#i didn’t want to make the itachi one but i kept finding songs for him i’m sorry 😞😞

[jitters-art]

since i had some interest in my sns playlist i figured i’d link my naruto, sasuke and itachi playlists as well since i just made them public c:

here’s my naruto playlist

here’s my sasuke playlist

here’s my itachi playlist

and just incase you want the sns w/o having to scroll for it here’s my sns playlist again

[canonsinthehead]

(Repost) Naruto/Boruto Headcanon: Chocolate Flavored Potato Chips, The Marriage of Karui & Chouji pt. 6- THE DANCE (FINAL CHAPTER)

Above are the DJ's playlists for the night, feel free to listen to them when you read!

Now the decorations changed, the mood is now of a high-end nightclub. People are dancing and having a good time. Those who don’t want to show their moves to the world can still sit at the bar, it’s no different than a regular night out on a hot Saturday night. In this case, being in Kumo, the music is different, and it seems like EVERYBODY from the Country of Lightning in the room knows the playlist (hence why so many members of Kumo Ninja School & security guarding team were invited to fill in and make sure Karui has the time of her life). Chouji is okay as long as she is happy.

It's a time and place for many dance battles to occur without mercy. NARUTO KNOWS ALL THE DANCES AND ALL MOVES (people cheer him on) and Lee follows with a high level of enthusiasm. Sasuke scoffed “Look at this fool.” Contrary to Shisui who was rolling in laughter while capturing the scene with his phone.

Konohamaru and Hanabi were having a good time. Hanabi is still trying to pair Konohamaru with anyone available.

At first Sasuke & Neji tried to evacuate the area ASAP but the idea of leaving Hinata & Sakura without surveillance caused them to QUICKLY come back. You can find them at the bar. Sasuke will never admit it but was satisfied seeing Sakura enjoying herself (you do the hip rolls and I’ll watch). He harshly brushed off Itachi who kept encouraging him to join her. “WHY DON’T YOU GO AND JOIN SHISUI ON THE DANCEFLOOR?!’’ Sasuke growled back while both were looking at Shisui dancing with all his might. It’s a waste of time honestly, Danzo would come back to life and passionately dance the Macarena before he sees his Aniki dance.

A lightbulb turned on in his head as Sasuke called Suigetsu over to a different table. While no one was watching, he shared his plan of setting Itachi up to force him to dance in public. He widely grinned as he shared his idea. Both rejoiced on one accord. “Let’s do this!!!’’ smile viciously Suigetsu

Suigetsu went to ask Killer Bee and the DJ for a special song to invite (you mean force) Itachi to the dancefloor. Sasuke watched from his seat and grinned as the request was accepted. Suigetsu came back and told him they would play a second round of Cha Cha Slide to go forth with the request. Killer Bee lowered the music to speak on the microphone

“Okay, okay, Fool ya fool! It’s time to dance but let’s bring someone really important to the dancefloor to show his moves to the world’’ Sasuke couldn’t contain his excitement. Finally, revenge (from what happened earlier with the flower bouquet situation). He could feel it, the joy eating him took over his senses, and he was shaking on the inside. So much, he started to have a headache. Regardless Killer Bee almost yelled in the microphone being consumed with thrill along with the crowd yelling unable to stay in place.

“WE ARE BLOWN AWAY!!! SASUKE CAME TO THE DANCEFLOOR, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT, WE CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THE YOUNG UCHIHA GOT SOME MOVES AND DIDN’T HOLD BACK, KILLING THE CHA CHA SLIDE GAME!!!!!

“What?’’ Sasuke thought out loud drenched in confusion. He blinked twice, only to be standing in the middle of the dancefloor getting mobbed by a crowd.

“AHHHHH SASUKE! I DIDN’T KNOW YOU COULD DANCE LIKE THAT?!! Yelled Naruto holding him from getting crushed by the tsunami of overhyped individuals around him. Kakashi was (surprisingly) close so he could capture him correctly with his phone. Next to him, Sakura couldn’t wipe off her shocked expression “Sasuke…” she was able to murmur. SHE WAS SO PROUD, and it showed. With the help of his teammates, he was safety guided to the closest table since Sasuke couldn’t stand on his feet. Suigetsu just stared at him “Sooooo, your plan worked I guess’’ he smiled holding back probably the loudest laugh on earth.

Wiping the sweat from Sasuke’s forehead, Karin was angry. “What was that Sasuke? That’s not your style to just dance like that. Are you drunk?’’

“What do you mean, IT WAS AMAZING!!!!’’ argued Naruto ready to fist fight. If Obito, Madara & Shisui were not too busy chocking in unstoppable laughter they would agree with the blonde. Through the chaos going around him, Sasuke looked around to find Itachi sitting at their respective table. “Foolish little brother’’ thought the long-haired raven. When Sasuke really thought about it, it must have been the sip of the drink he had before calling Suigetsu over for their mischievous plan. Whatever that was, he vowed to never touch alcohol ever again.

Sai almost got in trouble for staring at people too long. Thanks to Naruto and even Kiba who were close to clear up the situation.

Omoi got a hold of the stage’s microphone and officially challenged Shikamaru to a dance battle and lost.

My Girl Mabui has some moves but let’s not underestimate Samui as well (Karui is living)

· Kakashi is there for the high-quality liquor thinking about his life problems. Darui as well since he’s mentally preparing for the fact that he will be part of the cleanup team when all this is over eventually, he will accept Omoi & C requests to join them and the other bridesmaids/groomsmen on the dancefloor. “Come on, we’re supposed to know all the dances!” Said Omoi dragging Darui behind him (play Gold Digger)

Guy almost passed out after a few in a drinking competition with Mr. Hatake.

Iruka has a lot of women around him. Trying to talk and getting to know him is making him nervous (but they think it's just making him even more cute)

Karin agreed to eat some cake with Suigetsu. She even accepted to dance with him (even if they both can’t dance)

Madara & The Bridemaids/Waitresses taking pictures

Naruto pulled moves and went in on every song but (plot twist) got outdanced by SHINO (OUT OF ALL PEOPLE), Kiba is dying in the background, that’s some good wedding memories right there.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

authors notes: thanks for reading all of this yall, mam i was cringing so bad reading and editing idk why. there was so much errors its not even funny, what made me post this on my old blog smh.

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[givemeanaccountalready]

Prev

So while that happens, the entirety of the Hidden Leaf are freaking tf out. Not only did they just lose the first (publicly known) Wood Release user since Lord First immediately after they got her, but they also lost the jinchuuriki too. Anyone who is not in Root has no clue who Sai is or where he came from (hint: inside the walls). It is a disaster.

Sai and Sakura had their little bout of fisticuffs in the Academy schoolyard. Sasuke saw the Wood Release and is like, that might be useful, I need to learn that. He leaves to try and find out where they could have gone. Unlike the adults who are rightfully going wtf, Sasuke is like, sick jutsu bro. He finds Sakura’s little hideout and her diary with all her notes inside. Any pretense of not caring beyond learning a rad new jutsu flies out the treehouse as he sees various mentions of this “Keigo” guy (Sakura named Sai Keigo because he called her Ugly in an attempt to give her a friendly nickname and she cried (no self-esteem), forcing him to explain what the hell he was thinking. Since he told her to give him a name since he didn’t have one and kept being rude, she named him “Polite Speech” as a middle finger) and Naruto is the son of the Nine Tails (that was her best theory, cut her some slack, she was 11 when she came up with it). Sasuke firmly believes that this Keigo guy is an enemy nin who is using his classmates, and decides, yeah I can rescue them because he’s 12 and never not been able to figure shit out. How hard could a rescue op be?

Very hard is the answer. He is able to leave a shadow clone behind to get his classmates (you know, all the clan heirs that you don’t want to lose) to leave the village with him to “find Naruto and Sakura” (really, it’s to throw the searchers off and cause a distraction so he can solve the issue and leverage them for answers about Naruto’s relationship to the Nine Tails). Sasuke is also stuck with this old guy who claims he’s Jiraiya of the Sannin, but really, he’s just a dirty, old man who keeps chasing skirts at every rest stop they’re at. It’s annoying, but the guy might die if Sasuke leaves him alone because if he keeps calling himself a Sannin, people are going to try and kill him. Sasuke still can’t quite believe that Jiraiya is Jiraiya of the Sannin, even after he meets Tsunade. He’s not entirely convinced Tsunade is Tsunade Senju either, and feels for Shizune. Shizune is trying her very best not to laugh at Jiraiya and Tsunade when Sasuke is like, yeah, sure you’re a Sannin, and I have a loving, living family, now chop, chop, put the vices down, we got idiots to hunt down.

These are the shitpost meme esque vibes I got going on:

Jiraiya: “Dear God, whoever took them must be a master of evasion.���

Cut to the three idiots arguing over whether moss only grows on the north side of trees. They personify the song “Lost” from the Percy Jackson musical

Sai: “This would be so much easier if we still had a map.”

Sakura: “It was an accident! You make dinner next time!”

Sai: 100% earnest “Sure, I like eating things with flavor.”

Sakura: “Why you little-” Homer Simpson chokes him

Naruto: holding up the charred remains of their map “Hold on guys, I think we might be near this little, not burnt bit.”

Sai: “No, we’re not. We passed that point two days ago.”

Naruto: “Maybe we went in a circle?”

Sakura: “FUCK!”

Sasuke: goes up to the sleeping Jiraiya “WAKEY WAKEY” immediately uses a water jutsu to drown him awake

Jiraiya: “AAAAAAH!!” Coughs up water “I taught you that jutsu so you could put out any fires started by your Fire Release practice on your own.”

Sasuke: “I’d say a dumpster fire counts.”

Danzo: looks up from his desk “Why do I hear boss music?”

A wild Itachi appears

Tsunade: “Let me get this straight. The Hidden Leaf lost two Academy students who not only were they the worst in their physical training scores, but they also have the potential to be some of the biggest powerhouses in this generation. And you two are their only hope at finding them because the Leaf doesn’t want to alert the other villages to what they lost by sending out an actual search party?”

Sasuke: “Yup.”

Jiraiya: “That pretty much covers it. So? Will you help us?”

Tsunade: starts cackling

[ladykissingfish]

drunk Akatsuki hc? 🥺

Ask and ye shall receive! ((Sorry it took so long to get to/finish this. Also get the nagging feeling I did a post very similar to this before but 🤷🏽‍♀️ piss poor memory so))

Drinking with the Akatsuki

Kakuzu

Takes a lot to get him drunk; his alcohol tolerance is pretty damn high. And when he does reach that point, he becomes … very unlike himself. Friendly, smiling, and extremely loose with his precious money. Kakuzu being drunk is the best time to ask him for an advance on your pay, or a personal loan. Another bonus: drunk Kakuzu is storytime Kakuzu. When he’s sober, the others don’t really like listening to his stories because they’re all boring as hell, and are usually centered around some point that he’s trying to nag everyone on. But drunk Kakuzu, well, he’ll tell you about brawls, dangerous stunts he pulled when he was a kid, sometimes even old lovers. He can keep the rest of the Akatsuki enraptured for hours with his intoxicated tales. The morning after a night of drinking is a different tale, though. He’ll remember loaning money to people and hunt them down to make sure that know they have to pay him back, and he’ll deny like crazy any story tidbits that the others bring up to him. Will also go through several pots of pure black coffee in an effort to de-hangover himself more quickly.

Pein

The Pein bodies don’t drink, but Nagato will, very rarely. Beer is his drink of choice, and he’ll opt for foreign rather than domestic. He’s not really the type to get full-on drunk (no matter what he’s the Leader and he carries himself as such), rather he’ll just get slightly tipsy. If he gets tipsy enough he’ll rant a bit to whoever’s closest about pain, and the unfairness of life, and anything else that would put a downer on happy drinkers’ moods. He always hopes that the alcohol will help him to sleep (he’s a horrible insomniac) but most times it just gives him a slight headache while leaving him wide-wake and dry-mouthed.

Hidan

Nobody wants to be around this guy when he’s had too much to drink, because the normally violent Hidan becomes even more so after hitting the booze. He’ll be willing to take on any and everyone, from teenagers to old men. And being immortal doesn’t help matters any; he could literally get torn limb from limb and his mouth would still be taunting his opponents with “Is that the best ya got, bastard??” Drinking also brings out his creative side when it comes to his human sacrifices and Jashin rituals; he’ll think up new (and horrible) ways to torment and kill his victims. Is the type to finally, FINALLY just completely pass out after reaching his final tolerance point, and the others will (reluctantly) drag him to his room and put him in his bed. Not many are willing to do this, however, as most times before he passes out he’ll have stripped himself completely naked.

Tobi

An emotional drunk. Gets sad and cries over practically anything. And it doesn’t take much to get him tanked, either; his tolerance level is embarrassingly low and he’ll be ready to sob after just a couple of glasses of wine. Tobi tries to avoid drinking when he can because he knows there’s a good chance of him dropping his persona and letting the others see Obito Uchiha. In fact this HAS happened a few times, where he’a taken off his mask and everything; fortunately for him the others were so gone that the next day they either didn’t remember, or believed that had just imagined the whole thing. Likes to soothe himself by slurring sad love songs at the top of lungs, joined most frequently by Deidara and Hidan. Will also drunkenly stuff his face with meats, which is a complete opposite from his sweet-loving sober self. He can throw down a dozen burgers when boozed up, the results of which will likely be in puddles all over the floor the next day. Will go to his bed and turn around in circles a bunch of times, like a dog, before finally going to sleep. “Tobi” will be the quietest he’s ever been the next day, as he fights a massive headachy hangover.

Konan

For being such a thin, delicate girl, Konan can hold her liquor right up there with the likes of Kakuzu and Kisame. One might never even know that she’s drunk to begin with; she walks perfectly straight, doesn’t slur her words, has almost perfect reflexes and normal mannerisms. One thing always gives her away, however; drunk Konan is hungry Konan. Under normal circumstances the little lady sticks to a healthy diet and isn’t one for over-indulging in anything. One shot or beer too many, and suddenly the gloves are off. Konan will make pizza, hotdogs, gigantic sundaes, cakes and pies … and devour almost all of it. She’ll share with the others if asked … but most times she’s eaten so much that there’s not much left to share. When she’s finally had her fill, she’ll go to bed … and wake up feeling sick as a dog the next morning. After the nausea passes, she’ll force herself to go for a long run or walk, no matter how much her head may be aching, in order to work off her excessive calorie intake.

Zetsu

Zetsu doesn’t drink, because alcohol interferes with his plant genetics, acting as literal poison to his system. But he enjoys being around the others when they’re drunk, to see the different types of personalities that emerge. Likes to hang around Hidan in particular, as the man’s sacrifices pick up significantly when he’s drunk, meaning Zetsu has more of a smorgasbord of leftovers to pick from

Sasori

As a puppet, Sasori doesn’t drink. But when he was a human, it was a different story. He turned himself into a non-human at a very young age, much younger, of course, than would have been the legal drinking age. But his grandmother kept a variety of wines in their home, and when she was away, he liked to pour himself a glass. Always only a single glass; he was intelligent enough both to know that his grandmother would notice if any larger of a quantity was missing, and, already dabbling in making poisons at this point, he understood the concept of “tolerance” better than most. But the single glass was enough; it seemed to comfort him during those nights when he was missing his mother and father. The wine also served as a brain-opener for him, of sorts: it was over wine that he first got the idea of turning himself into a puppet.

Deidara

Being young and so slender, and not having much experience with alcohol before joining the Akatsuki, the blonde is a bit of a light-weight when it comes to the hooch. He doesn’t really care for beers or ales (he compares the taste to “cat-piss”) and instead goes for the fruity mixed drinks that don’t SEEM that strong … until you’ve had about three or four, and they put you on your ass. Deidara becomes very lovey-dovey when drunk, and not just in a romantic sense. Alcohol makes everyone in the world his friend, and he’s suddenly interested in what others have to say about life and art. He’s even nice to Itachi, going so far as to hug him and tell him that he smells good, something that he will vehemently deny the next day. He’ll go to Sasori and cling to him and gush about how he appreciates his friendship and his guidance, until Sasori gets tired of him and tells him to go to sleep. Deidara can get to his room on his own, but once the door closes, he’s more likely to pass out on the floor than in his own bed. Also, if he didn’t think to tie up his long hair beforehand, he’ll be in for a nasty, messy surprise when he inevitably wakes up to vomit at some point.

Itachi

Itachi isn’t one to ever let himself lose control of his senses, no matter the situation. Therefore, if he’s drinking with the others, he’ll stick to one or two beers or a single shot before cutting himself off for the evening. He plays much of a “mom” role in the group, making sure the others are okay, lending a shoulder to cry on for the emotional drunks, and, if they’re out somewhere, making sure everyone gets home safe and sound. On the rare, RARE occasions he drinks by himself, and lets go of his hesitation, he’s just as emotional a drinker as Tobi (which is quite possibly an Uchiha trait). He’ll cry into his pillow, he’ll sit and lament over the choices he’s made in life. Sometimes he’ll find and put on the saddest song or movie he can think of, just so he has something to get emotional over. Although this sounds bad, this is actually a helpful bit of therapy for him, as it allows him to release emotions that he normally keeps bottled up. He’ll end a night of solo drinking with a cup of tea, then go quietly to bed, sleeping like a rock until the sun comes up and things go back to normal.

Kisame

Right up there with Kakuzu as being a guy that can hold his liquor like a champ. In fact his ability to do so has won him many drinking challenges at bars, as well as a formidable reputation as “one bad ass son of a bitch”. It also helps him confidence-wise; normally the half-shark is very reserved and keeps to himself, as he feels that his appearance is off-putting and scary to “normal” people. But alcohol loosens him up and gets him talking, and being bold, and many people find this switch in personality to be highly attractive. Ladies especially take notice of his smile, his eyes … and his muscles. He even scores several phone numbers from interested parties … but by the time he’s sober again, he never follows through with calling anyone. Also helps Itachi in that he keeps an eye on the others when they drink, to make sure that they’re safe.

[butter--peanut]

📝

Boo

Oh hallo. <3 For you, the start of something that has stalled for a veeery long time, but hopefully I will one day get back to! Tobi & Sukea trolling each-other part 2, this time from Kakashi's PoV.

(send me a 📕 and I’ll send you a snippet of or idea for a wip!)

When Kakashi had listened to Tsunade’s mission request to conduct some information-gathering for a month and raised it to infiltrate the Akatsuki for as long as possible, he had been prepared for the worst.

He had thought that he might die fairly quickly. (The least bad in the list of potential negative outcomes: shinobi’s lives were short, one had to accept that death could come to anyone at any time, and it would be a good use to his life for it to be spent in protection of Konoha and the shinobi world against Akatsuki).

He’d thought that if he was found out, he might be tortured by Itachi again. The torture itself wasn’t a problem, but if it went on long enough, Kakashi worried that he might be unwillingly forced to reveal crucial information about Konoha. It had been a long time since he had participated in the dreaded ANBU torture-acclimatisation drills, and Itachi was the most skilled genjutsu user he’d yet come across. He hadn’t broken the last time he and Itachi fought, but Itachi hadn’t truly been trying to break him. (But he and Itachi hadn’t exchanged more than a few sentences in the past months, and Kakashi thought by now his disguise was relatively foolproof.).

He’d thought that he would be forced to kill children. (So far, not yet, thank the Sage.)

And even if none of these things eventuated — if he somehow managed to survive however many months with the Akatsuki until Tsunade recalled him or he gained some crucial piece of information and sent it onto them — at the very least, he thought that he would be faced with a variety of unpleasant criminals and murderers. S-rank nukenin didn’t tend to have the sunniest dispositions.

At least, he’d thought that at first.

“Good morning, Sukea!” Tobi sing-songed to him, laying down a bento box in front of Kakashi. “I brought us breakfast.”

“Good morning, Tobi.” Kakashi smiled at his teammate, then turned his attention to the food in front of him and blinked, confused. “We’re in the middle of a forest,” he observed. “How did you find a bento box?”

“Ah ah ah,” Tobi said, shaking his hand. “Now, that would be telling.”

And Kakashi didn’t bother to hide the slight eyebrow raise, because this was one of their games now, and it kept things very interesting. Tobi was hiding things, and Kakashi was hiding things, and now that both of them knew it, the fun was in teasing this missing information, like a carrot on a stick, just out of reach.

Kakashi had definitive proof that Tobi was acting — he’d always known it to some degree, but after the incident with the Kumo nukenin, he now knew that Tobi was very powerful behind his silly demeanour. Tobi was very intelligent. Tobi could make objects appear from nothing. And most impressively of all, Tobi could make himself impermeable, letting objects fly through his body at will. It was without a doubt the best defence that Kakashi had come across.

One evening when both of them were sitting around a fire, he’d tested Tobi’s ability, pressing his hand through different parts of his body, and photographing the resulting bizarre image. Tobi had seemed to love Kakashi’s fascination with his ability.

“Ooh, do Tobi’s head next!”

“I want to see how it works,” Kakashi said lightly, hand fully submerged in what would be his brain. “I feel like I’ve come to a stage magician’s show.”

Tobi’s head flicked toward him sharply. “Hey,” he said, sounding irritated, using his real voice.

Ah. A victory point.

Kakashi grinned widely. “Mah, Tobi,” he said, easing even further into his gentle Sukea tone to irritate him even further, “I’m just saying that this is an impressive trick you have.”

“It’s not just a fucking trick; do you have any idea of what I can do with—” he huffed, almost ruefully, as though acknowledging Kakashi’s success; shifted back, voice becoming high and whiny. “How can Sukea be so nice and then so mean to Tobi?”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kakashi said contritely, patting his shoulder. “Let me make it up to you. You can pick the next bounty when we reach the station.”

“Okay. I guess I forgive you.” And Tobi shuffled in, deliberately awkward, so that Kakashi’s arm was slung around his back, and sighed in happiness, as though immediately forgetting his resentment.

[a-world-in-grey]

Sola/Calling for Rain

@secret-engima and, months later, the snippet I promised!

.

Karin’s first memories are her mother’s grave and her sister’s sick bed.

She knows more than that of course. She knows how her mother died, forced to use their family’s healing ability until they’d drained her chakra dry. She knows her older sister nearly followed their mother that night, eight years old and already scarred across her arms and shoulders.

But that knowledge isn’t seared into her memory the way her mother’s gravestone is, the bamboo marker plain and unmarked, nothing like the stone markers bearing carved names for the village shinobi. That knowledge doesn’t paint itself across her closed eyelids like Kyoho’s frail form, skin too pale, breaths too shallow, wild hair tumbling across the pillows like a splash of blood.

Karin remembers when Kyoho first opened her eyes, how her sister had looked to find Karin first, and hadn’t settled until she could clearly see Karin was well.

.

Karin doesn’t know how much Kyoho’s near death changed her older sister. She can’t remember what Kyoho was like before, can’t remember a time when Kyoho didn’t braid their hair with little painted beads and thin cords of braided thread. Can’t remember a time when Kyoho didn’t hold her close at night and whisper bedtime stories in words that sound like thunder and rain.

Stories and Songs and meanings just for the two of them. Braids and beads hidden beneath hair and cloth, Clan secrets told in the dead of night in a tongue only they knew. Teaching Karin to dance, to fly.

Teaching Karin to survive. 

Kyoho trains with the determination not to learn, but master every skill she can. Taijutsu, weapons, healing, ninjutsu. She claws her way up the ranks of Kusa’s shinobi, genin at nine, chuunin at eleven, jounin at fifteen.

Kusa’s own little prodigy. A match for Konoha’s Uchiha Itachi or Hatake Kakashi. Or so Kusa likes to think.

There’s a lot Kusa doesn’t know.

They don’t know of the fuuinjutsu, of the basics learned from their mother that Kyoho took and reinvented on her own. The black tattoos spiraling across Kyoho’s skin hidden from sight under dark green clothing. 

They don’t know about the chakra chains Kyoho painstakingly learned to use. Chains Kyoho learned to modify, to shrink to the size of a fine gold chain, to enlarge to the size of the massive chains that once rose from the waves to close Uzushio’s ports.

They don’t know of Kyoho’s sensory abilities, so fine tuned she can pick out a shinobi’s specialization from the feel of their chakra alone. They don’t know of the weapons Kyoho can wield beyond her glaive and curved shortswords.

They don’t know Kyoho’s taught Karin everything she knows. They don’t know Karin isn’t the fumbling, lackluster genin overshadowed by her prodigal sister’s brilliance.

.

“My name is Uzumaki Naruto, and I’m going to kick all of your asses!”

The room goes silent, every genin present turning to stare, and Karin feels her breath freeze in her lungs as the chakra signatures around her spike with anger and disbelief.

Karin buries her own chakra, smothers it down to a spark so small even Kyoho has difficulty detecting, hiding the surprise and recognition and the tangle of emotions she can keep off her face but not out of her chakra. And she knows she shouldn’t focus her attention solely on the loud Konoha genin as his teammates and comrades converge to scold him for his recklessness. There are others in the room far more dangerous than the rookie too dumb not to draw the ire of the rest of the competition before the Exams have even begun. And yet-

Uzumaki.

He doesn’t have the red hair. But that’s the mon on his shoulder, black and purple instead of the black and blue variant Kyoho’s stitched into their clothes, in places easily hidden because there’s Clan Pride but then there’s announcing to all the Elemental Nations that they’re female kekkai genkai bearers.

Karin lessens her hold on her chakra, reaching her senses past the thunderstorm-shadow-river feeling of the three genin standing beside him.

Warmth. Bright encompassing warmth, intense but not painful, the ocean breeze across her skin on a clear sunny day. Swirling reserves deeper than she’s ever sensed, even deeper than Kyoho’s hearth-fire chakra.

Karin suppresses her chakra the moment the blond’s thunderstorm teammate glances her way, glancing away and digging her fingernails into the back of her hand so hard she’s surprised she doesn’t break skin.

She swallows back a sob.

Uzumaki. He’s Clan.

But not Galahdian. Not a child of the Storm-Father, not someone who grew up with the Clan Laws and the certainty in their bones that even if the world fell apart, the Clan would always have your back.

The Uzumaki are a shinobi clan. Karin can’t… how can she know if she can trust this wayward Uzumaki? How can she know if he will hold that same fierce loyalty that blazes in her and Kyoho’s souls?

She shouldn’t. Oh, but by the Storm-Father, Karin wants to. This long lost kinsman who wears Freedom and Protection across his shoulders. Who looks at the world with Protection in his eyes and crowned with Love.

Karin knows the Colors don’t apply to the natural world. To things that are mere happenstance and genetic chance. But-

(‘Sometimes the Gods paint us with specific Colors,’ Karin remembers Kyoho telling her, ‘A message and a warning, for souls so strong the physical has no choice but to reflect it.’

Karin had looked into Blue eyes framed by Red hair, and never asked if Kyoho spoke from experience.)

For the first time in nearly ten years, Karin hopes.

She has to try.

And that means staying in Konoha long enough to get a measure of Uzumaki Naruto.

.

Karin is perfectly happy not knowing how something gets named the ‘Forest of Death.’

Unfortunately, as the location of the Second Exam, Karin’s not going to get a choice.

Kyoho would love it, Karin thinks as she miserably fills out the liability waiver. Kyoho had spoken of many places in her past life, but none so fondly as Galahd, deadly and wild and all the more beautiful for it.  

She lets her ‘teammates’ take the lead as they scout through the forest. Her head’s busy planning her next step. Should she focus on passing the Second Exam? Kyoho told her how the Third Exam was always an exhibition for clients, so she’d have plenty of time during the preparations to track down and try to get to know her kinsman. Perhaps with Kyoho’s help even - surely her mission would be finished by then?

But that assumes Karin and the two idiots she’s assigned to play chakra-battery for can pass at all. They aren’t the weakest team in the forest, even counting Karin’s careful pretense, but there are a lot of teams stronger than they are. Stronger, and all too willing to kill.

Karin could ditch the idiots. She’s kept track of where she last sensed Uzumaki Naruto’s chakra, so she could find him and get to know him in the time before the Second Exam ends. Maybe even steal the Earth scroll and bring it as a good faith gift. 

But she’d be on her own, carrying a high value target, and gambling on her kinsman caring enough about a cousin he didn’t know to trust and protect her.

Karin tugs on the loose ends of her hair in frustration. Why is this so hard?!

Kyoho would know what to do.

Kyoho’s not here, Karin firmly reminds herself. She has to figure this out on her own.

In the end, she chooses to stay with her teammates. There's too many unknowns for her to risk running now.

.

Two days later, staring up at the bear taller than her house, Karin's regretting her decision to stay.

They left me!

Stay and hide, they said. You'll be fine.

If they're still alive when Karin finds them, she's going to throttle them. Hiding her chakra doesn't matter when enemies can find her by her scent! The bear snarls, and Karin gives up any pretense of hiding her abilities. She's out of her depth, anything less than her full skill will only end up with her dead-

("Above all else," Kyoho had whispered the night before Karin left for Konoha, "survive.")

She reaches for her supply of explosive tags (way more than anyone thinks she has, way more than she probably needs, but they're the easiest seal to make and Kyoho always says there's no such thing as overkill) and prepares to turn the bear into a pile of charred meat and fur.

Only, there's movement above her, a blur of black and purple, a flash of silver-

Thunder. Lightning and rain and the howling storm as she huddles by the warmth of hearth, each flash of light in the sky accompanied by the rolling drums that echo in her chest; an invitation, a challenge, to face the storm and laugh in the embrace of the sky.

Uzumaki's dark haired teammate lunges from the trees like one of the jungle cats of Kyoho's stories, dropping down onto the bear with a spinning, flying kick, and Kyoho freezes.

Kyoho knows that kick.

(Karin stares wide-eyed as Kyoho all but flies through the air, leaping and spinning with the grace of a breeze through the prairie grasses. Kyoho's been teaching her how to dance, but those jumps have nothing on the ones Kyoho is doing!

"Will I learn to do that too?" Karin asks. Nerves flit in her gut like butterflies. She's trying to learn everything Kyoho can teach her, but those leaps are so high.

Blue eyes soften as Kyoho ruffles her hair. "You don't have to - it's not part of the Ostium Dance."

Karin blinks. "It's not?"

"It's Ulric, our sister Clan." Kyoho says. Her gaze grows distant. "Clan of Sky and Storm, Coeurl-kin, first of the Storm-Father's children."

Karin's touch on her arm brings her back to the present. "Were you Ulric first, before you were Ostium?"

Kyoho laughs. "I was Furia, Clan of Sea and Horizon, but I learned the Ulric Dance because I was Sky-born instead of Sea-born.")

She can't see a braid, but- Black and purple. A pair of well worn kukri at his back. The aerial combat she's never seen anyone but Kyoho use.

Her fingers tremble around the string of explosive tags as the genin checks to make sure the bear is dead. Then he turns to her with an easy grin. "You're an Uzumaki, right? Do you want to meet your cousin?"

And Karin has been so keyed up over possibly having Clan, over being in hostile territory with no one to watch her back, with desperate hope dogging her heels for the past three days of finding someone she can trust- 

(“You can always trust the Clans. Even the most bitter rivals will protect a Clan child, if they are threatened by Outsiders.”)

"Are you Ulric?" She blurts.

Dark eyes sharpen. "How do you know that name?" But his gaze flits to her temple, to the black braid joiner peeking out from her hair. Karin removes the grey hitai-ate and pulls her hair back to show him her braids. The Ostium Braid and the Mourning Braid for her mother, unlike Kyoho who also wears Marriage, Hero, and Revenge Braids. Braids Karin and Kyoho have never shown anyone but each other.

But the boy's eyes widen in shock and recognition, and pale fingers pull the Ulric Braid threaded with the purple ribbon of a Chief from its hiding place behind his ear.

("And if you get the chance, run. Before Kusa kills you too.")

Karin sobs.

This boy is Clan. He's safe.

[fanfictionwritingoddity]

Yandere song request please for itachi. The song is Love the way you lie skylar grey.

𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙒𝙖𝙮 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙇𝙞𝙚

 ( 𝚈𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚎!𝙸𝚝𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚒 𝚄𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚑𝚊 𝚡 𝙶𝙽!𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚂𝚘𝚗𝚐 𝙵𝚒𝚌: 𝙻𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚆𝚊𝚢 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙻𝚒𝚎 𝚋𝚢 𝚂𝚔𝚢𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝙶𝚛𝚎𝚢 )

Itachi never wanted things to be like this. He never wanted to hide you away from the world, tearing any sense of normality away in a single swipe. The rouge ninja didn’t want to make you rely on him. This had been a last resort. However, he couldn’t deny that having you so close to him and in his grasp was a nice feeling. Comforting, almost. 

He knew he didn’t have a lot of time left. Day by day, Sasuke was growing stronger, nearing the threshold required to be able to murder his brother. You had been the only thing Itachi couldn’t bear to leave behind. The man had checked on you monthly, slipping into the village in a cloud of dizzying mist that never seemed to catch your eye.

The eldest Uchiha prided himself on his restraint. When he left the village after the massacre of his own doing, he had left with confidence that you would never forget him and move on. For a long time, that seemed to be the case. Each attempt made to capture your heart was shot down with a sad smile and the excuse that you were promised to someone else. Itachi felt his heart flutter every time those words left your mouth, finding security in your love for him.

You were eighteen now, and you began to realize that your childhood best friend wasn’t going to come back. He was long gone, possibly even dead. When was it time to abandon the small flame of hope you had kept lit all these years? Acceptance of Itachi Uchiha’s abandonment took many months, and you steadily slipped into a depressive state. He watched on silently, begging you to pull yourself up and renew your faith in him.

His wish never came true. You resolved to move on. Packing away each and every memory that had been tattooed on your heart, you let go. The pictures of you two from years in the past were gently picked off the wall and placed in boxes that quickly became dusty and forgotten. It was then that Itachi realized he could wait no longer.

So, he took you. He kidnapped you from your own home, and dragged you to the damp cave he lived in. You had fought back, not even being able to recognize the man who so forcefully handled you. The Uchiha was already infuriated enough, and thus sent you into a terrifying illusion formed by his tsukuyomi. Watching every single deep fear you held in your heart flash before your eyes was enough to calm you, instead compelling you to focus on not throwing up from how violent your sobs were.

He didn’t want this. Itachi didn’t want you to hate him. You were the one person he could trust to not turn against him, yet here he was forcing you to do so. His heart broke when he released you from his tsukuyomi, and you cowered against the cave walls. For years he had only dreamed of having you this close to him again. Now that you were here, you were terrified of him. As your widened eyes trailed slowly up the man’s form, you nearly choked in shock.

“I... Itachi?”

Never before had his name sounded so sweet coming from another’s lips. Itachi thought he was going to melt. Inwardly battling his urge to pull you into his arms and hold you until his end, a slow nod was all he could manage. You were at a loss for words. The gentle boy you had fallen in love with as a child had kidnapped you, and used his powers to trap you into your own nightmares so you were more powerless. Betrayal was an understatement of the intense grief and anger that flooded your system. But... you couldn’t bring yourself to hate him.

The Uchiha thought for a second, his mind conflicting and contorting to form terrible things. In a way, he almost hoped you would hate him. He hoped you would scream and shout and fight back. That way, when he died, you wouldn’t be sad. You would be grateful. You would be happy. Maybe you could even find solace in the person you had called your little brother until he too left. Sasuke would take care of you. Once the flames of his hatred were subdued by Itachi’s death, he would realize who you were and welcome you with open arms. You could build a future while beside the brother of the man you loved.

“Y...you’ll always... be my hero.. Itachi. Even though you’ve lost your mind.”

At the sound of your trembling voice, Itachi was sent back in time to when you two attended the same school and he would save you from bullies. You had always thanked him with such a bright smile, claiming that he was your hero and always would be. Clenched fists sat by his side, desperation seeping through his trembling voice. Composure slipping, he couldn’t help but speak.

“... Why, Y/N? Why are you so trusting? Why is it that you always... see the good in people?”

His was a rhetorical question, and even if you wanted to you couldn’t answer.

“I’m going to be dead soon. Sasuke is going to kill me for murdering the Uchiha Clan.”

“I know... He told me before he left. Isn’t that all the more reason for me to forgive you and cherish the time I have..?”

Itachi just couldn’t win with you. But, he supposed, that was one of the things that drew him to you so strongly. He was never going to let you go again. Not until death did you part.

[plutowrites]

Valentine’s Day Special

for the lovely @imamonster456 ♡♡♡ I hope you enjoy!

Random Headcanons

Itachi has found his perfect match in you and he’s so grateful!

The two of you will spend most weekends being lazy and watching romcoms tg and at first you feel bad for making Itachi watch sappy love movies with you but it turns out that he actually really enjoys them (maybe even more than u oop)

He’s such a softie! If he hears you sniffling while watching a sad scene he’ll pull you in closer to him and plant soft little kisses on your head while caressing you

He hates working overtime but he often has to because of his high position but best believe he’s thinking about you constantly 

Please, Itachi will be so cute about your paintings!!

He’ll come into a room and see you all concentrated on your painting and just can’t keep a smile off his face 

Best believe he’s gonna hype up every artwork of yours! He’s gonna try to hang up all your paintings on the walls and you have to physically stop him bc they haven’t fully dried yet lol

Itachi just wants to always support you whatever it is you want to do! He wants you to know he’s gonna be your pillar

At first he wasn’t big on reassuring (he just didn’t think that was something you cared about) but when you made it clear to him that that’s something you really value and look for in a relationship, he makes sure to constantly let you know how much he adores you and that there’s no one else out there for him other than you! 

If he comes home and finds you in a bad mood he’s grabbing you and his keys and the two of you are going for a long car ride to cheer you up

There's really no specific destination in mind, just the two of you driving around and vibing

Itachi is very shy and reserved and he’s always blushing around you! But despite his shyness he will never miss an opportunity to place a hand on your thigh as he’s driving, he just loves touching you!

Itachi also keeps peanut butter chocolate cups in his car just for you bc he knows they’re your fav

How Itachi asks you to be his valentine

Itachi will ask you to be his valentine during one of your late night car rides

Your fav song is playing in the background as he parks the car in a secluded parking lot and grabs your hands.

He’ll be like “Your hands look cold.” HE’S LYING HE JUST WANTS TO TOUCH YOU

Anyways he’ll ask you to be his valentine and ofc you accept!!

How Itachi spends Valentine’s day with you

As for the day itself he was sooo tight-lipped about it! You kept asking him to tell you what he has planned but he refused and said it was a surprise

When valentine’s day arrives you wake up to the smell of breakfast in the air

Turns out Itachi woke up bright and early to cook for you! 

Looks like Itachi was taking notes during all the romantic movies you both watch 

The main event of the day though is his gift for you

This man got you a gorgeous platinum ring that has both of your initials on the inside

“I hope whenever you look at this ring you’re reminded of how much I love you Chloe”

He texts you later on in the middle of the night because he was up thinking about you (see image below)

[noodlesrgucci]

May i request an scenario of fem!reader in which she is swimming in a lake and Shisui is looking for her but finds her in the water,naked.He blushes but can't help to stare at her while hiding.Then Itachi appears behind him and asks him what he is doing.(Reader is itachi's childhood best friend, so as they grew together he has already seen her like that. not in a sexual way)so itachi steps in and the reader gets out of the water naked and walks off to change, leaving poor shisui with a nosebleed

Warnings: slightly smutty

I loveeee Shisui and Itachi they are one of my favorites!!!! I just love Uchihas in general

It was days like these that made Shisui Uchiha realize that Konoha was situated in the Land Of Fire. The clammy air was suffocating him. It was enough to make him, one of the most feared shinobi on the nation, to feel overwhelmed.

Simply, he hated this weather. It was too warm and torrid for him to find any enjoyment.

Yet, not even the unmanageable weather could weaken the smile that was adorning Shisui’s face. Today was one of the very rare days were he didn’t have to go on any missions or do any training. He didn’t have to do anything at all. He had eagerly looked forward to this day. He was not the only one that had a free day. Itachi and Y/N also had this luxury.

Of course, the experience would’ve been better if he actually knew were to find his best friends. He had strolled around Konoha trying to find them and he had yet to succeed.

He had made a quick stop at Itachi’s house but was met with a sleepy Sasuke instead.

“ Onii-san is running some errands for mom and dad,” Sasuke had lazily said.

Typical Itachi, he always had to be busy. Shisui decided to postpone his search for Itachi and focus on finding Y/N instead. He stopped at her house, but it wasn’t that easy. After all, his best friends were never at their houses.

He decided to have a quick stop at a lake that he and Itachi used to train on in what seemed like an eternity ago. The lake was always deserted and it seemed as if no one in Konoha knew of its existence.

Immediately after arriving at the lake, he felt a familiar presence and quickly knew who it belonged to. He heard Y/N humming a song and he decided to sneak on her and scare her.

Using the stealth he had acquired from numerous missions, he was successful in hiding behind a bush. His eyes focused on the sight before him and he immediately lost his balance.

The friend he had grown to love was swimming in the lake completely naked.

Shisui was paralysed for a moment. As he came back to his senses he realized just how good she looked like that. She had a peaceful expression on her face and a gentle smile. Though his eyes had a hard time staying on her face because her curves were just as attractive. He tried to convince himself to look away, but this was a sight of Y/N that he had always longed to see.

Unable to look away and with a blush on his face, he watched his beloved friend swim. Her back was facing him, giving him access to look at her well skulpted ass. She turned around and Shisui’s heart almost stopped functioning. Her chest looked way bigger than when it was covered in clothing. They looked so round and squishy. He wondered what it would be like to have them in his hands.

Shisui felt the need to stab himslef with a kunai. But he couldn’t help it! The way Y/N was moving along with her curves was too much for him! He felt his pants tighten and he felt an uncontrollable urge to relieve himself right then and there. Y/N had sat down and everything from her chin down was hidden by the water.

Even if he couldn’t see her body now, he still felt hot and it was not because of the weather. His pants kept getting tighter and he decided that he had to relieve himself.

“What are you doing?” This made Shisui jump. The voice of Itachi had startled him.

Itachi stared at him with a knowing look as Shisui tried to form words but was not successful. He was caught and the blush on his face told Itachi just what was going on. Itachi was aware of Shisui’s feelings for Y/N and he found the situation they were in quite funny.

“Hey Itachi!” Y/N suddenly yelled at Itachi. Since Shisui was on the floor trying to hide his blush from Itachi, Y/N couldn’t see him.

“I’ve been looking for you,” Itachi told Y/N. He wanted to go eat at the new restaurant that opened in Konoha. He wanted to try their dangos.

Without uttering a single word, Y/N quickly got out of the water and covered herself with a towel. This allowed Shisui to look at every feature of her body. He couldn’t help the blood that was coming out of his nose.

Itachi seemed unfazed by Y/N’s actions and after Y/N finished putting her towel around her, she finally noticed Shisui. She saw the blood running down his face and realized that he probably saw her naked. A blush made its way to her face as she stared at Shisui, he was staring right back at her.

“See you there in 40 minutes!” Y/N quickly yelled as she ran to her house trying to cover her blush with her hands.

Itachi nodded and stared at Shisui. Shisui was a mess. He was bleeding from his nose and sweating. If it was anybody else who had looked at Y/N while she showered, Itachi would’ve probably killed them. But since it was his best friend he had no problems with it. This was all because he secretly shipped them together.

MASTERLIST

REQUESTS ARE OPEN!!!!

[sariasprincy-writes]

Hollow Point - Epilogue Part 2

One // Two // Three // Four // Five // Six // Seven // Eight // Nine // Ten // Eleven // Twelve // Thirteen // Fourteen // Fifteen // Sixteen // Seventeen // Eighteen // Nineteen // Twenty // Twenty-One // Twenty-Two // Twenty-Three // Twenty-Four // Twenty-Five // Twenty-Six // Twenty-Seven // Twenty-Eight // Twenty-Nine // Thirty // Thirty-One // Thirty-Two // Thirty-Three // Thirty-Four // Thirty-Five // Thirty-Six // Epilogue Part I // Epilogue Part II (here) 

Epilogue

Part Two

The Ghost of You

15 Miles outside Venice, Italy

“I don’t like this. It feels like a trap.”

“Yes, but the question is by who?” Sakura asked.

A deep frown etched into the corners of her mouth. In the driver’s seat beside her, Kakashi raised his binoculars, his sights set down the street to a tavern that appeared otherwise unopened and unoccupied. They sat in a plain rental car. Only a few buildings down from the meeting point that had been provided to her. A small tavern in the middle of town.

Sakura still wasn’t certain Itachi had been the one to contact her. After all, he was dead. And so far, no one had come in or out of the pub.

“Itachi was the only one who ever messaged me that way,” she continued, her tone more withdrawn.

Kakashi lowered his sights to glance at her. “We witnessed his funeral,” he told her gently. As if she could ever forget. “If word got out about your attachment to him, it would be an easy trap for the CIA, Madara or even Kisame to set up.”

“The CIA would be most likely,” she said. “Shisui knew about our relationship and I don’t doubt he blames me for Itachi’s death. That doesn’t exactly give me a warm and fuzzy feeling. And if Itachi was alive, I don’t understand why he wouldn’t have contacted me before now.”

Kakashi didn’t reply to that and a moment of silence passed before he asked, “If it is the CIA, I wonder why they would have you meet here.”

“That’s another thing I don’t understand,” she agreed. “All of those three – the CIA, Madara and Kisame don’t have any territory here. This is neutral ground. Why ask to meet here?”

Not having an answer, he didn’t reply. Another few minutes passed before Kakashi finally asked, “So, do you not want to go in?”

Sakura inhaled a deep, silent breath. “No, I do.” Then she glanced at him. “You have my six?”

Kakashi flashed a quick smile in her direction. “I always do.”

His unwavering support steeled her nerves. Without another word, Sakura slipped out of the car. She pulled the collar of her jacket tighter around her neck as a breeze kicked up. She passed one last, purposeful gaze over the street. Other than a few pedestrians the block was empty. There weren’t even any lingering eyes in the windows.

Still, Sakura withdrew her gun as she stopped before the obviously closed tavern. She expected the front door to be locked, but the handle turned without resistance. It was utterly still inside. The door closed with an ominous, echoing thud as she shut it behind her.

The main bar was eerily silent upon her entrance, only her footsteps echoed against the polished wood as she stepped further inside. The teak chandelier was lit above her head, making the liquor bottles behind the bar flicker. In the lowlight, they looked like faces laughing at her.

Sakura turned away. She didn’t believe in ghosts.

The rest of the pub was empty. Totally and completely deserted. She didn’t understand why her mysterious stranger would send her here. It seemed like no one had been there since closing the night before.

Huffing a breath through her nose, Sakura turned back towards the door, intent on leaving when music reached her ears. It was faint, the gentle tinkle of a piano from somewhere else further inside the tavern.

Tightening the grip on her weapon, Sakura followed the sound. Towards the back of the room was another doorway. It led to a second bar that was a little smaller than the first. Off to one side, a wall of high-end liquors were lined on a the shelf behind a bar of polished mahogany. A number of square tables each with four chairs around them were set up about the main floor, all strategically placed to have a view towards an empty section of the room where a small band could set up.

In that space now was a single piano. And behind it sat Itachi.

If every cell in Sakura’s being hadn’t frozen on the spot, her gun would have slipped through her fingers and clattered to the floor. The world quit turning, the fire flickering in the fireplace stopped swaying and the tinkle of the piano faded into silence.

Itachi was here before her. He was skinnier than the last time she had seen him, the harsh contrast of shadows making his face appear more gaunt and his hair was a little shorter than before, but it was him.

Apparently, there was such thing as ghosts.

“The world becomes a dangerous place when you’re angry with it,” Itachi finally said.

As if someone had pressed play in the crescendo of a symphony, all of Sakura’s senses rushed back to her at once. Her hands trembled and she could feel the frantic beat of her heart in her chest like a bird trying to escape its cage. Noise, so much noise, filled her ears. The roar of the blood in her veins, the crackle of the fire, the tinkling of the piano. She just wanted it all to stop.

Sakura’s grip on her gun tightened until her knuckles turned white. If this wasn’t a hallucination, she didn’t want to shoot him on reflex and kill him. Again.

“You’re supposed to be dead.”

Immediately Itachi’s hands stilled over the keys as he looked up at her. “Are you disappointed?”

She didn’t know if it was the lighting or if it was because it had been so long since the last time she had seen him, but in that moment, he was the most handsome he had ever been. His skin was pale against the dark blue button-down shirt he wore under his jacket. His jaw and cheekbones were emphasized by the firelight, but it was his eyes that pierced through her soul and kept her rooted in place. They were like twin pools of liquid midnight.

He looked like death that had warmed over. An angel of darkness.

She had missed him so terribly. And now he was here before her. She didn’t know how, but it was true. All those sleepless nights and terrible moments of guilt and grief. Her hands shook. It took her a moment to realize it was out of anger.

“I saw your funeral,” she said accusingly. “You have a tombstone in Arlington.”

A strange expression passed over his face, as if he was grieving his own death. “The CIA thought this would be a perfect opportunity to send me deeper undercover.”

Astounded, Sakura could only stare as she relived that day. Her heart had shattered into a million different pieces and guilt had left her bedridden for nearly a week. And here he was, telling her all that she had witnessed was a lie?

“Does your family even know you’re alive?”

Again, a brief but painful look settled on his features. “Shisui and my mother do. Unfortunately to keep my brother safe, I have to keep him in the dark until my mission is complete.”

Taken aback, Sakura’s lips parted but no words escaped. It felt like someone had shoved her down onto the cold, hard concrete and kicked dirt into her face. She was full of grief and heartbreak and anger and betrayal, so full she thought all that emotion might crush her heart and explode out her chest.

When Itachi’s hands returned to the piano keys, she became even angrier. He was playing her song. And it wasn’t those shaky, four notes anymore. It was an entire verse, over and over again. That song no longer gave her an escape from reality. It reminded her of everything she’d had, could have had, and would have had if she hadn’t made her worse miscalculation of betraying Itachi. And here he was, playing her mistake right to her face.

“I don’t play anymore,” she snarled.

Itachi had just enough time to withdraw his fingers from the keys before she slammed the fallboard closed. He simply looked up at her like a parent watching their child throw a tantrum. All forced patience.

“That’s a shame. I did always enjoy watching you play.”

Her eyes narrowed. “How can you just lie to your brother like that?”

‘Lie to me.’ She didn’t say the words but they were heard just as clearly.

“I do not think you can lecture me on lying to those closest to me.”

“You should have contacted me before now!”

“I couldn’t!” Itachi suddenly snapped, all that patience gone. He stood abruptly, nearly knocking the wooden bench over in his haste. He still stood a head higher over her, but she didn’t flinch away from those impossibly dark eyes. “Not without the CIA finding out. And I needed time to heal. I did almost die, that much is true. I flatlined in surgery twice and was in a coma for nearly a week. I had to put my health first.”

Sakura wanted to argue, but she couldn’t find fault with his justification. It had taken months for her shoulder to mend; it still wasn’t completely healed. Itachi would’ve had a much longer recovery time.

Automatically her eyes drifted down to his stomach, where she was certain he would have a scar to match her own. The death grip on her gun loosened before she raised her other hand towards him. To touch him and feel him; to make sure he was really there.

She pulled her hand back before her fingers grazed his shirt.

“For the last nine months, I thought I had killed you,” she said, her voice suddenly soft in the wake of Itachi’s outburst of anger.

He inhaled and exhaled a silent breath before he replied, his tone equally as quiet. “You did.”

Not physically at least. But peering up at him, she could see the heartbreak lining his expression even now. There weren’t enough people in the world that could help shoulder the weight of all her guilt.

“Why did you come back? You could have stayed dead if you really hate me so much.”

“I told you already,” Itachi said not unkindly. “I have a mission to complete.”

Sakura’s shoulders stiffened at that. It suddenly occurred to her for the first time that this mission could very well be to dispose of her. He would be the perfect assassin for the job.

The sudden urge to turn tail and run nearly overwhelmed her, but her curiosity got the better of her. She had to know.

“Which is?”

Itachi’s expression was utterly unreadable. Like a Greek God, he might as well have been carved from stone. “What I’ve been doing all along: tracking Madara. Only this time, he won’t escape.”

Relief swept through her like a torrential downpour, only to dry up as quickly as it came as Itachi continued, “Because you’re going to help me.” From his tone, she clearly heard that he was telling and not asking. “I know you have been keeping tabs on him. I know you know where he is. You owe me at least that.”

He scrutinized her patiently but expectantly, like he wouldn’t leave until he got an answer from her. Still, Sakura hesitated. She wondered what he would do if she tried to walk out; what would happen if she told him the truth. Would things go back to the way they were, or would he disappear on her again as he hunted down his target?

“Madara’s in Hong Kong. He’s been there for the last four months.”

Itachi stilled, as if surprised she had told him without more persuasion on his part. Then he did the last thing she expected him to do. He cupped her face with both hands and bent his head until he sealed his mouth to hers.

It took Sakura by surprise, but she reacted an instant later, her eyes falling closed as she reached up with her empty hand to grip the open fold of his jacket to tug him closer. Itachi wasn’t gentle by any means. His kiss was bruising, putting all his emotions into that single action. His anger and heartbreak, but also his desperation and sorrow. It made her realize that he had missed her as much, if not more than she had missed him.

When Itachi finally pulled back, they were both panting slightly, the sound loud in the otherwise quiet room. He reached up to smooth her hair away from her face, his gaze tracking the action before his eyes dropped back to hers.

Then his expression hardened. “If you ever pull that shit on me again, we are going to have a problem.”

Even with his warning, Sakura couldn’t resist the corner of her mouth twitching in the start of a smirk. She trusted Itachi would follow through with his threat should she try to mislead him again, but she wasn’t concerned. Because if there was one thing she was certain of, it was that she wouldn’t let Itachi go again.

She holstered her gun before smiling up at him innocently. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

A vaguely disbelieving expression crossed Itachi’s face before he released a defeated sigh – as if he was just realizing for the first time that he was in love with an asshole. Even so, he kissed her again, only pausing some minutes later for Sakura to send Kakashi a text telling him not to wait for her.

Because she was going to spend the rest of the night with the man in front of her. And tomorrow, they would work on taking down the bastard known as Uchiha Madara.

end.

xx

So, this is the happiest ending I could give. It's not really a happy ending cause all the shit they've been through, they're going to go through again. But for now, they're happy.

This wasn't the original ending I had for the story. Originally, I wanted to write a sequel that had Itachi coming back much later to hunt down Madara. Together, Sakura and Itachi catch and kill him, but while protecting Itachi, Sakura gets killed. And that's how it ends, but I don't have as much time to write as I used to, and I did lose motivation with this story.

That being said, I still love this story and I'm happy with how it came out. Thank you everyone for your continued support. To those of you who have been with me since chapter one and those of you who just came across this fic, thank you for your reviews. They are incredibly motivating and I cannot say enough how much I appreciate them.

Still to come:

Not the Only One - MadaSaku/TobiSaku (continuation)

Under the Knife Edge - MadaSaku

[dianapana]

SasuHina Month Day 3- Post war

Hey guys, i am back with another story, i didnt get to write all that much today cuz i slept in late; i was v tired from the music festival and then i spent abt 4h on the train. But i did make a plan for most of the days so im confident I'll get to write something for each prompt! Just like 2 years ago i decided to make some of them part of a mini series; but do not worry I'll always tell you which is a stand alone and which are part of a series ❤

Anywaaaay, hope you enjoy ~ Love, Dia

Therapy- part 1

The war has ended, they had won and yet most everyone feels like a loser. There are no festivals going around, there is no constant joy and song in the air. Everyone wears black and walls around with their eyes in the ground scared to look up and see what is there; nothing. Many people died and their presence is missed. Many are still in comas in the hospital with little hope to wake up; many are in a trance like state even if they are physically unharmed. This is not what he had envisioned when he walled onto the battle field, Naruto is in the waiting room of the hospital waiting to hear from Sakura if there is any way in which he could help. He looks to the intensive care wing with longing, he hasn’t been there in over 3 days. Guilt eats him alive. Hinata is in one of those rooms with almost no chance of waking up. She tried to save him and she was severely injured, Neji tried to save her while she was saving Naruto and the older Hyuuga died. He can’t even pass by the Hyuuga mansion without feeling like someone is choking him.

He has his head in his hands, trying but failing to think of anyone else but the blue haired girl that lays lifeless in the bed a few doors away. He only looks up when someone sits next to him. Sasuke is the one that disturbed his pity party.

“How's the new arm?” Sasuke asks with no hesitation, nor does be tiptoe around it the way other people do. Naruto has to hold his breath for a moment in order mot to laugh. It feels refreshing for someone to be blunt.

“It's fine. You should let Sakura fix you up too. They have one in storage for you; even if you said you didn’t want it they still kept it in case.” Sasuke opens his mouth to address the issue of his own missing limb but a commotion to their left, in the intensive wing. Many nurses and doctors rush into one of the rooms, Naruto is up on his feet and running the short distance there because all of the medical staff are going into Hinata's room.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?!?” he screams but no one answers he tried to go into the room only to be turned around by one nurse. Upon seeing who she is dealing with her eyes soften.

“Go wait outside. The doctors need room to check her. Nothing appears to be wrong, she woke up.”

“She woke up…” Naruto repeats in a daze and allows the nurse to push him back until the hits Sasuke's chest.

“Friend of yours?” Sasuke looks at him with his eyebrow rose. Naruto only nods and falls back to the chair he was sitting on before. Head once more in his hands. He blinks faster than usual trying to stop the tears from falling.

Another 30 minutes pass and most of the doctors left but he still isn’t allowed to go in. Sakura comes half-running and sees them both and only motions for them to follow her.

“You want to see Hianta right? I was just on my way to her…” Naruto runs ahead while Sasuke looks at Sakura's tired face.

“I don’t know her. I would only fill up space. And I have somewhere to be" Sakura gives him a stiff smile but nods nonetheless and walks into Hinata's room trying to prepare herself for the state that Hianta is in. The other medics said something is wrong with her.

Naruto sits on the chair next to her bed looking at her, waiting for something. Hinata sits in bed with her back against the wall looking out the window. She is a it thinner than she was before the war; her skin is whiter and her hair less shiny but apart from that…physically she seems fine. The other doctors said that she isn’t talking or even acknowledging other people, and by the way she is ignoring both of them Sakura seems to think the same. Maybe she has some ‘traumatic memories' Sakura writes on her file or even ‘memory loss' either way something seems to be off.

“Why isn’t she talking?” Naruto asks exasperated. Sakura just shakes her head.

“That is what we can’t figure out"

•••

Sasuke is on the other side of the village, sitting in a chair in a room full of strangers, she listens to some woman talk about how she lost her daughter, than a young boy says he lost both of his parents, when the time comes for Sasuke to speak he just looks to the side. It is irrelevant to say who he lost, everyone knows the story; they've all gossiped about the Uchiha clan at some point. He lost everyone from mother to father to brother to his annoying cousins and even relatives he hadn’t had the time to meet or get to know. It is true years had passes since he lost most of his clan but the wound is still open and it had became worse with Itachi’s death and when he learnt the truth about the disaster that happened in his childhood the feeling of loss was as strong as it was all those years ago. That is why he is here, in this therapy group meant to help people learn how to cope with the loss of their loved ones.

The only reason why be is here is because Kakashi asked him to show up once every two weeks

•••

In the following two weeks Hinata became the embodiment of indifference, she was soon released from the hospital due to the fact that physically nothing was off. No matter how much Naruto and the others tried to get her to open up they just couldn’t. Sasuke knew that because he was forced to listen to Naruto talk about her almost daily. So he was very surprised when he showed up to his therapy group 20 minutes ago only to find the Hyuuga girl there. It hasn’t been her turn to talk yet and Sasuke is watching her very closely to see if she woukd talk about what it is that ‘broke' in her mind. The person before her finished talking but even so Hinata only looked at her hands so the turn moved on. The Uchiha male isn’t all that surprised, Naruto is pushing her too far, he can’t tall about his loss and it happened years ago, for her it only happened a few days back because since the war ended she has been in a coma. They all should give her time. Sasuke knows and he understand. In this moment he feels some sort of connection to the beautiful and broken Hyuuga.

[aninconsistentwriter]

and with a slow crescendo, my world explodes “Naruto”

or... read it here on Ao3!

-------

Naruto knew from a very young age that his soulmate was someone who was very very sad. That was the only way he could describe the sounds in his head. He hadn’t known what they were until he started attending the academy and Iruka-sensei taught them about soulmates and soulmate songs. 

“Everyone has a song in their head,” his teacher had said. “The song is meant to guide you to your soulmate. Until you meet them, the melody is incomplete. But when you meet your soulmate for the first time, the melody is completed and that is how you know you’ve found your soulmate.”

“But Iruka-sensei, how do you know the melody is completed?” a young Sakura had asked, glancing shyly at the raven-haired boy seated next to her.

“No one can truly explain it, Sakura-chan. People have described it as an overwhelming feeling of completeness. The song changes and you can feel it.”

Naruto had wondered if he would ever meet the person who caused such a sad song to play in his head.

Once, when they were on an overnight mission, his genin team decided to discuss their soulmate songs. Sakura had described hers as if spring had a voice, soft staccatos and uplifting. She hummed for a moment and Naruto smiled at her. He was glad her song was such a happy one. 

Sasuke had surprised them by describing his song as sweet. Lilting notes that blended into each other to create a beautiful melody. 

His teammates looked at him, waiting for him to describe his song. Naruto had merely said “they’re sad” before Sakura had pulled him into a fierce hug. Sasuke whispered an apology to him. 

That night changed their friendships forever. 

It was when he opened the hotel door and saw red and black eyes staring down at him that he understood why the song in his head was so sad. Before he could truly realize what was happening his head exploded with sound. Iruka-sensei had been both right and wrong. The sad, haunting melody in his head was still there but now it was just so much more. There was more to it, a harmony for the soft melody filled with discordant notes that left him wanting to cry from the ache they created. 

The eyes that bore into his own widened with acknowledgement and grief. But it was all brought to a harsh pause when Sasuke’s voice resounded down the hallway and Naruto realized this was the man Sasuke wanted to kill. 

Naruto didn’t talk about what had happened until several days later, when Jiraiya and he were relaxing in the onsen during their journey back to Konoha. “Who were those men at the hotel,” he asked.

“They are part of an organization trying to collect the tailed beasts like Kyubbi.”

“Why did Sasuke attack the one man?”Jiraiya sighed, “has Sasuke ever explained to you what happened to his clan?” Naruto shook his head in response. “That man is his older brother, Itachi. A few years ago, Itachi killed their entire clan except for Sasuke.”

Naruto looked down at the steaming water that surrounded him, the haunting song loud and clear in his head. “Oh,” he turned towards his mentor, “that man is my soulmate.”

They didn’t discuss it, after that one conversation. He supposed Jiraiya felt it would be too painful for the young boy. Afterall, his soulmate was a mass murderer who had killed his entire family except his younger brother, who happened to be Naruto’s teammate and best friend.

Also, his soulmate worked for an organization who were actively trying to kill him.

It was all a little painful, if Naruto was honest with himself. And yet, the song inside his head played on.

The dreams started shortly after that. Meeting your soulmate so close to puberty did Naruto no favors when it came to his nightly dreams. He’d only had such a brief time to look at his other half and yet his dreams were so vivid, filled with creamy skin and a deep voice. The whole situation was driving Naruto mad.

Relief only came with heartbreak, however. The maddening dreams subsided as Naruto was forced to focus on training with Jiraiya in order to bring Sasuke back. So, Naruto pushed the melody in his head to the back of his mind and focused on becoming stronger and Naruto never mentioned his soulmate to Jiraiya during the three years.

Naruto decided to tell Sakura when he came back. Her own song had been completed when they met Rock Lee the first time, surprisingly. While neither had been pursuing a romantic relationship with each other when Naruto had left, he returned to find them comfortably together. It was a relief for him, that at least one of his teammates was happy.

So, after they had beaten Kakashi at the revamped bell test Naruto spilled his secret to his best friend. She cried with him, for him, as they sat together. It was the first time Naruto had allowed himself to cry about his situation. It felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest, like he maybe now he could move forward. At least, that’s what he thought until he was facing his soulmate again just a few days later. 

It was the first time he heard his name fall from his soulmate’s lips, Naruto realized dazedly. “Naruto-kun, I am sorry,” Itachi’s rich voice reached his ears and Naruto felt that he could weep all over again. He wanted to curl up on the ground and weep as the melody in his head grew louder in the presence of his soul’s other half. Instead he harshly bit the inside of his cheek until it bled and forced himself forward with a rasengan. 

He wanted to cry even more when he realized he had been placed under a genjutsu.

But he didn’t cry, he didn’t even curse his soulmate when they discovered it had been an impersonation jutsu. Instead he just kept going, fighting his way to save Gaara.

It was when all was said and done, Gaara brought back and the Konoha shinobi were making their way back to their village that Sakura approached him. With Lee suitably preoccupied by his latest insane self-challenge, Sakura walked next to her blonde teammate in silence for a while. Eventually though her hand slipped into his and she asked him, “are you okay?”

Naruto squeezed her hand tightly before releasing it, “no, I’m not. But I suppose I will be. I have no other choice.” And if a couple of tears escaped his eyes this time? Well no one said anything to him. 

Naruto fell into a routine. He completed missions and trained. He got to know Sai and Yamato. He saw Sasuke again for the first time in three years. He trained more, he trained harder. He hung out with his friends and allowed himself to laugh. Eventually, the melody quieted enough that he felt that he could breathe a little bit easier again. 

Jiraiya apparently had told Kakashi as the man asked him about it one day during training. “How are you dealing with it, Naruto?”

The blonde closed his eyes tightly, willing the song back into the corners of his mind where he could ignore it. He forced his eyes open wide and smiled at his sensei, “I’m just fine, Kaka-sense! What are you talking about?”

Kakashi didn’t ask again.

Naruto was fine. He was surviving. He was getting stronger and things were great. That’s what he told himself when the melody was too loud or too haunting. He was going to bring Sasuke back and it didn’t matter that he was doomed to have a soulmate he could never be with. It didn’t matter. What mattered was protecting his precious people and becoming Hokage. 

It was like a mantra in his head, intertwined with the ever present song. Somehow the idea that capturing Itachi would be the best way to bring Sasuke back to the village was decided. Naruto wanted to scream in frustration. It was as if Fate had decided to continue playing cruel jokes on him, over and over and over again. He couldn’t escape the raven haired man who starred in his dreams and who’s song played constantly in his head.

Naruto could feel both Sakura and Kakashi looking at him, waiting for him to object. Instead he plastered on his best determined smile and told Tsunade to plan the mission.

That was how Naruto found himself alone with his soulmate for the first time in the four years since their melody had completed itself. “I promise I won’t harm you, Naruto-kun. I only wish to speak with you.” 

Naruto looked into black eyes, realizing it was another first between the two. I’ve never seen him without his Sharingan activated, the jinchuuriki thought. “Tell me, Itachi-san, does it hurt for you as much as it does for me?” He clenched his shirt in the area above his heart, feeling the familiar ache settling there, the one that always came when he listened to the music too closely.

“I am sorry, Naruto-kun. It was never my wish for you to be involved in this mess.”Naruto scoffed at that, “you talk as if we ever get to choose who our soulmates are. I’m used to Fate treating me like a punching bag. I’m a jinchuuriki and an orphan. Of course my soulmate would be tragic as well.” His laugh was bitter and cold.

Itachi frowned at him, “tell me Naruto, you are alone. Why don’t you run?”

“I can go from one to a thousand in an instant, I am never alone. Besides, if I capture you then I get to see Sasuke!” There, move the topic away from us. Focus on Sasuke. Focus on what you CAN change!

Sharingan eyes flashed at him and Naruto wanted to scream at the sight of them. Itachi’s eyes were far more beautiful in their natural state. “What is your attachment to my little brother?”

“He is my best friend. He is like a brother to me! I will bring him back to the village where he belongs!”

Naruto could have sworn that Itachi smiled at his response. “And if he doesn’t come willingly? Or what if he were to try and attack Konoha? What would you do then, Naruto-kun?”

“Why would he attack the village?”

“Sasuke is still naive. He could be painted many colors by those who wish harm. Would you protect the village against him?”

Naruto was confused, this conversation had taken a turn he hadn’t been able to predict. “I’ll bring him back and protect the village!”

The raven haired man chuckled at him, the sound surprising Naruto even further, “you are still so naive as well. Still, it cannot be helped.” Itachi walked up to him and placed a finger under Naruto’s chin. The touch sent an electric spark down the blonde’s spine and he had to force himself not to shiver. “Things are going to start moving quickly and I am sorry that you are stuck in the middle of it all. I am leaving Sasuke in your care, Naruto-kun.” Itachi leaned in, placing his lips firmly against the younger’s. 

Their melody crescendoed in Naruto’s head and his knees felt weak. He pushed up to meet the Uchiha’s firm lips, deepening the kiss with a small gasp. Itachi’s tongue traced the seam of Naruto’s lips softly before he leaned back with a sad sigh, separating the two. Naruto opened his eyes, not realizing he had closed them to begin with, and his world flashed red. 

“I am leaving you with a gift, Naruto. I wish things could have been different between us,” Itachi’s voice echoed around him before Naruto saw a crow fly towards him. It’s beak forced its way between his lips before making the trip down his throat, all while Naruto struggled not to choke. When the red world faded, he dropped to his knees and looked up at the other man. His eyes were black once again and Naruto forced himself to memorize the image before him. “Goodbye, Naruto-kun,” Itachi said before he disappeared and left Naruto alone. 

Kiba found him shortly after that, still on his hands and knees staring at the grass. The blonde boy got up and placed a mask on his face, ignoring his buzzing lips and the discordant notes inside his head. He pushed aside the sense of impending doom Itachi left in his wake and focused on the task at hand. He gave a terse nod to his teammate and off they went, searching for his soulmate’s wayward brother.

It was later that day, when they were all trying to figure out the mystery that was the orange masked Akatsuki member, that it happened. The strange plant-like man who Tobi addressed as Zetsu appeared with an odd apology for interrupting. He looked at Tobi before announcing “Uchiha Itachi is dead. Sasuke killed him.” 

Naruto fell to the ground as a strangled scream ripped from his throat.

[shikastemari]

promise - k. h.

pairing kakashi hatake x reader

summary you heard your ex boyfriend were in some spy’s mind and you promptly offer yourself to follow them as an ANBU member.

word count 3,308

when it happens kakashi love song filler in naruto shippuden!!

warnings lots and lots of angst

a/n so LET ME EXPLAIN WHY I AM POSTING SOMETHING THAT WASN’T A REQUEST!!!! basically, i went to a lunch party on saturday and it was open bar, so summing up, i got really drunk, got home and was like I SHOULD WRITE A FIC WITH KAKASHI WHY NOT and i did.... ofc when i woke up the next day and read it i was shocked because the whole thing was a mess and apparently i forgot how to write a lot of english words, so it was a bilingual fanfic. but once i fix it i realize the idea was really good, and i was like how come i didn’t think about it when i was sober? so i fixed it even though i should be studying really hard and decided to post because i thought it was really good.

but i didn’t give up on your requests, don’t worry. 

please enjoy this one

masterlist on my profile bio

“Here is something I wasn’t expecting, like... At all.”

The voice of your ex boyfriend should have startled you, but you didn’t even flinch. Perks of being used to someone’s chakra that much. 

“Kakashi.” You greeted the shadow clone next to you, while not taking your eyes from the real one, next to a pretty girl. The thick branch you were currently standing made a strange noise when Kakashi appeared, so you were ready to move in case it fell. “I gotta say, babysit you was not on the top of my list for today... Or any day, actually.”

“I got everything under control, y/n. She is not going everywhere.” His tone was harsh, his pride showing. He stood by the tree trunk, hands tucked in his pants pocket as he watched you. Kakashi sighed deeply as he looked at your eyes, which were locked on the real him, shining bright with what he wanted to believe it was fondness and love. But he knew you better before assuming anything about you. “When did you stop believing my abilities?”

You couldn’t hold the sight that left your body. Never, you wanted to reply, but you kept your mouth shut.

"That cloud looks like Naruto." You heard the original Kakashi speaking, his voice echoing through the tree while he was trying to get anything out of the woman - Hanare, you remembered. "And the next one... Is it Sasuke?" 

From where you were standing, you could hear perfectly every word they were saying, and Hanare did get your attention once she started to talk about how a younger Kakashi taught her to look in the clouds when she felt alone. Breathing heavily, you tried to push to the back of your mind the thought that you were the one who told him that.

The fact alone that he used it with some random girl - even though it was ages ago - was enough for your blood boil in your veins.

“She could easily use some jutsu on you and get away. We are not aware about her abilities, just that she can get through Ibiki's torture. She is tough. I am not to be blamed if I am the fastest from ANBU.” You frowned when you saw, between the leaves, the way the spy were looking at the original Kakashi. The look was way too familiar for you. It was the same you gave him.

“You seem jealous.” He simply stated, his clone rolling his eyes even though you weren't watching. He bit back an annoyed groan, not knowing how to deal with the whole situation.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” You hissed at him, your heart skipping a beat once you realized you were indeed jealous.

The clone shot his eyebrows up, eyeing you in suspicious, so you did what you did best. Change subjects.

“Your students are on the top of the three now. The blond one is almost falling.” You moved your glance up for a second, before looking down again to the couple.

“They are not known for their hiding abilities.” Kakashi shrugged, while watching the feet of his team. “Even Sasuke is there, no one can run away from curiosity, I guess.”

Following his gaze, you saw the raven boy there. A sad smile spread across your face. “He looks like him, doesn’t he?”

“No, actually. He is nothing like him.” Tilting your head, you noticed a sparkle shining on the corner of his eyes. Amusement, maybe.

“You really like being a sensei, huh?” It slipped before you could contain yourself. “It suits you.”

“I do, actually.” By his squinted eyes, you just knew he was smiling. “But I miss being an ANBU. The thrilling missions. Being feared by the bad guys. Fighting them with you. You, in general.”

You swallowed hard to keep yourself from admitting for both of you how much you have missed him. How much you still loved him.

Breaking up with him was the hardest thing you have done in your life. You two went from sleeping next to each other every single night, touching every time you had a chance to nothing.

The day your best friend killed his entire clan was still a vivid memory inside your head. Thoughts about the hundreds of people dead by his hand have haunted you for so long and you still didn’t understand what happened. How your loving, caring friend become a cold machine capable to murder his family without thinking, leaving only his little brother behind. You have thought about the reasons why he had left Sasuke live, and a spark inside you always shined, hopefully. Spending so much time in the Uchiha complex, you have met Sasuke when he was little a million times. It was always your favorite thing to make him blush, but since what happened you never spoke to him again. It was too painful for you to realize that something was bothering your best friend and you didn’t even notice.

Losing Itachi Uchiha was one of the worst things you have dealt with.

It affected every single relationship in your life. You didn’t know how to trust anyone anymore. Not even the guy you loved the most.

“Did she say anything else?” You questioned him, not showing any signs of being touched by his words, for his sake and mostly yours.

“No, actually. What did Ibiki and Inochi tell you?”

“Everything I needed to know to complete my mission. They didn’t get much though, she had training. Or they are getting soft.”

“Right.” He passed his hand on his face. “So you know.”

“About she not being able to forget you? Yeah, pretty aware, and after hearing this cute cloud story you told her, I kind know why.” You shot back, the words were jumbled as they came out of your mouth.

"Althought you changed a bit, I recognized you when I saw you because you are always in my heart, you are my hope." Every word that came from Hanare's mouth reached your ears. It was like your heart broke into tiny pieces after hearing that, not being able to gaze away from Kakashi's face. Desperation was getting the best of you, you needed to hear his answer.

But his clone had another plan.

He approached you, making you finally lost eye contact with the original one, to stare at his abrupt move. He was watching you with a displeased look on his face, very different from his general deadpan facial expression. You had never seen him like that and to be completely honest, it kind of scared you but at the same time, a part of you was deeply intrigued by what he had in store for you.

“Stop acting like a jealous girlfriend.” Kakashi finally retorted, as you licked your lips under his burning gaze and rested your body against the tree truck he was once standing next to.

But as soon as you opened your mouth to give him a comeback, it happened.

His whole team have fell from the tree, directly on the original Kakashi. The bump made him to collapse on the girl, taking her to the ground with him.

It didn’t take much until you realized his body wasn’t the only thing pressed against her.

His lips were too.

You couldn’t fight against the reactions your body had. Your jaw clenched, as your hands turned into fits.

“y/n...” It was all the clone said before it vanished in a gray smoke, right after you stabbed him with the closest thing you got - which happened to be a sharp branch.

Once it happened, you saw the original Kakashi glance over the tree, as trying to find something. Someone. But you knew the leaves were camouflaging you, unless he activated his sharingan, he wouldn’t see you. Although, he wouldn’t do it. It could raise suspicious from Hanare.

And you were glad for that, because as Kakashi tried to control his genin team, you turned to the other side, trying to run away from him and the tears. 

-

 “You didn’t go make the exchange.”

Once again, his voice didn’t startle you. Sitting on a random bench on the street, as the night fell, you could see his eyes shining due the orange light coming from behind the walls across the Village.

“Inoichi said y’all didn’t need me.” You lied to him, as he sat next to you, but still keeping a big distance.

“Funny. He told me you requested to be dismissed from the mission.”

You let out a sigh. “And he agreed to that, see? I was not necessary there.”

“You were right before, he is getting soft.” Kakashi let out a dry chuckle next to you. "Didn't cross your mind that maybe I needed you there?"

You sighed exasperatedly, ignoring the thudding in your heart.

“I read your report. She died, huh?” You tried to hold back a scoff, but you didn't manage to do it.

That got his attention, making him turning his head at you, confusion and admiration crossing his face. “Why are you talking like that?”

“I know her type." What you meant was I know how she feels. "I would guess she asked to die by the hands of the guy she loved and you didn't do it. You wouldn't kill her, no way.” You mumbled, glancing over the last ray of sunshine disappearing, the sky ready to fall into darkness.

The lack of an answer gave you the confirmation you needed. Kakashi could do everything, except lying to you.

“Bold move. What if she comes back in the future and actually manage to steal some big information from Konoha?” You started and the beginning of this assumed-to-be argument confused you because he seemed bothered when he first reached you but now he was calm and laid back, despite the fire in his eyes and the fact that he looked like he was waiting for the right moment to drop a bomb on your lap.

“She could have done it already, but she didn’t. I think we are good.” That words alone made your skin tingle and for a moment you had the feeling you were playing a game with him. Although you were not excited at all for that, you decided to play along.

“Yeah, she didn’t do it because of you. What about the next time? What if you are not here anymore?” The words left your lips before you could do much to stop them and you realized your mistake too late when his eyes darkened just a shade and he lift his right eyebrow. The whole situation made your voice cracked on the last question, and as usual, it didn't pass unnoticed to his trained ears.

“I am not Itachi, y/n. I am not leaving.” Your heart stopped for a mere moment as your best friend's name slipped his lips, voice swallowed by assurance. Even trying to turn your head to the other way around, it didn't worked, as he stopped you with a swift movement by gripping your jaw in his fingers and pulling your face to peer at his piercing eyes.

“You can’t be sure about it.” You finally spoke, your tone of honey and milk but your eyes burning with a fiery passion as you looked down, eyeing the floor that was lined with melted ice creams, and swallowed harshly.

“Look, I know the feeling. Losing someone.” The moment he got closer to you passed unnoticed until the moment he placed his hand on your own.

Trying to take his hand away, you felt sick to your stomach as you felt the words sitting in the back of your throat, but for the first time, you decided to give it a shot.

“No, Kakashi, you don’t." You bit your bottom lip, head spinning as guilt settled in the pit of your stomach, but Kakashi did nothing but nodding, encouraging you to keep talking. "I have lost someone close to my heart, just like you did with Obito and Rin. I lost a father figure, like you with Minato. But you don’t know how it feels to lose someone who chooses to leave. Those people had no choice. They died. Itachi did, he had a choice and still he chose not to stay. I am sorry, Kakashi, but it is not the same thing.”

It took some time until he pounded every word, carefully, and as he did it, you couldn't stop but admiring his sculpted face for a moment. Words along the line of gorgeous, stunning, perfect ran around in circles between waves of nervousness and regret.

Eternity had passed until he spoke again, and when he did, you just couldn't believe the words that left his mouth. 

“Is that the reason you broke up with me? Because you think I will deliberately leave you?”

You tried to hold a gulp, but it didn't work, feeling your mouth suddenly run dry as you decided that you necessitated to put if off because you were sure that if you kept talking to him, you would end up hitting the nearest thing out of pure frustration and that was the last thing you wanted to do. Especially because the nearest thing happened to be Kakashi.

“Just... Forget it." Coming back to your usual, you kept quiet about your true feelings and you hated yourself for that. Kakashi deserved to know everything that was going through your mind, the guy had always helped you to figure whatever you told him out and was deadly honest with you. 

Riddle with emotions you were too afraid to express, you stood up, ready to leave him, but you hesitated for a second, and it was enough for him to grab your wrist. The action itself gave you the feeling your lungs were starting to burn, causing your breathing to heave.

"I don't understand. First, you ask to participate on my mission."

Wait, what?

"Yes, y/n. I know."

But how?

"Inoichi told me."

Eyebrows arched, you got a little shocked he was even answering the questions inside your head.

"You acted like a jealousy girlfriend the whole time. Now, you are acting like you can't stand be near me. So?" The frustration was showing on his tone, clearly. There was a few times when you saw Kakashi actually mad about something, inside his usual deadpan look. Fewer things could cause this reaction on him. You being one of them.

"Kakashi, drop it." You felt a wave of anxiousness fall upon you, as you wet your lips, feeling uncomfortable with where the conversation was heading. How it even landed on the two of you? Again. You were unsure.

"Sorry if I can't be as cold as y-"

You interrupted him, before he could say anything he could regret later. "You can. You do it all the time, except when you are with me. No one can see what you are thinking. No one can wonder what is going inside your head, but I can, because you let me. It is not my fault, Kashi." 

The nickname simply slipped of your throat, and even through the mask, you could see him biting his lower lip.

"Fine, I get the part that you broke up with me because you don't love me. What I do not get is-"

The second time interrupting someone was always easier, especially when it was a outburst. 

"I didn't break up with you because I stopped loving you, I did because I am afraid to lose you, you idiot!" You blocked everything out, focusing on easing the pain that comes with relationships and working your feelings down until your heart that beat almost for him, each individual beat coursing blood through your veins, metaphorically turned into ice.

Except that, Kakashi managed to melt everything inside you just with a shining glance.

"Wait, you still love me?" He spoke every word slowly, as trying to absorb it and the same time, trying to make you realize what you have just spilled. It was just something he wasn't expecting from you. Not at that moment, not never.

"Of course I do, Kakashi. I love you so much. I'd rather die than lose you, I can't even stand the thought of it." You bit your lip and nodded at your own words. His hand came back to your face again, holding your jaw. More than once, you did your best to look away but his grip on your jaw tighter every time, stopping you from doing it.

"You are not going to lose me. I promise." Your breath hitched at the sound of his voice, and the way his eyes squinted, a proof he smiled carried a warmth that caught you entirely off guard.

"Stop making promises you can't keep!" You choked out, fearful that you were about to cry in front of him and ruin your hard-built reputation. It was like you had fallen to the bottom before and you just didn't know how to go back.

"I promise I will keep that promise." His comment stoke you like a knife and your mouth fell open. What had started as a normal evening had ended in a way that was completely unseen by the two of you.

"Kakashi..." His name on your tongue was more a warning than anything else. It was basically a request from him to stop because everything was so much.

If he noticed it was an advice to be away from you, he ignored it promptly, as he pushed your arm to place you sitting on his lap, each leg on one side of his. 

He pulled his mask down, the sight of the lips you were dying to kiss one more time right next to your mouth. "Stop pushing me away. I am not going anywhere. Please, don't make me spend another day away from you."

Kakashi's hand ran down your waist, fingers wrapping around the trousers you wore, body resting against his. His touch was warm, practically radiating confidence after your confession. 

"It will be easier for both of us if we keep our distance." You tried to reasonable with him, already trying to get up, but the grip on your pants got tighter.

"Fine. Let's do it, but first." He smashed his lips against yours with urgency, catching you completely off guard. There was no running away from him, from what you had. If one day you lose him, your world would crash down, for sure. Although, little did you realize, you already had lost him. 

Honestly, you were the one to blame for that.

Now, he was giving you a chance to get him back, and you hated yourself for not being sure about it. It was simple, actually. He was everything to you. So, for the first time, you decided to have faith on his promises.

He parted the kiss, panting. "Fuck, I thought we needed a last kiss before going separate ways, but now I don't feel like stopping."

"Good, because you are not." You gave him a little peck on his lips, pulling his mask up. "But we are taking this to your apartment."

"Last sex?" He questioned, holding you tight with both arms, noses pressed against each other.

"First last sex." If you were afraid you were going to lose him, you might just well live like it would be the last time you would be seeing him.

"Promise?" You expected that your eyes were mirroring his, filled with love and adoration for the boy with the gray hair you had grown up with, the teenager you had fallen in love with and the man you had needed your entire life. Everything was easier with him around and you just hoped this would be just one more thing on the list.

"Promise."

[365daysofsasuhina]

[ 365 Days of SasuHina || Day One Hundred Thirty-Six: An Obstacle ] [ Uchiha Sasuke, Hyūga Hinata, Uchiha Itachi, Hyūga Neji ] [ SasuHina ] [ Verse: Best Years of Your Life ] [ AO3 Link ]

It may sound odd out of context, but Sasuke’s glad they’ve finally given up. No more invasive surgeries or trial medications. Finally, Itachi can get some rest, and put all that behind him. True, their parents still fuss over him, but it’s no longer badgering about some new procedure. At last they’ve accepted that Itachi’s blindness is - at least, with current technology - incurable.

He was getting so tired of his brother being dragged to clinic after clinic, hospital after hospital: all chasing some false hope they both seemed to know would pan out to nothing. But Itachi was willing to let his parents run out their options, if only to give them hope.

It’s quite the obstacle, but...he’s been working on reviving an old passion. While his assumed path into a business degree isn’t impossible now, his prior offers of scholarships and careers when he was nearing the end of high school have all vanished. Too much time was taken in his endeavors to be cured, and they’d rather give such opportunities to those without Itachi’s impairment.

At first, it flared Sasuke’s temper like nothing else. But Itachi, as always, took the poor news in stride.

The last surgery had kept him in the specialized aftercare clinic for two weeks. During that time, Sasuke had seen the pair from before - Neji and Hinata - fairly often. Hinata’s recovery was slow, but going well. She often mourned that Itachi was not as fortunate.

“I will make due,” the elder brother had assured her. “But I thank you for the sentiment, Hinata. I’m simply glad you’re doing well. Some good news, at least.”

Before they’d left, Hinata had insisted on exchanging contact information. Apparently she’d enjoyed her time conversing with the brothers. “I won’t be able to use a screen for a few more w-weeks, but...well, when I can, we’ll have to talk!”

“Yeah...sure.”

With Itachi moved safely back home, things slowly settle back into normal. Eyes paler than his family’s with blindness, Itachi can at least move around the house fairly well, given his lifelong memorization of its layout. More often than not, Sasuke’s startled to find him somewhere, going about his business.

It’s when he has to leave that problems arise.

“May I ask you a favor?”

“Of course. What do you need?”

Itachi opens his mouth, pauses...then asks, “Do we still have that keyboard I got for Christmas when we were younger?”

“Uh…” Sasuke has to think. “I...have no idea. It might be in the basement…?”

“Would you look for me? And if we do, help me set it up in my room? I’d like to try something.”

“Sure.” Curious, Sasuke takes to digging around in old boxes of packed away things, coughing a bit in the dust. Eugh, when was the last time anyone got into these?

Opening some flaps, there’s a pause as his phone vibrates in his pocket. Retrieving it reveals he has a text.

It’s...from Hinata.

He blinks. Then it clicks. “Oh, shit!” Opening the message, he finds a general how-do-you-do, asking what he’s been up to since they left the clinic. Apparently she can’t use her phone too much yet, but she wanted to check in.

A small smile lifts his lips. “Doing all right - keeping tabs on my bro. Trying to find his old keyboard atm”

A little more digging, then another message.

“Oh, a keyboard? Like piano?”

“Yeah, he used to play when he was in school. Guess he’s feeling nostalgic.”

“Maybe he wants to start playing by ear!”

Sasuke considers that, finally finding the right box. He forgot how big this thing really was.

“Yeah, maybe.”

Hauling the thing upstairs, Sasuke asks, “You really want this thing in your room? It’s huge!”

“Yes, please - did you find the stand?”

“Yeah. Hold on.”

It takes a few minutes to set it up, a chair swiped from the dining room for him to sit on. Hands run lightly over the keys, and Sasuke watches a small smile lift his brother’s lips.

“...remember how to play?”

“I suppose we shall find out. I believe it’s much like riding a bike. You just need to get the feeling again.” A moment passes as he tries to recall a melody. Fingers position over the proper keys, and then tentatively begin to play. Every so often a sour note breaks through, and the pair of them flinch.

“Ah...oops.”

“No, keep going.” Slowly, Sasuke lets a grin grow as Itachi trudges on, completing a little ditty before returning hands to his lap.

“...do you...think I could do this?”

“You just did.”

“No, I mean…” A small sigh. “...perhaps as...a hobby. Or I could...attempt a career. I considered putting the music online.” A wry smile curls his lips. “Perhaps I could have a nice clickbaity title about a blind man playing piano.”

Sasuke can’t help a small snort. “I mean...you can try. Do they make music in braille?”

“I believe so. For now, I thought I would just try to teach myself a few things by ear. See if I can make this work.”

Lounging on his brother’s bed as he keeps playing small snippets of songs, Sasuke picks up his conversation with Hinata again, explaining Itachi’s thought.

“Oh, that’s a great idea! Is it...going okay?”

“Yeah. Here, one sec.”

Knowing Itachi can’t see, Sasuke sheepishly records a short video of his playing, sending it to his acquaintance.

“Wow, that’s really good...how long has it been since he played?”

“I dunno...4, 5 years? He played in a music class in school, but...not since...all this started.”

“...I’m glad he’s getting back into it. I’ll have to come hear him play!”

That earns a lift of his brow. “Yeah, sure - I’ll ask him.”

Itachi, of course, approves in an instant. “I would enjoy seeing her again. And I’m sure you would as well.” A pause, then, “...well, perhaps see is the wrong word.”

Sasuke just rolls his eyes. “I’ll let her know.”

A week later, they turn plans into action. Sasuke helps move the instrument to the living room, and Neji drives Hinata over. She’s confessed to being nervous about cars after her accident - he’s one of the few she trusts to drive her.

“You know, we’re r-really not that far apart! I live like...twenty minutes from here!”

“No kidding? Small world.”

Neji just gives a curt nod in greeting that Sasuke returns.

Seated at the keyboard, Itachi looks up as they come back inside. “Hello,” he greets jovially. “I do hope you’re ready to be disappointed.”

“Well, I only played the flute for a few years - I’m sure you’ll still do f-far better than I ever did,” Hinata laughs.

“I will do my best to meet your expectations.”

To most, Itachi seems perfectly calm. But Sasuke can see a small tell in the way he moves his hands. It appears he’s nervous.

There’s no sheet music as of yet - just something he’s been teaching himself by ear. A pause, and then he begins, playing a bit slower than Sasuke’s heard him doing on his own. But there’s no missed notes, the three of them listening quietly as he goes along the melody. The younger pair clap loudly as he stops, and the tips of Itachi’s ears go pink.

“That was l-lovely!”

“Thank you. I hope to get some proper sheet music soon, though...I will have to learn the braille equivalent.”

“I’m sure it won’t take you long.”

Both Hyūga remain for a few hours, having lunch and chatting. Even Neji seems to relax a bit as they reacquaint after their time apart...not that he’d been overly friendly at the clinic.

“I’m glad to see that your sight isn’t an obstacle for your music,” Hinata offers, smiling.

“Well...perhaps in a way. But obstacles are meant to be overcome.”

“I might have to pick my guitar back up,” Sasuke murmurs, sipping his soda.

“I would enjoy that, Sasuke. Perhaps we could play together.”

“You still outclass me.”

“That’s what practice is for.”

“M-maybe I’ll dig out my flute! I haven’t touched it since middle school, though,” is Hinata’s sheepish offering.

“I would be thrilled to hear it nonetheless. Music is a wonderful thing. Don’t you agree, Sasuke?”

Giving his brother an unseen questioning glance, he replies, “...yeah, sure.”

As their guests prepare to leave, Hinata promises to keep in touch. “I’m t-trying to limit my screen time for now, but I’ll text when I can!”

“Your eyes come first,” Sasuke chides. “You could just call me.”

“O-oh...I suppose I could.”

He chuckles at her hesitation - he’s not fond of it either. “...whatever you wanna do.” Both brothers wave as the car pulls away, and then Sasuke looks to Itachi. “So?”

“That was pleasant. Hinata is a lovely soul. Neji is...well, he’s a bit quiet to know quite yet.”

“Stick in the mud,” Sasuke mutters, grinning at his brother’s pointed look.

“...will you really start practicing your guitar again?”

“Yeah, I think I will. Might be fun. We can start a band: a keyboard, a guitar, and a flute.”

That gets Itachi to laugh out loud. “I’ve heard of stranger things, I suppose. But it would be nice if she came around.”

A brow perks. “You got a crush.”

“Oh heavens, no.”

Sasuke lets a grin grow. “Still pining over your nurse?”

“...I am not pining. I simply thought you would enjoy her company.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Even without my eyes, I could see the glances you kept giving her,” Itachi teases with a smirk of his own.

“W-what? I didn’t -”

“I’m merely giving you a hard time, Sasuke. But you two did seem to get on well. I know you’re not the most social type, so...I thought it prudent.”

Sasuke’s cheeks puff with a pout.

“Well, let’s get back inside. I’d like to practice a bit more tonight.”

“...sure.”

     Okay so this is a MAAAJOR throwback: all the way back to day fifteen! That one was about Itachi's degenerating sight, and Hinata's accident that left her temporarily blind. The four of these babbs got to know each other a bit, and now they're getting back together!      A very random connection, I know, but it happened to jump to mind xD Until then I was rather stuck on what to write for today. Some prompts are just a little stumpy, lol      Anywho, that's all for tonight - I'm off to bed! Thanks for reading n_n

[rhosinthorn]

Pumpkin Spice and Everything Nice?

‘I’m on a mission to find the best tasting pumpkin spice latte, want to join me?’

Sakura was rounding the corner of the student union when she heard the yelling.

“I’m on a mission to find the best tasting pumpkin spice latte!” a familiar looking upperclassmen was shouting from atop the chair dragged into the middle of the student union’s porch as others shuffled by as quickly as they could, averting their eyes. “Who wants to join me?”

Next to her, Sasuke hunched down even further in his sweatshirt, as if he was trying to disappear, tugging his hood up to cover his hair. “Why is it always me?” he groaned.

Snagging his sleeve before he could teleport away the way he always did when faced with uncomfortable situations, Sakura tugged him forward. “Come on grump,” she teased, heading for the doors of the student union. “You’ll be better once you’ve got some food in you.”

They had almost made it to the door when their luck ran out.

“Sasu-cakes!” Shisui crowed, abandoning his previous post in the center of the porch in favor of an easy victim. “I have a task for you!”

“No. No way, I have class.” Sasuke’s eyes were slightly wild, and his nervous twitch was back. Sakura had thought he had been trained out of it, but apparently one encounter with his cousin was enough to bring it back. “Find some other poor soul to be your victim.”

“But my little duckling,” Shisui wailed, draping himself all over his younger cousin, who froze immediately. “I need a buddy, and Itachi’s in class.”

“No.”

Before Shisui could throw a tantrum worthy of a three year old (Sakura knew he’d do it, she’d seen it before), Sakura intervened. “I’m free for the afternoon, so I’ll go with you,” she offered, conveniently leaving out the midterm she had the next day that she probably should be studying for. “Where do we start?”

“Here!” Shisui perked up immediately, abandoning Sasuke in favor of looping his arm through hers. “We’re starting with the Pit, and working our way around campus to finally finish up back here at Starbucks.”

Sasuke’s teeth grinding was almost audible as the trio made their way into the building.

He was still grinding his teeth as Shisui lounged in the chair next to him, rhapsodizing about the pumpkin spiced coffee clutched in his hand. Honestly, the elder Uchiha could put wine connoisseurs to shame, the way he talked about depth of flavor and notes...Sakura was almost impressed.

She’d be more impressed if she wasn’t constantly feeding Sasuke fresh chopsticks because he kept breaking them in irritation. Although, considering Shisui had been provoking him throughout the ten minutes they’d been seated, she was amazed those chopsticks hadn’t been used to stab someone.

Under the cover of the table, Sakura slid her phone out of her pocket and sent off a quick text.

[dr haruno] send sos 2 hot topic

[dr haruno] b4 he murders hamlet

It only took a quick second for it to vibrate in her hand, and she grinned as she saw the response.

[darwin award] kk

[darwin award] jailbreak 2 hard 2 arrange 2day

Half a second later, Sasuke’s phone, in clear display on the table, vibrated, and he lunged for it like a dying man to a life preserver.

“The idiot’s panicking over his calc exam,” he announced, already slamming the lid on his half-eaten fake chinese food and picking up his backpack. “I need to go rescue him before he jumps into the river.”

It wasn’t the best excuse either of them had ever come up with, but it worked. Before Shisui could really protest, Sakura was gathering her own garbage and motioning to Shisui. “Let’s head for the cafe in the library,” she suggested as Sasuke made his rapid exit. “I think they’ve got coffee and lattes, and I’ve been meaning to try their pumpkin chocolate chip bread.”

Obediently, Shisui allowed himself to be led away. “You made notes about what I was saying though, right?”

“Of course. What type of experiment would this be if it wasn’t properly recorded?”

The tables in the tiny cafe in the main library were crammed full of students panicking over midterms, so Shisui’s analysis of the coffee and latte that he had collected was witnessed by the crowd of desperate students filling the all-hours study space across from it.

On his thirteenth minute of lecturing, Sakura cast a wary glance at the students occupying the table across from them, several of whom looked suspiciously wired and as if they hadn’t left that table for three days, given the clutter, general unwashed appearance, and overall demeanor of a cornered wild animal. Given that they seemed about ready to let loose a hail of assorted school supplies if Shisui didn’t shut up, she escorted him quickly to the next location. Her biology professor was a hard-ass who would require her death certificate to allow her to retake the exam, and unfortunately, whatever the crazed students might do, it was improbable that they would manage homicide.

The cafe in the engineering building was much more secluded; most of the students cloistered in the adjacent computer labs with headphones, easily-portable snacks, and their own coffee makers in the room with them. Shisui was able to wax poetic about his latte in peace, as Sakura munched through her second slice of pumpkin-chocolate chip bread and made notes on Shisui’s oration while simultaneously running through her flashcards.

That is, until Shisui realized that he did not have her full attention and draped himself across her lap.

Startling in surprise, Sakura dropped her flashcards on his face, which was suddenly in her lap. The rest of him was sprawled out across the rest of the battered couch they had been sharing, and his latte had been set on the table in front of them. He was lucky that her legs, with her feet also on the table, had been pinned, so her reflexive twitch at finding him well inside her personal space hadn’t sent the drink flying.

“Sa-ku-ra,” he said, voice stretching out in a sing-song across the syllables of her name. “Are you paying attention to me?”

“You just said that this had less pumpkin and more cinnamon than the one at the library, but much less nutmeg than the one in the Pit, which is good because that one tasted like someone had dropped a bucket full of nutmeg in the coffee,” she recited dutifully, retrieving her flashcards. “See, I was listening.”

“But you were looking at something else,” Shisui wiggled as he whined, shifting his head to a more comfortable position on her thighs and relieving some of the pressure from where his shoulders had previously been. “I thought you liked spending time with me?”

The pout that followed should have been illegal for a fully grown twenty-something.

“Shisui,” Sakura began, trying to muster her resistance. “I do have an exam tomorrow, and as you can see, I am capable of multitasking.”

“But Sa-ku-ra,” he whined, commandeering her hand and placing it on his head. Obligingly, she ran her fingers through his hair. “I thought you wanted to spend time with me…”

Just then his phone beeped, and Sakura caught a glimpse of the screen as he pulled it out of his pocket.

[weasel] How’s your grand plan going? Has she hit you with anything yet?

Raising her eyebrow, Sakura glanced down at the Uchiha in her lap, who she was gratified to see looked somewhat sheepish.

“Tell him about the flashcards,” she recommended dryly, lifting his upper body just enough so that she could slip out from underneath him. “See if that gets you any sympathy. Ready to finish up at Starbucks?”

She should have expected that Starbucks would be the second most-crowded place on campus, given the proximity to midterms, but it at least allowed her to claim a comfortable armchair and keep an eye on the adjacent one while making Shisui wait in the line from hell. Spotting him sandwiched between a pair of sorority girls, who were busy making eyes at him and the frat boys in front of him, she delighted in the anguished look on his face.

Usually, he was probably one of the smoothest talkers on campus, able to charm, flatter, and cajole his way through any situation.

Stuck listening to trivial bullshit like the snippets she could hear, he seemed to be going slowly insane.

Serves him right, she thought with a smirk, reaching for her phone. Snapping a discreet shot of Shisui, she dropped it in the group chat she shared with her two best friends.

[dr haruno] <picture>

It only took a minute for Naruto to send back the picture, now covered in enough pastel hearts that it wouldn’t look out of place in a middle school girl’s locker. Sasuke’s response was a significantly subtler thumbs up.

[Hot Topic] y r u still there

[Hot Topic] u can run away

[Hot Topic] nobody would blame u

Before she could respond back, Naruto was back.

[darwin award] y u  make out w/hamlet

Glowering, Sakura punched out her response, unaware that the poor grad student who usually got stuck teaching her biology class was slowly backing away from the empty seat next to her, coffee clutched in his shaking hand.

[dr haruno] wtf

[dr haruno] i was not!!!

[dr haruno] who tf said i was????

Another chat notification popped up. Normally she had the notifications for the group chat from her dorm muted, but they had been organizing a movie night for yesterday so she had unmuted them. Opening the chat to mute it, she clenched her phone so hard she was certain the case was going to leave imprints on her skin.

[ramen king] <picture>

[ramen king] see

[ramen king] pictures don’t lie

[ramen king] u were totally making out w/hamlet

The picture was a grainy shot from somewhere behind the couch she had occupied at the coffee shop in the engineering building, taken probably as Shisui was busy flopping onto her lap. From the angle and the bad camera quality, it did sort of look as if there was something going on between them.

Before she could respond back to Naruto in either chat, the dorm chat exploded.

[k9 king] whoa sakura

[k9 king] u move fast

[k9 king] <picture>

This time it was another picture, taken moments later and from a different angle, showing Shisui’s head in her lap, turned towards her.

[bombshell] y didn’t u tell me?

[bombshell] he’s hot

[bombshell] + y r u letting him put his head in ur lap like that

Notifications for her private chat with Ino started going off as well, but Sakura was too distracted trying to put out the fire in the group chat to deal with her roommate.

[YOUTH!!!] y not me????

[YOUTH!!!] i was going 2 bring u flowers

[Hyuuga Neji] Shut up Lee.

[Hyuuga Neji] She’s been trying to politely refuse since you met.

[cinnamon roll] Neji! Be nice!

[mulan] stfu both of u. w2g S

[bombshell] do u think he would set me up w/his cousin?

[bombshell] either 1

[bombshell] we could double?

[mothman] You should shut up now Kiba. You might need to leave the country.

[firecracker] back off bitch, sasuke’s spoken for

Movement next to her drew her attention away from the shitstorm that Naruto had caused by not paying attention to which chat was open, and Sakura scowled as she saw the spare seat she had been saving be taken by a pair of frankly terrifying graduate students, one of who seemed to be currently sporting stitches. Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor in that case, she turned to look for another pair of empty seats.

“Hey, I brought your lemon loaf and tea,” Shisui announced as she was half-standing, eyeing a pair of chairs that were about to open. “Thanks for saving the seats.”

Before she knew it, he had set their drinks and food down, slid into the armchair she was attempting to vacate, and tugged her back onto his lap. Sakura squeaked in surprise, ashamed of the sound she made, and fell back into his chest as she lost her balance.

“Missed me that much?” Shisui teased gently, and popped a chunk of lemon loaf in her mouth when she opened it to respond. He was chewing on his own bite, she realized, and frowned at him around the lemon loaf.

“Taxes,” he replied as he swallowed. “Only fair. Now, onto the final test.”

Swallowing, Sakura grimaced as her phone blew up, vibrating so hard it fell off the arm of the chair and into the small space between them. Reaching for her tea, she took a sip, and then grabbed her phone, afraid of what she was going to find.

Shisui flinched as it vibrated again, spluttering on his coffee, but she ignored him as she scrolled past the argument over Sasuke that Ino was having with Naruto’s cousin, Lee’s wailing, Neji’s caustic put downs, Hinata’s pleas for peace...and then she found another picture.

[sharkboi] <picture>

[sharkboi] update: they’ve relocated to starbs

[sharkboi] + they’re cozy

[sharkboi] look @ the luv

[sharkboi] <picture>

[chef] did u kno that feeding the so w/the leftover half of a sweet sweetens the love?

[bombshell] <3

[mulan] <3

[cinnamon roll] <3

[k9 king] ur gross choji

[mothman] Shut up Kiba

[sharkboi] update

[sharkboi] totally just groped him in public

[sharkboi] <picture>

Her head shot up as she saw the blurry shot of her reaching for her phone, the actual action hidden by their bodies, only the suggestive trajectory of her hand remaining, enough to damn her in the chat.

[bombshell] getting frisky!

It only got worse after that, and Sakura closed her eyes and resolved to murder all of them at the earliest possible convenience.

“This one’s the winner,” Shisui declared, nodding to his latte. “Nothing can compete with the original.”

Caught completely off guard, Sakura stared at him wide-eyed until he indicated the drink. “Remember? The thing I’ve been dragging you around all afternoon for?”

His quest. “Right,” she said weakly, ignoring her phone as if vibrated furiously. “I’m glad you’ve figured it out.”

“Isn’t it grand?” Shisui declared, shoving another piece of lemon loaf into her mouth. “I had a lot of fun.”

“Sure,” Sakura scanned the crowded area, looking for Suigetsu. She may not be able to do anything about the pictures he’d already posted, but she could make sure he never would post again. “It was.”

She surprised herself by actually meaning it. Shisui had been...fun to be around. Not as crazy as she had remembered him being when they were all in high school, although Sasuke would probably disagree. They had spent a fun afternoon together, and the treats he bought her as bribes weren’t unwelcome either.

A phone beeped again, and he shot her an apologetic look as he jostled her getting it out of his pocket. There was a moment of silence, and then he whistled.

“Why did my cousin congratulate me on my first public groping?” he asked, and Sakura wanted to throw every single phone around them into the river.

“My hallmates are idiots,” she ground out from between gritted teeth. “And they’re all going to go home for winter break in matchboxes.”

“I think the kid over there with the white hair is spying on us,” Shisui said brightly, giving a wave. Sakura whipped about and made sure that the grin she shot Suigetsu was savage. The little shit was going to find out the hard way not to cross her.

“I’ll make sure he learns his lesson.”

“You really didn’t have to do this.”

“Of course I did,” Shisui protested, holding the door for her. “You kept me from being murdered by angry college students on three separate occasions. And don’t think I didn’t notice you letting Sasu-cakes escape by sacrificing yourself.”

“That’s what the pumpkin chocolate chip bread was for,” she pointed out, climbing the stairs to the fourth floor (what type of building has four floors, with wheelchair accessible bathrooms on the fourth floor, but no elevators? Really?) “And all of the other things I made you buy me.”

“Pfft,” the Uchiha flapped his hand at her. “Those were bribes to make you accurately record my notes on the lattes. Anyway, what kind of gentleman would I have been if I hadn’t seen you safely to your door?”

“The only dangerous thing in this dorm right now,” Sakura raised her voice so that anyone behind the closed doors would be sure to hear, “is me.”

Reaching her door at the end of the hall, she turned, key in the door, to look at Shisui. To her surprise, he was much closer than she expected, almost on top of her, a hungry look in his eyes.

“That was...far too attractive,” he mumbled, eyes fixed on her lips. “If you don’t want me to kiss you, speak now.”

Giving her a moment, he pressed forward, lips brushing hers. First gently, but then more insistently, caressing and coaxing her into willing participation. She had always known he was attractive, but had never figured he’d be interested in her, when he had his pick of the myriad of girls that surrounded him. After the disastrous crush on Sasuke that had thankfully subsided into unbreakable friendship, she had decided Uchiha’s were too much trouble to date, and instead worked on establishing an amicable working relationship with Shisui and Itachi, to make her life less boring when Naruto and Sasuke inevitably abandoned her during their squabbles.

Sakura found herself twining her hands in Shisui’s hair, the only Uchiha she knew that sported curls instead of the obnoxiously straight hair his cousins managed. As she tugged lightly on it, drawing him closer, he complied pressing her into the door as his hands came to rest on her hips.

In her pocket, her phone started vibrating again, but she was too busy kissing Shisui to care.

[sun-summoning]

13 and 23 for the fic ask thing?

13. favorite writing song/artist/album of this year

fun fact, i generally cannot write while listening to music. i get distracted and  end up like typing out song lyrics. 

although if the fic was inspired by a song, then i’ll play it on low. i can’t think of anything from the earlier parts of 2017, but i can tell you that in december, i heard “naked” by james arthur and just played that on repeat trying to belt out some emotional sasusaku. 

for the record, it didn’t work.

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23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t

OH SO MANY. i no longer make docs or drafts when i get ideas because then i just end up with too many so i kinda just have this single one that has random paragraphs/lines/ideas and pluck away from that when i’m in the mood. 

okay i want to share a few! and i know you’re here for the ss so i’ll only slip in one gintama:

1.

“i think that’s the fear. that the love i feel can actually be something good. i trained and i worked my ass off so i could be something better. someone better. someone who could help you. and because of that, i am the greatest medical ninja in the world. i’ve saved hundreds of lives and i will save thousands more. so then how could my love — our love — be something bad?”

i know i need to get over how absurd i think sakura/sasusaku haters are and stop trying to write the anti arguments into fics and subvert that but…….i love her.

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2.

the ladies of the temple are kind and welcoming when he brings sakura to them. she’s unconscious and still shuddering from the trauma of him locking her mind away, but he feels her succumbing to the memories he’s implanted. sakura haruno is dead and this new woman is born.

he claims that he found her in the woods and the women accept her and say they’ll take care of her.

sasuke sticks around, only ever watching from afar, as one of the sisters explains that a strange man found her and brought her there. she coaches sakura through what seems like amnesia and provides archaic forms of pre-natal care that are sufficient enough.

eventually sakura gets “better” but she’s still unable to produce a name. one woman suggests they call her “sakura” because of how fitting it is with her hair, and when sakura flinches, he thinks his work will be undone. she just smiles though. she laughs, one hand touching her pink hair gingerly while the other rubs her growing belly, and then she nods and says that’s a great choice. she makes no indication that she knows the sakura she once was, and though it’s cruel, for that sasuke is grateful.

he allowed her to keep her medical knowledge barring anything that dealt with ninjutsu, so they find her to be a helpful addition to their temple. she takes care of their ailments, partakes in as many chores as she can despite her condition, and makes herself a new home.

so i got a request asking for sarada’s conception story after ss got married (not smut) and because i am the difficult person that i am, i was like YEAH I’LL GIVE YOU A CONCEPTION STORY and proceeded to make something hurtful and uh yeah. but like then i was too lazy to finish? in a moment of impatience, i wrote a little ficlet of what would have been the future of this fic.

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3. 

sasuke is generally perceptive to his wife’s moods, but he’s either willfully ignorant or entirely oblivious to her fear of him. itachi would never do anything to harm sakura. still, her distaste for him cannot be hidden by her gentle smile or sweet tone. she is ever cordial to him – kind, even – but sakura doesn’t care for him, and while sasuke might not see this, itachi certainly does.

she doesn’t try to teach this fear to her daughter, but it cannot be helped. sarada keeps her distance because her mother does. sasuke might bring the girl closer, might tell her to go to her uncle, but if sasuke isn’t around, sarada will not linger.

he doesn’t blame sasuke’s wife for being so wary around him. itachi might even respect her for it. he will never forget the immeasurable damage he did to his younger brother despite his best intentions. does she think he’ll hurt sasuke more? does she think he’ll hurt his niece?

his resurrection is a well-kept secret confined to their home. sasuke isn’t quite sure how it happened and neither is sakura, and perhaps that’s why she’s so suspicious. still, she prepares a room for him and lets him wander her home as he pleases.

another instance of me receiving a prompt, looking for inspiration from it, and doing what i want. the request was for sarada to meet some of her clansmen. and yeah yeah itachi is all y’alls’s sons but……shit man. 

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4. ok this is the gintama one

kagura, sougo realizes, has a boyfriend. she’s strolling down the street with shinpachi, both of them with bags of snacks in their hands, when she refers to the other boy as her boyfriend. shinpachi’s eyes widen a fraction, his cheeks burn red, and he yells at her not to call him that. but kagura just blinks, furrowing her brow and asking why not considering he was her boyfriend. that interaction is more than enough for sougo to turn at the corner and make the rest of his patrol away from those yorozuya brats.

sougo always assumed she felt that her yorozuya family to be just that: family. it made sense considering what he knew about her. a father that made a name for himself as one of the universe’s greatest alien hunters and a brother that went off and joined some space pirates. just thinking about her dysfunctional family makes his shoulder hurt. but without them, sougo always assumed that she’d found that family on earth in the form of danna and the glasses stand.

so the brat had a boyfriend. sougo doesn’t really think much of it. he continues on his way but much to his dismay, he can’t quite ignore this…feeling. he has a feeling. he’s not sure what it is, but he feels it. it’s a bad feeling. a mad feeling. what the hell is this feeling.

prob one of the few times i’m willing to write jealousy, largely because it’ll be overshadowed by denial with some more denial and then a bit more denial.