#honestly even if there hadn't been this particular ambush—

[xiyao-feels]

This is extremely indirect but honestly that last post also makes me think of Jin Zixuan.

The thing is I think he does, actually, have some culpability in his own death. Not because he provoked!!! WWX!!!! (facepalm), but because—

In inviting WWX to JL's one month party, he was implicitly offering WWX safe passage from the Jin. And as it turns out that's not actually something he has the power to offer WWX—not because of JGY, remember, this is literally JGS' suggestion:

Jin Ling’s full-month celebration just so happened to be near, to which Jin ZiXuan actually invited Wei WuXian. Jin GuangShan wasn’t too fond of this idea to begin with, and so he suggested that Jin ZiXun use this as an opportunity, killing Wei WuXian on his way to the banquet. This way, he wouldn’t have to come to Koi Tower either.

(ER translation, ch 76; emphasis mine)

Jin Zixuan just does not have the power to offer WWX safety from the Jin. And he should have known that. But he doesn't, because from what we can tell he's absented himself from Jin politics all his life. And like, don't get me wrong, that's an extremely understandable urge—but it's one he can only get away with because his parents are indulging him. And then because he does this he does not even realize that he doesn't have the power to safely invite WWX to JL's one month party, and with all good intent and with all total ignorance he invites his wife's shidi straight into what ends up being an ambush.

His power and privilege protect him from the consequences of his ignorance: and then they don't, and it ends up killing him.

[anonymouslosersworld]

Two-faced

Two-faced pt 2

Characters; Tenjiku

Genre: Fluff (F)

Toman reacts to : s/o with a double life.

warnings: Reader is a menace to society pt2

Requested by: @sousheiswag

Summary: gang leader!s/o that hides the fact that she Is a True menace and a gang leader to anyone.

characters: Izana, Ran Haitani and Rindou Haitani

Hiding something like 2nd life was exhausting. Like honestly how did you even find the energy to do it?

Your boyfriend's clingy, stupid, and always had to give you a heart attack one way or another, even if he doesn't admit it. He was up your ass every other day and making you angry half the time. Which made you so happy that you had ...creative outlet

It honestly took a load off caving someone's faces in after a big fight you had said, boyfriend. Sometimes you needed something to end up in flames and someone's ugly sobbing to get your anger out.

It was always a big plus that the people you were kicking the shit out of weren't the innocent bystanders but other gang douches that broke your territory rules or tried to take over your said territory.

But today you were running behind schedule some gang decided to pull some shit the day of some important day your boyfriend invited you . So you had to stop in the middle of getting ready to go deal with them.

you were kinda pissed, while you were hot the temp for that day was even higher and it made you cranky. So the douches got the death of a lifetime.

Izana Kurokawa

Izana was fucking worried, he went to your apartment to check on you because you hadn't called him like you promised you would. Your room looked like it had been ransacked if he was being honest, but he knew that the mess was a part of getting ready to go out.

what really made alarm bells ring in his head was the ugly boot footprints all over your home, he thought you had been kidnapped. While he usually said anything about your shoe preferences these seemed to be all over certain parts of your parents. It's where you keep all your valuables...kept is more like it since these places were empty/ ransacked.

Izana let out a huff and gritted his teeth.

'unbelievable' He thought as he walked out of your apartment.

'I'm so fucking late!!!'

well, you say that but you didn't seem to stop shoving s scum bag's face into the floor.

"you seem to like being on your knees for a girl huh? you must make someone happy." you said trying to alleviate your bad temper.

"oh but who am I kidding, you get no bitches do ya!" You grunt as you knee the guy in the face. "You'd be lucky with just a hello!"

"If it weren't for you I'd be with my boyfriend but noooo. Y-you just couldn't shut the fuck up and leave me be!"

The sound of bones breaking was clearly heard by you as you curb stomp the idiot who dared to cross paths with you. You can't help but remember a time not so long ago when it bothered you. But you were most certainly more bothered by your current predicaments because you didn't notice someone coming up behind you trying to confirm it's really you.

"DO you know how fucking long it takes to get a date with that asshole?! A lot! I worked really hard and you ruined it!"

"I could be sipping a (insert drink) with him right now! or watching a fucking movie?! Now I'll have to wait til his dumbass schedule opens up for another one bitch!"

Ran Haitani

See you rather die than admit to Ran that you were a leader of the gang. To give that man satisfaction would be a stain on your pride. So you obviously decided you would deal with the way you love.

Fighting was not one of them.

Physiological warfare of course.

So no Ran didn't catch you exactly fighting but in a particular scene. To him, it looked like you were ambushed or being harassed by a gang. When they looked at him in fear he just assumed it was because of him.

Turns out it was the opposite situation, he had no idea that you had told this daddy's man that his daddy knew what he was doing in his free time.

You had just exposed him for being a fraud rich boy wannabe gang leader just cosplaying, causing his fear to become real as his gang was ruthless and cutthroat.

"Now. do you want me to tell certain interested parties about this orr?" your paused before continuing, "you know you have a really pretty dad ya know? He really looks like my friend's type too, maybe you'll have a new step-mommy."

" You think your empty threats-"

"Empty? who said they were?" You grab his face and squeeze it with a force to bruise his face. "watch your tone with me little bitch boy, or you won't like the consequences ."

The look on the man's face when registered Ran's oncoming figure was hilarious. You would probably laughed if you weren't caught red-handed doing something."

"Heyyy Ran~"

"Is this what was keeping you late?"

"hmm~? what do you mean?"

"This dude bothering you?"

"Oooh, no we were just having a spirited conversation and we finally finished. "

The look on Ran's face was unreadable but after a minute he nodded.

"alright you little bitch, do what I told you or else," you whispered to the man behind him and walked to Ran who had extended his hand to you to hold.

So ran didn't find out till after rumors had spread that he was someone's dog and bitch.

Rindou Haitani

Rindou finding out that you were in a gang was actually pretty easy if you asked him (you never denied it or tried to hide it) . But if you asked yourself, you couldn't have been more obvious with him. In your relationship with Rindou you pride yourself with being honest with him and having a clear and open line of communication with each other.

you literally had just gone to the bathroom at this cafe that you and Rindou decided to have a date at and suddenly Taiju Shiba was in your seat trying to "conduct business'" with Rindou. You smirk as you approach the table before stealing a kiss from Rindou and placing yourself onto his lap.

"Hi baby, whose this date crasher?" you question him playing dumb. You knew Taiju very well.

"This is_"Rindou began before being interrupted by Taiju

" I don't think it any of your business'."

A laugh escapes your throat and you smile at him.

"Well I know you don't think at all. But seeing as you interrupted MY date with MY boyfriend.. it is my business. "

" No one has taught you to speak when your spoke-"

" Unlike your shitty ass, poor of excuse of a way of treating your "family" you don't get to talk to me that way. Or did you forget your manners when your parents died Dog." You spoke with poison in your veins, you hated every single cell of that loser. For the way that he treats your friend and her brother but also the way he handles things.

Taiju blood boils and he begins to try to "disciple" you but before he or Rindou could even react, your men quickly disabled Tajiu and pinned him to the table. With his face shoved into the dirty café floor , you motion to your men to pick the loser up. Blood ran down his nose and forehead, his cheeks stung from your full force slaps to the point were he almost didn't feel them.

" Now, just this once I'll let you off easy okay girlie? Because i know of a couple of interested parties that would like to shoot another one those videos. "

His face drained of color as he remembers Haikai's significant other torment and the humiliation's he went through because of them.

"good you realize who I'm speaking of. Hears what we are going to do. Your going to leave me and my boyfriend to our date. These lovely men are going to beat you to inch of your life then leave you for dead in some random river while recording everything and maybe just maybe that video will end up in Koko's or haikai's lovely s/o hands. And you will spend every waking moment wondering when either of them is going to strike."

Rindou had chills for weeks after that. He processed the event slowly as he clearly remembered the fear in Taiju's face. The fact that you could be so cold and ruthless but the next second be so warm to him blew his mind.

He would do the same thing of course but he needs time to process. But in the meantime you two go on a lot of uninterrupted dates.

Hajime Kokonoi

Kokonoi values information, money and luxury.

But there was a fourth thing he valued with his grubby greedy hands the most and that was you. You had everything he valued and loved all wrapped into one. You somehow knew information that it would have taken him a lot of time and money. You had "strange" and "random" friendships with some questionable people, connections he knew where in HIS world.

so he didn't have evidence to back up his claims but in his 4 million heart he knew that you were at least involved into his world but just didn't know how much. He knew you either deep enough to be an information gatherer of a spy but he didn't think you were a gang leader.

Day and night he would undirectedly tell you to leave that world behind and that he would take care of you but you never acknowledge his underlying message.

But he realized how strong you were when a gang he was working on merging another gang to tenjiku only to realize that group had disbanded and joined another gang.

Shion

Oh He knew, you think he would forget getting his ass beat by you??

[electrasev5nwrites]

Ninja Daily: Vapors 38

"God Aiko, is this just going to be a thing now with you?"

She looked up at her disgruntled cousin, a little confused. "I'm sorry, I don't speak crazy, Karin."

The older girl picked up a short pillow and whacked her with it before sinking down into the couch across from Aiko. "I mean your clothes, dum-dum. The Hokage is making a village announcement tonight."

Aiko frowned. "Didn't she do that recently?"

"You're hopeless and you need to pay attention to life outside of paper and missions," Karin flatly informed her. "The Hokage left the village last week and came back in yesterday morning. Everyone was talking about it."

She shrugged. "Why would I care?" At the particularly scathing look she got, she moved to correct herself. "I mean, I care and all, but talking about it doesn't help. We'll find out whatever she deems appropriate tonight."

Then she looked down at herself and frowned. "And I'm fine, thanks." Her clothes were perfectly serviceable.

When she found herself dragged into a group of her peers (age-wise, if not in rank) she found that she had apparently been on the same wavelength as most of the boys. They all seemed to be dressed normally as well. Except for poor, fabulous Lee, of course. The other girls were all at least slightly dressed up. Even Tenten had apparently been ambushed and taken shopping. She looked hopelessly awkward and out of place in a short dress, nervously tugging on the hem and rubbing her fingers over the obvious outlines of hidden weaponry.

Aiko rather thought that standing her ground had been the best decision in this particular instance. She carefully wandered away from Karin's grabby monster hands (seriously, that girl was strong) and made an escape into the crowd to find an isolated spot to listen from. She could listen to the stupid speech without making it a big social affair, thanks.

It wasn't that she minded crowds or socialization, exactly. They were fine. But they didn't seem to energize her the way they did most of her peers. Karin and Ino would undoubtedly strong-arm most of that group into going out dancing or something after Tsunade was done speaking (either in celebration or to commiserate. They could find any excuse to party). Aiko very rarely felt the urge to do something so social.

'Apparently Root doesn't inspire great fondness for crowds either,' she noted with some amusement when the roof she landed on was already taken. She jerked her head in a vague nod to Sai. "Mind if I listen from here?"

It was a good spot, after all. Actually, she could see her group from here. Ino appeared to be sitting on Kiba's shoulders for a better view. He'd probably agreed so he could touch her legs. Not to be outdone, Karin seemed to be honing in on the other boys as if about to pick a target herself.

Sai merely shook his head, something unfathomable in his dark eyes, so she settled in to hear Tsunade speak with an apprentice at either shoulder like especially tiny bodyguards. She noticed with some disgruntlement that Sasuke was almost as tall as Shizune. That fucker'd had a growth spurt, hadn't he.

Big surprise, Konoha had officially aligned itself with both Sand and Mist, as well as a separate patronage pact with Nadeshiko. Honestly, if the Mist alliance hadn't gone through she would have been shocked. There was no way Tsunade would have leant Mist a seal master if she hadn't been all-but certain the resulting jinchuuriki would not be immediately turned against Konoha.

Sand wasn't surprising either. She'd heard that Gaara was in charge earlier that week from the lady she bought her fruit from at morning market. Things could have changed, of course, but what she knew about the possible future had made her relatively certain that unless Konoha provoked him, Gaara would remain fond of Naruto. His belief that Naruto would be the Hokage one day would doubtlessly lead him to tolerate all but the most extravagant of idiocies from the current administration.

Aiko didn't know shit about Nadeshiko, though, other than that it was located slightly south-east of Water country. Undoubtedly, they would prefer to be on the same side as their geographic neighbors, now that Water had a Kage again. Even if Nadeshiko didn't manage an alliance with Water, Terumi would have to be an idiot to touch them now. That would break her pact with Konoha and Sand and tick them off.

The only real surprise was the official acknowledgement of Konoha's enemies in Sound, who were apparently harassing Sand and some small villages. Tsunade spewed a steaming load of patriotic tripe that made the crowd cheer and stomp their feet. They positively roared when she announced that Konoha would be helping her allies. Not all of them, of course. Many of the older citizens, civilians and shinobi alike, looked distinctly stiff or unhappy. Aiko thought she could see an Inuzuka woman actually growling.

It didn't take a genius to conclude that this was actually an offensive hidden under the terms of a more publically acceptable defense of territory. Sand didn't share any borders with Sound. Unless Rain had fallen, Sound's foothold in Grass would make no difference. This was a thinly disguised move heralding the escalation of conflict. And many of the people were cheering the notification that their shinobi would be going off to die far from home for other countries.

"Idiots," she mumbled before realizing Sai might take offence.

He merely looked at her. Then he slowly looked back over the crowds below them. She was actually surprised when he spoke up. "You do not share their enthusiasm."

"Um, no." Aiko suppressed a sneer. "This could be the prequel to another large scale war. It's not a cause for celebration. At least we know Tsunade-sama is an excellent rhetorician, though," she dryly added. It was true—that woman could work a crowd.

"Hmm."

That was all they said. What else was there to say?

The lines under his eyes weren't getting any better, Itachi noted ruefully when he returned to the Akatsuki base where he and Kisame would be separately making their reports sometime in the following day. Stress was deepening them.

He was always stressed, of course. Every day he drowned in guilt that he could never allow to abate, every day he worried about his most precious person, and every day he allowed himself to associate with people he found utterly foul and repugnant.

Kisame was probably the best partner he could have had in Akatsuki, although he wouldn't have believed that at first. The Mist expatriate was a traitor, after all, and seemed to be a particularly bloodthirsty one.

Time had not changed those perceptions. Sometimes, first impressions were exactly accurate. Those facts were undeniable, but in the years since he had left Konoha, Itachi had become desperate enough for at least companionable silence to become something of a 'the-glass-is-half-full' person. Despite his many flaws, Kisame was ideologically motivated instead of greedy or small minded. No matter how repulsive Itachi found Akatsuki's aim of peace through subjugation, he could at least appreciate that his partner was ideologically committed to the cause of peace and not just a violent, money-grubbing hired hand like Kakuzu.

In a way, their desire for peace between the nations made them philosophical allies, even though Hoshigaki was undoubtedly fooling himself about his ability to refrain from violent action. He enjoyed a fight too much. In that, Kisame was like most of Akatsuki, even Sasori.

Kisame was by far the best option for companionship in Akatsuki. Deidara, perhaps, might have been led down a path of maturity. He was brash and willful, but not needlessly cruel or small-minded as Hidan was. But that path had been closed by Itachi himself when he tricked the boy into joining Akatsuki.

Perhaps he just hadn't wanted to see the boy change his mind and genuinely commit to such a foul organization. At least now, Akatsuki had a ticking time bomb strapped to its chest.

He somewhat bitterly wished that Madara would be around when Deidara finally lost his head completely. At least then he could allow Sasuke to find him for closure and just die already. Though he desperately wanted to die, he could not without assuring that his brother and his country had been protected as best as he could.

The older Uchiha had been up to something lately. Itachi had no doubt at all that much of the unrest in the Elemental Nations was due to his meddling and war-mongering.

But it didn't quite coalesce into a picture yet. That is, unless he assumed that the most recent and aggressive piece on the board was being controlled by Madara.

Although Sound had been founded by Orochimaru, there was no reason to believe that the current leader had any particular grudge toward another nation. They were a blank slate. Perhaps if this Kabuto was bitter about Orochimaru being killed by Konoha, he might have tried to harass them. But Sound could not hope to compete militarily with Konoha.

But they had not made a single move against Konoha. They had destroyed the Hidden village of Grass, and turned their raiding parties on other small villages like Rain. There seemed to be no purpose. Often, when new countries or administrations came into power, their first order of business was to improve their standing by acquiring desirable land and resources. But this didn't even look like an expansion of borders—Grass shared no land with Sound. They could not possibly hope to keep what they had taken unless they also defeated Fang and Waterfall. Yet they had barely touched that area, instead focusing on Rain.

Only the hypothesis that Madara or someone else with a potent grudge against Konoha made those bits of illogical action into part of a coherent picture. Attacking Grass had actually made some small amount of sense for someone who eventually planned to destroy Fire Country. They had been allied with Konoha and shared a border relatively near Sound. They would have been the first to interfere with any attack on Konoha's land from the North. With the hostile Earth Country to Konoha's North-West and Lightning to the North-East, it would be the logical point of entry for any attack.

It would not have made sense for Sound to do such a thing on their own, however. They could not hope to face Konoha's might, or indeed that of any great nation. Only a disposable pawn would be made to act in such a way. Sound was merely meant to sweep away any minor players that might come to Konoha's aid later.

Madara would not make his real move until after Sound had fallen, Itachi knew. But he might play Lightning and Earth against the Land of Fire for his own amusement even before Akatsuki had given him what he wanted, to make them miserable for as long as possible.

"Itachi," an amused voice that he would have much rather not heard called out. He gracefully took to his feet and padded towards the man who was nominally his master.

"Yes?" he questioned mildly. Nothing external betrayed what he was thinking, but inside was only turmoil. Madara was cruel, and suspected Itachi of turning against him. He was right, of course, but amused enough by the thin pretense of ignorance and innocence not to do anything about it. He was a man who liked to see others squirm.

Rather like a playground bully, Itachi had thought once. But that assumption was mistaken. Madara was like a man who had been tormented and bullied himself. He delighted in asserting himself over the powerful, not the weak. Indeed, he seemed to have a strange weakness for all manner of pathetic creatures. But never Uchiha.

Ignoring Madara would be a most unwise idea. But Itachi did not wish to hear what the man had to say, either. Perhaps he had come to mock Itachi for his weakness again.

"Itachi-kun, I wanted to have a word with you."

That voice almost had to be an affectation, Itachi mused silently, expressionless. It was far too low for a man of Madara's size. He was pitching his voice lower because he associated the masculine sound with power.

It wasn't the first time Itachi had the thought. He would never so much as whisper it.

"Taciturn, as always." Madara practically purred, like the world's most terrifying kitten. "Do you know, I've heard from Konoha. I think you may have made a mistake all those years ago in sparing Sasuke-kun. He's found himself a position under that Senju whore and is practicing pediatrics." The sneer was audible.

Both the crass innuendo and the information were somewhat brain-breaking.

Firstly, the Godaime Hokage was an admirable woman and would never act as improperly with an apprentice as Madara implied, regardless of Sasuke's status as a legal adult. He refused to even contemplate the absurdity. Itachi had been pleased by Sasuke's choice in mentors when he had found out, though it was unconventional.

Secondly… Sasuke was becoming a children's doctor?

That raised a lot of latent emotions. His otouto had always been so caring and a hard worker. Their parents would never have allowed him to take such a peaceful career path. Itachi was… proud. He felt proud of his little brother. Perhaps Sasuke could really be happy.

But he was also internally terrified, because…

"He's never going to get the Mangekyou like that," Madara rumbled, clearly amused by what he thought would alarm a man who was desperately greedy for the eternal Mangekyou eyes. "As his elder brother, it is your duty to rectify this grave mistake before it is too late. That is all."

Madara had allowed him to spare Sasuke because he thought Itachi wanted to use his brother in the same way Madara himself had used his younger brother. No doubt it had amused him to think of the last of the Uchiha tearing each other apart like wild dogs. If Madara thought there would be no use for Sasuke, he might do Itachi the 'favor' of taking care of him.

Of course, he could also choose to kill Sasuke to prevent Itachi from potentially growing any stronger. It was hard to tell with a man like that.

Konoha was militarizing. The signs were subtle, but present. Identification codes were being updated, merchants were being encouraged to travel as little as possible (to free up genin and Chuunin teams, undoubtedly) and even lower level nin were being pushed. Karin had been forced back into teaching part-time at the Academy, but the field medicine classes were being streamlined for entire classes in addition to Tsunade's program for gifted students.

Hinata found herself shifted back onto her original genin team. As a team of trackers, team 8 was now relieving Jounin teams that usually responded to requests for investigation of strange signs at the borders. They were a sort of covert investigation squad, aided by Kurenai's genjutsu and their ability to detect targets at a distance. Chuunin with Jounin-level skills in one needed area were being promoted to special Jounin status and given part-time missions at their new clearance.

And Aiko had been summoned to report on her findings to the Hokage herself.

'I suppose I knew that my break couldn't last forever…'

At least it had been productive. She had three potential counter-seals, and she was almost certain that one of them would work. That might please Tsunade.

The Hiraishin, on the other hand, needed testing. The exact seal that Minato and the original inventor had used were unsuitable for Aiko. Her chakra nature was different, as were her intentions with the technique. So she had tailored the original seal, cutting and adding what she needed and desired. The end result was startlingly different in appearance.

But the theory was very similar.

At its core, the Hiraishin was a method of folding the space-time continuum at two positions, one of which was your physical location (although it hadn't been explained in those terms) and using your spiritual chakra to re-orient yourself in relation to a beacon. It was an instantaneous tug of position, where the user essentially coaxed the universe into thinking that they had been in another position the entire time.

Aiko hadn't been able to think of a way this could possibly work without displacement of an equal mass of some sort—if it didn't, the Hiraishin would suddenly leave a vacuum in space. It was almost like a really unconventional body-switch technique, utilizing microscopic materials in the atmosphere instead of a convenient log or another body.

She wasn't particularly keen to test this theory, but it had to be done. 'Tonight', she promised herself. 'After I'm done with Tsunade, I'll try it out in the training ground.'

Aiko was at least mostly certain that even a failure wouldn't result in her death. It appeared that if she was totally misunderstanding the technique, it just wouldn't do anything. She just didn't like failing at anything. That tendency made it difficult to try new things. But at the same time, this technique was just too valuable not to utilize.

Of course, this experiment tonight might also lead to the collapse of her pet project, which she was worried about. If she was wrong and she could only attune to one signature at a time, her triangulation idea was completely worthless.

"Hokage-sama will see you now."

Aiko nodded politely to the sweet-faced older woman who managed the desk outside Tsunade's office and strode in, giving a polite bow to the woman inside before falling into a 'ready' position. For her, that meant her feet were slightly apart, her back was straight, and her hands were clasped at the small of her back.

"On time? Nice to see Hatake's only taught you to emulate his better habits," Tsunade muttered. Aiko had to consciously remember to stay still and impassive at the considering look the older woman leveled at her. She didn't really know the Hokage on a personal level, despite the fact that Sasuke was her apprentice and Naruto thought fondly of her. Aiko admired her on a merely professional level, since she had yet to make a personal judgment.

But she did know that the Hokage simply could not be as obtuse and brash as she appeared to be. Her snubs were calculated, and her abrasive nature had to be a tool. Tsunade was a woman who pushed.

The impression Tsunade gave of a person with a formidable force of personality was not a mere affectation, after all. Only the unpolished nature was false. Tsunade was a diamond, like the shape on her forehead. The Hokage was a deceptively beautiful and innocuous seeming woman who had been perfected into cold, shining hardness through years of intense pressure.

So she said nothing. It was best to remain silent in the presence of larger predators. Besides, that would force Tsunade to direct the conversation.

Tsunade rolled her eyes, as if irritated by some thought. "I want a report on that seal. What have you found?"

"As far as I can tell, it is a two-layered seal for the purpose of preventing the person marked from sharing sensitive information whether inadvertently, willfully, or under duress. In extreme cases it could cause paralysis as a counter-measure, but it probably functions by causing the tongue to swell and block the air passage to prevent speech. It must have a similar component for writing-based information leakage, and I think that may be what the paralysis is intended for. I have devised three possible counter-seals. Further investigation is not possible with my limited abilities without testing on an actual seal."

Aiko tugged out her collected notes on the silencing seal and stepped forward to pass them over to Tsunade. "My notes on my findings and analysis, Hokage-sama." It was best to be concise. She didn't want to seem like a braggart, but the alternative explanation could either bore Tsunade or make her think Aiko didn't have enough faith in her analysis. Besides, she wanted to get out of here and do testing on her personal project.

Tsunade could either trust her word and get a Root member to test the seal on, or piece through the notes. Aiko thought she knew what the older woman would choose to do.

"Very well. Leave those with me. I'll call you again once I have read through them. Dismissed."

Just to be cautious, she gave another bow before she left. As soon as she'd cleared the tower, Aiko broke into a flying sprint, easily crossing town to her favorite training grounds in minutes with a rush of air and color over buildings. Her hands shook just a little as she inked up two of her personalized seals—she had destroyed all the process copies. Best not to leave things like that laying around.

Since she wasn't interested in humorous mishaps involving emerging literally on the signal with a kunai in her innards or something, she didn't attach the seals to anything yet.

This was the part she had so far only read about. Aiko sat down with just one in her hands in a meditation type pose and saturated the seal with her own chakra. It took a fair bit to fill, but that was fine. She had large reserves and seals were reusable. Otherwise, this technique would be far too time and chakra intensive for anyone to actually use.

Once a fifth of her reserves had been pumped into it, the first seal stopped accepting chakra.

And the strangest thing happened. It appeared on her chakra sense, much like Karin or Shishou would. As if it was in fact another person. Except she didn't actually feel a mass of chakra. It was just a tug on her senses, something that wasn't sight, hearing, touch, taste, or anything else she could identify. But it was there, and she felt she would know that feeling anywhere.

Minato had described the feeling as an inexorable draw. He was right. Some critical part of her attention zinged to her creation.

It was fucking awesome, and she hadn't even tried to use it yet. She was tempted to, but the original plan had been to make two and only use one to see if she could sense them at the same time. It seemed obvious now that there was no chance she could fail to notice one of these seals attuned to her chakra and heartbeat, but it was best to go with the plan.

She had to actually meditate for a few minutes in order to calm down enough to attune the second seal. It had felt like she was high earlier, and Aiko welcomed the new clarity of mind. The second seal was much faster, now that on some level she wasn't expecting it to suddenly reject her chakra and give her a painful snap. She only slowed down when she was nearing three-fifths of her reserves, and welcomed the now-familiar singing in her blood that signified an active seal.

The moment of truth had been what Aiko had been worried about for days—failing at this final juncture. But she knew with every part of her being that this was the easy part. This was breathing and blood pumping and electricity moving in her nerve system. She felt the extra sense twang and rustle when she set the seals down on the grass and a little reluctantly walked to a point away from both of them.

Pulling on one was child's play. She had been by the oak tree, and now she was not. When she looked down, the little paper rustled up at her from between her toes. Aiko twanged the other connection, and looked back in time to see the grass where her feet had been springing up.

Best. Thing. Ever.

She actually laughed with the adrenaline and the singing in her blood, flickering back and forth mindlessly, high on the totally bizarre feeling of instantaneous travel. This… this was like magic. Sure, she could turn into a puddle of water or spit lightning or run at insane speed, but that took conscious effort. This was as natural as her teal eyes—it was just hers, and she had no idea how she'd ever lived without noticing it.

It took several dizzy minutes of transporting between the two seals before she calmed down enough for coherent thought. Granted, it wasn't exactly a cautious thought or one she would have had normally, when she wasn't riding high on unprecedented success and adrenaline and the supernatural feeling of her own chakra zinging all around her.

'I know I wasn't going to experiment until I'd had more practice with the regular version, but… I want to make a third seal and try triangulating now.'

They were her plans anyway. She could change them if she changed her mind. It only took about forty seconds to sketch out a third seal and a few minutes to attune it. When she was done Aiko was actually a little woozy from the sudden expenditure of chakra—well over half of her reserves in something like twenty minutes. So she forced herself to lay down for a while and calmed her rapidly beating heart.

When she finally tried, this part turned out to be harder than she had thought. It was hard to want to tug on all three at once—some part of her feared ending up in three pieces. After nothing happened with the first few tentative tugs, she took a deep breath and gave a sharp pull on all three.

'Well, at least I moved that time,' Aiko dazedly noted from her sudden position on her back blinking up at the midday sky. 'That's a good sign.' There appeared to be a good-sized rock digging into her back. When she managed to cringingly sit up, rubbing at her poor abused spine, it was hard to gauge whether this was a failure or a success.

She'd moved about two feet closer to the spot that should have been her destination. With some effort she got on her feet again and used more force on all three active connections, now that she knew she had been too cautious before.

That time was a success position wise, and she only ended up on her knees that time. But being destabilized twice now was a pattern, and something she hadn't considered. The girl frowned.

'Maybe it's less stable than using one seal? Because I'm forcing myself to orient against three different signals, I'm probably not hitting any of them dead-on like I do with just one. Practice should help me maintain balance when I land, I think.'

At least, she hoped it would. Triangulating wouldn't do her much good in a fight if she ended up on her ass half the time, even if it would still be fine for longer distances where she didn't have to be immediately aware and ready for a fight.

Now that she had managed to merely move closer to the signals once and managed to land in the center once by equally using each connection, Aiko was certain that her idea was going to work. Still, she had to test it before she went home and took a long nap.

Staggering, Aiko made her way out of the triangle again and closed her eyes to focus. Whew, she hadn't had to do that before, had she? Well. She'd be done soon anyway. She had a killer headache.

She firmly connected to the upper most signal and the left-hand one, barely brushing against the one on the right. And opened her eyes to see she was. Well. Not where she'd optimally wanted to be. That position was about a foot to the right. She hadn't gripped the last one firmly enough. But still, she was positioned in between the three signals at unequal distance in a way that corresponded to how she had focused on each seal.

A heady smile tugged at her lips, and Aiko was already collapsing. 'I think I'm taking my nap here,' she noted distantly, far too disoriented to really care.

Judging by the position of the sun, she had either slept for about 24 hours or only passed out for a few minutes. She blinked the tears out of her eyes and then wiped at the wetness on her face. Alarm bells went off like a siren even in her dizzy mind and mellow state when her hand came away red with blood. 'Ah. May have over done it.'

'That possibility was probably why I planned not to do more than one experiment at a time,' she realized. It was hard to remember right now, but that sounded about right.

Now vaguely concerned that she should go to the hospital before she passed out again, Aiko laboriously climbed to her knees. It was definitely harder than it usually was. Oh, headrush.

Omake: (Maybe happened, maybe it didn't. Whatever floats your boat.)

Shizune knocked on Tsunade's door and pushed it open without waiting for a response. The team debriefing in front of the desk gave her disgruntled looks she ignored.

"Tsunade-sama? Could I get some help at the hospital? I don't know what to do with this, frankly." She paused. "And it's freaking the nurses out."

Tsunade slowly raised an eyebrow at her apprentice's sheepish expression.

"It's Uzumaki Aiko," Shizune explained apologetically. "She's… well. She's bleeding from… here." She made a circular gesture over her face with her palm.

Tsunade groaned. "Are you fucking kidding me? I had her in here not two hours ago and she was fine."

Shizune bit her lip and sucked in a deep breath. "Well… Maybe you should fix it, before Hatake decides it's your fault and valiantly charges in here to tear you a new one. Because he's going to know soon." She muttered the next part under her breath. "God only knows how, but he'll know. I told the nurses not to say a word, but…" she shrugged as if to say, 'what can you do?'

The Hokage appeared to be on the verge of tears. Somehow, every time an Uzumaki scraped their knee and needed a bandaid with pandas on it, it was her fault. Even when it was Naruto and Hatake found out about via letter weeks after the fact.

[guardiandae]

withoutaconscienceorafilter replied to your text post: BASTARD CAT AU PLEASE

Ahhhh, a keen eye. Although I'm honestly not sure if this one is worthwhile, hence why I stopped working on it.

Soooo, I'll let you have everything I got, lol.

Bastard Cat AU - AKA Nathan "Cable" Summers finds a cat that reminds him of a certain mouthy little fucker.

-

This wasn't a part of the city Nate had seen before.

Granted, the sights of smells of a grungy back alley in New York wasn't exactly on Nate's list of 21st century landmarks to visit. It just happened to be part of the charming landscape near his latest motel room. And in his ongoing adventures of cheap, no-questions-asked motel rooms, this particular alley wasn't the worst thing he'd encountered yet. He could ignore the trash strewn throughout the area as easily as everyone else in the neighborhood apparently could. After all, unfucking the future would require bigger changes than just cleaning up one day's worth of trash in some shitty little alley. He had to focus on the big picture.

But Nate couldn't focus on anything except the pitiful meowing that had started up as soon as he entered the alley.

He actually stumbled to a stop, midstride, and turned to look. The sound also stopped for a moment. Nate briefly wondered if it had been a trick and this was some kind of weird ambush, but then the mewing resumed with vigor. It was obviously a cat. A fully grown one, judging by the sound of it. There was nothing dainty about that meow. The cat, wherever it was, had a clear, if somewhat gravelly, voice that rang out over and over again for attention.

"God, that's obnoxious," Nate muttered, kicking aside a pile of trash nearest to him to uncover what was there. Nothing but more trash, and a pile of old newspapers. The meowing continued, as if intent on annoying him. He kept looking, despite himself, but could hardly tell where the sound was coming from exactly, much less see a cat anywhere.

"Alright. Get a grip, Summers. You're saving the world, not a fucking cat," he muttered to himself and kept walking away, grateful that there wasn't a soul around to hear him. Except, of course, for that bastard cat. Wherever the fuck it was.

--

It was dusk when Nate headed back to his room.

He still wasn't sure that he'd ever truly understand this century. The broken social systems, the way the world was designed to break people down, and the apathy that was stained deeply into everyone Nate passed on the streets. Maybe it was already too late to make a difference. But it wouldn't hurt to try.

As he walked, Nate suddenly realized that it was quieter here than any other point in his day's  travel. The alley he was passing through was hardly a desirable area to adventure, what with the amount of trash, and it being isolated from the general flow of the city. Then he recognized the newspapers he'd unearthed earlier, and remembered this was the same alley he'd gone through that morning.

He was almost out of the alley when he heard it again. 

Just one solitary little meow.

Nate scoffed softly, perplexed. He would've expected the cat to be long gone by now. How many hours had it been? Then he stopped and listened, waiting for the barrage of incessant meowing to start up. But it was silent. That just didn't seem right.

"Where are you?" Nate asked aloud, and was answered with a faint mewl.

After a moment of hesitation, Nate sighed and walked back slowly, listening. 

"Hello?"

He waited. Another little mewl. 

If Nate hadn't come through here earlier, he'd almost believe that it was a kitten calling to him now. He recognized the same high, somewhat gravelly tone, but this time it was weaker.

"Alright, that's it. Where are you, kitty?" Nate asked again. He felt fully committed to this nonsense now. He needed to figure out what the fuck was making such a fuss. If he could find it, Nate reasoned, he could shoo it away. But quietly, in a way he didn't even want to admit to himself for fear of being foolish, it sounded like this cat needed help. And maybe he was starting to get a little bit worried for this hypothetical cat.

There was another meow while he searched, and then another, as if encouraging him to keep going. Nate carefully swept some of the trash aside with his foot. The meowing continued, still sounding weak, but in increasing intervals. It was probably thanks to it being softer in volume that Nate actually found it easier to hone in on where it was coming from. He kept going until he'd cleared a path to the dumpster. Behind it, there was a greased-stained paper bag from Taco Bell, with a pale pink lump inside of it that looked very suspiciously not like trash.

"Cat?" Nate asked, not entirely sure what the fuck he was looking at. He very carefully extended his leg and gave the bag a gentle push with the side of his boot. It made a sound that was not a meow, but instead just a pained little mrrp. Whatever was inside definitely had the approximate size and weight of a cat, but he wasn't entirely sure until it moved and he saw the tip of a scrawny little tail poke out. There was either something seriously wrong with this cat, or he'd accidentally found an oversized rat instead. Either way, Nate wasn't loving his options.

With his left hand, Nate reached down and grabbed the edge of the paper bag. If he was about to get mauled by a small, feral animal, at least his TO arm couldn't contract rabies. He ripped the bag open in one quick movement, exposing the furless creature that had been curled up inside. It didn't move at all, but Nate took a step back anyway.

"Jesus Christ," Nate muttered, not quite sure what he was looking at for a second. "What the fuck is that? Is that a fucking cat?"

The pink, fleshy thing looked at him with its remaining yellow eye and let out a loud, shrill meow, as if offended. For a few seconds, Nate thought that this cat had not only been wounded but also set on fire. Then he realized that the cat was a hairless breed, and although it looked hideously ugly, the pink, wrinkly skin was perfectly normal and exactly how the cat was supposed to look. What wasn't normal was its left eye, winked out of existence into a dark, crusty mess.

"Christ," Nate repeated in a sigh, no longer disgusted by the cat, but by whatever had happened to it. "You poor little bastard."

"Meow!" It cried, like a wail of agreement.

"You look like someone I used to know. An ugly, wrinkly, little loudmouthed shithead. Except you're cuter than he was, and not half as annoying."

"Meow!" the cat said again, but this time it sounded almost offended.

Christ, he was trying to ascribe human emotions to a fucking cat. It was just hungry, and wounded, and probably scared. It was only meowing so much because it wanted help. That was, assuming that it was friendly to humans and not completely feral.

Nate moved as if to pick it up, but then stopped short, waiting to see if the cat would react skittishly to his approach or hiss at him. Instead it laid there like a little lump, just watching him with one eye. "Meow!" It whined again.

Carefully, Nate scooped the cat up in his hands and, upon not being mauled, cradled the animal securely against his chest so it wouldn't try to leap out of his arms. But Nate quickly realized he wouldn't have to worry about that, judging by how the cat stuck to him like velcro, digging sharp little claws into his shirt. It was definitely friendly to people.

A hairless cat felt fucking weird to the touch… scalding hot but cold and clammy at the same time, and like a dry piece of raw chicken. He almost immediately regretted this decision, not just because a hairless cat was so weird, and not just because it had started meowing at him again, but also because all Nate could smell now was week-old garbage and rancid taco grease.

"Ugh," he grunted, trying to pull the cat away from himself, but realizing that it had already sunk its claws into his clothes and the effort was futile. He quickly gave up, resettling the feline against his chest as he resigned himself to his stinky fate. He gave the cat's fleshy bottom a gentle pat. "We're both getting a bath tonight."

--

As soon as Nate got the cat back to his room, he ran warm, soapy water into the sink and lathered up his stray. He half expected a fight, considering the fact that it was injured and had been living on the streets for gods knew how long, but the cat was surprisingly good about it, despite all of the extremely vocal yowling.

"Calm down, you big baby," Nate muttered, taking extra care to be gentle. He avoided touching its wounded eye or face at all, and avoided the right paw as well when it seemed too tender.

The cat was all nerves and refused to sit still, but Nate got through the washing without a hitch and snagged a hand towel to wrap his street urchin up in. This part of the bath was not only tolerated, but welcomed. As he held the cat in his arms like the world's ugliest burrito, Nate was treated to the loudest purring he'd ever heard.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Nate asked. There wasn't an ounce of fat on this cat, but all of its loose skin made rolls anyway, and since he'd swaddled that cat up, its face was puckered with wrinkles. "You look just like that fucking disaster,  Wade."

"Mrrp," the cat purred.

"I think it's a fair comparison," Nate said. "Maybe you're cuter, but you're still a goddamn wreck."

"Mrrrh."

"I know it's probably not entirely your fault, but sleeping in the gutter was your own choice."

[butter--peanut]

So I was thinking of Kamui Blues!Obito and Kiri!Obito and how they're both possessive over their Kakashis. KB!Obito has no idea that Kakashi gets around and only finds out later. But given that Kiri!Obito's more obsessed and invested and possessive at that point, how would he deal with Kakashi using sex as therapy? Like yeah he stops the self punishing type of sex but he can't be happy about the casual hook ups.

Honestly, before this ask I hadn't considered Kiri!Kakashi's more fun hookups, but it makes sense that these would happen like in Kamui Blues, for stress relief, to make him forget his sadness, etc. And I doubt that Obito would appreciate finding out about these...

And my thoughts led to an 800 word Kiriverse drabble (t-rated, just swears and slightly suggestive). Thank you for the inspiration!

"Excuse me?"

Lying naked on his back on the hotel bed, Kakashi met the eyes of his visitor straddled above him: a nondescript nin, also almost naked but for his socks (cute), his Ishigakure hitai-ate tossed carelessly on the floor beside the bed. He was unfamiliar; a complete stranger.

A stranger, of course, wearing a Henge.

“You’re strangely interested in my private life for someone I’ve just met, Ishi nin-san,” Kakashi baited, smiling slightly.

His visitor grunted. “Maybe that’s a normal response when I’m about to fuck someone and they mention that it might take a while because this very morning they got off with someone multiple times in their own village.”

“If there was a chance we met before,” Kakashi said vaguely, “I would want to clarify why this particular time might take longer than average. I’m considerate of strangers I might have encountered by chance in the past.”

He honestly hadn’t expected to be at this particular place at this particular time on this particular day. The mission was supposed to last three days. But missions tend to be cut short when your team is ambushed halfway to the destination and one of your teammates gains a chest wound so deep that you need to eat through your chakra reserves to speed back to Konoha so that she doesn’t die.

She would live; Sakura had said the blood transfusion would bring her back to full health in days. But it was too damned close a call. Kakashi should have watched his surroundings more on the journey to their destination. He should have been better. He couldn’t stop his student from abandoning Konoha and going to Orochimaru, he hadn’t taught either of his other students enough skills to truly protect themselves in these dangerous times with the Akatsuki creeping through hidden villages, and sometimes he couldn’t even complete a straightforward A-rank mission without recklessly endangering those he was trying to protect…

And he knew himself; knew the brewing feelings of lethargy, self-pity and self-disgust. He knew it was necessary to cut short those feelings before they overtook him. Hence, he came here, to this hotel, and found himself underneath this particular person.

“Do others do this for you too, then?” his visitor asked him, grimacing. “Do you find people in Konoha, sometimes, instead of coming here?”

Kakashi considered the currently-Ishi nin: this person he knew nothing about except that he wanted to help Kakashi at his worst. This person who had been helping Kakashi for almost six years.

“I’m surprised you don’t know,” he told his visitor eventually. “You know when I need you. Don’t you know what I do during the rest of the time?”

“I don’t watch you all the time, you moron. I have things to do.” He rolled his eyes. “Not everything in my life revolves around you. Honestly, if I didn’t know how much you hate yourself, I��d say you were completely full of yourself.”

Ouch. But, not unfair.

Kakashi supposed, after so many years of support, no matter what bizarre form it took, he owed this person an explanation.

“You’re the only person I come to when I’m this way,” he said, and noted the other man’s body relaxing. “The other times, they’re for fun, or take my mind off things when I’m not great but not,” well, “spiralling. They keep me stable.”

Like with Genma this morning. Genma was easy-going, no drama, happy for some added benefits sprinkled on their main serving of friends, little notice required. But not someone he would ever go to when he felt truly worthless.

“What,” the nin said, offended, “are you saying I’m not fun?”

“You’re fun when you make that face,” Kakashi said promptly. Some things, like this man’s pissed-off expression, transferred no matter what Henge he was wearing.

“You don’t — you don’t have to be about to fall apart to come to me, okay?” Seeing Kakashi’s confusion, he groaned, sounding — embarrassed? “If you feel like fucking other people for fun then you can come to me instead for that too.”

Oh.

He could?

“You’re…jealous,” Kakashi said. For some strange reason, pleased by this.

“Yeah.” The man’s gaze turned half-lidded, and he leaned forward on the bed, now inches away from Kakashi’s face. “I want you when you’re half-delirious with leftover teen angst, but I also want you when you’re giggling like a schoolgirl over your stupid book. I want you to talk shit to me and I want you to come to me when the world’s taken a great big shit on you. I’ll take you distraught or delighted. But let me take you, Kakashi.”

“Greater words of romance have never been uttered,” Kakashi said, unable to stop his grin, which his lover’s exasperated fondness made grow even wider.

Okay. Maybe it was time to try going on the steady for once in his life, with this person who never wore the same face twice.