regretted. He believed to have many things to do on his bucket list. It was too late somehow and he thought that this new life wasn’t bad after all. He could maybe tick them all of in this afterlife.

From the corner of his eye, he spotted a necklace. His brows furrowed at it and he leaned forward to capture it. Now it laid on his palm and began his inspection. It was an open door with no handle… He gulped. What was the meaning of this? If he was being honest, Atsumu didn’t have his grandma’s necklace with him. He started connecting the dots.

The fire stopped burning the door. He looked up and moved backwards. It was dark and the atmosphere couldn’t be anymore spookier. He whimpered and started to shake.

A little girl clad in a ripped strawberry dress. Her shoes dirtied. Her skin pale as snow. Her hair in a dishevelled state and her eyes were the worst. They were fully pitch black. And before Sakusa knew it, he ran as fast as he could and…

…never turned back.

The shooting star, after all, just granted their wishes. Without them knowing the consequences…

[imaginethathaikyuu]

this is my first time requesting! may i ask for a tsukishima trying to deny the fact that he has the biggest crush on the (preferably female) reader but all he can think of is all the good things about her but he's still in denial with himself? thank you i love your work

thank you for the request!its long so u know the drill click keep reading plsfem reader

Tsukishima Kei has a problem. Recently, for the first time in his life, he has become aware of a girl. And not just any girl.

He’s become aware of you.

You and your dumb hair. Your perfume that definitely doesn’t smell like the sweetest strawberries he’s ever smelled. Your stupid hands that he knows are so much smaller than his. The shoes you wear. The dinosaur pin on your backpack. Your handwriting.

He’s become aware of it all. And he is not happy about it.

You sat in the seat in front of his. Ever since first year started, he’s been picking up on little details about you - details that he can’t seem to forget - and it makes him want to curse any and every god in existence that you somehow ended up in his class.

Every day when class and practice are over, when he’s sitting in his bedroom, he convinces himself that he’s forgotten. Forgotten about you and your pretty eyes and your obnoxious laugh and your often chipped nail polish. By the end of the night he can’t even remember what your voice sounds like - and that’s how he likes it. And he’s able to go to bed easily, he isn’t haunted by thoughts of you - he’s managed to get away with not dreaming about you, not even once. And everything is fine.

Then he wakes up, he goes about his routine. No thoughts about girls here - Tsukishima is calm and collected both inside and out. He can focus on practicing. He can look forward to the meal his mother had packed him for lunch. He can listen to Yamaguchi talking about whatever it is that Yamaguchi talks about without being distracted by anything other than the music playing quietly in his headphones.

But as soon as he steps into class and sees you - you were always there before him - all of the anxiety that he spent the entire day before willing away, stormed it’s way back into his chest and his stomach and his fingertips tenfold.

And it sucks.

He doesn’t want to know you.

And he spends the entire class tapping his fingers against his desk, picking at the skin next to his fingernails, even biting his nails.

To make matters worse, recently, you’ve started turning around.

When all of this started, Tsukishima thought he was just being observant. And he was - but he’s not sure when that turned into him thinking about how your hand would fit into is, or how badly he just wants to kiss your forehead to see your cheeks heat up.

You’re so dumb.

And you were turned around now, smiling right at him with that dumb smile that he couldn’t will himself to look away from for too long.

“Tsukki, I didn’t do so hot on this test,” you laughed, referring to the test your teacher had just handed back to the class.

Does she need help studying? Maybe I could -

“You suck,” he replied, trying his hardest to mean it.

You whined, dramatically throwing yourself onto his desk, making some self-deprecating joke that he couldn’t quite hear over the smell of your perfume taking over his senses.

You lifted yourself up and Tsukishima clenched his fists and his jaw. He watched your lips instead of your eyes as you spoke.

“You got a perfect score? You bastard.”

He wasn’t sure how to respond. Talking to you wasn’t easy.

You continued, “I’m this close to asking you on a study date.”

Date. 

“I’m just as close to turning you down,” he replied.

Stupid. 

“Ouch, Tsukki, I think you broke my heart.”

He wished you’d stop calling him that god awful nickname you picked up from Yamaguchi.

“Seriously, I’d appreciate some help…” you said to him. Your tone of voice shifted from your previous happy go lucky attitude - he didn’t like it.

He didn’t like any of your voices and not a single one of your attitudes, but this is the one he likes the least.

Luckily for him that tone was gone quickly, “please, Tsukki! Help me so I don’t fail! I’ll let you brag about it!”

Please, brain, stop me from what I’m about to say. Don’t let me say it. Please.

“I’ll help you if you stop calling me that stupid name.”

Why did I just say that?

It was a joke, really, and the snarkiest thing he could come up with on the spot. But as much as he tried to deny it, he knew how much he wanted to hear his first name leave your lips. It’d be so satisfying and such a turn on.

You giggled. “Deal.”

Fuck.

The rest of class, all he could think about was you. Even when the bell rang, he barely heard it.

He stood up and collected his things quickly, hoping you wouldn’t stop him - maybe what you said before was just a joke, maybe you didn’t actually want to make plans with him.

“Practice doesn’t last too long, does it? I have student council today, anyway, so I’ll meet you outside the gym once our activities are over! Your place is probably closer by than mine, so we can go there, right?”

Do you ever shut up?

“Sure,” he replied.

Keep it at that. Don’t say anything else. You aren’t interested in this.

“Don’t be late.”

You laughed, “I won’t!”

Fuck.

His life would soon be over, now that he’s officially let himself become involved with the girl he’s been cursed by. This didn’t have to happen - if he’d ever learn to hold his tongue.

Maybe, just maybe, you won’t show up.

Tsukishima had to force himself to ignore the ache in his chest caused by that thought.

If you don’t show up, it’d be better for him all around. Maybe he could ditch you before you get here?

No - that’s too impolite. He couldn’t do that; even if a part of him wanted to run away, he couldn’t let himself.

He was frustrated - and nothing would take it away, not even hitting a volleyball as hard as he could.

“You’re doing worse than usual today, Tsukishima,” Hinata said to him during a minute of downtime.

“Fuck off,” Tsukki replied, immediately rolling his eyes at his own angry tone - and at the fact that he couldn’t even come up with a better come back.

“And meaner than usual, too,” Hinata grumbled as he walked away, off to annoy someone else.

Tsukishima wiped the sweat from his brow and forced himself to make it through the last hour of practice.

Getting through practice was the easy part, though - it was getting through the rest of the night that would be difficult.

Just keep reminding yourself how much she sucks. It’ll be fine.

But, as they say, that was much easier said than done. 

It was going to be a long night.

got a request? send it in. i’ll write it. 

[utsus]

I'm in love with your writing! Do you still take prompts? Would you write sasuke being jealous with naruhina or naruto being wary of sasuke/sasuhina? Thank you and looking forward to read more of your art

(AO3)

Excerpt: “A lifetime of repressing his emotions under the weight of anentire ocean of untouched apathy, and with a single look from her, his controlfractured. Ripples moved through him.”

Uchiha Sasuke appreciated silence.

Whether this inclination was borne of his naturaldisposition or a lifetime of far too much chaos, it didn’t really matter. Itwas what is was, and Sasuke didn’t question it. He cultivated it, encouragedit, embodied it. Silence and stillness went hand-in-hand, and Sasuke was finewith that, too.

He became an untouchable lake upon whose surface nothingcould impact, a force of nature outside the realm of tangible understanding.The tattered leftovers of his soul stormed lowly under the surface, capturedwithin his frigid control, not even a single ripple marring the surface of hisstill waters. For years, he basked in the stillness. The silence, only everinterrupted by the low peals of thunder inside of him, and the icy depths ofhis repressed feelings.

He moved through life as a shadow, the village hidden in theleaves chattering around him incessantly, a never-ending stream of attentionhe’d never wanted. Even so many years after returning, still he caught his namein strangers’ mouths, their eyes trailing over him, equal parts suspicious andcurious. He paid them no mind. He did his duty and went on missions, both aloneand with the fractured remains of Team 7, and he returned to a home as empty ashe was.

He moved over the threshold of his home wordlessly, hisevery step silent, and slid the door shut behind him. The sun was alreadyinching towards the center of the sky, so bright he squinted. Hand tucked inhis pocket, Sasuke moved through the desolate compound he refused to leaveabandoned, and never moved his eyes from the central path leading out into therest of the village. Dark eyes steady, eyelids heavy, he slid the gate closedbehind him. There was no one around this part of the village, ever, and thatwasn’t surprising. The Uchiha compound was a ghost town, a burial ground, andmany believed it haunted. It was widely avoided. Sasuke was fine with that,too.

He valued his privacy, after all.

Not that he was doing anything that required privacy.Frowning, Sasuke tried not to think about the boredom he refused to admit tofeeling. Boredom was safe. Boredom was fine.

When he made it into the more populated areas of Konoha,people moved around him like he was magnetized. He barely noticed the wideberth everyone gave him anymore, trailing along at his own pace, hand stillstuffed in his pocket. It was only when he reached his destination—a rundownlittle shack that sold rare scrolls and weapons of surprisingly finequality—that he felt the tension in his facial muscles. He purposely relaxedhis scowl, eyebrows and lips freeing from strain. He pushed aside the strips ofmaterial hanging from the front entrance, bowing slightly when the owner calledout a greeting.

He moved towards the back corner of the shop, ignoring theway two patrons immediately left the establishment the moment they saw himenter. A few others merely cast curious looks his way as he moved past, and alesser number paid him no mind at all. He ducked under a barrage of shurikenhanging by thin strands of thread from the ceiling, glistening in the sunlightbeaming through the entrance. They were unusual in design, and Sasuke thoughtoffhandedly of the girl from his year who did her hair in little buns, and woredangling earrings.

Sasuke moved around a display of explosive scrolls—sealedwith personalized chakra locks—and stopped in his tracks. There was someone inhis corner.

He had yet to see anyone other than himself perusing thisparticular section of the shop, and he’d been here countless times. Outside ofsimple curiosity, there were a limited number of people in the village whocould actually make use of their optical chakra pathways. In fact, there were onlythree kinds of people who could make use of these texts: One lived in acompound much like his own, and certainly the Hyuuga had shelves upon shelvesof personalized tomes specific to their family bloodline limit. They would havenext to no need to visit any other library, especially one as trifling andnameless as this.

Another was he who wielded the Rinnegan. Which was Sasuke.And the last was he who wielded the Sharingan. Which was also Sasuke.

So why, then, was there a woman standing on tiptoe in thiscorner Sasuke had come to think of as his own? His eyes trailed up from herflexed calves, over the long fall of dark hair grazing her tailbone, and up toher outstretched hand, pale and delicate and desperately reaching for a tomeoverhead. Sasuke was not unobservant; he knew her.

Hyuuga Hinata—Hyuuga royalty. Heiress of her clan. Strongestliving Byakugan user.

Naruto’s girlfriend.

His chest felt tight, rigid; something that ached likelonging rippled outwards. Sasuke’s fist clenched, then released. Hinata’sfingertips weren’t even grazing the edge of the tome she longed for, and shehad no more height to add, having already moved to the tips of her toes. Herpulling motion stretched her jacket across her shoulders, dragging the materialup enough to offer a glimpse of skin just as smooth and pale as that of herexposed wrists. He could hear her saying something under her breath, though thewords were lost to him.

He wanted to turn around, walk back out of the shop; moveaway, head back towards his compound, the training grounds, the forest,anywhere but here. Far away, and quickly, and quietly, silently, so she wouldn’t know, wouldn’t realize—he fought withhimself over the cowardice of the feeling, refused to admit even to himself thatwhat he wanted to do was flee, likeprey, but instead found himself stationary, fixed and unmoving. His heartseemed the only part of him that moved, and oh,how it moved.

Still like prey,he thought, as she seemed to realize she had an audience and turned to glanceat him over her shoulder. Caught in herweb.

But it wasn’t fair to think her a predator when she had donenothing but exist, had never done anything so offensive or threatening but exist, right there in front of him—soclose he could reach out and trail his knuckles under the curtain of her hair,except that he couldn’t, because she wasn’t his; she had never been his and he’dalways thought himself untouchable but this, this inability to reach for her becauseof an invisible boundary was the unbearable truth of the term he hid beneath—

“Uchiha-san?”

Boundaries. Eventhe way she called to him added distance, until even the image of his hand inher hair faded away, too unbelievable to even exist in his mind. He could feelthe edges of his expression shifting, frustration at himself sharpening everyangle in his face. His eyes must have been pits of darkened flame, turbulentand sparking, and yet Hinata turned to him completely, unafraid and unguarded.This should have bothered him. It didbother him, only, not enough. Not nearly enough. Conflict arose within him, afamiliar warring feeling under his skin. Perhaps if he were someone else, withfar more freedom to feel, she would’ve been able to see the impact she had onhim.

But he had had a lifetime of practice in this. Locked insidehis heart with everything else he repressed, among the softness of prizedintimacy, the quiet whisper of secrets, and the memory of his mother’s smile,there was this: interest.

It was because of this interest, and the way that it piercedholes in his iron control, that he wanted her to be afraid. He wanted her toadd barrier after barrier between them, layers and labyrinths of defenses. Hewanted her to push him away, to use his surname and only look at him after he’dbeen the one to look first. He wanted her to protect herself against him.

Because for her, for some inexplicable reason he couldn’teven fathom, he felt.

A lifetime of repressing his emotions under the weight of anentire ocean of untouched apathy, and with a single look from her, his controlfractured. Ripples moved through him.

Blood on his hands, fractured friendships, distrust andincessant gossiping chatter about his life and the secrets strangers had noright to and the questioning almost apologetic expressions on Naruto’s andSakura’s faces whenever they looked at him—none of it stirred him. He was asfrigid and depthless as they thought him to be, still water with stormsunderneath. They could not touch him. At best they could feel the lightninginside of him. But they could not touch him.

But Hinata—

The first time he felt it, the jarring impact of someonebreaking through his emotional defenses, she had a bleeding child in her arms.She didn’t notice him at the time, not even when he moved to her side, not evenwhen it was his fingers that applied pressure to the wound in that child’sside. He remembered her hands, steady even while her voice shook. The maternalstrength in her eyes as she clutched that child close and shielded his frailbody with her own when an explosion nearby sent shrapnel spiking into her shoulders.Sasuke could still feel the impact against his own, and along the outer ridgeof his arm where he’d tried to shield her, too.

Hinata had not even hesitated, despite a cry of pain. Shedidn’t look at Sasuke, either, only used his hand to aid her as she pulled fromthe dregs of her chakra to heal a nameless, dying child in her arms. Heremembered the sudden rigidity in his chest, the palpable heaviness of a hearthe’d desperately tried to forget he had. He remembered the way it awakenedwithin him, and how the smell of singed flesh tore into him, proof of thetrails of blood that arose from the lines in her palms; an incredibly late anddaunting sign of chakra exhaustion. She never wavered, even as her chakrafaltered, breaking and sputtering. She never looked at him, but he remembered.

She became the jade that broke the surface.

He still felt it. Years later, the war behind them, thatchild breathing somewhere in the world because of her, and her heart someoneelse’s to hold. Her heart belonging to his best friend. 

It was unfathomable. He had never had a claim to her, notonce, not even when he was the child prodigy the entire village fawned over. Notwhen all her peers idolized him, put him on a pedestal he could only comecrashing down from. Not when he returned to the village a man that made otherstake notice, no longer boyish and misguided, but sharp-edged and confident.

No, he thought shakily, fighting to rein in his emotionseven more strictly. For Hinata, there had only ever been Naruto.

Sasuke took a step towards her, unable to do anything but bepulled into her orbit. Still, his expression hardened. He held his shoulders soharshly they strained, but he moved beyond her, ignoring her call. He reachedup and grasped the tome with ease, tearing it form the shelf. He could feel hereyes on him, and when he turned back to her he found uncomfortable solace inthe gentleness in her eyes. That he wanted that tenderness so much made it thatmuch more uncomfortable to see. He shoved the book towards her, fingertipsalready leaving the hard cover before she’d completely grasped it against herchest.

He was unbearably rude, his mother would be ashamed of hisbehavior, but the alternative was worse. He wanted to pull her in close, tosmile against her neck, laughing at her. He could imagine an alternativereality where he reached around her, hoisting her onto his shoulder, supportingher with his hand on her waist, lifting her to the tome. She wouldn’t have tostrain for it. She might even laugh, and how he longed to hear it. Naruto madeher laugh so easily, it wasn’t like he’d never heard it. He’d just never heardit because of him.

Sasuke flash-stepped out of the shop and didn’t stop movinguntil the front door of his home snapped shut behind him. His back pressed upagainst the wooden paneling, and he slammed the back of his head against it forgood measure. Get ahold of yourself,he berated, gritting his teeth. He closed his eyes and brought his hand to thehilt of kusanagi. The threads under his fingertips were a familiar sensation,bringing him back to the battlefield, where he could lose himself in memoriesof chaos he had control over. He understood himself well enough to know that itwasn’t psychologically or emotionally soundto find solace in the memory of taking lives.

But ever since his brother had murdered their family, theirentire clan, Sasuke had never really held himself to the same sane standard aseveryone else.

There were some things that a person just couldn’t come backfrom.

Sasuke pressed his head back against the door, gritted histeeth, and breathed through the memory of his own killing until his heartslowed, and slowed, and slowed.

He wondered if memories could ever be enough to get it tojust…stop.

Stop.

✧

“Wanna fight?” Naruto asked him cheekily, playfully bumpingagainst Sasuke’s shoulder. They were heading away from the Hokage tower afterreporting in, freshly returned from a joint mission. It had been months sincethe encounter in the weapon shack.

Sasuke ignored Naruto, tucking his hand in his pocket.Sakura had left them at the tower, insisting that she had business with someofficial who’d apparently skipped his rehabilitation session. Sasuke did notenvy him.

“What, really?” Naruto laughed, an added skip to his stepbeside Sasuke’s languid pace. “Since when do you not wanna spar?”

Sasuke cast him a snide look. “We’ve been back withinvillage limits for less than an hour.”

“Exactly!”

Sasuke shook his head. “Idiot.”

“Well, if you don’t wanna fight, what’re you gonna do?”

Sasuke said nothing, and Naruto sighed.

“Do you even have any hobbies, bastard?”

Sasuke paused to think about that for a moment, and when hecame up blank, he cast another scathing glance in Naruto’s direction. “Shutup,” he said, instead.

“You need to get a hobby. Or a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend. Apartner. A significant—”

“Shut up,” Sasukegritted out, jaw clenching.

“What? Blame Sakura-chan. Ever since she and Ino starteddating she really grilled me on the whole open-mindedthing. You can’t just assume,y’know?”

Sasuke didn’t mind that Naruto had completely missed thepoint and thought him irritated because he’d used gender-neutral terms ratherthan mentioning a significant otherin the first place. It was a subject Sasuke wanted nothing to do with. Narutoand Sakura had both grilled him enough times to understand that Sasuke was, asthey called it, picky. Selective,Sakura would say with diplomacy, trying to help him out a bit.

He hated discussing it, and they both knew it. If either ofthem ever learned the true reason why,he and Naruto would undoubtedly both lose their remaining arms. Glancing overat his closest friend, who had begun rambling, he wondered not for the firsttime how he would react if Sasuke was honest.

“I have nothing to go on, because you have hermittendencies, and love being difficult,”Naruto was saying, talking with his hand as they moved through the streets ofKonohas. Sasuke watched idly as people recognized them both, turning their eyesquickly from Sasuke to beam at Naruto. He interrupted himself several times toreturn greetings to passerby, meanwhile Sasuke kept his eyes forward andignored everyone like usual. He felt no inclination for false pretenses.

“So I’m really just floundering here, trying to come up withthings, but it’s not easy, y’know. Sakura-chan likes Ino, who’s loud andblond…”

Naruto’s rambling paused, and Sasuke could feel his gazemoving over him. He turned to find Naruto squinting up at him, suspicious.Sasuke could only dread what he was thinking, as he ran a hand through his ownblonde hair. Unashamed, Naruto didn’t even hesitate to ask:

“You into loud blondes?”

Sasuke’s lip curled, and Naruto immediately waved his hand,placating.

“Alright, alright. Definitely no loud blondes. Or blondes atall. Redheads? Dark hair? No hair?”

Sasuke wanted to punch him in the throat. He wanted him tostop asking. Subtle as he was, hepicked up his pace until Naruto had to jog a little to catch up. His pocketedhand fisted, and Sasuke refused to acknowledge a word Naruto said.

“Okay, maybe I’ll just go off of my own experiences…”

Sasuke almost cut him off just to snap at him, wondering howin Naruto’s mind he figured his own experiences would have any relation toSasuke’s personal tastes. Sometimes he could understand Naruto impeccably, andother times, he was completely flummoxed by his lack of logic.

But then he realized that in this particular case, Naruto’sdating experiences were actually directly and perfectly related to Sasuke’staste in significant others. He could feel the tension of a headache buildingbehind his temples.

“When did I realize I loved Hinata,” Naruto musedabsentmindedly, tapping his chin. Sasuke’s stomach dropped. “Well, I alwaysknew she was beautiful. Dark hair is best, after all. Don’t tell Sakura-chan Isaid that.”

For the briefest of moments, Sasuke closed his eyes. Theimage of his knuckles sliding under the curtain of Hinata’s hair flickered inhis mind, and his eyes snapped open to disperse it. He unconsciously shiftedaside to allow an elderly man to move seamlessly past him down the street, andturned to gaze at the hand reaching for Naruto’s arm a moment before it madecontact.

“Excuse me,” the man interrupted, bowing slightly. He wasall eyes for Naruto, pulling him aside to ask a few questions that Naruto immediatelyfocused in on. Sasuke kept walking. He took several paces ahead before he heardthe scuffing of feet on dirt, and turned to see an elderly woman a few stepsdown the nearest alley. Her trembling hands were reaching for her shoes, one ofwhich had slipped off of her heel, but she couldn’t quite reach from the angleshe had. Sasuke blinked at her, wondering where her caretaker was. Surely shewasn’t traveling through the streets alone if she couldn’t even manage to stayin her own shoes.

After several blank moments and no help arriving, Sasuketurned away from his path and approached her slowly. He was too quiet for herto notice him approaching, and when he was close enough that the edges of hisninsandals came into her view she gasped. Her eyes leapt up to him and fearfilled her blinking eyes, the weathered skin around them creasing as she shiedaway.

Sasuke pretended not to notice that she recognized him, andthat she was terrified. He could hear the chatter of Naruto and the man behindhim, still deep in discussion. He thought he heard a softer voice join them,but paid them no more attention as he crouched down, his right knee hitting thedirt, and reached for the heel of her shoe. The old woman’s hand came out in aflash, surprisingly quick for her age and stature, and attempted to bat hishand away. He allowed the contact, his wrist batted away, but he only broughtit back again and managed to secure her shoe completely on her foot before shecould prepare a second strike. Her ankles were so delicate he could havereached the fingers of his hand all the way around them.

He worried for a moment that the impact of her smack mayhave injured her—if her ankles were this frail, her wrists were probably evenmore so. However, when he studied her hands, he found them healthy, if stilltrembling slightly.

While he studied her hand and wrist for injury, she watchedin some semblance of awe as the Uchiha clan survivor knelt before her, slippingher dirty, sock-covered foot back into her slipper with his remaining hand.When it became clear he just wanted to help her, though he remained silent andicy all the while, she began to relax before his eyes. There was still aguardedness to her; she didn’t trust him completely, even as he lifted out hishand to gently grasp her wrist. He helped her to rise along with him, ignoringthe puff of dirt on his knee, the rocks still sticking into the fabric. Hesteadied the woman in front of him and then pulled away without a word, hischin dipping good-naturedly. Then he turned from her and headed out of thealley, with only a last trace of care concerning her well-being beforeforgetting about her entirely.

When he came out from the alley, Naruto and the man wereboth looking over some manuscript the man was holding. From Sasuke’s angle, itlooked like diagnostics of some sort. A weapon? No, that wasn’t right. Regardlessof what it was, why this man would bring it to Naruto, of all people, Sasukehad no idea. Before he could even begin to guess what the diagnostics were for,the hairs on the nape of his neck stood on end, and he subconsciously glancedoverhead. He caught a flash of lavender, the trailing scent of something likevanilla and something sweet like fruit, and watched Naruto turn instantly togreet Hyuuga Hinata.

Naruto breathed her name in welcome, and she moved towardshim distractedly, dipping in to gently kiss his cheek as she turned over hisshoulder to look at Sasuke. His heart pounded, and he looked away. Narutomurmured something for her ears only, checking in with her, and Sasuke saw fromthe corner of his eyes how she nodded and soothed, reaching out to playfullytrail her fingers through the longer hair by Naruto’s ears. Naruto laughed, andturned from her to rejoin the conversation with the stranger and hismanuscript.

Sasuke could hear Naruto asking, “So as far as prostheticsgo, these are influenced by chakra? How?”

Sasuke stopped listening. He knew Naruto had been lookingfor a prosthetic replacement for the arm Sasuke had ripped off. Sasuke wasn’tin the market for replacements. He was fine with just the one, and besides, itwas a sort of penance, after all. He still had so much to atone for.

With Naruto distracted, Sasuke offered Hinata a single nodin greeting, the reminder of how rude he had been to her the last time they’dseen one another pushing him to be better-mannered. He thought of his mother,her scolding voice still pristine in his memory, and added a quiet, “Hello.”

His eyes moved away from her, but not before registering thesurprise that rose over her expression, lifting her brows. She smiled so softlyit hurt to look at her, and Sasuke made to take his leave, continuing on thepath he’d deviated from for that old lady.

Before he could take a single step, however, Hinata’s voicepinned him down.

“Uchiha-san,” she said, “It’s nice to see you again.”

Sasuke stood frozen for a moment, awkward in a rare bout ofuncertainty, before turning back to her with hardened eyes. He didn’t mean toscowl at her, though she didn’t seem to mind. There was something jovial to thegleam in her eyes, the curl in the corner of her lips. If he didn’t know anybetter, he would’ve guessed her amused. At him? For what?

He didn’t respond, and that didn’t seem to bother hereither. In fact, she took a step closer to him and butterflies threatened totake flight inside his gut. Was it really nice to see him again? Even after hewas so unquestioningly rude to her the last time? Did it really even matter?

He stretched his fingers, an idle gesture. Hinata moveduntil she was within reach, lowering her voice as she glanced over his shoulderwith a kind smile. The old lady from before moved past them with a polite nodof her head, of which Hinata returned with a bow Sasuke thought too deepconsidering her status and the circumstances. When the elder moved on, notsaying a word to him nor casting him a single glance, Sasuke felt an unknowntension fade from his nape, stringing his shoulders too tightly, like a bow.

Hinata turned to him with those soft, striking eyes, and itwas a different kind of tension that strung through him anew. She said, “Thatwas kind of you, you know.”

Sasuke stared at her lips for a moment before forcinghimself to look away, not acknowledging the statement at all. He felt heatbuilding in the shells of his ears. He had thought no one around when he helpedthat old lady; never would he have imagined that someone had been watching hisrandom act of kindness, and that that someone would turn out to be Hinata.

“Foolish,” he said at last, lifting his arm as if to cross itover his chest only to remember that he no longer could. He let his hand fallawkwardly back to his side. “She shouldn’t be traveling alone in hercondition.”

“Perhaps,” Hinata agreed, not without consideration. “Buteven the elderly deserve their agency.”

Sasuke shook his head, irritated with her impartiality, butnot truly invested enough in caring about that old woman’s health to discuss it.He looked back to Hinata and could see that she thought otherwise—no one everlooked at him with such kindness. He could tell with just a look that shethought him a better person than he was, with better intentions than he trulyhad. She caught him helping an old lady, and now she thought him kind. It wasmisplaced optimism, a fool’s hope he wanted to squander. He wasn’t what she thoughthim to be.

What he actually was, was this: a hardened criminal, a willfultraitor, a proven murderer, one of the most dangerous and lethal shinobi in theentire village system. People looked at him with mixed parts disdain andsuspicion, at times curiosity, occasionally envy or admiration, but there wasalways distrust. A curled lip here, a glare there. Sasuke had even had peoplespit at him before, calling him traitor to his face. And they had a right to.He’d given them that the moment he abandoned them and their safety for his owngain. He didn’t deny them their wrath; he knew what it was to have otherstrying to cage you, suppress you, control you. He wouldn’t. 

But that didn’t make him good.Hinata looked at him like he had a right to the second chance he’d been unethicallygifted; like he was still someone whocould be saved. Like he was someone who deserved to be saved.

Did she forget who it was that tore the arm off her beloved?

Sasuke’s lip curled, and he turned away from her and tookthose retreating steps at last. He couldn’t stand to look at her anymore, withhope so brazen in her eyes as she traced over his features. She had the wrongimpression of him, and though somewhere deep in his heart he wanted to be thatperson she saw, anger made him turn away, back to the shadows of who heactually was.

Maybe in another life, in another time, where she was hisand he was hers, maybe he was a better person because of her.

“Oi! Where’re you going, bastard?”

But reality always came crashing back into his life, oneloud blustering word at a time. Against his better judgment, Sasuke turned overhis shoulder to cast Naruto a snide glance and regretted it instantly. With hisarm slung over Hinata’s shoulders, Naruto was rushing towards Sasuke, intent oncatching up.  Sasuke didn’t even considerrunning; he’d already lost too much face in front of Hinata as it was.

When they sidled up alongside him, Sasuke’s eyes leapt tothe heat under Hinata’s cheeks, the color a side effect of the arm over hershoulders, he was sure. He swallowed, and looked away.

“That man has incredible designs, Sasuke. You should reallygive him a chance.”

This, too, was a discussion they’d had several times before.Naruto thought him ridiculous for refusing to commission a prosthetic arm. Heknew vaguely that Sasuke refused any prosthesis because of what he liked tocall, “some lame form of an apology,” but even knowing that he still continuedto push.

“He has different types that he offers—one of them is a claw. Can you believe it?”

Sasuke sighed, and between them Hinata laughed under herbreath. Before Naruto even turned to her, she said, “It’s your choice,Naruto-kun…but I would prefer something other than the claw, if I get a say.”

Naruto deflated instantly, but he laughed. “How cool wouldthat be though?”

“Idiot,” Sasuke muttered, and Naruto turned on him in aninstant. “Hey!”

The three of them continued to walk together, with Hinatamoving between them, holding onto Naruto’s hand over her shoulder. Sasukestared straight ahead as Naruto continued to discuss prosthesis options, highlightingwhat types seemed coolest, before seeming to remember something important.

“Speaking of types,” he prefaced, and Sasuke felt dread curlinside of him. He deliberately did not look at Hinata, staring even harder infront of him. Several people walking past blinked at him, startled by the crosslooks he cast their way. He even heard someone passing by ask their companion, “Man,who kicked his puppy?”

Immature as it was, Sasuke’s frown deepened. He was a catperson.

Naruto chattered on ceaselessly, stoking the fire of Sasuke’sirritation. “Don’t think I‘ve forgotten what we were talking about before! I’mgoing to get to the bottom of this, believe it. You will tell me what type of person you want to kiss!”

Sasuke’s temper overturned, spilling out in frigid blasts.

His voice was cold enough to burn, sheets of rapidlythinning ice Naruto so carelessly treaded upon. “And what business is it ofyours what kind of person I want to kiss, idiot?”

“I’m your best friend! Of course it’s my business.” Naruto’swords were matter of fact, with no sign of weakness and no intent to back down.Sasuke almost growled, his throat wanting to rumble with his displeasure, butwhen he turned to glare at Naruto he had to look over Hinata’s head to do so,and the wintry storm inside of him subdued.

“And besides,” Naruto continued blithely, uncaring for thedanger he could so clearly read in Sasuke’s eyes, just this side of bleeding intoscarlet. “You deserve to have someone who you can take care of, and who’ll takecare of you—”

Sasuke stopped walking, and it was easy to convert the suddenache in his chest into the rising anger he’d been pushing down. He couldn’tlook at Hinata and hear Naruto telling him he deserved those kinds of things, knowinghow badly he wanted them despite a lifetime of telling himself he didn’tdeserve them, and knowing he wanted them with her when she had never been his, and never would be.

He stared hard at Naruto, and his voice was cutting.

“I changed my mind,” he said, reaching over Hinata’sshoulder to press two fingertips to the ball of Naruto’s closest shoulder. “Iwant to fight.”

And before he could gather the etiquette to apologize to Hinatain some way, he transported himself and Naruto into the deep green of afamiliar training field.

Uchiha fire had already laced his lips.

[artemisia--hq]

I would like to request kagehina no.25 “We can never be together” kiss coz I’m a sucker for angst. m(_ _)m

For @chocochippudding

Oooh. We going angsty. Alright, here goes.

***

The cold starts from Tobio's fingertips and threads through his veins, down to his toes, but aside from that, he feels nothing. His other senses are beginning to dim—his sight blurry, his hearing muddled, Hinata's words nothing but a garbled sound.

"Wh-what?" he manages to say, but it comes out like a croak and he clears his throat, but his voice still comes out ragged. "What did you say?"

Hinata's eyes are fixed on the ground, has been this entire time, and they flicker to Tobio just for a fraction of a second before dropping back down.

"I accepted the scholarship at Tohoku University," Hinata mumbles as he scuffs the ground with his sneakers.

The words are still muffled or it's just his brain rejecting to comprehend them, still trying to convince himself that he heard wrong.

Tobio takes two steps closer, planting his feet so firmly in the ground, making sure he stays grounded. "You said you'll get in with me at Waseda," he says, the accusation in his tone palpable. "You said you'll follow me there even without a scholarship. You said—"

"I know what I said!" Hinata bursts out, eyes finally snapping up at Tobio. But it's not the same bright eyes he's used to. These are devoid of its usual color, none of the usual fervent passion he's well familiar with.

Tobio closes the distance between them and grabs Hinata by his shoulders. "Then what is all these bullshit you're talking about?"

Hinata slaps Tobio's hand from their hold and he stumbles a bit backwards. "It's not bullshit," he spats, his face contorting into a scowl, but as quickly as it came, it fades into a small frown. "I couldn't have gotten in anyway, so why bother trying."

The surging emotions takes control and before he even realizes it, he has the collar of Hinata's shirt crumpled in his fist. "Why bother?" he shouts at Hinata's face. "Why bother?"

"Kageyama—let me go—!"

"You told me you'll stand with me!" His grip on Hinata's shirt tightens as he lifts him up, their faces inches apart. He could see himself reflected in those glassy eyes, face all scrunched up in anger, and notices that Hinata is mirroring his expression. His hands are shaking now, and his voice trembles with it as he whispers, "You promised we'll be together."

The hand clutching Hinata's shirt slackens as he bends forward with a heavy exhale, his gaze lowering to the ground. He suddenly feels exhausted, as if saying those words out loud saps everything out of him.

His palms are still pressed over Hinata's chest and he's expecting Hinata to push him back or step away from him. Instead, he feels two warm, calloused hands cup his face, lifting it upwards. And the face that meets his is a face he knows will haunt him for the rest of his life, that will forever be imprinted at the back of his mind, that whenever he thinks of spring and sakura blossoms, he'll always be reminded of this sight.

"We can't always get what we want. It's just not meant to be," Hinata says, slowly and quietly, as if he’s trying to make Tobio understand. To make them both understand.

A trail of tears traces down Hinata's flushed cheek but even through that, there's a softness in his eyes and he smiles. It's small and gentle and almost reassuring, if not for the unmistakable pain laced in it.

Hinata tastes salty, or maybe it's a combination of the both of them, as he feels something wet trickle down his chin. Hinata's lips are quivering against his and he hears him chokes back a muffled sob as Tobio's own lips captures them frantically, hands flying up to hold Hinata's tear-stained face. This isn't the first time they've kissed, but it feels like it—every tiny movement feels new, every keening noise escaping from Hinata's throat a whole new different sound. It's fervent, almost desperate, but it only flares the burning sensation in his chest, overwhelming the memory of the kisses they've shared before. Only this moment here exists and nothing could ever compare to this staggering feeling.

It would have been perfect if it isn't for this painful, bittersweet taste of goodbye.

***

Oooof. I think I may have a slightly different take on the prompt than what is expected xD Anyway, thank you for indulging my (desperate) plea and it did help wake up the writer in me. And I apologize if it's a bit lacking in the end there xD

I hope you enjoy! ( ˙꒳​˙ )

_artemisia

from this prompt list

[komahinasecretexchange]

Title: Surprisingly, We Made It!

Author: @thatsrightdollface

For: @namsuuuuuuu

Rating/Warnings: This is probably somewhere between G and T, tbh.  I guess I might tag this for the idea that Chiaki is mentioned as dead?   She’s… A ghost.  This is a fantasy AU!

Prompt: komaeda and hinata both trying to break into the same place on the same night by accident, only to be chased by the police upon meeting and having to hide in a closet/cupboard/safe together until they leave

Author’s Notes: Hi!!!  I hope you enjoy this~ :D  It’s the first gift out of three that I have for you this time, so please be on the lookout for the others!!!  Rounded up, this is about 3,000 words.  

The museum became a different place at night — Nagito Komaeda had known it would, but it was something else to see those bustling halls transformed into a grey-tile tomb like this.  The display cases seemed to watch him pass, waiting and polished, decorated with dead things: mummified hands, chipped pottery, swords people had assured him were definitely haunted when he took the museum’s official tour earlier that day.  Komaeda was good at drifting through places most of the time.  He was sure no one from his tour group would remember him when the museum started looking into suspects the next morning.

Komaeda smiled at somebody’s death mask, sitting propped up on a green velvet display in one of those glass cases.  He wouldn’t be here long.  He’d just take what he needed and be on his way.  The security systems fizzled out as Komaeda wandered by, after all.  Bits of dust formed over the cameras, crawling like mold.  This wouldn’t be the first piece of the puzzle to Komaeda’s life he’d stolen out of a museum. If he unraveled the whole mystery of his good luck/horrible luck curse, the roller coaster balance of his existence, maybe Komaeda would even get to rest someday.  Maybe he’d finally know what any of the ridiculous things that happened to him meant.

Komaeda hummed to himself as he strode through the museum.  He patted a display of a saber tooth tiger on the head and murmured, “Hi, kitty,” in a sing-song voice — he was wearing torn clothes, and the edges of his hair were singed from a fire that’d started out of thin air in his hotel room yesterday morning.  Even the air was subject to Komaeda’s madcap luck, see?  His curse.  Even the air would have to explain itself when Komaeda found the crumbly ancient book he’d come here for.  And, you know, figured out how to read it.  He had an anthropologist contact lined up.  It would be alright.

Things always swung back around, for Komaeda.  The dice rolled into a winning order even if they were weighted to go the other way.  At a cost, of course.  Always at a cost.

Komaeda wouldn’t have to pick the display case lock to get the book he needed, he didn’t think.  The thing would just fall right into his open hands, somehow, and then he’d turn on his heal and head out.  The museum smelled like freshly mopped floors and old, rotting paper.  When Komaeda’d passed a security guard earlier, he had waved cheerfully and pretended to flash a badge.  It worked.  It so often worked, and then Komaeda got arrested for a murder he didn’t commit or something just going out to buy bread.  He was used to it.  As used to it as a person could be, he thought.

When the cop bellowed, “Get back here, you!” somewhere off in the distance, well…  Komaeda murmured, “Oh no,” to himself almost playfully, as if he were keeping up the game.  But then he heard some frantic pounding footsteps right behind him…  The skidding of sneakers  over freshly washed tile, the shattering of a display glass window, all that.  He started to walk a little faster, glancing over his shoulder.

A guy with spiky hair blew by Komaeda, breathing heavily, sneakers squeaking all over the floor in possibly the least-stealthy way possible.  “Get out of here!” the spiky haired guy called.  “Officer Nidai’s not messing around!”

Officer Nidai?  Wonderful.  Komaeda knew Officer Nekomaru Nidai all too well.  Just his luck that guy would be here, wasn’t it?  He’d been suspicious of Komaeda ever since he turned up in town.  Whenever somebody caught Nagito Komaeda in the act, of course he just slipped away again like water between cracks in the concrete.  Like clouds dissolving into the sky.  His luck, eventually, turned.  Always, always.  But that didn’t mean people couldn’t try their own luck at catching him, every now and again.  It was annoying, but Komaeda shrugged off fatal things as “annoying” so often nowadays he was beginning to forget the meaning of the word.

Komaeda sighed and ran a hand through his pale, flyaway hair.  It would’ve been no good to lose this chance — he was so desperately close to another piece of his puzzle.  He stared running, too, and by the time he found an open door to duck inside it sounded like Officer Nidai had been joined by a whole crew of cop-friends in the museum hallways.  They were calling encouragement to each other, or something.  Listening to them might’ve been pretty goofy, under different circumstances.  So tragically earnest. It was like they were living in a separate world than the one Komaeda knew.

“What rotten luck,” Komaeda told the cramped, empty room he’d found himself in.  Or, the room he thought was empty, anyway.

The spiky haired boy who’d been charging through the halls flicked on a desk lamp, peering up at Komaeda with a baffled, frustrated expression on.  He’d been hiding under a table, it looked like, and up close Komaeda could see a whole stash of video game stuff secured in a cutesy canvas shopping bag over his shoulder.  Was that what he snuck in here to steal?  That?  There were so many priceless jeweled glass eyes in this particular museum, so many spells written in actual molten gold ink.  Did this guy seriously just rob the Lost and Found?

“Rotten luck?  That’s, uh, one way of putting it.  I swear I locked that door,” the spiky-haired guy hissed.  Komaeda nodded.  Yes, he probably had.  Locked doors didn’t really have anything on a luck-curse, though, did they?

Komaeda locked the door behind him, again, nodding to the boy under the table with a careful smile.  Testing the door so he could see it didn’t just swing open this time, revealing them both to the hall.  The office they’d ended up in was one of those glorified broom closet spaces, books stacked haphazardly everywhere.  There were pinned butterflies hanging on the walls, and dusty photograph frames buried under paperwork on the desk.  There weren’t any windows or obvious trapdoors leading to secret museum catacombs around — yes, Komaeda had found himself stuck in museum-catacombs before, and he’d nearly starved to death before making his way back to the gift shop.  Not a good chance of that here, though, it didn’t look like.  For better or for worse.

Komaeda sized the spiky haired guy up for a second — he was cute, in a flustered, running-headlong-through-a-museum-at-two-AM kind of way.   His hands were broad and warm-looking; his eyes were challenging and proud, as if he were half-convinced Komaeda was a double agent for the museum or something.

“Looks like we’re stuck,” Komaeda said.  “Don’t worry.  I’m sure they’ll go away soon.”

They didn’t, of course.  Just his luck.

…

Hajime Hinata had only been messing around with supernatural nonsense for a handful of weeks, now, and even he could tell the guy he met on his poorly-planned-out museum heist was soaked in weird old curses.   They clung to this dizzy-eyed stranger same as his own skin, same as his shadow.  Hinata would’ve guessed the guy’d been born with those curses already latched on, honestly, and they were at least part of the reason he could slip locked doors open without even trying.  Part of why his smile looked wrong, too, somehow, like Hinata would always be looking at him through a funhouse mirror.

From the stolen-back bag of video game stuff slung over his shoulder, Hinata’s friend Chiaki Nanami said, “We should keep an eye on this guy, maybe, Hajime.  Everyone he loved died…  Messy.  They’re whispering about it right now.”

Chiaki had died so recently, it still didn’t feel real.  She had hung on to pieces of her life without really meaning to, so…  Of course Hinata was doing his best to gather her back up.  Chiaki had been his best friend since they were learning to count, after all.  They had played a few of the games in her old canvas bag together, but not all of them by a long shot.  It was better Chiaki speak through these clunky things — through her old hair ribbons and photographs and commemorative game art books — than disappear completely, if you asked Hinata.  The museum people hadn’t been willing to give him the bag during the day, so this was what had to happen next, right?

He’d tried this the easy way.  At least he had to give himself that. Hinata shifted Chiaki’s bag a little way out of the cursed guy’s view. If anything, the stranger looked softly amused by his efforts. He shook his head.

“I’m not interested in your prizes,” he told Hinata, voice swaying and almost, almost prim.  A former rich-kid’s voice.  “I’m sure you have your reasons for everything, just like I do.  Right?”  After a few moments of awkward, waiting silence, the guy drifted over to the far wall of that tiny office — maybe it was Hinata’s imagination, but it looked like he was feeling through the stacked book piles there with his eyes gently closed.  Trustingly closed.  Eventually, the stranger pulled back, holding a notebook full of dark green pen scribbles that seemed to squirm over the pages.  His rattling laugh was low and muffled in his chest — still a little too loud for Hinata’s comfort though.   Obviously.

“The beginnings of a translation…!” the dizzy-eyed boy murmured. He had to know Hinata had no idea what he was talking about, didn’t he?   “What are the odds, what are the —”

“Could you shut the hell up?  Seriously?” Hinata said.  “Don’t you hear Officer Nidai’s buddies down the hall?”

“Oh, yes,” said the stranger, turning to Hinata with wide eyes and a shaky smile.  “But they won’t hear me unless they’re supposed to.  I’m sorry — you don’t know that…”

“No, I don’t,” Hinata confirmed.

The stranger considered this.  He said, “It was good of you to tell me to run back there.  You’re probably a kind person, aren’t you, Mr. Pointy-Hair?”

“Hinata,” said Hinata, before immediately kicking himself. You’re really, really not supposed to tell people your actual name if you’re trying to rob a place!  …  Even if they’re trying to rob the same damn place, apparently?  Or at least they’re getting weirdly excited about the chance to snoop through somebody’s spooky notebook?

“His name is Komaeda,” Chiaki offered from the bag at Hinata’s side. “Nagito Komaeda. If he gives you a different name…”

But Nagito Komaeda didn’t throw around any fake names at all.  He grinned, amazed and warm and slightly mocking, like he couldn’t believe Hinata had actually handed him his name so earnestly.  He stepped over to sit in front of Hinata, moving gingerly, sitting cross-legged on the ground.  He said, “You’re new at this, aren’t you?”

“I’m not exactly making a career out of sneaking into museums, no,” Hinata said, glaring.  “I’m not some comic book supervillain, or anything like that.”

The dizzy-eyed stranger chewed on his lip, thoughtful.  Hinata wasn’t entirely sure he got the joke.  He said, “In that case…  Please, call me Komaeda.  It’s the least I can do.”  His voice was so wandering, hazy and formal both at once.  The notebook disappeared into a pocket inside his long, tattered coat; up close, Hinata realized this stranger — Komaeda — smelled like burning.  His skin was a crisscross of faded scars.

The office/closet doorknob rattled furiously, about then.  Somebody grunted, “Keys’s not working…!” and then, louder, “Wait — damn key snapped off in my hand!”  They stalked away, and Komaeda nodded, again. Serene as anything, as if stuff like this happened to him every day.

“They‘ll come back,” he said.  “Officer Nidai is a persistent one.”   He might’ve looked self-conscious for a second — realizing he sounded like a hardened crook, or something — because he added, “Or so I’ve heard.  But we have a little while yet, I think.  Are those games in your bag any good?”

“These are my friend’s —” Hinata protested…  But Chiaki shushed him.  Gently.

She said, “They’re your games, now, really,” and “This isn’t my body, Hajime.  Only a window…  You know that.  I can look away, sometimes.  I’ll look away for a little while now, if you want.”

Everyone Nagito Komaeda loved died messily, Chiaki had said.  She didn’t say it again now, but Hinata thought maybe she was reconsidering this dizzy-eyed stranger.  At the very least, he might know how to hurry out of a museum in the middle of the night without getting caught.  He might know what it was like to lose a friend, too, and to want to believe that couldn’t be true with all his heart.  Hinata might get something out of talking to a person like him.

“Be careful,” said Chiaki.  “And be nice, okay?  Unless he turns out to be a jerk.  A cursed jerk.”  Hinata could’ve sworn she was snickering.  “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say Komaeda’s already giving you ‘I-like-you’ eyes.”

“He is not,” grumbled Hinata.

Komaeda tactfully ignored that last bit.  He said, “Ooh, your friend has ‘Void Escape 2.’ I like that one.”  Komaeda glanced at the door, and then back to Hinata.  “I’ve…  Never played two-player mode, actually.   We could kill a little time?”

This was absurd. This was a million-to-one chance meeting.  This was…

This was Hinata hiding in some musty middle-of-the-night museum office, offering a cursed, supervillain-y stranger snacks from his bag. Trying out a video game together.  What the hell?!

Hinata should’ve known better. On so many levels, he should have known.  But, apparently…  No.

When Officer Nidai finally got that particular office door open, Hinata and Komaeda huddled together under the tiny desk, close enough that the smell of burning felt everywhere for a little while.  Close enough that Komaeda’s wavy singed hair brushed Hinata’s cheek. They’d draped Komaeda’s coat over the both of them in some sort of effort to look like just another lumpy pile.  Maybe books, or crinkled papers, or whatever it was museum researchers wore out in the field.

The notebook Komaeda had been trying to smuggle away felt cold against Hinata’s skin, twitching like a living thing.

Officer Nidai didn’t find them.  Somehow.  Honestly, they made such a terrible pile of paper/field clothes/random crap that Hinata was fairly surprised.  Komaeda, though…  Komaeda shrugged it off and said, “Alright, then.  That’s our cue: time to go!”

They snuck out the museum’s dusky hallways together, then, with Komaeda holding Hinata’s sleeve and guiding him down what he claimed was “the luckiest” path to the parking lot.  The sky was huge and hollow-looking up above them, when they finally made it. Hinata had parked his car at the grocery store down the road — he gave Komaeda a ride back into the city, even though Komaeda’d assured him he would have found his way no matter what.

Just before dropping Komaeda off down some lonely backstreet — one of those tipped-over-garbage-can-alleys, without a proper street name anywhere — Hinata asked something he knew would haunt him whether he managed to choke it out or not.  He asked for Komaeda’s phone number, whatever his curses.  Whatever a weird night this had been.  He tried to ask casually, the way Chiaki might have.  Like he only wanted to be friends. Like he was just a little worried about him, even though…  Huh.

Something had felt right and warm, so familiar, about Komaeda’s hand on Hinata’s sleeve.  About Komaeda’s spinning, smothered laughter.  Whoever he was, whatever he’d done.  Whatever exactly had been translated in that notebook waiting tucked against his heart, just then.

Komaeda shook his head no, and Hinata muttered something embarrassed.  Said to forget he asked; glowered at the road.  Komaeda watched him, apparently baffled.  He folded his arms around himself, leaning the back of his head against Hinata’s car door window.  He would leave dark ash smeared on the glass, when he left.

“I…  Have no idea why you’d want to call someone like me,” Komaeda offered, after a moment of tension, the dark city passing by all around them.  After he’d apparently hunted around his mind for the right words and come back feeling empty-handed.  “I don’t even have a phone.  Never keep any number for long…”  He cleared his throat.  “If you want, though, you can give me your number. I’ll check in with you, until it gets…”  An awkward laugh, here.  “Until you tell me to stop, I guess.”

Maybe that should’ve been enough to scare Hinata off, but he scribbled his number down on a scrap of paper torn out of that cryptic, slithering-ink notebook Komaeda’d stolen anyway.  He couldn’t believe he was doing it, even as his pen slipped and Komaeda clarified, “Is that an eight or a four, Hinata?” in a soft, wondering voice.

Hinata told him, and Komaeda murmured the full number back, very solemn.  Like a promise.

Hinata took a long, roundabout way home, that night, and Komaeda waved after him until he’d disappeared off to kinder streets.  He turned around on the worn-slick heel of his shoe and started humming again, the way he had back in the museum.  It was a hopeful song, maybe.  It was almost morning.

[kvhottie]

1950’s. When Kageyama, the 18-year-old son of a world-famous cryptozoologist, gets invited by his dad to come along with him on a work trip to the Dominican Republic, he reluctantly accepts. Running around finding “mythical creatures” in a topical island didn’t sound like too bad of a vacation.

But when the work trip ends up being him and his dad’s crew trekking through a creepy rainforest in the outskirts of D.R, he starts regretting his choices. Things take a turn for the worse when he gets separated from the rest of the group—but a pointy-eared Meno named Hinata comes to his rescue.

Rating: General |Pairing: KageHina |Tags: 1950s Dominican Folkore AU, Fluff and Humor, Mythical Creatures

[Ao3]

It was summer break during Kageyama’s first year in university, and he was taking in a deep breath of tropical air as he stepped out of his family jet and onto the ground of the Dominican Republic.   But this wasn’t just some breezy vacation—he was here with his dad, world-famous cryptozoologist Takeo Kageyama, and the two other guys in his crew, for work. His dad had dragged him along claiming it was a belated ‘graduation trip’ when it was actually an attempt to get Kageyama interested in cryptozoology. Kageyama was unwilling at first, especially since he was very skeptical of his father’s career, but relented, figuring it’d be nice to get out of Japan for the first time in his life.

“Señor Kageyama?” asked a young man with a heavy accent, the gold buttons in his olive military uniform catching the harsh sunlight. “Come with me, the car is waiting,” he said in mangled Japanese.

  The man led them to a shiny black car, helped them put their things in the trunk, and then climbed onto the driver’s seat, large rifle tucked to the side of the car door. They drove to the Palacio Nacional, a beautiful, large white building that housed the offices of the executive branch of the government, and where Takeo was going to meet with President Trujillo. Takeo had explained during the flight that Trujillo had hired him to make an extensive report on the rumored mythical creatures roaming the rainforests of Palma Herrada. He wanted an assessment of the existence of these creatures, and if the conditions were safe enough for the expensive excursions he wanted to offer tourists who liked a bit of thrill.   Takeo went inside Trujillo’s heavily guarded office as the rest of them sat on a bench in the hallway. Kageyama took his eyes away from the meticulously polished floors to the view outside a nearby open window; it was just miles of vibrant green palm trees and clear blue skies.   The meeting was brief. After about ten minutes, Takeo stepped out of the office and the same young man escorted them back to the car to give them a ride to Palma Herrada. The drive was a bit over three hours of comfortable silence, only disturbed with Takeo’s occasional interrogation of the the young man on his half Japanese, half Dominican heritage, hobbies, and something or another. Kageyama tried to zone out his father’s stupidity by closing his eyes and focusing on the warm breeze coming through the car’s open windows. The air had this fresh, sweet taste to it but as they approached Palma Herrada, it started turning unpleasantly saccharine.   The car stopped in front of a small, bright turquoise cottage near the edge of the rainforest and they all got out, taking their luggage from the trunk.   “Use this place for sleep,” explained the young man who they now knew was named Reo. “I will pick you up in three days.”   Takeo nodded and yelled “Gracias” as Reo drove off. They walked into the cottage, pleasantly surprised to find it well accommodated with electricity, four single sized beds, a few fans, and a small kitchen. After each of them claimed their bed and settled down for a few minutes, Kageyama decided to break the silence.   “I still can’t believe you accepted a job from a vicious dictator,” he stated while glaring across the room at his dad.   Takeo pushed up his glasses and took a seat on his bed with a sigh. “I know it’s shameless and am well aware that Trujillo is awful…but a rare chance like this doesn’t pop up often.”   “Your dad is a man led by his curiosity, not reason,” offered Akio with a chuckle.   Fumi clapped his hands in agreement. “That’s very true. You came along this time, Tobio-kun, but at least you aren’t always being dragged to strange places by your father like we are.”   “Okay, enough poking fun at me,” Takeo said as he stood up. “Let’s make some dinner.”   But instead of helping, Kageyama lay back on the bed and stared at the ceiling. He was feeling quite a few things, but the strongest emotion had to be regret. As grateful as he was for the few hours of seeing the island, starting tomorrow he’d be spending three days in close proximity to his strange dad, and if that weren’t bad enough, they’d be trekking up and down some ‘haunted’ forest. He obviously didn’t think through the pros and cons of this trip carefully enough.   After a heaping serving of black bean chili and fried green plantains (courtesy of their patron), and a few rounds of Old Maid, they all went to bed in preparation for the very early morning ahead of them.

 The rainforest was a pathless mass of dewy greens and browns, and strangely cool in temperature. The harsh sunlight was filtered by the tall trees and landed as a soft shimmering yellow. It had been about an hour since Kageyama and the rest of them had started exploring this beautiful and eerie forest, and there was a feeling Kageyama couldn’t shake since entering.   “Hey guys…haven’t you’d had the feeling that something’s been watching us for a while now?” Kageyama asked as he slowly looked around them once more. He was dressed in a red Hawaiian short-sleeve shirt, beige shorts, beige wide brim hat, sneakers, and a big backpack.   “Yes!” Akio and Fumi said in unison as they turned back to look at Kageyama.   Takeo continued walking as he exclaimed, “I do too, and doesn’t that mean we’ll find something exciting? Lets keep going!”   But suddenly something dashed out of a tree a few yards in front of them and ran further into the forest. Takeo started running and the rest of them followed suit, but as soon as they passed the tree that creature had emerged from, Kageyama lost sight of the rest of crew. He broke to a stop, the hair on his body standing on end, and blinked hard. Nothing.   “Dad?!...” He yelled as he searched around, walking a few feet past the tree, and then around it. “Akio?! Fumi?!”   Somewhere in his gut Kageyama understood this was of a supernatural flavor, but he continued walking the path his father had planned for them. It wasn’t easy—everything was beginning to look the same, as if he was circling without realizing it, and though time seemed to never move, by the way the sun was dimming he knew darkness would come eventually. Regardless, he continued on. But with every step he took without any sign of progress, the deeper the furrow between his eyebrows grew and the harder his heart beat against his chest.   In this moment of bubbling panic was when a guy just a foot or so shorter than Kageyama nonchalantly walked out of the trunk of a nearby tree. Kageyama whipped his head to glare at him, figuring he had finally lost it. The guy had vibrant orange hair, pointy ears, and tan skin with blue leaf and vine patterns curving around his lean arms, legs, and exterior torso. He was barefoot and dressed in a rust-brown cropped tank and skirt made out of leaves and vines. Kageyama took a shaky breath and closed his eyes really tightly, counting to himself for a few seconds before he opened them again. Yep, the weirdo was still there.   “You aren’t imagining things,” the guy said with lively, musical laughter.   “Who-What are you?” Kageyama muttered. “…And you’re speaking Japanese?”   The guy took a step closer to Kageyama, lips curling up into a childish smile. “Oh, is that the name of this language? It’s one of my skills since I’m a meno. And it was probably one of my siblings that drew the rest of those guys away.”   Kageyama looked him up and down once more, hoping that staring at the guy a bit longer would give him more information than the non-answer he just got. “A meno?”   “Yup, a meno. My name’s Hinata.” He slowly circled around Kageyama with playfulness in his step. “My siblings get bored easily and it’s rare to find a traveler this deep in the rainforest, so they played a prank on you guys. The forest is enchanted and also mischievous. It purposely changes up paths to make travelers get lost.”   “But you know your way around, right?”   “I do.” Hinata stood facing Kageyama. “I can help you find the rest of your group, but you must offer me an item from the outside world.”   Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows and took off his backpack, emptying out the contents inside and organizing them into two piles: essential items and things he could do without. He pointed at the latter pile and looked up at Hinata. “You can take anything from here.”   Hinata crouched down and started excitedly sifting through the pile. His eyes landed on a gold compact mirror and he picked it up, fingers gliding across the top and the side as they gently opened it. His face light up and those golden eyes twinkled with fascination when he saw his reflection. “This one,” he whispered and stood up, still looking at himself.   Kageyama packed his things and walked beside Hinata. “Is it strange to see your reflection?” he asked, amused and a bit endeared by Hinata’s fascination with the compact mirror.   “Yes. I never get a chance to see myself this clearly. I had an idea of what I looked like from staring at my reflection in the river, but seeing my face this clearly reminds me that I really don’t look like the rest of my family.”   “Why?” Kageyama asked as he lifted a big leaf out of Hinata’s way.   Hinata closed the compact and held it in his hands behind his back. “I was originally human,” he explained and glanced over at Kageyama. “Los Menos steal children that aren’t baptized and turn them into one of them—but the spell didn’t fully work on me. I still age and look like a human boy, well, aside from the pointy ears and the blue markings on my skin, but I have the powers of a meno.” Hinata shrugged, a smile gracing his lips. “And my family still cares for me even if I look different.”   “What kind of powers do meno have?”   “We have an incredible sense of hearing and sight, especially in the dark, ability to understand and mimic any language, and we are invisible to the human eye.” Hinata brought his hands forward, held the compact up in the air, and then disappeared. “We’re only visible when we want to be,” he explained, moving his hand around to make it seem as if the compact were floating.   “Woah…”   Hinata giggled and appeared again, face beaming. “Cool, right?”   “Yeah.” Kageyama pulled on the straps of his backpack. “But if you’re usually invisible to humans, while did you decide to show yourself to me?”   Hinata’s smile turned into a cocky smug and he skipped ahead, walking backwards in front of Kageyama and staring him straight in the eyes. Around them, the forest glowed a dim blue—the same enchanting color of the patterns on Hinata’s skin. “Because you looked so panicked I thought you might cry.”   “I would not.” Kageyama stammered.   “Yeah, sure.” Hinata snickered. “It was also the first time I had seen a human boy this close. The locals avoid going deep into the forest because they know of all the creatures that roam it…so you’re obviously not from around here.”   Kageyama shook his head. “No, I’m from a country called Japan. My dad is in the group that I got separated from and he dragged me along because Trujillo asked him to research the creatures in this forest, and possibly get proof that they exist.”   Hinata’s eyes narrowed and he folded his arms across his chest. “The rainforest can sense intentions and she grows angry when they aren’t pure. You must leave as soon as possible; the forest is extremely dangerous for humans once the moon is out. Especially on a night of a full moon like tomorrow.”   “What do you —”   Hinata turned invisible and pushed Kageyama from behind, quietly warning, “Be very careful.” And the forest that had felt magical for that while of them walking together, was now dark and frightening.   Kageyama couldn’t spare a second to panic over Hinata’s disappearance because he immediately saw his father and the rest of the crew a few feet in front of him, near an exit. His dad rushed to him, lightly bopped him in the head, and pulled him into a quick hug while letting out a loud sigh of relief.   “We were so worried! How did you even get separated from us? One moment you were right behind and the next you were nowhere in sight.”   “The forest changes its paths to get humans lost. I don’t know if you guys will believe me…” Kageyama took a step away from his father and tried to catch his eyes in the weak glow of Akio’s flashlight. “I met a meno.”   “Meno?” Takeo pulled out the notepad he used to compile research before a trip and borrowed Akio’s flashlight to scan through his most recent pages. “Los Menos…” he read out loud, “small, blue mischievous forest creatures usually invisible to the human eye. Yes, that’s definitely the creature we where chasing earlier, though I only got a glimpse of it.”   “This meno I met, Hinata, showed himself to me and guided me back to you guys. He also warned us to leave the forest immediately. It’s especially dangerous for humans at night, and will be even more dangerous tomorrow since it’s a night of a full moon.”   “A full moon, huh…” Takeo muttered to himself as he continued to read through his notes, Kageyama’s warning having no effect. “Los Menos would be hard to catch a picture or recording of since they are usually invisible, but if we could at least get footage of another creature. Ah, here!” He pointed at his entry on “Ciguapa” and read it out loud, “A creature that appears during a full moon as a beautiful, brown skin woman with silky floor length hair. She lures men deep into the rainforest to her lair, sucking out their souls once she’s captured them. She is hard to track because of her backwards feet.”   Kageyama’s bit his bottom lip and balled his fists at his sides. “Lets. Leave. I’ve seen a meno, and I’ve seen what this forest can do. It’s not a joke.”   “We will leave for tonight.” Takeo stated as he tucked his notepad under his arm. “But we will return tomorrow and stay until midnight.”   “No way.” Kageyama marched ahead of the group and out of the forest to the sweet relief of cottages with lights, and humans, in the distance. “If you three want to get snatched by a Ciguapa, then you’ll be doing that alone.”   They all returned to the cottage in silence, had a simple dinner where Takeo and his crew discussed plans for the next day while Kageyama continued to glare disapprovingly, and quickly went to bed. But while the rest of them easily fell asleep, a cacophony of snores filling the air, Kageyama lay awake with his eyes closed. Now alone with his thoughts he could place the familiar discomfort he had been feeling since returning to the cottage—it was that prickly sensation of being watched by something hiding in the darkness. But he was tired of surprises, and if he were being honest with himself, quite scared, so he squeezed his eyelids shut until sleep finally overtook him.   That night he dreamt of Hinata. And saw an after image of Hinata’s face in the brilliant rays of morning sunlight filling the cottage.   “We’re heading out,” Takeo said once he noticed Kageyama sitting up. “You sure you don’t want to come?”   Kageyama ruffled his own hair as he let out a loud yawn. “I’m positive. Good luck, dad.”   “Okay. Hold down the fort for us, then. See you tonight,” Takeo replied with a light chuckle and shut the door behind him. Kageyama sighed and lay back again, staring at the ceiling for a long while longer before getting out of bed to start his day of ease. He brushed his teeth and scarfed down the quick cheese and mashed plantain breakfast he clumsily prepared for himself. He then changed into a blue tropical button-up identical to his red one, emptied out his backpack until it only had the essentials, put on his hat, and headed out the door to explore the town.   He wasn’t the greatest with directions so he took extra care to note where their cottage was, and made sure to only stick to the town’s main road. The walk was somewhat challenging—the countryside was hilly and the road was rough, but the tenants of the nearby cottages cheerfully waved and smiled at him, so he was having a pleasant time. After a few hours of strolling, often stopping to take in the view or buy a treat from a traveling vendor, Kageyama found a small river that cut through the town. He decided it’d be the perfect spot to settle in for lunch.   Kageyama followed it downstream a few feet so he’d be far enough away from the main road that he could have some privacy, but close enough so he could find it again. He unpacked his water, bananas, cheese, and bread, and ravenously ate it all as he did with every meal. He sat around watching the sky as his stomach digested his food, and then stripped down to his briefs to take a quick dip. The water was a pristine blue and blissfully refreshing, and he just stood there, the water slowly moving around him, with his eyes closed and face enjoying the brilliantly warm sun.   But his peace was interrupted by a splash nearby. When he opened his eyes, there was no one around, and suddenly all the puzzle pieces came together.   “Hinata,” he said curtly.   “You caught me,” Hinata responded with a cheery giggle as he made himself visible, standing only a foot or so away from Kageyama. He walked closer with a smirk. “When did you notice?”   “Last night. Why are you following me?”   Hinata looked at him blankly and then looked down at the water, his fingers slowly threading in and out of it as he thought in silence. After a few moments he looked up again and shrugged, an easy smile on his lips. “I’m not sure. I find you interesting.”   Kageyama scoffed. “It’s only because I’m the first guy my age you’ve met that’s crazy enough to talk to you.”   “That’s not it. You’re definitely special,” he insisted.   “Sure,” Kageyama muttered and sunk into the water to swim around for a while. He went completely under, opening his eyes to look down at the grey, pearly floor of rocks and the head of bright orange swimming next to him. Unlike Kageyama who had average—borderline mediocre—swimming skills, Hinata moved around the water like he was born breathing it. He circled Kageyama with ease, swimming above and then under him, weaving playfully—it was beautiful. He was beautiful.   Kageyama went up for air, standing up in the river and slicking his hair back out of his face. “Are all meno that good at swimming?”   “No, not really. We’re all decent swimmers, but I spent a lot of time playing in the river out of boredom so I got really good at it.”   “Oh.” Kageyama walked to the bank of the river, sat down with a content sigh, and kept his feet in the water.   Hinata followed suit, sitting only a few inches away from him and staring at his face with a silly, curious smile. “So…”   “What…?” “Tell me about the outside world!”   Kageyama signaled to their surroundings. “You are in the outside world. Don’t you know about it already?”   “No. I’ve never gone this far away from the rainforest before. It’s dangerous to be this far away from home in case someone manages to catch me and experiment on me or something…also my magic is not as strong when I am outside of the forest. “   “Okay, then. What do you want to know?”   Hinata kicked his feet in the water excitedly and leaned closer, eyes glimmering. “What’s it feel like to ride in those bird looking machines that fly in the air?”   “A plane? It feels normal. I try not to think too much about the fact that we are thousands of miles up in the air.”   “Was it a plane that brought you from your country of Japan?”   “Yeah, we have a family jet—oh, a jet is just a smaller plane.”   Hinata’s eyes widened. “You have your own jet?! Those must be expensive, right? Are you rich?”   “Not rich, but we are comfortable, I guess.”   “So cool.”   Kageyama glanced over at Hinata. “Uh, so if you’re real, many other mythical creatures must be real too.”   “Well,” Hinata hummed in thought. “Most of them are, but a few are just stories humans made up. There are a few of us that are really scary, but the scariest legends are things humans exaggerated. It’s the stupid little ones like Ratoncito Perez that are completely true.”   “Ratoncito Perez?”   “Your dad didn’t tell you about him?!” Hinata beamed.   To which Kageyama shook his head “no” and not a second later Hinata was gleefully, and without catching his breath, telling Kageyama about the little magical mouse with a straw hat that collected children’s baby teeth from under their pillows. He explained that he had met Perez once, and that he was definitely the nicest, and softest little creature in all of the Dominican Republic. Kageyama just nodded along and watched Hinata’s face, finding his range of facial expressions much more interesting than his story about a tooth fairy rat.   “Is there another creature you want me to tell you about?”   “No, I think I’m okay for now,” Kageyama said as he stood up to put on his pants and shirt. He left the shirt completely unbuttoned, and swung his bag on his back. “The sun is setting so we should walk around a bit longer to dry off and then head back.”   Hinata nodded and walked next to Kageyama toward the main road, completely visible.   “Is it okay to walk around like this? Don’t the locals know what you are?”   “I’m only visible to you right now. I can choose who exactly can see me.” Hinata stuck his tongue out devilishly. “So if you talk too loudly, anyone who passes will think you’re not right in the head and are talking to yourself.”   “Oh.”   And with that they started their comfortably silent trek back to the cottage. They walked steadily, watching the people settle outside their cottages for a game of dominos or just to sit around to exchange stories that made laughter rise up to the sky. Hinata would stop occasionally to pull out any colorful flowers he saw blooming near the road and to pet every cow or stray dog that they encountered. All the animals eagerly leaned their heads into Hinata’s small hand as if they could sense his warmth and magic and as if they knew how nice his touch would feel.   By the time they made it back, it was nightfall and everything was pitch black aside from the eerie gleam of the full moon. Kageyama entered the cottage first, turned on the light, and somehow managed, by the skin of his teeth, to not scream when a little blue person appeared right by his hip.   “Fucking hell,” he breathed out.   Hinata snickered and stood next to the mysterious meno. “This is Rele, my younger brother.”   Rele waved at Kageyama and then turned to Hinata. His lips moved, but no sound came out. At least, it wasn’t a sound that Kageyama’s human, non-magical ears could discern. Kageyama stared at them as they talked to each other in what he could only guess was the meno language, and patiently waited for Hinata to tell him what was making his face scrunch up.   “I knew this would happen,” Hinata muttered, eyes now locked to Kageyama’s. “Your dad and his friends were enchanted by the Ciguapa.”   “Wait, what?!”   “Grab you bag and make sure to pack matches, oil, and a piece of wood! We have to act fast if you want to save them,” he urged, helping Kageyama scramble around for the materials. Once they were packed, Hinata grabbed Kageyama by the hand and they began running.   As they rushed into the forest, the leaves around them glowing in that beautiful dim blue, Hinata explained the plan. It was simple, but dangerous. And he’d have to do it completely alone because Hinata helping him, and getting caught, would cause tension between Los Menos and the Ciguapas. But that was fine. It was just some pretty, soul sucking, backwards-feet lady, right? If Hinata hadn’t helped him yesterday he would have probably been eaten by something already, so what better way to use his second shot at life than to save his idiot father and crew?   “There they are,” Hinata whispered as they crouched by some trees. “They’re in a trance so don’t even bother trying to wake them up. Just hide among them and do what I told you.”   “Okay.” Kageyama took a deep breath. “I hope I don’t die.”   Hinata squeezed his hand, shining a reassuring smile. “You won’t, I promise. I’ll be right here.”   Hinata then turned invisible and Kageyama took that as a sign to prepare his weapon. He pulled the slab of wood out of his bag, doused the end of it in oil, and held his lighter tightly in his other hand. He slipped out from behind the trees and caught up to the guys, following closely behind them with the slab hidden behind his back.   Their destination was just a few minutes away by trance walking, and struggling through thick foliage and a short, rocky path. The Ciguapa’s lair was a well-hidden cave in darkness so black, it made Kageyama’s sweat turn cold. He brought the slab to the front of him and held his lighter to it, thumb ready to press at any moment.   There was a sound of bare feet approaching them. And something dragging across the ground.   Kageyama held his breath and closed his eyes.   He could sense her. And if he tried hard enough, his ears picked up on the tiny noises she made as she circled in on them. He just had to wait until she was close enough.   Wait.   Wait…   His thumb pressed the lighter just as her breath grazed his ear and the end of the wood ignited in a lively fire. Kageyama swung it at her face and she let out an ungodly shriek, jumping back into a crouch while shielding her face with her arms. Kageyama took a step toward her, threateningly pointing the fire at her, and she crawled to the exit of the cave, quickly coming up onto her two backwards feet to run away into the trees.   “Where are we?” Takeo mumbled as he looked around him in a haze. Akio and Fumi were also in a similar state of stupefied, ‘ I just woke up from almost getting murdered by a Ciguapa’.   Kageyama just let out an exasperated sigh and held the fire above him. “Follow me. Once we get out of this creepy cave I’ll explain everything.”   They returned to the spot where Kageyama had parted from Hinata, and Kageyama threw the slab to the dirt round, stomping the fire out. They weren’t even a second in total darkness until the area shimmered blue and Hinata appeared next to Kageyama. The other guys made some sound of amazement, and maybe a slight tinge of fear, but Kageyama dismissed their worry.   “It’s fine. This is Hinata, the meno I told you about yesterday.”   Takeo ducked closer to get a good look. “He’s not fully blue…and looks very human.”   “It’s complicated…Anyhow,” Hinata folded his arms across his chest. “You all must leave this forest and not return. Other creatures are now well aware of your presence. Only worse things will happen if you stay any longer.”   “Yes, you’re right,” Takeo lamented. “I’m sorry, I should have listened to Tobio, and the warning you gave him. We’ll leave right away.”   Fumi and Akio nodded insistently. “Finally, the first reasonable thing you’ve said since we started this trip.”   Hinata chuckled and put his fingers to his lips as if to whistle, but again, it was inaudible. A few moments later, Rele, or the meno Kageyama thought to be Rele, and three other small blue meno formed a circle around them and they all started walking, with Hinata leading the pack.   “When we form a circle around you like this, we can make you invisible as well.” Hinata explained.   They made it out of the rainforest with ease, bowing and giving thanks to Hinata’s family for their protection. Takeo and the guys eagerly marched ahead to their cottage while Kageyama lingered behind, shooting Hinata a glance that he hoped he’d understand. Hinata smirked and turned to his family to say something. The other menos returned to the forest and Hinata walked Kageyama back to the cottage, stopping a few feet away from the front door.   “T-Thanks, by the way,” Kageyama murmured, hand rubbing the back of his neck. “…I guess this is the last time I’ll see you?”   Hinata laughed, though it was laced with a bit of regret. “Yes, I guess it is. From the spooked look on you and your companion’s faces, I doubt you’ll be stepping into this rainforest ever again.”   “True.” Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows. ‘What if you—” He cut himself off with a hard shake of his head. He was thinking stupid things. How did he grow so attached to what was basically a forest gnome to the point that he almost asked him to come home with him? It was definitely the magic, spells, enchantments, and whatever else, talking.   Hinata touched his forearm and stepped in front of him, gaze locked. “What were you going to ask?”   “It was stupid,” Kageyama insisted. “It’s just the magic getting to my head.”   Hinata’s eyes lost a bit of their glimmer and his smile faded as gave Kageyama tiny, sad smile. “Okay.”   “I mean—“   Hinata swiftly pressed his lips to Kageyama’s and stepped back, whispering, “This is the human ‘I like you’, right?” And he disappeared, an echo of his ‘bye-bye’ blown away by the night breeze.   To say the least, Kageyama did not get a wink of sleep.   And neither did Takeo, since he spent most of the night writing his report and sketching what he saw while the images were still fresh in his head. When morning arrived they all gathered their belongings, had a pitiful breakfast from the scraps left in the kitchen, and quietly waited for the Reo to come pick them up as Takeo had requested last night.   “What is the conclusion of your report?” Kageyama asked as they loaded their things into Reo’s trunk.   “Of course, that no one is to step into that forest!” Takeo exclaimed. “I’m adventurous, Tobio. Not stupid.”   Kageyama laughed through his nose. “Good.”   On the ride back to the Palacio Nacional Kageyama knocked out, and only woke up to his father returning to the car having presented his report and received his payment. Kageyama was too tired to ask him about Trujillo’s reaction to the conclusion of the report.   Reo drove them to their jet that was ready and waiting to take them back to Japan. It all seemed very rushed to Kageyama, who wondered what the harm of checking into a hotel and sightseeing for a few days would be, but then again, he figured that his father missed the comfort and non-magicalness of his own home just as much as Kageyama did. And also, the Dominican Republic was currently run by a dictator with a short fuse who at any moment could decide that the unsatisfactory results of Takeo’s report had to be punished…   But really, who cares. He just wanted sleep.   Kageyama climbed up into the jet, picked a window seat near the back, and quickly fell asleep. He woke up what seemed to be few hours later, groggy and head pounding with a headache. He reached to the seat next to him for his bag, where he had water and aspirin, but instead he touched a tan leg. His eyes traveled up the person’s body and saw a familiar mischievous smile.   Hinata was sitting next to him.     “Holy fuc—“

[katarinahime]

Sole-Survivor

Being the last Uchiha had been something that Sasuke had grown used to. He had been alone for some time. The last of his name.

Well his brother had been roaming around, but since Sasuke’s entire goal at the time was to kill him, he never really counted that.

This was also long before he found out about the existence of Obito and Madara.

But now, they were all dead and gone. He really had been the last one. And he had spent the fews years after that alone as well. Jailed, for one. Then his self imposed walk of atonement, to help rid the world of the evils that he himself had spread.

It had been a long, long time before he had returned back to the village.

Things were much different than he had remembered, including his own home. The entire district had been left to rot in disrepair after the massacre. Then Pain had laid waste to everything. His family’s former home had simply not been rebuilt. New homes, shops, streets and people covered the ground where once his family ruins had haunted.

One might think it poetic.

Not Sasuke.

Besides, his family had only been sequestered there from persecution after the Nine Tails attack, when he had only been a baby.

He had spent a long time being the sole survivor. The last Uchiha.

Two goals had ruled him. Kill his brother. Restore his Clan.

He had killed his brother.

The pain from that experience would pinch his heart every time he thought of him. Sasuke knew that through time, one could come to terms with the dead. His wife was like that. She could smile serenely and tell him stories of her mother from when she was a child. Sasuke doubted he could ever think on any memory of Itachi and not feel the raw, torn edges of agony.

Restoring his clan had been a little bit trickier.

Sasuke had agreed that making Konoha publicly admit what they had done to the Uchiha, to Itachi, would just spark distrust and even hatred against the Hokage. Against all Leaf Ninja.

If Sasuke had learned anything from his life, from his mistakes, from his walk of atonement, that unrest was dangerous. Peace had albeit been a fantasy until after the war.

Under no circumstances, would he jeopardize that. Not now. Not after all the sacrifices had been made to achieve it.

The Uchiha were dead. Itachi was dead. He had sacrificed his own honor for the village. Sasuke could at least honor his sacrifice.

It didn’t matter so much when he had been alone.

He was distrusted. Hated, even. Spit on by some. It had never bothered him. Perhaps, he even deserved it. He could take their scorn. Their anger. He understood.

But time went on. Things changed. Suddenly, he wasn’t alone.

It was worse when the scorn turned to his loved ones.

When the glares from the uchiwa fan on their backs weren’t just directed at him, but the thin shoulders of his wife - When shop keepers sneered at her and her round pregnant belly - When his son toddled down the street on chubby, unstable legs, clutching his fingers and people turn away from them -

Whispers of traitor. Cursed clan.

For the first time, it hurt. It made him angry.

“Papa,” his son tugged on his sleeve.

His son was his spitting image, if not for the blush on his cheeks.

“That’s your family, Papa?”

Sasuke had taken his son on a walk, as he did often. Sasuke has genuinely enjoyed walking. He had bought a larger parcel of land than most people in Konoha usually had. The village was expanding and he had gotten his plot quite a ways away from the city. It was large enough for the house, a yard with a garden, fenced off, with still some land, left untouched, butting against a river.

Sasuke has never told Sanada what the memorial rock had been for. He must’ve asked his mother, and that had probably been the best explanation she had come up with.

The “rock” had been own by the Uchiha since before Konoha had founded. The Ancient stones had been used by Madara to justify attacking the leaf, his anger drive by persecution. The same stones that his own father and clan and used to fuel their anger, weather justified by their own persecutions or not, and drove them to plan their own coup d’état. A civil war.

He could feel it now. Feel the justifiable rage every time a villager looked down upon his wife and children.

He could understand what drove his predecessors to violence. The overwhelming need to protect his family and rage that came with their mistreatment. It was almost overwhelming.

Sasuke couldn’t allow this to happen. Which it why he had kept the rock. Placed as far back on his property as it could go.

And he would visit it, to remind him, that greater peace would always need to come first.

“You are my family.” Sasuke corrected.

His son smiled, shyly tucking his face down. His small fist tightened on his sleeve. Sasuke reaches down and swung his son up onto his hip.

“Should we go back?” Sasuke asked. Not that he was actually asking permission. The sun lowered, ready to set soon. His young child had an early bed time.

“Mama!” Sanada replied instead.

Sasuke knew, without his son’s added kicks, that he wanted to be let down. He obliged him and watched him run off at his mother, full force. He frowned slightly, as he slammed into his mother’s legs, tucking his head against her round belly.

“Gentle, Sanada.” He scolded.

His son looked up at his mother, his chin resting on her protruding tummy. “Sorry Mama.”

She brushed his thick black hair lovingly. “It’s alright.”

Sanada lifted his arms to her, and Hinata was going to comply, leaning down to lift their son.

Not on Sasuke’s watch.

He was there in less than a second, snatching the little boy before his mother could be taxed. Hinata just looked up and smiled at him, shaking her head lightly. She was used to his crazy by now. She easily allowed his hand to circle around her waist and let him guide her back through the untouched wild of their property.

As if she needed any of his help.

Sasuke wasn’t alone anymore. He had a family again. A family that he love more than himself. More than anything.

But he must be reminded, that even more than that, he must keep the peace.