#i feel like tenten could have had potential but i still like her

[epickiya722]

If there is one funny scene is Naruto that I remember is the scene where Gai starts this team cheer where they're supposed to put their hands in and of course, Rock Lee is already on board and TenTen is just like "yeeeeeaaah 😬" but Neji? Neji had me in tears. The whole time he just has this look of "I'm not playing these games" at Gai, like he was not with the tomfoolery.

Eventually, TenTen gives in but Neji is still glaring like he's just trying to explore his teacher with his mind but Gai was just still grinning. Then it cuts to the landscape and all you hear is Gai making these noises like he's starting a motorcycle and when it cuts back, Neji got his hand in, too but he is so annoyed. 😆

[patchofgrey]

NejiTen headcannons pt 2; because yes

Yes, welcome to part 2 of my delulu, please enjoy my head cannons for my OTP. If you need part 1 here it be. part 3 is spicey.

Here are my Tenten Head Cannons and some Neji Head Cannons that don't completely go against cannon (more like add ons to the cannon to add some spice) that I use for my fanfics. They remain pretty consistent throughout (give or take a few characters).

1. Their first kiss was an impulsive mistake 😬. I could see Tenten being overly excited about an achievement, or Neji does a huge favor for her (his love language is acts of service and gift giving) and impulsively kisses him due to be wrapped up in the moment. Especially when they’re like just turned sixteen, so think right before Shippuuden. Neji is surprised, but doesn’t push her away or offers any kind of repulsive reaction. In fact, it didn’t register in Tenten’s mind that she had potentially taken Neji’s first kiss at all (oblivious but hey, still love her). When Neji asked her about it, she had apologized for the sudden action. They both learned it was each other’s first kiss. Because he’s awkward, he keeps to himself that he likes it. Naturally, this happens around Gai, Lee, and maybe even Shikamaru to which they’re all looking at him with a shit eating grin.

2. Tenten’s love languages are words of affirmation, quality time, and physical touch. Words of affirmation we can see in the anime; Neji is the one usually praising her for her abilities (in his own way). She also likes to boast about Neji and his abilities to others since she is…always with him (side note: Even though Rock Lee and Pals/Naruto SD is not really cannon, it more of just a gag show to highlight Team Gai in a comedic light and separate the seriousness of the main story; Neji and Lee both praise Tenten quite a lot in this show. They boost her up so much where she’s like “omg me? Really??”.) Kay, back to how they’re always together; Like, c’mon. You mean to tell me that these two aren’t always together just for training? They definitely spend a lot of their days off together. Whenever something pops up they just so happen to appear together? They could be at a tea shop, a hot spring, lying in the grass at the training fields as Neji meditates or Tenten sharpens her kunai. Hell, Tenten’s hobby is fortune telling, she probably reads Neji’s fortune when she’s bored or if he feels like indulging her. If Neji is running errands, or training with Hinata and Hanabi, he will make time to check in on Tenten afterwards and surprise her with her favorite dumplings or sweets. For physical touch, I can see Tenten hanging off of Neji’s shoulders or holding onto his arm when they are together. She also plays with his hair. Neji being awkward, will do no more than hold her hand in public (but even then he didn’t get comfortable with that until after the war). But also, for me, I think about the dream she had and the final scene with Neji:

It took his touch and his words to get her completely engulfed within the genjutsu. This is the only scene in that whole episode that her eyes are completely dark. She IMMEDIATELY FOLDS TO HIM after all that (granted the build up what her proving and wanting to save everyone with her dream teammates believing her when she claims she’s in a genjutsu but also Neji is alive and I think that’s the first falling point for her, not the saving them part). But thus also tells me that she is completely comfortable with Neji’s touches, probably because when they are alone, he’s casually physically interacting with her and because he’s fucking dead in the main cannon she will miss his touch. shhh let me have this please.

3. They started secretly dating after the second Chunnin exams. I will leave you with this for the explanation:

The way I fucking SQUEALED at my screen when I played this game and saw this. You can’t tell me SHIT at this point. Let me sink with my ship alright? Neji didn’t deny it either. I think neither of them denied it. I will replay the game just because lol. Nothing gets past Itachi Uchiha, we know this.

3. Shikamaru figured out they were secretly dating right away and he hold a great friendship with Neji to a point. I could see him asking Neji outright if his speculations were true; to which the Hyuga would brush him off until he got tired of the Nara teasing him. When he asked Neji why they were keeping it a secret I could see Neji saying he didn’t want anyone butting into their business. But also, in his shinobi mind, if they made it obvious, it could be dangerous for them if they went on missions; but then, Neji slipped up:

He didn’t have to, but he did. And continued to hold her until he was certain she was alright. I also have it written in my fan fictions that Shikamaru and Neji share that genius book smart friendship where they can read each other very easily. It’s cannon that Neji is shit at card games and strategy games, which I wouldn’t be surprised if the Hyuga sought advice from Shikamaru for certain things pertaining to his work and Tenten. Shikamaru also is very good at keeping secrets, so Neji and Tenten didn’t have to worry about him blabbing like Gai and Lee. I also think after this scene, Lee and Gai had confronted Neji about him doting on her after she almost drowned in the water prison. BUT ALSO, this is a parallel to the first rounds of chunnin exams! When Temari threw Tenten across the room, Lee caught her. This time, Neji acknowledges that Tenten is at her limit, saves al of them, and goes out of his way to catch her and again continues o hold onto her to make sure she's okay. And it's expensive as hell to animate scenes that drag on like this, and they chose this panel to drag the animation out for. This slow burn was killing me when I saw this episode.

4. Neji is book smart and Tenten is street smart to balance the partnership. Personally, I love that Shikamaru and Tenten share that “street smart” mentality; in the data books Tenten has a higher IQ than both Neji and Lee. She’s very intelligent but would rather have others do the thinking for her “point and I’ll shoot” type of thinking. BUT 👏🏼IN 👏🏼THEM 👏🏼STREETS she is a menace, which is also probably why Neji is always with her to make sure she doesn’t get into trouble while she’s running the block. I could see Shikamaru and Tenten understanding that which leads to a friendship; so to recap, Shikamaru knows, but understands why they’re keeping it under wraps. He’s like the reminder of when the sent of their relationship is in the air/obvious when they are on missions or in public.

5. Neji felt threatened by Sasuke as gennin when Tenten found him cute. She didn’t verbalize it out loud, but he probably knew she would find the Uchiha cute. Since they were young teens when they first took the chunnin exams, it wouldn’t surprise me that Neji was a bit annoyed that Tenten was looking at him, almost as if “how dare he”. I wouldn’t be surprised if the team had spoken about it; Lee probably complaint about how Sakura liked Sasuke and Tenten probably said she though Sasuke was pretty cool, which irritated the fuck out of Neji. The first sign of jealousy, especially if Tenten was bragging about how cool Neji was for the past year when they first became gennin.

6. There was no way Hiashi didn’t pick up on his nephew having a crush. There is also no way Neji did not bring Tenten around his family. There had to have been some interaction with Hiashi where Neji had brought her to the Hyuga compound as gennin, and again as chunnin. I wouldn't be surprised if Tenten watched as Neji trained with Hinata at times and had conversations with Hiashi. For shippuuden purposes, I wouldn't be surprised if Hiashi had brought up Tenten as a potential marriage partner to Neji and his awkward ass was avoiding the topic completely. In Frequency, I have Hiashi bring it up (implying that he has already spoken to his hard-headed awkward ass nephew about it) but in a way where he is directly talking to Tenten, who is there. I believe Hiashi is a character who follows tradition for tradition sake; he is conditioned to do so as head of the clan, but that doesn't mean he agrees with certain things about Hyuga tradition. The fact that he apologized to Neji after seeing his power and understanding why his nephew was angry at the world, he made it a priority to salvage some kind of relationship with his nephew for the sake of his twin brother. When Neji brought Tenten around, he would see that Tenten was some kind of comfort/light for him and decided that Neji should have a choice of who he chose to have in his life and how close; There's a lot of head cannons/assumptions that in order to preserve the Byakugan, they need to inter marry with other clan members, but for me, it's a dominate gene where the eyes change permanently when activated at a young age (low key, fuck how they brought it up in Baruto, Himawari should've had Hinata's eyes and Baruto should've just had the recessive gene). This was another plot hole I wanted to fill and it made sense to me since people were so hell bent on stealing the Hyuga eyes; the clan is very selective of partners but perhaps that is because it is a dominate gene. Sure, they can marry cousins if they want, but I don't see it as a forced marriage situation unless the arrangement is requested for. Hiashi saw Tenten as a great match for Neji, is all I'm saying. Hiashi knew they were secretly dating, in fact he was the on who told them to keep it a secret.

7. Neji's promise to Tenten during the war was of romantic and platonic intentions. He gave her that un-Neji like smile and thumbs up which means he had to had promised her something big in order for him to do that. AND ALSO they had to had been alone when he made her that promise, right? She was the only character who showed that interaction with him. It probably went something like this; Neji and Tenten had a deep conversation about possible out comes of the war, his death, her death, unheal-able damage...etc. I actually see this being a conversation about their feelings and how if one of them kicks the bucket, they would celebrate their life instead of mourning their death (which is hard) but Neji would prefer Tenten to keep his memory alive, not fixate on his demise. Neji probably also promised Tenten to be by her side always and maybe even promised her his heart (idk on the fence on this one but it would go with them secretly dating headcannon). In the video game, you will run into Tenten still in her feelings about Neji's death after the war. She was probably processing that conversation all over again and now that he was physically gone, she had to come to terms with the fact that she was now alone and had to force herself to move forward. I absolutely loathed how Lee was written to have the most emotional reaction and Tenten and Gai just brushed it off a bit. To make myself feel better, Tenten was probably in Neji's arms, crying her eyes out denying that anything would happen to them and then he made his promise to her that after the war, they would be together as fate willed it to; they've been together all this time. I can see Tenten releasing all of her feeling with Neji himself and him trying to comfort her of any overthinking she was experiencing. He also remined her that she is a very capable ninja and can hold her own without him. WHICH SHE DID IN THE WAR. (I'm still salty about Hinata's meat-bag no jutsu and how Kishi was like MMMMMM Neji can go. But then, proceed to make Tenten single and have promotions where Neji and Tenten were displayed as a matching couple with SasuSaku and NaruHina. Then have the audacity to state that he regretted killing off Neji? Fucking tear my heart out, how could he do my girl dirty.)

In my own au, Neji does go through with his promise of remaining by her side. Between my fics Radio (Trigger warning on this one it's a heavy and unfortunate situation of them as ANBU) and Frequency (The sequel of them picking up the pieces).

Part 3 will be the spicey headcannons; please stay tuned for my continuous delulu train. Also, message me about your thoughts, I'm open to a lot of other ideas even if they disagree with mine. That's the whole point of a fandom to be honest; everyone if free to have their opinions, this is just mine based on the cannon we are given.

[socra-time]

Naruto Episode Comments, Ep 21-30

Ep 21:

-wow Gaara is tiny

-Gaara and Sasuke are immediately having an edgelord-off bc of course they are

-Iruka is such a worried dad

-I love Kakashi so much

-I love how Lee talks, it’s so earnest

-I also like Tenten’s voice

Ep 22:

-Lee is so fucking goofy I love him

-also I didn’t know Lee had a giant crush on Sakura

-I do like Sasuke but him getting his shit rocked by Lee was really satisfying

-GAI I LOVE YOU SO MUCH

-Gai’s voice is exactly what I thought it would be and I love it

-I need a spinoff about Team Gai and I need it NOW (yes I know the Rock Lee spinoff exists and I WILL be watching it)

-Gai’s stupid poses are incredible

Ep 23:

-aw Kakashi is so proud of his squad😭

-“Akimichi, more like Aki-munchy” is CRAZY

-Akamaru is so CUTEEEEEE

-anyways Naruto is such a fucking hater to all the other rookies

-I can’t get over Kiba casually walking around with a puppy on his head

-Shino is so drippy. Also his voice wasn’t what I expected

-unrelated to anything in the episode but the sand siblings have such cool designs

Ep 24:

-“I don’t know where the others are sitting!” Naruto says, sitting two rows ahead of Sakura

-shoutout to Sakura for being the only one actually smart enough to take the test without cheating

-respectfully how the FUCK did Tenten not get caught cheating. I can get past Ino and Neji not getting caught (since even though their powers are pretty obvious, they only have to cheat once or twice to get the info they need)- but fucking TENTEN????

-Kiba’s cheating method is potentially okay-ish, since only he seems to be able to understand Akamaru so it may just seem like the dog making little noises instead of passing him answers, but he really shouldn’t have even been allowed to have Akamaru with him in the first place

-also Shino had the best cheating method out of the Konoha kids hands down

Ep 25:

-Kurenai is so pretty and also I like her voice

-I like that Sakura was going to quit the test in order to force Naruto to fail with her and thus prevent him from potentially losing his chance at his dream, you could really tell she does care about him deep down

-aw Ibiki is actually kinda chill, I like him

-I also already like Anko, she has unhinged energy

Ep 27:

-Naruto continues to be a gremlin

-“Survival. What a drag.” So real Shikamaru

-I’m torn between being annoyed that Ino and Sakura are fighting over a boy and being highly entertained by their pettiness

-Hinata sweetie Naruto does NOT give a shit about you right now

-Team 10’s dynamic is really just Ino wrangling Shikamaru and Choji

-Shikamaru is so scrawny-looking lmao

-Akamaru looks so holdable<3

-so like Kiba, Shino, and Hinata totally killed those guys right??? Congrats to them for being the first rookies to kill someone lol

Ep 28:

-okay Sasuke kick-launching a kunai was badass

-I could do without all the tongue shit thank you very much

-I’m glad that even though Sasuke is the cool rival character he’s still allowed to feel fear and desperation, it’s humanizing and reminds you that he’s still a kid (a kid that also happens to have God eyes and shoots fire but yknow a kid nonetheless)

-Naruto getting digested by a snake was not on my bingo card of things that would happen in this arc

-Sasuke stabbing himself was metal as hell

-Jesus fucking Christ snake lady (who I’m assuming is Orochimaru based on what I know about him) is terrifying

Ep 29:

-Naruto really has no sense of self-preservation

-seeing Sasuke so shaken-up is very off-putting but also makes Orochimaru feel like a properly intense threat

-oh so Sasuke is like legit traumatized

-also Sakura was yelling at Sasuke to fight, but she also wasn’t fighting so that was pretty hypocritical lmao

Ep 30:

-I like that Sasuke says the episode title instead of Naruto for this episode

-the animation is popping OFF

-Sasuke continues to be badass and also completely willing to roast someone alive

-EW OROCHIMARU FUCKING BIT SASUKE WTF

-yeah I need Orochimaru gone ASAP

-I noticed that the symbol on Orochimaru’s headband changed to the Sound symbol, which was a cool detail

-respectfully I’m gonna need Sakura to start being more useful to the team. Can this pleeeease be her chance to step up

-I wonder if Anko’s snake shit and Orochimaru’s snake shit are related, since he was apparently her sensei

-Sasuke really cannot catch a fuckin break in this show

[wing-ed-thing]

Girl's Night (Konoha 12 Girls x Reader x Shizune x Tsunade)

Synopsis: After a long week for everyone, Ino decides it's time for a girl's night.

Word Count: 3k

Tags/Warnings: Fem!Reader, Ino Blackmails Shikamaru, Dinner and Mocktails, Girls Supporting Gals, Men Being Invasive, Discussion of Nicotine Addiction

Notes: DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT WAS TO TRACK DOWN ALL THESE SOLO PANELS???

Tsunade was still screaming by the time the door closed. Ino, still reeling from her latest interaction with the Fifth Hokage, was still frozen outside. You saw her on your way in, unaware of the horrible interaction she was still processing. And when she noted the rather pleasant look in your eye on your way to the office, she tried to warn you, but no warning could prepare you for the absolute hurricane on the other side of the office doors. 

You slumped down next to her, your important documents plopping to the floor next to you. Ino still had hers in her lap, scrunched between her lap and chest as she seemed to curl in on herself. And as your head began to droop, Ino offered you an encouraging pat on the shoulder. 

“It’s not you if that makes you feel any better,” she said, “Lady Tsunade has been chewing out everyone who’s visited her today. The guy sulking before me just left when you came.”

The long groan you let out signaled that, no, it did not make you feel any better. You ran two hands over your hairline, pushing your hitai-ate back along with the sea of strands behind it. You took your loose forehead protector in your hands.

“I need a break,” you lamented, letting your head drop again, “I don’t know how much more I have in me. When the day’s over, I’m going straight home to sleep away the entire weekend…” You groaned into your knees, slowly curling into a tighter and tighter ball.

“Oh no, you don’t!” Ino scrambled from beside you to stand and take you by the hands. “You’re not leaving me.” She heaved you up with a tight grip on your wrists, putting her back into heaving up your dead weight. Ino was surprisingly strong, something you often forgot until you were manhandled by the scrawniest muscles you’ve ever seen. You stumbled to your feet, and before you could slump back down, Ino had picked up your work.

“But Ino—” She slapped the stack of paperwork against your chest despite disgruntled protest. “Ow…”

“No!” she huffed, tugging you down the hall and the stairwell of the Hokage building. Ino marched along as if she were on a warpath. A few Jōnin leaped out of your way. “It is a Friday night, and I’ve decided that we’re going to have fun!” Ino gripped the files in her hands as a burning fury blazed in her eye. 

“We?” 

Ino whipped you around when you finally reached the exit, already spewing about all the potential activities you could do for the night. She tucked the reports under her arm to take you excitedly by the hands. 

“I’ll talk to Sakura at the hospital, and you find Hinata and Tenten. We’ll meet at my place at seven, no, six!” You flailed your hands for her to let go, which she did without a moment of hesitation in explaining her plan. “I expect everyone to be dressed to the nines, so don’t embarrass me! I have a whole plan!” 

You retied your hitai-ate, feeling more secure in organizing your stray hairs. 

And just like that, Ino was gone. 

***

Hinata was easy to find, with Tenten being a little less so. However, Tenten hadn’t needed any convincing.

“A girl’s night?” she practically cried, just about tackling you to the ground in joy. “Yes, yes, of course, yes!” When you regained a moment to breathe, she glanced around at her two teammates, who had both stopped training when you arrived. “Please tell me it’s soon.” 

“Ino’s place at six,” you relayed, “And she’s expecting everyone to be kinda dressed up.” Tenten squealed something about pants that was too high a decibel to hear. Lee raised his hand somewhere in the background.

“Can Neji and I come?” he asked, much to Neji’s complaint. You didn’t even have the opportunity to respond.

“It’s girl’s night, you idiot!” 

Tenten threw something from her arsenal that had Lee diving to the ground. 

You supposed she really needed a break from her team after all…

Hinata, on the other hand, required much more convincing. 

“I, uh— I just don’t know. I wouldn’t know what to wear.” She played with the gravel under her boot. Hinata refused to look at you, clearly stressed about Ino’s orders for attire as you lounged on the Hyūga engawa, unbothered.

“If you’re worried, you could just wear what you usually wear,” you offered. While not what Ino intended, you assumed Hinata’s usual jacket would be better than her riling herself up and fainting over picking a new outfit. 

“No!” she asserted, her sudden volume— well, volume for Hinata— surprising you enough to prop yourself up on your elbows. She cast her eyes back toward the ground. “I just, um— I don’t know…”

“I can help you pick out an outfit if you want.”

“Oh… I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

And so went the cycle until you finally strongarmed Hinata into finally letting you inside.

***

You arrived at Ino’s first. Inoichi appeared surprised, although not too shocked to see you on his doorstep. He greeted you warmly, stepping to the side to let you in.

“Another girl’s night?”

“Dad,” you heard Ino whine as you stepped into the entryway. She appeared down the hallway, hands in the middle of adjusting her hair as a bobby pin sat clenched between her teeth as she glared at him. “Go away!” 

Inoichi laughed almost sheepishly, having been through all of this many times before. You took off your shoes.

“Girl’s night, I know, but at least let me make you some tea before you all head out.” You offered Inoichi a grateful smile as he retreated into the kitchen just as Ino made her way down the hall.

“Oh my god, is that new?” She gestured to your top. You were about to ask her the same thing. Her slim, violet blouse draped asymmetrically down one arm, and you could have sworn it would have been all she talked about if it were new. Ino walked a circle around you before pushing you fully into the apartment. “Please tell me you’ll let me borrow it next time?”

“Only if you tell me where you got yours from. Sheek seventies goddess!” 

“Oh, thank you, thank you, you’re too kind.” 

You sat down across from her at a small table. You remembered when the Yamanaka’s switched it out for a larger one, but the small table had remained close to the entryway. Ino immediately settled her cheek in her hand, kicking her feet lightly as she sat. 

“It was actually Tenten’s if you’d believe it! She said she didn’t like the color, and I was like are you crazy?” Ino narrated. “But then again, I know she’s more of a warm-color babe, but I’m still trying to get her to get personally color-tested.” 

You heard Inoichi shuffle around one of the corners, and Ino sprung up to meet him, shooing him off again before returning with your tea. The amber liquid sat in handmade ceramic mugs painted with natural colors. A little sugar bowl sat on the side, a smiley face drawn in the grains with the teaspoon. 

***

The rest of your friends arrived fairly punctually, with Tenten arriving fifteen minutes before your scheduled time. (You supposed she really, really needed a break from her team.) Sakura and Hinata didn’t come a second late. After a round of fawning over outfits and eyeliner, you were off into the night to follow Ino’s detailed itinerary.

“Alright, everyone, I want pictures!” 

“Ino, where did you even get that?”

Ino set a tiny camera on a nearby planter, propping it up by the shrub that sat inside. She quickly backed up to the four of you, nearly toppling Sakura to the ground. She grabbed Hinata by the arm, ready to pose.

“It’s on a timer, you guys, quick!” Ino exclaimed through gritted teeth, and with only a few seconds to spare, you all posed together for your first documented girl’s night. She even got a few more in by the time you decided it was time to head into the lounge. 

The Silver Shurriken was the new lounge that opened up in the village’s downtown, and ever since its opening, Ino hadn’t been able to stop talking about it. You’ve all likely heard the menu several times— they specialized in Mizu no Kuni-style tapas— in addition to the wide selection of specialty mocktails. And for someone who was adamant about saying there was never anything to do in Konoha, Ino was over the moon. 

Ino just about ordered everything, and as half of the table stared over at her with wide eyes, she flashed a fat wad of cash from her wallet.

“Don’t worry about it, girlies; dinner’s on Shikamaru tonight,” she announced with a wink. 

“What the fuck, Ino! Where’d you get all that?” Sakura nearly spat out her water, leaning over to thumb through the stack in her hand. Ino fanned her smug expression with the stack before tucking it back inside her purse.

“Shikamaru’s mom doesn’t know about his new smoking habit.” 

Tenten couldn’t help the single, boisterous laugh that jumped from her throat. She slammed a hand on the table.

“So you’re blackmailing him?” 

Ino ran her fingers through her bangs, casting her almost guilty gaze off somewhere toward the ceiling. But as your food came to the table, the group grew distracted. Each of you eyed the small plates— one of everything came— and thanked your server in a chorus. Ino trailed off, forgetting what she was saying.

“I wouldn’t call it blackmail so much as…”

“As what?” Tenten snarked with another laugh, reaching to pull a seasoned pepper from one of the plates. 

Ino frowned, a pout anchoring her lips downward as she slapped Tenten’s hand away with attitude and a roll of her eyes.

“Oh, you’re really questioning my methods when dinner and drinks are being paid for?” 

She had a point.

With a motion of your brow, you held up your fruity mixed drink, a cracker with cheese halfway up to your lips. 

“To Shikamaru’s nicotine addiction!” 

You exchanged pointed eye contact with the other girls at the table before you all took a collective shrug. The other girls raised their glasses. 

“To Shikamaru’s nicotine addiction!”

***

You barely made a crack at a quarter of what you ordered before you were interrupted.

“Sakura? Sakura Haruno?” A group of shinobi who were walking by stopped at your high top as they passed through, one tapping Sakura on the shoulder and nearly causing her to jump. You almost slapped his hand off of her, but she grabbed your wrist underneath the table.

“Eh, yes?” she smiled. You exchanged a glance with Ino, who took a dip from her drink, eyes flickering up and back toward her glass. Sakura’s hand left yours to intercept the shinobi’s, redirecting him expertly.

“I thought I recognized you!” He nearly burst into tears. “This angel right here saved my life!” He turned to proclaim to the rest of his friends, who you guessed were just about as drunk as he was. Only when the shinobi began to remove his shirt did your mutual glances turn into gapes of horror. By this time, the man actually was crying. “Got stabbed through the chest! I didn’t think I’d see the light of day again!”

Sure enough, there was a scar about three inches in length on the right side of his chest. 

“Oh, well, thank you,” Sakura laughed cordially, though wearily. “I’m glad it’s healed well. Have a good night, boys.” A vein twitched on her forehead, clearly unenthused at having her work brought into her time off. As vexed as she was, she wasn’t about to get all of you kicked out of the Silver Shurriken.

“Tenten! Hey! We didn’t know you’d be here!” A voice that was unmistakably Lee carried loudly from the front entrance. Tenten immediately tensed. Facing away from the door, her eyes darted to you and Hinata as if to silently ask if what she feared was truly behind her. “Tenten!”

You soon realized that Lee wasn’t alone. 

“Oh, hey, guys!” Naruto chimed, hands clasped together behind his head. Still engaged with the band of shinobi she had apparently saved the lives of, Sakura did a double take. “Fancy seeing you all here!” 

“Lee told us you all were doing a girl’s night, so we decided to do a guy’s night!” Kiba barked. “It was meant to be!” As the guys settled into the table next to yours, Hinata flagged down your waiter to discreetly ask for a to-go box and the check.

“Hinata? Hinata, is that you?” Neji pushed through the group of guys with a stern scowl. “What are you doing here? Is this why you skipped this evening’s training?"

You didn’t know how it happened, but your entire girl’s night had devolved into chaos. Between the guys constantly trying to engage you from the table over to the line of people asking Sakura for medical advice, Tenten ripping Lee to shreds, and the fact that Hinata had apparently snuck out, your night had gone awry. Ino smacked someone who tried to touch her hair.

“Hey,” Hinata whispered. It was a miracle that you heard her. You turned, and to your surprise, your food was already packaged in boxes in her hands. A few reusable bottles clinked in the tote she slung over her shoulder, having poured your drinks in them under the table. You could only wonder where she learned that one. “Let’s go.” She gestured with her head.

With a series of rapid taps on the leg and pointed eye contact, you collected the girls quickly, each of you rising from your table with bags and jackets already in hand. Ino paid the check in full with a generous tip, ignoring protests from Shikamaru in the background. You hardly said goodbye, each of you scurrying out of the lounge as quickly as possible, pissed.

You regrouped outside. Ino nearly kicked over a potted plant.

“Can we just take a second to talk about—”

“That was unbelievable!” Tenten, who was likely the most flustered, exclaimed. “Like, what the actual fuck?” She buried her head in her hands. “I’m sorry, guys. I should have known something like this was going to happen. It’s my fault.”

You were all on her in an instant.

“Hey! Stop that!”

“No, it wasn’t your fault; it was just an unlucky night.”

“You didn’t do anything, Tenten!”

Ino sighed, starting back down the road with a defeated gait.

“So… back to my place?” she sighed, glancing over her shoulder at the rest of you. You began to follow, but Sakura stayed, looking off toward the Hokage building. A single night continued to illuminate one of the upstairs offices. 

“Is Lady Tsunade still working?” she mused with knitted brows. “That can’t be right.”

“She was when I dropped off my mission report before I went to Ino’s,” Hinata chimed, coming up next to Sakura with your packaged food still in hand. Sakura turned to the rest of you with a sympathetic expression. Ino puffed up immediately.

“Oh, no! No! I know what you’re about to say, and no!” She pointed a finger rudely, having her hands in the air as if to physically ward off Sakura’s unspoken idea. “Tsunade is the whole reason why we’re having a girl’s night out in the first place! To forget about work!”

“I know she’s been crabby as of late, but if she’s been staying late handling all the village paperwork, that’s probably why.” Sakura’s lip turned downward into a pout. “It would be a nice thing to do. We have plenty of food.”

“I think a night in would be a great idea. Things around here have been pretty hectic.” Hinata nodded, holding up the stack of boxes. “We certainly have enough.”

“Shizune is probably still in there,” you said, causing Tenten to noticeably wince.

“Yikes.”

Much to Ino’s deflation, it appeared a consensus was made. 

***

Tsunade looked exhausted. A cup of coffee sat in front of her, and while she appeared awake enough to get her paperwork done, you could see the fatigue in her eyes. Shizune was just about dozing off at a table pushed to the side of the room. Tonton was asleep at her feet. 

“Huh?” Tsunade sounded at the opening of her office doors. She stood alert, her reading glasses at the tip of her nose. “What happened? Why are you all here so late?” She came around her desk, studying you with intent concern.

“We saw you were still working,” Sakura started, gesturing to the leftovers you brought from the Silver Shurriken. “And we were doing a bit of a girl’s night.” You watched as Tsunade’s expression appeared to soften. 

“And we brought food!” You smiled, ushering the rest of you farther into the office. Shizune sat up from her desk in acute surprise, delayed in registering everything. Tsunade’s neutral expression slowly morphed from acute concern to pleasantly surprised. 

“It’s from the new lounge that opened up downtown,” Ino added.

“Oh,” she said, a spurring noise in the back of her throat as she fought for words to say, “Thank you. Here, let me put down a blanket. We can sit.” Tsunade scurried off to a corner of the office with a certain amount of giddiness.

You helped her set out the green blanket before you sat down together. Hinata opened all the containers as Shizune ransacked the cabinets for a few paper plates. You all ate together, your girl’s night not ruined after all. 

Thank you to all who liked, reblogged, followed, and supported. Your support means so much and is greatly appreciated.

Notes (tw knife violence): the last time i went out with my friends, i almost got into a fight and stabbed someone... twice.

[sickflowerbed]

One thing I hate about Naruto is that Kishimoto wasted so much potential for Sakura, Team Gai, Hyūga clan, Kurenai, Shino, and so many others.

For me, Sakura is the most wasted because she's one of the main characters, yet it didn't seem that way. Compare Sakura and the other mains. She is more like a side character who's a fan favorite like Shikamaru, expect a lot people hate her.

It makes sense to not like Sakura in the beginning. That's what character development is for. Sakura was supposed to go from boy-crazy to the strong independent heroine, and if you read the manga, it does feel that way but, in the end, she ends up with Sasuke now, that would be a problem if she didn't immediately forgive him, she was the one who told Naruto to stop seeking Sasuke because she could tell, that it was pointless and the damage is evident. Kishimoto himself said he regretted Sakura's character, failed, and said that even if he expanded on her it wouldn't raise her popularity. It was too late the damage was done. Kishimoto knew Sakura wasn't popular yet chose moments for Sakura that needed understanding of her badly written character.

All of the team members of Gai had so much potential, Gai & Lee being the best Taijutsu users, Neji being the genius of the Hyūga clan, and Tenten even though we don't see her a lot, in the manga, we don't see the fight between her and Temari, but we see a few scratches on Temari. Of course, we didn't see the official fight, and Tenten still got folded, but it's the thought that counts. It's a shame we never got to see her get better. She could have used her chakra and infused it with her weapons like Asuma does. We never got to see them fight after the Kazekage Ark, and we never saw them fight as a team, a beautiful dysfunctional team.

The Hyūga clan at the start was shown was the strongest clan, and we learned a lot about the clan during the chūnin exams. With the Hyūga clan, I see the loss of potential with using about them. Personally, I'm fine with Hyūga clan being put in the sidelines for the Uchiha clan to shine. But we only had two main characters from Hyūga clan, Hinata, and Neji. Compared to the Uchiha clan, we don't see any other characters aside from fillers. I just wished we got to learn more about the Hyūga clan and their connection to the Ōtsutsuki clan, which we only saw during the last movie.

I always feel bad for Kurenai because she was done dirty. We were told she was one of the greatest genjutsu users, and the only time we see her fight is against the greatest genjutsu user, Itachi Uchiha. Of course, she gonna lose against him, and that's the one time we see her fight apart from fillers. Then she ends up pregnant and boom she's nothing but a mother, which is fine. Most of the mothers in anime are dead, but we are told that Kurenai is a genjutsu specialist and we never got a chance to see that canonically.

Shino has shown potential in the fights we have seen him in, but we never went into depth into Shino how he uses his bugs and gets better at using them. Apparently, the Aburame clan can identify and counter genjutsu because their kikaichū don't have the brain structures for it. I mean it's a shame we didn't see especially since the show later was centered around the Uchiha clan.

Overall, the reason many characters got left out of the series or ignored was that Kishimoto focused everything on Naruto, Sasuke, and popular characters due to the fans.

[hermitw]

i want to hear more about your theory surrounding yuki, kenjaku, and todo if you don’t mind 😭

Haha omg I'll have to remember. It's mostly vibes but I'm good at making connections sooooo

The most solid evidence and vibes first: Todo had those false memories with Yuuji, just like Choso did. Todo also gets those with his celebrity crush but he doesn't try to force a relationship with her, he still has more of a sense of boundaries and reality there.

They are also pretty rough on even those closest to them, kenjaku manipulating his sons and allies into killing each other obv but Todo got his scar from Yuki's intense training, and Todo beats his classmates half to death for not sharing his taste in women (I do feel that it's not fair to make a lot of connections between her and todo since she did raise him to adopt her worse personality traits, like being weirdly intense about that question). But even before they met Todo was beating up older kids, and Yuuji was also beating up the school bullies so it seems to run in the fam.

Kenjaku and his relatives (known and alleged) also share the same sort of aloof insanity, not worried about the societal norms and going after whatever they want without worrying what anyone thinks. They're also very blunt and honest, whether it's about their back getting musty or wanting to be called brother, they don't have much of a filter. Choso and Yuki both showed up in Shibuya like, "what's up I'm not actually on your side." which is very much the way that Todo showed up at the exchange event.

I think its sus that Todo and Yuki just happened to meet each other and there was no context given about his family. Like they just let a young child disappear with some strange woman on a motor bike.

Kenjaku, Yuki and Todo all have this strong personality of doing whatever they want to, without hesitation in the face of authority. Yuki using her special grade salary to travel overseas and reject missions, Todo kicking the door (or was it the wall? I forget) down to leave the principal's meeting. Kenjaku...I don't even have to give an example there.

Also that frame when yuki and kenjaku fight (I'll attach it below) screams parent/child interaction to me.

Since then (today actually) I decided that Coach Takagi is Todo's other dad, he's probably trans and the theories of Rock Lee and Guy Sensei from Naruto are enough evidence to convince me tbh (also tenten I love her but this isn't about that). Coach Takagi is a chaotic rulebreaker, he's more problematic than the students, and I think Kenjaku would see that man and think he looks like fun. I think that Todo inherited some traits from him as well.

Sooooo we know that Kenjaku's motive for everything is that he's just playing a game, looking for a good time, something to be interesting or funny. We see this in the manga but to avoid spoilers, just look at the way he was always playing with the curses - soccer with Jogo's head, Life (as he was manipulating his sons into taking each other's lives ugh), mahjong etc. And they're always chilling in Dagon's domain at the beach, or the playground, it's very recreational (I used to think it was just games to psychoanalyze and vet his curse allies tbh).

All this to say that I 100% believe that he slept around. We know he was pregnant and maybe that's part of the reason why Yuuji is his favorite son.

Todo and Yuki are older than Yuuji - from before Kenjaku was in Kaori's body, so it works with the timeline.

I think that he would have not kept watch for any other potential offspring, but part of him hopes that more and stronger sorcerers or curse users will show up to make things more interesting. Actually, they could have grown to be the people he used like Junpei and Yuuji (that speech he gave at the end of the Shibuya incident). Edit: I think kenjaku was looking for descendents of the old three major clans, like Yuuta (who is also from Sendai) and likely hit Rika with his car.

Hope this made any sort of sense - I am currently rereading the manga again so if I come across more evidence I'll be sure to gather and reblog w that eventually!

[primnroses]

I meant your top 10 all female characters in naruto and boruto

Oh okay, that gives me more room because there are some female characters that have retired in Boruto so I had to write them out. My final list would be the following and I will repeat the reasons I said in the original post with a few new comments.

10. Sarada Uchiha: I've said before than I'm not the biggest Sarada fan but she's decent. She's the daughter of the strongest couple of Konoha so she's a brilliant student with a lot of potential. I only like how Kishimoto writes her, I have mixed feelings about her in Boruto because sometimes she says really weird stuff that really doesn't make sense. Also, she could be used much more better currently than she is. She stays in my top 10 female characters of the series nonetheless.

9. Chōchō Akimichi: I don't need to say anything because this girl is amazing and it helps a lot that she looks just like her mother. An icon. She needs to learn kenjutsu by the way.

8. Tenten: Truly sad that she's the same background character as ever but I've always liked Tenten. For me, the real ninja of the show who became powerful because of her own hard work. Not enough credit for her when she's Konoha's master of bukijutsu (among hundreds of ninja that use bukijutsu too), and she's the best of them. This girl is the top of something despite being sidelined, yes! She even started her own business from zero and is a proctor for the Chūnin Exams so Tenten is one of the most accomplished kunoichis.

7. Hanabi Hyūga: She has become one of my favorites since Boruto started and I watched it from time to time. First of all, she really surpassed her sister despite being from the branch family (although she never got the curse) at just 3 years old. Starting with the fact that she was a determined Gentle Fist machine, as genin she had the Byakugan perception of an adult and she became the new heiress for the title of head of clan. Those qualities made her a jōnin with her own genin team and she's now in charge of passing down all the jutsu of the clan. It's also described in novels that she still trains to succeed her father as the Head of the Hyūga Clan, one of the noble families with the Akimichi, Uchiha and Aburame; she's a promising character. If they don't show and write this great woman it's because they don't want to.

6. Konan: I've said before that my favorite type of female character is one that can fight for herself and oh my God if this woman isn't op. Konan is one of the coldest females ever, the female of the Akatsuki that ranked above the rest, fought the almighty Obito Uchiha and she delivered the best fight of the show by a female character.

5. Karui Akimichi: Putting her in the fifth place is totally biased because I absolutely love her design. Karui is the most beautiful Naruto girl for me, she's stunning and she's super powerful. Her Lightning Release and kenjutsu are so op for me because they were attributes that I only related to Sasuke but this girl can pull it off too! Also she's fierce and strong, kinda reminds me of Temari in that aspect so she gets all the points for me. I seriously wish she goes on missions again and joins inosakutema's girlfriend group.

4. Tsunade: The first woman Hokage is among the best characters in Naruto ever. She's pretty, she's the most powerful woman in the world and she raised a beautiful and strong daughter that she's proud of. If there's a standard for the job of Hokage that's Tsunade. She demonstrated to be the best leader for Konoha in its history, from protecting each and every single one of its villagers when Pain attacked, to joining her fellow Kage to fight none other than Madara Uchiha. And she taught him a lesson! One of my favorite moments is when she's with Sakura and I'm so sad that they act like complete strangers in the sequel. Tsunade is really proud of the woman and kunoichi Sakura has turned out to be and that's the best feeling a master like her can experience.

3. Kurotsuchi: The combination of can fight for real + boss is my favorite but putting Kurotsuchi over Tsunade is biased in my case. There's something enticing about her that I don't understand, she's so attractive to me as a female and I'm sad that she's a background character. She gives me Temari and Karui vibes with Sakura's style and color so that solidifies her best girl status for me. Also, she's the current only female Kage so she's amazing; and she really punched an Ōtsutsuki just like Sakura so she's great.

2. Temari Nara: She's my favorite Naruto girl but this time she gets the second spot because she's not very present in Boruto, although it's not important for me, and because compared to my top 1 she's a little bit behind. Shes's still fierce, powerful and beautiful; and one of my most favorite things is that she's close with Sakura and she makes a cute trio with her and Ino too. One of the best things for me was that she was the Kazekage's main pillar, but for obvious reasons she had to leave Sunagakure. Nonetheless, she's still their Ambassador and a jōnin of Konoha too, which is more powerful than the majority of girls in this list so she's an icon. I'm pretty sad that her involvement in the series is through fillers because she's one of the most useful female characters in my opinion, and with a lot of experience.

1. Sakura Haruno/Uchiha: She's my favorite character ever so of course she's my number one female. From zero to hero, she's the same as Tenten in terms of becoming powerful through hard work and dedication, but this girl only had intelligence and perfect chakra control that couldn't flourish by herself, so Tsunade helped and raised her to become the strongest kunoichi and best medic-ninja in the world. She faced one of the most powerful Akatsuki members and made a fool of him by countering his poison at just 16, demonstrated her full potential and unmatched strength. Her personal moments are so angsty and realistic, a woman in love but also a fierce fghter that cares about everybody around her. She punched the Goddess of chakra!!! I'm sorry but nobody was doing it like manga Sakura. She rose to the top, was promoted to jōnin (the only kunoichi of her class to achieve this) and still completes difficult long-term missions, is a pioneer in mental health and opened new facilities dedicated to medicine like the Children's Therapy Center in her village and the others too, became the Head of Konoha's Medical Department, directs the main hospital, teaches medical ninjutsu and is considered the only female pillar of Konoha too (and is the Hokage's bodyguard too). My girl can multitask! All the while she raised the most brilliant new gen kid practically by herself. That's an accomplished female character. She might not be in Boruto these days, but to me she still remains the most useful and promising kunoichi that is sidelined because the writing is terrible. Being the face of medicine of Konoha and a scientist expert in many fields like poison, she's not written the way she should. She's in charge of the most important sub-division of the village, one that maintains the shinobi of the Konoha and the citizens in top condition to continue their job and takes care of the main cast after every fight. But despite the bad writing, Sakura grew to be an amazing woman.

[ikemenomegas]

Great-fun!!!

Would Lee of all the boys be willing to share his alpha with anyone else or would be happy with having multiple partners of different secondary genders???

Ooooh okay okay

The short answer is yes.

Lee is such an interesting character. As a truly glum pre-teen I was not a fan of his chipper "can do" attitude, but he quickly won me over the moment he got serious in his fight with Kimimaro. He's very sincere in all he does in a way a lot of the clan kids (which most of the rookie 11 + Sasuke are those. It's an intentional move among the nobility but means that TenTen and Lee and Sakura have a fun time combating a bit of imposter syndrome against classmates with insane bloodline limits) are not. He's also really insightful, which you know I like in a character. I like people who aren't fooled by the walls other people put up.

Again, I think you can truly make excuses for any kind of ship, it's all fun and games, so here's some options I can see working for a poly ship

Among the omegas:

Lee once tried to become Sasuke's rival the way that Gai is for Kakashi, and that is a truly underplayed dynamic that has potential for a fun romantic relationship. Taken in the right direction, it has the potential to get Sasuke to view power as not only a means to an end, but as something to enjoy. Sasuke seems at times uncomfortable with his own body, sometimes viewing it as a weapon to wield, rather than something he inhabits, and something to control rather than exist within. Having a relationship with Lee and his Alpha could help him to feel more in tune with his own physicality and the joy of pushing himself for the sake of progress rather than the purpose one day defeating an enemy.

If you personally are a very energetic sort of individual, you could probably survive the veritable supernova of excitement that would be mating Naruto and Lee. They don't interact all that much in the actual series, but this is fandom so we do what we want. I think that Lee's forthrightness compliments Naruto's drive, and together they could get the village well whipped into shape.

Among the alphas and betas:

I have always had a sort of affinity for Lee and Sakura as a pairing. Back when I was young and naive and still had hope for her character (and men writing the stories of young women but alas), Lee stood out as the first one to acknowledge her potential as a kunoichi, both beautiful and deadly. Even though she thought he was strange for his reaction to her, and had Sasuke shaped blinders on, he was always respectful of boundaries, but also encouraging where most of the others in her class were either trying to intimidate her into falling behind or outright ignoring her in favor of their own particular issues. They also have that taijutsu thing going on between them. If you are looking for a drama laced kind of experience where a female character is actually given some room to grow a little self respect, pairing with both of them could be super fun. Whether you think of Sakura as an alpha or a beta I suppose is up to you but I'm partial to naming her an alpha simply due to my personal preferences for these things, Lee would not have a preference.

I don't think there are any others in his age group that I know well who would match him, but if anyone else has suggestions, I would love to hear them!

[jacksgreysays]

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

THAT'S RIGHT, THE ORIGINAL TWO SONGS COMBO WAS ALSO AN INCEPTION AU!!!!

And I have thrown Tetsuki in an AU with Shikako before so, like, not entirely out of left field for me to stir everything together...

I have been thinking about this DoSxInception fusion and my brain was thinking about how:

Extractor = Ino

Architect = Shikako

Chemist = Sakura

Is pretty clear translation of their DoS abilities into Inception roles, but except for maybe Kurenai, none of the other kunoichi really fit as a Forger. Or, rather, because all kunoichi are trained in disguises to some extent, all of them could have some forging ability. And in terms of Point Person, neither Tenten nor Hinata fit it more than Shikako or Ino does, or, alternatively Shiho who isn't SO big of a character that I'd want to put her on the "main squad" as it were.

But then, not that I remembered it before you reminded me, that IS what that particular Viridescent installment was about in the sense that the Japanese professional dreamers don't necessarily consider themselves specific roles--better to be a jack of all trades, fluidly covering whatever needs to be covered, than to have highly specific roles and soo many possible points of failure.

And also, the Three Beauties of Konoha being an absolute powerhouse in the dreaming industry just with the three of them being to cover all potential roles (although for bigger jobs, they'll sometimes bring on the other member of the kunoichi club) is very fun. Inception meets Ocean's Eight, as it were.

ALTHOUGH, I'll be honest, I did tangent once again thinking about the Ino-Shikako-Sakura genin team and how that would mean, functionally, Sakura would function as the Chou of Ino-Shika-Chou. And, like, with her eventual Tsunade super strength she could hit just as hard an Akimichi AND she has healing.

Which led me to a sort of... what if there was a Canon Divergence AU of DoS in which, rather than having all the heirs in one basket, the ANY clans sort of split it up so that Shikamaru and Chouji were on one genin team while Shikako and Ino were on another genin team. So they would still have the allied clan to fall back on enough that the synergy of their abilities would still benefit, but not so clustered together that anyone taking out canon!Team 10 would wipe out the entirety of the ANY heirs in one sweep.

(I did, briefly, consider what if they swapped Shikas--but while a Shikako and Chouji team up would be effective, a Shikamaru and Ino dynamic without Chouji to mediate would ROUGH. And they would be jealous of the other pairing anyway, lol)

THEN my brain went, okay, obviously what even got me on this train of thought was Sakura taking the Chou place (although really what it should be is... well, I'll get into it later) for Ino-Shikako-Sakura. But who would take Ino's place in a ????-Shikamaru-Chouji team?

Sasuke would. Because, well, with pre-graduation skills/assessments being what they are, and given their respective blood limits, the Uchiha are known for the Sharingan which is 1) Genjutsu bullshit and 2) Information copying/gathering bullshit. Which isn't necessarily a one-to-one with the Yamanaka "jump into your body and read your thoughts" but isn't TOO FAR OFF all things considered.

Also, Shikamaru and Sasuke being on the same team is so funny to me.

But then, and I do feel bad about this, I realized it wouldn't be Sakura replacing Chouji, it would be Naruto. And, like, maybe they originally the Academy had Sakura slated for that spot before Naruto's altercation with Mizuki and field graduation then had to shift things around--although, considering pre-graduation skills/assessments again, Sakura was weak as shit.

Like, her stat for Strength pre-graduation was literally 0.5--the only other person who had 0.5 in anything was Lee and that's in his ninjutsu and genjutu and he LITERALLY CAN'T USE CHAKRA, so that should tell you how physically weak Sakura was before graduation. No one would have predicted her for being Tsunade "only ever took one student in the three decades of being a jounin level or higher shinobi" super strength strong.

And then, backtracking a bit, with this set up of Sasuke-Shikamaru-Chouji and Ino-Shikako-Naruto, you do sort of get protection for Sasuke and Naruto as well, in a way. Because on Team Ten you have a very obvious Akimichi and, if it weren't for their clothes, two boys with dark hair and dark eyes. It's been YEARS since an Uchiha was seen and, yes, Shikamaru and Sasuke don't necessarily look alike, but from description alone it would be hard to figure out which one is the Nara (very smart and good with shadows but no actual blood limit) versus the Uchiha (ALMOST THE MOST ENDANGERED BLOOD LIMIT IN THE ELEMENTAL NATIONS)

Then, on Team Seven, you put blue eyed, blonde Naruto on the same team as blue eyed, blonde Ino Yamanaka. And obviously Naruto's last name is Uzumaki. Which does imply he is the jinchuuriki (no matter what the Sandaime's convoluted "don't talk about it" protections were supposed to do) in line with the other Uzumakis before him. But theoretically in world no one knows (somehow?!!?) who is dad is. So implying that Naruto is a Yamanaka bastard by associating him with the Yamanaka heiress does give him a level of clan protection that he literally doesn't have because all the Uzumaki are dead (T_T)

Alternate team formations is pretty far from Inception AU, but I do think it would be fun if the Three Beauties of Konoha were professional colleagues of Tetsuki in the dream industry. <3

Hey, guess who's got a pair of songs for you? I heard "Cant Stand the Rain" by The Rescues ages ago, and just recently heard "Rain" by grandson & Jessie Reyez. The moment song 2 hit my ears I was like, "These have to be smashed together, somehow." And since I once sent you that prompt for "Thunder and Lightning" and "Thunder", I thought of you. <3

!!!!! <3<3<3<3 Hello, loveelemental!

Okay, after checking out these songs and their lyrics, I just want to say that none of the following is a value judgement—I do like both of these songs that you’ve brought to me—but the POV/personalities of these songs are VERY… hm…

You’ve brought to me two songs that are in a dialogue with each other and, on the surface, could appear to be in opposition with each other. BUT, I do think they’re both rather… cynical in a sense, so they’re not truly opposite ends of a spectrum.

Because, okay, Can’t Stand the Rain is very cynical, post-relationship, everything is bad and I hate it and why should I do anything to change it? “My blackened heart,” “I’d empty [the pots and pans filling with rainwater] out but why?” even the repeating “Love, no such thing as love,” FEELS very “I just got broken up with and I’m going to wallow in my own sadness” not even necessarily “I miss/still love the person I broke up with” but a very selfish, cynical “the world sucks so now I’m going to be miserable.”

Which is certainly one way to handle a break up.

Another way is in Rain, the difference most embodied by “I don’t mind the rain sometimes.” Emphasis on the SOMETIMES. And while the person in this song is slightly less cynical—in that crying/rain is what makes roses bloom and that “it’s better to have loved and lost…” although it doesn’t include the rest of the saying which IS IMPORTANT “than to never have loved at all.”

This person ALSO is wallowing in their own sadness post-relationship but almost… reveling in it? Very emo. A+ They’re literally “making peace with the rain” and ���dancing with the pain,” and turning the break up/end of the relationship into a learning opportunity of sorts? It’s not AS cynical but it IS as selfish… or maybe self-centered…

I think what I’m trying to articulate is that both of these songs represent people who are HURT by a break up/end of a relationship, but not necessarily HEARTBROKEN if that clarifies anything at all… Because there’s no YEARNING either for their former partners or even for the relationship itself. It’s just… here is the new normal, how do I react to it.

Now to step away from song analysis, into potential fic writing.

Immediately I can think of two ways to go with this:

The two POVs of the songs are the two people in the relationship that ended and this is how each of them deal with it. Or,

This is the same person after some time has passed.

I’ll be honest, both of them are kind of funny.

Because with (1) it just really shows how, probably, it was the best for the relationship to end considering how selfish the lyrics are on both sides. Rain is slightly more romantic in the sense that it’s “because of this break up I can grow as a person” but it’s still pretty selfish, lol. Like… both of them are stewing in their own misery and meanwhile their respective friend groups (if they have them) are just like, “Oh thank god, they’ve broken up.”

With (2) the less time passing, the funnier it gets. Going from Can’t Stand the Rain into Rain after a week is funny, but after a day? That’s hilarious… I guess you can go in the other direction and it would also be funny—Rain into Can’t Stand the Rain, that is—but regardless the shorter the time jump the better.

I suppose there is option 3) in which these are two people who were in two different relationships and then the fic could be about them learning to be less selfish in love with each other? Or maybe being in love with someone who is as selfish as you and being okay with it? I don’t know.

… I’m trying to think if there’s a pairing for (1) or a character for (2) that would work but I don’t really do comedy, much less this anti-romantic comedy, so the I don’t know if my go to characters really match the genre. Although there is something to be said about how my reluctance to cast anyone into these roles speaks more about me wanting my characters to not be this kind of selfish/self-centered which isn’t accurate to real life. I should probably have more selfish/self-centered character to play around with. Or, rather, I should realize that some of the characters I write DO have the capacity to be this way, I have just been softening/glorifying them without exploring their full personalities.

Then again, I also don’t really write relationships as the main focus? Like, even my shipping fic is more of a method to explore various AUs or themes that aren’t necessarily romance based. Even Dreaming of S(omething,) my ShikakoxGaara series, and which I consider to have some of my most romantic writing in it, is more about how home can change from one place to another, or to a person. How a different environment can reveal as much about yourself as it does the new place you’re in. Even Dreaming of S(elfishness) doesn’t even have them being that selfish and has less to do with jealousy over an engagement and more about, like, establishing clearly what you want rather than just letting something passively come to you and passively watch it go.

Although… while I don’t write much in the (anti-) romantic genre that often, I do LOVE reading about, hm, estranged exes reuniting and having to hash out the mistakes from their past and bittersweetly getting closure before maybe giving the relationship another chance or starting a new relationship knowing the follies of their younger selves. But these songs feel freshly out of the relationship, whereas my preference for estranged exes reuniting usually has the benefit of years (if not decades, I do love when it’s like… ex high school sweethearts meeting up as full grown adults) in between the break up and the reunion.

If these songs are the initial response to the break up and part of the aforementioned youthful follies, then… okay. So I’m still kind of in Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint headspace, and while I MOST love Yoo Joonghyuk x Kim Dokja estranged high school exes reuniting, the dichotomy of these two songs FEELS more like what Han Sooyoung and Yoo Sangah would throw at each other in a fight.

Like, Can’t Stand the Rain feels like Han Sooyoung’s response to the break up—an almost destructive, heedless misery—whereas Rain would represent Yoo Sangah’s external perfection versus her internal flaws. Like the argument would contain:

YSA: At least I didn’t go around making my misery everyone else’s problem. HSY: Oh, as if you’re any better Miss Every Experience Is A Learning Opportunity, bullshit!

Like, I don’t know the whole argument, but that’s the vibe I’m feeling…

Surely there’s another couple that embodies this dynamic in my usual fandoms, but I am STRUGGLING to think of them for now…

And then, unfortunately, as I was writing this, I realized (2) was pretty much just 500 Days of Summer so… ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Probably not what you were looking for, loveelemental, but I appreciate you reaching out :D

[shewrites02]

Gone Too Long |Shikamaru x Reader|

Summary: Not having his partner around begins to toll on Shikamaru

Word count: 3k

Lady Tsunade was assigning weekly chores to all the Shinobi who had yet to be assigned a mission. Usually these tasks were reserved for Genin, but this week had been slow for the village. Many Chunin and Jonin were left task less aimlessly patrolling the village.

"Shikamaru, you'll assist Iruka at the Academy for the remainder of the week."

Shikamaru let out a long dreadful sigh before muttering "What a drag, that's so much work." Just above his breath.

Shikamaru complaining was not out of the ordinary, but him complaining in front of the Fifth Hokage was and everyone took notice. Lady Tsunade slowly looked up from her journal with her eyebrow slightly raised. She was offering Shikamaru a chance to apologize before she completely ripped into him like she often did with Naruto. But all he did was smack his lips and cross his arms against his chest.

"Forgive him Lady Tsunade, he gets like this whenever y/n is gone on a mission." Ino announced proudly as a devilish smile graced her lips.

The other ninjas futilely tried to suppress their laughter but soon the whole room erupted into a uncontrollable fit. Even Lady Tsunade's scowl had turned into a humorous smile. Shikamaru's face began to turn beat red as his fellow shinobi teased him.

"So that explains his nasty attitude this whole week. Me and Akamaru knew there was something up with you!" Kiba laughed after Akamaru barked, agreeing.

"I bet his attitude will change once he gets some... special attention" Tenten snickered.

This even warranted a light chuckle from the stoned face Shino Aburame.

"Special... Attention?" Naruto mumbled completely lost. as usual he wasn't paying any attention and the joke had gone completely over his head. Kiba leaned over and explained the joke as clearly as he could. It took Naruto probably a full minute before he caught on and laughed with the rest of them.

Shikamaru grumbled under his breath, but didn't argue. As much as he hated to admit it to his friends, not having you around severely impacted his day to day interactions. He was constantly irritated because he didn't get as much sleep with you gone. The side of the bed where you usually reside seemed like a gaping hole with you not there, and no matter how much tossing and turning he did he was never comfortable.

He was frustrated that he couldn't come home to you after a long day of working with idiots. Even if you did nothing but tell him to give his teammates a break he missed the sound of your voice soothing him. He missed laying in your arms while you lectured that not everybody was a genius like him. At this point he would settle for your hands just gracing his.

And most of all he was distracted by the crippling fear that one of these days you might not come home to him. Shikamaru undoubtedly knew that you could handle yourself. Yall had spared a couple times and you'd come close to beating him more than once. But the idea of not being there to protect you often left him feeling helpless.

With these thoughts constantly running through his mind, it was difficult to focus on the seemingly mundane tasks he was often given. To be honest the only times he wasn't thinking of you was when he was on his own missions, and even then his thoughts were reserved for keeping his squad alive and staying alive himself specifically to see you again.

"Well you'll be glad to know she's coming back today, I'll be expecting you to be in a better mood tomorrow!" Lady Tsunade teased before shushing the crowd and returning to give out assignments.

-

Just as Shikamaru had thought working at the academy was the exact mindless work he dreaded so much. They could've put him with the younger children, given him a challenge, well at least that's what he thought. Instead he supervised a group of kids around the ages of 9 to 11. These children were no stranger to Shikamaru or his legacy, actually any shinobi rumored to have amazing talent or great potential was a topic of discussion amongst the children in the academy. The stories they've heard of Shikamaru and the Nara clan as a whole were impressive enough to earn their respect. In fear of potentially earning themselves a bad name with someone they could possibly call their squad leader once graduating, They gave Shikamaru absolutely no problems.

"Shikamaru Sensei... is it true you forfeited your last match in the Chunin exams?!" A little boy shouted across the blacktop as he and a large number of his classmates came rushing towards the lazy uninterested ninja.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I told you, Idiot!" A young girl exclaimed, hitting the previous boy in the back of the head with a scroll she had. "He was running out of Chakra and knew he couldn't finish the fight!"

The young girl's confident proclamation surprised Shikamaru. Every ninja in the village knew the story, but very few knew the reasoning behind his actions. Usually the only ones who accurately recounted the story were those who saw the match with their own eyes.

"Who told you that?" Shikamaru inquired.

"Y/n Sensei told our whole class the story the last time she came to the academy, had all of us try to figure out why you'd throw a match that you practically had won. She said it's her favorite story to tell students who are about to graduate."

"Yeah she said it's still the most amazing match she's watched during the Chunin exams, even now!"

"She told us that if we wanna be half the ninja you are, we always have to be thinking two steps ahead."

Shikamaru couldn't stop that infamous smirk from creeping onto his face. He loved hearing that you spoke to your class about him, that you even bragged about how talented he was, even if it was to a bunch of children. You admired him not only for the person he is, but the ninja he's become and that was a great honor to Shikamaru.

"Look, it's y/n Sensei, she's back from her mission!" The little girl from before yelled pointing over at the village's entrance. All the children fervently yelled your name in a vain attempt to get your attention. The academy laid on hill that allowed them to peer down at the entire village, though they could see you, you could not see them.

Shikamaru acting as if he too were one of your students rushed to the fence to see if they were correct, if finally the love of his life had returned home. Sure enough right alongside Kakashi and Tsume there you were. Your smile is as bright as ever despite having a few minor scrapes and bruises. Butterflies filled the pit of Shikamaru's stomach and what was just a sly smirk had turned into a full blown smile, teeth and all. He's heart fluttered, but skipped a beat at the same time it was like he had seen you for the first time.

"Go ahead, class is wrapping up anyway!" Iruka whispered over to him.

Shikamaru was stunned, he was so entranced by the sight of you he was completely ignorant to his surroundings. For the first time since he graduated from the Academy he had let Iruka sneak up on him. Your being gone had even a greater hold on him than he initially thought. He needed to see you right now.

He thankfully patted Iruka on his back before darting off toward the exit. He knew you'd first go to Ichirkau Ramen to pick up dinner for the two of you, a tradition set in place to celebrate a successful mission. So if he could move quick enough he could make it to the flower shop and back to the apartment the two of you shared before you. He did not want a cold empty uninviting apartment to be what greeted you once you returned home, especially after seeing you had endured wounds while on your mission. Honestly he didn't want you to have to worry about a thing.

Once he fumbled into the door, he immediately began to prepare for your arrival. He lit every candle he could find and arranged them around the perimeter of the bathroom while the water for a hot bath drew. He even went as far as to place rose petals in the water. Something he never understood but knew you would appreciate. When that was handled he placed one of his t-shirts on the counter and dimmed the lights. He could hear your footsteps approaching down the hall.

His nonchalant nature made it absolutely impossible for him to display any type of excitement or anticipation willingly. Due to this he sprinted back to living snatching up a book that was left on the coffee table and pretended to read it as you walked into the room.

He lowered the book just below his nose being careful to conceal the wide tooth smile he had behind those pages.

"You're home." He announced very casually.

You laughed. He never exceeded those two words when it came to welcoming you back, never a "I missed you" or "I'm so excited to see you" always those two words. When you first started dating such a dull response hurt your feelings, you wanted him to be jumping for joy to see you. Now the promise of hearing those two words was the primary motivation in completing your missions.

"And look, ramen!" You squealed slightly shaking the bag.

Shikamaru glanced over at the bag then returned his gaze to his book. You scoffed slightly offended, this was your favorite part of coming home, pigging out on loads of ramen after eating forest food for a week. Shikamaru knew this! He'd let you recite the details of your mission to him while he attentively listened, it was when you explained all the scrapes and bruises you inevitably always returned with.

"Go get cleaned up so we can eat." He demanded eyes still glued to that stupid book.

Your face fell, that childish giddy smile now wiped clean away. Shikamaru had never had a problem sharing at least a quick meal with you before you hopped in the shower. You were well aware of the toll half a day's walk had on one's body, but was this your boyfriend's crude way of telling you, you smelled. You sat the ramen on the dining room table not bothering to suppress the pout on your face.

Shikamaru got a glimpse of your expression out the side of his eye and immediately felt guilty. Perhaps there was a better way of getting you in the bathroom to see his surprise for you. One that hadn't made you feel so self conscious or small. For such a genius he made some stupid mistakes.

He placed his book on the coffee table to meet you in the kitchen. Bypassing the food he snuck behind you, creeping his arms around your waist before planting a small soft kiss on your cheek. Shikamaru snuggled his head into your neck before speaking.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so crass." He mumbled against your skin. "But I do have a surprise for you in the bathroom."

You perked up at the mention of a surprise. A wide grin sneaking on your lips as the scowl you held earlier dissipated. Shikamaru had always been a thoughtful boyfriend even if he was so coy in his interactions with you. He'd fill the apartment with roses for your anniversary , then downplay the extravagant act when you walked in the door. He once planned an entire surprise birthday party for you just to spend the entire night proclaiming he barely did anything. You were excited to see what considerate display your partner had put together this time.

You let out a small gasp as you walked into the romantically decorated bathroom. The dim candles created such a relaxed yet intimate ambiance to the entire space. You chuckled some at the rose petals. Despite the countless lectures both you and Ino had received on how pointless it was to pick the petals off of roses when a person could simply just give their partner a bouquet of roses, he still included them in your warm bath.

"Shika... you didn't have to do all this."

"It was nothing." He reassured disregarding the full speed sprint from the academy to the Yamanaka flower shop, then to the apartment. "Here let me help you."

Shikamaru assisted you in removing your garments. He knew how even the smallest tasks could bring out the failure's in your body after such a long mission. Something as simple as slipping out of a pair of cargoes seemed like a feat to a body so sore from what felt like an endless battle. He let you grasp onto his forearm before dipping into the tub and sinking shoulder deep. The warm water against your ailing body felt almost euphoric. As usual Shikamaru knew exactly what you needed.

Of course your generous boyfriend could not stop there, running you a bath was not enough. He was going to bathe you himself too. Tenderly rubbing the dirt and grime from every cut and scrape on your body.

"How'd you get this one?" a question he asked ever so often. His tone is always dull and irritated.

Shikamaru hated to see you covered in bruises. You called them a causality of the job, but to him they were just a sign that he wasn't there to protect you. He would try to ignore the small ones, but any that seemed too deep or painful he felt obligated to inquire about. Although he never liked the answer. That's probably why wiping away your wounds was so therapeutic for him. If he couldn't prevent the pain, at least he could alleviate it now.

"A shuriken hit me, cheap shot." You huffed.

Your boyfriend's face didn't soften, in fact you were sure you saw him actually grimace at the mention of you getting hit. You wondered why he even tortured himself asking questions he didn't want the answer to. Nonetheless you weren't going to let some small injuries ruin your first night home.

"Rumor around the village is you missed me a whole lot while I was away. "

Shikamaru's cheeks instantly flushed as he averted his eyes away from you. He rubbed the back of his neck nervously as a few unsure chuckles fell from his mouth. He was searching for the words to say.

"I ran into Naruto at Ichiraku's, he said you had such an attitude with all of them. Heard you even snapped at Lady Tsunade you missed me so much."

"Damn, Naruto!" He mumbled underneath his breath. "You mess up my whole routine when you leave!"

You let out an exaggerated sigh at the tired excuse.

"Give it up Nara, you missed me!"

Reluctantly the shadow ninja accepted defeat. He laced his now wet hands with yours and brought them to his lips. He planted a trail of endearing kisses up your arm to your elbow before gently returning your hand to the soothing water.

"I'm a mess when you're not here. I swear you occupy so much space in my brain, I can't even think straight. I miss you so much."

The revelation caught you off guard. Maybe it was his lustful entrance of finally having you home after a month, but Shikamaru very rarely was this vulnerable with you. Such words blossomed butterflies in your stomach. It was as if Shikamaru was confessing his feelings for you for the very first time.

"I love you so much y/n."

"I Love you too."

The two of you feel into a comfortable silence. Shikamaru stood to grab you a dry towel. Reluctant you feel deeper into the water, Although drawing colder you couldn't imagine getting out the tub just yet. After all it had been weeks since you allowed yourself to be pampered in such a way. You wanted to savor every moment.

"God, this feels so good." You moaned in pleasure.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at your blissful proclamation, that infamous smirk plastered on his face. He approached the tub, abandoning the towel on the counter, and kneeled behind you. He snaked his hand up your torso, fondling you some before they landed at your neck. You'd have let out a small gasp if the familiar feeling of his fingers lightly squeezing your throat hadn't completely knocked the air out of you. He kissed his way from behind your ear down to the base of your neck.

"I can make you feel better."

-

The next morning the two of you found yourselves in Lady Tsunade's office, along with your comrades. As usual the Fifth Hokage was assigning daily tasks, when her eyes fell upon Shikamaru. His demeanor was clearly different from yesterday, His hands had returned to his pockets and his scowl had been replaced with a content grin.

"You seem to be in better spirits Shikamaru." Tsunade announced inquisitively. "I assume you've resolved that issue of yours?"

The other shinobi snickered at her insinuation. The attention made both you and Shikamaru look down at the floor hoping it would open up and consume you two whole. Shikamaru rubbed the back of his neck, eyes closed before answering.

"Yes Ma'am."

[kakashiswilloffire]

Congratulations on a 100! Can I request a female reader and a scenario where Kakashi discovers in a very shocking way that his s/o is pregnant? Please don't mind not writing if it bothers you. Stay hydrated and have a nice day regardless!🌸

thank you for the request!! hope you enjoy!!

***

A Kunoichi's Suprise

ao3

words: 1.9k

kakashi x fem!reader, fluff, reader is pregnant

***

“I do hate to do this to you, but you’re the best choice. There’s not an Inuzuka available who has the security clearance necessary, which makes you the only ninken-user I can assign this to.”

Kakashi nodded and shrugged, brushing off the unspoken apology. “I understand, it’s no issue.”

Tsunade pursed her lips into a thin line, nodding solemnly. “If it wasn’t so time-sensitive, I’d put someone else on it, I swear.” She tucked a loose strand of her silvery blond hair behind her ear and shuffled the papers on her desk, bringing a personnel file to the top. “And to accompany you… Again, I’m really sorry, but she’s the only one who makes sense. She was in the area most recently out of all available jonin and her weapons expertise makes her the best candidate to accompany you.”

His eyebrows dipped together in mild confusion. He would have requested this partner if she hadn’t been assigned—he agreed fully that they would make the best team for this recovery mission. Shaking it off, he nodded again. “Sounds great, Lady Fifth. Anything else?”

Tsunade let out a breath she had been half holding and leaned back in her chair. Tonton gave a relieved squeak and Shizune pulled her closer to her chest. The Hokage dragged her hands across her eyes, then leaned forward on her elbows.

“Glad you’re taking this so well. I thought you’d at least argue about your fiancé going with you, if not objecting to being sent on a mission right now at all.”

Kakashi jerked his head backwards and to the side, scanning over the Sannin with his single vibrant, gray eye. “I’m sorry if I gave you the impression I like to argue with superiors, Tsunade-sama. That’s really more Naruto’s thing.” She snorted, and he took it as a good sign. “When would you like us to head out? Thirty minutes?”

Immediately, Tsunade shot him down. “She needs a medic to look her over before she can go into the field. I’m happy to do it myself. Her training with her team ends at noon, right?” She glanced at the clock, then gestured to Shizune. “Send Kotetsu or Izumo to pull her, we can’t wait that long.” With a quick nod, she ducked out of the room. “Meanwhile, you can go pack bags for you both. Be sure to grab her med pack, I’ll probably need to give her a bonus prescription or two for the journey.”

At this point, Kakahi’s confusion could no longer be dismissed. Why would his fiancé need extra medication for a mission? He had just seen you when you left to meet your team of genin, and you hadn’t mentioned anything. Maybe the stomach bug you had had a few weeks ago had been worse than you let on?

“Sorry, prescriptions? Are we facing potential poisoning?” He tried, looking for an explanation.

Tsunade shook her head firmly. “Anything is possible, but I’m not concerned about it.” She ran her hand backward through her hair, shaking it gently toward the ends and letting it fall out of the way. “More concerned with making sure she’s getting the correct nutrients. I’ve been working on the nutritional value of shinobi rations, but it’s hard to find something that’s shelf stable, lightweight, and compact without just being food pills.”

Kakashi agreed, a debate he had heard on nearly every long term mission. “So you’ll give us both supplements, fair. Should we do my physical now while we wait on my fiancé to arrive?” He relished the words in his mouth, the phrase “my fiancé” almost a dream to him, even still.

She gave a bemused chuckle, glancing the scarecrow of a man up and down. “Why, you have some kind of boo-boo you need me to kiss?” Tsunade returned to the paperwork on her desk, shuffling it again and pulling the shinobi copy of the mission details file out, holding it out to him. “I trust you to get whatever nutrients you need after all these years of life, Bakashi,” she teased.

He didn’t move to take the file. “What’s going on?” he demanded, as respectfully as absolutely necessary. “What’s going on that she needs a medical check and extra medication to travel on a mission? Why did you think I would object to being paired with her? It’s not our first mission together, not even since we got engaged. What am I forgetting?”

Tsunade didn’t react to his interrogation, continuing to organize paperwork and leaning down to pull open a drawer in her desk, sliding his and your personnel files inside. “The fetus, maybe?” She offered, waving a hand like it was obvious.

The what?

For a moment, Tsunade could almost hear the cogs grinding in the shinobi’s head. You passing him every drink that had been pushed on you in the last few weeks, the stomach bug that he had never caught, and the uptick in morning meetings you had.

Then the cogs were brought to a halt, and the whole world froze. The blood running through his body was ice cold, and he felt his fingertips and forehead tingling. Were you really pregnant?

Was he, Kami forbid, going to be a father?

Tsunade swore, knowing she shouldn’t have said anything violating medical confidentiality, but with the pregnancy already being in the second trimester, she had no idea that you hadn’t told Kakashi yet. “Listen, Kakashi… just sit down, okay?” She looked around, swearing again at the reminder that this damn office had no chairs outside of the one she occupied.

She jumped up, crossing over to Kakashi and pushing him forward into the chair behind the desk. “Breathe, Kakashi, come on.” She shook him gently, then lightly slapped his cheek. “Come on, soldier. You’re Kakashi of the Sharingan, master of a thousand jutsu, pull it together.”

He flatly refused.

The door to the Hokage’s office opened, Shizune and Tonton leading you in. You took a moment to take in the scene of your fiancé hyperventilating behind the desk, the Hokage herself swearing and trying to get him to make eye contact and pull air into his lungs. Then he saw you, and he paused, fear in his eyes.

“Is it true—I mean, are you—love, are you pregnant?” He choked out.

Your hand flew to your mouth as if to put the secret back inside. You knew you’d have to tell him eventually, but you had wanted the moment to be right and he had been so busy with his missions lately. He didn’t know it yet, but you had rented a room at a nearby onsen for next weekend, making sure to get a room with a private bath and windows high enough that no onlookers could see inside so that he could comfortably remove his mask. That would’ve been the way you preferred he find out, when rather than dessert, you slid the sonogram across the table after dinner. Instead, you nodded.

“Yes, my love,” you whispered. “I’m pregnant.” Instinctively, your hand rested over the part of your stomach that had begun showing this last week.

He seemed to melt into chair. “Kami… we’re going to be parents?”

You nodded, a small laugh breaking from your chest. “Yes, Kakashi, that’s the plan.”

Slowly, he gathered himself, standing up and delicately walking around the desk to the doorway where you remained. “I… You want this?” He sniffed hard, blinking twice and taking your hands. “You want to raise a child with me? This child?”

You tilted your head to the side, feeling hot tears sting your eyes. You knew he had issues with his self worth, and that would be something you would focus on for the next few months so he’d be ready for your child.

“Of course, ‘Kashi. There’s no one I trust more, no one I think would make a better father. I can’t imagine doing this with anyone else, and I’m thrilled that I get to do it with you.”

His wiry frame jolted as though he’d been shocked, and the threw himself into your arms, allowing his fears and shock to leave him through tears. Tsunade and Shizune averted their eyes, doing what they could to preserve your privacy. Tonton oinked in solidarity. After a couple of moments, he stood again, wiping dry the parts of his face not covered by salty, wet fabric. He then hooked a finger into the mask at the side of his nose, yanked it down, and brought you into a deep kiss, warm hands wrapping around you and pulling you close.

After the surprise, you let yourself dissolve into him, allowing yourself to be swept into his emotional display. He pulled his face back after a few beats and beamed, smiling as widely as you could remember seeing him grin. Then his mouth was back on yours, this time for just a second, then a firm kiss to your forehead before he secured the mask again. Turning to face the Hokage, he wrapped his arm around your back and held you close.

“Tsunade-sama, all due respect, can Pakkun handle this? I’ll send him with anyone you’d like. Naruto, even, I don’t think he’s doing anything tonight. I can send the whole pack. I can brief Gai, or Tenzo, anyone? And if you need a weapons expert, I’m sure Tenten is more than qualified.” You giggled, watching your fiancé ramble to the leader of the village. “It’s just, I’m going to be a father, and she’s pregnant with our child, and I’ve gotta say, I don’t think we’re going on any missions for the next, say, 18 years? Well, maybe some D ranks. We’ll see.”

As Tsunade opened her mouth, he cut her off with a pointed, “How’s the progress on the Konoha Orphanage coming along? They prepared for one more? Cause I’m not letting anything happen to either of us, for this child’s sake.”

Tsunade glared, but was startled out of the shouting match she was gearing up for by Shizune chuckling. Betrayed, she turned to her companion.

“I mean, this is the reaction you anticipated him having, Lady Fifth,” she giggled.

She slammed a fist on the desk, although with an intense amount of restraint given that the surface was not even dented. Finally, she looked up with a glint in her eye.

“I think Hana Inuzuka gets back this evening. I can give her twelve hours to rest and then she and Tenten, along with Gai, can probably handle it. This time.”

Kakashi was already on his way out the door, pulling you behind him in a firmly clasped hand, before she had finished. He called out a thanks over your shoulder as you left. Together, you giggled as you entered the streets of Konoha.

Your fiancé spun in circles, laughing freely and spreading his arms out. “We’re starting a family!” he shouted to the sky. You knew you would both continue to take missions with this child, and that was a conversation for another time. For now, though, you were content to spend eternity watching the love of your life giddily relish in this moment.

[animeomegas]

And I think Naruto had a lot more chemistry with Neji than Hinata, so it always felt a bit weird that he ended up with Neji's cousin, personally.

Lmao! He did. He really did, didn't he? Anyone that says Naruto had more chemistry with Hinata over Neji is just lying tbh. Their relationship wasn't developed in any way. They barely interacted. He was just civilly polite with her the few times they spoke. Meanwhile Naruto and Neji were vibing a bit. 😂 He cared more about Neji dying than Hinata did! (Fun fact: I'll be honest I can lowkey ship Naruto with all his friends except Hinata (...and Tenten). He has enjoyable dynamics with them all, he and Hinata should've just been friends.)

Oh and yeah, always fun to find yet another person disappointed/upset by the horrible ending of Naruto. That ending? Trash in many ways. And shifting from "the shinobi system is fucked/using people as weapons is fucked" to "anyone against Konoha or evil people (like the Hyuuga elders, government, etc.) is a bad person" was a damn horrible decision!

Yeah, I really do think Neji and Naruto had a little something budding in canon. Not actual feelings yet, they were pretty young of course (and both oblivious to some extent) but they had so much potential and chemistry.

And you're totally right about Naruto though, he's one of those characters that you can just ship with everyone. He's that person that everyone's had a crush on at least once, even if it was just for thirty seconds or something. He's sunshine incarnate, people gravitate towards him. I could also see him with most of his friends lmao

I think what you said here:

"shifting from "the shinobi system is fucked/using people as weapons is fucked" to "anyone against Konoha or evil people (like the Hyuuga elders, government, etc.) is a bad person" was a damn horrible decision!

Is a really good summary of the problem, at least in my opinion. It was very disappointing to see Naruto become the Hokage he did, rather than the Hokage he should have been. I'm still sad about that.

But yeah, I wholeheartedly agree!

[yahboobeh]

Miss Independent

Spring really was the perfect season, Tenten mused. The climate was ideal for training, and even the sweet scent of hydrangeas managed to poke through the odors of sweat, weapons polish, and upturned dirt. There were no hydrangeas in the fall. 

She would never admit to Lee and Guy just how much she loved a good spring day for fear she would never hear the end of it. 

Above her, the sky was clear and blue. The breeze rustled the leaves, and birds sang, darting across the horizon. 

Below her, the grass was lush and green, pockmarked with weapons spent from her arsenal. 

And on top of her prone form was Neji, claiming victory over their spar, a confident smirk splayed across his face. 

He said nothing before settling into his reward - their reward - for a successful training session. 

Neji kissed Tenten on her lips, her face, her jaw. She gasped and rolled her head to the side, exposing more of her neck. 

She both loved and hated this part of their relationship. 

Tenten hadn’t truly realized the extent of her feelings for Neji until she’d almost lost him on the battlefield. 

In everything he did, Neji was practical and diligent. Tenten was unsurprised that he approached love with the same careful dedication. Each part of her that Neji touched or kissed was with a purpose as if he’d deliberately planned out each caress beforehand. Even something as simple as holding hands seemed to be weighted with consideration. 

Tenten loved it.

Neji somehow managed to transform his practical nature into intense bouts of passion that left Tenten’s knees weak. He paid attention to what she liked, whether it was her favorite foods, training exercises, or places to kiss, Neji seemed to know it all. He studied her reactions, how she liked to be touched and where; quelling the parts of her that burned for his touch. 

She was wholly and utterly consumed by him, and that was the problem.

Tenten felt any remaining tendrils of control slowly slip away. He was slowly stripping her bare of the walls she had built. Tenten hated the woman she became whenever Neji turned his attention to her.

She tried to resist the urge to be consumed, staring at a kunai sunk partway into the ground. It jutted out, the cool grey steel harsh against the lush green grass as Neji’s hand started its journey under her skirt to cup her bottom. 

The sound that Tenten made was something between a moan of pleasure and a frustrated grunt. 

“Wait!” she gasped, surprising herself. 

Neji stopped, pulling away from her neck to look down at her, brows wrinkled with concern. 

“Is something wrong?”

Moments ago, Neji’s voice had been low and dripping with desire. Now, it was lighter, speckled with concern. Tenten looked up at his perfect face. His jawline was somehow both sharp and soft. The crinkle in his brow would smooth away with the slightest press of her fingers. And his eyes told her all of his secrets. His emotions passed freely across them, but somehow only Tenten could pluck them out and give them a name. 

Love. Worry. Desire. 

She saw them all. 

His hair tickled her cheek, and between the press of Neji’s body against her own, Tenten could confirm the speck of desire she’d seen. 

Everything about him was perfect. This moment was perfect. 

The problem wasn’t Neji; it never would be. 

“Tenten?”

Her name on his lips made her entire body buzz. Her heart pounded unevenly, and she felt light-headed. 

“I have a problem.”

Tenten tried to state this as delicately as possible while guiding Neji’s hand off of her bottom. 

She saw a flash of anxiety before Neji sat back on his knees, giving her space. 

“Did I do something wrong?” 

Tenten’s body felt heavy, like moving was more effort than it was worth. She stayed on her back, her legs open to him. 

She managed to shake her head.

“No, you’re amazing. Perfect even. Jerk.”

A cocky smile flashed briefly across his face. 

“What’s bothering you?”

Tenten sighed, trying to find the right words to describe her struggle best. How could she continue on her own while feeling like she was obsessed?

“I’ve always thought one of the greatest weaknesses of my fellow kunoichi was their obsession with boys.”

Neji cocked an eyebrow at her, waiting for her to elaborate. 

“I mean, how could Sakura, Ino, and Hinata achieve their potential when they were always so distracted? It’s annoying. Be more independent!”

“I’m not sure I understand where this is going, Tenten.”

“Towards an existential crisis!” she said with a frustrated huff. “I mean, how can I call myself independent or a feminist when all I can think about is your stupid, perfect face?”

Neji laughed at her, earning a sharp glare. 

“I’m serious, Neji! I feel like all I think about is you! ‘What’s Neji doing right now? Does he really like me? When can we have sex again?’ It’s driving me insane!”

Neji curled back over Tenten, kissing her softly before looking into her eyes. He pushed a stray bang back into place while he picked his next words. 

“Do you think that our relationship takes away some of your own agency?”

“I don’t know… Sometimes I do. I don’t feel like an adult in a relationship. I feel like a hormone-fueled teenager with an unhealthy obsession.”

Neji considered her statement for a moment before speaking. 

“I feel similar.”

Tenten’s brows shot up.

“You do?”

“Do I come across as the type of person who would have sex in an open field in the middle of the day?”

Tenten laughed.

“No, not at all.”

“And yet, here we are.”

“But you still go home and do your own thing. You’re still your own person.”

She felt her eyes burn and resisted the urge to cry. She felt Neji’s thumb swipe across her cheek, a soothing gesture of affection he reserved just for her.

“So are you, Tenten.”

Tenten scoffed. 

“I think that it’s normal for people to experience so much infatuation at first.”

“I don’t know, Neji. Maybe, but it feels like so much more. When I thought you were… I-I couldn’t do anything.” One tear, two tears, and then the stream. She wept freely under him. “I was so pathetic, a shell of a person. My existence stopped when I thought yours did.”

Neji kissed her forehead and diligently wiped away her tears. He let her cry uninterrupted until she had calmed down enough to listen.

“Tenten, that’s not an obsessive crush, that’s grief. They’re different.”

“I felt like I couldn’t live without you.”

“I know. I’m sorry. But grieving doesn’t make you weak or less independent.”

Tenten looked away, fiddling with the collar of his shirt. 

“Listen to me, Tenten. Feeling like your whole world has been turned upsidedown... like you’ll never be happy again, that’s normal. It’s part of the process.” 

Neji wiped away another tear.

“You know everything,” she teased.

“I wish this was something I didn’t know. You feel helpless at first. It’s normal. I promise.” 

Neji kissed her briefly on the lips.

“As for our current situation, tell me; if you were asked to go on a mission without me, would you?”

Tenten nodded. 

“Of course.”

“Do you still go home and work on your scrolls? Do you research new weapons and techniques?” 

Another nod.

“And even though you claim to think about me all day, are you still doing your normal routine?”

“Yes.”

“And do you still know your goals? Your dreams?”

“I think so.”

“I don’t think being infatuated with someone makes you any less independent. And you’re definitely the strongest, fiercest, most independent woman I know.”

Tenten’s heart fluttered. She touched his cheek and smiled.

“Thanks, Neji.” She smiled up at him. “But you better not just be saying that to get me out of my dress.” 

He frowned. 

“It was genuine, besides,” he pressed a series of kisses to her neck, and she giggled, “I don’t need to go out of my way with compliments for you to take your clothes off.”

“Neji!” 

Her laughs melted into gasps. She struggled to hold onto any sense of reality. 

“You arrogant-”

He cut her off with a deep and needy kiss. 

“Stop talking,” he whispered between kisses.

Tenten pushed him off of her. Neji rolled over and onto his back, and she quickly climbed on top of him, swelling with triumph and pride over her small victory. 

She leaned forward and kissed him, pressing her hips back to extract a well earned gasp from her partner. 

“Fine, I’ll stop talking,” she said between kisses, “but not because you want me to.”

Neji grinned up at her, hands reaching for her waist, pulling her in closer.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

 FFN | AO3

[kishimoto-did-us-dirty]

Naruto Arts School AU

Reposting bc I love this post and bc I can lol

Character

- major

description

Naruto

-Drums

okie nobody can deny that our main boy over here is a loud soul, however, he can also carry a damn good beat that compliments his band mates’ music really well. Tbh, he sucked at music to begin with and had trouble matching rhythms and listening to his band mates when they played, however he eventually became a really good rhythm maker.

Sasuke

-Guitar (lead)

He’d be assigned to the same band as Naruto, and that’s how they met. This boy is a damn good guitarist y’all, but has attitude problems™, and used to not be able to deal with Naruto’s haphazard beat making, thus perpetuating a rivalry between the two. He constantly feels overshadowed by his elder brother Itachi, a piano major.

Sakura

- Dance

Ya girl fucking demolishes every single dance routine. Initially starting out with a focus on ballet (pre-shippuden in canon), our pink headed queen soon realized that she wasn’t getting the full experience of what it meant to dance. Her point shoes were her loves, however they hurt and nipped in places not just physical. She realized that she didn’t want to be pigeonholed into a genre of which she would be inhibited by standard, and rather to dance so as to forget technical perfection. Thus, what would partner with post-shippuden Sakura in canon, Art School AU Sakura got into hip-hop. And bitch, she goes hard. A lot of the other girls who she used to dance ballet with admire her for her absolutely BODYING her dance routines, but also for never sacrificing her femininity to dance and not taking BS for being a girl who goes so hard in a male-dominated genre. (Some people believe that hip-hop is heavy hitting and a little metaphorically “dark” so to speak, which Sakura is not. So obviously I expect a little disagreement regarding this, however if you look at people like Delaney Glazer or Kaycee Rice, that is how Sakura would dance).

Hinata

- Creative Writing

Shy and bookworm-like, Hinata can write the best poetry, romance and adventure pieces out of all the creative-writing majors. She’s especially good at writing character relationships and development, and has such a subtle sense of intelligent wit in her writing, that if you blinked you would miss it. However should you catch it, you’re sure to chuckle. Her only struggle is that she tends to drag on in important scenes, stretching them against the regular flow of the rest of her writing. Needs validation for her writing through an IV drip.

Kiba

- Drums OR Photography

Drums for obvious reasons (loud and obnoxious), although ruff boi looks good with a camera, too. Great at landscapes and street photography.

Shino

- Creative Writing OR Photography

I could definitely see Shino having fucking beautiful handwriting, and being a beast at writing anything within the sci-fi realm. I could also see him doing some journalism, and writing for the school paper. He’s very good at the logic of his sci-fi books and coming up with logical but enrapturing stories, that intermingle knowledge and mystery. He’s a very specific type of read, however, and may not appeal to all, however if you enjoy anything similar to Star Wars or Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, then Shino is your author. If this doesn’t float your boat, though, try photography-major Shino. He can get the best angles of bugs he sees, and has an extensive portfolio with entomology-related snapshots.

Ino

- Dance

Like Sakura, she, too, began with a focus on ballet, however began to branch out into contemporary ballet a little later than Sakura. This is another reason why Sakura switched her focuses, as she and Ino had always had a fierce rivalry for dieting (ballet dancers are pressured to be as thin as possible) as well as battling for technical perfection when they were ballet focused. As the two grew, Ino focused more so on contemporary, but can certainly do some hip-hop with Sakura every now and then, just as Sakura occasionally takes a contemporary class with her. The two still have a rivalry, however, just not to the previous extent as when they were actively competing against each other. They’re more like sisters.

Shikamaru

- Guitar (bass) OR Creative Writing OR Architecture

Smart boy’s a tricky one. He would either be a bassist, a mystery and historical fiction writer, or, of his school offers it, be great at architecture. Idrk.

Choji

- ermmmmm….. maybe graphic design? Tech theatre (props)? Vocal???

Choji is hARD dwnccnpc (that’s what she said). I could see him behind a computer screen, animating and designing games/covers/posters or whatever. He could also do something in theatre, but I don’t think he would do anything up on stage. Something like props would suit him. He might do something in music, tho???? Can he sing???? Help???

UPDATE: Choji is a band kid. He plays tuba or some shit. Big boy got big lungs.

Tenten

- Dance

Always has been, and always will be a hip-hop dancer. She wanted to be like Tsunade, a legendary dancer and followed in her footsteps, taking up hip-hop. (that’s why Sakura focused on hip-hop, too, because Tsunade mentored her and taught a few of her classes, too). Tenten is fast and can keep up with any beat. Not only is she a great dancer, but she’s also athletic, and does track and field (cross country), football, and softball at another school too, since the arts schools doesn’t offer it. Overall great dancer with styl. She’s really looked up to by some of her underclassmen for her cheery, but badass style and skill.

Lee

- DANCE (hip-hop, too)

It’s sweat. It’s burn. It’s energy. It’s Lee.

Neji

- Violin

First chair violinist in his freshman year for the school’s philharmonic orchestra. He be extra like that.

Gaara

- Guitar (bass)

He had a lonely childhood with neglectful/abusive parents, and rock music really helped him with that. Emo music is emo and often made fun of, but the songs have messages and Gaara related, so self-taught himself the bass guitar to help cope, and bring him closer to the music that salvaged him.

Kankuro

-Art

Specifically sculpting. For obvious reasons.

Temari

- Acting

Girl can make you cry with some of her monologues. Total lead. Has a seriousness in her acting that makes her believable, however can falter on the less-serious roles. She may also double-major in whatever Shikamaru does. And she’s better at it than him.

Itachi

-Piano

Boy could play any etude at age 7. Performed at Carnegie Hall when he was 10. And no, he didn’t pay to play there. The hall invited him. Began composing at 9. Has perfect pitch. Owns international awards. If he’s not at school it’s because he’s traveling to play for crowds. He excels at classical and baroque, however has an ear for romantic, and enjoys playing/composing pieces either written or inspired by romantic pieces. Enjoys Schumann, Debussy, and Tchaikovsky. Hates modern classical music, though. Can only take cinematic pieces composed by people like Williams, however can’t stand Prokofiev at all. He does like modern music, though, so long as it’s outside of the orchestral/classical music realm. He likes R&B. He would have liked to do film with Shisui, particularly producing, however his parents pressure him with piano, so he helps Shisui with student films and projects outside of school (will probably pursue film after graduating, tho).

Shisui

- FILM / VIDEO PRODUCTION

Fight me on this!!! THIS BOY IS SO GOOD AT CINEMATOGRAPHY MY FILMMAKING ASS CAN’T EVEN. AS SOMEONE WHO IS IN LOVE WITH FILMOGRAPHY, TRUST ME, SHISUI HAS IT™. THE IT™. HE’S GOOD AT EVERYTHING. CINEMATOGRAPHY. DIRECTING. SCREENWRITING. GRIP-WORK. EDITING. PRODUCING. HE’S SUCH A FILM NERD TOO, AND WATCHES OLD FILMS ALL THE TIME. HE’S JUST TOO GOOD AT IT. DOES STREET PHOTOGRAPHY TOO. HE’S OVERALL A GENIUS WITH CAMERAS. Does film with Itachi outside of school and teaches him, and the two are overall geniuses at filmography. They want to start their own studio together (they do, and it becomes huge). He becomes a leading director, while Itachi becomes a producer and directs sometimes too.

Sasori, Deidara, and Sai

Guess.

Kakashi

- Saxophone

It’s the only thing that suits him and it suits him so well. Has suave.

Obito (omfg his arms y'all)

- Not to say drums or anything, but…. drums.

Narutard 2.0. But he also dabbles in other areas of music. Like, he can also play guitar and sing. He’s also pretty good at music production. Makes R&B sometimes. He wasn’t always the best musician but proved to be a late bloomer, and really harnessed his potential. Tries to be as suave as Kakashi and his saxophone. He isn’t.

Hashirama

- Vocal

OkaYYYYYY. VOCAL GOD. CAN DO RIFFS AND RUNS AND HAS PERFECT PITCH. ALSO THE SWEETEST GUY??? WAS A CHAMBER SINGER AS A FRESHMAN. EVERYONE LOVES HIM, GOOD BOY ENERGY.

Likes to belt.

Madara

- Piano

Total prodigy, but hates classical music. Once was accompanist to Hashirama for a solo vocal performance and hasn’t been left alone since.

Tobirama

- Viola or Cello

Some sort of string instrument and takes it very seriously. Probably plays cello because violas are violas and that’s lame (if you know, you know). Has almost as many awards as Itachi and Madara, but hates his usual piano accompanist, Izuna.

Izuna

- Piano

Also a piano god. The uchihas breed them. Hates being accompanist for Tobirama. They’re secretly best friends though, don’t tell anyone.

Karin

- Tech Theatre.

Idk why. Probably started out with props and made her way up to TD (technical director) in senior year.

Suigetsu

- Tech Theatre

Fucking hates theatre kids. Assistant TD. Karin hates him.

Jugo

- Visual Art

Paints landscapes and nature. Really good with oils and gouache respectively.

Yamato

- lmao Trumpet.

Met Kakashi since they both play brass, but boy he ain’t got that suave. That’s why he plays trumpet. Lmao he plays the fucking trumpet anjdwcnojdnn.

Rin

- Vocal

Sweetest voice and could also play the acoustic guitar when she sang. Died in a car accident junior year. Kakashi was at the wheel when they got hit by a drunk driver. Obito saw the whole thing.

Kurenai

- Visual Art

Can create dream like paintings that almost seem like illusions.

Asuma

- Cello / guitar

Used to play cello because of his parents, but loves to play guitar. Can sing but his voice is raspy from smoking.

Gai

Who the fuck do you think teaches dance?

Jiraiya

- Guitar (lead)

Used to major in lead guitar. Sucked at first. Probably has a couple, casual Grammy Awards (they’re actually not that hard to be awarded with, The Recording Academy award many people outside of mainstream media. My school has a few). Now teachers as head of the Band department at this school.

Tsunade

-Dance

Legendary dancer. Probably toured with a few famous people. Now teaches. Mentored Sakura, and mentored Ino but for a shorter time.

Orochimaru

- Idk, didgeridoo, or some shit

Definitely a wood wind. Flute maybe??? Teaches now but no one knows what he does. Pedophile. Has a thing for Sasuke.

[headoverheelss]

The group of ninjas ran to Hana’s body after they were free from the barrier that held them back. She was laying in a pool of her own blood. There was a gash on her side. Akito had stabbed her pretty good before Hana was finally able to stop him. 

Kakashi was having trouble breathing. Here was his pup on the brink of death because she had to sacrifice her own life to protect everybody else, to protect him. He couldn’t do this. 

Gai noticed that Kakashi stopped running with the rest of them.

“Kakashi what’s wrong?” Gai walked towards him. He cupped Kakashi’s face with his hand.

“I can’t do this Gai. I can’t watch her die.” Tears were flowing down his face.

Gai pulled Kakashi’s forehead to his. 

“Rival, I know how scared you might be right now. I know I’m terrified right now but we promised when we adopted Hana that we would be with her always. And right now she needs us. So whenever you’re ready, we’ll go over together okay?” Gai held out his hand to Kakashi. 

Kakashi took a breath. Gai was right. Their daughter needed them. Kakashi took hold of Gai’s hand and both of them ran towards Hana and the group.

Rin was trying her hardest to heal Hana but the girl’s body was mutilated beyond repair. Hana had already lost so much blood already. 

Rin could feel herself getting frustrated. This was no time to lose concentration. 

Hana was still conscious surprisingly but she could feel herself slipping away. 

“Rin..rin..” Hana’s voice was scratchy. 

“Hana! Don’t exert yourself.” Rin was using her medical voice on Hana. 

“Rin,,it’s okay. You can stop.” Hana heard the collective cry of dissent from the group surrounding her. 

Rin looked at Hana. This went on for a second before Rin relented. The medic went to stand by Obito. 

“What’s wrong! Why did you stop?” Kiba was angry. 

“Kiba. It’s alright there was nothing more she could do for me.” Hana could feel herself struggling to talk. 

Kakashi and Gai moved closer to Hana. They both knelt down by their daughter. 

“Hey pup.” Kakashi smiled sadly at Hana. 

“I’m so sorry, Kakashi.” Hana was crying. 

“No, no darling don’t cry. You have nothing to apologize about okay.” Gai took his daughter’s hand. 

“Your Dad is right pup. We’re so proud of you.” Kakashi stroked Hana’s hair out of the way. 

“Stay with me.” Hana was scared. 

“Always.” 

Kakashi’s statement was echoed by the group. 

Hana looked at every person. They all became her family in the couple of years she lived in Konoha. And she even got her Suna family back too. She took a few seconds to remember Baki. She would be seeing him soon though. 

“Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari. Promise me that you guys will take care of eachother.” 

Gaara nodded his head. Tears started to fall from his face. Kankuro gave Hana a look like he would never dare to leave his siblings. Temari held onto Shikamaru’s hand and gave a nod. 

“Lee, Kiba, and Shikamaru take care of them and treat them respectfully like I know they’ll treat you.”

The three shinobi’s gave her a salute and went over to console their partners. 

“Asuma you better treat Kurenai correctly or I’ll come back and haunt your ass.” 

“Don’t you worry, Hana. I got this one.” Kurenai gave a teary laugh. 

Hana smiled and continued to talk to the rest of the group. She told Obito and Rin that they better get married. Obito promptly turned red but promised Hana he would. Rin was already crying heavily on Obito’s shoulder, frustrated that she couldn’t save her closest friend.

Next she told Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza, thank you for being the best adopted uncles a girl could ask for. Hinata and Shino were told to take care of eachother. 

Naruto and Kiba were told that they were her best cousins and to tell Aunt Kushina, Aunt Tsume, and Uncle Minato that she loves them. 

Hana told Tenten and Neji thank you for all the training practice they give her and she wishes them luck in whatever they decide to do in their future. 

Ino and Sakura were told that the sleepovers the three had were probably the best nights of her life. The girls all shared one last laugh.

Hana thanked Choji, Sai, and Rock Lee were told thank you for all the times they went out to eat and the cool restaurants they visited. 

Hana gave stern instructions to Sasuke about how to treat Naruto. Sasuke gave her a firm nod.

The Legendary Sannin were individually thanked for not only training Hana to her highest potential but for also being her Grandparents. Something she never had before. Lady Tsunade was ashamed of herself. She was unable to heal Hana because of damage taken in a fight earlier.

Finally there was Genma, Kakashi, and Dad.

“Genma, I really am sorry. I wish.. I just..” Hana wanted to say I love you but it got stuck in her throat.

Genma smiled at her.

“I love you forever and always. And I promise you that we will meet again and it will be like we never left each other.”

With those words, Hana felt like she wanted to stay so bad but the pain in her body was spreading and she knew it could never be.

“I’ll hold you to that promise.”

Kakashi could see the life starting to drain from her eyes. He moved to cradle his daughter against his chest.

Gai moved in front of Hana as Kakashi held her up.

“Dad and Kakashi thank you for being the best parents to me. I love you guys so much and please don’t feel any regret or guilt. This was my choice.”

Hana’s eyes were starting to close.

“It’s alright pup, we’ll be fine. Rest now, you deserve it.”

Just then something enveloped Hana’s body. Something that didn’t feel like Death bringing her home.

Bonus:

The smell of blood everywhere.

People screaming. So tired.

So very tired.

“HANA!”

“HANA!”

Hana sprang up off her bed, throwing the covers off in the process. Her brain was moving at a mile a minute.

There was war. She fought in it. She killed Akito but she was injured badly to the point were she should be dead.

Hana’s hands moved around her body checking for injuries.

so is this heaven?

The room Hana was in looked like a regular apartment. She stood up and walked to the window. 

Hana gasped. Outside the sun was shining on an intact Leaf Village. Citizens were walking up and down the streets. Kids were laughing together and playing ninja. There weren’t dead bodies on the ground or destroyed buildings. 

She took one step back from the window.

Where am I?

[animedaddymilkers]

Kinkmas 2020: Day 14

Prompt: Knife Play w/ Tenten

Genre: Smut/18+ || Tags: Knife Play, Blood Play, Semi Public, Handjob || Characters: Tenten, Gender Neutral Reader || read it on ao3 here

A heavy sigh left you as you glanced at the clock yet again. Tenten was supposed to be home an hour ago and still, there was no sign of her. She wasn’t on a mission, she had no errands to run, she didn’t mention any plans she had, so where the hell was she? You tried busying yourself with other tasks, reassuring your mind that she must have just run into an old friend or something. But, for an entire hour? She knew how worried you got when she didn’t call! After adjusting the angle of the salt and pepper shakers for the millionth time, you decided you’d head towards her shop and find her yourself! You knew the route she usually took, so it hopefully wouldn’t be hard to find her if she was already on her way.

With enough foresight, you packed up the dinner you made and set out to find your girlfriend. The streets were already dark and people were scarce, making your job easier since you didn’t have to scan through crowds. You made your way towards the shop and still no sign of her, the closer you got the more you were convinced she must still be working. Hopefully, she had a customer! It would definitely put her in an elated mood for the night and Tenten did love talking about her weapons. Your legs moved a bit faster, hoping to find her chatting away with a patron of her store, but as you swung the door open, the appearance of the shop appalled you.

“T-Tenten?! Are you here?” You called out her name in reflex and shock, taking in the sight of the disheveled shop.

The brunette popped up from behind a box, face alight with excitement at your presence, “(Y/N)!! Hey! What are you doing here?!”

“Oh my Kami, Tenten, what happened to the shop? I came here because I was worried sick!” A sigh of relief passed by your lips, your heart rate slowly returning to normal after such a scare.

“You’ll never guess! I finally found it! One of the rarest, most precise, absolutely amazing knives I’ve ever come across! And now I have to rearrange the whole shop to properly display it!”

“The whole… Ten, that’s gonna take forever… Can I see this so-called god of knives?”

She nodded excitedly and disappeared behind a stack of boxes as she rummaged around a bit before reappearing. The slim black velvet box wasn’t extremely long in length, but just the box itself looked fancy and intricate. Tenten slowly opened the box, revealing a magnificent knife, one most likely meant more for show than rough combat, but that didn’t detract from its appeal at all. You gasped quietly at the sight, the jewel adorned handle sparkling under the shop lights. No wonder she wanted to display it for the world to see.

“It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? It would look so elegant in a fight, I want to see it pressed against someone’s skin so badly… But I don’t want to risk damaging it…”

“So, press it against my skin,” the words came out without much thought to them, as if it was a natural reflex for you to offer such a thing.

True, Tenten was far from vanilla in bed, but bringing a weapon of such caliber into sexy times really wasn’t brought up before now. Her eyes lit up and she glanced from the knife to your throat, not so subtly. She swallowed hard and you had to bite back a laugh as her cheeks reddened, no doubt because she imagined the potential scene in her head. It took her a moment but she finally found her voice again.

“Here?” Her answer forced you to laugh lightly, no, she wasn’t worried about using a knife on you sexually, she was worried about using a knife on you sexually in her shop after hours.

“I’m not opposed, but it doesn’t have to be. We can take this home if you can wait that is.”

She took a moment to consider the possibilities before looking back to the knife, “I can’t.”

The brunette maneuvered around the boxes of other weapons before quickly pressing her lips to yours. She kissed you as she locked the shop door, flipping her open sign to closed. You only separated from each other to set some boundaries, no stabbing, no large gashes, just light flesh wounds, the ones that would only allow trickles of blood out, and of course if you safe worded she would stop immediately. With the limits established Tenten carefully removed the knife from the box, slowly running the cold metal along your skin. The sensation and danger the knife represented made you shiver, holding your breath as Tenten kissed your shoulder.

Abruptly, she swiveled the knife and cut your shirt off in one smooth motion, leaving your torso bare within seconds. She grinned against your neck where she was leaving tiny hickies, the knife trailing up your abdomen, pressing in slightly, just enough to scratch the surface, not leaving any marks yet. Her other hand wandered up your side, eyes intently watching the blade of the knife glide over your skin. The sight was so intoxicating to her she could feel her own wetness grow just from watching, loving how the jewels reflected colored light onto your skin.

“Gorgeous…,” she mumbled the compliment against your bare shoulder, not spoken to anyone in particular and stated like the fact it was.

Again, before you could register her hands were even moving, the knife rid you of your bottoms, now leaving you completely bare in the weapons shop. Tenten took half a step back to admire your body, twisting the knife in her hand to make the reflected light from the jewels dance across your body. With an adoring smile, she closed the distance once more, this time, pressing the tip of the knife into the plush middle of your body. It wasn’t hard, just enough to let you know it was there before it slowly dragged up your skin. The cut was shallow yet effective, making you moan as your girlfriend continued to make it longer. When she stopped she ran her finger up the wound, gathering the sparse trickles of blood that oozed out. Her finger was swiftly licked off and you instinctively pushed your hips forward, desperate for more of her touch.

Tenten decided to have mercy and the hand not holding the knife wandered down to play with your crotch. Meanwhile, the knife continued to make small, shallow cuts into your skin, the brunette grinning as she carved her name into your skin. Sure, the mark wouldn’t last long, but for however long it did last she knew she’d get turned on every time she glimpsed it. Her nimble fingers worked your sex, teasing and squeezing playfully, purposely driving you further insane. The knife wandered up your body once her name was completed and it pressed against your throat.

The best part of doing this with Tenten was the absolute comfort she could give you even in situations like these. Your girlfriend was an expert weapons master and you could easily get lost in pleasure without worrying if her hand would slip. If she wanted to cut you, she would, and if she wanted to simply tease you, she definitely would. The steel beared down on your throat, making you raise your head out of instinct, even though your hips pushed down into her rough feeling hand. Her hand worked you hard, intent on getting you off as her hand licked at your chest. She trailed the knife down and left small, little cuts in what seemed to be random patterns, her mouth following after to lick up your blood.

Your moans filled the shop and only drove Tenten to work you harder, coaxing you towards your orgasm. It was obvious you were close and she moved her hand faster. Taking the knife and scratching down your skin, she didn’t draw any blood, just leaving welts and angry marks. The scratches sent you over the edge, hips bucking into Tenten’s hand as she slowed her ministrations, allowing you to ride out the waves of your climax. She kissed a few of the cuts she placed on you while your chest heaved with pants. The knife was placed back into its box carefully before Tenten leaned down to clean you up with her mouth. Her tongue lapped at the juices of your orgasm, making sure to lick all of it up. After she was done she pulled away with a smile and wiped her mouth.

She stood back up and glanced at your cut up clothes before blushing and rubbing the back of her neck, “Guess we didn’t think that through, did we?”

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